The Nation Newspaper

Tag: complex

  • Firm inaugurates N100m office complex

    Pertinence Nigeria Limited, an indigenous firm with  interest in real estate business,has inaugurated its head office complex in Egbeda area of Lagos State.

    The two-storey edifice, worthover N100 million sits on about 600 square meters, while the office occupies about 300 square metres. The attached hall and auditorium sit on the remaining  space.

    The architect, Mr. Abel Adejo, explained that the hall, if arranged in theatre view sitting, has the capacity for 600 people and for seminar or for about 350 people for wedding arrangement.

    On its first floor are the administration office, the server room and eight other office spaces; the second floor accommodates the executive directors’ offices, which has a lounge connecting the two offices; two bedrooms attached to it, and a 22-seater boardroom.

    Adejo told The Nation that in compliance with climate change and green building advocacy, the entire building has a large number of glass works. This, he explained, is to admit artificial lightening into the building.

    “If the whole building is fitted with bulbs there will be too much heat. It is part of the design to be green architecture in compliance with the changing world especially n the face of climate change,” Adejo said.

    Concerning acoustics, the architect said the hall is designed to eliminate echo- a feat achieved with the rug placement in certain parts of the hall, tile flooring and plaster of paris (POP) ceiling.

    The parking lot is designed to accommodate 60 vehicles, all parked without causing any blockage to each other.

    Its Executive Director, Mr. Sunday Olorunsheyi, said the inauguration  was significant given that the day marked five years of the company’s coming into existence. For him, it is a mark of God’s favour on the business, considering the very humble beginning it had.

    “We are five years old today and God has been faithful to us. When we look back, we know that it has been God. Today, we also celebrate integrity, because that is what has kept us in business and brought us thus far,” Olorunsheyi said.

    The second Executive Director, Mr. Wisdom Ezekiel, agreed. He explained that with integrity, they have been able to build the business, which he said, has now grown in leaps and bounds. For Ezekiel, the feat could not have been achieved with the customers, who trusted the firm with their money.

    “We want to specially thank our clients today for staying by us and believing in us. They are our strongest partners and our assets and we do not take them for granted. We also thank God for the loyal staff we have had all through,” Ezekiel said.

  • ‘Ajaokuta Steel Complex belongs to Federal Govt’

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Muhammed Abbas has said there is no contention on Federal Government’s ownership of Ajaokuta Steel Company.

    Abbas, in a statement yesterday, added that any claim stating otherwise contradicts the position of the minister who reaffirmed the government’s ownership.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has been drawn to recent media reports, where  Dr S.O. Nwanbuokei, a director of Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL), was quoted as saying that the protracted litigation surrounding the ownership of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex had not been resolved.

    “His claims contradict the position of the Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who reaffirmed the Federal Government’s ownership of  the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, during the just concluded Nigerian Mining Week, as he has done in similar fora.

    “The Ministry’s position, as stated by the  minister, is that Ajaokuta Steel Complex belongs to the Federal Government of Nigeria, and there is no contention about this fact.

    “The Federal Government does not need any mediation to determine its ownership of Ajaokuta Steel Complex as the integrated steel complex has always been the property of FGN.”

  • Trade fair complex: ‘Revocation’ll discourage investors’

    Reactions have continued to trail the purported revocation of the concession of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex on Mile 2-Badagary Expressway, Lagos which Aulic Nigeria Limited won in 2007 under the Federal Government’s Privatisation programme.

    Aulic Nigeria Limited bidded for and won the concession of the complex for N40 billion in 30 years. The area Aulic won as the concessionaire was 322 hectares of land.

    Senate Ad-hoc Committee Chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola asked the Senate to summon the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Idris and the Director-General of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), Daura to assist the Ministry of Commerce and Investment as well as the BPE to eject Aulic Nigeria Limited and recover about N6.5 billion accrued revenue over a nine-year period from the company.

    Reacting to the allegation, the concessionaire, Aulic Nigeria Limited, has said the claim was a tissue of lies. It, therefore, urged the police and the DSS to disregard Senator Adeola’s advice  with regards to its ejection from the complex. It maintained that there was no N6.5 billion accrued revenue to recover in the agreement it signed with the BPE in 2007.

    However, Company Secretary and Counsel to Aulic Nigeria Limited, Mr. Dan Udeh said Aulic was not indebted to anybody.

    He said: “Nigeria wants to make its economy grow by encouraging partnerships with local and international stakeholders. If it takes decisions that are inimical to business, it will lose those who have shown interest in developing her economy. How fair is it to allow its citizen to manage one of its assets in a concession agreement of N40b for 30 years and wants to terminate the same concession after nine years, using non-remittance of money to Federal Government as subterfuge?

    “The Federal Government agreed to hand over the entire 322 hectares of land that comprises the complex, but it actually handed over less than 20 per cent of the area under agreement and it wants Aulic to pay for rents it never collected. It is against the logic of fairness.”

    The Company Secretary maintained that Aulic Nigeria Limited as a concessionaire should be encouraged instead of being vilified.

    Udeh regretted that money traders should have paid to Aulic as the concessionaire to enable him remit money to the Federal Government was not paid to the company.

    He said: “Under the concession agreement, all monies paid to government should have been paid to Aulic, which will then fulfill its final obligation to government. The traders’ associations have never paid to Aulic and they keep saying we owe N40 billion.”

    Udeh said he understood that NCP has invited bids for the trade fair complex; even as he warned any person or group interested in bidding for the said complex to desist from doing so or purchase a cylinder of litigations.

    “This is because it will be foolhardy for any sane person or group to buy a property whose case is still pending in the law court.

    “Again, the concession process had an international posture because many international groups were involved in the process as partners. Any further harassment or intimidation may warrant seeking justice in the International Court of Justice.”

  • Revocation of Lagos Trade Fair Complex concession

    SIR: The once burgeoning   has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons. It is apt to address the dog whistle campaigns that have emerged in the wake of the recent revocation of the concession of LITFC granted to Aulic Nigeria Limited by the Federal Government.

    At its meeting of August 22 and 23, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, revoked the concession of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC) to Aulic Nigeria Limited and ordered the secretariat of Bureau of Public Enterprises to commence another privatisation exercise that will lead to the emergence of another concessionaire.  Professor Nick Ezeh, the promoter and chairman of Aulic Nigeria Limited has raised concerns and pushed misleading information over the revocation in the media.

    The Federal Government had to intervene because it could not afford to allow a key national asset to deteriorate in the manner that it has since Aulic Group took over as concessionaire.

    The NCP approved the concession of LITFC in 2007 to Aulic (the concessionaire). The concession of the 322 hectares of land in LITFC was given at a lease fee of N40 billion to be paid over 30 years. The Agreement was signed with Aulic Nigeria Limited on June 29, 2007. Aulic Nigeria Limited paid an entry fee of N200 million in 2008 and the sum of N12, 731,000.00 for the moveable assets. Since then, the company has not paid any additional fees to government, even though it took over the complex nine years ago.

    It is true that the entire complex could not be handed over to Aulic Group owing to resistance by the Traders’ Associations that had subsisting leases and the fact that Parcel B was not available for practical handover.

    However, the NCP, in January 2013, took some major decisions to address the concession challenges, including a facility audit of the assets and tenants at the complex as a prelude to excising the contentious portions of the concession areas occupied by the Traders’ Associations, places of religious worships and Parcel B. The key part of the NCP intervention was that the concession contract was to be renegotiated for a new lease fee to reflect the new area.

    Despite participating in the process that gave rise to the NCP’s decisions, Aulic Nigeria Limited immediately stalled the implementation of the decisions via a petition to the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and filing of a lawsuit.

    In revoking the concession, the NCP noted that the concessionaire had no standard management team in place and therefore, its corporate governance standard was very weak. Council lamented that Aulic Nigeria Ltd had made the implementation of the former’s decisions impossible while making money from illegal leases without any effort to pay the annual lease fees to the federal government since it took over the complex in 2007. It is apt to point out that the concessionaire is currently indebted to the federal government to the tune of N6, 542,172,000.

    It must be noted that the Bureau of Public Enterprises, which serves as the secretariat of NCP, has handled concessions at Nigerian ports and most of the port concessionaries are doing very well and are paying their lease fees. Why is that of LITFC different?

     

    • Sisaa Agboh,

    Bureau of Public Enterprises, Abuja.

  • N900m shopping complex inaugurated

    N900m shopping complex inaugurated

    Retired Justice of the Supreme Court, George Adesola Oguntade has inaugurated N900 million Bashorun Babatunde Ajaga Modern Shopping Complex on Lagos Island, Lagos.

    The inauguration of the complex attracted stakeholders in Lagos State building construction and development industry, monarchs, socialites, among who are representatives of Oba of Lagos Rilwan Akiolu, Aare and Yeye Are Bafola of Lagos, High Chief and Mrs. H.O. Seymour, Ojora of Lagos Oba Fatai Aromire Ojora and his Olori and Iyaloja-General High Chief (Mrs.) Folashade Tinubu-Ojo.

    Others were Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Zone 1 Kayode Aderanti, AIG Zone 2 Ibrahim Madu, ACP OC Monitoring Zone 2 Gbolahan Oladimeji and Principal Partner, Midway Properties and Co. Limited, Prince T.J. Adeniji

    Justice Oguntade, who did not deliver any address at the inauguration, said he left an important function to attend the event.

    He prayed for profitability for those selling inside the complex and good health for its owner and Chairman of Tundas Nigeria Limited, Bashorun Babatunde Ajaga.

    But Ajaga, in an interview with reporters, said he was the first elected President of Developers Association of Nigeria, urged developers and their agents to make honesty their watchword.

    He said as professionals, developers should not jettison professionalism and start cutting corners because of the recession.

    He added that a situation where developers rent a shop to two or many people will not augur well for growth and their prosperity.

    According to him, the total cost of the building excluded the fees paid to Lagos State agencies. He added that the complex consists of 60 shops and seven warehouses.

    Ajaga added that the acquisition of the site was a realised dream since his mother traded in front of the old building on the site when he was a child.

  • Complex lifts Enugu landscape

    Complex lifts Enugu landscape

    A multi-purpose commercial edifice, Pliis Place has been inaugurated in Enugu by the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu, Rev. Dr Emmanuel Chukwuma.

    It is owned by Nigandi Engineering Limited.  Archbishop Chukwuma applauded the owner of the building project, Mr.  Gandi Obiefule Ekwegh, for bringing the project to Enugu as it would encourage other investors to come home and create employment opportunities for the unemployed.

    He also used the opportunity to counsel the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration on the need to lead the nation to prosperity.

    He said almost two years since the president came into office, “nothing tangible has been achieved”, adding that the president should use the period of his return from medical vacation to ensure progressive governance and positive change in the nation’s body politics.

    “It’s not to be back on seat from vacation, he should be back on seat for a reactivated progressive governance. We don’t want it to be decorative; let him think of how to make Nigeria better than he met it. Change is not a matter of making things worse, change should be about making things better for the citizenry, we are looking forward to that.

    “Life is worse now than when he came in; we are looking forward to an improvement in our economy; our naira should improve, inflation should come down, intensive security care for the people should be guaranteed and then power that will encourage more investments to come in should be improved upon,” he said.

    He advised the president to desist from further apportioning of blames to previous administrations in the country but to remain focused and deliver good governance to the people.

    The Archbishop, who is also the Bishop of Enugu Diocese of the Anglican Church, said the project was a clear indication that Enugu has become “atmospherically conducive for investment”.

    ”I want to say the building will invite more investors particularly now we are looking for investments that would employ our youths. I want to encourage our people to come and invest, we need businesses and housing, our well-to-do individuals should come home and invest, most of our people invest in recycling themselves in politics, we don’t want further recycling in politics, politics is to serve not to sap, government cannot do it alone,” he said.

     

  • Group trains pupils on inferiority complex

    Pupils from over 30 primary schools under the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED) in Olorunda Local Council Development Association (LCDA), Lagos have learnt tips on how to pass this year’s state Placement Test for admission into public junior secondary schools.

    AFED Chairman of the zone, Prince Ajanaku Adewale Sunday, said the idea, which emanated from the national secretariat of the association, was aimed at weaning the pupils of inferiority complex when they meet with their counterparts from other schools at the examination venues.

    Speaking with The Nation at Olaoluwa School in Araromi, Badagry, where the seminar held last Saturday, Ajanaku said it has helped boost the confidence of many pupils.

    He said: “Being someone in the system over the years, I discovered that because we (AFED) are mostly located in rural areas, some of our children do not know other groups exist better than they are. Gradually however, we let them know that this is just a community and that there are more sophisticated towns elsewhere.

    “During examination, some of them usually become panicky once they see a crowd. This appears more even painful when they know what to write.”

    Ahead of the test, Ajanaku said AFED organises a mock examination for member-schools and rewards highflyers to inspire others.

    Pupils who excelled in the mock examination organised for the Olorunda Zone were rewarded during the seminar.

    Ajanaku praised AFED for defending member-schools from harassment from government agencies, particularly in Lagos.

    “AFED schools charge lowest; as low as N3,500 tuition per term because we want every parent within the community, however poor, to have access to quality education. But I can tell you that the area of clampdown on AFED schools is no more. The government has given us serious warning to comply with standard and we are doing that,” he said.

    Ajanaku added that Olorunda LCDA 2 would ensure that members comply with government standard.

    “AFED goes round to see the affairs of each school with regard to good toilet, classroom, laboratories and other facilities. AFED also has a policy that in every year, something must improve in each individual school. For instance, let’s say in a particular year, a school has just 30 chairs and desks, by next year, we expect such school to have doubled that number or better still improve significantly on it. That is how we renew ourselves and remain comfortable with government.”

    Despite the low fees charged in AFED schools, Mrs Grace Alausa, a resource person at the seminar, lamented that many parents still owe and that the schools were forced to send their wards home.

    “Sending them home is something we don’t like. When a child is sent home for a week or two and returns to school, his contemporaries are already far ahead of him or her and we as teachers have to start again from where we stopped before sending them home,” she said.

    Though the financial reward of running a low income private school is not attractive, Mrs Esebamen Ojikutu said she loves helping less privileged children.

    “I love teaching the ‘never-do-well’ kids because it makes me descend to their level, bring them to my level and eventually bring out the best in them,” she added.

  • Ajimobi to inaugurate $4m UI/NLNG engineering complex

    Ajimobi to inaugurate $4m UI/NLNG engineering complex

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi will tomorrow inaugurate  the multi-million Naira engineering laboratory complex of the Faculty of Technology,  University of Ibadan.

    The first and the only automation complex in Nigeria is the product of  partnership between the University of Ibadan and the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited (NLNG).

    The facility was built for $4 million by both partners at 50 percent contribution each.

    In a statement by the University’s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo, the university added that the laboratory would support the repositioning  of science and technology as a way to reshape and promote  automation of all engineering processes for the purpose of increased productivity and efficiency in Nigeria.

    The statement said the  Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who is the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the university, will attend the programme along with his successor, Prof. Abel Olayinka.

    The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu  Adetunji, will be the royal father of the day.

  • Council chief relives attack on Shoprite complex

    The suspended Chairman of Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr Henry Baro, yesterday recounted the incident that led to the destruction of Effurun Shoprite Mall by rampaging youths.

    He condemned the destruction, which he blamed on the miscreants who hijacked the peaceful protest for their personal gains.

    The police command, in a statement at the weekend, blamed the attack on the suspended chairman.

    The statement reads: “Preliminary enquiry revealed that Henry Baron, the suspended chairman of Uvwie Local Government Area, had an altercation with a naval rating identified simply as Ma’arafu at the shopping mall. Baron invited his community’s youths, who invaded the shopping mall and attacked anyone on sight.”

    But Baro said some youths came to his rescue when he was being molested by the plain-cloth officers.

    The embattled local government chairman said he was attempting to resolve an issue with a fleeing trailer driver, who hit his vehicle, when the plain clothes intervened.

    According to him, an argument occurred, escalating into the altercation.

    Baro said some youths tried to rescue him after the ratings molested him, adding that the peaceful protest was hijacked by miscreants.

    He said: “One of the Naval ratings crossed over to meet me where I was sorting out issues with a fleeing trailer driver, who hit my Toyota Venza car at Niger Cat on Army Barracks Road but was held up by traffic grid at the Effurun Roundabout…”

  • War against counterfeits getting complex, says Odumodu

    THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said the war against fake and counterfeited products is getting more complex, adding that it remains committed to winning the war.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, who spoke in Lagos while unveiling four new logos, said the development invalidated the agency’s previous certification.

    The logos unveiled are Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP), SON’s Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP), Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS) Mark of Quality as well as Nigeria Quality Award.

    Odumodu said the war against fake, adulterated, counterfeit and sub-standard products across the country is getting complex, adding that despite this, SON is recording results.

    “We need to step up efforts and, indeed, up our game in the on-going campaign to clean the vast environment of life-endangering products. Let me say first and foremost, that our efforts over time have been geared towards attaining one goal: providing safety of lives and property through standard and quality assurance of goods and services. In doing so, we need to continually innovate, think of new ideas and flow with the tide. We equally need to close gaps we have noticed in the system,” Odumodu said.

    The SON chief however, gave a six-month ultimatum to manufacturers and importers to key into the agency’s new regulation or pack up, adding that all certificates issued by the organisation to operators have been invalidated following the launch of new quality logos.

    “The four logos are part and parcel of our efforts to provide comfortable cover and umbrella to members of the nation’s business community, which of course, include manufacturers, exporters and importers as well as franchise/brandowners of products made overseas but imported into Nigeria,” Odumodu said.

    However, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, who was at the event,  pleaded with the agency to give the manufacturers more time to adjust to the new measures, adding that some products already on the shelves have life span of two years.

    He said the launching of the logos was, indeed, a challenge for manufacturers to maintain standard, admonishing consumers to be conscious of the products they patronise.

    He commended SON for setting a target to reduce the level of substandard products to 10 per cent by the end of the year, adding that this would make life better for Nigerians.

    The Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Alhaji Ajiya Mamman, represented by a Director in the ministry, Mrs Tawa Awobokun gave kudos to SON for its efforts in curtailing fake and substandard products from overwhelming Nigerians and helping to improve the quality of products and services in the country.

    She said: “I am commending SON because facts and figures have shown that the agency is saving our time by avoiding taking a cosmetic logo change approach. SON’s underground efforts for improving quality of products and battling substandards, by developing quality infrastructure like test labs, metrology, accredited labs, harmonisation of standards, public awareness, building of human capital both staff and stakeholders through world class training will give a firm foundation for the certification schemes, award and fortification of standards to thrive.”

     

    “We are proud and happy to be associated with these four new logos retooled for better efficiency in enthroning quality and the fortification standards for flour and flour products. We therefore call on all stakeholders, manufacturers, exporters, importers, service providers, SMEs, the media, trade associations and industries to fully key into these initiatives. When we make effort to fight substandards by aligning and cooperating with this re-engineered schemes, award and standards; we will secure genuine businesses from being overtaken by inferior products thereby saving thousands of jobs, we will improve the quality of life of Nigerians, we will protect our life and environment, we will produce products and offer services that the world will jostle to buy, we will improve our chances to compete in the global market, we will ultimately change our world to one we can be proud of.”