JUNE 30, 2014

Continues on page 18

*MEETING - From left: Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission,SEC, Sa’adatu Bello; Director-General, Arunma Oteh and; Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services, Rt . Hon.Zakawanu Garuba, at the second Quarter Capital Market Committee meeting in Lagos.

Barely two years after it wascommissioned by the Ministerof Trade and Investment, Mr.

Olusegun Aganga, the 24 hoursregistration of businesses by theCorporate Affairs Commission, CAC,has collapsed due to technical hitchesoccasioned by server failure.

As a result, business registrationnow takes between one to threemonths, while business nameavailability search takes more thanone week.

During the course of the

CAC’s 24hrs businessregistration collapses•It’s not true — CAC

By JONAH NWOKPOKUinvestigation, this reporter appliedfor business name availability searchat the CAC office at Alausa, Ikeja. Hewas asked to check back in ninedays. When he sought to know why,the attendant at the availabilitysection responded, “because it is notready”.

Stakeholders, who spoke toVanguard about this development,said that the process is frustratingand it discourages business ownersfrom applying for businessregistration.

Recounting his ordeal in thisregard, a business owner, Mr. Yemisaid that he is yet to complete the

process of registering his business,since he commenced three months ago.

He said: “The whole thing isfrustrating. I have been pursuing thisregistration for more than three monthsnow. At some point I stopped and whenI came back they demanded I do a re-validation. Now I have done that butthey can’t find my documents. I havecomplained but they asked me to checkback.”

Another customer who spoke oncondition of anonymity, said he wasan agent who helps people to register.He acknowledged that the Commissionhad been meeting the 24 hours deadlineimmediately after the service was

launched but since late 2013,it has been having problems with itsserver. He said as a result of that,availability search now takes morethan a week, sometimes up to threeweeks.

This was confirmed by a notice atthe Commission’s customer servicesection, dated 27th of January, 2014.In the notice, the Commission apologised to customers for itsinability to continue with the 24 hoursbusiness registration due to serverproblem. It added that customersshould bear with the Commission asthe problem would soon be rectifiedand the 24 hours service restored.

A lady attendant at the customer

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING

CBN Exchange rate as at 27/06/14

113.18 -0.03

105.74 -0.10

169.90 -8.90 3,153.00 98.00

17.00 -0.57

DOLLAR 154.73 155.23 155.73STERLING 262.1436 262.9907 263.8378EURO 209.9067 210.585 211.2633FRANC 172.2668 172.8234 173.3801YEN 1.5137 1.5186 1.5235CFA 0.3011 0.3111 0.3211WAUA 237.6733 238.4414 239.2094RENMINBI 24.8278 24.9085 24.9892RIYAL 41.2525 41.3858 41.5191KRONA 28.145 28.236 28.3269SDR 238.3306 239.1008 239.8709

Cover Story

CMYK

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

,,

Continues on page 19

Daring

A successful business man has a mindset that is willing totake risks and tread on places people would not ordinarily

want to tread. He would not chicken out at the slightest threat,so if you intend to start and own your business, you must havea die-hard mentality, otherwise you would quit before you evenget started. It is also very important to consider the risks involvedand your ability to handle them properly, since every businessinvolves risks. Most business people are very comfortable withmodest risk but quite uncomfortable with big risks. Althoughthey are unwilling to gamble on long shots, they are more willingto take chances if their individual skills can affect the probabilityof success. Then will they have the courage to step out into theunknown and pursue their personal dreams.

Goal getterA successful business man has the mindset of not just setting

goals but also achieving the desired result. He does not settlefor less but always has his eyes on the prize. To him there are noimpossibilities and failure is just part of the game. He does notbelieve in half measures but believes that he can go all the way

The Basic Guide to StartingYour Business Part 4

and this mentality inspires a lotof confidence in clients andcustomers and will keep themcoming. A high level of energyalso keeps the businessmantrudging through road blocksbecause he has his eyes fixed onlong term goals. It is importantyou are very energetic andvibrant as it will ensure that yourbusiness is up and running. Youneed to have a motivation fromwithin and from those around you.The man who invented electricity,tried ninety-nine times andfailed; he got it right the 100th

time! I dare say, that is the spirit you must possess, no matterhow many times you fail, you keep trying it out until you get itright….bottom line you must delete the word IMPOSSIBLEfrom your dictionary. Period!

It’s very important you move with the right people and readbooks and materials that will prepare your mind and repositionyour mindset towards positivity, because “if you can think itthen you can be it”. Never forget “you are a product of yourthoughts.” This reminds me of a Nigerian drama series thataired on the Nigerian national television network (NTA) in theearly 90s, BASSEY& COMPANY. The lead act was fond of saying“if you want to be a millionaire, think like a millionaire”! Asfunny as it sounded then, it is still very true and applies tobusiness. So permit me to say if you want to be a successfulbusiness man, then think like one!

If you are going to run a business of your own, you shouldfind something that makes you really happy. This should be atthe core of why you are even looking at going into business ofyour own, because if you try and make something work andyou have no passion for it, it probably won’t work out. If youhave passion for the industry that you are working in, you willhave a good chance of making it work out.

What make a business great are the people that run it and thepassion that they have for it. Keep this in mind when you arethinking of starting a business of your own.

From experience, many just jump into business because theyare excited about an idea and haven’t really thought about the‘whys and wherefores’. Taking a moment to reflect on yourmotivations and defining your purpose will be time well spent.

A lot of people go into business for the sole reason of makingmoney; this is not a good idea. It’s not a good idea because themain ingredient for success is missing. The main ingredientfor success is passion, and it’s virtually impossible to maintainhigh-levels of energy when you’re doing something you don’tlove. There will always be challenges in owning a business. Your love and passion is what takes you through thosechallenges. Without that passion, you probably won’t make it.

Asuccessfulbusinessman has themindset ofnot justsetting goalsbut alsoachievingthe desiredresult

CAC’s 24hrs businessregistration collapses

Continues from page 18

*AWARD - From left: Mr. Cyril Ekechi, Deputy Director/Tax Controller, Federal InlandRevenue Service, FIRS; Mr. Henry Akwara, Divisional Director, Claims & Risk Management,Mansard Insurance Plc; and Mr. Foluso Phillips, Executive Chairman, Phillips ConsultingGroup, at the Web Jurist Awards 2014 in Lagos.

service desk also confirmedthat due to server problem,the 24 hours registration hasbeen put on hold. She saidthe Commission was workingvery hard to rectify theproblem and return to 24hours service.

24 hours registrationmere propaganda

However, another agent,Olajire Oladiran

dismissed the 24 hoursbusiness registration as amere propaganda, sayingthere was never anything likethat in the first place.

Oladiran who is anExecutive Director in a firmof Chartered Secretarieslamented the inability of theCommission to keep to itspromise to offer 24 hourbusiness name availabilitysearch at least.

He said, “The 24 hourregistration is propaganda. Itwas the Minister of Trade andInvestment, Mr. OlsegunAganga who flagged this so-called 24 hours businessregistration sometimes in2012. But then no one knewhow they managed to do thatfor few weeks and thenstopped. From November/December, 2013 they stoppedand have been making onlyexcuses and promises.”

While unveiling the 24hours business registration inNovember, 2012, the Ministerof Trade and Investment, Mr.Olusegun Aganga said that,“The target is to ensure thatcompanies are registered

within two hours and toinstitute a vibrant andtransparent companies’registry, where services willbe user-friendly.”

He had also at the timedirected that a complaintsregister be opened for anyonewho is not able to get hiscompany registered within 24hours. This he said was toshow that, “We mean businessand that we care about ourcustomers.”

Oladiran howeverexplained that despite such

have to go back to the CACoffice. It was a wonderfulexperience.

“But you see, all over theplace CAC is advertising 24hour registration but inreality the registrationprocess would not havebeen completed within thattime frame. But the 24 hourperiod was important for theavailability search, becauseonce the name is available,you will continue with therest of the registration.However along the line, thething stopped and all wehave been hearing is thatthe server has problem.

“Right now, sometimesavailability search takesbetween three weeks andone month. But in all, thetruth is that the registrationdoes not take 24 hours; onlyavailability search could bepossible within that time.”

He however explainedthat what CAC may meanby the 24 hours businessregistration may be 24hours express registration.

He said that, “In expressregistration, a customer isrequired to pay N50, 000 inaddition to the regular fee,to have the registrationcompleted in one day. Butthen because of their serverproblem, the 24 hoursexpress registration is noteven feasible at the moment.Don’t forget that the 24hours excludes the time youhave waited for availabilitysearch to come out. It alsoexcludes the days you

promises, what theCommission was able toaccomplish within 24 hourswas business nameavailability search.

“Within that period, it waspossible that you could dropyour availability search todayand within 24 hours really, ifyou check your mail, you willsee it and then you wouldn’t

,

,

But the 24hour period

was importantfor theavailabilitysearch, becauseonce the nameis available,you willcontinue withthe rest of theregistration

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 19

Cover Story

In this column two Mondays ago, we wrote on the need for a competition oranti-trust law in Nigeria. There were several reactions. But this was particularlyinteresting and I decided to let our readers have the benefit of knowing what ishappening in some sectors of the Nigerian economy.

By YUSUFU ABDULLAHI

,,

COERCIVEMONOPOLY

The responsibilty andportfolio of the FederalMinistry of Trade and

Investment is to attractinvestment, encourage tradeand develop a policy inpromoting and retaining vitalinstruments and vehicles foreconomic development ofNigeria. It is also theobjective of the Ministry(MTI) to sustain theeconomic developmentthrough private sectors asdrivers in Trade andInvestment. Consequently,the Ministry (MTI) is topromote competition in thesectors and not to promoteand grant monopoly to anyInstitution, private sectorand government agency. TheMinistry (MTI) should workagainst Monopoly in theeconomy. “Manybusinessmen”, observed AynRand in her article, theProperty Status of Airwaves,“of the mixed economypersuasion, resent the actualnature of capitalism; theybelieve that it is safer to holda position, not by right, butby favour; they dread thecompetition of a free marketand they feel that abureaucrat’s friendship ismuch easier to win.

Pull, not merit, is their formof ‘social security’. Theybelieve that they will alwayssucceed at courting,pressuring or bribing abureaucrat , who is ‘a goodfellow’ they can ‘get alongwith’ and who can protectthem from that mercilessstranger; the ablercompetitor.” Coercivemonopoly is dangerous to anyeconomy as reflected ineconomic history around theworld. Consequently, it is the

responsibility of the Ministry(MTI) to guide anddisseminate vital informationand lessons to othergovernment Ministries,Departments and Agenciesagainst the negative nature,effect and danger of coercivemonopoly and negative side inits promotion in the Nigerianeconomy.

For instance, when in 2005the President declared OILSS.

SIIFZ, LFTZ, OLOKOLA andLADOL as a Free Trade Zones,Ministry of Transport (MT)which was relevant to theapproval was administrativelyinformed by Mr. Presidentbecause of the PresidentialCircular PRES/99 of 22nd May,2002 on Stoppage of Mid-stream Discharge of Cargo andPresidential Circular letterPRESS/00 of 22nd May, 2002 onClosure of Private JettiesNationwide, which technicallywould affect the smoothrunning and operation of thesefree zones because thecirculars preceded thedeclarations and if not takencare of the contents of thecirculars, it would negativelyaffect the smooth running ofthe free zones. Naturally, thefree zones are situated mid-stream being Islands and theyshould have entry and exitpoints by the concept of freezones. However, the Ministryof Transport concerned, tendsto ignore the Presidential

declaration of the free zonesbecause of its involvement inthe operation of anotherplayer in the same field of freezones.

The player is a tenant in theports where the Ministry ofTransport has supervisoryauthority. Any time there wasa change of guard at theMinistry of Transport; thesePresidential Circular lettersare dusted up and circulatedwith different intention. Oneexample was OperationalGuidelines for Handling Oiland Gas Related Cargoesissued out on Ref T’ 4316/S.35/Vol. 1/ 213 of 15th November,2007 from the Ministry (MT).The Industry challenged thevalidity of such Circularknowing that Mr. President

27th March, 2008 against thedispensation of Mr. Presidenton AGBAMI PROJECT whereMV Enchanter destined toLagos was told to go to Onne,Calabar and/or Warri to payterminal charges after which thevessel could proceed todischarge its cargo in Lagos.Nobody told the industry howthe extra cost of round tripswould be covered which theOffice of the Chief EconomicAdviser considered as economicsabotage.

The reason for thisroundabout trips by ships,going to Onne, Calabar and/orWarri before off loading itscargo say, in Lagos, wasbecause of the out- sourcing ofthe statutory responsibility of theNigeria Ports Authority inawarding Managing AgentContract to the same privateoperator in Onne, Calabar andWarri to monitor and supervisesupport vessel movement in thecompulsory pilotage districtswithin the exclusive economiczone of Nigeria – both easternand western districts. Though

directives into a coercivemonopoly documentsassisting that major player inthe field of oil and gas logisticservices to dominate themarket. The intervention of thestakeholders in the industrythrough the Office of ChiefEconomic Adviser to thePresident resolved the issuewhere Mr. President forced theMinistry of Transport towithdraw its Circular Letterand reverted to thePresidential dispensation videT. 4316/S. 35/T3/24 of 7th

August, 2008, of allowingimporters of oil and gas cargoto choose port of preference.

But just as mentioned abovethat immediately there was achange of guard in the Ministryof Transport , the twoPresidential Circular letters aredusted up and reinsured, moreespecially in this case where theMinistry of Transport had failedto satisfy the private operator’sgoals and objectives in 2007, thenew Minister of Transportreissued same Circular letter tothe Nigeria Ports Authorityreference T.0160/S. 139/C. 2/IVof 7th January, 2009 to the effectthat “ STOPPAGE OFMIDSTREAM ANDOFFSHORE DISCHARGE OFCARGO AND BAN OFPRIVATE JETTIES FROMHANDLING OCEAN GOINGVESSEL” were still in effect andcopied NNPC, PortConcessionaires, NAPIMS andOil Producing Services/ProjectCompanies, these agencies arethe main business partners ofthe private operator and tenant

had earlier approved on 17th

May 2006, the dispensationthat” importers of oil and gascargo should be free to chooseport of preference”. Howeverthe Ministry of Transportinsisted and acted vides T.0160/S. 103/C2/T1A/176 of

Mr. President had also askedthe Ministry of Transport toannul the contract with theprivate operator, Ministry (MT)had not done so.

Realistically, the Ministry ofTransport has turned thePresidential Circulars and

Nobody told the industryhow the extra cost of roundtrips would be covered whichthe Office of the ChiefEconomic Adviser consideredas economic sabotage

CAC’s 24hrs business registration collapsesContinues from page 18

waited for incorporation. Soin reality there is nothing like24 hours registration,” hesaid.

He noted that if the serverworked efficiently, a businessname search should not takemore than three or four hoursand within that period thatthey were able to offer 24hours registration. He addedthat when the system wasoperating, his company wasable to register up to sixnames and was able to get thecertificates of incorporation forthe companies within oneweek

.Delay, bad businessfor operatorsOladiran further noted that

this delay in businessregistration process hasnegative implications both forthe CAC, operators and theNigerian economy.

“This is taking a toll on theintegrity of operators. This isbecause if a client is hearingof 24 hours registration fromCAC and yet they are not evenable to get availability withinthree days, this will sow doubtsin their minds and the integrityof the operator will appearquestionable," he lamented,adding that the trend willfurther lead to loss of businessconfidence.

Foreign investors

disappointedHe said, “There was this

particular incident, the clientscame from Hong Kong, theycame through Benin Republicto Nigeria and they camethrough us and initiated aname search. They werewaiting for the name searchresult to come out before theygo back to Benin Republic,from where they will headback to Hong Kong. But theywaited for three days, theresult didn’t come out. Theywaited for one week and theresult still didn’t come out.They were very angry andleft. Their contact person who

gave us the job was infuriatedand questioned ourcompetence. At the end of theday, everyone was frustrated.They wasted their time, wemissed the businessopportunity and Nigeria lostthem as investors.”

He added that, “This is alsoleading to loss of revenue onthe part of CAC because anyavailability search initiated ispaid for and if a particularname is not available, a clientmay have to pay again toinitiate another search. Theimplication is that the morenames they search for, themore money they make butnow that availability takes like

three weeks, it means theywill generate less revenuefrom name search.”

He noted that the idea ofprompt and timely registrationis essential if governmentwants entrepreneurship tohave a ripple effect on theeconomy, since every businessought to be legally registeredfor that to happen.

Implications forNigerian economy

Oladiran said that theinability of CAC to offer

prompt business registrationhas severe implications for the

Continues on page 33

* To be continued

ABDULLAHI is Chairman,Export Processing Zonesand Free Trade ZonesReform Committee

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

CMYK

Business & Economy

By FRANKLIN ALLI,with Agency report

The Dangote Group has sofar sunk $140 million (about

N23 billion) into its cementgrinding plant in theCameroonian economiccapital city, Douala.

The investment, according tothe company is to help thecountry to attain self-sufficiency in cementproduction and consumptionand to halt importation of thecommodity into the country,Nigeria as a reference point.

The grinding plant with acapacity of one million metrictons of cement a year andwhich will be upgraded to 1.5million metric tons is locatedin an area called Base Elf onthe shorelines of the RiverWouri off the Atlanticcoastline.

Investigation revealed thatCameroon imports about500,000 metric tons ofcement annually and that theyearly demand for cement isestimated at four millionmetric tons. Efforts by thegovernment to boostdomestic production sawsupply increase from 1.6million metric tons to anestimated 2.2 million metrictons leaving a shortfall of 1.8million metric tons. To thisend, the government invitedprivate sector investment s inthe sector. It was based on thisthat the government signed aninvestment agreement with

Dangote to halt cement imports intoCameroon with $140m investment

the Dangote Group inSeptember 2011.

Abdullahi Bada, GeneralManager of the Doula plant,noted that the entry ofDangote into theCameroonian cement industryis premised on the fact that forlong, Africa has been adumping ground for productsover which we havecomparative advantages andwe have seize thisopportunity, taking the bull bythe horn to make sure Africahas comparative advantage,especially in the area of

cement manufacturing.According to him, the first

50kg bag of 42.5 grade ofcement from the plant will beavailable in the market fromAugust this year.

“As a policy, DangoteCement worldwide produces42.5 grade cement because wetake the healthy and safety ofour people very seriously. Wecan’t rule out the fact that mostof the builders and contractorsin the rural areas lackengineers to monitor whatthey do; however, if you havea good product they will be

able to come out withstandard constructions thatwill last and won’t endangerpeople’s lives.”

Regarding competition, henoted, “The cement industry inCameroon is largelydominated by theCinmenteries du Cameroun,CIMENCAM, owned by theFrench group Lafarge, whichhas for a long time been theonly firm in this activity. Thepresence of the Moroccangroup CIMAF whose annualproduction capacity is 500tons; a Korean firm is also

The value of non-oilproducts that moved out

from Nigeria in 2013 rose to$2.97 billion from $2.561 billionin 2012, Nigeria ExportPromotion Council (NEPC)revealed.

Speaking during the NEPCworkshop in Lagos, ExecutiveDirector/CEO, NEPC, Mr.Olusegun Awolowo, said thatabout 117 products wereexported to 93 countries world-wide in 2013 as provided byCobalt International Limited.

Awolowo said that Nigeria’sexports are no longer limitedto the traditional markets ofEurope, especially UK andproducts such as cocoa, bean,palm produce, groundnuts andsolid minerals.

He added that the increasein the number of productsbeing exported and countries

Non-oil export hit $2.97bn in 2013 — NEPCdestinations are strongindications of exportdiversification, pointing outthat this is a measure ofimprovement in the Nigerianexport culture.

According to him, “NEPC inits efforts to provide theplatform for penetrating targetinternational market withmade-in-Nigeria productsspearheads Nigeria’sparticipation in InternationalTrade Fairs/Exhibitions everyyear. This has largelysucceeded in exposingNigerian companies andorganisations to theinternational market andopened up market contactsthat have yielded muchdividend to the individualcompanies and the nation interms of increased in flow offoreign exchange.

“In the year 2013, 13 of suchoutings were spearheaded bythe council. A total number

of 126 companies, mainlySmall and MediumEnterprises (SMEs)benefited. On-the-spot salesand orders generated bythese companies amountedto $627,108.23 and$3,716,920.51 respectively.“Executed order as at the endof February 2014, that wasreported to NEPC was$763,247.85. It is also onrecorded that made-in-Nigeria products, especiallyin West African Sub-regionmarket elicit great demand ascustomers marveled about thequality and wondered if theywere ever produced inNigeria.

“A number of indigenousSMEs that were introduced tothe market in the year 2013,especially in processed foodsand condiments are alreadymaking waves in Togo andGhana markets amongst othermarkets being penetrated in

the region.“Efforts to scale up the

penetration of the regionalmarket by made-in-Nigeriaproducts led to the initiativeof “Lome Trade Hub” whichwas kick started by the stagingof a Solo Exhibition in Lome,Togo in the year 2013 and wasclosely followed-up withNigeria’s participation at the11th Lome International TradeFair same year. Already, largenumbers of Nigeriancompanies that participatedin the two trade events atTogo, have their Togoleserepresentatives selling theirvarious products in themarket.

“Efforts at having permanenttrade hub in place is yieldingdividend and Togoleseauthorities have allocated aspace at their trade faircomplex to Nigeria andrenovation work is underway,”he said.

By PROVIDENCE OBUH

The National Associationof Telecom Subscribers

(NATCOMS) have appealedto the Federal Government toabolish arbitrary charges bythe network providers. ChiefDele Ogunbanjo, Presidentof NATCOMS said in Lagosthat the abolition of thecharges would enhance thedevelopment of broadbandand quality services by theoperators. Ogunbanjolamented that theintervention of the FederalGovernment wasnecessitated by the multipletaxation by some stategovernments. He said thatsome state governmentswere charging betweenN500,000 and N800,000monthly, on each mast.

“The telecoms operators arealso charged N5,000 permetre as they laid their fibreoptic cables across thecountry,” he said.Ogunbanjo said the highcharges and others like Rightof Way restrictions and costs,as well as the securitychallenges “make thingsparticularly difficult for the

Telecomsubscribersappeal to FGto abolisharbitrarycharges

The African OrganisationStandardisation (ARSO)

has reiterated the need forAfrican countries to alignwith international standards,to improve their marketaccess and boost regionaltrade. This was the view ofstakeholders at the 20thGeneral Assembly of ARSO inKigali, Rwanda. Thestakeholders are fromstandardisation bodies from 16African countries and theinternational agencies.

The President of ARSO, DrJoseph Odumodu, noted thatstandards had become a toolin the fight for competitivenessand for creating barriers inregional trade. Odumoduemphasised the need forAfrican standards to be abenchmark againstinternational standards.

ARSOadvocatesharmonisingstandardsto boostinternationaltrade

*MEDIA DAY - From left: Mr. Edem Vindah, Corporate Brand & PR Manager, NigerianBreweries; Mr. Sampson Oloche, Marketing Manager, Non-Alcoholic Drinks, NigerianBreweries; Warebi Martha, CEO, Catwork Productions; Nnenna Herneson, Fayrouz SeniorBrand Manager; Mai Atafo, Grand Finale Judge & Inspired by Mai, at the Fayrouz L’OriginalMedia Day,held in Lagos.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 21

Business & Economy

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last weekreduced the volume of

weekly foreign exchangesales to Bureaux De Change(BDCs) by 70 per cent to$15,000 per BDC and an-nounced a 250 per cent in-crease in the capital base forBDCs to N35 million from N10million. In addition, the man-datory caution deposit wasreviewed upward to N35 mil-lion from $20,000 per BDCwhile the licensing fee wasraised to N1, 000,000 fromN100, 000. Application feeand annual renewal fee waspegged at N100, 000 andN250, 000 respectively.

The apex bank also bannedownership of multiple BDCs,and said that membership ofthe Association of Bureaux DeChange Operators of Nigeria(ABCON) would no longer bea compulsory licensing re-quirement. “All existing BDCsand those currently operatingwith a Final Approval Letterare required to comply withthe requirement on mandato-ry cautionary deposit by 15July 2014 while all currentapplications are expected tocomply with these new re-quirements,” the apex banksaid.

Since the announcementof the policy on BDC

stakeholders in the sectorhave raised issues and someout of selfish interest. Manyof those who operate theseBDCs are within the CBN andgovernment quarters. Theyare individual who usessurrogates to ripe off thenation. The genuine BDC op-erators are few and do theirbusiness genuinely. Beforethe policy was made publicsome of these vested interestshave already gone to workpreparing the minds ofoperators on the line of actionto take. In recent years the Ni-gerian economy has beenhighly dollarised. Thedollarisation of the economywas decried by SanusiLamido Sanusi as Governor ofthe Central Bank of Nigeria. InEconomic parlance, dollari-sation of an economy occurswhen the inhabitants of acountry use foreign currencyparallel to or instead of thedomestic currency as a storeof value, unit of account, and/or medium of exchange with-in the domestic economy.

Nearly every governmentfunctionary, from the presi-dency to governors, ministers,Bankers, and top businessmanagers, spend dollars inNigeria unhindered as if it hasbecome a legal tender.

Where are these dollarscoming from? Most of them

Diversion of foreign exchangefrom BDCs, an economicdistort ionare purchased from Bureaude Change. Bureau de Changeis supposedly meant to servesmall end users of foreign ex-change. But the reverse is thecase here in Nigeria. Manyserve as a conduit pipe forpolitical office holders to drainthe nation through unhin-dered access to foreign ex-change. In fact even the gen-uine small business men whogo to some of these bureau dechange purchase foreign to

the Nigerian economy. ManyNigerians are not aware thatat the moment the CBN is try-ing to fight the high level ofcapital flight in the country.Available data showed that inthe week of 31st March 2014,a total of $4.8525 billion leftNigeria shores as transfersand payment to foreigners byNigerians. In the week ending30th April a total of $3.64 bil-lion left the Nigerian shores.Before then the average week-

rhage, which has been plagu-ing the nation for years dueto the low productivity of theeconomy, has resulted inblame games in political andfinancial circles in the nation.

The foreign exchange outflows has resulted in an aver-age of $1.7 billion leaving theshore of Nigeria every weekas payment on travels, cashpurchased from banks andBureau De Change, letters ofcredit, direct remittances onbehalf of expatriates workingin Nigeria, Wholesale DutchAuction and debt servicepayment. In the twelve weeksunder consideration, a totalof $89.647million was spentby Nigerians in foreigntravels. Cash sales in dollarsby Bureau De Change to smallscale businesses and individ-uals amounted to $2.665billion. In the twelve weeks,amount attributed to dollarssales through letters of creditopened on behalf of Nigeri-ans for business purchasesamounted to $365.810 mil-lion, while a total of$1.159billioin went out of thecountry as direct totalremittances.

According to the CBN fig-ures, within the twelvemonths, foreign exchangepurchases through the officialmarket of the WholesaleDutch Auction sales stood at$13.906 billion and paymentof interest on foreign loans bythe Federal Government tookout the sum of $144.83mil-lion out of the nation’s coffers.A break down of the foreignexchange out flows from theCBN showed that in the weekending 20th September 2013,

*PROMO - From left: Uche Onyia, winner of a 2.5 KVA generator; Dialose Chudey, winnerof an LED TV; Isaiah Ajayi, Sales Representative - Festac, Nigerian Breweries ; and OriyomiIdris, winner of a home theatre, at the Star Football Fan Park activation, held at BarbadosBar, Festac Town, on June 25

BY OMOH GABRIEL,Business Editor

,

import goods that are notnecessary in the country.How can Nigeria beingimporting took pick madefrom bamboo? Yet the nationcomplains of dwindlingforeign reserve.

In Nigeria today, many res-idents store their value in dol-lars, liquid assets are movedfreely around with the dollaras preferred currency. Thosewho offer bribe use thedollar. The incidence of theuse of dollar in Nigeria hasweakened the naira andNigerians are losingconfidence in their owncurrency

The second fundamental is-sue that requires action tocurb the excess use of forexin all quarters is the high levelof capital flight that attends

ly international paymentmade by Nigerians was $1.7billion. A total of $18.3 billionleft the shores of Nigeria toforeign lands through officialchannels in twelve weeks in2013.

The $18.3 billion went outof the country in the form ofcapital flight, which Nigeriansindulged in. According to fig-ures available at the CentralBank of Nigeria, the amountwas remitted through banks,bureau de change, travelagencies and debt payment toforeign creditors to which Ni-geria owes some money. Thisand the monthly withdrawalsfrom the Federation Accounthave resulted in the depletionof the nation’s foreign re-serves. The financial haemor-

,Many serve as a conduit pipe for

political office holders to drain thenation through unhindered access toforeign exchange. In fact even the

genuine small business men who goto some of these bureau de change

purchase foreign to import goods thatare not necessary in the country.

the sum of $38.93 million wasspent on travels, while cashsales to bureau de change andbanks took out the sum of$263.575 million out of thenation’s foreign reserves. Inthe same vein, within thesame week, the sum of$96.05million went outthrough letters of credit andthe sum of $1.26billion wassold by CBN at the foreignexchange markets to Nigeri-ans, who apply to buy goodsand service abroad. Thisresulted in the depletion ofNigeria foreign reserves by atotal of $1.708 billion in thisparticular week.

The new CBN GovernorGodwin Emefiele when he as-sumed office said the visionof the Central Bank of Nigeriais to “be the Model CentralBank delivering price and fi-nancial system stability andpromoting sustainableeconomic development”.This vision draws inspirationfrom our understanding ofthe multiple mandate of theBank to pursue both price andfinancial system stability aswell as providecomplementary develop-mental functions by creatingan environment for Nigeriansto live better and morefulfilled lives”. If all Nigeriansmust have a better life, thenthe CBN can not continue toserve the interest of the elitesin society. It must focus onpolicies that support themasses. By cutting down onforeign exchange available tothe few privileged Nigeriansis the beginning of suchpolicies.

Nigerians must know thatthe persistent domesticforeign exchange demandpressure is for politicalactivities and not forproductive purposes.Allowing the political class tocontinue to put pressure onthe exchange rate by the CBNgives cause for worry. If theCBN allows the pressure tocontinue it will suggest thatthe apex bank is dancing tothe whims of the politicalclass. Coupled with this, is theever increasing dollarisationof the economy by the samepolitical class. The CBN saysit remains committed to de-fending the naira, even if thisrequires depleting thenation’s foreign reserves. Ithas identified the majorthreat to the naira as thebuild-up of politicalactivities, resorting todollarisation of the economy.This remains a key risk to thestability of the naira. CBNpolicies should be supportedto tackle this pressure pointby insisting that all localpayments, purchases bemade in naira and refusingforeign exchange cover forimports that are not essentialneeds.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Banking & Finance

*From left: Chairman, International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria (ICCN), Mr. BabatundeSavage, in a handshake with the Assistant Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Services,Mr. Odunmbaku A.A, Chairman Emeritus, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, Executive BoardMember (ICCN), Mr. Segun Fagboyegun

Can of worms in bank -customer relationship

By BABJIDEKOMOLAFE

The relationshipbetween banks andtheir customers is

based on trust. There areindications that some banksand bankers are betrayingthis trust, by takingadvantage of the ignoranceof most customers to stealand defraud them via excesscharges and sundry fees.

This reality was brought tothe fore at the 2014 summitof Bank CustomersAssociation of Nigeria(BCAN) held recently inLagos. Though designed tocreate awareness amongbank customers, it becamean opportunity for regulatorsto open cans of worms inbank- customer relationshipin the country.

“The realities are differentfrom the theoreticalexpectations regardingduties and rights of banksand customers in the bank-customer relationship”, saidUmir Dutse, DirectorConsumer ProtectionDepartment of the CentralBank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said, “One keyindicator of the reality of theb a n k e r / c u s t o m e rrelationship is complaintsmanagement. Usually,complaints arise wherecustomers perceive that theirbanks may have actedunethically orinappropriately. TheConsumer ProtectionDepartment (CPD) receivedand treated 1071 petitions

,

,

against financial institutionsand got a refund of N2.955billion in 2013. The totalpetitions received by thedepartment from when it wasan office at the inception of theFinancial Policy andRegulation Department inMarch 2010 to May 2014 were4,141. The petitions weregenerally for issues relating toexcess charges, unauthorizeddeductions, dishonouredcheques, cheque conversion,foreign remittances, and ATMfrauds. The cumulative refund,for the period of March 2010to May 2014 wasN14.69billion, and $1.1million.

“Instructively, excess chargesconstituted over 50 percent ofthe petitions the CPD hadreceived and treated as at May,2014. We have observed thatmany reasons accounted forthis development. Theyincluded greed, and poorservice delivery by banks aswell as failure to adhere to theprovisions of extant guidelinesand agreements. For example,whereas Section 2.9 of theRevised Guide to BankCharges (RGBC) requires thatManagement fee for a loan,which is one-off, should benegotiable subject to amaximum of 1 percent, it iscommon to see banks chargeeither more than one time orin excess of 1 percent asrequired by the Guide. Also, wehad received many petitionswhere banks charged COT inexcess of the provisions of theRGBC, or where banksintroduced fees that were notinitially in the agreementbetween them and theircustomers. In these, and

similar cases, the banksinvolved invariably breachedthe customer’s right to fairtreatment.”

Dutste’s disclosures werecorroborated by the

Consumer Protection Council(CPC). Head of CPC LagosOffice, Mr. TamTamunokonbia,. He noted thatillegal bank charges, ATMfrauds, and non- disclosure ofterms and conditions, are someof the common complaints theCouncil receives from bankcustomers.

Citing recent examples, hesaid, “A lady’s N1.9 million

withdrawn in one weekwithout alert – case in EnuguHigh Court. A Company wascharged in excess ofN1,984,662.40. Another inexcess of N592,681.61. Yetanother in excess ofN552,597.01."

He said when confrontedwith these complaints, banksgive defensive answers suchas; “Customer compromisedPIN numbers. CCTV Footagecould not be generated; we areinvestigating and will get back;the customer signed anagreement; the customer wasgiven the form; It is an erroretc.” Speaking further Dutsesaid, “A bank is obligated toprovide full disclosure to itscustomers regarding everyproduct or services they offer

such customers. The reality weface is, however, different.Every day, we are inundatedwith reports of poor or total lackof disclosure by some banksthat refuse to inform theircustomers on the intricacies ofproducts and services theyoffer to them.

Additionally, we had receivednot a few petitions where banksattempted to shy away fromliability arising from thedishonesty of their staff whoacted in ways that wereinconsistent with their normalduties for which the banksnever objected.”

Dutse said some customershave also been found to bedishonest in their relationshipwith their banks by trying toevade financial obligations totheir banks. Others he said,also failed in their duty toprotect and keep vitalinstruments and informationlike cheque book, ATM card,PIN and codes safe. “While, ina few cases, banks have beenfound to be liable in this regard,often, it is the customers whocompromise these instrumentsand information. It is worthy toemphasis that where customerslose money as a result of theirnegligence, their bank cannotbear any liability.”

Addressing these violationsof trust in the bank customerrelationship, according to Dr.Uju Ogubunka, calls forincreased awareness andeducation on the rights andobligations of banks andcustomers. The summit, hesaid is one of the efforts inBCAN in this regard.

He said, “This summit isborne out of the obvious needfor banking business to beconducted based on values andbest practices that not onlypromote and support fairnessbetween providers and

consumers of banking servicesbut also the stability, growthand sustainability of thebanking system, hence theeconomy. “Thus, this maidenedition is aimed atempowering participants toknow their rights, privilegesand of course obligations. It isalso aimed at providingopportunity for them to sharetheir experiences on what theyexpect from their banks andwhat they are getting.

The time has come whenbank customers and indeed,consumers of banking andfinancial services should beknowledgeable on basics of thebusiness in order to maximizetheir benefits and also protectthemselves against any unfairtreatment.”

“We are inundated reports of poor ortotal lack of disclosure by some banksthat refuse to inform their customers onthe intricacies of products and servicesthey offer to them”

First Banksponsorsjournalists oni n t e r n a t i o n a lcourse

In continuation of itscommitment to enhance

capacity building in the mediaindustry, First Bank of NigeriaLimited has sponsoredselected Nigerian journalistsacross various mediaplatforms for a four-day broad-based international AdvancedFinancial Journalism Courseat the prestigious PressAssociation Centre in London,United Kingdom. The coursewhich kicked off on Monday,June 23, 2014 will run tillThursday, June 26, 2014.

The highly successfulinternational trainingprogramme is currently in itssecond year and falls underthe Bank’s widelyacknowledged interventioninitiative tagged, “MediaThought Leadership CapacityEnhancement Initiative”.

As in the previous year, thejournalists who cut across fromdifferent beats includingonline, electronic and printjournalism will be trained incore financial journalism whichwill cover macro and microeconomics reporting as well as

ACCESS Bank Plc hasbeen upgraded from “A”

to “A+” with a stable outlookby Agusto & Co.

The rating, according to astatement by the bank, ce-ments its position as a systemi-cally important banking insti-tution in Nigeria and reflectsthe full synergy of the mergerwith Intercontinental Bank Plc.

According to the report byAgusto & Co, Access Bankachieved this by actualizing agood liquidity position, satis-factory capitalization as well asimproved risk managementframework which had a posi-tive impact on asset quality.

The rating agency stated intheir report that the Bank’sextensive network of 310branches and cash centres hascreated improved visibilityamong the banking populationand has translated to a signifi-cant market share across thekey market indicators. NPLs togross loans ratio stood at 2.4per cent - the lowest recordedin the last five years and com-pares favorably with the indus-try average of 3.6 per cent.

The report further states that"Access Bank’s improved rat-ing further corroborates theBank’s enhanced capacity toexecute larger transactions."

Agusto ugradesAccess Bankrating to 'A+'

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 23

Banking & Finance

Trustfund Pensions declares N1bn profit …Shareholders laud performanceBy FUNMI KOMOLAFE

TRUSTFUND PensionsPlc, has declared aprofit after tax of

N1.005,792 billion, even asshareholders are expected toget a dividend of 25 kobo pershare amounting toN250Million.

In the company’s financialresult of the year, total incomeamounted to N3.897, 293billion while profit before tax

was N1, 089,909billion.From its financial analysis,

the company’s profit after taxincreased by 28 percent fromN788 million in 2012 toN1.005,792 in 2013, fundunder the management grewfrom N210.5billion in 2012 toN272.1billion in 2013

Addressing shareholdersand others, at its 6th AnnualGeneral Meeting, AGM,Chairman of the Board ofDirectors, Dr. (Mrs) NgoziOlejeme, said Trustfund

Pensions Plc had recordedanother year of progress forthe year ended 31 December,2013, saying the financialresults showed a healthygrowth in adjusted earningsdespite the challengingmacro-economic environment.

According to her, “a lot ofwork went into improving thequality of earnings,increasing the proportion ofour more resilient, visibleincome streams and cuttingour exposure to volatile areas

such as benefit payments andfund management. We madegood progress in the buildingof our long term goals in linewith our strategic objectives.Our actions in 2013undoubtedly left theCompany in a strongerposition as we enter 2014. Icommend the Board,Management and Staff of theCompany for their fortitudeand commitment.”

Speaking on the financialstatements, she said “The

financial statements for theyear ended 31 December, 2013have been prepared in linewith the InternationalFinancial ReportingStandards, IFRS. TheCompany’s Gross earningsand Profit after tax increasedby 22% and 28% respectivelyresulting in a correspondingincrease in the Total assetsand Shareholders’ fund of17% and 30% respectively.

“During the year underreview, the Directors paid afinal dividend of 23kobo perordinary share on the issuedcapital of 1,000,000,000 forthe financial year endedDecember 2012.

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Corporate Finance

Shareholders ofNigerian Aviation

Handling CompanyPlc(NAHCO) haveexpressed optimismabout the future prospectsof the company followingthe establishment of anew subsidiary, NAHCOFTZ to operate a freetrade zone(FTZ) withinthe Murtala MuhammedAirport, Lagos. NAHCOFTZ was recently given alicence by the FederalGovernment to operate afree trade zone, adevelopment that iscapable ofattracting about $500million investment intoNigeria.

The shareholders, whospoke at the yearlymeeting with themanagement, said thenew subsidiary, which ispart of the NAHCO’sexpansion initiative, willnot only attractinvestment into theeconomy but will alsoboost the fortunes of allstakeholders of thecompany.

Some of theshareholders who spokeat the AGM include: the National Coordinator,I n d e p e n d e n tShareholders Associationof Nigeria (ISAN), SirSunny Nwosu, theChairman, ProgressiveShareholders Associationof Nigeria, mr. BonifaceOkezie; Bishop GoodluckAkpore of Onitsha ZoneS h a r e h o l d e r sAssociation, AlhajiMuktar Muktar, Mrs.Oludewa Thorpe andMrs. Esther Augustine.

They commended theboard and managementfor the FTZ idea andpledged to support theproject that will take offfully this year. In hiscomment, Nwosu said,“NAHCO FTZ is a clearvalue to the company andits stakeholders. FTZgives the company theopportunity to be a cargohub for West Africa and entire Africa becausethose companies that areeither importing orexporting will alwayslike to pass through FTZbecause they will not payany duty for that. Thisgives NAHCOopportunity for growth.”

Earlier in his address,the Chairman ofNAHCO, Mallam

NAHCO FTZ to boostshareholders’ value

By NKIRUKANNOROM

Suleiman Yahyah, said already a managementteam has been put inplace to run the affairs ofthe new subsidiary,adding that they aredeveloping a 25-yearmaster plan for NAHCOFTZ in that direction.

”NAHCO FTZwill afford us theopportunity to importgoods in a borderlessenvironment. It will alsoimprove our shipmentcapacity and capabilitiesand give us a uniqueplatform to service value-added aviation-relatedbusiness. This willenhance significantly airtraffic into the countryand bring for NAHCO Plcincreased volume in formof cargoes.

“We also believe thatwhen the FTZ comes intofull operation, some of theexports that we lose toneighbouring countieswould revert to us,”Yahyah said. Reviewingthe performance of thecompany for the yearended December 31,

2013, the chairman said turnover rose by 11percent from N7.4 billionto N8.1 billion, while profit after tax rose by 35percent from N609million to N820 million.

“Accordingly, the Boardis pleased to recommenda modest increase of 20percent in dividendpayment from 25 kobo to30 kobo. We haveincreased our liquidityposition, cash flow andamount retained in thebusiness in order tosupport future capitalexpenditure and our WestAfrica roll-out strategy,”he said.

Also speaking, theManaging Director/ChiefExecutive Officer ofNAHCO, Mr. KayodeOluwasegun-Ojo, saidthe company will build onthe 2013 performance,saying that the team ofresilient businessdevelopment strategists iswell positioned to secureemerging businessopportunities for thecompany.

Fidelity Bank Plchas announced the

acceptance of itspayment Cards on thePayPal platform.

With thisdevelopment, FidelityBank’s cardholders cannow shop from theworld’s majorinternational Retailerswith more flexibility andconvenience.

Coming on the heelsof the proposednationwide adoption ofthe CBN’s cashlessinitiative from July 1,this move is seen as partof the bank’s efforts atboosting electronicpayments and fosteringease of transactions.

PayPal, a global playerin the e-commerceindustry, offers a fasterand effective means ofconducting transactionsover the internet and isbeing used by millionsof customers across theworld.

Divisional Head,Electronic Banking,Adedeji Olowe, whospoke on behalf of theManaging Director/Chief Executive Officer,Fidelity Bank Plc,Nnamdi Okonkwo, said

Fidelity Bank partners PayPalon payment processing

the introduction ofPayPal is a deliberateattempt by the bank tomake financial serviceseasy and accessible toits customers.

Specifically, Olowesaid that thedevelopment is in linewith the bank’scommitment toconsistently deployinnovative strategies tomake life easier for itscustomers. “We believethat our customers willbenefit immensely fromthis innovation and theregistration process isstraightforward.

He, however,explained that the bankwould adopt a phasedapproach todeployment, saying,“Only shopping oninternational websites isavailable at this time,other services will beintroduced in thecoming months.”

While the surge in e-commerce has given riseto concerns about onlinesecurity, the bank hasallayed the fears of itscustomers by confirmingthat its Cards areprotected with top-notchsecurity tools.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 25

Corporate Finance

*COUNSELLING - From right: Mrs. M.T Iji, Tutor-General/PermanentSecretary, Education District 5, Lagos State; Rabi Isma, Director, Leadership andOrganisational Development, Etisalat; Mr. Oziegbe Ip, Director, Special Duty EducationDistrict 5, Lagos State; and Mrs. Tonne Saheed, Senior Project Officer, LEARN at the EtisalatCareer Counselling in Lagos. PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

NSE: Enlightenment, tax cut needed tojump start securities lending

Enlightenment of marketparticipants, potential

lenders and borrowers, onhow securities lending canhelp to boost theperformance of the capitalmarket is a major tonicneeded to jump startsecurities lending in Nigeria.

There is also need tostreamline existing taxstructure, which currentlycovers stamp duty andtransaction taxes, as well astax on securities lending feeincome and capital gain tax,said Mr. Jude Chiemeka,Chief Executive Officer ofUBA Capital Plc.

Securities lending is acapital market system thatallows an investor to loan astock or any other securityto another investor or firm.In borrowing a security, theborrower hopes to profit byselling the security andbuying it back at a lowerprice. When a security isloaned, the title and theownership is also transferredto the borrower.

Securities lending wasapproved by the Securitiesand Exchange Commission,SEC, in quarter one, 2012,but feelers from the stockmarket indicate that it has notbeen operational.

Speaking while making apresentation on Issues inSecurities Lending at the lastCapital Market Committeemeeting in Lagos, Chiemekasaid the current fee of sixpercent will have to berevisited and possibly

Stories by NKIRUKANNOROM

reviewed down to two tothree percent to align thecost structure with that ofother international markets.

He said there is need to alsorevisit the collateral aspect,saying that it will address thefear factor arising fromlending ones security toanother investor.

Listing other boosts tosecurities lending, Chiemekasaid, “Given the expectedreturn on securities lending,the current marginrequirement of between 135percent and 160 percent willnot attract investors.

“The responsibilities of allparties should be clearlyunderstood and agreed onand participants as a matter

of prudence should carry outcredit assessment of theircounterparties.”

“The regulators shouldensure that participantsmaintain adequate capital tocover the risks theyundertake,” he added.

Moreover, he stated that iffully operational, the act willimprove the participation ofMarket Makers, therebydeepening and providing theneeded liquidity in the capitalmarket.

In his response, the ChiefExecutive Officer of theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema,emphasised that SecuritiesLending took off with MarketMaking in 2012, saying that

the Exchange has put theframework in place tofacilitate full operation ofthe system.

He further stated thatprovision has already beenmade for Securitieslending agents, who aresaddled with theresponsibility of loaningand borrowing securitieson behalf of interestedinvestors. “I believe anumber of them have beenregistered by SEC but theystill have not taken offoperations and so, we aretrying to address theconcerns they have in orderfor them to actually startfunctioning as SecuritiesLending agents,” he said.

Shareholders of NPFMicrofinance Bank have

approved distribution ofN228.7 million dividendsearlier recommended by theBoard of Directors of the bank.

The dividend so approvedtranslates to 10kobo per every50 kobo ordinary share heldby the shareholders.

Addressing shareholders atthe 20th Annual GeneralMeeting, AGM, in Lagos, thechairman, Mrs. FlorenceAdebanjo, said the bank setout in 2013 to conduct itsbusiness in a manner that willbe beneficial to all itsstakeholders and tostrengthen its leadership

NPF MfB shareholders approveN228.7m dividends

position in the microfinancebank sector.

She explained that the bankredirected its focus toincreased microfinanceactivities by tailoring itsservices and deliverychannels through improvedtechnology in order to meetits clients’ needs.

Speaking on the financialperformance, Adebanjo said,“”The results for the financialperiod under review are onceagain a testimony to thesound financial health of ourbank.”

She stated that total assetsgrew from N7.690 billion in2012 to N8.680 billion in the

year under review,representing an increase of12.87 percent.

Total deposits, according toher, stood at N3.858 billion asat December 31, 2013,compared to N3.271 billionrecorded in 2012, an increaseof 17.95 percent.

“Profit before tax, however,dropped by 18.73 percentfrom N630 million in 2012 toN512 million. This was dueto additional provision ofN106 million made due toimpairment in loans.

“The cheering news,however, is that a 100 percentof the profit made in theperiod under review came

from organic operationalactivities of the bank,which is sustainable asagainst a 46 percent writeback to profit from capitalmarket in the previousyear’s result,” she said.

Speaking on the outlook,she said, “The CentralBank of Nigeria’commitment to the pursuitof financial inclusion isexpected to result inincreased competition inthe banking industryduring the year as DepositMoney Banks intensifytheir efforts to gain theconfidence of microcustomers.

The Africa FinanceCorporation, AFC, has

become the mandated leadarranger of $1.305 billion pre-payment facility for GlencoreEnergy UK.

The facility will be used byGlencore to provide financingof up to $1.450 billion to Sociétédes Hydrocarbures du Tchad,SHT, the national oil companyof Chad.

The pre-payment facility will,in turn, be used by SHT toacquire Chevron GlobalEnergy Inc’s 25 percentparticipating interest in theDoba consortium, which ownsand operates oil producingassets in Chad.

AFC was one of the sixMandated Lead Arrangers ofthe pre-payment facility, theothers being Credit AgricoleCorporate and InvestmentBanking, Deutsche Bank, FBNBank (UK) Ltd, Natixis, andSociété Generale Bank, withCitibank N.A. as the AccountBank. AFC’s contribution tothe financing was USD100million.

AFC finances$1.3bn oilproject in Chad

DangoteCooperativegross earningsup by 68%Dangote Group Staff

Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society Limited,DANCOOPS, has declaredgross earnings of N87.32million in 2012 compared toN52.86 million in 2011,representing 68 percentincrease.

Presenting the financialresult for 2012 to members ofthe co-operative during its 7th

Annual General Meeting,AGM, in Lagos, the co-operative said it is alsoproposing a dividend payoutof N34 million for memberswhose names appeared on itsregister as at the close ofbusiness as at 31st ofDecember, 2012.

In an address, the Presidentof the co-operative, ReubenOdetunde, told the membersthat the co-operatives’ totalsavings increased fromN717.5 million in 2011 toN983.10 million, about 37percent increase.

He also noted that the co-operative’s personal loanscheme, which is a strategicactivity of the society to makeloans available to members,has continued to attract strongpatronage by memberscompared to the previous year.

26 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 27

CMYK

28 —Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Interview

The challenges in theeducation sector are soenormous that private

institutions would need tolend the government ahelping hand. Mr. ShinaAtilola, Group Head, Strategy& Communications, SterlingBank Plc in this interviewexplains what the Bank isdoing to support the educationsector.

How would you describe thelevel of education in thecountry?

It is still not where it shouldbe. Yes government is doingso much to develop the sectorbut we are not there yet, thatis why the private sector mustcome in and invest in theeducation sector if we reallywant our children to getquality education withouthaving to pay so much for it.It is so bad that most well todo and not so well to do striveto send their children abroadto obtain what they see asquality education.

Unfortunately, this hasconstituted a major drain onour foreign exchangeearnings as a country. It isalleged that there are 75,000Nigerians studying in variouseducational institutions inGhana. Just estimate theamount of money these 75,000students would have savedthe country in dollars if theywere in Nigerian universities.

Rolling back the years whenI was an undergraduatestudying InternationalRelations, about 45 per centof my classmates wereforeigners from EquatorialGuinea, Niger Republic andeven from France. Suchpeople came for exchangeprogrammes to understandthe concept of internationalrelations in Nigeria. Thus,beyond the capacity issues,the quality of education isvery critical to make ourpeople stay.

So what is the way out?

First and foremost,government must increasefunding to the educationsector and ensure that publicschools are better equipped tocompete fairly with the privateinstitutions. Most importantly,there is a need for urgentintervention in the educationsector by private sectorcompanies becausegovernment cannot do italone. This is why we havedecided as a bank to focus onthe sector. Sterling Bank’sintervention in the sector willhelp to ameliorate some of thechallenges the sector faces.Over the years, youthunemployment has remainedone of the dauntingchallenges in Nigeria, asrecent statistics show thatover 25 million youths in the

Government needshelp to financeeducation sector— Sterling Bank

,

,

country are unemployed.This abysmal statistics is

linked to, among others, theissue of employability as evenwhere jobs abound, the lackof competence to handle themarises. This problem can beattributed to the decliningquality of education in thecountry.

All this has necessitated ourforay into education. Werealise that Nigeria willrequire an investment ofabout $1 billion yearly forabout 55 to 56 years totransform the education sector.Our intervention in this sectorwill hopefully contribute toresolving the problem ofunemployment. It will helpNigerians create their ownbusinesses.

State governments arebeginning to come up withinitiatives to develop theeducation sector. Forinstance, we are aware thatLagos State government hasintroduced the Lagos EKOproject. We have similarprojects in other statesespecially in the south west.

In what ways can theprivate sector support suchinitiatives?

The facts are there. We arethe first bank in Nigeria topartner the Lagos EKOProject using our staff asvolunteer teachers to teachdifferent subjects, all of theseare part of our corporate socialresponsibility to supporteducation, to aid employmentand bridge the estimated $1billion gap that exists in termsof funding education inNigeria.

Apart from that, SterlingBank has also helped toimprove the look and feel ofsome schools and we are alsosupporting with books,writing materials, as well astextbooks. Our books ‘MyLittle Money Book’ and‘Funds’, is our way ofproviding a learning/teachingguide on saving, loans andother financial concepts.

Now what is Sterling Bankdoing to support the sector?

The Bank’s focus oneducation is strategic. We are

variety of initiatives.Statistics from EFInA shows

that 1.9million people areborrowing for educationneeds, meaning that there isa need in this sector. The bankintends to reduce the burdenon parents occasioned by bulkpayment of school feesthrough our school feesfinance product. It providesconvenience to parents andpeace of mind that theirchildren can stay in schoolwhile we finance theireducation.

We have also institutedscholarship opportunities forbrilliant children that excel incompetitions organised by thebank. Just recently, weconcluded a Mathematicscompetition in collaborationwith a school in Lagos. Morethan 1,000 children enteredfor this competition and topperformers were beneficiariesof various cash awards. Thewinner got N500,000scholarship support, the

second N300,000 scholarshipsupport, and the third gotN200,000 scholarshipsupport. The scholarshipswere extended to the top 51students: The student thatcame fourth got N150,000while the fifth, sixth andseven positions got N125,000,N100,000, and N75,000respectively. The remaining44 students got N50,000alongside books and othermaterials. We are doing allthese to encourage healthycompetition among studentsand at the end of the daydevelop the sector. I canassure you that by next year,the Mathematics competitionwill go national.

To encourage studentsimprove on innovation andcritical thinking anothercompetition is ongoing forstudents between ages 5-12.Basically, the kids are allowedto design and create the bankof their imagination whichcould be expressed as a

painting, drawing, writing oreven through a presentation.The most creative ideas willbe shortlisted for variousprizes. The first, second andthird prize winners will gohome with a scholarshipawards of N500,000,N300,000 and N200,000respectively. There will alsobe other cash awards, gadgetsand other prizes to be won.This initiative is aimed atidentifying talents andharnessing same for globalcompetitiveness.

It is also important l mentionthis. Sterling Bank supportedthe 2014 edition of the “We areThe Future of our Nation”(WATFON) program, aninitiative of Edumark Consult.Over 3,500 final year studentsin various secondary schoolsattended the event aimed atproviding leadership skillsand career developmentknowledge yearly. We did thisas a way of investing in ourcollective future and createthe society we want byinvesting in our youth. Thisplatform provided thechildren to meet withaccomplished Nigerians, whohave excelled in various fieldsand have thus become rolemodels to inspire the childrento greatness

There is need for institutionsto promote financial literacyamong students which wouldprepare them with the abilityto make informed financialjudgments and effectivedecisions about the use andmanagement of money fromthe young age whichdetermines the child’s long-term financial security.

looking at all actors in thevalue chain. Forinstance, the bankhas set up aneducation desk tolook at the totalvalue chain ofeducation, fromsuppliers of inputsto the end users.The bank intendsto use it’sexpertise tocontribute to thedevelopment of thesector through a

We are the first bank in Nigeriato partner the Lagos EKO Projectusing our staff as volunteerteachers to teach differentsubjects, all of these are part ofour corporate socialresponsibility to supporteducation, to aid employmentand bridge the estimated $1billion gap that exists in termsof funding education in Nigeria

•Mr. Shina Atilola, Group Head, Strategy & Communications, SterlingBank Plc

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 29

Homes & Housing Finance

Stories by YINKAKOLAWOLE & FAVOUR

NNABUGWU

The clamour for a betterstandard of living forsecurity officers and

operatives in the countryreceived a boost recentlywhen President GoodluckJonathan commissioned1,000 housing units for therank and file of the NigeriaPolice in Dakwa, Abuja.

At the commissioning on 10June, 2014 of the 1000-unithousing estate christened,Sunday Adewusi HousingEstate, consisting of three, twoand one bedroom units, thePresident applauded theinitiative of the Nigerianpolice in collaboration with theFederal Mortgage Bank ofNigeria (FMBN) to provideaffordable housing for itsofficers and men.

Jonathan, who wasrepresented by Vice PresidentNamadi Sambo, noted that theproject which was developedthrough public-privatepartnership (PPP) between adeveloper and the PoliceCooperative Society Ltd asfinancier will motivatemembers of the Police Forcetowards effective and efficientservice delivery.

In his remark, Inspector-General of Police,Mohammed D. Abubakar,said that the vision behindthe project was to providecomfortable houses for menand officers of the NigeriaPolice. Chairman of thePolice Service Commission,Mr. Mike Okiro, on his part,

FMBN partners Police, others toboost housing delivery

*FMBN MD, Yaú Kumo,,

Since theintroduction ofthe e-collectionplatform, NHFcollections haveimproved bymore than 500percent

Association of HousingCorporations of Nigeria

(AHCN) has called forprovision of necessarygovernment guarantee toenable its memberorganisations access offshorefunding for housingdevelopment.

AHCN which is theumbrella body for all federaland state housing agencies,and housing researchinstitutes, stated this in acommuniqué issued after atwo-day National Workshopon “Housing Sector inNigeria in the last 50 Years”and its 41st Annual GeneralMeeting to mark its GoldenJubilee. It noted that theexisting funding arrangementfor the provision of housingin Nigeria is grossly

Housing: AHCN seeks governmentguarantee for offshore funding

inadequate, hence the needfor support in providinggovernment guarantees.

The communiqué signedby both the AHCNP r e s i d e n t , D r . Ifenna Chukwujekwu and itsSecretary General, D.A. Har-Yusuph, noted the availabilityof offshore funding forhousing delivery and itsattendant challenges, andidentified collateral and bankguarantee as the main issueaffecting smooth access tosuch offshore funding in therecent past.

While commendingactivities and roles of theassociation in housingdevelopment over the last 50years, the communiquénoted the potentials ofmember organisations in

housing provision has not beenfully realised. The associationtherefore urged housingagencies to explore the usageof instruments such as bond,stocks, mutual funds, insurancepolicies, Gold certificates,corporate guarantee, whichare accepted by some lendersto secure offshore funding.

AHCN further identifiedavailability of untappedresources and funds in trillionsof naira lying fallow in pensionand insurance funds, unclaimeddividends and other relatedinstruments that could beharnessed to the real estatesector. It also called forpragmatic actions by memberorganisations that will enablethem access funds for housingdevelopment from the capitalmarket.

Ogun State governmenthas reviewed downward

the prices of housing unitsbeing sold by government tothe state’s public servants.

Governor Ibikunle Amosundisclosed this in Abeokuta,the state capital, at a meetingto commemorate the PublicService Day. He said ratherthan making 20 percent initialpayment previously required,workers will now pay 10percent of the total cost oftheir choice housing units.

Amosun declared that athree-bedroom apartmentwhich initially goes for N6.2million has been reduced toN5.5 million, two-bedroomfrom N6 million to N5 million,while and a one-bedroom flatnow goes for N4.5 million,from N5.5 million. He saidthe review was prompted byvarious complaints by publicservants, who said there wasno way they could afford theinitial prices. He alsoannounced approval of 27.5percent teachers’ allowance,car and housing loans for theworkers, adding that workerswill begin to access the loansfrom October.

Ogun slasheshousing costfor civilservants

Nigerian Society ofEngineers (NSE) has

initiated moves aimed atcurbing incidences of buildingcollapse in the country.

National President, NSE,Ademola Olurunfemi, who madethe remark in Yola, said “the Societyis taking decisive measures to curbthe disturbing number of cases ofbuilding collapse in the country.”

The NSE president, who wasrepresented by National VicePresident of the society, KunleMokolo, called on all statebranches to partner with theirrespective state governments,professional bodies and otherstakeholders to establish a“Development Control Unit” toeradicate the syndrome.

He said the unit will beresponsible for overseeing allbuilding projects in their respectiveareas. “These include theexamination of professional leveland ability of the contractors, thebuilding equipment standard,feasibility study, design and up tothe finishing level of the project,”he said.

NSE moves tocurb buildingcollapse

said that officers and men,who are beneficiaries, willpay for the houses throughthe NHF loans which theNigeria Police has accessedto through FMBN. “Thesehouses have been deliveredat the lowest cost, which ismade possible throughequity contribution torelevant stakeholders,” hestated.

It would be recalled thatPresident Jonathan last yearcommissioned the firstmodern police housingestate named after him inLagos, where he commendedthe initiative of the Nigerianpolice in collaboration withFMBN to provide affordablehousing for its officers andalso reiterated thecommitment of hisadministration to provisionof affordable housing forNigerians. The estate whichcomprises 200 units of 3-bedroom flats was builtunder a PPP scheme financedby Aso Housing and Loansand developed by Remaxdevelopers.

IGP Abubakar disclosedthen that buyers would beexpected to repay through amortgage scheme madeavailable by FMBN. He alsonoted that similar estateswere being built in otherparts of the countryincluding Abuja, Kadunaand Kano.

The President also recentlylaunched the NationalHousing Fund (NHF) e-Cardand commissioned theFMBN-financed ‘AviationVillage’ housing estate in

Abuja. The estate wasdeveloped by Suntrust RealEstate Investment Limited, aprivate developer based onfunding for bothconstruction andinfrastructure financingprovided by FMBN to thetune of N2.4 billion. Theestate which covers a landmass of 11.9 hectarescomprises a total of 270housing units made up of 144units of 2 bedroom flats, 50units of 3 bedroom semi-detached bungalows and 76

units of 3 bedroomdetached bungalows.“We are movingforward as a nation inour quest to reduce thehousing deficit inNigeria and I wish tocommend FMBN forsuccessfully deliveringthis project through theEstate DevelopmentLoan granted Sun TrustInvestments,” thepresident stated.

Speaking at theoccasion, ManagingDirector of FMBN, Mr.Kimba Ya’u Kumo, saidmortgage arrangementhas been made for

beneficiaries. “Regardingthis estate, FMBN hasapproved mortgage loans to171 NHF contributors to thetune of N1.4 billion, out ofwhich about 20 beneficiariesare occupying their houses aswe speak. Mortgage loans forthe remaining 99 units arebeing processed and would beconcluded shortly,” he said.

The FMBN boss noted that thelaunch of the NHF e-Card was ahuge step forward in deliveringthe advantages of speed,accuracy, transparency,accountability and superiorcustomer experiences to NHFcontributors. He said since theintroduction of the e-collectionplatform, NHF collections haveimproved by more than 500percent and has also assisted toensure transparency andaccountability.

“Mr. President would bepleased to know that we havebegun to harvest the benefitsof the NHF e-Collectionplatform, especially in thevolume of NHF collections.For instance, the rate of NHFcollections rose significantlyfrom about N700 million toover N2.2 billion per month.We estimate a further 100percent increase in monthlycollections to about N4 billionper month before the end ofYear 2014.

“By using the NHF e-Collection platform webportal, a contributor canreview his/her record ofcontributions online andprint out a statement ofaccount at a computerworkstation from anywherein the world. In addition,contributors can use theNHF e-Card as an e-Pursethat can be loaded with extracash to make purchases viaPOS terminals or online. Theportion of funds being NHFcontributions will howevernot be available forspending,” he stated.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 31

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E - Commerce

*INDUCTION: From left: Pedro Omontuemhen, Partner, PWC representing the GuestSpeaker, the 50th President of ICAN, Chidi Ajaegbu and 2nd Deputy Vice President ofICAN, Isma'ila Zakari, at ICAN 40th induction ceremony of the Association of AccountingTechnicians of West Africa.

A recent studyconducted by aglobal logistics and

courier services firm, DHL hasshown that online retail willcontinue to gain popularity inboth developed and emergingmarkets over the next ten yearsand logistics companieswill provide solutions thatwill further influence shoppinghabits.

Tagged DHL’s‘Global E-Tailing 2025’ the studyanalysed the role e-commercewill play in consumers’ livesin the year 2025, and how itwill influence consumerism,retailing and logistics.

The study further exploredfuture scen arios with possiblealternatives of what e-commerce globally could looklike for consumers andbusinesses in the future.

According to the study,different projections werebased on a detailed analysis ofthe most influential factorseffecting economies – fromenergy and raw material pricesto technological, political andsocial factors, to retail andconsumption patterns.

Other possible scenariosincluded: Hybrid consumerbehaviour in convergentworlds of retailing, artificialintelligence in the digitalretailing sphere, presentationin virtual communities andcollaborative consumption in aregionalised retailinglandscape.

Speaking on the report andhow it affects Nigeria, DHL’sCountry Manager in Nigeria,Mr. Randy Buday said, “Thecontinuous improvement inbroadband internet services,growing confidence in onlinepayment and a population ofover 160 million people hasmade Nigeria an alreadythriving e-commerce market.”

He said that Nigeria is fast

E-commerce, logistics firms to drivegrowth in Sub-Saharan Africa — Report

becoming a game-changer inAfrican e-commerce.

“We constantly receiverequests with regards to ourservices in the industry and asresult we have been able topartner with companies likeJumia, Konga, 3AL and someother big players in the sector.”

He added that, “Some of themost challenging constraintsfor business operations inNigeria are transport andlogistics, and our logisticsinfrastructure now enables e-commerce firms like Jumia andKonga reach all of Nigeria’sthirty-six states.

On his part, Head ofMarketing, DHL Express, SubSaharan Africa, e-tailing, Mr.Sumesh Rahavendra, the sale

of goods and services throughthe Internet has explodedglobally, especially inemerging countries.

He also affirmed that despitethe various possible futurescenarios, it is clear e-tailingwill continue to boom.

”Currently, e-commercealready makes up 8 percent ofthe overall trading volume inEurope. Depending on thescenario, this share could riseup to 40 percent in developedcountries and up to 30 percentin today’s emerging markets.The factor which all scenarioshave in common is that thecompetition in electronic retail,whether on global, national orregional level, will becomemore intense,” he said.

He further noted: “Wedon’t know for certain whatthe world will look like in2025, but the study ’svarious scenarios showhow rapid the global retailsector, both online andoffline, is changing and thatlogistics will be a focal pointof these change processes.

He added: ”While e-tailing can facilitate thetransaction of the changingconsumer trends, thedelivery of the productneeds to be considered.Many retailers putsignificant focus to attractcustomers, but more effortneeds to be paid tofacilitating flawless deliveryto customers.

Nigeria’s hotel booker,Jovago.com has

entered into partnership withTripAdvisor, another hotelbooking portal to make hotelbooking easier for travelers.

In a statement, Jovago said,

Jovago partners TripAdvisor tofacilitate hotel booking

the new partnership withTripAdvisor will afford travelersvisiting the TripAdvisor site theopportunity to gain directaccess to Jovago’s diverseselection of hotels in Africa.

It noted that whether

travelers are planning inadvance from home or arelooking to book hotels whilealready at the destination,TripAdvisor users will be ableto book immediately exclusivedeals on hotels on Jovago.com.It said that users can now clickdirectly on the hotel searchresult link of their choice tomake their bookings easily,while also checking out thereviews made by othertravelers.

Speaking on the partnership,TripAdvisor’s Senior AccountManager for Europe, MiddleEast and Africa, Adrian Handssaid, “TripAdvisor is delightedto partner with Jovago to offertravelers a diverse selection ofhotels across Africa.Thepartnership helps makebooking these hotels as easy asclicking a button, whethertravelers are on their desktopor mobile.”

Nigeria’s classified ads platform,Tradestable.com.ng, has unveiled a new

platform to boost the growth of commerce andtrade in Nigeria. Tradestable said it undertookseries of usability tests in order to release aplatform that would truly serve the needs ofboth interested buyers and sellers, one of thefirst to be carried out by any online company inNigeria.

“We wanted to make the site more intuitiveand feel more modern. We listened to our users,and then decided to redesign based on theirfeedback. We want to provide the easiest wayfor anyone to buy and sell any kind of item,”said Tradestable’s Country Ambassad inNigeria, Mr. Onyeka Akumah. The usability

Tradestable unveils new platform to boost commercetest which was undertaken at Yaba College ofTechnology, Alaba International market andother key areas in Nigeria helped in thedevelopment of an intuitive platform whichembodies feedback received from the differenttest subjects.

Users were asked many questions relating tothe layout, navigation and overall feel of thewebsite. They were also given several tasks tocomplete, such as posting a free ad, all thewhile giving feedback for improvements.

Akuma said the move became imperative forTradestable because, “Nigerians are naturallovers of trade and commerce and Tradestablewants to support and set the pace for this drivethrough its easy-to-use platform, price

StarTimes rewardscustomers, eyesdigital TVpenetration

StarTimes has reiteratedits determination

to further deepen thepenetration of digitaltelevision in Nigeria, makingit affordable to a vast majorityof Nigerians in the nextcouple of months.

In furtherance of this aim,the company has undertakenthe second draw of its ExtraTime Promotion, with another50 individuals winning 32inch LED TV, while onecustomer, Mr. Emeka Collins,won the star prize of a brandnew Toyota Yaris 2014 car.

The star prize winner for theJune edition, Emeka Collinstold the audience at the drawvia telephone, that he joinedthe StarTimes network abouta week ago and was attractedto the network because of thecontent. Speaking at the draw,Mr. Ayokunle Idowu, BranchStrategist, NTA-Star TVNetwork Limited, said thepromotion is an avenue toenable every home enjoydigital television at anaffordable rate, while alsousing it as an opportunity togive back to its customers andappreciate them for being onits platform.

Yahoo to buyYouTube contentprovider for $250million

Internet giant, Yahoo hasput in a bid of around $250

million to buy Fullscreen, acompany which creates contentfor YouTube channels.

Yahoo is looking to expandits reach to young consumersthrough the acquisition of thecompany, which generatesmore than 3 billion monthlyviews on Google Inc’s YouTube.

Yahoo faces competition fromprivate investment firmChernin for control of theCalifornia-based company.

Chernin is already ashareholder in Fullscreen,having bought a stake in Junelast year along with the world’slargest advertising group, WPPand Comcast Ventures.

Chernin, owned by formerNews Corp executive PeterChernin, is understood to havethe right to buy Fullscreen at apreviously-agreed price ifother bidders do not offer atleast $300 million.

Fullscreen was founded in2011 by George Strompolos, aformer Google executive.

Stories byJONAH NWOKPOKU

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 33

,

Cover Story

“Airports may not becertified despite the N150 bnremodeling.” PUNCH, June23, 2014.

The story, written by MrUdeme Ekwere, went on toinform Nigerians that“Notwithstanding the hugesum of money expended onthe remodelling of thenation’s 22 airports, feelersare that none of them hasmet the minimum standardfor certification by theregulator.”

Last year, on my SUNDAYVANGUARD page, I hadpublished an article titledAVIATION MINISTER:TIME TO GO. Prior to that, Ihad also carpeted the formerminister for incompetence –among other failures. Thefirst article received arejoinder from her SeniorPersonal Assistant, Mr JoelObi. As usual, Joel Obi,disregarded the point of thearticle and went on to dowhat spokespersons forgovernment officials do best– present half truths andoutright falsehood as facts. Iallowed Obi to exposehimself and the Minister onmy page because there wasno doubt in my mind thattruth will prevail. I knew thatMs Oduah would never lastthe distance as minister andthat she would be out of officesoon.

Despite the reluctance ofPresident Jonathan to partwith Oduah and the attemptto provide her with face-saving exit from office, theoverwhelming truth remainsunshakeable – her tenure ofoffice had beencharacterised by profligacyand cheap propaganda. Atleast, Nigerians, except thepeople of her small villageand the traditional rulers cannow understand that all theformer Minister had

Aviation ministry and themess Oduah left behind

achieved was a colossalwaste of over N150 billionremodelling airports,without touching on the coreneed of safety.

Yet, safety, not remodelingwas what was primarilyrequired. Given the choicebetween safe or aestheticallyappealing airports, there isno doubt in my mind thatmost of us travelling by airwould rather land and take offsafely than be buried in themost beautiful airports.

Furthermore, part of theN150 billion was spentwithout approval by theNational Assembly (NASS),sometimes involving loanstaken, again withoutapproval from anyone. And,most of the work was soshoddily executed thatobservers and other expertsbelieve they might not lastmore than a few years.

One expert quoted in thereport had this to say: “Theremodelling project has notin any way moved us forwardfrom where we were beforeits commencement. Theremodelling only focused onbuilding terminal buildings.Air safety, as far as airportsare concerned, goes beyondthat.” It is quite possible thatOduah knew this but she wasalso probably moreinterested in the politicalcapital that could accruefrom cosmetic“improvements” whichcould be used to deceive thegullible. It was not surprisingtherefore when, after thedeal involving the two bulletproof cars blew open, her“defenders” were quick to

point to the 22 airportsremodelled withoutreference to the fact that itwas probably one of themost expensive wastes ofpublic funds ever undertakenby a public official acting incontravention of our laws.

But, like all lies, thosepertaining to the airports andher so called achievementshave now been revealed to bejust what they were – lies.Many aviation experts point

Nigerian economy if thingscontinue the way it is,including being unable toattract foreign investmentthat Nigeria currentlycraves.

He said, “One of theimplications for the Nigerianeconomy is that the investorswe are trying to attract willnot be attracted. This isbecause business is done ontrust and once the trust is notthere from the beginning,things will not work outproperly. So the investors weare trying to attract may notrally come.

“Also, money that shouldbe generated and channeledto infrastructuraldevelopment will not come.For example, if operators aresupposed to register like tencompanies in a month butbecause of this delay of

CAC’s 24hrs business registration collapsesContinues from page 19

availability not out in twoweeks or four weeks, and weregister one out of the tencompanies that we aresupposed to register, tell mehow the operators or CACthemselves can make moremoney?

This is because the morecompanies that are registeredby CAC, the more they arebetter off financially. On theother hand, supposing yougive me a name today, andby tomorrow the result is outshowing that the name is notavailable, there are chancesthat you will initiate anothersearch, thus paying anotherfee, meaning that they havegenerated income fromavailability twice in one weekbut if there is a delay inavailability search, incomegeneration will be sparse on

the part of both theoperators and CAC and theNigerian economy will notattract investors as itshould. It also discouragesmore people from comingforward to register.”

CAC shouldapologise toNigeriansOladiran said given the fact

that CAC was unable to keeptheir promise of 24 hoursbusiness registration, itshould have come out to sayso and seek help but insteadthey let people sufferunnecessary inconveniences.He said as a result, CACshould tender unreservedapology to the generalpublic.

“This idea of advertisingtwenty four hours and not

being able to meet up with itis pesky and frustrating. Infact, what I expect CAC to dois to apologise to the generalpublic. If you have a problemand you come out and say so,people who have the solutionwill come out to help.”

However, when contacted,the Head Public Affairs of thecommission, Mr. WilliamsChurchill who initiallydeclined to comment, deniedthat the Commission washaving challenges with itsserver and that the 24 hoursregistration was stilleffective.

When asked about the notice posted at the Lagosoffice of the Commission atAlausa, Ikeja apologising tocustomers for theCommission’s inability tocontinue with the 24 hours

registration due to serverproblem, he deniedknowledge of such statementinsisting that theCommission still offers 24hours service.

According to him, “I cantell you that the 24 hoursregistration is still working.There may be technicalissues sometimes but thatdoesn’t mean that the 24hours registration is notworking. As for the statementapologising for inability ofthe Commission to continuewith 24 hours registration, hesaid, “I am not aware of suchnotice.”

Asked if that does not implya kind of disconnect betweenthe headquarters and thezonal office, he declined tocomment and then hung upthe phone. Further attempt tocontact him proved abortive.

to the need to resurfacerunways on which aircraftland and take off and whichshould receive moreattention than landscaping ofairports. But, like mostMinisters, whose orientationis towards awardingcontracts, howeverworthless the value toairport stakeholders, she hadgone ahead to awardcontracts – just to claim shewas working.

Two incidents of peoplewalking unto the tarmac tostow away on aircraft fromNigeria point to the dangersinherent in not installingadequately securedperimeter fencing in all ourairports. Admittedly, that is

not as glamorous asinstalling fancy restaurantsor well lit advertising panels.But, nobody, except kids onexcursion, goes to an airportto see adverts – howeveringenious. Travellers want tofly; aircraft operators wantthe planes to take off and landwithout problems andrelatives, as well as co-workers, want their peopleback home after flying. Acompetent AviationMinister must operate withone principle – SAFETYFIRST; EVERYTHING ELSEIS SECONDARY.

What we now have are 22airports where safety hadbeen compromised foraesthetics; function hadgiven way to features and thenation is standing stillinstead of moving forward –even if the décor had beenaltered for the better.

But, the matter now goesbeyond the exposure of anunder performed formerMinister, it has revealed tothe entire nation the need togo and find new funds inorder to address the safetyissues which the formerMinister had ignored.Furthermore, one of thoseairports, the former GATTAviation airport is thesubject of litigation whichmight result in the FederalGovernment losing thestructure on account ofbreach of contract. Whenthat happens, all the billionsspent on remodelling thestructure would have gonedown the drain.

Let me end this article byrecalling for our readers

what was written in April lastyear, about Ms Oduah. They,governments and theirappointees, that is, neverlisten. Presidents andgovernors don’t know whento discharge; ministers andcommissioners don’t knowwhen to quit.

If you think aviationmatters are unimportant,just remember that theattack on the World TradeCentre in New York in 2001has opened the eyes of allright thinking people to thefact that those things flyingover our heads are bombs.And if that is not enough,DANA Airlines crash shouldserve a permanent noticethat those in the plane andthose below are perpetuallyimperiled each time anaircraft flies overhead. It isfor these reasons that sanesocieties enact stringentregulations, to beimplemented fully, beforeanyone can take a plane up.The Joint Committee of theHouse has just toldNigerians, in that reportedstatement, that the Ministerof Aviation had beenallowing several bombs to flyover our heads with expiredpermit. Irrespective ofwhether it was inadvertenterror or deliberaterelaxation of the regulations,the Minister stands accusedof risking the lives of millionsof Nigerians. This isunpardonable.

At the moment, we don’tknow how many planes are inthat condition. But, even if itis only one, the AviationMinistry has failed todischarge its primaryresponsibility to Nigeriansand it is not a recentoccurrence.

V i s i t :www.delesobowale.com orVisit: www.facebook.com/b i o l a s o b o w a l e

,

,The remodelling

project has not inany way movedus forward fromwhere we werebefore itscommencement

34 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

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Tax Matters

The organizations makingthe payments are

required to withhold tax fromsuch payments and pay overthe withheld amounts to theirrespective relevant TaxAuthorities within 30days ofreceipt of payment or creditby the person or entitysuffering the Tax.

The relevant tax authoritiesto receive the WHT taxtransactions made bycompanies is FIRS and forindividuals andunincorporated bodiessubject to Rules of Residenceis SIRS or FIRS.

PERSON LIABLE TODEDUCT WITHHOLDINGTAX

The payer of withholdingtax in respect of any of theactivities covered under thewithholding tax regime shallinclude company (Corporateor non-corporate),Government Ministries andDepartment, Parastatals,Statutory bodies, Institutionsand other establishedorganization approved forthe operations of Pay As youEarn System.

WHO IS TAXABLE*All Persons, Companies

etc. who’s Incomes are liableto income tax, are subject toWithholding Tax.

* However, exempt entitieslike Educational Institutions,Government Ministries,Parastatals and otherAgencies of Government, areAgents for the collection ofWHT. They are required todeduct WHT on any paymentmade to a taxable body andremit same to the relevant taxauthority.

WITHHOLDING TAXIMPLICATION ONF O R E I G NTRANSACTIONS

Non Resident Companies/Enterprises

The Revenue practice is thatnon-resident companies arenot empowered to deductanytype of WHT. Thesecategories of enterprises arepractically outside theregulatory monitoring andcontrol of the FIRS. It will beimpracticable for Revenueoffice to inspect theaccounting books of thesecompanies in order to confirmdue deduction andremittance of WHT.

Double TaxationAgreement (DTA)

Transactions that areordinarily not liable to tax inNigeria are not liable to WHTin Nigeria. Thus contractsand supplies of goods andservices performed entirelyoutside Nigeria by non-resident individuals are notliable to WHT. Nigeria hastreaty agreements with abouteight (8) countries and thesecountries are granted a

ADMINISTRATION OFADMINISTRATION OFADMINISTRATION OFADMINISTRATION OFADMINISTRATION OFWITHHOLDING TAX (2)WITHHOLDING TAX (2)WITHHOLDING TAX (2)WITHHOLDING TAX (2)WITHHOLDING TAX (2)

reduced rate of WHTdeduction, usually at 75% ofthe generally applicable WHTrate. 7.5%. These countriesinclude UK, NorthernIreland, Canada, France,Belgium, the Netherlands,Pakistan, and Romania.

P E R M A N E N TESTABLISHMENT (PE)PRINCIPLE EXISTS UNDERNIGERIA TAXATION

The rules construe a PEwhere:

* The company has a ‘‘fixedbase’’ in Nigeria.

* The company operates inNigeria through a dependentagent authorized to concludecontracts or deliver goods onits behalf,

* The company is executinga turnkey project in Nigeria,or

* The operation between thecompany and its Nigeriaaffiliate does not appear to beat arm’s length.

* ‘‘Fixed base’’ impliessome degree of permanenceand will include:

* Facilities, such as a factory,office, branch, mine, oil or gaswell

* Activities, such asbuilding, construction,assembly or installation

* Provision of services inconnection with the activitieslisted above.

construction, assembly orinstallation Provision ofservices in connection withthe activities listed above.

OTHER TYPES OFINCOME NOT LIABLE TOWHT

* Companies operatingwithin the Free Trade Zones/Export Processing Zones

* Insurance premium* Turnover/Income from

Dealership or Distributivetrade

* Telephone Bills are notsubject to WHT

APPLICATION OF WITHHOLDING TAXSections of CITA and PITA that provides for the deduction

of withholding tax at the applicable rates below.Types of payment Applicable rates

Companies IndividualDividends, Interest, Rent 10% 10%Directors Fees 10% 10%Royalties 15% 15%Commission, Consultation, 10% 5%Technical, Service FeesManagement fees 10% 5%Construction/Building Contracts 5% 5%Contracts, other than outright salesand purchase of goods in theordinary course of business 5% 5%

Returns & RemittanceTax Returns are filed

monthly with evidence ofremittance and a detailedschedule of taxabletransactions.

Following payment andfiling of returns, the revenueprocesses credit notes for thesuppliers on whose incometax was deducted.

· Credit notes can be usedin applying for tax creditagainst current and future taxliabilities (i.e. where it is notfinal tax)

· Remittances are due toeither federal or state taxauthorities.

Remittances due to FederalInland Revenue Service(FIRS):

· Corporate entities,· Nonresident individuals,· Members of the armed

forces and police,· Resident of Abuja,· Foreign officers.Remittances due to state

internal revenue service(SIRS):

· All other individuals /partnerships resident in thestate.

· PAYMENT ONCURRENCY

Section 64B of CITAempowers the tax authoritythat withheld tax must beremitted to the tax authorityin the currency in which thededuction was made. Thismeans that transactions madein foreign currency are to beremitted in the same currencyand that the tax so withheldis to be remitted in the samecurrency. Simultaneouslypenalty for default would alsobe calculated in the samecurrency.

· HOW TO CLAIMWITHHOLDING TAXCREDIT (CREDIT NOTES)

A taxpayer from whom taxhas been withheld is expectedto gain withholding tax creditnotes from the relevant taxauthority via the deductingorganization. All withheldtaxes are forwarded to the taxauthority, which in turnrecords the credit against thetax payer’s account, with aschedule containing details ofthe contract or service, onwhich basis the tax authority

issues a credit note. Assessedtax and related charges areusually entered as debits inthe taxpayer’s tax account,while he is expected to payonly the difference betweenhis assessed tax andwithholding tax credit at thetime of filing their ownreturns.

· It is this credit note that ataxpayer uses as a set offagainst tax assessed withinthat year or if unutilizedwithin that year can beapplied based on the taxpayerrequest to transfer the creditbalance in that year to offsetor reduce debit balance ofanother year.

· In cases where there is anexcess charge of WHT on ataxpayer, the 2007amendments to CITA (Section63 (7)) have even furtherempowered FIRS to refundproven excess withholdingtax to any taxpayer within 90days of filing a claim.

OFFENCES ANDPENALTIES

OFFENCESØ Failure to withhold

tax orØ Failure to remit or

late remittance of the taxwithheld

Ø Non remittance of thetax withheld within the timelimit stipulated by theRevenue.

PENALTIESa. For CompaniesA fine of 200 percent of the

tax not withheld or withheldbut not remitted, plus interestat the prevailing commercialrate.

b. For Individuals &other Organizations

A fine of the higher ofN5,000 or 10% of the amountof tax due, plus the amountof tax deductible , orwithheld but not remitted,plus interest at the prevailingcommercial rate.

• Interest on SavingsAccount of less than N50, 000paid by a Bank, is not subjectto WHT.

The WHT system has cometo stay since it is a veritablesource of revenue toGovernment. It enhances thecollection efforts of TaxAuthorities and it ensures thatrevenue is generated inadvance. It is thereforeimperative that the systemshould continue to beimproved upon in the light ofmodern tax administrationprocedure. Usually anadvance payment of taxprovides information that anincome source has beenidentified through a thirdparty. Such information beingprovided by the payer shouldbe readily available for use inaccessing a potentialtaxpayer. Field officersshould always be ready tofollow up on suchinformation.

,

,PRINCIPLES OF

P E R M A N E N TESTABLISHMENT

* The rules construe aPermanent Establishmentwhere:

* The company has a ‘‘fixedbase’’ in Nigeria.

* The company operate inNigeria through a dependentagent authorized to concludecontracts or deliver goods onits behalf,

* The company is executinga turnkey project in Nigeria,or

* The operation between thecompany and its Nigeriaaffiliate does not appear to beat arm’s length.

‘‘Fixed base’’ implies somedegree of permanence andwill include: Facilities, suchas a factory, office, branch,mine, oil or gas wellActivities, such as building,

Submitted schedule shouldshow the following details:

Name of suppl ier Address Nature of I n v o i c e p a y m e n t Amount Rate @ Y% Tax

Service Date Date

·Returns for corporatesuppliers should be filedwithin 21 days from end ofmonth of transactions.

· Returns for non –corporatesuppliers should be filedwithin 30 days from end ofmonth of transaction.

·In practice, tax returns arefiled in the same month theyoccur.

· Tax deducted should beremitted to the revenue inexchange for a receipt ofpayment.

· Tax is payable in thecurrency of the qualifyingtransaction.

All Persons, Companiesetc. who’s Incomes areliable to income tax, aresubject to WithholdingTax

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 35

36 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Appointmentvicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

STERLING Bank hasannounced theappointment of six

persons including women intoits Board, in a renewed effortto strengthen the Board in linewith its corporate governanceand sustainability culture.

The bank said the inclusionof women is in line with thegender ratio requirement of theCentral Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

The new board memberswhose appointments have beenapproved by the Central Bankof Nigeria (CBN) include: Ms.Tamarakare Yekwe, Dr. (Mrs.)Omolara Akanji, Ighodalo,Raghavan Karthikeyan, Mr.Kayode Lawal (Executive Director) and Mr.Abubakar Suleiman (ExecutiveDirector)

The Bank in a statement saidthat the appointment of theseasoned professionals withdiverse experience in theprivate and public sectorswould further enhance thecapacity of the Board to deliveron its corporate goals.

The Bank’s Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Mr. Yemi Adeolaexpressed his optimism thatthe Bank would benefitimmensely from the wealth ofexperience of the six directorsas their appointments werecarried out on the basis ofskills, rich professionalexperience and corporategovernance best practice.

Tamarakare Yekwe, thecurrent Principal Partner,‘KareYekwe& Co. (LegalPractitioners & Consultants)was a member of the GoverningCouncil, Nigerian Institute ofInternational Affairs (NIIA) andthe Presidential TechnicalCommittee on Housing andUrban Development.

She was the pioneer AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner forJustice, Bayelsa State; and hasalso served as a Director in anumber of institutionsincluding the Federal SavingsBank of Nigeria, ContinentalMerchant Bank of Nigeria Plc,International Merchant BankPlc and the Federal MortgageBank of Nigeria.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws(LL.B) degree from theUniversity of Lagos and wascalled to the Nigerian Bar in1981.

Omolara Akanji, a memberof the Petroleum RevenueSpecial Task Force, started hercareer with the CBN in 1978as an Assistant Economist.

She rose through the ranks,retiring in December 2007 asthe Director, Trade andExchange Department and alsoserved as a Consultant to theCBN between 2008 and 2011.

She holds a B.Sc. inAgricultural Economics from

Sterling Bank appoints new directors

the University of Ibadan, anM.Sc. in AgriculturalEconomics from the Universityof Reading, a Diploma inStatistics from the University ofKent, Mathematical Institute,and a PhD. Finance from theE u r o p e a n - A m e r i c a nUniversity, Commonwealth ofDominica.

Asue Ighodalo is a Partner inBanwo& Ighodalo, a leadingcorporate and commercial lawfirm in Nigeria, which hefounded in partnership in1991.

His core practice areas arecorporate finance, capitalmarkets, mergers andacquisitions, banking &securities, foreign investments& divestments, energy &natural resources, privatizationand project finance.

A product of the prestigiousKings College, Asue obtaineda Bachelor of Science Degree(BSc) in Economics fromUniversity of Ibadan in 1971, aLL.B in 1984 from LondonSchool of Economics and a BLin 1985 from the Nigerian Law

School. A member of severalprofessional associations, Asuesits on the Board of severalpublic and private companies.

Raghavan Karthikeyanreplaces Mr. Rajiv Pal Singhwho completed his tenure as arepresentative of State Bank ofIndia (SBI) last year.

He is presently the ChiefGeneral Manager,International Banking in State

Bank of India (SBI) Mumbaiand a Certified Associate of theIndian Institute of Bankers(CAIIB). Raghavan joined SBIin 1980 and has worked invarious capacities acrossseveral aspects of banking. Heholds a Bachelor of Arts fromSt. John’s College, Tirunelveli,India and a Master of Arts fromMadurai University, India.

Kayode Lawal started his

career with NBM Bank wherehe worked from 1987 till 2005.During this period, he excelledin various marketing roles andwas subsequently appointed asthe bank’s Treasurer.

Following the consolidationexercise and the emergence ofSterling Bank in 2006, he wasagain assigned to Marketing,to head various regions inLagos, a testament to theconfidence placed in hisabilities on the field.

Lambeth Trust andInvestment Company

Limited, has appointed Mr.Tunde Lemo, former DeputyGovernor of the Central Bankof Nigeria, CBN, and Mr. Mr.Kehinde Lawanson, a formerExecutive Director of First Bankof Nigeria Plc, to its Board ofDirectors. The company hasalso appointed Mr. Benjamin

•Lemo

Lambeth Trust appoints Lemo, Lawson Board membersOladapo as the new GeneralManager for the company.

According to a statement bythe company, its shareholders’funds is set to increase to N500million when the currentdeposit for shares iscapitalized, giving its futurerepositioning efforts a boost.

With this feat, the statementsaid the company’s fund would

exceed the minimum stipulatedregulatory capital of N300million ahead of the deadlineof December 2014.

It noted that the newappointments to its Board andmanagement had beenapproved by the Nigerian StockExchange (NSE). According tothe statement “Mr. Tunde Lemo,a two-time Deputy Governor of

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)and former Managing Director,Wema Bank Plc has over 29years working experience thatcut across Banking, Consultingand Conglomerates. hadserved on many corporations’boards and currently sits on theboard of Africa FinanceCorporation (AFC) amongothers.

MANAGING Director of Kofsol Group,Mrs. Kofo Olaosebikan, has been

honoured with the Nigerian Selfless GoldService Award, NISSGA, in the BusinessCategory. Olaosebikan who received theaward at a ceremony at the National MeritAward House, Abuja, was commended for anacknowledged track record of excellence andhigh performance in the business sector whichhas seen the KOFSOL Group evolved frommodest beginning to becoming one of theleading companies in the print branding and

Olaosebikan, KOFSOL Group MD,gets NISSGA awardgeneral services sector in Nigeria.

An alumnus of the University of Ibadan, PanAtlantic University and the Redeemed BibleCollege of the RCCG, Olaosebikan started herworking career with the Federal Governmentwhere she worked at the FDA, now NAFDACbefore opting for an early retirement to becomean entrepreneur in 1984.

She thereafter founded KOFSOL Groupwhich also has subsidiary companies such asPrecise Cleaning Services, Hanes ’n’ Daveand Daily Fashions Limited.

•Abubakar •Akanji •Karthikeyan

•Lawal •Yekwe

NB Golden penaward holds July 3

NIGERIAN BreweriesPlc has announced

that its 6th Golden Pen Awardceremony has been resched-uled to hold on Thursday,July 3, 2014.

But the venue remains theLantana Hall of the Eko Ho-tel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The ceremony was moved toThursday July 3, 2014 fromthe earlier planned date ofMonday, June 30, 2014 dueto unforeseen circumstances.

The award will reward jour-nalists who submitted out-standing reports on Educationand Youth Empowerment in2013. A total of 102 entrieswere received when submis-sion closed for the award.

The award, which is the 6thin the series will reward ‘TheNB Golden Pen Reporter ofthe Year’ with a special statu-ette and N1, 000, 000 (Onemillion Naira), the ‘First run-ner up in the NB Golden PenReporter of the Year’ catego-ry with a Special statuetteand N300, 000 while the ‘Sec-ond runner up NB Golden PenReporter of the Year’ will geta Special statuette and N200,000.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 37

CMYK

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Aviation

The SupervisingAviation Minister,Dr Samuel Ortom

has directed FederalAirport Authority ofNigeria, FAAN, firedepartment to re-absorb theretired fire servicemen whoretired from the services ofthe agency to address thelack of manpower andhuman capacity buildingchallenge raised by theActing General Manager,Fire Service, FAAN, MrRindap Domtur.

The Minister gave thisdirectives at theinternational wing of theMurtala MuhammedAirport, MMA, Lagosshortly after a tour/inspection of the ongoingremodeling exercise .

Minister directs FAANto re-absorb retired firemenBy LAWANI MIKAIRU& DANIEL ETEGHE

Ortom, also said the ministrywould take steps to addresshuman capacity andupgrading of the department,adding that FAAN has beendirected to employ more of thefire staff that had retired.

Acting General Manager,Fire Service, FAAN, MrRindap Domtur said theauthority has a total of 600 firestaff across airport in thecountry and that the agencywould require 1,500personnel for effectiveperformance.

Domtur also said theMurtala MuhammedAirport,MMA, Lagos, whichis in Category 9 has 160

,which according to him isfar below what theInternational Civil AviationOrganisation (ICAO)approved for such category.He added that for the pasttwo years none of the fire staffhas gone for recurrencytraining to revalidate theircertificate, adding that ICAOrequires each staff torevalidate his licence everytwo years.

Speaking also at theinspection, FAAN ManagingDirector , Engr SalehDunoma confirmed that themajor challenge that FAANfire has is in the area of staff.

According to him, “ We will

take due process to temporarilyre-absorb some FAAN FireService retirees across thecountry to occupy some post.In aviation, we take issue ofsafety and security as priority.”

On the contractor in chargeof cleaning the departure area,who the minister said was notcleaning the area properly ,theminister directed FAAN to askthe contractor to improve onthe cleaning or else risktermination of the contract. Theminister also said the FederalGovernment would notembark on new project in theaviation industry until theongoing ones initiated byformer Aviation Minister, MrsStella Oduah were completed.

Ortom assured that none ofthe ongoing projects in thesector would be abandoned,contrary to speculation in somequarters that the AviationMinistry would abandoned theongoing projects scatteredacross airports in the countrymost especially when aboutN174 billion has beenexpended on the projects.

He stated that what theMinistry would do is toprioritize the projects and thatalready some of the projectsare about 70 to 80 per centcompleted.

Ortom said that althoughsome projects were recentlysuspended due to lack offund, the contractors haveresumed work since theFederal Government hadsigned the 2014 budget intolaw. “We have to prioritise ourwork here, we have beenoperating through InternalGenerated Revenue (IGR) andwe will continue to operatewith it. We have done a lot.During this cause ofinspection, we have identifiedsome works we have to tidy up.We intend not to go on anynew project until we tidy upthese ones,’’ he said.

Managing Director of the NigerianAirspace Management Agency,

NAMA, Engineer Ibrahim Abdulsalam hassaid that the US plane which was reportedmissing on Tuesday, last week by PANAhad been officially handed over toCameroon airspace.

The Four-seater plane, owned by a U.S.company, Global Aviation, took off fromKano in Nigeria at 1800 hours on Mondayen route Libreville in Gabon, where it wasscheduled to arrive at 2300 hours, after astopover in Douala, Cameroon.

Engr. Abdulsalam told aviationreporters that the Nigerian AirspaceManagement Agency could not partake

Missing US plane: We've handed it over toCameroon airspace, says Abdulsalam

in the search of the missing plane stressingthat once an aircraft has left a country’sairspace there was nothing that countrycould do in case of any incident.

According to him,” the plane has gone outof Nigeria, we have handed it over to theCameroon airspace. It is their own scoresince it didn’t happen in Nigeria airspace”.

However, the Cameroon Airspace stationsaid the plane, with only the American piloton board, did not make it to Douala.

It said the last contact the plane had withthe control tower took place in Mongo,which is two hours flight from theCameroonian economic capital.

Report says that search and rescueoperations led by Cameroon’s civil aviationauthorities have not yielded any positiveresults.

By LAWANI MIKAIRU &DANIEL ETEGHE

Stakeholders in theaviation industry have

called on the FederalGovernment to assist pilots tobe gainfully employed as thereare many pilots and engineerswho are roaming the airportswithout jobs.

The stakeholders made thisappeal during an awardceremony in honour of PrincesStella Oduah at Oriental Hotel,Lagos. Chairman of theoccasion, former Minister ofAviation, Hon. Felix Hyat alsocalled for the completion of theremodeling project in order toavoid projects being littered allover the airports in the country,abandoned.

Speaking at the event, ChiefExecutive Officer of FinumAviation Services, EngineerSheri Kyari said that there werea lot of aviation industry pilotsand engineers who areunemployed pointing out thatunemployment was one of themajor challenges in the aviationsector just as he advised airlineoperators to work together infinding solutions to thenumerous problems bedevilingthe industry.

He however noted that themain reason for the occasionwas to celebrate the FormerMinister of Aviation, PrincesStella Oduah whose giantstrides in the aviation sector hasbrought a lot of development tothe country.

According to him, PrincesOdauh was the minister whoconvinced the FederalGovernment to release funds forthe remodeling of the twentytwo airports across the countrynoting that “during the tenureof Princes Stella Oduah, thathas been the only period thatwe have seen massivedevelopment in the aviationindustry since the past fortyyears.

Stakeholdersseek employmentopportunities forjobless pilots

By DANIEL ETEGHE

3rdfloor Limited, a digitalmarketing consultancy

firm has officially opened shopto corporate Nigeria. 3rdFloorlimited specialises in utilizinga range of digital assets to aidand improve the businessperformance of brands andorganisations with the aim ofcreating a unique userexperience and optimizing theoverall digital engagementwith brands.

According to Mr. PrincewillOmorogiuwa, Chief Digital

3rd Floor opens shop officiallyEnabler, 3rdFloor Limited, saidafter observing the recent trendof brand misrepresentationonline, and the lack of strategicapproach to digital marketingin the region, it becameimperative for us to elevate thegame by introducing3rdFloor”. 3rdFloor is a sister-company of Simon PageBusiness School – a leadingprovider of marketing,marketing communications anddigital marketing trainingsolutions in Africa.

*TOUR - From Left: Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Managing Director, Nigerian AirspaceManagement Agency, NAMA; Dr Samuel Ortom, Supervising Minister of Avation; Engr.Saleh Dunoma, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN; andEngr. Benedict Adeyileka, Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA,during the Minister's inspection tour of ongoing work at Murtala Mohammed Interna-tional Airport on Wednesday. PHOTO: Kehinde Gbadamosi

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 — 39

Advertising, Media& Marketing

*PRESENTATION - From left: John Esoimeme, Head of Sales,MultiChoice Nigeria; Adesoye Adeyinka of Y2K Plus a GOtv vendorand winner of Plasma TV and Engr. Sarumi Balarabi, MultiChoiceSuper Dealer during the GOtv Vendors Forum and PrizePresentation held in Lagos recently.

Marketing experts have said that for Nigerian brands to attainthe international brand status, Nigerian consumers will have

to demonstrate deeper loyalty towards domestic brands.They also said that while it is imperative for a developing economy

like Nigeria to embrace Foreign Direct Investments, FDI, it is alsoimportant to ensure the growth of local brands in a bid to reduce theparticipation of foreign brands in the market. Speaking at a bookpresentation: “Kill or Get Killed, the Marketing Killer Instinct, ChiefExecutive Officer, MarketingMix and Company Nigeria Limited,Mr. Akin Adeoya, urged Nigerians to emulate other African countrieslike Kenya where citizens demonstrates patriotism by identifying withlocally made brands rather than on foreign brands.

Adeoya, who noted that the same cannot be said about Nigerians,noted that an average Nigerian does not sympathize with domesticbrands an approach that need be changed if domestic brand willcompete favorably with foreign brands. Speaking about the book,Adeoya described it as “The first serious attempt by an Africanmarketing practitioner to pen down real life case studies, a greatmaterial, intellectual and nerve racking battles that characterises therise and fall of brands in the Nigerian, and to an extent, the Africantheater of war for the consumer’s mind and wallet. He added that itwill serve as a good reference point for the student and practitionersof marketing who want to learn more about the strategy and marketapproach that made top market brands outstanding.

Stories by PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

Amidst battle for marketspace amongst various

wine brands, Chapeau, a SouthAfrican wine, marketed byIntercontinental DistillersLimited, IDL, has made anentry into the Nigerian market,penultimate week.

The Managing Director ofIDL, Engr. Patrick Anegbe, saidhe was delighted the companyhas been able to come up witha natural wine to tell Nigerianswhat a good natural wineshould be, as against otherwines in the market which aresynthetic.

Describing Chapeau as one ofthe best in Nigeria, Anegbesaid the wine comes in threevariants –Merlot, Cabernetsauvignon, all red wine, andRose-”is made from wellfermented fresh grapes to getthe natural red wine, is differentfrom what is find in the market,which are made of additives,sugar, alcohol and flavours.”

Chapeau, a French word,means hat, which is theinsignia a short way of saying‘I doff my hat,’ and thisaccording to the ManagingDirector, is a befitting image forthe product going by its quality.

Overtime, brands likeBordeaux, Beaujolau, Malbec,Chianti among others havebeen ruling the wine marketbut from indication andtestimonies of those whosampled the wine agreed thatthe entrant of wine will expandcompetition in the winerymarket, said some consumers.

IDL unveilsChapeau wine

On the unique sellingpoint, the Brand

Manager, Chapeau Wines ofIDL, Chioma Alonge, saidthere are wines in Nigeria thatare synthetic. For Chapeau, “itis 100 percent natural wine,with wholesome goodness,refreshing, nourishing,“consumers should just go forit.” She remarked.

She went further to say thatpeople really don’t know the

differences in wine, there is limitedknowledge about wine, soconsumers just perceive everythingthat is red in a bottle is wine. “Youknow as doctors will always say, aglass of wine is good for the heart.Today, we are saying not just anywine, a glass of good wine, a glassof natural wine is good for the heart.A glass of chapeau natural wine aday is good for the heart.”

Boulos Foods andBeverages Limited, a

subsidiary of the Boulos Grouphas officially launched its juicedrinks, Frootz and Frootzy, intothe market;

The Managing Director/CEO, Boulos Boulos, said thecompany has made substantialinvestment in the factory toensure that it delivers productsof the highest value andquality. “We have enrolledspecialist workers and alsorecruited the most promisinglocal talents."

While noting that that theemergence of a new spectrumof middle class citizens wasresponsible for the company toventure into the fruit juicemarket.

The increasing population ofNigeria has been a majorsource of attraction of foreigndirect investments into thecountry, an indication of arising middle class society.

Continuing he stated; “theindustry is vast and has arraysof product which are consumeddaily. Do we talk of infant,teens and adult alike; this is theonly industry that takes care of

Boulos launches juice drinksthe nourishment and wellbeing of individuals frominfancy to adulthood.” hesaid. According to him, the

company also plans to introduce awide range of products into theNigerian market before the end ofthe year.

Why Nigerians need to embracelocal brands - Experts

Winning through Customer Insight

Serving customers without knowing them very wellis akin to making a dress for a lady without having

any idea whatsoever of her vital statistics. And theoutcome is very similar. Dissatisfied customers!

A deep knowledge of customers is the foundation ofmarketing. To achieve excellence in service, we mustlook beyond the basic demographic variables of age,gender, ethnicity and socio-economic class and dig intothe psychological underpinnings of customer needs. Weneed to understand the unspoken needs behind theexpressed ones. We need to even understand thethought patterns of customers.

But we are not talking about an intellectual knowledgeof the customer. We are talking about customer insight.Lisa Fortini-Campbell, in her book Hitting the SweetSpot, refers to insights as “unique combinations ofinformation that give meaning to the marketplace.” Sheshows that to get the best out of all the facts aboutcustomers within the organisation, such facts must betransformed from mere data to information, then toinsight which ultimately becomes an inspiration.

In today’s world, organisations collect so many bits andpieces of information about customers. (It must reallybe an antediluvian organisation that doesn’t have suchinformation.) Most organisations today have so manymethods of understanding customers including surveys(to measure customer satisfaction, service quality, etc),depth interviews, focus group interviews, complaintanalysis, experimentation and ethnographic methods.

With advances in information technologies, collectingand analysing customer information have never beeneasier. Unfortunately, the sheer size of availableinformation has further increased the complexitiesinherent in producing real customer insight.

In the words of Warren Bennis, “We have moreinformation now than we can use, and less knowledgeand understanding than we need. Indeed, we seem tocollect information because we have the ability to do so,but we are so busy collecting it that we haven’t deviseda means of using it.”

With tons and tons of information at their disposal,organisations may sometimes find it difficult to decidewhat is relevant and what is not. One distinguishingfeature of organisations that have excelled in their chosenfields is that they are able to cut through the clutter andget to the real gems that can make a strategic difference.Data mining is the fancy word for scouring throughcustomer information in search of insights. It is theprocess of fishing out the nuggets hidden in the haystackof data. Those organisations that are able to convertcustomer insights into competitive advantage usuallystand out.

When mobile phones first came to Nigeria, I hated theidea of having phones with long aerials. So, for me, cellphones with internal aerial were products of customerinsight.

Another product of insight is the dual-SIM phone thatallows subscribers have access to two different networkson the same phone. But considering that some Nigerianslug up to four handsets about, cell phone manufacturersare still a few steps short of real customer insight forNigeria. Quad-SIM phones are what we need here!

The real challenge for most organisations in the modernworld is not necessarily the lack of information but theinability to convert available information into insightcoupled with the inability to act on the available insight.At the end of the day, what matters is not really whatorganisations know but what they do with the knowledgein their possession. If the customer information you havedoes not help you to serve customers better or give themmore valuable products, then you are not better thanthose who don’t have any information at all. And youcannot gain any competitive advantage with suchinformation.

40 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

Email:lesleba@lesleba.com, lesleba@gmail.comBlog page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Deputy Business EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Asst. Business EditorYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Onuoha - Insurance Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNkiruka Nnorom - Capital MarketJonah Nwokpoku - E-CommerceNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

Business & Economy

Nigeria Bulk ElectricityTrading Plc (NBET)

has received from NigerianElectricity RegulatoryCommission (NERC), thenames of Proton Energyamongst others, who haveapplied for power licenses forconsideration for powerpurchasing agreement.

This is part of the processesstipulated in the award oflicence and operation in thepower sector for gencos.

This development, supportsan endorsement of processesso far undertaken by ProtonEnergy in its bid for a licenceto set up and operate a 500megawat gas-powered plant inSapele, Delta State.

Firms bid for 500MW Sapelepower plant

Sam Amadi, chairman, NERChinted on this, and noted thatthe commission now expectsthe company to complete allthat is required of it in theentire process for a powerlicence.

“We expect that thecompany will expedite actionsto ensure that all mandatoryrequirements is met and weexpect correspondences fromother bodies involved toconfirm that Proton have metevery requirements”.

To get tbe licence however,Proton will have to showevidences of satisfying therequirements of bodies likeTransmission Company ofNigeria TCN, NBET and other

companies that are critical tothe award of a power licence.

Managing Director, NBET,Rumundanka Wonodiconfirmed that Proton Energyis on the list of power licenceprospectors that haveadvanced in the processes andhave been issued with thePower purchase agreementdraft to kickstart negotiation.

“We got a list from NERCabout those that have appliedfor licence and who we canconsider for PPA. ProtonEnergy is on the list”.

Wonodi said the next stagefor companies like Proton is tosend a PPA draft to theprospectors to whichresponses are expected.

A Trade Group under theumbrella of ConcernedBureau de change

operators recently published afull page advert titled “Appealagainst Ploy to decimate BDCsand Destabilise the ForexMarket”; the advert claimedthat the Central Bank wasplanning to reduce the numberof BDCs in Nigeria, despitetheir contribution to theeconomy.

The association asserted that“there was no justification forthe alleged plan to increase themandatory caution depositfrom $20,000 to the dollarequivalent of N35 million, withlicensing fees also increasingfrom N100,000 to N1million”.The BDC operators wereconcerned that more than 90percent of the existing 3,000members would be unable toincrease their capital base fromN10m to N35m as proposed inthe alleged intended CBNplan. The BDCs,consequently, foresee that theresultant restricted forex marketwould be exploited by thealleged sponsors of theproposed CBN guidelines tomake quick money, with theusual adverse collaterals ofcurrency round tripping,smuggling, capital flight andother sharp practices.

The BDC operators, therefore,argue that the proposedmeasures were misguided astheir members could not beblamed for the heavy demandpressure in the foreignexchange market since CBN’sofficial statistics clearly showthat out of the $14.8 billion soldby the apex bank in the firstquarter of 2014, only $1.7billion or 11.4 percent wasdirectly sold to BDCs while theremaining 88.6 percent wassold to commercial banks.Nonetheless, the associationclaimed that their presence inthe market had in fact reducedthe gap between the official andthe parallel market exchangerates by diverting patronage

The forex market hoax:CBN Vs BDCs

,

,

from unauthorised forexdealers (black market?) to theofficial market, (BDCs?), whiletheir interventions havesimilarly helped to stabilise andminimize opportunities for rentseeking in the market.

Beyond this, the BDCoperators also claimed thatabout 5 million Nigerianswould become unemployed toworsen the already graveunemployment situation in thecountry, if the new guidelineswere effected.

The above notwithstanding, ,the suspicions of the forexoperators were confirmedbarely a week later when CBNpublished new policyguidelines which were totallyin consonance with the contentof the earlier BDC advertorial.Worse still, the CBN wouldnow also punish any operatorfound to have ownership ofmultiple BDCs. The CBN notedthat the new measures becamenecessary to “halt the depletionof the country ’s foreignreserves and the potential forfinancing of unauthorizedtransactions with foreignexchange procured from theCBN window”. Central Bankfurther alleged that theactivities of the BDCs “have ledto gradual dollarisation ofNigerian economy withadverse consequences for thesuccessful conduct of monetarypolicy and the cashless policyinitiatives of the monetaryauthority”.

The critical question,however, must be who in factis damaging the Nigerianeconomy, the BDCs or CentralBank’s policies? Indeed, wehave maintained in severalarticles in this column that

successful and focusedeconomies do not liberallyallocate official forex to BureauDe Change, as the forexincome of BDCs in suchcountries, is normally derivedfrom tourists and businesstravellers with modest forexrequirements. The regulardetection of millions of harddollar cash at our border postson several airline passengersto Europe, Dubai and

elsewhere would not havebeen sold to BDCs by theCentral Banks in anyresponsible economy.

Curiously, Nigeria’s officialforex revenue which is deniedas direct dollar allocation to thetrue beneficiaries, (i.e., thethree arms of government andrelated agencies) becomeironically available to BDCs forfunding the activities ofsmugglers of those goods thatflood our markets anddestabilize the survival of ourlocal industries. It is alsopresumptuous for the CBN tobelieve that the use of BDCforex sales can be sanitised bymere reduction in the number

of BDC operators. In reality, inspite of the new guidelines, theaverage forex allocation toBDCs which was reported to beabout $1.7 billion in the firstquarter of 2014 may simplybecome consolidated and madeavailable to the market througha reduced number of outlets,thus facilitating a cartel, whichwill ultimately selfishly controlthe market to produce widedisparity between official andblack market rates.

Nonetheless, theconcerned BDC

operators’ claim of providing5million job opportunities mustbe taken cautiously; in reality,the characteristic staff strengthin most BDCs rarely exceeds 5persons. Thus, 3,000 BureauDe Change operators may onlyactually create at best about20,000 jobs despite their liberalaccess to possibly over $7bn ofofficial foreign exchangeannually.

Consequently, CBN’s newguidelines will not blow downthe walls of corruption and rentseeking in the forex market.Furthermore, the CBN seemsto have also misguidedlyblamed the activities of BDCsfor the failure of its monetarystrategy. Indeed, the CBN hasno business selling officialdollars to BDCs, but the apexbank has regrettably founditself promoting this odious rolebecause of its own selfishreluctance to release itsobnoxious strangleholdmonopoly on the foreignexchange market. The CBNcurrently has a total monopolyof Naira supply, while alsoaccounting for about 80 percentof Dollar sales in the market.Curiously, the CBN in a

poisonous collaboration withits ‘Frankenstein’ BDCs andpredatory commercial banks‘altruistically ’ pretends todefend the Naira by regularlyselling small rations of thefederation’s dollars that itimpounded after printing andsubstituting fresh supplies ofNaira as monthly allocations offorex revenue to the three tiersof government.

Nonetheless, the CBNremains in denial that capitalflight and a weaker Naira areequally induced by the excessNaira supply that itdeliberately instigates in themoney market with this subtlesleight of hand, which seriallyincreases CBN’s so called “ownreserves” as poverty dependsnationwide.

Incidentally, the same excessNaira supply consciouslyinduced by CBN also promotesa trail of adverse economicconsequences, such as,inflation, high cost of funds, aweaker Naira and the collateralof increasing fuel prices andsubsidy payments in excess of$12 billion annually! Indeed,the CBN cannot also deny thatits self-inflicted burden ofexcess liquidity also forcesgovernment to disparatelyplace it deposits at zero percentonly to return and borrow fromthe same banks at double digitinterest rates and thereafterwarehouse these loans as idlefunds.

The National Assemblycannot also deny knowledge ofthe wide advert impact ofCBN’s obtuse and anti-socialmonetary strategy;consequently, Nigerians willnot be surprised if thelegislators insisted on theexisting system where BDCscontinue to have liberal accessto foreign exchange allocationsfrom the CBN window forliberal sale to customers.

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVENIGERIANS!!

CBN has no businessselling official dollars toBDCs, but the apex bankhas regrettably founditself promoting thisodious role because ofits own selfishreluctance to release itsobnoxious strangleholdmonopoly on theforeign exchangemarket

“We have sent a PPA draftand the first schedule toProton to get it to understandthe process and what is

required of it. What we expectfrom the company now, are listof issues and those that it hadcomplied with” said Wonodi.