Category: Money

By Collins Nweze

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has emphasised the need for Nigerians  to take acquiring technical skills seriously, as such would help lift the economy.

He spoke at a seminar organised by members of Lagos State chapter of Motormechs and Technicians Association of Nigeria (MOMTAN) in Ikeja, Lagos with the theme: “Reducing Road Crashes In Nigeria By Guiding Against Substandard Spare Parts And Lubricants In Preparation For The Year 2020.’’

Osinbajo, who was the chairman of the occasion, was represented at the event by his Senior Special Adviser on technical, OLawumi Gasper.

He advised the technicians to try as much as possible and impact technical knowledge to their children.

He said: “I am an advocate of skills. We should encourage our children to come back and grow our businesses. That is the significant of education. We should also make good use of the cellphone to search for knowledge”.

Also speaking at the event, Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Counci (NADDC), Jelani Aliyu commended MOMTAM for putting up the important event, stating that the discourse on the issue of substandard spare parts and lubricants is very germane to the industry.

Chairman, Lagos State chapter of MOMTAN, Morufu Arowolo said the seminar is a special summon to all the concerned dignitaries and patriotic minds, who have the positive conscience that our great country Nigeria have numerous potentials.

The chairman said “with positive initiatives and determination of our association: MOMTAN, we have started have started viable race with all of us present here today. I am emphasizing that substandard spare parts rear its ugly head with the active connivance of some foreign quack manufacturer with selfish interest to drain our hard earned currency to their pocket”.

Arowolo appealed to well-meaning Nigerians, legislators in the National Assembly, the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, SON, Council of Registered Engineers (COREN) and others to team up and jointly save Nigerian motorists from the supply of substandard spare parts and lubricants.

Taofik Salako, Capital Market Editor

THE management of May & Baker Nigeria Plc at the weekend undertook a review of the operations of the company and its prospects in the increasingly competitive pharmaceutical sector and assured investors that the company is on a stable upward trajectory.

The management of the company said in spite of the top-line pressure and regulatory headwinds in the industry, May & Baker Nigeria now makes higher profit on every unit of sales while growing and diversifying its product base.

Managing Director, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okafor, said noticeable improvement in the profitability of the company was due to improvement in operating efficiency, reduction in interest expense due to recent recapitalisation and extraordinary incomes from short term investments.

According to him, the company made more profit per unit of sale compared with 2018. Consequently, pre-tax profit margin improved by three percentage points to 11.8 per cent in third quarter 2019 as against 9.3 per cent in third quarter 2018. Net profit margin also improved by almost two percentage points from 6.3 per cent to 8.0 per cent.

“We are very upbeat about the future of the business, we are on the upward trajectory, the business is stable and we have made some strategic investments and we will be leveraging on these investments in the years ahead,” Okafor said.

He said the company’s world-class outlook and strategic initiatives that will rank it as leader in the healthcare industry in Sub Saharan Africa. noting that the company’s World Health Organisation (WHO)’s manufacturing facility in Ota is growing into a hub of pharmaceutical manufacturing in West Africa.

“It is our desire to achieve breakthrough performance in the coming years,” Okafor said adding new products and contract manufacturing such as the partnership with Sanofi would drive growth. The company had recently signed manufacturing agreement with Sanofi Nigeria, a subsidiary of a French pharmaceutical giant to produce their key products from the Ota facility.

According to him, the Sanofi agreement will not only increase the capacity utilisation of the company’s factory which currently run at about 50 per cent but will also signal to the world that Nigeria has arrived in pharmaceutical manufacturing with facilities that can make medicines fit for the world.

He outlined that the company successfully completed its recapitalisation that saw injection of about N2 billion into the operations of the company and the net proceeds fully applied for various purposes including facility expansion, debt repayment, investment in vaccine production subsidiary and marketing and promotions.

“We also invested in key strategic initiatives in 2019. We took steps forward in actualising our new anti-sickle cell medicines and nutraceuticals. Given the stage we  have reached, we are hopeful these products will be launched in 2020,” Okafor said.

He added that the company’s joint venture with the Federal Government, Biovaccines Nigeria Limited is now running fully as an independent company with its board and management and currently perfecting steps to actualise local vaccine production.

He said local production of vaccine may start between 2023 and 2024 which will help to significantly reduce Nigeria’s current annual vaccine import bill of N8 billion while contributing to national health management.

He, however, noted that the performance of the pharmaceutical industry was adversely affected by the general decline in consumer purchasing power and unfavourable economic indices which led to revenue drop for a number of companies across different sectors of the economy.

“In the course of the year also,   the Federal Government banned the production and distribution of codeine based cough syrups because of their misuse in parts of the country. Consequently manufacturers like us had to contend not only with the loss of revenue from these products but also tied down funds already invested in finished goods and raw materials for the same product. The drop of our codeine based cough syrup tied down over N350  million worth of raw materials and  finished products and denied us annual income  of over N700 million,” Okafor noted.

He pointed out that the company also faced the challenge of a major restructuring of its product portfolio, which compelled it to discontinue production of some of its top cash cow brands as a result of age and change in national treatment protocols and policies.

According to him, some of the products involved were sulpha-based brands;thiazamide and Thalazole as well as chloroquine based ranges; the Nivaquines and 221 brands.  These products were responsible for over N1.2 billion of the company’s annual revenue in 2017.

He reiterated the need for government to support the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry with a bailout of N500 billion to strengthen the domestic manufacturing capacity against likely negative consequences.

Collins Nweze

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Cameroon have signed the two principal documents finalising the protocol toward the take-off of Afreximbank’s Central Africa Branch Office to be located in Yaounde.

At a ceremony witnessed by the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute, in Yaounde on Friday, Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah and Mbella Mbella, Minister of External Affairs of Cameroon, signed the Branch Office Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Temporary and Permanent Premises of the Central Africa Branch Office in Yaounde.

In an address preceding the signing, Dr. Ngute said that the creation of the Central Africa Branch Office by Afreximbank was a high-stake endeavor that would position the countries of the sub-region for the takeoff of African states in the wake of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

He commended Afreximbank for choosing to establish the Branch Office in Cameroon, saying that it was a great honour and eloquent proof of the economic and strategic role of the country in the Central Africa sub-region.

“Cameroon shall spare no effort in meeting the obligations made to Afreximbank” toward the set up and running of the Branch Office, he said.

Noting that the office would be the hub of Afreximbank’s activities in the sub-region, the Prime Minister urged the business community to take advantage of the opportunity by presenting suitable transactions to the Bank for financing support.

Also speaking, Prof. Oramah said that the establishment of the Branch Office set the stage for deepening Afreximbank’s operations across the nine Central African countries which had a combined GDP of $250 billion and a trade size of about $120 billion.

An immediate impact of the establishment of the Branch Office in Yaoundé would be the building of the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre for Central Africa there, said the President. The centre would be an iconic building that would house the Bank’s regional operations and also host a world class hotel, a trade information centre, a large conference facility, and a trade exhibition facility, among others.

Collins Nweze

FIRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced the appointment of Ado Yakubu Wanka as Non-Executive Director.

Speaking on his appointment, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said: “We are delighted to welcome Alhaji Ado Yakubu Wanka, to the FirstBank Board. We are especially excited that he is bringing a combination of complementary skills and rich experience to the table which will no doubt enhance the quality of governance towards meeting our strategic goals”.

Alhaji Ado Yakubu Wanka attended Government Secondary School, Bauchi (1966 – 1970), Federal School of  Science, Lagos (1971 to 1973), holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1973 to 1977) and an MBA from the same institution (1982 –1984). He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and Switzerland’s Institute of Management Development, Lousanne. Alhaji Wanka served in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as a graduate assistant with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife. Thereafter, he started his managerial career as a young process engineer with Ashaka Cement Company Plc where he rose to the position of Deputy Production Manager

After completion of his MBA degree, Alhaji Wanka acquired further managerial competence during his stay with the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), Kaduna. During the period, he participated actively in new business development and monitoring of NNDC’s quoted and unquoted investments and left as Principal Investment Executive.

He assumed duty as the Managing Director/CEO of the then Gamji Bank Limited in 1997, moved to First Bank of Nigeria Plc in 1998 as Executive Director, where he spent about eight  years.

Collins Nweze

AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX), a market leading commodity exchange in Nigeria, has secured new investment  from Consonance Investment Managers, a Sub-Saharan Africa focused early-stage and growth investment firm.

The fund will be used to increase liquidity of the commodity markets and strengthen the firm’s operations and technology systems.

In a statement, the company explained that with more participation in the sector, more innovative products will be listed over time, translating to growth for Nigeria’s capital market and increased funds being directed towards the agricultural sector in the country.

AFEX will ease the access of retail and institutional investors to the commodity markets in Nigeria by deploying its established infrastructure to securitize agricultural products, ensuring efficient and transparent clearing and settlement.

AFEX Chief Executive Officer, Ayodeji Balogun said: We are delighted to welcome Consonance Investment Managers as partners on this journey. The future requires AFEX to provide our infrastructure as a service to the market and unlock capital for the agriculture sector in Nigeria. We will grow our operations 10-fold over the next five years; we also aspire to increase funding to agriculture in Nigeria from about N500 billion (US$1.5 billion) to more than N2 trillion (US$ 7.5 billion) by 2025” .

Managing Partner at Consonance Investment Managers,  Mobolaji Adeoye, said: “We are proud to support Ayodeji and the AFEX team in their mission to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector. AFEX increases trust and transparency in local agricultural supply chains by connecting farmers to market. AFEX has established the infrastructure which will undergird Nigeria’s food security agenda and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s economic diversification programme. It will also be vital in deepening capital markets in line with the mission of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria”.

This key part of AFEX’s operations requires the deployment of funds towards market sensitisation, training and product development.

To support the growth and stability of its systems, AFEX will also continue to build out technology solutions that support traceability: covering activities all the way from the financial inclusion of producers, through the outreach operations, and AFEX’s warehouse receipt system, to a trading platform that fosters shared prosperity between producers, processors and investors.

By Collins Nweze

The newly elected president of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Sonny Echono, has pledged to improve the lots of his members.

Speaking in Lagos recently, Echono also urged the member of the association to look out for the well-being of each other so as to be able to advance a common interest with the intent of improving the services they render to their clients.

He urged that there was a need to make themselves’ relevant to the society by forging partnerships with various bodies so that the society will be a better place for both them and people around them.

He said: “We need to promote the quality of services that we render to our clients. That is one of the worrying areas where clients have expressed dissatisfaction or excuse that they give for not patronizing local architects.

When we are talking about the cost benefits analysis, we want the client to see why it is wise not to be penny wise and pound-foolish. At the long run, the architect also delivers value. We pray that Lagos chapter will continue to show the way and raise the bar.”

According to him, the NIA inaugurated a new national executive with a pledge to address issues of environmental development in the society and achieving 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the country.

Speaking during the inauguration, Echono assured the council of commitment in ensuring that the Annual General Meeting & Conference become a reference for Targeted knowledge acquisition and Professional exchanges.

Other members of the NIA executive elected for a four-year tenure include: Arc Ben Eboh (first Vice), Arc Mobolaji Adeniyi (second Vice), Arc Sanni Saulawa (third Vice President), Arc Moradeke Okurinboye (HGS), Arc.Odetoye (Treasurer), Arc Chioma Wogu-Ogbonna (Chair, Public Relations Committee), Arc Oka Amogu (Chair, Practice Committee), Arc Lanre Olusola (Chair, International Affairs), Arc Saifudeen (Chair, Admissions Committee), Arc Jide Ololade (Chair, Students’ Affairs Committee).

Collins Nweze

Agusto & Co, Nigeria’s foremost Credit Rating Agency, has announced the appointment of Yinka Adelekan as its new Chief Executive Officer designate of the company.

The appointment followed the retirement of its outgoing Chief Executive Officer – Vivien Shobo,  whose tenure needs  December 31, 2019.

Following over two decades with the organization, Vivien leaves with an outstanding record of achievements further strengthening Agusto & Co’s formidable market position. She also led Agusto & Co’s African expansion initiatives by obtaining Credit Rating Agency licenses from the Capital Market Authorities of Kenya and Rwanda.

Under her leadership, Agusto & Co has successfully rated most of Nigeria’s leading banks and pioneered domestic credit ratings for notable corporates such as Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Julius Berger amongst others.

Also achieved was the largest Municipal Bond programme and single largest tranche issuance – Lagos State Government’s N500 billion Bond programme and N87.5 billion Bond issuance; First bond issued by a deposit money bank in Nigeria in 2006 “the Access Bank N13.5 billion-naira redeemable bond”.

First bond issued by an insurance company in 2008 “Crusader Nigeria Plc N4 billion Unsecured Convertible Debenture and first 15-year corporate green bond fully guaranteed by infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (Infracredit) – NSP-SPV PowerCorp Plc’s N8.5 Billion 15-year 15.60 per cent Series 1 Guaranteed Fixed Rate Senior Green Infrastructure Bond Due 2034.

There was also the first commercial paper issuance under the new guidelines of FMDQ – UPDC’s N24 billion commercial paper programme and first hospitality corporate bond issuance in the Nigerian debt capital market – Transcorp Hotels Plc’s N19.7 billion Series I & II bonds Due 2020 among others.

First FinTech corporate bond (callable) issuance in the Nigerian debt capital market- Interswitch Africa One Plc’s N23 Billion 7-Year 15 per cent Fixed Rate Series 1 Senior Unsecured Callable Bonds Due 2026. First logistics corporate bond issuance in the Nigerian debt capital market – TAK Agro Plc’s N15 Billion 16.49 per cent Seven-Year Fixed Rate Senior Bond Due 2026. World Bank credit rating assessment for City of Kigali and the 30 districts in Rwanda in 2015.