The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • BPE clarifies preferred bidders’ bank guarantee

    BPE clarifies preferred bidders’ bank guarantee

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has corrected the payment mechanism by preferred bidders for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor generation and distribution companies.

    It said the preferred bidders would get back their bank guarantees on payment of 25 per cent of any generation or distribution company. This is against full payment it earlier directed.

    The Bureau on Monday had announced the approval of preferred bidders by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP). It said the preferred bidder’s bank guarantee submitted to the Bureau by preferred bidders will be returned only after full payment for the companies but noted that the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued to bidders stipulated that upon the payment of the 25 per cent of the purchase price, the preferred bidder’s bank guarantee would be returned to the bidder.

    But Head, Public Communications, BPE, Mr Chukwuma Nwokoh, said: “The BPE wishes to clarify the payment mechanism by preferred bidders for PHCN successor generation and distribution companies. Our earlier press statement on Monday, October 29, 2012 in the wake of the approval of the preferred bidders by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) had informed that the preferred bidder’s bank guarantee submitted to the Bureau by preferred bidders will be returned only after full payment for the companies.

    “The correct position as reflected in “Commercial 6” of the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued to bidders is that upon the payment of the 25 per cent of the purchase price, the preferred bidder’s bank guarantee will be returned to the bidder.”

    The NCP had earlier approved the steps for the conclusion of the privatisation of the generation and distribution companies. It said: “After the approval of the results of the financial bids by Council, the highest ranked bidder for each Generation or Distribution Company will be required to post an additional bid security (‘Preferred Bidder’s Bank Guarantee”) in the form of a Letter of Credit or Bank Guarantee for fifteen per cent (15 per cent) of the transaction value within 15 business days of notification from the Bureau of Public Enterprises. The Preferred Bidder’s Bank Guarantee shall be from a Standard & Poor (S&P) or Moody & Fitch “A” rated foreign bank with a correspondent bank in Nigeria or a Nigerian bank rated “A” by a Rating Agency approved by SEC and be valid through 21 calendar days after the stipulated proposal validity period or any extended proposal validity period.

    “The designated Preferred Bidder will be invited for negotiations with BPE. Within 15 Business Days after signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement, the Shareholders’ Agreement or the Performance Agreement ‘whichever is earlier, or at a mutually agreed earlier time, the Bidder shall make a down payment of 25 per cent of the share purchase price.

    “Within six months after signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement or the Shareholders’ Agreement, whichever is earlier or mutually agreed upon time, the Bidder will be required to pay the outstanding 75 per cent of the share purchase price to complete the transaction. Upon receipt of payment, the Preferred Bidder’s Bank Guarantee will be returned to the bidder within a maximum of four weeks.

    “After the completion of payment, the handover of the successor company to the preferred bidder will conclude the transaction.”

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Soludo, Toure for Southeast summit

    Okonjo-Iweala, Soludo, Toure for Southeast summit

    Preparations for the Southeast Economic Summit have reached advanced stage as over 90 per cent of the resource persons have confirmed their participation.

    Top on the list is the former Managing Director of the World Bank, Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who will deliver the keynote address at the event and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who will chair the grand finale of the summit.

    A statement by the Secretary of the summit, Mr. Amaechi Agboeze, also indicated that the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria/UNDP Resident Representative, Mr Daouda Toure, has also confirmed his participation and will deliver a Good will Message from the United Nations in Nigeria at the event.

    A Director in the World Bank Country Office in Nigeria, Dr. Michael Wong, will give a Lead Paper on the South East Investment Climate Report during the Infrastructure Forum at the Summit.

    An aspect of the Summit, according to the statement, is the Infrastructure Forum being packaged by the PPP Resource Centre under the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission in the Presidency, Abuja.

    The Forum is a Special Session dedicated to finding solutions to the orchestrated problems of infrastructure in the Southeast.

    It will feature a Lead Paper by the Executive Director of the Resource Centre, Chidi Izuwah, who will speak on ‘Delivering world class infrastructure to drive inclusive growth in agriculture & industry through an effective sub-national PPP Frame works: Lessons from other emerging economies.’

    The Director-General of the Governors’ Forum, Asishana B. Okauru, will speak on Southeast Peer Review Mechanism Report on regional infrastructure: challenges and opportunities.

  • 24-hour business incorporation service kicks off

    The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has kicked off its 24-hour business incorporation service in its Ikeja office in Lagos.

    Trade and Investment Minister, Mr Olusegun Aganga, said the inauguration of the new business registration marked an important milestone in the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to reposition the business environment.

     He directed the CAC to open a complaints register for customers who are unable to register their businesses within 24hours.

    “The Lagos offices (Yaba and Alausa) can now accept incorporation documents and process the certificates from start to finish within 24 hours. The same thing goes for the Head Office. This is encouraging in line with global best practices and useful for investors who would want to commence business urgently.

    “The target is to ensure that companies are registered within two hours and to institute a vibrant and transparent companies registry where services will be user-friendly. However, to show that we mean business and that we care about our customers, I direct that a complaints register be opened for anyone who is not able to get his company registered within 24 hours,” he said.

    The Minister said the frustrations that had been spelt out by businesses in relation to the procedures at CAC, before the reorganisation and repositioning of the Commission, were basically as a result of the non-computerisation of its operations.

    He added: “The process of incorporation and other services were manual, registration numbers were manually picked and certificates of incorporation were manually typed. It, therefore, took months to register a company.

    “But the Management of the Commission, under the supervision of my ministry, has embarked on programmes/projects that have transformed the Commission into a modern Company registry. Some of these include the relocation of the Commission’s Head Office, review of its incorporation processes, computerisation of its operations and improvement of its human resources.”

    Aganga said the inauguration of the new office and the registration model underscored the commitment of the administration in providing the enabling environment for trade and investment to thrive in the country.

    “Studies have found that the creation of new businesses is a significant indicator of the level of economic growth and development of a country; in addition to the job creation and wealth generation that come with it,” he further added.

    The minister said the Ministry had strengthened its One-Stop-Shop Investment Centre as part of efforts to improve the country’s business environment and enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

  • Shell to lift Nigerian force majeure

    Royal Dutch Shell is expected to lift a force majeure on two grades of Nigerian crude oil by the end of this month, a top official said yesterday.

    “We are hopeful it will be lifted by the end of November on both the export terminals,” Ian Craig, the Vice- President for Production and Exploration in sub-Saharan Africa, told Reuters in an interview.

    In late October Shell’s Nigerian venture declared force majeure on exports of Bonny and Forcados crude, citing damage caused by thieves and flooding that affected a third-party supplier.

    “The problem that we’re having is these repeated incidents. So you fix one, you go for a period and then you have another one. I’m pretty sure we’ll get out of this one quickly, the difficulty is how long before the next incident,” the Lagos-based executive said on the sidelines of an African oil conference organised by Global Pacific & Partners.

    Separately, Shell said its Nigerian output has been cut by about 20,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter due to flooding in the Niger Delta.

  • Expert warns against overstocking of poultry birds

    An expert in animal production, Professor Abiodun Adeloye, has warned poultry producers against stocking more birds than they can carry. Speaking with The Nation, Adeloye, of the Department of Animal Production,University of Ilorin(UNILORIN), said overstocking of poultry production units with birds could affect their health.

    It affects chickens raised for eggs known as laying hens and those raised for meat called broilers. Stocking density is a measure of how many chickens of a certain size are put in a house, given its size.

    He said keeping a small number of broilers within a reasonable space provides for better body development, while congesting them encourages cannibalism and spread of diseases.

    Adeloye said broilers could die in rearing houses as a result of painful and distressing conditions.

    He said broiler chickens are susceptible to a significant number of health problems that can compromise their welfare. He added that the necessary measures are often ignored because of the financial implications.

    According to him, breeding which causes very poor welfare should not be permitted. Though there is no legal upper limit on stocking densities, he called for changes in breeding and management practices.

    One of the issues under consideration at the international poultry industry is stocking density. Stocking density has major economic implications for the broiler industry as higher profits can be obtained when more animals are housed under one roof.

    However, as profits increase, the welfare of the animals may decline. One of the most heated debates regarding broiler welfare is what should be the maximum density permitted to ensure bird welfare.

  • Fed Govt trains 200 youth in poultry, fishery

    No fewer than 200 unemployed youth in the Southwest have been trained by the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Oyo State.

    The training centres on poultry and fish production, processing and other agricultural businesses.

    Opening the training, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, represented by Dr Usman Ahmed, said it was in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Agriculture Transformation Action Plan(ATAP), meant to reverse the over dependent on oil and create 3.5 million jobs in the next four years.

    Adesina noted that the society does not respect agriculture and discourage their children from studying any agricultural related fields.

    He said the government is determined to reposition agriculture to boost food security, create jobs and contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    “The over dependence of Nigeria on oil exports as main source of national revenue has been an embarrassment over the years, so also the failure to maximize our agricultural potentials despite availability of vast arable land and human resource, with massive unemployment put at 40 per cent for the youth segment of the population” Akinwumi said.

    He urged the participants to be ambassadors of the campaign for food for all and see agriculture now as a business.

    He called on states and local governments to promote agriculture through loans, land and fertiliser.

    In his opening remarks, the Provost of the college, Dr Ademola Raji, said the vocational training is important now that the nation is striving to achieve food security.

    He said the programme was laudable since it will not only improve food sufficiency but create needed jobs.

    According to him, the training will introduce participants into modern techniques in poultry, sheep,goat and fishery production, which will lead to employment generation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and improved standard of living.

  • Women farmers seek access to land, credit

    Women farmers in Kogi State under the aegis of ‘Women In Agriculture (WIA), have called on the government and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) to assist them access land, credit and technical skills.

    The President, WIA, Kogi chapter, Mrs Esther Audu, made the call in Lokoja.

    Mrs Audu said the vision of the body was to empower women to engage in sustainable agriculture through capacity building and advocacy for their rights, especially to land and food security, adding that women needed support.

    She contended that the vast majority of the world’s poor were women; two-third of the world illiterates were female just as the majority of school-age children currently out of school were girls. She added: “Today, HIV/AIDS is becoming a woman’s disease.”

    The WIA president, therefore, urged the government to strengthen women and other farmers’ cooperative organisations by facilitating their expansion while creating favourable business, legal and social climate for them to thrive.

    Earlier, the Project Officer of ActionAid Nigeria, Mr Victor Adejoh, said over 100 smaller women farmers groups from 11 communities in Kogi, trained and supported by the organisation, had registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as cooperative groups.

    Of the estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, Adejoh said 70 per cent lived in rural areas, adding that the 2012 World Food Day beamed its light on agricultural cooperatives in view of its capacity to reduce poverty and hunger. “It is estimated that one billion individuals are members of cooperatives worldwide generating more than 100 million jobs around the world in agriculture, forestry, fishing and livestock, giving themselves better bargaining power.”

    The project officer urged farmers to join already existing cooperative groups rather than forming new ones, to enable them to derive maximum benefits and ease administrative problems.

    The President, Smallholder Women Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mrs Elizabeth James said the association had been constrained by the dearth of farm inputs, processing machines and mobility.

  • ‘Why rice deserves special attention’

    Increasing rice production will help keep the poor fed, consultant to the Lagos State Government on Rice Projects Dr Rotimi Fashola has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, Fashola said millions of people eat rice because it is cheaper.

    He said it was possible for Nigerians to buy more rice with the same income than other staples.

    According to him, when the domestic market is opened, cheap imported rice flood the market, driving down prices and encouraging farmers to abandon their rice fields to seek employment elsewhere.

    Currently, Fashola explained that fluctuation in the level of Asian rice production is dictating the trends in world rice prices. This, he added, was not good for the Nigerian economy, which depends on imported rice.

    For this reason, he explained, that the tariff on imported rice is good for the local farmers ,as it would no longer be profitable for traders to import.

    In the absence of tariff, he said local produced rice will be affected by cheaper imports. Thus, the tariff provides farmers some shelter from price movements on world markets.

    Canvassing increased local production to discourage dependent on foreign rice, Fashola said achieving this will depend on improvement of irrigation in rice production, pest and disease resistance varieties.

    It would strengthen commercial production of the commodity. Within the country, he said the prospect of bringing additional land into rice cultivation are unlimited. As scientists have succeeded in developing appropriate high-yielding varieties for the drought- and flood-prone environments, Fashola said rice production could increase substantially.

  • ‘Flood can cause soil nutrient deficiency’

    Oil expert Prof Ayo Ogunlela has warned that if flooding persists, it could cause soil nutrient deficiency which would affect food production.

    In an interview with The Nation, Ogunlela, of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department, University of Ilorin(UNILORIN), said flood and high rainfall presented a number of potential problems for tree and vegetable crops.

    According to him, waterlogged soils are deficient in nutrients, which are essential for healthy root growth. Soil erosion and eventual loss of nutrients, he explained, lead to insufficient growth and could eventually cause cell, root and plant death.

    He said widespread flooding makes farming challenging for many farmers. As a result , many fields will show potassium deficiency, which is necessary for plant growth. Meanwhile, a report said over 1,600 farm lands were affected by flood in Gombe state.

    The Secretary,All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Gombe State Chapter, Alhaji Gambo Sarkin-Noma, said that members of the association accompanied the committee set up by the Federal Government to inspect some of the affected areas that were seriously flooded.The secretary said that plans were under way to drill boreholes in those areas for irrigation purposes. According to him, almost every part of the state was affected but he identified the areas worst hit to include Dadin-Kowa in Yamaltu/Deba Local Government area, which is close to the upper Benue river basin. He said that no fewer than 400 rice and maize farmlands were destroyed in the state.Other places were Shinga in Yamaltu Deba local government, Durara and Maleri villages in Kwami local government area where 600 farmlands were destroyed and Kupto village in Funakaye local government areas of the state.

  • Fish feed firms merge

    The world fish feed sector is witnessing a shake-up.

    Norwegian Koppernæs and Danish TripleNine are to form the largest Nordic fishmeal and fish oil business.

    The new company according to a statement,will have factories in Norway, Denmark and Chile and will own 50 per cent of shares in the Norwegian trading company, Norsildmel AS.

    The basis for the merger is that the two parties have a convergence of views on the strategic challenges and opportunities for development.

    TripleNine Group will thus have a better opportunity to develop new products and meet customer needs.The merger will not come fully into effect until all approvals are received and is expected to be completed in spring 2013.

    According to Chief Executive Officer of Jejenuwa Company Limited, TripleNine accredited Nigerian representative, Mr Hakeem Oyeneyin, the alliance will provide the TripleNine Group a strong capability for growth and innovation, and will further strengthen TripleNine’s position as a world leader in fishmeal production and other allied products. “The basis for the merger is that the two parties have a convergence of views on the strategic challenges and opportunities for development.

    The strength of the two companies will enable the new one to pursue substantial growth opportunities. The merger will provide an opportunity to create an industry leader with strategic intent of transforming the fishmeal and allied products industry.

    ‘’The TripleNine Group will have a better opportunity to develop new products and as such, meet customer needs,” Oyeneyin explained.

    He said the merger would not come into effect until all approvals were received. It is expected to be completed before the second quarter of 2013.