BUSINESS
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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2012
From left: Mr Oluwole Okunnuga, Director; Mr Kabir Ayinde Tukur, MD/CEO; Mallam Mohammed Zurmi, Acting Chairman; Mrs Omolara Akinwale, Company Secretary and Mr Lukman Folorunsho, Director, all members of Coop Savings and Loans Limited, at the extra ordinary general meeting of the company, held in Abuja, recently
From left: DG NIMET being presented with a memento by the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Professor Chigozie Cyril Asiabaka. Flanked by their wives: to the Left is DG's wife: Dr (Mrs.) Eunice Anuforom and to the right is the VC's wife, Dr Mrs. I.P. Asiabaka,Director, Centre for Women. Gender & Development Studies, FUTO
FG partners firm on renewable energy ...Proposes four years training for over 2,750 across varsities
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•Dalha Muhammed displaying his FirstBank HiFi Young Savers Account N1million cheque for tuition fees after emerging as one of the 12 winners of the annual HiFi Account Raffle Draw. He is flanked on his right by Mrs. Adijat Olaniyi-Olopade, FirstBank’s Business Development Manager (Agege BDO) and left Olusola Ogunsakin, Business Manager (MMIA Branch)
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OR Nigeria to attain meaningful growth expected of an oil producing nation, it must diversify its non-oil export sector. The Director, Centre for International Development, Harvard University, Professor Ricardo Hausmann, said this at the just concluded 4th Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy Seminar organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA). Using data he had gathered over the years on Nigeria’s oil production, Professor Haussmann, a Venezuelan, said Nigeria’s hydro-carbon would be exhausted in the next 41 years, and if no new discoveries are made going by the current extraction rate, the nation stands the risk of a bleak economy in the absence of no clearly thought out diversification strategy to nonoil export.
NN, a leading pan-African technology service provider in the development of communications and power sectors in nine African countries, has entered a partnership with the National Universities Commission (NUC) to undertake a train-the-trainer scheme to develop university personnel for the renewable energy sector. The train-the-trainer programme was developed by PNN in conjunction with the NUC in response to the federal government’s plan to produce 40,000MW of electricity in Nigeria, with at least 10% of the power coming from renewable energy sources. 25 staff per national university will be invited to participate in the train-the-trainer programme, to be delivered in collaboration with the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) and the Renewable Energy Technology Institute (RETI), over the next four years. Otunba AbdulRahman Abiola-Odunowo, the CEO of
PNN, noted that the renewable energy sector in Nigeria has suffered from a lack of technical skill and value in service delivery, hence the decision by his firm to develop this training scheme. “What PNN and NUC aim to do with the train-the-trainer programme is fill the gaps in skills acquisition and delivery, such that we are able to transfer knowledge to university lecturers throughout Nigeria, which can then be passed on in a structured, systematic way to the men and women who will work directly in the green energy sector,” he said. PNN is an official development partner of the Federal Ministry of Environment’s Renewable Energy Programme, and one of the pioneering companies that undertake the building of the renewable energy sector in Nigeria. “As an FGN-approved renewable energy partner, we are making sure the train-thetrainer programme falls in line with the capacity building ef-
forts of the federal government for the burgeoning renewables sector,” says Abiola-Odunowo. He added that it will prepare Nigerian lecturers and others to support a massive drive for personnel training throughout the country. Professor Olu Lafe, the RETI founder, said the programme is aligned with NAPTIN’s curriculum and certification standards and that to achieve full certification, participants will be expected to go through 5 levels of training with each level comprising various hours of classroom and field exercises. “At the end of the programme, these trainers will have acquired extensive knowledge of every aspect of the design and operation of renewable power systems, in accordance with international codes of safety. Trainers who complete the course successfully will then be called upon to train staff working in various capacities within the renewable energy sector throughout Nigeria, which
Don stresses diversification from non-oil sector
...Faults government’s job creation strategy From Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja
Situating Nigeria’s growth within the ranks of oil producing nations of Iran, Angola, Saudi Arabia, and Norway, the Harvard scholar conclusively said that “there is no future growth for Nigeria without non-oil export strategy. Nigeria would need a massive export strategy, a major diversification to nonoil sectors to match her oil producing nation’s peers in term of real growth.” He said the agricultural sector remains a hugely untapped sector that Nigeria could massively harness to record significant mileage in non-oil export which would
also generate employment opportunities. According to him, “Nigeria’s process of development is in the process of diversification and not in the process of specialisation. Your job strategy should be in agriculture where you have 37.5 million hectare of arable land.” Professor Haussmann also faulted the Nigerian government’s celebrated job creation strategy. While agreeing that agricultural value chain has the potential of improving the employment rate, he advised Nigerian government to adopt the Thai strategy of allocating more lands for agriculture to fewer people so that they can produce more rather
than choking the farmlands with many farmers who produce less for the country. He noted that population in the rural areas in Nigeria was growing compared to other developing countries whose rural populace are migrating to the urban centres to work in other sectors, thus freeing up more land for the few farmers that are left in the agricultural belts. In another presentation by Dr. Menachem Katz, formerly of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and currently with CSEA, he highlighted “the role of fiscal policy in promoting growth,” he also faulted lopsidedness of the current fis-
cal policy framework in which oil and gas revenue constitutes over 75 percent of the total revenue. The federal government, he said, had little oversight on over half of those receipts which are allocated beneficiaries of the federation account. Earlier in his welcome address, the Director, CSEA, Dr Ebere Uneze, said that while it is true that real gross domestic product has grown at over six per cent in the recent year, the economy cannot be said to be competitive when compared with other emerging economies. He also noted that Nigeria has been sliding in key indices such as the ‘Ease of Doing Business index.’
will create continuity in the sector,” he added. The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Universities Commission, Professor Julius Okojie, expressed great optimism for the project, saying, “Nigerian universities have always been a part of capacity building in this country. Now, through the train-thetrainer programme, they are being prepared to contribute in a systematic way to a very technical field.” Participants in NUC’s train-the-trainer programme will be the key resource people for the deployment of renewable solutions in all Nigerian local government areas under the PAWA 774 community power franchise initiative.
Group holds conference Dec. 20
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GROUP, Proven I n t e g r i t y Communication Networks Limited, will hold its fifth Integrity International Leadership conference on development on December 20 in Port Harcourt. In a statement, the group’s Head of Africa Operations, Dr Richard S. Ikpada, said a former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Prof E. T. Eshett, will speak on the theme ,‘Factors accounting for Africa’s stunted growth; Nigeria as an example and the way forward’. Expected at the event as special guest of honour is former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme; others are Rivers State Governor Chief Rotimi Amaechi; former presidentGeneral, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, Prof Joe Irukwu and National Leader, National Action Council, Dr Olapade Agoro Ikpada also said at the event, awards will be conferred on some eminent Nigerians.