The Nation Newspaper

Tag: financially

  • ‘Dealing with financially excluded difficult’

    Diamond Bank said it is not easy dealing with finanially exluded members of the country.

    Its Executive Director, Business Development, Chizoma Okolie, said the bank has, however, being doing a lot to capture more people into the formal banking sector’s net.

    Sharing Perspectives on Consumer-centric Inclusion Banking at Digital Pay Expo in Lagos, she quoted the World Bank as saying 64million adults are financially exluded in the country while about 31million banked customers use the automated teller machine (ATM) to do their transactions.

    According to her, there is need to know what people in the financial services sector, stressing that the lender identified convenience, simplicity, borrow with little credit history, know me/involve me.

    She explained that there is always the need to bring convenience to the customers without necessarily disrupting their life styles, adding that the culture of the people also needed to be preserved while trying to catch them into the formal banking net.

    She said the determination of the lender to get more people to embrace financial services made it to partner MTN Nigeria to unveil the Diamond Y’ellow Account.

    According to her, the initiative has recorded a resounding success as account holders under the scheme has now hit 10 million because it has taken care of simplicity and convenience as their nearest agent could be located through the mobile phone.

    She said Beta Friends account is another initiative introduced by the lender to simplify banking to the customers.

    While this initiative sits within the comfort of the bank, she said it also does not distort people’s way of life and promoting social inclusion by providing opportunities through connecting people and connecting businesses. Currently, the product has 580,000 customers mostly women. She said Diamond Closa already has 317 agents.

  • How Kwara can become financially independent through non-oil export

    A large number of states in Nigeria are running on avoidable deficits due to overdependence on centrally allocated crude-oil dependent revenues. Many of the state governments came into power with the mindset of getting monthly allocation from the federation account but the decline in the oil price and the lingering slowdown due to destruction of oil pipeline and installations have dashed many hopes. Unpaid salaries, uncompleted and abandoned projects and many socio-economic and political challenges are many states due to paucity of funds.

    In this article, I will be focusing on how Kwara State can become financially independent through aggressive drive for non-oil exportation. According to BudgIT, Kwara is among the states in Nigeria that is running at a huge deficit. This is because the total income realisable from both the internally generated revenues and the federal allocation are grossly inadequate to meet the recurrent expenditure talk less of the capital expenditures.

    My position has been that all the states in Nigeria have what it takes to internally fund their budgets and survive independently of the federal government allocation. To achieve this, they only need to focus on two major sectors namely; agriculture and non-oil export. The strategies put forward in this article are capable of not just helping the states to generate revenue and become self-sufficient, in addition to this, it will also help them to create numerous jobs for their teeming population.

    Kwara is blessed with very large land mass that is suitable for the production of different kind of exportable agricultural commodities, but in this article, our recommendation for this state is Raw cashew nut export. Even though this is a tree crop with gestation of about two years for improved varieties, but the potential upon maturity will last for many years.

    According to the Collaborative Survey by National Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development and Federal Ministry of Trade & Investment, this state produced about 39,000MT of raw cashew nut in 2012.

    Using the national average of about 38 per cent, this state currently has arable land that is about 1,414,080. hectares of lands. We have made some reasonable and very conservative assumptions in this analysis and these include that: the state is using just 40 per cent (565,632 hectare) of this land for cashew nut plantation

    -the yield per hectare of Cashew nut is 1MT per hectare (even though, there are varieties that can yield more than this) this yield was used to make provisions for losses that might occur during harvest -the unit price of cashew nut is $1,000/MT FOB Lagos (even though it can be as high as $1,200) -cost of farming was put at N25, 000 per hectare based on some research works -cost of exporting per metric tonne was put at N35, 000 base on the export projects I have handled in the past

    With a yield of 1MT per hectare, this means that the state can produce 565,632MT of cashew nut on the land size stated in the assumptions above. If this cashew nut is exported at a free on board (FOB) price of $1,000/MT, the total proceeds will be $565,632,000. Using a conversion rate of N310 to 1$, this amount to N175, 345,920,000. The unit cost of farming Cashew nut and exporting are N25,000 per hectare and N35,000 per MT respectively. The total cost of farming plus 50 per cent profit on the sales to the government (or to the trading company engaged by the government) comes to N21,211,200,000 and the total cost exporting (transport, documentation, freight forwarding etc) comes to N19,797,120,000. The total project cost (farming and exportation) will be about N41,008,320,000. The estimated profit that can accrue to the state on this project comes to about N134, 337,600,000.

    According to data obtained from government sources, the IGR of the state for the year 2014 was about N17,497,620,787.52. This will remain low and even drop further because it is mainly generated from the personal income tax on workers in the state most of which have not been paid for some months now. From the analysis we have done on farming and exportation of Cashew nut, the state government could grow her revenue several thousand times over and above the current level if the government can embrace this new way of thinking in their drive for revenue generation.

    The state can start this drive with the exportation of Cashew nut to meet the current financial obligations but with a plan to begin to add value and process it into Cashew Kernel which will more than triple the revenue from the raw cashew nut.

  • ‘Why China should support Nigeria financially’

    Budget and National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma has made a strong case why the Chinese government should offer financial assistance to the Federal Government in the funding of some critical infrastructure projects.

    Senator Udoma spoke at the weekend from China at the coordinator’s meeting on the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

    He also used held talks discussions on issues of economic interests with that country’s Vice Minister for Commerce, Mr. Qian Keming and officials of the China EXIM Bank, where he stressed the mutually beneficial relationship the two countries will eventually enjoy by assisting Nigeria to grow its economy.

    At the Johannesburg Summit in South Africa in December, last year, China had agreed to assist African countries in ten strategic areas to boost their economy. It pledged $60 billion in aid, grants and concessional loans.

    The Federal Government has been trying to get as much of the Chinese funding for projects in the form of grants, aids, investments and loans.

    The loan component will however be within the Nigeria’s debt sustainability limits.

    Already, the government has proposed projects for the facility in the region of about $20 billion and the minister said a helping hand from the Chinese government will lift Nigeria.

    During the various meetings, Udoma stressed the need for special consideration for Nigeria, given its strategic relationship with China, its economic potentials, and its capacity to redeem its part of the transaction obligations.

    The minister said that following the meetings, both countries expressed satisfaction with the proposals and very anxious to proceed to the next level.

    During the Cooperation meeting attended by ministers from various countries in Africa, China’s President Xi Jinping, described the parley as an important step taken by China and Africa to implement the consensus of Chinese and Africa leaders and the outcomes of the FOCAC.

    “It is a significant measure to boost China-African cooperative development. The meeting demonstrates to the world once again that no matter how the international landscape may change, the resolve of China and Africa to pursue unity and win-win cooperation will never change”, Jinping said.

  • Are you financially faithful?(4)

    DAILY, thousands of people and families make financial decisions based on wrong advice, forgetting that when the advice doesn’t work, they are the ones to suffer. But I know, today, that the only reliable advice on money comes from the Word of God. The Bible addresses virtually every financial decision a person will ever need to make. Therefore, the Bible is the best source of financial wisdom available to mankind.

    It is my prayer that you will take whatever advice the Bible has offered you thus far, and will continue to offer you, as it has to do with money and your family life. Until you become faithful in handling money at home, you will not be able to enjoy financial abundance with peace. As a father, if you are always complaining, grumbling, or murmuring, you will end up transferring that same spirit and attitude to the other members of your family. Why? This is because, as it is with the head, so shall it be with the body. If you display ingratitude, you are going to transfer the same spirit to your wife. That’s why rather than murmur or complain, look at your home and everything that concerns your home and learn to give thanks to God and even to the other members of your household. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones (Proverbs 17:22).

    Don’t you know that there are many people of your age who live under the bridge or flyovers, so what makes you better? You don’t choose the family to which you belong, so count yourself fortunate because there are worse situations than yours. Therefore, be appreciative, not only to God, but to your family members. Be appreciative of your current financial status. It will not be that way tomorrow. Your gratitude today, however, will determine whether it will increase or decrease tomorrow.

    Learn to be appreciative; husbands and wives learn to be appreciative for little kindness. Parents and children, if you want an outstanding home, learn to be appreciative of one another. As you do that, God will begin to promote your home. Mothers, don’t sit down commanding everybody, “You, go to the kitchen,” “You run outside” etc., without saying, “Thank you” when necessary to members of your household. If you have a house help and that girl has done one thing or the other for you, don’t just come back from work and begin to shout, blaming and condemning her.

    Learn to show appreciation. Say, “Thank you” to that little girl. Don’t think, “Who is she, after all how can I be saying ‘thank you’ to my house help, God forbid!” That girl may not be educated today; she may not be an entity today, but you may need her help tomorrow. Remember such girl is representing a particular family. Did you choose the family you belong? No! Neither did she, so, it is not her fault that she is a house help today, so treat her well. What you do unto others, God keeps the records. So, love your house helps; commend them, do not condemn them.

    “Thank you” is a very short statement made of two words. During the last Women’s Convention, one of our sisters testified how she improved her relationship with her house help. She began to treat her like a daughter and one day when her child was afflicted, God used this same house help to deliver her daughter from that affliction. What would have cost her a huge sum of money and emotional stress, was solved by her house help. It pays to be appreciative.

    Don’t say, “Look at my friend’s husband, he has done that for her, he has done this, etc.” You never show any appreciation for the little things he has done; you only complain, saying, “He has done nothing”. At the end of the day, the man become tired or the woman may get tired or even the children may get tired. So, watch it; do not destroy your sweet home.

    A man wrote me some time. He was lamenting that everything he does for his wife, anything he buys, any money he gives her, she’s never satisfied. She can’t say, “Thank you”, she can’t say, “I appreciate you” and the man said he was getting tired of her attitude. Wife, your husband won’t be tired of you in Jesus’ name. But you have to learn to appreciate him. Some husbands too, nothing their wife does please them. Ingratitude is a killer of family harmony. Learn to say, “Thank you”, for small and great kindness.

    If it is little money given to you, appreciate him or her very well and he/she will soon increase it next time. As children, don’t say, “Daddy, this is not enough”, instead, thank him very well, appreciate him deeply and next time, when you need money, he will increase it. My husband says, “Every complaint complicates issues.” So, don’t complicate matters concerning your family life, by murmuring and complaining.

    Today, I impart unto you the spirit of thanksgivings and gratitude that will enable you appreciate your spouse and family members, as the need arises. Receive it to the glory of God.

    As a child of God financial blessing is part of your inheritance (Ephesians 1:3). To peacefully enjoy such blessings, first, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour by saying this prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I come to You today, just as I am. I am a sinner. I believe You died for me and on the third day You rose again for my justification. Forgive me of my sins; cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You now as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Lord, for saving me. Now I know I am forgiven, I am justified, I am born again and I am a child of God!

    Congratulations, you are now born again! I believe that you will begin to experience the reality of the price that Jesus paid for your sins at Calvary. All-round rest and peace are guaranteed you, in Jesus’ Name!

    Call or write, and share your testimonies with me through: E-mail: faithdavid@yahoo.com. Tel. No: 08141320204; 07026385437; 07094254102

    For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Making Marriage Work, Marriage Covenant, Building A Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).