The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • Ondo group spends N79.95m on footbridge

    ABOUT N79.95million has been spent on the construction of 3,000-metre wooden footbridges in 34 Ilaje communities in Ondo State, the Ilaje Regional Development Council (IRDC) has said.

    It said the footbridges, which would link many of the communities, would assist in boosting commerce and trade as well as interactions and social engagements.

    IRDC Chairman, Mr Jackson Nomiye, who made this known at the Second Annual General Meeting of the development group in Akure, also said they have handed over 30 projects to community leaders.

    Some of the projects, he said, include, “housing units at Ode-Ugbo, Jirinwo; Science laboratory at Molutehin, upland convenience (Toilets) at Obe-Riwoye and Igbo, wooden foot bridges totalling over 40,000 that link 17 communities”.

    Nomiye added that about N11.7million was disbursed to 400 beneficiaries in secondary and tertiary institutions as scholarship grant. ”Equipment for reverse Osmosis project worth N88million was brought to site and is being installed.

    “ The project will provide potable water to Awoye and Molutehin communities. This represents a project that Chevron had planned for implementation in the area covered by the IRDC which it decided to transfer to the RDC for implementation.”

    “N12million of the total N16million approved for the scheme was spent in implementing the free medical exercise for the year. The intent of the programme is to reduce infant and maternal mortality and promote good health and wellbeing among the people.

    The IRDC supported Chevron to donate insecticide treated mosquito nets and malaria drugs to our people in Igbokoda and riverine communities”, the IRDC’s chairman said.

    The General Manager, Police, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr Deji Haastrup, commended the leadership of the IRDC for achieving a measured success in most of its objectives.

    Haastrup said: ”IRDC story reinforces our belief that the GMoU process, which is a community-driven model, is capable of stimulating accelerated community development particularly due to the effective participation of community members and others relevant stakeholders.”

  • Power: Ondo to partner private investors, international agencies

    Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has restated his administration’s preparedness to partner private investors and international agencies to boost power supply for its industrialisation drive.

    Governor Mimiko, who said this yesterday in Akure while declaring open a capacity building workshop with the theme, Training on Diffusion of Turbine Technology for Small Hydro Power (SHP) development in West Africa.

    He said Nigeria is blessed with vast water to aid hydro-power supply.

    He noted that his administration was devising means of generating power to grow businesses in the areas that are far away from the gas line which is under execution by his administration.

    The Governor disclosed that the state government established the SHP committee two years ago in a tripartite relationship among State government, Bank of Industry (BoI) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) regional centre with the intention to make power available for industrial cluster, cottage industries and SME’s across the State.

  • Work and temperament: What job am I suited for II?

    Work and temperament: What job am I suited for II?

    The last article, this and the next is about matching your inclinations with your job. Yes, it is tantalising to have a job that matches your personal inclination perfectly- that is the ideal job. But it is an imprecise endeavour, so be warned that article is only a rough guide.

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     The idealists

    Idealist, being abstract in communicating and cooperative in implementing goals, can become highly skilled in diplomatic integration. Thus, their most practised and developed intelligent operations are usually teaching and counselling. And they would if they could be sages in one of these forms of social development. The Idealist temperament have an instinct for interpersonal integration, learn ethics with ever increasing zeal, sometimes become diplomatic leaders, and often speak interpretively and metaphorically of the abstract world of their imagination. They are proud of themselves in the degree, they are emphatic in action, respect themselves in the degree, they are benevolent, feel confident of themselves in the degree and they are authentic. Idealist types search for their unique identity, hunger for deep and meaningful relationship, wish for a little romance each day, trust their intuitive feelings implicitly and aspire for profundity.

    This is the “Identity Seeking Personality” – credulous about the future, mystical about the past, and their preferred time and place are the future and the pathway. Educationally they go for the humanities, vocationally for ethics, and vocationally for personnel work.

    In their family interactions, they strive for mutuality, provide spiritual intimacy for the mates, opportunity for their children, and for themselves continuous self-renewal. Idealists do not abound, being as few as eight per cent and nor more than 10 per cent of the population.

    Well known idealists include Jane Fonda, Leo Tolstoy, Oliver Stone, Mohandas Ghandi, Mikhail Gorbachev, E. Roosevelt and Plato.

    Language of the idealist’s

    “It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business”. (MOHANDAS GANDHI)

    “Character is much easier kept than recovered” (THOMAS PAINE).

    “To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.” (ANNE LINDBERGH).

    Vocational interest of idealists In the workplace, idealists have one special talent: they are drawn to and can do wonders in recruiting, training, deploying, advancing, and counseling personnel. With their insight into people, their interest in human potential, and their glow of enthusiasms, idealists shine when they take on the job of finding quality employees, of guiding them into the right positions, and of helping them develop over the course of their careers.

    Not only in business, but at school as well, individual development is the idealist’s domain, which is to say they are naturally good at influencing the growth and maturation of others. Teaching, counseling, interviewing, and tutoring come easily to Idealists, and are highly intuitive pursuits for them. Even without much formal training, Idealists seem able, in Faber and Mazlish’s phrase, to “talk so others will listen and listen so others will talk” and this with young and old and with male and female.

    The rationals

    The rationals, being abstract in communicating and utilitarian in implementing goals, can become highly skilled in STRATEGIC ANALYSIS. Thus, their most practiced and developed intelligent operations tend to be marshalling and planning, or inventing and configuring. And they would if they could be wizards in one of these forms rational operation. They are proud of themselves in the degree they are competent in action, respect themselves in the degree they are autonomous, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are strong willed. Ever in search of knowledge, this is the “Knowledge Seeking Personality” – trusting in reason and hungering for achievement. They are usually pragmatic about the present, skeptical about the future, solipsistic about the past, and their preferred time and place are the interval and the intersection. Educationally they go for the sciences, avocationally for technology, and vocationally for systems work. Rationals tend to be individualising as parents, mindmates as spouses, and learning oriented as children. Rationals are very infrequent, comprising as few as five per cent and more than seven per cent of the population.

    Well-known rationals include George Bernard Shaw, Walt Disney, Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, George Soros, Albert Einstein, Adam Smith, Aristotle and Marie Curie.

    Language of the rational

    “To me it suffices to wonder at these secret and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is”. Albert Einstein.

    “I have taken all of knowledge for province”. Francis Bacon.

    “Error of opinion maybe tolerated where reason is left free to combat it” – Thomas Jefferson.

    “But, I’m not using those lessons just for theorising about the future, I am betting on it.” – Bill Gates.

    Vocational interests of rationals

    Rationals are intrigued by machines and by organisms, the two kinds of systemic entities. Organisms are the province of anthropologists, biologists, ethnologists, psychologists; machines, the regulated by servo-mechanisms developed by engineers. Of course, an organism, whether plant or animal is infinitely more complex than the most modern airport, a giant machine itself with countless sub-assemblies. But whatever the level of complexity it is complexity itself that intrigues the Rationals and therefore beckons them to take up systems-work, whether it be organismic or mechanical.

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    •This article was based on Please Understand Please and Please Understand Me II written by David Keirsey.

     

  • ‘Oil terminals without metres may be shut’

    ‘Oil terminals without metres may be shut’

    •Oil majors move against weights and measures

     

     The Federal Government has threatened to shut oil and gas terminals in the upstream sector if their operators refuse to install metering systems in their operational areas.

    This is coming after oil producers moved against the implementation of the Legal Metrology System in Nigeria in accordance with the Meteorology 2004 Act.

    Arising from this, the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment in collaboration with its consultant, Nigerco Nigeria Limited, have resolved to seal off oil terminals for non-compliance with the 2004 Act.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerco, Yabagi Sani, who spoke in Abuja, said: “It is very surprising that we are having very stiff opposition from the oil and gas sector.”

    He explained that the opposition was coming in the form of “refusing weights and measures and staff access to their terminals.”

    He said knowing the capacity of the programme to curtail infractions which have become a norm in the country and businesses, there has been an opposition from stakeholders who want to maintain the status quo where the citizens and the economy suffer huge losses due to lack of correct measurement in trade transactions.

    He said: “The law makes provisions for sanctions which is to seal-off terminals. We can seal-off terminals until you comply, and we are at a stage where we are going to seal. We will seal terminals and seal facilities.”

    He said the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry was at the mercy of the tanker drivers who off-load part of the products before they get to the stations, where the dealers pass the pains to consumers by under-dispensing.

    To contain the situation, he said Weights and Measures will be installed in each petrol station.

    He said despite the existence of the laws on Weights and Measures, the implementation of the law has been minimal and non-existent in most sectors of the economy.

    “On July 4, 2012, the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment engaged the service of Nigerco Nigeria Limited as a Technical and Management Consultant to the Department of Weights and Measures for effective implementation of the Weight and Measures (Legal Metrology) Act 2004, and to among other things build a sound legal infrastructure for the nation,” he said.

    According to him, in line with International Legal Metrology Practice and Weights and Measures Act, employing remote monitoring systems is being introduced in selected sectors of the economy.

    He said these include telecoms, electricity and oil and gas, where the volume of transaction is high and meters used for such transactions are prone to manipulation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Tight monetary policy’ll kill private sector’

    ‘Tight monetary policy’ll kill private sector’

    Stakeholders have raised the alarm over the tight monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), warning that it will have a negative impact on the private sector and the economy.

    They said this will slow down stock market recovery.

    Reacting to the recent decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the apex bank to retain Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent, the President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Goddie Ibru, said the decision was ill-advised.

    Ibru, who spoke with The Nation, said the MPR has remained unchanged for seven consecutive times since October 2011.

    “Based on the prospects for a sustained slowdown in economic growth and the likely increase in unemployment as businesses suffer, there is a strong case for monetary easing to liberalise credit conditions and boost economic activities. While we recognise the inflationary risk and the threat to exchange rate stability, we also believe that stimulating the economy at this time is crucial. The impact of structural factors in the Nigerian inflation phenomenon should also be acknowledged and addressed through appropriate fiscal policy channels. The effects of these factors on the supply side of the economy are profound. We submit that the monetary policy tools – MPR, Liquidity Ratio and the cash reserve requirements should be appropriately adjusted to create the conditions that would stimulate ‘growth, boost economic activities and create jobs.

    “Lending rates have risen beyond the reach of many corporate and small businesses. Both prime and maximum lending rates have risen from 16.28 per cent and 23.13 per cent in March 2012 to 16.37 per cent and 24.67 per cent at the end of September, according to the CBN figures.

    The retail lending rate is about 30 per cent.This will not only jeopardise the financial inclusion policy of the CBN but would jeopardise the prospects of a job creating growth. If the current trend persists, government may have to embark on another round of intervention programmes to channel lending to critical sectors of the economy,” Ibru said.

    LCCI Director-General, Mr Muda Yusuf, said: “The reality of the economic and business conditions is a cause for concern. Escalating unemployment crisis, profit margins are declining, consumer demand is weak, prohibitive interest rate, decelerating economic growth and high mortality rate of small businesses.

    “These conditions call for policy choices that would stimuate economy, even at the risk of inflation. Boosting economic activities would increase output and invariably moderate inflation.”

    He said the continuation of a tight monetary regime would have persistent high interest rate, deepen the unemployment crisis while the recovery of the real economy will remain sluggish.

    “Also, capacity of enterprises to create jobs would continue to be inhibited. Stock market recovery would continue to be slow,” he said.

     

     

     

  • Over 100,000 injured on roads daily

    Over 100,000 injured on roads daily

    OVER 100,000 peope are injured on roads across the world daily, experts have said.

    Also, no fewer than 4,000 people are killed through road accidents daily.

    These were part of the statements made by Steering Driving School and Nigerians Unite for Road Safety in Lagos.

    Addressing journalists on the World Day Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims which was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1993 to commemorate with the victims and sensitise road users on avoidable road crashes in the country, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Steering Driving School, Mr Samuel Akinfe, said the statistics were from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    Akinfe urged governments at all levels to recognise the day.

    He maintained that there is a need for government to help people understand the reason for them to come together to celebrate the date.

    According to him, the school has concluded arrangements to mark it this year.

    The event would focus on devastating nature of road accidents.

    Also speaking, the former Military Governor of Ondo State, Rear Admiral Abiodun Olukoya, said it is unfortunate that many road users are not conscious of the signs on major roads.

    Olukoya regretted the issuance of drivers’ licence without following due process by the authority.

    He urged motorists to always concentrate while driving.

    The Lagos State Co-ordinator of the Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO), Mr Gbolahan Toriola enjoined road users to take precautions on the road and ensure they drive with care so as to avoid crashes on our roads.

    He called on the government use give the day to remember road traffic victims.

     

  • Roche drives cancer drug sales with insurance

    Roche Holding AG (ROG) has found a way to sell cancer drugs to millions in China who couldn’t otherwise afford them.

    The world’s biggest maker of tumor medicines is getting together with re-insurer, Swiss Re, to sell a Swiss-engineered private insurance that’s on track to garner 10 million clients this year, says Harald Sprenger, Roche’s director of private insurance and market-access strategy in China. Both partners expect a 20 per cent enrollment jump next year.

    Roche Holding AG Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan said, “We’re creating a market” in China.

    The collaboration between Roche and Swiss Re, the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, is carving out a new business in China for private insurance aimed at cancer, a disease blamed in more than a quarter of the country’s deaths. Advanced tumor medicines can cost about 10 times an average Chinese person’s income.

    “We’re creating a market” in China, Roche Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan said in an interview. “The biggest hurdle in emerging countries is access.”

    Roche of Basel, Switzerland, provides health data needed to set up the policies. Swiss Re (SREN), based in Zurich, does the statistical heavy lifting and then re-insures local insurers who sell the policies. So far about 6 million people have enrolled, Sprenger said in an interview. The goal is to have 12 million by the end of next year.

    “The old theory was that there are only two segments: there’s the rich, who can afford it, and there’s the poor who cannot afford it at all,” Schwan said in the interview in Paris. “Now what you have is an emerging middle class. This emerging middle class is able to make a contribution.”

    The cost of the insurance can range from about $50 a year for a basic product to several thousand dollars for the most complete coverage, according to Swiss Re.

     

     

     

     

  • Truck leaders sign for TRACCON-Africa

    Titans of the truck industry have confirmed to showcase products in the annual two-day Truck, Tyre, Logistics and Fleet Conference and Exhibition (TRACCON-AFRICA) slated for November 29 and 30th.

    In a statement signed by the publisher of On Wheels magazine, Jabez Aina-Scott, the organisers of the event said the logistics industry major players, including Mobil Oil Plc, Mercedes Benz, TaTa, Bukke-Have’s Renault, Iron Products Industries (IPI), and Richbon’s Sino trucks and some others have signed-on to participate in the event.

    Others who have also shown interest to participate fully, according to the statement, are Lanre Shittu Mack trucks, ATC Nig Ltd-Volvo trucks, GM’s Isuzu, Prolong Lubricants and Oando Oil.

    The statement said:“This year’s edition, is supported by Mobil Oil through its high grade Delfac engine oil. With the exhibition targeting the haulage, logistics, trucks, fleet operations, lubricants and the tyre sectors as major participants, the vent is designed to also feature a conference and workshop for the practitioners with lectures and paper presentations from seasoned and experienced industry experts.”

     

  • Coscharis begins Range Rover promo

    Coscharis Motors is offering to its customers a seven-seater bus or an equivalent in monetary discounts for any single purchase of the 2012 Range Rover.

    The Christmas promo, which is particularly precipitated on the needs of customers to move items around during the festive period is part of the company’s commitment to continually deliver on its promise to give value for money.

    The promo started on November 5 and will end December 31. It is only valid while stocks last.

    Different categories of gifts, including Cosmos LCD televisions, Cosmos air-conditioners and Lenovo laptops are available for purchases made on any other variants.

    The Range Rover stands alone as the flagship, the ultimate and the supreme luxury four-wheel drive vehicle.

    Sold in 170 countries, the Range Rover is a truly global car and as the official car of the Queen of England, appeals to the well informed and life’s leaders; those who have the desire for bespoke products and the very latest in design and innovation.

    Coscharis Motors has made landmark investments in the automobile industry as symbolised in its state-of-the-art facilities, nationwide and has a passion to push the current boundaries of the automobile industry in Nigeria.

    The company is the authorised dealer on Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, Mini, Morris Garages (MG) vehicles, Ford, Joylong, Wuling, Yuejin and Hongyan.

  • Ex-AFRAA scribe faults plan to set up new domestic carrier

    Former Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Mr Nick Fadugba, has faulted the plan by the Federal Government to facilitate the establishment of new domestic carriers.

    He said it will be better for the government to embrace global trend of encouraging the consolidation or merger of existing carriers, as it is done in China.

    In an interview, he explained that it would be better to pursue the delivery of profitable and competitive domestic carriers rather than just having airlines to swell the number.

    He said: “The airlines are our weakest links at the moment. Apart from Arik, we don’t have any large, strong airline in Nigeria. Most of the airlines are weak and underfunded and undercapitalised. I hear they are planning for new airlines. I would encourage the government to exercise caution because all over the world, airlines are consolidating and in China, you have four major airlines and they are a billion people. So, if we bring new airlines, how will they all survive?

    “In bringing new airlines, we focus on not many but the few strong, profitable, affordable, safe airlines, rather than having more airlines.”

    He also spoke on the parlours state of operational airport infrastructure, urging the government to take urgent steps to deliver controversy-free concessions and a master plan to develop the aviation sector.

    He said: “ When you talk about infrastructure, I was very surprised by the well-articulated plan, an integrated plan for all the airports in Nigeria but I believe the government has to bring in the private sector to attract more funding. In terms of strategy, they are moving the right direction.”

    He said for too long infrastructure in the aviation industry lagged behind that of countries. “Even in Africa, we have lagged behind, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa. For example, I was in Maputo last week, the people have built a new airport, marvelous, unbelievable yet we can’t say that in Nigeria at the moment,” he added.

    According to him, aviation is in three parts. They are regulation, infrastructure and operation and the airlines. He added that in terms of regulation, “I think NCAA doing a good job but the job is not finished.”