Take strong action to stem oil theft, IMF tasks FG

CMYK

MARCH 10, , , , , 20142014201420142014

CHBO DINNER - From left: Uju Ogubunka, Registrar, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN); Anogwi Anyanwu, Executive Director, MainstreetBank; Caroline Anyanwu, Executive Director, Risk Management & Control, Diamond Bank and Ben Onyido, former Director, Currency Operations, CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Committee of Heads of Bank Operations (CHBO) Annual Dinner in Lagos.

THE International MonetaryFund (IMF) Executive Board,has advised the Federal

Government to take strong action toaddress oil theft and productionlosses. IMF also advised the

Take strong action tostem oil theft, IMFtasks FG

By OMOH GABRIEL,Business Editor

government to strengthen Nigerianoil industry regulatory framework bypassing a sound Petroleum IndustryBill with enhanced oversight andtransparency provisions. It said thatthe framework for anti-moneylaundering and combating thefinancing of terrorism could supportthese efforts.

IMF in its review of the Nigerian

economy in its Article IV, 2014 releasedweekend urged the government to alsohighlight the need to improve oilrevenue management by completingthe transition from the Excess CrudeAccount to the Sovereign Wealth Fund.These measures, it said, should besupported by full implementation ofthe Treasury Single Account and the

Continues on page 18

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 07/03/2014

108.31 +0.76

102.49 +0.93

197.00 +2.20 2,963.00 +25.00

17.94 -0.38

DOLLAR 154.75 155.25 155.75STERLING 258.3706 259.2054 260.0402EURO 212.967 213.6551 214.3432FRANC 174.8983 175.4634 176.0285YEN 1.5191 1.524 1.5289CFA 0.3059 0.3159 0.3259WAUA 238.6622 239.4333 240.2044RENMINBI 25.1859 25.2677 25.2677RIYAL 41.2612 41.3945 41.5278KRONA 28.5343 28.6265 28.7187SDR 239.429 240.2028 240.9764

Urges govt to cut oil subsidy, rebuild fiscal buffers,curtail waivers, boost non-oil revenue

Cover Story

CMYK

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

Continued from page 17

Continues on page 19

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*From left: Jack Doan, Transaction Banking, Sales Manager, Chinese Client Standard Char-tered Bank, Jiang Ping Ping, China Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria, Remi Oni, ExecutiveDirector, Client Coverage, Standard Chartered Bank and Peng Gen Fang, Chief Finance Con-troller, CCECC Nigeria Limited during the 2014 The Chines of The Horse celebration in Abuja.

Nigeria faces a number ofchallenges that can only

be met if it has innovative,well-educated andentrepreneurial citizens who,whatever their walk of life, havethe spirit and inquisitivenessto think in new ways, and thecourage to meet and adapt tothe challenges facing them.Moreover, a dynamic economy,which is innovative and ableto create the jobs that areneeded, will require a greaternumber of young people whoare willing and able to becomeentrepreneurs, young peoplewho will launch andsuccessfully develop their owncommercial or social ventures,or who will become innovatorsin the wider organisations inwhich they work. Becauseeducation is the key to shapingyoung people’s attitudes, skills

Entrepreneurialeducation revolution:An imperative for sustainabledevelopment in Nigeria: Part 2

and culture, it is vital thatentrepreneurship education isaddressed from an early age.Entrepreneurship education isessential not only to shape themindsets of young people butalso to provide the skills andknowledge that are central todeveloping an entrepreneurialculture.

It is important we embracethis ‘global age’ paradigm inour education system as it hasbeen done in China, India,Australia, Europe, U.S.A andof late, the Asian tigers(Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwanand the Koreas).The mostadvanced form of this newmodel is what is referred to as‘TEACHERPRENEUR’ whichBill Gates was referring to in2010 when he said ‘five yearsfrom now on the web, you willbe able to find the best lecturesin the world and it will bebetter than any singleuniversity.’

This involves embeddingentrepreneurial education intoeducation and training right

from the primary school tosecondary school and tertiaryinstitution. The essence of thisis because education is key toshaping young people’sattitudes, skills and culture, itis vital that entrepreneurialeducation is addressed froman early age, besides, age isno barrier to entrepreneurshipas Tony Hsieh of Zapposstarted selling worms from rawmud when he was nine yearsold, Steve Job, RichardBranson and Mark Zuckerbergof the Facebook fame all startedoff as young entrepreneurs.

The time is ripe for us as acountry to stop celebratingmere certificates anddormancy, while primacy andrecognition should be given tocreativity, skills andenterprising spirit. It has beenshown over time that the globalarena is blind to yourcredentials but is a wealth-creating slave to your skills andabilities. Anyway, it is not yourcredentials that guaranteessuccess in the global/information age but rather ,your problem-solving abilities,critical thinking ability that candiscern ‘fact from fiction’, yourability to adapt (un-learn & re-learn), your creative andinnovative abilities and yourlife-long love of learning. Ifyour ‘piece of paper’ failed todeliver these then whilst it mayhave successfully preparedyou for the industrialised 20thCentury economy, it hascertainly failed you in theglobalized 21st Century.

As Alvin Toffler puts it,‘The illiterates of the 21st

Century will not be those whocannot read and write, butthose who cannot learnunlearn and re-learn.’ It is theacceptance of this open secretthat should make policymakersand the general populace toshift attention from theconventional way of thinkingthat you must be a graduatebefore achieving success. Someof the inventors such as BillGates and Mark Zuckerbergdropped out of school to makeit in life because of theirinnovative, creative andenterprising spirit and notnecessarily because ofcertificate.

The globalarena is blind toyour credentialsbut is a wealth-creating slave toyour skills and

abilities

Take strong action to stem oiltheft, IMF tasks FG

integrated informationmanagement systems.

It said that maintainingfiscal discipline in the run upto the elections is alsoimportant.

The body also urged theFederal Government to

rebuild fiscal buffers, reduceoil subsidy, curtail waivers,and boost non-oil revenue inorder to ensure currentprogress in the country. IMFboard commenting on theNigerian economy in itsArticle IV consultation withthe Nigerian authoritiesreleased weekendemphasized the need torebuild fiscal buffers and tostrengthen the frameworkfurther.

In the report, IMF said:“Efforts should be gearedtowards boosting non-oilrevenue by broadening thetax base, improving taxadministration and curtailingexemptions, and furtherreducing oil subsidies.

“Directors underscored thatadopting a rule-basedreference oil price in fiscalprojections and furtherstrengthening public financialmanagement should help theauthorities achieve theirconsolidation objectives.Directors commended theauthorities for loweringinflation and considered thecurrent tight monetary policystance to be appropriate,given the risks associatedwith potential capital flowreversals. To better manageliquidity, they generallyencouraged more reliance onopen market operations toguide short-term interest

rates.“With regard to exchange

rate policy, directors notedthat greater exchange rateflexibility could serve as animportant buffer againstexternal shocks. Directorsnoted that the financialsystem is well capitalised withlow non-performing loans andrecommended continuedimprovements in thesupervisory framework,especially with regard toincreased exposure from crossborder financial activities.Directors encouraged theauthorities to build on theprogress made instrengthening prudentialpolicies by further enhancingthe framework for anti-moneylaundering and combatingthe financing of terrorism, andimplementing the remainingFinancial Sector AssessmentProgram (FSAP).

The report “welcomed theplan to wind down theoperations of the AssetManagement Corporation of

Nigeria, AMCON. Directorsemphasized that structuralreforms remain critical toimproving competitivenessand productivity, andreducing poverty andinequality. They encouragedthe authorities to perseverewith their TransformationAgenda with continued focuson education and healthreforms, the improvement ofpower supply, andbroadening agriculturalproduction.

“Reform efforts should alsoaim at enhancing the businessenvironment, improvingproductivity, boostingfinancial access to small andmedium sized enterprises,and strengtheninggovernance and institutionalcapacity. The upcomingrelease of re-based GDP dataand further improvements instatistical data collectionshould strengthen the basisfor policy and private sectordecision-making in Nigeria.

According to the IMF,“Executive Directors

welcomed Nigeria’scontinued strongmacroeconomic performance,underpinned particularly bysustained high growth in thenon-oil sector. Inflation hascontinued to decline and thereserves position is adequate.While the economic outlookremains favourable, key risksinclude continued lower oilrevenues from oil productionlosses and lower oil prices,the impact from theunwinding of unconventionalmonetary policy in advancedeconomies, and domesticpolitical and security

Reform effortsshould also aimat enhancing the

businessenvironment,

improvingproductivity,

boostingfinancial accessfor small andmedium sized

enterprises, andstrengthening

governance andinstitutional

capacity

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 — 19

Continued from page 17

Cover

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The decision of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, to suethe Federal Government over what he described as illegal deductionof one per cent from statutory allocation to states in the federation,

may not be a surprise to many Nigerians. Some, especially those who havesympathy for the PDP, will see it as an action instituted by opposition. In as

,

Who is afraid ofNational EconomicCouncil meeting?

much as the opposition hasbeen firing some salvo at theFederal Government at theslightest opportunity, thedisclosure by GovernorFashola that the nation’seconomic council has not metfor once in the last six monthsand that one per cent ofallocation to states is beingdeducted, should give causefor worry to those whounderstand the precarioussituation the nation’s economyis in.

The governor, whilepresenting the nation’s grimfinancial standing beforemembers of the State House ofAssembly in Lagos said thedecline in revenue was alsocredited to decline in oilproduction, which wasadduced to pipelinevandalism and crude oil theftand that the debate onaccounting on crude oil is outthere. Fashola lamented thatsince October last year, theFederal Government has beendeducting one per cent fromstates’ statutory allocationswhich was said to be for Policereforms, describing it asunconstitutional and vowed tochallenge it in court.

Nigerians who areconversant with trends in thecountry, will recall that for thefirst time in almost 15 years ofthe nation’s democraticexperience, the countryrecorded some walkoutsstaged by commissioners offinance during meetings of theFederal Accounts AllocationCommittee in Abuja. The firstone happened in 2011, whilethe country witnessed more ofsuch walkouts in 2013 due toirreconcilable accounts of thefederation. Some states havehad, in the recent past, to

borrow to keep the governmentgoing.

On October 7, last year, thiscolumn in an article entitled:Nigeria will survive withoutoil, warned the nation of theconsequences of over-dependence on oil revenue.“In the last three months, localgovernments, states andFederal Government officialshave been at each other'snecks over shortfalls inrevenue allocation from thefederation account. The war ofwords is as a result of panicby state governments that theymay not be able to meet theirobligations to their workers ifallocations from the federationaccount continues to dwindle.The current panic stems fromthe fact that if the revenueshortfall from the federationallocation committee to statesfalls below some levels, it willresult in many of the states notbeing able to pay theiremployees.

“On two occasions now,members of the committeefrom states have walked out onthe Minister of State forFinance over the amount duefor sharing. It is a shame thatthe committee members are notseeing the opportunity theshortfall is offering them tothink and act to remove their

states from the shackles of oil.Before the discovery of oil,regions in the country hadtheir economies. Theysurvived based on primaryproduce from the variousregions. Nigeria will survivewithout oil. All that is requiredis for people to think. It is asad story that the committee isnot querying the FederalGovernment for not investingwisely; it is not asking for

investment in the severalminerals that dot the country,they are simply bickering oversharing.

“It is the sharing of cheap oilmoney that makes Nigerianpoliticians dummies, men andwomen who cannot think.They only wait to share. It issharing that makes ministerscome to office and leavewithout making any impact onthe economy. It is the same forpresidents and governors whopreside over a sharingformula and nothing else.Over the years, they justbecome political birds ofpassage.

It is the sharing of oil moneythat is tearing the PDP

apart. It is sharing that hascaused the sharp division inthe country — North vs South.If there was no oil revenue toshare at the centre, the fightover the zone to produce thenext president will not be a do-or-die affair. It is a shame thatin the Nigerian politicalequation as of today, none isthinking about how to make abigger cake for all to share.

“While the bickering oversharing is on by cluelesspoliticians and their co-exploiters, it is important forthe federal, state and localgovernment functionaries toput on their thinking cap tofashion out how to generateinternal revenue to sustain

their operations. It will befoolhardy for the governmentat all levels to continue to relyand plan on proceeds from oilsales. For a very long time, thesignals are showing thesimple fact that this economycannot continue to run oncrude oil sales. Many of thestates whose commissioners offinance gather in Abuja toshare from the federationaccount cannot generate up toN200 million per annum.Local governments are worse;some cannot generate even amillion naira a year. Yet, allgather in Abuja to share oilmoney.”

The challenge now is thatwhilst this revenue declinehas gone up, the nation hasbeen unable to hold theNational Economic Council,NEC, meeting in Abuja. In therecent past, the meetings hadheld every month. Themeeting has not been heldnow for at least six months inspite of clear revenuedeclines. The NationalEconomic Council is an organfor the discussion of economicissues concerning the 36states of the country andcomprises governors, theGovernor of the Central Bank,the ministers of NationalPlanning, Finance and others.The question is; what is theFederal Government afraid offor not allowing the economiccouncil to hold its meeting? Isthis government afraid ofbeing asked to give account ofthe operations of NNPC? Infact, what about NIMASA,NPA, Customs and FIRS? Allmust render proper account toNigerians. There is no escaperoute for this government.

It is a shamethat the

committeemembers arenot seeing theopportunity

that theshortfall is

offering themto think and actto remove theirstates from theshackles of oil

Take strong action to stem oil theft, IMF tasks FGuncertainties.

“Directors underscored thatsteadfast implementation ofprudent macroeconomicpolicies and reforms will beessential to addressing therisks and vulnerabilities,generating more inclusive andbalanced growth, andreducing unemployment.

“Directors welcomed theauthorities’ continuedcommitment to fiscalconsolidation and noted theimprovements made to thefiscal framework. However, toensure macroeconomicstability, they emphasized theneed to rebuild fiscal buffersand to strengthen the

framework further.“Directors commended the

authorities for loweringinflation and considered thecurrent tight monetarypolicy stance to beappropriate, given the risksassociated with potentialcapital flow reversals.

To better manage liquidity,they generally

encouraged more reliance onopen market operations toguide short-term interestrates. With regard to exchangerate policy, Directors notedthat greater exchange rateflexibility could serve as an

important buffer againstexternal shocks. Directorsnoted that the financial systemis well capitalized with lownon-performing loans.

“They recommendedcontinued improvements inthe supervisory framework,especially with regard toincreased exposure from crossborder financial activities.Directors encouraged theauthorities to build on theprogress made instrengthening prudentialpolicies, including furtherenhancing the framework foranti-money laundering andcombating the financing of

terrorism, and implementingthe remaining FinancialSector Assessment Program(FSAP) recommendations.

“They welcomed the plan towind down the operations ofthe Asset ManagementCorporation of Nigeria.Directors emphasized thatstructural reforms remaincritical to improvingcompetitiveness andproductivity, and reducingpoverty and inequality. Theyencouraged the authorities topersevere with theirTransformation Agenda withcontinued focus on educationand health reforms, the

improvement of powersupply, and broadeningagricultural production.

Reform efforts should alsoaim at enhancing the businessenvironment, improvingproductivity, boostingfinancial access to small andmedim sized enterprises, andstrengthening governance andinstitutional capacity. Theupcoming release of re-basedGDP data and furtherimprovements in statisticaldata collection shouldstrengthen the basis for policyand private sector decision-making in Nigeria.”


CMYK

Business & Economy

Agric attracts $9bn investments — ADESINA

N i g e r i a ’ sagriculturals e c t o r

attracted $9 billioninvestments from local andforeign business groups inthe last two years.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina,Minister of Agriculture andRural Development,disclosed this at a chat withmedia executives in Abuja,on the newly establishedExecutive Leadership ofNigerian AgribusinessGroup.

“We have received a totalof over $4 billion inexecuted Letters of Intent(LOIs) for investments by30 private sectoragribusinesses. We haveestablished relationshipswith over 150agribusinesses in Nigeria.

“Local fertilizermanufacturing andblending capacity hassignificantly expanded,with $5 billion in newinvestments. To fix thestorage segment for allvalue chains, the Ministryof Agriculture and RuralDevelopment attractedBlumberg, one of thelargest manufacturers ofwarehouses in the world, tocommit to using Nigeria asthe regional hub formanufacturing warehousesin West Africa,” he said.

The minister explainedthat the President GoodluckJonathan administration’sresolve to make agriculturea source of wealth forNigerian farmers and allthose involved in theindustry, was total andwould be pursued to alogical conclusion.

“We have been very clearfrom the beginning thatagriculture will not betreated any longer as adevelopment programme,but as a business. We willno longer manage povertywith agriculture. We willuse agriculture to create thefuture millionaires andbillionaires of Nigeria. Weare determined to changethe fortunes of our farmers,for the poverty we see todaymust give way to wealth allacross our rural areas, aswe make agriculture abusiness that helps to liftmillions of farmers out ofpoverty.

“Farmers are the largestprivate sector in thiscountry. Everything fromthe farm, to the storage,

BY EMMA UJAH,ABUJA BUREAUCHIEF

processing, to the valueaddition up to the market,must work to create marketfor our farmers”, he said.

Dr Adesina added that theestablishment of theAgribusiness Group was ademonstration of the FederalGovernment’s drive not onlyto turn around agricultureinto a business, but alsobuild institutions to sustainthe significant gains beingachieved in the agriculturalsector under the leadership

of President GoodluckJonathan.

Our approach wasdeliberate: grow theagriculture sector usingprivate sector to drive thegrowth, focus on value chainsfor all commodities, andconnect farms to mills,aggregators, storage,improved logistics, processorsand value addition.

The minister said curbingthe corrupt system of rent-seeking, especially in the

purchase and distribution offertilizer in the ministry wasa blow to the old order andthat everything must be doneto sustain the new order.

“The old corrupt system ofdirect governmentprocurement and distributionof fertilizers was scrapped.Private sector seed andfertilizer companies now sellfarm inputs directly tofarmers, instead of to thegovernment,” he said.

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

The meeting scheduledby the Consumers

Protection Council, CPCwith telecommunicationcompanies over publicoutcry on poor servicedelivery to consumers, wasstalled as some operatorsshunned the meeting.

CPC had summoned chiefexecutives of all telecomoperators to a meeting toaddress subscribers’complaints of poor services,compensation to thecomplainants as well asprovision of quality services.

The meeting neitherreached identifiableconclusion nor practicallyaddressed issues borderingon drop calls andunsolicited messagesamong others.

Director-General of theCouncil, Mrs Dupe Atoki,after a brief meeting with therepresentatives of some ofthe telecom operators told

Dropped calls, unsolicited messages: CPC,telecom operators’ meeting stalled

journalists the duo wouldhave to reconvene themeeting.

Atoki said Nigerians arefaced with poor networkservice delivery. Among otherthings, she said this makes itimpossible to receive callswhile also experiencing dropcalls, lack of sustainability ofcalls, unsolicited textmessages at oddh o u r s , u n s o l i c i t e dtelemarketing, deceptivebroadband speed adverts andfailure to compensateconsumers for poor services.

Atoki said operators riskprosecution and jail terms ofup to five years ifinvestigations currently on-going reveal that theydeliberately short-changeNigerians.

“CPC can make orders in theinterest and protection ofconsumers and disobedienceis also criminalised by law.While NCC can impose fineson an offending operator,CPC can in addition, commit

such recalcitrant offenders tojail terms for contraveningany consumer protectionenactment,” she said.

It is common knowledgethat the operators arepract ical ly r ipping of fNigerians. As far as theirservices are concerned,Nigerians have beenlargely short-changed. Thelast 18 months, inparticular, have witnessedthe worst service regime.Making or receiving calls isa most f rustrat ingexperience. And the otherservices using broadbandare not better. There is littlevalue for money. Sadlyenough, there is noef fect ive channel ofcomplaints and gett ingredress.

She reiterated that theCPC has the power tosanction, prosecute andcompel any product orservice provider to answera lawful inquiry, of whichdisobedience iscriminalised.

Americanhousehold wealthup $10trn in2013The boom in the stock

market and the recoveryin house prices led to a nearly$10 trillion increase last year inthe net worth of Americanhouseholds, according to datareleased Thursday.

The net worth of Americanhouseholds grew last year by$9.8 trillion, or 14 percent, to$80.66 trillion, according to theFederal Reserve. That includesa nearly $3 trillion jump in thefourth quarter alone. Most ofthe gains in net worth, $5.6trillion, came through the stockmarket, as the S&P 500 climbednearly 30 percent, and $2.3trillion came in the value of realestate as home prices rose. U.S.home prices grew over 13percent last year, according tothe Case-Shiller 20-citycomposite index. Those gainsaren’t, of course, sharedequally by Americans. A recentstudy from Ohio State said thatthe mean net worth of Americanhouseholds in mid-2013 wasstill 14 percent below theprerecession peak in 2006.

AfDB to spend$930m in Kenyain 5 yearsThe Africa Development

Bank Group (AfDB) hasapproved injection of $930million into Kenya’s economyfor infrastructure developmentand enhance job creation for thenext five years. GabrielNegatu, Regional Director forthe AfDB’s Eastern AfricaResource Centre, said onThursday in Nairobi that theCountry Strategy Paper (CSP),which was approved by theboard articulates the bank’spriority areas of support toKenya from 2014-2018.

He said the CSP supports thecountry ’s ambitions andaddresses its maindevelopmental challenges bypromoting job creation as theoverarching objective. “Toachieve our main objective, wehave designed the CSP aroundtwo main pillars, we willcontinue to support thegovernment’s effort to enhancephysical infrastructure tounleash inclusive growth andsecondly, develop skills for theemerging labor market forKenya’s transformingeconomy,” he said. Negatu saidit would also explore ways ofrestructuring poorly performingoperations in the portfolio orcancelling them, andredeploying freed-up resources

DRAWS: From left, Head of Marketing, Nutricima Limited, Mrs Wande Oluwasegunfunmi;Assistant Director/Coordinator, Lagos Zonal Office of National Lottery Regulatory Commission,Mr. Fidelis Ajibogun; Assistant Manager, Legal, Lagos State Lotteries, Gbemi Ajibose; e-raffledraw presenter, Ifedayo Olarinde; Category Marketing Manager (Standard Milk) and Director,Regulation & Monitoring, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Prince Emmanuel Jeminiwa,at the first e-raffle draw of Nutricima Mega Cash Consumer Promo held in Lagos.


CMYK

Business & Economy

Consumer behaviourin Nigeria hasrevealed some

interesting unique traitsabout the most lucrativemarket in Africa, a researchby Nielsen, world’s leadingmarket research company,has shown.

Country Manager, Nielsen,Mr. Harshvardan Sarda,while sharing some of thesemarket insights to clientsduring ‘Nielsen ClientInsight Event 2014’ in Lagos,said that a typical Nigerianconsumer would want tostand out and keep with thetrend just as he expects theproducts he is willing to buyto be fairly common andavailable.

According to him,Nigerians go after affordableand available products. Butbeyond availability ofproducts, Sarda said there isa whole lot more that isunique to Nigerianconsumers: “They wantproducts that are made forthem. They don’t wantsomething that is beingadapted from somewhereelse. Nigerians like productswhich are unique to themand which meet their needsbut at the same time must beproducts with good quality,value, fashionable andtrendy.”

Sarda added that fortypercent of Nigerians spendtheir income on consumergoods, which makes itpossible for growth for brandseven as he revealed that the50 percent of the Nigerianpopulation which are youth

Nigerian consumers haveappetite for unique, qualityproducts —Researchpositions Nigeria as a countrywith high possibilities fortrying new products. Theyouth population, accordingto him, is educated, mobileand any serious brandtargeting the youth shouldhave presence on the socialmedia to connect with theyouth.

Alisa Wingfield, ExecutiveDirector, Marketing &Communication, Africa andMiddle East, Nielsenexplained the purpose of theget together with clients andsaid: “There is more to

achieving success and you cando that by showing insight ofwhat consumers want. Most ofwhat is more important for usas a business is understandingwhat consumers want andmeeting their needs. We havedone concept testing ofproducts in the Nigeria marketand those that have beensuccessful; we want to sharethose insights with our clientsas to how to launch successfulproducts that meet the needsof the Nigerian consumer.

“Also to share someinformation, we have done a

census in Nigeria, we haveenumerated some retailoutlets in Nigeria and havecovered over half a millionoutlets. So it is about sayingthat when you have a reallygreat product, how do youget it to the consumer andmake sure that you are inthe right place to reachthese consumers. Again,we have used thisinformation which we gotfrom over 500,000 storeswhich are the key stores tobe able to identify greatestimpact in terms of reachingconsumers and salesconsumer brand inNigeria”.

On how to compareconsumer behaviour inNigeria and otherdeveloping markets,Wingfield said that marketsacross Africa are notcomparable to one anotherbecause they are sodiverse and cuts across 54different countries, adding,‘by no means can weassume that consumerneeds in one country arethe same as the other.’

According to her, “thefirst thing we know is thatinstead of trying to groupsimilar consumers weknow, we need to look outfor the diversity and someof the keys to success isunderstanding consumersin different places. To makeit a little bit easier, we havelooked at consumersegmentation in 15countries in Africa, tryingto identify similar traits,life styles and behaviour tobe able to help our clientstap into these consumergroups.”

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Latest securityinitiatives, trends,challenges and

emerging technologies willbe the focal point of theforthcoming West Africaexhibition, billed to takeplace in Lagos.

The exhibition will bringtogether leading commercial,homeland and cyber security,fire protection and safetysuppliers and is targeted atdelivering strategictechnologies, training andintelligence solutions to themarket.

Evaluating existingcounter terrorism policies,understanding new domainthreats posed by regionallyactive militant organisations,cyber security, trainingsecurity forces, strategicapproaches to emergingthreats and accessing gaps inexisting commercial andhomeland securityinfrastructure, implementing

Security takes center stage atSecurex West Africa exhibition

effective resilience measuresto mitigate potential crisis andmore will be covered at thetrade show taking place 18 –19 March 2014 in Lagos.

Speaking on the Securexexhibition, Mr Fola Arthur-Worrey, CEO of Lagos StateSecurity Trust Fund, said: “Inthese times of increasingconcerns surroundingnational and internal security,not just in Nigeria but indeedacross the globe, securityexhibitions such as Securexare critical in interrogatingcurrent security challengesand then designingappropriate national, sub-national and private sectorresponses to them; and, moreparticularly, in drivingspecialisation across the broadspectrum of possibleresponses both human andtechnological.

Mr. Sean McCarthy,Regional Sales Manager inthe Exports Division at ElveySecurity Technologies, SouthAfrica, said: “For our

company, the greatest valuewe generate from exhibiting ata show like this, is theexposure we get to anexpanded installer market aswell as business leaders fromvarious other sectors, such asthe banking industry, forexample.”

The Securex West Africatrade show is being organisedby Montgomery West Africaand sponsored by HIK Vision,Halogen Security, KontzEngineering and Rapid Vigil;supported by the UnitedKingdom Trade andInvestment, Association ofIndustrial Security and SafetyOperators of Nigeria,Nigerian Institute forIndustrial Security, Institute ofSafety Professional of Nigeria,International Institute ofProfessional Security, LagosState Safety Commission,World Trade Center of Nigeria,International Institute of Riskand Safety Management andOccupational Safety.

Anchor Insurancedeclares 2.5kdividend per share

Akwa Ibom owned AnchorInsurance Ltd has declareda dividend of N2.5k pershare for shareholders forthe year ended December31, 2012. This is an increaseof 25 per cent over thedividend paid in theprevious year. Its Chairman,Board of Directors, MrSenas Ukpanah, made thedeclaration during thecompany’s 23rd AnnualGeneral Meeting onThursday in Uyo.

Ukpanah said that theincrease in dividendpayment was in fulfillmentof the promise made earlierby the board to itsshareholders. He said thatthe board and managementwould work hard to remainprofitable and make thecompany a rewardinginstitution to investors.

”I am indeed pleased toinform you that the board ofdirectors is recommendinga dividend of N2.5K pershare, being an increase of25 per cent dividend. Thisis an indication that theboard kept to the promisemade at this gathering lastyear to improve on thedividend payment,” he said.

Senatecommitteeexpressesconcern overdecline in FCTbudget

The Senate Committee onthe FCT has expressedconcerns over the dwindlingbudgetary allocation to theFederal Capital TerritoryAdministration (FCTA). Thecommittee made theobservation when theMinister of the FederalCapital Territory (FCT),Sen. Bala Mohammeddefended the 2014 budgetestimates of the FCTA. TheChairman of the Committee,Sen. Smart Adeyemi, saidthat while the demands forinfrastructure in the FCTincreases, the budgetaryallocations had continued todecline over the years.

Adeyemi said consideringthe continued reduction inthe budget of FCT, theAuthority might not be ableto deliver on its mandate ofproviding the neededinfrastructure for the FCTand satellite towns.

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO U-10: From left, Mr Stephen Kola-Balogun, Commissioner for YouthDevelopment, Osun State; Mr Benson Evbuomwan, Executive Director, Marketing, HoneywellFlour Mills PLC; Dr Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, Executive Director, Obafemi AwolowoFoundation and Senator Bode Olajumoke at the first U-10 Obafemi Awolowo Memorial KidsCup 2014 sponsored by Honeywell Flours in Lagos on Thursday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele.


CMYK

Banking & Finance

WADA Zakari’s countenancedoes not reflect the burden ofthe enormous responsibilitieshe carries as the Chairman ofthe State Universal BasicEducation Board, Kano (KanoSUBEB).

He is responsible for thepayment of the salaries of over60,000 staff of the Board. “Itused to be a very herculeantask with lot of challenges”, hesaid. Addressing a conferenceon electronic payment inAccra, Ghana, he explainedwhy the Board abandonedmanual payment of salaries forelectronic payment. “We usedto pay manually with paymentvouchers (PVs) preparedmanually by account clerks.But there were numerouschallenges. These includedelay in the preparation ofpayment vouchers, delay insalary disbursement due to latesubmission of PVs by localgovernment educationauthorities (LGEAs) as well asthe time consuming task ofsigning lots of cheques. Inaddition to these were, rampantcomplaints by staff onirregularities/ inconsistence oftheir monthly salaries, andrisks of moving cash frombanks to LGEAs, schools andindividuals," he said.

Switching to electronicpayment did not only eliminatethese problems, it made itpossible for Zakari to pay thesalaries of over 61,000 staff with the click of a button andfrom anywhere in the world.“We now do end-to-endpayment from the Board’selectronic payment software tothe accounts of beneficiaries in

Cashless Policy: The Remitae-payment proposition to economyBy BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

,,

their banks. No more delaysfrom writing cheques, and ithas helped us to reduce casesof corruption," he said, adding,“that is why I can attend thisconference at the end of themonth, without worrying howto pay salaries of my staff.

Similar testimony was sharedby Olabode Ajigbolamu, Director, Central Pay Office ofthe Accountant General, OndoState. He spoke on themovement of Ondo state frommanual to electronic paymentthrough a project calledFirstpay Payroll, Biometricsand e-Payment. He said theproject, which was apartnership between Firstbankand Ondo State government,

has helped the state to achievemany things including:Biometric data capture for allworkgroups; Live run ofpayroll, e-payment, andbiometrics for all workgroup;Direct and timely salaryremittance to staff bankaccounts; and Direct deliveryof staff payslips and paymentalerts to their email and cellphones.

The ease and comfort ofpaying thousands of people atthe click of a button was notjust made possible byswitching to electronicpayment, but by a

multifunctional electronicpayment platform calledRemita.

“What Remita does is topromote paymentelectronically, paperless, saidJohn Obaro, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of SystemSpecsLimited, the Nigerian companythat developed Remita.

He spoke to Vanguard at thesidelines of the conference,titled, Winning Big with E-payment, organised bySystemspec.

“Our objective is that we donot want to see cash; we don’twant to see cheques. Webelieve these things can bedone in an electronic mannerboth from a corporate

perspective where you havejoint signatories and from anindividual perceptive," he said.

Remita, which is the Greekword for ‘remittance’ was achild of necessity. It wasnecessitated by the need ofcorporate organizations for acomprehensive purpose-builtone-stop corporate e-paymentsolution.

“The needs of thesecorporates keep changing,” hetold the gathering of e-paymentexperts from Central Bank ofNigeria, Nigeria InterbankSettlement System (NIBSS)and Nigerian banks. “ First

they ask for salary payment,then after discovering theirproblems have not disappearedthey ask for payroll processingsolution, then biometrics, thenhuman resources, while thecustomer continues to sendmanual schedules to PFAs,HMO etc, and process taxremittances manually. Theywant a robust e-Paymentsolution that can help makevendor/third party payment.They also want a collectionsolution with automated directdebit capability. They wantsomething that integrates withtheir in-house solutionsespecially as they become moreIT aware," he said.

Efforts by SystemSpecs torespond to these needs led tothe creation of Remita in2005. Though initiallydeveloped to help corporatebodies post payroll paymentselectronically, Remita hasmoved beyond just e-Paymentto an integrated one-stopsolution – Biometrics, PayrollPreparation, e-Payment and e-Collections for Corporates andIndividuals.

Thus Remita can be used todeliver funds of customers totheir nominated accounts inany financial institution orpurse, and “collect” funds onbehalf of customers fromdesignated accounts or tellersin any bank. This can be viastanding orders, direct debit ordirect credit. It can also be usedfor payroll preparation andprocessing, electronic deliveryof schedules to third parties, aswell as delivery of customers’electronic schedules to relevantbodies such as pension fundadministrators (PFAs), pensionfund custodians (PFCs), taxoffices and cooperatives.

Though originally developedto meet e-payment needs oforganizations, it can also beused by individuals. Accordingto Deremi Atanda, ExecutiveDirector, SystemSpecs, withRemita, individuals can makepayments to beneficiaryaccounts in their bank or anyother bank from the comfort oftheir home or office. They canissue one or several chequesat a time. In addition, they canissue standing orders on a one-off basis for the payment of theirtithes, offerings, and monthlypremiums, and annualsubscriptions, regular andsteady transfers to theirparents, children, otherdependents or charityorganizations. Remita Personalkeeps a comprehensive viewof your transactions andstanding orders across allbanks.

Our objective is that we do not wantto see cash; we don’t want to seecheques, we believe these thingscan be done in an electronicmanner both from a corporateperspective where you have jointsignatories and from an individualperspective

Accion MfBopens 21stbranch at Ajah

Accion MicrofinanceBank has once again

demonstrated its commitmentto financial inclusion as itopens its 21st branch at Ajahwithin the Lagos metropolis.The opening of the new branchfurther enhances the bank’smission to provide sustainable,profitable and ethical financialservices with a bid toeconomically empower micro-entrepreneurs and low incomeearners in the country.

Declaring the Ajah Branchopen, Accion MicrofinanceBank Managing Director,Bunmi Lawson said, “We haveconsistently grown ourcustomer’s businesses as theyhave easy access to loans andour other products. AccionMicrofinance Bank is safe andsecure, and we will continueto serve our customers to givethem a brighter future. This isthe value we bring to the Ajahcommunity”.

With Accion MicrofinanceBank formally declared openfor business, several guests atthe opening ceremony took theopportunity to open accountswith the bank. Officers of thebank were also on hand tointroduce the bank’s productsand services.

Awodein retiresfrom Skye BankBoard

A non- Executive Directorof Skye Bank Plc, Mr.

Kola Awodein (SAN), hasretired from the board of thebank with effect fromFebruary 18, 2014.

A statement issued by theFinancial Institution said theBoard and management of theBank thanked the legalluminary for 12 years ofmeritorious service andwished him success in hisfuture endeavors.

Mr. Awodein is a SeniorAdvocate of Nigeria. Agraduate of the University ofIfe (Now Obafemi AwolowoUniversity) and an alumnusof the Harvard BusinessSchool he started his legalcareer at Olajide Oyewole &Co and later established hisown law practice.

He has played a significantrole in several big tickettransactions and has beenawarded several prizes andawards in recognition of hiscontribution . In addition toholding severalappointments, he is also a very active member of theNigerian Bar Association.Awodein is well known for hispublications and editorials.

COMMISSIONING: From left Mr Edgar Dominguez, Branch Manager, Texas Office, HontGllobal Services; Mr Humphrey Okonkwo, MD and Mrs Chinwe Okonkwo, Director at the pressconference and commissioning of Nigeria office of Hont Global services, a logistic services compa-ny based in Hoston, USA. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele

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Banking & Finance

CBN, IFC partner to promote sustainable bankingBy JONAHNWOKPOKU

THE Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN and In-ternational FinanceCorporation, IFC hasentered into partner-ship to drive the im-plementation of thesustainable bankingprinciples in Nigeria.

CBN said the part-

nership is a demon-stration of the strengthof the sustainabilityagenda in the country.

Speaking at an inter-national sustainablebanking forum organ-ized by the two fi-nance bodies in La-gos, Acting governorof CBN, Dr. SarahAlade, said the part-nership is an approachto driving socially re-

sponsible and sustain-able banking.

Represented by theDeputy Governor, Op-erations, CBN, Dr.Kingsley Moghalu,she said in a keynoteaddress, that the fo-rum was to upscaleknowledge in emerg-ing markets by meet-ing the needs of todaywithout compromis-ing the opportunities

of tomorrow throughsustainable banking.

According to her, “Inthe 21st century, beingsustainable is nolonger an option but aprerequisite for sus-tainable business.”

She explained thatthe nine principles toensure sustainablebanking in Nigeriahave been adopted.

“The CBN has is-

sued circulars for im-plementation of theseprinciples. The struc-tures to institutional-ize the principles havealso been put in place.The CBN is alsobuilding capacities tostrengthen competen-cies since it is anemerging sector,” shesaid.

She further ex-plained that, “After the2007 global financialcrisis, the issue of sus-tainability has be-come so crucial be-cause we saw theshortsightedness ofjust focusing exclu-sively on profit. Thecrisis rose as a resultof financialisation,people making moneyfrom finance in fi-nance, but neglectedthe people, the sus-tainability, the eco-nomic developmentand real sector devel-opment? That is whysustainability is veryimportant and that iswhy CBN is spear-heading it and we arevery proud that theCBN is leading theway in the financialsector. Sustainabilityis the future.”

Earlier in a welcomeaddress, the CBN

Deputy Governor, Cor-porate services, Sule-iman Barau said theforum sought to offerinnovative and sus-tainable developmentsolutions to the bank-ing industry as the fo-rum provided oppor-tunity to share knowl-edge and technicalexpertise required todrive sustainablebanking.

On his part, IFCCountry Manager forNigeria, SolomonQuaynor said thatIFC has been commit-ted to sustainablebanking for 25 yearsand in Nigeria, it iscontributing in thatdirection through theprovision of gas-based power plantssince they are more ef-ficient and environ-mentally friendly.

He disclosed IFC isabout to close 450MWIntegrated PowerProject, IPP deal andhas also advanced onits gas project.

According to him,,“Sustainability is cen-tral to inclusive eco-nomic growth andaligns with IFC’sstrategy for long termeconomic develop-ment.”

Criteria for promo-tion were based onperformance assess-ment score, promo-tion readiness, ten-ure on current gradeand absence of disci-plinary actions.

While congratulat-ing the staff, the Key-stone Bank boss ad-monished them to bespurred to “higherperformance and ex-hibit a more passion-ate approach towardscontributing to andachieving the Bank’scustomer centricgoals.”

Keystone Bank is atechnology and serv-ice-driven bank withover 200 business of-fices in Nigeria.

Keystone Bankpromotes 627 staff

KEYSTONE Bankhas announced

the promotion of 627members of staff be-tween the ExecutiveTrainee and DeputyManger grade.

The promotion exer-cise according to theManaging Director/CEO, Mr. Philip Ikea-zor, is “in line withManagement’s com-mitment to recognizemerit and reward. Itis also a major stridein the spirit of foster-ing and building ahigh performanceand engaged work-force, delivering con-venient and reliablebanking services toour esteemed cus-tomers.


Corporate Finance

Stakeholders in thecapital marketsaid lack of

effective secondarymarket trading affectsAfrica’s domestic bondmarket, just as FBNCapital, a subsidiary ofFBN Holdings Plc, hasadvised the stategovernments in thecontinent to seekliquidity status toimprove the liquidity ofstate government bonds.

It should be noted thatAfrican economies havebeen growing faster thantheir Western counterpartsin recent years. Thisyear ’s Bonds & LoansAfrica event, thecontinent’s only Pan-African Capital Marketsconference, which tookplace in Cape Town on the26th and 27th of February2014, offered a rareplatform and opportunityfor local and internationalbanks, borrowers, issuers,investors and financialservice providers,investors, financedecision-makers, andstakeholders, to hear fromkey decision-makersacross Africa, supporttheir economies andencourage investorparticipation locally andinternationally.

With over 300 attendeesfrom companies andinstitutions across Africaand Europe, FBN Capital,along with panelists fromInvestec AssetManagement, andBayport InternationalGroup among others,spoke on the sessionexploring issuesregarding why a lack ofsecondary market tradingis damaging the progressof Africa’s domesticmarket. The key areaswhere local FundManagers can help inkick-starting developmentin domestic African bondmarkets, and what hasbeen done so far inreforming African PensionFunds as well asdiscussing where they arecurrently investing.

The event provided anopportunity forstakeholders andpotential investors to meetkey market players andpotential businesspartners, and gain aninsight on where theopportunities lie on thecontinent going forward.

Speaking at the eventwhich was co-sponsoredby FBN Capital, Tairat

Lotus wins IFN’slead IssuingHouse awardson SukukLotus Capital, a company

listed on the NigerianStock Exchange, NSE haswon the prestigious 2013Islamic Finance News, IFNAfrican Deal of the YearCategory as the Lead IssuingHouse for the N11.4billionOsun State Sukuk issuewhich was listed on the NSEin September 2013.

This was the first ever sub-sovereign Sukuk in Africa.The issue was oversubscribedby about 20 per cent whichwas a positive confirmation ofthe trust and confidence themarket placed on the offer.The Osun State Government,represented by theHonourable Commissioner ofFinance, and the Solicitors tothe Issue, Kola Awodein andCo, were also award recipientsfor the deal.

According to a statementfrom the NSE, “Close to 400transactions were nominatedfor 2013 in over 30 categoriesin the IFN Awards Deal of theYear, signifying a 33 percentrise in the number ofnominations and a 20 percentincrease in categories overthe previous year.”

The Federal Government, in2010, granted a tax waiver for

10 years on bonds, a movewhich improves the yield onall State Government and

corporate bonds

•Michael Oyebola, Director & Head, Asset Management,FBN Capital

Lack of secondary markettrading affects Africa’s domesticbonds — OYEBOLA

,

,Tijani, Head of Debt CapitalMarkets of the firm saidduring the panel whichexplored the evolution ofthe local bond markets inAfrica, “In terms ofliquidity, we see a lot ofactivity in sovereign bonds.

Whilst we have seen somesub sovereign issues, theseinstruments have not beenas liquid as the bonds issuedby the FederalGovernment”.

Tairat further stated thatstate governments in

Nigeria are now beingencouraged to seek liquiditystatus to improve theliquidity of state governmentbonds as banks will be able toinvest in these instrumentsand put it towards theirliquidity ratio calculations.In addition, she noted thatNigeria’s FederalGovernment, in 2010,granted a tax waiver for 10years on bonds, a move whichimproved the yield on allState government andcorporate bond issues andcould potentially reduce thecost if issue”.

Also speaking at the forum,the Director General, DebtManagement Office, DMO,Mr.Abraham Nwankwo,stated that “A useful indicationof the appetite of foreigninvestors for Nigeria is theresponse to the 2013Eurobonds issuances which

saw the subscription of about191 reputable Fund Managersand investors in the Julyissuance”. He said Nigeria hasa strong resource base andurged that the financialmarkets focus on the bigpicture and not react to smallevents.”

FBN Capital Limited is a fullservice Investment Bank andAsset Management Company,and a subsidiary of FBNHoldings Plc, one of thestrongest and mostdependable financial groupsin Africa. The firm wasrecently recognised as BestInvestment Bank in Nigeriafor the third year running byGlobal Finance Magazine,and in 2013 was also namedin the World Finance BankingAwards as the Best InvestmentBank in Nigeria and theEMEA Finance AfricanBanking Awards as the bestlocal Investment Bank.

Arqaam Capital Ltd., aD u b a i - b a s e d

investment bank focusing onemerging markets, said itplans to trade African bondsand derivatives afteropening a brokerage inJohannesburg in January.

Arqaam became the firstbroker to joinJohannesburg’s stockexchange in three years,pitting it against researchteams from Deutsche BankAG (DBK), RenaissanceCapital Holdings Ltd.,Standard Bank Group Ltd.(SBK) and JPMorgan Chase& Co. (JPM)

BY PETER EGWUATU

Arqaam Capital plans trade in Africanbonds, derivatives

“We’re under no illusionsthat this is a tough market,”Ross Abbott, head of Arqaamin South Africa, said in aninterview in Johannesburglast week. “We believe we’llbe the first Cape-to-Cairobroker. We started with cashequities and we’re looking atthe bond market, derivativesand maybe asset managementwith an Africa fund” Abbottadded.

Arqaam plans to extend itscoverage to the miningindustry from the 49 Africanfinancial-services stocks itcovers, before buildingresearch on consumer, real

estate, aviation and othersectors, Abbott said. The firmplans to trade over-the-counterbonds and is focusing oncountries including Kenya,Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco andEgypt, he said.

RenCap, the Russianinvestment bank controlled bybillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov,said Feb. 24 it had hired RupertPreece to head sub-Saharanfixed-income trading asdemand for African bondsincreases. Last year CreditSuisse Group AG (CSGN)switched its coverage of fixedincome in sub-Saharan Africafrom London to Johannesburgto boost emerging marketrevenue.

CentenaryCelebration: FGoffers N100mlottery to rewardNigerians

As part of Nigeria 100years celebration, the

Federal Government hasannounced a partnershipwith a lottery firm, SecuredElectronic Technology Plc, toorganise a N100 milliongrand prize centenary lotterypromotion to rewardNigerians for their loyalty tothe country.

The announcement wasmade in Lagos by theSecretary to the Governmentof the Federation (SGF), Pius Anyim at a pressconference to make public themodalities for the NigerianCentenary Lottery.

According to the SGF, whowas represented at the eventby his Special Assistant onMedia, Sam Onwuobasi, isinitiated by the governmentas a poverty alleviating andwealth creating program.

Anyim who expressed thesupport of the FederalGovernment for the projectalso noted that the projectwas purely private sector –driven.

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Corporate Finance

DISCOURSE: From left, Managing Partner, SIAO, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo; CEO, Prima GarnetAfrica, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi; COO/GM, Cutler Communications, Ms Laura Oloyede; and CEO,Business School Netherlands, Nigeria, Mr. Lere Baale, during a public discourse on ‘JobCreation: Harnessing Entrepreneurial Skills,’ in Lagos.

Following the need to keep stockbrokersoperating in the nation’s capital market

abreast of latest technology in the market, theNigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, said thatarrangements have been concluded to carryout its Continuous Professional Development(CPD) training for dealing clerks.

The programme, which is scheduled to takeplace at The Stock Exchange Building inMarina Lagos on March 15, 2014, will offerbrokers insight into how to reach the retailmarket using new technology implementedwith X-GEN.

“The objective of the workshop is to providepractising stockbrokers with a stronggrounding in the advanced functionalities ofthe new trading system -X-GEN, explainedMr. Ade Ewuosho, Acting Head, MarketOperations, NSE.

He noted that it will also providestockbrokers with detailed understanding ofthe new market structure recently introducedin late 2013.

SMEs urged to leverage NASDplatform for funding needs

STORIES BY NKIRUKANNOROM

Small and Medium scaleEnterprises, SMES,

have been urged to takeadvantage of the platformprovided by the NationalAssociation of SecurityDealers Plc, NASD, to accessfunds for their operations.

Bola Ajomale, ManagingDirector/CEO, NASD, madethe call at the Fidelity SMEForum, a weekly radioprogramme organised byFidelity Bank Plc.

Speaking on the ‘Sources ofCapital for SMEs: Optionsand Requirements’, Ajomaleexplained that NASD doesnot provide fund but a marketfor those who have funds andthose who are seeking fundsto meet their operationalneeds.

“If a company wants to raisemoney, they would approachus through an adviser andthey showcase themselves aswell as their funds. They canalso promise theirshareholders or those thatinvest in them that they cansell down through the market.

“A private equity firm orventure capital firms actuallyhave their own funds frommanaged funds that they areseeking to invest. So, we arenot seeking to invest, ratherwe are creating a marketwhere both existing andprospective investors andshareholders can meet andtrade.”

He explained that NASD is

a collection of capital marketoperators under the umbrellaof the Securities andExchange Commission, SEC,mandated to trade on non-listed securities.

“The whole idea was thatthere are a lot of securitiesthat are not listed on theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, but the investor stillneeds liquidity andessentially the SECchallenged the capital marketindustry to create an avenuewhere this can be tradedeasily.

“Our platform provides anavenue through which youcan at least show that you

have these shares to sell andalso allows people to see whatis available to buy because assome people want liquidity,other people are looking forinvestments to get into. Wematch both the investor andone who is getting out oninvestment together.”

On how a company canqualify to take advantage ofthis platform, Ajomale statedthat there is an eligibilitycriterion for every singleentrant and stage, stressingthat there are large and smallcompanies already tradingon the platform. “Essentially, what we do, wecategorise them. You have

the blue category and thepink category which isprobably younger withcorporate governance issuesto deal with. They probablyhave some finance issues todeal with. They need to havea certain amount of structurealso for them to be attractiveto investors.

”They must have advisers.We would encourage themeven if they just haVE sevenshareholders and once youhave shareholders, you canregister as a Plc. We wouldencourage them to be apublic limited companybecause that way, they canaccess a wider range of funds.We do not have a number ofsize of the capital per say butwe’ve started talking to SMEcompanies.”

Fidelity SME Forum is adeliberate attempt by thebank to resuscitate the Smalland Medium – scaleEnterprises (SMEs) andcreate a new generation ofentrepreneurs with the “I cando” spirit in Nigeria. This isnot only seen as the bank’sbelieve in SMEs as a growthcatalyst but also a clearcommitment to efforts aimedat revamping the Nigerianeconomy.

The weekly radioprogramme, essentially seeksto empower Nigerianentrepreneurs withknowledge, know-how andexpertise that will help thembuild successful businesses.This it does by bringingrenowned entrepreneurs tothe show on weekly basis toshare their experiences andencourage potential andexisting entrepreneurs. Thisis aside the other financial,legal and business advisoryservices the FidelityManaged SMEs Businessrenders to customers

NSE facilitates capacity training for dealing clerks

According to Ewuosho, “The broad-basedprogramme will also provide the participantswith an opportunity to hone in their existingskills as well as interact with other stockbrokersto deepen their knowledge of the new system.This will be the first CPD programme sincethe Exchange went live on their new platformin September 2013. Emphasis will focus on themarket participants, minimum operatingrequirements amongst other newdevelopments in the capital market.”

Continuing education programmess benefitboth businesses and workers; businessesencourage continuing education in order tosustain a highly skilled and specialisedworkforce –one with the skills to perform avariety of tasks or workers with “cross-functional” skills. Dealing Clerks, on the otherhand, may receive promotions, gain morepower in the job market, or become morevaluable employees by enrolling forcontinuing-education programmes, he stated.

Old Mutual setfor publicoffering,proposesdividend

Old Mutual Plc hasannounced intension toproceed with an initial publicoffering of a minority interestin its US Asset Management(USAM) business in 2014,even as the company hasproposed 6.0p per sharedividend for the year endedDecember 31, 2013.

The company in a statementsaid the public offering,which is being undertaken toenhance USAM’s financialand operating flexibility,would be subject to prevailingmarket conditions.

It further stated that thepublic offer will help thecompany to deploy capital tocontinue to grow and furtherdevelop its multi-boutiqueasset management business.

We expect that this offeringwill broaden USAM’s accessto capital to pursue futuregrowth initiatives across itsbusiness, includingcollaborative investments inaffiliate growth and furtherpenetration of non-USmarkets through its globaldistribution platform, as wellas strategic partnerships withhigh quality boutique assetmanagement firms withcomplementary investmentproducts, the company said.

ETI shareholdersapprovegovernanceaction plan

Shareholders of EcobankTransnational Incorporated,ETI, have ratified theGovernance Action Planproposed by the Board ofDirectors in compliance withthe recommendations of theSecurities & ExchangeCommission, SEC.

The implementation of thedetailed 51 point plan,according to notice to theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, will commenceimmediately.

The bank stated that at theirmeeting, which was attendedby institutional shareholdersas well as minorityshareholders, the current 12person Board of Director wasretained following thedecision by the institutionalshareholders of the PIC,AMCON and IFC towithdraw a motion which theyhad proposed to create asmaller Interim Board.

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014

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Micro-FinanceCommodity index

Feb 28-Mar 6, 2014

UmuchinemereP r o - c r e d i tMicro Finance

Bank (UPMFB) hasdisbursed total loans ofN886.23 million to 4,174active poor, in thefinancial year ended,December 31, 2013.

Also, it gave out a totalmicro credit fund ofN1.05 billion underloans and advances to atotal of 5,288beneficiaries pursuant toits goal of eradicating

UPMfB disburses N886mloans in one yearStories byPROVIDENCEOBUH

poverty in the societyand improve quality oflife.

In a statement, Head ofthe bank’s CreditDepartment, Mr.Odinaka Okeke, said thebank surpassed its targetof N595.89 million in2013, with the totaldisbursement of N1.05billion.

Okeke assured ofimproved performance in2014, stating that thebank is targeting a totalmicro credit facilitiesdisbursement of N1.3billion, made up of N550million micro loans,

N500 million otherloans and N240 millionadvances.

He urged thecustomers to use thefacilities wisely andensure prompt payment,so as to continue toreceive more from thebank. The Creditmanager said thefacilities were aimed atcreating maximumwealth for thebeneficiaries, hence headvised them to manageit with prudence andhonesty.

UPMFB’s Head ofFinance and Accounts,Mrs. Bibbian Ofoje, saidthe bank recorded anunaudited total incomeof N372.08 million witha total unaudited profitof N121,242, in 2013,which she attributed toincrease in the bank’sfinancial activities in theyear.

Chairman of the bankand a Roman CatholicPrelate, Msgr. ObioraIke, said the bank wouldnot relent in its effort toimprove the quality oflives of the poor withinthe Nigerianenvironment throughmicro financing.

R Wells Media andA d v e r t i s i n g

Company Limited hascalled for a proper placefor mothers as importanttools for nation building,while announcing its2014 mothers day fiesta.

The fiesta tagged:' C e l e b r a t i n gMotherhood” isscheduled to hold inLagos.

Managing Director, RWells Media, Mrs. JibeOlogeh, made the call ata press briefingheralding the fiesta,stating that the fiesta iscentered on mothers'world, where the newwave of the gamemovement is no longeracceptable to mothers.

Describing mothers asvery important in nationbuilding and in thefamily, Ologeh citedProf. Grace AlileWilliams, saying that thehand that rocks thecradle rules the world.

She said, “if mothers

R Wells calls for proper place formothers in society…holds 2014 mothers day fiesta

are properly positionedin the scheme of thingsin the society, in thefamily and in the nation,am sure you will haveless destitute childrenand men who beat theirwife and less childrenwho drop out of school.

“This is not only to

celebrate mothers, it isalso a call for mothers tobe responsible andresponsive to theirinitial role of raising thefamily.

On mothers world, wesay the new wave of thegame movement is notacceptable to mothers."

International Finance Corporation, IFC, incollaboration with Goldman Sachs has launched

a $600 million global facility that will increase accessto finance to as many as 100,000 womenentrepreneurs in emerging markets.

The Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility isthe first of its kind to be dedicated exclusively tofinancing women-owned small and mediumbusinesses in developing countries.

In a statement, IFC said that it will invest an initial$100 million and the Goldman Sachs Foundation willprovide $32 million and manage the facility expectedto mobilise up to an additional $468 million frompublic and private investors.

“The facility is part of the World Bank’s overallstrategy to promote gender equality and ensure thesocial and economic welfare of one-half of the world’spopulation.

IFC, Goldman Sachs launch $600mfacility for female entrepreneurs

From left: Mr. Yemi Cardoso, Chairman of theBoard, EFInA; Ms. Salah Goss, Programme Officer,Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Ms. ModupeLadipo, Chief Executive Officer, EFInA; Mr. PeterGoldstein, Vice President, InterMedia.


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Homes & Housing Finance

Niger to build1,000 housingunits this year

Niger State governmenthas concluded

arrangement to constructadditional 1000 housing unitsin the state before the end ofthe year, with Suleja andMinna getting 500 housingunits each. Governor Mu’azuBabangida Aliyu said the ideais to reduce housing deficitconfronting the two towns inthe state. The governor madethis known when he hostedthe management of anindigenous firm that willhandle the project. Hedirected the ministry of landsto make available thenecessary documents to theconstruction firm so as tocommence work immediatelyon the sites. Aliyuadmonished the company toensure that it keeps to theterms of the agreement,adding that government willnot hesitate to revoke thecontract if found to be inbreach of the agreement. Henoted that the administrationhad gone into partnership withmany companies to providecheap and decent houses forthe people because of its beliefthat if people were made tolive in decent environmentthey will give their best to theservice of the state and thenation.

Kaduna seals PPPdeal on masshousing

Kaduna Stategovernment has signed

a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withTrans Atlantic IntegratedDevelopment Limited for theconstruction of 3000 units ofhouses under a Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) masshousing scheme. GovernorMuktar Ramalan Yero whoattributed the widespreadcorruption in the country todesperate efforts by citizens toown personal houses, saidwith this type of developmentpeople will no longer beunder pressure to own theirhouses. “Our administrationattaches great importance tohousing development inKaduna State andgovernment is concernedabout finding ways to addressthe huge deficit in housing,”he said. Under thearrangement, Trans AtlanticIntegrated DevelopmentLimited is to construct 3000units of houses, while KadunaState government providesCertificate of Occupancy for100 hectares of land to be usedfor the project.

Stories by YINKAKOLAWOLE

The Lagos HomeO w n e r s h i pMortgage Scheme

(Lagos HOMS) will becomeself-sustaining in seven yearsif all beneficiaries of thescheme pay up theirmortgages promptly. LagosHOMS is an initiative of thestate government to helpresidents of the state ownhouses in a sustainable way.

Governor Babatunde Fasholastated this when the first drawto pick homeowners under thescheme was held in Lagos lastweek. He emphasised the needfor prospective home ownersunder the scheme to pay theirmonthly mortgages regularly,pointing out that this wouldensure that money is alwaysavailable to build more housesand give other tax-payingLagosians the opportunity toalso benefit from the scheme.

“By so doing, you will bringback a pool of money into thesystem that allows us andenables us to build for otherpeople who have also paidtaxes and who are waiting onthe queue. If all mortgageowners who benefit from thescheme pay up theirmortgages promptly, in sevenyears time the scheme wouldbecome self-sustaining andgovernment would not need tocommit money to the scheme.In that case the Lagos StateGovernment will no longerneed to put any more moneyinto this scheme because of themoney that will be coming out.So that is the biggestresponsibility that homeowners have,” he stated.

Fashola also charged thebeneficiaries to ensure they pay

Lagos HOMS to becomeself-sustaining in 7yrs— FASHOLA

up their maintenance chargesso that the houses would notbe like that of Jakande estatesthat the people failed tomaintain. “The owners musttake responsibility of payingrates and charges that comewith the privilege and the rightto own a home, such asmaintenance charges. If yousee many of the homes built byAlhaji Lateef Jakande over thelast few years, government stillhas the responsibility to go andclean, to go and paint, to goand maintain homes that it hassold. This will not be allowedunder this scheme. Homeowners must take responsibilityfor their homes and paymaintenance charges,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governorsaid that the second phase ofthe Lagos HOMS projectwould soon commence with theinvolvement of private sector

participants. He said under thesecond phase, the privatesector would be allowed tobuild houses for the schemewith government being theguarantee purchaser of thehouses for sale to the publicunder the scheme. “By sodoing, we will be in theposition to either double ortriple the number of homesfrom 200 to 600 or 800 permonth if we allow private sectorto build. We will buy from themand put into the mortgage pooland distribute out,” he said.

In his remarks, the ExecutiveSecretary of the LagosMortgage Board (LMB), theboard saddled with theresponsibility of managing thescheme, Mr. Akinola KodjoSagoe, explained that a total of200 houses were available forthe draw. He, however, notedthat of the 322 applicants in the

d i f f e r e n tcategories, only 98met therequirements andcut-off date forsubmission of formsfor the first draw,out of which only31 beneficiariese m e r g e d .According to himthe remaining 169houses from thefirst draw would berolled over to thenext draw for nextmonth where boththose who could notwin this month andthose who did notmeet therequirement for thefirst draw will have

another opportunity withouthaving to apply again.

Two hundred homes were putup for the draw but only 98applicants were successfullypre-qualified, out of which atotal of 31 homeowners wereproduced through the draw. Sixpersons won one 3-bedroomflat each while another six wonone 2-bedroom flats each andtwo persons won one 1-bedroom flats each in ShittaScheme in Surulere; fourpersons won one 3-bedroomflats each in Hon OlaitanMustapha Estate, Ijaiye,Ojokoro; ten persons won one3-bedroom flats each in ObaLateef Adams Estate, Iloro,Agege; two people won 3-bedroom flats each in CHOISGardens, Abijo; while oneperson won a 3 bedroom flat inAlhaja Adetoun MustaphaEstate Ijaiye, Ojokoro. Some ofthe winners are Mrs BukolaLawal, Mrs Nkiru Omenyi, Mrand Mrs Taiye Hassan Laaro,Mr. Olusegun Babalola , MrOlukayode Adegboyega for theShitta housing scheme.

The Federal Government has commencedmoves to review the implementation of

all Public Private Partnership (PPP) projectsin the housing sector.

Erstwhile Supervising Minister of Lands,Housing and Urban Development, Mr.Muhammad Sada, who disclosed this inAbuja, said that the ministry has set up a taskforce for this purpose. He said the task forceis to develop appropriate guidelines andeligibility criteria for the participation ofqualified parties in the design andimplementation of PPP projects in theministry.

The minister further disclosed that the movewas aimed at further strengthening the PPParrangement in the ministry for effectivecontributions to sustainable housing deliveryin the country. He said the ministry wasdetermined to actualise the long termdevelopment agenda in the housing andurban development, adding that it willcontinue to collaborate with the private sectorto accomplish the task. “The ministry will alsocontinue to collaborate with governments at

FG moves to review PPP housing projectsthe state and local levels to actualise PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’s aspirations for thehousing sector,” he said.

Sada said the housing ministry has reachedan agreement with Home Builders Institutein the U.S. to train 1,000 artisans andcraftsmen within the year to enhance theircompetence. He said the training will focuson building structures, building services andfinishing. He said the ministry has also enteredinto an agreement with the Ministry ofNational Development in Singapore to buildNigeria’s institutional capacity in the housingsector.

According to him, participants would bedrawn from block and brick layers, plumbers,painters, carpenters, aluminum fabricators andwelders, adding that the training would alsoinclude landscaping and solar energy facilitiesmaintenance. “This is to enable us tocompetently address the developmentalchallenges of sustainable land administration,management, affordable housing and urbandevelopment on a long term basis.

•Lagos HOMShousing estate inShogunro


CMYK

Insurance

VISIT: President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers,(NCRIB) Mr AyodapoShoderu (right), in a handshake with the Group Managing Director of Geepee Group ofCompanies, Mr. Prakash Vaswani, when the former paid a visit to the NCRIB Secretariat inLagos. With them is the Director, Human Resources of the NCRIB, Mr Lukeman Adeleye (left)and the Council’s Director of Finance, Mrs Lola Ogedengbe.

There is need for theboard andmanagement of

insurance companies to setaside yearly budget for trainingand re-training of all staff inorder to boost human capacityand enhance productivity.

Director General of theChartered Insurance Instituteof Nigeria, Mr. Kola Ahmedwho made this assertion inLagos, noted that theimportance of regular trainingfor insurance practitionerscannot be over emphasised.

According to Ahmed, theinsurance industry still needsto do more as regards trainingof their workforce to enhanceproductivity.

Ahmed said that the budgetfor training should not beskewed towards the topechelon of insurancecompanies alone, but must bespread to accommodate bothjunior workers.

This he said is necessary ifthe board and managementexpects the performance ofworkers to increase goingforward.

Meanwhile, ManagingDirector of FBN Life Assurance,Mr. Val Ojumah, has chargedinsurance operators toregularly send their staff fortraining in order to equip themto play effective role in the oiland gas risk business.

According to Ojumah, thelevel of knowledge on oil andgas business by someinsurance practitioners isrelatively low therefore oneway of ensuring that companiesplay actively in the oil and gasbusiness is to demonstrate andshow that employees are sentto training institutions.

Ojumah noted that trainingof insurance personnel could

Experts urge insurers to prioritizetrainingStories byROSEMARY ONUOHA

serve as key for the industry tobreak the myth that surroundsthe oil and gas industry.

Also, former ManagingDirector of CrystalifeAssurance Plc, Mrs. OluseyiIfaturoti said that the successof the insurance industry is

hinged on the effective trainingand retraining of human capitalin the industry.

Ifaturoti said that trainingand retraining programmesmust assume a differentdimension with emphasis onpreparing the workforce for

higher challenges. The CIIN,according to Ifaturoti, isstatutorily empowered to caterfor the insurance industryeducational and trainingneeds, a function which hasbecome more imperative in theemerging scenario.

The Chartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria,

CIIN, said that the College ofInsurance and BusinessManagement will take-off forbusiness by June 2014.

Accordingly, the CollegeRector, Mrs. Yeside AbiodunOyetayo is billed to assume

College of insurance to kick off in June… CIIN appoints rector

By GODFREYONORIODE

duty in April with expectationof fast-tracking the initiation ofcollege programme in thecourse of the year.

Director General of theInstitute, Mr. Kola Ahmed,disclosed this to Journalists ata press conference held in itsSecretariat in Lagos.

According to Ahmed, theinstitute is in the final phaseof completing the college.

He said that the first phase

which includes the Admin/Multipurpose block, therestaurant and three Chaletswere on ground as at May2013 while the second phasewas also completed last year.

He said that six additionalstructures has been added tothe third and final phase whichincludes 50 bedroom (allensuite) hall of residence, 1storey 2,3-bedroom senior staffquarters and four units ofchalet which are expected to becompleted before the end ofApril. He said that the fourbuildings under constructionsare 1-twin duplex rector ’slodge and 3 additional chalets.He noted that these effortsrepresent an uninhibitedcommitment towardsactualisation of the collegeproject and ultimatelylaunching it for full take off.

On staff renumeration, theCIIN boss said that theGoverning Council hasapproved new salary structuresand promotions of threeerstwhile deputy directors tofull directors; they are Mr.Joseph Obah, Director/HeadCorporate Affairs, Admin & HRDirectorate.

Corporate business institutions havebeen advised to utilise the services

of insurance brokers in sustaining theirbusiness prospect.

President of the Nigerian Council ofRegistered Insurance Brokers, MrAyodapo Shoderu gave the advice whenthe Chairman of Geepee Group ofcompanies, Mr. Prakash Vaswani paid acourtesy visit to the NCRIB Secretariat inLagos. According to Shoderu, the fortunesof businesses and their sustainability aredetermined by risk managementstrategies put in place by management,of which insurance is pivotal.

“The extent of risk exposures by mostbusiness concerns, especially in the

Corporate businesses advised to utilise services of brokerschanging global environment calls forproactive initiatives by business managersand this will determine their continuedexistence,” Shoderu noted.

The NCRIB President said that insurancebrokers assist their clients in maximisingtheir insurances as they provide them withdifferent profitable rates, in addition to theirrendition of personalised services.

Shoderu disclosed that public confidencein insurance brokerage services had beenenhanced by the promulgation of theNCRIB Act 2003 through which the Councilregulates the ethical conduct of its membersand provide them with regular trainingexposures, to catch up with changingdynamics of the profession.

Business journalholds insurancesummit

The first Business JournalInsurance Summit &

Exhibition 2014 is set to holdtoday in Lagos.

The theme is: ‘ClosingInsurance Awareness Gap forBusiness Growth.’

Mr. Prince Cookey, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of BusinessJournal, stated that the summitis to provide a platform forstakeholders in the insuranceindustry to brainstorm on keyissues driving the immediateand future growth of themarket.

“It is also our desire to keepinsurance on the front-burnerof national discourse to createbetter awareness andunderstanding of the industryand ensure sustainablegrowth,” Cookey said. “As thetheme suggests, we stronglybelieve that closing theyawning insurance awarenessgap in Nigeria will lead todramatic increase in thefortunes of the industry for theoverall benefit of allstakeholders-regulators,operators and consumers.”

The Business Journalpublisher urged currentstakeholders in the industry toseize opportunity of thesummit to honestly address thechallenges retarding rapidgrowth of the market to re-writethe history of the insurancesector in Nigeria.

He described the summit asthe little contribution ofBusiness Journal magazine tothe development of theinsurance industry in Nigeria.He promised that the summitwould be an annual event toconstantly evaluate theprogress of the industry,identify weak spots andgenerate ideas to address themand move the market forward.

Cookey said Mr. Fola Daniel,Commissioner for Insurance,National InsuranceCommission (NAICOM)would be the Special Guest ofHonour at the event to bechaired by Mr. Fatai, K. Lawal,President/Chairman ofCouncil, Chartered InsuranceInstitute of Nigeria (CIIN).

The Distinguished GuestSpeakers include Dr. AkinOgunbiyi, Group ManagingDirector/CEO, Mutual BenefitsAssurance Plc; Mr. GbolahanOlutayo, Managing Director/CEO, Goldlink Insurance Plc;Mr. Abdul Koledoye, President/Chairman of Council, NationalInstitute of Marketing ofNigeria; Chief Yemi Soladoyeof the Insurance ConsumersAssociation of Nigeria; Mr.Ademayowa Adeduro,Managing Director/CEO,


CMYK

,,

In the end it will not matter to uswhether we fought with flails orreeds. It will matter to us greatly

on what side we fought.”GKCHesterton1874-1936. (VANGUARDBOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 60).

“The recovered amount waschanneled into rural projects andprogrammes as per the agreement withthe Swiss Government whichrepartriated the funds. A combined teamof Nigerian and Swiss NGOs , with theWorld Bank, later verified the use of thismoney…”

Paul Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser toMinister of Finance. Guardian, March2, 2014, p 53.

This is going to be war of words; but,it will be hot and relentless between thetwo tag teams – Okonjo-Iweala/Nwabuikwu versus Olumhese/Sobowale. And, it is all about YOUNigerians. More specifically, it is allabout what had happened to the Abachaloot which were recovered from abroad– how much, who received the fundsand what happened to them? The firstquestion that comes to your mind is:why team up with Olumhese? Theanswer is simple. For years, if I had tochoose one columnist to read everySunday, and no other, it would beOlumhese. I stopped buying Guardianon Sunday when he left. Today, March2, 2014, I just asked for Guardian, andthere was Olumhese in a battle of wordswith Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman forthe Finance Minister. Spokesmen areechoes, not voices; they are likemicrophones. They can only say outloud what someone else had said.Unfortunately, on an issue such asAbacha loot, they become part of a tagteam – the Minister and the “echo.” LikeOlumhese, I have had considerable dataon Abacha loot which are at variancewith what the Minister of Finance andher “partner” are trying to peddle tothe public. So, I have invited myself toOlumhese’s corner – as his tag teampartner, of course. I feel sorry for theother side already. They are lyingthrough their teeth – all 32 of them. But,before going into specifics, permit me alittle digression. All is fair in war, afterall.

Long-term readers of this page mustremember how painful it had been forme as one respected columnist, afteranother, had left the fourth estate of theRealm to join the First. Suddenly, the“highly intelligent” writer dies and isreplaced by someone worse than anenvoy – who has been described as “anhonest man [woman] sent to lie abroadfor the good of his country”, by SirHenry Wolton, 1568-1639. (BOOK OFQUOTES p 9).

When our former colleaguesdisappear into governments, theyemerge as people sent out to lie toNigerians for the good of thegovernment they serve. The last thingon their minds when they operate is,what is good for Nigeria? That is whysome of them make statements which,if they were not in government, theywould be ashamed to be associated with.The statement which was lifted from PaulNwabuikwu’s rejoinder to Olumhese inthe Guardian, titled Where OlumheseGoofed on Okonjo-Iweala, is a classic

Okonjo-Iweala vs SonalaOlumhense: Tag teams (1)

example of an intelligent Nigerianlending his powers to deceiveNigerians on a matter of graveimportance – just because he is aspokesman for minister. Is this the samePaul we used to read with greatadmiration or has there been an identitytheft? I wonder.

For those who might not understandwhat the palaver is all about, let mequickly explain. First, there is a disputeabout how much was repatriated. Thenthere is a query regarding whathappened to the money. Finally,Olumhese is requesting, on behalf ofNigerians, for accountability – whathappened to the money; how was itspent, can we verify the claims? To me,nothing could be more patriotic andclearer. Instead of providing answers,the Minister, through her spokesman(tag team partner), had resorted tofalsification of all available records andinsults. We set aside, for now, thequestion of how much? Rest assuredthat the Minister and Paul will be taught

a lesson they will never forget. Let ustake a look at the statement made byPaul, quoted above.

What Paul is saying, in the usually,tall grammar of officialdom, when outto deceive, is simple. Nigerian money,stolen by Abacha, was traced to Swissbanks. The Swiss Government, insteadof returning our money, insisted theywere going to supervise how the moneywas spent. This arrangement receivedthe blessing of the World Bank – whenOkonjo-Iweala was there. Okonjo-Iweala and Paul applaud this insult toour sovereignty. Nothing can be moreunpatriotic. Would the SwissGovernment have insulted America,Russia, or China the same way if theirstolen funds find their way into corruptSwiss banks? Here was a country whichhad developed itself on stolen fundsfrom every country, as well as fundsfrom criminal activities globally, tellinga victim of its corrupt bankingestablishment how to spend its ownmoney.

Furthermore, Okonjo-Iweala and Paulknow too well that the Nigerianconstitution stipulates that any fundsbelonging to the country should be paidinto the federation account – first andforemost. Thereafter, it would beallocated, on agreed formula, to all thethree tiers of government. Since, it wasnot clear that the loot was taken fromthe Federal Government alone, evenany agreement to dispense the fundsbetween the Federal Government andany other party, including the WorldBank, was unconstitutional.

Nigerian money,stolen by Abacha,

was traced to Swissbanks; the SwissGovernment, instead ofreturning our money,insisted they weregoing to supervise howthe money was spent

”

Vanguard, MONDAY, MACRH 10, 2014 — 33

CMYK

Aviation

Nigerian AirspaceM a n a g e m e n tAgency, NAMA, is

yet to be paid its outstandingN4 billion debts airlineoperators owe the agency asenroute charges. Theoperators have refused to paythese charges for some yearsnow and the charges haveaccumulated to more than N4billion.

NAMA last month won anappeal by the AirlineOperators of Nigeria, AON,

Airline operators yet to pay NAMA N4bnen-route charges

as the Supreme Court in aunanimous judgment,dismissed the appeal by AONover the payment of enroutecharges.

It will be recalled that afterthe Supreme Court judgment,the former Managing Directorof NAMA, Engineer NnamdiUdoh had appealed to thedomestic carriers to“commence the process ofliquidating their respectiveoutstanding bills of more thanN4 billion on the enroutecharges.”

According to the GeneralManager, Public Affairs,NAMA, Mr Supo Atobatele,

“NAMA is statutorilyempowered to charge thedomestic airlines on thecontroversial en routeservices like their foreigncounterparts.

“The Supreme Courtthereafter awarded a cost ofN100,000 in favour of NAMA.NAMA on record loses anaverage of N500milllionaccruable revenue annuallyfollowing the refusal of thedomestic carriers to honourbills on enroute services asthey often claimed to have'godfather’s right' to evadepayment.”

NAMA had in 2006 won an

appeal by domestic airlineoperators over the same issueat the Appeal Court in Lagoswhich declared that theairlines had no cogent reasonnot to pay for servicesrendered to them by theagency.

Engr. Udoh had said:‘’From the beginning of thiscase in 2006, we have chosennot to disrupt the activities ofthe airlines, even when theAppellant Court in Lagosgave us the power to collectour charges.

‘’We were patient enoughnot to rock the boat and thatis why we followed it up tothe Apex Court with the AONand today (Friday), the panelof judges in a unanimousdecision dismissed the appealto our favour.”

Dana Airsupportschildeducation

Dana Air has extendedthe focus of its

corporate social responsibilityto child education as theairline in partnership withBi-Courtney Aviation ServicesLimited (BASL) took pupilson an educational excursionof airport facilities thatincluded having a firsthandexperience of how an airplaneworks. The week longprogramme saw the airlineopening its aircraft doors toover 500 pupils drawn fromvarious schools across LagosState.

According to SamuelOgbogoro, Media RelationsManager of Dana Air, whilewelcoming the pupils to theaircraft provided by Dana Airfor the expedition purpose,the Chief Pilot of the airline,Captain Segun Omaleexpressed happiness thatDana Air is once againleading in the drive to impacton the lives of children.

Captain Omale said thatDana Airline identifies withall global and local initiativesto improve the educationpursuit of children. “We are acaring airline that willcontinue to pay seriousattention to issues thatconcern proper education ofthe future generation and ourcommitment to take thechildren on this all importantexcursion is anchored on ourfirm belief that a well informedchild represents hope for thefuture of mankind asinformation drives thedevelopment of any nation.”

Aviation stakeholders worry overNigeria's Category-1 statusAviation experts and stakeholders have

expressed fears that the removal of theDirector-General of Nigerian Civil AviationAuthority, NCAA few days to the visit of FederalAviation Administration, FAA, of the UnitedStates inspectors to Nigeria to re-certify thecountry’s Category-1 status, may send wrongsignals to the inspectors and consequentlyaffect the country’s chances.

The D-G of NCAA is supposed to have atenure after being cleared by the Senate. Thisis to create stability in the system and allowthe D-G concentrate on his job of providingsafety for the delicate aviation industry.

The former DG of NCAA, Captain FolaAkinkuotu had told aviation reporters last weekthat “the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)has once again written to inform us that theywill be visiting Nigeria for a mandatory re-assessment of our Category One certification.”

“It is, however, important to make itabundantly clear that as part of the conditionsattached to certification is that there will be are-assessment of the receiving country afterevery three years. Towards this re-assessment,the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is putting

all hands on deck to ensure that the nationacquits itself very well in the impendingexercise.

“To this effect, a Technical Committee hasbeen inaugurated to provide fillip and driveall the preparation process.”

The team of American inspectors will becoming to Nigeria on 31st of March. Therecertification of Category 1 Status by FAAis a regular exercise and those countries thathave not met the re-certification processeshave had their certificates withdrawn.

Reacting to the sack of the DG of NCAA,the President, Aviation Roundtable, Capt.Dele Ore, said: “I actually think the removalof NCAA DG, Captain Fola Akinkuotu is anaberration. I think the removal of the manshows that we have shot ourselves in the footby that particular action. It is likely to weighagainst the country in terms of the oncomingaudit by the United States Federal AviationAgency.

“The painful part of the removal ofAkinkuotu is that Oduah actually did notallow that man to do anything in the veryfew months he was DG. She tied his hands.”

SAHCOLrestructuresworkforce

The Skyway AviationHandling Company

Limited ,SAHCOL, hascommenced restructuringof its workforce.According to BasilAgboarumi, AssistantGeneral Manager,C o r p o r a t eCommunications, theexercise is to, “refocusthe company in line withcurrent realities andmake it more prepared toface future projections ofsurpassing customer ’sexpectations”

In the new structure,Olumide Odebiyi, DavidOlorundade, AdigunOlaniyi and LanreAdekola, who wereformally AssistantGeneral Managers,Operations, HumanResources, Sales &Marketing, andEngineering &M a i n t e n a n c e ,respectively, have nowbeen elevated to theposition of GeneralManagers.

Also, Olujimi Osho,Formerly CompanySecretary/Legal Adviser,is now General Manager,Legal Services/CompanySecretary, LawrenceAdejo, the erstwhileChief Accountant, is nowGeneral ManagerFinance, while BasilAgboarumi, formallyHead CorporateCommunications, is nowAssistant GeneralManager, CorporateCommunications.

Furthermore, Mrs.Boma Ukwunnadeployed from the SifaxOffduck Okota, asubsidiary of the SifaxGroup, is now theGeneral Manager, CargoServices.

“In a letter detailingthis new structure, theManaging Director ofSAHCOL, Olu Owolabi,disclosed that therestructuring exercisewhich is on-going, willspill-over to all staff,hence called for thesupport, loyalty, andcommitment of every staffto realize the companygoal.”

STORIES By LAWANIMIKAIRU

PRESENTATION: From left, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of occasion,General Ike Nwachukwu, Mrs Nnenna Orji, wife of the author; Dr. Herbert Orji, author, andAigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, former GMD/CEO, Access Bank Plc/chief presenter, at the officialpresentation of the book “Platinum Essays in the Philosophy of Applied Economics of Develop-ment” in Lagos.PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

By LAWANIMIKAIRU


CMYK

People in Business

Why we started SkytrendNews:

According toAdeoya, SkytrendNews is another

initiative from the stables ofSkytrend Consulting.

“With my knowledge of theemerging market in the onlineworld, I thought of gettingNigerians acquainted withrelevant information to helpthem make informeddecisions. I have been asocial crusader passionateabout good leadership inNigeria for quite some timenow and also being a memberof a few civil societyorganisations, I felt the needto set up a medium to sharesocio-political and economicinformation with Nigerians.

It was this passion thatbrought about the idea ofSkytrend News which is notyour regular online news website. It is unique in the contextof being a web-based newssite established primarily toherald the news of Nigeria toNigerians and to be an activestakeholder in the socio-economic development of thecountry in particular and theworld at large.

Skytrend News is not abusiness-focused venture, itwas formed mainly to rendera national service – to providefactual information toNigerians that will help themmake informed decisions ascitizens in every area of ournational life and as it affectsthe enthronement of goodleadership which will in turnhelp the nation’s socio-

Skytrend Newsformed to rendernational service—FEMI ADEOYA

•Femi Adeoya ....It is our considered opinion that suchunilateral closure should not happen in a democracy.

M r. Femi Adeoya is theChief Executive Officer ofSkytrend Consulting Ltd, a

business development and accountingsolutions firm which recently addedanother feather to its cap, SkytrendNews, an online news publication. Inthis chat with Financial Vanguard,Adeoya, an accountant by profession,speaks on Skytrend’s newest initiativeand how it is impacting society forgood. Excerpts:

By EBELE ORAKPO ,,

economic development. “ I n Skytrend News, our

vision is to champion aknowledge-based growth andbe the leading voice in theestablishment of goodleadership, expose corruptionand social ills in the society,establish sound corporateculture, promote the right ofevery citizen, and thepolitical/socio-economicdevelopment of our country.We hope to achieve these byeducating, re-orientating andinforming with a view tobuilding an egalitarian andequitable society,” Adeoyasaid.

Recounting some of thestrides made by the outfitbetween August 2013 when itstarted and now, Adeoya said:“We have been able to makesome meaningfuldevelopment. Prof. WoleSoyinka once said: ‘The mandies in him who keeps quietin the face of injustice.’Nigeria started her4th Republic on May 29,1999 and since then, we havehad a lot of ups and downs inour political life.

"Our nascent democracy isstill developing and we feelthat there is need for aplatform that would be able toprovide information that willhelp the citizens and thecountry not only developfaster but get to her desiredhaven," he said.

Selling point:

Adeoya noted thatSkytrend News follows

every story to its logical end."In Skytrend News, we don’tjust break the news but we acton the story with our readersand stakeholders, and thatforms our unique sellingpoint. We will never stop atjust reporting, our aim isalways to dig deeper, get tothe bottom, right the wrongs,dot the ‘i’s and cross the‘t’s.”

Explaining further,Adeoya said: “What

most of the regular web sitesdo is to break news, informpeople and then stop at thatbut we are different. We don’tjust want to break the newsand inform or just educate, wewant to act on the story, andwe want to develop the story

l i k e CNN does. WhenCNN breaks a story, they willsay ‘developing story.’ That istheir unique selling point sothey don’t just stop atbringing the story, they reportevery area as it develops andthey analyze it. Once we geta piece of information, we tryto get to the root of it and whenwe are acting on it, we don’tjust act unilaterally, we do soin partnership with ournumerous followers andstakeholders.

"An example is the recentclosure of Iponri market inLagos. For us, it was not justenough to report that story, wefollowed it up, we interviewedthe Surulere Local GovtChairman, we spoke with thetraders and we were able todiscover that the reason whyit was locked up was notacceptable and the processill-thought out. It is ourconsidered opinion that suchunilateral closure should nothappen in a democracy andthat processes should be wellspelt out and defined toguide market activities.

This was not the case inthis particular situation.

So when we have a ‘marketleader ’ locking up aparticular market forpecuniary gains or suchuntoward motive and askingtraders to bring certaindocuments before re-opening, we want toinvestigate the reason(s) forthat. So we act on the storyand in doing this, we involveconcerned Nigerians in suchtrending issues and we come

out with a collectiveposition.”

Health sector problems:“There have been problems

in Nigeria’s health sector –between the doctors andother health professionals.The medical doctors try toprove that they are the mostsenior having had the mostextended years of learningand therefore the ones whoshould be the administratorsin hospitals.

We published an articleon the need for

relevant stakeholders toquickly address this issue.Thanks to modern onlinecommunication technology,we were able to assemblestakeholders to have anindepth discussion on ourweb-based discussionplatform where we engagedthem thoroughly, havingidentified the core problemsin the sector.

“Many of the healthprofessionals wrote us andmade practical and pragmaticcontributions for a solutionthat would be acceptable toall, and we in turn publishedthem for our readers todigest. Whenever we havestrikes in this sector, patientsbear the brunt. That sectorhas been bedeviled by a lotof problems and the patientsare the ones always at thereceiving end. Today, youhave medical doctors goingon strike and once theyresolve with government andthe strike is called off, theother health professionalsalso call out their staff onstrike. This is notacceptable.

“So in cases like this, wewant to partner withstakeholders in the healthsector, not just reporting thehealth problems, but alongwith them to look for asolution and see how we canresolve the problems. Thatarticle in question attracteda lot of readership and wepostulated some areas wefeel the government andNational Assembly shouldlook into to resolve theproblems.

"We also encouraged ourgovernment to deployinternational best practices inthe health sector. Hopefullythis can resolve the lingeringproblems in that sector.

So this is one of the wayswe try to help society.Basically therefore, it is notjust about news reportage, itis about giving back to thesociety, being a sort ofwatchdog to the government,it’s about providingalternative solutions andmaking policy suggestions tothe government and moreimportantly, it’s about beingthe conscience of the nation."

It is not just about newsreportage, it is about giving

back to society, being a sort ofwatchdog to the government, it’s

about providing alternativesolutions and making policy

suggestions .... it’s about beingthe conscience of the nation


CMYK


CMYK

E- Commerce

BY JONAH NWOKPOKU

BeyondBranchesI n t e r n a t i o n a lLimited has

deepened its mobile moneypenetration through theexpansion of its agentbanking service initiative toOwo, in Ondo state.

BeyondBranches is aUnited Kingdom basedagency banking and mobilepayment platform with asubsidiary in Nigeria.It wassetup in 2013 to supportcashless, agency bankingand mobile paymentinitiatives in the country.

L5Lab, the venture firmbehind Jobberman

and Cheki in conjunctionwith 88mph-a companythat specializes onaccelerating internetstartup growth in Africa,have launched aninvestment platform called440.ng, to assist twentymobile and internet start-ups in Nigeria.

The partnership whichmakes over $1.5 millionavailable to new andexisting mobile andinternet start-upsbusinesses across Nigeriaover the next two years willalso provide training,mentorship, tech advice,and an energizingenvironment to help speedup their businesses whilebuilding and getting theirproducts into the market.

Speaking at the officiallaunch of the partnership inLagos, Chika Nwobi,Managing Partner ofL5Lab, described thecollaboration as anopportunity to scale theircompany’s impact bycreating more Nigeriansuccess stories, havingmade a small number ofvery successfulinvestments over the lastthree years.

She said, “We want to putsome equity of between$10, 000 and $100,000 in acompany and anybody thatis going to invest we aregoing to move them into thespace that we have createdwhich will accommodateabout ten companies at atime. Google is takingsome part as a partner andwe are also bringing someother partners into the

Police investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesPolice investigatesanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinanother bitcoinbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inbank failure inCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadaCanadian police have

launched aninvestigation after onlinebitcoin bank Flexcoin, whichclosed its virtual doors, lastweek, said that it had lostabout $600,000 worth of thedigital currency in a hackerattack.

The company reported thetheft of 896 bitcoins on itswebsite on Monday and saidit “does not have theresources (or) assets ... tocome back from this loss.” Itblamed the attack on hackerswho had targeted its onlinewallet.

Bitcoins stored in Flexcoin’scold storage facility, which isbasically an offline bank,were not affected by the hackand will be returned tocustomers, the company said.

The Edmonton PoliceService (EPS) said they wereinvestigating the issue.

Flexcoin’s demise comesclose on the heels of thecollapse of Mt. Gox, once theworld’s dominant bitcoinexchange, which filed forbankruptcy last week after itsaid it had lost some 850,000bitcoins.

EBay topshareholdersagree on PayPalChief Executive Officer

of the global e-retailer,EBay, John Donahoe said onWednesday that several of theonline retailer’s most activeshareholders have assuredhim they support his effortsto resist demands by activistinvestor, Carl Icahn for aspin-off of the PayPal unit.

Donahoe told Reuters thathe has spoken with as manyas 16 of the 20 most-activeshareholders in eBay, andmost favored hanging on tothe fast-growing PayPalpayments unit. He did not saywhat percentage of thecompany’s shares was held bythe investors who agreed withhis resistance to Icahn.

“I met with 15, 16 of our top20 active investors, haveengaged back and forth indialogue with them,”Donahoe said in an interview.

“The majority of themunderstand that they’restronger together,” he said.

PayPal had become thepreferred online paymentmethod of the onlinemarketplace’s customerswhen eBay acquired it for $1.5billion in 2002.

Venture firms partner to accelerateNigerian mobile startups growth

By JONAH NWOKPOKU& WILLIAM JIMOH

space so that they can get thesupport and all the thingsthat they need in order forthem to have the best chanceof succeeding while gainingdesign and technicalknowledge. This is to enablethem build their products ifthey are not having onealready."

Also speaking, 88mph

founder, Kresten Buch, notedthat, “Seeing the greatpotential of our existingportfolio in Cape Town andNairobi, Kenya over the pasttwo years, we think Nigeriais the next step for 88mph andour method of investing isaccelerating startups growth.

“440.ng was designed tofocus at investing cash intobusinesses that we believecan become very successful.And like a channel partner,they work with us and thatenables them to have access

to bank and other players thatthey may need and also, if thepartnership works, it will alsoattract venture capitalists thatare interested in putting inmoney to ensure that thebusiness grows.

“This is not just for peoplethat have not yet started acompany, it is also for peoplewho already have a companyrunning but maybe they arelacking exposure, finance oraccess to certain channels topartners that can help theirbusiness to grow well.”

BeyondBranches Nigeria deepens mobilemoney penetration

The Chief Operating Officerof BeyonBranches in Nigeria,Simon Aderinlola, instatement saidBayondBranches’agent ,Olabisi Olaniyi, whodeployed the mobile paymentservices to Ondo on behalf ofBeyondBranches, hasrecorded tremendous success.

Customers, according to theagent, have been delightedby the convenience that theservice has been able to offerthem, by enabling airtime top-ups, pay-tv subscriptions andcash deposits in the banks.

According to him,“BeyondBranches identified

Ondo State as a key target forthese innovative services in2013. This was finalised inDecember 2013, whenBeyondBranches visited DrOlusegun Mimiko– Governor of Ondo State – aspart of a delegation of Britishbusinesses led by Mr. PeterCarter – the British DeputyHigh Commissioner inLagos. The delegation alsovisited Ekiti and Oyo states.

Speaking on what hasmotivated the deployment ofthe services, Aderinlolaexplained that, “According tothe World Bank, there areover 11million Micro, Small

and Medium Enterprisesin Nigeria. We hope toprovide valuable mobile-based services to helpthese businesses becomemore efficient in theiroperations. However, wehave started by enablingspecific and targetedo v e r - t h e - c o u n t e rpayments for our partnerorganisations. We havealso been runningpromotions to encourageagents to sign-up and getactive from the outset. Ourpromotions also aim todrive agent transactionsand repeat consumerpatronage.”

VISIT: From left, Olayinka Oni, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Nigeria, Kabelo Makwane,Country Manager-Designate, Microsoft Nigeria, Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, MicrosoftInternational and Awawu Olumide-Sojinrin, Marketing and Operations Director, MicrosoftNigeria during the visit of Jean-Philippe to Nigeria recently.


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Tax Matters

The NigerianGovernment has overthe years put in place

many different andoverlapping incentiveschemes to attract both localand foreign investment. Taxexemption is generallyregarded as an industrialinvestment device; manydeveloping countries likeNigeria offer it as one of theirmajor incentives. Basically,tax incentives are designed toencourage investments incertain preferred sectors of theeconomy and sometimesgeared towards attractinginflow of foreign exchange tocomplement domesticsupplies for rapid economicdevelopment.

Tax exemption otherwiseknown as Tax holiday is oneof the most widespread taxincentive. Tax exemptionsimply means a period ofexemption from payment oftaxes imposed by thegovernment and this may becomplete or partial. The grantof pioneer status, therefore,gives a company a preferredposition in gettingestablished, usually throughexemption from income tax.

A pioneer company is acompany that engagedmanufacturing, processing,mining, servicing andagricultural industries whoseproducts have been declaredpioneer products on satisfyingcertain conditions in asdetermined by IndustrialDevelopment CoordinatingCommittee (IDCC) of theGovernment under theIndustrial Development(Income Tax Relief) Act Cap179 LFN 1990. The pioneerTax holiday is for an initialperiod of three years orsubject to further extension oftwo years or five years (onesand for all without furtherextension).

Enabling ActAct Chapter 179 laws of the

federation of Nigeria (LFN)1990 but first enacted byDecree No22 of 1971 andcommenced on 1/4/1970.

Commencement Date 1stApril, 1970

•“An Act to repeal and re-enact, with major changes,the industries Development(Income Tax Relief) Act and tomake provision for Tax relieffor certain industries that maybe issued with pioneercertificates by the minister andother matters ancilatory thereto”

•Conditions:*Industry is not being

carried out on a suitablescale as required and there

Tax relief for pioneer companiesBy AHMEDIBRAHIM ALIYARA

are prospects for furtherdevelopment in thecountry or its product.

*If it is in the public interestto encourage the industry orits product.

*Application may be madefor the inclusion of a producton the pioneer list

Mode of Application*All application to be

addressed to the Minister*State the status of the

company*Give details of qualifying

capital expenditure to beincurred

*Give sources of qualifyingcapital expenditure andestimated cost

*Specify location of Assets*Date of production of

pioneer products*Any by product not being a

pioneer productTERMS OF PIONEER

CERTIFICATE*Must be in terms of the

application to which it relates.*Specify permissible by-

products to be produced.*Specify period within

which company must beincorporated and conditionsto be endorsed

*Pioneer status will only beissued from a date whencompany was incorporatedand shall be effective from adate not earlier than the dateon which the application wassubmitted to the minister ordate of incorporation,whichever is the later.

,,

*Any other condition will bespecified by the minister

*The minimum Tax reliefperiod not exceeding five yearsto be stated 3(6)(a-b)

Amending of PioneerCertificate to Add NewProduct

Section 4 (1) – (3) alloweda company during its

pioneer period to makeapplication in writing to theMinister to add a new product.

R E T R O S P E C T I V EPIONEER OPERATION

•Where a pioneer certificateis to be operative from aretrospective date, all Acts shallbe treated as not having beenclosed or not having happenedand all taxes paid (if any shallbe repaid as soon as may afterthe expiration of three monthsfrom the production day.

PRODUCTION DATE•No later than one month

when the company is goinginto commercial production(marketable quantity), thecompany shall apply in writingfor the certification of itsproduction date.

•Not later than one monthafter the production date or anyextended period granted by theBoard, the company shall makeapplication in writing to theBoard for the certification of theamount incurred as qualifyingcapital expenditure prior to theproduction date.

Cancellation of PioneerCertificate

i)Company may apply for

cancellationii)If company contravened

any provision of the Act orfailed to meet conditions set.

Tax Relief Periodi)Commencing from the

production date, it shallcontinue for three years (butcan be extended):-

ii)for another one period oftwo years (if the standard andrate of expansion aresatisfactory), local rawmaterial utilizationexpansion, Training andDevelopment of Nigerians,Government Policy Priority)

iii) Five years (once andfor all).

TRANSITION FROMPIONEER STATUS

Conditions of Old Trade orBusiness of a PioneerCompany

*The old trade shall bedeemed to ceasedpermanently at the end of thetax relief period

*The pioneer companydeemed to have set up a newtrade on the day nextfollowing the end of its reliefperiod

*All capital expendituresincurred and used by apioneer company shall bedeemed have been incurredon that day next followingthe end of its tax relief period

*Where it incurs a Net loss,that loss shall be deemed tohave been incurred on thedate on which its new tradecommences i.e. it will beallowed to deduct all thelosses brought forward fromthe pioneer period

*The company must submitto the Board a list of its assetsfor certification.

*At the end; the Board willissue a certificate ofqualifying expenditure

*The Board is expected toissue the company for each

year, the amount of income asascertained and loss asarrived at (if applicable).

Treatment of CapitalAllowances and Losses

•A capital expenditureincurred shall be deemed tohave been incurred on thatday next following the end ofthe pioneer period. i.e.regardless of the number ofyears granted a pioneercompany, all capitalexpenditures incurred in linewith the provision of thesecond schedule within theperiods shall be deemed tohave been incurred after theTax relief period.

•For losses incurred withinthe pioneer period, thecumulative amount will bedeemed for computing totalprofits to have been incurredon the day, next following thepioneer period i.e. it will beallowed as a deduction in thenew business.

D O C U M E N T AT I O NREQUIRED BY FIRS

*Memorandum and Articleof Association

*Certificate of Incorporation*Answer to standard

questionnaire*Pioneer Certificate issued*The period approved*Production date*Products and by-products*For a going concern, the

Audited account ended beforethe production date to befurnished (regardless of thenumber of months).

Rendition of Returns*The conditions governing

the submission of tax returnsin CITA are applicable to apioneer company.

*One year fromcommencement of productiondate

*Period of one yearsuccessively

*Last year of the reliefperiod.

*Example: Kano MoneyLender Ltd was granted apioneer status commencingfrom 1st July, 1999. Thecompany has 31/12 as it’saccounting date. The periodgranted was for five years.

*At expiration of the pioneerperiod, it submitted Accountsfor the years ended 31stDecember, 2004 and 2005 youare given these additionaldata

The data: 2004 (N) 2005 (N)

i) Net Profits16,980,155 9,758,273

ii) Depreciation 32,157,000 46,102,328

iii) Capital Allowance b/f 172,314,886 —

iv) Investment Allowance10,378,700 8,033,243

v) Initial Allowance 7 5,414,556 58,020,388

vi) Annual allowance 37,975,662 60,659,786

You are required to computebasis period and the relevanttaxes payable by thiscompany.

Tax exemption simply meansa period of exemption from

payment of taxes imposed bythe government and this may

be complete or partial

BIRTHDAY SEMINAR: From left Mr. John Ehiguese, Group MD, Media Craft Associates;Mazi Mike Okereke, Chairman of the Occasion; Mr.Nn'emeka Maduegbuna, Managing Di-rector, C and F Porter Novelli, celebrant, and his Wife, Mrs Augusta Maduegbuna during the60th Birthday Lecture and Celebration of Nn'emeka Maduegbuna, in Lagos. Photo by LamidiBamidele.


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Advertising, Media& Marketing

CMYK

Laws of ServiceExcellence — Part Three

In the last couple of weeks, we have been discussingthe laws of service excellence. Organisations thatexcel in service operate on certain principles, or

laws, as we call them here. Here’s a quick recap of theprinciples we have discussed so far:

*The customer is the boss*The frontline is the company*Service is driven and supported by organisational

culture*External service mirrors internal service*Customer experience matters more than company

communications.*Excellent service comes at a price*All customers are not equal*Little things matter*Most dissatisfied customers won’t complain*The customer is not always right*The customer is self-centredShould you wish to look at these principles in depth, I

suggest you get a copy of 20 Universal Laws of ServiceExcellence. Aside from other things it contains, the bookoffers you 120 actionable ideas you can use right awayto make your service sparkle. And if you’re looking forways to infuse some of the ideas we share here into yourbusiness and prepare your team to compete on service,do get in touch; we might be able to help. Meanwhile,let’s consider five more laws.

Frontline employees understand customers moreSales people, receptionists, secretaries, relationship

officers, bank tellers, and service engineers – these areall part of the frontline of organisations. These workersare well placed to represent the organisation before thecustomer. Indeed, they are the company to mostcustomers. At the same time, they are in a vantageposition to act as customer advocates and transmitfeedback to the organisation. Ideally, by virtue of itsregular contact with customers, this category ofemployees knows much more about the customer thanother people within the company. If you’re not tapingtheir knowledge of customers and market situations,you’re really missing out. You need to listen to yourfrontline. Excellent organisations do.

You get what you measure and rewardPeople will strive to do virtually anything if they know

there is a reward for their effort. Organisations that seekto instil a culture of service must have objective criteriafor measuring service from the customer’s point of viewand rewarding employees who deliver exceptionalservice. In other words, there should be clearly definedways of measuring and rewarding excellence.

Reliable service is criticalReliability may mean different things to different people

in different situations, but the key thing is that thepromised service is delivered when, where and how itwas promised. Reliability has its rewards. Earning areputation for reliability is one of the best things thatcan happen to an organisation. But it never happens!It comes as a result of painstaking effort to make surethe customer is never disappointed, barring exceptionalcircumstances.

Marketing is everyone’s jobMost great organisations usually have marketing

departments; but they know that marketing iseverybody’s job. The marketing departments onlycoordinate this job. Excellent companies go to greatpains in ensuring that every employee is a marketer!

It’s easier to keep current customers than attract newones

Profit comes when a customer buys again and again.Simply because we need less advertising money, fewersalesmen’s calls and less effort to get an existingcustomer to buy it is easier and cheaper to sell to currentcustomers. For this reason, it also makes a lot of businesssense to try to keep existing customers happy.

BRIEFING: From Left: The Managing Director ARESVEEPEELimited,Ms Kemi Koyejo, the Project Consultant, Keskese Limited,Mr Tade Adekunle and the Executive Director, Nigeria Food FiestaLimited during a press conference on the forthcoming NigerianFoods & Drinks Exhibition held in Lagos.

In compliance withCentral Bank ofNigeria, CBN directive

in 2010 to revoke universalbanking practice in Nigeria,GTHomes has changed itsname to Imperial Homes, andexpressed commitment toproviding best services.

The name change meansthat Guaranty Trust Bank Plc(GTBank) divested from itssubsidiaries includingGTHomes Limited. Theshares of GTHomes owned byGTBank prior to thedivestment were acquired bya select group of investorsthrough a special purposevehicle.

This divestment providesthe bank a fresh opportunityand imperative for achievingits internal goals and missionof being the leadingMortgage Bank out of Africa.

In line with the divestmentby GTBank and as with GTAssurance, GTB AssetManagement, and other of itssubsidiaries, GTHomesLimited was required tochange to a new name, saidthe Managing Director ofImperial Homes BenAkaneme, while speaking atthe name change event inLagos.

According to him, “We arepleased to introduce the newidentity of GTHomes Limitedas Imperial Homes MortgageBank Limited. The nameImperial Homes reflects ourdesire to continue to provideour esteemed customers thebest internationally bench-marked services in mortgagebanking through our highly

New Identity: GTHomesbecomes Imperial HomesStories by PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

motivated and innovativeemployees and expresses ouridentification with the visionof housing for all.”

Continuing he said: “as wehave done through the years,our goal will continue to be theprovision of excellentservices. The core values thatGTHomes inherited fromGTBank remain the guidingprinciples for Imperial HomesMortgage Bank Limited. Weremain the same people, thesame institution operatingwith the same core values andprinciples despite our name

change.”.“Our Logo has been enhanced

but retains its essence. It is still abrief description of our brand. Theorange and gray continue torepresent our friendly,professional and trustworthynature. The four sides of the boxsignify our Customer focus,Customer Service, innovativenessand Total Quality Managementwhile the ‘I’ in the box representsour intensity and single mindedfocus on our customers; for us theonly thing that matters is ourhighly esteemed Imperialcustomers.

Sweet sensation fetes couples

The valentine season mayhave come and gone, but

families celebrated duringthe day did not forget theingenuity of Sweet SensationConfectionery.

The couples’ dinner tagged‘Red Hot Valentine’ inpartnership with Coca-colarounded-off this year ’sValentine’s celebration.

According to the ExecutiveDirector, Olatunji Kamson,’2013 couples dinner was thestarting point of a creativerevolution of “give back” in alove relationship between theforemost QSR Brand and itsCustomers. He went onfurther to say that thesuccesses recorded in 2013spurred us to bring it back but

in a hotter mode.The Head, Marketing Yemi

Yusuf stated that to qualify toattend the dinner, couplesbought any Sweet Sensationmouth-watering meal withany coca-cola products worthN1, 500 in a single purchase(with their contact detailsclearly written on the back ofit) and dropped theirpurchase receipts in adesignated receipt bowl in theoutlet. The receipts wereshuffled in a raffle draw onThursday 13th Februarywhere lucky winners werepicked from each of theiroutlets. The winners werethereafter contacted andencouraged to pick up theirtickets for attendance.

Reinstating itscommitment to the

brand promise, Eat Better, LiveBetter, Bayswater Industries,makers of Mr. Chef seasoningcubes rewarded its loyaldistributors across the countrywith the presentations of11cars, cash prizes and other

Mr Chef rewards distributorsconsolations prizes inappreciation for their patronage.

Speaking at the event, theExecutive Director, Chief ReggiUduhiri, said, “BayswaterIndustries, makers of Mr. Chef,have instituted the ‘DistributorsReward Scheme’ as a high valueincentive to our dedicateddistributors who havedemonstrated commitment andloyalty to the brand.”

He added that the companyalways believed that the threeparameters behind Mr. ChefBrand success are quality, qualityand quality. He explained thus“Quality in terms of Product,Quality in terms of Manpower &Marketing and Quality infulfilling our promise.” Hedisclosed that the secret behindMr. Chef seasoning success wasin its natural ingredients whichhelp in giving nutritional benefitsto consumers.

The event which was held inLagos was also the celebration ofthe brand’s 5th anniversary, thecompany General Manager, Mr.Rajesh Kumar disclosed that thegrowing patronage testify that ‘Mr. Chef ’ seasoning is now anaccepted brand leader forNigerian consumers.


Email:[email protected], [email protected] page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

Business & Economy

CMYK

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - 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. ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Ohuoha - Insurance Reporter

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

,

,

Nigerians generallybelieve that largeforeign reserves are

useful for defending theexchange rate of the naira. However, our total foreignreserves actually comprise oftwo primary income streams;the first is the Excess CrudeAccount (ECA), which consistsof all crude oil revenue inexcess of budget estimates.

In the recent past, over$10bn accrued annually intothe ECA. Surprisingly,however, government alwaysmanaged to consume theproceeds in this account inaddition to the hundreds ofbillions of naira, borrowed bygovernment, at costs usuallyabove 12%, to fund earlierprojected ghost deficits, whichwere induced by themisguided conservative priceand output benchmarksadopted in annual budgets.

The inherent contradiction offederal budgets thatinexplicably accommodatedeficits as well as actualrevenue surplus is regrettablygenerally lost on our people,and our illustrious EconomicManagement Team.

The second majorcomponent of our foreignexchange reserves is what theCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN)describes as its “own reserves”;the value of this reserve iscurrently about $40bn. CBN’sclaim to sole ownership of the$40bn reserves is founded onthe principle that the federationcannot lay claim to this fundsince government was alreadythe beneficiary of the naira‘equivalent’, which the apexbank unilaterally created andsubstituted as allocations forconstitutionally distributabledollar revenue.” For thisreason, CBN’s $40bn reservescannot be appropriated fordefraying deficits in ourbudgets, nor to redress some

Phony defence of the Naira andthe folly of a nationof our serious infrastructuraldeprivations.

A good example of thisbizarre outcome may drive thepoint home; some Nigerianswill recall that Mr. Presidentwas in China last year, partlyto raise funds for infrastructuralenhancement, and indeed,apparently raised about $1.5bnwith an interest rate that maynot be far short of the 7% rateon our existing Eurobonds. Interestingly, however, theCBN Governor was also inChina to assess investmentopportunities for some part ofCBN’s dollar reserves! However, it is unlikely thatSanusi found any investmentopportunity that wouldultimately produce a yield ofmore than 4%; in such an event,there is nothing that stopsChinese investors fromborrowing directly from CBN ata cheaper cost for onwardlending to the Nigeriangovernment at a higher rate ofinterest!

Sadly, the aboveillustration is indeed also

mirrored by the process ofdomestic debt accumulation. To substantiate thisobservation, we quote LamidoSanusi’s revelation as reportedin Thisday Newspaper’s issueof 24/07/2013. “…First of all,you have got liquidity (naira)surplus in the bankingindustry; … there is over N1.3tror so sitting in banks andbelonging to governmentagencies. Now basically, they(these funds) are at zeropercent interest and the banksare lending about N2tn to the

government and charging 13to 14%! Now, that is a verygood business model, isn’t it? Give me your money for freeand I lend it to you at 14%; sowhy would I go and lend toanyone?” Worse still, thefunds mopped up (borrowed)by the CBN are simplysterilised or kept idle, despiteprevailing significant budgetdeficits!

Thus, as CBN’s reservesgrow, so also does the extentof naira surplus in the systemexpand to inadvertently

promote a conducive platformfor a general price rise, andlower exchange rate as CBN’sobtuse and patentlyunconstitutional paymentsstrategy constantly induces amarket mix of systemic surplusnaira chasing relatively few‘goods’ and rationed dollarsupply from the CBN everymonth.

Thus, the flipside of CBN’sincreasing dollar reserves isactually the constant threat ofinflation as well as increaseddomestic borrowing, as theCBN ‘posthumously’ embarkson a borrowing spree at double-digit interest rate, in order toreduce the burden of surplusnaira that become increasingly

worrisome with CBN’sunceasing monthly substitutionof naira allocations fordistributable dollar revenue. Asignificant part of Nigeria’sestimated N8tn domestic debtwas actually accumulated withthis suicidal monetary strategywhile service charges on such“useless” debts probablyexceeded $3tn in the last sixyears.

Furthermore, CBN’sforced appetite to borrow

hundreds of billions of naira at

such high cost, inevitably alsocrowds out the real sector fromaccessing cheap funds. Thescarcity of cheap funds to SMEsultimately contracts thedomestic economy, thus,inducing an increasing level ofunemployment as collateral. Consequently, it seems ourpeople have to become poorerfor CBN’s reserve to grow.

In a failed attempt to stemnaira depreciation in the recentpast, Sanusi wrongly identifiedabnormal dollar demand as theprime villain for increasingmarket pressure. The CBN,therefore, reduced its weeklyforex allocations to Bureau DeChange (BDC) from $1m to$250,000. Not surprisingly,

however, rather than dousedemand, the vibrant forexmarket experienced dollarsupply shortage, whichexpectedly intensified thepressure on the naira exchangerate. Consequently, less than60 days later, the suspendedCBN Governor, in anothercharacteristic policysomersault, summarily liftedthe limit on sales of dollars toBDC, despite the recognitionof the BDC’s role in facilitatingmoney laundering, capitalflight and the ignoblesmuggling enterprise, whichkills our industries.

Invariably, even Sanusi’sincongruous policy flip-flopcould not reduce the pressureon the naira, because heprobably failed to appreciatethat the problem was not onlydollar supply, but significantlyalso the unceasing deliberatecreation of excess naira supplyby the same CBN. Forexample, the apex bank’s ill-advised provision of over N1tnto settle AMCON’s non-CBNdebts in the last quarter of 2013inadvertently also added almostN10tn worth more of nairaliquidity into an already naira-suffocated money market tofurther worsen the plight of thenaira against the dollar.

Thus, it becomes a farcicalexpression of concern, whenthe same agency thatconsciously created thedisenabling naira surfeit turnsround to sell rations of dollarrevenue it earlier captured, inits futile bid to “defend” thenaira rate of exchange. Nevertheless, these unforcedcontradictions in the product ofmonetary strategy will becomesuccessfully resolved with theadoption of dollar certificates forthe disbursement of the dollarcomponent of distributablerevenue.

jobs. Mrs. Olomola added thatNBC’s sponsorship andparticipation in recyclingactivities is borne out of an activecommitment of the Company toPackaging Waste Recovery andRecycling, one of its seven (7)Sustainability pillars, and notedthat the partnership withWecyclers, therefore, representsa community-led, measurable,scalable and sustainableinitiative.

Speaking further, she emphasized that NBC was notonly concerned with refreshingconsumers with a wide rangeof products but is also interestedin working in partnerships tominimise the impact ofpackaging on the environment.

NBC affirms commitment to waste recovery, recycling

By PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

The Nigerian BottlingCompany (NBC) Limited

has restated its commitmentto preserving and protectingthe environment bysupporting Wecyclers NigeriaLimited. Wecyclers is anorganisation that seeks to solvethe urban waste challenge byusing a fleet of low-cost cargobicycles to offer convenienthousehold collection ofrecyclable waste inneighbourhoods.

To support and expand itscurrent collection capacity, thecompany recently purchased

and handed over eight (8)tricycles, known as Wecycles,to Wecyclers Nigeria Limited.

Speaking at the handoverceremony which took place inthe Lagos State WasteManagement Agency(LAWMA) yard in Ebute-Metta, one of Wecyclers’collection hubs, Mrs. AdeyanjuOlomola, Head, Public Affairsand Communications, NBC,said the Company wasdelighted to supportWecycler’s drive to expand itscapacity to collect waste fromhouseholds in Lagos State. Shenoted that the expansion alsohad a multiplier effect on jobcreation as the additionWecycles would create 10 new

Even Sanusi’s incongruouspolicy flip-flops could not reduce

the pressure on the Naira,because he probably failed to

appreciate that the problem wasnot only dollar supply

Take strong action to stem oil theft, IMF tasks FG

Documents

executive director

standard chartered bank

centralbank of nigeria

ccecc nigeria limited

diamond bank

nigeria cibn anogwi

oil subsidy

currency operations