The Nation Newspaper

Tag: dominance

  • ABIA WARRIORS 3-0 KANO PILLARS:

    ABIA WARRIORS 3-0 KANO PILLARS:

     Biffo: Abia Warriors were determined to end Pillars dominance

    Abia Warriors’ head coach, Abdullahi Biffo has stated that the determination of his boys to record their first win against Kano Pillars and also improve their standing on the league table were the reasons for the emphatic victory yesterday at the Umuahia Township Stadium in a NPFL Match Day 15 tie.

    The Umuahia side leapt to sixth on the log from 10th position after the resounding win with 22 points from 15 games and Biffo told SportingLife that the boys resolved within themselves that they would clip Sai Masu Gida for the first time from seven matches and it was not difficult executing the match plan.

    “There was no magic in the win. We spoke to the players on the need to get a win and they came out very determined to rewrite the history of the club and it was not difficult getting the win,” Biffo told SportingLife.

    Sheriff Bashir and Sunday Adetunji were among the goal scorers for Abia Warriors yesterday and the Umuahia side will visit Lagos for a mid week date with MFM.

  • ICRC decries dominance of foreign experts in project structuring

    ICRC decries dominance of foreign experts in project structuring

    The dominance of foreign experts is responsible for the low local capacity in project transaction structuring in Nigeria, Acting Head of Communications, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mrs Deborah Okafor, has said.

    In a statement signed by Mrs Okafor in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), she said the Director General of ICRC, Aminu Dikko, made the statement at the first quarter 2015 meeting of the Public Private Partnership Units Consultative Forum (3PUCF).

    Represented by Dr. Chidi Izuwah, Director of PPP, the DG said that effort must gear towards encouraging local experts.

    The 3PUCF is a brain child of the ICRC and it provides a platform for Heads of PPP Units in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to share knowledge and experience. It also ensures synergy in efforts towards institutionalising the Federal Government’s PPP Programme.

    Principal Private Sector Specialist, African Development Nigeria Field Office, Mr. Emmanuael Akinwunmi, said that the idea of regional PPP hub was to stimulate more private sector led intervention in the region. According to him, the challenge in accessing project finance in the country is usually due to shortage of integrity and ideas rather than lack of money.

    He said that opportunities were available within African Development Bank (AfDB) to both public and private sector agencies in the areas of funding for project structuring, execution and capacity building.

    Mr. Nurudeen Lawal, from the National Planning Commission, emphasised the importance of the roles of MDA’s in ensuring the successful implementation of the National Infrastructure master plan.

    Representative of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Abubakar Yarima, identified legislation as one of the bottlenecks to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in some sectors, particularly rail and power sector. He called for a review of existing laws in these sectors.

  • Auditors kick against dominance by KPMG, Deloitte, others

    Auditors kick against dominance by KPMG, Deloitte, others

    Indigenous auditors are concerned about the rising level of control enjoyed by  KPMG,  Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Accenture, Deloitte and Ernst & Young  commonly referred to as the “big five” professional services firms.

    The Chairman, SIAO, an indigenous auditing firm, Robert Ade-Odiachi said the “big five” have corned top jobs from government parastatals, banks and other leading firms in the country.

    He said the relevance being given to the firms runs contrary to the Local Content Act, 2010, which stipulated that key jobs from government be done by local auditors, in partnership with international operators.

    Ade-Odiachi said the “big five” are parading themselves as indigenous Nigerian firms when what they are at best are franchises of foreign professional firms. “What we are witnessing presently, in the business sector of this country, is a blatant disregard for the provisions of the Nigerian Local Content Act, 2010. The “big five” professional services firms are parading themselves as indigenous Nigerian firms when what they are at best are franchises of foreign professional firms, he said.

    Continuing, he said the firms service all banks, most if not all most public quoted companies and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), multinationals and other public interest companies to the utmost total exclusion of indigenous formed and owned firm.

    Managing Partner, SIAO, Itua Ighodalo said the “big five” have managed to do this because of the negligence and in very many cases, the support of government agencies. He said the local Content Act, 2010 is clear in its provisions and intent.

    He said the purpose of enacting the Local Content Act is to develop local skills, facilitate technology transfer, ensure optimum use of local manpower and local manufacturing in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector.

    Ighodalo argued that even if foreign companies are registered in Nigeria, and can qualify as Nigerian firms, they are most certainly not indigenous or wholly Nigerian.

    “It is needless to state that the Local Content Act was enacted to cater for and provide protection for Nigerian indigenous companies that are in competition with foreign companies and foreign companies with subsidiaries in Nigeria,” he said.

  • Berger Paints eyes market dominance with new manufacturing plant

    Berger Paints Nigeria Plc will launch its new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant before the end of this year as the paints and chemical company consolidates efforts to strengthen its dominance and enhance value for shareholders.

    Addressing the investing public yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), managing director, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Mr. Tor Nygard said the company plans to complete and launch its new fully automated paint manufacturing plant in Lagos towards the end of 2014.

    According to him, the plant will be first of its kind in West Africa and it will produce the same high quality paints which are imported by others to Nigeria.

    He noted that Berger Paints had in 2012 entered into a commercial agreement with a coating manufacturing company in South Korea, KCC Corporation to jointly serve the Nigeria and West Africa Marine and Protective coating market.

    “This arrangement complies with the provision of the Local Content Act and the requirements of the Local Content Registration Board of Nigeria. This partnership creates an opportunity for transfer of much needed knowledge and training in the marine coatings sector to Nigerians, improving local knowledge in the onshore, offshore and shipping,” Nygard said.

    He said the company expects sales of N1.5 billion and net profit after tax of N80 million for the second quarter ending June 30, 2014.

    Nygard pointed out the improvements in the performance of the company in recent years noting that it posted a profit before tax of N379 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2013, an increase of 33 per cent when compared to N285 million recorded in 2012. The company recorded a turnover of N2.71 billion in 2013 as against N2.69 billion recorded in 2012.

    He added that the company has also undertaken strategic investments to diversify its earnings citing the building of a plaza in its regional office located in Abuja as one of the effective way of utilizing the company’s asset to generate additional income.

    “Our colour world centers as a concept are designed to promptly meet customers’ requests for a wide range of colors at point of sale. Going forward, after commissioning the new factory, Berger plans to have colour world centers in all key cities and locations in Nigeria. With investment in a state of the art modern factory, creating the colour world centers across Nigeria and the Berger/KCC partnership, the company is well poised to bringing cutting edge yet environmental friendly products to beautify homes and support project investment,” Nygard said.

    He reiterated the commitment of the board and management to continue to expand its operational activities to enhance profitability and increase shareholders’ value on investment.

     

  • Can NCC halt MTN’s dominance?

    Can NCC halt MTN’s dominance?

    About one month ago, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directed telecom gaint MTN, which it described as the dominant operator, to take steps to ensure a level-playing field in the industry. It threatened to impose price caps on wholesale leased lines and transmission. While MTN is yet to comply, analysts doubt if NCC will walk the talk, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

     

    Then the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) declared two mobile operators as the dominant players in the telecommunications market and promised to take steps to protect subscribers and other operators, the public welcomed the move.

    Those who praised the NCC’s action recalled the days of the former state-run, Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its mobile subsidiary, MTEL, which monopoly was to the detriment of the industry.

    Whereas there were only about 5,000 lines in the days of NITEL, today there are more than 113 million lines. NCC said there is need to ensure fair play. So, in June last year, in exercise of its power to “ensure fair competition in all sectors of the communications industry” vide section 1 (e) of its Act, it embarked on a Study of the Assessment of the Level of Competition in the Industry.

    KPMG Professional Services was in the same month engaged to carry out a Study on Assessment of the Current Level of Competition in the industry, having undertaken a similar study for the Commission in 2005. For the study, the market was segmented into mobile voice market, fixed voice market, mobile data market and upstream market.

    “The mobile voice market is not effectively competitive and is still highly concentrated with an HHI of 3063. MTN has a 44 per cent market share of subscribers within this market. There is also a wide differential (of about 300 per cent) between on net and off net calls and this is indicative of the likely establishment of a calling club for MTN subscribers,” the report said.

    In the fixed voice market, it said though Starcomms (with about 33 per cent market share of subscribers) has the highest market share within the fixed voice market, it is not considered to have significant market power in this market as it has consistently lost market share over the past three years. The fixed voice market has been on the decline since 2008 and has lost 70 per cent of its market over that period while in the mobile data market, the report noted that it accounts for 99 per cent data market.

    “The GSM operators lead this market segment. The major competition concern is that the wholesale providers of bulk bandwidth also play in the retail mobile data market and potentially stifle competition in this market. The study, however, concluded that no operator is dominant within the mobile data market,” it added.

    In the upstream market, MTN and Glo control about 62 per cent of the public terrestrial transmission infrastructure, which is a bottleneck resource in the provision of voice and data services. There are concerns that operators playing in the wholesale and retail sub segments of these markets have the leverage to “squeeze” the margins of their competitors who are also their customers.

    In view of these, the NCC resolved that the Dominant Operator in the mobile voice market shall be required to certain obligations, which incude accounting separation, collapse of on net and off net retail tariffs and submission of required details.of operations from time to time as the need arises. “The Commission shall make a determination of pricing principle to address the rate charges for on-net and off-net calls for all other operators,” NCC added.

    In the wholesale leased lines and transmission capacity market, which are dominated by Glo and MTN, NCC said they shall be required to adhere to the obligations of price cap/price floor, accounting separation, and submission of required details.

    NCC said all these would take effect from “May 1, 2013 and remain valid and binding on licencees for the services specified in relevant market segment of this sector until further reviewed by the commission.”

    Analysts have faulted the attempt of the NCC to cap the price in the wholesale and transmission sector. “How do you regulate what you do not own? This is the major problem with the deregulation of the downstream oil sector. The government said it deregulated and issued licences to people to build refineries and insisted in capping the price of the finished products. That is why no private enterpreneur is jumping at the offer,” a sector analyst said on condition of anonymity.

    “MTN should, among others, collapse on-net and off-net retail tariffs immediately. MTN booster weekly prepaid charge, for instance, offers MTN-to-MTN calls at 10 kobo per second; while subscribers are charged 150 per cent more – 25 kobo per second – for calls to other networks. At 30 kobo per second for calls from the second minute till the rest of the day, “MTN Super Saver off-net call rates are exploitative. There is a huge difference of 200 per cent as it charged 10 kobo per second for on-net calls,” a subscriber lamented.

    But the General Manager, Public Affairs, MTN, Funmi Omogbenigun, concedes the power to regulate tariffs to NCC. She, however, added that the telco was in talks with the regulator on the market dominance.

    “By law, NCC must approve tariffs; as such, we are in discussion with the NCC. We are also discussing the implementation with the NCC, to ensure that their directive is implemented in a manner that causes the least possible negative impact on our customers, if any,” she said.

    Glo’s Talk-Free pre-paid package, on-net calls cost 15 kobo per second and 18 kobo per second for off-net calls. On Glo Hi-Flier and G-BAM Hi 5ive, subscribers enjoy the same 18 kobo per second charge to any network within Nigeria. But subscribers say it charges 10 kobo per second for on-line calls on Glo Gista, but 30 kobo per second for off-net calls, while Glo 1derful rates for voice calls are 15 kobo per second for on-net calls and 25 kobo off-net. These, they argue, is also exploittative.

    Airtel has 2good Classic and Airtel Club 10, among other packages. For the former, voice calls have a flat rate of 18 kobo per second for calls to all national destinations, irrespective of the network. Airtel Club 10 requires subscribers to register 10 Airtel lines of family, friends or associates which would then enable calls to be made at 8.34 kobo per second. Calls to other Airtel numbers on this package cost 20 kobo per second on-net and 30 kobo per second off-net.

    Etisalat has Easy starter, among its several bouquets. Calls to networks cost 50 kobo per second, while Homezone calls are charged at 40 kobo per second whether on-net or off-net. On Easycliq, calls within the network at peak period cost 40 kobo per second and a minimal increase to 50 kobo per second for off-net calls.

    Omogbenigun argued that the difference between MTN’s on-/off-net tariff is competitive. “With respect to the other comments in your enquiry on MTN tariffs, our response is that the differential between our on-/off- net tariff is extremely competitive compared with other operators. Indeed, the differential between on-/off-net tariffs for one network is as much as 1000 per cent,” she said.

  • In light of Ghaana’s dominance

    Among the five-member countries that make up the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), SS3 candidates from Nigerian secondary schools outnumber those from Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia by about five to one.

    For the 2012 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) there were 1,545,004 Nigerians and 391,724 from the four other countries combined yet the top three candidates did not come from here. They were all Ghanaians, namely: Miss Yvette Yeboah-Kordieh (1st), Master Josbert Abaasa Ayambire (2nd) and Master Bright Seyram Tsevi (3rd).

    In the said examination, only 38.81 per cent of Nigeria’s candidates made up to five credits and above in English, Mathematics and three other subjects, which is the minimum benchmark for admission into tertiary institutions.

    It did not used to be so. Many years ago Nigerian candidates used to dominate the performance table, clinching the International Excellence Award for the top three slots and the

    Augustus Bandele Oyediran Award for the best candidate. For many years we took it for granted that the awards belonged to us. Given that we provide the lion share of the candidates and the funding to run the international headquarters of the Council in Accra, Ghana, we thought we should always expect to be the best.

    But this is not about expectations; it is about input; it is about performance. Ghana has decided that presenting a much smaller number of candidates should not be an excuse for mediocre performance. It upped its game and now, to our shame, we are trailing behind like overweight spoilt brat.

    Though the 38.81 per cent is the best in recent times (because we posted between 18 and 29 per cent in the past seven year), we cannot accept it as good news in its totality. It is work in progress. It is likely the improved performance is from states where the governments are making concerted efforts to remedy the situation by investing in infrastructure, teacher training, extra coaching for examination classes, and monitoring to ensure that teaching and learning takes place in schools.

    To restore Nigeria to the top, the Federal Government must be involved. We know secondary education is the responsibility of the states but we cannot afford to have some states make efforts to improve while others are nonchalant. We need the Federal Government to coordinate a national roadmap to the Promise Land of good performance. We need the Federal Ministry of Education to coordinate and the process for achieving national objectives regarding learning outcomes’ performance and skills. We must put an end to the politics that makes it a taboo for WAEC to publish performances of candidates on state basis so we can identify those states not doing well and why. In such cooperation we will find strength to excel. The attempt to protect those not doing well is the reason pupils are completing primary and secondary education without literacy, numeracy and life skills to survive in the labour market.

    The report on Nigeria’s inability to meet the 2015 Education For All goal should be a wake up call for us to do what is right. We are producing non-functional graduates, people without skills – with the bulk of them from poor backgrounds. If we have battled militants and terrorists groups today unsuccessfully, we cannot hope to eradicate them in future with the present education template. We need to act fast or we will not have a future to look forward to.