The Nation Newspaper

Category: Building & Properties

  • The other side of climate change

    The other side of climate change

    Climate change is a global phenomenon. While many countries have taken steps to mitigate its consequences, Nigeria appears not to be doing enough. At this year’s World Environmental Day celebration, experts warned that if the nation fails to take proactive steps, it may lead to the collapse of its oil-driven economy. MUYIWA LUCAS writes.

    Across the country last week, all stakeholders focused in one direction – the need for the preservation of the earth to make it continually habitable for the human race.

    It was on the 2014 World Environment Day (WED) celebration. From the rising sea levels in the coastal states of Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Cross River, to the desertification in the northern states of Bornu, Sokoto, Kebbi, et al, to the erosion and landslides in the eastern states of Imo, Anambra and Enugu, the stark reality of a degraded environment stares the country in the face.

    It was, therefore, not surprising when the Minister for the Environment, Mrs. Laurencia Mallam, noted at the WED celebration that the changes arising from the human actions on the earth were already impacting and are likely to continue to impact on societies. She called for practical actions, through the reduction of emissions and other vices that may affect the environment and make it inhabitable.

    “We need to plan for the changes that are expected to occur. Our processes, our practices and our structures must be properly aligned to reduce the impacts of, and vulnerability to climate change now as well as increasing the social, economic and environmental resilience to future impacts,” she admonished.

    In Abeokuta, Ogun State Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning Mr. Gbenga  Otenuga said man as the beneficiary of developmental activities needed to ensure that he creates an environment which is livable, healthy, friendly, efficient and economically viable.

    In a paper presentation entitled, “Physical Planning: A panacea to environmental sustainability”, Otenuga said the environment, physical planning and sustainability were symbiotic, interwoven, mutually related and, indeed, mutually beneficial to all. He noted that the world has been much concerned about the efficacy of man’s utilisation of natural or biospheric resources due to the detrimental consequences of lack of good physical planning to curtail and manage the excesses and or failure to nip the negative externalities in the bud.

    “The realities of these neglects or lack of comprehensive land use plan or physical planning by tokenism are now dawning on us in form of tsunami, gulley erosion, flooding, greenhouse effect, climate change, coastal erosion, sea surge, famine, unplanned rural-urban migration, pollution and a host of others,” Otenuga said, adding that urban planning has a central role to play in achieving sustainability by providing a lead system which is fundamental to the attainment of sustained control and development of the environment.

    In Lagos State, Governor Babtunde Fashola observed that the theme of 2014 WED, which centered on “Small Island Developing States (SIDS) “ was important to the state because of its status as a coastal state. He noted that the state has been resilient and innovative in tackling the challenges confronting its development as a coastal megacity.

    Fashola said to address climate change in the state, his administration has institutionalised the tree planting campaign, and has planted over five million trees so far; accelerated landscaping and beautification of open spaces, held an international summit on climate change and established climate change clubs in schools.

    “We are not only renewing our environment, we are saving lives, livelihoods and properties,” Fashola said.

    Environment advocate and Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, warned that the Small Island States are very vulnerable to sea level rise and unless the world agrees to take action to tackle global warming these States are as good as sunk, including Nigeria, which has a low-lying and vulnerable coastline. He explained that such development could even kill the country’s economy if not properly handled. “If you consider  that most of Nigeria’s oil and gas infrastructure are either offshore or close to the coastline it becomes very clear that threats of sea level rise pose very crucial challenge for the country. Climate change can wreak havoc on Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy,” Bassey cautioned, saying that the fact that the Niger Delta is naturally subsiding adds to the net sea level rise in the area, whose risks are huge and cannot be ignored.

    Already, he explained, coastal areas have suffered long term neglect and generally require urgent action by stabilizing and protecting it. Besides the coastal erosion caused by tidal action, there is the other problem of salt water incursion promoted by creation of canals by oil companies to take their equipment inland. Sea level rise naturally means higher salinisation, but the artificial canals created by oil companies compound this problem and degrade fresh water systems.  This has implication for fisheries and overall ecosystems and livelihoods. Indeed, the impacts of climate change is already obvious in Nigeria, even as man has continued to engage in activities that compounds the challenge. In this regard gas flaring, the deforestation going on in the country, cannot be overlooked. Deforestation is also a major contributor to the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including the degradation of the Savannah.

    Engineer Lateef Kolawole,   lecturer, faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, is concerned that the effects of climate change are already being felt through desertification and drying up of the Lake Chad in northern part of the country and flooding of low lying areas such are Lagos Bar Beach and Victoria Island. The Eko Atlantic City in Lagos state, he said, are premised on the philosophy of climate change mitigation, even as he reiterated that the coastal protection work of Lagos state are essentially climatic mitigation activities. Like Bassey, he warned that about 700 kilometre4 long coastal area housing significant oil production infrastructures is at grave risk of being flooded or submerged.

    Although he said inter-basin transfer programme was being considered to re-flood the Lake Chad using River Congo, he regretted that the country had not really prepared for most environment challenges starring her in the face.

    “At the end of every disaster we only wait for another disaster to occur. I will score the country low, obviously not a pass mark for its preparedness efforts.  If there exist a plan, it is not likely to be implemented with seriousness unless we want to deceive ourselves,” Kolawole said. For him, beyond the policy and institutional structures which appear being laid at various government level, there is a need to go beyond just the documents and implement with commitment and good intentions.

  • ‘Tax unoccupied buildings’

    The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers has advocated the imposition of special taxes on unoccupied buildings. This is aimed at forcing down the prohibitive cost of rent. The Second Vice President of the institute, Mr Rowland Abonta stated this in Abuja during the official commissioning of the office complex of Ayeye and Company Estate Surveyors and Valuers.

    Abonta who lamented the high rate at which completed buildings remained unoccupied in some parts of the country especially in Abuja as a result of the high cost of rent placed on houses, argued that the additional tax which would be imposed on such property after one year that it remained vacant would force the owners of such buildings to bring down the costs. He said “there are quite a number of vacant houses in Abuja yet rent is high. The reason is that there is pressure from the low and middle income earners and lots of people in that category can’t build their own houses because they depend  on rented houses.

    “So many of these houses are built by very rich people who didn’t suffer so much for the money and so they can afford to lock up the houses when they build the houses. “But there is a way out, government should start imposing taxes on such accommodation when these houses are built  and they remain vacant for a year. “They should be able to pay government such taxes and this could be used to put pressure on them to rent the houses and serve this as a panacea to this problem.”

    Abonta also said the current attacks by terrorists in some parts of the country are affecting the real estate sector, particularly in the North-East. He said, “Security affects every aspect of the economy particularly residential and office accommodation and the effect is serious especially for real estate business.

  • Making the environment clean, safe

    Making the environment clean, safe

    The World Environment Day comes up in Barbados on June 5. In Nigeria, there are concerns over the safety of the environment because the government seems to have ignored experts’advice on how to make the environment safe for all. MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

    It has become a yearly ritual since 1973, when the first edition was celebrated. It was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at Stockholm on June 5 to 16, 1972, during the UN Conference on the Human Environment.

    Today, the World Environment Day (WED) celebration has become one of the vehicles through which the UN stimulates  awareness on the environment and encourages political attention and action. The UN aims to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve and enhance the environment on that day.

    Through WED, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) personalises issues and enables countries and individuals to realise not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents of change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

    This year’s WED, holding in Barbados, has as theme: Raise your voice, not the sea level, in furtherance of UN declaration of the year as the International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The goal is to raise awareness on their unique development challenges and successes on a range of environmental problems, including climate change, waste management, unsustainable consumption, degradation of natural resources, and extreme natural disasters.

    While Nigeria may not be a small island state, the country is not immuned from the environmental challenges being faced by the SIDS. From the coastal states, to the northern and oil producing regions of the country, environmental challenges stare the country in the face. For instance, soil degradation, rapid deforestation, urban air and water pollution, desertification, oil pollution affecting water, air, and soil, have continued to be a source of concern to the people and the environment, which has suffered serious damage.

    Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, at a paper presentation last year, noted that resolving or at least tackling the endemic environmental problems of the world required a critical review of the root causes of some of the problems as well as the political filters through which they are viewed.

    According to him, the environ-mental crisis in the world  is so deep that it can be said that the world is facing a real possibility of massive ecological collapse. This is not far-fetched, he argued, because it is already known that available planetary resources cannot sustain the rate of consumption. He is worried that humanity is working to show that resources and lifestyles can be sustained or stretched no matter the cost – even if it means scraping the bottom of the planet, which he said has given rise to “reprehensible extreme extraction” such as fracking or hydraulic fracturing.

    Also, international bodies, such as the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, in March 2012,  warned that at least 80 per cent of known reserves of fossil fuels must be left untapped if the world is to avoid a catastrophic temperature rise.

    Climate justice activists had said that if the world wants a 50-50 chance of staying below two degrees, then two-thirds of the known reserves of coal, oil and gas must be left untouched. However, if 80 per cent chance is needed, then 80 per cent of the reserves must be untouched, they said at forum in Akure, Ondo State,  last year.

    Environmentalists have insisted that the challenges facing the Nigerian environment are enormous and multifaceted. The environment, they said, has suffered “special injury” because the implications of certain aspects of the neglect are not immediately visible, as the decay of infrastructure, such as road, buildings, water supply and telecommunications.

    “Demands for environmental protection may even at times be viewed as anti-progress or development. Sometimes, policy makers simply act as though they expect that the problems would disappear on their own. That has never happened to mountains of refuse. They don’t happen with polluted streams. They don’t happen with oil spills in waterways and farmlands. They don’t happen at the local or global levels,” Nnimmo said. He blamed the trend in the environmental expression on the commodification of nature.

    He said the “Green Economy” idea was premised on the suggestion that nature is best protected when it is assigned a monetary value. This means people would not protect or defend their environment except a price tag is placed on it.

    “The sort of questions that are raised before nature is protected would be “what is the Ikogosi Warm Spring (Ekiti State) worth in Naira terms”? If it has a low value it could be neglected, auctioned or even destroyed,” he regrets.

    Project Coordinator,  Action for Sustainable Development, Tunde Odusoga, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), contended that, in the past, the government and some environmentalists tried to save the environment from degradation. He listed the tree planting initiatives of the Lagos State government and that of his organisation. These, he reckons, have not only beautified the environment, but also aided in ensuruiing a cleaner air.

    Odusoga said special policies and deliberate efforts should be put in place by the government for the human race to enjoy the environment for a much longer time. For instance, he said a stop should have been put to gas flaring, just as heavy penalties should be slammed on violators of the environment.

    “If the government cannot clamp down on vehicles emitting smoke into the air, then how will bigger violators of the environment be dealt with ?” he asked.

    For two weeks, efforts to speak with the Lagos State ministry of environment and the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) did not yield any fruit as calls and text messages to the ministry and agency were not responded to.

    Nnimmo, however, admitted that some measures were being taken by the government to tackle some of the prevailing environmental challenges, but there is little effect to show for these efforts. This is because the problems cannot be resolved with cosmetic solutions, but rather a system change.

    “The current system is inherently anti-people and anti-environment. The system is one that sees the environment as something to be exploited, used and discarded rather than as something to be cared for and respected.The system is driven by the market logic that has been raised by the apostles of neo-liberalism to the status of religion. In this system the gods of the market cannot do any wrong. It is a system that thrives on competition, fights rough and respects only power. The system believes that whatever is needed can be created and whatever is broken can be technologically fixed. It also believes that whatever can be extracted must be extracted and whoever resists must be crushed,” he added.

    Nigeria is signatory to many international agreements on the environment. These are related to Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands. Therefore, for a safer environment, experts and stakeholders, such as Nnimmo and Odusoga, want the government to, as a matter of urgency, declare a National Environmental Emergency; put in place a national environmental audit and management plan; conduct a detoxification of the environment; ensure that ecological funds are strictly monitored and used to remediate or restore damaged environment, through strict sanitation and waste management, including the revisiting and clean up of over 4000 oil spills sites; embark on a massive reforestation programme across the nation; stoppage of gas flares, and usher in a real energy evolution of clean and renewable energy, among others.

  • Mortgage Refinance: Hope rises for mass housing

    Mortgage Refinance: Hope rises for mass housing

    With the launch of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company on January 16, there are hopes that the estimated 17 million housing gap may soon be filled. Will nmrc deliver on its mandate or will it go the way of others before it? Assistant Editor, MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

    For many Nigerians, accom-modation is a problem. From Lagos to Abuja, Kano, Calabar, Benin, Ilorin, Port Harcourt, Warri and Yenagoa, housing is a challenge. Many do not have a home despite working for years. Their hopes of getting houses through mortgage have also not been met. As things are, there is a 17million housing gap which needs to be filled. Can government address the problem.   President Goodluck Jonathan launched the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), which is an initiative targeted at addressing the 17 million housing deficit raising the hope of  many home seekers.   With the NMRC, the President is convinced that his administration is creating the “enabling environment for primary mortgage banks and other financial institutions to offer real mortgage facilities to Nigerians at affordable rates.”

    Jonathan’s conviction is premised on the mandate given to the NMRC- to provide mortgage-lending institutions with access to long-term finance at an affordable interest rate, which in turn will enable mortgages to be issued by these institutions to Nigerians at longer tenors and affordable rates. By implication, the provision of mortgage loans at longer tenors will provide the average working Nigerian citizens an opportunity to buy a home and conveniently pay for it. Simply put, NMRC is government inspired but a private sector-led effort to provide affordable housing for Nigerians through loans accessed from mortgage and commercial banks. It is being implemented as a component of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (FMLHUD) and the World Bank / International Finance Corporation (IFC).

    Experts in mortgage financing say that the scheme is a vehicle set up to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages and promote the availability and affordability of good housing to working Nigerians by providing mortgage lending banks with increased access to liquidity and longer terms funds in the mortgage market. It is designed to be an integral part of the country’s financial system, with special focus on housing finance and / or the mortgage system, with the primary aim of resolving access to affordable housing finance and, more importantly, as a focal point for creating an enabling environment for housing finance by playing a strong developmental role in supporting the improvement of land, legal framework,  housing development and construction. Thus, it is the latest hope for low-income earners who currently cannot afford the cost of a mortgage loan. As a take- off for the scheme, the World Bank has approved a concessional US$300 million 40-year interest free International Development Association (IDA) loan, which is obtained to facilitate the execution of the Housing Finance Programme. About $250 million of the IDA loan will be disbursed in instalments to NMRC as Tier 2 Capital based on key performance indicators – it will be retained on NMRC’s balance sheet to provide credit support for NMRC’s bond issuances. The balance of US$50 million will be allocated to other components of the Housing Finance Programme as follows: $25 million for the establishment of a Mortgage Guarantee Facility for lower income borrowers and $25 million to support the development and piloting of Housing Microfinance Products. This is where the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), will benefit a $25 million facility from for the purpose of improving on its mass housing programme and also to use same to empower some of its microfinance partners in the housing scheme. This measure is also believed to be a major step that will reposition the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

    While both the NMRC and FMBN are working to achieve the same housing solution, a clear cut distinction exists between the two bodies. Both are working on different aspects of providing affordable housing for Nigerians. Primarily, FMBN is a public sector institution focused on providing mass housing and mobilisation of housing funds for the needy in the society. Here, loans are directly accessed by the citizens through the National Housing Fund (NHF) in accordance with the provisions of the NHF Act. The NHF fund is also to service the non-salaried informal populace. This is in contrast to the NMRC, which acts as a secondary mortgage refinancing institution that will inject liquidity from the capital market to support mortgage loans accessed through respective financial institutions. These institutions include mortgage and commercial banks. NMRC does not provide mortgage loans directly to individuals because it serves as a wholesale financial institution which refinances portfolios of mortgage and commercial banks rather than originating individual mortgages; hence, it will cater for financial institutions rather than individual borrowers.

    It is hoped that the introduction of NMRC will bring down the cost of mortgage loan by improving market efficiency, lowering cost of funds and allowing for longer repayment tenor period by financial institutions. NMRC as an intervention medium will encourage access to mortgage loans from financial institutions at currently approximately 2.5 per cent above where the Federal Government borrows.

    Already, 14 states of the country have expressed support towards implementation of the housing finance programme. The pilot states are Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Ekiti, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo and Abuja.

    Barring any delay, the scheme, which promises so much hope for Nigerians will begin operation by the end of the second quarter this year. However, how well it will achieve its desired impact is what Nigerians await.

  • Firm introduces machines

    CFAO Equipment, a  subsidiary of  the CFAO Group in Nigeria, has introduced a range of multipurpose machines called Bobcat into the market. According to the Managing Director of CFAO Equipment, Mr. Francois Saget, Bobcat will change the way people work in building, construction sites and many other industries in the country.

    As the exclusive distributor of Bobcat machines and the sole provider of its genuine parts and maintenance services in Nigeria, CFAO Equipment would be aiming at contributing to the pace of infrastructural development, agricultural cultivation, environmental landscaping, mining development and drainage maintenance using only one Bobcat machine, SAGET said.

    Bobcat machines , he explained, are small machines acting as tool carriers that do a lot of different  jobs depending on the accessory fitted to them at any given time; the tool can go for another within a couple of minutes. Saget described the equipment as a single equipment with 100 and one functional possibilities and a hard worker that does not occupy too much space.There is no need to block a road during the job or expensive truck to transport a Bobcat machine and its accessories.

    “The machine was made to provide multi-dimensional business solutions and opportunities in the various areas of the Nigerian economy including, mining, agriculture, construction, material handling, landscaping, leveling, demolition, wall works, sand clearing, farming and electrical feeder network,  among others,” he explained.

  • NEXIM Bank: Between brand building & brand equity

    NEXIM Bank: Between brand building & brand equity

    By its constitution, ownership, role and market definition, the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) is far removed from the category of the regular brands that could be profiled for direct demonstration of the interplay and influence of Equity and Brand Positioning, as brand management ingredients. In the first place, it is an institution of government, it has defined mandate, and its ownership or ‘share-holding’ as its owners prefer to be called, are the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance.To that extent, one is constrained to see it purely as a government institution or agency. Add to that, the Bank is funded by these two powerful government institutions, and their investment is guarded and guided by a Board of Directors carefully selected and appointed by them.

    Established by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency (ECA), it started off with a total investment capital of N50billion, owned in equal equity participation between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated (whatever that means). NEXIM Bank’s vision is “TO BE THE LEADING AFRICAN EXPORT DEVELOPMENT BANK” while its mission is “TO BECOME A FIRST CLASS INSTITUTION PROMOTING A DIVERSIFIED EXPORT BASE THROUGH THE PROVISION OF FINANCE, RISK BEARING AND ADVISORY SERVICES IN LINE WITH GOVERNMENT TRADE POLICY”.

    MC&A DIGEST was once relating with this brand. The perspective of engagement then was one of advocacy, having built some level of belief around its mandate and reason-for-being. My brief interaction with the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Roberts U. Orya, left me with the impression of a mission driver dedicated to his job. The only issue we did not align perfectly on is the strategic importance he places on ‘Nollywood’ as an economic growth driver, for which he is committed to spending as huge resources as he can gather.

    Beyond that, his initiatives for economic diversification through focused investment in non-oil sector, especially solid minerals, agro-processing and the Coastal corridor for trans-national shipping…are quite laudable. We also shared thoughts on issues bothering on adequate financing for the Bank, in the face of the growing number ofinvestment opportunities, with potentials for driving Nigeria’s economic diversification and employment generation, opento the Bank.

    My take from the interaction with the establishment, when I did, is it’s near in-exact target market profiling. It bothered me when I tried to relate the air of ‘good performance’ around the Bank at close contact and the otherwise ‘poor showing’ on issues relating to the Bank’s expected involvement in the real or outside world (its market). I couldn’t really figure out what is responsible for that disconnect then, but I was quite sure if the Bank gets well-funded, it will post more impressive results, so I stopped worrying about my fears.

    So, it is understandable that the Minister of Finance praised the Bank’s performance at the inauguration of the present Board of Directors, on August 23, 2013.  At that same meeting the Minister said identified with the three areas of the Bank management’s strategic thrust I listed above. What counted at that meeting were the results evident, upon financial report and clientele expansion. Evidently, this was a time when the Bank that was hitherto a financial drain pipe started posting profit, three years back-to-back. If we put in consideration that this same bank is in dire need of fresh funds, one can only join the SME in praising the leadership of Mr. Orya.

    But the truth is that NEXIMBank is disconnected from the critical mass within its target market group, and not optimizing its potentials in its efforts towards opening up our economy BECAUSE  the tool of marketing communication is not effectively and efficiently complementing the efforts of the Bank’s technical  component – to drive its over-all market performance.

    NEXIM Bank is only present in the minds of the elite locals andforeign or international targets for purpose of mind presence. Even the media platforms NEXIM Bank is present are far removed from the critical mass segment of its target audience group, taking the bottom-line in the nation’s economic transformation agenda into consideration.  The media engagement strategic focus must be of at least 60% presence among the educated male and female population within 28/40 years age bracket. Like in the days of MAMSA, NEXIM Bank should be at the vanguard of driving change for economic independence, self-employment, entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity for economic productivity. NEXIM Bank’s engagement should be structured to galvanize grass-root economic participation, stimulate creativity, industry and entrepreneurial spirit among the youth population, being the future of this country. NEXIM Bank must expend enormous resources towards driving thisgroup for productivity, using communication for economic development as the driving force – in the case of NEXIM Bank.

    Suffice that for a strategically important development finance institution such as NEXIM Bank, communication is such an important tool for effective and efficient performance, since it is not too seriously challenged in profit generation as indeed a commercial bank, for instance. The Bank has a mandate to deliver on, and the shareholders have provided funds; the challenge therefore would be in driving CHANGE in entrepreneurial spirit, economic engagement, self-application and productivity. To achieve these, the Bank must structure a communication strategy that will address its core essence and deliver at the very critical value touch-points, which in the case of NEXIM bank is driving economic development through attitude change and human capital appreciation and engagement.

    Some may argue that NEXIM’s mandate does not expressly include human capital development, but let it be known that orientation and innovative thinking are part of human capital development. NEXIM should be involved in advocacy, awareness generation, sponsor innovative learning, etc., to galvanize the youth for economic re-orientation. The one common vehicle for this is grass-root communication. Under this concept, town hall meetings, workshops, skill development centers, theme awareness campaign in conventional and penetrative media will all help the bank connect with this group of people. I have met with young entrepreneurs who have been scrapping to work out agro-processing businesses and yet never knew of NEXIM. Some are so innovative and prospective, you will lend to them. Yet these people, mainly young graduates, are left wallowing in poverty, borrowing from friends and relatives, while NEXIM Bank is busy selling its ‘products’  in foreign magazines, newspapers, digital platforms…because they must be present in the news platforms of international market.

    MC&A DIGEST like to state, categorically, that Bank’s Communications strategy need some measure of rework. It should not be cosmetic and patronizing of regulators and top-end investors who can support them at times of accountability (based on half-truth).  It should stimulate CHANGE among the youth for creativity, productivity and economic empowerment …the economically weak but educated young people who are skilled enough to drive change, if empowered.

    The global perspective for NEXIM as indeed all Development Funds Institutions is connecting the bottom of the pyramid of the local economy with the global opportunities, which is in line with the World Bank and World Economic Forum’s focus on global competitiveness and economic development. That is exactly what EXIM Bank of India is doing, driving grass-roots presence for fundamental economic change and development.

    As a brand, NEXIM Bank its marketing communications strategy must align its drive for Brand image manifestation with the growth in its equity value, optimizing its achievement in delivering on its promise, at the critical value touch-points that will help its target audience’s endorsement. So when we expend so much energy in trying to create any brand’s desired image, we must be guided by its projected equity value. If at the end of its total personality value, the perception scores higher than its achievement in the area of its core value essence, the brand would have invested in propaganda instead of brands communication; that is what NEXIM Bank must run away from at this time. Accountability beacons and we must be exact in our projections and target achievements.

    NEXIM Bank’s communications present strategy amounts to propaganda. The brand will need proper Brands Management expert engagement with bias for Marketing Communications to drive its efforts towards higher productivity.

  • Lagos to introduce e-building plans

    Lagos to introduce e-building plans

    LAGOS State is set to introduce electronic building (e-building) plans in the state.

    The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde, made this known at a seminar by the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Nigeria Chapter, in Lagos.

    Ayinde said the procedure for obtaining approval for building  plans is cumbersome, time-consuming and have not made an impact on mass housing development. Hence, the e-planning permit became necessary.

    He noted the complaints and challenges in the present system. “Apart from other strategies, we have been able to put in place for proper administration of the building plan approval, we are  making frantic effort at ensuring that we bring the e-building plan approval policy into the system,” he added.

    The commissioner, while advising developers to obtain permit before constructing, said this would ensure that the structure to be put on such land was developed to avoid waste of resources.

    The ministry, he said,  introduced pre-submission approval scheme to ensure that construction conforms to what the trend in the industry.

    He added that a committee had been set up to work on the reduction of building plan approval fee, adding that development permit was getting better.

    At the seminar, which had as theme: “Challenges of planning approval and its effects on housing development in Nigeria,” Chief Kola Akomolede, president, FIABCI Nigeria Chapter, praised the seminar, noting that the first step in   housing development is the possession of approved building plan. He regretted that the process of acquiring it had not been easy.

    Akomolede recalled that during the tenure of former governor Lateef Jakande, the same problem was identified as one reason there was shortage of housing in the state.

    This is not the first time the e-planning approval would be considered in the state. To ensure that it succeeds, consultants are said to have been invited to assist, he added.

  • Cross River to build 400 houses for civil servants

    • Kwara to demolish buildings on river banks

    Civil servants in Cross River State are to benefit from 400 housing units being planned by the government, Governor Liyel Imoke has said.

    The houses are to be built in Akpabuyo.

    Imoke made this known during a visit by executives of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) led by the state Chairman Comrade John Ushie.

    The governor appealed for support to strengthen the service, saying that labour is part of the process to bring about the expected change.

    He explained that the state had enormous challenges while executing the first phase of the scheme, which it paid for 100 per cent, due to the inability of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to fulfil its financial obligation.

    Ushie promised that the NLC would partner with the government to enable it achieve its programme.

    Meanwhile, the Kwara State Government has said it would demolish all buildings on river banks.

    This decision was taken after the Chairman of the Task Force on Flood Control and Prevention,  Alhaji Abubakar Kannike, visited some areas affected by flooding in state capital.

    Kannike also said the state government would compensate the owners of the affected buildings. The task force identified roads and bridges that needed reconstruction.

    Kannike said the government would respond to the plight of the people by providing succour for victims of flood disasters in the state.

  • Our roads are now better, says Yuguda

    The Minister of State for Works, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, has said Nigeria roads are now better than before.

    The minister, who represented the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, spoke at the inauguration of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors’ (NIS) Tower in Lagos.

    He said: “Nigerian roads are getting better. I drive from Benin-City to Lagos under four hours. I drive from Kano to Maiduguri half the time it could have taken me. Now the roads are getting better. One of the transport companies in Nigeria, ABC, made an advert that it has slashed its fares because the roads are getting better. The company said its maintenance cost is lower, their turnaround from one city to another is better. So, in recognition of that Nigerians can benefit from this.”

    The surveyors’ tower, which was rehabilitated after the institution  reclaimed its ownership at the expiration of the 20-year Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement with HFP, the developer, Yuguda said, goes to show the visionary leadership of  the professional body.

    “Two decades ago, you had the idea of putting the prime land into BOT, which some people would not have thought of. You quietly settled for a tenant/landlord agreement which has worked,” he said.

    He added: “We hope and pray that the best of things are yet to come. We are also here to tell other professional bodies that this is the best way to go.”

    About N250million was said to have been spent on the construction of the building.

    Ambassador Yuguda said if everybody thinks that the budget may work for everybody to develop, “certainly it will not work”. He added that there are a lot of competing demands on the government.

    “So, people should be innovative enough in bringing out the best in them,” he said.

    He continued: “Exactly what we are doing today is what the government is doing under Transformation Agenda. We have to show ingenuity, we have to show creativity and we have to show that as professionals, we add value to the system and this is value addition. I assure you that I will inform President Goodluck Jonathan what the NIS has done.”

    The Federal Government, he said,  is embarking on a 30-year integrated infrastructure master plan, which will begin this year.

    “What we did at the National Planning Commission, because I’m supervising the ministry, was to develop National Integrated Infrastructure Master plan. The whole idea was to coordinate all the infrastructure into one integrated master plan so that there would be no duplication, there would be direction and ownership, and it is spaced; it is a 30-year master plan,” he added.

    He said the president has directed that all projects should come under one umbrella. “That is what all we have done. I’m in the process of presenting it to the National Economic Council and later the National Executive Council and that is when the implementation starts. It is going to start in 2014. And in the first five years, we have lined up projects we want to achieve,” he said.

  • Lagos tackles noise pollution

    Lagos tackles noise pollution

    Relief may soon come the way of Lagos residents. The state government, in its efforts to further sanitise the environment, has approved a sound limit of 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night for places designated as residential areas, while the noise level in industrial areas will not exceed 90 decibels.

    With these limits, the state government is set to come down hard against noise pollution. The government not only ordered all churches, mosques, bars and relaxation joints to pull down their loud speakers and reduce the noise pollution their activities are constituting to the environment, threatening to seal off any religious centre that flouts the directive.

    The General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Rasheed Adebola Shabi, said: “Anything exceeding this can be described as noise and would be categorised as a pollutant once it can be proved to constitute an inconvenience to neighbours and other residents in the area.”

    At an interactive and an enlightenment forum organised by the agency for residents of Oworo, in the Kosofe council area of the state on noise pollution, Shabi, who described noise as “any unpleasant or unwanted sound,” said where unregulated, noise pollution could lead to sleep disorder, high blood pressure, hearing impairment, deafness, and might be at the root of other complicated illnesses.

    Describing noise as a product of increased urbanisation due to increase in population, he identified known sources of noise to come from mobile phones, television and radio, vehicles, train or aeroplanes, and factory or religious activities.

    He challenged the community development associations, traditional institutions to assist the government in ensuring that the people adhere to the directive and reduce the pollution level in other to promote good health of their residents.

    The Bashorun of Oworoland, Chief Jelili Lawal, praised the government for the initiative, assuring that the traditional institution would swing into action and ensure that all tenants and land owners in the town support the government in the onerous task of reducing noise pollution in Oworo.

    He said: “Let all tenants and all those who have bought lands from us know that we are with the government on this and you would have us to contend with us first before we report you to the government if you will not comply.”

    A resident, Ambassador Lawrence Tunde Bade-Afuye (rtd), who was the brain behind the forum, urged the government to follow the forum with stiff sanction as according to him, “the people we are addressing here are so difficult that only a sanction would compel them to conform.”

    The diplomat, who said he no longer finds the noise menace tolerable, campaigned for sanctions on mosques and churches that fail to remove their loud speakers.