The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • BA pilots switch to ipads

    British Airways is equipping its 3,600 pilots with iPads to further improve customer service and operational efficiency levels.

    The move, which follows the airline’s rollout of iPads across its cabin crew and ground operations teams, is part of the company’s £5billion investment in new products and technology to provide the best possible flying experience for British Airways’ customers.

    By having access to additional real-time operational data, shared with ground colleagues, pilots will be able to plan the flight more efficiently using the most accurate information available pre-departure.

    This means flight crew can provide customers with faster and more accurate flight information than ever before. With the latest operational updates customers will be better informed and able to make plans if their flight time has changed for any reason.

    Pilots will also be able to use historic and current data, supplied by the customer, to provide an even more personalised service during the flight.

    British Airways’ Director of Flight Operations, Captain Stephen Riley, said: “As pilots we want to deliver a safe and memorable experience for each and every British Airways customer, on every single flight.

    “The iPads will help us to achieve this goal by giving us the means to provide a more personalised service and share more timely flight information with our customers and colleagues.”

     

  • Customs re-strategises against smuggling

    Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Ikeja, are re-strategising to boost their anti-smuggling activities this year.

    Sources said the Area Controller of the command, Mr Dan Ugo, has given his officers and men a road map to follow to achieve the objectives of the service in paralysing smuggling.

    The road map, sources said, would assist the officers to secure the borders and actualise the vision of the service.

    When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the unit, Mr Uche Ejesieme, warned smugglers to keep off the border posts, adding that the officers and men of the unit were ready to arrest and bring smugglers to book.

    “We have the human capacity; we have what it takes to fight smuggling and we would not relent. We are monitoring every place in the Southwest.”

    The PRO said the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi, had been retraining officers and also providing some patrol equipment to complement the effort of the officers this year.

     

  • Boeing 787 for review

    United States of America aviation regulators have ordered a review of Boeing’s latest passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, citing “concern” over a spate of technical problems in recent weeks.

    Regulators said the 787 remained safe to fly but a thorough examination was needed to identify the root cause of the problems including a fire on a parked 787 last week.

    “There are concerns about recent events involving the Boeing 787. That is why we are conducting a comprehensive review,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a news conference.

    The review will put an emphasis on the 787’s advanced electrical systems and cover their design, manufacture and assembly, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

    The move comes on top of a separate probe by US safety investigators into a battery fire which caused “serious damage” to an empty Japan Airlines 787 jet at Boston airport on Monday.

    Adding to incidents that have tested confidence in the world’s first mainly carbon-composite airliner, the jet suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan on Friday.

    The 787 is Boeing’s newest jet and uses new technology to cut the fuel cost for operating the plane by 20 percent.

    Each lightweight jet has a list price of USD$207 million.

    Airlines are pleased with the savings, and have so far given the plane their approval, both by ordering more than 800 jets and mostly sticking by it through the current spate of troubles.

     

     

     

  • CRFFN cracks down on quacks

    The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has said it will crack down on quacks at the ports.

    Its Registrar, Sir Mike Jukwe, said collection of Identity Cards, which lapsed on December 31, this year, could be get at their offices in Apapa–Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt for their members.

    “The CRFFN enforcement team along with law enforcement agencies will from next month carry out raids of quacks and those without the identity cards from the nation’s cargo ports for prosecution,” he said.

    He also said the maiden Register of Freight Forwarders comprised those registered with the Council by the end of last year would soon be published in the Official Gazette.

    Jukwe urged members of the Council to renew their practising licences before the end of the first quarter of the year.

    “Please take note that renewal of practising licence will be subject to participation in the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MPCD) programme to be held quarterly by the Nigerian Institute of Freight Forwarding (NIFF), which details will be released in due course,” he said.

     

  • PIB: Why host community fund was created

    PIB: Why host community fund was created

    The Petroleum Host Communities Fund (PHCF), contained in the draft Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which prescribes 10 per cent of the net profit of upstream oil companies to be paid into the fund, has drawn the ire of the North. What is PHCF and why was it provided for in the PIB? EMEKA UGWUANYI examines the provision.

     

    To say that the Petroleum Host Communities Fund (PHCF) has been controversial lately is an understatement. The controversy peaked when stakeholders felt the PIB may be stalled following the stand of the North on it. The North insists that the way the PIB is structured won’t benefit them and would use their majority strength in the legislative chamber to stop the bill. Although the bill has scaled the second reading, it is still has a long way to go to become an Act.

     

    What is PHCF

    Petroleum Host Communities Fund is contained in section 116 of the PIB. The bill in section 117 states that the fund shall be utilised for the development of the economic and social infrastructure of the communities within the petroleum producing communities.

    In section 118(1), it further states that “each upstream petroleum company shall remit, on a monthly basis, 10 per cent of the net profit as follows (a) for profit derived from petroleum operations in onshore areas and in the offshore shallow water areas, all of such remittance directly into the PHC Fund; (b) for profit derived from upstream petroleum operations in deepwater areas, all of the remittance directly into the Fund for the benefit of the petroleum producing littoral states.

    Sub-section (2) states that ‘net profit’ means the adjusted profit less royalty, allowable deductions and allowances, less Nigerian Hydrocarbon Tax less Companies Income Tax.

    Subsection (5) states “where an act of vandalism, sabotage or other civil unrest occurs that causes damage to any petroleum facility within a host community, the cost of the repair of such facility shall be paid from the PHC fund entitlement, unless it is established that no member of the community is responsible.

     

    Experts’ views

    Ms Efuru Nwapa-Obua, a Petroleum Law and Policy solicitor, who examined the issues with the PHCF, said the provision is laudable if well implemented as it would radically transform the oil producing communities, which have been yearning for development.

    She said: “This key and novel provision effectively confers the status of equity stake holders on the oil producing states. If implemented it will radically transform the oil producing communities in terms of infrastructural, social and economic development, create employment, check youth restiveness and lead to overall sustainable development.

    “It also places a responsibility on the oil producing communities to protect the facilities in their areas and introduces a sanction in the event of vandalism and destruction of property. This system of reward and punishment will no doubt check the wanton and reckless acts of vandalism in the oil producing communities given that no community will want to lose its benefits.

    A top official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who spoke in confidence, said the fund will effectively address job creation and security of oil facilities in the oil producing communities. The official noted that the idea of the fund was initiated by late President Musa Yar’Adua.

    The official said: “The oil community fund – is a fund that was initiated during the time of late President Yar’Adua. The intention is good and we strongly felt we should carry it over, in the sense that we strongly believe it would create more jobs. More jobs in the sense that the host community will become part of the stakeholders in the oil and gas industry and their core responsibility will be to ensure the security of infrastructure and facilities in their areas. And in the event of any vandalism of the infrastructure, the benefit they will get will not be given to them.

    “We are not saying that the cost of what we give to them versus the cost of infrastructure damaged is equal, but it would serve as a deterrent and ensure that act of vandalism is not done within the neighbourhood and then the community doesn’t have the benefit.

    “What it would do for us is that it would move the JTF back to the barracks to enable them do their core function. Assuming we have 200 JTF members within the Niger Delta, it would create at least 200 jobs for the community by the time they (JTF) members go back to the barracks.

    “The PHCF would create jobs for the communities to continue to secure these facilities, they wouldn’t sit down in their houses, they would have to get people to do this security jobs to ensure that they spend part of their money to be able to get more money.

    “It will significantly help in mitigating the current environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. In addition, new frontiers will not have to go through the pains in the Niger Delta as their predecessors because from day one, the host community is part of the oil and gas industry.

    “Under the current Petroleum Act, regulation is being done by the Minister without any consultation. But in the current PIB, for you to do a regulation, you need to do a public entry either it is a private document that is contributed for a change or a Ministerial document that shows you want to make a change. That document will be debated in a public forum and based on the outcome of that, the regulation will be enforced. This is one area the power of the minister is significantly reduced compared to what we have in the Petroleum Act.”

  • 17,500 tonnes of wheat expected today

    ABOUT 100 ships, including one laden with 17,500 tonnes of bulk wheat, are expected at the Lagos port before the end of this month.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said the Golden Ship carrying the bulk wheat would berth at the Apapa Bulk Terminal today.

    It said 16 of the expected ships would arrive with petroleum products, 15 would sail in with new and fairly used vehicles and 46 containers of different goods.

    The document showed that other ships would arrive with rice, fresh fish, bulk sugar, general cargo, bulk malt steel products, diplomatic, semi trailers and palm oil.

    About 14 ships are waiting to discharge petroleum products at the oil terminals within the port. The document shows that six of the ships will discharge petrol, three will discharge diesel, two will discharge aviation fuel, one will discharge kerosene and another ethanol.

    It also shows that 11 other ships are waiting to discharge general cargo, bulk wheat, used and old vehicles, rice, containers.

    Nineteen ships are discharging various products, such as gypsum, bulk gas, container, fresh fish, wheat, rice, steel product and petroleum products.

     

  • Freight forwarders petition Jonathan over Customs Act

    The National Association of Government approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan and Senate President David Mark over attempts to frustrate the amendment of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) 1958.

    The association claims that there are “powerful forces”within the government bent on stopping the National Assembly from amending the law.

    The freight forwarders also requested House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki to intervene in the matter.

    In a January 11 letter exclusively obtained by The Nation, the association’s head of Legal Department, Mr Larry Okonkwo, said the CEMA Act could no longer address the challenges facing the industry.

    He wondered why some government officials are collaborating with unpatriotic elements to frustrate the amendment of the Act.

    NAGAFF said the amendment would not threaten the President’s power to appoint the Custom’s Comptroller-General. It urged the President to call to order government officials alleged to be serving the interests of their masters.

    “This amendment does not threaten the power of the President to appoint the Comptroller-General of Customs. It is the Constitution that empowers the President to also appoint the Inspector-General of Police, Directors-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and ministers.

    “This is a constitutional responsibility of the President as enunciated in Section 5 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution.”

    NAGAFF said the power to appoint the Customs Comptroller-General and the Finance Minister responsible for the administration of the service rests with the President.

    The group said it was wrong for anyone or group to insinuate that the President’s powers would be eroded by some amendments as envisaged by the CEMA Bill before the National Assembly.

    NAGAFF said the bill only granted partial autonomy to Customs “which we think is good for a modern Customs to emerge”. It urged the President to support the passage of the bill.

    “The synopsis of the CEMA Bill seeks to give partial autonomy to the Nigeria Customs Service. This is, to us, a welcome development because it is in line with modern day public management trends. This will encourage innovation and shorten bureaucratic red tape.

    “The unnecessary interference with the operations of the service will create a counter-productive atmosphere that would hamper the smooth and efficient running of the service,” the group said.

     

  • Ibadan container depot ready

    THE Oyo State Shippers’ Association has said the first phase of Ibadan Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Erunmu is ready for inauguration.

    Its President, Dr Ayo Omotoso, said the concessionaire, Catamaran Logistics Limited, would move into the depot with their foreign partners after the event.

    Omotoso said the rail line from Lagos to Ibadan and Kano had been rehabilitated.

    He said this would facilitate the take-off of the Ibadan dry port and others across the country.

    He commended the Federal Government for the project, adding that containers could conveniently be transported by rail to the ICD sites. The shipper said the ICDs and the container freight stations (CFSs) were user facilities with public authority status.

    He said the Ibadan ICD would handle imports and exports under the control of the Nigeria Customs Service NCS) and other agencies.

    The Federal Government, in 2006, granted approval for the establishment of six ICDs and CFSs in the country.

    The ICD project was conceived by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as a solution to the problem of port congestion.

    The depots and stations approved for the six geo-political zones are located in Ibadan, Kano, Isiala-Ngwa, Jos, Maiduguri and Funtua.

    The delay in the implementation of the project is causing concern among stakeholders.

    The Oyo State government recently adopted a more proactive stand on the ICD project, unlike the past administrations which were not enthusiastic about the project.

    The Ibadan ICD has capacity for 50,000 containers (TEUS).

     

  • NPA gets two weeks to submit report on jetty fire

    NPA gets two weeks to submit report on jetty fire

    The Federal Government has given the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habbi Abdullahi, two weeks to submit a report on last week’s oil barge fire at the MRS Jetty at Tin Can Island, Lagos.

    The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, issued the directive during his official visit to the MRS Oil facility to ascertain the damage done by the multiple explosions at the jetty.

    He said the government is worried because of the strategic position of the port to the country’s economy.

    The report, the minister said, should dwell on the immediate and remote causes of the incident and how to prevent a recurrence.

    On the call by Governor Babatunde Fashola for the relocation of the tank farms because of the danger they pose to the port community and Lagos State, the minister said the report would advise the government on what to do.

    MRS Oil Group Executive Director, Amina Maina, said the company is still investigating the cause of the fire, adding that the barge was empty at the time of the incident.

    She said there was no casualty, adding that eight persons were injured.

     

     

     

     

  • Emirates connects Bangkok

    Emirates Airlines has introduced a fifth daily, non-stop service between Dubai and Bangkok, with the announcement coming just weeks after it launched a daily service between Dubai and Phuket.

    From March 31, 2013, Emirates will operate 35 flights a week between Dubai and Bangkok, plus a daily Airbus A380 service between Bangkok and Hong Kong, and a daily flight between Bangkok and Sydney, which connects on to Christchurch. These services, along with the Phuket flights, take the number of weekly Emirates departures from Thailand to 56.

    March 31, 2013 will also mark the start of the airline’s fourth daily service between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai, while a third daily Manila service started on January 1, 2013 and a third daily.

    Jakarta service will commence on March 1, 2013. Elsewhere in the region, the Singapore service received a boost in capacity following the introduction of a 517-seat A380 to the route in December 2012, while flights from Ho Chi Minh City were launched in June last year.

    “Emirates has been operating flights to Bangkok since 1990 and this capacity increase – combined with the launch of the Phuket service in early December – demonstrates what an important market Thailand is to us,” said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East & Australasia.