The Nation Newspaper

Tag: deepen

  • Oil dips as China-U.S trade tensions deepen

    Oil prices edged lower yesterday as investors focused on deepening trade tension between the United States (U.S.) and China that is expected to dent global crude demand, but losses were limited as the market weighed potential supply tightening due to Iran sanctions.

    Brent crude futures fell 11 cents to $77.99 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 8 cents to settle at $68.91 a barrel.

    U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to announce new tariffs on about $200 billion on Chinese imports as early yesterday, a senior administration official told Reuters on Saturday.

    U.S. stock indexes broadly fell yesterday, weighing on oil futures, on expectations that Trump would go ahead with the new tariffs and that Beijing would retaliate.

    The trade dispute is raising concerns about the potential for slower growth in oil consumption, offsetting supply concerns stemming from the upcoming U.S. sanctions on Iran.

    Speaking on the development, an analyst at Price Futures Group, Phil Flynn said:”The uncertainty surrounding the trade war is definitely something the market is concerned about in the short-term.”

    Sanctions affecting Iran’s petroleum sector will come into force from Nov. 4. Iranian crude oil export loadings have declined by 580,000 barrels per day in the past three months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note to clients.

    “We believe that the full effect of the Iranian oil sanctions has yet to be seen and we feel that the next 5-6 week anticipatory phase of the official sanctions will associate with steady speculative buying interest,” Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

    Iran’s oil exports have been falling in recent months as more buyers, including its second-largest buyer India, cut imports ahead of U.S. sanctions that take effect in November. Washington aims to cut Iran’s oil exports down to zero to force Tehran to re-negotiate a nuclear deal.

    Since spring when the Trump Administration said it would impose the sanctions, crude traders have priced in a risk premium reflecting the supply shortages that may occur when exports from Iran, the third-largest Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) producer, are cut.

    U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told Reuters at the weekend that he did not expect any price spikes and that Saudi Arabia, the U.S and Russia could between them raise global output in the next 18 months.

    Yesterday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said all possible scenarios for oil output could be discussed at a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC states in Algeria this month.

    State oil giant Saudi Aramco will spend more than 500 billion riyals ($133 billion) on oil and gas drilling over the next decade, a senior company executive said.

  • DEEPEN seeks empowerment for low cost private schools

    DEEPEN seeks empowerment for low cost private schools

    One of the problems faced by private schools, especially low cost schools, is limited access to finance, which often militates against quality education delivery.

    This was the thrust of presentations at a finance forum organised by Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria (DEEPEN), a programme funded by UKaid, which focuses on improving the quality of education in private schools, with special attention on low cost private schools.

    The event titled “Schools as SMEs: Leveraging the market opportunities”, was held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja.

    The team leader, Gboyega Ilusanya, said  researches conducted by DEEPEN showed that over 70 per cent, amounting to  1.4m children in Lagos State, attend private schools, with 118,000 teachers being employed by these schools. Also, about 9,000 schools are unapproved, educating over a million children.

    He said it is pertinent to look at education support for these schools within the business environment in different perspectives; the rules and standard within which they operate, the policy framework which positively or negatively affects  them as a business, as well as whether those frameworks have negative impacts on them.

    He noted that if accessibility of funds was made easier, especially to low cost schools, they would in turn have a significant improvement in service delivery.

    “The challenges faced by the schools go beyond seeking government support. The issue of quality education has been a challenge, but the quantum of resources the government can provide is not enough for schools to get out of the vicious cycle of low-cost, and low quality that has been alleged, which often is not totally the case, and then moving forward to improving quality of learning among schools.

    “So, it is about getting a consensus, getting the private sector, the financial institutions to have insight into the thinking of the government around how to improve access to finance and loans for schools than leveraging the market opportunities,” he said.

    He continued: “There is a need to involve the private sector so that at the end, we are not just throwing money at the problem, but looking at the problems and solving them together, so that we will have a  long term stability.”

    The Special Adviser to Lagos State on education Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, explained that private schools represent a larger number in the state, with only 4,000 registered and 8,098 unapproved.

    He said the 60 per cent of unregistered schools pose a challenge to the state in ascertaining the quality of education being delivered as well as maintaining standards.

    Bank-Olemoh said the state Public Trust Funds can only be accessible by registered schools, which many have applied for, adding that  the state was doing its best to address school deficit by locating those areas that are in need of schools.

    National Secretary, Association For Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mr Kalu Orji, noted that many low cost schools are faced with government’s draconian policy such as registration and getting approval, adding that the scenario is further worsened by the perception of low cost schools by financial institutions as ‘highly risky’, and making the latter to be unwilling in giving out loans to them.

    Orji urged the government to review the policy framework to accommodate these schools to operate effectively, as against the general framework for all levels of private schools.

  • Dogara’s quest to deepen the capital market

    Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, made history on Friday, July 8, when he became the first ever presiding officer of the National Assembly to visit the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and to sound the closing gong to signal the end of the trading on its floor.

    But while his visit was a new development, it is well known that since his emergence as the Speaker last year, Dogara has been very active in championing calls for the revival and deepening of Nigeria’s capital market.

    The NSE is not in its best of times. The market is yet to recover from the global financial meltdown of 2008 which resulted in over N10 trillion being lost by hapless Nigerian investors. Sadly, efforts to investigate and bring all those responsible for the crash to book for their actions or inactions have been frustrated by powerful forces, leading many Nigerians, especially the middle class, to stay away from the NSE after losing their savings and pensions to insider abuses and other infractions by some operators.

    A 2010report by the National Bureau for Statistics puts over 100 million Nigerians below the poverty line. With the dwindling revenue from oil resulting in non-payment of salaries by 27 out of 36 states, and almost 500 local government councils, more Nigerians are being daily plunged into poverty.

    This calls for desperate and urgent measures by political institutions to diversify the economy, create wealth, and reduce income inequality. There is therefore the urgent need to deepen the capital market and make it attractive to the ordinary Nigerian to make living.

    Not new to the happenings in the stock market, having served in the committee of the House that investigated the events that led to the crash of the market, Dogara has continuously advocated for measures that will deepen the market and return investors’ confidence. It is his conviction that democracy, the best system of government ever to be invented by mankind, can only function effectively and deliver on its promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness when wealth is created and deliberately allowed to trickle down to the ordinary people. He believes strongly that this can be achieved through the capital market.

    For him, a situation where a large chunk of the nation’s resources or capital is heavily concentrated in the hands of few chief executive officers, CEOs,  would further widen the inequality gap, eliminate the middle class and plunge more people into abject poverty, thereby posing serious threat to the sustenance and survival of democracy. He has made it known in different fora that the skewed distribution of wealth is even more worrisome because the flow of resources from Nigerian citizens to multinational companies operating in the country that makes them rich but unfortunately, these same companies, rather than invest in the NSE and grow the economy of Nigeria, would rather repatriate their profits 100 percent to their own countries without investing a dime back to the system.

    On many occasions, the speaker has made his position on this sad trend clear, sounding it out to all that care to listen that major extra-ordinary measures will have to be taken by the parliament and indeed all political institutions in the country to compel these large multinational companies with interests in oil and gas and telecommunications to get listed on the NSE.

    His argument is simple: foreign telecommunication companies who have been operating in the country since 2001 have not only been declaring huge profits, but are also listed in their countries’ stock exchanges yet have continued to rebuff calls for them to list in the NSE, even though they make most of their profits here.

    Dogara has noted that ironically, it  is only from the patronage they get from Nigerians that they make this huge profit, which explains why even though Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, its capital market ranks third – a very big anomaly.

    No wonder when he sounded the closing gong of the Nigerian bourse on July 8, he said that the parliament would strengthen capital market laws to empower regulators to sanction erring operators. The Speaker told the market operators that his visit underpins the fact that the House pays serious attention to the Nigerian capital market and that for the capital market to take its rightful place, drastic measures must be adopted. He said that having rebuffed calls for them to list on the stock market, it was now time to get the multinational companies to comply by adopting the carrot and stick approach.

    Dogara also charged the capital market regulators on the need to be on top of their responsibilities in order to boost investors’ confidence in the market. To make them more efficient, he suggested that the regulators be empowered to sanction operators that arbitrarily abuse the market so as to regain investors’ confidence. He said it was important to regain investors’ confidence and give them the needed assurance that anyone who perpetuates infractions in the market would be dealt with. According to him, this will also serve as deterrent to others who may want to scam investors in the future.

    Said he: “We need to deepen the market, we need to create and sustain confidence in the market and for confidence to come back, we need to do more. When we start sanctioning, confidence will come back to the market.”

    The speaker received a standing ovation when he told operators on the floor of the NSE that the House would soon pass laws that would compel multinationals, oil and gas companies, telecommunication firms and privatised companies to list on NSE to deepen the market as part of efforts to engender economic prosperity.

    One thing that emerged from the speaker’s visit is that unknown to many, most of the public enterprises that were privatised were actually mandated to list certain percentage of their shares on the NSE as part of the sales and purchase agreement. Regrettably, none of the companies is listed, in contravention of the sales and purchase agreement they signed with the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).

    Dogara however, assured that the House, through its committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation will investigate these cases of abuse with a view to getting them to stick to the terms of agreement they had with BPE.

    Describing Dogara’s visit as historic, NSE’s council president, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, noted that the House under his leadership had shown concern about the economy and the capital market. While assuring the speaker that market operators will not relent and would do everything to ensure that the market becomes the best in the continent, he said it was very gratifying that Dogara is leading moves to create a conducive environment for the market.

    Of course, the speaker needs the support of all men and women of goodwill to bring his dream of deepening the capital market to fruition. Here, his colleagues and senators alike must, as a matter of necessity and urgency, consider and treat proposed legislations related to this purpose with the seriousness and urgency they deserve and for the President to assent to the bills when they are eventually passed into law.

     

    • Hassan is Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs to Speaker Dogara.

  • ZTE to deepen presence in Nigeria

    Chinese equipment vendor, ZTE Corporation, said it will deepen its presence in the country by providing superior security and telecoms equipment to support the growth and development of the telecoms services. The firm also said it is making forays into the mobile devices market.

    Deputy Managing Director, ZTE Nigeria Limited, Brielle Gao, who spoke in Lagos said the firm has maintained its presence in the country over the last one decade, adding that the firm will continue to partner with the government and other stakeholders to grow the economy.

    “We have maintained effective presence in Nigeria for close to 10 years with stable, long term partnerships with the Federal Government and major private telecommunications operators,” she said at the end of year forum organised for the media in Lagos.

    “Nigeria is a key market for telecommunications growth in Africa and the world. Here you have very dynamic and versatile market driven by high population of tech-trendy and unassuming end-users. With our competitive, robust, innovative solutions and technologies, ZTE is best poised for strong presence in this market,” she said.

    According to her, ZTE as a publicly-listed company posted a net profit of about $90.5 million for the nine-month quarter ending in September 2013.”

    She said: “Internationally, ZTE continues to focus efforts on major global carriers, and gained strong momentum in key sectors such as enterprise and government ICT solutions, services and mobile devices, while consolidating its share of the telecommunications network infrastructure market. “Looking ahead to the next reporting period, equipment investment by the telecommunications industry will remain focused on wireless and broadband systems and their ancillary transmission networks.”

    Gao disclosed that ZTE will continue to drive product innovation and solution-based operations with a strong focus on mainstream products, while seeking to improve Research and Development efficiency.

    Net profit increased 132 per cent from a year earlier, as the company executed its operational strategy to improve cash flow and raise profitability.

  • How to deepen democracy, by Tambuwal, Aliyu, Tinubu, Kukah

    How to deepen democracy, by Tambuwal, Aliyu, Tinubu, Kukah

    How can Nigeria deepen its democracy? That was the question yesterday at a colloquium organised to mark the 60th birthday of Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the Imaguero College hall in Benin-City, the state capital where some eminent Nigerians spoke “Deepening Democracy and Enhancing Public Welfare”.

    The event was attended by top political leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen and ordinary citizens.

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal said the independence of the electoral umpire was critical to democracy.

    Tambuwal noted that for Nigeria to continue to deepen democracy, the electoral umpire must be seen to be independent.

    He said: “To have a good political party, there is need for political not only to be built around ideology but critical objectives and not objectives of individuals.

    Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu said the challenge in the country was not how to deepen democracy but how to build democracy.

    Aliyu said Nigeria must go back to the family system, if it must have good democracy, adding that “servant-leaders” must be transparent in all their dealings.

    He said: “We must enthrone a political process where people can go through voting process, knowing their votes will not be skewed. We must go back to the family system. Edo people have shown how to deepen democracy. When my party came to Edo to crush our friend, Edo people said no because God has given them a good man.”

    “If you aspire to be a godfather, there must be rules and regulations to become a godfather. We must learn the mantra of one-man-one-vote. That will entrench democracy in our community.”

    The governor criticised the slow process of the legal system, adding that everybody must be seen to be equal before the law.

    “Where a political party does not follow internal democracy, we must fight it strongly,” he said.

    The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, noted that Nigeria is not practising the right democracy.

    In his view, although Nigeria may have gotten rid of dictatorship, the ingredients of dictatorship remain in the country. Rev. Kukah said providing infrastructure was not synonymous with democracy as according to him, “there has to be something of unpredictable about the substance of democracy.”

    “A president or governor has to be clear about what legacy they want to leave behind. We can’t run a country this way. We have not started the foundation of democracy that enable citizen determines the character of leadership.”

    Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu lamented that President Goodluck Jonathan has polarised the Governors’ Forum.

    He lampooned governors for not seeking redress in the court of law, saying they were supposed to be an institution that others depended on to deepen democracy.

    Said the former Lagos governor: “You would have gone to court straight because by going to the court, you are deepening democracy. I went to court 11 times and I won all the suites. It is not for me. It is about taking our right seriously and protecting it.

    “I make bold to say the greatest shame of the president was the day he announced the PDP Governors Forum. What a shame. The body is to protect constitution. Leave the governors to unite to give reasonable level of performance and freedom of the constitution. Don’t polarise them on a partisan basis.

    “Let us stop the lamentation. If you have state police, you will know where militants reside. You will get rid of a bad system. Give more funds to the state. In the meantime establish community police.”

    On amnesty, Tinubu said he disagreed with the question of a ghost because “from creation, ghosts never throw bombs. They remain quiet in cemetery. You cannot arrest ghosts”.

    “President Goodluck Jonathan has said he cannot. He says Boko Haram members should pull their mask to qualify for amnesty. The sect has killed thousand of people.

    The former governor urged Tambuwal toprevail on the National Assembly amend the Electoral Act to provide for biometrics use by INEC, if the last voter registration data does not meet the standard quality.

    “Nigerians still suffer under the inferior and slipshod manual registration, verification and accreditation of voters when there is the biometric system to ensure one-man-one-vote. In our situation, the struggle for one-man-one-vote is not yet over. We must push for the use of biometrics, as witnessed in Kenya, Sieria Leone, Ghana.

    “Biometric is not electronic voting. That is the challenge. Until we do that, the challenge of our nation is to have a credible leadership who are very honest. We don’t need the number of security operatives on election if we embark upon biometric registration and validation.”

    He said progressives have made the APC for the PDP”, adding “If they cannot do it, we will do it.’

    He said Oshiomhole deserved to be regarded as leader of ACN because he had performed well and made the party proud.

    Tinubu said: “It takes extraordinary leadership for democracy to survive and to be sustained. Oshiomhole realised the importance of good planning to bring good governance. We have created an opportunity for a platform that can deepen democracy.

    “We must insist that subsequent elections are free and fair. The people of Edo have seen the light. They are ready to protect their votes and to reject the erstwhile PDP government that served them a salad of corruption and rickety governance for years. “The people are now witnessing rapid development because they voted for change. This is manifest in the development across Edo State, the provision of water, modern transportation.”

    The chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Aliko Mohammed said the ACN believes in Nigeria which was why its leaders moved round the country to convince people on their belief.

    Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili said it is the people that would determine the scorecard of a government.

    She said those who democracy has thrown up must have a rallying vision as ‘poverty has no ethnicity and no religion’.

    Said Mrs. Ezekwesili: “ There has not been a change in the economic structure in Nigeria. No economy that has improved the lives of its citizenry keeps its manufacturing at 15 per cent.”

    “A weakened citizenry cannot be the basis for the deepening of any democracy. What democracy do you want to deepen if you do not fundamentally think in terms of the structure of inequality and accountability that exist between the political elite and the citizen.

    “You cannot say you started the deepening of democracy, until the people of the state tell you that you’ve started the job.”