The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  •  2Face buys two properties from Haven Homes

     2Face buys two properties from Haven Homes

    Multiple award winning musical artiste Innocent Idibia popularly called 2face and his wife, Annie have bought two properties from the developer of lifestyle living, Haven Homes.

    In a statement, which followed the Exchange of Contracts ceremony that took place at the Magodo Office of Haven Homes, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tayo Sonuga, said: “There is little need restating the fact that we build for celebrities and high society people. They are in the best position to appreciate our alluring designs and beautiful homes because they are widely travelled. They have the tastes and the means to acquire what they desire.

    ‘’The confidence displayed by 2Face in buying not just one but two units of properties from us is a watershed of our achievements in creating lifestyle homes and earning our reputation as celebrity developers”.

    On why he decided to patronise Haven Homes where he bought two units, Idibia said: “Haven Homes builds very beautiful homes that are fast becoming a trend among celebrities. You will marvel at the increasing number of celebrities who are buying and living in their lifestyle homes. I have only identified with a very good product that is made in Nigeria and as its ambassador I will promote the company and take the brand to other celebrities”.

    No sooner than the deeds were signed, when an excited 2face immediately sent a broadcast tweet ‘Just bought me 2 Haven Homes’ attaching the picture of the deeds signing ceremony.

    Ayo Makun (comedian popularly known as AY) and his wife, Mabel, are also celebrities who bought their new home from Haven Homes.

    Haven Homes already enjoys relationship with other celebrities, such as Ini Edo, Funke Akindele, Oge Okoye, Desmond Elliot, Bob Manuel Uduokwu, Aki and Paw-Paw, who have graced the inauguration of their homes and visited their various show homes located on the Island and Mainland of Lagos State.

    The company according to the statement, recently delivered some units of its Sandringham Terrace, a project located in Lekki Phase 1. The first phase of another Lekki project called Richmond Gate comprising 18 units is almost ready for completion and work has just started on the Second Phase comprising 32 units.

    In conformity to its signature design, the typical Haven Home unit, according to the statement, is a beautifully crafted work of art with the exquisitely sculptured five-bedroom house using modern architecture to create a fine balance between brick and glass. The exterior and interior spaces are delivered with the highest precision of sharp angles and complimented with ornately arranged lights.

    The master bedroom is designed as a private retreat in the home planned in double volume spaces with private suspended galleries, double spa (Jacuzzi), private living room/ study room on the upper floor while the lower floors house the king sized bed, shower/WC and walk in wardrobes.

  • Fed Govt votes N500m for software development

    Fed Govt votes N500m for software development

    The Federal Government, yesterday said it had released N500 million as part of the $15million Technology Venture Capital Fund needed to grow the nation’s local software economy.

    It will be used in the development of software incubation programmes in the country.

    Addressing a forum on software incubation in Lagos, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the fund will be seeded through the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF). She added that the government’s seed fund would attract the remaining $12 million from investors locally and internationally.

    The minister said as part of efforts to grow the software sub-sector of the ICT industry and make it contribute substantially to to the gross domestic product (GDP),  the government came up with the idea of setting up incubation centres with the pilot project located in Lagos and Calabar,  the Cross River State capital.

    Mrs. Johnson said the e-Learning Centre would host the software incubation centre in Lagos, while Tinapa Knowledge City would house the Cross River State’s innovation centre.

  • Pepple inaugurates 106- housing unit estate

    Pepple inaugurates 106- housing unit estate

    The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Amal Pepple at the weekend inaugurated 106-housing unit Crown Court Estate, a concept of Crown Realities Plc in Mabushi area of Abuja.

    She expressed satisfaction with the developers, stating that this is what a home should look like. The estate with 106 housing units of detached and semi-detached houses as well as luxury condominiums with first class finishes and facilities on three hectares of land,  is a first step in the move by the company to build more houses in the Federal Capital Territory.

    She said housing is paramount in the agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan for the nation, going by what shelter does to an individual.

    She said: “We want to concentrate on providing houses for low income earners especially those in the informal sector and we believe that even if it’s for them it shouldn’t be of low quality,” she stressed.

    The Managing Director, Crown Realties, Mr Darl Uzu, said the estate is the company’s way of registering presence in the property market in the FCT and tackling housing shortage in the country.

    “The estate is safe for residents as the company had gone an extra mile, presently securing life and property has become a major problem in most urban centres in the world.

    “The estate has its own independent power project with three synchronised generators of 600KVA capacity each; elaborate waterworks with 550,000-litre fibre storage tank with a treatment plant, an overhead fibre tank, laundry mart, and shopping complex.

    “The recreational area has the club house that features the swimming pool, changing room and gymnasium. There are also fire hydrants and extinguishers in strategic locations within the estate in addition to a telephone exchange that is connected to every apartment with Internet facilities, as well as pre-installed DSTV connections.”

    Uzu explained that the company opted for pre-installed air conditioners in the apartments so that the beauty of the estate would not be destroyed by individual installation of air conditioning units.

    Chairman, Crown Realities, Ferdinand Alabraba, said their developments are always futuristic, and the company had taken its standard a notch higher to development of the estate.

    He added that it is the first in the FCT, adding that they have plans to embark build more.

  • Housing deficit:  Self-build cooperative model advocated

    A United Kingdom-based expert in social housing, Prof  Prince Efere has said the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan would be incomplete without a sound social housing strategy.

    While the country’s current housing deficit stands at 16 million, Efere noted that 17 million houses must be provided by 2020 for the country to meet its various developmental targets.

    Efere stated this at the weekend in  Abuja while delivering a lecture at the Third Annual social housing seminar with the theme, Social housing: The business oportunities beyond shelter.

    According to Efere, President Jonathan must adopt a radical approach to the provision of social housing for Nigerians that will help Nigeria to build millions of homes for its citizens at no cost in real terms, as the government will recuperate all its Investments in due course.

    While  advocating a self-build societies model of social housing for Nigeria, the expert explained that the self-build society could be a profit making company that is registered as such, in order to establish strategic partnership arrangement with the government at all levels and their agencies for providing social housing at rents below market rent.

    He said: “Nigeria urgently needs a proper social housing framework to help it tackle the acute housing shortage.social housing exists because some people in the society are poor or are on low incomes,thus, reducing poverty is the focal point in any social housing policy or strategy.

    “Social housing means the provision of subsidised housing for people on low or no income,that is housing for poor people.an alternative name for social housing is public sector housing.”

    The social housing expert also enjoined the National Assembly to make legislation that allows the registration of self-build societies that would partner with the government, in addition to framework of laws that would authorise or approve the creation of self-build societies at the Federal, state and local government levels.

    “Assuming the 774 local governments in Nigeria decides to build a minimum of 800 houses i.e 200 houses per annum,in four years, a total number of 619,200 housing units will be built by local governments in Nigeria.

    “In the same vein, a minimum of 148,000 houses would have been built in each state and Abuja in four years at 4,000 units each.

    “Since the Federal Government is richer than the State and the Local government councils,the Federal Government should build 4,000 houses in each states of the federation, which translates to extra 148,000.

    “Based on this analysis, a minimum of 915,000 social houses can be built in Nigeria in a specified period of time.

    “Besides, Jonathan must ensure that Nigerian citizens, especially the low income earners are adequately given comfortable housing as the government cardinal responsibility enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria for an affordable housing for all,” he added.

  • Engineers seek legislation on design, construction

    Engineers seek legislation on design, construction

    THE Association of Consulting Engineers (ACEN) has advocated legislation on engineering design, construction and consultancy services in construction industry.

    Prof. V.O.S. Olunloyo made the call in a paper entitled: Advocacy for legislation on engineering design, construction and consultancy in Nigeria, which he delivered at the 34th Annual Conference/Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ACEN.   Speaking on the theme Nigerian content: Where are we, Olunloyo, who is a consulting engineer, said indigenous engineers have been relegated to the  background in favour of  foreign firms due to their mono-disciplinary in composition and interests.

    He said: “Most firms have less than 20 professionals on their role and hardly any with staff strength of 100. We need to be open to the idea of forming consortia when bidding for projects. Evidently, there is marginalisation in favour of multinational or local representatives of multinational firms because they are generally broad-based and multidisciplinary”.

    Olunloyo observed the challenge of negotiating a fair scale of fees because of the poor image they have generated due to the size of their firms, which are not competitive.

    He canvassed the need to form alliances with other groups, such as the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Association of Professional Bodies and others to form critical mass as a pressure group.

    The consulting engineer called for legislation to make provision for outsourcing a stipulated minimum percentage of the project- work given to multinationals to local consultants and by extension make it a condition for registration.  He regretted the absence of institutional organs for involving local professionals in major economic activities and projects.

    He said the government should insist on the auditing and documentation of the use of local consultants and personnel at every stage of an engineering project in the country.

    Special effort, he said, should be made to ensure that the proposed legislation covers emerging technology to create a niche for engineers in the global market especially in the area of software.

    The don said care should be taken to ensure lawmakers are aware that enough experts reside in the country and should therefore to be given first chance and final say in matters of consultancy of public and private building projects.

    A past president of ACEN,  Dr Joseph Folayan, who spoke on The integrity of Nigerian  engineers, said engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct, have full regard to the needs of society by protecting  public interest and  preserving the integrity of the profession.

    He said for the public to appreciate the worth of an engineer,  the national engineering body provide an impartial service of high quality in accordance with the national engineering code, co-operate with association in any inquiry with regard to a complaint brought against a member under this code of conduct or any other misconduct.

    Besides, he said the integrity of a particular professional is seen in the code of conduct of the profession and its adherence by her members.

    Folayan urged his colleagues to ensure that their principals and staff conduct themselves in such manner to uphold and advance the integrity, honour and dignity of the engineering profession.

    He added that they must stick to the high ethical standards as enschrined in ACEN Articles and Act in professional matters as a faithful agent or trustee for employers or clients.

    Folayan also insisted that  to ensure integrity engineers must  not affix their signatures or seals to any engineering plan or document dealing with subject matter in which they lack competence by virtue of education or experience or to any such plan or document not reviewed or prepared under their supervisory control.

    Folayan noted that the first law of the engineering profession states that an engineer shall  hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public while the second says: “An engineer  should  ensure  honesty with himself  and restrict his services to only areas of  his competence.”

  • How to improve airport security, by experts

    Security agencies devised ways of securing the airports. The security agencies including personnel from the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN), Aviation security unit, Nigeria police, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, the State Security Service, National Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Air Force promised to redouble their efforts at countering terrorism.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police Airport Command Mr Haliru Gwandu, said the synergy among the agencies must be strengthened to keep potential terrorists at bay from the airport.

    He observed that theft in the airport, which he attributed to connivance among airport personnel, is a great cause for worry for the Police.

    Gwandu called for more logistics for the Police to do their job, especially in perimeter patrol, arrest of miscreants and other unlawful interferences on the land and airside.

    Johnpaul Echeta, the Commanding Officer, Anti-Terrorism, stressed the need to enhance security around the airports at both peak and non-peak period to miscreants from catching in on the loopholes.

    He appealed to the authorities to put right pegs in the right holes to avoid compromise among security agencies, adding that security is everyone’s duty.

    Other participants advised that the latest security technologies should be acquired to assist airport security agencies to achieve success in protecting the airport and its teeming passengers.

    The first yearly international airport security and safety summit with the theme: Getting it right was organised by Karamba Consulting.

    The organiser, Daniel Young, said the event would afford experts the opportunity to learn advanced strategies and technologies deployed to enhance national security.

    Young said the event was designed to discover cutting edge technologies and approaches towards achieving optimal physical security of personnel and infrastructure.

    He explained that the summit provided a robust platform for experts to examine how to execute appriopriate security training programmes that will meet domestic and international security threat, its needs as well as vulnerabilities in the airport operating environment and the resultant culture.

    He said: “The summit has gone a long way in addressing the issues of security and the safety needs in Nigerian airports.” Part of the issues discussed include securing Nigerian airports, airspace safety and security, cross border strategies for sharing intelligence as well as innovative strategies that facilitate risk-based airport security and safety.

    Other issues include contingency planning- threat assessment and airport in internal security, protecting air travellers in Nigeria a security imperative.

    Young explained that the effects of the threat of terrorism has become imperative to attract the attention of aviation experts, because the industry is often used as target by terrorists.

    He said: “There is need to explore new strategies of combating domestic and cross border security threats. This has become serious because the airports serve as the main link between national and international boundaries.”

  • Group wants more fire men

    The President of Nigerian Aviation Fire Safety Association (NAFSA), Mr Lewis Ojeifo, has said additional, aviation fire personnel are needed at the various fire points at airports in the country to meet the need of fire service.

    Speaking on the activities of the department in the one year of the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Ojeifo, noted that there has been some significant transformation in the system.

    He remarked that ageing workforce and retirement has depleted the staff strength of fire men in the nation’s airport which necessitated the need for fresh hands to be recruited into the service to adequately meet the challenges of the future.

    “People are retiring daily, not that they do not like the job, the people have attained the retirement age. So, we need to bring in fresh hands to add to what we have. We do not need anything less than 1,000 men to add to what we have now and that is when we will say that we have enough hands to support those on ground”, he said.

    According to Ojeifo, the number of firemen has gone below 800 across the airports, which has led to some of them working round the clock in some airports to ensure that they keep the airports running but lamented that it could lead to fatigue.

    While expressing appreciation to the Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah for her transformation programme, Ojeifo commended George Ureisi for equipping airports in the country with new fire trucks and the training of fire personnel on the trucks. “When the rein of affairs in FAAN changed hands to the present boss, the whole thing changed and we have been collaborating and as today, we have 40 brand new fire trucks in our airports for our operations,” he said.

  • ‘Dana committed to safety’

    THE management of Dana Air has reiterated the airline’s commitment to the provision of safe and reliable world-class services to travellers.

    Its Head of Corporate Communications Tony Usidamen restated the airline’s commitment while outlining steps taken by the airline for safe and smooth returning of the firm in a chat with aviation correspondents.

    According to Usidamen, “following the lifting of the suspension on our operations by the Federal Government on September 5, 2012, the airline commenced a rigorous process of recertification by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). This is a standard safety measure taken by the authorities to ensure that all the aircraft in our fleet are fully serviceable, and we have been cooperating in the exercise.

    “Of the five aircraft in our fleet, three are on ground at MMA2 and have undergone thorough internal engine inspection and systems by NCAA, while the other two are undergoing scheduled C-Checks in Istanbul, Turkey andMiami, Florida.

    “The airline also organised an independent inspection of aircraft by Aircraft Leasing and Management (ALM) – a leading aviation consulting company based in the United Kingdom.”

    Usidamen disclosed that the airline has signed a five-year contract with a Canadian firm, FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd, for its flagship automated information reporting system (AFIRS) 228 at an estimated 1M USD.

    “The contract requires FLYHT to install the AFIRS 228 on all our aircrafts to provide real-time flight data monitoring and to assist in achieving maintenance and operational efficiencies.”

  • ‘Poaching, others impede local oil firms’ growth’

    Poaching of staff, lack of access to fund and lack of provision of start up leverages for indigenous oil service companies by the Nigerian Content Act are some of the major challenges impeding the growth of oil industry.

    The Managing Director of Engineering Automation Technology Limited, Emmanuel Okon disclosed this at the Fifth Anniversary of the company in Lagos.

    He drew the attention of the government and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board to the need to support indigenous oil service companies.

    He said: “Where appropriate structures and systems exist as in Engineering Automation Technology Limited, funding presents itself as the major limiting factor facing most indigenous entrepreneurs in running successful business operation.

    “Existing legislations including the recent celebrated Local Content Act do not provide start up leverages for competent and ambitious indigenous companies like ours. This has negatively impacted on our business aspirations giving rise to operational challenges also faced by other local companies.

  • Union Bank records N17b Q3 profit

    Union Bank records N17b Q3 profit

    •Investors stake N11.5b on equities

    Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc further consolidated its performance in the third quarter as the recently recapitalised bank reversed net loss of about N59.14 billion with net profit of N17.18 billion.

    Interim report and accounts of the bank for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2012 showed strong bottom-line performance as improvement in core banking operations continued to impact on overall performance.

    Profit before tax stood at N14 billion in 2012 as against pre-tax loss of N75.8 billion in comparable period of 2011. While tax write back of N16.66 billion helped reduced net loss to N59.14 billion in 2011, the company recorded net profit of N17.2 billion in 2012. Tax write-back for third quarter 2012 was N3.2 billion. Net interest income increased from N47.81 billion in 2011 to N52.23 billion in 2012.

    The latest report steadied the bank’s returns outlook with earnings per share of N3.29 in 2012 as against net loss per share of 5.0 kobo in the comparable period of 2011. At today’s opening price, earnings yield stood at 41 per cent, indicating the probable return to investors.

    The report also reaffirmed Union Bank’s large capital base with shareholders’ funds of N209.93 billion in 2012 as against deficit of N189.04 billion recorded in corresponding period of 2011.

    The third quarter report showed sustained growth trend, building on turnaround noted in the first and second quarter. In the first half, the bank recorded net profit of N16.14 billion compared with a loss of N40.30 billion posted during corresponding period in 2011. This translated to earnings per share of N2.51 as against a loss per share of N3.05 kobo recorded same period last year. In the first quarter, the bank posted gross earnings of N25.51 billion while profit after taxation was N6.32 billion.

    Directors of the bank stated that the third quarter report indicated the resurgence of the bank following its recent recapitalisation and restructuring programmes.

    According to the bank, the stellar performance is due to full re-capitalisation, emergence of core investor; faster service delivery to customers and other growth spurring polices of the management.

    The bank said its robust performance sprang from a solid foundation laid during the recapitalisation and restructuring period, thus creating momentum that has helped to feed the investing public optimism as evident in the rising risk appetite and share price of the bank.

    Directors of the bank said they expected the uptrend to continue in the periods ahead as investors look towards first full-year profit in recent years.

    Meanwhile, investors staked N11.49 billion on 1.19 billion shares through 22,277 deals last week at the Nigerian stock market. The financial services sector remained the toasts of the investors with turnover of 835.158 million shares valued at N6.380 billion in 13,326 deals, representing 70 per cent of aggregate turnover for the week. The consumer goods sector staged a distant second with turnover of 178.863 million shares valued at N3.65 billion in 4,204 deals. The trio of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa were the three most active stocks, accounting for 324.977 million shares, some 27 per cent of total turnover.

    On the over-the-counter (OTC) bond market, investors staked N187.51 billion on 179.414 million units of bonds through 1,196 deals. Nigeria’s sovereign bonds are traded on the OTC.

    The benchmark value indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed modest gain for equities. The All Share Index (ASI), the main index for Nigerian stock market, inched up from its opening index of 26,559.55 points to close at 26,718.30 points, indicating an increase of 0.60 per cent.

    Aggregate market capitalisation of all equities also added N50.6 billion to close at N8.514 trillion.