BusinessDay 11 Oct 2019

FIRS appointment of banks as tax agents hits rock in court …banks risk paying damages as Federal High Court says it is unlawful

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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he Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has hit its first obstacle in its decision to freeze taxpayers’ bank accounts for tax liabilities and its appointment of

banks as tax-collecting agents for certain listed customers.

This comes on the heels of a recent Federal High Court (FHC) judgment in the case between Ama Etuwawe (plaintiff ) and the

Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Guaranty Trust Bank plc (jointly referred to as the defendants).

The Federal High Court said it is unlawful for the FIRS to ap-

being an individual who carries on legal practice in its name.

It issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining the FIRS, its agents, privies, employees,

point the bank as its collecting agent to recover alleged Companies Income Tax (CIT) liability from the plaintiff.

The court further held that the plaintiff is not liable to pay CIT,

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news you can trust I * *FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER 2019 I vol. 19, no 413

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L-R: Mohamed Hettiti, managing director, OCP Africa Fertilizers, and Fatima Umar Shinkafi, executive secretary, Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), at the signing of a landmark cooperation agreement aimed at developing Nigeria’s phosphate deposits as an extension of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, in Casablanca, Morocco on Wednesday, October 9, 2019.

Photo: SMDF

Market

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3M -0.43 11.81

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FG, Chinese firm sign $3.9bn Abuja-Warri rail agreement ...CRCC to construct, manage projects for 30yrs

Social investors struggle T to make impact in Nigeria

Stella Enenche, Abuja

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only $238m of deals closed in 2018 child education alone needs $34bn per annum

he Federal Government and the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) have signed an agreement for the latter to construct the $3.9 billion AbujaBaru-Itakpe-Warri rail line.

As part of the agreement, the CRCC will also handle the construction of a new seaport in Warri. The multi-million-dollar projects, upon completion, will be managed by the consortium for a period of 30 years.

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of

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news Nigeria’s empty malls get lonelier as economy stalls

L:R: Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State Governor , in a tete-a-tete with Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning at the 25th edition of the National Economic Summit in Abuja, Wednesday.

BALA AUGIE

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Social investors struggle to make impact in Nigeria ENDURANCE OKAFOR

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o c i a l i nv e s t o r s with an eye on Nigeria are struggling to make an impact despite the huge financing needs faced

by Africa’s largest economy in areas such as healthcare, education and poverty eradication.

Impact investing is a type of investment made in organisations, companies, and funds that has the purpose of creating social and environmental impact with a financial return on capital.

It responds to social needs not satisfied.

Impact investment is needed in Nigeria, a country where over 90 million of its 200 million people live on less than $2 a day because of the financing gap in meeting basic and social needs.

Nigeria last year displaced India as the country with the largest number of

people living in extreme poverty. According to the World Poverty Clock, Africa’s most populous nation was estimated in 2018 to have 87 million of its citizens, around half of the country’s population, living below the poverty line.

In Nigeria, an estimate

by United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) puts the financial requirement to achieve SD G4 alone, which deals with equitable quality education for children, at about $34 billion per annum between 2015 and 2030.

Nigeria’s total federal budget for 2018 was $29.9 billion, with education accounting for a paltry 7 percent of this amount.

This implies that if public funds are solely depended on for implementing quality education goals, then Nigeria already faces an annual financing gap of over $32

billion, which is more than its annual budget.

“Nigeria cannot afford to rely entirely on public funds to finance projects; hence there is a need for significant scale-up in investment especially with areas for social impact,” Impact Investors Foundation Nigeria, a non-profit organisation, said.

The UN estimates that the annual funding needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is about $4 trillion, much greater than the current aggregate SDG-focused funding of $1.5 trillion from domestic and international sources. The $2.5 trillion gap dwarfs official development flows and philanthropic commitments, which currently stand at $350 billion, by over five-folds.

The global goal was adopted by all United Nations Member States, which Nigeria is part of, in 2015 as

a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

Apart from ending poverty, having a quality education, one of the most pressing SDG needs in Nigeria is ensuring healthy lives and the promotion of well-being for all at all ages.

In Nigeria, access to good health care is a luxury many cannot afford. No wonder the country’s average life expectancy rate is one of the lowest in the world at 52.2 years.

Since 2001 when Nigeria alongside heads of state of member countries of the African Union (AU) declared to commit at least 15 percent of their annual budgets to improve their health sector, Africa’s largest economy has not attained the pledged funding

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CBN floats ‘Financial Supermarkets’ around Nigeria through mobile money agents …as SANEF, EFInA target 500,000 agents, push harder in SS/SE mobile market DIPO OLADEHINDE

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is creating what it called ‘Financial S u p e r m a r k e t s’ around Nigeria by the drive to create 500,000 mobile money agents.

The creation of mobile money agents would mean the setting up of ‘Financial Supermarkets’ where many financial services would be rendered to the common man and the grassroots people even where there is no bank.

Joseph Attah, head, financial inclusion secretariat of the CBN, said this in Port Harcourt on Thursday at the Financial Services Agents Forum for

South-South/South-East.

Some of the impending services, he said, include credit (sending and cashing of money), utility payments, insurance (micro insurance), micro investments or collective investments, pensions, etc.

Attah said the present stage of the drive is account opening targeting 17 million new accountholders to meet the 2020 deadline.

“After accounts have been opened, the CBN is coming out with massive programmes for agents and clients. It is ignorance that blocks most services to people; micro insurance is key to any economy because it enables a farmer in the village to stay stable www.businessday.ng

because the loss would be replaced. Poor people involved in accident can get treatment instead of using the micro loan to pay hospital bills. This can ruin the entire family.

Insurance will pay you to get well and get back to your business,” Attah said.

“Collective investment scheme is coming to allow the poor to pay little by little and have it invested for them collectively by experts,” he said.

Attah said the new passion should be to help people get out of poverty, saying it is sad to watch someone or a neighbour die slowly due to small amount of money.

The next stage is what he called National Account Open-

ing Week where he said Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) and EFInA officials would educate the people. The target will be 10 accounts per day by each agent.

They may be allowed to make use of National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) members. He said the CBN and its partners are ready to pay the price to guarantee the future of Nigeria.

“By 2010, over 46.3 percent of adults were excluded from financial services of any type. This was ugly because if financial service is an asset, having such huge population not serviced was dangerous,” he said.

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he number of empty stores at shopping malls in Nigeria is growing, mirroring the deteriorating state of the economy, as a large portion of the country’s 200 million people live in poverty.

Landlords are gnashing their teeth because beleaguered tenants, struggling with rising rents and service charges, are finding it difficult to honour obligations.

Consumers have also refused to open their purse strings, which means retailers are losing money.

Sources tell BusinessDay that service charge (cost of maintaining the building) alone is eroding the profitability of retailers, and that the huge chunk of shoppers at the malls, especially Shoprite, are low-income earners who buy basic food items.

“The economy doesn’t support growth and a lot of companies are closing down due to high cost of production.

We don’t have the amenities and tenants can hardly survive,” said Otukoya Abiola, centre manager, Leisure Mall in Surulere, a Lagos suburb.

“Next year will be tougher because the VAT increase will result in increased price of diesel, which means the service charge will further go up.

The service charge would have gone down if there was noneed

to run the generator,” said Abiola.

Abiola said that landlords bear the burden of overhead cost so that tenants can stay.

“It is another form of subsidy,” he said.

Ser vice charge costs as much as N120,000 and N150,000 per store but it has been increasing every year.

A total of nine stores at Shoprite in Surulere are under lock and key, and in some of them the vacant spaces are large enough to take two offices. The stores are on the same floor with KFC Foods, but the 26 stores at Leisure Mall are occupied.

A recent visit to the Apapa Mall showed a total of 19 stores are closed, even the cinema hall has been sealed. Some of the top brands that have evacuated include Ruff and Tumble, Samsung Phones, and Cash and Carry.

Experts attribute the vacancies in Apapa to the menacing gridlock in the city as a lot of high-end earners have relocated to other parts of the city, while those that stay very close to the city rather go shopping in other malls or conventional markets.

“Even if economic activities pick, the gridlock will continue to discourage people from coming here to shop,” said Adebukunola Taiwo, an architect and head of the Apapa Management Office of the mall.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Smaller hotels, restaurants hardest hit as states introduce consumption tax OBINNA EMELIKE & STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

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agos is the latest, behind Kano and Ogun States, to impose a consumption tax on hotels, restaurants and event centres.

This is after Nigeria’s commercial capital won a recent case in court upholding its statutory authority to introduce the tax, and experts say this will impact smaller brands the most.

“The smaller hotel brands will be the hardest hit. Bigger international hotel brands can easily take this in because they cater for the upper-middleclass consumers,” said Victor Edosomwan, founder and the chief executive officer, Vicwan Limited, a hospitality and lifestyle consulting firm.

“Besides, customers of the big hotel chains make bookings online, and the new consumption tax will be factored in,” Edosomwan said.

Kano State passed a law in 2017 that imposed a consumption charge of 5 percent on goods and services purchased in any hotel, restaurant, fast food outlet, bakery, takeaway, suya spot, shopping mall, store, event centre and other similar businesses within the state.

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Ogun State also promulgated a consumption tax law in 2017.

Ruling in the case between The Registered Trustees of Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos (RTHMAL) and the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (“the Defendants”), the Federal High Court on October 3 held that the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption (HORC) Law and Regulations issued by Lagos State is valid and must be complied with by RTHMAL. The court, relying on the provisions of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said that consumption tax neither falls under the exclusive legislative list nor the concurrent legislative list. Rather, it is a residual matter on which states are empowered to legislate. This is contained in the Schedule to the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act (Amendment) Order, 2015, which includes “Hotel, Restaurant or Event Centre Consumption Tax” as one of the taxes that may be collected by the state governments.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

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news FACT CHECK

Does Nigeria have more extremely poor people than India and China combined?

OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN

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ast week Tuesday did not just mark Nigeria’s 59th Independence but was also a day for bold claims, one of which was made by Peter Obi. According to him, Nigeria being the world’s poverty headquarters now has more people living in extreme poverty than India and China combined. Peter Obi’s comment has sparked debate both on traditional and social media platforms in Nigeria.

“In 2012, India had 276 million people living in extreme poverty.

Today, they have less than 76 million. Nigeria has more people living in extreme poverty than China and India combined,” Obi said.

The claim was made at 4:24 minutes into the presentation – The Platform Nigeria.

The Platform Nigeria is an annual event organised by the Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos. Its objective is to facilitate growth in the areas of personal capacity, productivity and national development within Nigeria.

In line with Peter Obi’s claim, available data from the World Poverty Clock show that with Nigeria’s 94.4 million extremely poor people, the country has more people living in extreme poverty than India and China

combined. Though, contrary to Obi’s claim that India alone today has “less than 76 million” people in extreme poverty, India and China combined actually have about 39.8 million people living in extreme poverty.

Background The World Bank defined the new international poverty line as $1.90 a day in 2015 from $1.25 a day previously used in 2008, indicating any individual who lives below $1.90 per day is poor. The same benchmark was regarded as the internationally agreed poverty line by the United Nations.

Also, on the World Bank’s blog, although the bank referred to it as “extreme poverty”, it still used the same threshold for its definition.

On June 19, 2018, a report by the Brookings Institution projected that Nigeria overtook India as the country with the largest number of extremely poor people with an estimated 87 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty at the end of May 2018. The institution also noted that poverty in Nigeria was growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continued to fall.

Verification In order to ascertain the veracity of this claim, we relied on the data obtained from the World Pov-

erty Clock, a project of the World Data Lab. It provides real-time poverty estimates for almost every country of the world – to monitor progress towards ending extreme poverty by 2030.

According to the available data, Nigeria currently has a total of 94.4 million people living in extreme poverty. This represents 44.7 percent of its 198 million population, making it the country with the highest population of extremely poor people in the world.

According to the data, India and China have a population of 1.37 billion people each. While 2.7 percent of India’s population, translating to 37 million people, are extremely poor, only 0.20 percent of China’s population (2.74 million people) are living in extreme poverty.

This brings the total population of people who could not afford $1.90 in the two Asian countries to 39.8 million, less than Nigeria’s 94.4 million people!

Conclusion Peter Obi’s claim is TRUE! Available data from the World Poverty Clock show that Nigeria has over 94.4 million people living in extreme poverty. This is clearly lower than the extreme poverty estimates in India and China combined – which account for over 39 million people.

CBN perplexed as inflation spends last 16 months within 11-12% band …economic growth has declined rather than improve since last rate cut in March 2019 IFEANYI JOHN

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hen inflation reached 16.48 percent in June 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria swiftly responded by raising interest rate from 12 percent to 14 percent in hope that the monetary tightening policy will remove excess cash from the economy and bring inflation to the target range of 6-9 percent.

While inflation has reduced significantly since peaking at 18.72 percent in January 2017, it now appears Nigeria’s inflation rate has found a new home within the 11-12 percent range, more than 2 percentage point above the monetary target. Since May 2018, inflation has ranged between 11.02 percent and 11.61 percent, with August inflation making it the 16th month in a row that inflation has refused to exit this unintended band.

“It is quite puzzling why inflation has remained within the 11-12% range for so long. In the last 16 months, CBN has moved

from a tight monetary position to cutting interest rate by 50 basis points but inflation seems not to be affected by anything happening in the economy, it’s amazing,” said Jeremiah Ejemeyovwi, an economics lecturer at Covenant University.

After cutting interest rate in March 2019 from 14 percent to 13.5 percent, to spur economic growth, Q2 GDP growth fell to 1.94 percent from 2.1 percent in Q1 2019 and inflation fell to 11.02 percent in August 2019 from 11.25 percent in March 2019, catching all economists by surprise.

“Typically, what we expect as economists is that when the Central Bank cuts interest rate, it spurs economic growth but could also trigger higher inflation and vice versa. However, what we are seeing today is that the economic performance is dwindling, and inflation is also on the decline which is completely against conventional economic wisdom. With both inflation and economic www.businessday.ng

growth declining concurrently, if we see another decline in economic growth in Q3 this year, it wouldn’t be far fetched to think we may experience recession 2 at some point in 2020,” said Obinna Uzoma, Chief Economist at EUA Intelligence, a Lagos-based investment advisory firm.

During the September monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, the MPC chose to hold interest rate at 13.5 percent for the third consecutive time, as the committee retained hope that the modest decline in inflation will continue until it enters into the target range of 6-9 percent without having to make any new rate decision, at least in the near term. In the MPC communique, the CBN explained that it worried that raising rates will hurt the economy but may lead to a more rapid drop in inflation while cutting rates could trigger higher inflation but boost growth. With the two dangerous outcomes on possible rate movement, the MPC chose to do nothing. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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Boko Haram and the path of thunder THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

OBADIAH MAILAFIA

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ast week, Army Chief Lt.General Tukur Buratai raised eyebrows when he advocated the use of prayers and “spiritual warfare” in the war against terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province, ISWAP. Interestingly enough, “spiritual warfare” was not on the curriculum of the Nigerian Defense Academy when cadet Tukur Buratai enrolled on the 29th Regular Combatant Course in 1981. And I doubt if it ever featured in the staff college and other prestigious training courses that he subsequently underwent.

I spent some of my formative years working on the economics and politics of defense and strategy at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. I have studied the classics of military strategy from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz. From ancient to modern times, spiritual warfare has never been a part of military science. The fact that such things were never taught, however, does not mean they are unimportant.

I believe in the canonical supremacy of the scientific method while appreciating epistemology and the philosophy of mind. My intellectual interests cover cosmology and theoretical physics. But I am also aware that the human mind is powerful and infinitely complex. There are mysterious occult forces out there.

Indeed, some of the greatest scientific minds like Isaac Newton, Emmanuel Swedenborg, Pierre and Marie Curie, Wolfgang Pauli, Carl Linnaeus, Nikola Tesla and Carl Jung were into occultism.

I have studied Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Islamic metaphysics. And

I know a thing or two about Kabbalah and Gnostic mysticism. I am not an occultist because my Christian faith forbids indulging in such things. But it would be foolish to deny that they exist.

History provides ample evidence of the existence and efficacy of spiritual warfare. In the Old Testament, the Red Sea parted for the children of Israel to escape from their Egyptian oppressors.

This feat could only have been accomplished through spiritual warfare. In the war with the Amalekites, Aaron and Hur held up the hand of Moses, each time they did so, the children of Israel made progress in war. But whenever they stopped, the tide changed against them. When the teenage David, later to become king of Israel, went up against the giant Goliath, he declared that he was coming against him in the Name of the mighty God of Israel. The defeat of the giant by a rustic shepherd boy is one of the most improbable victories in the history of human conflict.

The survival of the modern state of Israel since 1948 has been a miracle.

Israel is a small country of 9 million surrounded by 300 million hostile Arabs. And yet in all the wars that have been fought, the Jewish state not only prevailed; they gained more territory. Israel today has the greatest war-making machinery in the Middle East; with some of the most fearsome warlords since the ancient Greek city state of Sparta. They include such legendary names as Meir Har-Zion, Jonathan Yoni Netanyahu, Yigal Allon, Ariel Sharon, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and Haim Bar-Lev. When you read their war memoirs you hear astonishing tales. According to one account, during the 1967 war, angels literally gathered in their millions over an overcast sky. One young Israeli paratrooper recounted an incident when their unit was about to be wiped out by the Arabs. He started reciting Psalms 91. He was the only one that came back to tell the tale.

There is no doubt that the Israeli military-intelligence establishment deploy spiritual resources in their existential conflict with the Arabs. I once met Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz when he came to address the Oxford Union.

He is widely regarded as the greatest living genius on earth. A grandmaster of Kabbalah, his wisdom and counsel are sought by succeeding generations of Israeli leaders.

Delving back into history, the extraordinary teenager Joan of Arc (14121431) led the French army into several successful battles against their English enemies, she claimed to have received messages directly from angels who guided her in her military victories. She was later captured and burned at the stakes in Rouen, Normandy, on 30 May 1431. But she has been canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She goes down in history as one of the greatest legends of the French nation. Her compatriot Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the greatest warlords in modern history. What few realize is that he was also a master occultist who deployed the dark arts in his military campaigns.

It is said that he was able to trans-locate his spirit into the position of the enemy where he received details about their position and how to defeat them.

It is a well-known fact that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were occultists. In his famous memoirs, The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill opined that Hitler had “conjured up the fearful idol of an all-devouring Moloch of which he was the priest and incarnation”.

The Russian state has been deeply implicated with spiritual powers since Rasputin. During the Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944) by the Germans, Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin brought back the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from his near-banishment in Siberia. An avowed atheist, Stalin ordered the Patriarch and the church to pray fervently to save Russia. It apparently worked. The tide of war changed in Moscow’s favour. James Clapperton wrote a brilliant doctoral dissertation at the University of Edinburgh in 2006 on the religious aspects of that event, titled: “The Siege of Leningrad and the Ambivalence of the Sacred.”

Some of the most powerful intelligence services in the world today employ psychics as part of their arsenals. Israel’s Mossad used to employ the psychic Yuri Geller, a former paratrooper, in their secret operations.

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Some of the most powerful intelligence services in the world today employ psychics as part of their arsenals. Israel’s Mossad used to employ the psychic Yuri Geller, a former paratrooper, in their secret operations. I suspect that their interest in having Prophet T. B. Joshua relocate to Israel was partly because they saw him as a potentially huge intelligence asset

I suspect that their interest in having Prophet T. B. Joshua relocate to Israel was partly because they saw him as a potentially huge intelligence asset. In the United States, psychics are widely deployed not only for law-enforcement but also to solve complex intelligence conundrums. During the Cold War, the CIA working with defense intelligence, created “Project Star Gate” to research into spiritual and psychic warfare.

We in Africa have vast untapped naturalistic forces. A fortnight ago 36 cows were killed by a mysterious thunder in the sleepy village of Ijare in Ifedoro local government of Ondo State.

The Fulani herdsmen had to flee for dear life. The traditional ruler, Oba Adebamigbe Oluwagbemigun, had warned that the herdsmen had crossed the boundaries of the forbidden. There are communities throughout our country that are custodians of potent spiritual warfare forces.

My paternal grandfather, for example, was a legend of his time. He gave the British a hard time, but no chains or prison gates could keep him, the wily British decided to make him a police officer. In 1914, they sent him to quench a riot in Lafia, capital of present day Nasarawa State. When news came that his wife had put to bed and he was now the father of a bouncing baby boy, he sent back a message, “His name shall be Mailafia.” That was my father.

We should encourage our military high command to undertake the scientific study of spiritual warfare; exploring potentials of our indigenous knowledge systems, including traditional hunters and practitioners of Ifa and the likes.

Former Beninois president Nicéphore Soglo declared recently that Boko Haram has been sponsored by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Our enemies are both domestic and foreign. Defeating them requires the highest wisdom and most sagacious statecraft we can muster.

Dr. Mailafia is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a development economist and public finance expert with a DPhil from Oxford obmailafia@gmail.com; 08036590990 (text messages only)

Air Peace’s heroism proves why Nigeria must strongly support enterprise

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igerians fleeing xenophobic attacks in South Africa sang Nigeria’s national anthem as they returned to the country. They were brought home for free by a private airline, Air Peace, which belongs to Allen Onyema. Meanwhile, praises for this act of kindness mostly went to the Nigerian government; a quite usual scenario. But the reality Nigerians will have to come to terms with, is that it is private businesspersons — like it is on this occasion — that makes a country great, not the government.

While the government is still struggling to revive the defunct Nigerian Airways, the privately-owned Air Peace is flying Nigerians to more than 30 destinations worldwide. The airline’s success is a testimony to the fact that individual citizens have the ability to do things that the government finds difficult. Unfortunately, Nigeria has the highest population of poor people in the world. And due to the oppression of some inconsiderate rich men, the less rich

often think that the wealthy are the reason why they have less. Therefore, they usually prefer the government to run airlines, refineries, power companies, schools, and hospitals.

This vague belief in a government-run economy is the reason why politicians can easily manipulate citizens into supporting the nationalisation of private businesses.

However, nationalisation in Nigeria has a bad history.

Private businesses that Nigeria nationalised in the past went bankrupt shortly after they were taken over by the state.

British Petroleum went comatose after it was nationalised for selling crude oil to South Africa in 1979. The missionary built schools also lost their quality after they were nationalised after independence for being owned by foreigners.

The spate of nationalisations in the 1970s led to the collapse of many important businesses. It caused an exodus of foreigners, many of whom were investors

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and expatriates. The effect was so strong, many Nigerians had to seek employment opportunities abroad. But instead of nationalisation, Nigeria needs a private sector orientation.

Being dependent on the state to solve all problems affects the psyche in such a way that people become helpless when the government fails. Only a few like Onyema, realise that every problem in the country is a business opportunity. Some of such persons have seized the opportunity to create wealthy businesses while providing needed goods and services and moving their employees from poverty to prosperity.

In fact, Onyema was a poor man who had to walk long distances in order to board the train. However, he worked his way up to owning an airline, creating hundreds of jobs and offering free flights to rescue his countrymen. That is true heroism. If he can do it, Nigerian youths can also defeat poverty and become charitable millionaires if the state would encourage enterprise.

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FEYISADE C. ADEYEMI

Globally, governments are hardly known for innovation, industry or wealth creation. It is the hardworking private businessmen that usually create wealth and rescue their country during economic or social turbulence.

Nigerians need to understand that what they need from government is an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, not an economy controlled and monopolised by the state. In most instances, for citizens to get an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, the government simply needs to get out of the way.

Adeyemi is a writing fellow at African Liberty and a lecturer at Elizade University. He is academic director at African Students for Liberty and the Founder of Chale Institute. He is on Twitter @Thisischale.

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Dateline April, 1943 – the day the Governor left Lagos (1 & 2)

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t was clear in the mind of Bernard Henry Bourdillon GCMG KBE, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria, that the tide of the second world war had turned inexorably, and the Germans would soon be vanquished. The thought gave him some comfort as he got up to take a last look at the Government House, Lagos. He had been sitting immobile in his study, lost in his thoughts. Violet was standing over him. Her hat was daintily perched on her head. She touched his cheek gently with her finger.

He rose to his feet. It was time to leave Lagos.

In the hour of his reverie, he had been considering many things – the War, with the millions of people needlessly dead. Lagos and the colonial contraption known as Nigeria over which he was Governor.

He loved Lagos and many of its ways. “Going native” was not good form, he knew, and it was not the sort of thing one admitted in discussion with the chaps at Ikoyi Club on Mulliner Street, where he sometimes went for a gin and a natter, or to play a round of golf.

He was sixty years old and going into retirement, effective today. He

knew that many people at his time of life, after only a few months of rest, held themselves out for fresh challenges. He was not thinking about the future now. He wanted to go home to Jersey, where he had family roots, though he had been born in Tasmania.

He rolled his eyes up in a mock gesture of submission as he took Lady Bourdillon’s arm and they headed out of the door. The colonial staff and house servants in their white livery had lined up all the way to the driveway, where the car stood waiting.

“Will I ever know happiness again?” he asked himself suddenly.

He almost choked at the thought.

He played back the high points of his Lagos experience in his mind.

The several fights over the government’s decision to tax high-income women, in order to have enough revenue to develop Lagos, since the Colonial Office was reluctant to come up with development money for the colonies. The intense engagement with the National Youth Movement over the activities of the European Cocoa Pool in London, which was hurting Nigerian traders, and which he eventually helped to resolve.

Even the “West African Pilot” had uncharacteristically praised him for that. The several run-ins with that stormy petrel Herbert Macaulay, with whom his relationship could best be described as “love-hate”.

But the most striking personality he had met in all his life was that illiterate Amazon – Alimotu Pelewura. Her image towered over everything else in his recollection. Their encounters were permanently seared on his mind.

She had sent him a message yesterday that she would be closing all markets

in Lagos in his honour, and that she would bring the market women to say farewell to him at Balogun Market, if he would be kind enough to stop by on his way to embarkation at Apapa.

He smiled. He should be cross. In no other part of the British Empire did anybody – least of all an illiterate woman, have the right to close down markets. But this was Lagos, and she was Pelewura, and, yes, he had replied, he would stop by.

He shook hands with the more senior of the staff. He noticed that a few were in tears.

By the car, he turned to give a smart salute, to no one in particular.

“Let’s go,” he said.

The car surged forward.

His work was done.

Alimotu Pelewura, Iya l’Oja of Lagos She had wanted only twenty women from each market to come for this occasion. All she wanted were women in blue aran and blood red gele, adorned with finery, lining both sides of Balogun, and waving to Bourdillon as he drove past.

She did not generally have any use for “oyinbo”, who had no business in her Lagos in the first place. But she made an exception for this man. He was, indeed, omoluabi.

The square was full. The women had defied her and flooded Balogun in their thousands. There was drumming and singing everywhere. It was like a celebration of Eyo. It was barely midday, but the sun was up, and sweat was already breaking out on her forehead, running down over the three awori marks on each side of her face.

“Such typical Lagos chaos,” she thought, fondly, as the square

‘

But the most striking personality he had met in all his life was that illiterate Amazon – Alimotu Pelewura. Her image towered over everything else in his recollection.

Their encounters were permanently seared on his mind

throbbed with the discordant voices of several singers and talking drums.

The Governor’s car emerged from Marina.

She had fought him over the taxation of women, over the plan to relocate Ereko market, over countless matters where she had had to put down her foot for Lagos women. If he did not succumb, he always at least endeavoured to meet her halfway.

And he was such a courteous man, genuinely respectful. Once, after a hot exchange at the Government House, he had promised to invite her to tea with Lady Bourdillon.

“Tea?” – she had responded, before she could stop herself.

“Kini mo fe fi tea se?”

She stepped forward now as the car rolled up. The women began to sing with one voice and to wave their hands. It was a truly colourful sight.

“O d’igbo’se Bourdillon. K’a pade l’ayo” The car rolled to a stop.

“No – he’s not getting down!”, Pelewura thought, alarmed.

The Governor alighted. He held out his hand.

He was saying something, but she could hear nothing from the singing and the drumming in her ears.

She took the hand he held out, and for a long moment, they held hands – two people who had fought bitter wars.

The women gasped, never having witnessed such a spectacle.

He retreated into his car.

She raised her hand in silent salute as the car headed towards Carter Bridge.

Femi Olugbile is a Writer and Psychiatrist. Comments to synthesiz@gmail.com’

Circular flow of wealth: How to not remain poor

B

y the circular flow model, we see how money moves through society. Money flows from producers to workers as wages and flows back to producers as payment for products. In short, an economy is an endless circular flow of money. Individuals in the simplest macroeconomics explanation is that people become poor by creating the problem of spending more than they earn in that model. But that’s not all. What you do most with your time and nature of what you produce and consume is also a factor.

Even when you produce, you shortchange your chances of being truly wealthy when you’re not refined or have a refined product as a contribution to the circular flow.

First of all, in the cycle of life, our system and in the process of making money and being wealthy, we are all producers and consumers.

How we do these differentiates us. In general, you pay when you consume and you earn when you produce. Depending on which parts of this statement your lifestyle is more in alignment to; you can either add poverty or wealth to yourself, then family and nation.

You become poor by staying too deep into one revenue stream only. You become poor by running away from problems or transferring it to the future. This is what poor and average people are very good at. They avoid or at most discuss the problems but rarely solve them. But on the other hand, every time you solve a problem, you create value and every time you solve a problem you create wealth.

Take for example, a Dangote produces a lot of products, most of which you and me consume. What he produces is the value you pay for, this value solves a problem of perhaps

hunger if it’s the spaghetti for example, or problem of building construction if it’s the cement, so to create wealth is to create value that people can and will pay for.

Better put further ahead also, a Dangote produces more for others to consume which he gets paid for, way more than he consumes that of others (not necessarily in quantity but in monetary values) and the difference in the amount left is what he’s worth. And on top of this, he produces something that you need, so you get indebted, each time he goes into production and then you pay whenever you buy it (whether a spaghetti, a cement etc.). This isn’t bad, it’s because you need it, it’s a cycle, he probably pays for some things he needs too. But the point is, does he spend more than he makes, is he more of a consumer than a producer, how many things do you pay for and how many things do people pay you for and how well. Look at this from any scale or angle. The answer to this question is the reason why you have the financial status that you presently have, whether good or bad.

How much money leaves your pocket and how much money enters. So going by this theory, how about you also making people debtors by producing things that people need, it could be skills, employment, products and even service in any form and make yourself less of debtor, by paying less of other people, simply by buying things that you only necessary need or at most getting more people to pay you for you to pay others for thing you need. This seems very simple. Before you try to be rich, avoid being poor by asking the simple question, so how much do you spend and how much do you make? You become

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poor when most of your activities take more money from your pocket than it is adding.

Find a way to turn it around if you must grow.

Sometimes, it not about how much you are spending, but how much you are making.

Sometimes it’s not about how economical you are, but in how productive you are. The simple logic is to make more money and spend less than it. Else, you might just have found the secrets of how to be poor without knowing it till it becomes you. To be poor is to be more of a consumer than a producer.

So, if you must be rich, you must produce more values than you are consuming through whatever skills, products and service that you are producing. You are either rich or poor simply by which one you are doing more.

If you don’t produce anything, product or service and you just pay to consume, then soon you’d become a debtor to people who do. You make people rich, simply by being poor. This is because you pay and consume other people’s product and services without being productive enough to counter that shift in your pocket. This is how Nigerians stay poor. A report shows that on an average, nearly 60 percent of a Nigerians income is spent on food. But this average is spread across all segments including the rich. So, we can assume that most Nigerians are spending 80 percent – 90 percent of their income on food. We are not just consumers. We have a consumer mentality and consumerism infested consumer behaviour end macro economy. This gap is seen from the firms to the households. Let’s explore the firms while comparing say Nigeria with America.

The biggest firms on the American stock

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exchange are companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon. They sell Internet search services, cloud storage services, e-commerce services. They continue to launch new ventures that specialize in advanced robotics and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the biggest company on the Nigerian stock exchange sells salt, sugar, pasta and cement.

The same problem individuals have that make them become poor is the same challenge that countries have. Nigeria and the likes of Venezuela are good case studies of a bad example. On the other hand, cities like California are very good examples. Take for example, California is the 6th largest economy in the world. Its economy is larger than that of France or Brazil. It produces for the world more than it consumes. And it has diversified that production, ranging from oil to education to entertainment It has little offshore oil, yet its economy is larger than States in the US that are famous for their oil reserves, like Texas.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https:// businessday.ng Uwaoma is a start-up, corporate restructuring and strategy consultant. He writes via contacteizu@gmail.com

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

EDITORIAL PUBLISHER/CEO

Frank Aigbogun EDITOR Patrick Atuanya DEPUTY EDITOR John Osadolor, Abuja NEWS EDITOR Chuks Oluigbo EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi 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

When police become robbers

O

ne sure sign of a disjointed society is when law enforcement officers, employed by the state to keep the society safe begin to prey on society, replacing or jostling with criminals and robbers to do maximum damage to innocent citizens. Much more tragic is the silence or inability of the government to stop the barefaced harassment, extortion, theft and robbery of its citizens by rouge police officers.

The rouge police officers may themselves be victims of the government’s inability or refusal to pay them living wages and provide decent habitation for them.

Last week, the media across the world carried the story of Nigeria’s tech industry rising up against police harassment and extortion after a tech developer at Buffer Media in Lagos – Akinmolayan Oluwatoni – tweeted that members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police stopped him on his way home (with a laptop and iPhone), took him to the station, tor-

tured him to confess he’s an internet fraudster and demanded N1 million to release him. Tired of the constant harassment and extortion by police officers of the SARS, leaders of the tech industry in Lagos organised a campaign with the hashtag #StopRobbingUs to protest the police actions.

We recall that in November of 2017, Nigerians started an aggressive campaign with the hashtag #endSARS to protest against police – and especially SARS personnel’s – brutality, sexual harassment, extortion, theft and outright robbery. An online petition, with tens of thousands of signatories, was submitted to the National Assembly seeking the scrapping of the unit.

It is mind boggling that in this age youth with phones, cameras and laptops and other such gadgets have become endangered species at the hands of SARS operatives who operate brazenly at any time of day with no recourse to any civilised terms of engagement. Reports have since continued to pour in on SARS operatives’ activities with evidence-backed accusations of torture, robberies at gunpoint

and extra-judicial killings.

Amnesty International, in a 2016 report on the activities of SARS said it received reports from lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists, and collected testimonies stating that some police officers in SARS regularly demand bribes, steal and extort money from criminal suspects and their families. The global human rights watchdog also stated that SARS detainees are held in a variety of locations, including a grim detention centre in Abuja known as the “Abattoir”, where detainees are kept in overcrowded cells and in inhuman conditions.

According to Damian Ugwu, Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher, “SARS officers are getting rich through their brutality. In Nigeria, it seems that torture is a lucrative business.” The report also detailed testimonies from former SARS detainees who said they were subjected to horrific torture methods, including hanging, starvation, beatings, shootings and mock executions at the hands of corrupt officers from the dreaded SARS. In 2017, following the #endSARS campaign, the police au-

thorities briefly banned SARS operatives from conducting stop and search operations on roads except when necessary. They also promised to restructure and reposition the unit for effective service delivery while also warning members of the group against acting as body-guards, delving into land matters and debt collection that were considered civil. However, the measures did not last as SARS operatives have continued to harass, extort and rob innocent citizens in such alarming scale.

The reality is that there is no real commitment to reform the police. When reports of police corruption or brutality emerge, the authorities seem to take action, but only for a while. In no time, the police go back to business as usual. For instance, since 1999, there has not been a police boss that has not hypocritically ordered the dismantling of the notorious police road-blocks in Nigeria. But till date, those road blocks still exists in all nooks and crannies of the country and serve as the medium for the extortion of, and killing of Nigerians and road users who refused to settle the policemen

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And so, I took a Marwa in Lagos TALES FROM THE MAIN ROAD

EUGENIA ABU

J

ust like I took a Rickshaw in Mumbai many years ago, taking in the sights and ambience of a city where the population is literally in your face. People everywhere you turn, massive bulks of people bumping into you, running into you and trying to avoid you. The sheer number of people hits you between the eyes and you understand straight away how India is the world’s most populated country in the world after China, standing at over 1.370 billion people as at October 2019.

In a Rickshaw, breezing through the inner streets of Mumbai, the colourful spices assail your nostrils and visually pleasing. Ochre, orange, yellow, pink, brown, caramel coffee.

Curry, thyme, coriander, chili and saffron. The heady feeling as I zipped past everyone in my royal Rickshaw is best imagined.

But in Lagos last week, I suddenly began to feel like a tourist, that exhilarating feeling of adventure and curiosity that all tourists feel in a buzzing city that is new to them. But Lagos is not new to me, I lived in Lagos for six years in the early 90’s and I still shuttle between Lagos and Abuja at least twice a quarter. But I had not been in a while and suddenly Lagos has the hue of a new city in my mind’s eye. I was also bored to say the least and

had arrived Lagos 24 hours before the business that called me to the city.

I had rested as I had hoped to and voila, I felt the urge to explore the tricycle named after Brigadier General Buba Marwa, who during his tenure introduced it in Lagos to beat the bizarre traffic situation. The unique quality of the Marwa or keke as it is known in Abuja is that it meanders through city streets, cutting through traffic and taking you to hinterland addresses that cars cannot access.

This quality in addition to its low cost endears the tricycle to those in the medium and lower rung of the society who find it a cheaper and less complicated form of transport and a quicker way to get to their destinations. The other quality is that in most parts of Nigeria, the Marwa driver has a devil may care attitude and can be quite reckless. When all is said and done, do they slice through traffic or what. Like a mutated yellow snake, they slither their way through traffic, in a hurry to drop off a passenger and continue its quick paced adrenalin filled journey.

So, like I was saying, Gloria, a truly divine lady in Lagos presented the opportunity to feed my adventurous spirit. She invited me to the heart of broad street where she was going to show me an interesting fabric shop, stocked to the nines. I am a sucker for fabrics and have quite an impressive collection from all over the world. So, my ears perked and I was sold. If the fabrics are exquisite and creative, then I am had and with nothing else to engage me at the time. I was game.

I am also excellent at retail therapy so I wondered through the fabric piles, the rows and rows of enchanting fabrics and when I have had my fill two hours later, I sit and watch other

women do the same thing. I was ready to go, happy as a button and clutching a five-yard piece that was irresistible.

Then we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of broad street where there is an insane method of walking past, by shoving and pushing and yelling inanities. Our driver had parked far away and we were both out of phone batteries. Gloria, bless her good heart then suggested we hop into a Marwa if I did not mind to navigate the street which at 5.30 pm was becoming a little uncomfortable.

Presto! Well I had given it a thought earlier in the day. Take a Marwa but then to where? And all those around me may have discouraged me. So, here is me and Gloria.

And there was a need. And into the Marwa we hopped shoving our bag of fabrics into its box-like boot and struggling to sit well in the backseat with a fellow passenger. Yes, it was hilarious, yes, my eyes stung a little bit but once we started the journey, it was interesting, people breezing past you and the tar rising to meet you as we snaked our way through broad street.

Was it scary? Not really. More fun, than scary. Was it enjoyable?

Very much so. Was the driver kind?

Who? Oh, we are just numbers to him and once one hops in, the next one hops out. All he knows is “Owa oh!” – language for there is someone who wants to drop off. He is certainly not going to offer you coffee and trust me, he does not care for your name or your life’s challenges. He is dealing with his. It is mechanical routine work and he just goes over his dedicated route again and again.

Here are some tips for taking the Marwa. Be ready to share sweat with

‘

This quality in addition to its low cost endears the tricycle to those in the medium and lower rung of the society who find it a cheaper and less complicated form of transport and a quicker way to get to their destinations.

The other quality is that in most parts of Nigeria, the Marwa driver has a devil may care attitude and can be quite reckless

the man sitting next to you. If you are squeamish about sitting too close to someone, do not take the Marwa. If you are afraid of speed in an open vehicle, this is not for you. Learn the language fast because if you say, I will drop here instead of “Oh wa oh,” the Marwa driver will zip past your destination. English is not the official language in the Marwa, even pidgin may have to be re-interpreted to the driver by a kind passenger. Embark quickly and disembark speedily lest your leg is caught between the Marwa tire and the road. You always must have your wits about you. Travel light, carry a strap on bag and be aware.

And always have the exact change.

It was fun and for me, it was worth it. Of course, we got to our destination safely. But it is the tourist’s bug and really if you are scared of a lot of things, speed, people, open spaces, road meandering, jumping on and off a near moving tricycle, don’t do it. Lol So, I took the Rickshaw in Mumbai and the Marwa in Lagos. Then I hopped into the tramp in Hong Kong and the Matatu in Nairobi but then those are tales for another day.

You took the Marwa? People looked at me like I was crazy. Yeah, it’s like bungee jumping but I do not like heights. I am fifty-seven in a week or so. I love life, adventure and travel.

Not dangerous risks but pleasurable adventures. Taking the Marwa is what some people have to do every day. So, I took it and why not. I may or may not do it again but I thought it was naff and It was an incredible ride. Done and dusted!

Eugenia Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, brand and multimedia strategy expert and media consultant. Contact. abu_eugenia@yahoo.com

The struggle of journalists seeking for independence

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here is an ongoing trend within the media. Journalists are quitting their jobs as members of the mainstream media to establish their own news websites and blogs. This trend isn’t entirely a new phenomenon, it’s has been happening for approximately 5 to 7 years. This has become especially prevalent in Nigeria.

For most journalists, the rationale behind setting up their new-websites usually stems from the desire to be independent. To escape the pressures associated with the Monday morning editorial meetings. The excruciating rush to make deadlines. The ability to create powerful exclusive stories. There are many other reasons also. The ability to quit working in the mainstream media and establish your personal news platform is not the easiest thing to do.

Changing from an employed journalist to an independent one requires strategic financial planning because you are not going to receive a guaranteed salary anymore. You are also going to subtly lose the reputation that goes along with being published in and having your bye line under the umbrella of a top-notch daily newspaper. When reaching for creative freedom you are relying on your personal reputation as a journalist and your own personal media organisation. You are losing all the safe perks received as an employed journalist and you will now need to struggle to build the reputation of your own personal news website to standard. Not very many journalists are willing to make that bold move.

According to “Internetlivestats”, there are

over 1.5 billion journalistic websites on the world wide web today. Of these, less than 200 million are active. This simply means that any journalist who is thinking of having his or her own website will compete for any potential advertising available with many other existing websites within the same niche.

Sadly, many journalists who were able to make this move are still struggling to build their brand. Some have been in the business for over 5 years and are yet to figure out how to reach the millions of readers that they need to become a trusted brand and to be able to monetise their website. It’s difficult to comprehend why they find it so difficult to understand the basics and do what is right to achieve a reputable and trusted brand.

Any journalist who is planning to venture in this should be aware that news-websites or blogs require a digital and financial investment. Without these investments, you will end up going around in circles. This is common amongst many Nigerian journalists. The Returns on Investment (RoI) are usually found within your online reputation and monetary gains. Not many journalists are ready to invest the money due to their limited income, digital ignorance and investment apathy.

Frankly, the majority of a journalist who operates news websites in Nigeria depend on honorariums from events, such as press conferences or product launches. Only wellknown veterans from top traditional media houses get the opportunity to attend these events. It’s a big challenge for a media newbie who is still attempting to build a quality www.businessday.ng

relationship with prospective clients. You can imagine what happens if a journalist didn’t get an invitation to an event. Mind you, not all events managers provide an honorarium for journalists.

More worrisome is the fact that a larger fraction of journalists does not have the appetite to invest. Therefore, it is imperative to first take time to rethink and unlearn what they have been told or learned about setting up a news website. It cannot be as easy as you think it should be when you work from the comfort of your home without planning a long-term investment.

A serious-minded journalist should be able to own a reputable news website within a 5-year period. Investments on Search Engine Optimisation, digital media, social media marketing, branding, etc commence after a news website has been set up. These investments are non-negotiable. That’s not the situation with many journalists. It can end up with their website not been indexed

by Google. In other words, Google doesn’t recognise all websites. To them, it’s all about the writing content along with the ability to upload on the website.

It’s also unfortunate that some of them lack basic digital skills such as website management, digital advertising, digital design, Search Engine Optimisation and amongst other skills they must be capable of making their news-websites top-notch. For any journalist to effectively run this venture, they must have a compendium of these skills.

Even if you hired a skilled person to handle some of the website operations. You must

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JUSTICE OKAMGBA at least understand the fundamentals and the rationale involved to be able to hire a skilled person.

Although digital advertisement revenue has been growing exponentially, a majority goes to Facebook and Google rather than to publishers. This is the sad truth because some clients prefer to advertise their products and services directly into Google and Facebook to be able to have their Ad banner displayed on a news website especially the ones that possess a reputation that is not well known. However, no matter the competition involved in obtaining advertising revenue, there are certain news websites that will never run out of Ads. Importantly, the money is there for these individually owned news websites or blogs to attract. It’s left sitting there for these journalists to do what is needed to be able to be considered a viable candidate for these adds. You need to operate as a business entity by investing in the early stages of your venture. Once you are doing this, your role is more about to be guaranteed in the years ahead.

Justice Okamgba writes from Lagos. He is a journalist, SEO specialist, and a web designer. godfreyjustice67@ gmail.com

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

MONEYINSIGHT

SA, Nigeria, dominate as fintech firms grab 33% off $543mn raised in 2019 ... amount raised in 2019 drops from the previous year FRANK ELEANYA

F

irms in the financial technology segment have maintained their dominance of the innovation space in Africa as they accounted for 33 percent of the more than $543 million funding raised so far in 2019.

Data published by Maxime Bayen, Company Builder at GreenTec Capital Partners and former analyst at GSMA, showed that 66 tech startups received more than N1 million each from over 130 investors from January to date.

Startups in South Africa led the table with 9 firms while Nigeria came in second with 7. In terms of the value of the deals, the 9 South African fintech startups received about $78.8 million compared to Nigeria’s $78.5 million.

Africa’s Fintech ecosystem has surged 60 percent in the last two years and the continent’s Fintech firms have grown to 491 from 301 in 2017, with $132.8 million raised in 2018 accounting for 39.7 percent of total funds raised according to estimates from TechPoint Africa. This was an increase on previous years.

Nigerian fintech firms have also etched their initials at the top three spots of the most funded startups on the continent since 2017. The

likes of Flutterwave, Paystack, and Paga have led the bulk of funding traffic to the country.

However, as the year 2019 draws to a close a major milestone that could be singled out is the first $5 million equity funding by a Nigerian investor. Jim Ovia’s Quantum Capital invested $5.5 million in fintech firm, TeamApt. Local investment is a blindspot of the ecosystem as more than 80

percent of funding comes from foreign venture capital firms and institutions.

The $78.5 million raised so far by Nigerian fintech firms falls short of the $132.8 million raised in 2018. Part of the reason for the decline is investors’ growing interests in other tech segments such as transport, logistics, health, and education. Startups in the ride-hailing space have drawn

significant attention from investors as new businesses open up in the segment across the country.

It should also be said that not much in terms of innovations have come from the fintech space in 2019 compared with 2018 when new services were launched nearly every month. Notwithstanding, space has witnessed more consolidations than in previous years. For instance, 2019 saw the acquisition

of a local fintech startup, Amplify by another fintech startup, Carbon former Paylater. Most of the startups also worked on strengthening their brands. Paylater changed to Carbon, PiggyBank became PiggyVest while Kudimony transformed to Kuda.

With barely 2 months to the end of 2019, there is still every reason to hope the funding numbers will surpass that of 2018.

Nigeria misses top five spots for PZ Cussons chemistry challenge holds foreign direct investments in Africa capacity enhancement training for teachers

P

Z Cussons has held a twoday training program for Chemistry teachers to commemorate with 2019 World Teachers Day under the auspices of the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge.

The Teachers Development seminar which held at the head office of PZ Cussons Nigeria, in Ilupeju was organised to improve the quality of teachers and teaching; with focus on Chemistry in senior secondary schools.

The event was attended by various stakeholders including representatives of the Lagos State Ministry of Education; Abiola Laseinde, Company Secretary/Head of Corporate Services, Africa, PZ Cussons Africa; Chatapura Panganai, Head of Technical, PZ Cussons Nigeria; Charles Nnochiri, Head of Marketing, PZ Cussons Consumer SBU; Seyi Edward, Head of Demand Planning and Customer Operations, PZ Cussons Consumer SBU,

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU

Charity Ilevbare-Adeniji, Group Brand Development and Activation Manager- Personal Care, PZ Cussons Consumer SBU; Bisi Ibitayo, CEO, Limelight Educonsult; Chemist Elochukwu Okonkwo, Deputy Head, Membership & Training and Stella Egwuchukwu Nweze-Akpa, who represented Iyabo Phillips, Chairman Chemistry Society of Nigeria (CSN).

According to Charles Nnochiri, Head of Marketing, PZ Cussons Consumer SBU, PZ Cussons Nig Plc., ‘This engagement with teachers is a build on the success of the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge which is designed to promote the study of chemistry amongst students. With this seminar, we are expanding our involvement within the value chain of chemistry learning in our schools by helping the teachers get acquainted with the latest knowledge and innovation in the teaching of Chemistry globally. This will help enhance the www.businessday.ng

quality of their classes and thus drive better student output.

The Teachers Development seminar was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Education and attended by chemistry teachers from across the state. The participants were grateful to PZ Cussons for being concerned about capacity development of chemistry teachers in the state. “This is a welcome initiative and we are glad that PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge has decided to do something for teachers as well. We hope more companies will take a cue from PZ Cussons and begin to do more for teachers’, said Olusegun Fashakin, a participant at the training.

PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge is an initiative of the PZ Cussons Foundation and is sponsored

by Premier Toilet Soap. PZ Cussons Foundation has completed over 58 projects in different parts of the country since its launch in 2007.

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N

igeria has ranked as poorly as Sudan among countries that received the least foreign direct investment in Africa according to the ninth Ernst & Young Africa Attractiveness report.

All of the major economies, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Angola and Egypt lagged in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) to gross domestic product (GDP).

Angola and Nigeria come in for a particular mention, as both are heavily dependent on oil export revenues and scored very weakly in on World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index. Only two African economies made it into the first quartile of Ease of Doing Business rankings, namely Mauritius and Rwanda. The latter strongly enjoys the benefits of its efforts, scoring 0.35 per $1bn of GDP, using our FDI scoring methodology explained above, nearly double the continent’s average.

“There is certainly FDI inflow into Nigeria. I think the projected @Businessdayng

economic recovery will continue to be a magnet for FDI. What we have also seen is that the countries that have attracted the most FDI to GDP are also ranked high on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index,” Roderick Wolfenden, Africa Markets Leader said at the launch of Ernst & Young’s ninth edition of Africa Attractiveness Report.

“Nigeria, South Africa have already been recognised as technology hubs with Kenya on the east. With the massive and strong population that Nigeria has a focused agenda around driving the service industries, the consumer side of it and technology, would look to me like areas that Nigeria could focus on to really help support FDI inflows and the economic recovery that Nigeria has embarked on,” Wolfenden said.

According to analysts, one of the challenges facing African countries is a perception gap. Foreign companies doing business in Africa see opportunities but this is not the case for those yet to enter the African market.

Friday 11 October 2019

COMPANIES & MARKETS

BUSINESS DAY

15

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

BANKING

London court rejects JPMorgan appeal to dismiss $875m Nigerian lawsuit SEGUN ADAMS

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United Kingdom appeal court has refused pleas

by JPMorgan to dismiss an $875m litigation brought against the United States bank by the federal government of Nigeria, upholding the verdict of a London high court in February which paved the way for Nigeria to sue the bank.

All judges at the appeal unanimously disagreed to throw out the case in which Nigeria is suing the US bank for negligence in transferring funds from the sale of an oilfield license to a company belonging to a former Nigerian oil minister instead of the official account.

The court said although it had not decided if Nigeria’s claim was valid, it found no basis to halt the legal proceeding against it.

“I have formed no view as to the overall merits of the claim but there is nothing in terms of the depository agreement which entitles Morgan Chase to bring the proceeding to an end at this stage,” one of

the justices said Tuesday.

The US bank did not comment on the judgment immediately but had previously said it only carried out directives by Nigerian government officials, at that time, to transfer money from the sales of OPL245 oilfield in Nigeria to the accounts of Malabu Oil and Gas owned by Dan Etete, erstwhile oil minister.

On the basis, the bank said it was absolved of any liability and called the claims unsubstantiated and without merit, even though Nigerian government insists that being a client of JPMorgan, the lender had a moral or legal obligation to protect the state’s interest.

In the wider context, the case is known as the Malabu trail and began in 2011 when Eni and Royal Dutch Shell reportedly paid $1.3 billion into the coffers of the Nigerian government for an offshore oilfield license.

The offshore oilfield called oil prospecting license (OPL) 245 was said to have been worth $3 billion but most of the payments made by Shell and Eni ended up in Malabu Oil

and Gas, controlled by Dan Etete, then oil minister of Nigeria.

Both companies have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case involving many named actors which is currently in Milan and London courts.

Recently, the United States Department of Jus-

tice (DOJ) said it would be taking no action against Eni, as it shelved investigations into corruption allegations against the Italian oil major in the corruption case.

The Italian company expressed confidence that allegations currently put forward before the Court of

Milan, where it is facing trial for the same case would be found to be groundless.

However, in a trial hearing in July, Italian Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale said that officials of Eni a p p ro a c h e d V i n c e n z o Armanna, a defendant and witness in the case, to withdraw some statements

made during investigations.

Armanna, a former manager who led Eni to acquire OPL-245 field in 2011, had informed investigators that his former colleagues were aware of the shoddy transactions involved in purchasing rights to the Nigerian oilfield.

L-R: Abasi-Ekong Udobang, senior manager, program & implementation, MTN Nigeria; Aishatu Sadauki, director, MTN Foundation, OON; Salihu Ishaka Ogah, senior special adviser, deputy governor’s office, Nasarawa State; Allahnana Attah, permanent secretary, ministry of information, culture and tourism, Nasarawa State; Dennis Okoro, director, MTN Foundation, and Umaru Suleiman, emir of Akiri, at the MTN ICT and Business Skills Training in Nasarawa State

OIL & GAS

Saudi’s Aramco to go ahead with IPO, set for prospectus release OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE

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he September 14 drone attack on state-owned Saudi Aramco’s oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais will not deter the world’s most profitable company from going ahead with its initial public offering (IPO).

According to reports the prospectus for the IPO would be released by the end of the month.

An initial public offering (IPO) refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance. Public share issuance allows a company to raise capital from public investors.

Aramco plans to list its shares on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange, as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform plan, touting

it as a way to raise capital for the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, which would then develop new cities and lucrative projects across Saudi Arabia The crown prince has put the valuation around $2trillion and anticipates the 5% listing of the company in total domestically and internationally by 2020 or 2021, in what could be the world’s biggest IPO. Ahead of its IPO, Ar-

amco recently released its earnings figures for the first time in recent memory, showing a net profit of $111 billion and revenue close to $356 billion for 2018. It also announced the acquisition of a nearly $70 billion stake in Saudi petrochemical firm SABIC, which would boost its downstream business.

The crown prince has said the goal of publicly listing par t of Aramco

is to make the kingdom less dependent on oil for revenue.

Prince Mohammed has said that ownership of Aramco will be transferred to the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, aiding the sovereign wealth fund’s ability to raise money to reinvest in domestic projects.

When Aramco earnings are transferred to the sovereign wealth fund, Saudi revenue will be technically

drawn from investments rather than oil.

The oil company has selected JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, G oldman Sachs Group Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings plc and Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group to help with the planned IPO.

Editor: LOLADE AKINMURELE (lolade.akinmurele@businessdayonline.com) Graphics: Samuel Iduh

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES&MARKETS

Business Event

INSURANCE

LASACO Assurance shareholders approve plan to raise N11 billion on private placement …as firm pays 5 kobo dividend MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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ASACO Assurance Plc, one of Nigeria’s composite underwriting firms has secured the approval of its shareholders to shop for N11.1 billion through special or private placement.

The firm is planning to raise additional capital through the issuance of up to 9,250,000,000 ordinary shares of N0.50k each at N1.20k per share by way of special/private placement.

At the 39th Annual General Meeting of the Company held in Lagos, the shareholders also gave the board approval to reconstruct its existing ordinary shares of 7,334,344 on the basis of one new share for every four shares previously held.

Other approvals granted by the shareholders were that the sum of N2, 749,279,000 representing the surplus nomi-

nal value of the reconstructed shares be transferred into the share reserve account and form part of the shareholders’ funds of the company and that the reconstructed 1,833,586,000 ordinary shares of 50k each, be revalued in accordance with the ratio of reconstruction, subject to appropriate regulatory consent and be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Aderinola Disu, chairman of the Company speaking at the AGM, said the move was part of the board’s strategy to ensure that the company meets the new minimum capital requirement set by the regulator for insurance companies in the industry.

She told the shareholders that their interest will be well protected, as it is better to have a strong company that will create value for all stakeholders at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, for the financial year ended December 31, 2018,

the company paid out 5 kobo dividend which was appreciated by shareholders, particularly at this time when a lot of companies werenotabletomakeprofitdueto thetougheconomicenvironment.

LASACO during the period under review recorded a gross premium written of N9.014 billion, a growth of 35 percent from N6.673 billion in 2017, while net underwriting income also appreciated by 31 percent to close at N5.221 billion.

Disu applauding the efforts of the board and management in moving the company forward despite the harsh operating environment,saidthefirmrecordeda profit before tax of N958.199 million, a 12 percent increase from N854.27 million in 2017, while the profit after tax was N736.279 million against N661.878 million in the previous year.

L-R: Amine Djouahra, sales and marketing director, B2C, Canon Central and North Africa; Jayashri Namdar, marketing specialist, corporate communication and marketing services, Canon Central and North Africa, and Omotayo Omodia, Canon country manager Nigeria, at the Canon Discovery Week in Lagos.

Continue online @www. businessday.ng

AVIATION

Cabo Verde Airlines to commence direct Lagos-Cape Verde flights December IFEOMA OKEKE

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ational carrier of the Cape Verde Islands, Cabo Verde Airlines will commence direct flightsfromLagos,NigeriatoCape Verde on 9th December 2019.

This was disclosed recently at a media briefing to officially launch the airline to the Nigerian public.

The airline’s Boeing 757-200 will fly five times a week from the Lagos International Airport to its hub in Sal, Cape Verde.

Jens Bjarnason, CEO and President, Cabo Airlines said: “We are excited to add the most populous country in Af-

rica as one of our destinations.

Nigeria has a vibrant travel sector and we look forward to servicing our customers and connecting them to Cape Verde and beyond, seamlessly.

Bjarnason stated that passengers can look forward to comfort, quality and a memorable travel experience on their aircrafts which have 161 Economy class seats and 22 Executive Morabeza Premium Class seats.

Tariye Orianzi, Nigeria Country Manager, Cabo Verde Airlines said of the airline “We are targeting African entrepreneurs, leisure and business travellers as well as world travellers with our competitive

pricing and offers, including a Cape Verde stopover program at no additional ticket costs.

Interestingly, Cape Verde is a member of ECOWAS making it visa free for Nigerians.

“Cape Verde has some of the most beautiful untouched natural Islands in the world.

We hope to bring the Cape Verdean culture and colours to all corners of the world, as our mission suggests – connecting four continents while also serving as the gateway for fast travel. We also believe the addition of this route will improve tourism in Africa” she added.

Continue online @www. businessday.ng

MFB’s collaboration with Opportunity International EduFinance to enhance education sector EdFin Microfinance Bank, Nigeria’s foremost educationfocused microfinance bank and Opportunity International EduFinance are collaborating with a mutual focus on product design, staff training and business intelligence reporting in a bid to improve the quality of education and learning outcomes in Nigeria.

Through this alliance, Opportunity EduFinance, who are currently conducting market research in Nigeria, will inform the design of EdFin’s education loan products as well as provide in-depth training to ensure that the financial insti-

tution’s staff are equipped with the most up-to-date knowledge of the unique needs of the clients they serve. The overall goal of this coalition is to enhance and expand the scope of EdFin’s suite of targeted financial products/services offered to the entire education ecosystem in Nigeria — including schools, parents, teachers, school contractors/ vendors — ensuring that all stakeholders charged with the responsibility of improving the quality of education in Nigeria have the financial resources necessary to succeed.

“By collaborating with Op-

L-R: Olubunmi Gabriel, Ikeja Electric customer; Folake Soetan, chief operating officer; Ugochukwu ObiChukwu, chief commercial officer, both of Ikeja Electric, and Adekunle Adedayo, Ikeja Electric customer, at the celebration of customer service week at Ikeja Electric’s Corporate Headquarters, Alausa, Ikeja Lagos.

portunity International and having Gray Matters Capital as our major shareholder with dedicated share capital of over $3m, we have positioned ourselves as the leader in enabling the transformation of Nigeria’s education system”, says Bunmi Lawson, managing director/CEO, EdFin MfB. “We believe this new alliance will help us actualize our goal of enabling at least 3500 schools and 1 million pupils/ students in Nigeria by the end of 2021”.

Continue online @www. businessday.ng

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L- R: Stella Okoli, CEO, Emzor Pharmaceutical; Asisat Oshoala, captain of the Super Falcons and a beneficiary of the Asisat Oshoala Foundation at a meet and greet session to renew her brand ambassador contract and celebrate her Captain-ship and birthday sponsored by Emzor.

L-R: Oluseyi Olanrewaju, finance director, Vodacom Business Nigeria; Jumoke Mustapha, senior manager, human resources; Zakari Usman, executive head of department, Business Development Group; Solomon Ogufere, commercial director; Kolawole Fayemi, executive head of department, Legal, and Olumide Idowu, acting executive head of department, operations, at the 3rd Nigeria Tech Innovation and Telecom Award in Lagos, where Vodacom Business Nigeria received four major awards.

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@Businessdayng

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

17

cityfile A’ Ibom constructs new flyover

ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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Ignoring the downpour, boy hawks to earn a living at Ile-Epo market, Alimisho, Lagos. Pic by David Apara

Police nab killers of naval officer in Kaduna ABDULWAHEED OLAYINKA ADUBI, Kaduna

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he police in Kaduna have arrested suspected killers of Oluwayemisi Ogundana, a naval officer. Ogundana had been declared missing before her body was later found in a shallow well.

Also arrested and paraded by the police on Wednesday were three other suspected killers of operatives of IGP’S Intelligent Response Team as well as those

suspected to have carried out the recent kidnapping at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

According to the Kaduna police command, the suspects were arrested through coordinated operations by its officers.

Those nabbed in connection with the killing of the p olice officers claimed that they have been in the business for some time before their arrest.

Leader of the gang, Adamu Ishaku, before his arrest, had been parading himself as a civil

staff of the Nigerian Air Force. The 45-year-old gang leader was arrested alongside eight other members of his groupsix female and two male suspects.

A l i Aj i Ja nga, t h e Commissioner of Police (CP) in Kaduna, who paraded the suspects, said that the command was unwavering in the fight against kidnapping, armed banditry, cattle rustling and other violent crimes in the state.

According to him, over 50 suspects of various criminal activities have so far been arrested.

Female banker bags 1 year over fraud Stories by REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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female banker, Yetunde Iyabo Adewunmi has been sentenced to one year imprisonment for conspiracy, aiding and abating fraud.

The 51-year-old was convicted of the one-count amended charge instituted against her by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan zonal office, before Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court 2, sitting in Osogbo, Osun State.

Investigation conducted

by officials of the EFCC had revealed that the convict used her position as a staffer of a new generation bank in Ile Ife, Osun State to forge two identity cards for one Abayomi Samuel Onalaja, an internet fraudster, to enable him cash two Western Union transactions received from his foreign victims. She was said to have benefited from the illegal transactions to the tune of N236, 736.

Owing to the findings, the EFCC had filed a fivecount charge against her, bordering on money laundering, but later amended it to one-count after agreeing www.businessday.ng

to a plea bargain option with her.

The amended charge found her guilty of an offence contrary to Section 27(2) of the Cybercrimes (prohibition, prevention etc) Act, 2015. She pleaded guilty to the charge and was accordingly convicted.

The prosecution counsel, Shamusuddeen Bashir had earlier prayed the court to accept the conditions of the plea bargain which included restitution of the proceeds of the crime said to have been received by the EFCC.

On the recent abduction at Engravers Boarding School, Kaduna, Ali said effort was ongoing to rescue the affected students and teachers.

“We are negotiating with the kidnappers to rescue these students and their teachers, we know the location of the kidnappers but, we do not want to endanger their lives.

“Most of these kidnappers are operating under the influence of hard drugs, so killing is nothing to them, this is why we are still negotiating with them and as

soon as the victims are released, we will go after them.”

The Kaduna State commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Samuel Aruwan who was at the command, commended the police for their efforts in arresting the criminals.

While calling on the media to enlighten the public on the effort being made by s e cur ity agencies, Aruwan also solicited the support of the residents of the state by volunteering information to the police so as to aid their work.

Flooding: Oyo to build more bridges

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o l l ow i ng f l o o d ing occasioned by overflow from streams and rivers, Oyo State government in partnership with Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) is to construct more bridges and drainages.

Speaking during a visit to one of the sites at Aba Eleshin Bridge on Jakanta Road in Apata, Ido local government in Ibadan, the commissioner for environment and natural resources, Kehinde said the government would be confronting the environmental challenges head on.

Ayoola, however, said

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beyond constructing the bridge, the residents of the community must also desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse under the bridge in order to avoid hazards associated with such act.

“Government will soon start the construction of the bridge here to safeguard lives of the people. This is on the part of government, people also must change their attitude towards their environment, to this end, every household is expected to have a drum that would contain their waste and engage the waste management authority for proper collection of their refuse,” he said. @Businessdayng

kwa Ibom State government has commenced the construction of a new flyover at Ikot Oku Ikono, near Uyo, to ease traffic flow within the city centre.

Commissioner for w o rk s, Ep h ra i m A kparawa Inyang-Eyen, while supervising demolition of structures at the project site, said compensation had been paid to property owners affected.

The state government through the ministry of works had issued a public notice advising residents of the acquired right-of-way at the Ikot Oku Ikono-Uyo-Abak road axis to vacate the area to allow for smooth construction work.

In the letter signed by the works commissioner and made available to the media in Uyo, motorists plying the road were advised to make use of alternative routes.

The main road from Uyo to Ikot Oku Ikono was recently closed, thereby subjecting motorists and other road users to hardship reaching their destinations.

However, due to public outcry, the road was partially reopened to traffic.

Inyang-Eyen who appealed to the people to cooperate with the government for the socioeconomic development of their areas, also advised commuters and motorists plying the road leading to the flyover to use alternative routes and drive with caution to avoid gridlock.

Many of the commuters have expressed delight over the prospect of a new flyover coming up in the city centre adding to the existing ones.

It is expected that with the industrialisation programme of the state government, the city would witness an influx of business travelers.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri, relentlessly enlightening us on the significance of mental health

KEMI AJUMOBI

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BIOGRAPHY r. Maymunah Yusuf Kadiri popularly referred to as “THE CELEBRITY SHRINK,” is a multiple award winning Mental Health Physician & Advocate with over 15years experience. She is the Medical Director and Psychiatrist - In - Chief at Pinnacle Medical Services, Nigeria’s leading and foremost Psychology and Mental health clinic prominent in the application of innovative clinical approaches in the management/treatment of a wide range of psychological, emotional, and behavioral related disorders.

“She is the only Nigerian with the 10Ps.....Physician, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Practitioner (NLP, BFB, NFB), Public Speaker, Publisher, Producer(movies), People oriented and Passionate about God and life.”

The founder of Pinnacle Health Radio, African’s #1 online health radio and a non for profit organization, “Pinnacle Medicals SPEAKOUT Initiative” which is geared towards creating Mental Health literacy in Nigeria and beyond.

The Executive producer of award winning movies, Pepper soup (focused on drug abuse) and Little Drops of Happy (focused on depression, postpartum depression and suicide) and creator of the most innovative mental health app in Africa, HOW BODI. As a forerunner in the practice of Mental health and other novel therapy techniques in Nigeria, she continues to be the most sought after Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist in Nigeria and beyond.

A Goldman Sachs scholar, Vital Voices Fellow, an Ashoka change maker, a global thought leader and has been recognized locally and globally for her movement in the field of health and wellness, especially mental health.

She is a global affiliate of Work Place Options (United States and United Kingdom) and provides Critical Incidence Stress Management (CISM) and other forms of employee assistance programs to corporate organizations worldwide.

A graduate of Entrepreneurial Management with the Enterprise Development Center of Pan Atlantic University and China European International Business School. A trained and certified Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavioural Therapist from Albert Ellis Institute, New York, and Beck’s Institute for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Philadelphia, USA. Her driving force is to live, to learn and to impact generations positively. When not working as a Physician, she loves to tour the world, work on disruptive innovations and talk fashion.

She is a member of several professional and social organizations locally and internationally. A life coach, an inventor and married with 3 lovely children.

Mental health awareness as a tool to curbing the tide of suicide incidences in Nigeria.What tools are we looking at?

By introduction, over 800 000 people die by suicide every year

and it is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds. There are indications that for each adult who dies of suicide there may be more than 20 others attempting suicide.

By this, suicides take a high toll.

The impact on families, friends and communities is devastating and far-reaching, even long after persons dear to them have taken their own lives. Social, psychological, cultural and other factors can interact to lead a person to suicidal behaviour and the stigma attached to suicide means that many people feel unable to seek help.

Most suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries where resources and services, if they do exist, are often scarce and limited for early identification, treatment and support of people in need. These striking facts and the lack of implemented timely interventions make suicide a serious global public health problem that needs to be tackled urgently.

Communities can play a critical role in suicide prevention. They can provide social support to vulnerable individuals and engage in follow-up care, fight stigma and support those bereaved by suicide. They can help give individuals a sense of belonging and a feeling of connectedness by being part of a community. Lastly, communities can also implement specific suicide prevention strategies relevant to their situation.

Facilitating community engagement in suicide prevention is an important task. Whereas governments need to take a lead in developing and implementing comprehensive multisectoral strategies for suicide www.businessday.ng

prevention, communities can incorporate and enhance these efforts by considering their local community needs, priorities and circumstances.

What is theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day? The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates the World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health. The theme selected for the year 2019 is ‘Suicide Prevention’.

Why is there an increase in the rate of suicide in Nigeria?

Due to our religious and traditionalist views, it is often posited that suicide is currently still being underreported in Nigeria. However, an increase in the rates of suicide can be penned to a host of factors. These may be economic, social or otherwise. In Nigeria currently, there are high rates of unemployment, maternal and infant mortality and number of out-of-school children.

These issues are an offshoot of the high poverty rates that the entire nation is dealing with. The inability of members of the society to provide even the basic amenities for themselves and others can spiral into depression and ultimately suicide.

Issues such as widespread social media use and high rates of stress have also been linked to increased suicide rates in Nigeria. The need to catch up with the Joneses and to put on a show that indeed all is well when it is not, has a tendency to take a toll on individuals and can lead to suicide.

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 years old. The issue of social media has also been linked to these statistics.

This is in addition to issues like bullying and identity confusion which can put a strain on a budding young mind and can invariably lead to suicide. Additionally, they are also at risk for drug and substance abuse which can also lead to suicide.

Finally, the poor healthcare system and consequently, the lack of access to mental health care can be attributed to an increase in the rate of suicide. If people are unable to see help when issues are still mild, the odds of it becoming severe and leading to suicide becomes higher.

Based on your day-to-day experiences with patients and people you meet daily, would you say depression is on the rise?

Nigeria is by far Africa’s most depressed country already, with 7 million people diagnosed with the condition, according to World Health Organization, WHO. In comparison, Ethiopia has 4.48 million, while the Democratic Republic of Congo has 2.87 million with depression.

WHO identifies Depression as the planet’s leading cause of disability, and found that cases skyrocketed 18.4 percent between 2005 and 2015. But Nigeria has further obstacles: The country has long failed to collect data on the mental health of its citizens, which keeps experts and authorities from developing coherent policies to fix the situation. But far from being a big issue, depression, like other mental health issues in Nigeria, is shrouded @Businessdayng

in secrecy. Cultural traditions and social stigmas push many sufferers into isolation and away from seeking help. Nigeria has no mental health laws other than the colonialera Lunacy Act, which dates to 1958 and allows legal and medical authorities to detain those deemed to be mentally unhealthy without many guidelines or processes reflecting a modern understanding of psychiatry. In the absence of laws and effective policies, some turn to traditional and spiritual healers for help. A new study by the World Bank has revealed that 22 per cent of Nigerians, on average, are chronically depressed. Chronic depression, according to the report, is strongly associated with adverse events, especially conflict, and these events are positively associated with chronic depression but their effects vary. Nigeria, in essence, has more mental cases than the population of every West African country. The figure also implies that were all the mentally-ill people in Nigeria confined to a definite territory and classified a distinct country of their own, they would be more populous than Spain, 46 million; Canada, 36 million; Morocco, 35 million; Ghana, 28 million; Australia, 24 million; and The Netherlands, 17 million.

The report also noted that Nigeria’s mental health statistics was too bad, adding that the high rate of suicide in places like Lagos might just be a tip of the iceberg. The recent spike in suicide is linked to the worsening state of the economy even as the National Bureau of Statistics noted that over 20 million Nigerians were unemployed. In 2017, the World Health Organization said 7,079,815 Nigerians suffered from one of the most ignored and misunderstood forms of mental disorder in the country — depression.

What activity or activities do you have for World Mental Health Day? The month is packed with activities and we are excited about the collaboration and support we have received so far.

We are organizing an online mental health virtual summit with theme: Suicide: Survive, Thrive & Advocate from 21st - 25th October, 2019. This will be done via a series of short videos in which we will be collaborating with influential individuals within the Nigerian community to speak on different topics regarding suicide and its prevention. A one day training on Saturday, 26th October, titled Mental health first Aid Training on Suicide Prevention will round up the week. In addition, there will be a focus on training stakeholders within the community to advocate for destigmatizing mental health and encouraging individuals to seek help when dealing with suicidal ideation. This will be done as we are partnering with other NGOs to strengthen our reach within the country and continue to push the message across. We will also be organizing talks at the grass root levels with a suicide awareness talk with the traders and members of the general public.

Read more about Maymunah’s inspiring story on our website www. businessday.ng as she graces our Women’s Hub cover for this week.

You are just a click away!

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE How PPP works and why it matters in Nigeria’s health sector

ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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ublic-Private Partnership (PPP) has been identified as the key that would address fully the country’s healthcare challenges and the capacity to create millions of jobs in the industry.

As Nigeria’s health sector struggles in achieving Universal Health Coverage which by far the biggest cost, but with the adoption of a PPP model Nigerians are getting better healthcare coverage.

The push into PPP to improve the health and well-being of citizens is helping to shape the sector Nigeria is now seeing the significant experience of public and private health-care sectors forming partnerships and collaborations but there needs to be a more accurate evaluation to inform future scaling up of the sector generally.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in health are on the rise in Africa as governments recognise the important role which the private sector can play in increasing access to healthcare for the African population.

With Nigeria’s health sector currently facing a shortage of facilities, resources, and manpower, Hospitals do not have enough staff. Doctors and nurses are overworked.

While the National Health Insurance

Scheme (NHIS) is in the works, it’s still several years away. It won’t immediately address one of the biggest problems around healthcare – access.

Experts say healthcare in Nigeria increase access by sustainability, public-private partnership, and that urgent attention to optimise delivery and avoid experiencing progressive deterioration due largely to weakened political will on the part of successive governments to effectively solve several problems that have accumulated in the sector over many years must be carried out.

How does it work to deliver healthcare to the public?

A public-private partnership is a partnership between the government and the private sector in the delivery of goods or services to the public and has emerged as a possible vehicle to enable the advancement towards Universal Health Coverage.

PPPs aim to address this by allowing private investment in the health industry what would on average be public infrastructure such as funding healthcare innovations, donations of medical infrastructure, renovations of hospitals and even government medical buildings.

The private sector has a major role to play in developing innovative use of technology, such as mobile phones and new diagnostics, and innovations in service delivery but

these require a close, transparent relationship with government and public providers.

Stakeholders from the public and private sectors need more mechanisms and forums for engaging in public-private interactions in health The PPP model adopted by PharmAccess enabled greater access to finance to enable the revitalisation of primary health centres - the frontline of healthcare access for more Nigerians. Realising that health facilities have struggled to access finance due to the stringent requirements put on them by financial institutions.

Many governments in sub-Saharan Africa are seeking to establish public–private partnerships (PPPs) for the financing and operation of new healthcare facilities and services. In South Africa and Ghana has been able to propose and adopt different models and approaches to developing PPPs, as well as working to strengthen the environment in which they operate.

How can PPPs strengthen Nigeria’s health sector?

Nigeria’s health system only ranks better than the health systems in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Myanmar.

Liberia and Malawi rank just above Nigeria on the quality of healthcare provided to their citizens.

Only a few investors are interested in

Exercise is medicine but awareness is still low in Nigeria – experts ...NHF launches 2018 Nigerian Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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he phrase ‘exercise is medicine’ is becoming increasingly recognised as an essential form of treatment for various lifestyle-related diseases.

Exercise, unlike drug therapy, can significantly improve multiple chronic conditions simultaneously.

The physiological benefits of regular strength and aerobic training are much greater than taking prescription medication as these drugs are manufactured to generally only target one specific health condition.

To this benefit, the Nigeria Heart Foundation (NHF) has recognised the growing prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Nigeria and the need to achieve the non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) global target on physical activity by launching the 2018 Nigerian Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth and unveiling the ‘Exercise

is Medicine’ Initiative.

“The essence of this is to ensure physicians prescribe exercise. The unveiling of this initiative is to improve the health of Nigerians and the entire health system,” said Babatunde Salako, director-general, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Salako said that the institute is meant to conduct research, stating that he believes non-communicable diseases are also part of it. “I could see that one of the things pointed out is that there are reports on research on physical activities especially when it comes to children and youth. I will say the issue of exercise is very important. People who can’t afford drugs could use exercise to maintain blood pressure”.

Also speaking at the launch, Olufemi Mobolaji-Lawal, chairman, executive Council, NHF said 2018 Nigerian Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth is an advocacy to research work and policy implementation. www.businessday.ng

“There is a lot of be done on exercise because the awareness is low, we will use the card to assess the physical activities of Nigerians,” he said.

Mobolaji-Lawal further said that every environment is suitable for physical activities in Africa.

The environment changes and we have to adapt.” We want everybody to be active and we are trying to design a way on how they can be active which our core motive is,” he said.

However, the Commonwealth Government has incorporated Exercise Physiology in health scheme.

This has given medical practitioners the capacity to refer patients with chronic and complex illness to Exercise Physiologists for guided exercise therapy.

Studies have shown that there is clear evidence that regular physical activity produces significant health effects and reduces the risk of premature death from any cause and cardiovascular disease.

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the country’s healthcare sector.

PPPs can offer a strong platform for developing approaches to health sector in challenging environment like Nigeria ,advantages include allowing public institutions to meet mandates efficiently and cost-effectively that ensures services are propoor and sustainable; reducing cost and out of pocket payment ; offering the potential to reach under-served populations and harnessing private sector innovation, business penetration, speed, and demand creation through business links to centre of population.

Private businesses with an interest in expanding into healthcare service providers are likely to be drawn to city areas under their dense populations, and potential to scale it up PPPs of all sizes and models require strong regulatory frameworks and supportive public institutions.

Nationally, sector reform, framework development, and demand creation support will strengthen the enabling environment for PPPs. On

sub-national levels, the public sector can provide capacity building, technical assistance, and guidelines for health start-ups willing to enter the health sector.

“Public-private partnership is built on sustainability; it means collaboration with one another, committing to strategies that will increase visibility and deepen financing business of health penetration and not people dictating policy,” Clare Omatseye, managing director/ CEO at JNC International (JNCI), President Healthcare Federation of Nigeria-HFN “We need to get our policies right, both public and private sectors together develop. There are different policies but we also found out that the biggest problem is implementation”, she said.

The PPP initiative is a guide to what is working and a tool for inspiring further action.

Continue online @www.businessday.ng

KwaSACA sensitises corps members on HIV/AIDS SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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he Kwara State AIDS Control Agency (KwaSACA), has sensitised members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in the state on how to prevent themselves against contracting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

A statement signed by Adesike Ajiboye, the press secretary of the agency and made available to BusinessDay stated that the establishment is at the forefront of creating awareness and ensuring that the country meets up with the sustainable development goals.

Binta Adeyemo, a pharmacist in her remarks revealed that efforts are on top gear to meet up with the 2020 year target while noting that confidentiality is essential in HIV / AIDs counselling and testing. She advised the agency to abide by the 2020 target of the United Nations.

According to her, the United Na-

tions has a target of 90% of positive people placed on anti-retroviral therapy, 90% on ART retained on treatment and have their viral loads suppressed while 90% will be tested and know their HIV/AIDS status.

She said that one of the essentials of pre-test counselling is confidentiality and keeping vital information about those tested secret.

The medical expert advised that to reduce the risk of HIV infection, people should desist from unprotected sex, avoid sharing equipment with others, noting that abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).

Also, she suggested that people and their partners should get tested and treated for STDs, saying that STDs can increase one’s risk of becoming infected with HIV or spreading it to others.

Meanwhile, instructional and educational materials were distributed to the participants by the agency.

2020 budget: Health sector allocation declines amid huge infrastructure gap ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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igeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has allocated less to basic healthcare delivery and capital expenditure in its 2020 budget compared with the 2019 vote.

The Federal Government allocated N47 billion for capital expenditure in 2019 compared with N46 billion proposed for 2020, representing a 2.13 percent decrease.

Similarly, in 2019, N51.22 billion was slated for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) against N44.50 billion in 2020. This represents a 13.12 percent decrease.

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, in his 2020 appropriation @Businessdayng

bill submitted to the joint section of the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, put proposed total government spending for 2020 at N10.33 trillion.

Nigeria faces challenges in its health sector, including an inadequate supply of medical doctors and poor or substandard health care facilities.

Many of the country’s citizens are also unable to access healthcare services because they lack the ability to pay for them. Nigeria was last year declared the world capital of poverty for having the largest number of people living below the poverty line. Oxfam International in its World Poverty Report on Monday put the number of Nigerians living in absolute poverty at 94 million.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE

Healthcare supply chain in Africa underperforming on shortage of skilled personnel ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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ub-optimal supply chains are negatively impacting healthcare development and economic outcomes in Africa, according to Lagos-based supply chain transformation expert Azuka Okeke, regional director, Africa Resource Centre (ARC).

Okeke, who is managing influential healthcare supply chain interventions around the continent, in a presentation at the recent SAPICS Spring Conference in Johannesburg, highlighted the strides being made in Nigeria to professionalise supply chain management.

She outlined lessons that can be learnt from the successful public health and private sector collaboration that is improving healthcare delivery in Nigeria. The inaugural Spring Conference for supply chain professionals was hosted by SAPICS, the Professional Body for Supply Chain Management.

“A key focus of Nigeria’s supply chain transformation has been building in-country supply chain talent,” Okeke says. “The shortage of skilled supply chain personnel has been identified as a key driver of logistics under-performance in countries. A functional supply chain ensures that health facilities are always stocked above a certain minimum level, ensuring the availability of commodities.”

According to her, since logistics costs represent 20 to 40 percent of commodity costs, it follows that

Azuka Okeke

efficient local supply chain management can help to achieve a significant reduction in commodity prices, too.

“If less money must go out of Africa to design, plan and implement healthcare supply chains, there will be more left to get medicines to the last mile,” Okeke said.

To this end, Africa Resource Centre (ARC) has spearheaded an integrated centre of excellence model for supply chain and logistics management, to help build more efficient and effective supply chain systems in Nigeria and across Africa. ARC, an initiative of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is an independent strategic advisor, promoting collaboration with the aim of improving the availability of medicines and health products in Africa.

“Our model encompasses short, medium and long-term elements

to rapidly develop supply chain management and logistics expertise in Nigeria and beyond,” Okeke expanded. “Our key objectives are to rapidly strengthen and scale-up in-country capacity, skills and expertise to meet local and regional needs, and to leverage and contribute to the global network focused on advancing supply chain excellence.”

Already well underway and contributing to improved healthcare outcomes in Nigeria is the capacity-building ARC Academy, which represents the first part of ARC’s strategy.

“ARC Academy has to date enrolled more than 120 participants from government, private sector and academia with several participants now equipped with industry-leading certifications from theInternational Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA) and other bodies. Our medium-term strategy supports in-country institutions to develop an industry-aligned supply chain and logistics management degree and certificate programmes.

Eight institutions including six universities are supported to date,” Okeke says.

She said that for the long-term, ARC is actively building coalitions with leading American and Nigerian business councils, government agencies and development finance institutions in order to deliver Africa’s first Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Centre in Nigeria, for longterm improvements across Africa.

‘Fitness is crucial to healthy living for Nigerians’ ANTHONIA OBOKOH

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he Nigerian fitness culture and industry recently has grown significantly over the past last four years, especially in the major cities.

Contributing factors are the presence of more fitness centers/ studios, better health consciousness among the millennia, and a strong social factor - which is on millennia’s desire to look good.

For some reason, almost everyone wants to look and feel trim, lean and strong, which was not common 10 years back. With this consciousness comes the opportunity to live a healthier and more enjoyable lifestyle.

“Many Nigerians are still not fitness aware and many more who are aware are not motivated or willing to commit to living a healthier lifestyle,” said Foluso Ogunwale founder and chief executive officer of iFitness Center Ltd at the unveiling of the firm’s branch in Ikeja, Lagos recently.

According to Ogunwale, making fitness common is crucial to us. The more common it gets, the more access there is to more Nigerians. No doubt, when people live a healthier lifestyle, they become more produc-

HBL TEAM

tive to themselves, more productive in their workplace, and more importantly, they are available to live happily with their family.

“Physical fitness has a lot to do with life expectancy in the country and people are not conscious of the importance of exercise, they live life in a way that their health begins to decline.”

He added that providing a fitness chain is the solution! That is; making fitness common in Nigeria by providing a chain of decent, convenient and affordable fitness centers.

“Therefore, we have to unlock the market by providing an experience (a fun experience) in each of

these centers to inspire our members into embracing the lifestyle and taking charge of their health.”

“When people fail to do regular exercise, it could result in them having high blood pressure, diabetes, even at a younger age. What we are trying to do is to raise awareness on the importance of exercise.

This way, premature deaths, and diseases will be far away from those that regularly engage in regular exercise,” he said.

Diabetes as of last year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2018 report, kills 1.6 million people annually and 17 million die of cardiovascular problems.

Blood donors have lesser risks of getting cancer CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

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ational Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) says blood donors have lesser risks of getting cancer.

Daniel Oshiame, coordinator, South-South zonal centre of National Blood Transfusion Service, said in an interview with BusinessDay in Benin City “There are benefits for donating blood, those that donate have less risks of getting cancer later in life, have fresh blood and live healthy lifestyle and you can hardly see them get hepatitis B and HIV”, he said.

Oshiame, however, urged Nigerians to donate blood voluntarily to reduce the high rate of maternal deaths as well as increase life expectancy rate in Nigeria.

He noted that more than 90 percent of women died during childbirth is as a result of insufficient blood.

“We want Nigerians to understand the concept of blood donation. Blood donor saves lives. We encourage Nigerians to always donate blood.

“Normally, for a man you can donate four times a year in every three months while a woman can donate three times a year in every four months but for the people that sell their blood they do not wait for this time because they need the money”, he stated.

Oshiame further said that the shortfall of blood units across the 17 National Blood Transfusion centres in the country noting that Nigeria need estimated 38,000 blood units daily and over 1 million units an-

nually.

“There have been deficits in the daily blood units from the 17 centres in Nigeria, thereby impeding the country’s blood gap with other countries.

“The State has recorded over 500 voluntary blood donation so far in 2019 and another 400 first donors from churches, schools among others.

“Even the blood we get now is very little compared to our target.

Every day, we need 38,000 blood units and in a year about 1million but right now the way things are we are not able to meet the target because of so many factors.

“But thank God for the federal government that have been supporting us and it has released funds and hopefully, very soon we will be able to reach our target”, he added.

Oshiame, however, identified blood merchants, religion and economic challenges as some of the major cause of low turnout of blood donor volunteers in the country.

“The challenge is that most Nigerians do not understand the importance of blood donation. Also, blood merchants have been a major obstacle. These blood merchants call people and those people will come, donate and pay them.

“Another challenge is religion and economic situation of the country. So, most people will prefer to sell blood and get money than to just donate voluntary because of the economic situation”, he stated.

He called on the National Assembly for a swift passage of the 2014 National Health Act Bill so as to regulate blood transfusion in the country.

‘More women are being diagnosed with depression’ SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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akare Ismail Afolabi, a Physician and senior medical officer in charge of Omupo cottage hospital in Irepodun local government area of Kwara State, has expressed concern over prevalence of depression amongst rural women.

According to him, research being conducted by the hospital at its psychiatric unit indicated that more women are being diagnosed with depression in the hospital.

He says: “From what we have seen, depression seems to be number one case of rural women.

“There are lots of things that affect women that we are not paying attention to. Women need empowerment; we need laws and advocacy that will support the cause of women.”

Afolabi, said this while delivering a health talk to mark the 2019 press week of the Kwara State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Ilorin, spokeonthetopic“Occupationalhealth hazard being faced by journalists”.

The medical expert identified ‘stress’ as a major health issue affecting journalists in Nigeria and their counterparts in the south- east Asia, saying “body’s reaction to normal life events, if not well managed could result into chronic one with resultant effects such as headache, poor sleep,

ANTHONIA OBOKOH / Reporters. Email: obokoh.anthonia@businessdayonline.com

and sexual dysfunctions “.

Afolabi, maintained that journalists just like other professionals were prone to “injuries, disease outbreak and epidemic,” in line of duties.

“We need to do more on journalists’ safety and to manage stress.

Stress is the number one list factor for mental health in Journalists, “he said.

Afolabi explained that chronic stress could set in when there is a “rise in heart beat, blood sugar, and rise in adrenal level”.

Causes of stress according to him include “uncertainty in political dispensation, poverty, social issues, and economic problem among others”.

For proper management of stress, the medical expert counselled Nigerians to develop a positive attitude to life. He says: “we should have believed that all will be well, know your limit, and know that this is the level you can go. Consider your health first, be assertive, be optimistic, learn to say no and be realistic to yourself”.

He opined that home management of stress could also be achieved by consuming oath meals, cereals, cabbage, smoked fish and also engaging in coordinated exercise which he says will prevent memory loss especially, at old age.

He however, cautioned that indulgence “in drugs, ilicite sexual activities” is not solution to stress management”.

I Samuel Iduh, Graphics

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

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How 9% communication tax on calls, SMS, data puts more pressure on financial inclusion FRANK ELEANYA

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hen the proposed communication tax bill becomes law, consumers of telecommunication services will need to pay an additional N9 for every N100 recharge card or an extra N90 for every N1,000 data plan.

Importantly, the push to include more than 40 million Nigerians that are financially excluded is likely to lose steam as many poor people will willfully deny themselves access because of the added cost of communication.

The communication tax bill, a brainchild of former senate leader, Ali Ndume, Chairman Senate Committee on Army, is being proposed as a substitute for the planned 7.5 percent increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) by the federal government of Nigeria. President Buhari during his 2020 budget presentation clarified that the VAT increase affects only businesses with N20 million turnover and not small businesses.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its partnering institutions which include commercial banks, fintech companies, and nonprofit organizations, are betting on the country’s very impressive mobile penetration number at about 173 million mobile lines to widen financial inclusion net. The CBN has a deadline of 2020 to reach 80 million people, but with the tax bill becoming law the apex bank could miss its target.

“Another ill-timed and poorly conceived tax just like

the new Police Fund Levy,” said Taiwo Oyedele, partner and West Africa Tax Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).” Hopefully, these events will be a wake-up call for Nigerians to start asking questions about tax during elections as is the case in other climes.”

The communication tax bill plans to impose and collect communication services tax (CST or levy) on charges payable by consumers of electronic communication services in Nigeria (excluding private electronic communication services) at the rate of 9 percent.

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Electronic communication services that fall under the levy include voice calls, SMS, MMS, data usage (both from telecommunication services providers and internet service providers), pay per view TV stations, etc.

For instance, an SMS which previously cost N4 comes at an extra charge N4.90. A DSTV compact option previously sold at N6900 will then cost N7,521 with N621 being the extra 9 percent charge going to the government.

In 2018, Nigerians spent 114 billion minutes on calls valued at N2.7 trillion. The

total value of text messages in the same year was at N39 billion while N68 billion went to data plan purchase according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Using the 2018 sector numbers, the federal government is likely to rake in N260 billion from the proposed communication tax.

The tax is to be paid together with the electronic communication service charge payable to the service provider by the user of the service. The FIRS is the agency responsible for collecting the tax from service providers and remitting it to

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the federation account.

It is also payable whether or not the person making the supply is permitted or authorised to provide electronic communications services.

Penalty for failure to file returns on or before the due date to FIRS is N50,000 and an additional N10,000 for each day the returns are not submitted.

“The 9 percent tax will reduce the number of subscribers. Add SARS, multiple taxes, lack of infrastructure, etc, and you kill one of the few sectors that offer an alternative path to oil,” said Gbenga Sesan, executive director of Paradigm

@Businessdayng

Initiative. “Why not grow the sector to earn from corporate taxes, and income taxes that come with new jobs?”

When passed by a twothirds majority of the National Assembly and assented to by the President, the communication tax will be adding to the already existing transaction charges that consumers have to pay. One of them is the N50 Stamp Duty imposed on every Point of Sale (POS) transaction above N1,000.

Currently, all electronic fund transfer cost N50 whereas USSD also comes with different charges. When initiating a transaction via USSD, every process is charged by the network provider.

Depending on how many steps required to complete the transaction, users can pay as much as N50. Banks like Access Bank charge N84 for fund transfer to other banks and the user must have airtime to initiate a USSD transaction.

The bill titled ‘Communication Tax Bill 2019 (SB.12) has passed the first reading at Senate plenary last week on Wednesday. It is expected to go for a second reading.

However, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have both condemned the bill.

“If the passage of this bill goes through, it would negatively impact Nigerians and foreigners that use these services,” Olusola Teniola, president of ATCON said in a statement. “The implementation of this CST bill would take the affordability of data services out of the reach of the citizenry.”

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BUSINESS DAY

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ENTERTAINMENT

Kechi Live In Concert: Homecoming for a songstress at SBS OBINNA EMELIKE

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n October 5, 2019, the stage at Standard Bearers School, Lekki, Lagos, was on fire for the Kechi Live In Concert.

Kechi Okwuch, a NigerianAmerican singer, thrilled the guests at the 22nd anniversary of school with melodious renditions, serenading tunes and rhythms that saw the cheerful guests dancing in appreciation.

But the wonderful performance was amid the scars all over Kechi’s body, which ordinary should have been her biggest challenge, yet she rode on the visible odd to deliver beyond the expectations of her Nigerian audience at the concert.

Kechi was one of the two survivors in the Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crash on December 10, 2005 that claimed 107 lives, 60 of which were her school mates from Loyola Jesuit College.

She received third degree burns over 65 percent of her body and was given a 30 percent chance of survival.

Today, she is not just a survivor, but an achiever in entertainment, motivational speaking, activism, among others.

Kechi was a speaker at TedxEuston where she gave a talk titled Girls- know thyself, she later took part in the Season 12 of America’s Got Talent in 2017 as a singer, and finished the competition as a finalist. She later participated in America’s Got Talent: The Champions in 2019, where Simon Cowell gave her the golden buzzer, sending her straight to the final, though she did not come in the top 5.

With all these going for her despite the scars on all over her body, especially her face, Kechi is one singer you must listen to, hence the maximum attention and appreciation she received while performing at SBS Lekki.

Her song titled ‘Don’t You

Dare’ was the highlight for most of the guests because of the quality, beautiful rhythm, stage craft and message.

The song challenged people, especially the youths not to give up their talents amid difficulties, but persevere until they actualise their dreams.

Amazed by her sonorous voice and stage craft, the guests attested to the fact that Kechi is gifted, a superwoman and has moved on from her ugly experience of the air crash.

In an interactive media session shortly before she mounted the stage at SBS, Kechi said, it was an honour to be invited by Standard Bearers School to perform in her home country. It was the first time the diva performed in front of audience, who knew her story often told in American TV shows.

“It is an honour to be back in my home country to perform on stage at the Standard Bearers School and to celebrate superwomen in the country”, she said.

While in the country and during her performance, Kechi felt accepted and supported by Nigerians and Standard Bearers School, both of which constituted 70 percent of her fans. “Most

people that care about what is happening in my life are Nigerians. I feel supported by Nigerians and SBS. I am happy to be a mouth-piece for promoting the good things that are happening by telling our story abroad. It is great to be home”, she said.

Kechi’s journey in music started before the plane crash in 2005 as she had always loved music.

Though the crash changed her physical appearance, it did not affect her voice; it even improved after her physiotherapy treatment in a hospital in the United States of America.

“My journey in music started

prior to the plane crash. I have always loved music. But miraculously after the air crash my voice changed; my voice was not all that good before the crash. I remembered music when I was in coma. I woke up knowing songs that I did not even know before I went into coma”, she explained.

Speaking at the concert, Modupe Adeyinka Oni, founder, Standard Bearers School, described Kechi Okwuchi as the miracle girl, who did not allow her circumstance to rob her destiny, adding that she has become a spotlight for the whole world.

“Today, we celebrate super-

woman. But Kechi who survived the Sosoliso plane crash of 2005, has moved on with her life to explore what life has in stock for her. She is today a personality that the world listens to because of the great story of her experience”, Oni said.

On the reason for inviting Kechi to perform at the SBS 22nd anniversary, the founder said it was an opportunity for the plane crash survivor to express herself in music since she has not sang in the country before. Oni also said she has love for spotting and supporting talents among young people and to push them to greatness.

“I love talents. I love the stage because I love to see people who have talents to be on stage. I have always loved the unique angle to people. I love to take up big production probably because I have what it takes.

“I contacted Kechi on phone and told her about our intention to put her on stage at home. I felt that she has not sang in Nigeria before and she can do so during the celebration of SBS and Kechi accepted our invitation”, Oni said further.

The founder explained further that in SBS talent is a great deal, as the school has sponsored live stage performances at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Lagos, and today, many beneficiaries of its talent harvest are doing great in music and acting across the world.

However, the concert was also a platform to celebrate SBS achievements and its contribution in spotting and pushing talent among women in the country since inception in 1997.

Recently, Standard Bearers School’s Brainsquad girls won a Technovation Competition in Silicon Valley United States of America; by developing an educational app that provides crowd funding for financing the education of millions children from poor homes in the country.

Glenfiddich Mavericks experimental night returns to Lagos with a bang IFEOMA OKEKE

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agos will be enveloped by ecstasy and fun on October 18, 2019 as the ‘Glenfiddich Mavericks Experimental Night’ returns to Nigeria’s commercial capital with a big bang.

Famous for creating a concert-like atmosphere where people can socialize against

the backdrop of great music, whisky and specially curated musical performances, this year’s rendezvous will feature renowned musical icons and true mavericks including Femi Kuti, Flavour, Bez and The Compozers (all the way from the UK).

Last year, the premium single malt whisky took entertainment and artistry several notches higher by introducing its experimental series – a sewww.businessday.ng

ries that builds on the brand’s age-long tradition of innovation and consistently pushing the limits of consumer experience.

Famed for always creating experiences that’s all about experimentation with trailblazers in the Nigeria music scene, ‘the Glenfiddich Mavericks Experimental Night,’ scheduled to hold at the Balmoral Convention Centre,

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Federal Palace, Victoria Island, Lagos, promises a more electrifying and scintillating outing than last year.

The Experimental Series is a distinctive range of Glenfiddich that combines the brand’s passion for pushing Scotch whisky boundaries and collaborating with trailblazers from the whisky world and beyond, which is evident in the creation of the phenom@Businessdayng

enal Glenfiddich Experimental Night.

Glenfiddich has always been an experiential whisky, providing its consumers with unique ways to enjoy it by consistently creating disruptive and spectacular shows for them. So, save the date!

‘Glenfiddich Mavericks Experimental night is definitely a must-attend for every discerning connoisseur.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

ENTERTAINMENT From Board Room to Dinner Room

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

JANET ADETU

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ot to catch you off guard but many times you are called to attend a corporate event after work hours. How prepared are you for such occasions?

Don’t forget your appearance speaks to your organizations brand, your image and the work culture of your workplace. You may have been pre-informed or you may not know at all either way when you step out to go to work will you be found wanting? Your image plays a major role in defining who you are and how you would like others to view and perceive you.

I agree though that not every day should be dress up day, at times you need a dress down day where you are slightly relaxed, calm and free without too much hassle.

Even at that it is no excuse for looking uncoordinated, rough and lackadessical. I say this because unfortunately in many instances I have seen people take less care in how they dress for work.

Could this be because there is no dress code that exists or that it is being flouted? Could it be that nobody is watching so who cares?

Or is it that until one is corrected everyone does what they like?

Recently two friends shared their experiences having just finished a major departmental meeting at senior level, when they were

surprisingly asked to represent their organization at an unprecedented corporate dinner event that would have in attendance some of their high net worth clients. At the time, they were both given such short notice that it was impossible to go home and prepare properly for the evening. It may have been a little less stressful if the event was a cocktail where smart casual is an accepted norm, it only had to be the height of formal events, a dinner dance. They had to make do with the exact look they came to work with on the day. Sadly, they both expressed how not being preinformed or prepared impacted the entire evening. The result was that at the event they felt under dressed, a little out of place, unsuited and somewhat embarrassed.

When I asked why the answer was simple, dressing to belong in any gathering should not be taken lightly. Everyday makes a difference, image is indeed everything, the direct impact resonates in many ways. When you think deeper these are my thoughts: i.

Your look sets the tone for successful networking ii. Your appearance speaks volumes from a distance iii. Reputation is hard to maintain if you take your eye off the ball iv. A big asset that we all have is confidence but little things can kill it v.

Build your own personality and style that represents you well vi. To be addressed well is to dress well vii. You only get one chance to make and uphold a good first impression

viii. Never let your guard down and settle for second best put your best foot forward ix. Respect and courtesy does not come naturally to everyone avoid sabotaging your image x. It is not about the big things anymore but the small things that truly matter.

Just in case this happens to be you one day I have a few quick tips to position you better for that unexpected corporate event.

Quick Tips to Prepare You From Board Room to Dinner Room A little Extra If you are fortunate to know about the event it wise to bring a little extra change of clothing.

An extra dress shirt plus tie in the office will always serve a great purpose. Hardly can you wear a dinner dress all day long during work hours. If the event is formal and it is expected that you are coming from the office add a little extra corporate dress suit to change into to give yourself that fresh look.

Z

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yond the physical beauty of an African Mama, Zidiq took time to eulogize the internal beauty, which is made up of all round love, indefatigable care, compassion, respect, wisdom, faithfulness, truthfulness and non-violence. It is the sum of human cherished values that sets African women apart among their counterparts.

African Mama is the first of its kind in not just Nigeria but the African music scene. It is a perfect blend of the widely accepted Afro sound garnished with the energetic electro dance music tune called Afro Electronic Dance Music (AEDM), which is the height of this form of creativity and is the brain child of Anacaona Records.

The satisfactorily tuneful song is produced and mixed by Irish producers Brian Sheil and Alex Flood, released from the stables of Anacaona Records. It is exciting to know that more mindblowing projects are coming from this history-making international record label headed by Michel Dessources Jr as other super talented artistes from across Africa and beyond are also signed under this label.

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Touch up This is the best time to freshen up your face, remember your grooming audit routine. Check yourself from head to toe as you brighten up your look. Do not take this stage for granted learn a new skill as regards applying makeup to give you that day to evening look. Remember it is not in how much you wear but how you compliment your overall look Hairstay Finally, your hair you know how best you look once you fix your hair.

Whether it is long or short just keep it neat. Smarten up your moustache and/ or beard if you have decided to grow one.

Remember in the boardroom you are accepted for who and how you are. Outside what they see first is what they get no opportunity to change any negative notion derived. Well the biggest addition I can add to all these is just wear a smile for the evening dressed up or down.

Network as best you can and build up on your personality.

Wishing you the best now you cannot be caught by such a surprise!

Janet.adetu@gmail,com quetteconsortium.com @janetadetu

Jacket juggler Men to maintain your formal look you will need a jacket for that

OBINNA EMELIKE

mu l t i - t a l e nte d vo ca l power house, dexterously sang the praise of the irresistible beauty of the African woman. For the beautiful face, an external elegance of shape, great hair and smooth skin, to name a few, a perfect mix of both the physical beauty and internal beauty adorns the ‘feet-andbody-moving’ jam. Be-

At times you need a dress down day where you are slightly relaxed, calm and free without too much hassle

Stylish Shoes No outfit is complete without that gorgeous pair of shoes to compliment it. Men can get away with it here and go almost unnoticed.

As a elegant woman spice up your look by choosing that elegant appearance to help you stride with panache. There is nothing wrong with keeping a pair of outing shoes in your office as a backup contingency for those special unannounced days.

African Mama is my special gift to every music lover in Africa – Zidiq idiq is a fast-rising Nigerian afropop artiste signed to Anacaona Records, an American-based record label. He just dropped his first single under the label titled African Mama, which is currently enjoying massive airplay on top radio stations across the nation.

Speaking at an interview recently, Zidiq made the assertion of his uniqueness in the music space. His undying love for house music cannot be underplayed in what inspires his unique style.

He has also never hidden his admiration for the vocal prowess of Wande Coal, the energetic vibes of Burna Boy, as well as, the royal swaggz of the Queen of House music – Niniola In African Mama, the

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evening event. Women, if you may be wearing a dress suit to work, the good thing with such is that once you have to step up your look unlike men you can remove the jacket, add the right accessories and you will just appear all glammed up.

janet.adetu@jsketi-

Happy Reading!

EbonyLife films kicks off campaign for Your Excellency

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bonyLife Films, producer of Fifty, The Wedding Party movies and Chief Daddy has kicked off the promotional campaign for Your Excellency, its latest feature film and the social-media-driven political comedy with the official cinema poster.

The colourful artwork features Akin Lewis as Chief Olalekan Ajadi, Funke Akindele-Bello as his wife, Kemi, and some of Nollywood’s most popular actors, including (in alphabetical order): Kemi ‘Lala’ Akindoju, Shaffy Bello, Kunle Coker, Eku Edewor, Emmanuel ‘EmmaOMG’ Edunjobi, Alexx Ekubo, Oreka Godis, Osas Ighodaro, Mike Iheuwa, Aletile ‘Seyi Law’ Lawrence, Bimbo Manuel, Deyemi Okanlawon, Ini Dima-Okojie, Chioma ‘Chigul’ Omeruah, Ikechukwu Onunaku, Helen Paul and Toni Tones.

The poster’s images depict the hilarious antics of the characters, as they vie for social media significance. The tagline, ‘What’s politics without a party?’ hints at the ir@Businessdayng

resistible music and dancing that makes the movie perfect for the holiday season.

Your Excellency tells the story of a bumbling, billionaire businessman and failed presidential candidate, who becomes a credible contender – all through the power of social media. As the drama unfolds, it seems possible that even a perpetual loser, written off by everyone, can pose a serious challenge for the presidency. Directed

by Nollywood’s queen of comedy, Funke AkindeleBello, the movie is funny and touching in equal measure, as it shows the importance love and loyalty play in facing life’s challenges.

Mo Abudu, the executive producer, is already excited about the film. “Every Christmas, we aim to deliver a feelgood, family movie for our viewers, and Your Excellency is no exception. This time, we have Nigeria’s funniest woman as both lead actor and first-time director, and she delivers on both counts.

The audience is in for a treat,” she said.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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INSIGHT International Literacy Day 2019: Promoting education, literacy and youth development comes to the fore SEGUN ADAMS

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alongside the Nigerian University Games Association, launched the Higher Institutions Football League (HiFL), a new narrative, one that conveniently unites education and sports was birthed.

It quickly became the most legitimate platform for youth education and sports development.

Soon after the maiden edition of the league ended, to reward success with exclusive privilege, the management of the University of Agriculture Makurdi awarded its football team, UAM Tillers, scholarships for winning the competition, a scholarship that would last till the students complete their education in the institution.

PACE Sports might have provided the right fusion for education and sports development, however, its partnership with one

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For us at VISTA, we see sports as a language – a language of passion, determination, discipline, focus and resilience. We admire the lads who give their all on the pitch of play and still excel in their academic pursuits

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opular American human rights activist, Malcolm X, once said that “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. To Malcolm X, it is not easy to define education and the extent to which it can alter the life of a human being and even affect society as a whole.

This is because when someone develops a passion for learning, it is a world of great change, sometimes a transition from obscurity to light, other times from an empty mind to a purposeful and open one, or even from constant stagnation towards growth and limitless discovery.

In Nigeria, the maxim “illiteracy is a disease” which has now subtly turned into local parlance, best describes the important role that education and more importantly what being literate plays in the life of a person. Perhaps, this and several other factors account for why, every September 8, Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Literacy Day. Serving primarily to educate the public on issues of public concern while giving opportunity for the governments, civil societies and stakeholders to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, the World Literacy Day is a key component of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (goal 4) to ensure all young people achieve literacy and numeracy and that adults who lack these skills are given the opportunity to acquire them.

In 2018, when PACE Sports and Entertainment Marketing

of Africa’s largest manufacturers of back-to-school products and office stationery products, VISTA

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International Limited, is doing more to convey the company’s commitment to improving education through sports.

For VISTA, literacy means more than just the ability to read and write but also the progressive capacity to develop knowledge and competence in a specific area. While commenting on the theme of the 2019 celebration – “Literacy and Multilingualism’, CEO, VISTA, International Limited, Ratan Varyani, states that the theme is appropriate and timely especially because it came at the time when the company is throwing its weight behind collegiate football and enhancing education through the Higher institutions football league (HiFL).

“For us at VISTA, we see sports as a language – a language of passion, determination, discipline, focus and resilience. We admire the lads who give their all on the pitch of play and still excel in their academic pursuits. It is why we continue to collaborate with growth-driven projects like HiFL to further support and advance holistic education,” said Neeraj Vaidya, chief commercial officer, VISTA. At the moment, VISTA has produced over 1 million exercise books for Nigerian students, with players participating in the league donning its covers. Each of these books with pictures of players on the cover page will not only promote the players, their institutions of learning, and the league in entirety, it will also serve as a fuel for the future generations that their dreams are valid too and that they too can one day @Businessdayng

be celebrated in pursuit of their dreams.

In his comments, Vaidya said the brand spurs the players on to focus on achieving academic and football successes.

Vista aims to be a brand that students, especially in secondary schools, can look up to, while aspiring to achieve similar or even bigger success, should they find football as their passion, he said.

For PACE Sports and Entertainment Marketing, the partnership with VISTA is a step in the right direction towards achieving the objectives of the league, which is to position Nigeria as a global campus football powerhouse while empowering and showcasing local talents. These local talents are to be found in the four walls of the higher institutions and it is imperative that through partnerships such as the one with VISTA, they are supported to be seen and felt beyond the institutions of learning that they represent.

Although the literacy rate is distributed unevenly across the world, there is a need to focus on the diversity in languages across national boundaries especially as it concerns literacy. It remains important to support the exciting harmony that exists between sports, especially football and education while helping to build capacity for the youth as a core metric for progress and development.

Indeed, it is exciting times for Nigerian students and youth alike with Vista and HiFL leading the charge in promoting and sustaining education and literacy.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

INTERVIEW I chose Real estate because it is one of the easiest means of becoming successful legally - Obinna Azonobi Advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Analytics and other areas of Technology have grown exponentially in the 21st century. This evolution has led to a disruption of various sectors of the economy. Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) is aware of this disruption and seeks to equip young people with 21st century skills needed for success in a rapidly changing future. In this interview, NIYI YUSUF, a JAN Partner in Development, the Managing Partner, Verraki Partners who is also a Board Member of JAN, speaks on how policymakers can solve the problem of youth unemployment thereby scaling up the work of Non-Profit organizations, such as Junior Achievement Nigeria. Excerpts.

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and ourselves, create internal projects to deploy the use of AI e.g. automate repetitive tasks like reconciliation, customer service, chat sessions; and also then deploy these solutions for clients.

hat is your relationship with JAN? I am one of 10 Board Members responsible for providing strategic guidance, direction setting, financial resources and volunteers to Junior Achievement’s operations in Nigeria and ensuring that JA complies with applicable regulatory standards and the high-quality standards associated with the JA brand worldwide. My engagement with JAN goes back eighteen years ago, from when I was a young consultant in Andersen Consulting. I became a Board Member during my previous role as Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria.

What has been your experience since you joined JAN? JAN has come a long way in twenty years, from a period where companies pay lip service to CSR or have any volunteering culture, to now, where JAN has pioneered impactful CSR and the volunteering culture in Nigeria. JAN is dedicated to teaching youth about entrepreneurship, financial literacy, the working of the modern economics, digital literacy and continues to run programmes that teaches young people how to impact the community in a sustainable manner by running businesses with a purpose, giving back to the community, driving real change and generally making the world a better place.

According to the Global Skills Index released by Coursera, about two-thirds of the world’s population is lagging in critical skills and about 90 percent of this group can be found in developing economies. It is not surprising that in Nigeria we continue to lag in critical skills, given the low quality of pedagogy in our institutions, poor funding, inadequate resources and failing education infrastructure.

At JAN, we believe that building a stronger future for our country is a collective responsibility. We must make deliberate investments not only to upskill our youths and provide them access to technology but also in fostering an entrepreneurship, resilient and innovative mind-set in them. JAN embodies this commitment to upskilling our youths, hence the volunteers, sponsors and supporters they have garnered over the last 20 years.

Speaking of technology, how would you explain artificial intelligence to the lay man?

Artificial Intelligence or AI is when human beings design machines (what some people would call computers) to have in-built intelligence and be able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, which is underpinned by fast access to large storage of previous interactions, records, data and then connecting the dots which help to identify a trend and anticipate responses to varied situations.

AI is what makes machines have enough intelligence to look at data, spot trends, connect various dots and be able to provide a response even to a previously unknown situation. While human beings have self-awareness, social, business and emotional intelligence aiding our ability to respond to various known and unknown situations, machines will only

How can organisations like JA Nigeria prepare our youth in the age of AI? It is popularly said that knowledge is power. I think the first thing to consider is exposure; let youths know that there is a new phenomenon called AI and what it means and how it is used for good. Because again everything is a double-edged sword; a knife could be used to spread butter or cut someone. So, I recommend Junior Achievement Nigeria teaches AI. Sow the seed while our youths are in primary or secondary school, sow the seed in their minds, and create the awareness.

The second is when we are running our JA Company Programs, we can develop projects or businesses around AI like what we are seeing now in Lagos where quite a few Fintechs and startups are creating interesting and amazing products using new technology concepts. There is nothing stopping us from having our Company Program students embracing the use of AI in the development of their products. Verraki is ready to work with JA Nigeria to pilot the integration of basic AI principles into the Company Program, to build an army of young Nigeria talents that can begin to leverage AI.

Obinna Azonobi

Niyi Yusuf

do what they have been programmed to do. Now we have taken machines a notch further to give them a sense of ability to respond to unknown situations using historical or similar occurrences and machines are now able to demonstrate visual perception, speech recognition, decisionmaking, translation between languages, predict traffic situations, suggest books to read or video to watch.

Automation has always been accompanied by a loss of jobs. Considering the unemployment rate in Nigeria (23.1 percent), why should companies embrace AI? We do not have a choice than to embrace change because AI would come whether we deliberately embrace it or not, a smarter question we should ask is ‘How to prepare for it’? Out of about 7 billion people in the world, Nigerians are only about 200 million and if we refuse to evolve with the rest of the world, no one will wait for us. So, it would be in our interest to prepare for it. And on job losses and automation, I would argue that automation has a net positive effect although it affects individuals in different ways. Some individuals may lose their jobs while some individuals may get better jobs but, on the aggregate, the world has always been better because of automation. This is the fourth industrial revolution, we started off as farmers and them move to the industrial age and people lost jobs but, on the aggregate, the industrial age expanded territories, conquered new markets, created new products and also created new kind of jobs. In the United States of America, with a population of about 330 million, less than two percent of the population are in

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the agriculture sector, gradually declining as the years go by but interestingly, agricultural yield has increased tremendously because they now use advancements in technology to improve seeds varieties, soil testing, fertilizers and other innovations. If history is anything to go by, I say that with AI, we are more likely to create more jobs though there would certainly be job losses in certain sectors because the number of routine repetitive tasks are likely to go and would be taken over by AI and robots. More jobs will be created around design; humancentered design. Now people talk about roles like data scientists, user experience designer or cyber security which clearly didn’t exist many years ago. Many jobs will disappear, but many new jobs will also be created. I think the challenge is how one develops skills and competencies to be relevant in the new world but I’m optimistic that in the end, we would create more jobs.

Sadly, of recent, most inventions start from the West, where they are likely to gain the benefits before we do and that keeps me up at night. What will the effect of these new technologies be on Africa?

There has been an uptick in activity within the AI space in Nigeria. How is your organisation using AI? We’ve been having conversations with clients and with ourselves in terms of where AI can be used. The first thing is to understand what AI is, so we have undertaken training programs to better understand topics like Design Thinking, Machine Learning, Artificial Learning, Robotics Process Automation (RPA). That is the first step; to get everybody to understand the new way and to speak the lingua and then we can now have conversations with clients

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What practical steps should policy makers take to smooth the transition to the age of AI? First thing is to understand what AI is, and the second thing is to understand the implications and then the third would be to know ‘thyself’. Where are we as a nation in terms of AI? How mature are we in adopting AI? Then define how we can use AI. Once we know how close or how far we are, we can then define a strategy of how to bridge the gap. Develop a strategy of how we want to embrace it, not how we want to hide from it. We also need to make sure that we are inclusive so that we do not create different classes; those who are AI aware and those that are AI blind.

We wouldn’t want to create that inequality, so the thing is how do we make every Nigerian to be AI informed or AI aware at the basic level? I believe JA Nigeria can help because given the number of students that we reach, number of volunteers or partners that we have, our ecosystem; if we preach and spread the A.I gospel or technology gospel as it were, we could help people become more knowledgeable.

Also, from a skills perspective, the fourth industrial revolution and digital economy we are experiencing will require an army of technologists; whether Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality or Robotics who will build and foster this new world.

Nigeria can quickly take advantage of these and develop people that will play a major role in this new world, similar to what China has done. JA Nigeria and other players can work together to skill our youth and position them to be active players and contributors to the emerging technology driven world.

@Businessdayng

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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INTERVIEW ‘We need to get the tariff right to fix issues in the oil & gas sector’

Femi Omotayo is the managing director of AOS Orwell. In this interview with journalists, he spoke about the strides his organisation is making in the oil and gas industry and major issues that affect indigenous players. Josephine Okojie was there. Excerpts: Can you comment on your advent in the oil and gas business? he company that is AOS Orwell today, was birthed out of a growth mandate as well as the recognition of a need.

A need for an indigenous company, with the ability to provide integrated, end-to-end project management solutions in-country, within the full scope of the oilfield servicing industry. Today, AOS Orwell is an indigenous oilfield servicing company, operating in Nigeria and Ghana, in the areas of wellbore construction, process automation and control and oilfield tubular as well as accessory manufacturing and repair services. We like to believe that ours is a company made by Nigerians, delivered by Nigerians and inspired by Nigerians.

our ‘local boys’ handling the same control system wires, I get a good feeling. This is very encouraging and the industry has been supportive. The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has also done well in instilling trust and propelling positive actions in the furtherance of local content in Nigeria. For us at AOS Orwell, we have always been committed to local content even before the law backed it up. We have two world-class schools, one in Lagos, and the other in Port Harcourt where we train young indigenous engineers and help them build capacity in the areas of process automation and control and the other in fishing. We were successful in partnering with the Lagos Energy Academy to train over 50 Engineers, with 60% of them having jobs upon completion of their programme, 4 of those jobs were with international companies.

That programme is internationally certified by Siemens and runs continually, with different batches receiving hands-on training within 6 months.

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Femi Omotayo

Do you think this is the right time to attract investment for local players in the oil and gas sector?

It is only when we can look back; that we can appreciate how far we have come. There was a time when there were absolutely no Nigerian companies playing in this field.

At some point, Nigerians were missing out on project sharing.

Gaius Obaseki, the former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was the first man to give us freedom. He started publishing the contracts before they were awarded. This gave Nigerians better insights into the contracts available on ground and helped them stand a better chance of winning bids. Then in terms of available funding, Chukuma Soludo, former central bank governor came and consolidated and made it possible for Nigerian banks to offer reasonable money. So, we are gradually getting better. We now have Nigerians with off-shore rigs that work and Nigerians owning oil fields.

The capacity of indigenous firms has increased now.

The outlook for Africa’s Oil & Gas Industry is positive in the middle of troubled operating and economic headwinds. With oil prices steadily on the rise towards pre-collapse levels, internal and external conditions have arm-twisted oil and gas companies to be more efficient especially in the areas of cost. This no doubt, has impacted the way indigenous companies www.businessday.ng

in the oilfield servicing industry operate. Investors as well, now, more than ever, have an increased need for clarity and certainty in making key investments against this backdrop.

In your opinion, how far do you think local content has come and what has been the impact on businesses?

The local content is a jewel for indigenous companies operating in Nigeria. The Local Content Act, which has built what we see today, is evidence that we have what it takes to be world-class. For example, when I was growing up, I was told that Africans cannot make control systems, and I believed because it was complex. Today, when I walk into our workshop and see

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So, we are gradually getting better. We now have Nigerians with off-shore rigs that work and Nigerians owning oil fields

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What differentiates AOS Orwell from other indigenous oilfield servicing companies?

Beyond being a dependable partner, one of the major things that stand AOS Orwell out from the crowd of other companies like ours is capacity. We build capacity and we have built this capacity phenomenally. We arguably have the largest capacity of any indigenous company within this industry in the country, except for the big Engineering Procurement and Construction’s (EPC’s). We run the ‘total-package’ model which allows us to take on projects of any scale from supply chain, all the way through to maintenance.

So, we source, deliver, monitor and maintain the entire process from start to finish. When we are done, we deliver a world-class turnkey project. We are also open to partnership and one of the things we have been able to successfully do is partnerships.

We have a robust and committed team of partners in leading global organizations like Emerson, Eaton, Hoebiger, Metal One, and Dettronics among others.

We are truly indigenous, employing top-notch technology transfer to build local content across the entire scope of our operations. This way, we build the needed capacity in-country, harness it, grow it and pass it on down as a means of retaining the knowledge. We pride ourselves as being an equal opportunity employer and frown seriously at discrimination against any employee because of race, colour, religion, nationality, sex or any other related tags. Finally, we solve our clients’ pains, on schedule, according to budget and according to the quality they are expecting.

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What are some milestones that set AOS Orwell’s footprints in the sands of time?

Being an indigenous company and operating in the sometimes difficult terrain of the industry here in Nigeria, we are so proud of some of the feats we have achieved. For instance, we are the largest fishing company in the whole of West Africa and this is not contested. We are also the largest machine shop in Nigeria when you drill down to capacity and licenses. We have three machine shops, one in TransAmadi, Port Harcourt, one in Onne and one in Takoradi, Ghana. Besides, we were the first indigenous oilfield servicing company to assemble drill bits in-country in 2010.

We opened the first internationally certified fishing training school in West Africa, in 2010 as well. We also opened the first drilling jar certified service shop.

What are some of the innovations you have deployed using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the oil and gas industry?

The oil industry is a slow learner. It requires a very precise skill set. So, it is not yet robust in that aspect.

However, in terms of data, that is where you see Artificial Intelligence shine. In drilling, for example, you do not use AI. However, in the plant itself, you use AI. For example, we have pervasive sensing so basically, this is the measurement in the field. Your transmitter can do many oculus to remotely control what the engineers on the field are doing. You can identify the @Businessdayng

right transmitter remotely. It can also project the procedure needed to address the specific job being done per time. So definitely, Artificial Intelligence has its place even in a unique operating environment as we have in Nigeria.

Can you tell us about your multimillion dollar facility in Port Harcourt and the local content outlook?

Our state-of-the-art facility in Trans-Amadi, Port Harcourt is excellent. The entire facility sits on a 56,000sqm landmass and hosts our corporate office and the entire drilling and wireline services that we provide. In there, you also have our machine shop, which is well-equipped with welding and fabrication capabilities. So in Port Harcourt, we build control systems, we assemble valves, we build switchgear, we build conductor casing, rotating equipment, skids and much more. Today, we have been able to domicile many services that predominantly used to be imported into the country.

Can you tell us how AOS Orwell is giving back to the society?

For us at AOS Orwell, we strive to impact lives. The way I see it if you do not affect lives, work is meaningless. On the community side, we engage the community.

Some of the things we do entail us giving quality man-hours up to 16 hours per staff, going into schools across the different regions where we operate and mentoring the students across a wide range of topics. Some of us teach as well, while others engage in clean-up activities and other charitable ventures like donations to orphanage homes and so on. We also sponsor courses because we are practical in the impartation of knowledge.

Are you going to be part of LNG Train 7?

We will be working on the LNG Train 7 project. We are partners with the winners (Saipem Consortium). Therefore, we can provide end-to-end services on the valves and other aspects of the project.

What other projects are you looking forward to?

Bonga South West is something we all are looking forward to and very hopeful.

Are there major issues in the industry that affect indigenous operations?

We need to get the tariff right.

People say, it is expensive building locally, but that is a wrong perception. We have suffered the pains, we have put our necks out and we have seen that this is possible.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Harvard Business Review

MANAGEMENTDIGEST

Are your company’s strengths really weaknesses?

ADAM BRANDENBURGER

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ook at a map of the world drawn upside down. It’s a good way to challenge your assumptions about the way the world is — especially which continents and oceans are bigger and which are smaller.

Looking at the business world upside down has a similar effect: It challenges your assumptions about company characteristics and what they mean for an organization.

In an upside-down business world, big companies are brought down by their supposed strengths or toppled by smaller and seemingly weaker rivals.

Small companies find ways to turn deficiencies into advantages or to leverage the scale and capabilities of larger competitors against them.

In the right-side-up world, strengths remain strengths and weaknesses remain weaknesses. That does seem to hold true in stable environments where technologies and market structures are more or less fixed. But as many well-known strategy theories recognize, the business landscape is far from unchanging. More often than not, the upside-down world is the one we actually live in.

A venerable tool of business strategy, SWOT analysis, can help executives navigate this reality. Traditionally, this framework has you conduct an internal examination of your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, scan the landscape to identify external opportunities and threats , and then synthesize all four factors into a strategic plan.

The downside of traditional SWOT is that it doesn’t account for the more dynamic forces at work in business. A retooled framework recognizes that threats and opportunities can come from within as well as from without — and that not just your own capabilities and deficiencies but those of other players matter. Because of this, it has companies examine two addi-

tional factors: others’ strengths and others’ weaknesses. Critically, it acknowledges that the strengths of an organization may actually pose a threat to it while its weaknesses may present opportunities.

The idea that your strengths can turn into risks was expressed memorably by the Harvard Business School professor Dorothy Leonard, who argued that an organization’s core competencies often harden into “core rigidities.” Features that served the organization well in the past — such as its values, skills and managerial and technical systems — can become obstacles with new projects.

In his 1996 book “Only the Paranoid Survive,” the former Intel CEO Andy Grove went so far as to suggest that a company’s biggest core rigidity might be its top management. There’s an evolutionary process, he argued, by which people with the skills and mindset for the prevailing business environment rise to the top of an organization. And when the environment changes, as it inevitably does, they may be precisely the wrong people to lead the organization.

Strengths can also turn into threats at the industry level. Take

the taxi business. A market monopoly in many cities, it looked stronger than ever in 2009. That was the year a smartphone-enabled ride-hailing service, then called UberCab, was founded.

Over the next several years, many taxi businesses found out just how much their market dominance had let them ignore customer service and technology that could connect passengers and drivers. It’s a classic illustration of how a powerful market position can lead to life-threatening underinvestment in innovation.

SpaceX is playing the weakness-opportunity card against giant players such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin in space technology. SpaceX lacks the experience and financial resources of the incumbents. But those apparent weaknesses have led it to develop a series of innovations — such as the use of cheaper consumer electronics in its rocket components — that significantly reduce production costs.

The incumbents would need to unlearn some of their longstanding habits to make rockets the way SpaceX does.

The idea that your competitor’s strengths present an opportunity to you can be found in many cultures. The Japanese art

of judo, for instance, teaches you how to turn the weight and force of your opponents against them.

A battle of this sort may be unfolding in coffee. In China, Luckin Coffee, a company founded in 2017, is attempting to take on Starbucks, which has been in that country since 1999.

Luckin already has 3,000 locations (Starbucks has 4,000) and is growing fast. Attempting to use the size and premium positioning of Starbucks against it, Luckin is pricing low and building simple stores — most are small booths — optimized for cashless pickup or delivery.

Starbucks is responding with its own delivery service and express store format, betting that it can successfully occupy two different market positions.

The complementary concept that a rival’s perceived weakness may pose a serious threat to your organization was popularized

by Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen in his famous disruptive innovation theory.

Say your business is focused on its important customers. A competitor — perhaps a new entrant — invents a technology that’s weaker on several dimensions but stronger on a couple that matter to a small subset of

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

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customers. Before you know it, you start losing mainstream customers who now value the new dimensions.

This dynamic has been playing out in recent years between traditional colleges and universities and online education. Online courses have clear weaknesses: They offer students limited interaction and feedback and, often, no credential. But online education is also open access and often free. It’s appealing to people who have trouble getting admitted to schools, affording tuition or making it to a classroom on a campus at set times of the week.

To date, the incumbents have been slow to respond, though they’ve started to introduce some innovations, such as online master’s programs. More radically, Purdue University has created an income-sharing agreement, in which student loan repayments are pegged to a graduate’s income, to make on-campus courses affordable for more people.

But most colleges and universities are probably overly focused on the weaknesses of online education today and not paying enough attention to the serious threat it could pose in the future.

The lesson for incumbents in all industries is that initially weakor unimportant-looking competitors may lull them into a false sense of security.

Still, it’s critical to remember that sometimes right-side-up thinking about strategy will be exactly what’s needed. An organization’s strengths may indeed be strengths, to be guarded and bolstered, and weaknesses may indeed be weaknesses.

Good strategists allow for the possibility that things may be what they seem or may be the opposite, depending on the situation. So you have to think flexibly. That does not mean thinking wildly, however. It’s crucial to approach strategy in a structured way. By using the new SWOT framework, you can systematically ask important questions about whether upside-down rather than right-side-up dynamics may be at work in your business.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

29

CULINARY DELIGHTS

Clay Foods - A taste of Northern Nigerian delicacies in Lagos

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fa riro, boiled yam, egusi soup, sheppered pie, paella, nshcima, nyama choma, these are just some of the answers I got when I asked 10 diverse individuals what food reminded of their childhood. Across the world, everyone has a special food that takes them down memory lane. From Lusaka to Lagos to London to Santo Domingo and far beyond,

made from millet flour which has been spiced with ginger, cloves and sometimes, pepper and is complemented by either yogurt or milk. Interestingly enough in Senegal Fura is called Thiakry and is thoroughly enjoyed by many people in Senegal and Gambia.

On this occasion, I ordered one portion of Taushe which is a delicious soup made of savory pumpkin, native to and quite popular

with the Hausa and Fulani tribes. It is commonly eaten with swallow, but I had mine with beef and Masa which is a northern staple similar to a pan-fried rice cake, the recipes vary a little across households but the basic premise never changes. Masa is often eaten with suya and traditionally Masa is made into an oval shape. The combination of the taushe, masa, and suya was divine and I was

food often brings about happy memories.

When I think of my childhood and the food that made up my memories it’s difficult to pinpoint a particular type of food because my food experience has been so varied. Having the experience of living in over 8 African countries and 3 Western countries has allowed me to expand and stretch my pallets and appreciate food from all over the world. While Senegalese food remains my favorite because its what I grew up on at home, I appreciate foods from all over the world.

Every so often I get a craving for food that reminds me of home and thankfully I have found a place called Clay Food and Drinks limited which is located on 20A Babatunde Anjous Drive off Admiralty way in Lekki

phase 1. It safe to say the Clay Food shop has become a home away from home. Clay Food and Drinks Limited, was founded by Mrs. Hadiza Nyako to promote and create demand for local African superfoods, drinks, and snacks, especially from northern Nigeria and they really live by their objective. You can get anything from freshly made traditional African juices such as Zobbo, Baobab, Fura, Tamarind, Tigernut. I love their drinks because they are home-made and have little to no sugar. My favorite drinks to get are the Zobbo which in Senegal is known as Bissap.

Did you know that Zobo is a drink enjoyed through-out West Africa? It’s actually very easy to make at home too. Fura is also a very traditional drink which I love. Fura balls are

thoroughly satisfied. It was so tasty that I even kept some for the next day. They also sell already cooked and seasoned full chicken which comes in handy after a long day at work, I often just make my own sides and use their chicken for meals.

I recommend Clay Foods for anyone who loves tasty food and natural drinks. If you are not familiar with some of the foods mentioned in the article, I encourage you all to discover Northern Nigerian food at Clay Foods in Lekki.

They stock snacks, spices and much more. You can also order for delivery, sit in or take away.

The Henna place is also right next door in the same compound, it’s a women’s only traditional spa specializing in Henna, skin and hair care. traditional home incense and much more.

Lehle (@lehlelalumiere) works at BusinessDay in Strategy Innovation and Partnerships, she is also a financial inclusion advocate and radio anchor. Originally from Senegal Lehle has a passion for culinary experiences and enjoys discovering new restaurants in Lagos. Follow @ bdculinarydelights on Instagram

RATING 4

Taushe - N500 5 sticks of suya

-N2500

Masa

- N800

Zobo - N600 Total

CONTACT https://www.clayfoodshopng.com

To make recommendations or for collaborations please send an email to lehle.balde@businessday.ng www.businessday.ng

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@Businessdayng

- N 4200

30

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

AGRIBUSINESSINSIGHT Market Insights

Analysis

Commentaries

Experts/Industry Views

Commodities watch

Policy Reviews

Send in Commentaries to caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com

L&Z farms to embrace new investors as Sahel Capital mulls exit Stories by CALEB OJEWALE Twiiter: @calebtinolu

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gribusiness Insight can exclusively report that in 12 to 18 months, an opportunity will open for any willing and competent investor(s) to become part owner in L&Z Integrated Farms Limited.

The Kano based company, which is known for Yoghurt production, has since 2015 been a portfolio company of Sahel Capital Agribusiness Managers Limited that manages the $65.9 million Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN).

“We are happy with L&Z’s performance, as it has doubled revenue since we invested, and we would be actively looking for the right partner to exit to, and take the company to the next level,” said Mezuo Nwuneli, Sahel’s managing partner in an exclusive interview.

Nwuneli explained that L&Z is one of Sahel’s first investments and the firm will likely be looking to exit to the right partner in 12 to 18 months.

He would not discuss the company’s valuation for now, saying when the time comes, this information will be made public.

Dairy cows feeding at a smallholder farm in the Netherlands.

While L&Z has doubled revenue within the last four years, interestingly it is also the smallest of all the investments made by Sahel Capital till date.

According to Nwuneli, the dairy company sources milk from roughly one thousand pastoralists, which is processed into Yoghurt and other products. Giving some insight into the decision to invest in L&Z in the

Agric investment opportunities on Nigerian Agritech platforms (October 2019)

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or the month of October 2019, Agribusiness Insight surfed through three digital agriculture platforms in Nigeria; Thrive Agric, Agrorite, and Farmcrowdy, for any open investment opportunities at the time of going to press.

Please note that this is not a recommendation to invest, rather, for information purpose and individuals should carry out independent due diligence. All that is reproduced below has been extracted from information gleaned from each platform.

Thrive Agric - Poultry farm in the South West Units left (at publication): 2,658 Cost per unit: N85,000 Returns: 15 percent after 6 Months

Insured by Leadway Assurance Farmcrowdy - Rice farm in Niger State Units left (at publication): 784 Cost per unit: N50,000 Returns: 13 percent after 6 Months Insured by Leadway Assurance - Poultry farm in Osun State Units left (at publication): 181 Cost per unit: N60,000 Returns: 11 percent after 6 Months Insured by Leadway Assurance Agrorite - Cassava Farm Units left (at publication): 41 Cost per unit: N55,000 Returns: 18 percent after 6 Months GIT Coverage: Royal Exchange

first place, he explained that the founder and his family, which at the time directly managed the business, had been able to grow it quite well, and Sahel also found the product

Picture by: Caleb Ojewale

offerings attractive.

“As the middle class grows, they consume more protein and generally nutritious food products and these products would feed into that growth

of the middle class and its demands,” said Nwuneli, explaining another dimension of the business opportunities that informed the investment.

“The company has doubled revenue since our investment, and there’s an even stronger professional team in place. Of all our investments, this is the one we would likely be exiting in 12 to 18 months,” he said.

According to him, looking at the dairy space, Sahel envisaged it would be important long term for the large players to build some local supply chain. Sahel had the belief that at some point the different dairy players would want to build up that supply chain. At the time of Sahel’s investment, Nwuneli recalls only one large multinational was trying to build some (milk) collection, but now, smaller players like L&Z have stepped into the field of play.

The bottom-line for Sahel, is finding the right buyer and the right investor that will buy its shares in L&Z, who also has to be a right partner for the company and its future growth.

FAO food price index steady in September

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lobal food prices were steady in September, as lower sugar prices were offset by increased quotations for vegetable oils and meat.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, averaged 170 points in September, virtually unchanged from August and 3.3 percent higher than in the same month in 2018.

The FAO Cereal Price Index held steady on the month, as wheat prices rose while those of maize declined.

International rice prices fell modestly amid slow import demand and uncertainties surrounding policies in the Philippines and Nigeria.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose 1.4 percent in September to its highest level in more than a year.

The increase was driven by steady demand from India and China for palm oil imports and higher price quotations for rapeseed oil, linked to firm demand from the European Union’s biodiesel sector. Soy and sunflower oil prices both dropped.

The FAO Sugar Price Index de-

clined 3.9 percent from August, driven by the expectations of ample stocks and supply trends as well as reduced demand in Brazil for sugarcane to use in the production of ethanol.

The FAO Dairy Price Index declined 0.6 percent, as higher quotations for milk powders were more than offset by falling cheese and butter prices, especially at the lower end of the price range.

The FAO Meat Price Index rose 0.8 percent, driven by solid import demand from China. While pig meat prices in China - the world’s largest market - remained at the high levels recorded in August, increased export supplies in Europe prodded pig meat prices in international markets lower.

Updated cereal forecasts In the new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief recently published

by FAO, it slightly lowered forecast for global cereal production in 2019 to 2 706 million tonnes, which would amount to 2.0 percent higher than in 2018.

The reduction reflected a cut to Australia’s wheat harvest due to dry

weather and trimmed projections for rice output in China, India, the Philippines and the United States of America.

Meanwhile, FAO raised its estimates for worldwide coarse grains production based on an improved outlook for barley production and better maize prospects in Brazil and the U.S. World cereal utilization in the year ahead is now forecast at 2 714 million tonnes, slightly trimmed from last month’s estimates but still a record high. World cereal stocks are now expected to amount to 850 million tonnes by the close of the 2020 seasons, down 2.0 percent from their opening levels. Global wheat inventories are anticipated to expand by 1.6 percent, while those of maize will likely register a significant decline, mostly due to expected sharp draw downs in China.

FAO left its forecast for world trade in cereals in 2019/20 unchanged at around 415 million tonnes. World wheat and rice exports are set to rebound, while those of coarse grains are expected to decline.

IITA, ILRI, NBMA partner Agrobusiness Times on conference for research, innovations in agriculture

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he 2019 International Conference on Research and Innovations in Agriculture (ICERIA) being organized

by Agrobusiness Times, has been scheduled to hold in Lagos on October 24, with Kanayo Nwanze, former president, International Fund for Agricultural Development expected as keynote speaker.

Themed: “Harnessing Sustainable Agricultural Innovations for Economic Development”, the conference, which is scheduled to hold at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos has partnership acceptance

and endorsements by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the National Biotechnology Management Agency (NBMA).

Jim Rex-Lawson Moses, Editor of Agrobusiness Times, said in a statement that the major objective of the conference is to attract government attention towards funding of research institutes in Nigeria.

Furthermore, encourage the commercialisation of sustainable research outcomes and innovations to advance the nation’s economy. This, he believes will be achieved through www.businessday.ng

robust stakeholders’ engagement and rigorous discourse to chart a new green revolution backed by research and technology.

Jim Lawson stated further that the event was necessitated by the need to position the agric industry to change the present narrative of hunger, famine, starvation and poverty largely suffered in subSaharan Africa despite the huge opportunities for export, job and wealth creation.

“We believe that for us to change the current narrative, all hands must be on deck to make agriculture a major foreign ex-

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change earner considering the huge opportunities,” he said.

Apart from Kanayo Nwanze, former IFAD President who is Keynote Speaker, other expected speakers include Rose Gidado, country coordinator, Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB); Rufus Ebegba, DG/CEO, National Biotechnology Management Agency (NBMA); Kenton Dashiell, deputy director general, Partnerships for Delivery, IITA. Others are Seye Oyeleye, DG, Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN Commission), Rogers Joshua Tanko, lead scien@Businessdayng

tist, Feeds and Nutrition Research Programme, National Animal Production Research Programme.

The aim of ICERIA 2019, according to organisers, is to propagate research milestones and innovations in the field of agriculture while creating awareness to facilitate opportunities for networking, collaborations and exchange of ideas with internationally renowned leaders in agriculture. ICERIA would also identify innovations in optimizing agriculture, enlighten and educate farmers, students and others with interest in the sector.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

31

Hotels

The Curio touch at Legend Hotel Lagos Airport

Four Points by Sheraton Hotel (Oniru Chiefatancy Estate,Lekki) Tel: +234 1 448 9444

OBINNA EMELIKE

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hen Legend Hotel Lagos A i r p o r t, C u rio Collection by Hilton opened its doors to the discerning public on October 5, 2018, it marked the first Curio Collection to open in Africa, as well as, Hilton’s 500th hotel to open across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

One year down the line, the Curio touch at Legend Hotel Lagos Airport is been felt stronger by the guests as the offerings are getting better in quality, attention given to personalised guests experience, touch, as well as, commitment to the maintenance of world-class facilities that set the hotel apart from others within the Mainland and even the Island environs.

Of course, Legend Hotel Lagos Airport, Curio Collection by Hilton is still the first branded hotel to open at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Ikeja, Lagos with approximately five kilometres from the domestic terminal and one kilometre from the international terminal.

One year down the line, the hotel maintains its uniqueness. It is adjacent to the airport’s private jet ter-

Top BusinessDay Partner Hotels

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

The Legend still standing tall at Murtala Mohammed International Airport Ikeja after one year in business

minal and the only hotel in Nigeria and probably West Africa that has exclusive immigrations and customs desks for private jet passengers; facilities that truly make the difference.

From the entrance façade, the hotel’s aesthetics is breathtaking. The contemporary and stylish design appeals to the five senses as well. While settled on your stay, you have a wide range of leisure options to choose from starting from the 54 spacious guest rooms and suites, which feature beautiful art deco style interiors.

From the Classic, Deluxe, Deluxe Suite, Business Suite to the ultimate Presidential Suite, all the guest rooms offer comfort beyond the room with a 40inch TV, chaise lounge,

A room option

De Bull Restaurant www.businessday.ng

ergonomic workspace, a bathroom with separate shower and bathtub, among other room facilities. But the Presidential Suite offers in addition; a private terrace with a bar and whirlpool, and stunning airfield views.

A stay at the hotel offers guests a somewhat culinary experience, especially at De Bull restaurant and bar where guests can enjoy Nigerian dishes, global cuisine and signature cocktails amid the enthralling backdrop of the airfield.

For those in a hurry, the stylish Sky Lounge is ideal for light bites and refreshments, and room service is available 24/7.

Beyond catering to the accommodation needs of discerning guests who are among the more than eight million passengers, which Murtala Muhammed International Airport serves each year, the hotel also carters to the needs of the international business community with worldclass business and leisure facilities.

On offer are flexible and well-equipped meeting rooms featuring spacious outdoor terraces, natural daylight and modern A/V equipment. From Isiokpo, Kano to Cyber meeting rooms corporate guests are offered flexible seating arrangements to fit their requirement, outdoor spaces offering modern technology and in-house catering, as well as, world class Video Conferencing and AV facilities.

For guests looking to refresh and recharge, the hotel also has an indoor swimming pool, steam room and 24/7 accessible fitness centre.

As a member of Hilton Honors, the award-winning

guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 14 distinct hotel brands, Legend Hotel Lagos Airport, Curio Collection by Hilton offers guests the wide network and benefits of Hilton Honors. Members who book directly have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows them to choose nearly any combination of points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount, free standard WiFi and the Hilton Honors mobile app.

However, Peter Idoko, general manager, Legend Hotel Lagos Airport, who is excited to welcome travellers to Nigeria’s only airport hotel over the past one year, said the hotel is sought after by discerning guests because of its unique features and offerings. “With an unrivalled location, exclusive immigration and customs desk, spacious guest rooms and the support of Hilton and its award-winning Hilton Honors program, the hotel is perfect for travellers looking for unparalleled accommodations near the airport and convenience to local attractions”, Idoko explained.

He also noted that the hotel has done exceptional great in its first year in business, impressing guests with personalised services and world class facilities, maintenance of the facilities and improving on its ranking on TripAdvisor.

Beyond the private jets, which some uninformed guests consider before patronising the hotel, Idoko assured that Legend Hotel Lagos Airport, Curio Collection by Hilton caters to guests who can afford the average branded hotel within Ikeja.

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

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

Tel: +234 9 4603900, +234 805 7522500

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

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

206 Exclusive Hotel Plot 206 Oladipo Diya Road Opposite Olympia Estate

By Games Village Second Gate Durumi2 Abuja

Novotel Port Harcourt Address: 3 Stadium Road Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt Rivers State, Tel: 0809 713 5734

Radisson Lagos Ikeja #42-44 Isaac John Street, GRA Ikeja, Lagos

Southern Sun IkoyI Hotel Address: 47 Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Tel: +234 1 280 5200 / +234 1 280 0630 Email: ssikoyi.reservations@ tsogosun.com

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

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32

BUSINESS DAY

Friday 11 October 2019

MADE in aba Nigerians urge Aba manufacturers to raise their game …Many say Aba products good enough

Gbemi Faminu

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ba remains the major manufacturer of shoes, bags and leather products.

However, some Nigerians prefer foreign products because they believe imported goods have better quality and durability.

Speaking to some Nigerians on their preference for either Aba-made or foreign products, here is what they have to say.

Olorogun Tope I always buy Aba-made products. With the reputation of made-in-Nigeria products, Aba manufacturers actually produce good, quality and affordable products. With a little help and training, I expect Aba-made products to be come s ought-after globally.

Lucas Olusegun I always take my time when buying things for myself and I do not mind the cost as long as I am able to get value for my money. I prefer foreign products, not necessarily top designers.

As long as I am sure of its durability and quality, I will buy. I do not trust most Nigerian-made products as they do not give value for money. Therefore, I prefer foreign goods every time.

Sam Umeh Aba products are good, but they need to raise their

game in terms of quality.

People will be willing to pay if they are sure they will get value for their money.

I understand that Aba manufacturers produce on the basis of price, hence they can produce high-quality products as long as the buyer is ready to pay. But let there be some standards and they will be good to go.

John Idemudia Well, the truth is that they need to be better in finishing.

I have used their products and they can be good. But design needs to be better and more coordinated.

Joshua Clark Let me say that madein-Nigeria products are always good. But I will add that we need to compete better in terms of standards and quality. People want to have their products last long for them. As poverty spreads, income shrinks and consumers increasingly want value for their money.

Charles Okoronkwo Their products are great.

What you need to know is that they have different products at different prices to suit the needs of various classes of consumers. Ask them to produce quality products and they will do it so well that you will be baffled. Place your order and pay and will see the difference. I am a witness,

so I know.

Isaac loveth I am a true Nigerian.

Whatever the case is, Aba made products will be my choice. They are always up to the task when we talk of durability, affordability and quality. Even some foreign products are not as good as our indigenous products here, from the travel bags to shoes to handbags. Aba products are the best.

Lasisi Peter I use both Aba-made and foreign products. What I am after is quality and value. As long as I see that the shoe or

bag is of good quality, I am less concerned about where it was produced. Let it just serve its purpose.

Wunmi Alabi I prefer foreign products b e c au s e I b e l i e v e t h e y have better quality and I will not waste my money.

Furthermore, foreign prove better designs and innovations that always make the products loveable.

Most Aba products that I know have mediocre designs and unpalatable colours. I prefer Aba-made products.

Tobi Joseph I love Aba-made products

all the time. Most of my shoes are Aba-made and they have served their purpose well. Some of the products manufactured in Aba are exported abroad and rebranded and sent back into the market at high prices, which most Nigerians will scrimp and save to have. Most Nigerians do not appreciate our homemade products, which is wrong.

Nigerians need to appreciate Aba made products. This will encourage more products from the industry with all the specifications of foreign products.

Oshinowo Taiwo I prefer Aba-made

products. Most Aba products are easy to get and can also be very beautiful. I even prefer them to foreign products.

Some believe that Aba- made products are inferior, but we also have foreign products that are sub-standard. It revolves around what you can afford. The major point is to get value for your money.

Onyeka Iheoma Aba products have good standards. Even if you do not have much money, they will produce shoes or bags or trunk boxes that fit the amount you have. That is flexibility.

“It is in Aba they sew most of things you s e e i n N i g e r i a ,” s a i d Oguebunwa.

Debunking the myth that Aba produces fake product which makes consumers prefer foreign products, Chigozie s a i d A b a’s o p e r a t i o n is similar to what happens in China. In the chain of distribution, the wholesalers usually prescribe to manufactures in Aba the specifications to be produced for them, the grade from highest quality to lowest quality.

“This is also what is o b t a i n a b l e i n C h i n a ,” Chigozie compared.

Su r p r i s i ng l y , according to Chigozie, some of the products sold in Italy, America, Dubai and other countries are being produced in Aba. Exporters usually go to Ab a, d e ma n d f o r h i g h quality specifications

and then export such to foreign countries for sale.

Unknowingly for some Ni g e r i a n s, t h e y t r av e l to these countries for shopping only to buy the same ‘made in Aba’ they run away from here in Nigeria. “ W e u s u a l l y exp er ience such cas es always,” he said.

Chinedu said government needs to enlighten Nigerians more on the need to buy Aba products, saying Aba produces good quality.

Aba can handle wears that are available in China and elsewhere, he stated.

“Aba is number one producer in West Africa,” Chigozie said.

He bragged that NYSC uniform is being sewn in Aba today, likew is e military shoes.

“Aba is just like China.

Show us the sample, w e w i l l d o i t f o r you ,” Chinedu concluded.

Why Aba is China of Africa

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ba is China of A f r i c a ”, e c h o e d Dim Chigozie, chief executive of Prince Dim Fashion Concept, Aba, Abia State. “But there is no infrastructure i n Ab a t o s u p p o r t o u r business,” he lamented over the telephone conversation with BusinessDay. The city is one of Africa’s industrial hubs.

Like Chigozie, many SME operators in Aba wonder why federal and state governments neglect the potential of the city, thereby making China a viable alternative.

If necessary attention is paid to Aba, Chigozie said, the production capacity of the hub will increase the economy of the nation.

Aba industrial hub faces several challenges that affect the manufacturers.

According to Chigozie,

whose office is located at Mbaise/Ngwa Road, Aba, the road network in the area is terrible, blaming the state government for not paying enough attention to a place that could turn the economy of Nigeria around for good.

In addition, power supply is another major issue that Aba i n d u s t r i a l i s t s h av e t o contend with.

As sources of alternative power supply, Aba industrialists have to go for generating sets to keep their productions going. This means that people like Chigozie usually buy petrol/diesel to power their generating sets. This raises production costs and reduces competitiveness of their products.

“I buy fuel every day.

It tells a lot in my pocket,” he lamented.

John Chinedu, a shoemaker in Aba, said www.businessday.ng

most of his income goes to power generation by way of fueling his generators.

“If I do not power my generator, I will go out of business,” he said.

Acquiring the necessary equipment is another challenge of people like Chigozie, who have the technical knowledge to sew different types of clothes but do not have the f i na n c i a l strength to acquire some machines, especially for finishing, face.

“What you see in China is nothing; they only have the equipment,” Chigozie said.

According to him, even with the little equipment they have, Aba producers are able to come out with products that are globally demande d, w onder ing what they could achieve if the right pieces of equipment are at their reach. His main challenge is to acquire ‘finishing

machines’ that will e nab l e h i s ha n d i w o rk become more visible and appreciated. “ Pe o p l e w h o t rav e l to China mainly go there because China has finishing machines, nothing else. If such machines are available in Nigeria, Aba will c o m p e t e w i t h C h i na,” he said.

“The main thing about the job is finishing. If we have the equipment, people will no longer go to China,” he boasted.

Chijioke Oguebunwa, an Aba based entrepreneur, said a lot o f p ro d u c t s c o m e o u t from Aba, adding that government only needs to do more for the city to make it what is should be.

There is nothing that is needed that one could not get in Aba, ranging from shoes, cloths, belts and other things, he said.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

33

POLITICS & POLICY Alleged $200,000 bribery scandal: Lagos Assembly throws out petition against lawmaker INIOBONG IWOK

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he Lagos State House of Assembly has thrown out a petition alleging the receipt of $200,000 bribe by Hon. Moshood Oshun, representing Lagos Mainland Constituency 2 in the Assembly.

Oshun had been accused of collecting the bribe money from three companies in order to cover up for their non-performing contracts worth over nine billion naira (N9billion) awarded to them by the immediate past Akinwunmi Ambode administration.

A petition was submitted to the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa by an anticorruption campaign organisation, Stop Corruption Now Initiative and signed by its President, Olakunle Omisade.

In the petition, Moshood Olanrewaju Osun, chairman of the House ad-hoc Committee on Environmental Sanitation, was accused of collecting the said illicit money from contractors who were awarded various contracts bordering on the environment by the Akinwumi Ambode administration to the tune of N9billion paid upfront against established rules.

The said companies are: Quality Sanctuary Services Limited, Jane Rin International Services Limited and Blue Bridge Marine Services Limited.

Uche Secondus, PDP National Chairman

Moshood Oshun

Raising the matter under urgent Matter of Public Importance on Thursday, Tunde Braimoh stated that the Speaker sent the petition to the House Committee on Public Petition, LASIEC, Human Rights and Judiciary, which he chaired, on Tuesday.

Braimoh stated that the address of the petitioner was not traceable and that there was no phone number where the petitioner could be located.

“The committee considered this and noted that the petitioner could not be located. We noticed some discrepancies in the petition, and it was frivolous and smack of acrimony.

“It is a criminal offence that attracts punishment.

The petitioner is not even available to establish his case. Under the rules of the House, the petitioner ought to disclose his address,” he said.

The committee then recommended that the petition should be struck out because the petitioner was faceless, adding that members of the public should embrace decorum in approaching the House and be wary of information in the social media.

This was supported by Desmond Elliott (Surulere 2), who commended the Speaker for the way the issue was handled.

Elliot stated that the values of the House were accountability, probity and

transparency, and that they ensure that justice is upheld for anyone that is accused of any offence, while advising that the petition should be thrown out.

In his view, Yinka Ogundimu (Agege 2) expressed happiness that the House rose to the occasion on the issue immediately.

Contributing to the matter, the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1) stated that the writer of the petition had a motive which could be malicious and scandalous.

Agunbiade stressed that the petition was submitted to the House with the hope that they would take action on it only for the writers to go to the social media.

In his view, Tijani Olumo (Ajeromi Ifelodun 1) said that the matter was a diversion to take the Assembly from its focus.

The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa thanked the committee “for the quick action of the report.”

Obasa added that members should disregard the petition.

According thing, “It is common with my years of experience to see such a petition only for the petitioner not to come at the committee level.

“When you damage people’s reputation how do you want to mend it? You don’t think about his wife and children. What do you want him to tell them? I am even used to it as the Speaker because it happened to my predecessors,” he said.

Kogi guber: There will be no history of inconclusive election, says INEC VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

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arely 36 days to the Kogi State gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to hold meetings with stakeholders for a peaceful exercise. Addressing stakeholders at a meeting yesterday, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu disclosed that Kogi and Bayelsa elections were major elections for Nigeria.

Yakubu said that the interest attached to the forthcoming election made it to be important for Nigerians, adding that the purpose of the meeting was to determine INEC readiness for the election, noting that with the electorate’s support INEC would achieve a credible election.

election,” the INEC said.

Presenting his address earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. James Apam disclosed that the importance attached to the forthcoming election by the Chairman has been demonstrated in the early release of funds and materials to Kogi office to start early preparation , -saying all the sensitive materials have been batched and sent to the local government offices .

Apam hinted that out of 170,664 Permanent Voters Cards only 10, 383 has been issued as at 30th September despite the announcement on radio and television and two mobile teams set up to do it.

He also stated that refresher trainings has been conducted for INEC staff

NGO makes case for improved opportunities for women participation in politics VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

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Kogi-based NonGovernmental Organisation, Challenge Parenthood Initiative (CPI), has called on electoral stakeholders to put in place strategic and deliberate interventions to address identified challenges militating against w omen par ticipation in the electoral process throughout the federation.

Eunice Agbogun, executive director of CPI, made the call at the Kogi West joint Townhall Meeting organised by CPI and Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) in Lokoja on Wednesday.

The meeting on ‘Stop Violence Against Women in Politics and Get-OutThe-Vote’ campaign is being supported by the

National Democratic Institute (NDI) in partnership with UKaid and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Agbogun said that the joint West senatorial district Town Hall meeting was a conscious drive for peaceful and all-inclusive November 16, 2019 offcycle gubernatorial election in Kogi State.

“Our democratic journey so far as a nation and particularly as a state has not been as inclusive and as encompassing as our founding fathers had envisaged.

“Statistics have shown that women make up just six percent of all elective positions at the national level and far less at statelevel. This has clearly emasculated the desired development we ought to have gotten from our participation in the Demo-

cratic experiment,” she said.

The Obaro of Kabba, Solomon Owoniyi who was represented by Jos e p h O sagb e m i , sa i d the meeting came at the right time, adding that no amount of sacrifice could be too much to achieve peace in the forthcoming election.

Speaking also Oba Owoniyi called on government to play fundamental role in ensuring peace during the election as he urged women not to let house chores hinder them from playing prominent role in the electoral processes through active participation.

The Ohimege of KotonKarfe, Abdulrazak Isa-Koto represented by Abdullahi Musa Bako urged political parties to avoid hate speech and fake news in their campaigns and urged

youths to guard against being used to perpetrate violence.

James Apam, a professor and the INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state represented by Ahmed BaguduBiambo, director Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), urged all stakeholders at the meeting to take the peace message back to their constituencies.

“All hands must be on deck. We request all participants to permeate the grassroots with peace message to ensure that the November 16 election reflect the true position of the electorate”, he said.

Richard Esebagbon, deputy country director, NDI, said his office was in the state to support the good work of their partners at ensuring peaceful election and promotion of good governance.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu

“We want to hear from you how best to work together. The commission is right now concluding some of the timetable. We have concluded the collation processes. And the integrity of the process is assured.

INEC is not a political party; let me use this opportunity to remind leaders of political parties,” he said.

He equally commended the Civil Society Organisations, especially Idris Miliki Abdul on his unprecedented achievement in crusading for a credible election in the state.

“I am happy for the CSOs, especially Idris Abdul Miliki for all he has been doing over the radio. We will not tolerate harassment of any type at the polling units.

INEC promised that there will be no history of inconclusive election in the forthcoming November 16

in different aspect of work and training of security personnel on their conduct during the election, adding that they are in the process of recruiting and training their ad-hoc staff , stressing further that plans to hold more meetings with critical stakeholders like religious leaders Civil Society Organisation and National Orientation Agency has already been engaged for door to door campaigns, just as they intend to conduct road shows and market out reaches in order to create awareness, Apam happily disclosed that the earlier release of fund and material have enabled them keep pace with their Election Project Plan (EPP), noting that with these on ground they will be able to deliver a credible election come November 16 2019.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news

FG, Chinese firm sign $3.9bn Abuja-Warri ...

Continued from page 1

transportation, made this disclosure shortly after the signing ceremony in Abuja on Thursday.

Amaechi said the development signalled the first public, private partnership (PPP) for the Abuja-Itakpe and Abuja-Baru-Itakpe and Lokoja rail corridor.

“The agreement is supposed to be 15 percent Nigeria and 10 percent CRCC equity and then we borrow 75 percent as SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle). CRCC will provide us with a performance bond from their bank before we give sovereign guarantee. There is a concession agreement that CRCC will hold 75 percent.

The entire Nigerian railway is to be constructed 100 percent by CRCC,” he said.

The minister commended the CRCC for its amiable disposition and cooperation with the Federal Government, saying it was for that singular reason that the relationship was being sustained and strengthened.

He said the PPP arrangement was more convenient for government, as opposed to borrowing, which entailed paying back the loan.

He said the rail line, when completed, would be one of the longest corridors in the country, apart from the existing narrow gauge lines.

“If we raise our equity, they will raise theirs. But largely, the funds will come from China,” he said. “The German started it by Julius

Berger they got close to completion and it was later abandoned. So some of them were vandalised and then we had to re-award it to CCECC to complete the vandalised areas.”

Meanwhile, Amaechi has made a case for the localisation of railway technology, noting that the history of China railway construction showed that China had localised the American technology.

The first American company that started railway construction in China was GE. “There is a need to instruct both CCECC and CRCC to realise that we need local participation of both Nigerian engineers and contractors. We need you to work with us to develop the knowledge of Nigerians,” he said.

“Just like we are holding CCECC on issue of local manufacturing, for which we have awarded them the contract of about $500 million to build for us rolling stock for Lagos-Ibadan, we will also resume conversation with CRCC on the issue of manufacturing railway components in Nigeria,” he said.

E a r l i e r, Wa n g We n zhong, vice president of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), commended the minister on behalf of the company’s 300,000 staff for reposing confidence in the company.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

FIRS appointment of banks as tax agents...

Continued from page 1

etc from demanding the payment of CIT from the plaintiff.

The FHC also awarded monetary sum as damages against the defendants for illegal and unlawful freezing of the plaintiff ’s bank account.

While the FIRS must be commended for its various initiatives to expand the tax net and improve voluntary compliance level, such actions must be within the confines of the law, analysts said.

The Federal High Court judgment further demonstrates that a risk of exposure in the form of an award of damages may crystalise on the banks where the freeze order is determined to have been wrongly issued and executed, especially where the bank failed to obtain adequate comfort from the FIRS that the liability is indeed final and conclusive before executing the lien.

In 2018, the FIRS commenced the issuance of Letters of Substitution to banks in Nigeria, pursuant to Sec-

tion 49 of the Companies Income Tax Act, Cap. C21, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (as amended) and Section 31 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Establishment Act, 2007.

By the letter, the FIRS alleged that certain listed customers (affected companies) maintaining bank accounts with such banks failed to fulfill their tax obligations, and therefore appointed the banks as tax-collecting agents for the deduction and remittance of the alleged tax liabilities.

The FIRS also requested the banks to “freeze” the accounts of affected companies and demanded that the banks should not execute any mandate on those accounts without its prior approval.

“While the power of appointment is a very important tool for the FIRS in recovering unpaid taxes, this power must be exercised with caution and in accordance with the law to avoid negative impact on businesses and ease of paying taxes,” Taiwo Oyedele, tax lead at PwC Nigeria, had said fol-

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng www.businessday.ng

L-R: Babatunde Ajayi, head, Micro-small, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc; Ogechi Altraide, group head, Direct Sales Agency, UBA plc; Chiugo Ndubuisi, group executive, Transformation and Resources, UBA plc, Dupe Olusola, group head, marketing, UBA; Anant Rao, group executive, Customer Fulfilment Centre, UBA plc, and Lashe Osoba, group head, Brand Management, UBA plc, at the Grand Finale of UBA Wise Savers Promo where over 20 UBA Savings Account Customers won N1.5m each, bringing the total amount won during the promo to N120m, in Lagos on Wednesday.

Social investors struggle to make impact...

Continued from page 2

benchmark.

The Federal Government has never voted more than 6 percent of its annual budget to the health sector. The highest the sector has ever received since the declaration was in 2012 when 5.95 percent of the budget was allotted to health.

To achieve the SDGs in Nigeria, a significant scaleup investment is required and the involvement of the private sector is critical, according to industry sources.

Blended finance – the strategic use of catalytic capital from public and philanthropic sources to mobilise additional private sector investment – has also been presented as an important

approach in engaging the private sector for financing the gap.

“Investment will be coming to education and health care sectors, but what we need to do is to create the right ecosystem, and more enabling environment for investments to come,” Jennifer Pryce, president/CEO, Calvert Capital, told BusinessDay on the sidelines of the 2019 impact investment conference in Lagos.

It means that “the public and philanthropists need to work together to create investment-ready opportunities”, Pryce said on Thursday.

Even though Nigeria is one of the top five destination countries for impact investment in Africa, the to-

tal worth of deals recorded in 2018 was $238 million, which is very small when compared to the scale of needs and financing gap to be addressed in the country.

“One of the reasons why we are here is to find the most impactful ways to invest. We have heard agribusiness, health care, and education, and they are on the top list of interest,” Roy Swan, director, mission investments, Ford Foundation, said at the conference.

Industr y players say stakeholders including policymakers, donor partners, private sector investors and indeed development practitioners are sceptical about the potential and opportunity costs of blended finance.

Concerns range from the sustainability of contingent liabilities or risk on the part of developing countries; limited participation of local actors in designing or originating some blended finance solutions; the dearth of reliable evidence on sustainable development impact blended finance, among others.

In de-risking social impact investments in Nigeria, stakeholders at the 2019 conference in Lagos on Thursday advised on the need for collaboration and partnership between private and public sectors with enabling environment that will continue to attract impact investment opportunities.

OPEC’s boss hints at deeper cuts in December DIPO OLADEHINDE

O

rganisation of the Pe t ro l e u m E xporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies are considering deeper oil output cuts ahead of their December meeting, as producers tackle a global crude glut and signs of dwindling demand.

Mohammad Barkindo, OPEC’s secretary-general, said on Thursday that all options are on the table, including a deeper cut in December, as the coalition tries to rebalance the market amid floundering economies.

“As we approach December, we will be faced with real data for 2020 which will enable us to probably review the current arrangement and come up with a decision that probably will cover the whole of the year,” Barkindo said in

a keynote speech at the Oil & Money Conference in London.

Asked whether OPEC and allies could decide at their meeting in early December to deepen the cuts in the production cut pact currently expiring in March 2020, Barkindo said, “All options are open.”

OPEC is shifting its focus from the September attacks that resulted in a massive Saudi oil-production slowdown to worries over a possible world-wide economic deceleration and potentially weaker demand for crude.

Barkindo said he was formally inviting the US to join the cooperation pact that includes OPEC’s 14 members and 10 Russia-led allies.

“The [OPEC Plus] charter fits the U.S. very well,” he said. “It’s for all producers today and U.S. is biggest producer,” Barkindo said at

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the event.

The comments from OPEC’s chief came on the same day the organisation revised down, yet again, its world oil demand growth estimate for 2019 to just below 1 million bpd, citing slowing economic growth momentum amid the ongoing trade disputes.

OPEC, the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), as well as many other organisations and analysts have trimmed their oil demand growth estimates several times this year already, on the back of signs of slowing economic growth in the world as well as the US-China trade spat.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at around $58.24 a barrel on Thursday, down around 0.1 percent, while US West Texas In@Businessdayng

termediate (WTI) stood at $52.56, little changed from the previous session.

Over the last 12 months, Brent crude prices have fallen from a peak of around $84 per barrel amid fears of a repeat of rising supply and faltering demand – the same situation that precipitated a dramatic fall in oil prices from mid-2014 to 2016.

In an attempt to stabilise oil prices, OPEC and allied producers including Russia agreed to reduce output by 1.2 million bpd at the beginning of 2019. That deal replaced a previous round of production cuts that began in January 2017.

The group reaffirmed its commitment to cutting production in July, extending output cuts to March 2020.

The cartel will hold its next meeting in Vienna, Austria in early December.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

35

Sports Super Eagles arrive Singapore ahead of Brazil friendly Anthony Nlebem

N

igeria’s Super Eagles have landed in Singapore as they prepare to take on Brazil in a friendly

on Sunday.

The Eagles departed for Singapore in the early hours on Wednesday via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport aboard Emirates Airline after securing their entry visas into Singapore.

Twenty –three years and a couple of months after Nigeria spectacularly ejected Brazil from the Centennial Olympic Games men’s football tournament in Atlanta, Georgia at the semi final stage, both countries clash in a much –anticipated encounter at the Singapore National Stadium in Kallang on Sunday. The game is the last and icing on the cake of a twomatch schedule for the five-time world champions in Singapore, which begins with a clash with the Teranga Lions of Senegal – African vice champions – on Thursday.

Singaporean Jansen Foo has been appointed as referee for the prestige international friendly match. Foo will be assisted by compatriots Abdul Hannan (assistant referee 1), Ong Chai Lee (assistant referee 2) and G. Letchman (fourth

official) at the game billed starting from 8pm Singapore time.

Super Eagles Squad to battle Brazil Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (Omonia FC, Cyprus); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Heartland FC); Emil Maduka Okoye (Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany) Defenders: Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor FC, Turkey); Chidozie Awaziem (CD Leganes, Spain); William Ekong (Udinese FC, Italy); Tyronne Ebuehi (SL Benfica, Portugal); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England)

Midfielders: Alexander Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Anderson Esiti (PAOK Salonica, Greece); Oghenekaro Etebo (Stoke City FC, England); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Joseph AyodeleAribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Ramon Azeez (Granada FC, Spain) Forwards: Victor Osimhen (Lille OSC, France); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Efosa Solomon-Otabor (PFC CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge, Belgium); Peter Olayinka (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic)

The race for Euro 2020 resumes as teams battle for slot Anthony Nlebem

F

ollowing the international break, the quest for EURO 2020 begins as qualifying games for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament kicks off this weekend.

Qualifiers for Euro 2020 get back underway on Thursday, with several manor teams in action. The pick of the games comes from De Kuip in Rotterdam, where the Netherlands will host Northern Ireland in a battle for top spot in Group C. A win for the Oranje will see them join the British team and Germany in a three-way tie on 12 points atop the standings.

Thursday also sees 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia looking to maintain their place atop Group E when they welcome Hungary to split, while the group’s other game is a crunch encounter for Wales, with Ryan Giggs’ team heading to Trnava to face hosts Slovakia. Belgium will also be in action, with Roberto Martinez’s charges set to rack up a big score at home to minnows San Marino, while Scotland face a tough trip to Moscow to take on Russia.

The pick of Friday’s Euro 2020 qualifier games comes from Prague,

where England can take a major step toward the tournament finals if they defeat hosts Czech Republic and take an even stronger grip on top of Group A. Fellow heavyweights France and Portugal will also be in action, with the former facing a tricky game away to Iceland in Group H, while the latter will look for a comfortable win at home to Luxembourg in Group B. On Saturday, SuperSport viewers will be looking forward to seeing Spain and Italy in action. La Furia Roja will chase a seventh straight win in Group F when they tackle Norway in Oslo, while the Azzurri will do the same in Group J with a home game against Greece at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

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On Sunday, Belgium head to Nur-Saltan for a clash with Kazakhstan in Group I (which also features Russia away to Cyprus and Scotland looking to rack up a home victory over San Marino in Glasgow).

Other heavyweights in action on Sunday include Group C rivals Germany and the Netherlands, who will be away to Estonia in Tallinn and away to Belarus in Minsk respectively, while Poland will aim to continue their good form in Group G when they host North Macedonia in Warsaw.

The pick of Monday’s Euro 2020 games comes from Saint-Denis just outside Paris, as France host Turkey for a crunch Group H clash. Les Bleus will be looking for revenge over the Turks after a 2-0 loss in Istanbul back in June.

Monday also features England away to Bulgaria, a tricky match for Portugal in Kiev against hosts Ukraine, and Iceland looking for a big win at home to Andorra in Reykjavik.

On Tuesday, Sweden host Spain in Solna for a Group E clash, Switzerland will look to rise up the Group D rankings when they host Republic of Ireland in Geneva, and Italy head to Vaduz for a Group J clash away to minnows Liechtenstein.

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Barcelona owe Liverpool 94.6m euros for Coutinho transfer fees Anthony Nlebem

B

arcelona still owe Liverpool just under €100m for Philippe Coutinho, according to figures released by the LaLiga club.

Barcelona’s 2018/19 annual report reveals that they owe a total of €260.7million in outstanding transfer fees, with the Premier League side their biggest creditors.

In all, Liverpool are still to receive €94.6m from the January 2018 deal for Coutinho: €27.9m in fees due in the short term, and €66.7m in long-term payments.

After joining the Catalans in a move worth €160m, the Brazilian international failed to impress at Camp Nou and this summer joined Bayern Munich on a season-long loan.

Among the other buys yet to be fully paid off by Barçelona, the Spanish champions owe €30.3m to Bordeaux for Malcom, €28m to Gremio for Arthur Melo, €10.9m

Philippe Coutinho

to Bayern for Arturo Vidal, €31.4m to Valencia for Neto and €48.6m to Ajax for Frenkie de Jong.

But the good news is that other clubs owe Barcelona €75.3m.

Barcelona will receive €75.3m from player sales, top on the list is Everton’s €26m debt from their purchase of Yerry Mina (€9.7m unpaid), Lucas Digne (€6.7m) and André Gomes (€9.6m).

Brexit: Messi, Ronaldo risk UK travel ban over tax fraud Anthony Nlebem

I

f the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal on October 31, anyone convicted of tax fraud will be denied entry under new laws.

The UK’s negotiations to avoid a hard Brexit are dominating the European press as Boris Johnson struggles to reach agreement with his EU counterparts over Britain’s imminent departure from the continental bloc but there are probably few observers who have yet equated the Irish backstop and customs and trade checks to Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi.

However, the UK’s exit from the European Union may prevent some of the world’s top players from entering the country after October 31 due to a new law that will come into effect denying anyone with a criminal conviction the requisite paperwork.

As it stands, provided the person in question is not deemed a threat to national security, that is not the case but the new regulations will affect anyone who has been convicted of

@Businessdayng

tax fraud a visa.

That could affect several team’s plans for the Champions and Europa League. In quotes published by several UK media, Andrew Osborne, a lawyer with the firm Lewis Silkin, explained: “If you are an EU citizen and you have been convicted of an offence or have had a prison sentence imposed [including suspended sentences] you will be denied entry to the United Kingdom.”

That could affect a number of players including Messi and Ronaldo, who have both been convicted of tax fraud in Spain, as well as Marcelo and Diego Costa. Messi received a 21-month sentence in 2017, which was later successfully exchanged for a fine, while Ronaldo was handed a 23-month term and an 18.8 million fine earlier this year.

Theoretically, that would mean neither the Barçelona nor Juventus star would be able to represent their clubs or countries on British soil in the case of a hard Brexit, while other figures in football will also be subject to the same travel ban if they are found to have defrauded the Spanish tax authorities.

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The STOCK Exchanges Prices for Securities Traded as of Thursday 10 October 2019 Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

Company

Market cap(nm)

Price (N)

Change

Trades

Volume

PRICES FOR MAIN BOARD SECURITIES (Equities) BANKING ACCESS BANK PLC. 261,257.41 7.35 -0.68 196 80,656,596 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 201,776.59 5.90 -1.67 133 2,284,127 ZENITH BANK PLC 565,136.89 17.95 0.28 295 17,507,831 624 100,448,554 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC 190,245.05 5.30 0.95 148 6,017,908 148 6,017,908 772 106,466,462 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC 2,646,086.70 130.00 -0.31 81 2,320,625 81 2,320,625 81 2,320,625 BUILDING MATERIALS DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 2,470,873.57 145.00 -0.07 131 114,688,945 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 257,724.73 16.00 - 49 871,683 180 115,560,628 180 115,560,628 EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 304,225.84 517.00 - 8 761 8 761 8 761 1,041 224,348,476 REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 1,710.00 85.50 - 0 0 UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (REIT) 10,175.81 40.70 - 0 0 UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST 13,074.52 4.90 - 1 1,000 1 1,000 1 1,000 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND 411.91 552.20 - 0 0 VALUEALLIANCE VALUE FUND 3,312.39 103.20 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1,000 CROP PRODUCTION FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 440.00 0.20 - 0 0 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 52,417.35 54.95 - 29 483,009 PRESCO PLC 38,400.00 38.40 - 4 4,575 33 487,584 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC. 8,520.00 4.26 - 0 0 0 0 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1,410.00 0.47 9.30 12 455,066 12 455,066 45 942,650 DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 688.30 0.26 - 1 6,000 JOHN HOLT PLC. 214.03 0.55 - 4 55,345 S C O A NIG. PLC. 1,903.99 2.93 - 1 3,759 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC 40,241.51 0.99 -1.00 55 10,046,665 U A C N PLC. 20,601.27 7.15 - 61 927,690 122 11,039,459 122 11,039,459 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ARBICO PLC. 711.32 4.79 - 0 0 0 0 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 24,486.00 18.55 - 6 11,897 ROADS NIG PLC. 165.00 6.60 - 0 0 6 11,897 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 2,884.22 1.11 - 4 10,077 4 10,077 10 21,974 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 954.53 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 8,142.68 1.04 - 2 19,098 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 242.22 0.89 - 0 0 GUINNESS NIG PLC 65,711.48 30.00 - 73 112,249 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 108,307.86 12.60 - 13 135,503 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 383,851.30 48.00 - 62 8,032,766 150 8,299,616 FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 111,000.00 22.20 0.23 68 1,221,283 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 122,400.00 10.20 - 35 278,956 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 60,480.60 14.75 -1.67 36 124,658 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 7,533.69 0.95 -5.00 17 266,013 MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 1,340.10 0.36 - 0 0 N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 766.26 4.30 - 0 0 NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC 39,344.16 14.85 - 8 70,165 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 3,321.07 12.15 - 0 0 164 1,961,075 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 18,500.29 9.85 - 12 62,118 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 963,077.35 1,215.00 - 74 158,320 86 220,438 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 1,680.31 22.10 - 0 0 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 4,878.29 3.90 - 12 172,000 12 172,000 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 25,014.01 6.30 - 17 29,525 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 153,391.64 26.70 - 18 14,387 35 43,912 447 10,697,041 BANKING ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 135,786.68 7.40 -2.63 28 138,159 FIDELITY BANK PLC 47,228.92 1.63 -1.21 67 2,406,548 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 785,812.49 26.75 0.19 195 11,986,189 JAIZ BANK PLC 14,437.48 0.49 - 5 731,265 56,141.32 1.95 - 25 413,366 STERLING BANK PLC. UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 203,845.27 7.00 - 24 170,524 UNITY BANK PLC 7,364.28 0.63 - 2 3,000 WEMA BANK PLC. 23,144.68 0.60 3.45 52 6,637,022 398 22,486,073 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC 4,117.00 0.20 - 3 16,708,226 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 4,435.33 0.64 -1.54 12 344,374 AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC 17,010.00 1.62 - 12 283,466 CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC 2,276.40 0.28 7.14 6 490,627 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 23,649.86 2.28 -0.87 13 704,530 CORNERSTONE INSURANCE PLC 5,744.51 0.39 - 9 333,283 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. 2,123.80 0.29 - 7 144,200 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 1,890.39 0.44 - 6 185,769 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 3,760.00 0.47 -7.84 5 766,310 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 2,234.55 0.20 - 2 103,000 NEM INSURANCE PLC 12,145.16 2.30 - 6 103,500 NIGER INSURANCE PLC 1,702.69 0.22 - 1 1,000 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC 2,637.45 0.49 - 0 0 REGENCY ASSURANCE PLC 1,333.75 0.20 - 1 300,000 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 1,668.16 0.20 - 1 100,000 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 1,050 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 4,282.48 0.32 -8.57 40 12,222,100 125 32,791,435

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MICRO-FINANCE BANKS NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 2,743.97 1.20 - 0 0 0 0 MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 4,158.00 0.99 - 1 1,000 ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 7,370.87 0.50 - 0 0 INFINITY TRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC 5,796.93 1.39 - 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 1 1,000 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AFRICA PRUDENTIAL PLC 8,000.00 4.00 - 34 621,758 CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC 33,232.53 5.65 -5.83 15 382,601 DEAP CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & TRUST PLC 660.00 0.44 - 0 0 FCMB GROUP PLC. 31,684.34 1.60 - 46 51,644,238 ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 1,029.07 0.20 -4.76 4 100,356 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 388,041.40 37.05 - 18 334,807 UNITED CAPITAL PLC 12,900.00 2.15 7.50 54 1,036,419 171 54,120,179 695 109,398,687 HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS EKOCORP PLC. 1,680.29 3.37 - 0 0 UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 852.75 0.24 - 3 98,500 3 98,500 MEDICAL SUPPLIES MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 494.58 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 PHARMACEUTICALS EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 366.17 0.50 - 0 0 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 7,510.90 3.60 -1.37 4 101,500 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 8,490.72 7.10 - 13 84,202 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 3,450.47 2.00 - 9 52,554 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC 797.65 0.42 -2.33 8 1,245,872 NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. 556.71 3.62 - 0 0 PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 325.23 1.50 - 0 0 34 1,484,128 37 1,582,628 COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 710.40 0.20 - 3 52,500 3 52,500 COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS OMATEK VENTURES PLC 1,470.89 0.50 - 0 0 0 0 IT SERVICES CWG PLC 6,413.06 2.54 - 0 0 NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 486.00 4.50 - 0 0 TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 292.02 0.59 - 1 15,120 1 15,120 PROCESSING SYSTEMS CHAMS PLC 1,220.98 0.26 - 2 3,229 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 9,996.00 2.38 - 1 10,000 3 13,229 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AIRTEL AFRICA PLC 1,157,510.66 308.00 - 8 326 8 326 15 81,175 BUILDING MATERIALS BERGER PAINTS PLC 2,173.68 7.50 - 5 1,303 CAP PLC 17,885.00 25.55 - 4 5,383 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 199,781.21 15.20 - 11 23,965 MEYER PLC. 313.43 0.59 - 1 100 PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC 1,769.32 2.23 - 0 0 PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 1,156.20 9.40 - 0 0 21 30,751 ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2,256.91 2.09 - 0 0 CUTIX PLC. 2,641.98 1.50 -3.23 26 1,031,636 26 1,031,636 PACKAGING/CONTAINERS BETA GLASS PLC. 26,898.49 53.80 - 1 5 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 388.02 9.10 - 0 0 1 5 AGRO-ALLIED & CHEMICALS NOTORE CHEMICAL IND PLC 100,754.14 62.50 - 0 0 0 0 48 1,062,392 CHEMICALS B.O.C. GASES PLC. 2,547.42 6.12 - 0 0 0 0 METALS ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 1,781.64 8.10 - 1 5,900 1 5,900 MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE MINING AND EXPLORATION PLC 852.39 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 PAPER/FOREST PRODUCTS THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 83.60 0.38 - 0 0 0 0 1 5,900 ENERGY EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 1,252.54 0.20 - 1 16,000 1 16,000 INTEGRATED OIL AND GAS SERVICES OANDO PLC 44,753.08 3.60 - 41 1,194,850 41 1,194,850 PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS 11 PLC 53,332.04 147.90 - 5 568 CONOIL PLC 10,686.86 15.40 - 26 81,851 ETERNA PLC. 4,108.06 3.15 - 2 5,000 FORTE OIL PLC. 20,839.70 16.00 - 10 10,655 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 5,166.13 16.95 - 1 10,377 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 41,829.09 123.20 - 21 11,155 65 119,606 107 1,330,456 ADVERTISING AFROMEDIA PLC 1,820.01 0.41 - 0 0 0 0 AIRLINES MEDVIEW AIRLINE PLC 17,551.17 1.80 - 0 0 0 0 AUTOMOBILE/AUTO PART RETAILERS R T BRISCOE PLC. 294.09 0.25 - 1 310 1 310 COURIER/FREIGHT/DELIVERY RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 2,387.46 4.05 - 2 3,180 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 361.01 0.77 - 1 10 3 3,190 HOSPITALITY TANTALIZERS PLC 642.33 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 HOTELS/LODGING CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 4,723.78 3.05 - 2 200 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 2,452.98 1.18 - 1 6,400 7,862.53 3.50 - 0 0 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 41,042.18 5.40 - 3 1,000 6 7,600 MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4,800.00 0.40 - 0 0 0 0 PRINTING/PUBLISHING ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 211.68 0.35 - 5 34,852 LEARN AFRICA PLC 948.88 1.23 9.82 10 263,787 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 1,183.82 1.99 - 0 0 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 496.12 1.15 - 2 1,340 17 299,979 ROAD TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC 663.08 0.40 5.26 5 1,103,000 5 1,103,000

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

POLITICS & POLICY Alleged $200,000 bribery scandal: Lagos Assembly throws out petition against lawmaker INIOBONG IWOK

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he Lagos State House of Assembly has thrown out a petition alleging the receipt of $200,000 bribe by Hon. Moshood Oshun, representing Lagos Mainland Constituency 2 in the Assembly.

Oshun had been accused of collecting the bribe money from three companies in order to cover up for their non-performing contracts worth over nine billion naira (N9billion) awarded to them by the immediate past Akinwunmi Ambode administration.

A petition was submitted to the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa by an anticorruption campaign organisation, Stop Corruption Now Initiative and signed by its President, Olakunle Omisade.

In the petition, Moshood Olanrewaju Osun, chairman of the House ad-hoc Committee on Environmental Sanitation, was accused of collecting the said illicit money from contractors who were awarded various contracts bordering on the environment by the Akinwumi Ambode administration to the tune of N9billion paid upfront against established rules.

The said companies are: Quality Sanctuary Services Limited, Jane Rin International Services Limited and Blue Bridge Marine Services Limited.

Uche Secondus, PDP National Chairman

Moshood Oshun

Raising the matter under urgent Matter of Public Importance on Thursday, Tunde Braimoh stated that the Speaker sent the petition to the House Committee on Public Petition, LASIEC, Human Rights and Judiciary, which he chaired, on Tuesday.

Braimoh stated that the address of the petitioner was not traceable and that there was no phone number where the petitioner could be located.

“The committee considered this and noted that the petitioner could not be located. We noticed some discrepancies in the petition, and it was frivolous and smack of acrimony.

“It is a criminal offence that attracts punishment.

The petitioner is not even available to establish his case. Under the rules of the House, the petitioner ought to disclose his address,” he said.

The committee then recommended that the petition should be struck out because the petitioner was faceless, adding that members of the public should embrace decorum in approaching the House and be wary of information in the social media.

This was supported by Desmond Elliott (Surulere 2), who commended the Speaker for the way the issue was handled.

Elliot stated that the values of the House were accountability, probity and

transparency, and that they ensure that justice is upheld for anyone that is accused of any offence, while advising that the petition should be thrown out.

In his view, Yinka Ogundimu (Agege 2) expressed happiness that the House rose to the occasion on the issue immediately.

Contributing to the matter, the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1) stated that the writer of the petition had a motive which could be malicious and scandalous.

Agunbiade stressed that the petition was submitted to the House with the hope that they would take action on it only for the writers to go to the social media.

In his view, Tijani Olumo (Ajeromi Ifelodun 1) said that the matter was a diversion to take the Assembly from its focus.

The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa thanked the committee “for the quick action of the report.”

Obasa added that members should disregard the petition.

According thing, “It is common with my years of experience to see such a petition only for the petitioner not to come at the committee level.

“When you damage people’s reputation how do you want to mend it? You don’t think about his wife and children. What do you want him to tell them? I am even used to it as the Speaker because it happened to my predecessors,” he said.

Kogi guber: There will be no history of inconclusive election, says INEC VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

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arely 36 days to the Kogi State gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to hold meetings with stakeholders for a peaceful exercise. Addressing stakeholders at a meeting yesterday, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu disclosed that Kogi and Bayelsa elections were major elections for Nigeria.

Yakubu said that the interest attached to the forthcoming election made it to be important for Nigerians, adding that the purpose of the meeting was to determine INEC readiness for the election, noting that with the electorate’s support INEC would achieve a credible election.

election,” the INEC said.

Presenting his address earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. James Apam disclosed that the importance attached to the forthcoming election by the Chairman has been demonstrated in the early release of funds and materials to Kogi office to start early preparation , -saying all the sensitive materials have been batched and sent to the local government offices .

Apam hinted that out of 170,664 Permanent Voters Cards only 10, 383 has been issued as at 30th September despite the announcement on radio and television and two mobile teams set up to do it.

He also stated that refresher trainings has been conducted for INEC staff

NGO makes case for improved opportunities for women participation in politics VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

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Kogi-based NonGovernmental Organisation, Challenge Parenthood Initiative (CPI), has called on electoral stakeholders to put in place strategic and deliberate interventions to address identified challenges militating against w omen par ticipation in the electoral process throughout the federation.

Eunice Agbogun, executive director of CPI, made the call at the Kogi West joint Townhall Meeting organised by CPI and Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID) in Lokoja on Wednesday.

The meeting on ‘Stop Violence Against Women in Politics and Get-OutThe-Vote’ campaign is being supported by the

National Democratic Institute (NDI) in partnership with UKaid and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Agbogun said that the joint West senatorial district Town Hall meeting was a conscious drive for peaceful and all-inclusive November 16, 2019 offcycle gubernatorial election in Kogi State.

“Our democratic journey so far as a nation and particularly as a state has not been as inclusive and as encompassing as our founding fathers had envisaged.

“Statistics have shown that women make up just six percent of all elective positions at the national level and far less at statelevel. This has clearly emasculated the desired development we ought to have gotten from our participation in the Demo-

cratic experiment,” she said.

The Obaro of Kabba, Solomon Owoniyi who was represented by Jos e p h O sagb e m i , sa i d the meeting came at the right time, adding that no amount of sacrifice could be too much to achieve peace in the forthcoming election.

Speaking also Oba Owoniyi called on government to play fundamental role in ensuring peace during the election as he urged women not to let house chores hinder them from playing prominent role in the electoral processes through active participation.

The Ohimege of KotonKarfe, Abdulrazak Isa-Koto represented by Abdullahi Musa Bako urged political parties to avoid hate speech and fake news in their campaigns and urged

youths to guard against being used to perpetrate violence.

James Apam, a professor and the INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state represented by Ahmed BaguduBiambo, director Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), urged all stakeholders at the meeting to take the peace message back to their constituencies.

“All hands must be on deck. We request all participants to permeate the grassroots with peace message to ensure that the November 16 election reflect the true position of the electorate”, he said.

Richard Esebagbon, deputy country director, NDI, said his office was in the state to support the good work of their partners at ensuring peaceful election and promotion of good governance.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu

“We want to hear from you how best to work together. The commission is right now concluding some of the timetable. We have concluded the collation processes. And the integrity of the process is assured.

INEC is not a political party; let me use this opportunity to remind leaders of political parties,” he said.

He equally commended the Civil Society Organisations, especially Idris Miliki Abdul on his unprecedented achievement in crusading for a credible election in the state.

“I am happy for the CSOs, especially Idris Abdul Miliki for all he has been doing over the radio. We will not tolerate harassment of any type at the polling units.

INEC promised that there will be no history of inconclusive election in the forthcoming November 16

in different aspect of work and training of security personnel on their conduct during the election, adding that they are in the process of recruiting and training their ad-hoc staff , stressing further that plans to hold more meetings with critical stakeholders like religious leaders Civil Society Organisation and National Orientation Agency has already been engaged for door to door campaigns, just as they intend to conduct road shows and market out reaches in order to create awareness, Apam happily disclosed that the earlier release of fund and material have enabled them keep pace with their Election Project Plan (EPP), noting that with these on ground they will be able to deliver a credible election come November 16 2019.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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news

Making health insurance compulsory will attract big-ticket investors— Karunwi ANTHONIA OBOKOH

...Tipton Training, Dental Solutions partner to train dentists

aking health insurance compulsory across the country will help attract funds into Nigeria’s health sector, Bode Karunwi, chairman, Dental Solution, says, saying Nigeria’s health sector has poorly been funded, and pointing out that the budget government has for the sector will not make a significant impact on it.

“Making health insurance compulsory will definitely

make a huge difference in the industry,” he said.

Karunwi spoke at training on advanced dental restoration topics organised by Tipton Training and Dental Solutions, which took place at Schubbs Dental Clinics in Lagos on Thursday, 10th October.

Karunwi said the Nigerian dental industry was growing with huge potentials, noting that what the country really needed was policies that would enhance the growth of the industry.

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“This is why I believe strongly that making health insurance compulsory is what will inject a lot of funds into the healthcare system,” Karunwi said. “If every Nigerian registered has health insurance that obviously will give critical mass for improvement of dentistry in Nigeria.”

In the 2020 budget proposals presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari, the government plans to spend N44.50 billion in 2020 on Basic Health Care, representing a

13.12 percent decline from N51.22 billion in 2020.

Dental Solution Limited is a full-service, solution provider for the entire field of dentistry, delivering training across all specialisations.

During the training, participants saw demonstrations of challenging cases and learned advanced tips and tricks for preserving and restoring teeth.

Paul Tipton, director of Tipton Training, United Kingdom-based and a specialist in prosthodontics restorative and

cosmetic dentistry, said that Tipton training had been done in Ireland, Scotland , Egypt, UK, India and now in Nigeria.

According to him this was the first time was taking place in West Africa and Nigeria was the first to get this opportunity.

“The course is to improve the techniques of dentist worldwide,” Tipton said, and noted that the standard of dentistry in most school around the world is quite poor compare to the level of dentistry that is achievable.”

Tipton said that what he

RED | For Africa CEO to speak at Choiseul Africa Business Forum, WTO public forum

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EO of RED | For Africa, Adebola Williams, recently joined Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Rania Al Mashat; BUA CEO, Kabir Samad; O R A S C O M C E O, Na g u ib Sawaris, among other global decision-makers, to discuss African Leadership at the Choiseul Africa Business Forum in France.

Held yearly at the heart of the French Riviera, Choiseul Africa Business Forum is a key event dedicated to investment and business opportunities in Africa and with Africa.

Williams also featured as a panellist for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum in Geneva, Sw itzerland, October 8, 2019.

Themed ‘Trading Forward: Adapting to a Changing World,’ the event offered a platform to discuss the role of the next generation in shaping the future of the global trading system to meet their hopes and expectations.

In his submission, Williams emphasised the role of partnerships and crossfertilisation of ideas and opportunities across continents.

“It is becoming increasingly impor tant for our global preser vation that leaders and decision-makers across the world come together to take advantage of under-exploited synergies and analyse new areas of partnership for the benefit of shared growth,” Williams said.

“Both forums were extremely insightful and I am looking forward to the implementation of our discussions over the next couple of years,” he said.

Adebola Williams is the co-founder of RED | For Africa, the continent’s largest portfolio of media brands engaging the youth. He is a Mandela Washington Fellow; a World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader and was named among the United Nations 100 Most Influential Persons of African Descent.

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was trying to do was to train dentists who went to dentistry school to use those techniques and operate so that they can do much more better dentistry on their patients.

“It will improve the patient’s life, the life of the dentist as well as showing them how to do more advanced techniques and better techniques.

“Nigeria dentist will really benefit our coming over here; it is an opportunity to help develop the profession here in Nigeria,” he said.

42 BUSINESS DAY

Friday 11 October 2019

news

Buhari receives former President Jonathan Tony Ailemen, Abuja

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resident Muhammadu Buhari and former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, met behind closed doors, in what could be described as one of the shortest visits to the Presidential Villa, by any former Nigerian president.

The visit lasted less than 10 minutes, as Jonathan arrived exactly 3.05pm and departed before 3.15pm.

The former President was received by some aides of President Buhari on arrival, led by the head of Protocol to the President, Lawan Kazaure, and later headed straight to the President’s office.

The former President

was shielded from State Hous e journalists, w ith few reporters allowed to cover only his arrival and departure at the foyer of the President’s office.

Details of former President Jonathan’s visit was not made known, but Busin e ss Day s ou rc e s st ate d that the “former President handed over documents to President Buhari.”

The visit will be the four th since he handed over power in 2015 to the incumbent president.

Jonathan emerged from the office of the President beaming with smiles as he waved to the retinue of staff, some of whom had worked with him, while he was at the Presidential Villa.

Buhari endorses N5m as fine for broadcast code breaches Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has approved the review of the National Code and extant broadcasting laws to reflect the upward review of fines from N500,000 to N5 million for breaches relating to hate speeches, inciting comments and indecency.

Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Thursday while inaugurating a National Broadcasti ng C o m m i s s i o n ( N B C ) Reforms Implementation Committee.

Mohammed explained that the upward review of fines was one of the recommendations contained in a report by a five-member committee set up in April 2019 to inquire into the conduct of stations after the general elections.

The minister said Buhari also approved the amendment of the NBC Act to enable NBC license WebTv

and radio stations, including foreign broadcasters beaming signals into Nigeria.

He said Buhari also approved the upgrade of breach of political comments relating to hate speeches and divisive comments to ‘’Class A’’ offence in the Broadcasting Code.

Buhari also approved that wilful repeat of infractions on three occasions after levying fine on a station to attract suspension of licence as well as the recruitment of more monitoring staff for the NBC. “At the moment, there are only about 200 staff monitoring about 1,000 radio and television stations,” he said.

According to Mohammed, other approvals by the president are the deployment of adequate monitoring equipment and technologies for the NBC and enhancement of welfare packages of NBC staff “to avoid their compromise in the line of duty.”

Lagos to extend mental health services to PHCs JOSHUA BASSEY agos State government says it will extend mental health care services to the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in order to increase access to mental health care across the state.

The state commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi, disclosed this on Thursday to mark this year’s World Mental Health Day, saying it was in recognition of the need to strengthen mental health care and eradicate the difficulties in accessing mental health services which occur as a result of reluctance in seeking medical attention and lack of knowledge of where to access adequate care.

“And this is why we are incorporating mental health care to the primary health care level across the state,” said Abayomi.

He noted that the promotion of mental health and well-being of Lagosians were

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prioritised within the state’s development agenda for health which is to ensure that every citizen has access to effective and sustainable health care delivery models.

Abayomi explained that the inclusion of mental health care delivery at the primary health level will reduce the difficulties in assessing adequate health care and will go a long way in reducing the alarming suicide rate in the society.

According to him, the state was working and collaborating with other sectors to create a strong network of facilities that will address mental health needs “We recognise the difficulties in accessing mental health services which can occur because we are afraid to come forward and seek help, or are unaware of where to get it or the existing institutions and resources that provide these services are few and far between. www.businessday.ng

Buhari to beam searchlight on cost of governance

... as PACAC says N1trn looted funds recovered so far ... to fund SIP

Tony Ailemen, Abuja

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resident Muhammadu Buhari Thursday promised to beam the searchlight on cost of governance, and weed out possible corruption existing anywhere.

The President stated this when he hosted members of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) at State House, Abuja.

Recalling experience of the past, in which assets were seized from officials who couldn’t explain how they got them, “only for those assets to be returned to them when government was changed,” President Buhari vowed that such would not recur, as he had given instructions that all forfeited assets be sold, “and the money put in the Treasury Single Account.

“Let’s see who will now take back the money from the treasury, and give back to those people, as was done in the past.”

Chairman of the PACAC, Itse Sagay, had said that the Federal Government’s anticorruption war haD led to recovery of about N1 trillion, locally, since the inception of the Buhari administration Sagay, while briefing State House Correspondents after leading members of PACAC to meet with President Buhari, also said the funds had been plough back to fund government Social Investment Programme (SIP).

The recovered funds, Sagay said, represent the local components of the total funds recovered so far, and was part of the over $400 billion reportedly looted from public treasury.

The amount excludes the foreign components of the various sums recovered so far by the various anti-corruption agencies set up by the government, he said.

Sagay, who described the recovery as “unprecedented in the history of Nigeria,” said

government had ploughed the recovered loots to fund the various SIPs. “People are asking what the money has been used for.

I want to tell Nigerians that the money is what government is using to carry out its SIP, such as the School Feeding Programme.

“I don’t need to tell anybody, it is unprecedented in the annals of this country that we could be recovering so much assets illegally acquired mainly by public servants, but not only by public servants.

“It is ploughed back into the national budget and used for the SIP. So, when you hear about feeding of over 12 million school children, as at when I checked last, having nutritious meal every day, you hear of poor families being supported to survive and stand on their feet or over 500,000 young people who are being trained in all sorts of skills and paid N30,000 a month by the government and

the interest free loans given to small scale businesses all over the country.”

Other achievements listed by the committee, according to Sagay, include “training and capacity building of anti-corruption agencies,” which had helped in the non-conviction assets recovery, recording great successes.

He stated that PACAC made some recommendations to the President to move the anticorruption war many steps forward.

They include the re-establishment of the jury system for criminal cases in the country; setting up of a judicial commission on corruption in the judiciary, to be headed by retired judges under the auspices of National Judicial Council (NJC); passage of Proceeds of Crime Act by the National Assembly; the setting up of a Presidential Truth and Restitution Task Force, and a closer look at the cost of governance to weed out all vestiges of corruption.

L-R: Adam Toft, dentist, Sheffied UK/lecturer, Tipton Training; Adekemi Bakare, course co-ordinator, Dental Solutions; Olusesan Popoola, dentist, Somerset UK/Tipton Training Africa; Paul Tipton, specialist in prosthodontics restorative and cosmetic dentistry/founder, Tipton Training; Ashish Rayarel, dentist, Manchester UK/lecturer, Tipton Training; Chloe Turnbull, dental nurse, and Bode Karunwi, chairman, Dental Solutions, during a training at the Schubbs Dental Clinic in partnership with Tipton Training and Dental Solution in Lagos, yesterday.

Pic by Olawale Amoo

Again, Senators fault Buhari’s budget estimates, task FG on implementation ... as 2020 Appropriation Bill passes second reading in House

SOLOMON AYADO & James Kwen

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or the second time, some Nigerian senators have faulted the estimates of the 2020 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The general debate on the 2020 Appropriation Bill commenced on Wednesday in the Senate where the lawmakers questioned the budget estimates of N10.33 trillion.

The Upper Chamber had adjourned plenary till Thursday to continue deliberations on the Bill.

Meanwhile, the 2020 Appropriation Bill passed second reading in the House of Representatives at Thursday’s plenary after extensive debates.

Having passed second

reading, the Bill which captures the 2020 budget estimates amounting to N10.33 trillion would be treated at the Committee level for third reading, which entails passage of the next year’s budget.

House Majority Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, presented the Bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to authorize the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N10,330,416,607,347 trillion only to the House.

Debate on the general principle of the Appropriation Bill/ budget commenced in the House on Wednesday and continued Thursday during which Members expressed varied opinion on estimates.

Continuing on Wednesday, the lawmakers discussed extensively on how the assumptions of the President

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in the budget were simply unrealistic.

While some senators commended the early presentation of the budget, majority of them picked holes in the perimeters that would ensure proper implementation of the bill.

The senators queried the norm where previous budgets were presented with outrageous assumptions but practical implementations of projects that could benefit the generality of people were never achieved.

Specifically, they cited the 2019 budget, they said, had not been implemented up to 70 percent, with several estimated projects that are uncompleted being rolled over into the 2020 budget.

Consequently, the lawmakers tasked the Federal Government to ensure implementa@Businessdayng

tion of budgetary projects in order to make life more meaningful to all Nigerians.

Leading the debate during plenary, the Senate deputy minority leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, described the ugly situation as a “yearly ritual” and said it was very worrisome.

According to Bwacha, the nation cannot move forward with the current budget without defining the past, and that diversification of economy widely being clamoured to solve economic challenges of the country cannot see any light if the government continues speaking from both sides of the mouth.

“Budget presentation is a yearly ritual but we don’t put in place measures that will ensure proper implementation and make the budget workable.

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Edo assures better deal for girl-child

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do State Governor Godwin Obaseki says ongoing institutional and legal reforms in the state will guarantee a better deal for the girl-child, noting that more of these structures will protect them and other vulnerable persons.

The governor said this in commemoration of the International Day of the Girl-Child, marked every October 11, by the United Nations and its sister agencies.

According to Obaseki, “As we mark the International Day of the Girl-Child, I reiterate my administration’s commitment to protecting the girl-child, providing her with the space to live life to the fullest and realise her full potentials.

“We are prioritising the wellbeing of vulnerable persons in Edo State, with reforms in the legal system and other social structures to ensure that they are better protected and free to perform optimally in society.”

He said, specifically, the state government had enacted the Prohibition of Violence Against Persons (VAP) law; the Child Rights Law, among others to ensure that the girl-child is protected.

Noting that the theme for this year’s commemoration, ‘GirlForce: Unscripted

and Unstoppable’ is apt and speaks to the focus of his administration in prioritising the needs of the girl-child, he stressed that government will continue to mobilise resources to ensure that the girl-child is provided with the needed incentives to drive inclusion and bridge the gender gap in education, social welfare and economic opportunities for girl-child.

According to the UN, “Nearly 25 years ago, some 30,000 women and men from nearly 200 countries arrived in Beijing, China for the Fourth World Conference on Women, determined to recognize the rights of women and girls as human rights. The conference culminated in the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: the most comprehensive policy agenda for the empowerment of women.

“In the years following, women pressed this agenda forward, leading global movements on issues ranging from sexual and reproductive health rights to equal pay.

More girls today are attending and completing school, fewer are getting married or becoming mothers while still children, and more are gaining the skills they need to excel in the future world of work.”

FG, Chinese firm sign $3.9bn rail agreement ...CRCC to construct, manage projects for 30yrs Stella Enenche, Abuja

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he Federal Government and the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) have signed an agreement for the later to construct the $3.9 billion AbujaBaru-Itakpe-Warri rail line.

As part of the agreement, the CRCC will also handle the construction of a new seaport in Warri.

The multi-million naira projects, upon completion, will be managed by the consortium for a period of 30 years.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who made the disclosure shortly after the signing ceremony Thursday in Abuja, said the development signaled the first public,private partnership (PPP) for the Abuja- Itakpe and Abuja- Baru-Itakpe and Lokoja.

According to the minister, “The signing ceremony that we have today is the first PPP railway agreement for AbujaItakpe and Abuja- Baru-Itakpe and Lokoja and it is between Nigeria and CRCC. “The agreement is supposed to be 15% Nigeria and 10 percent CRCC equity and then we borrow 75 percent as SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle).

CRCC will provide us with a performance bond from their bank before we give sovereign guarantee. There is a concession agreement that CRCC will hold 75 percent. The entire Nigerian railway is constructed

100 by CRCC.” The former Rivers State governor commended the CRCC for its amiable disposition and cooperation with the federal government, saying it was that singular reason that the relationship was being sustained and strengthened According to Amaechi, the PPP arrangement was more convenient for government, as opposed to borrowing, which entailed paying back the loan.

He further disclosed that the rail line, when completed, will be one of the longest corridors in the country, apart from the narrowing gauge.

Amaechi observed, “If we raise our equity, they will raise theirs. But largely, the funds will come from China”, even as he added that, the rail line is one of the “longest railway in Nigeria now, apart from the narrow gauge is the ItakpeWarri Rail line”.

He recalled, “The German started it by Julius Berger they got close to completion and it was later abandoned. So some of them were vandalized and then we had to re award it to CCECC to complete the vandalized areas”.

Meanwhile, the minister has made a case for the localization of railway technology, noting that the history of China railway construction showed that China had localised the American technology.

The first American company that started railway construction in China was GE.

Nigeria exported $658bn worth of crude oil in 12 years IFEANYI JOHN

…remains poverty capital of the world

igeria is the poverty capital of the world, but its financial problem is not born out of lack but mismanagement of the country’s natural resources.

Data compiled from Central Bank of Nigeria shows that Nigeria produced about $828.3 billion worth of cr ude oil between 2006 and 2018 and exported as much as $658.3 billion. Yet the country has more than 87 million people (about 40% of its population) living in extreme poverty (people living on less than $1.9 per day).

Despite the country earning about $378 billion in crude oil exports between 2010 and 2015 (which is about 10% greater than South Africa’s 2018 GDP), it didn’t seem like there was enough cushion from past oil earnings to prevent oil dependent Nigeria from falling into its first recession in 25 years in the year 2016 due to an oil price crash that

saw Nigeria earn its least amount of revenue from crude oil exports during the period under review.

In 2016, Nigeria earned an estimated $21 billion in crude oil exports which was about one-third of its earnings in 2014 as crude oil price fell from around as high as $114 per barrel in 2014 to around $29 per barrel in early 2016. As at end of 2018, Nigeria had accrued earnings of $38.3 billion in crude oil exports (its best year since 2014), posting almost 100% growth from its 2016 levels, yet the economy could only manage growth of around 1.94% in 2018.

“To say the government has faile d the Nig er ian people seems like an understatement. With less oil reserves and lower crude oil production than Nigeria, Nor way has managed to build a $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund to guarantee the future financial welfare of its country using proceeds earned from crude oil exports since the 1990s.

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Nigeria on the other hand has produced more than $800 billion worth of oil and exported more than $650 billion worth of oil but has a sovereign wealth fund of just $2.53 billion,” said Obinna Uzoma, Chief Economist at EUA Intelligence.

In the Fiscal Monitor report released early this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranked Nigeria second lowest among 33 countries using the sovereign wealth fund from their natural resources.

“Nigeria needs a wake up call on how it manages its resources because the oil isn’t going to be there forever. Norway realize that and have created a wealth fund that is almost 3 times the size of their GDP compared to Niger ia whose wealth fund is less than 1% of its economy. Nigeria’s poverty level is increasing at the same time cr ude oil price is coming under pressure. You also have oil production undershooting

budgetary estimate at the same time that crude oil price is falling below the country’s benchmark price.

If nothing is done quickly, Nigeria’s public finances could quickly become a hot mess,” Uzoma added.

As at September 2019, the country’s foreign external reserves was barely $42.1 billio n co mpare d to Norway who boasted a foreign external reserve of $61 billion.

Nigerian government officials have been quick to blame the recent economic woes on the weaker crude oil prices but data from CBN shows that not all our problems have been caused by external factors, some have been self-inflicted.

Between 2006 and 2015, average daily crude oil production in the country was about 2.2mbpd, compared to an average daily production of 1.83mbpd since 2016, causing oil revenue to continuously underperform budgetary estimate over the last three years.

African nations call for policies to ban markets for stolen crude, fish ... as Nigerian Navy decries lack of platforms to arrest, prosecute culprits AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE & STELLA ENENCHE in Abuja

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ust like the ‘blood diamonds,’ African nations have agreed to ensure that international communities put mechanisms in place to ban resources that are illegally explored in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region, from being sold in any market in the world.

Crude oil theft and illegal fishery in the GoG region, no doubt, have created massive economic hardship for nations in the West and Central Africa region, as resources that ought to create jobs and wealth for populace in these countries are illegally taken away.

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According to these nations, international communities need to put deliberate policies in place to ensure there would not be any market for stolen oil, illegal unreported and unregulated fishery.

This was part of the resolutions contained in a communiqué from the just concluded Global Maritime Security Conference 2019, held in Abuja from Monday to Wednesday.

Explaining the position of the communiqué, Dakuku Peterside, director-general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said there were already established international frameworks for which stolen diamonds are treated as ‘blood

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diamond’.

“We want international communities to apply those frameworks to stolen crude, stolen fish taken from our waters illegally and in an unregulated manner. There is also the Port State agreement, which of course, treats illegal unreported and unregulated fishing like blood diamond,” he said.

The chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, who was represented by Rear Admiral Begroy Ibe-Enwo, Chief of Policy and Plans, Naval headquarters, said there had been a conspiracy theory that illegal fishing in African waters was an internationally organised crime.

He said the recommenda@Businessdayng

tion was aimed at ensuring that the international communities discourage their own people from participating in such illegal activities.

“As for the patrol efforts, the Nigerian Navy has a trinity of action that we are reinforcing by the day. The first leg of that action is surveillance, which revolves around what is called maritime domain awareness.

According to Ibe-Enwo, for countries in the region to improve on their maritime domain awareness, there is a need for platforms like ships and helicopters to be used in patrolling the waterways in order to have complete view of all the activities on the high sea.

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Friday 11 October 2019

news FEC approves contract for rehabilitation of control towers in Apapa, Tin-Can ports AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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he Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved contract for the rehabilitation of the dilapidated Control Towers in Apapa and Tin-Can Island seaports.

The contract, awarded to Julius Berger Construction Company, will enhance communication between the vessels at sea and the destination port in

Nigeria.

Upon completion, the safe navigation of vessels calling Nigerian Ports would be enhanced as distress calls in a time of emergency at sea would also be timely reported and handled.

Speaking at the quarterly stakeholders meeting held in Apapa Port on Thursday in Lagos, Hadiza Bala-Usman, managing director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who was represented by Sokonte

Davies, executive director, Marine and Operations, and Mohammed BelloKoko, executive director, Finance and Administration, both of the NPA, the kick-off meeting would actually commenced today (Friday) because it was expected that Julius Berger would move to site by next week.

E x p l a i n i n g f u r t h e r, Bello-Koko said on assumption of duty, the present leadership of the NPA discovered that one of the

infrastructure found in dilapidated state was the Control Towers in Apapa and Tin-Can Island.

“We commenced a procurement process, which went through the bidding process. The company that built that towers was Julius Berger, and to that effect, we got FEC approval for the reconstruction that also involves reequipping of those Control Towers,” he said.

Bello-Koko, who refused to reveal the cost of the contract, said the es-

sence was to reequip the towers, change the radar system, change the communication system and put an upgraded communication system that would improve communication with ships coming into Nigerian Ports from Fairway Buoy down to the port.

According to Bello-Koko, the NPA has also commenced the procurement process for the construction of a Control Tower in Onne Port, actually has

Art lovers converge on Obi’s palace as Ofala gets into full swing

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overs of arts converged on the palace of the Obi of Onitsha on Wednesday as the 2019 edition of the famous Ofala Festival kicked off.

The Oreze International Arts Exhibition is a major part of the Ofala Festival, which has been sponsored by the digital transformation leader, Globacom, since 2011.

The colourful exhibition was declared open by Frank Ugiomo, a professor, historian, culture theorist and lecturer at the Department of Arts, University of Port Harcourt.

Ugiomo lauded the exhibition for what he called its ‘mark of distinction’ especially when looking at the assemblage of personalities.

“The work of art constitutes the remnant of self. Interacting with the work of art is interacting with oneself. The work of art should speak to us as a people and as such, the essence of this exhibition is for us not to lose our being. I must therefore praise the Agbogidi, the organisers of the Oreze International Arts Exhibition, and the sponsors, Globacom, for consistently using this forum to remind us of who we are,” Ugiomo said.

Shedding light on how the exhibition came to be, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, said the “aim for introducing Oreze International Arts Exhibition is to bring the world to Onitsha and take Onitsha to the world through visual arts”.

Noel Udeme, Globacom’s regional activation manager, South East 2, said that the company embraced the idea of the exhibition seven years ago in order to help in projecting African culture to the world.

He recalled that Globacom had been supporting the Oreze International Arts Exhibition since 2013 when it was first introduced because the company believes that only Africans can promote African cultures.

“We will continue to support our cultural heritage so that generations to come will find reason to be proud of being Black and value our cultures, world view and heritage”, Udeme said.

Globacom will be giving out tricycles, popularly known as keke, and LED television sets at Azu Ofala on Saturday. www.businessday.ng

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@Businessdayng

never been built in Onne before.

“The situation is embarrassing but it is being built now. We believed that the procurement process would have been concluded before the end of the year. Naturally, it will go through the FEC for approval. We believe that it will be approved because it is necessary tool for communication between the ships and our ports,” he said.

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World Business Newspaper

DAVID PILLING IN MAPUTO AND ANDRES SCHIPANI IN BEIRA

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na Maria João Valeda, a 54-year-old housewife living in Mozambique’s port city of Beira, likes President Filipe Nyusi so much she wears a capulana wraparound fabric imprinted with his face.

She credits Mr Nyusi’s Frelimo party, which has ruled Mozambique for more than four decades, with helping repair the damage caused when Cyclone Idai tore through the country in March, killing 1,300 people. “Our house crumbled and we had nothing to eat, but then the government brought in foreign aid and we started getting food and clothes,” she said.

“They even brought in the Pope to bless us,” she added, referring to last month’s visit by the pontiff, which Frelimo used to burnish its credentials ahead of presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections on October 15.

The elections come at a crucial time for Mozambique. Although one of the world’s poorest countries, Mozambique is braced for massive investment after the discovery of huge gas reserves off its northern coast.

Anadarko, the US energy company, in June committed to a $25bn liquefied natural gas project, and Exxon is expected to invest in another similar sized project. Eni, the Italian oil group, hopes to be producing from its $8bn floating LNG facility by 2023.

The prospect of billions of dollars flooding in has triggered fears

Mozambique goes to polls as gas billions begin to flow Country braced for massive investment after discovery of huge energy reserves off coast

Filipe Nyusi, who is running for a second term as Mozambique’s president, has sought to prove he is dealing with the tuna bond scandal by increasing his anticorruption rhetoric and allowing an investigation into the missing funds © AFP

about whether Mozambique’s institutions, weakened by decades of single-party rule, are strong enough to resist the “resource curse” that has blighted other African countries.

Violence blamed on a shadowy Islamist group has already broken

Maker of denim jeans insists it only wants investors who are focused on the long term

Treasury says Indian-born family members part of ‘significant corruption network’

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he US government imposed sanctions on South Africa’s Gupta business family and an associate over their alleged role in a vast corruption scandal linked to the former president, Jacob Zuma.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Thursday that it had placed Atul, Ajay and Rajesh ‘Tony’ Gupta, a trio of Indian-born brothers, on its sanctions list as “members of a significant corruption network in South Africa” that looted state coffers.

The Guptas have been accused in South Africa of using a friendship with Mr Zuma to control cabinet appointments and public contracts for their private benefit.

Mr Zuma left office last year after being sacked by the governing African National Congress.

His successor as president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has pledged to

root out the alleged ‘capture’ of the state by the Guptas.

“The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets,” Sigal Mandelker, the US Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence,” said.

The sanctions target “the Guptas’ pay-to-play political patronage, which was orchestrated at the expense of the South African people,” Ms Mandelker added.

Salim Essa, a close business ally of the Guptas, was also designated under the US sanctions.

The Treasury’s move will forbid US entities from doing business with the family or handling their assets.

The Guptas, Mr Essa and Mr Zuma have always denied wrongdoing. The family left South Africa for the United Arab Emirates after Mr Zuma fell from power. www.businessday.ng

US prosecutors have indicted three former Credit Suisse bankers for alleged fraud and are demanding the extradition of Manuel Chang, the former Mozambique finance minister arrested in South Africa in January.

The so-called tuna bond scan-

Levi Strauss bets moral mission can survive public markets

US imposes sanctions on South Africa’s Gupta brothers JOSEPH COTTERILL IN JOHANNESBURG

out in the northern Cabo Delgado province where gas discoveries have been made. The government has also been embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed, in 2016, that it had borrowed $2bn in secret loans, much of it still unaccounted for.

dal — much of the money had been borrowed to start a phantom tuna-fishing fleet — prompted a break with the IMF, which stopped its lending programme. That in turn contributed to an economic slump after years of relatively strong growth, obliging the government to rein in expenditure.

Mr Nyusi, who is running for a second term, has sought to prove he is dealing with the scandal by cranking up anti-corruption rhetoric and allowing an investigation into the missing funds. Twenty officials have been arrested, including the son of former president Armando Guebuza.

“They agreed that, in order to stay in power, some sacrifices had to be made,” said Adriano Nuvunga, director of the Maputo-based Centre for the Study of Democracy and Development. The arrests, he said, were “essentially an arrangement by the elite to save the regime in the next election”.

The tactic could well work. Few expect Mr Nyusi to be seriously challenged by Ossufo Momade, who took over as head of the opposition Renamo party in January following the death of its longtime leader Afonso Dhlakama, the former guerrilla leader.

ANDREW EDGECLIFFE-JOHNSON IN SAN FRANCISCO

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his article is part of an FT series examining the risks and trade-offs companies face when they try to define a broader purpose for their business.

The smoke is imperceptible at first. Soon, though, a wisp points the eye to where a laser is etching faded creases on to the pristine pair of jeans in front of it. Just as the pattern seems complete comes the coup de théâtre: flames flash across the knees, creating rips in the denim that conform precisely to the design on a nearby computer.

The show at Levi Strauss’s innovation lab in San Francisco lasts just 90 seconds, but offers an insight into a company focused on the long term. Before it devised the laser process, workers had to scrub jeans with sandpaper for 20 minutes before finishing them with thousands of chemical brews to achieve the same distressed look.

Investing in the laser process, which has helped Levi cut out most of those chemicals, stemmed from an effort to enhance a repu-

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tation for social responsibility that dates back to the 19th century.

The ambition has acquired new resonance as companies search for a future in which society holds them and the capitalist system they represent in higher regard.

The man from whom Levi Strauss takes its name was a gold rush-era merchant who, having commercialised a fellow immigrant’s idea for riveted denim overalls, gave away much of his fortune to fund local orphanages and university scholarships. His heirs burnished the reputation of Levi’s for paternalism, continuing to pay workers after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed the company’s factory, offering generous severance packages as America’s garment industry moved overseas and speaking of the company as on a mission of “profits through principles”.

Such language has become more commonplace in corporate America in recent years since its largest investors began asking boards to explain what social purpose their companies serve and Washington’s Business Roundtable group adopted a stakeholderfriendly creed that challenged Milton Friedman’s notion that @Businessdayng

directors’ only social responsibility was the legal pursuit of profit.

But Levi’s offers an unusual example of a company that has grappled for generations with a related challenge consuming its peers: how to stay focused on long-term value creation, even in the face of the fashion industry’s short-term pressures.

For most of the company’s history, the answer was family ownership, but in 1971 the need for capital and a desire to offer shares to employees persuaded the controlling Haas family to float a minority stake on the New York Stock Exchange.

Just 14 years later, though, the family bought other investors out, explaining that being private again “would allow management to focus its attention on the long term rather than being concerned with the short term as a public company must be”.

The view that public markets are too trigger-happy has only gained in currency since then, with Warren Buffett among those warning that investors’ desire for quarterly earnings guidance has led to an unhealthy obsession with short-term profits at the expense of sustainable growth.

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Nike risks being dragged into China NBA dispute US sportswear group among biggest beneficiaries of basketball boom in China ALISTAIR GRAY IN NEW YORK

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ew western companies have more at stake than Nike in the fallout from an American basketball executive’s tweet about Hong Kong.

The US sportswear group, whose Swoosh logo adorns NBA player kits under an exclusive deal with the league, has been among the biggest beneficiaries from a basketball boom in China.

Since Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, sparked a dispute on the mainland this week with his support for democracy protests in Hong Kong, Wall Street has been left wondering whether the NBA’s difficulties will also become those of Nike.

“The brand has been so hot over there,” said Brian Yarbrough, analyst at Edward Jones in St Louis. Such is the importance of China to the New York-listed company, which has a $115bn market capitalisation, that “one hiccup could spell problems” for the entire investment case.

Revenues from Nike’s greater China division, based in Shanghai, leapt 22 per cent in the three months to the end of August, its 21st consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth.

The region is an even more important contributor to profits: while accounting for 16 per cent of group revenues in the quarter, it generated 36 per cent of the brand’s earnings before interest and tax. The popularity in China of basketball, and Nike as a label, is such that “they can go there and basically charge what they want”, as one retail analyst put it.

Rival sportswear groups also are turning to China as domestic growth cools for certain products.

They include Under Armour, which is also using basketball to promote its brand. The Baltimore-based company put Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, on a tour of Asia in the summer with stops in Beijing and Shanghai. However, Under Armour’s exposure to China is far more limited than that of Nike.

Symbolising Nike’s importance to basketball in the country is the NBA’s store in Beijing, its largest outside North America, which opened this year. Nike is behind the outlet along with Chinese sports retailer Topsports.

To safeguard its future in the lucrative market, Nike has been willing to make concessions to keep the authorities and public onside.

Mark Parker, chief executive, has described the brand as being “of China [and] for China”.

In a sign the company is trying to manage the backlash against the NBA, Houston Rockets shoes and other goods have reportedly been pulled from several Nike stores in major Chinese cities. Local managers in Beijing and Shanghai told Reuters during store visits that they had been instructed in a memo from management to remove the items.

Large Chinese ecommerce sites operated by Alibaba and JD.com had already removed the team’s

merchandise from sale since the dispute erupted.

It echoes an earlier incident in June, when the Financial Times disclosed that Nike cancelled sales of a line of trainers after their designer, Jun Takahashi, was critical of China.

In a similar vein to Mr Morey, he had posted online a picture of Hong Kong protesters with the slogan “no extradition”.

In common with other US businesses that are China-dependent, however, Nike faces the danger of upsetting local sensitivities on the one hand, while on the other it risks alienating its domestic audience if it is seen to betray American values.

The group has not been shy of wading into political controversies closer to home, leaving it open to the charge of double standards. The Oregon-based company caused a stir in the US this year with an ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, an American footballer who refused to stand for the national anthem.

“Athletes and coaches have spoken with impunity about civil rights and inequality when it comes to things happening in this country,” said Andrew Brandt, a sports law professor at Villanova University and a former Green Bay Packers executive. In contrast, he noted, there had for the most part been “silence” about the Hong Kong protests.

Nike’s efforts to avoid being dragged into the dispute have been helped by the fact it was a sports team executive, rather than an employee of the company, who sent the offending tweet. Still, the storm is far from over. Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, said on Twitter that he was waiting for Nike “and their stable of ‘woke’ social justice warrior/ athletes to speak out”. The company did not respond to a request from the Financial Times to comment.

Edginess has long been part of Nike’s branding. The company stuck with Tiger Woods through a scandal in the golfer’s private life.

It is also standing behind Alberto Salazar, the athletics coach who this month received a four-year ban for performance-enhancing drug violations.

While Nike’s approach to the likes of the Kaepernick episode had “made certain people mad”, the company had won business from other constituencies as a result, Mr Yarbrough said. In contrast, he cautioned, China posed a different set of reputational risks and controversies that “could be more lose-lose”.

Nike shares fell as much as 3 per cent on Tuesday as investors tried to weigh up the risks, although they ticked up 0.9 per cent on Wednesday.

Sam Poser, analyst at Susquehanna, wrote in a note that concerns about the impact on Nike were “overblown”. He argued that Chinese consumers “perceive Nike as a global athletic brand, not associated with any country or part of the world. Nike has been entrenched in China for over three decades and has established deep-rooted relationships.” www.businessday.ng

From left, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Chinese vice-premier Liu He and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin in Washington on Thursday © Reuters

Trump to meet Chinese vice-premier in Washington for trade talks

Encouraging sign for prospects of trade war truce as Liu He holds negotiations with US officials JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON

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onald Trump, the US president, said he would be meeting Liu He, China’s vicepremier, at the White House on Friday, an encouraging sign for the prospects of a truce in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“Big day of negotiations with China. They want to make a deal, but do I? I meet the Vice Premier tomorrow at The White House,” Mr Trump wrote in a tweet on Thursday morning.

Mr Trump’s comments came as Mr Liu began a round of face-to-face negotiations with Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, in Washington.

The two sides are looking to craft a deal that would stave off higher tariffs on $250bn of Chinese goods due to kick in next week — and possibly roll back some existing US levies.

While this would fall short of the comprehensive agreement that was

being discussed this spring between Washington and Beijing, officials are resurrecting some elements of that draft text in order to craft a ceasefire.

People briefed on the negotiations said it would involve additional US agricultural purchases by China, as well as some provisions on currency, intellectual property and market access that had been discussed earlier this year between the two governments. The thorniest issues in the trade relationship — which include industrial subsidies, digital trade, and technology transfer — are unlikely to be tackled at this stage, those people said.

A breakthrough this week could potentially pave the way for a new summit between Mr Trump and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in Chile next month.

Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobby group, said the Chinese understood that “waiting out the president’s term is not an option”, and

they had come to Washington with the “intention of making progress”.

Mr Brilliant, who met Mr Liu on Wednesday, added: “I’ve heard from the US administration as well, there’s hope here that some progress will be made. We won’t get the big agreement this week . . . but that’s a step in the right direction.”

On Thursday, Mr Mnuchin said he was “looking forward” to the talks as he walked up the stairs into the US trade representative’s headquarters where the negotiations are being held. A US official said a dinner with Chinese officials would also be held on Thursday evening.

The run-up to the talks has been overshadowed by the impeachment proceedings initiated by House Democrats against Mr Trump and the National Basketball Association’s stance towards the Hong Kong protests. The US also took action targeting Chinese companies and individuals involved in human rights violations in Xinjiang, the western Chinese region, which elicited an angry reaction from Beijing.

Turkey steps up offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria Ground troops seize villages and continue aerial bombardment of towns CHLOE CORNISH IN BEIRUT AND AYLA JEAN YACKLEY IN ISTANBUL

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urkish ground troops have stepped up their offensive againstKurdishforcesinnortheastern Syria, seizing villages andcontinuinganaerialbombardment of Syrian towns close to the border.

Bombing near residential areas had forced thousands of people to flee, said the Kurdish Red Crescent, a local humanitarian organisation, which said 10 civilians had been killed in the past 24 hours.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, said 109 militants had been killed in the operation against Kurdish forces, which Ankara accuses of terrorism. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said three fighters had died.

The SDF, armed and equipped

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by the US and other western allies to battle Isis, the Sunni jihadi group, in north-east Syria, are fighting back against the Turkish advance. Two civilians were killed by rocket and mortar fire from Syria that hit the Turkish border town of Akcakale, according the region’s governor, including a nine-month old baby boy.

More than a dozen other civilians were hurt when mortar fire hit four Turkish towns, Anadolu news agency said.

Ankara has said it wants to push Kurdish fighters that it considers terrorists away from its borders and create a safe zone that Syrian refugees in Turkey can return to. But the long-anticipated offensive has sparked an international backlash, amid concerns over the threat to civilians and Kurdish forces — which have helped the international fight against Isis — and fears that the operation could enable the resurgence @Businessdayng

of the jihadist group.

Mr Erdogan has reacted angrily to European criticism, reiterating his threat to let Syrian refugees enter Europe if Brussels continued to oppose his military actions. “If they try to describe our operation as an occupation, our work is easy.

We’ll open our gates and send you 3.6m refugees,” Mr Erdogan said in a speech to members of his political party. The EU has called on Turkey to stop the military incursion.

The attack, which began on Wednesday, came days after US troops left the border area, giving an apparent green light for the Turkish operation. President Donald Trump has threatened to “destroy and obliterate” Turkey’s economy if it takes actions he deems “off-limits”.He has also said Ankara must take responsibility for Isis captives, previously seen as the responsibility of Kurdish fighters.

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@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

Dyson cancels electric car project Billionaire inventor says that making the vehicles is not commercially viable PETER CAMPBELL IN SUNDERLAND AND MICHAEL POOLER IN LONDON

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yson has abandoned its attempts to break into the automotive industry and will wind down its electric vehicle project, ending a venture that founder James Dyson claimed would redefine his business.

The company failed to find a buyer for its designs, and said that its plans to build a car from scratch in Singapore were no longer commercially viable.

Dyson’s ambitions faced a mounting challenge from established carmakers, while electric vehicle makers such as Tesla have been able to raise large sums on the stock and bond markets. Many new entrants such as China’s Nio have struggled with the cost of competing against deep-pocketed incumbents.

Sir James’s decision represents a humbling U-turn for a man who is one of Britain’s most celebrated living inventors. The billionaire businessman had hoped to harness his privately owned group’s expertise in battery systems, aerodynamics and high-tech manufacturing to break into a fiercely competitive industry.

“Though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable,” Sir James wrote in an email to staff on Thursday.

“We have been through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuccessful so far.”

Unveiled to great fanfare two years ago, Dyson had promised a “radically different” electric car that would have been the crowning achievement of a brand famous for its high-end domestic appliances.

The company even filed patents showing the potential shape of the vehicle, and Sir James said on Thursday the team had developed

a “fantastic car”.

The failed automotive gamble was part of a £2.5bn investment push into a range of new technologies, including artificial intelligence and robotics and batteries. Out of that war chest, £1bn was originally earmarked for the car and £1bn for battery development.

However, automotive industry figures had questioned whether Dyson could shoulder the necessary investments needed to make a car from scratch. While major carmakers such as Volkswagen have committed billions to electric cars, and are able to sell battery cars at a loss, Dyson’s project was funded from its existing business.

Dyson did not disclose how much it had spent on the project, but said many of the developments for it, such as electric motors, would be deployed across the rest of the business, which ranges from air filters to its flagship vacuum cleaners.

The company has 523 employees on the project, of which 498 are based at a research and development centre on the site of a former Royal Air Force base in Hullavington, Wiltshire. Twenty-two are in Singapore, which was chosen over the UK as the location to produce the car.

Sir James said: “We are working to quickly find alternative roles within Dyson for as many of the team as possible and we have sufficient vacancies to absorb most of the people into our Home business.”

Sir James, who is a backer of Brexit, drew criticism earlier this year over Dyson’s relocation of its headquarters to the Asian city-state.

At the time, the company said the move was because its manufacturing operations and most of its customers were in the region but that it was not linked to the UK’s departure from the EU, nor for tax purposes. Another reason was to allow senior executives to oversee the construction of a car factory.

Two men who helped Giuliani investigate Joe Biden are arrested Foreign-born Republican donors linked to Trump’s personal lawyer face campaign finance charges KADHIM SHUBBER IN WASHINGTON

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wo businessmen who helped Rudy Giuliani investigate Joe Biden have been charged with violating US campaign finance laws.

Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who assisted Donald Trump’s personal lawyer as he sought to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Mr Biden, the former US vice-president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, were arrested on Wednesday evening, according to a spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan.

The pair were indicted on campaign finance charges and accused of secretly funnelling money to US campaign committees and candidates. FEC records show the men have made a series of donations to Republican politicans and pro-Trump groups.

The indictment alleged that in

one case in 2018, the pair donors made an illegal donation to an unnamed congressman whose help they sought in ousting Marie Yovanovitch, then the US ambassador to Ukraine.

Mr Trump’s decision to recall Ms Yovanovitch in May of this year is a key question in the ongoing Democratic impeachment inquiry.

John Dowd, an attorney for Mr Parnas and Mr Fruman, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Both men are foreign-born US citizens. Mr Parnas was born in Ukraine and Mr Fruman was born in Belarus. Last year, the Campaign Legal Center accused them of violating campaign finance laws by anonymously funnelling donations through a shell corporation.

The pair were indicted alongside two other individuals, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin. www.businessday.ng

Leo Varadkar, left, and Boris Johnson at the Thornton Manor hotel in Birkenhead on Thursday © AFP

Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar see ‘pathway’ to a Brexit deal Sterling rises after upbeat private talks between UK and Irish leaders GEORGE PARKER IN LONDON

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oris Johnson, UK prime m i n i st e r, a n d L e o Varadkar, Irish taoiseach, have claimed they can see “a pathway to a deal” on Brexit, after surprisingly upbeat private talks at a hotel in north-west England.

The joint communique said that the two leaders had held a “detailed and constructive discussion” on Thursday and that they both agreed “that a deal is in everyone’s interest”.

The meeting has left the door open for further Brexit negotiations ahead of a European Council meeting next week, but there remain serious obstacles to be overcome in a very limited time.

The optimistic tone of the communique may also reflect the determination of both sides to avoid the blame for any breakdown of Brexit talks.

Mr Varadkar will travel to Brus-

sels on Friday to meet Michel Barnier, EU chief negotiator, to discuss the prospects for progress.

Mr Barnier will also meet Stephen Barclay, UK Brexit secretary.

The pound rose sharply following the statement, and was 0.7 per cent higher on the day against the US dollar at $1.2285 in late afternoon trading.

The joint statement said that the discussions between Mr Johnson and Mr Varadkar “concentrated on the challenges of customs and consent”; they agreed to reflect further on their discussions and that officials would engage “intensively” on them.

The customs question is by far the biggest obstacle to a deal, with the EU insisting that Northern Ireland must remain inside the EU customs union and Mr Johnson adamant it must remain part of the UK customs area.

The joint statement gave no indication as to where common ground might be found between the two sides

on customs. Ireland insists there can be no customs border between the two jurisdictions on the island.

Mr Johnson held the talks with Mr Varadkar at a venue on the Wirral, chosen as a “neutral venue” between London and Dublin and close to Liverpool, a city noted for its strong Irish heritage.

The prime minister’s allies said he was not attending the talks “with a piece of paper” containing new proposals to break the Brexit deadlock and there were low expectations around the meeting on both sides of the Irish Sea. Downing Street tried to keep the venue for the meeting secret in the hope of creating a low-key, convivial atmosphere. “It was a case of having the two leaders in the same room to see if they could see any way forward,” said one Number 10 insider.

Mr Varadkar was expected to brief journalists in more detail on the discussions on Thursday afternoon.

Federal Reserve drops toughening liquidity rules on foreign banks Deutsche expected to benefit most from change in US regulator’s stance KIRAN STACEY IN WASHINGTON AND LAURA NOONAN IN NEW YORK

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S banking regulators have dropped an idea to subject local branches of foreign banks to tough new liquidity rules, in a move that could benefit the troubled Deutsche Bank more than any other.

The Federal Reserve will announce on Thursday that it has decided against forcing US branches of foreign banks to hold a minimum level of liquid assets to protect them from a cash crunch, according to people familiar with the decision.

They added that such rules

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are likely to be proposed in the coming months by international regulators instead, an outcome the banks themselves have argued is preferable to national regulators imposing rules.

The Fed’s decision on branches’ liquidity requirements is part of a package of measures designed to shake up how international banks are regulated in the US — the latest in a series of steps under the Trump administration to rewrite the rules put in place after the financial crash.

Foreign banks do most of their US business through intermediate holding companies, or IHCs, which are subject to extensive regulation and stress testing. Germany’s Deutsche @Businessdayng

Bank, which is scaling back its Wall Street business as it tries to stem spiralling losses, potentially has the most to gain from the concessions since it has the biggest branching presence of any foreign lender, with assets of $175bn in its main US branch.

When Randal Quarles, the vice-chair for banking supervision at the Fed, announced his original plans earlier this year, foreign banks broadly welcomed the attempt to review the existing rules, though they protested against a suggestion that the Fed might regulate liquidity in bank branches — a proposal posed as a request for comment rather than a formal plan.

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BUSINESS DAY

ANALYSIS

FT

US imposes sanctions on South Africa’s Gupta brothers Treasury says Indian-born family members part of ‘significant corruption network’ JOSEPH COTTERILL IN JOHANNESBURG

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he US government imposed sanctions on South Africa’s Gupta business family and an associate over their alleged role in a vast corruption scandal linked to the former president, Jacob Zuma.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Thursday that it had placed Atul, Ajay and Rajesh ‘Tony’ Gupta, a trio of Indian-born brothers, on its sanctions list as “members of a significant corruption network in South Africa” that looted state coffers.

The Guptas have been accused in South Africa of using a friendship with Mr Zuma to control cabinet appointments and public contracts for their private benefit.

Mr Zuma left office last year after being sacked by the governing African National Congress.

His successor as president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has pledged to root

out the alleged ‘capture’ of the state by the Guptas.

“The Gupta family leveraged its political connections to engage in widespread corruption and bribery, capture government contracts, and misappropriate state assets,” Sigal Mandelker, the US Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence,” said.

The sanctions target “the Guptas’ pay-to-play political patronage, which was orchestrated at the expense of the South African people,” Ms Mandelker added.

Salim Essa, a close business ally of the Guptas, was also designated under the US sanctions.

The Treasury’s move will forbid US entities from doing business with the family or handling their assets.

The Guptas, Mr Essa and Mr Zuma have always denied wrongdoing. The family left South Africa for the United Arab Emirates after Mr Zuma fell from power.

Pimco lawyer files gender and race discrimination suit

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Pimco lawyer has filed a gender and racial discrimination lawsuit against the $1.8tn asset manager, alleging she was passed over for promotions and denied career opportunities after becoming pregnant.

Andrea Martin Inokon, who is African-American, claimed in a complaint filed on September 24 in a California superior court that Pimco operated as a “fraternity in a perversely literal sense”. Pimco strongly denied all the allegations.

Based on her experiences at the company’s Newport Beach, California, headquarters, Ms Inokon alleged that “senior male officers encourage drinking and fraternisation at strip clubs, golf outings and poker nights”, and that this corporate culture influenced personnel decisions.

“Senior male managerial-level employees mentor young male professionals, give them preferential assignments, introduce them to the investment firm’s power brokers, and groom them for membership in the investment firm’s leadership, even when their professional skills and qualifications are notably deficient,” the complaint said.

Ms Inokon, who has worked for Pimco for eight years and is still employed by the company, alleged she was passed over for several senior positions — including executive senior vice-president — “in favour of less-qualified males” because of her “race, gender and pregnancy”.

The suit further alleges that as a result of her two pregnancies, Pimco “took away opportunities, reassigned projects to less-qualified males”, subjected her to “unfair criticism” and attempted to induce her to “give up her career”.

Michael Reid, a spokesman at Pimco, told the Financial Times: “The allegations in this filing, in relation to Pimco’s employee policies generally and the specific circumstances of this employee, are not accurate and Pimco will demonstrate that she was treated and compensated fairly based on her role and performance.”

The lawsuit is unusual in the finance industry, which has nurtured a culture that tends to keep discrimination and harassment complaints out of the courts, critics say.

The suit seeks monetary damages, Ms Inokon’s appointment as an executive senior vice-president, and an audit of Pimco compensation practices to see whether they comply with federal civil rights laws or need to be corrected.

“This is not about getting money from it,” said Nancy Abrolat, the attorney representing Ms Inokon. “This is about trying to bring to light a very, very wealthy company — and why aren’t they complying with our laws?”

Ms Inokon also alleged that despite her “record of superior performance,” Pimco has paid her less than “similarly situated men,” most of whom are Caucasian, throughout her career.

“Compensation and promotional decisions at Pimco are centrally controlled by its managing directors with considerations also provided

by Pimco’s executive committee and through its executive officers that when viewed collectively are predominantly Caucasian male professionals,” the lawsuit said.

Women hold three of the nine seats on Pimco’s executive committee and account for 13 of its 80 managing directors. Pimco has never employed an African-American managing director, the lawsuit alleged. www.businessday.ng

Tech advances help film-makers but could lead to a glut of videos involving politicians or porn TIM BRADSHAW IN LONDON

Complaint alleges attorney was passed over for promotion after pregnancy JENNIFER ABLAN IN NEW YORK

Deepfakes: Hollywood’s quest to create the perfect digital human

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very Hollywood actor is desperate to cling to their youth. Now, Will Smith, the star of Independence Day and Men in Black, can be 23 forever. But unlike his Botoxed peers, the secret of Mr Smith’s fresh face is a new breed of digital doppelgänger, offering unprecedented realism.

In Gemini Man, his latest blockbuster which is released on Friday, the 51-year-old actor plays a retired assassin whose younger clone is sent to kill him.

The 23-year-old Smith clone, known in the movie as Junior, is not the real actor hidden under layers of make-up or prosthetics. Instead, he is a completely digital recreation, constructed from his skeleton to the tips of his eyelashes by New Zealand-based visual effects studio Weta Digital.

Hollywood insiders estimate that the Junior character alone cost tens of millions of dollars to make — perhaps twice as much as hiring the real Will Smith.

Yet just a few weeks before Gemini Man’s premiere, another, far cheaper, digital clone of Will Smith appeared in a reboot of 1999’s hit science fiction movie, The Matrix.

In a two-minute YouTube video, Mr Smith took the place of Keanu Reeves to play Neo, taking the red pill and pausing bullets in mid-air.

The clip was made without Gemini Man’s $138m budget. Instead its creator, a YouTuber known only as Sham00k, employed free software called DeepFaceLab to superimpose Mr Smith’s face on to Mr Reeves’ within The Matrix footage. So-called “deepfakes” like these have been used to turn comedian Jordan Peele into Barack Obama or actor Bill Hader into Tom Cruise, with each clip more believable than the last.

Deepfakes and the high-end effects seen in Gemini Man offer two alternative paths to manipulating people in videos. But as the two

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techniques converge, the cost of a fully digital human is plummeting.

The “uncanny valley” is finally being bridged, prompting some in Silicon Valley to wonder when virtual assistants, such as Alexa, will no longer be just a disembodied voice.

“The price of realism has dropped dramatically in the last 20 years,” says Paul Franklin, cofounder and creative director at award-winning visual effects studio DNEG. “Things that were the domain of companies like DNEG can now be done with off-the-shelf software. It’s inevitable [that] the kinds of techniques in Gemini Man will be stock-in-trade in the next 10 years.”

The fact that it has never been easier for Weta wannabes to insert people into short videos has led to warnings from politicians, privacy activists and Hollywood itself. Convincing fake videos could be used to manipulate electorates, defraud companies or bully individuals — even if for now, deepfakers’ principle hobby is to insert unwitting celebrities into pornography.

A report in September from Deeptrace Labs, a cyber security start-up whose technology detects manipulated videos, found that the number of deepfakes posted online had almost doubled in the past six months to 14,678. Of those, 96 per cent are classified as porn.

“It’s definitely evolving very fast,” says Katja Bego, a data scientist who is researching deepfakes at Nesta, a tech-focused non-profit organisation. Facebook, Google and Microsoft have driven efforts to improve deepfake detection, hoping to prevent misleading videos from spreading across their networks.

Creating realistic digital people the traditional Hollywood way is still a daunting task. Bringing Junior to life took “hundreds of hours of painstaking animators’ and modellers’ time”, says Stuart Adcock, head of facial motion at Weta, which was founded by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. “At times it felt more like we were making a real human from the ground up than a @Businessdayng

visual effect.”

But with advances in machine learning and processing power available on smartphones and cloud computing systems, some predict that Gemini Man-style effects could one day become as accessible as selfie-retouching smartphone apps like Facetune are today.

“Deepfakes are the next step in a long chain of the democratisation of media production,” says Peter Rojas, a venture capital investor at Betaworks Ventures. “Deepfakes are the democratisation of CGI. It’s not that different to what blogging did for publishing.”

Deepfakes are barely two years old but the biggest change in recent months is the amount of input data required to create a convincing video. In September, Chinese app Zao caused a viral sensation by allowing users to trade places with Leonardo DiCaprio in a selection of scenes from movies such as Titanic. Because Zao’s range of clips is limited and pre-selected, the process takes just a few seconds and requires only a single photograph of the face-swapper.

“Before, it was easy to do this for celebrities and politicians because you have a tonne of moving footage for them [on the internet],” Ms Bego says. “Now you just need one picture of a normal person.”

Despite the pace of deepfakes’ progress, traditional Hollywood effects studios such as Weta see little application for the technology in today’s blockbusters.

Deepfakes may be popping up on smartphones in YouTube clips and Facebook feeds but in Gemini Man, Junior’s digital face is shown in lingering close-ups across a vast Imax screen. While the effect is more convincing in scenes set in dark catacombs than in bright sunlight, it has nonetheless been hailed as a breakthrough for human realism. The difference is obvious even from the effects of two or three years ago, such as Princess Leia’s brief appearance in the 2016 Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One.

Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

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Friday 11 October 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 03 October 2019

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 03 October 2019 LOSERS

GAINERS Company UCAP LEARNAFRCA DANGFLOUR

Company

Change

N6

N5.65

-0.35

FLOURMILL

N15

N14.75

-0.25

ETI

N7.6

N7.4

-0.2

VOLUME (Numbers)

UBA

N6

N5.9

-0.1

VALUE (N billion)

19.016

N1.55

N1.5

-0.05

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

12. 940

Change

N2

N2.15

0.15

CUSTODIAN

N1.12

N1.23

0.11

N22.2

0.05

FBNH

N5.25

N5.3

0.05

GUARANTY

N26.7

N26.75

0.05

26,583.75

Closing

Closing

N22.15

ASI (Points)

Opening

Opening

CUTIX

DEALS (Numbers)

2,650.00 363,256,240.00

Global market indicators FTSE 100 Index 7,186.36GBP +19.86+0.28%

Nikkei 225 21,551.98JPY +95.60+0.45%

S&P 500 Index 2,936.44USD +17.04+0.58%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,164.20EUR +69.94+0.58%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 26,420.00USD +115.00+0.44%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 2,947.71CNY +22.85+0.78%

UPDC REIT fund manager proposes N688.18m final distribution to unit holders …makes 84.65% allocation to real estate asset class …proposes 32kobo interim distribution for H1’19 Stories by Iheanyi Nwachukwu

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he unit holders of UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) will be receiving 26kobo per unit in the proposed final distribution totaling N688.18million for the financial year ended December 2018 as against N517.53million paid in December 2017. This is contained in the audited financial statement of UPDC REIT as at December 31, 2018 released at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The fund manager has also considered an interim distribution of 32kobo per unit for the half year (H1) ended June 30, 2019. Qualification date for both the final and interim distributions is October 28, 2019 while payment will be made on November 5, 2019.

The REIT’s allocation in various asset classes shows: Real Estate Assets (84.65percent), Real Estate Related Assets (5.61percent), and Liquid Assets (9.63percent).

The allocation to Real Estate asset class which exceeded the target minimum of 75percent as well as alloca-

tion to liquid asset below the maximum investment of 10percent was as a result of the acquisition of additional real estate assets that met the REIT’s requirements, according to the Fund Manager.

The report on its performance shows that in the financial year ended December 31, 2018 the UPDC REIT recorded profit after tax (PAT) of N2.644billion, an increase from PAT

of N2.20billion in 2017.

Net income increased to N3.052billion in 2018 from N2.637billion in 2017.

Rental income accounted for N1.32billion in 2018 as against N1.124billion in 2017. Earnings per unit basic and diluted (Naira) increased to 99kobo from 83kobo in 2017.

The Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007 requires the Fund Manager to keep proper books of ac-

count and prepare annual financial statements, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Real Estate Investment Trust during the period covered by the financial statements.

FSDH Asset Management Limited is the Fund Manager to UPDC REIT. The principal activity of the UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (the Trust) is to pool investment in a diversified portfolio of in-

L–R: Aderonke Adetoro, vice president, Association of Asset Custodian of Nigeria (AACN); Olumide Bolumole, divisional head, Listing Business, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Taiwo Sonola, president, Association of Asset Custodian of Nigeria (AACN); Saibu A. Suleiman, member, Association of Asset Custodian of Nigeria (AACN) and Biodun Adebimpe, member, Association of Asset Custodian of Nigeria (AACN) during a Closing Gong Ceremony to commemorate 10th year anniversary at the Exchange.

come-generating real estate in Nigeria with high growth potential in accordance with the Trustee Investments Act, the Investments and Securities Act (2007), the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rules and Regulations and the Trust Deed (the Applicable Regulations).

The market capitalisation stood at N15billion as December 2018 while the last trading price fell from N8.10 to N6.60 as at December 31, 2018; while net assets attributable to unit holders grew by 19.7percent to 2.6billion as December 31, 2018.

In line with the provisions of the Trust Deed, minimum of 90percent of the Trust’s distributable income is meant to be distributed to unit holders at the end of every financial year.

Distributable income represents the profit after tax less unrealised fair value gain on investment property plus realised gain on disposed investment property.

Final distributions are not accounted for until they have been ratified at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the unit holders. Interim distribution was approved by the Joint Trustees. Interim distribution of 31kobo (December

2017 was 44kobo) per share totaling N827.16million (December 2017 was N1.17billion) was paid for the six months ended June 30, 2018 while 26kobo totaling N688.18million (December 2017 was N517.53million) is being proposed as final distribution for the year ended December 31, 2018.

In the course of the review year, the fund managers identified a couple of real estate assets, and acquired the Pearl Hostel 1 at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos and Kingsway Building Marina, Lagos. The investment in Pearl Hostel 1 and Kingsway Building reduced the current allocation in liquid assets to 9.63percent, according to the Fund Managers.

While minimal activities were expected within the real estate sector in the first half of 2019 due to election season which slowed down activities across various sectors including real estate, the fund managers expect activities within the sector to improve by this second half driven by increased government spending.

Report sets out governance of key OTC derivatives data elements

Aramco CEO says attacks on installations can’t stop IPO plans

new report identifies key criteria, functions and bodies for the governance arrangements for a set of critical data elements for over-thecounter (OTC) derivative transactions reported to trade repositories, excluding the Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI) and the Unique Product Identifier (UPI).

The report, Governance arrangements for critical OTC derivatives data elements (other than UTI and UPI), published by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), is a further step towards fulfilling the Group of 20’s commitment to report all

audi Aramco’s chief executive, Amin Nasser said there would be no impact on the stock market listing plans of the state oil giant after attacks on its installations last month, which he blamed on Iran.

Attacks such as those on September 14, which sent oil prices up as much as 20 percent, may continue if there is no concerted international response, Nasser said in London.

The attacks targeted the Abqaiq and Khurais plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, causing fires and damage and shutting down 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of production

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OTC derivatives contracts to trade repositories.

The move aims to improve transparency, mitigate systemic risk and prevent market abuse. Aggregating the data reported across trade repositories will help ensure that authorities have a comprehensive overview of the OTC derivatives market and its activity.

In coordination with the Financial Stability Board (FSB), in its capacity as the international body in charge of defining governance arrangements for the UTI and UPI, the report concludes that the Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee is best positioned to take on the role of the international www.businessday.ng

governance body for critical data elements by mid-2020, subject to some necessary adjustments to its own governance. In the interim, the FSB will perform this role.

CPMI and IOSCO also recommend that jurisdictions take steps to implement the governance arrangements across jurisdictions within three years from the publication of the report.

CPMI and IOSCO as well as the FSB have in recent years published reports to lay the foundation for the harmonisation work on key OTC derivatives data elements for meaningful aggregation on a global basis, including the 2014 FSB Feasibility study on approaches to aggregate OTC derivatives data.

S

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— more than 5 percent of global oil supply.

Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead with plans to sell between 1 percent and 2 percent of Aramco through a local listing, which might be followed by additional share sales internationally.

Nasser said Aramco was on track to regain its maximum oil production capacity of 12 million bpd by the end of November and that October crude output stood at 9.9 million bpd.

“An absence of international resolve to take concrete action may embolden the attackers and indeed put the world’s energy security at greater risk,” Nasser said.

“You heard the minis@Businessdayng

ter of foreign affairs and I think he spoke enough about (where) the attacks (are) coming from. It’s instigated by Iran for sure, there’s no doubt.”

Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but a US official said they originated from southwestern Iran. Riyadh blamed Tehran.

Iran, which supports the Houthis in Yemen’s war, has denied any involvement.

Saudi Arabia has maintained supplies to customers at levels seen before the attacks by drawing from its huge oil inventories and offering crude grades from other fields.

Friday 11 October 2019

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Money Matters “Is there a link to money laundering in the manner of our diaspora remittances?”

BUSINESS DAY Friday 11 October 2019 www.businessday.ng

Anthony Ani

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he ab ove q uestion was posed in a September 9th 2019 article by columnist Henry Boyo and I have not yet, read any comments from anyone on this question. There is a need to discuss this issue, as it appears that there is massive foreign exchange laundering going on in our banks.

As the architect of the Diaspora remittances in 1996, I am naturally concerned at the abuses disclosed by Boyo.

patriated through a domiciliary account with a Nigerian bank! With the promulgation of this law, First Bank Nigeria Ltd brought in Western Union in August 1996 while the USA brought in MoneyGram a few weeks later.

In 1996, Nigerians abroad repatriated about $4.5bn (about 50 per cent of our gross revenue from oil) and we ensured that these amounts were brought into Nigeria, intact, in foreign exchange.

The receipts increased exponentially in 1997 and 1998 and we also made sure that they were received in Nigeria, in foreign currency. The receipts helped to stabilise our exchange rate mechanism at N82 to a dollar, throughout my tenure as the Minister of Finance, to the extent that the naira was internally convertible currency.

Some years ago, on my visit to London, I went to Western Union office, at Marble Arch, to test by remitting £500 to my son in Nigeria. I first had to convert the money to dollars and to my surprise, Western Union gave me a quote in naira to be claimed by my son. I refused their naira equivalent and in-

”

When in 1995, we at the Ministry of Finance reviewed the country’s sources of foreign revenues, we found out that nothing was coming in from Nigerians in the Diaspora, whereas India and Jamaica were living on foreign exchange from their citizens abroad. When I enquired why Western Union and MoneyGram could not receive money from Nigerians abroad, I was told that it was due to our tax laws. As a Chartered Accountant student in 1962, I studied Comparative Commonwealth Taxation in Nigeria, Jamaica and the UK, and I found out that the tax laws of these countries had the same wordings on imposition of tax (“tax is imposed on income accruing in, derived from or brought into”).

The question then to me was why income “brought into” India was not taxed in India? On enquiry, I found that India had modified its tax laws to accommodate its citizens living abroad who wanted to send money in foreign exchange to India. In 1996, I had proposed (and it was accepted by the Federal Executive Council) in a new law, regarding Niger ians repatriating remuneration from abroad, Nigerians repatriating dividends, royalties, fees, commissions from foreign countries receipts by authors, sportsmen/women, musicians, play writers, artist, etc. Such income repatriated into Nigeria in foreign currency was 100 per cent exempted from tax, provided the foreign currency was re-

Such income repatriated into Nigeria in foreign currency was 100 per cent exempted from tax, provided the foreign currency was repatriated through a domiciliary account with a Nigerian bank!

sisted that my son must be paid in dollars. It was obvious to me that there was an arrangement between our Nigerian banks and Western Union/ MoneyGram, whereby the former pays from their excess naira liquidity while the later retains the dollars abroad. In other words, the dollar remittance is retained abroad and is laundered by the Nigerian

banks. This is definitely against the law which provides that all remittances must be brought into Nigeria in foreign currency via domiciliary account.

If by chance, as in my case, the dollar is remitted into Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria on August 14, 2014, i nt ro d u c e d t h e Ou t w a rd Money Transfer Service and authorised the same MoneyGram and Western Union to re-export, in tranches of $5,000 per transaction, to Nigerians abroad, on payment of the naira equivalent at the CBN rate of exchange. Thus, Nigeria is the only country in the world re-exporting its remittances. It is relevant to note that the naira is not a convertible currency but remittances which are meant to stabilise our exchange rates are re-exported! There is something wrong at our Central Bank. It could be that we have imported the mentality of commercial banking into the CBN. We now need real central bankers to govern our Central Bank. We have central bankers amongst those in the CBN, and we also have central bankers amongst the members of the Nigerian Economic Society or, alternatively, indeed, we

can even go outside Nigeria to employ central bankers.

The fact is that the Diaspora remittances are not retained in Nigeria and there is a collaboration between the CBN, Nigerian banks and Western Union/MoneyGram; in such an event, government must investigate the infraction, punish the money launderers, and recover all past Diaspora remittances retained abroad! The Outbound Money Transfer Services must be stopped and all our remittances retained for naira stability and the nation’s development.”

Chief Ani is a former Finance Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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