The Nation Newspaper

Tag: African

  • Madeline Berah, the African Detective in the missing government papers (8)

    To everyone’s surprise, when she reached him, she put her arms around him, as if giving him a tight hug. The man was more surprised that we were but that was for a few seconds. Suddenly, however, she began to pull at something in his clothing. When he seemed to realise what she was about, he began to try to pull himself out of her embrace.

    Have I told you that once Aunt Deline gets hold of something, she is worse than a hungry tiger holding on to its prey to make sure its lunch does not escape? No? Well, you must know now that Aunt Deline would as soon wrestle with a lion over his prey if she felt he had no right to it as she would punch a man in the nose for insulting her.

    When she gets like that, I usually look for the nearest exit because her punches have had previous habits of falling irreverently on anyone who gets between her and her target. I have been an unwary recipient before. Before our very eyes today, however, her embrace transmuted to a struggle to hold on; but the more she struggled, the more the cleaner tried to pull out.

    Nearing exhaustion, Aunt Deline cried out, ‘Don’t just sit there all of you, help me hold this man down. He has the papers!’

    Hearing that, the two men rushed upon them just as the secretary came in and within minutes the man was on the carpet. While the men had the man pinned down, Aunt Deline was stripping him of his French suit. She started with the trousers. I tried to look away because I thought she was going to be taking off his briefs next. When I looked again though, she had removed his short-sleeved jacket and was feeling all over it. There, from right inside the front lining, she pulled out a long brown envelope. Everyone gasped as they left off holding the struggling man.

    The permanent secretary held out his hands for the envelope. Trembling all over, he brought out the contents and checked them one after the other. The look he gave us was both exultant and triumphant.

    ‘Everything is intact,’ he said in wonderment. Then he sat down heavily on his chair again and looked at Aunt Deline with reverence. ‘Madam, you have saved me and my career today!’

    By now, the cleaner, who had been full of valiant struggles a minute before, was sitting hunched up on the carpet, face down and refusing to look at anyone. The secretary, who had come in while the struggle was on, took a seat near him and draped his shoulders with his jacket.

    When all was calm again, the permanent secretary had a look of awe on his face but he spoke quietly.

    ‘How did you know?’

    Aunt Deline answered. ‘I didn’t. I was sure that the papers were in the office, but I at first thought that the secretary had them. However, when I spoke with her, I did not see a woman hardened by crime but I saw a face in pain. When I surprised her in the office the first time I was here, I thought she was either deeply unfriendly or deeply troubled. Even now, I am not sure what the source of her pain is as it cannot be just the papers.’

    The secretary sighed. ‘Ma, it is the papers. I was also worried about them.’

    ‘Then you should be happy like the rest of us’, shouted the permanent secretary.

    ‘Yes sir’, the woman replied wearily, ‘but I am not happy about the place where we found them.’ Then she burst into tears.

    We all sat in perplexity.

    Pulling herself together and wiping her eyes, she explained.

    ‘Fifteen years ago, my sister who lives in Zunguru asked me to take her young boy to live with me since I was in the city and could give him a better chance in life. I took the boy and tried my best for him. I sent him to the same school as my children. I fed him the same meals as I did my children. In fact they did everything together, including studying. For some reason, however, my children came out of school with good grades, went on to university, graduated and took good jobs and are now living fine, independent lives.

    ‘Somehow though, my nephew just could not do well in the same academics despite being exposed to the same conditions. I did all I could to help him, including taking private teachers for him, but nothing helped.

    ‘Unfortunately, my sister blamed me. She said I used juju to take her son’s star and distribute it among my children; that’s why they are now doing fine now and her son is languishing.

    ‘After trying everything I could, I finally got him a job in another ministry hoping he would build a career and rise on the job. But he got involved with a bad group and started misbehaving, stealing and all that, and he got sacked. I decided to bring him here right under me so I could keep an eye on him. So, I came to you sir and you gave him a job, and now a fine job I seem to have done. What am I going to do? If he goes to prison, what am I going to tell the mother?’ She started to cry again.

    Aunt Deline was grieved. She hated to see a woman cry.

    ‘Don’t worry, the permanent secretary will be magnanimous. He will not press charges.’

    The permanent secretary sighed and agreed that he would not, but the young man should just tell us how he got hold of the papers because he thought he guarded it jealously enough.

    After a lot of coaxing, the cleaner opened his mouth and explained.

    ‘I had been present when the paper was brought to the office by the boy sent to deliver it. The secretary my aunt had not seen the contents of the envelope before she went to the restroom. While she was away, I quickly looked in the envelope and decided that the papers were very important so I just bid my time.

    ‘Whenever I cleaned the office, I noticed that Oga would make sure his briefcase was near his feet just behind his desk. So, I just watched for the times he went to the toilet and how long he spent there. One day, I saw him go to the toilet because the door was slightly open and my aunt was not around, and since I knew the shape, size and colour of the envelope, it was not difficult for me to get it within half a minute. Before he came out, I had done what I wanted to do and was already back on my seat pretending to sleep when he came to see if anyone was waiting for him here.’

    ‘But why did you take it?’ his aunt asked in exasperation.

    ‘I saw the gambling receipts. They were more important than the other papers. I was going to sell them back to the owner.’

    The inspector spoke. ‘Do you know that blackmail is a criminal offence?’

    ‘And supposing the man killed you instead of paying you? What then?’ his aunt asked again.

    Aunt Deline stood up. It was our cue. ‘I think our job here is done. We should allow the good permanent secretary to get on with his job.’

    The permanent secretary stood up too. ‘I know that if I asked you how you knew that the envelope was on the young man, you would not tell me. But at least let me pay you.’

    ‘Oh, I don’t mind telling you. I was not expecting anyone to be ‘wearing’ the papers; I was expecting to have to lift up every carpet in the place or go through the toilets, but I was prepared to be surprised anyhow so I paid attention to everything.

  • ‘African countries need reforms in oil industry to attract investors’

    PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has urged African governments to reform their oil and gas industries to attract investors.

    In the PwC’s 2016 Africa oil & Gas Review, the international advisory firm stated that in the face of declining global oil prices, the continent still offers significant opportunities in the oil and gas industry.

    It noted that regardless of the  bleak landscape of the industry, there is still hope for the sector to attract investors’confidence.

    According to ESI Africa, PwC Africa Oil & Gas advisory leader, Chris Bredenhann, said: “It is an opportune time for local governments that want to attract oil and gas investors to reform their regulatory, fiscal and licensing systems.”

    The report highlighted that uncertain regulatory frameworks are one of the main issues that organisations in the oil and gas industry are struggling with. For instance, in South Africa, the study noted that there have been commitments to address concerns since last year, and the intention of government to separate regulations for oil and gas from the mining industry was communicated.

    However, South Africa’s Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) has not yet been changed and approved to reflect such modifications.

    The report stated that in Tanzania the regulatory environment remains uncertain despite the promulgation of the Petroleum Act in 2015 while on the other hand, in Nigeria, the government has failed to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law.

    The research found that by the end of last year, Africa had a proven natural gas base of 496.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), down marginally from 2014, with 90 per cent of the continent’s natural gas production still coming from Nigeria, Libya, Algeria and Egypt.

    PwC’s analysis suggests that is the ideal time for the industry to consider introducing training programmes to upskill levels and company standards in order to give local players a chance to enter the sector when activity picks up again.

    “The oil and gas industry is faced with a higher entry barrier because technology and jobs tend to be more complex, highly specialised and costly,” Bredenhann noted.

    Another point made by the research was that basic as well as technological infrastructure is essential for the oil and gas sector to thrive.

    “Furthermore, players must look at the state of the industry as an opportunity to reinvent themselves. Given the state of the industry, we think that stakeholders must also consider making changes to their business models.

    “Change is the way to survive in the ‘new energy future.’ We need to see new business models, new products, new energy sources and new strategies to meet the new reality,” Bredenhann added.

  • UBA chief stresses gains of African expansion

    UBA chief stresses gains of African expansion

    The outgoing Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa Plc, Phillips Oduoza, has said the bank’s footprint and reach within the African continent comes with immense benefits, including cost cutting.

    At the fourth valedictory lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in his honour in Lagos, at the weekend, the bank chief said the lender’s African reach helps it initiate and complete Letters of Credit (LC) transactions within the continent.

    This, he said, saves time and resources for its customers. He said other lenders, without the African spread advantage, may not have the same advantage.

    He said the huge informal trade as well as the growing intra-African trade is opportunities that financial institutions operating within the continent can capture via the use of existing trade products, such as LCs.

    “The current practice for an LC confirmation is for it to be done outside Africa by European and United States banks even if the companies consummating the trade both reside within the continent. This need not be so. It is my strong belief that businesses conducted across African borders can be efficiently financed by eliminating the extra cost incurred when LCs are confirmed outside the shores of the continent. There will also be efficiency gains in the reduced time to confirm and negotiate LCs for customers coming from two African countries. As a Pan-African, UBA has provided and will continue to provide this unique service and support to its customers across the continent,” he said.

    He said the Pan-African banking model creates room for innovativeness and ability to benefit from economies of scale to be more cost efficient. The ability to group related banking functions together and provide service from a single platform could lead to huge cost savings.

    “UBA leveraged this concept by setting up a group shared services platform. The group shared services platform has been used to handle some routine tasks carried out at our business offices and subsidiaries, thereby cutting costs, ensuring standardisation and improving efficiency across the entire group. We established two platforms to handle some transactions relating to either Anglophone or Francophone countries,” he said.

  • Agbaje is African Banker of the Year

    Agbaje is African Banker of the Year

    Guaranty Trust Bank Plc Managing Director/CEO Segun Agbaje has been named the African Banker of the Year during the 2016 African Banker’s Awards, which took place on the sidelines of the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meeting in Lusaka, Zambia.

    Now in its 10th year, The African Banker Awards is internationally recognised as the landmark finance event to reward achievements, commend best practices and celebrate excellence in African banking. The award provides a platform to bring together industry leaders from across Africa and celebrate the achievements of those driving economic growth in Africa.

    Speaking at the exclusive Gala Dinner attended by over 400 financiers, business leaders, and influential personalities and policy makers, Omar Ben Yedder, Group Publisher of African Banker Magazine said: “Over the years, I have been privileged to honour some truly exceptional individuals, who have left an indelible mark on the industry.

    Today, we honour a man, Segun Agbaje, who has redefined the African Banking landscape and built an institution that is Proudly African and Truly International. Since assuming office in 2011, Agbaje has led the bank to become one of the most profitable banks in Africa with a well defined CSR strategy that continues to give back to its host communities through its many philanthropy initiatives.

    Agbaje said: “I am humbled and happy to be recognised as the African Banker of the Year.”

  • ‘African insurers may lose $1b on mega ships’

    African insurance industry may need to prepare for over $1 billion loss in future due to piracy attacks on mega ships, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, has said.

    Allianz made this known at the African Insurance Organisation Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco while briefing journalists on key findings of the Allianz Safety & Shipping Review 2016 report.

    In the report, Allianz said that progress continues on piracy in Africa with incidents down in Nigeria and Somalia. It noted that although piracy risk remains high, attacks continue to increase in South Asia.

    The report said: “Crew kidnapped and held for ransom, doubled to 19 in 2015 with all the result of five attacks off Nigeria. During 2015, risks to shipping in the Middle East Gulf and surrounding waters escalated as politically-charged disputes took hold.

    “In Yemen, the ongoing war and blockades had not affected ships sailing through the Gulf of Aden at time of writing, but calls at the country’s ports had been curtailed, with Aden accepting a fraction of the calls it handled before the dispute. In North Africa, the Egyptian Armed Forces officially declared a “state of war” in July 2015. Again, the war and disputes there had not had a notable effect on shipping, but with Egypt’s control of the critical shipping point, the Suez Canal, shipping is keeping a watchful eye on events in this country.

    “Operators must remember that the provision of war insurance does not mean that the taking of cargo from this area is safe; insurance should not be viewed as a safety blanket. The industry may need to prepare for a $1billion+ loss in future due on mega ships.

    “Cyber-attacks on the shipping industry are often under-reported as companies opt to deal with breaches internally for fear of worrying stakeholders.”

  • Brands gather for African Brand Congress

    The Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria (IBMN) is to hold this year’s edition of African Brand Congress (ABC) and African Brand Leadership (ABL) merit award.

    Holding next week at the Lagos Sheraton Hotels & Towers,  Ikeja, the Registrar of IBMN, Mr. Desmond Esorougwe, said the congress and brand leadership award were aimed at celebrating leadership, innovations and creativity in Africa; and to also showcase the brilliant minds and institutes that are delivering positive change and shaping Africa’s future.

    The event will honour CEOs, brands, products and services and public officers, who have excelled and demonstrated uncommon initiative and have driven leadership in the African economy.

    Holding in collaboration with the African Institute for Brand Management (AFRIBM), he said the African Brand Congress was an annual fiesta of best brains behind most successful and sought-after African Brands.

    “It is meant to stimulate, motivate and excite the creative lobe of your brain using the same kind of thinking and exercise that we use in our workshop. The Congress is designed to educate, engage and inspire brand building and value creation. It is an appropriate platform for all brand owner and industry player to discuss how brand in Africa can increase their Global competitiveness,” he said.

    The congress will enhance professional development in the area that are most relevant to the business community of today. Also, the Congress will provide hand on skill building experience for brands and brand managers. Therefore, the congress expect participant from all over Africa.

    Esorougwe stated further that the focus of the congress would be to support brands in the journey of excellence in brand building and to discuss and influence creation of African Global Brand.

    He said participants at the Congress would have learn how branding operates in some of the world’s most successful business, the future trends in leadership and how to implement new strategies and techniques in their organisation

  • ‘Path to addressing African human, institutional capacity deficits’

    THE Third Pan-African Capacity Development Forum (CDF3) ended in Harare, Zimbabwe, over the weekend with a call for a greater commitment and closer collaboration among partners and member states of African Union (AU) to address human and institutional capacity challenges facing the continent.
    Delegates at the forum, among them African ministers, heads of continental bodies, African Capacity Building Foundation’s (ACBF) strategic partners and board members, private and public sector officials, recognised that despite the economic and social progress achieved across the continent, the results have been differentiated and many countries continue to face human and institutional capacity deficits.
    According to them, the deficits were preventing African countries from achieving their full growth potential as well as implementation of growth priorities, especially Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), regional development strategies and country development strategies.
    The participants in a communiqué, which included far-reaching recommendations, noted that Africa still faces the task of addressing critical challenges associated with unsustainable and non-inclusive growth, youth unemployment, climate change, worsening security, gender inequality and excessive reliance on primary commodity exports.
    They declared that that capacity remains the missing link in dealing with the critical development challenges facing the continent

  • AfDB boosts African housing with $8.2m

    Shelter Afrique, a Pan-African finance institution supporting the development of the housing and real estate sector in Africa has received a $8.2 million injection of equity by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

    In a statement by the AfDB, the injection is meant to strengthen its balance sheet and help achieve its objective of providing quality affordable housing in Africa.

    “Africa’s economic landscape remains positive with promising scope for growth; Gross Domestic Product remains robust supported by multiple factors. The continent’s growing population, a growing middle class and the fastest urbanisation rate in the world are some of the factors driving increased demand for affordable houses and housing finance,” AfDB noted.

    The Managing Director, Shelter Afrique, Mr. James Mugerwa, said the equity increase is a testimony to the confidence reposed by AfDB in his firm. “The African Development Bank has sent strong signals about the seriousness of housing on the continent, and by extension, the seriousness of what we do here at Shelter Afrique. It is a welcome development but we see it as a challenge as well. This equity increase means the AfDB wants to see more, they want to see impact and scale and that is what we will be aiming for this year; impact,” Mugerwa said.

  • Afe Babalola, others to get African leadership award in South Africa

    Afe Babalola, others to get African leadership award in South Africa

    Renowned lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria Aare Afe Babalola will, on Friday,  get the African Leadership award in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    Babalola, who founded Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), will join other institutions and individuals at the Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg, at an event that will showcase some of the continent’s leading public and private institutions committed to excellence, innovation and African growth.

    The event will also showcase individuals, whose hard work and leadership have contributed to building legacies and strong brands.

    The event, tagged: “2016 African Educational Institutions of Excellence”, according to Dr. Ken Giami, the Publisher of African Leadership Magazine, is designed to re-echo the words of the late South African President Nelson Mandela that “education is the most powerful tool to change the world and it remains the most potent force in sustaining Africa’s developmental push”.

    Chairman of the African Leadership magazine’s North America Board, Joe Beasley, said: “We are resolved to shining the spotlight on frontline educational institutions and the academia, which have pioneered excellence and innovation in Africa’s educational landscape through exceptional leadership.”

    Aside the award segment, Giami said delegates will join other leaders to discuss the future of education on the continent.

    Other institutions of excellence to be honoured include: University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; University of the Free State, Bloemfontain, and University of Cape Town, both in South Africa; Covenant University and Babcock University in Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; among others.

  • Nigeria in the African and global system

    The rise of African nationalism culminating in the emergence of independent African states in the 1960s and beyond was rooted in Pan Africanism (Immanuel Geiss and Ayo Langley). It is therefore not surprising that when Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who doubled as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister spoke in the UN in October 1960 about Nigeria defending the rights of all black men wherever they may be, he did not speak out of context. Whether Nigeria had the wherewithal to do this at that time or at any other point remains a moot point. What is important is that Nigeria put the world on notice that it had to be consulted and taken into consideration and confidence when the interests of the black man at least in Africa was being discussed and decided. The rest they say is now history. Whether in the Commonwealth, O.A.U, Non-Aligned Movement and at the UN, Nigeria was vociferous in championing the cause of the black man and the African. Perhaps it is in the area of foreign policy that Nigeria since independence has made considerable success in the elimination of the two evils of colonialism  and racial discrimination in  Africa and settlerism and racism in  Southern Africa in particular .,

    But after this success what next? What we now have to do is how foreign policy can be made to secure the cause of economic development at home and shared prosperity in the African continent. Of course we all know that there is a strong nexus between domestic and foreign policy. Unity and strength at home will translate into a dynamic foreign policy. This is why it is necessary for Nigeria to have a strong economy at home as well as political stability built on appropriate structural reorganisation of the country. A powerful Nigeria would definitely have influence not only in Africa but in the whole world.

    In recent times, we have focused our foreign policy on the support for democracy in Africa and promoting foreign investment in our country under the rubric of what we now call economic diplomacy. Nigeria in recent times has also been seized with the question of peace and security in our region based on shared prosperity and common vision of the future. This calls for West African and African economic integration. But the process has been slow because of lack of complementarity and symmetry in African economies. ECOWAS since 1975 has not moved beyond pious declarations about goals and aspiration. This is because the burden of leadership is apparently too heavy for Nigeria alone to bear. It seems Nigeria alone is not ready to carry the weight of economic support for the other impoverished West African states. If Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Senegal can pool resources together, they may be able to facilitate the emergence of a strong West African economic union and possible common currency with all the difficulties associated with such a bold venture bearing in mind that the Euro, the living example for a West African currency, is facing serious and discouraging problems.

    Nigeria in recent times has not been as assertive as it used to be because of serious problems of disunity at home and political instability manifesting in the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, the militant economic insurgency in the Niger Delta and in recent times the Biafran demonstrations calling for the rebirth of a moribund republic whose corpse was presumably laid down in 1970. Whatever problems Nigeria may have do not signify the irrelevance of our country. Even the downturn of the economy and the decline of the Naira do not mean the status of the country as an African power is at end. The country still has vast arable land, vast human and mineral resources and competent and abundant manpower and ability to deploy military power beyond its frontiers. In recent times, Nigeria provided assistance to Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, the Ivory Coast and Liberia in the restoration of peace in these countries. This is a manifestation of what Nigeria can still do in spite of whatever difficulties it faces at home.

    We have always worried about what we call post-conflict dividends. What we mean by this is after assisting African states to solve their problems, the question of what benefits accrue to us become relevant. But this question is loaded because of the possible feeling of Nigerian imperialism by sister African states. The image of the ugly Nigerian in the same way of the ugly American or ugly German as perceived by those who chaff under the weight of influence or power of a neighbouring big power must always be in our minds. Nevertheless Nigeria feels it can be a win-win situation. This was why in the 1980s and 1990s, our government encouraged private entrepreneurs to take advantage of economic opportunities in such places as Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Liberia and Sierra Leone after the conflicts in those countries. What is lacking is that we have not always put in a word or two with the governments of those countries on behalf of Nigerian private enterprise. Nigerian banks are now everywhere in West Africa and in some East African countries making contribution to economic development of those countries. In recent times the Dangote group has done more than any group to put into practice what we called economic diplomacy by its vast investment in African countries.  The GLO Group has also followed suit especially in its involvement in the telecommunications and oil industries in a few African countries. In other words, foreign investments can cut both ways. We should encourage our indigenous companies to invest in foreign and particularly African countries and make money while we also welcome foreign companies into our country. Since the 1990s we have always challenged new envoys posted out to foreign missions to seek for foreign investment to Nigeria. Results have been patchy but every Nigerian head of mission knows he/ she will be judged by the foreign investment flowing into Nigeria during his or her tenure.

    Our post-apartheid policy has also seen considerable one way investment of South Africans in Nigeria; what we need to do now is to encourage Dangote and others to get involved in the South African market.

    On the whole our foreign policy is transiting from political obsession to economic reality. This therefore is the challenge facing the   formulation and the execution of our foreign policy. Increasingly there is going to be greater challenges of economic development, fight against   and containment of   terrorism, internal political instability which our foreign policy will have to take into consideration, but our ultimate goal should be to make Nigeria the Japan of Africa and our success would attract notice by the whole world and whatever role is derivable from our power will be easier to achieve. Pious hopes alone would not do. What will facilitate greater role for us in the international arena is the power – both economic and political that we have. In this regard Nigeria needs to cultivate the Nigerian Diaspora as well as the black Diaspora. In doing this we can harness their considerable economic resources for investment and political support along the lines of Israel and its Jewish Diaspora. We must also let all Nigerians know that they are all ambassadors of our country. This will demand that all Nigerians should be of good behaviour where ever they may be. Involvement in crime, such as human and drug trafficking as well as terrorism will destroy all the gains and aim of our foreign policy. Foreign policy is therefore too important to be left to political and diplomatic corps alone. We are all stakeholders.