CMYK

JANUARY 21, , , , , 20132013201320132013

Continues on page 18

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

The inflation figures releasedlast week by the NationalBureau of Statistics, NBS,which show that prices of

goods and services are still rising,indicate that the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) will maintain its tightmonetary policy, when its MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) meets today,said financial experts.

Inflation measures the rate ofincrease in the prices of goods andservices people consume every day.It is measured by the Consumer PriceIndex (CPI). The Inflation figuresreleased by the NBS shows that whilethe general rate of increase in prices(headline inflation) declined to 12.0per cent in December from 12.3 percent in November, Core inflation,which is the rate of increase of goodsand services excluding farm produce, rose to 13.7 per cent from 13.1 percent. The increase was attributed torising prices of essential goods andservices like housing, electricity andgas.

According to the Bureau, “Theincreases in the Core (inflation) indexwere as a result of increases in theHousing, Electricity, Gas and otherFuels division, in particular liquid(kerosene) and solid fuels (firewoodand charcoal), rental and imputed rentprices, clothing prices, garmentprices, and air transport fares.”

Reviewing this development aheadof the MPC meeting today, financialexperts said this implies that there arestill inflationary threats in theeconomy, especially the hugebudgetary spending planned for thisyear by the Federal Governmenthence they expect the CBN tomaintain its tight monetary policy.

“In order to adjust monetary policyhowever, the MPC will need to be

Inflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintainainainainaintight monettight monettight monettight monettight monetararararary policy y policy y policy y policy y policy — Experts

more certain that lower inflation canbe achieved on a sustainable basis. With the threat of a higher benchmarkcrude price being adopted in the 2013budget, we’re not certain that can betaken for granted for the moment. Onthis basis, we forecast unchangedmonetary policy next week”, saidRazia Khan, Head of RegionalResearch, Africa, Standard CharteredBank.

Also commenting on thedevelopment, analysts at AfrinvestPLC said, “We however believe thatthe upward review of the oil pricebenchmark to $79 per barrel ascontained in the recently passed 2013budget, provides additional room forincreased government spending andtherefore poses a direct upside threatto inflation. We therefore expect the

CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee tokeep the MPR on hold at its nextcommittee meeting scheduled forearly next week."

“Ahead of the meeting of the MPCnext week and existing inflationarythreats, we are conscious of the factthat rates might be held at currentlevels. However, we maintain ourposition on gradual reduction of thebenchmark rate to single-digit levelseven as we remain optimistic on theattainment of single digit rate in thecurrent fiscal year," analysts atProshare commented.

Since 2011, the CBN has beenoperating a tight money supply policy,so as to check the rate at which pricesof goods and services rise in the

*From left: Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, chief host, Oba Rilwan Akiolu,Oba of Lagos, and Mr. Abimbola Shodipo, Special Adviser to Governor Fasholaon Taxation and Revenue, during the 6th Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders'conference, held in Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 18 /01/2013

111.78 +0.68

95.55 +0.06

155.95 0.45

2,282.00 -18.00

18.4 -0.02

DOLLAR 154.72 155.22 155.72POUNDS 246.6392 247.4362 248.2333EURO 206.6131 207.2808 207.9485FRANC 165.9196 166.4558 166.992YEN 1.7222 1.7277 1.7333CFA 0.2963 0.3063 0.3163WAUA 237.2893 238.0562 238.823RENMINBI 24.8913 24.9722 25.0531RIYA 41.2554 41.3887 41.522KRONA 27.678 27.7674 27.8569SDR 238.0522 238.8215 239.5908

Cover Story

CMYK

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Continued from page 17

,

,

The words ‘youth’ and‘ restiveness’ havebecome so commonly

used together in the lastcouple of years that it seemsto have taken on a life of itsown. In the last decade andmore there has been aproliferation of cases all overthe country and indeed theworld, of youth agitationswhich have tons of peopledead and valuableinfrastructure as well aspersonal properties lost anddestroyed.

A sustained protestationembarked upon to enforce adesired outcome from aconstituted authority by anorganised body of youths, fitsthe label of youth restiveness.It is also a combination of anyaction or conduct thatconstitutes unwholesome,socially unacceptableactivities engaged in by theyouths in any community.

It is a phenomenon whichin practice has led to a nearbreakdown of law and order,low productivity due todisruption of productionactivities, increasing crimerate, intra-ethnic hostilities,and harassment ofprospective developers andother criminal tendencies.

This scourge has beenaround for a long time and itlooks as though it is defyingsolutions. Maybe thequestion that needs to beasked is what is trulyresponsible for thisexpression of dissatisfactionby the youth? Have theircomplaints over the years notbeen heard or attended to? Isthere more to the killings anddestruction than just drawingattention to the needs theywant met? Are the youthstrying to draw society ’sattention to themselves morethan the issues they appearto be fronting? These andmore are the questions wewould try to tackle head ontoday.

In Nigeria for instance, theNiger Delta region which isunarguably the bedrock of theoil industry in Nigeriapermeated the news for alengthy period of time as theyouths of that region triedvarious means of gettinggovernment and oilcompanies to pay attention totheir dire conditions of livingand alleviate their sufferings

Youth restiveness andunemployment in Nigeria:The way out

since according to them, theresources which is buildingthe nation is flowing fromtheir land so by virtue of thatthey should also bepartakers of its benefits.This strife led to a rise inkidnapping andvandalization of oilpipelines as well as othervices that were beingperpetrated. After a periodof years, the Nigeriangovernment intervened andthe Amnesty program wascreated to help deliver someof the promises whichgovernment had made tothe youths in those areas.

The baton was soonhanded over to the EasternNigeria. Increase in the rateof armed robbery attacks,kidnappings as well asunbridled thuggery becamethe order of the day.

Today the Northern part ofNigeria has literallyerupted with unrivalledviolence. Bomb blasts,

kidnaps and killings ofNigerians and others havebecome the prevailingtrend. Despite beefing upof security in these areas,the problems still looms.This situation begs thequestions, ‘’what is thegovernment of the daywilling to do to put apermanent end to theseproblems.

Maybe thequestionthat needsto be askedis what istrulyresponsiblefor thisexpressionofdissatisfactionby theyouth?

*From left: Adeola Adetunji, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, receiving anaward on behalf of Coca-Cola Nigeria from His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Governorof Lagos State for the Most Tax-Compliant Corporate Organisation at the 6th edition of theLagos State Taxation Stakeholders' Conference held at Ikeja.

economy. Among otherthings, the apex bank raisedthe Monetary Policy Rate,which is the benchmarkinterest rate, six times from 6.0per cent to 12 per cent. It alsoraised the Cash ReserveRequirement (CRR) for bankto 12 per cent from 4.0 percent.

Despite these measures, theinflation brate though fellslightly last year, hasremained in double digit dueto impact of the fuel priceincrease and increased tariffon wheat and rice. From 12.6per cent in January, inflationrose to 12.9 in June beforedropping to 12.3 per cent inNovember.

The tight monetary policymeanwhile occasioned highinterest rate, and madelending to the governmentmore attractive to banks thanlending to businesses. Thisprompted calls by real sectoroperators and economicexperts for a review of thetight monetary policy of theCBN.

Razia Khan, however, saidthat it is not economicallyexpedient now for the CBNto change to a loose monetarypolicy.

She said, “I have picked upon some of that thinking, butmy first response would be,is monetary policy actuallytight in Nigeria? If we takethe 12 months smoothedmeasure of headline inflationof 12.2 per cent in Decemberand the MPR of 12 per cent,it still implies negative realinterest rates – that suggeststhat policy is reasonably

accommodative.“When Nigerians complain

about ‘tight monetary policy,’they are typically complainingabout high loan rates, whichmake it difficult to financeSMEs, and take away fromgrowth. But the reasonsbehind those spreads havemuch more to do withfundamental structuralfactors, than they do with thecurrent policy stance of theCBN. There is a key importantdistinction. Even if the CBNwere to relax its monetarypolicy, (the naira mightweaken, inflation wouldalmost certainly be higher), itis not clear that loans wouldbe any more affordable –those spreads might remainin place. Greatermacroeconomic volatility inthat instance might evencontribute to higher spreads!The best thing that the CBNcan do to contribute to moreloan growth over time is toensure macroeconomicstability to whateverextent possible.

“We should also not losesight of the benefits of CBN‘tightening’ – lower importsas policy was tightened inJuly (compare imports inthird quarter with secondquarter of 2012), higherexternal reserves. Nigeria hasbeen able to attract moreportfolio investor flows as aresult. Its index inclusionand the heavy demand forFGN bonds have arguablymade it cheaper to financegovernment spending. Thishelps in a small way to reducevulnerability to the oil cycle –all because the central bankwas brave enough to tighten

policy in the face ofopposition. The benefitsclearly outweigh anyperceived costs. So toassume that there might havebeen a lot more loan growthif the MPR were 50 or 100 bpslower is missing the pointsomewhat.”

The NBS inflation report forDecember stated,” InDecember 2012, the compositeConsumer Price Index whichmeasures inflation rose to 12.0per cent year-on-year(compared to 12.3 per cent inNovember). On a year-on-year basis, the relativeincrease in the headline indexin December was as a resultof higher prices in the CoreIndex. This is the secondconsecutive month where theCore index has deviated fromthe downward trend itexhibited since the month ofJuly, increasing to 13.7 percent (from 13.1 in November).On the other hand, foodprices moderated duringDecember, giving temporaryrespite from the laggedeffects of the floods whichoccurred from July to Mid-October, as well as otherdemand and supplyconditions. The Food indexincreased year on year to 10.2percent from 11.6 percent inNovember.

It should be noted that theHeadline Index is made upof the Core Index and FarmProduce items. As ProcessedFoods are included in both theCore and Food sub-indices,this implies that these sub-indices are not mutually-exclusive. In December, the

Inflation: CBN should maintainInflation: CBN should maintainInflation: CBN should maintainInflation: CBN should maintainInflation: CBN should maintaintight monettight monettight monettight monettight monetararararary policy y policy y policy y policy y policy — Experts

Continues on page 19

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 19

Business & Economy,

,

Recently, the media wasawash with the newsof the revocation of

the concession grantedto Bi-Courtney to

reconstruct the Lagos-Ibadanroad which has been in adeplorable state. The decisionto revoke the concessionsparked off a lot of debate asto the seriousness ofgovernment to the whole ideaof Public-Private Partnership.The concession of Lagos-Ibadan road cannot be trulydescribed as a true public-private sector partnership. Itdoes not pass the true test ofa public-private sectorpartnership that could deliverservice to the people ofNigeria and give value formoney.

The concession did notfollow the due process ofcompetitive bidding, it had noadequate study of traffic flowon which to develop abankable financial flow, andthe parties to it did not resolvethe right of way between theFederal Government, thethree states of Lagos, Ogunand Oyo. It is not known thatthe company has undertakena project of the magnitudeanywhere before now. It hadno experience on road issue.The process that gave thecompany the concession wasfraught with politicalpatronage and the exercisewas doomed to fail right fromthe word go. Bi-Courtney dueto its inexperience in roadmatters and issues of Public-Private Partnership took aroad design from the FederalGovernment that wasdefective and un-bankable soit could not sourceinternational financing for theconstruction of the road.

The Lagos-Ibadan expresscarriage was designed bygovernment to be a three-

Public-private partnershipthe new way toinfrastructural provision

carriage way both sides. Butfinancials felt that the trafficfrom Lagos to the Shagamuexchange of the road was tooheavy for a three-carriage waythat it should have been five.A five-carriage way will allowfor the high volume of traffic,save the road from the wearand tear a three-way carriagewill face and enable thecompany recoup its investmenton time. But because thedesign has been put in placeand the contract signed,changes were not immediatelyforth coming, so financialsbacked out.

It has become publicknowledge that theInfrastructure ConcessionCommission which was set upby the government hadadvised against the concessionbut was ignored. This put awhole question mark on thesincerity of government in itsdesire to provide infrastructureto the Nigeria people.Unfortunately, Nigerians donot hold governmentaccountable for its action andinaction. While the deceptionon the reconstruction ofIbadan-Lagos road is ongoing, Nigerians are the onessuffering and some even die onthe road on daily basis. TheMinister of Works, Mr. MikeOnolememen was so arrogantabout the whole exercise andwith impunity told the nationthat Julius Berger has beenmobilized to site.Onolememen, as usual, failedto tell the nation when thecontract for the rehabilitationwas awarded and how much itwill cost to do so.

This government ispretending about the Public-Private Partnership. Publicprocurement is the favouredway of this government doingthings. Because of the highlevel of corruption inherent in

public procurement,ministries, departments andagencies of government arefavourably disposed to usingit instead of PPP. Nigeriansshould ask the minister ofworks why he failed to allowthe open tender for the Lagos-Ibadan road rehabilitation onthe one hand and theconcession of the Lagos-Beninroad which work has longbeen completed. Nigeriansmust ask this government toopen up and direct all MDAsto send all commerciallyviable projects in their controlto the InfrastructureConcession Commission.Nigerians are prepared to payfor services provided it isavailable in qualitative terms.The way the government ispaying lip service toinfrastructure provision,Nigerians may never get therequired services. There isvariety of concession andpartnership arrangements.

Some of the most commonlyused are Private -Concessions, where theprivate party takes over allaspects of facilitymanagement and operationfrom the government, often ona long-term basis. The privateparty responsibilities include

maintenance and specifiedrehabilitation and capitalinvestment in facilityupgrades and enhancement.The private party is fullyresponsible for raising therequired capital. This maytake the form of build-operate-transfer (BOT), Build-operate-own (BOO) or build-o w n - o p e r a t e - t r a n s f e r

(BOOT), design-build-operate-transfer (DBOT),design-build, finance andoperate (DBFO). Other lesscommon variants include BRTor BLT (build, rent/lease andtransfer and (BTO) buildtransfer and operate.

PPP as it is popularlyreferred to, has become themost widely used vehicle forsocial economictransformation of society bothin the developed anddeveloping economies. InBritain, the system wasintroduced in 1992 and sincethen, several socialinfrastructure has beendeveloped through it.Incidentally, one of the chiefsuccess factors of the schemein Britain is a Nigerian, Mr.Wale Shonibare AssociateDirector of KPMG in London.He has travelled to almost allthe continents of the worldconsulting for governments onPPP.

Governments across theglobe have come to terms withthe fact that public sector alonecannot provide the neededinfrastructure and have cometo the conclusion that privatesector participation in theprovision of infrastructure isinevitable. Nigeria cannot bean exception

It hasbecomepublicknowledgethat theInfrastructureConcessionCommissionwhich wasset up by thegovernmenthad advisedagainst theconcessionbut wasignored.

composite CPI increased by0.75 per cent month-on-monthfrom index levels recorded inNovember 2012.

The Urban inflation rate wasrecorded at 14.5 percent year-on-year, a decrease of 1.3percentage points from the15.8 percent recorded inNovember, while the Ruralindex increased by 0.4percentage points to 10.2percent on a year-on-yearbasis.

On a month-on-monthbasis, the Urban All-itemindex increased by 0.8percentfrom levels recorded in

November, while the Rural AllItems index increased by 0.7percent between Novemberand December. The percentagechange in the averagecomposite CPI for the twelve-month period endingDecember 2012 over theaverage of the CPI for theprevious twelve-month periodwas recorded at 12.2 percent.The corresponding 12-monthyear-on-year averagepercentage change for theUrban index was 14.6 percentwhile the corresponding Ruralindex remained unchanged at10.5 per cent.

Food Inflation: In December,the composite Food Index

basis, the moderation in foodprices in December was thefirst in five months. Theaverage annual rate of rise ofthe index for the twelve-month period ending inDecember 2012 was 11.3percent when compared tothe same period in 2011.

Core Inflation: InDecember, the “All items lessFarm Produce” index whichexcludes the prices of volatileagricultural productsincreased by 13.7 percentyear-on-year. This was 0.6

percentage points higherthan the 13.1 percentrecorded in November. Onmonth-on-month basis, the

Core index increased by 0.7percent from levels recorded inNovember. The increases in theCore index was as a result ofincreases in the Housing,Electricity, Gas and other Fuelsdivision, in particular liquid(kerosene) and solid fuels(firewood and charcoal), rentaland imputed rent prices,clothing prices, garmentprices, and air transport fares.The average 12-month annualrate of rise of the index wasrecorded at 13.9 per cent (year-on-year) for the 12-monthperiod ending December 2012,0.3 percentage points from the13.6 per cent recorded inNovember.”

increased year-on-year by 10.2per cent to 141.2 points. Thiswas 1.4 percentage pointshigher than 11.6 per centrecorded in November.

On a month-on-month basis,the Food index increased by 1.0per cent from November toDecember. The rise in the FoodIndex was as a result of higherfood prices in various classeswithin the index led by breadand cereals, higher vegetableprices due to the dry seasonand higher prices of potato,yams, and other tubers. Thehigher food prices occurredlargely as a result of increasesin eight of the eleven foodclasses. On a year-on-year

Continued from page 18

Inflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintInflation: CBN should maintain tight monetain tight monetain tight monetain tight monetain tight monetararararary policy y policy y policy y policy y policy — Experts

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Business & Economy

600m jobs needed to address global unemployment by2020 — World Bank

BY PROVIDENCEOBUH

A World Bank reportsaid that about 600

million jobs are needed toaddress globalunemployment by 2020.

The report was released lastweek as a companion reportto the World Bank’s WorldDevelopment Report 2013 onJobs, released last October.

In a joint communiqué

issued at the launch of thereport, 25 leadinginternational financeinstitutions immediatelypledged to work together toaddress job creation, andlearn from each other ’sexperience. Also the studyfound that 45 million peopleenter the workforce each year,yet more than a third ofcompanies studied across theglobe were unable to findemployees with the skills that

they needed.“About 200 million people

are unemployed globally,especially in developingcountries.”

The study, “assessingprivate sector contributions tojob creation,” concludes thatfour obstacles pose aparticular challenge to jobcreation in the private sector:a weak investment climate,inadequate infrastructure,limited access to finance formicro, small, and medium

enterprises; and insufficienttraining and skills.“Removing these obstaclescan significantly increase jobcreation.”

According to the WorldBank, “The answer tounemployment lies with theprivate sector, which providesnine out of every 10 jobs indeveloping countries, andtherefore plays a key role increating the new jobs neededand fostering growth. It iscrucial to understand the

constraints that prevent theprivate sector from growingand generating jobs.

“Certain stand-alonereforms, such as thoseaffecting business entry,taxation, competition andsecured transactions havedemonstrated a positiveimpact on growth and jobs. Alower tax rate and investmentpromotion efforts can helpattract foreign directinvestments,” the World Bankexplained.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 21

Business & Economy

Experts advocate strongstakeholders’ engagementsfor businessesBY BOSE ADELAJA

Human resourceexperts have

advocated strongs t a k e h o l d e rengagement as acommunication strategyfor businesses.

They spoke at the 18th

annual trainers’ clinicorganised by a traininginstitute Tom Associates,which took place inLagos, last week.

The programmefeatured presentation byHuman ResourcesDirector Central Bank ofNigeria CBN, MissChizoba Mojekwu,Human ResourcesDirector of GuinnessNigeria Limited Mr.Wale Adediran, Director/Area Manager LagosIsland Area Office,Industrial Training FundITF, Engineer IbrahimLawal.

The presentations ex-rayed the theme,‘’Effectiveness ofM a n p o w e rD e v e l o p m e n tProfessionals Engagingthe Stakeholders’’, andstressed the need foreffective communicationin manpowerdevelopment in variousorganisations.

Chizoba Mojekwuwho was represented bythe Assistant Directorand Head of Learningand Evaluation Office,CBN Dr. LarryAbasiakan, said theemployee engagementhas become a hot topicin recent years amongconsulting firms and inthe popular business

communication withthem about theorganisation,’’

She stressed the needfor effectivecommunication inorganisations as key todevelopment, ‘’a keyelement of sustainingand embedding anyinnovation is tocommunicate withstakeholders effectivelyand engage them asearly as possible.Different stakeholderswill have differentneeds and concerns- forinstance, practitionersare more likely to wantto know why theyshould adopt or designprogrammes andprioritise your needs asopposed to otherinnovations, theemployees will want toknow what is in for themwhile management willbe interested ineffectiveness of traininginterventions,’’ who alltook their time to harpon the theme ‘

In his key noteaddress which dwells on‘the private sectorexperience’, WaleAdediran who said themanpower profession isa very crucial businessin the day-to-dayrunning of everyorganisation urgedparticipants to developideas capable of givingthem a competitive edgeover otherorganisations.

Adediran noted thatpractitioners should notonly send their workersfor training but should

*From left; CEO, TOM Associates, Mr. Abiodun Toki; HumanResources Director, Guinness Nig Plc, Mr. Wale Adediran andChief Operating Officer, Tom Associates, Ms Olutoyin Osibogunat the 18th Annual Trainers’ Clinic of Tom Associates in Lagoslast Wednesday.

thrive to select the rightvendor at every point intime, ‘’it is not enoughto send workers ontraining, what matters isthe ability to select theright vendor adding.‘’As we all know, noteverybody can deliverthe value we are lookingfor in business but wemust have a focus aswell as the sensitivity ofour manpowerdevelopment,’’.

He urged the trainersnot to take thecommercial aspect oftheir organisations withlevity, ‘’often times, wedon’t understand howthe commercial aspect ofthe business looks likeand this is affecting ourgrowth. For employeesto be capable of doingtheir job, they need to betrained, we should seeour human developmentas brands to bedeveloped, also, wemust ensure ourtrainees become goodambassadors in theirr e s p e c t i v eorganisations,’’

While ex raying ‘thepublic sectorexperience’, Abasikan

Also contributing,Engineer Lawal whoshared his view onstatutes regarding ITF’sstake said theorganisation which wasestablished about 41years ago, has operatedas a specialist agencythat promoted andencouraged theacquisition of industrialand commercial skillsrequired for nationaleconomic development.

l i t e r a t u r esaying thishas rarelybeen studiedin thea c a d e m i cliterature andrelatively littleis knownabout itsantecedentsa n dconsequences.‘ ’ E a c horganisations h o u l didentify thosew i t hl e g i t i m a t einterest in itsw o r k(stakeholders)and ensurethat there isregular ande f f e c t i v e

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Banking & Finance

BRIEF

BY PETER EGWUATU

Bad loans in bankingoperations is a

normal occurrence, MrDele Oyekanmi, theManaging Director,MoneyWise MicrofinanceBank, Lagos has said.

Oyekanmi told the NewsAgency of Nigeria (NAN)in Lagos that no matterhow performing a loanmight be, at least one percent of the total loans“must be bad”. He

The Information andC o m m u n i c a t i o nTechnology (ICT)operators have called onthe Federal Government tocreate a special fund thatwill lend to the ICT sectorat single digit interest rate.

The Managing Director,Omatek Ventures Plc andPresident of InformationTechnology Association ofNigeria (ITAN) Engr.(Mrs.) Florence Seriki, toldnewsmen on Monday thatthe sector has the capacityto create jobs ifgovernment can patternthe private sector andinvolve the banks toprovide single interest ratefor the ICT sector that hasthe potentials to drive theeconomy.

According to her,“Funding manufacturers isa totally different thingfrom funding traders orsellers. The banks need tobe involved to know thekind of business we do. Itis a long term projects thatwill require a singlelending rate. We commendthe Bank of Industry (BOI)who later knew why weneeded huge fund withlower interest rate in oursector. The business of ICTrequires volume and thatis why we need funds. Wewant to see the ICT todrive the economy ofNigeria.

She further tasked theFederal Government torevive the local contentpolicy in virtually all thesectors of the economy,saying there should be

*From left: Mrs Funmi Akande, Chief Finance Officer, Siemens Ltd; Mr. Michael Lakota,MD/CEO and Mrs. Josephine Otigba, Head, Corporate Communications during the Introductorymedia briefing by the new MD in Lagos.

tolerance of Nigerians in localcontent and policy. Shecommended the Minister ofCommunication Technology,Mrs. Omobola Johnson forlistening to the plight ofoperators in the ICT sectors.

According to her, “ Ourparley with the minister inrecent time will yield fruits.We want to continue tobrainstorm with thegovernment where we canshare experience and allowlocal manufacturers toproduce the things we needin Nigeria. This will go a long

way in providing jobs andalso meeting the vision 2020target of the FederalGovernment.

While commenting onOmatek Ventures’ effort toimprove its bottom line,Seriki, said, “ We haverestructured and overhauledthe company and hope thatthis year our shareholderswill reap from theirinvestment. We havecontinued our e- learningscheme, consumer scheme,civil service scheme, NationalIdentity scheme. We have put

a new face to the e-learningscheme as we want to changewith time. Gone are the daysthat the student will uselanterns and candle to read.For the consumer scheme, itslowed down when thebanking crisis started butright now we intend to reviveit.” She further stated thatOmatek intend to improve onits distribution channel. “Wewant to engage more sellersfrom all the states. We havemore volume, as turnover isvery critical to our service.”Omatek boss noted.

We need involvement of banks,specialised fund for ICT — Seriki

Bad loans in banking operations normaloccurrence, says MD

attributed the situation to thehigh interest rates onlending. Oyekanmi said thatinterest on loans should bemade affordable to customersto enable them to repay whendue. “When loans are givenout to customers at lowinterest rates, definitely it willbe easier for them to pay backon time. “In credit policy,there is a general provisionthat even if all your loans aregood, there must be one per

cent that will be bad. “That isthe bad loan, so there mustbe a bad loan,” he said.Oyekanmi, also theChairman, Ikeja chapter,National Association ofMicrofinance Banks, said thebusiness of microfinancestarted on a rough terrainway back in 2005. Accordingto him, the sub-sector hasimproved with the variouspolicy framework of theCentral Bank of Nigeria

(CBN) and other regulatorybodies. He said both theoperators and regulators werelearning at the same pace,noting that with time,microfinance bank would bean institution to be reckonedwith. “Where we get it wrong,we fine tune it. So we aregetting better. “In the nearestfuture, microfinanceinstitutions will dominate thefinancial sector of theeconomy,” he said.

StandardStandardStandardStandardStandardCharCharCharCharChartered,tered,tered,tered,tered,Ashmore investAshmore investAshmore investAshmore investAshmore investin GZIin GZIin GZIin GZIin GZIStandard Chartered

Private Equity andAshmore InvestmentManagement haveannounced that they haveinvested in GZ IndustriesLimited ( GZI) , analuminum can manufacturerbased in Nigeria.

Yemi Osindero, Head ofStandard Chartered PrivateEquity in West Africa, said“We are excited to haveinvested in a long-termStandard Chartered clientthat is building a world-classcan manufacturing company.From its initial productionplant in Nigeria, GZI hasfollowed a very profitablegrowth path, and establisheditself as an integral memberof Nigeria’s beverage sector.Working with our fellowshareholders, and bringingthe global resources ofStandard Chartered andAshmore to bear, we lookforward to growing GZI intoa market-leading, pan-African beverage-packagingcompany.”

Jan Dehn from AshmoreGroup said “Over a shortduration, GZI hasestablished itself as a premiermanufacturer of aluminiumcans, providing a platformfor tremendous future growthacross Africa. Thisinvestment offers an idealopportunity for us to growour alternatives investmentfootprint in Africa, and welook forward to working withGZI and our partners inachieving its full potential,creating value for allstakeholders. Founded in2006, GZI opened WestAfrica’s first canmanufacturing plant inOgun State, Nigeria, with acapacity of 600 million cansper annum. Since launch, theplant has more than doubledits production levels and nowproduces more than 1.2billion cans per year. GZI’s150,000 square feet factory isworld-class, with state-of-the-art equipment sourcedfrom Europe and the UnitedStates. The Companyemploys approximately 200personnel, includingNigerian and expatriate staff.The majority of the technicalstaff members have gainedworld-class skills from GZI’straining programme inBrazil, at a plant belongingto Rexam PLC - GZI’stechnology provider and theworld’s largest canmanufacturer. MottiGoldmintz, ManagingDirector of GZI, said, “Thepartnership with SCPE andAshmore validates the firstphase of our strategy, andwill strengthen our ability toachieve GZI’s longer-termstrategic aims.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 23

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24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Corporate Finance

BRIEF

Key shareholdersof Oando Plchave thrown their

weight behind the ongoingRights Issue and advisedother investors to takeadvantage of the offer toincrease their holdings so asto reap the benefits of thehuge investments theintegrated energy group hasmade over the years.

The company is shoppingfor N54.6 billion fromexisting shareholdersthrough a rights issue of4.548 billion ordinary sharesat N12 per share. The offeropened December 28, 2012and is expected to close onFebruary 8, 2013.

Speaking on the issue, theNational Coordinator,Independent ShareholdersAssociation of Nigeria(ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu,called on other shareholdersto take up theirrights.“Shareholders shouldembrace the shares as afuture stock. The companyhas made good investmentsin the energy sector and verysoon the benefits will beginto manifest. The Right Issue,is therefore, an opportunityto buy more shares and waitfor the returns that wouldcome from thoseinvestments,” he said.

According to Nwosu, whilethe management of thecompany strives to makeright investments,governments’ policies havenot really helped in realisingthe benefits of some of thoseinvestments as quickly asexpected.

“I believe that going

Shareholders embraceOando’s rights issue

TOP TEN WEEKLY LOSERS TOP TEN WEEKLY GAINERSCLOSEOPEN

Price gains on theequities of NestleNigeria Plc, Dangote

Cement Plc and 66 otherslisted on the Nigerian StockExchange, NSE, led toN553.23 billion appreciationsin total the marketcapitalisation last week.

Nestle Nigeria Plc recordedthe highest share price gain,appreciating by N24 to closeat N740 per share from N716

per share. This was followedby Dangote Cement Plc thatgained N14 to close at N140per share and Mobil OilNigeria Plc rose by N11.19 toclose at N120.44 per share,among others.

On the contrary, UnileverNigeria Plc topped the losers’chart, depreciating by N2.41to close at N43.99 per sharefrom N46.40 per share. Thiswas followed by John Holt Plcthat lost N0.64 to close atN2.28 per share and BOCGases Plc dropped by N0.32to close at N6.24 per share,

NesNesNesNesNestle, Dangote Cement, othertle, Dangote Cement, othertle, Dangote Cement, othertle, Dangote Cement, othertle, Dangote Cement, others booss booss booss booss boost NSE vt NSE vt NSE vt NSE vt NSE value balue balue balue balue byyyyyN553.23bnN553.23bnN553.23bnN553.23bnN553.23bnBy CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

among others.A review of the equity price

movements indicated thatsixty-eight (68) equitiesrecorded appreciation whilenine (9) equities recordedprice depreciation and pricesof one hundred and eighteen(118) equities remainedconstant. When comparedwith the preceding week,fifty-two (52) equitiesappreciated in share valuewhile twenty (20) equitiesrecorded price depreciationand prices of one hundredand twenty-three (123)

equities remained constant.Consequently, the market

capitalisation rose by 5.92 percent to close at N9.89 trillionfrom N9.22 trillion. Anothermarket indicator, the AllShare Index appreciated by5.91 per cent to close at30,927.18 points from29,202.01 points.

Meanwhile, a turnover of3.259 billion shares valued atN21.636 billion in 34,651deals was traded last week incontrast to a total of 2.160billion shares valued atN16.998 billion thatexchanged hands

penultimate week in 31,241deals.

The Financial Servicessector continued its vibrantdominance in the activitychart (measured by turnovervolume) recording thehighest trading volume of2.477 billion shares valued atN15.399 billion exchangedhands by investors in 22,627deals, representing 76.01 percent, 71.17 per cent and 65.30per cent of the volume, valueand number of deals executedon the stock marketrespectively during the week.

forward, Oando’s performancewill improve significantly. Myplea to the FederalGovernment is that it shouldhave the political will do takesome decisions that wouldmake investments in the oilsector profitable. The issue ofsubsidy removal, for instance,should be addressed once andfor all,” he said.

Also speaking, the Presidentof Nigeria ShareholdersSolidarity Association(NSSA), Chief TimothyAdesiyan, noted that the priceof the issue is very attractive,considering the assets andfuture prospects of thecompany.

“As you are aware Oando Plchas huge assets in the energysector. It operations wereonly affected by thechallenges in the environment. But I believethe bad times are over. Thecompany has a very brightfuture and I have so muchconfidence in the businessthey are into. The price of N12for the offer is an opportunityno shareholders should miss.The shareholders should takeup their rights and increasetheir holdings,” Adesiyansaid.Chief Adesiyan addedthat with the offer priced atN12, shareholders have anopportunity to average outtheir investments, and standto benefit when the shareappreciates.

According to the President,Association for theAdvancement of the Rights ofNigerian Shareholders(AARNS), Dr. FarukUmar, shareholders shouldtake up their rights and waitfor benefits the fullderegulation of thedownstream will bring to thecompany.

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 25

CMYK

Business Economy

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 27

CMYK

28 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Interview

Air Vice marshalMohammed Maigari

Audu Bida (Retd), is a formerDirector General of theNational EmergencyManagement Agency, NEMA.

In this interview withDOTUN IBIWOYE, he spokeabout food security in Nigeriafollowing the floodingrecorded last year which ledto the loss of vast farmlandsand farm produce.

He also spoke aboutNigeria’s ability to managedisaster and the billions ofnaira doled out by both thegovernment and the privatesector in support of peopleaffected by the flooding.

Excerpts…

What are you views on theBBC ’s feature story –'Nigeria under water', whichdepicts the enormity of lastyear’s flood, the firecrackerdisaster during lastChristmas season at awarehouse in Lagos and therehabilitation efforts of thegovernment?

The flood that took placearound September was a bigone. We advocated then, thatthe government shoulddeclare it an emergencydisaster area so that theinternational community willbe aware and assist Nigeriain put things back in place.But government in its ownwisdom decided to handle italone. So the truth is thatwhen disasters happen thatway, it takes years beforepeople settle back to theirnormal lives.

For instance, in the case ofKaduna, it happened many

,

,

,

Flooding: Money alone can’t solFlooding: Money alone can’t solvFlooding: Money alone can’t solFlooding: Money alone can’t solvFlooding: Money alone can’t sol

years back, but till today,people are still building andtrying to settle down after theincident.

Like this one now, the firstthing we could have done ismitigation and interventionwhen it happened and afterthis, we find out what led tothe incident then we try tolook for a way to rehabilitatethem and with rehabilitationwe will need to make someconstruction for them,because the water washedaway all their structures.

After you have done theintervention, you dorehabilitation, you doreconstruction, then you re-integrate the affected peopleback into the society.

So, one can see that it is notan easy thing. We take it thatwhen a disaster happened,we do the intervention andprobably, do somerehabilitation by giving themsome food stuff. It is muchmore than that; you have toknow that disasters have tobring development to an area.

Like that area where disasterhappened, where the floodingtook place, if the governmentwant to be fair to these peoplethey will not take them backto those type of buildings theyhad before which floodwashed away.

Government should providestronger and more befittingstructures, as this would makethe people think they areenjoying the dividends ofdemocracy. The governmentwould have built strongerstructure for them in areaswhere the flood will not beable to wash it away. This is agreat thing because you will

have to put those things intoGeographic InformationSystem GIS and find outwhich area is safer for themto build now. This is what iscalled resettlement.

If you leave this people,they will go back to thoseareas, because that is wherethey met their forefathers andgreat grand fathers. They will

go back there and build again.It is the responsibility of the

government to move the people awayfrom disaster-prone area.

It would have been better ifgovernment had allowed theinternational community to actuallycome in. I spoke with some peopleabroad and all they said was thatNigeria never declared an emergency,so their agencies are not aware. Theseare some of the things that happened,though, there are some of them thatgave one thing or the other, but itcould have been much more than that.The fact remains that government hastheir own way of doing things and wecannot question them, they have moreinformation than what we have so wehave to respect that fact.

In the last flooding, 2.1 millionpeople were officially registeredacross the country as internally

Butgovernment inits ownwisdomdecided tohandle italone. So thetruth is thatwhen disastershappen thatway, it takesyears beforepeople settleback to theirnormal lives.

I spoke with some peopabroad and all they saidwas that Nigeria neverdeclared an emergency, stheir agencies are notaware. These are some othe things that happenedthough, there are some othem that gave one thingthe other, but it could havbeen much more than th

•AVM Mohammed Maigari Audu Bida (Retd)

**A flood disaster site

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 29

CMYK

Interview

,

lve victims’ plights ve victims’ plights lve victims’ plights ve victims’ plights lve victims’ plights — Former NEMA DGdisplaced persons, 7.7million people were also asa affected and the destructionof hundreds of thousands ofhectares of farmland. Whatrole do you think disastermanagers would haveplayed?

We want to make a bigimpact in disastermanagement in the countryand that is why we areworking with NEMA and Iam happy that they are awareand they are cooperating too.

It is not only NEMA we aregoing to work with, we aregoing to work with the otherfederal and state ministries,like the ministry ofagriculture, ministry ofscience and technology,ministry of health to mentionbut a view, because for us toachieve our aims andobjectives in all these things,we must work with them.

We also want to let peopleknow that having started withNEMA; we are going to talkwith all necessary ministriesso that anything that has to dowith disaster management inthese areas we will beinculcated.

What are the proactivemeasures of reducingcasualties and also thefeasibility of including theinternational strategy fordisaster reduction andmanagement?

“My take on disastermanagement in Nigeria,before I left NEMA, stillcontinues, and we are alreadyinto it. We are into DisasterRisk Reduction DRR, which isall about trying to recognizedisasters before theyhappened. That is what DRR

to do with that money, but ifthey are going to put it intothis thing that had happened,it may not be enough. In factit will take time because thesepeople have to re-settle theyhave to go back to the meansof their livelihood. So what doyou do for them, knowing thatmost of them are farmers andfishermen, you therefore haveto get equipment and facilityfor them so that they can goback into what they are doingbefore. It is not only aboutgiving them food.

It is because not all thesestages are provided for, thatis why many of the floodvictims are complaining thatthey have been abandoned.The money that thegovernment gave, I don’tknow how much of it got to theflood victim. Whatever it is, Iknow it is not going to beenough for this entire thing,and the state governments arenot having the capacity tohandle them.

How do we prevent anotherflooding, baring in mind thatthe Camerounians dams willbe reopen soon?

“We have to be very alert onthe issue of River Niger, andthe notification from theCameroonian government.

Even though the notice wasvery short but they havealways notify us wheneverthey

Are about to open the dam.We are suppose to havewiden the passage of thewater at the dam and aroundKashibila area in Benue state.We supposed to have builtour own dam to make surethat we arrest the flow of thewater whenever they opentheir dam.

We are still in the processof doing that and thegovernment is aware because,before I left NEMA we hadseries of meetings even withthe members of the House ofRepresentative and also thesenate invited us and whenwe talked on that dam, andthey promise that they aregoing to release money for it,because the project alreadyhave started but if we havehad that dam in place thatdisaster would have beengreatly reduced if notcompletely prevented.

Your Non-GovernmentalOrganisation, NGO, theCommunity Interventionand Relief Initiative, which isstriving to makecommunities resilient todisasters, is gainingmomentum nationally. What

is the drive behind this?

There are a number of factorsthat made us establish theCommunity ReliefIntervention, among which isthe lack of personnel to tackleissues of emergencies.

For example, the staffstrength of NEMA is not morethan 500, they are not up to1,000. Because when I tookover NEMA, we had onlyabout 240 people, then we hadto employ more people, whichtook our staff strength tobetween 300 and 400.

I don’t know precisely, whattheir staff strength is now, butI doubt if they are up to 700. Iam looking at maybe 500. Sothey don’t have enoughpersonnel which necessitatedthe fact that they have to partnerwith NGOs that are on groundand active so that when suchthings happen, it will not beonly NEMA that will have togo and disseminateinformation.

The State EmergencyManagement Agencies(SEMA) and the LocalGovernment emergencybodies, all have to come inwhen these things happens.But most state government doesnot have strong emergencymanagement agencies. So whatwe need is strong NGOs onthe ground that could do theseentire sensitization things.

When we decided to set upthis NGO, our focus was mainlyon disaster management and itis community-based, and thatis why we call it ‘communityintervention’. This is becausedisasters happens at thecommunity level and what weare looking at is how to trainpeople on disastermanagement. Just like we havediscussed before, disastershappens at the communitylevel and before these disastershappen, they give no warning,they just happen and unlessyou have people who arehaving informed knowledgeabout disaster, they may notknow what to do and that iswhy we set up the NGO andour intention is to move to thecommunities across thecountry.

For instance what happenedin Kaduna recently, wediscovered that a lot of peoplewere displaced and theKaduna state governmentcannot do anything, the federalgovernment cannot doanything if we have we havestrong NGOs, this is wherethey could have come in to seewhat can be done to see thatthis people are resettled to givethem certain training about

how to get back to what theyare doing before. These arethe things that this NGO is setup to achieve and in other toguide against disaster re-occurrence.

Like when we have a lot offlood across most part of thecountry last year, we decidedto go there and talk to themon what to do when such asituation arises and how to getout of the flooding as well asto resettle immediately afterthe flooding, so that they canstart their livelihood again.That is what we callcommunity rebuilding andrehabilitation programmme.That is what we are doing andthat is all we stand for.

We have contacted NEMA,because one of the mostdifficult thing in this countryis when you leave a place youalways want to go back there.Our intentions are genuineand good and that is why weare able to approach NEMAand we are happy that themanagement saw our intentionand knowing the kind ofexperience we have, and thekind of people that make upour board and the kind ofexperiences they are also havein disaster management. Wehave media gurus that willensure that we have a lot ofinformation about what we aredoing and to also give backthe feedback and we also havea lot of other NGOs. These areall the people who are part ofour team and we have peoplewho are from the states’emergency managementagencies, we have a lot ofthem and we have about 300volunteers on the ground nowthat we are working with”

is all about, most especially in disasterpotential areas. These are what we aredoing to ensure that we avert disastersfrom happening and if they must takeplace to some extent, you reduce theimpact on the public. And just like Isaid, we are very much into it before Ileft NEMA and I am sure that thepresent NEMA management are verymuch aware and will also be give somuch into it.

And in construction, when you comeinto these villages now, you have todesign it at least to the minimumstandard, they should have road, theyshould have clinic, they should haveall these things. Something, peoplethought it is a lot of money as far as Iam concern, it is not money, it cannotdo anything.

The government set up a committeeheaded by Aliko Dangote, they gotsome billions or so, whatever it maybe, I don’t know what they are going

,

,

ple

so

fd,ofg orve

hat

When wedecided to setup this NGO,our focus wasmainly ondisastermanagementand it iscommunity-based, and thatis why we call it‘communityintervention’.

•AVM Mohammed Maigari Audu Bida (Retd)

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Insurance

BRIEF

Stories byROSEMARY ONUOHA

The Nigerian CivilAviation Authority,

NCAA, has said that it iscollaborating with theNational InsuranceCommission, NAICOM, to ensure the payments offull compensation tofamilies of the victims ofthe Dana Air crash.

NCAA also promisedfamilies of the groundvictims of the crash their insurance compensation,saying it will doeverything possible toensure that the families ofthe ground victims are notleft to their fate.

Mr. Harold Demuren,Director-General, NCAAwhile briefing journalistsin Lagos said the compensation forfamilies of the 153passengers on board ofthe aircraft has beenimpressive.

He said the groundvictims are of majorconcern, promising that

Narrow distribution channel to hamperinsurance growth in 2013

The insurancemarket may notr e c o r d

significant expansion in2013 unless operatorsembrace diversedistribution channels, an expert has warned.

Managing Director, Riskguard-Africa NigeriaLimited Mr. YemiSoladoye, an insuranceexpert warned that thereliance on brokersalone to market insuranceproducts on behalf ofinsurers could lead tomarket stagnation andunhealthy competition inthe sector.

Soladoye said, “Theissue of unhealthycompetition will be gettingworse, until insuranceoperators look for better,cost effective and nonvolatile distributionchannel. Bancassurancewhich is having acollaboration with banks isa retail channel. It alsomeans engaging instrategic alliances withorganisations, likeShoprite, Megaplaza andothers. Collaborating with

cooporative societies andmore. It is so wide and untilthey adopt it, the marketcannot expand.”

Soladoye said that adoptionof other distributionchannels is not a matter of ifthey like but a matter of mustsaying that it is compulsorybecause they are already

feeling the bite of the narrowdistribution outlet that theyare using at the moment.

“Most of the problems theyface - high cost of doingbusiness, premium reduction,unhealthy competition, are allmanifestation of the fact thatthey are using narrowdistribution method. If you

have an alternative, youwould be able to do businesson your own terms, but whenyou do not have alternative,you have to achieve what everany body tells you. That is theproblem with the operators forthey are not creatingalternative distribution outletsfor themselves,” Soladoyestated.

According to Soladoye mostproblems in the insuranceindustry is a manifestation ofthe refusal by the operators toadopt retail as a businesspolicy. He called on theboards of insurancecompanies, to as a matter ofurgency, compel theirmanagement team to adoptretail marketing. He said theoperators are into the problemof unhealthy competitionbecause they boxedthemselves into a very narrowdistribution outlet, which isbrokering market, adding thatprice becomes the onlycompetitive strategy, whenpeople are not adding value.He noted that clients areasking for reduced price everyyear, because they are yet tosee any competitive strategyfrom the operators, stressingthat insurance companies,concentrate on premiumgrowth, as against marketexpansion.

“The future and the solidityof the operators can only comefrom market expansion. Allthe operators want is to ensurethat their premium for thisyear is higher than what itwas last year, and they areready to spend anything toachieve that.

NCAA, NAICOM collaborate on compensation forfamilies of Dana crash victims

NCAA will exercise its powerto ensure that families ofground victims arecompensated.

Demuren who wasrepresented by Mrs. TeresaBassey, Head, Aeromedia,NCAA, said for now, theyhave not ascertained thenumber of people that died onthe ground, but promised thatthey will do so in a short-while and commence theprocess of compensating thefamilies of the victims, both oflives and property. “NCAAinsists that all the groundvictims should becompensated,” he said.

While giving update on thevictims on board, he said ofthe 153, 131 victims’ familieshave so far submitted anydocumentation, while familiesof 12 victims are yet to submitany documentation. He addedthat families of 53 victims hadgone to court, which includedthe families of 23 victims whohad collected the initialpayment of 30,000 dollars.

Stating that documentationfor 24 victims is awaitingauthentication by theinsurers, he added that Letterof Administration (LOA) forfamilies of 48 victims are stillbeing awaited.

According to him, chequesof the initial payment of30,000 dollar compensationhave been paid to 85 victims.

However, for the families tocollect the remaining $70,000compensation, he said LOA isrequired by the ReinsuranceCompany.

“NCAA has held severalmeetings with some of thefamilies of the victims andtheir lawyers, alongsideNAICOM and sought theassistance of the Lagos StateGovernment in order to fasttrack the process of theissuance of the LOA,” he said.

To this end, he said 14victims have so far receivedthe LOA and they havecollected the remaining$70,000 which constitutes thefull payment.

Stanbic IBTCPensionManagers hits1m customersBy RITA OBODOECHINA

Stanbic IBTC PensionManagers, a subsidiary

of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plcsaid it has hit a data base ofone million customers in itsretirement savings accounts.

At a forum to celebrate theachievement, the companydescribed the achievement asan accomplishment in lessthan a decade of growth in thecountry, as a testament to itsreputation as a trusted andaccessible and safeinvestment climate, and as aninstitution that deliversexceptional service to itsclients. Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Stanbic IBTCPension Managers, Dr.Demola Sogunle, said that theorganization’s achievement ofmilestone demonstrates itsleadership position in theindustry, being the firstpension fund administrator toreach and surpass the onemillion customer mark. “Onemillion customers in less thana decade is an importantachievement and reflects wellon the solidity of Stanbic IBTCPension Managers asNigeria’s leading pensionfund administrator.

We are very optimistic aboutthe future and the assurancethat we give our present andour future clients is that wewill continue to manage theirfunds in a very responsiblemanner,” he said.

With the achievement of themilestone in June 2012,Sogunle added, Stanbic IBTCPension Managers now hasover one million retirementsavings account holders andassets under management ofmore than N865 billion,paying about N1.5 billion toover 23,000 retirees monthly.Continuing he said,

“Over N112 billion has beenpaid regularly to retireessince we commencedoperations in 2005. Our aimis to continue to set everhigher standards of servicedelivery and ensure that ourretirement savings accountholders derive maximumvalue from their investment,”he explained. On her part,Chief Executive Officer ofStanbic IBTC Holdings Plc,Mrs. Sola David-Borha,credited the organization’ssuccess to its understandingof local needs, driven by avast pool of sound andexperienced personnel,coupled with its membershipof Standard Bank Group.

*Permanent Secretary, Common Services, office of the Head of Service of the Federation,Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji,(right) presenting a souvenir to the President of the Nigerian Council ofRegistered Insurance Brokers, Barrister Laide Osijo who led a delegation of the Council tooffice of Head of Service in Abuja, recently.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 31

CMYK

Micro Finance

BRIEFSStories byPROVIDENCE OBUH

Microfinance instrumentalto poverty eradication

Developing countrieslike Nigeria can usem i c r o f i n a n c e

initiative to address povertyby widening people’s accessto finance especially theactive poor.

According to a studyreleased by the InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC),microfinance can reducepoverty because it decreasesinequality and gives low-income people access to basicfinancial services that may bedifficult to get otherwise.

This means that there is theneed to create moremicrofinance institutions inthe rural villages whereaccess to finance is critical inNigeria.

Recent finding by the IFCshows that finance is a keyconstraint for Micro Smalland Medium Enterprises(MSMEs). For instance, IFCprovides financing to a largenetwork of financialintermediaries in emergingmarkets, which in 2011financed 23 million MSMEs,which in turn employed over100 million people.

Meanwhile, as thecountry’s population grows,the need to create more jobsintensifies, and developingcountries may get to addressthis need, as well as that ofpoverty reduction by

widening people’s access tofinance and supporting self-employment in low-incomeareas such as agriculturalvillages.

The corporation pointed outthat the generate the mostjobs in developing countriesbut they are also lessproductive, pay less, and donot offer as much training and

development opportunitiesfor employees. “The largestnumbers of jobs are createdwithin companies’ supplyand distribution chains. Forexample, an IFC loan to anIndian cement manufacturerhelped the company expandand create more jobs. Forevery job created within thecompany, more than 20 were

created in the supplyand distribution chains.

“and youth face specificemployment challenges.Legal barriers, lack ofaccess to finance, andcultural norms often forcewomen to work in jobsthat pay less and are lesssecure,” the Corporationsaid.

*Production of sachet water. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

Stakeholders to brainstorm on African microfinance….Conference holds in Ghana

S takeholders in theMicrofinance sector

across Africa are set to meetto share experiences anddeliberate on the challengesconfronting microfinance onthe continent.

This is the focus of a threeday conference scheduled tohold in Accra, Ghana betweenMarch 26 to 28 2013. TheConference is put together bythe West Africa BusinessSchool, a training centre thatprovides business andmanagement education withheadquarters in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the conferenceis in line with the on-goingpoverty alleviation andreduction crusade in Africa,and organized forstakeholders concerned aboutimproving the lives of the‘bottom of the pyramid’population.

According to the conferencehighlight obtained byFinancial Vanguard, Thestrategic intent of theconference is to shareknowledge and learn fromexperiences in microfinanceacross the continents and todiscuss current practices inthe industry and how it canhelp Africa in fightingpoverty. “Fighting poverty isone of the major challenges

of the new millennium. Poorhouseholds are particularlyvulnerable to man-madehazards and catastrophicfinancial ruin primarily due totheir limited resources.Industry experts increasinglybelieve that micro-financingcan assist the poor.” Some ofthe high points to be

discussed at the conferenceinclude: Microfinance as avaluable tool for povertyalleviation in Africa;Deploying Islamicmicrofinance for povertyeradication in Africa;Microinsurance as a valuabletool for poverty alleviation inAfrica; Developing

appropriate regulatoryframework forsupervision ofm i c r o i n s u r a n c epractitioners; MFIs aspowerful distributionchannel formicroinsurance productsand services to lowincome households andmicrobusinesses.

Ajagu urges telecom chiefs on brand imagemaking

A renownedEntrepreneur, Dr.

Ausbeth Ajagu has called onthe telecommunicationleaders on the need forbranding for effectiveness.

Ajagu made the call duringa week-long retreat andrefresher training programmein Cotonou, Benin Republic,with theme: “Building aPowerful EntrepreneurialBrand” and has inparticipation key playerscomprising of top executivesof the MTN Communicationsbrand.

Speaking as a key facilitator,he explained that Leadershipis the ability to create rulesand set goals, describing it as

the capacity to follow throughand see that rules arefollowed and goals areaccomplished.

“There is enough space forall products to sell, thoughdepending on what yourdesire is. However, if yourdesire is to be the marketleader, then you have to gothe extra mile to subdue yourcompetitors.

“Always remember that themarket place is not meant forthe chicken-hearted but theLion-hearted, thus capitalismby default.”

He pointed out that a brandembodies one’s value, thus,a powerful assert that must becarefully developed and

managed.His words, “there are

numerous characteristicsof a good brand and youmust screen yourpotential brand againstthese characteristics.

Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu

CitiunderwritesRising Tidemicrofinanceexchange

Leveraging a $150,000investment from CitiC o m m u n i t y

Development Fund, RisingTide Capital-the Jersey City-based New Jerseymicrobusiness developmentnonprofit-is creating theRising Tide Exchange 2.0, anew online platform tostreamline the connectionbetween underserved NJentrepreneurs andappropriate micro-lenders.

The formal announcementof the innovation grant wasmade as 86 entrepreneursgraduated from Rising TideCapital’s 12-weekCommunity BusinessAcademy. Robert A. (Bob)Annibale, Global DirectorCiti Microfinance andCommunity Development,delivered the keynoteaddress.

Rising Tide Capitalestimates that 75,000 menand women in New Jerseystruggle with financial self-sufficiency because ofunemployment, under-employment and theproliferation of low-wagejobs. An estimated 6,400 menand women have turned toentrepreneurship tosupplement their incomesbut many lack the skills andresources they need to besuccessful.

GAFSP, IFC invest$10m to supportsmall farmers inAfrica

The Global Agricultureand Food Security

Program (GAFSP) incollaboration with theInternational FinanceCorporation (IFC) will invest$10 million, $5 million eachin Root Capital to helpexpand access to workingcapital and markets for300,000 farmers over the nextfour years. Root Capital is asocial investment fund thatworks with small- andmedium enterprises andfarmers’ cooperatives in over30 low-income countries.

The $10 million investmentfrom the Corporation andGAFSP will support RootCapital’s expansion into newcommodities and newmarkets in Africa and lead togrowth, which will furtherhelp the company achievegreater economies of scaleand continue its progresstoward becoming a self-sustaining financialinstitution.

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Housing Finance

By YINKAKOLAWOLE

Lagos to transform Iganmu with 1,008housing units development

L agos Stategovernment hasunveiled plans

to transform the Iganmuand Ijora axis of themetropolis with theconstruction of 1,008housing units within thearea, expected tocommence this year.

Governor BabatundeFashola made thedisclosure recently

during a tour of ongoingprojects across the state.He reiterated his resolveto effectively tacklehousing problems in thestate. according to him,this informs the plan tobuild the biggest

housing estate yet in thestate in the Iganmuarea, where residentswill be able to enjoy thestate’s light railtransportation systemwhich is expected totake off by the secondhalf of this year.

“People should be ableto live close to the trainstation and walk about akilometre to their homes.

So it is a dream, it isbeginning to cometogether. This is whatwe saw and we willdeliver it,” he said.

Fashola faultedcriticisms from somequarters that the stategovernment is fixated ondemolition of structures,especially media reportsof plans by hisadministration to

demolish 50 distressedbuildings in JakandeEstate, Isolo, in thewake of the recent caseof building collapse inthe area.

“All the sensationalismabout demolition is notconsistent with what weare doing. We arebuilding over 400housing units here inIgando, we are building

another 400 plus inOgba, about 500 inSangotedo and over 600in Agbowa.

“We are starting Ajarain Badagry. I also toldyou about what we aregoing to do in Ijora fromthis year with about 1008housing units. That isnot consistent with agovernment that isdemolishing. We arebuilders and notdemolishers. We arefocused; we know wherethe target is,” thegovernor stated.

He explained thatdemolition of distressedbuilding by thegovernment is mostlynecessitated by the needto forestall avoidableloss of lives, assuringthat government doesnot pull down structuresfor selfish reasons. Hedeclared that for anystructure demolished bygovernment, there areplans of replacing it witheven better and strongerones, adding howevrthat due process must befollowed before anystructure is pulleddown.

The governor blamedthe perceived slow paceof work on some of theongoing projects on avariety of challenges.These challenges, henoted, include paucityof fund, court litigationsby some propertyowners and payment ofcompensation to some ofthe residents whoseproperties were affectedin the course ofexecuting the projects.

Project sites inspectedby the governor includeLite Rail Stations atIganmu, Alaba and Mile2. He also visited theconstruction sites ofCentral library of theLagos State University(LASU); Maternal andChild Care Centre inFESTAC; Okota-AgoPalace Road; Ejigbo-Ajao Link Bridge,Network of roads aroundJimoh Ajao Street andIgando HOMS projectsite.

Other constructionsites inspected by thegovernor are that ofResettlement ReliefCamp, Igando, projectsat Alimosho GeneralHospital (School ofNursing and Hostelamong others) andSamuel Jinadu Street inOrile Agege, amongothers.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 33

Housing Finance

BRIEFSStories byYINKA KOLAWOLE

A primary mortgage bank(PMB), Abbey Building

Society Plc, has unveiled anew mortgage product that isexpected to facilitate ease ofhomeownership amongNigerians, especially the low-income earners.

A statement from the banknoted that the product, AbbeyHome Account, is intended tosimplify homeownership andenable all classes of homeseekers to buy or build theirown homes without stress.

Head of Marketing, AbbeyBuilding, Joy Coker-Akpojaro, said that theproduct, christened AbbeyHome Account, is intended tosimplify homeownership andenable all classes of homeseekers to buy or build theirown homes without stress.She said the product was

Delta courts investors with3 weeks C-of-O issuance

In a bid to attract investorsand tourists to the statewith a view to increasing

the revenue profile of thestate, Delta State governmenthas set a target of three weeksfor the issuance of Certificateof Occupancy on governmentallocated land and twomonths for private land.

Governor EmmanuelUduaghan disclosed thisrecently in Asaba, during thethe state’s EconomjcDashboard meeting - a peerreview mechanism made forself evaluation of governmentperformance, the deficienciesand how to overcome suchdeficiencies and improve onthe areas of strength ofministries, departments andagencies of the state.

He said the measurebecame necessary to removethe clogs hindering economicgrowth and development ofthe state as well as enablegovernment achieves its planto build a state with lessdependence on oil revenue.

“A target has been set thatwhen an applicant puts up anapplication for a certificate ofoccupancy for a private land,that applicant having doneeverything correctly must getthe certificate of occupancywithin two months. For agovernment land, thecertificate of occupancy mustbe obtained within threeweeks,” he said.

A statement released at theend of the meeting, also notedthat the governor directed thatwith effect from January 8,2013, any building erectedwithout a valid buildingpermit will be pulled downwithout notice.

Uduaghan asserted thatuncontrolled urbanisation,

flooding, sanitationchallenges and otherenvironmental problems facedin most towns and citiesacross the state could betraced to indiscriminateerection of buildings withoutvalid permits.

“Beginning from Tuesday,January 8, 2013, if a buildingis started without a buildingapproval or permit, thebuilding will be pulled down.An approval must be gottenfrom the Ministry of Landsbefore the construction of any

building is commenced,” hesaid.

The governor furtherwarned that any official foundissuing building permit whenall necessary requirements forthe issuance of such a permitare not met, would besanctioned.

He also announced thatlaws establishing the stateWaste Management Boardand Direct Labour Agencywould be reviewed to makethe two bodies report directlyto the Ministries of

Environment and Worksrespectively, so as toeliminate conflicts andensure better servicedelivery. In, addition, hepromised to reorganisethe Delta StateEnvironmental ProtectionAgency with a view tostrengthening it for betterservice delivery, addingthat a waste re-cyclingplant would be installed inthe next six and ninemonths in Asaba andWarri respectively.

Mortgage bank eases homeownership withnew product

conceived in keeping with thebank’s mission to provideaffordable housing finance toenable their customers to owntheir homes.

“Our mission in mortgagebanking business is toprovide homes to a vastnumber of Nigerians throughwell designed mortgageproducts and services thatoffer individuals, real estatepromoters and housingcooperatives well-structuredand competitively pricedhouses and mortgageproducts”, she said

Coker-Akpojaro said that themortgage bank’sunderstanding of the direneed for home ownership inNigeria, and the recognitionof housing as one of the basicneeds of man, informed thedesign of the product through

which every workingNigerian, employed or selfemployed, can achieve theirhousing need.

She noted that the productcomes in four differentvariants/categories includingBronze, Silver, Gold andPlatinum with a view toservice the interest of allclasses of people, especiallythe low income group.According to her, a subscriberin the Bronze category isexpected to open an accountwith as low as N6,000;contribute consistently for sixmonths and get a mortgageloan to buy or build a house;those in the Silver categoryare expected to open with aminimum balance of N10, 000and save for six months; whilesubscribers in the Gold

category are to open anaccount with a minimumbalance of N50, 000 andsave for six months.

“We also expect asubscriber to saveconsecutively for sixmonths withoutwithdrawal (savingsattracts 4 percent interest),and automatically, he orshe qualifies for amortgage at 19 percentinterest rate for a tenor of10 years”, she added.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer ofthe mortgage bank, Mrs.Rose Okwechime, saidfocuses on taking care ofthe low income andordinary people includingvulcanizers and women inthe market.

City Mall: BrollProperty re-emphasisessafety

Following the fire out-break at the Ikeja City

Mall in Lagos, penultimateweek, Broll Services Nigeria,managers of the Mall hasreiterated its commitment tosafety in the various mallsunder its management.

Speaking after the incidentat the Mr. Price Store, locatedwithin the Mall, ChiefExecutive Officer, BrollProperty, Mrs. ErejuwaGbadebo , “We always ensurethat we adhere to global bestpractices in facilitymanagement and propertyservices. This extends tocases of emergencymanagement and fireoutbreaks, and as evidencedby the control of the outbreakat Mr. Price, we always ensurethat the best mechanisms arein place to prevent or controlsuch scenarios.”

Although the cause of thefire is still being investigated,preliminary investigationspoint to a faulty power pointas the source of the outbreak.

Mr. Steve Idornigie,Operations Manager of theMall, assured that furtherassessment of the Mall’sprocess of fire detection,evacuation and control isbeing conducted.

BoA’s earningsshrink aftermortgagesettlements

Bank of America says itsfourth-quarter earningsshrank as it cleaned up oldproblems from its mortgageunit.

The bank made $367 millionin the last three months of2012 after paying preferreddividends, down from $1.6billion in the same period ayear ago. The earnings wereequivalent to 3 cents pershare. It took big chargesrelated to a settlement withthe government-backedmortgage lender Fannie Maeand a separate agreement inwhich it and other bankssettled governmentaccusations of wrongfulforeclosure practices. Theearnings were slightly betterthan the 2 cents per shareestimate of financial analystspolled by FactSet.

Revenue was dragged downby the Fannie Maesettlement. It fell to $19.6billion after stripping out anaccounting charge, down from$26.4 billion in the sameperiod a year ago.

By PROVIDENCE OBUH

* A state sponsored property development

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Business Economy

“The FederalGovernment plans toachieve 10,000 Megawattsof electricity generation byDecember, the Minister ofState for Power, MrsZainab Kuchi has said”.PUNCH, January I0, 2012p 23.

PROMISES MADEIN THE PAST“If a man deceives

you once, shame on him; iftwice; shame on you”. Thatwas a lesson we learnt inour youth; and one whichhopefully is still beingpassed to youngergenerations. Only byremembering whatgovernments havepromised and achieved canwe avoid being deceivedeach and every time. Withall due respects to MrsKuchi, she is restating apromise that had beenmade so many times in thelast thirteen years andwhich had never beenfulfilled. Because of that,the sane response to, whatshe believes is anastonishing announcementis to disbelieve it until it isachieved.

The Minister was alsoreported to haveannounced that thegeneration capacity stoodat 6,442MW by the end of2012. MeanwhileNigerians can recollect thePresident asking us tocelebrate the achievementof 4,520MW in December oflast year. The difference of900MW actual andpotential capacity has notbeen explained, anenduring characteristic of agovernment which doesnot believe in fulldisclosure. Thatdiscrepancy betweenclaimed 6,442MW andactual delivery of 4,520MW

Power, Promises andPerformance

should constitute thefoundation for doubting thegovernment once again.

What follows is briefhistorical review of what hadbeen promised; what hadbeen claimed and what hadactually been achieved in thepower sector since 1999. ThePresident of Nigeria, who ifhe was a Managing Directorreporting to the AnnualGeneral Meeting of acompany, with perceptiveinvestors, would have beenlaughed off the podium, aswell as the Minister of Statecan benefit from reading this.It would at least stop themfrom continuing to erodegovernment’s credibilitywhich it its main asset.

(a) Obasanjo/Bola Ige inI999. In July of 1999, lateChief Bola Ige, then Ministerof Power and Steel, and up tothat time a highly credibleindividual, announced toNigerians that by Decemberof that year, 1999, “powerfluctuation would be a thingof the past”. Slightly over ayear after, power fluctuationremained with us; Ige’scredibility was dented; theFederal government wasunder pressure to deliver. Thecabinet was reshuffled; outwent Ige, in came Lyel Imokeas Minister. Imoke was thefirst to announce that by 2007Nigeria would be generating10,000MW of power. Itremains elusive till today.

(b) Jonathan/Nnaji inAugust 2011, freshly

appointed as Minister ofPower, at the Conference ofNational Association ofEnergy Correspondents ofNigeria, NAEC, delivered apaper titled NIGERIA: AMIRACLE WAITING TOHAPPEN. In which heclaimed the following:

(i) Nigerian needs $100billion investment in thepower sector.

(ii) With that level ofinvestment Nigeria wouldgenerate 40,000MW ofelectricity by the year 2020.

(iii) Although Nigerialacks the capacity for theamount of investment, “Thiskind of money is available inthe international moneymarkets. Nigeria’s powersector can attract it”.

(iv) He also said that theFederal Government is notresting on its oars to achieve5,000MW by December [of2011] and to grow same insubsequent years.

(v) To demonstrate thatthe 40,000MW target claim inAugust was not a figment of

his imagination Professor BartNnaji, then Minister of Powerrepeated the claim in anarticle titled SHOW THELIGHT AND THE PEOPLEWILL FIND THE WAY; whichwas published in all theleading newspapers inDecember 2011.

(vi) In August 2012, theSpecial Assistant to theMinister of Power, on Media,Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe, said,“Public power supply inNigeria reached a peak of4,237MW”.

(vii) Thus, by August of20I2, we already had ashortfall of 763MW promisedfor December 2011 and 66%or 660MW of the promisedannual increase for 20I2. Totalshortfall by then was1,423MW.

(c) F e d e r a lGovernment’s Lies in August2012. It was bad enough thatgovernment was fallingbehind in delivering itspromises, what was worse wasthe lie that was officiallypublished by the President’s

appointees. In an advertorialpublished in the PUNCH onMonday, August 13, 20I2, oneOlusanya Awosan, MediaDirector, Office of the SeniorSpecial Assistant to thePresident (Public Affairs) inthe Presidency, made thisdeclaration. “Government hasimproved the powergeneration from under3,000MW in 2011 to 4,300MWby August 20I2”. Notcontented with that falsedeclaration, the samespokesman for the Presidencyfurther made the followingstatement. “Therefore, whenthe I0NIPP projects are fullyon stream, which will bewithin the next few months,the total national generationcapacity will not be less than9,000MW”.

Why a government whichpromised 5,000MW byDecember of 2011, and furtherannual increases, would askus to clap for the delivery of4,300MW by August 2012 is amystery. More mysterious isthe penchant for forgetfulnessor deliberate misstatement offacts by Jonathan’sgovernment. Mr Awosan, likevirtually every official of thisgovernment naturally forgotthat as early as 2010,Professor Nnaji had toldNigerians, in what wastagged the Road Map that “allthe entire nation has today (asgeneration capacity) is4,200MW”. More importantly,the former Minister of Powerhad assured the nation that,“In the period up to April2011, it is expected that therewill be enough gas suppliedto power producers …tosupport the targeted increaseto actual generation capacityto 7,000megawatts”.

Even a child knows that MrAwosan and his boss, whomust have approved thepublication, were lying.

,

,The difference of 900MW

actual and potential capacityhas not been explained, anenduring characteristic of agovernment which does notbelieve in full disclosure

We want to boost Nigeria’s local furniture industry —Okobie

Chairman ofl e a d i n gfurniture making

company in Nigeria,Southwood Limited, formerlyOfficeDepot, Mr PatrickOkobie has joined his voiceto calls from theManufactures Association ofNigeria, MAN, on the needfor federal government toquickly address Nigeria’s fastdwindling localmanufacturing sector, sayingthat his company ’sunwavering service wouldboost the nation’s localfurniture making industry.

Mr Okobie made this callduring the unveiling of hiscompany’s new name andlogo in Lagos recently.

According to him, thecompany changed its namefrom OfficeDepot toSouthwood, to reflect thetransformation and expansionthat has taken place in theorganisation.

He described the furnituremarket as ‘very large andexpandable’ but regretted thatthe potentials of the sub-sector were yet to be fullytapped due to lack of financeand government support.

He however called on thegovernment to provide smalland medium entrepreneurs,SME’s with single digitinterest loans to enable themgrow the furniture market.According to him, localfurniture makers cannot

survive without access tofinance.

The Southwood boss notedthat before now, peoplepreferred imported pieces offurniture to locally made dueto differences in quality andprice. He however, expressedsatisfaction that his companyhas been to provide qualityand affordable furniture toindividuals and organisationsacross the country.

“Actually, for years,individuals and businesses insearch of affordable furniturehad to sacrifice aesthetics andfunctionality to stay withinbudget; and we felt the needto offer a balance. Thus,Southwood was set up to

bridge the gap betweenquality and affordability.

“Our primary goal is tprovide complete customersatisfaction, guaranteedcomfort and quality ataffordable prices, withimmediate delivery of all in-stock items. The quality of ourproducts is higher and betterthan most of the importedones and they can stand outanywhere in the world interms of quality, durabilityand affordability.”

Okobie who recalled thatSouthwood was established in2002 mainly as an importingfirm but transformed from amere importing company to aformidable indigenousfurniture manufacturer.

He said the reasons for thenew name and logo was toreflect the expansion andgrowth recorded over theyears, adding that retainingthe former name(OfficeDepot) would give the publicthe impression that thecompany was still animporting outfit.

“However, it has becomenecessary to let the publicknow that this organisationhas grown so big that it nowproduces world class furnitureusing best machineryavailable.

It is the same company,same people providing samequality and value-addedservices”, he noted.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 35

CMYK

Appointmentsvicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

UBA Capital Plc, Africa Prudential Registrars Plc, AfrilandProperties Plc get new boards

NEW boardmembers have

been announced forAfrica PrudentialRegistrars Plc, UBACapital Plc and AfrilandProperties following theUnited Bank for Africa,UBA’s recentrestructuring that spunoff investment banking,insurance, registrar and

real estate businesses.The Board of Directors

of UBA Capital Plc, theinvestment banking,insurance, trustees,stock broking and wealthmanagement entitywhich is composed ofhighly experiencedbankers and businessleaders, include : Ms.Angela Aneke,

*Peter O. Ashade,Managing Director/CEO

Rasheed Olaoluwa,Group CEO, UBACapital

(Chairperson) Mr.Rasheed Olaoluwa(Managing Director/CEO), Ambassador J.K.Shinkaiye, Mr. ChikaMordi, Mr. Yoro Diallo(Senegalese), Mrs.Stella Kilonzo (Kenyan)and Mr. Adim Jibunoh.

Rasheed Olaoluwa,Managing Director/CEO,a first class graduate incivil engineering, bringsmarket leadingexperience as a banker,with more than twodecades in retail andinvestment banking.

The Boardappointments for AfricaPrudential Registrarsinclude: Mrs. EniolaF a d a y o m i(Chairperson), PeterAshade (ManagingDirector/CEO), Mrs.Ammuna Lawan Ali,Mrs. Yinka Abiodun,Mr. Sam Nwanze.

Peter Ashade wasManaging Director ofUBA Registrars, theprecursor of AfricaPrudential Registrars.

He holds a Bachelor ofScience degree in

Banking and Financeand an MBA fromObafemi AwolowoUniversity, Ile-Ife.

On the other hand, theBoard of AfrilandProperties Plc iscomposed of EreluAngela Adebayo(Chairperson), Mr. IkeOgbue, Ms. YinkaOgunsilire, Mr. SamNwanze and Mrs.Uzoamaka Oshogwe.

Afriland Properties Plc(formerly UBAProperties) is a realestate company that

develops commercialand residentialproperties for sale andrental purposes.

Mrs. Oshogwe hasbeen appointed theManaging Director/CEO Afriland PropertiesPlc.

She holds an M.Sc.Information SystemsDesign and has over 22years experience,covering banking, realestate management andconsulting, includingworking with Accenturein the United Kingdom.

NECA names OniDirector of learning,development

MANAGEMENTof Nigeria

Employers’ ConsultativeAssociation, NECA, hasapproved the promotionof Mrs. Celine Oni tothe position of theDirector, Learning andDevelopment, L&D.Before her promotionshe was the Head, L&D.

Oni held the positionas the Head, L&D forfive months before shewas elevated to theActing Director of thesame department.

She joined NECA as aSenior Executive, L&Din December 2005 andhas in the past 7yearsbeen in theManagement Position ofNECA.

Oni

Oni has significantlycontributed to theactualization of thestrategic goals andobjectives of NECA.

Some of hercontributions to NECAwere She developedTraining ProgrammesModules to meet needsof NECA Companies,Representative of theorganization on Counciland Committees ofGovernment Agencies,p a r a s t a t a l s ,Departments, Trainingprogramme Facilitationon various topics inHuman Resource andCommunication

Mrs Celine Oni has aMasters Degree inBusiness Administrationfrom Obafemi AwolowoUniversity and aMasters Degree inIndustrial & LabourRelations from theUniversity Of Lagosand she is also anInternational LabourOrganisation, ILO,Trained Trainer.

She has attendedseveral Capacity buildingtrainings and Meetingswithin and outsideNigeria. Amongst whichare: 11thAfricanRegional Meeting, AddisAbaba – 2007.

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

People in Business

I can turn waste to wealth —Uchenna Igwe

BY EBELE ORAKPO

You may not getall the knowledgeyou need from theclassroom, theteacher will justgive you the basicprinciple and it isleft for you tobuild on it

,

,

•Mr. Igwe displaying some of the bumpers.Inset is Igwe stressing a point.

Mr. Uchenna Igwe isthe Director, UcheLinks Glass Fibre, a

company that is into manu-facturing of fibre frames,motorcycle parts and motorspare parts such as carbumpers. In this chat withFinancial Vanguard in Nnewirecently. Igwe speaks on hiswork, noting that the majorchallenge is funds. Excerpts:

According to Mr. Igwe, uponleaving St. Patrick’s College,Enugu where he had his sec-ondary school education, hedecided to go and learn atrade.“I have always loved to cre-ate things so I can boldly sayit is in the blood. Although Iunderwent some form of train-ing, but you know how it is;you may not get all the knowl-edge you need from the class-room, the teacher will justgive you the basic principleand it is left for you to buildon it. You discover that some-times, you do even better thanyour teacher at the end of theday because it is your talent.I can take waste and turn it towealth,” he said.

Area of specialisation:“Apart from bumpers, we alsobuild bodies of vehicles likeluxury buses, Mack trucks etc,as long as they are made ofglass fibre. We repair brokendown parts as well. A lot ofcars are made of fibre. Thesemodern luxury buses, hum-mer jeeps, modern gates, ceil-ings etc are made of fibre. Wemake the mould, build andthen supply,” he said, adding; “For instance, I can turn amotor part that has been com-pletely destroyed into a brandnew one. There will not be anydifference between it and abrand new one. They bring invehicles that had accident forrepairs and if the body of thevehicle is made of glass fibre,we repair it and it becomes asgood as new. I also producestatues, moulds for balusters,and hangers with fibre whichare then used to producehand-rests.” Apart from the five employ-ees, he said he also assists fi-nal-year students from vari-ous tertiary institutions intheir final year projects.“I also train some young peo-ple who are interested in thebusiness. Some students comehere for their final yearprojects and we assist them.I had some students from theFederal University of Technol-ogy Owerri recently who camefor their project. Anything you want to pro-duce, just give us the sample,we use the sample and pro-duce the mould. I can makeany type of mould as long as

it is to be made of glass fibre.

Startup capital; After he completed his train-ing, Igwe said he had no mon-ey to set up his own outfit sohe had to work for someone tobe able to raise capital.Said he; “I started with virtu-ally nothing. Upon completionof my training, I had no mon-ey to start my own business so I started working for some-one. From there; I began topick up scraps. I would go toOnitsha, to mechanic work-shops to pick up scraps, I workon the scraps and turn them tobrand new products and thenI sell to buyers. After sometime, I was able to raise some cap-ital to buy 20 litres of resin fromLagos and began to work onmy own. As time went on, Ibegan to buy the chemical indrums and was able to employworkers. Now I have about fiveemployees.”

Clients:“I supply customers in Benin,Enugu, Onitsha, Nnewi; thesecustomers then sell to end-us-ers, people who are into motorparts. When a customer uses youproduct and it is good, he rec-ommends it to friends and re-lations and he will keep com-ing back to you.Like those I supply in Enugu,they supply Abakaliki marketand other places. My Onitshacustomers supply Cameroon

and other places so whenyour product is good, youcannot afford to sell anotherproduct in its place. For ex-ample, if you are in Onitshaand you buy from me and yousell to a customer from Cam-eroon, if the Cameroon guycalls you to get him the sameproduct, you will look for meto buy the product but if yougive him one from anotherplace, he may reject it. Goodname is better than silverand gold so we try to main-tain our good name throughhigh quality products with-out compromise.

Sourcing raw materials;On the source of raw materi-als, he noted that most of the

raw materials can be sourcedlocally. “We source raw ma-terials both from within andoutside the country. We getraw materials like calciumpowder and accelerator local-ly.We can also get resin fromwithin and outside the coun-try but those of us that are into

production prefer the foreignresin although not all foreignresins are good but we use thegood ones that give us exactlywhat we want.”

Challenges:

Speaking on the challenges facing the business,

Igwe said paucity of funds isthe major challenge. “Lack offunds is our major problem.The demand is so high and wecannot meet up because of lackof funds. You know, when wesupply our customers, we waitfor them to pay up before go-ing to buy materials to producemore but if we have enoughmoney, we will be able to meetup.”

Four millionaires emerge in Sterling Bank Saver's promoBY JONAH NWOKPOKU

Four customers of SterlingBank have won N1 mil-

lion each in the final draw ofthe saver ’s promo. A starprize of Toyota SUV jeep wasalso won.The four customers are; EnilariOladipupo Adeniyi of NnewiBuilding branch, AnambraState, Musa Adamu of Mur-tala Mohammed Way (Kano)branch, Adeleke OlusegunOlorundare of IBD Secretari-at-ETB branch, Ibadan andNunu Janet Aduke of EffurumETB branch in Detlta State. The draw which was held at

the bank’s headquarters in La-gos also produced Amadi-NnaHoma from Trans-Amadibranch, Port Harcourt as thewinner of the Toyota SUV jeepstar prize, in the first prizecategory, while the secondprize category, which had theN1 million prize, producedthe millionaires. The thirdprize which was N500,000 forfour customers went to Bad-mus Dauda Adegbenro ofAromire branch, Edo State,Danjuma Umar Ringim of Ko-fan Ruwa branch, Kano, Law-al Kadijat R & Maruf R of Dug-be branch and Nkiri Enyam

Denis, a local council chairman,of Calabar, Cross River State.The 10 consolation prizes alsowent to the bank’s 10 custom-ers across the country. The winner of the Toyota SUVjeep star prize had to save andmaintain a minimum accountbalance of N100,000 for threemonths; the four millionaireson the other hand had tomaintain a minimum accountbalance of N50,000 each forthree months while theN500,000 winners had tomaintain a minimum accountbalance of N25,000 each, toqualify and be selected win-ners.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 37

Agric

BRIEF

W ith a growingpopulation that isexpected to hit

400million people by 2050,the question agitating theminds of people is how are wegoing to feed ourselves?

Some are of the opinion thatexcept we use modern toolsof science and technology toincrease yield, increaseresistance of crops to draughtand to diseases and pests thatwe can not achieve foodsufficiency.

But others are arguing thatthe traditional method offarming has not failed us butthat the system has failed tomake it workable by refusingto fund it and that technologywill pollute the environment.

Despite the arguments forand against the introductionof biotechnology in Nigeria,the proponents for theadoption of technology arenot relenting as they feel thatit holds the ace to thecountry’s food problem.

One of the proponents saidthat genetically modified(GM) foods would boostagricultural productivity byassisting in the developmentof new crops and incombating insects thatdestroy plants and animals.

Genetically modified(GM) foods are produced,using the technology ofGenetically ModifiedOrganisms (GMOs). GMOsare organisms whose geneticmaterial (gene) has beenaltered, using geneticengineering techniques.

Dr. Abba Y. Abdullah, anAgricultural and NaturalResources Consultant oncestated that, “Technology-based agriculture is the futureof agriculture in West Africa.We need to improve ourproductivity to ensure foodsecurity because foodinsecurity and concerns overlivelihood and resources arebehind many of the conflictswe are having in West Africa.Without technological inputsand biotechnology, there is noway we can achieve foodsecurity in West Africa.”

Diran Makinde, Director of NEPAD agency of Africa BioSafety Network of Expertise in an interview with thisreporter in Arusha last yearsaid the percentage of smallscale farmers are actually verylarge as they rangebetween 70 and 80 %.

“We know that these are thegroups of farmers that are notexposed to any form oftechnology, they have beenusing the same form ofpractice for many years. Andit is high time we developedthe attitude of actuallyadopting technology to

Nigeria can't afford toneglect biotechnology inagric —experts

BY JIMOH BABATUNDEwith agency reports

improve the quality of life ofour farmers.

“So this is one of the reasonswe need to drive it home toour government especiallyand other stakeholders thatwe need to harness scienceand technology in Africadevelopment.”

Prof. Diran Makende addedthat Africa and Nigeria inparticular, needs the newtechnology as it ensures foodand environmental security.

“When you look at thepopulation of Nigeria, if wecan embrace the innovation,we can be assured of foodsecurity.

“We need this tool to actuallymake our food secure,” hesaid.

Prof. Eucharia Kenya, anexpert in biotechnology andScience Communication, inan interview said“Biotechnology guaranteesfood security and allows us todevelop new crops, new typesof animals as well as preventinfectious insects in ourenvironment.

“Most of our crops cannotsurvive due to some insectswhich are depending onthese crops as their own food;with the application of thistechnology, crops and otherorganisms will survive.

“Due to the Africanenvironment, insects haveoverpowered crops andanimals, but with the newtechnology, our environment,crops and other organisms aresaved.”

B i o t e c h n o l o g i c a lintervention can help revamp

and boost Nigeria’s cottonproduction, according to Prof.Chris Echekwu, a plantscientist from the Institute forAgricultural Research (IAR),Ahmadu Bello University(ABU).

He said this in a paperpresented on the prospects ofenhanced cotton productionwith the use of biotechnologyduring the Open Forum onAgricultural Biotechnology(OFAB) in Katsina state lastyear.

But for Nigeria to adopt theuse of modern biotechnologytools in agriculture there mustbe a biosafety law.

President Goodluck

Jonathan assenting thebill on biosafety as passedby the National Assemblywill launch the countryinto the production andcommercialization ofGenetically ModifiedOrganisms (GMO) withthe capacity to increasecrop production, ensurefood security, and improverural livelihoods.

The House ofRepresentative passed thebill in 2010 and theSenate did same in 2011,but the President has notassented to it since thensaid a source

“The passage of the billwill be great,” said DrOyekanmi Nash, ProgramDirector, and West AfricanBiotechnology WorkshopSeries. “Biotechnologyholds the key to some ofour problems inagriculture and health,and the earlier we tap intoit, the better,” he added.

Prof. Bamidele Solomon,the Director-General,National BiotechnologyDevelopment Agency(NABDA), believes thatthe adoption of GMOs inNigeria would increasethe farmers’ yield andincome as well as help inchecking youthunemployment.

If the biosafety bill isassented to, Nigeria willjoin other African nations,such as Burkina Faso,Egypt, and South Africa incultivating GMO crops.

,

,

‘Agric sectorhas potentialto attracthugefinancing’

The Minister ofAgriculture and Rural

Development, Dr,AkinwumiAdesina, has said thatsignificant reforms have to beembarked upon in theagricultural sector to make itattractive to lending.

He disclosed this Abujaduring the MoU signingceremony on NigerianIncentives-based RiskSharing system forAgricultural Lending(NIRSAL) involving theministry, the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) and UnitedStates Agency forInternational Development(USAID).

Dr. Adesina, who observedthat the implementation of theMoU would address the issueof low lending rate to theagriculture sector, added thatthe effort would further get thebanks to lend to the farmersas it would reduce the risk oflending. He said “NIRSALcan unlock about N300 billioninto the sector but we have toembark on significant reformsthat can make the sectorattractive to lending.”

In a release signed by Dr.Olukayode Oyeleye, SpecialAssistant Media to theMinister, the MoU wassigned under the CBN’sNIRSAL, which provides riskmitigation, financing,trading, and other strategicassistance to agribusiness, aprogramme which waslaunched in July 2011 inAbuja.

The CBN Governor, MalamSanusi Lamido Sanusi, at theoccasion, said the MoU wasa landmark achievement of the apex bank in its effort toensure enhanced agriculturalsector in the country. Sanusisaid that commercial banks,with the recent development,would lend to farmers withoutmuch losses as the incentivewould go a long way toreduce the risk in business.

“NIRSAL,: he said, “willhelp the banks to diversify;and the banking industrycannot develop on asustainable basis unless itlocks itself intoproduction. So we say let’sgo to agriculture,manufacturing, SMEs andalso into financial inclusionand development which iscentral to financial stability.”

The CBN governor wentfurther, saying that the apexbank would meet with themanaging directors of banksand the minister of agriculture to evaluate theimplementation and theprogress so far made.

Biotechnologyguaranteesfood securityand allowsus todevelop newcrops, newtypes ofanimals aswell aspreventinfectiousinsects inourenvironment

*Rice farm

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013 — 39

Advertising, Media & Marketing

BRIEFSCity Mall Alausanot gutted byfire—ICMmanagement

Contrary to reports in thedailies, the

management of the Ikeja CityMall (ICM) has refutedreports by the media that themall was gutted by fire.

The management of theMall said the fire incidentreported was occasioned byan electrical fault emanatingfrom one of the stores in thebuilding and not the buildingas reported in some media.

The fire, according to Mr.Steve Idornigie theOperations Manager of theICM, said the Store Managerreported the incident to himand emergency staffresponded immediately.

“The process of evacuationwas swift,” he said. “Thecustomers conductedthemselves in an orderlyfashion and allowed theemergency services people todo their work.”

On what caused the fire,Mr. Steve said frompreliminary investigations, itseems the fire emanated froman electric power point.However investigations, hesaid are ongoing to ascertainthe cause of the fire.

NPC unveilsVision 20:2020campaign

Nigeria Vision 20:2020got a boost with the

commencement of asensitization campaign aimedat educating Nigerians onthe broad goals and objectivesof the Nigeria Vision 20:2020.

The radio campaign whichis currently running acrossmajor radio stations, panNigeria is one in the manycommunication executionsthat have been outlined toenlighten Nigerians about theseriousness of the FederalGovernment through theMinistry of National Planningto ensure Nigeria becomesone of the top 20 economiesof the world by year 2020.

Frontline, MultidisciplinaryMarketing Communicationsfirm, Verdant Zeal who got thenod of the NPC to act as itscommunications agency aftera keenly contested pitch in2010 created the jinglesproduced in Pidgin andEnglish, with extensions tokey local languages in orderto address the ethno-culturaland religious demographics ofthe country.

Dana’s return: Customers'expectationStories byPRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

Prior to Dana Air's crash of June 3, 2012

which claimed 153lives on board, it’s vision wasto be Nigeria’s most reliableand customer friendly airline.

It’s mission likewise was toearn the loyalty and respect ofits customers by consistentlydemonstrating commitment toservice and providingaffordable regional airtransport services.

These promises graduallyfizzled out with the air crash.Today, a new lease of lifeneeds to be injected into theairline to once again restoretrust and confidence to thebrand. Presently insinuationsin the sector is that Nigerianeeds more Dana brands,even though its fares arerelatively higher on its routes,which has been reduced,another tool deployed to getback at its customers.

This was why at a recentbriefing to align the mediawith what it intends doing towin back customers' respectand confidence the airlinelisted steps already taken,aside marketing tools to beemployed by the Airline todouse off tension which willencompass a 360 degreemarketing strategy.

Some customers of theairline say they want theairline to carry out a total re-certification of their airlinerswhich is the norm whenaccidents happen, along withother steps required byAviation authorities. All these,Tony Usidamen, Head,Corporate Communications,said has been followed to the

latter, “a process of re-certification by the NigerianCivil Aviation Authority(NCAA) has been taken, heenthused. Re-certification, hesaid, is a standard safetymeasure taken by Airlineauthorities to ensure that allthe aircraft in its fleet are fullyserviceable, and Dana Air hasbeen cooperating fully in theexercise as if they we arestarting all over again.” he

stated.Continuing, he said, “We

have to go through the fivephases of re-certification. Wehad to do a 50 hoursdemonstration flight, thereason for this is to ensure thatwhen we carry passengers wefollow all the processes fromticketing to checking, tosecurity, to boardingincluding the inflightservices, the take off and

landing, that is what ademonstration flight is,that was successfullycompleted on Oct 2012and we were issued ournew air operator certificateon December 5, 2012.”

Of the five Aircraft in itsfleet, three are currentlyon ground at MMA2 andhave undergone thoroughinternal engine inspectionand systems by NCAA,while the other two areundergoing scheduled C-Checks in Istanbul, Turkeyand Miami, Florida, asinvestigation depicts .

The airline has alsoorganised an independentinspection of all its Aircraftby Aircraft Leasing andManagement (ALM) – anAviation consulting firmbased in the UnitedKingdom, enthused ObiMbanuzuo, HeadCommercial of DanaAirline.

A five-year contract hasbeen signed with FLYHTAerospace SolutionsLimited for its flagshipautomated informationreporting system (AFIRS)228 at an estimated1million USD. The contractrequires the Canadianfirm to install the AFIRS228 on all the five (5)Boeing MD-83 aircraft inits fleet to provide real-time flight data monitoringand to assist in achievingmaintenance andoperational efficiencies.

Station inspectionsincluding operationsoffices, engineering storesand maintenance facilitieshave been completed.

StarTimes deploys M50 mobile phone TV...offers ASS service

Startime, a digital pay TVprovider said its

introducing to market its nlatest mobile phone; M50Mobile TV phone and thelaunch of its free After SalesService (ASS) as part of itsnew year incentive.

This new StarTimes M50Mobile TV Phone accordingto the company has betterfeatures of 3.2 resistive touchscreens, QVGA resolution thatbrings a distinctive visualexperience. The pay Tvprovider says the phonecomes with dual Sim for easycommunication with twoNetworks, whilst explainingits battery life is with ultralong standby time of 1400mah battery and supportsmany exciting functions ofMP3, FM radio, Multimedia,Bluetooth, Facebook, Operamini and lots more with threemonths subscription.

You can also watch theAfrican cup of nations andmany more ultimateentertaining channels. The

clear vivid Images andamazing smooth visualexperience will help youenjoy stunning 12 Digital TVChannels to its fullest whichincludes Eurosport news,Aljazeera, BBC News, FOX,NTA24 (News, sport), Kungfuetc. This Mobile service isonly opened for those inLagos and Abujaenvirons,assured thecompany.

Speaking, AnetorNehemiah PR Manager ofStarTimes at the briefingheralding the introduction ofthe new phone said thatStarTimes as a caring brandwith aspiration to ensuringquality digital TV experinecefor its subscribers willaccompany the introduction ofthe new product with door-to-door after sales service- thisunveils the originality andselfless service of the brandas its major concern is not justto provide digital televisionexperience, but also showcare and give needed support

to its users.The free door to door

after sales duties include;outdoor antennalinstallation to subscriberson purchase of thedecoder, product usage,technical assistance andother services required tobe delivered. On purchaseof the decoder, thebusiness hall managers orsales rep at our businessoutlets will find out andinform you if your locationneeds an outdoor antennaand contact the nearestDoor to Door service agentwhose contact will bepasted on your decoder asa sticker to help you withthe Installation at no extracost at all. 72 hours afterpurchase of Startimesdecoder, the call centre /customer care calls to getfeedback from thesubscriber to ensure goodsignal accpetance andmaximum satisfaction ofthe subscriber.

*From Left: Tony Usidamen, Head, Corporate Communications and Obi Mbanuzuo, HeadCommercial of Dana Airline addressing newsmen on what the airline has done so far torestore respect and confidence in the Dana brand in Lagos.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

CMYK

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Acting Finance EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Head, Capital MarketYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Capital Market ReporterOscarline Onwuemenyi - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterAmaka Abayomi - Money market ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.comBlog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.com

Tel:0817 002 3569

Business & Economy,

,

The first anniversary ofthe 2012 “OccupyNigeria” fuel subsidy

protest was marked recentlyin Lagos by Pastor Bakare-led‘Save Nigeria Group’ with alecture titled “Nigeria’s Fiscaland Monetary Crisis: the WayForward”. The occasionafforded Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) theopportunity to publicly defendits failure to create anenabling environment forindustries and businesses tobloom, in consonance with itscore mandate for pricestability. The major indicatorsof price stability, of course,relate to conducive lowsingle-digit interest rates forbank loans and an even lowerrate of inflation.

CBN commended its ownperformance on these indiceswhen compared with othereconomies in West Africa!Why they chose to benchmarktheir performance againstducks, when indeed theyshould be aspiring to beeagles remains unclear;however, it is clear that nonation grows with interestand inflation rates at over 20%and 12% respectively, withinexplicable currencydepreciation.

In order to compensate forits failure to enthrone anenabling monetary strategy,the CBN reported itsinvolvement in severalprojects such as the cash-litepolicy and various selectivebailout packages involvinghundreds of billions of naira.

THE PARADOX OF TOO MUCH MONEY AND DEEPENING POVERTY

The source of these hugebailout funds including theN1bn donation to a particularuniversity remains a mystery,while the subsectorbeneficiaries of these fundsstill remain comatose.

The CBN rejectedresponsibility for our nation’spoor infrastructural base, aswell as blame for the inabilityto diversify production in oureconomy. Undoubtedly,however, the agricultural,aviation, textile,

fallacy of this argument wasobviously ignored, as recklessdepreciation of the naira fromstronger than parity to aboutN160:$1 has obviously had anegative rather than apositive growth impact onexports and other sectors ofour Nigerian economy. TheCBN certainly misses thepoint that demand for oil, ourmajor export, does notdepend on naira exchangerate!

Indeed, CBN’s

exists side by side with failureof the real sector to accessadequate and cheap funds!Besides, there was nosatisfactory explanation whyCBN combats inflation byborrowing back perceivedexcess cash in the economyfrom commercial banks atrates above 12%, only towarehouse the loans as idlefunds. It is inexplicable thatany commodity would becomemore expensive whenever themarket is awash with asurplus of that item!

The apex bank obviously hasno regrets that it crowds outthe real sector by borrowingat outrageous levels ofinterest rate while such risk-free sovereign borrowings insuccessful economieselsewhere generally attractlower single-digit interestrates; rate levels, which CBNinsisted were inapplicable inour state of development!!

Incidentally, the directorsfailed to fault my observationthat CBN’s inability toachieve its core mandate ofprice stability is actually theproduct of its poormanagement of moneysupply! It is nonetheless,irrefutable that the ever-present burden of excessliquidity induces heavygovernment borrowings athigh interest rates and alsofuels inflation rate. Theabiding cash surplus isregularly pitched againstrelatively paltry dollarauctions by CBN, and thisultimately also depreciates

naira’s exchange rate!Incidentally, CBN’s alleged

‘unholy trinity’ of interest,inflation and exchange rateshave a common causativeinfluence; i.e. the ever-present scourge of excessliquidity.

Instructively, massivereduction or total eliminationof excess liquidity willactually create a ‘holy trinity’of lower single digit interestand inflation rates and alsoengender a stronger naira, allof which constitute therequisite profile for anenabling economicenvironment for growth anddevelopment.

Furthermore, the poison ofexcess liquidity is notadministered by increasedgovernment spending, asoften alleged, but by CBN’scapture of the nation’s dollarrevenue and substitution withnaira allocations to the threetiers of government.

The CBN’s claim that theyare compelled by theconstitution to substitutenaira allocation for dollarrevenue is certainly notsubstantiated by Section 162of the constitution, whichreally does not constrain thethree tiers of government frommaintaining domiciliaryaccounts just like any othercitizen.

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVENIGERIANS!!

transportation and othersubsectors would certainly bemuch stronger if they hadaccess to much cheaperfunds. Indeed, Nigeria’spaltry annual capital budgetof barely $9bn is a clearindication that our hope forrapid infrastructuralenhancement is better placedon private sector funding.

Nonetheless, CBN boastedthat only the uninformedwould demand a strongernaira rate of exchange! The

understanding of its coremandate of price stabilityseems related primarily tomodulation of excessive highand low cycles in the levelsof interest and inflation ratesrather than the promotion ofenabling rates as inindustrialized and successfuleconomies elsewhere!

Sadly, the CBN also failedto justify why Nigeria’seconomy has remained victimof surplus cash for decades,or indeed, why excess cash

The poison of excess liquidityis not administered by increasedgovernment spending, as oftenalleged, but by CBN’s captureof the nation’s dollar revenueand substitution with nairaallocations to the three tiers ofgovernment.

Encourage by the need tofoster better

relationship betweenmerchants and cardholders,Interswitch, Nigeria’sleading integrated paymentand transaction processingcompany, has introduced theReward Money loyaltyprogramme in partnershipwith merchants to rewardcardholders. Customers whomake cashless payments withVerve cards are awardedReward Money for purchasesmade at merchant locations.

According to the Director ofSwitching and Processing atInterswitch, Mr. AkeemLawal at the official launch oftrhe programme at merchantlocations at Ikeja Shoppingmall Reward Money is aninnovative merchant loyaltyscheme, which allows Vervecardholders to get instantrewards while using their

Interswitch partners merchants, rewards Verve cardholderscards at merchant locations.

“This is first of its kindloyalry programme inNigeria as it allowscustomers to earn RewardMoney based on eachmerchant’s pre-agreedReward Money allocation.The Reward Money earned isinstantly converted tospendable money on thecustomer’s card. The receiptobtained from the merchantsPOS shows the RewardMoney earned and the totalReward Money balanceaccumulated”, he said.

He added that the solutionhas been designed to be“simple to use, simple to earnand simple to redeem” and itis also very easy to set up forthe merchant. It is very easyfor the merchant to use andoperate as it is automated andrequires minimal humaninteraction from the Merchant

and Cardholders.The PoS terminal recognises

the cardholder andautomatically awards themerchant specified RewardMoney to the cardholderbased on the amount spent.The more money the customerspends at the merchant usinga Verve card, the moreReward Money earned.

The money earned caninstantly be spent or “burned”to buy products or servicesfrom the merchant or it can beaccumulated to be spent laterat the same merchant or atany of the other RewardMoney enabled locations.

He said Reward Money isspecially designed to foster abetter relationship betweenmerchants and theircustomers. With RewardMoney merchants would beable to reward customersbased on the amount they

spend and customers will beencouraged to spend more atthe merchant’s location usingtheir cards.

The Reward Money

merchant determines theamount of Reward Money tobe given, which can be asmuch as 20% of total purchasevalue to the cardholder.