The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • NUPENG threatens strike over sack in Shell

    • We’re divesting from some assets, says oil giant

     

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called for the reinstatement of its members sacked by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    In a statement signed by the union’s Deputy President, Comrade John Eddy Ossai and Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, the union condemned the “victimisation and severance of its officials in the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)”

    The call for the recall of the workers was made in view of the on-going dialogue by the Labour Minister, Chief Emeka Wogu and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to resolve the matter.

    SPDC, however, denied the accusations of anti-union policies targeted at NUPENG members in its fold.

    The union officials warned that “if the SPDC management does not reinstate the union officials as it is a clear case of intimidation, harassment and victimisation, the industrial action that will follow by the union will be serious, as an injury to one, is an injury to all.”

    The statement reads in part: “The Union reiterates that the NUPENG SPDC caretaker committee Chairman, Comrade Enomate Kingsley and 16 other

    Union members affected by the severance should immediately be reinstated in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.

    “NUPENG  states that it dissolved the executive committee of Shell Branch of NUPENG for anti-union activities and set up a care-taker committee to run the affairs of the union in the interim.

    “It adds that the management of SPDC refused to recognise the care-taker committee and have since been planning to victimise the union officials.

    “The union stresses that SPDC planned to outsource the fire department where majority of the workers are based notwithstanding the union’s vehement opposition to the plan.

    ‘’To actualise their plan, the SPDC management transferred the former Chairman, Comrade Fidelis Okandeji, expelled by the union for anti-union activities and his loyalists out of the department leaving members of the caretaker committee vulnerable while hiding under the guise of divestment and management business decision to severe the union officials.”

    The statement further said NUPENG leadership was taken aback when on October, 22, 2012, the SPDC management carried out their threat and distributed severance letters to the Union officials including the Chairman of the caretaker Committee, Comrade Enomate Kingsley.

    NUPENG described this as a case of victimisation for Union activities and vowed to resist it.

    The union noted that contract workers in SPDC will also be affected. It said: “The management has refused to enter negotiation on collective bargaining agreement with the union and that means contract workers who served ten years and above will go with nothing.”

    In its statement, signed by the company’s spokesman, Mr Precious Okolobo, SPDC said it has no disagreement with NUPENG members.

    Okolobo said allegations of interference and intimidation of union officials made in some media reports against SPDC by some members of the union outside its employment, were false and baseless.

    “The fact is that SPDC is divesting from a number of its assets in Western Niger Delta as agreed by joint venture partners and approved by the Federal Government. This is part of a portfolio realignment that will also help to grow indigenous capacity in the oil and gas industry.

    “Staff and unions have been briefed on the exercise, including the implications for the structure of the business in Western operations. Affected staff are being compensated in line with company policies.

    ”We are also aware that there is a dispute between national NUPENG and the Shell Branch of the union, which is the subject of a court case. The court order is for all parties to maintain the status quo and SPDC is complying with that order,” he said.

  • Investors stake N200b on equities, bonds

    Investors staked N199.85 billion on quoted equities and bonds last week but the cautious optimism that later prevailed over the capital market could not totally erase the negative impact of bearishness that opened the week.

    While investors reduced stakes on equities, they stepped up investments in government bonds, a shift that reflected the largely negative pricing trend that opened the stock market.

    Total turnover on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week stood at 1.29 billion shares worth N9.41 billion in 19,825 deals as against turnover of 1.19 billion shares valued at N11.49 billion traded in 22,277 deals in previous week.

    At the over-the-counter (OTC) bond market, where Federal Government’s bonds are traded, turnover rose to 180.63 million units valued at N190.44 billion in 1,082 compared with 179.41 million units worth N187.51 billion exchanged in 1,196 deals two weeks ago.

    Although the overall pricing trend improved considerably by the middle of the week, the week-on-week market return still closed on the negative, particularly reflecting the major decline on Tuesday.

    The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark common index that measures changes in prices of all quoted companies, closed the week with a drop of 1.19 per cent to close at 26,400.94 points. It had opened at 26,718.30 points.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted equities indicated net loss of N101.13 billion with closing value of N8.413 trillion. All main sectoral indices followed the overall downtrend. The NSE 30 Index, NSE Consumer Goods Index, NSE Banking Index, NSE Oil and Gas Index and NSE Lotus II Index dropped by 1.18 per cent, 1.48 per cent, 1.24 per cent, 2.65 per cent, and 1.47 per cent respectively. The NSE Insurance Index meanwhile appreciated by 0.29 per cent.

    Price movement analysis showed that 23 stocks appreciated while 43 stocks depreciated. The financial services sector accounted for 876.900 million shares valued at N5.328 billion in 11,454 deals. The oil and gas sector occupied the second position on the activity chart with a turnover of 135.055 million shares valued at N186.919 million in 1,161 deals. The consumer goods sector ranked third with 92.782 million shares valued at N3.119 billion through 3,850 deals.

    Altogether, the top three sectors accounted for 1.105 billion shares valued at N8.634 billion traded in 16,465 deals, thus accounting for 85.42 per cent, 91.71 per cent and 83.05 per cent of the volume, value and number of deals respectively. On stock-by-stock basis, Beco Petroleum Product Plc emerged the most active stock with a turnover of 105.093 million.

    Cadbury Nigeria Plc led the advancers with a weekly gain of N1.39 to close at N25.89 per share. NCR (Nigeria) followed with a gain of N1.31 to close at N14.40. Ashaka Cement added N89 kobo to close at N18.89 while UACN Property Development Company rose by 58 kobo to close at N11.98 per share.

     

  • Trustfund seeks firms’ compliance with PRA

    The Trustfund Pensions Plc has urged companies to comply with the Pension Reform Act by remitting workers deducted pension funds to appropriate administrators.

    The Fund at its Annual General Meeting in Abuja lamented non-compliance with the PRA by many companies, and non-challant attitude of some state governments to the provisions of the Act.

    The Chairman of the Fund, Mrs Ngozi Olejeme, urged the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to continue to review and upgrade its compliance and monitoring oversight functions.

    “Our company will remain proactive in monitoring the developments, especially in the state, while sustaining our existing clientele base in that segment.” said Olejeme.

    Trustfund recorded N353 million profit, indicating an increase of 64 per cent after tax over the N215 million made in 2010.

    Olejeme described the 64 per cent increase in profit as modest. “We must acknowledge the level of cost control and cost reduction approach adopted by the management team for an efficient resource utilisation, which we hope would be sustained,” she said.

    The chairman said Trustfund is aspiring to be the leader in funds management hence its performance under its Fund Under Management (FUM).

    The company’s gross earnings grew from N1.735 billion in 2010 to N1.994 billion in 2011, representing a 22.2 per cent increase over the previous year.

    Olejeme said the company remained unalloyed in setting the pace in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

    She added that Trustfund was built on strong corporate governance practice, which ensures checks and balances among the different board committees.

    Trustfund was commended by its shareholders over an increase in share dividend.

    Olejeme said the board has approved a dividend of N15 per N1 share.

     

  • Insurer Old Mutual to acquire Ecobank’s insurance unit

    Insurer Old Mutual is set to buy the property and casualty insurance unit of pan-African lender Ecobank for about $20 million, it was learnt.

    The company, which aims at boosting its presence in the sub-Saharan Africa to cash in on the region’s strong economic growth, also said its German and Austrian life operations would stop writing new business as they no longer meet its investment criteria.

    Old Mutual has over the past three years sold businesses, including its Nordic life insurance unit to repay debt and dispel investor concerns that the group lacked focus and would be worth more broken up.

    Old Mutual had life insurance sales of 278 million pounds, in the three months to September 30, down 10 percent from a year earlier, and in line with the 2752 million pounds expected by analysts in a company poll.

    Non-covered sales rose four per cent to 3.76 billion pounds, ahead of the 3.2 billion pounds penciled in by analysts.

    Shares in Old Mutual, which quit its historic home of South Africa and listed in London in 1999, closed at 174 pence last week about 8.4 billion pounds.

    The stock has risen 27 percent in the past year, outperforming a six percent increase for the FTSE 100 share index.

  • Lagos reassures commuters of Lagos-Badagry expressway

    THE lagos State government has reiterated its determination to ensure that the Lagos-Badagry expressway is motorable and convenient for commuters.

    This assurance was contained in a statement issued by the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mr Biola Fagunwa.

    Fagunwa said the government would reconstruct the road beginning from Eric Moore to Seme border.

    He said due to the huge financial resources, the reconstruction work would be executed in three phases.

    “The first phase, Lot 1, of the project, demonstrates the vision of the government concerning the road. The second phase, being handled by a Chinese company, the CCECC, has further been broken down into three sub-phases,” he said.

    Fagunwa said the government was very mindful of the current status of the road, and had directed CCECC, to apply palliative measures to areas which were reported to have been washed away by the heavy rains witnessed in recent times.

    “It is our pledge and commitment to build a first class road and we will. However, we need the understanding and public support to achieve this,” he said.

  • Port Harcourt-Enugu road to be accessible for Yuletide

    Ahead of the Yuletide the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is giving the Port Harcourt-Enugu road comprehensive attention by providing direct labour thereby making the road accessible.

    Speaking while inspecting the work along the 200kilometre dual carriage way, FERMA Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Gabriel Amuchi, said the road requires comprehensive attention hence the special direct labour intervention.

    According to Amuchi, the 200km is split into small units of four and being handled by four contractors to ensure speedy completion of repairing the bad sections thereby making the road motorable ahead of Yuletide.

    An inspection of Obehe section shows that the contractor, Fordiac Construction is on site, the refuse along the road are being cleared before work starts. Inspection was also done at the Alaoji, Aba road as well as that of Uranta area. So far, the failed section along Port Harcourt-Enugu road has been recovered while rehabilitation work is also on-going

    The project, Amuchi said, was initially executed by the Federal Ministry of Works before this administration but it had its own challenges and it was stopped.

    “Since this administration came into being, FERMA was directed to repair all the bad locations to be motorable pending when there is a major rehabilitation work to be done,” he said.

  • Elumelu Foundation names leadership director

    The Tony Elumelu Foundation has appointed Ms. Désirée Younge, a Sierra Leonean, as Director of Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development.

    Ms. Younge, according to a statement, has experience in philanthropy and impact investing having worked with Synergos Institute’s Global Philanthropists Circle, and Robin Hood Foundation in the United States.

    For the past three years, she has run her own US based philanthropic strategy advisory company working with philanthropists, not-for profit organisations, and businesses to help them strategically execute their philanthropic missions.

    “I am excited to join The Tony Elumelu Foundation, an African foundation that’s thinking about philanthropy from a non-traditional perspective, and finding innovative solutions to drive long-term economic and social impact to improve the capabilities, and showcase the untapped leadership potential of Africans,”said Ms. Younge.

    She joins The Tony Elumelu Foundation at an exciting time. Now starting its third year of operations, the Foundation, according to the statement, continues to pursue its mission of enhancing the competitiveness of the African private sector through a coordinated strategy of programmes, grants and impact investments. Some of the highlights include the rapidly expanding African Markets Internship Programme (AMIP), now planned for nine African countries, the launch of the Elumelu Legacy Prize Programme, the Blair Elumelu Fellows Programme in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Elumelu Fellows Programme and the AllWorld Nigeria50. Grants include business development awards to pre-start up businesses in the Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria, as well as funding for consultancies to examine agricultural and SME investment opportunities in Nigeria. Most recently, the Foundation made a significant impact investment, in a regional agricultural commodity exchange based in Kigali, Rwanda.

    “This is an exciting time for the Foundation as we head into our third year and continue to develop innovative initiatives and partnerships that address the continent’s business leadership and entrepreneurship needs,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Dr. Boer.

    “Ms. Younge’s extensive experience and knowledge will provide an invaluable asset to the Foundation. We are delighted to welcome her on board.”

    Tony Elumelu, Founder of the foundation, said: “These past two years have been an exciting journey. I am continually impressed by the innovative creativity of our team as well as the African entrepreneurs, business leaders and public sector enablers that we encounter through the work of the Foundation. Together, we are creating economic prosperity and social wealth for our African people from within.”

  • NECA-NSITF workplace project takes off

    Some major employers/industries in Lagos have received ambulances and other safety equipment to assist their injured employees, courtesy of the NECA-NSITF Safe Workplace Intervention Project.

    Managing Director, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Alhaji Munir Abubakar, make this known at the Follow-up Interactive Enlightenment on ECA 2010 organised by the NSITF and Unite Consult Limited, in Lagos.

    Abubakar said: “We will touch the whole country,” adding that employers should comply with the Employees Compensation Act (ECA).

    He said the Fund was working with some social security outfits abroad, such as Zambia, learn from them, adding that employers should contribute their quota to the success of the scheme by paying for their employees to the Fund.

    Abubakar said that was the only way they could support the Fund, and ensure its success.

    Besides, he said only proper documentation would afford employees the opportunity to benefit from the ECS when there is a problem.

    So far, he said the fund has received 412 applications for claims without proper documentation while “NSITF has received 4,507 as notice of accidents or deaths”.

    Briefing the unions on delays in claims processing,  Abubakar  said: “Failure to complete relevant ECS forms or failure to include required attachments, ignorance of the manner of accidents/diseases covered by the act, among others, are some of the challenges affecting delay in claims”.

    In case of injury, he said: “Compensations for disabilities arising from injuries/diseases suffered in the course of work, a sum equal to 90 per cent of the injured employee’s total remuneration payable monthly”.

    The director also affirmed that NSITF is committed to reducing incidence removing sufferings, anxiety, insecurity and material deprivation of the often less privileged employees.

    “NSITF is committed to quality service that is guided by the principle of accountability, transparency and integrity”, he added.

    Abubakar , who also complained that many employers do not pay well, stressed noted: “Parts of the plan of the scheme, is the accreditation of hospitals and clinics all over the country that will be used for the treatment of injured persons under scheme, committee working on the opening of rehabilitation centres/vocational training centres in compliance with the provisions of the act”.

    He disclosed that as at August 31, over 1,000 employers have registered in the scheme.

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

    Many people want to know what kind of job they are suited for, based on the fact they are of a certain type. Is there a programme using the precepts of Temperament Theory to help in finding a career or a job? Feedbacks like this was the driver of choosing to present this three-part material.

    However, let us put things in perspective: you can explain the different natural talents of the temperaments, but finding the right job or right career is a little complex.

    Before we go on, you are encouraged to visit our upgraded websith www.jobsearchhow.com.ng for more ariticles on job-hunting and other very useful resources. Also, 5 digital books will be given away daily for the next 30 daily for those who leave the most useful/relevant comments on that day.

    Now, let’s go. Knowing your temperament helps in your search for a career or job, but it only serves as a guide, rather than giving you any fixed answer. Think of temperament as analogous to “culture” in terms of influence.

    If you are of certain culture, than you will tend to feel most comfortable in your culture, and you can operate well in that culture. But that does not mean that you cannot be happy and prosperous living in a culture that isn’t your original culture.

    The same is true with your career or job; you can find happiness and satisfaction in many careers or jobs that are not “natural” ones for one’s temperament. On the other hand, if you aren’t happy or you don’t think you are as effective as you could be in your current situation, then it would be useful in examining the match between your temperament and your current job or career.

    If you practice something, you get better at it. If you practice a lot, then you get very good at it. No practice, you lose it. Use it or lose it. People, if given a chance, will practice what interest them. If one gets good at something, one is more likely to be interested in doing it.

    Each temperament has their natural interests; if everything else is equal they naturally gravitate towards them.

    What, we might ask is this thing called “temperament” and what relation does it have to character and personality? There are two sides to personality, one of which is temperament and the other character. Temperament is a configuration of inclinations, while character is a configuration of habits. Character is disposition, temperament pre-disposition.

    Thus, for example, foxes are predisposed-born-to raid hen houses, beavers to dam up streams, dolphins to affiliate in close-knit schools, and owls to hunt alone in the dark.

    Each type of creature, unless arrested in its maturation by an unfavorable environment, develops the habit appropriate to its temperament: stealing chickens, building dams, nurturing companions, or hunting at night.

    Put another way, our brain is a sort of computer which has temperament for its hardware and character for its software. The hardware is the physical base from which character emerges, placing an identification fingerprint on each individual’s attitudes and actions.

    This underlying consistency can be observed from a very early age—some features earlier than others—long before individual experience or social context (one’s particular software) has had time or occasion to imprint the person. Thus temperament is the inborn form of human nature, character, the emergent form, which develops through the interaction of temperament and environment.

    There are four temperament dispositions: Guardian’s Artisans, Idealist and Rationals. I want to emphasize that temperament, character, and personality are configured, which means that, not only are we predisposed to develop certain attitudes and not others, certain actions and not others but that these actions and attitudes are unified—they hang together.

    Thus, the Artisans base their self-image on graceful action, bold spirit, and adaptability to circumstance, these three traits evolving together of necessity.

    Furthermore, these three traits developing together as if out of a single seed preclude emergence of a self-image based on, say, empathy, benevolence, and authenticity, which are characteristics of the Idealist. In the same way, the Guardians base their self-image on reliability, service, and respectability, these three traits emerging together as a unified structure of personality.

    And again, the unfolding of these three traits emerging together weighs against developing a self-image based on ingenuity, autonomy, and willpower, which is characteristic of the Rationals.

     

     

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

     

  • Defaulters’ll be punished, says NAICOM

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) would continue to expose and sanction erring operators to serve as deterrent to others, the Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel, has said.

    He told The Nation that the commission would never sweep cases of errant operators under the carpet or shield them from sanctions, adding that punishment meted out on such operators are to ensure safety of policy holders and shareholders.

    Daniel said NAICOM,in imposing sanctions, gives priority to the protection of the industry, adding that it would not be disturbed by the outcry of highhandedness by some operators.

    He said: “I believe the public would want NAICOM to be like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as regards sanctions. The method of Central Bank is not a cap that fits all. It is not a medication that cures all ailments. The approach of Central Bank has its own merits, which is do it publicly let Nigerians be aware of what is happening. Of cause, the Central Bank was confronted with a different scenario that needed the remedy they applied.

    “The problem of the insurance industry is not exactly the same. So, we may not be able to borrow that medication to cure a different ailment. When you have diarrhea, you have to take drastic medica-tion to stop it, because it could embarrass you. Whereas, somebody who has headache would take panadol; two of them are medications, but are intended for different purposes. And the effects look different. So, we salute the Central Bank for what they are doing, but I want to confirm to you that from time to time, we sanction insurance operators and if it is important for the public to know, we let them know.

    “Our sanctions are largely remedial. What is upper most in sanctioning a company is the protection of policy holders. If I sanction an insurance company and put it on the pages of newspaperS, without obtaining a remedy, how does that help the policy holder? But if I can effectively sanction an operator and the interest of policy holder is fully served, that means we are doing the right thing. Let the Central Bank continue to do what it is doing; we have a different problems and different approaches in resolving the problems.

    “I assure you that we are not sweeping anything under the carpet or shielding any operator. As a matter of fact, for some months, I think there have been shouts and cries from the industry about the sanctions we have given to errant operators. We are acting as it becomes expedient and appropriate; we are not going to mimic any regulator so that the public will say we are doing something that would not be necessary.”

    It would be recalled that the commission, early in the year dropped its hammer on some brokering firms that failed to comply with the industry’s rules. It urged the public not to transact businesses with them until they are let loose of its hook.