The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • Gulf set to see $32b energy projects in 2013

    Afresh flow of GCC construction contractor awards for new power and water projects are on the grid and expected to be worth $32.4billion in 2013, according to new research by Ventures Middle East.

    After a lull in 2011 amid uncertain economic conditions and political apprehensions across the wider MENA region, the power and water sector is back on track, as GCC annual electricity demand grows from 10-15 percent annually and regional governments scramble to catch up, it said.

    With power demand in the region set to triple over the next 25 years, infrastructure developments backed by governments and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are surging ahead, the research added.

    According to Venture’s report, most of the power and water project activity for 2013 is expected in Saudi Arabia, which will see $17bn worth of new contracts awarded.

    The Gulf kingdom will be followed by the UAE and Kuwait, which are both expected to sign off on brand new contracts totaling $4.2bn each.

    In Qatar, power and water contracts worth $3.2billion are expected in 2013, tailed closely by Oman with $2.7billion worth of contracts, with Bahrain rounding off the figures with $1.1bn of fresh contract awards for the year.

    The research comes ahead of Middle East Electricity, which takes place in Dubai in February.

    More than 1,000 exhibitors from 58 countries involved in the power, lighting, renewable and nuclear sectors are expected to attend the three-day event.

    Anita Mathews, exhibition director of Middle East Electricity, said: “The GCC region will require an additional 60 Gigawatts of power capacity by 2015, and the coming years are likely to witness a substantial improvement in the development of regional utility infrastructure.”

  • A year of strikes

    In the Labour circle, 2012 started with a strike and ended with it, reports DUPE OLAOYE-OSINKOLU

    For the Labour movement, 2012 was turbulent. It was full of activism. Picketing, mass rallies, protests, strikes were the order of the day.

    The year opened with struggles. Labour resisted some government’s policies – winning some, losing others.

    Its first struggle was the resistance against fuel price increase. The Federal Government had announced an increase in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N65 to N141 per litre on January 1. This incurred Labour’s wrath. The disagreement between Labour and the government over the issue snowballed into a week-long strike and protest that paralysed economic activities in the country.

    The strike, due to the parties’ inability to reach an agreement on the fuel subsidy removal, started on Monday, January 9. It was co-ordinated by the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO). Its enforcement was with mass action in workplaces, markets, schools, neighbourhoods and major link roads.

    The Lagos rally took off at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat and moved to Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, which became a temporary home to many people. Some brought their mats, pillows, kerosene stoves to the venue.

    There was no boring moment throughout the strike, as musicians stationed a giant generator to supply power to the venue, where people took turns to entertain free.

    Labour wanted a reversal of PMS price from the announced N141to N65 per litre, but the government refused.

    When the crowd kept on increasin, singing anti-government songs, and protesting daily from 7am till 6pm, the Federal Government , at the end of the first week, deployed soldiers to the streets of Lagos and Abuja, to prevent the movement of the people.

    The issue was, however, resolved when President Goodluck Jonathan met with the two labour unions before announcing a new price of N97 per litre. A lot of dust was raised by the reduction because Labour claimed it was unilaterally done by the government, while its civil society allies alleged dishonesty, saying the mandate of N65 was not adhered to.

    The reduction was counted as a plus for Labour. Having achieved a partial victory in the struggle, Labour rolled out conditions that the Federal Government needed to meet, to end the rot in the oil sector.

    This later led to the Farouk Lawan Adhoc Committee that started, according to many, on a good note.

    Even Labour commended and encouraged the Committee. Then, the unexpected happened. The assumed righteous Committee Chairman was indicted by an oil magnate, Femi Otedola, for alleging collecting a bribe of $620,000. In the face of the crisis, Labour held on to its position in the report already submitted by the Adhoc Committee on Oil Subsidy. It called for its implementation, saying those found guilty must be brought to book. But the report saw the light of day.

    Now that the court has stopped the Federal Government from implementing the Farouk Committee Report, Labour may, expectedly, dust it.

    The National Minimum Wage is another issue that took centre stage this year. Many state governments battled to maintain peace in their domain as workers kept threatening to down tools should the government fail to meet their ultimatums. Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Borno, Ekiti, Edo, Plateau state workers, among others, protested the non-implementation of the new national minimum wage.

    Some of the state governments wriggled out of the crisis, but Plateau was not that lucky. The strike embarked upon by the state workers is still ongoing. The bone of contention? Plateau Government did not want to implement the wage in full.

    Labour and the state government later settled for 55 per cent of the minimum wage, but the workers rejected the insistence by the government that it would only pay for the period the workers were at work.

    Governor Jonah Jang then claimed that he was relying on a United Nations resolution that no worker should be paid for the period he deliberately stayed out of office. The labour leaders, however, argued that the law could not be applied in Nigeria since it has not been domesticated in the nation’s statute books.

    The Labour Minister intervened on December 20. His intervention has led to the suspension of the strike, on the condition that the Plateau Government pay the striking local government workers their salaries from June 2012 with 55 per cent implementation.

    The National Minimum Wage Act stipulates that the least paid worker should receive N18000. Some governors said it would be easier for them to implement only if the Federal Government increased the monthly revenue allocation accruing to their states.

    Only few states have implemented the Wage Act to the letter. Labour has spent one year, struggling with such state governments.

    In Abia, the Governor sacked non-indigenes in the civil service, saying that was the only way for the state to pay the new wage. Indigenes who married “outsiders” were affected.

    Local government workers are arguing that the joint account system being operated by state and local government is delaying the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage to council employees.

    President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) Ibrahim Khaleel said deductions for the joint accounts have affected the councils as they cannot meet their financial obligations.

    He argued that if the statutory allocations to local government areas got into the councils’coffers, the councils would not have remained in the current situation where they could not implement the payment of the national minimum wage.

    While Labour struggles for implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage, many workers kissed their jobs goodbye due to no fault of theirs. Employers in many of the sectors of the economy reduced staff strength due to economic imbalance.

    Workers in the manufacturing, textile and banking sectors were part of the job losses. In the banking sector alone, about 1.7 million jobs were lost in the period under review.

    In the private sector, stakeholders tried to proffer solution. President of the National Union of Chemical Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), Comrade Boniface Isok, said some policies of the government affected some industries in the chemical sector.

    He explained that the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to bank debtors to pay up was part of the reasons for factory closures and redundancy of workers.

    As Labour grappled with increasing job casualties, it was roused by a bill sponsored by Senator Heineken Lokpobori (PDP, Bayelsa West) meant to amend the Labour law to make it mandatory for unions to vote before embarking on strike. There was uproar.

    Trade unions said the bill was aimed at muzzling them.

    Senator Ayogu Eze, while supporting the bill, said it was meant to ensure that the unions did not mix labour dispute with politics. The bill died as there was opposition against it.

    Beside, in the second quarter of the year, Imo State workers protested the creation of a fourth tier of government, which empowered traditional rulers to pay civil servants in their domain. The workers alleged that the governor imposed the tier on them. The state House of Assembly okayed the bill for the establishment of the fourth tier of government in the state.

    In the health sector, Lagos State Government effected a mass sack of doctors in the second quarter of the year. The action generated a lot of controversy, as the government tried to evict the affected doctors from their official quarters.

    The state has explained that it sacked 788 doctors in its employ because they failed to respond to queries issued to them for embarking on “an illegal strike’’.

    About 316 doctors of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and 472 of the other hospitals were affected by the government action.

    The state government earlier queried them for embarking on a three-day warning strike from April 11 to April 13.

    Federal health workers also engaged the Federal Government over promotion of health professionals from CONHESS 14 to 15 and implementation of the Presidential Committee Report on harmony in the health sector.

    In the outgoing year, there was was a pension scam. Public servants enriched themselves at the expense of retired workers. The Senate has vowed to get the culprits. Some public servants are, however, being tried in courts of law. Even in the last quarter of the year, more discoveries were made.

    The Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, was fingered in a N195 billion pension fraud. He, however, did not honour the Senate’s invitation to defend himself.

    The Joint Committee on Establishment, Public Service and Local Government Administration was mandated by the Senate to investigate pension administration from 1999.

    The Senate President, David Mark, also directed the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, to compel Mr Maina to appear before the Joint committee.

    Maina, however, disagreed with the lawmakers over pilfered funds meant for the payment of pensions to retirees.

    He denied the allegations, saying that the legislators had connived with his detractors who were uncomfortable with the reforms.

    Workers are wary of the contributory pension scheme. The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is allaying their fear that the scam was perpetrated in the old pension system, which had been in existence before the Pension Act 2004.

  • Only 5.4m workers are registered for pension, says Ahmad

    With a workforce of 40million, only 5.4 million and registered under the National Pension Scheme, former Director-General of the National Pension Commission (NPC) Mohammed Ahmad has said.

    He said there were to pension assets stand at about N3 trillion.

    The commission, he said, was working to ensure that small employers in the private sector embraced the scheme, adding that getting such employers, inadequate education and enlightenment remained a great challenge to the industry’s growth.

    He noted that to encourage more people to embrace the scheme, the commission hopes to introduce customers service index, which would ensure that customers get better services from PenCom and operators.

    Ahmad said the commission has continued with its regulatory and supervisory philosophy, which is risk-based and consultative, adding that investment regulation that would allow multiple fund is being reviewed.

    He said the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) transfer clearing system application that would be used to coordinate the processes relating to the transfer of retirement savings accounts is being developed and tested to ensure that it meets the capacity and robustness required.

    “As part of the implementation of the opening the transfer window, the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs), who are key stakeholders on the pensions industry, would participate in the various workshops geared towards ensuring their full understanding and participation in the transfer process, before the window opens.

    Ahmad noted that the commission would collaborate with state governments in the scheme in the states.

  • Fed Govt urged to impose tariffs on imported cement

    The Federal Government should impose the maximum tariffs and levies on imported cement to discourage imports, President of the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria Joseph Mokoju, has said.

    He spoke during an inspection of Dangote Cement plants in Gboko, Benue State and Obajana in Kogi State.

    He said this is one major way the government can encourage and protect local producers and save the country millions of naira in foreign exchange that would have been used to create jobs in other countriess.

    Mokoju, who is also Special Adviser to the President of Dangote Group, said there have been drastic decline in demand for cement as a result of increased importation of the product. This, he said, has compelled local manufacturers including Dangote to shut its Gboko plant, which produces three tons of cement per annum.

    Few workers were seen working on the expansion project of the plant.

    Lafarge, The Nation, also learnt, has closed one of its units.

    Conducting reporters round the Gboko plant, which has tons of unsold cement, Makoju said local investors are unhappy because they want protection for the huge investments they have made in the sector.

    He said: “Instead of grinding and selling, we are now stocking and this has forced members to shut some of their production units because revenue is no longer coming in. Importation of cement has been at the detriment of local economy. In fact, cement importation has been very attractive because it comes with paltry duty of 20 per cent and levy of 15 per cent and clinker at 10 per cent, a development that makes the landing cost of imported cement to be very cheap with a bag going as low as $35 per ton.”

    “Local manufacturers are faced with many challenges, such as bad roads, haulage, energy cost. Energy cost alone accounts for over 35 per cent of production cost compared with less than 10 per cent in China. Besides, in Nigeria, the price of LPF0 has jumped from N25 per litre in 2009 to N107.76 per litre as at November, 2012, an increase of 331 per cent.”

    Despite these disadvantages, local cement manufacturers, he said, have kept their ex-factory prices constant at an average of N1,450 per bag since 2009 while input costs continue to rise.

    He said it was difficult for the manufacturers to control what happens to the cement once they are loaded out of their plants.

  • EU okays Qatar stake in UK airport operator

    Spanish infrastrucure firm Ferrovial has said its deal to sell 10.62 per cent of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, formerly BAA Ltd, to Qatar Holding for £478million ($769million) has been completed after obtaining approval from the European Union’s competition authorities.

    The deal, announced in August, was pending authorisation by the competition authorities but has now been given the nod after ascertaining that the trasaction complied with EU legislation on mergers and acquisitions.

    Inigo Meiras, Chief executive Officer, Ferrovial, said in a statement: “This transaction fulfills two objectives for us: it allows us to maintain our position as the principal shareholder and industrial partner of Heathrow Airport Holdings, and it further strengthens our liquidity situation.”

    As part of this same transaction, Qatar Holding also acquired stakes of 5.63 percent of FGP Topco from Britannia Airport Partners and 3.75 per cent from GIC.

    Qatar now owns 20 percent of Heathrow Airport Holdings in a deal worth a total of £900million.

    Ferrovial’s indirect stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd has declined to 33.65 per cent.

    Qatar Holding will join the boards of FGP Topco Ltd and Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd after the regulator approval.

    At the time of the deal announcement, Qatar Holding said it maintained its view that the United Kingdom remains an “attractive investment destination and there is long-term fundamental strength in the British economy”.

    A consortium including Ferrovial acquired Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd, then called BAA, in June 2006.

  • NAICOM may review MDRI programme

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) may review the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) designed to enhance the industry’s growth, The Nation has learnt.

    The Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel, who disclosed this in a telephone interview, said NAICOM will next year review the guidelines of the initiative to align it for better performance.

    He said the review is one of the commission’s programmes for the new year.

    It was learnt that the review became necessary due to the failure of the industry to achieve projections envisaged for it in the first phase where a target of N 1 trillion premium income was to be attained.

    Managing Director Riskguard-Africa Nigeria Limited Yemi Soladoye said delay in the implementation of the initiatives affected the projections set to be achieved, adding that the programme was meant to start in 2009, but never took-off until 2011.

    He noted that to recover the lost period, there should be a shift in the deliverables to make-up for the difference between the time of the strategy crafting and implementation. He said the N1 trillion premium income projection was to be achieved with a four-year strategic plan, adding that there is no way the target would be achieved, with the commencement of implementation of the initiative a year to the set deadline.

    He said: “Most people are reading the strategy document and not relating it to when implementation took off. If there is a projection that in four years we will get N1 trillion premium and from the implementation document, we were to start in 2009, we had what we are to achieve in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. So, N1 trillion is in four years. If implementation started in 2011, it will be a case of shifting the deliverables forward based on the difference on the ground between the strategy crafting and the implementation”.

    He said the initiative is remarkable in the history of the industry.

    He noted that the initiative cannot be wished away as it has brought about many developments adding that efforts by NAICOM to reposition the industry through micro-insurance, takaful and more are strategic plans stated in the MDRI document.

     

  • MfBs’ deadline to recapitalise ends today

    Many microfinance banks (MfBs) are yet to close their branches and cash centres in defiance of the recapitalisation deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

    The apex bank gave today as the last day for MFBs fo recapitalise or close shop.

    Sources said some of the banks want to make more revenue, hence their decision not to close their branches.

    They said the development runs contrary to the provisions of the Revised Microfinance Policy Frameworks of CBN, which stipulates that certain category of banks must close their branches before recapitalisation. The issue, they said, attracts sanctions depending on the level of recapitalisation required

    A Director, Other Financial Institutions Department (OFID), CBN, Mr Olufemi Fabanwo, said failure of the banks to comply with the provisions of the revised guidelines would attract punishment.

    Citing the guidelines, Fabanwo said erring banks would be penalised.

    He said: ”It is also pertinent to know that the penalty for operating a branch or cash centre without prior approval of the CBN, as stipulated in Section 13.1(b) of the Revised Guidelines for MfB is N250,000, N500,000 per branch for  a unit and state MfB, and N1million for a national Mfb.“

    He said the apex bank would not entertain a waiver, a reduction of penalty or extension of compliance deadline.

    Chairman, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMBs), Southwest Region, Mr Olufemi Babajide, said the banks have been trying to abide with the CBN’s directives.

    However, Babajide said the banks are law-abiding, and would not like to incur the wrath of the CBN, adding that the operators know that they are bound by the CBN rules. He assured that they would comply with the CBN’s directive.

    Babajide’s predecessor, Mr Mathias Umeh, said the banks are trying to abide by the guidelines, adding that the banks have begun merger talks as an option to get the required capital base.

    He said the aim is to meet the deadline to avoid sanctions fromthe apex.

  • ‘Why Nigeria may miss Vision 20:2020, MDGs’targets’

    IF the nation fails to address the problems of weak industrialisation strategy and weak standard enforcement, the Vision 20:2020 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will remain a mirage, the Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr Umar Bindir, has warned.

    Other obstacles identified by the helmsman are weak technological transfer strategy and dearth of risk capital.

    He further warned that if these challenges are not addressed, joining the league of 20 leading economies in the world by 2020 and reducing poverty level in the country would remain a mirage.

    Bindir, who spoke to The Nation at a workshop for reporters on science and technology in Lagos, lamented that most research results from universities and research institutes “end in the valley of death’” without getting to the market or being developed into prototypes or finished products.

    He said instead of setting long term targets, such as Vision 20:2020, Nigeria should set a yearly target.

    He said: “We are not confident about Vison 20:2020. We are cynically waiting for it to come. We have to be innovative.”

    According to him, a whopping N6 trillion was spent on MDGs’ office, saying: ”We are yet to score a goal despite these huge expenditure on pursuing the MDGs.”

    He said Nigeria’s desire to advance technologically would remain a dream because “our science is not focusing on appropriate technology’.

    He lamented that, despite that the country has the largest number of universities and mono/polytechnics in Africa, it has nothing to show for it.

    He said: “There is a poor linkage between research products and marketing and most of our research materials have ended in the valley of death.”

    He advocated for the creation of strong linkages between scientists and policy makers, urging scientists to speak the language understood by the political class on how science, innovation and technology was linked to societal needs, such as job creation and human capital development.

    On which way to go for Nigeria, he said, “Nigeria can acquire technology by transferring it from the various places they have been perfected. Stealing technology is an arrogant demonstration that you have the capcity and capability to replicate what other persons have done. Nigeria has a fantastic platform. We have already acquired a lot of technologies. The challenge now is to move the acquired technology to the next level, to the market where they are needed.”

  • 200,000 agent banking jobs likely

    200,000 agent banking jobs likely

    The prayers of the unemployed may be answered in the New Year, which begins tomorrow, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduces agent banking. The initiative is expected to create 200,000 jobs as a way of boosting the economy. AKINOLA AJIBADE writes.

     

    THE New Year begins tomorrow, with a lot of hope for the unemployed. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is introducing tomorrowAgent Banking, a scheme which holds a lot of promise in job creation. About 200,000 jobs are expected to be created under the scheme. It is coming under the CBN’s Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS).

    Launched in Abuja in October, the strategy comes with various concepts aimed at increasing banking penetration and growth.

    At the launch, CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said concepts under the strategy include mobile money and agent banking. Mobile money has since been introduced under the cash-less policy. It is now the turn of agent banking.

    Agent banking is a system whereby a postal outlet is contracted by a financial institution, or a mobile network operator, to process clients’transactions. Rather than a branch outlet, it is the owner or an employee of the retail outlet that conducts the transactions. The agent banker performs banking function. Clients can deposit, withdraw, transfer funds, pay their bills, inquire about their balances, receive government benefits, or a direct deposit from their employers at an agent banking outlet.

    It can be operated in supermarkets, petrol stations, gas stations, stores, laundry shops, post offices, cybercafes and eateries, among others. As such, people are employed to provide an array of services.

    Agent banking has helped to improve access to financial services, as well as create jobs for people in places, such as Kenya.

    In its framework, the CBN described agent banking as a catalyst for growth because it has the potential to provide jobs.

    The CBN said outlets would be created nationwide for agent banking operations. It said rural areas, perceived by the conventional banks as unprofitable, would benefit through employment creation.

    Experts lauded the idea, saying it has potential of providing jobs for the people. They said about 200,000 jobs would be created in the first two years of the scheme’s implementation. More jobs, they said, would be created, if things work according to plans. Noting that Nigeria has an estimated 50,000 villages, they said each village would have at least two or three agent banks to provide financial services for people. They said no fewer than four people are required to work in each bank, adding that the figure would increase as the system becomes acceptable.

    According to them, agent banks are equipped with a combination of Point-of-Sale (PoS) card reader, mobile phone, barcode scanner to scan bills for bill payment transactions, Personal Identification Number (PIN) pads, and sometimes personal computers that connect with the bank’s server using a personal dial-up or other data connection that may be required.

    The scheme, they said, has provided opportunities for people to work as back-office operators, system programmers, credit application, verification officers and security.

    Speaking during the second retail banking series of Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA’s) in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Top Image, Ms Jennifer Barassa, said agent banking enables delivery of financial services at affordable costs across a wide range of income segments of the society, and provide opportunities for employment generation.

    Ms. Barassa, a mobile money transfer expert, said the idea would provide opportunities for middle-income earners.

    Citing Kenya, she said the system is a tool for jobs creation because it has helped in providing employment for people in other places.

    Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Money Africa,Mr Emmanuel Okwogale, said the strategy comprises concepts that can easily create jobs and further grow the economy.

    He said: “Be it mobile money banking, microfinance banking, or agent banking system, there is no limit to their employment generation capacity. Research has shown that each concept has the ability to improve banking penetration, and generate employment opportunities. Given the size of the Nigerian population, the system is going to provide a lot of jobs for people.”

    He said mobile and agent banking systems have different structures, adding that they achieve common goals of reducing the number of the unbanked population.

    Okwogale said last year CBN implemented mobile banking frameworks by licensing 16 firms to provide the service, adding that at the moment it is developing the guidelines for the implementation of the banking system. He said more job opportunities would be created, when agent banking starts in 2013.

    Okwogale said: “Agent banking operates through different outlets, such as supermarkets, cybercafes, petrol stations, laundry shops, among others. These outlets are going to be run by people. This implies that people would be employed to work in these outlets. When you look at Nigeria from the geographical point of view, you would observe that the country is large. This shows that agent banking has a lot of prospect for the unemployed.

    “Given the right policies and implementation procedures, agent banking, among other concepts, introduced to drive the financial inclusion strategy would create jobs for Nigerians.”

    When people are equipped with the right skills, they would work in any aspect of the industry, he added.

    A financial market analyst, Mr Dayo Adeosun, advised CBN to implement the guidelines on agent banking well, arguing that many policies have become a flash in the pan in Nigeria.

    He agreed that the idea has prospect to create jobs, urging the apex bank to implement it.

     

  • ‘Why we can’t get oil, gas accounts’

    • Firms blame NNPC for blocking them

    Insurance brokersare groaning under the weight of hurdles placed on their path for oil and gas accounts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    A source, who preferred not to be named, said the hurdle, restrains insurers from qualifying for risks allotted to local brokers by the Nigerian Content Policy.

    The source said 34 brokers were engaged for the NNPC lucrative account last year, but the number was reduced to 14 this year. The number may also go down next year, it was learnt.

    President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mrs Laide Osijo, said the corporation has subjected brokers to enormous demands.

    She said the operators are worried because they thought they would acquire more knowledge as they grow on the business, but regretted that the reverse is the case now, as they are not given the opportunity to improve their knowledge on the job.

    She said: “Honestly, in the area of oil and gas, the Nigerian Content Policy made provision for local operators to be trained, so that the business could be handed over to us. But what the oil and gas operators are doing is contrary to what is expected.

    “What they are asking for was never envisaged when the law was provided.The NNPC is really putting more demand on brokers. We are worried because we thought we would acquire more knowledge as we grow in the business, but reverse is the case.

    “We have undertaken oil and gas training at home and abroad, but with the restrain by the oil and gas operators, we can never put to test what we learnt. With the things they are asking for, hardly can 10 brokers or even five qualify for the business. If they are doing it intentionally, where do we then put the local content law?”

    She said the operators were supposed to be trained so that the foreigners would hand over the businesses to them, adding that if the operators are not given the practical training and exposure, how they would learn.

    “The oil and gas operators have been unfair, but we will continue to strive until we get there. The first time they did it we had 34 brokers engaged, and the next one we had 14. We thought after getting 34, we would have higher rate, but they went and reduced it. This year, they put so many conditions and at the end only few brokers will also be engaged.

    “It is unfair to the local content law. The local content law is there to protect us and put food on our table, but the way they are asking for some many things, it is really disturbing. We will continue to strive to meet their demands.’’

    Laide further said: “Honestly, the brokers are complaining. They are not happy about it; most of them have paid so much to certified many documents. Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) gave us certification, but NNPC still want us to recertify it and they would give us short notice within which they want us to implement these things”.

    She noted that many brokers have written petitions to her office about the roadblocks placed by the NNPC for qualification, adding that the corporation is not given brokers fair treatment.