BusinessDay 20 Sep 2019

$9.6bn P&ID fine: Firms plead guilty, court orders forfeiture of assets FELIX OMOHOMHION, Abuja

A

Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday ordered the forfeiture of assets belonging to Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID)

…Nigeria now has ground to set aside liability – Malami incorporated in Virgin Island and its Nigerian affiliate, P&ID Nigeria Ltd, to the Federal Government.

The court equally issued an order winding up the activities of the two companies in Nigeria

after finding them guilty of economic sabotage, tax evasion and money laundering in respect of the contract leading to the recent controversial judgment of a British court empowering the firm

to seize about $9.6bn worth of Nigerian assets abroad.

Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order following the guilty plea of the two representatives of P&ID in all the 11 counts before the Fed-

eral High Court. They were thereafter consequently convicted.

While P&ID Virgin Island was represented by Mohammad Kuchazi, its commercial director, P&ID Nigeria was represented by

Continues on page 35

businessday market monitor

Biggest Gainer

Biggest Loser

DANGSUGAR GUARANTY N10.55 7.65%pc N29.25 -1.85pc 27,646.15

Foreign Reserve - $42.46bn Cross Rates - GBP-$:1.25 YUANY-N 50.73 Commodities Cocoa

US$2,468.00

Gold

$1,507.20

news you can trust I **FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2019 I vol. 19, no 398

₦3,566,222.80

$64.45

N300

Foreign Exchange

Buy

Sell

$-N 357.00 360.00 £-N 444.00 454.00 €-N 390.00 400.00

-1.74pc

Crude Oil

I

FMDQ Close

Everdon Bureau De Change

Bitcoin

NSE

g

www.

Market

Spot ($/N)

I&E FX Window CBN Official Rate Currency Futures

($/N)

362.26 306.90

g

as female entrepreneurs under threat expose flaws in security, policing

IGNATIUS CHUKWU & GLADYS NWEKE

P

Continues on page 35

3M 0.22 12.08

NGUS NOV 27 2019 363.97

Nigeria’s oil city reels from serial killings ort Harcourt, the capital of oil-rich Rivers State in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, is reeling from the activities of serial killers whose stock-in-trade is to lure their female victims to hotel rooms, drug them, sexually abuse them, and then strangle them with white cloth. It has turned out that most of the ladies were either entrepreneurs selling items or working as receptionists.

The police in the state put the number of strangulated women at eight but private sources put it at 11 with one in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/

fgn bonds

Treasury bills

6M -0.31

0.00

10 Y -0.06

20 Y -0.03

12.89

14.35

14.25

14.45

5Y

NGUS FEB 26 2020 364.42

@

NGUS SEP 30 2020 365.47

g

Inside FG eyes $6bn as NPDC, CPDC sign $876m deal P. 2 Download e-copy of Women’s Hub from www.businessday.ng

L-R: Austine Abolusoro, group head, online banking, United Bank for Africa (UBA) plc; Kennedy Uzoka, group managing director/CEO; Dupe Olusola, group head, marketing; Nweke Chukwuma, executive director; Patricia Aderibigbe, group head, human capital management, and Anant Rao, group executive, Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC), during the launch of LEO, the bank’s chatbot on banking, on Apple Business Chat – IPad and IPhone, held at UBA House, Marina, Lagos, yesterday.

2

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news Bashir Ibrahim Hassan (r), general manager, Northern Operations, BusinessDay Media, presenting a copy of BusinessDay to Saleh Mamman (m), minister of power, when BusinessDay team paid a special visit to the minister’s office yesterday in Abuja.

With them is Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja bureau chief, BusinessDay. During the visit, the team discussed BusinessDay’s special focus and commitment on the Nigeria power project and also this year’s Annual BusinessDay power conference themed ‘New Power Sector Regulations and Investment Opportunities (On/Off Grid)’.

FG eyes $6bn as NPDC, CPDC sign $876m deal …Okunbo hails FG, NNPC local content push DIPO OLADEHINDE

T

he Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has signed a $876 million oil and gas deal with Cold Water Petroleum Development Company (CPDC) for the development of OML 65.

At the signing ceremony, Thursday, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), NDPC Managing Director, Mr. Mansur Sambo, said the federal government would be expecting higher revenue in form of taxes and royalties from the agreement.

In addition, it was expect-

ed to “open up production potentials of the OML 65 from 9,000 to 40,000 barrels per day and add to the country’s reserve base.”

Sambo signed on behalf of the NPDC while CDPC’s chairman, Capt. Idahosa Wells Okunbo, signed on behalf of his organisation, in the deal tagged ‘the $876 Million Financing and Technical Service Agreement (FTSA).’

The NPDC MD said the deal has the potential to “explore, appraise and add reserves to base,” adding that it will help the Federal Government to “earn more than $6 billion in taxes and royalties.”

Speaking on the agreement, Capt. Idahosa Wells Okunbo of the CDPC, hailed the local content policy of the

present administration and the leadership of the NNPC, promising the commitment of his company to deliver on the terms of the agreement.

“While government is about delivering value, and that is exactly what our core values are, that is what we do in the industry. We thank the president and NNPC for recognizing all our efforts over the years and trusting us with this sort of opportunity at this particular time,” Okunbo said.

“We are also very dedicated to creating those values and bringing the oil that is very much desired in that particular field for so many years.

“This is a sign of good things to come and this is what this government is

about. It is unfortunate that there is no money to pick on the street, people have to use their brains to deliver value to Nigeria and also be able to deliver value to themselves. It is a milestone both for us and the NNPC.” He further stressed that the CDPC “will strive to do it right so that more people will have the same opportunity we have today because NNPC has a lot of assets that need to be delivered.

“We proper service delivery and a commitment to the agreement to increase the production on that field and give Nigeria the desired value.”

The event was witnessed by the Chief Financing Officer (CFO) of the NNPC, Alhaji Umar Isa Ajiya, and other top officials of the NDPC and CDPC.

Banks may be pricing in currency adjustment in Eurobond recall IHEANYI NWACHUKWU & OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN

N

igerian banks that hitherto issued dollar-denominated bonds may have started weighing the implication of the much-pushed foreign exchange (FX) rates unification as a decision that could increase their obligations on the outstanding notes.

Three banks – Access Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Ecobank Nigeria – have so far this year redeemed before maturity as much as $1.1 billion worth of outstanding Eurobond notes issued in 2014.

The latest is Zenith Bank, which recently recalled its outstanding 2022-dollar notes worth $500 million. This would bring the total value of early redemptions in 2019 to $1.6 billion.

Fidelity Bank plc’s $400 million outstanding Eurobond is due in October 2022, while UBA plc’s dollar notes worth

N500 million are due in June 2022.

The early redemptions could be as a result of fears of an imminent currency adjustment that could increase obligations of these banks in domestic currency, according to research analysts at Lagosbased United Capital plc.

“With maturities of most of these Eurobonds scheduled for 2021-2022, the banks are likely pricing the next devaluation to happen any time from 2020,” United Capital analysts said in a recent note to clients.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends unifying Nigeria’s multiple foreign currency rates around the Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX rate. Angola, GuineaBissau, Iraq, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine are the only countries, based on IMF data, that have multiple exchange rate systems.

Many investment bankers are making strong case for a www.businessday.ng

unified exchange rate regime.

Temitope Popoola, chief executive officer, Nigeria/West Africa at Renaissance Capital, said Nigeria has gone from a situation where “we had over five exchange rates to two”.

“Nigeria needs to go one step further and finally eliminate multiple exchange rates.

Investment would be easier with converged FX rates and based on the trend of current rates, and the success of the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX) window, this possibility is not that far-fetched,” Popoola said.

“Additionally, the liquidity management efforts of the CBN, by keeping Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 percent, has helped keep rates relatively stable by reducing naira liquidity. Part of which could otherwise have pressured FX rates.

Rates are converging and the difference between the different bands has tapered, partly due to efforts by the CBN but admittedly there is more they

could do. Though, there are hard choices ahead of us and a significant fiscal element related to any attempt to further converge FX rates,” he said.

Wale Okunrinboye, head of investment research at Sigma Pensions, had told BusinessDay that when banks are recalling or redeeming their Eurobonds, “it is a signal that there aren’t many dollar lending opportunities in the economy”.

The Nigerian economy grew less than 3 percent in the last four years with a slower growth pace of 1.94 percent in the second quarter of the year compared with a revised growth of 2.10 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

Dollar lending opportunities which predominantly abound in the country’s oil and gas sector have also come under pressure, no thanks to the lower crude oil prices in the international market.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

CBN begins FX restriction for import of cassava and derivatives ...Emefiele begs governors to release land for agric ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Abuja

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun a gradual restriction of foreign exchange access for the importation of cassava and its derivatives, according to Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, who spoke at a crucial meeting, Thursday, with state governors on ways of boosting the agriculture sector.

The restriction is to help efforts at boosting output in the cassava sector, which Nigeria has huge potential for but is performing below capacity.

At the meeting also, Nigerian state governors committed to strongly support efforts at developing the country’s struggling agriculture sector as Emefiele pleaded with them to make lands available.

CBN’s initiatives to enhance agricultural development are focused on boosting the production of identified agricultural commodities that have high growth enhancement impact, create jobs, improve capacity of industries, and conserve foreign exchange.

Following President Buhari’s directives, the CBN has identified 10 key commodities including rice, cotton, oil palm, tomato, cassava, poultry, fish, maize, cocoa and livestock/ dairy as key enterprises to be developed along the value chain to achieve the above

stated goals.

Emefiele noted that Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava tubers with 53 million MT per annum. However, the yield per hectare averaging 20 tonnes/ha is very low compared to other jurisdictions. In addition, the country imports cassava derivatives with over $600 million each year.

The cassava initiative of the CBN is to improve cassava productivity, stabilise prices and encourage local processing to generate employment, among other collaborations with states.

“We have also begun to restrict foreign exchange to import of cassava and its derivative. Those who want to import cassava, starch ethanol and all other derivatives into Nigeria may not get funds,” Emefiele stated.

In his address, Emefiele said Nigeria’s fragile economy, coupled with rising poverty level present very challenging situation even though the country’s macroeconomic variables remain strong.

Reeling out CBN’s investments and commitments in the agriculture sector, he told the governors that the time to develop that sector which has great potential for economic growth and foreign exchange earnings is now.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Experts call for review of policies as MPC decides on rate today HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

S

takeholders in the financial services sector are advocating a review of the subsisting policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), third quarter activities of the industry and the economy as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) takes a decision on interest rate direction today.

Some of the most recent policies of the CBN include cashless policy, which comes with the introduction of charges on excess cash deposit and withdrawal, the Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR), among others.

“I expect the MPC to hold rates and watch the impact of various policy changes recently announced by government which will take effect later in the year or early 2020,” Taiwo Oyedele, head, tax and regulatory services at PwC, said.

These include the proposed increase in VAT rate, cost-reflective electricity tariffs, forex restrictions for imported food items and implementation of minimum

@Businessdayng

wage.

The CBN on Tuesday rescheduled the number 269 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) earlier scheduled for Monday, September 23, and Tuesday, September 24, 2019, to now hold on Thursday, September 19, and Friday, September 20, 2019.

Uju Ogubunka, president, Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN), said his personal expectation is that the MPC should look at some of the CBN’s policies and also to assess the impact of such policies as the third quarter comes to an end.

He said Nigerians have been clamouring for singledigit interest rate. As a result, the MPC should look at factors that can help bring down interest rate for the benefit of the populace.

Federal Reserve policymakers lowered their main interest rate for a second time this year and Chairman Jerome Powell said that “moderate” policy moves should be sufficient to sustain the US expansion, Bloomberg reports.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

3

4

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

5

6

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

news

Dangote hails Buhari’s new Economic Advisory Council …commissions CANMPEF’s new secretariat

P

resident of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has commended the new Economic Advisory Council (EAC) constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to advise him on the nation’s economic growth and overall development, describing the move as a proactive one, which is capable of elevating Nigeria’s economy to greater heights.

Dangote, who spoke as the Chairman at the commissioning ceremony of the new Secretariat of the Chemical and NonMetallic Products Employers Federation (CANMPEF) said “the constitution of the Economic Advisory Council is a proactive move, by putting together tested and respected patriots, who are independent and always ready to put the country’s interest first and ahead of themselves.”

He then urged the Federal Government to take advantage of this rare opportunity to

strengthen the economy and put the country on the path of growth, job creation and competitiveness, while also calling on all stakeholders to work with the Federal Government to revive and restore the economy on the path of growth.

According to him, the government should continue to provide the enabling environment which it had set out to do, so that the private sector would continue to thrive as the way to go in the next level.

The foremost entrepreneur described CANMPEF as the largest employer of labour, having members spread across many sectors and commended the leadership of the Federation for its achievements so far.

He also charged the leadership not to rest on its oars but to sustain the momentum in the overall benefits of the workers and employer-members of the Federation. Dangote said his companies would continue to play their roles as leaders in

their respective sectors so the CANMPEF would be taken to the next level in line with the present administration’s economic agenda.

In her remark, the Minister of State for Industries, Trade and Investments, Ambassador Maryam Katagum, who represented her minister, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, said the government would continue to initiate the necessary right policy that would propel the private sector members to thrive as the drivers of the economy.

She stated that the federal government was not unmindful of the challenges facing the private sector and that with the Next Level Agenda, all obstacles would be tackled and the economy would improve for the better.

Ambassador Katagum explained that the federal government shared in the ideals of the CANMPEF and urged all members to adhere strictly to the safety and environmental rules.

Govt requires three-way approach to corruption fight in Nigeria—Stakeholders KELECHI EWUZIE

S

cholars, professionals, technocrats and legislators within and outside Nigeria have identified education, prevention and sanctions as a threeway approach government at all levels must adopt to tackle corruption in Nigeria.

They observed that Corruption is a global scourge that must be fought in a sustained and pragmatic manner, adding that the fight against corruption in Nigeria is a collective responsibility of all citizens.

Patrick Lumumba, Kenyan Anti-Corruption Czar, says education should be given a pride of place as it creates awareness that enables citizens to easily identify where corruption exists.

Lumumba in his paper,

‘Strengthening Institutional Framework to Support Anti-Corruption Drive’ at the 49th Annual Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja proposed that revenue-collecting agencies, the three arms of government, law enforcement agencies, regulatory entities, political parties and electoral bodies should be further strengthened by regular training and retraining of staff.

He urged Government to create the necessary environment to prevent “Crimes of Opportunity” by ensuring that individuals and organisations operate within the shared fundamental traits that are grounded in Law. In the panel session to discuss the theme of the conference ‘Building Nigeria for Sustainable Growth and Development’ stakeholders ob-

served that some of the agencies created to fight corruption appear to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and have in certain instances adopted strategies that seem to infringe on the rights of citizens.

According to them, “The sanctions to be meted out on corrupt citizens must be fair and not selective. It should not be seen to infringe on the rights of citizens. These institutions and agencies should demonstrate independence from government interference”.

Part of the recommendations at the end of the week-long conference is that Government should hasten the full implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) to enhance transparency in public financial management and reporting.

C&I Leasing partners NSE, Leverages Market Data to boost investor confidence SEGUN ADAMS

C

&I Leasing Plc (C&I Leasing) has partnered with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to underscore the need for organisations to leverage market data products and available partnerships to launch customer-centric offerings that would boost the confidence of investors in the market.

The country’s foremost leasing and ancillary services conglomerate, on Wednesday, joined industry stakeholders at the 4th edition of the NSE Market Data Workshop to deliberate on the role and influence of “big data” in business and investment decisions.

The event, which took place at the Harbour Point in Victoria Island, Lagos, had

the theme: ‘’Partnerships, Products and the Customer”.

Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, said despite the growth potential in the usage of financial market data and analytics the world over, there remains a low inclination towards investment in Nigeria.

The helmsman of the Lagos bourse cited “low retail investment appetite,” stemming from a lack of adequate knowledge of products and the benefits for retail investors.

According to Onyema, the problem gives rise to the need for creating product offerings that promote diversity in investment, manage risk and make the information readily available to consumers.

“Exchanges and Data Vendors are already responding to this increasing demand using www.businessday.ng

new tools for market data products,” he said.

The ability to make effective data-driven decisions is crucial for business operations within an organization, owing to the rapidly shifting market landscape in Nigeria and SubSaharan Africa, said David Ogunsola, Head, Information Technology at C&I Leasing.

According to him, it is important for companies to key into accurate data and qualitative assessments gleaned from the industry they operate in and identify gaping holes in customer satisfaction that outsiders may prey on.

“Rigorous analysis should be used to drive decision making and adapted in a timely manner, and in this regard, third-party market research can protect you in more ways than one,” he said. https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

7

news

Money for investors as Lagos considers ceding Nigeria amongst 41 countries needing primary health centres to private sector external assistance for food - FAO ...negotiating with LGAs and FG to actualise model ISAAC ANYAOGU

T

he Lagos State Government is negotiating with privatesector healthcare practitioners to agree on modalities that will see them manage about 300 primary healthcare centres in the state to deepen financing and quality care.

Akin Abayomi, the Lagos state commissioner for health, said negotiations were ongoing but the sticking point was creating a sustainable funding model for the arrangement and getting all stakeholders including at the Federal Government level, donor partners and the Local government officials to agree on terms.

“The formula at the moment, which is not universally accepted yet as it requires a lot of advocacy, is to allow the private sector to man some of our primary healthcare facilities,” Abayomi told BusinessDay in an interview on the sidelines of the Franco Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast meeting on September 19, at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.

Abayomi said the private healthcare professionals would take over the running of the primary healthcare centres and would negotiate funding through loans from banks that are at an interest rate that is compatible with doing business in that kind of sector.

“We are providing the opportunity for private partnerships and also creating a fiduciary extension to them because it makes sense to provide healthcare delivery at that level,” Akinyemi said.

The commissioner said the state was negotiating with the Local Government Authorities, who are custodians of the primary health care centres, the Federal government which releases allocations for their operations and donor partners, to achieve a workable system.

Lagos is Nigeria’s most populous city which has since surpassed the classification of a megacity with over 20 million residents qualifying it as a hyper city but has some of the poorest healthcare facilities for large swaths of the populace who live in slum areas. Two-thirds of the residents are one severe disease away from poverty.

Analysts at the panel session at the conference praised the initiative and highlighted that healthcare financing is abysmal in Nigeria. The Federal Government has been unable to meet the agreed 15 percent budget threshold in the Abuja declaration and states even spend less. Eight percent of the Lagos state budget goes to the health sector but the commissioner confirmed that drawdown is often around 50 percent.

“We need to start thinking of unconventional solutions,” says Ola Brown, CEO of Flying Doctors who renders evacuation services for business executives from Nigeria to foreign hospitals. She proposed compulsory charge on phone recharges or entering into negotiations with foreign countries that attract Nigeria’s crop of doctors to earn revenues which could be pooled into a health insurance fund.

The US per capita spending on health is around $10,000 while Nigeria spends only $6.

Nigeria’s health budget for 250 years is what the NHIS spends yearly to maintain the health of 65 million people in the United Kingdom.

www.businessday.ng

BUNMI BAILEY

S

ome 41 countries in the world including Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria, continue to be in need of external assistance for food, with conflicts acting as the primary cause of high levels of food insecurity and adverse weather conditions, a quarterly report by the United Nations says.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation report which was issued Thursday, stated that the countries on the list, which include 31 in Africa, remained unchanged over the last six months, according to the Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.

“Particularly rainfall shortages in Africa are acutely affecting food availability and access for millions of people. For Nigeria, the persistent conflict results in unfavourable food security conditions in

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

northern areas. According to the last “Cadre Harmonisé” analysis, about 5 million people were assessed to be in need of assistance between June and August 2019,” the report stated.

“Due to persisting civil insecurity, over 1.9 million people are internally displaced. The areas inaccessible to humanitarian interventions are facing the worse food security condition,” it further added.

The 41 countries currently in need of external food assistance are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti and Iraq.

They are followed by Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria,

@Businessdayng

Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uganda, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Earlier this year, a 2019 Global Report on Food Crisis published by the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition started that Nigeria was among the world’s most severe food crises in 2018.

“In the 16 states of northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, the number of people in ‘Crisis’ and ‘Emergency’ decreased by 40 per cent between June and August 2017 and 2018 to 5.3 million.”

“At the peak of the lean season three million were acutely food insecure in the three north-eastern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency where protracted conflict and mass displacement disrupted agriculture, trade, markets and livelihoods, and pushed up food prices,” said the report.

8

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

9

10

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMMENT

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

Robert Mugabe and the verdict of history (1) THE NEW WEALTH OF NATIONS

OBADIAH MAILAFIA

R

obert Mugabe, former Zimbabwe strongman passed away in a Singapore hospital on Friday 6th September 2019. A state funeral was held for him at a near-empty stadium in Harare last Saturday. Dozens of leaders were in attendance, including Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who led the Nigerian delegation. According to plans, his remains will be interred in a month’s time when preparations would have been finalised for his official mausoleum at Heroes’ Acre in the heart of the capital.

He had been a fixture in his country’s politics for some 37 years. Shy and almost effeminate, his outer demeanour belied the man of steel – an African despot who spoke English with the polish of an Anglo-Saxon aristocrat. A grandfather who doted on children; he could be witheringly cold and severe. An austere teetotaller, he had vast business interests; with castles in Scotland and mansions in South Africa, Malaysia, Dubai and Hong Kong. His birthday banquets included endless courses of elephant, buffalo, antelope, impala and a lion.

An avowed catholic, he thought nothing of taking another man’s wife.

I once sat behind him at an international summit in Malabo. I remember the old man who sat glumly like a statue. But when it was his turn to

speak his eloquence was electrifying.

Mugabe was the most erudite statesman I had the honour of listening to, barring Henry Alfred Kissinger, former US Secretary of State.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924, at Kutama catholic mission in Mashona land.

His grandfather reputedly served in the court of the great Ndebele monarch King Lobengula. His father Gabriel Mugabe Matibili walked out on the family for another woman in Bulawayo. His elder brother passed away, and soon thereafter, his younger brother also. Those tragedies cast a shadow over his childhood.

He attended St. Xavier’s College Kutama, founded in 1914 by the Jesuits. Its motto is rather very telling: “Esse Quam Videri” (To be rather than to seem to be). Schoolmates remember him as academically outstanding, but reclusive. He was mentored by the local Irish priest, father Jerome O’Hea, who describes him as a “fine heart and a fine mind”.

In 1949 he won a scholarship to Fort Hare University College in South Africa, at the time the Oxford and Harvard of the emerging black elites of East and Southern Africa. There he met future anti-apartheid leaders such as Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, Joe Matthews and Duma Nokwe.

Oliver Tambo and the legendary Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela would have graduated a decade earlier. He himself left the institution with an honour’s degree in History and English in 1952.

Returning home to Southern Rhodesia as it then was, he taught in local schools before moving up north to Lusaka in what was then Northern Rhodesia; he subsequently immigrated to Ghana, which, under Kwame Nkrumah, had become the hotbed of pan-African nationalism on the continent. While working at St. Mary’s

Teacher Training College Takoradi, he met Sarah Francesca “Sally” Hayfron who became his wife. Sally was a bright and vivacious young woman who shared his radical politics. They had a son, Michael Nhamodzenyika, who passed away in 1974.

In 1960, he returned to Salisbury (now Harare) to cast his lot with his people. It earned him a long prison sentence, from 1964 to 1974. During those painful years he taught literacy, English and mathematics to inmates.

He also read voraciously; earning degrees in law, economics and public administration as an external student of the University of London.

In 1974, he crossed the border into Zambia to join ZANU. Kaunda and his hosts and had to leave for Mozambique. His charisma and eloquence made him a natural leader, especially following the untimely death of Bernard Chitepo in 1975. Driven to exhaustion by the bush war, in 1979 Ian Smith and the racist minority regime agreed to the Lancaster House talks under British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington.

Robert Mugabe won the elections as Prime Minister on 18 April, 1980. It was a time of great optimism and hope. During the first decade of independence Zimbabweans were relatively prosperous. Mugabe was the undoubted star on the Southern African firmament. But things soon went awry. Tensions with arch rival Joshua Nkomo and his ZAPU led to the horrendous Gukurahundi military campaigns in Matabele land. More than 20,000 perished. It has been said that Mugabe was slow to raise the land question because he did not wish to jeopardise the prospects for majority rule in neighbouring South Africa. After the country achieved majority rule in 1994, he felt more emboldened to demand that Britain

‘

I once sat behind him at an international summit in Malabo. I remember the old man who sat glumly like a statue. But when it was his turn to speak his eloquence was electrifying.

Mugabe was the most erudite statesman I had the honour of listening to

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)

Is forex restriction on importation of agricultural products viable?

I

n real terms, the agricultural sector comprising of crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing has been experiencing positive growth since Q2 2018.

According to the Nigerian GDP report of the first quarter of 2019 (Q1 2019) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), “In real terms, the agricultural sector grew by 3.17 percent year-on year inQ1 2019.” This was an increase from the growth rate in real terms recorded by the sector in Q4 2018 and also an increase in value against Q1 2018.

The growth rate of the agricultural sector is to continue above the 3 percent mark in Q2 2019 and maintain a level of stability in the second half of 2019 (H2) according to a report titled Nigeria Outlook for H2-19, a Treasure in the Mire? by analysts and researchers at United Capital Plc. Observing how the agricultural sector has maintained positive growth since Q2 2018, it is wise and beneficial for government to develop and maintain this growth. The forex restriction on food importation is expected to help do just this.

The restriction prohibits the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from providing foreign exchange for the importation of certain agricultural products. These products include rice, milk, tomatoes, meat and processed meat products, etc. The reason for this restriction is to prevent the use of foreign currency on items that can be locally produced. Also, this restriction is meant to allow us to develop our agricultural sector to the point where

exportation of crude oil is not our primary source of foreign exchange.

As of now the Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on crude oil. Exportation of crude oil accounts for about 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange, which is not healthy for the economy. If we can grow our agricultural sector to the point of it being a substantial foreign exchange earner, then we become less dependent on crude oil and any sharp decline in the price of oil will not affect the economy severely.

Truth be told, the forex restriction is for our best interest because it will help us explore or patronise local substitutes of the restricted products. It will also provide the opportunity for us to save up our foreign currency, which can be used to purchase machineries to further develop the agricultural sector and other sectors of the economy.

According to the data from the NBS, import of agricultural products was valued at N236.33 billion and export of agricultural products was valued at N86.1 billion in Q1 2019. Spending N236.33 billion on importation of agricultural products is excessive. We are impoverishing ourselves while enriching other countries. This doesn’t make sense. We have to start investing in local farming businesses and the agricultural sector as a whole.

In order for this forex restriction to be effective, we have to make the business environment conducive for potential investors.

Also, we need to address some of the issues small scale farmers face. They fall prey to

www.businessday.ng

herds of cattle feeding on their crops and eventually reducing their crop yield and the supply of the product to consumers. They also lack the appropriate machinery and equipment to allow them supply large quantities of a product. They lack adequate means of storage and preservation as well, which leads to wastage of crops harvested and therefore a decrease in the supply to consumers.

Another issue faced by small scale farmers is limited supply of electricity. Big commercial farms generate their own electricity through the use of power generators, which is expensive because of the price of diesel.

They cannot afford to do such a thing. So, they end up relying on the limited electricity supply from the local electrical company, which could limit preservation and lead to wastage of crops. These issues contribute to why production of some agricultural products grow at a slower rate than consumption of these products.

Addressing these issues alongside the government policies and subsidy programs already in existence will help increase production. An example of a government policy is the Anchor Borrower’s Programme by CBN, which links small holder farmers and an anchor (reputable large-scale processors) together.

The small holder farmers receive a loan from an eligible participating financial institution in order to increase production and also enter into an agreement with the anchor to supply his/her harvest to them for

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

pay up for land reforms as agreed in the Lancaster House settlement. British intransigence gave him a free hand to do what had to be done.

Forcible seizure of white farmlands without compensation angered Western powers, especially when some of the choicest parts were allocated to himself and his cronies. The West imposed crushing economic sanctions.

The British inevitably took back their honorary knighthood. The economy collapsed precipitately. Hyperinflation skyrocketed to a record-breaking 132,000,000 percent in 2008. The $1 trillion Zimbabwe bill remains a collector’s item to this day. It seems plausible, as has been alleged, that some foreign powers waged a secret currency war by flooding the country with fake Zimbabwe dollars so as to destroy the country. In response, Mugabe ordered the Reserve Bank to unilaterally adopt the US greenback as a national currency.

It was a smart move. Americans were pushed into a game-theoretic position where they could not prevent Mugabe from using their own national currency as legal tender of Zimbabwe.

A big headache was the dire shortage of small change. The adoption of the South African Rand as an ancillary currency was a welcome respite from those constraints. Unemployment rose to 80 percent, even as HIV/AIDs and poverty brought the country to its knees. Some 4 million out of a population of 16 million fled the country.

That was about a quarter of the entire population.

ZALUM ONYECHI

an agreed price. A subsidy program like the Ewallet program under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda also exists. This provides electronic vouchers to farmers for purchasing inputs from agro-dealers.

Since the country doesn’t produce enough agricultural products to meet the demand available, there is a high probability of food shortage (where demand of food outweighs supply) in the short run. This is worrisome.

However, if government is able to address issues faced by small scale farmers, continue to come up with more beneficial policies and create a business environment that attracts more investment in the agricultural sector, we can make this forex restriction work to our advantage in the long run. I understand why President Buhari went with such a plan that seems excessive.

But right now, we need something like this to motivate us to develop our agricultural sector rapidly. After the recession of 2016 due to our primary dependency on oil, it is imperative for the country to start to reduce its dependency on oil. The only way to do so is to develop our other sectors and increase their contribution to the country’s foreign exchange earnings and government revenue.

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMMENT

11

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

An ode to Robert Gabriel Mugabe (1)

O

n Saturday 14th September 2019, an event took place at Rufaro Stadium, Harare, in Zimbabwe. The body of Robert Gabriel Mugabe was laid in state for an official state funeral. In attendance to pay respects were former and present Heads of State, the President of the Republic of South Africa, and the Vice President of Nigeria. It was a chance for Zimbabwe, and Africa at large, to say farewell to a doyen of the Liberation struggle on the continent.

The stands at the Stadium, notable for hosting footballing encounters were virtually empty, even as speeches rolled among notable Africans who surrounded the grieving widow – Grace Mugabe – in the front rows of the VIP section.

While the officials lauded the departed President to high heavens, the response from Zimbabweans themselves was considerably more muted.

The most lively part of the proceedings came up when Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, was loudly booed as he moved to the podium to give his speech, compelling him to give an abject apology for the xenophobic attacks that had been unleashed on other Africans in his country, a country which, incidentally, owed a lot to Robert Mugabe for its liberation from Apartheid.

It should not have been like this, you reflected.

As you watched the proceedings, your mind went back to 1981, in the same city. Zimbabwe was one year independent. The city was still named Salisbury – the name that had been given to it by the previous white rulers, although the talk in the street was that the name would change to “Harare” in the next year.

On a dusty expanse of land in a suburb of the city, the Prime Minister of the new nation – that was the title Mugabe bore at the time, was inaugurating “Heroes Acre” – a place that would become a monument to the heroes of the Liberation Struggle. There were no stands, no structures yet constructed, only the podium where the VIPs sat to conduct the ceremony. You were, in those days, a wide-eyed admirer of Zimbabwe and its revolutionary leader, and had taken two weeks from your studies in the UK to travel and savour the heady atmosphere of the newest, most dynamic African nation.

You would visit Parliament, and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. At the Matopos hills, you would survey the burial site of Cecil John Rhodes, the “opposite

number” in many ways to Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Standing on the rocky surface where the Englishman stood, which he named “The View of the World”, you would try to feel yourself into how he acquired the delusion that it was the destiny of his people – the white race, to take over all of Africa, not just as “civilising” colonialists but as perpetual owners.

“Your hinterland is there” Rhodes had said, and written, standing on this spot where you stood, pointing at the vista of Africa presented by the rolling hills as far as the eye could see. You would visit “Victoria Falls” – which the locals called “Mosi oa tunya” (the smoke that thunders). In a Salisbury nightclub, late at night, you would hear Abdullahi Ibrahim’s “Mannenberg” for the first time. The music that would continue to reverberate in your head months afterwards.

But the most enthralling of all would be sitting in the dust amidst the huge, excited crowd of Zimbabweans as their leader inaugurated Heroes Acre and supervised the re-burial of Herbert Chitepo – a prominent figure in the struggle. You watched as the cars rolled in, bringing in dignitaries.

Mugabe, grim of face as usual, wearing his customary red tie. Joshua Nkomo, burly, swarthy, sweating. Notable among the honoured guests was the plump figure of Oliver Tambo, leader of the ANC. Mandela, the other icon of the ANC was, of course, in prison on Robben Island.

Sitting in the dust, you had felt you were catching a significant moment in African history, and the host on the podium – Robert Mugabe was on the crest, not just of Africa’s present, but also of its future, as embodied by the struggle to liberate the last bastion of

‘

Sitting in the dust, you had felt you were catching a significant moment in African history, and the host on the podium – Robert Mugabe was on the crest, not just of Africa’s present, but also of its future, as embodied by the struggle to liberate the last bastion of racist

racist white rule – South Africa.

Walking the streets of Salisbury at the time, you got the sense that the whites, who owned much of the commerce, were still not quite certain what to make of their new leader. They were in awe of him. Black Zimbabweans walked with a new spring in their steps.

You sensed a disturbing unease in the interplay of reality and expectation.

Three years later, you would return to Zimbabwe. This time it was to take up an appointment as the state-run mental health facility - Ingutsheni, in Bulawayo. The staff were very friendly.

They had never seen a black African psychiatrist in the country before, and that seemed to mean something to them. One of their own young doctors, they told you proudly, was away in Birmingham, training to be a specialist. You heard stories, which you could not confirm, of how, long ago, patients from “black” wards were corralled to clean the wards in the “white” section of the hospital.

A South African professor who visited from time to time asked you in casual conversation if you thought Adeoye Lambo’s Aro Village Scheme deserved all the hoopla it was attracting internationally. “Yes”, you replied. That was the end of your conversation.

Sadly, over the months, you began to observe in Bulawayo the gradual unravelling of the dream of a strong and prosperous Zimbabwe lifting its people up and leading the rest of Africa into its last great war to dump Apartheid into the sea. Instead, Zimbabwe was consuming itself, and demystifying its leader.

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

Cycle time, convenience and customer-centric experiences

J

eff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon who is also the world’s richest man with over $114 billion in net worth was asked about his secrets to his fast rise. He summarised it in two words, “cycle time”. Jeff skyrocketed his revenue simply by improving on something simple, something we all should do in our business “response time and cycle time per transaction.”

So, today’s article is more of a question: How long does it take for your product to reach the end customer, with utmost satisfaction?

Jeff Bezos rose from being the 19th richest man on earth with a net worth of $25 billion just in 2013 to his current worth. Just how did this happen? This happened simply by his firm optimising the response time in delivering product by 62 percent. Really, time is money. Jeff once earned a whopping $3.3 billion in 24 hours by reducing the time it takes to deliver end to end on a transaction.

In a world that can’t wait, queues shouldn’t be normal as we master cycle time reduction.

Cycle time reduction is the strategy of lowering the time it takes to perform a process in order to improve productivity. The process that requires the reduction of cycle time could be around production, marketing, sales, service etc. In addition, cycle time reduction often improves quality when done right in line with the triple constraints of time, cost and scope.

To increase your firm’s transaction’s cycle time, attempt these: Develop a process map (document and flowchart your processes.

Create a precedence-based work breakdown structure for each major task).

Secondly, become more data driven. In other words, collect data that helps you understand the customer’s preferences so it can be reused when next they come to use your service. Even before they come in, give your customers a means to begin their transaction

before getting close to the servers through fast tracking. Just like you can get your boarding pass while you’re on your way to the airport, find out how you can initiate transactions even before a sale. This will reduce the time used to collect their information with the servers as they arrive in.

Also, study the customer demand profile and trend. That way you can engage them better. If customers must wait distract them by engaging them in something exciting while they are on queue.

You should study the supply profile; manage your supply chain and automate your logistics. Apply JIT (Just in Time) methodologies to reduce the delay from warehousing.

In addition, increase service rate. You can do this by adding more severs to reduce queue. You can train current servers to apply the principle of specialisation to each role.

With division of labour, each person becomes a master of their own role in line with the big picture. Set average mean time per transaction or customers and ensure service rate is within that range. For example, define how many completed services per hour must be achieved without error or variation. Strengthen supervision for each cluster of servers.

Create penalties for delayed work or queues.

Finally, identify waste that can be eliminated.

In terms of creating a better customer experience, you should be able to answer the question, “what are you doing right now to reduce your cycle time, what are you doing right now to improve customers’ experience with you , what are you doing to stay valuable tomorrow, and in 10 years?”

The golden rule of creating exceptional customer experience is to engage each customer with an assumption that all customers are extremely lazy, crazy and busy!

It will save you stress to know this. It’s the

www.businessday.ng

new dynamics of consumer behaviour in the 21st century. You can’t blame this generation, we invented social media and we express things in 180 characters or less, our attention span is about a minute like our Instagram is. Our generation (baby boomers, millennials and centennials) all have entitlement mentality. We think we should get more.

We are digital natives, we want things, and we want it now!

If all customers seem lazy, busy and crazy, then to provide an antidote for that is to have a competitive advantage. For their lazinessprovide convenience. For their busyness - provide time saving. For their craziness, provide excitement!

This is about experiential design and efficiency through a smart framework with smart people. The truth is that in building a smart system, managing people is actually the hardest part of it. And most CEOs have been reduced to mere supervisors of their staff as against their two main roles, strategy and networking for revenue and expansion.

In other words, most CEO and top-level executives now major in what is minor.

Organisational dynamics has to change to be able to provide smarter workflow. It starts from redefining the type of people you may need in your organisation. It’s by immersing them into a culture of efficiency, else they’d major in the minor things till competition puts them into oblivion.

The best firms aren’t the most hardworking but the most productively smart working ones. It’s a universal law that is no different from the corporate world. We see this in Biology, through Darwin’s law of natural selection. Even in the animal farm, a lion sleeps 18 hours in a day while a donkey works 18 hours in a day? If it’s by hard work, the donkey should be the king of the jungle.

I am crude talent manager; I look out for

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

good people and I add value to them while around me. And over the years, I have come to grade them into four categories and each of them has their pros and cons: dumb and lazy, smart and lazy, dumb and ambitious, smart and ambitious.

I will discuss only two relevant to this article: Dumb and lazy (unambitious): this set of people will drain you. The good news is, if given simple, clearly stated directions, they will perform day-to-day routine tasks well enough, but not in perfection. Usually because they are not ambitious, they will be content with token raises and will be among your most loyal employees.

Smart and lazy: they must be continually prodded and they will produce. Because they are lazy but smart, they will find shortcuts to what must be done. So, they bring innovation.

These kind of people can be extremely useful.

Process improvement requires staying steady and continuous in similar but progressive circle, just like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep cycling. And the more the cycle, the more balance and faster you’d get.

Keep getting better, for if you’re not getting better, then you’re getting worse! I look forward to helping you create a more efficient system.

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

@Businessdayng

12

Friday 20 September 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

The ritual called 100 days in office

T

he marking of 100 d ay s i n o f f i c e b y elected office holders may not be, strictly speaking, of Nigerian origin, but like any other thing imported, the country has so celebrated, idolised and glorified this event that it has become a ritual.

Ideally, 100 days in office is a yardstick for measuring performance; it is a barometer of sorts for determining the direction to which a new government in power is headed. The event should further serve as a prism through which the citizens see and judge the motive and motion of their new leaders.

In reality, however, 100 days in office in Nigeria is just a tradition, a ritual that elected officials mark with little or no consideration for its significance or purpose. And at no time was this lack of consideration more demonstrated than this year when at the federal and state levels, 100-days in office was marked with so little to justify it.

It was as intriguing as it was ludicrous that, across the country, federal and state governments, President Muhammadu Buhari and newly elected governors commemorated the first 100 days of their administra-

tions sworn-in on May 29 in spite obvious contradictions.

To us and, perhaps, to many other Nigerians, 100 days in office means so little for an administration that does not have basic parameters and enablers of governance in place to celebrate or mark it.

It was laughable and amounted to self-glorification when the chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Adams Oshiohmole, said President Buhari’s first 100-days had been spectacular because he, the president, “has started well and fast” compared to his first term.

Oshiomohle insisted that Buhari was no longer “Baba-GoSlow” as he has moved faster this time around. But Nigerians know better because this is a government that was sworn into office in May and inaugurated its ministers only 14 days to its first 100 days in office.

At the state level, it was also a mere circus. About 17 of the state governors did not, and still do not have their cabinet in place, yet they marked 100 days in office, showcasing next to nothing and lamenting lack of money as though there is a law forbidding them to generate revenue internally for their states.

Much as we are not against the president and the governors com-

memorating their 100 days in office because of its significance, we are averse to governments marking it just for the sake of it. Like the cart, it shouldn’t be put before the horse. Performance should be the purveyor of the event.

We are particularly worried with this year’s commemoration at both levels of government. At the federal level, Baba-Go-Slow still goes slow, despite rising concerns about insecurity, food security and a tottering economy. Bandits, herdsmen and Boko Haram insurgents have put the country under siege and their activities have been on the rise since Buhari’s second coming.

Many Nigerians are now refugees in their own country and the number is increasing in geometric progression. Those who are not in IDP camps are either killed or kidnapped whenever they leave one town or city to another.

Security situation in the country has degenerated to a point where citizens have lost confidence in their governments who, it appears, are helpless having resorted to negotiating with bandits and insurgents for peace and security in the land. It cannot get any worse than this.

We are all the more worried that both bandits and herdsmen have conspired to ensure that farmers

don’t return to their farms, fuelling what is already a bad food security situation in the country.

Our expectation is that governments at both federal and state levels should prioritise the security of life and property of the people and, in their first 100 days in office, we expect that a significant progress should have been made, creating the basis for rolling out drums and clinking glasses as were witnessed recently.

The national economy is bleeding. A focused, result-oriented and fast-paced government, which is apparently lacking in our milieu, should, within its 100 days in office, be able to come up with measures, policies and programmes on how to manage the critical issues of inflation, exchange and interest rates.

We commend the federal government’s recent move with the setting of an Economic Advisory Council chaired by the cerebral Doyin Salami. This, in our view, is very a significant move that should have been made just the next day after Buhari’s inauguration.

Our hope, however, is that their advice will be taken and implemented. We would also like this replicated in all the states of the federation. It is only then can we say governments are thinking and working. And hope is in the air.

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

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Afolabi Oladele Vincent Maduka Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Mezuo Nwuneli Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo Wiebe Boer Paul Arinze Boye Olusanya Ayo Gbeleyi

ENQUIRIES NEWS ROOM 08169609331 08116759816 08033160837

} Lagos Abuja

ADVERTISING 01-2799109 08033225506 SUBSCRIPTIONS 01-2799101 07032496069 07054563299 DIGITAL SERVICES 08026011296 www.businessday.ng The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria.

01-2799100 LEGAL ADVISERS The Law Union

OUR CORE VALUES

MISSION STATEMENT To be a diversified provider of superior business, financial and management intelligence across platforms accessible to our customers anywhere in the world.

BusinessDay avidly thrives on the mainstay of our core values of being The Fourth Estate, Credible, Independent, Entrepreneurial and Purpose-Driven.

• The Fourth Estate: We take pride in being guarantors of liberal economic thought • Credible: We believe in the principle of being objective, fair and fact-based • Independent: Our quest for liberal economic thought means that we are independent of private and public interests.

• Entrepreneurial: We constantly search for new opportunities, maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do • Purpose-Driven: We are committed to assembling a team of highly talented and motivated people that share our vision, while treating them with respect and fairness. www.businessday.ng

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMMENT

13

comment is free

Send 800word comments to comment@businessday.ng

Again, the scourge of customer service TALES FROM THE MAIN ROAD

EUGENIA ABU

I

t is becoming increasingly difficult to know what is Nigeria’s biggest ailment. Is it poor customer service which has chased several global businesses into Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia where there is discipline and a high quotient of customer service? Or is it corruption and advance fee fraud now known globally as “the Nigerian scam” whether or not committed by Nigerians or not?

We have entered the annals of media and international security lexicon with double negatives. Is it unkindness, bad driving or “Imnmadu” (man know man) that will finally be the death of us?

So many things to talk about but let’s stay with customer service today.

Swirling all around us is Wadume, xenophobia and other matters arising.

We will talk about them in the coming weeks.

I have become so incensed by our customer service failures that my staff and family have started to refer to me as the customer service police. I have often wondered whether it does not bother the rest of us because I am angry when some of these things and fellow citizens think I am crazy or just difficult.

I have held my side because I know that demanding for what is due to you in a customer service space after spending money is a simple request and everyone should feel the way I do with customer service failures.

Sometimes I wonder if it is because I teach it that I can almost feel the receptionist’s indifference or the fact that a clock at an establishment reads the same time be it night or day. Incredible!

Be that as it may, I wonder also if it is the fault of the employers as we often like to hire cheap and then fail to train or whether it is in our DNA. Customer service is so important to corporate bodies these days that it is a critical aspect of global businesses especially if you want your product to effectively travel anywhere in the world.

A world class international airline about three years ago introduced a customer service officer on board, it was pretty surreal to me. This is because most of our domestic airlines hardly care whether the customer is satisfied or not. Apart from ridiculous delays, no one has an answer to simple questions like why did you not announce a delay? No ground crew may even be able to answer your question on the reason for the delay. What about those announcements they make at airports which I have been complaining about long before now?

If we really care about not missing flights and users of our airports, the ladies who make the flight announcements should be removed pronto. They speak in a language other than English.

A cross between their local dialect, a bad intonation of English and another cross between patois and pidgin.

While they “kill” you with bad words pronunciations, they are also very high pitched to drive you completely insane.

In the meantime, they have an attitude and consider themselves top level speakers at the airport. Why so?

Because, if anyone has any respect for customers, these pretend announcers will not even have the courage to speak to us. I am a trained broadcaster and public speaking consultant and it gets my goat when people are putting up a fake English accent peppered with Amala. If we want to use our local dialects to make announcements at the airport, please let us be aware instead of unleashing a poorly trained, badly spoken, no skills announcer on all of us.

The language of officialdom remains English and irrespective of the field you do business, it must be at least decently spoken.

I went to a restaurant last week and ordered some food for the children at our annual summer writing workshop.

A commissioned caterer had failed, so we looked to the nearest restaurant.

There were forty-two children and eight facilitators, so I ordered fifty plates of food. I considered this by any stretch of the imagination business for the owners and staff. The food arrived and to my horror, had been served short by almost a quarter.

I then laid my complaint the following week at the end of a tedious but exciting weeklong summer workshop.

The waiter at the counter reminded me that the kids could not even finish the food as she had waited on that day and retrieved the children’s plates. As is typical with Nigerian responses to customer service failure, “I was not to complain”. Rather than apologise, she was blaming me for too much food for the kids.

I reminded her that I could well have bought the food and threw it away. It was my money and my decision what I do with it. She honestly wondered what the fuss was about until her manager caused her to apologise.

This is unfortunately the Nigerian way. Pass the blame. Pretend you do

‘

How do we get our front desk people to own the businesses, to be passionate about it?

This is a million-dollar question.

Apart from the attitude of these people, how do we treat them, train them and how do we pay them?

not understand a simple complaint.

Blame the customer and after sometime when the customer is fed up, they will go away. Indeed, most people get fed up and go away.

Most of our receptionists are nose digging, gum chewing disrespectful persons who know nothing about their brands and don’t care.

How do we get our front desk people to own the businesses, to be passionate about it? This is a million-dollar question. Apart from the attitude of these people, how do we treat them, train them and how do we pay them? Most businesses should close down and revamp else the quarrelsome receptionist who has been ignoring and cannot process you because she is gisting with a visiting colleague from another department who has fully distracted her.

I am concerned more and more by this quality of persons because tomorrow they may be promoted manager of the business. Nothing changes, customer service failure is deepened. This act of brazen customer failure applies to all staff concerned irrelevant of gender.

Finally, I was at an office last week and the receptionist was not there. I had stood there for about ten minutes when the first human being sauntered in wearing a staff tag. He looked puzzled and started walking away. So, I called out and asked him if he worked there.

He said Yes, at which point I felt sorry for my country Nigeria. It would have cost him nothing if he attended to me.

As always, inefficient characters keep getting into positions and are being promoted while those with competencies are posted out, sacked or hounded. “Imamadu” Wonder if we drank it in our water. Strange, we were never like this.

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

The rise of lingering challenges for CEOs

B

eing a CEO demands so much responsibility. It demands so much understanding. It demands leaders that will understand that their organisations cannot survive outside the environment they are in.

It requires leaders who have a total grasp of the realities on ground and how those events will retard or progress their organisations.

For CEOs, the worst delusion they can put up is not to believe or undermine business challenges on ground – and also not being able to with clarity understand how the key drivers for change will affect their organisations. An interesting thing about any given reality is that no matter how we try to ignore it, cover it up, believe it or not, accept it or not, it is still the reality. And based on what is going on in the global business world, the last thing any transformational leader or CEO would do is to live on his or her own world, ignoring the realities visible to other players.

A leader’s primary role is planning and change. Leaders cannot transfer this role to someone else as their real impact is needed more during times of uncertainties and economic turbulence. Leaders and CEOs should as a matter of urgency realise that regardless of how the political or economic realities are, they have a responsibility of creating a future out of any uncertain future.

Now, more than ever leaders and CEOs have no choice than to be adept at leading,

managing, and navigating a change in a systemic manner such that any form of reality will not take them off the balance. Most times, it is always tempting for leaders to create quick-fix measures to drive growth and create short term stability. Taking this approach will end up destroying the organisation the more, and taking them far away from the true reality.

With the current economic situation and uncertainties, it is no more enough to create profitability and long-term growth by providing good products or services alone. Leaders and CEOs should put to mind that in this present reality, driving medium to long term growth and sustainability require them and their organisations to be more strategic in all facets of their business operations.

With the events going on globally, no organisation anywhere in the world can boast of “having arrived” or they are too big to fail. Additionally, the current reality does not require organisations developing only operational or tactical skills of their workforce as they may not end up becoming strategic.

As a leader or CEO, you will need to be serious in developing the strategic capabilities of your workforce and prepare them to handle the changing world.

As the reality persists, leaders and CEOs must always change their thinking and embrace their new world with new mental www.businessday.ng

models, or get stuck with the old ways and their obsolete thinking. The rules will keep changing and this explains why leaders should not focus on creating stability in their organisations, but rather requires a paradigm shift from creating stability to adapting to changes.

Whenever I take board members on strategic thinking, it usually plays out that CEOs’ strive or focus on creating stability for their organisations especially in unfavourable realities and turbulent times. The danger with this mindset is that as we try to stabilise, we forget the fact that policies, regulations, and worst of all uncertainties will always create a hole in what we have done. The most strategic thing for leaders and their organisations to do is to keep adapting to changes and continuously thinking differently. Adaptation proficiency is also required in these turbulent times.

Like I said earlier, now, more than ever leaders and CEOs have no choice than to be adept at leading, managing, and navigating a change in a systemic manner such that any form of reality will not take them off the balance. The business realities we are currently in not only shows that the world is changing, but also the competition and the customers.

The sad news will be that some CEOs, executives and managers have not changed what they do in driving results, and how they do it.

It is not enough for CEOs to anticipate

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

UJU ONWUZULIKE

for a better future when their organisations continue to adopt the status quo method of thinking or doing things that got them to where they are today. The reality has come to stay, anyone has the right to ignore the reality, but no one can ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.

Remember, no organisation anywhere in the world can predict the future, but organisations that want to create their future will need to build dynamic capabilities that will help them prepare for the desired future and also thrive in it.

I look forward to receiving your comments or perspectives.

Onwuzulike is Nigeria’s leading authority on Systems Thinking and Strategic Management.

He can be reached on 09091142093 or uju.onwuzulike@ mclgroup.net.

@Businessdayng

14

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

MONEYINSIGHT

Hostile regulatory posture towards cryptocurrencies in Africa is slowing – Luno GM Africa Although bitcoin is growing more popular for raising the standards of digital payments, a lot of people still associate it with criminal activities. Marius Reitz, general manager of Africa for Luno in this interview with BusinessDay’s Frank Eleanya in Johannesburg, speaks about the anonymity of cryptocurrencies and the future of cryptocurrency regulation in Africa.

I

t is just four months to the end of the year. Would you say from Luno’s perspective that the cryptocurrency market in Africa has had a great year compared to last year?

As a whole, 2019 has been a good year for cryptocurrencies in Africa. We have seen more governments willing to engage in discussions focused on cryptocurrencies. The proportion of countries with hostile regulation towards cryptocurrencies is lower than it was in 2018. For example, the regulatory sandbox created in Mauritius is a progressive take on the general economic benefits that could follow a friendly and incentivised approach to cryptocurrencies.

More recently, we have seen countries like Rwanda and Senegal talking about issuing national digital currencies.

Our research also suggests that Africans are more open to cryptocurrencies than their counterparts from other continents. When asked the question “Do you think a single global currency would make the current financial system better or worse?” almost three times as many respondents from Nigeria and South Africa said it would make it better compared to respondents in the UK. African countries are no strangers to the use of digital solutions for money transfers, nor the rapid implementation of such technologies. With the right approach and appropriate regulation, Africans could easily lead the cryptocurrency adoption process ahead of the rest of the world.

The price of cryptocurrencies has seen some stability in 2019.

Do you see this changing any time soon and what are the drivers that could push it out of the comfort zone?

Nobody can predict the future price of any asset, not least of all cryptocurrencies. However, the price is just a reflection of how technology is developing, infrastructure improving, merchant adoption, improving regulation, and participation by other institutions like investment funds and high net worth individuals.

Luno does not provide financial advice and does not take a stance on the price of cryptocurrencies. That said, we do believe these shorterterm price fluctuations are an important mechanism to drive large scale adoption in the long run.

Adoption remains a big issue in the market. What needs to happen for more people to come on board?

Increased access and improved education on the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies will go a long way toward improving adoption. At the moment, there is a lot of misconception about cryptocurrencies that are putting many people off getting involved in cryptocurrencies.

For example, there is often a public misconception that Bitcoin is mostly used by criminals, but nothing could be further from the truth.

This is mainly because many people think Bitcoin is anonymous when, in fact, it’s the opposite - all Bitcoin transactions are transparent for the

Marius Reitz

whole world to see.

People might not be able to link the identity to Bitcoin right away (which is why it is sometimes called ‘pseudo-anonymous’). But once they do, they can track everything you’ve ever done on the Bitcoin network. This makes it a particularly bad tool for illicit use.

Providing information to challenge these misconceptions, as well as platforms where consumers can safely and easily buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies will go a long way to bringing more people on board.

Earlier in the year,Libra by Facebook became the hottest topic,but that’s not the case now.How exactly is Libra a disruption for the market and what do you think regulators got wrong about it?

We’ve seen our fair share of crypto hypes over the past few years, but Facebook’s Libra is most certainly not one of them. In our view, Libra is a game-changer, not just for the cryptocurrency industry, but also for the broader financial system.

Libra is a stablecoin, meaning it is backed by a reserve of assets, including linking it to several international currencies, from several central banks to keep its pricing stable. We see these new types of crypto instruments unlocking enormous value to consumers across, impacting billions of lives positively in the process. These new crypto instruments solve a number of the more traditional cryptocurrency challenges, albeit to varying degrees of success. Most of them eliminate volatility, add some better short-term scalability, and also increase trust by being easier to understand.

The one major issue is still distribution and getting it into people’s hands as quickly and economically as possible. Libra presents us with the trifecta. Not only is it linked to a basket of currencies people already www.businessday.ng

trust and understand, but it solves the distribution problem in two big ways.

If Facebook adds Libra to all Facebook products, it will instantly bring billions of people closer to the crypto realm. Second, it will indirectly solve distribution issues by instilling broader acceptance by a wider range of partners. Which merchant or company would not want to add a new cryptocurrency that will be available to billions of people all over the world already using all these social networks?

Tell us about the growth of Luno in Africa? Which country represents your biggest market and how are transactions on your platform growing?

Luno is headquartered in London and currently operates in South Africa, Nigeria, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Earlier this month, we announced that Luno has three million customers (wallets) spanning 40 countries.

Reaching three million wallets demonstrates the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies globally and reinforces our aim of reimagining a financial system where the money is cheaper, faster and safer with open and equal access for everyone.

South Africa is currently one of our strongest markets and the appetite for cryptocurrency trades is growing daily as new customers learn about, buy and store cryptocurrencies.

Luno’s new African regional headquarters in Johannesburg continues to grow and will expand to a team of 40 people. It is important to bear in mind that Luno was the first crypto company to operate in Africa, with established operations in South Africa and Nigeria. We have local offices and teams on the ground in these markets to drive the adoption of our services and to educate people abou t cryptocurrencies. This is sup-

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

ported by an aggressive expansion plan across the rest of the African continent.

Give us some clarity about transaction fees on Luno and why globally it is going up rather than coming down.

At Luno, our fees are structured based on various criteria. These fees vary based on the method of transaction and are, in most cases, free.

When sending to a Bitcoin address, Luno charges a dynamic fee that varies depending on the Bitcoin network traffic and will be displayed before the customer confirms the transaction. The Bitcoin network traffic also varies daily, which sometimes means the necessary fee is larger or smaller (e.g. it’s often lower on weekends). These fees go directly towards paying the Bitcoin network fees - Luno doesn’t make any profit from them. Implementing dynamic fees also helps to reduce the likelihood of Bitcoin sends being delayed.

A free and instant alternative for Luno customers is to send them to an email address or mobile number.

Receiving any of the cryptocurrencies supported by Luno is free.

When depositing local currency, the transaction is free; trading fees on the Luno Exchange vary depending on the country and currency. Please take a look at our fees and features for more information.

You have been engaging regulators in different African countries.Where do you see regulatory direction going on the continent?

From a regulatory point of view, a lack of consistent guidance is one of the biggest challenges we face. However, this is not specific to Africa and it is the same position most governments around the world have adopted.

Cryptocurrency is a new technology that is somewhat complex and most governments are still trying to understand how it works and how to use it. The good news is that we are seeing an increasing number of governments showing interest in the space and setting up various organizations to study it. We expect this to lead to more governments taking favorable positions on cryptocurrency regulation. We are also working with other players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem to put the right structures in place that will work for everyone and guide every player in the market.

Most central banks observe and adhere to international trends in terms of the regulation of crypto assets, in particular, the implementation of anti-money laundering/ countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) that form part the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations.

What role do you see cryptocurrencies playing in AfCFTA? The AfCFTA is excellent news for trade in Africa. The new agreement opens new trade routes and opportunities and presents an excellent opportunity for businesses to expand across the continent.

In the absence of a continentwide currency, cryptocurrencies offer an effective way for African businesses to trade goods without having @Businessdayng

to shoulder the costs associated with cross-border trading. Cross-border payments with traditional banks can be slow and expensive.

In many cases, it can be far easier to take physical cash on an airplane and hand it to the recipient than to make a bank transfer. Cryptocurrencies provide a secure, instant and almost free option for cross-border financial transactions that will make it easier for businesses to take advantage of the new business landscape.

What are the basic rules of cryptocurrencies that potential users need to be aware of?

We don’t provide investment advice, but we do encourage everyone to do their research and due diligence before buying any cryptocurrency.

If somebody promises you returns that sound too good to be true, it’s more than likely a scam.

Investment scams openly trick victims into sending their money to the scammers. Typically they convince you that they have found a special or secret method to making incredible returns by trading on your behalf or exploiting technical aspects of cryptocurrency. This isn’t possible.

Our advice is never to over-expose yourself. You should not have all your money in a single investment, so rather spread your investments into different classes and different risk categories. Don’t ever invest more than you can afford to lose.

Also, unlike with cash or card payments, cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible. Once the transactions have been processed, it’s impossible to reverse. It is therefore vital to double-check that you are sending your cryptocurrency to the correct address.

Do you ever see cryptocurrencies replacing fiat soon?

Cryptocurrencies come with many benefits, but I’m not sure if it will ever entirely replace local currencies. The nature of how we view and use money is always changing and I believe we are in the process of one of the major shifts in how we view and use money.

There is no way to tell which cryptocurrency will make this happen - or if it will happen in the next year or the next 100 years. Nonetheless, the future of money will involve some kind of global currency that is completely interoperable and cryptocurrencies will play a major part in making that happen.

We believe certain cryptocurrencies or instruments will likely be more dominant than others, and that there will likely be a whole range of coins for specific use cases. Bitcoin may not replace all the existing systems, but it adds a new layer of value – similar to how we still have regular postal mail and fixed-line telephones even though we have Facebook, Skype, and Gmail. The impact has already proven to be significant.

Other currencies will likely play a different, more focused role and people may use Bitcoin to store or switch between these other currencies - something like a global reserve cryptocurrency, similar to the US dollar in the current financial system.

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

15

16

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

COMPANIES & MARKETS

COMPANY NEWS ANALYSIS INSIGHT

CONSUMER GOODS

Brewers: Do higher promotional expenses translate to greater market share?

SEGUN ADAMS & ISRAEL ODUBOLA

F

our years ago, 71 percent of the Nigerian beer industry was dominated by Nigerian Breweries (NB) while International Breweries (Interbrew) managed five percent.

By 2018, the market leader had lost 15 percent of its market share while the recently merged-Interbrew increased its footing by 16 percent, imitating similar trajectory of its promotions spending.

The Nigerian brewery industry has seen intensified competition in more recent times amid tepid growth on the heels of the country’s sluggish economic recovery and inability to pass the cost to consumers who themselves suffer weak purchasing power.

Since increasing market share implies greater sales compared to peers, conventional wisdom requires companies to engage in activities that boost awareness and create a psychological need for their products. Experts say established brands may not spend as much as newer ones.

Overall, listed beer makers have spent a total of N387 billion on sales promotions since 2015. After spending N86 billion in 2015, players increased spending by five percent in 2016, nine percent in 2017 and 2018, spent 15 percent more than the previous year to record some N113 billion expenses.

Despite the steady increase in promotional expenses, industry sales

growth has remained relatively flat at 11 percent per annum from 2016, although it rose to 12 percent in 2017 before a U-turn the year after.

But a closer look at trends for industry players suggests that International Brewer-

ies increased promotional expenses have paid off in greater market share.

The firm grew promotional spending by 42 percent in 2017 and saw market share rose slightly to 6 percent from 5 percent a year earlier. Likewise in

2018, promotional expenses surged 312 percent to about N21 billion, while market share jumped from 6 percent to 21 percent.

The company’s increased marketing and promotion activities might have been supported by its merger

with United States’ Anheuser-Busch, and whilst translating to increased patronage of Interbrew products in a fiercely competitive beer industry, it has also resulted in a spike in expenses as seen in the first quarter of 2019.

A look at Guinness’s numbers showed declined spending on promotions might have contributed to its decreasing market share.

In 2016, the Diageoowned firm grew promotional spending by 2 percent, with market share standing at 27 percent. In 2017, it grew to spend by 3 percent, and market share remained unchanged at 27 percent. A year after it cut sales promotion by 8 percent, and saw market share trended lower to 24 percent.

It should be noted that Guinness runs a different calendar year from its industry peers.

For the biggest industry player, Nigerian Breweries (NB), market share has headed southwards despite spending more on sales promotion. In 2016, the firm grew promotional spending by 7 percent with market share standing at 68 percent.

A year after NB grew promotions further by 10 percent but market share slid to 66 percent. In 2018, the beer makers spent 8 percent less on sales promotions and saw market share reduce to 56 percent.

Nigerian beer makers have been facing rapidly-rising expenditure and slowly-growing revenue in the last five years. As the industry profit margin declined to record low levels, so also has its stock prices declined in response.

According to data compiled by BusinessDay, industry’s return on equity has fallen from some 22 percent in 2014 to 14 percent in the 2016-tainted recession year, and further worsened to 7 percent in 2018.

BANKING

Sterling Bank earmarks N50bn facility for MSMEs HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE

I

n line with its vision of impacting life and developing solutions, Sterling Bank Plc, on Tuesday set aside a Business Support Facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

Sp e a ki ng at a p re ss conference in Lagos on

Tuesday, Benedicta Sadoh, group head, retail assets and liability, with Sterling Bank noted that the importance of small and medium business enterprises to an economy is enormous.

She said this was confirmed by several surveys and research conducted by the bank before the launch of the SME Banking Project recently.

Sadoh said MMSEs have

a lot of challenges to contend with, particularly in the area of access to finance, adding that in line with the vision of the bank of impacting lives and developing solutions, Sterling Bank has developed a scheme known as the Business Support Facility.

The Business Support Facility is targeted at businesses that generate cash flow daily and the rental is

monthly.

The scheme does not have a fixed interest rate because it is based on a digital score card which is a scoring process where information about the prospective customer is used to determine the applicable interest based on his financial worth.

The bank has set aside about N50 billion to meet the urgent needs of existing

and potential customers in the SMEs space before the end of the year.

The Head of SMEs said the scheme is targeted at entrepreneurs to access loans to meet their urgent business needs and is payable over an extended period of 24 months.

Sadoh said the maximum amount of loan a customer with collateral could get is N20 million

while those without collateral could get up to N5 million.

She added that the processing time is 48 hours and with minimal documentation.

In a bid to mitigate against business uncertainty, Sterling Bank will be working in partnership with some insurance companies to provide covers for defaulting customers.

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

Friday 20 September 2019

COMPANIES&MARKETS

BUSINESS DAY

17

Business Event

AVIATION

Delta Airlines invest $2m for study of potential facility to produce biofuel IFEOMA OKEKE

A

s part of its on-going commitment to sustainability, Delta Air Lines is investing $2 million to partner with Northwest Advanced Bio-fuels, LLC (NWABF) for the feasibility study of a biofuel production facility to produce sustainable aviation fuel and other biofuel products.

The sustainable aviation fuel, expected to be produced in a facility in Washington State, could be used in Delta operations at stations in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

NWABF’s project would utilize wood residue deposits and wood slash lying on forest floors to produce the biofuel, which would qualify under an approved carbonreducing pathway recognized by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM).

NWABF plans first delivery of the fuel by the end of 2023.

“While Delta continues to take actions toward our longterm goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, fuel is a key area where we

are examining opportunities to create real sustainability differences and drive accountability across the entire business as we lower our environmental impact,” Alison Lathrop, Delta’s Managing Director — Global Environment, Sustainability and Compliance said.

Delta expects the feasibility study to be complete by the middle of 2020. At that time, Delta will evaluate the next steps in moving forward with the project’s development.

“This single project could provide approximately 10 percent of Delta’s annual jet fuel consumption in the West Coast region and, if successful, could become the blueprint for future projects to support Delta’s goal to further reduce its carbon footprint,” Graeme Burnett, Delta’s Senior Vice President — Fuel Management said.

“This project has additional environmental benefits because it reduces wood residuals in forests, which can increase potential fire hazards and inhibit future tree growth.”

“We are excited to partner with Delta Air Lines in lowering the airline’s carbon footprint and supporting Delta’s

sustainability strategy,” Dave Smoot, Head of Northwest Advanced Bio-Fuels, LLC said.

“This project combines proven technologies to produce exceptional quality sustainable aviation fuel on a large scale from renewable feedstock resources.”

“Our research demonstrates that using forest harvest residuals to produce sustainable aviation fuels, not only reduces emissions from the aviation sector but also provides for much needed jobs in the rural and timber-dependent regions of the Pacific Northwest,” Michael Wolcott, co-director of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) and professor at Washington State University said.

Delta’s sustainability strategy is comprehensive and focuses on true responsibility.

The airline drives accountability and evaluates areas of opportunity across the business to lower its environmental impact. Since 2005, the airline has reduced its jet fuel consumption, leading to an 11 percent decrease in emissions as it works toward its long-term goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

L-R: Morayo Adekunle, senior manager, primary market, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Olumide Bolumole, head, listings business division, NSE; Kunle Oyelana, MD, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, and Uche Uwechia, company secretary, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, during a courtesy visit by representatives of the NSE to GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc in Lagos.

L-R: Kunle Adefuke, zonal head, South West 1, Zenith Bank Plc; Ademola Tayo, president/vice chancellor, Babcock University (BU); James Kayode Makinde, immediate past president/vice chancellor, BU; Folorunso Akande, vice president, financial administration, and Sunday Owolabi, senior vice president/ DVC, Management Services, BU, at BU›s founder›s day celebration, «Journey of Grace», at the university premises in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State

TECHNOLOGY

Bolt enhances security features, introduces identity verification portal for drivers JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

I

n a bid to foster better security and safety in the Nigerian transport system, Bolt, a renowned transportation platform has partnered with YouVerify, a data aggregation and acquisition company to launch a fully customised portal to secure drivers on the ride hailing on-demand transportation platform.

Speaking during an event organized to announce the identity verification portal on Bolt, Femi Akin-Laguda, Bolt’s City Manager, Lagos, said that the safety of both drivers and riders will continue to be a cornerstone of the company’s business strategy for building trust with all its customers. Hence, it became important for the company to continuously improve safety features and create a portal where drivers can request and check verification as part of the driver on-boarding process.

“This unique portal was developed in partnership with our supply operations team ensuring that it effectively meets our needs but is also not excessively intrusive for our driver-partners. The

system will be driven by YouVerify’s proprietary identity verification technology which provides the tools to validate various documentation and data and provide key requirements for an ideal verification solution that boosts both service quality and customer safety,” he said.

According to Akin-Laguda, the Identity Verification Portal allows Bolt to conduct checks that were not available before, and is more comprehensive for the existing checks.

For example, the home address verification provides higher levels of identity assurance than with previous model and BVN check in particular will help completely remove fraud and impersonation attempts.

What is more, the verification results are received in real-time, which makes the turnaround time much faster.

“All the driver has to do is initiate the verification request, provide all the information required and the portal verifies the driver’s home address, the driver’s documents and face, and verifies the BVN against

the database of NIBSS to confirm their identity,” he added.

Also speaking, Gbenga Odegbami, CEO, YouVerify said; “our partnership with Bolt to deploy the highest security and privacy standards will ensure that all verifications are done reliably and securely without compromising the privacy of the drivers.”

Odegbami, further stated that in the past 18 months, YouVerify’s advanced background verification has helped institutions build trust between companies and with individuals, while consistently demonstrating their commitment to data safety.

“The verification portal will be rolled out in stages: It is already live in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt, and will be available across Nigeria in the coming months.”

“More so, the drivers verification portal is an addition to Bolt’s suite of safety features including as SOS button in the driver app, a 24-hour high-priority team, and the ability to share the details and route of an ongoing ride with loved one,” he said.

www.businessday.ng

L-R: Oche Peter, ‹Next Up› talent search winners; Apatira Taiwo; Nigerian Music Legend 2Baba; Okhiria Daabo Ayodele, ‹Next Up› talent search winners, and Joseph Jonathan, at the 20YearsAKing Media Day.

R-L: Umesh Malik, general manager, lubricants; Oduwale Bashiru, winner of a brand new car; Tunji Oyebanji, MD; Seun Oke, distributor business manager, and Kareem Alolade, lubricants manufacturing manager, all of 11 Plc, at the ceremony to mark the end of the 11 Plc ‘Mobil Peel and Win Promo 2.0’ in Lagos

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

18

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINTECH News

In association with

Products Review

Technology Review

Personality Review

Company Review

Why Nigerian banks will not burn the bridge for financial inclusion ...banking the poor is hard FRANK ELEANYA

A

s the number of people living within the poverty line continues to grow, and Nigeria becoming the most preferred home of poor people in the world, there is an urgent need for all stakeholders to show total commitment in growing financial inclusion to lift many out of the cycle.

But Nigerian banks’ laser focus on growing their revenue base and satisfying shareholders has meant that many of them are dragging their feet. Many of those getting involved are only doing so for fear that the Central Bank of Nigeria might sanction them. Indications of absolute commitment is nearly zero.

The CBN had in a circular on July 2018, lamented that Nigeria was not meeting any of the financial inclusion targets agreed and contained in the 2012 Financial Inclusion Strategy. Not only was the country not meeting its targets, but it was also declining in growth. For instance, while Nigeria achieved 60.3 percent in 2012, it declined to 58.4 percent in 2016 against a target of 69.5 percent translating to financial exclusion of about 41.6 percent.

The World Bank Global Findex Report 2017 estimates that of the 1.7 billion adults who are unbanked and financially excluded worldwide out of the estimated world adult population of billion, Nigeria has 3.4 percent even though its population is 2.6 percent of the world population.

Irrespective of this reality, Nigerian banks have been reporting profits from charging banking customers for opening an account. The 2019 half-year data on account maintenance charges showed

that 13 Nigerian banks made N39.5 billion. Among the leaders were Zenith Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, GTBank which generated N9.6 billion, N6.6 billion, N6.2 billion, and N5.7 billion respectively.

“Account maintenance fee is the biggest innovation in Nigerian banking,” Ndubuisi Ekekwe, chairman of Fasmicro and fintech expert.

“In America, they pay you for the privilege of serving you (yes, when you open an account, most US banks have reward promotions that pay up to $500 for doing that).

But in Nigeria, banks legally leak your account balance. It is only in Nigeria that banks declare profits in a fluttering economy.”

Some analysts have suggested that why banks are reluctant to do or like financial inclusion, is because banking the poor is hard. It will require doing it on a very large scale before they can make money.

Yinka David-West a professor at the Lagos Business School, once noted in a presentation that a bank has to do $1 billion in financial inclusion transactions before it has a chance of making a profit.

www.businessday.ng

There is also a tunnel vision that afflicts bankers. There are two key ways that banks can make money: from money at rest (deposits) and money in motion (transactions).

“So a banker today begs for deposits which become float which they lend (and earn interest income) or put in the money market for treasury bills, OBBs, etc,” Adedeji Olowe, CEO of Trium Networks, a venture capital firm, explained to BusinessDay. “Unfortunately, poor people don’t have money to save.

N10 billion deposit is equal to 100,000 middle-class depositings at N100,000 each. Why scale? And that’s 10 million poor people leaving N1,000 behind in their bank accounts.

The technology that would support 10 million bank accounts with N1,000 balance would be so expensive that even the N10 billion deposit won’t cover it.”

But money in motion is different. Last year, banks in Nigeria collectively made $100 million from interbank transactions alone when they charged N50 for 729 million NIP transactions. That’s money in motion.

“However, lack of business sense and tunnel vision can’t let them see that if they reduce the transfer fees from N50 to N5, it would make transaction volume to increase like 100 times. Why? Because poor people can’t justify using N50 to send N200 to buy bread.

Maybe N5, they would be convinced,” Olowe said.

SANEF is the closest Nigerian banks have come to show true commitment to driving financial inclusion.

SANEF (Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility) is a project powered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), licensed Mobile Money Operators and Shared Agents with the primary objective of accelerating financial inclusion in Nigeria.

SANEF started as a project in February 2018 but was incorporated as a company in January 2019. SANEF is an intervention to widen and deepen financial access points and services to increase financial inclusion to 80 percent by 2020.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

At the financial services agents forum held on July 30, 2019, in Lagos, Ronke Kuye, CEO, SANEF, said the company is meant to achieve 250,000 agents by the end of 2019 and 500,000 agents in the six geo-political zones by the end of 2020.

Although the program was launched in February 2018, it was not until August of the same year that it went live.

With barely four months to the end of 2019, SANEF has rolled out 156,000 agents across the country out of its target of 250,000 since it started operations. It still has about 94,000 agents to deploy before the end of the year.

Finding over 90,000 people to deploy in the next four months may appear simple on paper after all the unemployment rate is very high in Nigeria, but in reality, the cost of maintaining existing agents and servicing the technology that drives the network is a big disincentive for banks.

This is where Payment Service Banks (PSBs) would have been a solution, but the banks control the SANEF initiative and are not willing yet to relinquish control to mobile network operators MNOs who are going to compete with them in mobile money.

Hence, it is highly unlikely the banks will be willing to collaborate with MNOs on agent networks. Moreover, although the CBN has issued a Full Agent License to MTN, the regulator is yet to fulfill its promise of PSB license to the MNOs. Esaie Diei, former CEO of EFInA told BusinessDay that on the surface FI should be represent a big opportunity for banks giving that it is about opening an account with banks and microfinance bank or a wallet with MNOs.

@Businessdayng

“The starting opening is that the business of the bank is to collect free or cheaper deposit so that they can trade with it. That’s the business of banks,” he said, “So the more accounts opened the better avenue to free deposit.

However, the challenge lies in the cost opportunities.

Banks are businesses with shareholders’ funds expecting returns in specific period of time. Therefore the trade off is more in the best interest of the owners of the banks and less focus on reaching the less economically viable for now.”

The banks however can be incentivised if the regulators addressed the national identity challenge that financial institutions have. The multiplicity of identification systems and the altogether low enrolment are limiting financial inclusion. In these cases, Nigeria requires policies to increase enrolment capabilities of both the National Identity Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN).

“There has to be a strategic framework, intervention, funds and strong political engagement to make the expected impact,” Diei said.

The CBN also have to address issues around interoperability, collaboration and cooperation among financial services providers. Yinka David-West recommended the extension of the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) to Digital Financial Services (DFS) and financial inclusion coordination. One of the mandates of the FSRCC would be the development of a unified agent framework that cuts across financial services - banking, payments, insurance, pensions and so on.

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

19

20

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE Medical workers are at higher risk of burnout, depression- Experts warn ANTHONIA OBOKOH

T

he threat of depression and burnout in Nigeria is mounting due to low level of awareness by various medical workers in the country.

Medical professionals say that the rates at which doctors are complaining shows many of them are suffering burnout or depression over the course of their careers due to – among other reasons – overwork or administrative pressure.

The problem is not unique to Nigeria alone – studies in US, UK and Australia have shown that many medical professional are at higher risk of burnout, depression and suicide, and they are also less likely to seek help.

Experts are pointing out why the rates are so high and therefore says awareness needs to start at student level, calling for medical education to put more emphasis on doctors realising their limitations and recognising their humanity and fallibility “Burnout and depression amongst health workers is a real thing. Firstly we health workers are also human and so in addition to life’s challenges; we get to share in that of others. You have to be rock hard not let in some of these emotions,” said Chioma Nwakanma a public health advocate and digital media strategist.

Nwakanma said that these sense of denial and false sense of immunity is why most break down and burnout at some point.

“The work of a doctor is stressful and somehow unpredictable. You can be called at anytime, and this is worse off in a Nation like ours

where workers are overused and underpaid. The country is struggling with shortage of staff and even lack of proper health insurance coverage for the doctors,” she said.

Nigeria needs no fewer than 303,000 medical doctors to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, says a new survey by the Nigerian Polling organisation (NOIPolls) to avert health challenges, this implies that this puts at risk rural patients who suffer because of an urban to rural doctor density ratio and Nigeria’s poor doctor-population ratio of 1:6000 as compared with the World Health Organisation standards of 1:1000.

Physician burnout and depression amongst medical professionals is a major driver of practise dissatisfaction and this is moreover true in the Nigeria’s setting described by limited resources.

Life and death decisions are just a part of the job. But long hours, heartbreaking cases and tough working conditions can take their toll- Working in Nigeria’s healthcare space is commonly regarded as highly stressful by medical professional.

Debo Odulana, co –founder and chief executive officer Doctoora, twitted on his twitter handle @ DoctooraHealth while some health professionals deal with burnout alone, some choose harmful ways to cope like alcohol and drug use.

“In Africa, there’s is a serious case of under appreciation of health professionals and they have to struggle to pay bills and clear debts.”

“Depression in health professionals is underrated and we lose valuable physicians to suicide because of that. There’s no shame in

seeking help from other professionals, it doesn’t mean failure or weakness. Seeking recovery is strength in itself,” he twitted.

Burnout is now categorized as a “syndrome” that results from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” according to the World Health Organization’s International Disease Classification (ICD-11)—the official compendium of diseases.

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical,andmentalexhaustioncaused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.

Burnout and depression reduces productivity and the negative effects spill over into every area of life—including your home, work, and social life.

Despite their knowledge on these risks of high stress, medical workers are often not aware of the factors that contribute to their own general and mental health.

Doctors are exposed to more work-related stressors than many other professional groups, and are therefore vulnerable to depression.

“Working long hours and getting little sleep, the body and mind could really struggle. Instead of seeking help from other doctors, some prefer to self medicate and just keep working. A vicious cycle of stress, incompetence and self-blame for mistakes leads to depression,” Doctoora twitted.

Continue online @www.businessday.ng

Exclusive breastfeeding prevents cancer, childhood killer diseases SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

N

ursing mothers have been enjoined to always eat balanced diet in order to get adequate nutrients requirement for their babies’ growth and healthy living.

Similarly, they are advised to embrace exclusive breastfeeding to prevent the children from infections and other illnesses.

Itunu Olaosebikan, a health technician, who gave the advice at a one-day seminar, organized by the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Kwara State chapter, noted that exclusive breastfeeding can provide a natural form of contraception.

She explained that breastfeeding could prevent conception if the nursing mother’s menses have not returned and the baby that is less than six months is fed with breast milk exclusively.

According to her, exclusive breastfeeding is not only beneficial to children but also to mothers as it builds their immune system, burn calories, prevents breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes and other ailments that may likely affect mother and child, adding She noted that breastfeeding helps release hormones, such as prolactin; which produces a nurturing sensation that allows the mother to relax and focus on the child.

Olaosebikan added that it also releases oxytocin that promotes strong sense of love and attachment

between the mother and child.

The health technician also said other diseases that could be prevented by breast feeding include type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Also speaking, Atanda Halima, a nutritionist who counselled mothers to avoid taking sugary and carbonated foods, encouraged them to inculcate in-take of fruits and vegetables into their daily basis.

She warned women to reduce intake of fatty oil too much oil, urging them to take more of food supplements and water.

Earlier, Ayobola Olupinla, the Kwara NAWOJ chairperson said the seminar was meant to acquaint members with the necessary information needed to live well and maintain good health.

‘IVF success in Nigeria has made infertility nearly impossible’ Abayomi Ajayi, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist is the managing director of Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos. In this interview with BusinessDay’s ANTHONIA OBOKOH, the fertility specialist shared his optimism on how In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is changing the rate of infertility in Nigeria.

W

hat is the current trend of IVF in Nigeria?

One in four Nigerian couples experiences infertility. Many menandwomenwhocomefromlarge families with many siblings and nieces and nephews never expect to experience infertility, but they do. There are couples for which infertility is the most upsetting experience of their lives.

It’s a good thing that Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) or infertility treatment procedures such as In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) can offer real hope for those desperately desirous of having their biological children.

IVF has done quite a lot for families in Nigeria. It has given hope to many people and completed many homes. The word barren almost does not exist again; we now use the word sub-fertile.

There are very few people that cannot be helped because there is a solution for almost everybody. But sometimes some people do not want to take recommendations maybe, because there are emotional issues involved and some decisions making is involved.

What is the success rate of IVF in Nigeria?

Ajayi

It is established that the most effective method for treating infertility is still IVF, especially in an environment like ours where tubal factor and sperm count are the problems.

There is no fixed figure for a circle beforeIVFtreatmentbecomessuccessful. As a woman, your fertility begins to decline around the age of 30 and becomes more rapid at 35 until age 40 when fertility has reduced by half.

For Nordica, we are not doing badly; the progress and successes are counting. Nordica has had successes with over 2,500 babies.

Although, IVF in Nigeria does www.businessday.ng

not have a National figure we have started collating through the association. If a clinic is doing about 300-400 circles every year it means there is progress.

An unsuccessful IVF cycle can be emotional and financially devastating, nevertheless, it is no longer an assumption that the IVF success rate is higher for infertile couples that go through multiple rounds.

The overall success of IVF depends on several factors, including the quality of the sperms and eggs, adherence to instructions by the couple and the choice of clinic. It is important to choose a good clinic and be realistic about your expectations.

What causes failure in IVF? What can cause the failure of IVF is either the quality of embryos is bad or the endometrium is not receptive or the two of them are not functioning.

The best age to have an IVF is when you are 35. Then you have 50/50 chances and everything works well.

Every couple’s success rate depends on the raw material they both have.

If you have fibroids surgery done repeatedly, it might affect the quality of the endometrium of the uterus.

Some IVF doesn’t succeed because

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

of some particular factors. This is why education is important, so people can be aware of it. Ultimately, you are the determinant of your success.

Hyperstimulation syndrome is the only thing that can kill in IVF and should be watched out for. Many clinics almost have zero hyperstimulation syndromes. I don’t think we had any for the past 5 years.

We need to educate the populace because some of them could become a patient. So education is very important. Even some doctors need to be educated because many of them not know anything about IVF. Education is key when it comes to health issues.

What is the cost of IVF treatment?

IVF is not always expensive. The cost of the treatment depends upon the cause of infertility, the type of intervention needed and the protocol used. Depending on the patient, the fertility treatment and medicines required would differ and the cost would vary accordingly.

However, Health insurance and IVF in Nigeria are not impossible, but it will take some time to be achieved.

Some private firms have started working on including IVF treatment on their insurance plans to help people. Apart from insurance com@Businessdayng

panies, banks are also keying into offering fertility insurance as well.

I don’t think it is rocket science to have IVF on the health insurance plan, even though it is capital intensive.

Are there big differences between IVF treatment in Nigeria and other Africa countries?

There are not many countries that are doing many cases in West Africa apart from Nigeria. Not many countries in West Africa are doing 400-500 circles of IVF. No place in West Africa has the number of clinics that Nigeria has.

Nigeria is not that different from every other country in the world, including the UK. The only difference is that there is a regulatory body and they set minimum standards for the clinics. If the clinics do not meet up to the standards, they are closed down. Part of that is because the government in thesecountriesputmoneyintheclinics.

The notwithstanding, some clinics are doing well in Nigeria.

Before going into a clinic for IVF, it is advisable to do some personal research; read about IVF; find out about successful clinics; visit the place, and talk to the consultant before putting your money down.

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

21

HEALTH BUSINESS&LIFE How Shell is steming down Nigeria’s cancer scourge OLUSOLA BELLO

T

he Recent donation of a cutting- edge treatment machine by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) in conjunction with its senior partner, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to National Hospital Abuja is a big relief to many patients that are suffering from cancer and are not able to get the required treatment to ameliorate the pains associated with it.

It is important to note that the donation of the machines would reduce treatment waiting time by 80 percent and also reduce the cost of treatment.

Cancer is described as an abnormal growth or replication of abnormal cells in any organ of the body which can invade other organs or tissues (metastasis) causing malfunctioning of the organs and subsequently resulting in deaths.

According to Jaf Momoh, the chief medical director of the Hospital, the just installed machine will reduce patient’s treatment waiting time from 16 minutes to two minutes. He described the intervention by NNPC and SNEPCo as timely noting that the first cancer treatment equipment in the hospital became disused in 2017 after 17 years of use which caused the hospital management to set out for two state-of-the-art replacement machines.

The Elekta Synergy Linear Accelerator radiotherapy machine enables treatment to focus on the cancer tumor and not impact other organs in the patient.

According to him, the first replacement machine was installed and inaugurated in December 2017 and has since “treated 850 patients in over 25,000 cycles of radiotherapy sessions”.

“With this new machine, the hospital is poised for effective and efficient cancer treatment with no in-

terruption during periods of routine equipment maintenance. Indigent patients would enjoy subsidised treatment,” Momoh said.

In his inauguration speech, Vice President Osinbajo said cancer prevention initiatives should be promoted, noting that many cases of the disease could be prevented.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Abdullahi Mashi, Osinbajo said “The increasing trend in the prevalence of cancer may be a reflection of lifestyles which goes to show that lifestyle modifications may go a long way in curtailing the scourge. This underscores the importance of awareness creation at all health facilities and provision of screening facilities.”

The Vice President charged wellmeaning Nigerians and organisations “to replicate what NNPC and Shell Nigeria have done in other health facilities to make cancer treatment easily accessible to patients.”

Bayo Ojulari, managing director, SNEPCo’s said the intervention by NNPC and SNEPCo was to support government to widen treatment access, reduce waiting time significantly, and provide world-class facility that boasts of precision.

According to him, the cancer support was one of the five critical health projects being executed across the country by NNPC, SNEPCo and their co-venture partners.

Also speaking, Mele Kolo Kyari group managing director of NNPC, who was represented by the Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, Public Affairs, pledged the commitment of the corporation to any initiatives aimed at touching the lives of Nigerians and stemming medical tourism out of the country.

Continue online @www.businessday.ng

Release budget for nutrition CSOs tell Oyo government REMI FEYISIPO,Ibadan

A

group, Civil Society -Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has called on Oyo state government to as a matter of urgency release the budget meant for nutrition in the state.

The group made this known during an advocacy meeting with stakeholders in Ibadan, the state capital christened, an advocacy brief on nutrition situation in Oyo State were stakeholders such as nutritionists, community mobilisers, and government officials among others.

Adio Olusegun, chairman of CS-SUNN in the state, at the event,

explained that if prompt action is not taken on the issue of nutrition it can lead to malnutrition which could lead to inter generational problem for the state.

Adio pleaded with the present government in Oyo State to stand up to the situation in order to positively salvage the nutrition crisis in the state in order to have a healthy society.

While advising the state government to increase investment in nutrition specifically seek government’s interventions in order to reduce the alarming statistics of infant and under five mortality in the state.

He added that the purpose of the meeting was to encourage the

present administration in the state to look into prompt and timely release of funds budgeted for nutrition in order to boost development in the state.

Ambrose Evhoesor, a nutritionist while speaking, maintained that Oyo state remains one of the states in the country with a huge malnutrition situation at hand.

He disclosed that a recent multiple indicator cluster survey on nutrition indicates that 34.5 percent of children under five in the Oyo state are stunted, 3.8 percent wasted, while 19.1percent are underweight, even with the marginal increase in budgetary allocation for nutrition in recent time .

Police pay out N500m on officers medical bills CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

T

he Nigerian Police Force (NPF) says it has so far spent not less than N500 million on personnel medical bills under its National Health Insurance Scheme.

Bolufunmilayo Obenbe, the assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of medical, Force headquarters made the disclosure at the sensitization of officers on the need to formally enrol with the force Health Management Organisation (HMO) in Benin.

Obenbe, a medical doctor represented by Ahmad Yakasai, managing director and chief executive officer, Police HMO, said in 2018 alone over N300 million was spent on men and officer medical bills.

While noting that the Police HMO was the largest in the country with over 4,000 enrolees, she assured the officers that when enrolled with the HMO they are at

liberty to attend the health facility of their choice.

Obenbe explained that unlike some other HMOs, the Police HMO sometimes go out of its way to assist officers and men with medical challenges which falls under the total exclusion category of the NHIS scheme “Registering with the Police HMO by all officers would enable it to have large pool of funds to uplift the personnel’s health facilities as well as providing more medical services for the officers and men of the force,” She said.

In his remark, Eze Emmanuel, the zonal medical officer, said the sensitisation was for public awareness and to enlighten the police on the significance of HMO. Emmanuel who disclosed that the Inspector General of police has given directives to sensitise officers on the relevance of HMO, assured that the HMO will key into vision of the NHIS of affordability and accessibility.

“IG has decided that we sensitise the men and officers on the need to use police facilities by registering with the police HMO,” he said.

THE TRAVEL CLINIC

Traveling tips for breastfeeding mothers

Dr Ade Alakija Medical director, Q-life Family Clinic & Member: Nigerian Society of Travel Medicine (NSTM) Continued from last week

I

n the United States, expressed milk and related infant and child feeding items are exempt from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations limiting quantities of other liquids and gels. The Infant and Child Nourishment Exemption permits passengers to carry

HBL TEAM

with them all expressed milk, ice, gel packs (frozen or unfrozen), and other accessories required to transport expressed milk through airport security checkpoints and onboard flights, regardless of whether the breastfeeding child is also traveling. At the beginning of the screening process, travelers should inform the TSA officer and separate the expressed milk and related accessories from the liquids, gels, and aerosols that are limited to 3.4 oz (100 mL) each, as subject to TSA’s Liquids Rule (available at www.tsa.gov/travel/ security-screening/liquids-rule).

Travelers may find that having on hand the related TSA regulations for expressed milk (available at www.tsa.gov/travel/specialprocedures/traveling-children) facilitates the screening process.

Travelers carrying expressed milk in checked luggage should refer to cooler pack storage guidelines in “Proper Handling and

Storage of Human Milk” on CDC’s website (www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/recommendations/handling_breastmilk.htm).

Expressed milk is considered a food for individual use and is not considered a biohazard. International Air Transport Authority regulations for shipping category B biological substances (UN 3373) do not apply to expressed milk.

Travelers shipping frozen milk should follow guidelines for shipping other frozen foods and liquids. Travelers planning to ship frozen milk may need to bring along supplies such as milk storage bags, coolers, shipping boxes, labels, packing tape, resealable bags, newspaper or brown lunch bags for wrapping frozen milk, and gloves or tongs for handling dry ice. Some shipping carriers provide temperature-controlled options that can be used for transporting expressed milk. Travelers should make sure in advance that

transporting expressed milk will meet customs regulations, as these can vary by country.

Immunizations and medications In almost all situations, clinicians can and should select immunizations and medications for the nursing mother that are compatible with breastfeeding. In most circumstances, it is inappropriate to counsel mothers to wean in order to be vaccinated or to withhold vaccination due to breastfeeding status.

Breastfeeding and lactation do not affect maternal or infant dosage guidelines for any immunization or medication; children always require their own immunization or medication, regardless of maternal dose. In the absence of documented risk to the breastfeeding child of a particular maternal medication, the known risks of stopping breastfeeding generally outweigh a theoretical risk of exposure via breastfeeding.

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

However, Breastfeeding mothers and children should be vaccinated according to routine, recommended schedules. Administration of most live and inactivated vaccines does not affect breastfeeding, breast milk, or the process of lactation. Only 2 vaccines, vaccine (smallpox) and yellow fever, require special consideration.

Preventive vaccinia (smallpox) vaccine is contraindicated for use in breastfeeding mothers.

Yellow fever vaccine Breastfeeding is a precaution for yellow fever vaccine administration. Three cases of yellow fever vaccine–associated neurologic disease (YEL-AND) have been reported in exclusively breastfed infants whose mothers were vaccinated with yellow fever vaccine.

All 3 infants were diagnosed with encephalitis and aged <1 month at the time of exposure.

Continue next week

I Samuel Iduh, Graphics

22

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

LEADINGWOMAN Women group, other leaders take ‘African Women on Board’ Campaign to UN DESMOND OKON

D

espite strong global dialogue and awareness on gender-based injustice, further pushed by the #MeToo movement, and #ArewaToo (in Nigeria), a major new campaign group argues that African women are still being left behind.

Known as African Women on Board (AWB), the group brings together some of the most powerful leaders in business and government across Africa and the diaspora – both female and male – to advocate awareness in schools, companies and governments.

The campaign group will launch during the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Week in New York on September 26 at the Ford Foundation in a bid ensure the mainstreaming of African women.

The Liberian Vice President, Jewel Howard-Taylor, Nigerian Stock ExchangeCEO,OscarOnyema,andAisha Oyebode, the co-founder of the “Bring Back Our Girls” will be collectively taking the ‘African Women on Board’ campaign to the global gathering.

Beginning in 2017 as a network of women working to advance the economic, political and social rights of the women of the African descent, AWB seeks solutions to getting women into senior management, executive-level managers, and board positions.

At a press conference held in Lagos, Nkiru Balonwu, entrepreneur and founder of AWB, said advancing (positive) narratives and improving realities for African women and girls was the core of the organisation.

“Women around the world are having a ‘moment’ in history where their stories and experiences are being brought to the global consciousness. Unfortunately, the unique perspectives and narratives of African women have been left out of this

L-R: Gbemi Abudu, Fellow African Women on Board (AWB), Nkiru Balonwu, founder AWB, Chioma Agomo, Trustee AWB and Olu Arowolo Verhejien at AWB’s media briefing to announce their programmes and activities in the lead up to AWB’s global launch on the 26th of September tagged African Women on Board at the UN General Assembly (AWB@UNGA.

conversation almost entirely.

“AWB is saying that it is time for African women to be included in these conversations and have our say in the development and growth of the continent, now,” she said.

According to Balonwu, no discussion on finance in developing nations is complete without an examination of the gendered disparities experienced at the society level, hence, the AWB platform will engage women from a business perspective.

“We are letting out a clarion call for a global movement by and for women of African heritage where we can collectively mobilize to support African women and unlock growth on the continent,” she said.

Already, as a conduit for skill and knowledge acquisition for African

women and, AWB has taken steps to create empowerment opportunities such as master classes which have equipped women in building online businesses and making long term investments, and pursuing public office.

But young girls are not left out: “As we speak, there is a set of young women who are receiving IT training through our Girls in STEM education initiative. These are among the ways African Women on Board is investing directly in the lives of women and girls to lift their conditions and expand opportunities for them,” Balonwu explained.

Providing more details in a statement to the press, Emma Wade Smith, UK Trade Commissioner to Africa, said research has proven that without comparison, there is busi-

ness and economic growth when women are brought on board in the workplace and communities.

“I have come to the conclusion that the only way that we can really influence the rules of the game, to change the dynamic so that we are all equally able to achieve our full potential, is to make sure that we strive high, and we work together, and that we’re inclusive so that we’re all able to drive the future that we want to see,” Smith said.

In order to amplify the message at UNGA, AWB will launch ‘Project 100, 000 Remarkable African Women’ which will be a database of the extraordinary women of African heritage, and their stories about how they are making a difference globally.

“Undoubtedly, when African

women do well, the entire continent can prosper,” said Balonwu. “And when Africa is strong, black people everywhere are empowered.”

Other visionaries that will drive conversations at the event include: Joyce Payne, founder of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; Hilary Pennington, executive vice president of the Ford Foundation; Elisabeth Moreno, managing director, Africa at HP Inc; Christine Soufrant Ntim, founder of the Haiti Tech Summit; Betty Irabor, publisher and founder of Genevieve Magazine; Derrick Ashong, Emmynominated producer and founder of Amp.it; and Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.

African Women on Board (AWB) is a non-profit organisation run by African women for African women.

5 things the woman leader wished someone had told her before she became a CEO MELANIE CURTIN

G

emma Toner is a good example of both female talent and women’s leadership. Toner advanced at AMC Networks to eventually become SVP of new media development. She then acted as SVP of business insights and strategy at Cablevision, and has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior executive in the cable industry.

And in her current role as CEO of Tone Networks, she’s applying that business acumen and industry experience to help grow more women leaders.

Tone Networks is a microlearning platform for “timestarved” professional women.

When you sign up, you elect a few things you’re interested in, and you get a few videos emailed to you on that subject per week. Each video is around 3:30, so it’s not a big time commitment.

I watched one on “When You Witness Someone Being Bullied at the Office.” I admit I was a bit

sceptical at how much a presenter could cover in a video that was so short, but it was very well done, outlining how to respond if you’re a colleague versus a manager.

Toner created the network to help women leaders (and future leaders) know they’re not alone and be able to network together more effectively. And in a recent interview, she shared five things

www.businessday.ng

she wishes she’d known before becoming CEO (all of which are relevant for both current and future women leaders): 1. The highs and lows are significant There are always high points and low points at work. But when you’re at the head of the company, your peaks and valleys are even more pronounced.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

“Some days I marvel at what we’ve have accomplished, and other days I’m not sure how we’re going to get it done,” Toner said.

“Now I focus on my goals and keep my eyes on what I want us to accomplish, trying not to get bogged down in the weeds.”

2. Trusted advisers are mission-critical When you’re in a more junior position, you can kind of get away with doing it all yourself. But once you advance to a certain level, you simply can’t do that anymore (at least not responsibly). “If you know you have a weakness in a certain area,” Toner says, “find a strong, trusted adviser to guide you in those areas, and then do what they advise!”

It’s like being a good president.

You can’t know about everything-but you can surround yourself with people who are experts in their particular part of the shop.

3. It gets lonely “As the leader of a company,” Toner says, “I know all eyes are on me. That can be a lot of pressure and stress. Even though I have a @Businessdayng

great team, it gets lonely at times.”

It’s helpful to know going in that it’s normal to feel lonely sometimes (even with a great team). It doesn’t have to be that way all the time, but it is true that it’s lonely at the top. It’s still worth being there, though.

4. There are network relationships and then there are authentic relationships As you rise in the ranks--and especially at the top--you start managing more and more relationships. You’ve got to be able to maintain a strong network, yes, but it’s also important to prioritize the “real” relationships.

Authentic relationships, Toner says, are “where the power lies and where I want to be with my relationships.”

5. Get comfortable asking for help and advice “You don’t have to be all and do all,” Toner says. “Ask for help-it doesn’t make you weak--in fact I’ve often found asking for help can be extremely freeing and offers the opportunity for someone else to invest in my vision.”

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

23

ENTERTAINMENT ‘The success of our virtual reality film reminds the world that the Chibok tragedy is not over yet’ At the just concluded Venice Film Festival in Italy, ‘Daughters of Chibok’, a documentary film by a Nigerian filmmaker on the missing girls, won the ‘Best Virtual Reality Story (VR) award. Back from the awards, JOEL KACHI BENSON, director of the film and creative director, VR360, a Yaba, Lagos-based virtual reality film studios, shares with OBINNA EMELIKE, his excitement, the innovative VR tool , campaign for empowerment of Chibok women, pioneer role in VR among other issues.

Y

ou are known for documentaries, how did you incorporate virtual reality in your job?

I heard about Virtual Reality (VR) in 2017. But I have been making documentaries for 10 years now, and most of my projects have taken me across the country, especially in the North-East where I am documenting the impact of the insurgence on women and children.

So, in one of those trips, I was in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp and we were making this documentary and someone walked up to me and asked if I have this camera that has cameras all around it. I said no and asked why the camera. He said when you shoot with it and people watch it with a certain device, it looks like they were at the scene.

He noted that the camera is now used abroad and even by the United Nations. I told him that I do not have the ‘magic’ camera, and that the one I use serves the purpose.

I probably forgot that discussion until a year later, (last year), when Damilola Ogunbiyi, a lady who I have done a lot of projects for, called me and said she wants to make 360 video of a project in Kano. Though I told her that I do not know how to do the 360 video, she insisted that I should go and figure out how to do that and out of respect I said I will go and make research.

Before I left her office that day, she said I want you to explore this; it will change your game. I went back home and started researching on VR, 360 video among others. I went on YouTube and saw videos on VR. What intrigued me was that I could do something like that.

I was really intrigued and found VR interesting. I started searching around for who does it in the country and I could not find anyone. Then, I decided to fly out to use it and create the video for her. I flew out to the US, and that was the first time I wore a headset and the moment I wore it, I understood what that young man was telling me at the IDP camp in 2017. It was like I was there. I said waoh, what a powerful tool to take your story telling to the next level.

Why was the film adjudged the ‘Best Virtual Reality Story’ at Venice Film Festival?

I honestly do not know what made the story to stand out and I do not want to worry my head over that because if I do that I will be bogged down with unnecessary details that will impact on the quality of my future productions. I aim to tell honest stories or I aim to tell my stories honestly. I pour heart into it and do it with all my strength. I have a bit of perfectionist; until the story is right the way I am seeing it, I will not be satisfied or stop improving on it.

We sent the film to Venice and they told us it has been accepted and that we should send the final copy to them. But what we sent to them was the final copy. Well, I said to my team, let us watch the film again and I gave them a specific instruction; I do not want you to watch it now to enjoy it, I

not have gotten someone with more complexity than Yana

Joel Kachi Benson

want you to watch it and look for faults.

They watched and came back with 15 to 20 faults. I wrote down the faults and started fixing them. After fixing the faults, I gave it back to them and said go and watch the film again and look for faults and they came back with another three or four faults. That was how we kept doing it until we could not find any fault again.

What was your motive for making the film?

In the midst of all the different stories and different accounts of the abduction of the Chibok girls, as a story teller, you want to get to the root of the matter and you want to find out the truth by yourself. That was my main attraction of doing a story in Chibok; to find out the truth; were these girls really abducted, does this place called Chibok truly exist, and so on. It was a story that I have always been curious about. I also chose to make it in VR because with VR, I can take people to Chibok, which many people have heard of but have not visited. I felt that with VR, I can demystify this place and let people see it as it is.

How did you get Yana to become the heroine?

The first day we came to Chibok, we were making another documentary.

It was a regular documentary that I was commissioned to make on the insurgency and that took us to four or five states in the north east and different communities.

One of those communities was Chibok. We were supposed to pass through Chibok and film the school where the girls were kidnapped and I thought that was a fantastic opportunity to go to Chibok.

So, I went with my VR camera just www.businessday.ng

in case. When I got there, the first thing I wanted to do was to meet the people, especially the women. We were introduced to a couple of women. Yana was introduced to us as the women leader.

So, she was our first interface and she took us around different places, telling different stories and through her we met other people.

Originally, my story was not supposed to be about Yana, my story started with Laraba, Yana’s daughter who is the step sister of Rufkatu that was kidnapped. So, I started with Laraba and we have spent the first day filming her, following her to school and all that and when we got back from the school I said to my team, let me go and interview Yana. The moment she started speaking I knew I had been on the wrong trail and that she is my character. It was not a hard decision to make at all.

How did she change the storyline?

First, it is her daughter that is missing.

So, the emotional connection is there and from the story perspective, you want your story to connect with your viewers or your viewers to connect with your story. When emotions are displayed in their raw form, they connect and that was the thing about her.

She is such a complex character, on one hand, she is this strong woman who is a leader of women in the community. But she was not born a leader, she was just a regular woman, but tragedy forced her to become a leader.

In the leadership role she is playing, it is also comfort for her because she is the one that has to interface with the government, whenever any of the girls in released, she hugs and welcomes her, hugs their mothers and she will still go home asking after her daughter. From a story telling perspective, we could

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

How did the wining change things for you?

I was notified of the win a day before, which is what normally, happens in Venice because the award ceremony is only for wining producers or directors.

Before we left Nigeria we had proposed in our heart that whatever happens in Venice is an opportunity to amplify the voices of these women. Like I said in the beginning, the project was borne out of curiosity. But half way through the project, my focus shifted, it became a campaign for the women because I saw things in Chibok that no one has spoken about.

The most important concern is that these women are living in abject poverty, they do not have any form of social support and I felt it was wrong in so many levels. These women are the pillars of their homes, they are the ones who take care of their children, send them to school, pay their fees and they are the ones who still have to bear this heavy burden of loss. I felt it was very wrong.

So, I resolved that the film would be used as a vehicle to get support for the women. So, when we were nominated to go to Venice, I felt that this is that opportunity to take the message to the world stage and let everybody hear it.

We were told that we had won, which was a huge surprise to all of us, I spent the next 24 hours rehearsing my speech because I felt it was an opportunity to say something about the film and something important about the plight of these women.

One of the things the women told me was that in the beginning, it seemed like everybody cared, but now the world has moved on. It was important for me to mention that to the world that you cannot move on from this tragedy because it is not over yet, the book does not have a closing chapter because 112 girls are still missing.

Are you getting feedback from the world since passing on that salient message in Venice?

Everybody kept saying thank you for reminding us. It is interesting that I have people from Taiwan, Korea, Australia, and across the world commenting because they have heard about Chibok. But like what the women said, some of them have forgotten. So, the film serves as a reminder and everybody seems to be grateful about that opportunity to remind them and to take them there via VR. Are there impacts on Chibok women since the film was made?

A week before we went to Venice, my team went to Chibok. We raised some money, bought bags of fertilizer, took them there and shared to the women by ourselves. We are working with an NGO in Maiduguri and my team members are there, they filmed it and the 10 women we impacted signed for it and carried their fertilizer. That is my model. There is a company that said they wanted to support but the @Businessdayng

model they want to use is exploitative.

How long did it take to shoot the film and why is it short?

We filmed for two weeks but not back to back. We filmed for one week and get back to Lagos to check the footage. I did not like some things, so we resolved to go back to Chibok again. It was a tough decision to make and it was the period they postpone election for one week and we had to go. After the extra on week, we came back to Lagos and started editing the film.

The reason the film is short is because immersive contents are not designed to be very long. They are at most 15-20 minutes. In the world of VR, what I did is a feature length.

There are projects of 40 minutes but I do not know who wants to stay in an immersive state for 40 minutes. So, most times, it is 15-20 minutes.

But we are working on a 2D version of the film maybe same with title. But it will take us a longer period to develop that because we are still following the story to see how it evolves.

How about the distribution of the film now it has won global award?

Right now, the distribution we are doing is the film festivals; the documentary is still touring the festivals.

We are in discussion with some international distributors who are very interested in taking up the distribution of the work. We are also getting calls from different parts of the world by people who want to watch the documentary because when you win the lion award, it is a validation of your work on some level, and when it comes from a place like Nigeria that has never featured there before, it is a big deal.

Are there filmmakers who are interested in VR? I think there a few people who are interested in VR. I have met a few; Jumoke Shonwolu is very passionate about it. She is currently creating a VR piece. There are a few of them, which is why this win is very important. This win is not just validation; it is also an encouragement that we can actually do it. I have been doing VR for a year, and we won at Venice, it means we can do it here. If I was a VR enthusiast and I saw a fellow Nigerian win that award I will be challenged, knowing that this thing is achievable and it is within my grasp.

What are the limitations of accessing films on VR platform?

The only limitation of VR now that people complain is accessibility. You need the headset to experience it and not everybody has the headset. It limits the number of people that can access your work. But like I said, it is still the early days for the technology. While we are worrying our heads about creating content, there are some people out there who are worrying their heads on how the content will easily be accessible to people. So, let us not wait until when it becomes the mainstream.

We can be pioneers in this technology.

24

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

ENTERTAINMENT Mentoring with purpose BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

JANET ADETU

O

Can you take up the Challenge? ver the years while pursuing my career, I developed goals, ideas and aspirations of where I wanted to be. Looking from a distance there were people I met that inspired me based on their achievements, the impact they had on me and the value they added to many others. It has always been a natural desire for me to add value to other people both knowingly and unknowingly. Little did I know that I was mentoring people and inspiring them from a great distance. It becomes overwhelming yet self- fulfilling when you hear what impact you have had on another person just by simply being you.

Today mentoring is a great asset to those who seek advice and guidance from a seasoned person of value to them. It is also a great asset to those who have what it takes to share with others their experiences in life and use it to make the lives of others much better. Of course it takes maturity, discipline, understanding, tenacity and traits of super leadership potential to carry this out successfully.

I am happy to say that I am a Cherie Blair Foundation International Mentor. Interestingly it is not given

on a platter of Gold it requires taking an exam and passing to tell you that not everyone is cut out to Mentor.

For the last three years I have been mentoring on an international scale.

One of my mentees from Vietnam is always happy and excited at having our sessions because she has expressed how she is able to improve her English language, express herself and speak much more which is rare for her on a daily basis. I am also pleased to be a Wimbiz Mentor, I am excited to see where my mentees are today reaching greater heights. As a lifestyle Connoisseur, Transformation and Performance Coach as well as a Philanthropist I also have a host of mentees across the globe.

Sharing minds, ideas, advice and experiences has helped me to help them develop their businesses, increase confidence, steer their course and build on their personal development. The impact to date has been very rewarding for me the Mentor as well as my host of Mentees.

As a mentor what is your goal or objective?

How can you impact others?

How do you know when you are mentoring with a purpose?

To measure ones impact or success with mentoring is to measure where you were as a mentor at the start of the mentoring period to where you are at the end. Your mentoring time can be time bound or ongoing but it must yield results.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mentoring: What does it take to mentor?

I agree it can take a bit of your time if you are committed and dedicate to adding vaue. However it does not necessarily involve physical visits it is entirely upto you and your availabil-

ity. With new technology using audio and face calling like skype works just as well and is equally effective.

What does it take to mentor?

Does age matter in choosing a mentor?

As a professional you will be surprised who may ask you to mentor them. It is not necessarily age or gender specific. It is no doubt easier and possibly the common norm to mentor someone slightly younger than you but the idea is for you to share your wealth of experience, your challenges, mistakes, and successes all together. It is not out of place to find yourself mentoring someone who falls within your age bracket or older. If your life inspires others, leverage on that and create impact.

What if you are not in that line of business can you still mentor a prospective candidate?

If the mentee is seeking assistance for business purposes then being in that the line of business is n added plus. All businesses have some structured common goals, from being a start- up, to business growth and business success.

Should a mentor give direction on what to do?

Mentors should seek to know more about the mentee by asking questions on where the journey is now and where the mentee is hoping to go from there on. Care must be taken in giving direction or advice that may not be solicited. Offer general guidelines, suggest solutions, share information that is relevant to the mentee and walk the journey with them. Constant questioning is key to progress from the start, this way when action points are determined they will be accountable to the mentor in following through.

‘

Mentors should seek to know more about the mentee by asking questions on where the journey is now and where the mentee is hoping to go from there on

As a mentor you are simply the accountability partner that helps a mentee reach their goals.

Is Coaching different from Mentoring?

Yes it is! You can be both a coach and a mentor to different people provided you are aware of the goal and the objective of each relationship. A coach is someone who offers services for a fee, while a mentor does not take financial rewards. A coach is not sharing experiences but helping you reach your goals through a structured process. A coach is also an accountability partner but with intention and deeper purpose. A coach helps you reach your goals faster than if you were to go alone by helping you beat the act of procrastination.

Coaches have vast knowledge and experience in certain fields, as today their services are used for a multitude of purposes.

As a transformation and performance coach my goal is to help you see how you can do things better that will help you improve your outlook, your career goals, your personal development so that you can leverage opportunities for success and a more fulfilled purpose driven life.

What should you expect as a mentee from a mentor?

As a mentee determine what you want from the mentor, spell it out from the beginning with goals. As a mentor discuss skills needed, keep building the relationship. Stay in touch even after the period of mentoring is over, Be intentional about mentoring with a purpose.

Share your experience with me, follow me on social media @JanetAdetu Janet.adetu@jsketiquetteconsortium.com

AFRIMA returns to Lagos for 6th edition, as African Union, Nigeria set to host

Three Thieves: Projecting Nigerians youths, comedy and lifestyle

he African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) have announced that the 6th edition of AFRIMA themed ‘Feel Africa’ will be hosted in Lagos State, Nigeria from November 20-23, 2019 in association with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Nigeria.

In partnership with the African Union, AFRIMA is a youth-focused music property that celebrates Africa, recognizes and rewards the work and talents of a myriad of African artistes across generations. AFRIMA is committed to the stimulation of conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the world about the potentials of the cultural and creative economy for real enterprise on the continent, contributing significantly to social cohesion and continental integration.

Feel Africa’, is an initiative aimed at showcasing the African essence through its music and culture and inviting everyone to share in the experience of African unity, African passion and African creativity. The theme takes

eyond just watching movies for the fun of it, it is important to note that the moral lessons to be taken away by viewers is just as important.

Also important is the need to project activities of Nigerian youths, their everyday living such that they resonate with viewers.

As Nigerian movies make international recognition, only very few movies have a mix of humour, capture every day to day activity and yet do not losing grip of moral lessons. One of such few films is the ‘Three Thieves, which will be out in cinemas on October 4, 2019.

Three thieves are about three friends who are down and out on their luck. They are in the little part of Lagos called Festac and they are all working menial jobs and just trying to find a way to put money in their pocket. One thing leads to another, as a job falls on their lap by accident. They decided to do the job and everything go wrong for them.

As viewers are kept spellbound on what will become of the characters, the humour in the movie lightens the suspense and makes every scene interesting.

In an interview with BDSunday, the writer of the

T

inspiration from AFRIMA’s mission to change negative perspectives of Africa by promoting the cultural uniqueness of Africa as a means to counter issues hindering the unity, peaceful co-existence and economic growth of the continent.

Lagos State, rated as the largest music, entertainment and commercial hub in Western Africa and also renowned for its bubbly and hip lifestyle has hosted previous editions of AFRIMA from 2014 to 2017 with the support of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Nigeria. The support of the government of Lagos State as AFRIMA official host city in 2016 and 2017 also fostered the smooth execution of the various AFRIMA events and www.businessday.ng

facilitated the seamless engagement of corporate sponsorship/partnership at various facets of event planning and execution.

In her statement, Angela Martins, head, Culture, African Union Commission, says, “Nigeria playing host to the 6th AFRIMA is indicative of the beneficial relationship the country has developed with the AU & AFRIMA as we use this continental awards platform to strengthen Africa’s culture industries while also promoting the cultural identity and integration of Africans. We are also appreciative of Lagos State Government for hosting previous successful editions of the annual awards programs of events.”

Meanwhile, fans, followers and lovers of African music artistes have started visiting www.afrima.org that opened on September 1 to cast votes for their favorite 6th AFRIMA Nominees. The voting process, which closes on November 22, 2019 will determine winners in the 36 AFRIMA awards categories to be recognized at the main awards ceremony scheduled to hold on November 23.

IFEOMA OKEKE

B

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Koye Kekere-Ekun(Actor), Udoka Oyeka (Director), Shawn Faqua (Actor), Angel Unigwe(Actor), Shawn Faqua (Actor) and Frank Donga (Actor)

Sammy Egbemawei, disclosed that when he was writing the movie, he was thinking about having Nigerian youths represented on the screen and wanted to project the hard work that people do regardless of how misdirected it is.

“The title is not enough to give out the story. There are still so much more in the movie. So back to back you see moments that will make you laugh, moments that will make you happy and moments that you will recognise yourself in.

One of the themes of the movie is that ‘crime does pay.’

“For me the characters were live from the scripting stage and seeing it brought to life, I can say justice was done.

Writing this with great minds like Abba Makama and Africa Ukoh who could share in the vision I had for the story was @Businessdayng

indeed amazing.”

Udoka Oyeka, the director of the movie said the experience directing the movie was fantastic as every single time he read the script, he was laughing because of the voice, the characters, their jokes and the way they relate with each other.

“When I look back at it, I just realised that from reading the script to shooting the film and to editing the film, the whole of the production, we were laughing throughout. Every time I watch it, I keep laughing. It has just being a fun ride for me.

“It was a pleasure putting this film together. The synergy between the three guys made my job easier and made the time on set a lot more fun. I am really excited for everyone to see this project and share in the happy spirit it brings,” Oyeka said.

Friday 20 September 2019

Harvard Business Review

BUSINESS DAY

25

MANAGEMENTDIGEST

Spotlight on power couples: One couple’s perspective

D

iscussions about dual-career couples tend to focus on challenges and conflicts.

But couples who are juggling two ambitious careers and family life also enjoy advantages — ones that go beyond having two incomes. Tamar Dane Dor-Ner and Dan Krockmalnic illustrate this mix. Dor-Ner has spent 20 years at the consulting firm Bain, where she is a managing partner and the head of its Boston office. Since the two married, in 2009, Krockmalnic, a lawyer, has worked for two large law firms, as an assistant attorney general for Massachusetts, and, starting in 2017, as general counsel for The Boston Globe.

The couple — she is 42, he is 39 — have two boys, ages 8 and 6. They spoke with HBR about the professional upsides of being a dual-career couple. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: How do your professional lives help you support each other at home?

Tamar: We both come at work assuming that we will really enjoy, care about and bring some measure of ambition to our jobs.

That’s a shared value — we take it for granted, so it’s not a source of tension. If one of us has a bad day at work on Friday and is still preoccupied about it on Saturday, the other one isn’t going to be annoyed or surprised. Hopefully we will be compassionate. We try to be present, but we don’t get upset if the other one can’t turn it off immediately. The only thing worse than having work stress spill into personal time is to go home and be punished for it.

Dan: A corollary is that neither of us is overinvested in the other’s career. She has her job, I have my job. We’re there for each other to help when needed, but it’s not core to my being that I’m the spouse of a Bain partner, nor is it core to her being that she’s the spouse of a Boston Globe employee. I don’t think that would be healthy for us.

Q: How has your dual-career status come into play as Dan has made job changes?

Dan: Tamar’s career gives me the freedom to do what I want to do. I can choose [to take a pay cut] to go work for the attorney general’s office for two years without our having to worry about paying

the mortgage.

Tamar: I really love my job, and I have for a long time. I’ve wanted that for Dan, and my job has allowed me to encourage him to move to find it. He has that now, and we’re all better for it.

Q: Was balancing two demanding careers a big challenge before you had children?

Tamar: When we were first married, before we became parents, our professional lives were indistinguishable from when we were single. The changes all came after the kids. I was really lucky in a number of ways: I didn’t leave Bain to go back to business school, as many consultants do, and I became a partner fairly young.

Dan: Let me interrupt to brag about her: She became a partner at 28, and she was the youngest person to become partner that year.

Tamar: Making partner before I had kids gave me a ton more autonomy, flexibility and security than I would have had otherwise.

Even so, I assumed I’d leave Bain when I had kids. I didn’t think it would be possible to stay. I had been traveling all the time. I carry emotional baggage around parents who travel — my mom died when I was pretty young, my dad traveled a lot, and I didn’t want to do that. I thought I would come back from maternity leave and work for as long as I could before

leaving. It was a happy surprise that I was able to navigate it — to find creative ways to not have to travel. I focused on local clients and did a lot with private equity, where much of the work can be done remotely. My current job running the Boston office is the latest version of that strategy.

Q: How do you decide who’s responsible for housework and child-related demands?

Tamar: We have to acknowledge that the first thing we do is throw a lot of money at it. We have an amazing au pair who gets the kids ready for school, picks them up, takes them to activities. We have a house manager who does the laundry, shopping and some of the cooking. Dan and I divide up what’s left. I deal with summer camps. He deals with the boys’ sports. I deal with doctors.

He deals with insurance. We’re past the point of thinking it has to be equal or identically sized time commitments. That’s not possible.

When new things come up — our 8-year-old needs systematic homework help for the first time — we sort it out.

Dan: It’s all dynamic, but there’s no shortage of talking about it — what’s working and what’s not.

Tamar: And whenever we talk about juggling responsibilities, we try to remember that we are lucky as hell. We don’t think our choic-

es are at all representative of the choices most people are making.

Most couples are both working because they have to — financially, they don’t have a choice. One of our shared concerns is that economic and political trends in this country are actually eliminating choices for families.

Q: What are some other benefits of having a spouse with a big job?

Tamar: We have almost entirely nonoverlapping networks.

We know very different kinds of people. My network isn’t built geographically — it’s more by industry.

Dan is well connected in Boston, and now that I’m playing a bigger role in our Boston office, that has been useful to me. Also, my new role involves more HR issues than my previous jobs did. I talk to Dan a lot about personnel situations, so I understand the legal perspective.

And he’s a very good writer, so I ask him to review things I write.

Dan: Tamar has much more experience and skill than I do in navigating interpersonal relationships. I lean on her for advice in that area quite a bit. At a more basic level, before I began working at the Globe, every place I’d worked had been a law firm. (The attorney general’s office is effectively a law firm.) Making the transition to a media company, with P&Ls and budgets, has been a big change for me. Tamar has been, and con-

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

Make this summer your best one ever With any of our FirstBank cards, you can enjoy a flexible summer in over 200 countries worldwide Visit any FirstBank branch for the issuance of your Summer Cards

tinues to be, very helpful with that piece of it.

Tamar: Dan is also a great recruiter for me. When he meets or reconnects with someone he thinks would be a good fit for Bain, he sends that person to me.

When I’m recruiting people who have working spouses, and they’re worried about how they will manage the consulting lifestyle, I often have them talk to Dan. Dan: Those conversations are usually pretty informal ones, and we have them over dinner. Despite Tamar’s having the kind of career she has, we have a very full life together. It’s a way to show people that’s possible, rather than just telling them.

Q: You’re managing the balance well right now; what conflicts do you fear in the future?

Dan: What I fear is a shock to the system. That could happen any number of ways — for example, a health issue.

Tamar: The piece we have the most conflict about is in our social lives. There are moments I feel like we’re attempting to do too much socially. The stuff we argue about is how much we should try to jam into life, how complicated we should make it. For example, I’m concerned that as the kids get older, their sports activities are going to take over our weekends. We have different natural equilibria on activities. Dan is restless and wants to do more, and I tend to feel exhausted and want to do less.

Q: Do you worry that your spouse’s career might prevent you from taking the next big step in your own?

Tamar: We both took on bigger jobs in late 2017, and that was an implicit recognition that we had a better handle on things at home and more room to maneuver. The role I’m in now typically lasts six years. At some point, as the kids get older, I’ll feel different constraints and liberties, and I’m sure we’ll change it up again.

Dan: Because our careers are different, our pictures of the future are too. Tamar’s new job is different from her previous one, but she’s still a partner at Bain. Whatever happens next, she’ll probably be a partner at Bain. I’m less than two years into what I strongly suspect will be the most interesting job I’ll ever have, so I’m not putting any thought into next steps now.

26

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

cityfile Woman remanded for pouring hot water on 10-month baby

A

Some members of Civil Society Organizations and media practitioners protesting against growing cases of rape in Adamawa on Wednesday. NAN

Police arrest, parade 17 suspected assassins, cultists in Imo SEYI JOHN SALAU

T

he police have arrested three persons suspected to have gruesomely murdered one Christopher Anoruo in Egwe, Oguta local government area of Imo State in March, 2019.

The arrest, according to Orlando Ikeokwu, police public relations officer, Imo command, followed discreet investigations carried out by crack detectives in the state.

Giving an insight into the matter, Ikeokwu said on March 11, 2019, the police command received a report of robbery and assassination of one Christopher Anorue in Egwe, Oguta local government area of Imo State.

“Three hoodlums entered the house of the deceased, robbed them of their valuables like phones, laptop before abducting

Christopher Anorue. They took him out and a few metres away from his house, they assassinated him.

“Following the report, the Commissioner of Police (CP) in the state, Rabiu Ladodo ordered investigations into the matter.

Through painstaking and discreet investigation, the phones of the deceased were traced to Hassan Kabiru,” he said.

Upon his arrest and interrogation, Kabiru said one Chimezie gave him the phone and when Chimezie was arrested, he said the phone was given to him

by Solomon Onyemaechi.

That necessitated their arrest and investigations are still continuing and the suspects will be charged for robbery and murder”, said Orlando.

The police also paraded 13 suspected cultists, arrested on their way from an initiation. “ We i n t e rc e p t e d a n

18-seater bus. Upon reasonable suspicion, the s t o p - a n d -s e a rc h t e a m of the police decided to search them. It was discovered that they are members of the Black Axe confraternity. A locally m a d e p i s t o l , w ra p s o f Indian hemp and live ammunition were recovered from them,” said Orlando Leader of the cult group, Nkwocha Chinaza confessed to have initiat e d 1 3 n e w m e m b e r s same day. He further stated that those initia t e d w e re s t u d e n t s o f Imo State University and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri.

The police also paraded a ‘prophet’ and other suspects said to have killed one Princewill Ezeji in the state.

“On August 3, 2019, the police received information on a missing person, one Princewill Obinna Ezeji and the Commissioner of Police detailed officers and

men to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the victim.

Following a thorough and painstaking investigation, it was discovered that the said Princewill bought a Toyota Camry car and went to his prophet with the sum of N10,000 and some drinks, to show him the car and ask for his blessing in appreciation of God’s favour.

Unfortunately, that was the end of his life. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the prophet killed the man and took the vehicle.

The phones belonging to the victim have also been recovered. Upon interrogation, the suspect (prophet) took us to where the victim was buried. His remains have been recovered,” said the police.

The CP, Ladodo while addressing newsmen, restated the resolve of the police in the state to ensure security of lives and property.

Edo takes over case of defamation against Edo University IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin

E

do State government has taken over the alleged case of defamation against Edo University, Iyamho.

The authorities of Edo University had instituted a case against Ogedengbe Ayodeji Uduanghe (59), a legal practitioner, over a statement on his Facebook account.

Uduanghe had on June

21, 2019 allegedly published a press statement on his Facebook account that the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) revoked the operating license of Edo University, Iyamho, an offence said to be punishable under section 375 of the Criminal Code.

On the strength of the allegation, he was arraigned before an Evbuoriria Chief Magistrate Court on a charge of defawww.businessday.ng

mation against the university.

The decision to take over the case by the state government was sequel to an application by Peter Ojo, a counsel in the office of the state attorneygeneral.

Ojo who informed the court on the resolution of the office to take over proceedings, said the decision was in line with Section 221and 174 of the 1999 constitution (as

amended).

The application of the attorney-general counsel was however not objected to by the police prosecutor and Peter Uwadiae, lead counsel to the defendant.

The presiding chief magistrate, I. U. Iyoha, however granted the attorney-general’s counsel application to take over the case.

Twenty eight legal practitioners are defending the legal practitioner in the case.

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Chief Magistrate Court, sitting in Zaria, Kaduna State, has remanded a housewife, Nnennaya Edmond in prison for allegedly pouring hot water on a nursing mother and 10-monthold baby.

Edmond is standing trial on a two-count charge of criminal offence and causing of grievous injuries on one Gloria Cyril and her baby, Bright Cyril.

The accused and complainant live in the same house at ECWA Church area of Wusasa, Zaria, Kaduna State.

The police prosecutor, Mannir Nasir, told the court on Wednesday that one Mary Ijeoma on September 10, reported the case at Danmaaji police

division.

According to Nasir, the complainant had narrated that the action caused grievous injuries on the nursing mother and baby who were rushed to St Luke’s Hospital, Wusasa for treatment.

He said that the offence was contrary to sections 223 and 216 of the Penal Code Law 2017.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor asked the court for a short adjournment to enable him present witnesses.

The chief magistrate, Abubakar Aliyu-Lamido, ordered that the accused remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case to October 15, for the complainant to present witnesses.

Man charged with stealing from church

T

he police in Ibadan have arraigned a 27-year scavenger, Akeem Mustapha, for allegedly stealing a generator alternator from a church.

Mustapha, a resident of Isale-Alfa area of Ibadan, is standing trial on a twocount of conspiracy and theft in an Iyaganku Chief Magistrate Court.

The prosecution counsel, Ade Adebusuyi, told the court that the defendant committed the offence alongside others still at large, on September 13 at about 6 am at the Church of God Nigeria, Beyerunka, lbadan.

Adebusuyi alleged that the defendant criminally trespassed into the premises of the church and stole

one Lister engine generator alternator valued at N100, 000.

He said one Abiodun Adeosun reported the matter at the Yemetu police station.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 516 and 390 (9) of the Criminal Law of Oyo State, 2000.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The chief magistrate O.O. Adisa admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N30,000 with one surety in like sum.

Adisa ordered that the surety must show evidence of three years tax payment to Oyo State government, and adjourned the case until October 28 for mention. NAN

Flooding: Residents brace up as rains pound A/Ibom ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

R

esidents of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital are bracing up for flooding as heavy rains continue to wreak havoc with many streets being washed away.

Properties worth several millions of naira are @Businessdayng

reported to have been lost due to the flood.

Experts have warned that due to the impact of climate change, many communities are likely to witness flooding and environmental disasters.

According to checks, the rains have been pouring recently even when ‘August break’ had been expected to set.

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

27

Sports NFF shops for more friendlies, after sealing Nigeria vs. Brazil friendly Anthony Nlebem

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is working hard at sealing a match with an African team for the Super Eagles, after announcing Nigeria will play Brazil in a friendly in Singapore on Sunday, 13th October.

Nigeria and Brazil will tango in a much –anticipated encounter at the Singapore National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore on Sunday, 13th October, 23 years after Nigeria, on their way to winning Africa’s first Olympic football gold, spanked the Selecao in the semi finals at the Athens Stadium in the State of Georgia, USA. Efforts to match the two teams in

a friendly match after that spectacular game came to nought for several years, until the organizers of the 8th All-Africa Games that Nigeria hosted in 2003 flew the Brazilians to Abuja in June of that year. Brazil won 3-0.

There has been no competitive tie between both countries’ senior teams since that memorable U23 match in Georgia, and next month’s session will test the character of the African champions who are somewhat building a new team after a rash of retirements and injuries to key players.

That new breed came close to shocking Ukraine in a friendly match in Dnipro a week ago, before bungling a two-goal lead to stalemate at 2-2.

“We are happy to have sealed this encounter with Brazil, the five-time champions of the world. It is not

everyday that you get to Brazil, and I think it is very good for our young team.

“The Nigeria Football Federation must also commend Eurodata Sport, our FIFA –licensed Match Agent, for pulling this off. Having said that, the focus now is on getting an African team for the Super Eagles as a second match for the FIFA window in October, ahead of their 2021 AFCON qualifying matches in November,” NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, said.

The Super Eagles have two 2021 AFCON qualifying dates in November. After hosting the Squirrels of Benin Republic on 14th November, they will fly to Maseru for a Day Two encounter with the Crocodiles of Lesotho on 19th November.

Eight teams battle for honour as Toyota Chairman’s Cup kicks off in Lagos Anthony Nlebem & Desmond Okon

I

n a bid to promote wellness, bonding and create business networking among Toyota family, Toyota Nigeria limited, one of the leading automobile dealers in the country has finalised plans to host the maiden edition of the Toyota Chairman’s Cup Football Competition (TCCFC), scheduled to take place in Lagos.

The announcement was made following a draw held on Tuesday, at Toyota’s head office in Lagos that produced a total of eight teams.

Based on the draw, only two groups (Groups A and B), with four teams in each, will be participating in the tournament slated to begin on October 5, 2019, and run through October 12, 19 and 26 respectively.

Playing in group A are Kojo Motors, RT Briscoe, Mandilas, and Metropolitan, while Omorege Motors, Toyota Nigeria, Germaine, and Elizade Motors will be battling for the trophy in group B. The TCCFC is an inter-dealership championship organised by Toyota Nigeria as a way fostering togetherness, socialising, and bonding.

“It adds a bit of flavour to the relationship and the Toyota family as a whole,” Kunle Ade-Ojo, managing director, Toyota Nigeria, told BusinessDay. Ade-Ojo also described it as a social event amongst dealers which

sprung out of a hunger to provide an escape from the “hard work” dealers engage in during the year in a bid to promote the Toyota brand.

“We feel that even though we meet officially, working, brainstorming to try and move the business forward, it is also important to dedicate a period during the year where we have a social event which we term the Toyota chairman football championship,” he said.

On the availability of a cash prize, the managing director revealed that at last year’s event, the winning team went home with a cash prize nearing N1million and a trophy. But he was uncertain whether the prize for this year would go up.

“Yes, there will be cash prizes for the winners—the first, second and third, and the medals,” he said. “But this year, I don’t know if it’s been increased or not. But there will definitely be cash prizes.”

Secretary, Local Organising Committee (LOC), TCCFC, Sunday Okeowo, said dealerships will be visited to verify players’ statuses as part of its rules and regulations.

“Players who are not around after the first and second visits, will be disqualified and there is no substitute,” he said. While addressing the issue of health checks, Okeowo said it would be conducted at the dealership level, however, “there will be a medical team at the major competitions” to cater for all players.

In his closing remarks, Ade-Ojo hoped for a good tournament, and wished the selected teams the best in their outings.

GOtv Boxing Night 20: ‘Am a big deal’, boasts 19-year old Opeyemi … Scorpion, Baby Face promise explosive ring battle Anthony Nlebem

H

ighly rated bantamweight boxer, Opeyemi “Sense Adeyemi”, has boasted that he will be the next national champion in his weight division after his fight with Sadiq Adeleke at GOtv Boxing Night 20, which holds on 12 October at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.

The 19-year old, who was voted best boxer at GOtv Boxing NextGen Search 4, has described himself as a “big deal,” the reason he has remained undefeated since turning professional.

Adeyemi said his opponent is coming to the venue for sightseeing, as he has no chance of winning.

“This is my first opportunity at fighting for a title. The national title is a big deal to me and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I’m a big deal as a boxer. Adeleke is just coming to

watch. He should watch as much as he can before the fight begins, otherwise he’d have lost the opportunity because I will daze him like he’s never been dazed before,” he said.

The Lagos-born boxer, who caught the eye at GOtv Boxing NextGen Search 3 but was not selected because he was a year too young, explained that he has been undergoing rigorous training and following dietary instructions to ensure that he is in premium

www.businessday.ng

condition for the fight, which is one of the eight scheduled to hold at the event.

Also on the night, West African Boxing Union (WABU) welterweight champion, Rilwan “Baby Face” Babatunde, and national super featherweight champion, Ridwan “Scorpion” Oyekola, have promised to return to the ring in an explosive fashion.

The two shinning stars are billed to fight at the event slated for the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos. In his last fight at GOtv Boxing Night 19, Baby Face famously knocked out Ghana’s Eden Biki, who was punched into unconsciousness in the 10th round. The WABU champion next opponent is Jafaaru Suleiman.

Speaking in Lagos, the WABU champion said he is already looking beyond Sulaimon, whom he said he plans to use as preparation for the African Boxing Union title bout.

“Sulaimon is not an opponent in

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

the real sense. He’s a training apparatus. I’m looking beyond the fight, as my target is the ABU title,” he said.

Oyekola, whose last engagement saw him dethrone long-reigning champion, Taofeek “Taozon” Bisuga at GOtv Boxing Night 18 in Ibadan, said his next opponent, Sikiru “Omo Iya Eleja” Shogbesan, will suffer the same fate as Bisuga, who suffered a first-round technical knockout after falling thrice. The Ibadan-based boxer, who spoke in a phone chat, advised Shogbesan to pull out of the bout or risk being beaten legless.

“There is no dispute about me being the best in my category. Bisuga is well placed to tell Shogbesan how I made him see stars. If Shogbesan ignores my advice, the walls of the Indoor Sports Hall will appear to him as wobbling by the time I finish with him,” said Scorpion.

All eyes will, however, be on the headline bout, which will see African Boxing Union (ABU) lightweight @Businessdayng

champion, Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph, defend his title against the very dangerous Rilwan “Real One” Oladosu, West African Boxing Union (WABU) champion.

The bout, which has been dubbed “Fight of the Decade”, is the peak of the rivalry between the two boxers since their amateur days. Both remain undefeated and are ranked as the best in the division.

Other big names slated for action are Rilwan “Baby Face” Babatunde, WABU welterweight champion; Ridwan “Scorpion” Oyekola, national super featherweight champion; Adewale “Masevex” Masebinu, national light heavyweight champion; Kabiru “KB Godson Towolawi; former national light heavyweight champion; and Tope “TP Rock” Musa.

The event will also stage an allfemale duel, with Cynthia “Bobby Girl” Ogunsemilore take on Aminat “Smart” Yekini in a super featherweight challenge bout.

28

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Hotels

Hotel security for guests

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

Stories by OBINNA EMELIKE

T

he sad truth is that criminals target travelers, especially in and around hotels.

The abundance of literature on the topic of hotel security does not seem to have deterred criminals from using hotels as a target of their trade. An informal survey of hotel security staff reveals old patterns of crime repeated and new tricks (or new variations of old tricks) continue as before. There are, however, some practices which can reduce your risk of being the target of crime or other hazards in a hotel.

The starting point The starting point for hotel security consideration begins well before you have checked into the hotel. If you drive to a hotel and park in their garage or parking lot, auto security, luggage protection, and personal safety will be your starting point. If you arrive by cab, your safety in the taxi and care of your luggage will be your starting point. In fact, unless you have visited a particular hotel fairly recently, your starting point should be a telephone call from home to ask a few questions. If the hotel is in a foreign country, the list of questions to ask in advance will be more extensive. Call to confirm your reservations; get a fax of confirmation and

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

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

Tel: 01 277 3560

note the name of the person you spoke to.

Questions to ask and where to ask them There are three questions to ask for selecting a secure hotel: Are there electronic door locks? Is there good key control? And is there a fire alarm and water sprinkler system? Generally, the only way to find this out is calling the hotel directly. The number one security issue is controlling who has access to a guest’s hotel room. While we can install electronic locks and keep a closely controlled system of key control, it is the guests themselves who often let down their guard and fail to lock their door when they go out to get ice at the end of the hall, or open their door to an uninvited intruder. It

is important to remember that a hotel is a public place and criminals are attracted to places where outsiders are vulnerable.

What room to reserve?

If possible, avoid staying in a room located on the first floor of a hotel. Since first floor rooms often have sliding doors or windows that are accessible from ground level, they are a greater security risk than rooms on higher floors. Second floor to fifth floor rooms are usually good choice in the event of a fire, as they are more easily accessible for rescue purposes than rooms on higher levels.

But rarely is room selection so simple. If you are attending a convention or visiting during the busy season, your choice of rooms may be lim-

ited. And a more expensive room will not guarantee you greater fire security, since the most luxurious suites are usually located on the top floors, and can therefore be more difficult to escape in a fire. Rooms away from the ice machine or utility area will minimize your exposure to the noise of hallway traffic, and a room near a stairwell will provide an alternative to endless waiting for crowded elevators.

However, women traveling alone may wish to choose a room near hall or stairwell surveillance cameras for added security. Before you get settled into your assigned room, verify that there is a reasonably quick access to a fire escape route by window or stairway.

heart of the ever bustling Victoria Island.

The hotel attributes reflect that of its founder, Ken Obinna, a soft-spoken entrepreneur who started his career in the banking industry. The hotel allows its substance and quality to speak for it.

The use of technology to enhance costumers’ experience is noteworthy. From the gate, where cars are checked with an inspection mirror, through the revolving doors, to the lounge where separate buttons indicate what particular service you want from the barman, and the ultramodern elevator, as well as, the air purifiers on every floor, this boutique hotel’s attention to detail is commendable.

For example, the bright yellow board that alerts guests to the depression into the restaurant, or the sign by the staircase which says ‘Please use handrails’. Another is the prominent telephone directory just above the intercom in the room.

The spacious rooms at Chesney come in nice brown shades, with the touch of deep red. The décor

also draw inspiration from different African cultures.

On the walls in the passages are pictures and paintings of various heroes, from Martin Luther to Barack Obama and Lionel Messi.

The lampshades by the bed are both aesthetic and functional, with the light switch conveniently placed on the board above the bed.

Other pluses include a wide range of channels, seamless power switch-over, competitive pricing for drinks and super-fast room service.

Apparently, Chesney places a lot of importance on quality as well as the speed of delivery of food.

According to Malvin Okorafor, the hotel’s business service manager, Chesney has kept pulling in new guests with food. “Everything here is made fresh,” he insists, despite meals being delivered in no time.

Despite its highbrow setting, Chesney still insists on affordability amid world class offerings and enviable quality. The management says it is a way of appreciating guests for their patronage.

The classy Chesney

I

f you are a discerning guest who is looking for a boutique offering amid class and yet affordable, then Chesney Hotel on Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, Lagos, is worth visiting.

The 50-room hotel is one of the modern yet indigenous hotels in Lagos that give international brands a run for their money. As many insiders in the tourism and hospitality industry know, Lagos has some catching-up to do when it comes to offering international standard hotel rooms, which- apart from costs incurred from generating their own power -is a major reason for the high prices hotel

rooms command.

However, indigenous hotels like Chesney are now plugging the gap. They offer world class standards competitive prices, with special Nigerian hospitality. This is why discerning business travellers and corporate guests who are used to global standards have embraced Chesney’s quality and personalised service.

Chesney’s butter-coloured five-storey building is set within trees on the Akin Adesola end of Saka Tinubu. It offers a serene and tranquil setting which encourages cerebral pursuits and helps guests relax while still at the

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

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.

@Businessdayng

Thursday 19 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

RESEARCH&INSIGHT

29

In association with

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

briu@businessday.ng

08098710024

Private sectors lending and economic growth in Nigeria ISAAC ESOWE

I

Source: World Bank, BRIU

Lending to this sub-sector of the economy has been low over a reasonable period of time, and this can be attributed to the following: Current high interest rate – with Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) put at 13.5 per cent; and commercial bank official lending rate ranges between 20 to 25 per cent per annum

and micro finance banks charging 40 to 50 per cent as interest rate, thus, this makes borrowing an expensive option for MSMEs. Secondly, because of informality of the sector, banks and other financial institutions tends to focus more on sectors where tangible assets are available for collaterals.

Lastly, lending institutions tend to be-

Source: NBS, BRIU

12734BDN

n general, domestic credit to the private sector refers to the financial resources provided to the private sector by banks and other financial institutions, majorly, through loans, purchases of non-equity securities and trade credits. The relationship between growth and private sector credit is one that has strong influence on the success of privately own businesses with a ripple effect on the economy.

Effective credit system has direct impact on private consumption. This is evident in the US domestic credit system – where private debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio (a country’s national debt to its GDP) as of December 2017 stood at 200 per cent; household debt surges to $13.15 trillion which is equivalent to 70 per cent of GDP. Similarly, as of October 2017, UK private debt to GDP ratio stood at 217 per cent. During the same period, household debt stood at $1.93 trillion. These observations suggest that a robust credit system is necessary for economic growth.

A look into the Nigeria’s domestic credit to the private sector however indicates a sluggish growth in the credit system. There appears to be a substantial gap between domestic lending and private sectors. But on the contrary, credit to the government through purchase of treasury bills and other government securities is on rise. The structure of Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTB) holdings outstanding indicated that commercial banks accounted for 47.11 per cent, compared with 57.74 per cent in 2017.

Domestic credit to private sector as a percentage of GDP Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on domestic lending to the private sector by banks as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), specifies a fluctuating growth pattern from 1960 to 2018, the data also shows a 3-year consistent decline from 2016 to 2018 at annual growth of zero per cent, while average economy growth during the same period stood at o.9 per cent.

During the review period, domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP recorded an all-time high of 15.68 per cent, and this represents an increase of 11 per cent compared with the preceding year 2015, but fell slightly by 9 per cent compared with corresponding year 2016.

This is an indication of low flow of credit from the banking industry to the real sector of the economy which is the strategic sector of the economy that produces and distributes tangible goods and services required to satisfy aggregate demand in the economy.

Also, commercial banks’ loans to small scale enterprises as percentage of total credit stood at 0.29 per cent as at Q4 2018.

come more rigid and risk averse in a bid to reduce non-performing loans. Thus, prefers to direct resources to more viable sectors.

Bank credit to the private sector Commercial bank credit to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and private sector amounted to a total of N15.48 trillion as at Q4 2018. A total of N40.7 billion was allocated to MSMEs which represented 0.29 per cent of the total value while private sector got the most funding. Bank credit to the private sector stood at N15.44 trillion in Q4 2018, the value declined by 3 per cent when compared with the preceding quarter in 2018.

Breakdown on banking credit to each sector: In Q4 2018, N3.55 trillion was allocated to the oil and gas sector, making the sector the highest recipient. Allocation to the sector represented 23.45 per cent of the total loan provided to the private sector by banks and this value was up by 2 per cent when compared with Q3 2018.

The manufacturing sub-sector stood out as the second largest recipient of credit behind the oil sector, the sector got a sum total of N2.23 trillion representing 14.74 per cent of the total credit to the private sector by banks.

The percentage of the total credit allocated to the agricultural sector stood at N610.149 billion representing 4.03 per cent of the total credit, which is a 6 per cent increase when compared with the previous quarter.

Credit facilities to government as at the reference period stood at N1.36 trillion, representing 9 per cent of the total bank credit, while real estate accounted for 4.12 per cent of the total credit. This value declined by 11 per cent from N710.20 trillion in Q3 2018.

Furthermore, credit distribution across all the sectors of the economy showed that education (0.38 per cent); mining and quarrying (0.14 per cent) and transportation and storage (1.92 per cent) got few funds from banks.

Generally, allocation to the service sector for the past 3 years witnessed a downward trend as the sector recorded a decline from N9.33 trillion in 2016 to N8.98 trillion in 2017 representing a 4 per cent decrease.

But judging by the sectorial distribution, commercial bank credit to the sector as at the last quarter of 2018 accounted for 55 per cent of the total credit ahead of industry (41 per cent) and agriculture (4 per cent).

Conclusively, it is important to note that the performance of the real sector is greatly influenced by credit to private sector, because of its strategic importance in stimulating and improving the general well-being of the country at large. Enhancing credit flow to the sector will translate to improved economy.

WIDE OPEN MINDED RMB Nigeria. Solutionist Thinking.

www.businessday.ng

Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited is an Authorised Financial Services Provider

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

We believe in stretching ourselves.

In broadening our horizons and embracing the unconventional to consider every possibility. Solutionist Thinking means deliberating together and collaborating with our clients to unlock exceptional prospects for the future. It’s the magic that inspires everything we do.

www.rmb.com.ng

@Businessdayng

30

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

CULINARY DELIGHTS

I

Talindos steak house, the best-kept secret in Lagos

have loved steak ever since I lived in Kenya man years ago as a young girl, where nyama choma, meaning “barbecued meat” in Kiswahili, is Kenya’s unofficial national dish. According to doctors, too much red meat is not the healthiest for you so I try my best to have it moderation. Monday was my birthday and I was craving steak and was determined to have some during the week. After asking around for ideal steak houses, I found that the majority of the people I asked had the popular opinion, that Talindo’s steak house was exactly what I was looking for.

I had never been, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to check it out. I find it’s not the easiest task to find great quality steak at each place available because grilling steak is a specialty and is best left

have steak as my main meal and decided to have the bacon-wrapped chicken as my starter. The bacon-wrapped chicken seemed appetizing and each bite was simply mouth-watering. A must try! My steak of choice was the 350 g Ribeye steak with mashed potatoes. I asked for it to be cooked medium and the waiter suggested I had it medium-well so I went with his recommendation. The steak is most definitely one of the best steaks I have had in Lagos. It was perfectly tender and tasty and the sauce that came with it was a perfect blend. Easily some of the very best steak I’ve ever had. I could taste the flavor of the meat more in the strip loin. This is the kind of meal that genuinely made me happy.

Exactly what a birthday meal should be like. My guest had the burger which she

also liked and found the meat to be tender, the spices were just right and to be exactly what she needed. In terms of the ambiance of this restaurant is definitely more on the quiet side, definitely a place for a more sophisticated older crowd that enjoys fine dining, a quiet intimate atmosphere.

Talindo Steak House is notable for its fine dining experience which makes for an intimate setting. There is also an impressive, collection of fine wine for those interested. I find the restaurant is perfect for a romantic date or an evening with a significant other. The atmosphere calls for very intimate conversation, quiet surroundings and a sophisticated good time.

I would recommend this place for a special dinner with a loved one or a quiet business meeting.

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

GUEST

in hands of those in it.

Established in 2003, Talindo Steak House has mastered and crafted itself into a major restaurant synonymous with superb and first-class meals, impeccable services and a very specific type of clientele that typically enjoys fine dining. I came to Talindo’s on a Tuesday evening with a woman who I look up to greatly, Uche Uzeobo who is the head of distribution and engagement at SANEF. SANEF (Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility) is a project powered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Deposit Money Banks, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, licensed Mobile Money Operators and Shared Agents with the primary objective of accelerating financial inclusion in Nigeria. She was kind enough to take me out for a belated birthday meal.

As I entered the restaurant located on Karimu Kotun street, I noticed that the restaurant had a very simple layout and a rule of thumb for me is that restaurants with simple décor and layouts are usually the restaurants with the best food. I was greeted by a friendly waiter who seated me and right over a menu.

It was a Tuesday evening so the restaurant was quiet yet still felt very intimate. Apart from myself and Uche, there was one other couple in the restaurant.

I ordered some juice as I waited for my guest to arrive. I knew I was going to

UCHE UZOEBO Head, Distribution & Engagement at SANEF (Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities

RATING 4.5/5 Price - 4 Flavour

-5

Service

-4

Portion size

-5

Ambiance

- 3.5

Bacon-wrapped chicken - N4500 Steak

- N14,000

Mashed potatoes

-

N2000

Burger

-

N5500

Total

- N25,000

CONTACT Instagram: @VanillaMoonLagos

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

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

31

news

NEC approves N100b for National Livestock Transformation Plan ...Says participation is voluntary Tony Ailemen, Abuja

T

heNationalEconomic Council (NEC) on Thursday proposed a budget of N100b for the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), as part of government efforts to boost food security Chairmen of the NEC ad hoc committee on NLTP and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, disclosed this on Thursday, while briefing State House Correspondents after the monthly meeting of the NEC presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The plan is not targeted only on cows but is a holistic strategy to address animal husbandry, he explained.

The plan, according to Umahi, has six pillars through which it aims to transform the livestock production system in Nigeria along marketoriented value chain while ensuring an atmosphere of peace and justice.

“The six key pillars include: economic develop (investment), conflict resolution, justice and peace, humanitarian relief and early recovery (that is to IDPs), human capital development and cross-cutting issues such as gender, youth, research and information and strategic communication.”

The committee proposed implementation guidelines to direct the federal government and states.

Umahi, who insisted that participation under the plan was voluntary, said the amount may be reviewed upwards in October when Council meets next.

The Council also emphasized the need to continue to establish the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), across the states, adding that “this is a creation of NEC and state governors and of course minister of agriculture is also a member of this committee and minister of interior is also a member, and it is entirely

distinct from Ruga”.

He noted that seven states, including Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Adamawa, Plateau , Nasarawa and Zamfara were listed as frontline states, following the incessant farmers and herdsmen clashes, but added that “participation is voluntary, while each state can select the type of livestock it may want to develop”.

“Federal government will contribute 80% of the N100b proposed investments, while states can chose the type of livestock to develop,” Umahi explained.

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who also spoke on pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta region, said his committee had proposed the setting up of Special Courts to try criminals involved in oil theft and vandalism of oil pipes According to him, “the 13-member ad hoc committee has recommended the restructuring of ownership of oil pipelines, prosecution

of oil thieves, creation of Special Courts for prosecuting the thieves, amongst others, as part of plans to end the menace”.

He said that the committee discovered that there were huge losses. According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation reported to the committee that 22.6 million barrels of crude oil valued at approximately $1.35 billion was lost during the first half of this year. He declared that if this situation was not contained in two years the nation would have lost in excess of $2.7 billion.

The losses that were recorded in the first half of the year were broken down as follows: The recommendations which he said would be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari, also include the development of affected communities, provision of employment opportunities in the regions, as well as give other benefits to communities to enable them take ownership of the oil pipelines.

World Bank in talks with Nigeria for fresh $2.5bn loan

T

he World Bank and Nigeria are in talks for as much as $2.5 billion in a new tranche of concessionary lending to Africa’s most populous country, Vice President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem said.

In the past year Nigeria received $2.4 billion from the World Bank, Ghanem said in an interview. “We’re talking about a new set of programs of about the same amount, it should be around $2.5 billion,” he said.

Faced with revenue shortfalls as the output and price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, fell in the past five years, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has increased borrowing to finance government spending, with domestic debt at $55.6 billion and foreign loans at $25.6 billion.

To ease the mounting debt burden, Nigeria has sought more credit with low interest and long repayment periods from institutions including the World Bank and the African

Development Bank.

The World Bank’s focus in Nigeria is to lift about 100 million Nigerians, half of the population, out of poverty, with special emphasis on women’s education, expanding digital opportunities and solving a power crisis that hobbles economic activities.

“It’s important to resolve the problems of the power sector in Nigeria to bring in more investments,” Ghanem said. “Because you need to bring down the cost of power to make the economy more competitive for the development of industries.”

The World Bank is supporting digital transformation in Nigeria because of its potential ability to transform other areas of the economy including industry, agriculture and services, according to Ghanem.

“Nigeria has a comparative advantage in that area because of the youth, a majority of the population is young,” he said.

“So if we want to create jobs, we need to invest much more in the digital economy.”

Sanwo-olu resuscitates parastatals monitoring office … redeploys Ayantayo as special adviser

L

L-R: Mansur Ahmed, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); Devakumar Edwin, president, CANMPEF; Mariam Katagum, minister of state for industries, trade and investments; Aliko Dangote, president/chief executive, Dangote Industries Limited; Lola Akande, commissioner for commerce and cooperatives, Lagos State/representative of Lagos state governor, and Ajayi Oladele, special adviser to Lagos State governor on commerce, industries and cooperatives, at the commissioning/unveiling of the new secretariat of the Chemical and Non-Metalic Products Employers Federation (CANMPEF) in Lagos, yesterday.

UBA launches ChatBot on IOS to improve customer experience Israel Odubola

C

ustomers of United Bank for Africa (UBA) can now access the bank’s services chatbot, Leo, on Apple Business Chat, as the lender on Thursday announced a move that would enable users to communicate directly with businesses using the Messaging app on iPhone and iPad Africa’s global bank, UBA, said it is focused on providing excellent customer experience and always looking for new ways to serve its customers easily and on time.

“Today, we are covering a segment that has been missing for some time... Consistently, we have been the first in the use of intelligence banking. This is the first time this is happening in Africa,” said Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director of

UBA, who spoke at the launch of the service in the bank’s Head office on Thursday.

“Most of our customers prefer iOS, and we always want to exceed their expectations when they experience UBA.” The bank said Apple Business Chat would make customers’ communication with the bank “as easy as messaging a friend” and expects it to become UBA’s customers’ preferred customer service channel within a short timeframe.

As part of its feature, accessing LEO through the Apple Business Chat would allow customers open accounts, buy airtime, check account balance, make account transfers and pay bills.

Also, users can always reach a live person and are always in control of whether they share any contact information with a business.

LEO, which is already on WhatsApp and Facebook in English, French, Portuguese and Swahili languages, is live in English on the IOS platform, and the bank plans for other languages by the end of October.

“Before now, customers can only come to the bank, but today we are on social media as well as on the IOS platform, and the launch of LEO has helped customer to get their complaints resolved without physically visiting the bank,” Austin Abolusoro, the Group Head, of Online Banking, UBA said.

He added that the bank would remain attentive to feedback from its customers and continue to advance work on AI-driven developments to increased value to platform users. UBA said over a million customers are already on the LEO platform.

www.businessday.ng

agos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, has approved the re-establishment of Parastatals Monitoring Office (PMO) just as he also re-designated his Special Adviser on Political and Legislative Affairs, Afolabi Ayantayo as its new Special Adviser.

According to a circular signed by the Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola with Reference Number: No: CIR/HOS/’19/Vol.1/064, the redesignation and redeployment of Ayantayo, journalist, crime and fiction writer turned politician takes immediate effect.

PMO among other duties is saddled with the mandate of ensuring that State parastatals are managed and run in accordance with administrative guidelines.

The Office is expected to routinely monitor the execution

of capital projects of all parastatals and government-owned companies based on identified Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to ensure that the set targets are achieved.

In addition, PMO among several other duties is also responsible for advising the government on the need to streamline the mandates of some agencies in a bid to ensure improved efficiency and effectiveness.

Recall that PMO, which had been in existence since 1984, became moribund during the last administration in the State before its re-establishment by the present administration.

The re-establishment of the office would further harmonise the activities of the various parastatals and also align their operations to conform to the vision and policy thrust of the State government.

NAHCO eyes agri-export expansion in support of Nigeria’s diversification drive SEGUN ADAMS

T

he Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (Nahco Aviance) is looking to tap into opportunities in Nigeria’s food export business in of support of the country’s plan to reduce its dependence on crude oil revenue.

The company said it was set to support the Federal Government in diversifying the economy by providing the infrastructure to boost food export businesses.

Tokunbo Fagbemi, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NAHCO, explained that agric export business was one of the pet projects of the company’s new management where it sees

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

huge potential.

“We are providing facilities that will encourage cold storage management,” she said in an emailed statement.

“In a few months, we are creating a cold storage hub for both existing and potential clients, including our new clients that want to trans-ship their goods through Nigeria with a bit of packaging,” she said.

According to the company, a lot of agricultural products exported are destroyed on arriving their destinations owing to inadequate storage facilities and this informed its decision to plug the gap in agric-export.

“We just got an approval to develop a facility in our packaging warehouse, which will tackle that challenge because it will help exporters to package their products at a particular @Businessdayng

temperature rate to reduce the incidence of rejection in the international markets,” Fagbemi said.

The company’s move is in line with the Federal government’s vision for agriculture to be a haven for investment as well as for integrating food production, storage, food processing and industrial manufacturing to establish the linkage necessary in the agricultural commodity value chain.

Nahco Aviance recalled a recent statement by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who declared that the value chain must consider the role of players from food production to consumption and design to empower the small holder producers to ensure that processors have good quality products for consumption.

32

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

MINISTERS OR CAMPAIGN TEAM? 14

MINISTERS RETURNED

7 1

0

YOUTH

WOMEN

SERVING LEGISLATOR

7

10 23

*

EX-SENATORS

EX-GOVERNORS

NOMINEES BOWED

New Ministers

49 YEARS

UCHECHUKWU OGAH

GODSWILL AKPABIO *

SHARON IKEAZOR*

Abia

Akwa Ibom

Anambra

Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development

Minister of Niger Delta

Minister of State, Environment

56 YEARS

GEORGE AKUME * 65 YEARS

Bayelsa

Minister of State, Petroleum

Cross River

Delta

Edo

Minister of State, Power

Minister of State, Niger Delta

Minister of Budget and National Planning

61 YEARS

49 YEARS

ALI ISA PANTANMI

EMEKA NWAJUBA *

Minister of Communications

Minister of State, Education 52 YEARS

65 YEARS

Kano

Minister of Environment

Minister of Agriculture and Development

Kogi

Kwara

Lagos

Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory

Minister of State, Transportation

Minister of State, Health

66 YEARS

OLAMILEKAN ADEGBITE

TAYO ALASOADURA * Ondo

Minister of Mines and Steel development

Minister of State, Labour

70 YEARS

MUHAMMAD DINGYADI*

62 YEARS

53 YEARS

61 YEARS

BASHIR MAGASHI Kano

74 YEARS

Minister of Defence

MOHAMMED ABDULLAHI

ZUBAIRU DADA*

Nasarawa

Niger

Minister of State, Science and Technology

67 YEARS

Minister of State, Foreign Affairs

Osun

Oyo

PAULINE TALLEN*

Minister of Interior

Minister of Youths and Sports

Minister of Women Affairs

53 YEARS

Minister of State for Works and Housing

Plateau 60 YEARS

SADIYA UMAR FAROUQ* Zamfara

Yobe

Minister of Power

Ekiti

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment

SUNDAY DARE

ABUBAKAR B. ALIYU*

Taraba

???

???

RAUF AREGBESOLA

SALEH MAMMAN

Sokoto Minister of Police Affairs

73 YEARS

ADELEKE MAMORA *

GBEMISOLA SARAKI *

ADENIYI ADEBAYO *

SABO NANONO

Kaduna

RAMATU T ANI* 54 YEARS

55 YEARS

MOHAMMED MAHMOOD

Imo

55 YEARS

CLEMENT AGBA

Benue

Ogun

66 YEARS

Bauchi Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment

Minister of Special Duties

46 YEARS

57 YEARS

65 YEARS

FESTUS KEYAMO

GODDY JEDY-AGBA

Gombe

49 YEARS

57 YEARS

TIMIPRE SYLVA *

MARIAM KATAGUM*

45 YEARS

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development

Returning Ministers CHRIS NGIGE * Anambra

Bauchi

Borno

Ebonyi

Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Minister of Labour and Employment

Minister of Education

Minister of State, Agric and Rural Development

Minister of Science and Technology

Adamawa

60 YEARS

66 YEARS

OSAGIE EHANIRE* Minister of Health

56 YEARS

Minister of Information and Culture

Minister of Water Resources

Minister of Works and Housing

68 YEARS

HADI SIRIKA *

Kaduna 59 YEARS

Minister of Finance

Katsina 55 YEARS

Minister of Aviation

ROTIMI AMAECHI *

Lagos

56 YEARS

OGBONNAYA ONU

ZAINAB AHMED*

BABATUNDE FASHOLA

Kwara 67 YEARS

58 YEARS

Jigawa

Minister of Foreign Affairs

LAI MOHAMMED*

Kebbi Minister of Justice

MUSTAPHA SHEHURI*

SULEIMAN ADAMU*

Enugu

63 YEARS

ABUBAKAR MALAMI 52 YEARS

63 YEARS

GEOFFERY ONYEAMA*

Edo

72 YEARS

ADAMU ADAMU*

MUHAMMAD BELLO*

Rivers

54 YEARS

* Con rmed without questioning.

Minster of Transportation

Source: EiE Research & Budgit

*

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

33

34

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

Live @ The Exchanges Market Statistics as at Thursday 19 September 2019

Top Gainers/Losers as at Thursday 19 September 2019 LOSERS

GAINERS Company

Closing

Change

GUARANTY

N29.8

N29.25

-0.55

0.7

ZENITHBANK

N19.35

N19

-0.35

0.6

ACCESS

N7.7

N7.45

-0.25

VOLUME (Numbers)

N22.4

0.35

CUTIX

N1.54

N1.42

-0.12

VALUE (N billion)

N9

0.2

UBA

N6.35

N6.25

-0.1

Closing

Change

N9.8

N10.55

0.75

UACN

N7.05

N7.75

PZ

N6.45

N7.05

N22.05 N8.8

DANGSUGAR

DANGFLOUR ETI

Company

ASI (Points)

Opening

Opening

DEALS (Numbers)

MARKET CAP (N Trn)

27,646.15 3,450.00 245,435,638.00 1.674

W

ith an increasing number of Nigerians living in the diaspora who want to start and grow investments back home, United Capital Trustees has responded with the Nigerian Diaspora Trust, as part of its commitment to introduce innovative investment solutions to the Nigerian economy.

The United Capital Nigerian Diaspora Trust, a product designed to meet the needs of Nigerians living abroad, affords them the opportunity to transfer responsibilities and assets to reliable Trustee who in turn represents and protect their interest while ensuring that their heart desires and objectives are achieved.

According to the Managing Director/CEO, United Capital Trustees Limited, Tokunbo Ajayi, “with an ever increasing size of Nigerians in the Diaspora, spread across countries like UK, USA, Dublin, Dubai and Canada the birth of the Nigerian Di-

aspora Trust, comes at a time when Nigerians living abroad want to invest and build legacies back home, but are often faced with the fear of the credibility and reliability of friends and family to carry out their wishes”.

“Our Nigerian Diaspora Trust is a professionally managed fund designed to generate competitive

returns while alive and upon demise of the individual. With a confidentiality that is preserved, the trust will help carry the burden of being your representative where they are not physically present to oversee and execute their investment and homecoming plans”.

United Capital Trustees Limited (UCTL) is

FTSE 100 Index 7,356.42GBP +42.37+0.58%

Nikkei 225 22,044.45JPY +83.74+0.38%

S&P 500 Index 3,014.00USD +7.27+0.24%

Deutsche Boerse AG German Stock Index DAX 12,457.70EUR +68.08+0.55%

Generic 1st ‘DM’ Future 27,188.00USD +45.00+0.17%

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index 2,999.28CNY +13.62+0.46%

13.458

C&I Leasing partners NSE, leverages market data to boost investor confidence

United Capital launches Nigerian Diaspora Trust Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Global market indicators

a subsidiary of United Capital Plc a leading financial services group in Africa focused on leveraging technology to empower businesses, individuals and governments with excellent financial services while contributing to economic growth and prosperity across Africa by supporting financial inclusion.

L-R: Omar Shekarau, executive director, small and medium enterprises, Bank of Industry (BoI); Mohammed Goni Alkali, managing director, North East Development Commission (NEDC); Olukayode Pitan, managing director, BoI, and Musa Umar Yashe, executive director humanitarian affairs, NEDC, during an advocacy visit of NEDC management to BOI in Abuja.

Pic by Tunde Adeniyi

C

&I Leasing Plc (C&I Leasing) foremost leasing and ancillary services conglomerate, on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 joined industry stakeholders at the 4th edition of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Market Data Workshop to deliberate on the role and influence of “big data” in business and investment decisions.

The event, which took place at the Harbour Point in Victoria Island, Lagos, had the theme: ‘’Partnerships, Products and the Customer.“ It featured well delivered presentations and a hearty panel discussion with thought leaders who spoke on the need for forward-thinking organizations to leverage on market data products and available partnership opportunities​to launch customer-centric offerings.

In his welcome address, Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, said despite the growth potential in the usage of financial market data and analytics the world over, there remains a low inclination towards investment in Nigeria.

Citing a major reason for the “low retail investment appetite,” in the country, he said there is a lack of adequate knowledge of products and the benefits for retail investors, which gives rise to the need for “creating prod-

uct offerings that promote diversity in investment, manage risk and make the information readily available to consumers.”

“Exchanges and Data Vendors are already responding to this increasing demand using new tools for market data products,” he said.

Speaking during the panel session, David Ogunsola, Head, Information Technology at C&I Leasing, said the ability to make effective data-driven decisions is crucial for business operations within an organization, owing to the rapidly shifting market landscape in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to him, it is important for companies to key into accurate data and qualitative assessments gleaned from the industry they operate in, and identify gaping holes in customer satisfaction that outsiders may prey on.

“Rigorous analysis should be used to drive decision making and adapted in a timely manner, and in this regard, third-party market research can protect you in more ways than one,” he said.

“There is a need to ask important questions and the questions need answers.

Corporate Treasurers set to discuss implications of CBN 5-year policy thrust

T

he Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN) will on Friday, October 4, 2019 hold its breakfast meeting. The breakfast meeting is part of ACTN objectives to provide value for its members, organisations and the Nigerian economy through advocacy, standards development and education/enlightenment.

The theme of the breakfast meeting is “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 5-Year Policy Thrust: Im-

plications for the Corporates” with focus on the possible impacts on the operating business environment within the next five years.

The keynote speaker at the event which holds in Lagos is Bisi Lamikanra, partner and head of advisory services of KPMG in Nigeria and the financial services sector across Africa. Also highly experienced bankers would be on ground to discuss the policy thrust from the bankers’ perspective. www.businessday.ng

The Central Bank of Nigeria, on June 25, 2019 unveiled its policy thrust for the next five years aimed at supporting Nigeria’s macro-economic growth and development.

The policy document outlined a number of objectives and prominent among them were: to achieve double-digit GDP growth in the next five years; to bring down inflation to single – digit; improving the payment systems infrastructure and driving financial inclu-

sion to 95percent by 2024; maintaining the existing exchange-rate policy regime of a managed float and recapitalization of the banking industry.

In order to achieve these targets, the CBN identified some key priorities namely; to preserve domestic macroeconomic and financial stability, create robust payment system infrastructure, work with the Deposit Money Banks to improve access to credit for small holder farmers, Micro, Small &

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

Medium Enterprises, (MSMEs) consumer credit and mortgage facilities for bank customers, grow external reserves and support efforts at diversifying the economy through intervention programmes in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

The Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria is an association established to foster the interests of Corporate Treasurers in the Nigerian financial markets by providing a platform for policy advocacy, discussions on issues of mutual interest, @Businessdayng

education and standard development of the corporate treasury function.

As part of the efforts of the association towards the education and enlightenment of its members, ACTN regularly host breakfast meetings where issues on economic policies as well as policy directions and their impacts on the activities of the corporates are reviewed and discussed with regulators, economists and financial markets experts as lead speakers/discussants

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

35

news $9.6bn P&ID fine: Firms plead ...

Continued from page 1 Adamu Usman, who is also a lawyer.

“The implication of today’s [Thursday] conviction is that Nigeria has a judicial proof of fraud and corruption as a foundation of the relationship that gave rise to a purported liability in the arbitral award,” Abubakar Malami, minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, said in reaction to the judgment.

He said a liability that is rooted in fraud and corruption cannot stand judicial enforceability and so Nigeria now has a cogent ground for setting aside the liability.

“Whereas Nigeria is expected to review its strategy in view of unfolding developments as it relates to conviction of some of the suspects that have admitted fraud and corrupt practices in the transaction that gave rise to purported award, Nigeria is meeting with its legal consortium early next week in the UK in preparation for the case listed for 26th September,” Malami said. During the court proceedings, Kuchazi was represented by his lawyer, Dandison Akurunwua, while Usman represented himself.

They were, among other things, accused by the Federal Government of fraudulently claiming to have acquired land from the Cross River State Government in 2010 for the gas supply project agreement which led to the $9.6bn judgment.

After the defendants pleaded guilty to the 11 counts, an EFCC investigator, Usman Babangida, was called to the witness box for review of facts which was not opposed by the defence. In the course of the exercise, the investigator tendered some documents relating to the controversial 2010 gas supply contract and EFCC’s investigation activities were tendered and admitted by the judge as exhibits without objection from the defence.

The judge then went on to

pronounce the two firms represented by the two men guilty.

Although the prosecution counsel, Bala Sanga, had commended the defendants for their forthrightness and candour, he submitted that under section 19 (2) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act and section 10(2) of the Advanced Fee Fraud, where a body is convicted under these laws, the proper order is for the winding up its affairs and forfeiture of its assets and property to the Federal Government.

Earlier in their plea for mercy, the defendants prayed the court to consider that they did not waste the time of the court in arriving at its judgment.

Akurunwua, counsel for P&ID, urged the judge to consider “the forthrightness and candour” of his client who pleaded guilty and did not waste the time of the court in the trial. In his judgment, Justice Ekwo held that he has “reviewed the evidence tendered by the prosecution and the exhibits supported by PW1 A, B, C tendered before this court” and has taken note of the plea of guilt by the defendants.

“It is upon these findings that I find the 1st and 2nd defendants guilty as charged and I hereby made the following orders. The 1st defendant is convicted on count 1-10 while the 2nd defendant is convicted on count 1-11,” Justice Ekwo held.

“I have listened to the allocutus of the defendants and I have also listened to the prosecution counsel. I will make my orders according to the dictates of the law,” he said.

“An order is made winding up the activities of the 1st and 2nd defendants in the country forthwith. An order is made that their properties and assets be forfeited to the Federal government of Nigeria. Having made these orders, I enter it as the judgment of this court,” he further said.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Analysts fault Reps on directive to CBN to suspend charges on deposits, withdrawals

…apex bank clarifies on charges

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE, OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN, Lagos, & JAMES KWEN, Abuja

T

he House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend the implementation of the cashless policy on deposits which took effect from Wednesday, 18 September, 2019 until appropriate and extensive consultative process is concluded.

Accordingly, the House mandated the Committee on Banking and Currency to interface with CBN to ascertain the propriety, relevance and the actual need for the implementation of that aspect of the cashless policy at this time considering the prevailing economic situation of the country

and to report back to it within four weeks.

But analysts said it is not part of the role of lawmakers to issue such directive to the CBN. “The National Assembly has the tendency of playing to the gallery and aligning with public sentiment,” said Taiwo Oyedele, head, tax and regulatory services, PwC. He said it is not the role of the lawmakers to issue directives to the CBN. According to him, a better approach would have been to ask the CBN to provide data and explanation of possible impact of the policy and measures put in place to ensure desired outcomes.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng www.businessday.ng

L-R: Allen Onyema, chairman, Air Peace; Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker, House of Representatives, and Ndudi Elumelu, minority leader, House of Representatives, during the Air Peace chairman’s visit to the Speaker’s office in Abuja. Pic Tunde Adeniyi

Nigeria’s oil city reels from...

Continued from page 1

Ndoni local council area of the state.

The trend surfaced two months ago when the dead body of a female appeared at the popular Garrison Roundabout on Aba Road near the roadside park. BusinessDay investigations revealed that a married lady complained that her husband was not treating her well financially.

Her unmarried friend allegedly appealed to her to abort the night hangout she threatened to do. The married lady was said to have refused but rather handed her items including phone to her friend and went into the roads. The next morning, her corpse lay among the lilies.

Soon, dead bodies of ladies began to turn up in hotel rooms in the city. The body count began to rise on daily basis as the signature tune of the killings emerged: strangulation with white cloth, sex abuse, and drugging.

The hotels did not seem to have any explanations that could intelligently lead to anything. Citizens wondered why footages were not telling the people anything, a matter that exposed the big hotels as not having security cameras. The police warned and appealed but more deaths occurred without footages. The women groups got angry and launched a mass protest.

The police clamped down on hotels and next, footages began to appear.

Yahoo boys are prime suspects The new development has been alleged to be connected with the activities of Yahoo boys, young men who con rich men with juicy offers of business deals.

The understanding is that the dupes do not operate with ordinary tongues but perform human sacrifices that make their victims to operate mindlessly.

Some who operated with ordinary intelligence have confessed that they did not record huge successes until they joined in bringing human parts, especially parts of females. This seems to create a burgeoning human parts market in eastern Nigeria. Owerri, the Imo State capital, seemed to be the main city until the security agencies launched a crackdown.

Many believe the strangulation system with white handkerchief is a ritual from the usual Yahoo boys. The fact that the man declared wanted is from a university in Owerri does not help matters.

Government, police react The Rivers State government and the police command have risen to intervene in the maddening killing of ladies in hotels in the state capital, Port Harcourt, but many say the action that is coming a bit late.

The government and police may have been rustled into action by the mass reaction of over 77 women groups led by Rotary and female journalists who marched through the city and handed memos of demand for action. The government said it has laid traps for the killers and the police followed up with three arrests and declaring one man wanted.

Coalition against hotel killings A coalition of about 77 women groups (women journalists, lawyers, and women doctors in Rivers State) embarked on a peaceful protest in demand of action against the recent killing of women in Rivers State.

The diverse women groups who started their protest on Wednesday from the secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) also observed a one-minute

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

silence for the women/girls that were strangled and murdered recently in Port Harcourt hotels and its environs, while praying against the killers.

The group of women took their protest to the state government house, Directorate of State Security (DSS), and Rivers State House of Assembly. Few heads of the women groups that protested spent energy condemning the act of strangling and killing of these female victims. They said every human (including women) has the right to life and every human must respect that.

At the Government House, the protesters presented a copy of their petition to the Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), Tammy Wenike Danagogo, who received them on behalf of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.

Presenting the petition, President of Rotary Club of Port Harcourt South, RitaMarley Idonoh, said women in the state were worried over the killings.

Idonoh called on security agencies in the state to step up their operations and ensure that the perpetrators of the act are arrested. She demanded for a public apology from the Rivers State Police Command for referring to the young women killed by the serial killers in the state as prostitutes.

“We are here to make a demand from the Governor of Rivers State as the Chief Security Officer of the state.

We are here to make a demand because our mothers are being killed. We are here to make a demand because our daughters are being killed. We are here to make a demand because our sisters are being killed,” said Ibim Semenitari, former acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“We know that he will be able to do something about it and we have come with @Businessdayng

a petition to Government House, Rivers State. We are burdened because people are dying in our state without cause,” she said.

Receiving the petition, Danagogo apologised to women in the state over the statement credited to the authorities of the Nigeria Police.

Danagogo, who said the state government was on top of the matter, advised residents of the state, especially young ones, to be securityconscious.

“All of us must understand that the Nigeria of today is not like Nigeria of yesterday where some of us grew in. We have to be very careful. That time you can stay anywhere till anytime and nothing happened,” he said.

During the protest march by women groups, the police announced that a man had just be arrested while allegedly setting up deathly appointment in a hotel (name withheld). Sources said a woman raised alarm in a hotel room and the man was captured.

The police said it has also sealed off two hotels where two women were found dead in same fashion: strangulation with white handkerchiefs plus evidence of drugging. The ladies are said to be waitresses who allegedly went to the rooms to answer calls. One particular lady was said to be an orphan working as a receptionist to put food on the table for her siblings.

How sex killers trap PH ladies Latest clues indicated that victims are usually drugged, tied up and sexually abused.

Indications have shown that the killer chooses a target, often a female entrepreneur.

The killer offers N30,000 to a lady for a session in a hotel and then strangles her in a particular and consistent fashion after severally assaulting her sexually.

•Continues online at www.businessday.ng

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

A3

Live @ The STOCK Exchanges Prices for Securities Traded as of Thursday 19 September 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. 264,811.93 7.45 -3.25 283 6,305,576 UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC 213,746.38 6.25 -1.57 220 12,912,728 ZENITH BANK PLC 596,533.38 19.00 -1.81 303 6,850,694 806 26,068,998 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FBN HOLDINGS PLC 195,629.35 5.45 0.93 385 71,520,457 385 71,520,457 1,191 97,589,455 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC 2,849,631.83 140.00 -0.71 43 1,160,747 43 1,160,747 43 1,160,747 BUILDING MATERIALS DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 2,641,278.65 155.00 - 53 148,427 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 247,254.66 15.35 0.33 133 9,135,230 186 9,283,657 186 9,283,657

EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 270,684.50 460.00 - 7 610 7 610 7 610 1,427 108,034,469 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 - 3 11,000 3 11,000 3 11,000 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 3 11,000 CROP PRODUCTION FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 440.00 0.20 - 0 0 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 52,417.35 54.95 - 21 114,807 PRESCO PLC 44,800.00 44.80 - 17 30,510 38 145,317 FISHING/HUNTING/TRAPPING ELLAH LAKES PLC. 8,520.00 4.26 - 0 0 0 0 LIVESTOCK/ANIMAL SPECIALTIES LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 1,500.00 0.50 2.04 20 909,173 20 909,173 58 1,054,490 DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 688.30 0.26 - 1 590 JOHN HOLT PLC. 237.38 0.61 - 2 1,463 S C O A NIG. PLC. 1,903.99 2.93 - 0 0 TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC 42,680.39 1.05 - 50 2,533,836 U A C N PLC. 22,330.05 7.75 9.93 141 7,518,167 194 10,054,056 194 10,054,056 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ARBICO PLC. 711.32 4.79 - 0 0 0 0 INFRASTRUCTURE/HEAVY CONSTRUCTION JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 24,486.00 18.55 - 19 2,025,750 165.00 6.60 - 0 0 ROADS NIG PLC. 19 2,025,750 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC 3,689.72 1.42 - 34 592,697 34 592,697 53 2,618,447 AUTOMOBILES/AUTO PARTS DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 954.53 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 BEVERAGES--BREWERS/DISTILLERS CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 8,925.63 1.14 - 5 100,000 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 242.22 0.89 - 0 0 GUINNESS NIG PLC 81,044.16 37.00 - 48 114,501 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 103,150.34 12.00 - 28 388,616 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 415,838.91 52.00 - 46 330,664 127 933,781 FOOD PRODUCTS DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 112,000.00 22.40 1.59 95 1,038,927 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 126,600.00 10.55 7.65 93 813,394 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 56,175.20 13.70 1.48 41 233,191 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 8,168.10 1.03 3.00 24 879,483 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 35,502.47 13.40 - 16 93,245 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 3,321.07 12.15 - 0 0 269 3,058,240 FOOD PRODUCTS--DIVERSIFIED CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 21,881.05 11.65 - 8 12,407 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 951,266.77 1,200.10 - 42 26,872 50 39,279 HOUSEHOLD DURABLES NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 1,680.31 22.10 - 0 0 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 5,366.12 4.29 - 8 121,750 8 121,750 PERSONAL/HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 27,991.86 7.05 9.30 48 2,324,245 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 166,605.16 29.00 - 12 35,253 60 2,359,498 514 6,512,548 BANKING ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED 165,145.96 9.00 2.27 42 410,127 FIDELITY BANK PLC 51,864.89 1.79 -1.65 66 3,012,705 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 860,861.99 29.25 -1.85 231 9,195,037 JAIZ BANK PLC 12,374.98 0.42 7.69 7 792,200 STERLING BANK PLC. 63,338.92 2.20 -2.65 28 61,564,945 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 203,845.27 7.00 - 19 100,275 UNITY BANK PLC 7,364.28 0.63 -3.08 10 470,377 WEMA BANK PLC. 23,144.68 0.60 - 28 1,416,228 431 76,961,894 INSURANCE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES AFRICAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC 4,117.00 0.20 - 0 0 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 4,504.63 0.65 1.56 25 2,150,025 AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC 18,900.00 1.80 - 8 102,137 CONSOLIDATED HALLMARK INSURANCE PLC 2,682.90 0.33 10.00 2 160,000 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 16,285.21 1.57 9.79 21 2,275,645 CORNERSTONE INSURANCE PLC 5,744.51 0.39 - 2 4,850 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 2,197.03 0.30 7.14 21 2,460,511 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 1,589.64 0.37 -5.13 3 533,000 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 4,480.00 0.56 9.80 3 160,000 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 2,234.55 0.20 - 7 2,283,916 NEM INSURANCE PLC 11,353.08 2.15 - 17 352,513 1,547.90 0.20 - 0 0 NIGER INSURANCE PLC PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC 2,637.45 0.49 - 0 0 REGENCY ASSURANCE PLC 1,333.75 0.20 - 0 0 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 1,668.16 0.20 - 3 86,600 STACO INSURANCE PLC 4,483.72 0.48 - 0 0 2,582.21 0.20 - 0 0 STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. SUNU ASSURANCES NIGERIA PLC. 2,800.00 0.20 - 0 0 UNIC DIVERSIFIED HOLDINGS PLC. 516.46 0.20 - 0 0 UNIVERSAL INSURANCE PLC 3,200.00 0.20 - 1 17,000 VERITAS KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 2,773.33 0.20 - 0 0 WAPIC INSURANCE PLC 4,951.61 0.37 - 22 393,517 135 10,979,714

www.businessday.ng

MICRO-FINANCE BANKS NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 2,858.30 1.25 - 3 15,320 3 15,320 MORTGAGE CARRIERS, BROKERS AND SERVICES ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC 4,158.00 0.99 - 3 23,000 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 2,949.22 3.02 - 0 0 UNION HOMES SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC. 3 23,000 OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AFRICA PRUDENTIAL PLC 8,200.00 4.10 3.80 43 737,536 CUSTODIAN INVESTMENT PLC 35,291.19 6.00 0.84 9 1,554,122 660.00 0.44 - 0 0 DEAP CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & TRUST PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. 33,268.55 1.68 -4.00 61 5,565,925 ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 1,080.53 0.21 - 2 5,541 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 418,414.41 39.95 - 19 42,025 UNITED CAPITAL PLC 13,320.00 2.22 -0.45 60 1,412,097 194 9,317,246 766 97,297,174 HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS EKOCORP PLC. 1,680.29 3.37 - 0 0 UNION DIAGNOSTIC & CLINICAL SERVICES PLC 852.75 0.24 - 1 100,000 1 100,000 MEDICAL SUPPLIES MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 494.58 0.50 - 3 450 3 450 PHARMACEUTICALS EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 366.17 0.50 - 0 0 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 9,388.62 4.50 - 0 0 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 8,670.10 7.25 - 10 47,670 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 3,450.47 2.00 -4.31 9 372,660 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC 835.63 0.44 -8.33 5 586,464 556.71 3.62 - 0 0 NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 325.23 1.50 - 0 0 24 1,006,794 28 1,107,244

COMPUTER BASED SYSTEMS COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC 745.92 0.21 5.00 10 2,898,400 10 2,898,400 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. 282.12 0.57 - 1 3,780 1 3,780 PROCESSING SYSTEMS CHAMS PLC 1,127.05 0.24 -7.69 18 6,158,942 9,996.00 2.38 - 1 2,076 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 19 6,161,018 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AIRTEL AFRICA PLC 1,065,435.95 283.50 - 25 17,586 25 17,586 55 9,080,784 BUILDING MATERIALS BERGER PAINTS PLC 2,173.68 7.50 - 3 6,285 CAP PLC 16,275.00 23.25 - 16 74,833 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 218,182.12 16.60 - 18 96,100 313.43 0.59 - 0 0 MEYER PLC. PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC 1,959.74 2.47 - 0 0 1,156.20 9.40 - 0 0 PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 37 177,218 ELECTRONIC AND ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2,256.91 2.09 - 0 0 CUTIX PLC. 2,501.08 1.42 -7.79 24 1,121,666 24 1,121,666 PACKAGING/CONTAINERS BETA GLASS PLC. 29,873.33 59.75 - 1 15 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 388.02 9.10 - 0 0 1 15 AGRO-ALLIED & CHEMICALS NOTORE CHEMICAL IND PLC 100,754.14 62.50 - 0 0 0 0 62 1,298,899 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 - 0 0 0 0 MINING SERVICES MULTIVERSE MINING AND EXPLORATION PLC 852.39 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 PAPER/FOREST PRODUCTS THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 83.60 0.38 - 1 500 1 500 1 500 ENERGY EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC 1,252.54 0.20 - 20 568,832 20 568,832 INTEGRATED OIL AND GAS SERVICES OANDO PLC 47,736.62 3.84 1.05 41 979,000 41 979,000 PETROLEUM AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS 11 PLC 56,974.05 158.00 - 6 2,300 CONOIL PLC 11,658.40 16.80 - 15 24,602 3,912.43 3.00 5.26 27 348,067 ETERNA PLC. FORTE OIL PLC. 20,839.70 16.00 - 37 140,418 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 5,729.98 18.80 - 5 4,115 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 33,952.18 100.00 - 24 20,084 114 539,586 175 2,087,418 ADVERTISING AFROMEDIA PLC 1,820.01 0.41 - 1 50,000 1 50,000 AIRLINES MEDVIEW AIRLINE PLC 17,551.17 1.80 - 0 0 0 0 AUTOMOBILE/AUTO PART RETAILERS R T BRISCOE PLC. 317.62 0.27 - 2 14,000 2 14,000 COURIER/FREIGHT/DELIVERY RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 2,387.46 4.05 - 1 14,000 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 328.19 0.70 - 0 0 1 14,000 HOSPITALITY TANTALIZERS PLC 642.33 0.20 - 0 0 0 0 HOTELS/LODGING CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 4,723.78 3.05 - 0 0 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 2,452.98 1.18 0.85 5 241,400 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 7,862.53 3.50 - 0 0 TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 41,042.18 5.40 - 0 0 5 241,400 MEDIA/ENTERTAINMENT DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4,800.00 0.40 - 22 454,365 22 454,365 PRINTING/PUBLISHING ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 211.68 0.35 - 0 0 LEARN AFRICA PLC 1,072.32 1.39 - 15 230,178 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 1,183.82 1.99 - 0 0 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 452.98 1.05 -8.70 18 941,506 33 1,171,684 ROAD TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC 596.77 0.36 -7.69 3 3,180,340

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

A4

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

www.businessday.ng

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

@Businessdayng

40

FT

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

World Business Newspaper MEHUL SRIVASTAVA IN TEL AVIV

T

he frontrunner in the Israeli elections, Benny Gantz, has rejected a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consider joining a coalition that would return the four-time premier to office.

The rebuff to Mr Netanyahu on Thursday from the leader of the seven-month-old Blue and White party has deepened a political crisis that threatens to force Israel into a third election this year.

Mr Gantz, a former head of Israel’s military, said he would not consider a so-called unity government unless Mr Netanyahu stepped aside.

It was the first salvo in the monthslong process of public posturing and back-room negotiations that follows each Israeli election, as parties cobble together unwieldy coalitions in a fractured electoral landscape.

Earlier on Thursday Mr Netanyahu said the election result made clear that Israel had no choice but to accept a unity government, publicly acknowledging for the first time that he would be unable to form the rightwing coalition he pledged to his voter base.

With 97 per cent of the vote from Tuesday’s elections counted, Mr Netanyahu’s Likud trailed the centre-right Blue and White Party by two seats in the 120-member Knesset, the second time this year Israeli voters have delivered an unclear mandate.

“I was surprised and disappointed by the fact that, as of now, Benny Gantz still refuses my call to meet,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

“Gantz, my offer that the two of us

Gantz rejects joining Israeli coalition with Netanyahu as PM

Rebuff from leader of Blue and White party hardens political stalemate

Benny Gantz, frontrunner in the Israeli elections, is a former head of the country’s military © Reuters

meet stands. It’s what the public expects of us.”

Mr Netanyahu had spent the entire election campaign warning that only a rightwing government could defend Israel, but with only 55 seats won collectively by the traditional rightwing bloc, he is now attempting

Accommodation-booking platform says it made more than $1bn in revenue in second quarter

Pressure mounts to launch longer-term measures after successive financial injections

T

he Federal Reserve intervened in the US money markets for the third day in a row on Thursday as pressure mounted for the central bank to open a more permanent facility to ease pressure on a pivotal part of the financial system.

The New York Fed injected $75bn in overnight cash into the short-term lending market, and its auction was oversubscribed for the second straight day, with banks demanding almost $84bn.

It activated its repo operation on Tuesday for the first time since 2008, after technical factors sent a pivotal measure of overnight funding costs surging. On Wednesday it ran the operation again as markets remained strained.

The central bank’s policy rate climbed above policymakers’ target on Tuesday and receded back to the very upper end of the targeted range on Wednesday, according to figures published on Thursday — a sign of how tense markets remain, even amid the Fed’s interventions.

Thursday’s third repo auction came a day after the Federal Open Market Committee cut interest rates by 25 basis points, in a move some analysts dubbed a “hawkish cut” as it did not deliver as substantial a policy easing as some investors had anticipated.

Several strategists at major banks that act as trading counterparties for the Fed said the central bank should pump more regular bursts of funding into the system.

This is particularly important before the end of financial quarters and years, analysts said, because of the risk of further bouts of cash outflows sparking renewed market dislocations.

Bankers and investors have called for the Fed to launch a “term” repo facility through which it could lend cash for as long as two weeks, to ensure players in the market have the money they need until after the end of the quarter has passed.

“They should walk in on Monday and say they are doing a $100bn, 10-day operation, then we aren’t going to be talking about this after quarter end,” said one banker. www.businessday.ng

in the room — Mr Gantz has said repeatedly he prefers a unity government, but only if Mr Netanyahu steps down.

Despite trailing Blue and White, Mr Netanyahu has held on to the appearance of being in charge of coalition negotiations, first by getting a

Airbnb plans to go public in 2020

Federal Reserve intervenes for third day to ease market strains ADAM SAMSON IN LONDON AND JOE RENNISON IN NEW YORK

to ensure he secures a record fifth premiership, even if in alliance with a party he has derided as weak and unpatriotic.

He dismissed the possibility of a third election, a sentiment echoed by his rightwing, pro-settlements allies, but did not address the elephant

signed pledge from all the rightwing parties that they remain united in a 55-seat bloc, and then by continuing to demonise the successful Joint List of Arab parties, which won 13 seats, as dangerous partners for his rivals.

Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president, has yet to make a decision on who he will officially appoint to lead coalition negotiations, a process that can take more than a month. Mr Netanyahu failed to clinch a majority during coalition talks in April, and parliament was dissolved.

A hearing on October 3 on whether Mr Netanyahu should be indicted on corruption charges, provides both leverage and breathing room for Mr Gantz. His public pledge to run a clean government was backed by a vow not to support Mr Netanyahu for prime minister if he is under indictment. Mr Netanyahu has denied all the charges against him.

The rightwing bloc also includes two ultraorthodox parties that loathe one of Mr Gantz’s partners, Yair Lapid, who runs the more middleclass, secular wing of the Blue and White party. It is unlikely that the two groups could resolve their differences in order to sit in a unity government, having spent years demonising each other as threats to Israeli democracy.

ORTENCA ALIAJ IN NEW YORK, ALICE HANCOCK IN LONDON AND PATRICK MCGEE IN SAN FRANCISCO

A

irbnb, the accommodationbooking platform, said on Thursday that it plans to go public next year, making the announcement a day after it reported more than $1bn in secondquarter revenue.

The 11-year-old company stands to be among the biggest listings in 2020, having been valued at $31bn in its most recent funding round.

But a series of rocky debuts for other so-called unicorns has raised questions about the durability of investor demand for new offerings.

Airbnb said on Wednesday that it made “substantially more” than $1bn in revenue in the second quarter of 2019 and that Airbnb hosts — people who rent out rooms or apartments on the platform — have made more than $80bn from renting their homes since it was created.

At a conference in May 2018, Airbnb’s chief executive Brian Chesky said that the company would “be ready” for an IPO in 2019 but added that it was not definite. “We have investors who are really patient, and I want to make sure it’s a benefit [to them] when we do.”

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

On Thursday, it put out a short public statement saying: “Airbnb Inc announced today that it expects to become a publicly traded company during 2020.”

A company spokesperson said that it had “nothing more to add” on the timing next year or whether it had already filed confidential documents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for a listing.

The company has also not confirmed whether it will go public via a direct listing — in which no new shares would be offered but existing investors could sell — or the more traditional initial public offering.

Airbnb will join a host of Silicon Valley peers making their stock market debuts after having been able to grow much larger using only private capital than used to be the case.

However, highly anticipated listings from Uber and Lyft have performed poorly due to mounting concerns over their profitability and regulatory setbacks, and office space group WeWork has postponed its IPO after negative investor reaction. There is risk in Airbnb waiting until 2020, if the long economic expansion begins to slow.

Despite high-profile flops, the US IPOX Index — a measure of recent IPO and spin-off performance — has been “soaring over the US bench@Businessdayng

mark indices”, said Jefferies analyst Sean Darby. But he views the current climate as “eerily similar” to the late 1990s when the Federal Reserve was easing rates just as tech stocks boomed. A tech sector crash followed.

Airbnb is “trying to be more systematic with their IPO and have an approach on corporate governance that is more thoughtful after seeing what happened with WeWork”, said Michael Underhill, chief investment officer for Capital Innovations. “They are being cautious on how they’re communicating and proceeding with their IPO.” Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, has expanded in recent years beyond its original business helping local hosts lending out spare rooms or beds.

In April it invested $100m in the fast growing Indian hotel chain Oyo, and in March bought the hotel booking site HotelTonight. In 2016, it also launched an “Experiences” arm that offers guests the opportunity to try cooking, tours or other activities in the destinations they visit.

As Airbnb has muscled in on hotels’ territory, it also faces greater competition in the home rental market from hotel brands such as Marriott and the online travel agents Booking and Expedia.

Friday 20 September 2019

FT

BUSINESS DAY

41

NATIONAL NEWS

Pompeo calls Saudi attack an ‘act of war’ Trump administration prepares to impose tougher Iran sanctions in response JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON, DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO IN NEW YORK AND AHMED AL OMRAN IN JEDDAH

M

ike Pompeo, US secretary of state, accused Iran of committing an “act of war” by attacking Saudi Arabian oil facilities, as the Trump administration prepared to impose more sanctions on Tehran in response to the strikes that took out half of the kingdom’s crude oil production.

The accusation, which came as Mr Pompeo visited Saudi Arabia, marked the toughest language by a US official since Washington first claimed that the Iranian regime had conducted the weekend attacks.

Mr Trump on Wednesday said he had ordered Treasury to impose “substantially” tougher sanctions on Iran, which is already reeling from a more than year-long US “maximum pressure” campaign.

Mr Pompeo has taken a tougher public line on Iran than the president since the attacks. Mr Trump has suggested that Iran was responsible — a claim denied

by Tehran — and his decision to impose more sanctions on the regime underscored that his team believes Iran should be held to account.

“We’re really at a point now where we know very much what happened,” Mr Trump said during a visit to Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Trump administration has suggested — without releasing evidence — that the attack included long-range missiles that appeared to have been fired from inside Iran. One US official said it was “significant” that the strikes appeared to emanate from the north-west of the facilities.

Mr Trump has in recent days indicated that he did not want war with Iran but also made clear that he viewed a lethal military strike as a proportionate response to the attacks on the kingdom. On Wednesday, he refused to say if the sanctions would be the only response, saying only “we’ll see”.

The US president said that he had many options, including the “ultimate option”, in a comment that appeared to refer to a military option. Asked whether he agreed with Mr Pompeo’s assessment, Mr Trump responded: “He spoke to me a little while ago, and we’ll have an announcement?”

Mr Trump also pushed back against the assertions by some, including his Republican ally Senator Lindsey Graham, that his decision not to strike Iran in June after it shot down a US drone had emboldened the Islamic regime.

Mr Trump countered that his hesitation was a sign of strength.

“I think it’s a great sign of strength. It’s very easy to attack,” Mr Trump said. “Ask him, ‘How did going into the Middle East . . . work out? And how did going in Iraq work out?’”

Mr Trump said there was

“plenty of time to do some dastardly things . . . We’ll see what happens.”

Mr Trump also suggested that he would not try to block Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, from attending the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

Mr Trump had originally wanted to meet Mr Rouhani to find an opening to tackle the crisis that has erupted since he withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last year but Tehran has shown no interest.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that Mr Trump was being “deceived” into war by hawks in Washington and the Islamic republic’s regional rivals. “‘Act of war’ or AGITATION for WAR?” he said in a tweet. “For their own sake, they should pray that they won’t get what they seek.”.

Responding to the threat of more sanctions, Mr Zarif accused Mr Trump of “targeting” Iranian citizens and employing “economic terrorism”. The US has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran since abandoning the nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, meaning that there will not be much scope for additional punishment.

“The Trump administration will be scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said Henry Rome, an analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Trump said Robert O’Brien, the state department’s envoy for hostage affairs, would become his fourth national security adviser following the departure of John Bolton.

Flanked by Mr O’Brien during his trip to California, Mr Trump said the new sanctions would be unveiled within 48 hours but added that military action was still an option: “If we have to do something, we’ll do it without hesitation.”

While Mr Bolton was an outspoken Iran hawk, Mr O’Brien’s views are less well known. A Los Angeles-based lawyer, he is a former UN and George W Bush administration official who wrote a book titled While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis. One of his most prominent roles this year was to monitor the Swedish trial of A$AP Rocky, a US rapper.

Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy defence minister, on Wednesday said the Trump administration had “confronted the Iranian regime’s and terrorist organisations’ aggression in an unprecedented way”.

Colonel Turki al-Malki, the Saudi defence ministry spokesperson, offered more details of its assessment of the attack, saying missiles and drones were launched from the north and the arms were of Iranian origin. But he said Riyadh was still “working to know exactly the launch point”. www.businessday.ng

Line workers assemble car seats for Britax in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The company, which employs about 300, is considering shutting US operations as tariffs have increased costs © Logan Cyrus for

Trump’s trade war puts car seat maker in a bind

Britax’s dilemma illustrates the unintended consequences of Chinese tariffs JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTON

A

s Donald Trump launched his trade war with China in early 2018, Britax, one of America’s best-known child car seat brands, doubled down on its production in the US, convinced that the White House was committed to encouraging American manufacturing.

That confidence didn’t last.

After being battered by tariffs on some of the imported components for its US-assembled car seats, the company is now pleading for a reprieve and warning that as a last resort it might be forced to shut down its US operations — possibly shifting them to China.

“We’re being significantly penalised,” said Robert McCutcheon, president of the Americas for Britax, whose US manufacturing hub is in Fort Mill, a fast-growing town in South Carolina. “If you

back up and think about it, our incentive now would be to move our production back overseas . . . and that’s not something we want to do”.

Britax — and its roughly 300 jobs in Fort Mill, near the border with North Carolina — have fallen into a bizarre and ironic trap when it comes to Mr Trump’s trade war with Beijing. Beginning in September 2018, the company faced a 10 per cent tariff on the textiles it uses to cover its car seats, which moved up to 25 per cent after negotiations between the two countries broke down in May. Starting this month, it was hit by another layer of levies, worth 15 per cent, on metal products like harnesses and buckles, which are also used in Britax car seats.

In a business with relatively low profit margins, that was damaging enough. But the pain for Britax was compounded by the fact that its main competitors have been importing finished car seats directly

from China, tariff-free, due to an exemption allowed by the office of the US trade representative for some, but not all, safety products.

“This administration’s focus is to protect American manufacturing jobs, but Britax is a prime example of a company being punished for doing the right thing,” said Ralph Norman, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives from the area, as he appealed to Robert Lighthizer, the USTR, for an exemption from the tariffs for the company in a letter on September 10. If no long-term deal was reached with Beijing, he said, exclusions would be necessary to “prevent further harm”.

The letter revealed the unease with which many members of Mr Trump’s own party, even in deeply Republican areas of the country, are struggling to contain the fallout from the trade war, even if they continue to support the US president.

Big Tech veteran scents change in rules of the game Microsoft president Brad Smith expects governments to start setting broad codes for the industry RICHARD WATERS IN SAN FRANCISCO

B

ig Tech is facing the prospect of broad sectoral regulation that goes well beyond the narrow antitrust focus that has defined government interest in the industry in recent decades, according to Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and top lawyer. However, a break-up of today’s dominant online platforms seems unlikely, he suggested.

Speaking in an interview this week, Mr Smith, who joined Microsoft in 1993, predicted a return to a period when government set broad rules governing how particular industry sectors operate, rather than focusing on individual cases of economic harm caused by monopolists.

The shift reflects the wide range

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

of concerns stirred up by today’s leading consumer tech companies, including privacy and the mass collection of data. Also, the fact that a number of different companies are involved, rather than a single dominant monopolist, makes broader action likely, he suggested. “It won’t surprise me if we see more focus in Brussels, and perhaps even in Washington, on that set of issues and not one thing alone,” Mr Smith said.

Changes in the way regulators think about competition are also reshaping the response to tech’s market power, he added, with “new schools of antitrust thinking” taking hold. That is leading to broader theories of potential harm, not just those to do with limiting competition or pushing @Businessdayng

up prices for consumers.

“You can’t help but note that the year 2019 is significant in that Berlin and Washington have both embraced a similar approach to some degree, arguing that it is appropriate to consider more of these so-called non-economic, non-price issues — and that’s unusual,” he said.

The widening interest of the regulators was on display in Washington on Tuesday, when top US competition regulators answered questions before the Senate judiciary committee. Makan Delrahim, head of the Department of Justice antitrust division, said allegations of political bias against companies like Google and Facebook were likely to be taken into account in any assessment of the companies’ market power.

42

Friday 20 September 2019

BUSINESS DAY

FINANCIAL TIMES

COMPANIES & MARKETS

@ FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED

OECD warns trade tensions could create low-growth trap Economic forecasts downgraded as impact proves worse than thought CHRIS GILES IN LONDON

T

he world’s leading economies need to ease trade tensions and act decisively to prevent a descent into a low-growth trap from which it would be difficult to escape, the OECD warned on Thursday.

Labelling the economic outlook as “increasingly fragile and uncertain”, the Paris-based international organisation forecast that Britain would fall into recession if it left the EU without a deal and eurozone growth would slow to close to zero.

Evidence is accumulating that the effects of trade tensions are greater than previously thought, the OECD said, urging all countries to stop erecting tit-for-tat trade barriers and to fight the economic slowdown with a fiscal stimulus, where public finances allowed.

The OECD downgraded the economic forecasts for almost all of the countries it examined, cutting its global growth projection for 2019 by 0.3 percentage points to 2.9 per cent, the weakest performance since the 2008-09 financial crisis.

With little improvement foreseen in 2020 and big forecast downgrades, OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said: “The danger is that we get into a vicious circle of lower trade, investment and higher uncertainty.”

She blamed multiple trade tensions, ranging from the US and China’s battle over tariffs to the skirmishes between South Korea and Japan on crucial goods for technology supply chains and the US threats to impose tariffs on European car imports.

“The speed that trade tensions are materialising is worrying,” she said, adding that the effects “can be seen in how trade [volume] growth has collapsed”.

The forecasts suggest that US economic growth will slow from 2.9 per cent in 2018 to 2 per cent in 2020, Chinese growth will decline from 6.6 per cent to 5.7 per cent over the same period and the eurozone will see its growth rate almost halve from 1.9 per cent to 1 per cent.

“Collective effort is urgent to halt the build-up of tradedistorting tariffs and subsidies and to restore a transparent and predictable rules-based system that encourages businesses to invest,” the OECD said as it warned that companies would not want to invest in today’s uncertain climate.

Economists fear that manufacturing woes could soon spread to consumer spending, bogging the services sector and the global economy down in a low-growth rut.

In Britain, Ms Boone said that if the UK left the EU without a deal, “there was a high probability we get into recession”. The UK forecast for 2020 suggests only 0.9 per cent growth even if the country secures a deal; if Britain crashes out, the forecast is for a contraction of 1 per cent in that year alone.

The OECD said that the predominant risk in its forecasts was that performance would be even weaker than its base case.

It highlighted the possibility of a further escalation in trade tensions, a more rapid weakening of Chinese prospects, a no-deal Brexit and “significant financial vulnerabilities” as all being reasons for concern.

EU envoys back Romania’s Kovesi for lead prosecutor Bucharest’s former anti-corruption head set for new pan-bloc role MICHAEL PEEL IN BRUSSELS AND VALERIE HOPKINS IN BUDAPEST

E

U ambassadors have backed Romania’s Laura Kovesi to head a new pan-bloc prosecutor’s office, in what supporters see as a big step in the fight against authoritarian creep in several central and eastern European states.

Envoys from all but five of the 22 voting member states endorsed Ms Kovesi in an indicative poll on Thursday, opening the way for her formal endorsement for the high-profile European job after the government in Bucharest last year ousted her as national anti-corruption head.

Her candidacy to become the EU’s first chief public prosecutor stalled this year, when she won the backing of the European Parliament but was opposed by a plurality of EU countries, including her own, in favour of a French candidate. Paris relented in July and agreed to leave a clear run for Ms Kovesi, who needs the backing of member states and the newly elected parliament.

Ms Kovesi won plaudits at home and in other European capitals for her five-year tenure leading Romania’s anti-corruption directorate, which secured convictions against ministers, MPs and mayors. Liviu Dragnea, the head of the ruling Social Democrat party when Ms Kovesi was forced from office, was jailed in May for 3½ years in a corruption case.

On Thursday she described the EU decision as “a success of all Romanians who have supported the fight against corruption”, adding: “I hope that this appointment, if finalised, will represent for all Romanian prosecutors and judges a motivation to support the fight against corruption.”

Ms Kovesi will become one of the highest-profile EU officials from eastern Europe in the next commission.

During the nomination process, she facedanumberofobstaclesfromBucharest.Afterheroustingaschiefprosecutor in July 2018, she was twice put under investigationinamovehersupporterssaid was politically motivated. In March, she wassummonedforhoursofquestioning onthedaytheEuropeanParliamentwas to vote on her candidacy. www.businessday.ng

MUFG shares have fallen 20% in the past year, largely on dwindling hopes of an upturn in Japan’s banking industry © EPA

MUFG set to halve workforce in Hong Kong and Singapore Japan’s largest lender plans cuts in face of dwindling profits and falling share price STEPHEN MORRIS IN LONDON

J

apan’s largest lender, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, is preparing to cut half its Asian investment banking workforce outside its home country as it struggles with dwindling profits and a falling share price.

Top executives in Tokyo have decided to make redundant as many as 90 of the 180 MUFG Securities staff in Hong Kong and Singapore, with employees to be notified next month, according to people familiar with the decision.

All investment banking divisions will be affected, with trading operations to be closed almost entirely and sales and back-office staff heavily cut and their responsibilities transferred to London, the people said. The Asian debt capital markets team will lose a few members, but will remain largely intact.

Cuts to MUFG’s 2,000-strong banking and brokerage operation in London are also being discussed, but the scale has not been finalised.

In June, 500 directors and managing directors were offered voluntary redundancy, with the intention of ultimately losing about 50 to cut costs.

Big drops in profit at the bank’s international trading businesses amid volatile markets and slowing growth in Europe and China prompted the top-level debate about MUFG’s staff numbers, the people said.

MUFG’s shares have fallen 20 per cent in the past year, largely on dwindling hopes of an upturn in Japan’s banking industry, which is under pressure from ultra-low interest rates and demographic changes that are shrinking customer numbers.

The stock trades at just over 0.4 times its book value and the bank made a 6.5 per cent return on equity last year, versus a 10 per cent target.

“We constantly review our business in all markets in which we have a presence to ensure we remain competitive and relevant to clients,” the bank said. “And as a general point, we don’t comment on speculation or rumour.”

Net operating profit in the global

markets division plunged 26 per cent to ¥251bn ($2.3bn) last year, largely because of a big fall in Europe, and the bank said it “struggled in customer business due to sluggish markets.”

A number of Japanese banks have been shrinking their overseas operations. Earlier this year, Nomura cut 50 employees from its global trading division — with the axe falling heaviest in Europe — after a difficult year in volatile markets.

Still, MUFG is expanding in some other countries and products to offset its problems in Japan, completing a $6.3bn acquisition of the aviation finance business of Germany’s DZ Bank in March.

The deal was the latest in what is now a multiyear worldwide expansion by MUFG and its two main Japanese rivals, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. All three, facing the same headwinds of ultra-low interest rates at home and a permanently shrinking domestic market, have sought out new growth markets overseas.

The repo markets mystery reminds us that we are flying blind Quantitative easing means there is a greater chance of the global financial machine misfiring GILLIAN TETT

W

hat the heck happened? That is a question many market participants are asking about events this week at the US Federal Reserve.

But the confusion is not due to the issue that was supposed to grab headlines — namely Wednesday’s announcement on interest rates. That storyline is clear (ish): although the Fed cut its core policy rate by 25 basis points, officials also signalled their reluctance to cut rates again too soon while

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

growth is strong. That is sensible, predictable and readily understandable.

Instead the development that is sowing shock and confusion is related to the normally arcane matter of financial plumbing. At the start of the week, overnight borrowing rates in the repurchase or repo market, where traders do short-term deals to swap Treasuries for cash, suddenly rose to 10 per cent, up from their normal levels of 2-2.5 per cent.

Repo rates declined after the New York branch of the Fed pumped $75bn into the markets @Businessdayng

for three days running. But conditions remain jittery. After all, the last time we experienced this scale of gyrations in repo rates was the 2008 financial crisis.

So should investors worry?

Yes — and no. One piece of good news about this week’s events is that the movements were not sparked by the same issues in the 2008 panic, namely a fear of financial collapse. Instead, the trigger appears to be due to “temporary mismatches in the demand for funding and availability of cash”, as JPMorgan explained to its clients in a note.

Friday 20 September 2019

FT

BUSINESS DAY

43

ANALYSIS

Justin Trudeau forced to apologise for brownface make-up Photo of Canadian prime minister at 2001 party adds to pressure ahead of October election JASON KIRBY IN TORONTO

C

anadian prime minister Justin Trudeau was forced to apologise on Wednesday for wearing brownface make-up to an Arabian Nights-themed gala he attended when he worked as a teacher in 2001.

Time magazine published a yearbook photo of Mr Trudeau in the garb, forcing him to make an apology aboard his campaign plane as his Liberal party is in a fierce battle for re-election.

“I dressed up in an Aladdin costume and put make-up on,” he told reporters after the photo of the costume came to light.

At the time, Mr Trudeau was a 29-year-old teacher at West Point Grey Academy, a private school in Vancouver.

“I shouldn’t have done that. I should have known better. And I’m sorry,” he said.

The revelation about the photo comes with just a little over one month to go before the country’s October 21 federal election.

Polls on Wednesday showed Mr Trudeau held a narrow lead over his main rival, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. The prime minister has repeatedly accused Mr Scheer of allowing intolerance to flourish in his party.

Mr Trudeau also admitted to reporters that in a high school talent show he performed the Jamaican folk song Day-O while

wearing blackface make-up.

Asked directly if he had considered resigning over the photo, Mr Trudeau said he took “responsibility” for his actions but said he would be “asking Canadians to forgive” him.

“It was something that I didn’t think was racist at the time but now I recognise it is something that is racist,” he said.

And on Thursday morning, Global News in Canada published what it said was a third instance of Mr Trudeau appearing to wear racist make-up, in an undated video that was reportedly shot in the 1990s.

Mr Trudeau was elected in 2015 with a majority government following a campaign that relied heavily on a message of tolerance, optimism and “doing politics differently”. He appointed a cabinet in which half of the ministers were women, that also included a wide range of visible minority members of parliament. Mr Trudeau joked in 2016 that he had more Sikh cabinet members than Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

Nonetheless, Mr Trudeau’s latest mis-step drew sharp criticism from political opponents.

Mr Scheer said he was “extremely shocked and disappointed” and that wearing brownface is an “act of open mockery and racism”.

Brownface was “just as racist in 2001 as it is in 2019”, he said.

Netflix: how will the story end?

Facing wealthy rivals and rising debt, the streaming service is beginning to look vulnerable ANNA NICOLAOU AND FAN FEI

O

n a sunny midsummer weekend in Los Angeles, Netflix turned the Santa Monica Pier — one of the city’s busiest tourist destinations — into a threedimensional marketing blitz, transforming it into the fictional 1980s Indiana town where its hit show Stranger Things is set. The 110-year-old structures were dressed up to mimic the show’s location; the Ferris wheel was flashing eerie red lights over the Pacific Ocean. The night before, there had been a full marching band for a lavish premiere party.

The marketing push illustrated how critical the show is to the subscription-reliant digital streaming service. The July 4 arrival of the third series of Stranger Things was the “biggest content drop” of 2019 for Netflix, says Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger. “If any one piece of content would make a difference on [subscriber additions], that should be the one,” he adds.

He was right. Global subscriber numbers spiked in the first two weeks of July. Unfortunately for Netflix it was two weeks too late.

In the quarter to the end of June the company lost subscribers in the US — 126,000 of them

— for the first time since 2011.

Equally worrying, outside the US the company signed up only 2.8m subscribers — about half of what Netflix had predicted.

The market wiped $17bn off Netflix’s stock value overnight, emphasising the brutal correlation between new subscribers and stock market value.

The company is predicting 7m new subscribers in the third quarter. But the dramatic fall in the second quarter — even before the arrival of greater competition from Apple and others later this year — has cast doubt over whether the company, that successfully took on the Hollywood hierarchy is as invincible as it previously seemed.

“The next best thing to success in Hollywood is schadenfreude,” says a senior executive at an independent film studio who has worked with Netflix on TV projects. “There is no better sport. It might even eclipse your own success.”

Wall Street is now seeking evidence as to whether this miss was a blip or a trend. The stock market has become “addicted” to Netflix’s subscriber growth, says Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York university’s Stern School of Business who closely follows the company. www.businessday.ng

Why prescription drugs cost so much more in America The US spends more per capita on medication than anywhere else in the world. It’s a key electoral issue HANNAH KUCHLER

Q

uinn Nystrom is carrying the thing that saves her life in two large brown bags. The 32-year-old from Minnesota is one of a busload of diabetics who have made the journey from the US to a pharmacy in Canada to stock up on vital supplies of the drug insulin. Only minutes’ drive from the border, they are paying a tenth of what they would at home.

Outside the pharmacy in Windsor, Ontario, a crowd has gathered to show solidarity. Nystrom, who is wearing a grey T-shirt bearing the words “Insulin is a human right”, launches into an impromptu speech. The diabetes activist seethes as she tells them how, as a consequence of soaring drug prices, one in four American diabetics now rations their use of insulin.

“We know that our purchase today in this Canadian pharmacy was not a charity. Right?” she tells the onlookers. “We know that [the drugmakers] made a profit, though far less profit than they do from Americans. But what they’re doing to Americans is price-gouging us and they are holding us hostage.

And people are dying. People are being forced to go to emergency rooms. People are having their legs amputated. They are going blind.

They are having heart disease, liver damage. When does it stop?”

Inside the pharmacy, a whitehaired man in a suit tells people he wants to make it stop. Bernie Sanders, US senator from Vermont and Democratic presidential candidate, has helped organise the trip with the activist group Insulin4All to highlight patients’ suffering.

He listens intently as a mother tells him how she shares one child’s insulin between her three diabetic kids (type 1 diabetes has a genetic element). Another woman tells him how she spent her twenties in and out of intensive care because of complications from rationing insulin.

The sky-high price of many

https://www.facebook.com/businessdayng

drugs — and the increasing contribution expected even from insured patients — is a potent subject ahead of the 2020 US election. Sixty-two per cent of voters say healthcare is the most or the second most important issue for the future of America.

President Donald Trump knows this: at the last election, he pledged to bring down the cost of prescriptions. His opponents, too, see an opportunity to propose more ambitious plans as, three years into his term, Trump has not yet helped patients at the pharmacy counter.

Increasingly, politicians on both sides of the aisle are looking for solutions — to Canada and beyond.

Patient “caravans” such as Insulin4All’s — the medical equivalent of a booze cruise — are currently allowed to bring back a three-month supply for personal use. But the president and a number of other candidates have proposed legalising mass importation from Canada, while some are also looking to peg US prices to those in other developed countries.

Sanders’s hair dances in the breeze as he begins his address to the gathering outside the pharmacy.

He is adamant he would go further than stopgap measures that rely on pricing policies in other countries.

If he becomes president, he would instruct his attorney-general to use antitrust laws to break up industry monopolies and end price fixing.

“Three huge drug companies, which made $14.5bn in profit last year, control 90 per cent of the insulin market,” he says, referring to insulin makers Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. “And as I think the patients here will tell you, it is an amazing coincidence that, year after year, prices go up and up and up at the same level for the same companies. So what you do is you throw these people in jail if they engage in price fixing.”

Drugmakers — often forgotten in countries where medicines are cheap — loom large in the lives of Americans like those on the trip.

Kathy Segos from Indiana describes how their decisions have dictated

@Businessdayng

her life. The insulin she buys for her son Hunter costs her $1,200 a month (until the family reach their “deductible”, an annual limit on out-of-pocket costs, after which the insurance pays the rest).

It is her household’s singlebiggest expense — prioritised above everything else. She says she has sat in the dark when her electricity was cut off because she chose to pay for insulin to keep Hunter alive.

When Hunter discovered this, he tried to ration his insulin, affecting his performance at college. “It was pretty scary to know that your son felt that he was a burden to you,” says Segos, tears welling. “I will sacrifice everything I have to keep my child alive. Yet my son, through no fault of his own, his pancreas doesn’t work.”

How politicians attempt to limit drug prices will dictate the way Segos — and many others — vote next year. “I grew up very conservative, a very straight-ticket GOP Republican girl. But when Hunter was diagnosed, my husband and I both changed our views a little bit,” she says. “I vote strictly based on healthcare: how are you going to fix this problem? Because he’s gonna be 23 next month, and he’s got his whole life ahead of him.”

Almost a quarter of American patients have trouble affording their prescriptions, according to a survey by health research institute the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some 43 per cent of US adults under 65 are on “high-deductible” plans, so their insurance only kicks in after they have spent thousands of dollars.

Drug prices have soared: America spent $334bn on prescription drugs in 2017, up 41 per cent from 10 years ago, according to National Health Expenditure data. The opaque US health system makes it hard to draw drug-by-drug comparisons with prices abroad. But the OECD estimates that the US spent about 47 per cent more per capita on prescription drugs than Canada in 2018 and 160 per cent more than the UK.

Women in Business

BUSINESS DAY Friday 20 September 2019 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Debola Deji-Kurunmi

CHINWE BODE-AKINWANDE

Executive Director, Ideation Hub Africa

Head, Digital Marketing & Innovations at First Bank of Nigeria Limited

D

ebola Deji-Kurunmi, fondly called DDK, is the President/ Founder at Deborah Initiative for Women. She is the Executive Director at Ideation Hub Africa, an accelerator for Africa’s social innovators, change makers and development entrepreneurs, which hosts Development Dialogue, Nigeria’s leading conference for NGOs leaders, Social Entrepreneurs and Changemakers.

She is also Founder/ CEO at IMMERSE Coaching Company, an online personal transformation institute helping women launch a higher version of themselves. IMMERSE has an alumni of over 10, 000 women across 9 countries from its suite of programs since 2014.The Coaching Company has recently evolved into IMMERSE InnerCircle a subscription-based online coaching membership providing courses coaching and community to women.

She is also President of the FIREBRAND Movement. In 2017, she launched her most recent Books FIREBRAND and FIREBRAND Prayer Journal.

This year, Debola launched FIREBRAND Forerunners a curriculum based School to prune, prepare and propel vessels of revival working through ministry, missions and marketplace.

A World Bank Project Facilitator, Certified Workplace Personality Profile Analyst and Job Evaluation Analyst with the prestigious Thomas International, her corporate career spans academic research, learning and development, management consulting and social sector advisory in organizations including Human Capacity Development Consultants, Phillips Consulting and RegCharles Foundation.

For her exemplary leadership and vision of elevating Africa’s prosperity, she was awarded a 2014 New Leader for Tomorrow in the order of business, government and parliaments at Crans Montana Forum in Geneva; an award conferred on her before several Presidents and world leaders. For two years in a row, she has been selected to serve as a Mentor on the Queen’s Young Leader UK Program, an award by the Queen of England which celebrates exceptional young leaders across the Commonwealth.

She is a 2012 Girl Child Ambassador, 2013 Coca-Cola Scholar at Pan Atlantic University, 2014 GAME Champion of Change, 2015 Amani Ambassador, 2016 and 2017 Queen Young Leaders’ Program UK Mentor, and currently sit as a

Youth Representative at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. She is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow, recognized as one of Africa’s young leaders by the United States Government.

On the strength of her belief that Africa’s future and emerging prosperity will be spurred by active citizens and social innovators; she founded Ideation Hub Africa, which provides executive education, enterprise advisory and mentorship for NGOs, social entrepreneurs and change makers as well as hosts Development Dialogue – Nigeria’s foremost thought-leadership conference for the third sector and WIDSummit Through the Big Why Project, Debola has curated Nigeria’s first online documentary for its finest change-makers, to showcase the extraordinary work of thinkers, doers, influencers, advocates and visionaries for social good, working within our development landscape and creating tomorrow today.

In 2014, she started IMMERSE Coaching Company for women seeking self-discovery, life definition and personal growth. The Company has graduated 2, 500+ women across nine countries from its suite of online personal transformation programs, including the flagship IMMERSE 30-Day transformation challenge as well as the uncommon sense conference for women – Acceleration Campus!

DDK is the “Doability” coach, mindset reengineering queen, and activation Pro, who hands you the energy of two to run your vision with guts and gusto. She is Founder of IMMERSE Coaching Company.

Since 2014, she has helped almost 15,000+ multi-influential women to upgrade into higher versions of themselves, empowering them to break out of crippling conditioning into conscious creation till they step into an UPGRADE in meaning, mission, money, and major moves.

Her signature programs include The 30-Day Transformation Challenge, Mindful Detox, and Ignition Intensive.

She believes if you find the wisdom that works, plus a community that cares; you can accomplish phenomenal things in your life. This is the drive behind IMMERSE Inner Circle; to provide go-getter women, with the coaching, courses, content, and community that make their dreams doable.

DDK loves to laugh and make people laugh.

She is married to Deji Kurunmi and they are blessed with 3 children.

C

hinwe is Harvard trained in Consulting and a multi-skilled personnel with world class training and experience in strategy, Marketing Partnerships MarComms, Digital Marketing, Consulting, Sales, Brand Management, Project Management and Business Development.

She was Project Manager for First Bank Brand Refresh in 2013 and FirstBank 125th Anniversary Jan - March 2019 She is confident, creative and highly qualified professional with over 20 years of distinguished performance. Her broad based background encompasses exceptional work ethics and commitment to organisational objectives within a highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace.

She is recognised for her ability to work in a multicultural environment, decisive leadership and proven ability to face challenges head-on and execute sound decisions while directing deliverable.

Through her Foundation, Chinwe Bode- Akinwande (CBA) Foundation, she is committed to reach out to underprivileged widows in the society, children that are not privileged to enjoy or partake in what an average child would necessarily enjoy. It also includes women who are disadvantaged, not empowered but have expressed the willingness, power, passion and desire to be resourceful.

CBA Foundation is dedicated to promoting the protection of widows primarily and their vulnerable children in Nigeria, to promote immediate and lasting hope, confidence and courage in their lives.

They are committed to supporting the voice and position of the underprivileged widows in the society through partnerships, empowerment and capacity building. “ I decided to do this because I’m led by God and also, I’ve watched closely, listened to some of the victims of widowhood and I realised that less attention is paid to underprivileged widows. I have friends who are victims and I can tell you, the dehumanization and injustice meted to widows in the country is unimaginable, hence, I decided

to contribute my little quota as a selfless act to alleviate their pains.” She said.

Chinwe knows there are a couple of NGO’s around the country but she realised that less attention was paid to under privileged widows. ‘Underprivileged’ she emphasises because she knows there are widows that are privileged perhaps because their husbands left them a Will to fall back on.

“I have heard from my friends who are victims of what they have gone through from the hands of the family they got married to as a result of them being widows. They have been thrown out of the house, their kids were sometimes taken from them, and some of them would go with their kids but must drop the last name, which is the name of their husband.” Chinwe said.

On getting funds for the foundation, Chinwe says the bulk of their funding is through donations from friends, colleagues, members of the society as well as corporate organisations that have over the years partnered with them due to the their belief in the vision not just their impact but what they stand for.

In her words, “We reach out to this individuals by telling them that ‘this is the email address’ and if they need us to send them receipts, we would do. That is our transparency. We allow you to know what your money is being used for. We are grateful to them for their support and implore many more to reach out to us as indeed we cannot do it alone.” Explained Chinwe.

As long as Chinwe is concerned, the government needs to step up its attention on the education sector. “It is indeed a shame that Nigeria is far from meeting United Nation’s 26% limit of National budget that should be used for education. In 2017, it was reported that 7% of the national budget was allocated to education.”

She also opines that skill acquisition is one other way because the unskilled segment of the society is enormous, largely due to the education gap. In Chinwe’s view, this as a very strategic way of bridging the poverty gap.

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08033225506. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.

Women in Business

Founder, Bellafricana

B

Friday 13 September 2019 www.businessday.ng

By Kemi Ajumobi

Adedamola Ladejobi

Bukky Asehinde ukky Asehinde popularly known as an “Afrocentric Marketer” is a passionate young female Nigerian entrepreneur and founder of Bellafricana, a business focused in promoting creative (Made-in-Nigeria) business development through a platform that bridges the gap between producers of quality creative/indigenous products in Nigeria (Africa) and their consumers globally.

She is very committed, highly motivated and self-driven in her effort to make an impact in job creation and building-up of local talents for economic drive and growth through the use of digital marketing.

She started her business in the hope of creating more jobs and to help develop talents in her area of creative expertise.

This is underscored by the fact that she observed a vast increase in the number of unique products made in Nigeria (Africa) but noticed a huge gap between local producers and consumers.

Hence, she has created an online platform to bridge that gap. What better way than through online, which gives it a global opportunity.

Bukky is of the opinion that if as many products and services which are made by local people can be showcased to a wider audience both local and global, then we stand a chance of creating more jobs and developing more talents which are things that impact directly on the country’s economic growth.

Bukky has always very much believed that a support group/community for creative MSMEs will enhance the Non-oil export in the Nigerian economy and make them thrive.

So she wondered, “Why should we wait on financial backing from the government and big institutions to help this industry, when we can create a platform to connect these Afrocentric businesses?” hence the birth of Bellafricana. She has directly impacted into over 1000 local producers and working towards promoting more.

Bukky also founded an inititative called African Creative Exhibition and Awards (termed ACE Awards) to celebrate creativity and innovation in Nigeria and the whole of Africa.

Through this, she aims to encourage more

BUSINESS DAY

Founder/CEO, ASKDAMZ

local talents in Africa, to look inwards and create more globally acceptable brands.

Bukky studied Biochemistry at the University of Westminster, United Kingdom. She has acquired skilled training in the United Kingdom from some of the top companies like Wembley Arena, Mcdonalds and is poised to commit her expertise to delivering that right standard of excellence.

Bukky returned to Nigeria to start this upwardly mobile business. She is a member of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria Britain Association and associated with the UK Trade and Investment.

She is also a co-founder to a non-profit organisation called PUSH Relief Project that serves as a back-bone for smaller charities within Africa.

With the current Rise of Made-in-Nigeria (Africa) products, which is making more Nigerians look inwards to recover from the Recession, Bellafricana.com is playing a key role in the Nigerian economy by helping as many quality creative small businesses be at the forefront of the market and creating richer platforms to enable them grow.

“We are not in the business of waiting for the government to fix every hole in the economy.

We believe in creating and innovating ideas to make our economy a better place”. She says.

There has been a rise in the number of Afrocentric (made in Nigeria, Africa) brands that have great quality with little or no financing from both the government and bigger institutions.

Bellafricana strives to connect Afrocentric businesses (African crafts) to the consumers.

They are assisting these small businesses with marketing which would increase sales, help hire and train more local talents joining the companies which in turn will contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy and also help decrease the unemployment rate.

In her quest to bring as many quality Madein-Nigeria (Africa) brands to the forefront of the market, Bukky has put together an initiative to Celebrate Small Creative Businesses with the aim of encouraging more talents in Nigeria (Africa) to look inwards, be original and create more globally acceptable brands.

A

dedamola Ladejobi is a certified personal nutritionist, weight loss expert and an award winning ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR (Eloy awards). She is the Founder/CEO of ASKDAMZ, a weight management, health, and wellness company. She has used her successful lifestyle change and platform (both physical and social media) to touch the lives of thousands of people around the world. She works full time as a wellness Coach ensuring that she explores her client’s greatest health concerns, weaknesses and goals.

She is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court with an LLB Law degree from the University of Exeter, a BL from the Nigerian Law School and a Diploma certificate in Nutrition. She is also a Health and Wellness Speaker and who has been invited to speak at reputable events such as WIMBIZ, All Ladies League and Women Economic Forum, The Evolving Woman 2.0, Flourish Conference and many others.

Damola Ladejobi has built her platform from her passion to help people achieve their desired weight loss goals and has touched the lives of so many men, women and children by helping them live a healthier lifestyle.

She’s a strong believer in women empowerment and she uses her platform to promote and encourage small start – ups businesses. Damola is the CEO/Founder of Smile Express Empowerment Foundation, a platform built to help small businesses and the less privileged in the society.

Askdamz Wellness Institute (ADWI) is set to train and certify people on how to live the healthy lifestyle, not only so they can train others on how to achieve general wholeness and wellness but also for personal use. A place where wholeness is achieved and skills are enhanced.

This has been one of the goals at AskDamz, hence the birth of this E-learning platform. “The highlight of ADWI is the fact that we ‘brought it home’. The ADWI App is as good as your healthy on-the-go companion.” Damola states.

With the app, you get to track daily meal

intake and calorie requirements, monitor sleep, track steps, even water intake...you can even do a quick check of the caloric value of your favourite “naija” delicacy.

According to Damola, “Certainly, a lot of us can attest to the fact that most foreign wellness apps don’t capture our own meals; ADWI has come to change the narrative. Asides from ADWI being a free wellness app where we share health and wellness tips beyond food and fitness, our members get to enjoy mentorship from our contributors and coaches anywhere in the world. Presently, we have fifteen (15) courses available at ADWI.” She reveals.

The courses offered on their learning management system range from basic courses such as how to count calories to as advanced as skin care nutrition.

Their courses are broken into modules, assignments and/or practice questions, and exam questions and upon successful completion of courses, certificates are awarded.

“These certificates can be included in work resumes, to advance careers or for career change. Our courses have been scholarly packaged to educate, to fuel passions and to fulfil purpose. What we are offering at ADWI is a comprehensive package, yet extremely pocket friendly. In the long run, ADWI is more than an app, even beyond an institute.” Damola says.

ADWI is empowering the average person to be better aware about their wellbeing, to be more knowledgeable about living wholly.

They are producing quality experts, experts who would further educate and train the populace. ADWI is propagating that wellness goes beyond eating better and keeping fit, they are telling you that skin care is wellness, and so is first aid, and so is having an extra source income from learning from them to train others.

The user friendly app, which is available for both Android and IOS users, also has a blog section where people get to learn on healthy living and keep up to date with AskDamz. In summary, let’s just say ADWI is growing skills and achieving wholeness.

Published by BusinessDAY Media Ltd., The Brook, 6 Point Road, GRA, Apapa, Lagos. Advert Hotline: 08034743892. Subscriptions 01-2950687, 07045792677. Newsroom: 08169609331 Editor: Patrick Atuanya. All correspondence to BusinessDAY Media Ltd., Box 1002, Festac Lagos. ISSN 1595 - 8590.