The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

RISAN holds conference on disaster management

Risk Surveyors Association of Nigeria (RISAN) will hold its national conference next month, in Lagos.

Entitled: Human element in disaster management and loss prevention, the conference, the President of the association, Jacob Adeosun, said in a statement, will address the challenges of disaster management and proffer solutions to mitigate the occurrence of losses on roads as well as in commerce and industry resulting from industrial fires and allied perils.

Adeosun said the conference will focus on the impact of human element in disaster management at this year’s parley given the central position which human beings play in managing the challenges of risks.

Expected at the event are Mr Fola Daniel, Commissioner for Insurance (NAICOM); Dr Remi Olowude, Chairman, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Dr Wole Adetimehin, President, Chatered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) and Mrs Laide Osijo, President, Nigerian Corporation of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), among others.

The conference will climax with the investiture of Adeosun as the President of the association.

October 24, 2012
CeBIH explores avenue for e-payment structure

Developing a function electronic payment system is critical to the economic development of the country, Chairman, Committee of e-Banking Heads (CeBIH) Chuma Ezirim has said.

According to him, the group is committed to the development of an efficient payment system in the country and will be organising a conference on that next month.

“We believe a functioning and efficient electronic payment system is not a myth or impossibility. It is something that has been achieved in other markets. We are therefore, inviting all stakeholders, including experts from outside the country to appraise our performance so far as an industry and agree on the structure that would enable us achieve our full potentials in the midst of various challenges,” he said.

He explained that the conference which has its theme “Developing a market structure that works: Challenges and Prospects for the Nigerian Payment System”, will hold from Wednesday, October 30 to Thursday, November 1 at the Transcorp Metropolitan Hotels & Conferencing Limited Calabar, Cross River State.

October 24, 2012
Agency challenges insurers on customers’research

Insurers do not spend enough time and money on research on customers’ needs and services, a report has said.

The report by GIZ, a German agency for sustainable development working in partnership with Riskguard-Africa Nigeria Limited, observed that the microfinance account underwriting is not attractive to underwriters not because of high cost or of the small size of the premium, but because insurers are not selling solutions.

Director-General, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Adegboyega Adepegba, said the institute has risen to the challenge of low level of research in the industry by establishing a college of insurance that will help enhance the level of research on how to foster growth in the industry.

He said: “You cannot do research in insurance in isolation, research would have to look at the micro and macro economy. You have to look at insurance itself, look at the economy within which it is operates. To have any meaningful research, it has to be all embracing. And maybe it has to start from conducting research on products and the need of the industry.

“You really need to know what the skill gaps are before you can think of putting in place proper training programme. For instance, in the oil and gas, there is a gap; that is the skill required to do that job effectively, which may not be adequate for now and in the next few months the institute is going to do something to bridge that gap, there are so many other areas.”

October 24, 2012
Flooding, insecurity delay MTN’s Network up-grade

Telecom services provider, MTN has appealed for understanding from its customers and other key stakeholders as it continues its Network Modernization and swap-out exercise.

The company’s Corporate Services Executive, Mr. Wale Goodluck at a press briefing on Tuesday in Lagos said the various activities related to MTN’s Network Modernization are progressing steadily. but noted that it was being affected by recent flood nationwide and insecurity.

“We regret, however, that the pace of work has been considerably challenged by the spate of insecurity coupled with the unprecedented flooding being experienced in many parts of the country,” Goodluck stated.

The network optimization exercise will affect over 4,000 base stations out of over 10, 000 across the country.

According to Goodluck “the task that we are undertaking is tantamount to building a new network .We are seeking to replicate what we achieved over a six year period in nine months”.

He explained that considerable progress has been recorded with regards to the ongoing network improvement plans adding that several swap-outs have reached very advanced stages of completion.

“The entire network modernization process is a very logistic-intensive one and the problem of insecurity has seriously affected the pace of work in some parts of the country.”
In at least 13 states, Goodluck added that flooding has created additional logistic impediments such that the pace of the ongoing network modernization efforts has slowed down.

While acknowledging that MTN’s customers have been experiencing some disruption over the last few weeks, the Corporate Service Executive said as much as possible, the company would stick to its original plan of carrying out the network procedures only at night, in order to minimize disruptions to services.

MTN’s current network modernization and swap-out exercise which began in July 2012 is expected to cover the entire country and was originally expected to span a period of nine months.
Its objectives are to considerably enhance capacity on the MTN Network and improve service quality. Under the project, which is being implemented by a combined team of MTN engineers and technical partners that include Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE, key network components are being swapped with the latest upgrades in the industry. Current power systems are also being replaced with hybrid power systems which are more environment-friendly.

October 23, 2012
NSE, firm donate software to 12 varsities

The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and MIDAS Software have presented software and licences to 12 universities for training and research.

The universities include: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Unversity, Bauchi; University of Maiduguri, University of Ilorin, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Others are: Federal University of Technology Owerri, Bayero University Kano, Ahmadu Bello Univesity, Zaria; Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcour;, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife and University of Benin.

During the presentation in Abuja, NSE’s President Mr Mustafa Balarabe Shehu said more varsities would benefit in the future.

He said: “NSE has selected 12 Nigerian uiversities across the six geo-political zones as centres for training, application and research on these Midas software applicable in civil, structural, geotechnical, mechanical and special projects.

“Midas IT is donating 25 licences of the software to each university, a total worth of over US$1.7milion (N272million) to the 12 selected universities for training and research programme.

“This is special and should be part of history both for the NSE and the Nigerian education sector in promoting engineering education and learning as well as enhancing professional competence and development of Nigerian engineers and students of engineering.

“These universities are advised to provide the enabling environment that will promote the programme among engineering researchers, students and practising engineering in their zones.

Note that the NSE branches and the headquarters will be working with the universities on this programme to ensure sustainability.

“I want the management of these universities and the executives of the various NSE branches to assiduously work together in their zones, so as to actualise the noble objectives of this initiative of improving the skills and competencies of Nigerian engineers for the development of engineering and technology in the country, while NSE will continue to monitor the progress and result of these programmes,” he said.

Regional Manager,MIDAS Software, Ravi Kiran, said they were using use the gifts to expand their business in Nigeria.

“It is basically a Korean software, which we are introducing into the market. We intend to start with the universities because they need it the most right now,” he said.

October 23, 2012
Reps blame FERMA, contractor for state of N300m road project

Members of the House of Representatives’Committee on have expressed shock over a project in Niger State that has not been started, despite that the contractor has been mobilised to move to site.

The lawmakers were on an oversight function in the state to ascertain the level of implementation of this year’s budget.

Four of five projects allocated to the state have been awarded and mobilisation paid by FERMA.

However, on-the-spot assessment of the projects contradicted the reports given to the committee, which showed that work had started on one of the roads as the contractor had been mobilised.

But the contractor handling the project, Enerco Nigeria Limited, claimed it has not been mobilised.

A member of the committee, Abdulrazak Zaki, said: “We are angry because they misled us. We were told that work has commenced on site only to get here and discover that it was at zero level. We would not have embarked on this tour if documents presented to us by the agency showed otherwise.

While he questioned the essence of the oversight, the lawmaker alleged connivance between the agency and the contractor on the state of the project.

“What is the essence of our coming here? We are not happy and our job is to let Nigerians know what is happening.

We are not here to cover anything up. To me, the so- called fight against corruption by the Executive is just a farce because they give cover to corruption,” he added.

Another member, Dr Abiola, said the discovery has supported the need for physical inspection of infrastructural projects across the country by the lawmakers.

“It is rather unfortunate to have travelled all the way from Abuja, over such a long distance only to see nothing and all we could hear was that the contract was awarded two weeks ago and nothing to show for it.

“When the legislators are showing concern over the level of budget implementation for 2012, that it is nothing to write home about, it is for occurrences like this.

“It shows insincerity on the part of the agency, because I want to believe that there is no reason for this lack of activity if they have been given money. I just don’t understand the reason we should be taken to where nothing is happening. That is just the most ridiculous aspect of it,” she said.

Chairman of the Committee, Gregory Chukwuegbo, who also expressed disappointment, however, corrected the impression of being misled to a zero performance site, saying: “ I believe why we were brought here was that we requested for the 2012 budget, but the on-going Mokwa project was for 2010/2011 budget year.”

According to the Chief Maintenance Engineer, who disclosed that about N300million would be spent to recover the 20km affected portion of the 165km road, the project was to make the road motorable and prevent it from collapse.

The committee promised to return to the site before the end of the year to ascertain progress of work.

October 23, 2012
Minister warns land buyers

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development Ms. Amal Pepple has advised land buyers in Abuja to be careful.

The Minister gave the advice during the commemoration of the World Habitat Day in Abuja.

The said at the event entitled: Changing cities, building opportunities, that when buying lands in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), they should make ensure that the land papers including the titles were in their hands.

She said: “I would advise people to be careful with how they buy lands, and where they build their houses, with the recent demolition on Airport road, Abuja, an estate like that should have a title.

“Demolition can be an answer for so many reasons, like when people build on waterways, or transgress by building on properties that do not belong to them. Then demolition can come in. But there should be a human face to all this.

“This 2012 alone, the ministry has given out 89 lands to private developers in all parts of the country, yet I can still tell you that there are challenges with some of the lands given to these developers. Some of the houses or lands that have had challenges through the ministry, it is making arrangement to pay back the money, but not immediately.”

She also said: “We cannot build enduring, inclusive, functional, livable and resilient cities if our pre-occupation is with the planning and development of mega cities only.

“On the contrary, we need to maximise the opportunities available in intermediate cities and small towns by ensuring the proper planning and utilisation of their territorial spaces before they degenerate fast into slums and inhabitable human settlements.

“This requires taking a holistic and futuristic view of planning rather than the otherwise myopic planning of our national agenda on urban development, which we are committed to implementing with all the key stakeholders in the housing and urban development sector through the instrumentality of the recently approved National Housing Urban Development policies by government.”

She said the most important need for harnessing the opportunities in the cities was to ensure peace and security, adding that the bad experience being faced by some urban dwellers in some parts of the country caused by violence was alien to our culture.

The Senate Committee Chairman on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Senator Buka Abba Ibrahim, pointed at the negative public perception, apathy and ignorance about the need for developing the cities to provide good opportunities for growth and development.

October 23, 2012
‘Why night cargo clearance is not working’

Despite the efforts of the Federal Government to facilitate trade at the ports by introducing 24-hour port operation, night cargo clearance at port is yet to work as planned, investigation has revealed.

Poor power supply, unstable data processing system and insecurity are some of the major factors responsible for the inability of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to clear goods in the night.

The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have been urged to address the issue to curb cargo diversion.

Investigation revealed while work at the Tin Can Island Ports in the day has been epileptic due to the server failure, at night, work is paralysed by poor power supply. As as a result, the Customs relies on generator to power some of their offices while some use rechargeable lamps.

Investigation also revealed that many clearing agents were not in their duty posts at the time of the visit to the ports by The Nation last Saturday because they had no hope that their goods would be cleared on time.

A senior Customs officer, who craved anonymity, said there must be constant power supply if the government wants to achieve its objectives on the 24-hour cargo clearance.

The officer said most of the time, clearing agents, importers and releasing and officials of the shipping companies, were on ground to perform their duty at night, adding that their absence has stalled operations in recent times.

Also, an importer, Mr Leke Ayeni, said the refusal of customs officials to discharge their duties promptly has affected the clearing of goods at night.

Ayeni said the development makes it difficult for importers and agents to do the necessary documen-tations at the ports.

According to him, officials are unable to access necessary data due to poor network system. He listed other problems to include poor power supply, and fear of attack by men of the underworld.

He urged the Federal Government to look at the issue and further take appropriate actions.

Also, an importer and maritime lawyer, Mr Felix Aborisade, queried the ports authority for not putting in place measures that would bring about 24-hour cargo clearance in the ports.

“For the policy on 24-hour cargo clearance to succeed, the government needs to assure the agents of their safety when they want to collect their goods in the night. When the cleared goods are not safe during the day, is it the night that such goods would be safe?” he asked.

Last year, the government had introduced the 24-hour clearance to decongest the ports, ensure trade facilitation, and bring the nation’s ports operations in line with the global trend.

October 23, 2012
PowerCell plans $2m investment in UPS equipment

An indigenous power solutions company, Powercell Limited, said it plans to invest $2million in Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) equipment to ensure that corporate organisations and individuals don’t lose data as a result of power failure or fluctuations.

UPS system is a device that supplies battery backup power to computers, servers and network equipment, among others.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr Tayo Balogun, said UPS power backups sub-sector is grossly underutilised as about 85 per cent of the sector remains untapped.

Balogun, who addressed reporters in Lagos, stressed the importance of UPS in safety of electrical materials and data. He said Powercell is partnering with Newave, which recently teamed up with ABB Group, which is globally known in power construction and equipment.

Newave is globally known for UPS and it pioneered production of modular UPS – a new technology in the UPS world, which is capable of sustaining small and medium companies and currently, Powercell is the only company licensed to sell its products.

Balogun said the company has standalone UPS and modular UPS, which exists in single and three phases of 10KVA to 2.7MVA as well as other ranges, adding that before end of this month the first set of products will arrive Nigeria.

He said: “On capacity building, we are sending our sales engineers to Switzerland for training. Our products are user and pocket friendly because we will sale, maintain and promote Newave products in Nigeria. In the long term, we are also looking to bring Newave to open shop in Nigeria, assemble and manufacture its equipment and some components here. It will help to stall capital flight.

“At the moment, we are partnering the best power back-up company in the world, Newave, which is a subsidiary of ABB Group. All Newave products are of highest quality and modular UPS is the king of UPS because it enables the user to expand.”

October 23, 2012
NESREA introduces regulations to combat environmental disaster

Following floods in some parts of the country, the National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has introduced four new regulations to combat the menace.

The regulations were rolled out at the Annual Regulatory Dialogue in Abuja by the Minister of the Environment, Mrs Hadiza Mailafia.

She attributed the flooding to non-compliance with rules.

She said: “The environment functions as source of raw materials and energy, a provider of services, such as maintenance of climatic system and ecological cycle and a sink for waste. Unfortunately, the functions of the ecosystem are under threat arising, particularly from disregard for environmental laws and regulations.

“The key environmental challenges facing Nigeria include water pollution, indoor and outdoor air pollution, industrial pollution, biodiversity loss, erosion, flooding, land degradation, desertification, sprawling urban solid waste, open bush burning, noise pollution, environmental pollution and wildlife crimes, climate change, ozone depletion, etc. these can be situated in failure to keep the laws and regulations, man-made or natural.”, she explained

The four new regulations are: National Environmental (Quarrying and blasting species) regulations, 2012; National Environmental (pulp and paper, wood and wood products) regulations, 2012; National Environmental (Motor vehicle assembly and miscellaneous assembly) regulations, 2012; and National Environmental (alien and invasive species) regulations.

Mailafia, who was represented by Dr. Modupe Odubela, described environmental regulations as a body of rules that ensures sustainable use of resources and for the social and economic development of the society.

According to her, environmental protection flows from a principle of a moral and ethical belief that citizens should protect the air, water and land.

“Environmental governance is not all about government. As citizens of this country, we have a key role to play in promoting environmental governance and in ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment, she added.

NESREA Director-General, Mrs. Ngeri Benebo stated that the laws are to ensure compliance with environmental regulations.

She called for a collective effort, stressing that the guideline will place stakeholders on the same page as individuals, governments, academia, and cooperate body.

“We need to do something to better the environment, to care for it because we are all stakeholders of the environment. Let us put regulation that will stand the test of time,” she added.

Speaking on flooding, the director-general stated that the recent flood is because of torrential rainfall and blocked drains.

“Once there is going to be torrential rainfall and the drains are blocked, we will definitely have flooding but if the rain is not so much, with time the drains will flow but because government, state government, local government, some persons, you and I have, refused to clean our drains and torrential rainfall comes, then we will find out that there is problem.

This is one of the things that contribute to flooding,” she said.

She urged the citizens to shelve the idea that government has to do everything for them.

“We should go away from the mentality that government has to clean the drain, government cannot clean the drain for you because you messed it up. Government made the drain for water to flow but you decided to put your trash in it, and that is not government duty”

“Government had to take from its resources to start ensuring that there is succor for those affected and all these would have been avoided or the magnitude would have been reduced if we had done what we were supposed to do”, she added.

October 23, 2012