The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CEOs

  • SONA Group’s chief listed among 25 Top CEOs

    SONA Group’s Chairman Mr. A.K. Mirchandani has been listed among the top 25 CEOs in the country at the  Top 25 CEOs & Next Bulls Awards.

    He was lauded for his leadership as well as the company’s contribution to growth, development the industrial sector of the economy.

    The ceremony was put together by Business Day, in conjunction with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to recognise and appreciate key industry players who have remained steadfast in their efforts to ensure the growth of the economy.

    Mirchandani dedicated the award to the entire staff of the company.

    He said: “This award is not for one person but a team of 6000 people who have all contributed to this achievement, and I say a very big thank you.”

    He lauded the organisers of the event, thanking them for honouring the efforts of industry players and stakeholders to creating more business opportunities for various industry sectors in the country.

    Publisher and Managing Director of Business Day, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, said the award is an avenue to drive businesses to do more for the development and growth of the industrial sector.

    He said: “Businesses that we lead must focus on growing their bottom line continuously, so they can be a shining and guiding light for others looking to come into this country and together, we can continue to create jobs for the youths of Nigeria.”

    Chief Executive Officer Nigerian Stock Exchange; Oscar Onyema congratulated the winners of the awards and expressed the NSE’s interest in working with industry leaders to help precipitate Africa’s growth.

  • CEO’s, celebrities join Abuja YEEP summit

    Youths from across the country, as well as entrepreneurs from all walks of life, gathered at the International Conference Center in Abuja to mark the National Youth Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programme (YEEP), organised by Love Idoko’s Activate Success International Foundation.

    The event was aimed at teaching youths practical steps on becoming entrepreneurs through exposure to achievers who have done it and empowering youths with great ideas. The conference was themed: ‘Start Now’.

    Convener and founder of Activate Success International Foundation, Love Idoko said: “To wait until you are old to pursue your dream is to waste the person that you are. We all have only one life to live, therefore, we must give it our best shot.” She urged youths to imbibe an entrepreneurial approach to life as a way of channeling a lustrous path for the future.

    The one-day event, which was sponsored by Nestle, Airtel; School Me Lottery; Belanova apartments; 2BaBa Foundation; Sapphire Scents; Crown Allied and BBB media, brought in an array of successful Nigerian entrepreneurs who breathed inspiration into the minds of the youths as they relayed their stories so far in the entrepreneurial world. Aside their practical and life-infusing tales were tidbits and principles which guarantee success if practicalised.

    Among the panelists were Bassey Eyo (CEO of Pay Porte); Dr. Ola Brown (founder of Flying Doctors West Africa); George Okoro (award-winning photographer); Adewale Aladejana (CEO of Sapphire Scents); Onyeka Akumah (CEO of Farm Crowdy) and Seyi Adekunle (CEO of Vodi Tailors).

    Others were Ogwa Iweze (CEO of DZYN); Ucy Rochas (entrepreneur and humanitarian) and Tosan Jemide (celebrity baker).

    There were special guest appearances by 2face Idibia; Nollywood  filmmaker  and lawmaker, Desmond Elliott and  Namure  Ediomioya of Africa Independent  Television (AIT).

  • Buhari appoints CEOs, EDs of federal agencies

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of five chief executive officers and two executive directors of some federal agencies.

    This was disclosed in a statement issued by Mr Olusegun Adekunle, Permanent Secretary (General Services) Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in Abuja yesterday.

    According to him, Mr Okechukwu Ukwuoma, Director-General, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), is re-appointed for a final term of four years with effect from July 22.

    Also, Prof. Victor Adetiloye, Chief Medical Director (CMD), Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, was re-appointed for the final term of four years with effect from September 22.

    Buhari also approved the appointment of Ambassador Abdul-Jalil Suleiman as the Director-General, Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), for an initial term of four years with effect from September 17.

    Also appointed was Dr. Bassey Abasi as Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, for an initial term of four years with effect from September 22.

    Capt. Junaid Abdullahi was appointment as the Executive Secretary, Border Communities Development Agency (BDCA) with effect from September 22 for an initial period of four years.

    The President also appointed Mrs Mojoyi Dekalu-Thomas as Executive Director (Liability Management) of Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) for an initial term of four years with effect from September 20.

  • Save our businesses, CEOs beg Federal Govt

    The Young CEO Initiative, a group of Nigerian young entrepreneurs, has called on the Federal Government to save their businesses as majority of its members are closing down and relocating outside the country.

    Intercontinental Paint Limited, Managing Director, who is also the founder of YCEOI, Aigbe Omoregie, made this call at the association’s press briefing over the weekend.

    He regretted that the organisation of over 30,000 memberships has lost some of its promising members due to the inability to fund their businesses, lamenting that their inability to meet loans requirements has forced them to close shops.

    Omoregie said MSMEs with over 37 million players contribute about 54 per cent to the share of Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (GDP), stressing that the sector, which employed over 59 million Nigerian labour force, should not be allowed to collapse.

    He said: “We find it difficult accessing credit facilities from banks, which leaves us at the mercy of smaller financial homes who give us facilities at a very ridiculous interest rates that eventually eliminate the purpose of growth. Only 11 per cent of firms have access to commercial bank loans. Not only is access to credit facilities limited, but the terms and conditions attached to it is often impossible and interest rate is usually unreasonable.

    “We, therefore, appeal to the government as a matter of urgency to come to our aid before the businesses of the youths, who serve as role model collapses, by introducing programmes and initiatives where loans are easily accessible to entrepreneurs at low interest rates within the shortest period of time. Development Banks such as Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) amongst others should try as much as possible to simplify the process of getting credit facilities, so that young entrepreneurs will not go through untold stress before accessing such facilities.”

    Also speaking, Group CEO, Shoespeed, Abiodun Folawiyo, lamented that funding was the major challenge confronting the players in the sector, saying he survived the 15 years of his company’s operation through soft loans from family and friends.

    Folawiyo urged the government to improve the ease of doing business, adding that majority of foreign investors are skeptical in coming to invest in Nigeria.

    He said: “Some of our member have been forced by the recent happenings in the economy to cut-down on the number of employees, saying that some who closed shop have left the country for Canada, USA and other places for greener pasture.”

  • CEOs worry over revised microinsurance guidelines

    Some Chief Executive Officers have expressed worry over the revised guidelines introduced for microinsurance business by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in the country.

    Part of the developments from the revised guidelines indicate that insurance companies already offering microinsurance products as window operators would need to get a fresh microinsurance licence to continue to sell their products.

    Also, apart from the fact that they would need to earmark a statutory deposit and capital base, they will have to set up new offices across the federation, recruit new staff and train them.

    A managing director of one of the affected companies, who spoke under a condition of anonymity, said the fallout of the revised guidelines would incur additional costs, at least, for now.

    He expressed worry over the motive behind the move to issue a separate licence for microinsurance.

    He said NAICOM should have used conventional insurers to sell microinsurance products instead of creating a new operational license, saying, this is unsettling the industry.

    Another CEO, who also spoke on condition of anonymity said, some of the insurance companies were already offering microinsurance products and services and that it would have been sensible to rejig the microinsurance guideline to empower operators by mandating them to offer the services instead of issuing fresh licences to microinsurance operators.

    He said: “There would be influx of investors initially, but will close shops with time, because they lack the expertise to run a successful microinsurance outfit. The existing operators offering microinsurance products would be put under serious financial threat, at a time the industry is also planning to recapitalise.

    “The companies are not ready and not in mood to insure this additional costs, at least, not now. I am not sure that NAICOM has the capacity to monitor these microinsurance companies, when it is even struggling to adequately supervise the existing conventional insurance companies.”

    The Commission’s Head, Corporate Affairs, Rasaaq Salami, said the commission has already taken into consideration, companies  offering microinsurance and is ready  to work with the companies based on their peculiarities.

    He said the guidelines are not final as they are only revised from the old guidelines introduced in 2003.

    He said: “As part of the Commission’s determination to improve financial inclusion in Nigeria, particularly to the underserved and excluded segment of the populace, the Commission has reviewed the Microinsurance Guidelines of 2013, and hereby releases a revised guideline.

    “The Revised Microinsurance Guidelines will become effective from January 1, 2018. The guideline is part of the financial inclusion strategy to stimulate growth in the sector especially the retail end of the market, drive insurance penetration and service the lower income earners who hitherto have been excluded from insurance”, he added.

    The guidelines, which come to effect on January 1, 2018 establishes uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for conduct of microinsurance business.

    The high points from the revised guidelines are from Sections 2, 3 and 4 as against the previous guidelines released in 2013 when business was established in the country.

    “Section 2 explains the  Microinsurance Market Structure and states the classification of microinsurance underwriters as Unit Microinsurer, State Microinsurer and National Microinsurer. Section 3 explains Registration Requirements states the minimum capital requirement for Unit Microinsurer as N40 million; State Microinsurer as N100 million and National Microinsurer as N600 million.

    “Section 4 explains Prudential Standards and states that any microinsurer intending to commence microinsurance business shall have a minimum capital as stipulated in Section 3 or as may be issued by the Commission from time to time.

    “Similarly, a microinsurer shall maintain with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) a statutory deposit of 10 per cent of the minimum capital requirement.A Unit Microinsurer shall, in respect of its insurance business in Nigeria, maintain at all times a 50 per cent Liquidity Margin being the excess of the value of its admissible current assets in Nigeria over its current liabilities in Nigeria.

    “A state microinsurer shall, in respect of its Insurance business in Nigeria, maintain at all times a 35per cent Liquidity Margin being the excess of the value of its admissible current assets in Nigeria over its current liabilities in Nigeria, while a National Microinsurer shall, in respect of its insurance business in Nigeria, maintain at all times a 25 per cent liquidity margin being the excess of the value of its admissible current assets in Nigeria over its current liabilities in Nigeria”.

  • Senate to CEOs: ‘honour our invitation or we arrest you’

    The National Assembly (NA) has reiterated its stand to  arrest any Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who fails repeatedly to honour summons by its committee, describing the act as an affront on the National Assembly.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Samuel Anyanwu, reiterated this position in a chat with newsmen on the sideline of the just-concluded retreat of the National Assembly Committees on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions in Lagos.

    Senator Anyanwu said:“I advise that each time you are invited, you come, if not the legislators can frustrate you.

    “If you are invited a couple of times and you do not appear, it is an affront on the committee; we will issue a warrant of arrest, it is in our Constitution in Sections 88 and 89. The Senate and the House of Representatives have every power to summon anybody in this country to give evidence in a matter they are handling.

    “For instance, if the CEO of an organisation is being invited, all the members of the Assembly are present. We are not there for nothing. We have sworn an oath to protect all manner of people,”he said.

    Commenting on the incessant invitations, Senator Anyanwu said: “What if it was a court case; would they not have been going to court multiple times before a judge? I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

    Recently, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) called on the legislative arm of government to restrain its committees from what it described as “brazen attack on enterprise right” until the Supreme Court determined the case brought before it which sought clarification on the scope and extent of the constitutionality of investigatory authority/powers of the lawmakers in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.

    In a press conference by NECA in Lagos, its Director-General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, said there had been an unhealthy increase in the incidence of unwarranted investigations by the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, through countless various committees and ad-hoc committees into any aspect of the private sector’s operation that catches their fancy.

    Oshinowo said NECA has already dragged the House of Representatives to court over frequent summoning of companies’ CEOs.

    According to him, their actions  have undermined business sustainability and growth.

  • NECA sues Reps to court for frequent summon of CEOs

    NECA sues Reps to court for frequent summon of CEOs

    Employers are not happy that company chiefs are being summoned frequently by lawmakers.

    Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has sued the House of Representatives to court over the matter.

    According to the group, the actions of the lawmakers have been undermining business sustainability and growth.

    NECA is specifically praying the court to interpret Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution, which the lawmakers rely on to summon the CEOs in the name of oversight functions.

    At a briefing in Lagos, its Director-General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, accused members of the House, especially its committees, of disregarding court processes.

    He contended that the continued disregard of court processes and persistent summons of chief executives of organised businesses to National Assembly was a disregard of the rule of law, and legislative rascality.

    Oshinowo singled out the House of Representatives Committees on Labour, Employment & Productivity; Steel; Telecommunications; Public Safety and National Security; Ad-Hoc  Committee  on  the   Abuse  of  Pioneer  Status   by  Companies and Ad-Hoc Committee Investigating Operational Activities of Telecommunications Equipment and Service Companies/Vendors in Nigeria, as the most guilty.

    He lamented that petitions to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, over the activities of the committees had not been addressed till date, noting that to worsen the situation, members of the committees, instead of attending to CEOs directly, chose always to act through consultants.

    He said:  “All efforts at exploring the avenue of dialogue, advocacy and lobbying as evidenced through our several correspondences to the House and submissions at hearings and visits to the National Assembly seem to have been ineffective in protecting the economic rights and interest of businesses in this environment.”

    Oshinowo said the legislators only listen to themselves and have become law unto themselves. “Therefore, we are left with no option but to seek judicial solace to protect enterprise rights and provide some reliefs to businesses by staving off  the negative attitude of the legislators.

    “Despite on-going court processes, organised businesses are still being inundated with torrents of summons/invitations and requests from the House of Representatives. Recently, the afore-mentioned committees have been very active in their disregard of court processes.

    “In one instance, a company is currently being hounded with invitations from about seven committees of the House of Representatives on issues they could ordinarily have sorted out with regulatory institutions that supervise activities in that sector of the economy,” he said.

    Oshinowo said NECA expects speaker of the House of Representatives, who is a lawyer himself, and by extension, all the committees and adhoc committees within the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the National Assembly, among others, who are all restrained by the sub-judice status of this case to exercise caution until the determination of the matter.

    Oshinowo said: “We are even taken aback by the House Committees’ non respect for its own Standing Order IX Rule 5 on rules of debate, which provides as follows: “Reference shall not be made to any matter on which a judicial decision is pending, in such a way as might in the speaker’s opinion prejudice the interest of parties thereto”

  • NAICOM to sack insurance CEOs, brokers for non-payment of claims

    NAICOM to sack insurance CEOs, brokers for non-payment of claims

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) will remove the chief executive of any insurance and broking firm who fails to pay genuine claims, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, has said.

    He gave the warning at the  Professional Forum of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) held in Abeokuta,  the Ogun State capital.

    Kari listed other issues for which CEOs could be sanctioned to include their companies’ inability or refusal to settle inter-company balances.

    These, according to him, have risen to an unacceptable level where the commission is required to withdraw the self-regulation option given operators to apply the big stick.

    He said the commission was alarmed by the incessant complaints of failure of insurance companies to settle genuine and discharged claims to policy holders.

    He said the commission had  received requests from claimants to apply the companies’ statutory deposit to settle discharged claims as stated by law, and that the process had started.

    Kari said: “And as a punitive measure, we have agreed to also publicise any company whose deposit is so applied and to have the chief executive of such company discharged.

    ‘’For all intermediaries who are brokers and insurance agents that hold back clients’ and companies’ money or collude to steal or corruptly operate, such actions being criminal, would be forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.’’

    He said the commission’s visit and meeting with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would enable them to establish a joint taskforce to, among other things, ensure corruption is weeded out of the insurance sector.

    CIIN President Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, while speaking on the theme of the forum, “Solvency, stability and growth-exploring possibilities,”  chosen to draw attention to some of the critical challenges facing the industry, said they could evolve strategic solutions for the industry.

  • Lawmakers move against crooked oil companies’ CEOs

    The House of Representatives has read the riot act against chief executives of some major oil companies for refusing to honour its invitations.

    The oil companies under the lawmakers’ scrutiny include: Total Nigeria Plc, Mobil Nigeria, NIPCO, Forte Oil, Oando and MRS among others, many of who are being investigated for alleged huge debts and criminal acts of sabotage by oil marketers.

    Chairman, ad hoc committee mandated to carry out the investigation, Abdulahi Gaya had expressed concern over the attitude of the affected CEOs that have consistently failed to either honour the Committee’s invitation or failed to provide requested documents for the investigation.

    He said: “Before we started this investigation, what we did as a committee was to sit down to digest and see the best way out and fortunately for us, so far we have recovered a lot of money, huge amount of money.

    “We called PPMC to give us information on the outstanding of oil marketers and they came and told us. We then sent letters to 17 oil marketers to send in documents and tell us their own part, the outstanding.

    “We also requested that they come and defend it but instead of doing that, they are sending representatives. Why are sending persons that are not part of their organisations?”

    According to him, the investigation was to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the claims of the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) as well as the oil marketers who are the actors on the matter with a view to ensuring that the Nigerian government was not short-changed in anyway.

    Gaya, who revealed that 50 percent of the debts arising from default by  oil marketers has been recovered, however did not disclosed the actual amount recovered so far.

    While he noted that the amount was stipulated in the documents obtained from various stakeholders, the lawmaker expressed optimism that 80 percent of the money would be recovered by the end of the investigation.

     

  • Lack of CEOs stalls power agencies’ budget

    Federal Government parastatals and agencies without substantive Chief Executive Officers  cannot access the 2016 budget, it was learnt yesterday .

    A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the development has affected the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET)  that are are operating without substantive CEOs.

    Without the budget, the source said, it would be impossible to pay contractors that need money to implement the projects.

    The Nation learnt that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola last month directed Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to prepare their schedules for the payment of their contractors.

    The source said: “The budgets of some MDAs that do not have substantive CEOs have not been released. Without the budget, you cannot make the contractors to move to site because once there is no money, the contractors will be reluctant to move. But once they know that there is money, it gingers them to work.

    However, Fashola last month asked MDAs to prepare schedules for payments of contractors.

    One  REA contractor lamented that there is an outstanding debt of N7billion owed to the contractors but the government approved only N1.2billion for the debt in this year’s budget.

    The contractor said: “We have an outstanding payment of about N7 billion but what they put in the current budget is N1.2 billion. Up till now we have not seen it. They said the budget has been realised but nothing has dropped into the account.”

    He said owing to the fact that there is no substantive CEO in  REA, there is also a limit to the action that could be taken as there is currently no board, stressing that some executive decisions are now referred to the Minister and Permanent Secretary.

    “REA has no board and there is a limit to the executive power of the acting Managing Director of the agency so he still waits for the Minister or Permanent Secretary to take such decisions,“ the cource said.