BUSINESS
PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2012
Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk
PAGE 19
INSIDE
- Pg 21
Lagos, ISEED partner to tackles power/ environment challenges
Mob: 08033644990
NCC may sanction telecom operators again By Muhammad Sada
T
he Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has concluded plan to invoke another round of sanction on telecommunication operators
beginning from September if the quality of service remained the same, the Communications Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo said yesterday. He said that at the time of the last sanction operators made presentation on the issue of Key
Performance Indicators (KPI’s) at the meeting with the commission. Ojobo said that at the meeting the commission agreed on a medium base line of KPI that the operators needed to begin to work on progressively until they met the commission ultimate KPI.
He added that at the meeting the NCC gave the service providers a deadline of September to ensure a progressive improvement on the poor quality of service. “But at the meeting it was agreed that by September, if the quality of service remained as it
L-R: Ebonyi state Governor, Mr Martins Elechi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Philip Aduda, Minister of State for Power, Mr Gius Ishaku, Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, and Director-General, United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO), Dr Kandeh Yumkella, during the launch of sustainable energy for all, yesterday at the State House in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
C
ivil society groups across the country have begun to hold several meetings mobilising against the planned strike action of the National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), saying its anti-Nigerian people . The human rights groups are accusing the petroleum union of planning to increase pump price, by asking the government to pay subsidy to oil marketers who had defrauded the nation in the past subsidy regime. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently alleged that the oil workers union was working in connivance with the oil marketers to blackmail the federal government over the payment of fuel subsidy. The ‘Save Nigeria Group’ Coordinatior and spokesman, Yinka Odumakin also described NUPENG’s proposed strike as antiNigerian people saying it’s a grand plan between government and the oil marketers to increase the pump price. Speaking with Peoples Daily in an phone interview, Odumakin said, “Its unfortunate that who championed the antisubsidy removal are now dancing to the interest of oil marketers; it is shameful and a ploy to increase pump price.
NUPENG plans to increase pump price – CSO What is happening is that government and oil marketers is orchestrating a drama to increase the pump price; it is anti- people and we will resist it.” The spokesman for the Civil Liberty Organisation, Abah Ejembi urged the union not to put the lives of over 160 million Nigerians at risk with the struggle for their union members who number about 15,000, by compelling the Federal Government to pay the subsidy claims that are shrouded in fraud. Mr. Abah Ejembi claimed that NUPENG is fighting the battle for
their ‘bosses’- the oil marketers who are entangled in allegations of fraudulent claims in the management of the nation’s fuel subsidy regime with the Ministry of Finance. However, NUPENG chairman, Achese Igwe has argued that the industrial action threatened by the union is not for the payment of oil subsidies to fraudulent oil marketers but to secure the payment of salaries to workers in the sector. Mr. Igwe was explaining the reasons for the impending strike
which has already grounded the Federal Capital Territory, leaving the residents to resort to black market for fuel. The union leader however accused the Federal Government of non-compliance to earlier agreements with the union, which included agreement on subsidy payments, repair of bad roads across the country plied by oil distributing trucks and refinery maintenance. According to Mr. Igwe, some of the workers in the sector are currently being owed salaries for over three months.
Management Tip of the Day
See the big picture before making a decision
S
uccessful strategic thinkers always have perspective. They consider the potential impact of their actions on those beyond their team or unit. Next time you need to make a big decision, here are three ways to make sure your thinking isn’t too narrow:·
Explore the outcomes. With every idea, ask yourself, “If we implement this idea, how will other units and stakeholders be affected? What might be the long-term ramifications?”· Expand your range of alternatives. Gather ideas and concerns from everyone who has an interest in the decision
or who will be affected by the outcome.· Consider the customer. Look at the decision through your customers’ eyes. What will they think and which alternative will they prefer? If you’re not sure, think about asking them. Source: Harvard Business Review
was then the commission would invoke another sanction. “So because of that they are all working on their networks to make sure that quality of service improves. We are noticing some improvement in some of the networks in term of quality of service. “It is not really what it should be but I think it is better than what we have two months ago as at the time of the fine,’’ Ojobo said. According to him, the operators wrote to NCC to update the commission on what they had done so far to improve on the quality of service. He said that the commission noticed that there were number of networks that were expanding and also upgrading their networks. Ojobo said that the operators were putting in new technology to address the challenges that had resulted to the poor quality of service in the country. According to him, the issue of drop calls has really reduced, few months ago every particular call made drops before one finishes his conversation. “That is an indication that there is some improvement, NCC does depend on personal or consumers experience to determine weather there is improvement until the commission undergoes a drive test. Ojobo added that a drive test was when the commission’s monitoring team drove through the city with their equipment which took the frequency reading and later analysed with the reading that would be taken from the premises of the service providers. He said that the commission had its independent consultant that carried out the drive test across the area that took the measurement which would later be compared with what the commission obtained from the service providers equipment.
CDMA operators plan merger By Muhammad Sada
T
hree Nigerian Code Division Multiple Operators (CDMA), Multilinks, Starcomms and MTS are currently wrapping up a merger arrangement that would produce a mega CDMA network in the country. CAJ News reported, according to an anonymous source, that the proposed merger which will be through a $200 million business combination deal between the three companies is a move to revive the dying arm of Nigerian CDMA telecoms sector. The source also revealed that three companies has agreed to call the new corporate merger entity CAPCOM and that the development would soon be make public.