The Nation Newspaper

Tag: analysis

  • ICA trains corps members on credit analysis

    In its quest to boosts employability of fresh graduates, management of the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) in collaboration with the Lagos State SecretariaNational Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has since commenced three-month training in Basic Credit Analysis for corps members serving in the state.

    A letter conveying NYSC’s approval of the top of the line programme commended the Institute for the initiative and highlighted the need to boost skill set of fresh graduates to make them more relevant and employable.

    ICA Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Chris Onalo, said the objective is to brighten up employability chances of fresh graduates who are on one-year mandatory national youth service programme.

    According to the ICA boss, the graduate training programme in Basic Credit Analysis is a unique and industry-wide accepted skills acquisition programme in credit management which will expose the participants to a wide variety of financial analysis techniques dealing with, among other areas, ratio and trend analysis, market circumstances analysis, creation of projections as well as detailed analysis of financial statement and cash flows, examination of collateral, appraisal of management and directors reputation, and other sources of repayment as well as credit history, legal and ownership records and management capability.

    Explaining the objective of the programme, Professor Onalo said: “In order to support easy employability of university graduates by the labour market, our Institute has developed and instituted Basic Credit Analysis Class (B-CAC) programme that runs for three months.

    Expatiating, he said the B-CAC programme is designed to nurture credit trainees to become team leaders, trainers and certified credit analysts of the future serves as added advantage in employment consideration into credit, banking and finance, accounting, marketing and sales department of organisations.

  • Analysis paralysis; call for action

    In his book, The Trouble with Nigeria, eminent African novelist and critic, Chinua Achebe said, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. Others have identified Nigeria’s, nay Africa’s problems, to include corruption, bad governance, political instability, unemployment, population explosion, religious and ethnic conflicts, diseases and environment degradation.

    But this writer is of the view that beyond all the societal ills enumerated above by Chinua Achebe and other well-meaning analysts and critics, there is yet another challenge Nigerians – in both private and public institutions or even our private and public lives – are facing: It is analysis paralysis!

    For the uninitiated, this refers to the state of over-analyzing a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.

    Individuals and organizations do not do enough when it comes to implementing plans, decision-making and achieving results.  Quite often, they spend more time on meetings, analysis, and deliberations – activities that are deemed counter-productive to good governance.  As we often say in this part of the world, “common knowledge is not common anymore”, hence, the need to reiterate the call for action to “Analysis Paralysis Syndrome”.

    The people increasingly look to the government and their leaders to envision, inspire and lead the change, of which they have every right to. So when you ask them about their expectations from their leaders, you would hear each describe the need for a leader who is passionate, inspiring, a creative problem solver, an innovator, someone with the courage to lead, the list is endless – since we know that meaningful change will not occur without leaders who possess the vision, courage and skills to lead the process.

    Rather than proffering timely solutions, people in leadership positions – either in our homes, families, workplaces and government – who are saddled with the responsibility of delivering on given tasks keep going back and forth to the drawing board, all the while getting nowhere on important projects and decisions. Delaying action while over-analyzing information clearly does not help when it comes to getting things done.  In fact, research has shown that, on average, people spend more than half their work hours receiving and managing information rather than using it to do what needed to be done.

    Consistent with the above is the time spent deliberating in meetings. Scholars have argued that most senior and executive management meetings are mediocre and not necessary, “not about coordination but about a bureaucratic excuse-making and playing politics. Decision makers are now addicted to meetings that insulate them from the work they ought to be doing.”

    Traditional meetings (formality) create an unnecessary culture of compromise that kill the sense of urgency, in which a false sense of urgency is created – a perfect cover up for inefficiency and laziness. Often times we have heard about meetings / deliberations or proceedings that were cancelled or suspended indefinitely and such were never revisited. The question that comes to mind is: what becomes of the time and resources invested in such deliberations?

    It gets even worse when government through its bodies: institutions, parastatals, committees, etc. over-analyze a situation than it is usually necessary, the repetitive deliberations, postponements, fact-finding missions and many more legitimate ways of doing nothing and getting paid handsomely causes productivity to drop drastically, while the confidence in the system plummet even further. All of these are convenient for the bureaucrats, after all, they know they will get paid, but what happens to the investor who has funds borrowed and tied down? What becomes of his faith? For how long should he continue to service a loan that is yet to be put to effective use? These are some of the questions that beg for answers.

    While I appreciate the fact that virtually all meaningful decisions, action plans, strategy etc. must be deliberated on, and important policies and regulations must go through due process, all of this is terrific that one should ordinarily not raise an eyebrow. However, it has become necessary to call our attention to the point of saturation – a state of “analysis paralysis”. It is one thing to learn, explore and absorb all the “experts” ideas, plans, inspiration and motivation. It is another thing to take timely actions in the lifespan of what is being acted upon, as whatever decision reached after the lifespan does not count towards anything really! It is not enough to just call for meetings – closed door or open door, we have to at some point do what is necessary – action over plans. There comes a time when any more thinking, deliberation and analyzing becomes counter-productive.

    As a nation, we just must start to move forward. We can analyze so much that no decision is made. There are evidences of government’s poor implementation drive all around for example and a lot of pending projects substantiates these. For instance, the reason why a great innovation at birth is yet to materialise is because a bill is yet to be passed into law after six good months of deliberations (half of the financial year). While in some cases, the appointment of committees and sub-committees to oversee a project alone can take the best part of one year. The decision-makers in this part of the world do not seem to be in a hurry about anything, particularly when it comes to their primary assignments – decision making. Since the more hours spent on the job attracts more pay all at the detriment of the people counting on the outcomes of the decisions reached.

    While I appreciate articles that critique and challenge, I believe that they must include recommendations and suggestions that add to the discussion about solutions. It is not my intention to mock our society about the lack of professional leadership skills. In order to raise the importance of action over plans and the need for our lawmakers to be more adept, innovate or perhaps be more accountable for their actions / in-actions, we all must play an active role in sounding the alarm that delayed proceedings which has led to delayed national growth. To reignite ourselves and influence our leaders and decision-makers to step up their game, realign, reinvent and change to meet the evolving needs of our individual lives, families and nation, we need to raise our voices and call the society’s attention to the need to act decisively and seize the opportunities of the present and the possibilities of the future.

    In conclusion, therefore, it is paramount that we change our mindset from arm-chair critics and perpetual analysts to go-getters who are performance-oriented. People should be remunerated based on work done. Everything humanly possible must be done to fight corruption so as to save an already sinking society from plunging deeper into the abyss of underdevelopment and waste.

     

    • Bashorun wrote from Kaduna, Kaduna State.

  • Analysis

    Nigerians will have to wait till September 30 for the details of yesterday’s verdict by the Supreme Court, which affirmed the victory of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.

    The seven-man panel of the Supreme Court ruled after listening to the contenders – former Governor Idris Wada and House of Representatives member James Abiodun Faleke.

    Wada contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Faleke was running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the last year’s election. Audu died before his victory could be announced, though he was leading the poll.

    Upholding Bello’s victory in the supplementary election, the court, headed by Justice Sylvester Ngwata, dismissed all five appeals lodged against his (Bello’s) return by the Court of Appeal.

    The Supreme Court panel promised to explain its decision on September 30.

    Yesterday’s verdict may have ended the judicial intervention in the Kogi debacle, but until the explanation by the Supreme Court, the questions thrown up by the declaration of the election as inconclusive remain.

    After declaring the election inconclusive after Audu’s death, INEC ordered a supplementary poll, a decision that was opposed by the contenders.

    The issues thrown up include the following:

    • Can the votes of a candidate, who looked good to win an election but died while awaiting his declaration, be transferred?
    • Can such votes be inherited by somebody who was not originally on the ballot?
    • What is the status of a running mate in the event of the death of his principal, and in a supplementary election?
    • Can the electoral umpire order a supplementary poll when votes expected from such rerun would be inconsequential on the results of the first ballot?

  • ‘Insufficient brand information hinders research analysis for Top 50 Brands Nigeria’

    The dearth of sufficient brand information in Nigeria has been described as major limitation to driving quality research exercise.

    The Chief Executive Officer, The Top 50 Brands Nigeria, Mr. Taiwo Oluboyede, said this in Lagos at the 2015 Top 50 brands event where 50 top brands were unveiled.

    He said it was a daunting task  arriving at the top 50 brands in Nigeria as unavailability of sufficient information on brands remain an albatross.

    Oluboyede said: “A major limitation to our processes is unavailability of sufficient information, particularly, for the quantitative review of the brands; hence we rely on the public perception from consumers in arriving at the top 50.”

    He said the aim of the exercise is to have a combination of both qualitative and quantitative. “We are working with several other organisations to achieve this and hopefully we will be able to have the top 50 brands listed in terms of asset base and consumer perception in the very near future.”

    He, however, noted that the top 50 brands 2015 were selected through certain variables such as brand Identity and retention, market acceptability, corporate social responsibilities, customer service delivery, visionary and innovation and popularity evaluation.

    The 50 top brands selected this year are brands that have weathered the storms over the years, and setting the pace in their various industries.

    Apart from the usual top 50 brands, Oluboyede said this year exercise also includes 10 brands to Watch whose selection was based on brands with positive and promising outlook, possibilities of being reviewed for the 50 top brands class soonest.

    He said though they aren’t among the top 50 yet, nevertheless, they are brands with compelling presence and significant brand building activities. “We hope this exciting block will be joining the top 50 league table very shortly,” he affirmed.

    The top 10 brands to watch include Heritage Bank, Huawei, SABMiller, Daraju Industries, Startimes, Jumia, Konga, CWG, Tecno and Waka Now.

    The Top 50 Brand CEO stated that the categorisation and attempt to value brands operational in Nigeria has become very important, particularly now that the Nigerian market is becoming a centre of attention in terms of investment globally.

    “We have a fast growing economy with budding middle class, it is important therefore to identify and categorise these major brands. We are also helping the brands and their investors to have an idea of the worth of their brand from consumer’s perspective. We are creating an information platform where we readily provide information on these major brands.”

    A major highlight at this year event is that the 26 of the 50 top brands for 2015 are Nigeria home grown, 52per cent while multinational are 48 per cent. “This is a positive improvement over the previous exercise. While this is not our target; it is good to note that Nigeria based brands are giving good account of themselves.” Oluboyede said.

    Detailed breakdown also showed that the financial sector has 24 per cent of the top 50 brands, followed by food and beverages with 18 per cent.

  • Why man needs deep personality analysis

    Why man needs deep personality analysis

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a complete state of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and not mere absence of a disease. This underscores the tripartite nature of man. Man is made up of spirit, soul and body, according to the Bible.

    For a proper and lasting solution to the various health challenges, it is imperative that man’s overall composition be taken into account.

    Man is very complex, and as such can be described as ‘complicated’. To maintain harmony or optimum health, man should look beyond the physical for solutions his problems.

    Man has passed through several civilisations, with each age developing its own level of sophistication as to how best to survive in different, unique environment, situation or circumstances, however primitive. With the advent of modernity, scientific knowledge, especially the so-called primitive ideas were jettisoned in every sphere, including health care delivery systems.

    Ironically, the more man tries to put aside ancient ideas, the more problems he confronts. The solutions, however, remain elusive. It is difficult to deal decisively with diseases, such as breast cancer, sickle cell anemia, diabetes, renal failure, prostate cancer, stroke, HIV/AIDS, even malaria, these days.

    There is drug abuse/dependence, which often leads to impaired reasoning, violent crimes, prostitution, and even mental illness. All these take their toll on countries across the world (socially, economically and politically)

    Although conventional allopathic approach to health care recognises certain inadequacies, with the theory of psychosomatic factor; this unfortunately has not been far reaching. Attempts in the area of astrology, tarot and others, have their drawbacks, compounded by individual prejudices or religious or spiritual beliefs.

    Deep personality analysis (DPA) is a therapy. It is an all–encompassing one at that. It is specially developed by me, taking into cognisance, the frailties of other schools of thought, and one that breaks religious, spiritual and cultural barriers. This therapy sets to address the following:

     

    Life path

    Nobody was born by accident. Man must be traced right from the very point of pre-existence, getting into the womb, and being born. Having been born, what is the purpose of coming into this earth?. So, there is the need to look at the course of his sojourn, necessary accomplishment, before eventual departure. These are meticulously outlined, spelt out in this therapy, without any ambiguity whatsoever.

     

    Career

    Against the backdrop of the tendencies by man to copy others hook–line-and-sinker in career choices, ultimately leading to frustration and even avoidable death. This therapy is able to deftly identify what career suits the individual, bringing fulfillment, joy, necessary pecuniary rewards, and social recognition – leaving one’s footprints on the sands of time. This also applies in choosing candidates for positions in corporate, diplomatic, defence and even leaders at various strata of governance for peace and progress.

     

    Marriage

    Every man is expected at a certain stage in life to have a spouse. The timing may vary from person to person. A lot of people undoubtedly encounter or have difficulty in even coming to a decision or realisation, not to talk of being able to make the proper choice. This therapy would help guide the subject as to the right spouse, with the right temperament, and hence compatibility, not mere facial appearance as many  want to do, ignorantly of course. This leads to series of problems sooner or later, sometimes resulting in irreversible damage (socially, emotionally and economically).

     

    Disease pre–disposition

    No two individuals, even twins can be the same. There would always be that uniqueness in the workings of the internal organs/systems. As the engine of a car does not break down, without first issuing warnings on the dashboard (however subtle) so is the human body prone to disease conditions. This therapy helps to guide the individual, based on his peculiar make up as to which specific health challenges lie ahead, and necessary measures outlined to avoid or prevent same.

     

    Diet

    You are what you eat. This therapy designs tailor–made diet plan to suit the subject’s unique genetic composition. This way, the individual maintains optimum health, thus avoid expensive medical bills, on diseased conditions that would ordinarily have been addressed through diet alone.

     

    Colour therapy

    Colours without doubt, abound in nature around us. God made the colours, with each of them peculiar for a purpose. This therapy ipso facto carefully identifies the most, specific, homogenous colour in harmony with the subject, as colours affect our moods, behaviour, attitude and actions, under different situations or circumstances. Whether we are talking of the right colours in our dresses, offices, homes, even cars, this therapy comes very handy.

    Deep personality analysis erases the cross road experience that many are going through across the world. Man is not created to grope aimlessly.

  • Scientists harp on quality water for research, analysis, others

    Scientists harp on quality water for research, analysis, others

    Scientists have called on laboratory attendants to use quality water in their analysis and other investigations.

    They said the use of impure water leads to wrong results because there are various contaminants in unpurified water.

    The experts, who spoke at a workshop, tagged the Laboratory Water Academy (LWA), organised by the National Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT), Katchey Company Limited and Merck Millipore in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, stressed the importance of water as the most used re-agent in the laboratory.

    NISLT’s Director-General, Dr Ighodalo Ijagbone, said water is an essential chemical used in the laboratory as it constitutes about 85 per cent of chemical constituents.

    “So, the quality of water matters to what scientists do in the laboratory if they are to get the right result. For example, if bad water is used for investigation that may be of clinical value, such as diagnosing the cause of a disease, there is no way one can get good result for the doctors to treat the patient effectively,” he said.

    He continued: “This is why the experts from Merck are trying to build our capacity so that we can produce quality water that is fitting for the laboratory.

    “The water used in the laboratory is quite different from portable drinking water because it was purified through a system, which is higher than that of drinking water.”

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Katchey Company Limited, Mrs Kate Isa, said some laboratories do cut corners by using impure or poor quality water for analysis without thinking of the consequences.

    “When an analyst uses air condition water or bottled water for analysis because it is cheaper, he or she would not get the right result. The result may be  false, positive or negative, which means that bad products may be released into the market. And this may hurt the people. If the said products are traced back to the company that produced them, it can be shut. In the long run, it is very costly as it may affect the company’s reputation and also damage its equipment. This is because the company used water, which has contaminants. The consumables will also not last,” she said.

    She said Merck Millipore is also interested in strengthening the capacity of regulatory companies because it would ensure that special products are made so that people are well served.

    Mrs Isa charged the Federal Government to put in place economic policies that will encourage investors, especially in laboratory sciences.

    Director of Marketing, Merck Millipore, Dr. Maurice Memme, said the training was significant because water is crucial to everything scientists do in the labs.

    Memme, who spoke on water purification solution for labs, said there could not be accurate results from research or labs’work or application without clean water.

    Memme, who is in-charge of Water Purification in East Europe/Middle East/Africa, said if people use unpurified water, which of course have twice the quantities of metal in it to grow cells or to do in-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) people will never get result.

    “The metals will inhibit all the reactions that are backing the cells’ growth and division. This will give scientists wrong result,” he said.

    He spoke of water being categorised according to their level of purity, adding: “Type-one water is the most pure water, which people can have and use for all serious applications in the laboratory. Also, there is type-two water, which is used in the vast majority of analytical researches. Type three is less clean and it is for general laboratory use, eg, washing machine.”

    Distillation alone, he said, cannot produce pure water.

    This, he said, is because the quantity of distilled water, if measured, is five times lower than water gotten through the purification system.

    “People cannot rely on one technology if they want to produce pure water,” he said.

    He said Nigeria is ripe to have laboratory water at every point in time, adding that there are established water purification system plants already.

    “We have eight water purification systems/units working at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),” he said.

    Memme said there was the need for effective regulation of labs water, adding that it would ensure that only quality water is used for experiments in the labs.

  • Crashed plane’s victims’ DNA for analysis in UK

    Crashed plane’s victims’ DNA for analysis in UK

    Minister attacks critics 

    Why Dana was suspended, by Oduah

    Blood samples collected from victims of last Thursday’s plane crash in Lagos and those of their families are due for a British laboratory today for testing.

    Sources told The Nation yesterday that forensic experts at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, decided to fast track the process after completing the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples collection.

    The result is expected in Lagos between three and four weeks, starting from the date the samples arrive at the UK laboratory.

    A sister of one of the victims, Mr Chijioke Duru, Mrs Nkechi Nweke, demanded for his body “since it was identifiable”.

    Mr Yinka Alabi, a brother-in-law to another victim, Mrs E.O Alabi, urged the government to release identifiable bodies.

    The Chief Pathologist and Examiner, Lagos State, Prof John Obafunwa, said some of the identifiable bodies would be released to their families once the identification and documentation have been completed.

    He said the DNA examination and delay that may be experienced were to ensure proper identification of bodies and receipt by the right relatives.

    Also yesterday, Aviation Minister Stella Oduah defended the sector’s integrity. She said despite the recent plane crashes and the near mishaps, Nigeria’s airspace is one of the safest.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, Mrs. Oduah maintained that Nigeria, according to an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) report, is the 12th most safe in global aviation.

    According to her, Nigeria scored 65 per cent, which is above the global average.

    Describing the critics of the on-going reforms in the aviation sector as ignorant, Mrs. Oduah said that security and safety in the sector could not be achieved without adequate funding.

    She claimed that the suspension of Dana Air operations, which followed last week Thursday’s fatal Associated Airline crash in Lagos, was not a fire brigade response – as seen in some circles.

    The Minister claimed that the suspension was done in line with the law and policy of certification, which she said is a constant assessment of operators to ensure they are in compliance.

    She urged Nigerians to ignore such comments that have no bearing with reality.

    Reacting to the allegations that the ministry under her is dwelling more on money making in the sector than safety, she said: “I think it is ignorant – to start with because you cannot have security and safety without funding it; it has to be funded. If you are talking safety, for instance you need to have the infrastructure that addresses that. If you are talking security you need to have the infrastructure that addresses that and all that must be sustained and must be maintained. And if you do not do that, you are not just being sincere.”

    “And then when you talk about the issue of renovation, the terminal itself is the first safety and security facility that any passenger comes across. And so in a plan you must start from A to Z. And in aviation, it is often said that if you think safety and security is expensive, wait until accident happens and see how expensive it is.

    “And so everything we have done has been with security and safety as a pivotal of it all. You cannot do anything in aviation without these. And what saddens me really is that ICAO says just last week that Nigeria is way above the global average; we actually scored 65 per cent. Secondly, ICAO says Nigeria is the 12th most safe aviation globally. And then when you hear bar comments, drunk and addicts making comments that have zero bearing on reality is very annoying.”

    She went on: “What I will advise the public really is to recognise the fact that aviation is a very professional area; you cannot listen to bar comments because they are just unrealistic and totally untrue.

    “We do not pray for accidents, but it is inevitable. But all we do is to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But it is an act of God. Again, we do not speculate on the cause of accidents until that happens you can say this is the cause or that is not the cause. But what is obvious and it’s the truth is that in aviation, there are shared responsibilities, starting from the man that carries your luggage to the man that makes sure that your boarding pass is issued to you.”

    “And so, the regulatory agency, the operators, the management, everybody have their responsibility and all must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secured and safe aviation sector. And that is what we have been working on.”

    Stressing that Nigeria has been given exemplary roles in international seminars and conferences, Mrs. Oduah said that Nigeria would host a global space conference from today.

    “Nigeria is hosting it. We are not hosting it because we can afford it. We are hosting it because we are exemplary. Every nation wants to emulate what we have done within such a short time to be able to have a safe air space,” she said, adding:

    “Secondly, we are producing the first ever black president of ICAO. It is unprecedented. Why? Because they have to judge you based on how secure your airports are, how your facilities have improved and we went through all that and every nation steps down and says that it is Nigeria’s time and Nigeria must have the first ever black president.”

    On Dana’s suspension, Ms. Oduah said: “Again, those are operational issues. And the law, the policy says that the assessment, the certification is ongoing. In aviation, security and safety measures are work in progress; you don’t stop. You don’t say that I have attained this and so we stop; it never stops. You continuously, constantly assess operators to make sure they are in compliance.”

    Denying fire brigade response, Ms. Oduah said: “No! Nothing in aviation is ever fire brigade because there are processes and procedure; nothing at all. And their licence was not stopped. What was stopped is their operations and it was stopped because the law says that if there is anything noticed not in tandem with the policy, the regulator must stop and recertify and make sure that there is compliance”.

    Declining to mention the regulations, she said: “I am not at liberty to say so. But that is the reason why their operations were suspended; we cannot joke with safety and security. It is not even optional. It is the way things are done; it is part of the policy.”

    On why investigations were not concluded before authorising Dana Air to fly, she said: “It was concluded and, like I said, the process certifying, recertifying, security and safety is continuous. It doesn’t stop. You can get your certification today and in a month’s time or even a week down the line something may happen because constantly the papers, the documents, the log books are constantly being checked”.

    On the Associated Airline crash investigations, Ms. Oduah said: “We are still on it. The preliminary report should be out in a couple of weeks. The experts that are coming from France and the manufacturer of the aircraft, we must have them regardless of how we want to accelerate it. We are waiting for them to come so that we can open the engine and find out exactly from them. And you cannot do any of those without their presence. If you do that, then you have contaminated the investigation, so we must wait for them”.

    She also denied the allegations that charges in the sector were too high and making operators not to cope.

    “You know when you ask me that, that doesn’t sound well. Does it? It is really a very terrible thing. Let’s start with the fact that 90 per cent of private operators are operating outside the mandate and outside the policy. And that was why we had to review the policy in the first place.”

    “Two, for the fact that they are operating from what in my view is called “the closet”, unregulated, unmonitored, uncontrolled, it is unacceptable. Because you are carrying Nigerians, and prominent Nigerians for that matter, you must have to be in compliance with the policy. And so the policy was a grey area prior to this time,.”

    “We have removed the grey and made it black and white so it becomes a normal GOT operations. And for you to operate GOT you must pay the landing fee, navigational fee, maintenance fee for those apron that you use. Except if you are telling us that because they are big men that we shouldn’t charge them then by all means we will accept.” She added