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Tag: Funding

  • Stanbic IBTC deepens funding for SMEs

    Stanbic IBTC deepens funding for SMEs

    Stanbic IBTC Bank has reiterated on the need to enhance funding and capacity building for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The lender recently organised nationwide Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) workshops in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Aba, Lagos, Ibadan, and Kano, with plans to extend to other cities and major towns soon.

    The bank’s Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, Obinna Ukachukwu, said: “The SME sector is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria is no exception, which is why the seminar was developed to provide innovative marketing, financial and management skills that are useful to their businesses and provide the skill set needed for their businesses to grow”.

    Stanbic IBTC Bank’s approach is very interesting. The bank has developed a unique value proposition to support small businesses, with transactional products; savings and investment solutions; lending products; and wealth protection solutions. Underpinning all these is an investment in technology, which is designed to make banking easier for its SME clients. Apart from using best-in-class payment solutions, the bank had last year launched an internet banking offering specifically for SMEs.

    “To help clients improve operations, we believe a migration to digital banking will reduce the challenges faced by customers and help them run more efficient businesses. Instead of spending time travelling to visit our branches, we have created a platform called SME BizDirect for customers to fulfill their banking transaction by telephone and email,” he said.

    Besides, the SME BizDirect allows businesses in the country as well as from all over the world interact with the lender. The BizDirect, which is a virtual centre from which well-trained bankers interact with customers by telephone and email, is the first of its kind in Nigeria. According to Ukachukwu, “It is a testament to the bank’s focus on SMEs that it created a fully dedicated centre to handle enquiries, requests and all other banking needs for SMEs.”

    According to the lender, “SME BizDirect will change how banks interact with their clients. The era of depending on physical branches to serve clients is disappearing, and technology will be the major driver of customer engagement in the future.”

    The future of banking is certainly interesting, and with innovative solutions like BizDirect, the future of SMEs in Nigeria is certainly bright.

    Analysts insist that access to finance is often cited as the major challenge faced by SMEs. Though financing remains a major challenge, it does not reflect the multi-faceted challenges business owners face. With the significant infrastructure challenges, business owners often struggle to run efficient operations, and incur a high cost of doing business.

    “Business owners in emerging markets like Nigeria are real heroes. They generate their own power, create their own logistics structures, and still have to worry about running their businesses. With such challenges, it isn’t surprising that over 70 per cent of businesses in Nigeria don’t survive beyond the first five years,” Ukachukwu, who is responsible for Stanbic IBTC’s SME Banking team, said.

    Apart from access to finance and operational challenges, SMEs also need to enhance capacity, which is one of the main impediments to growth. Many SMEs struggle with book keeping, which means lenders or investors struggle to assess the business viability. In addition, an inability to determine their target markets and execute the appropriate strategy means resources are dissipated without delivering the desired objectives.

  • Why govt may stop funding constituency projects, by SGF

    Why govt may stop funding constituency projects, by SGF

    Continued from last Thursday

    What has delayed the appointments of people into Federal Government boards?

    Let me tell you; it took some of the previous governments two years to make board appointments. Now, the issue of board appointments is moving faster than in previous governments. We need to do it very diligently. Up until September, only the president and vice president were running the country and their hands were too full for them to get engaged in board appointments. Then the SGF, Chief of Staff and quite some few others came on board, and it is the OSGF that co-ordinates all of these. The president approved the setting up of a committee late last year to do this. The first thing the committee did was to set up criteria for people who would merit being on a board in an APC government. We needed to get all the parastatals whose boards need to be constituted. Then we did what we called ceding, in the sense that we needed to share the boards in an equitable manner among all the states so that each state, as much as possible, would have its own fair share of board chairmen and board members. I think we started with close to 400 or 500 parastatals. It was not a mean job with board membership of, in those days, I think five to 6, 000 people -chairmen and members- from all the states and we decided to cede them in such a way that when it comes to a state, the board membership must also be representative of the local governments there. So, first, we ceded among the zones, then we said okay, maybe north east zone has 20 chairmanships and 1,000 board membership, then we go back and share the chairmanship in an equitable manner according to the weight of the parastatals because in government I understand there is Category A, B and C boards so that you do not end up with only Category C or A; so it is not a very simple job. While we were doing this, the government had to also look at the Oronsaye report which recommends the scrapping or merging of some parastatals. There was a White Paper by the former government on the implementation of the Oronsaye Report. So, this government decided to study that report which had very good merit in it because a lot of the parastatals were just doing nothing or were doing what others were doing.

     

    So, in considering the Oronsaye Report, is there any likelihood of carrying out the merger or scrapping of parastatals?

     Look, the Oronsaye Report is domiciled here as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. They did a good job, not necessarily that everything is acceptable. What happened to the Oronsaye Report is that they made their recommendations and took it to the Cabinet. By the time the White Paper came out, it appeared that only 40 per cent of the recommendations were approved for implementation by the White Paper. It appeared that every minister started defending his staff. So, for example, parastatals recommended for scrapping suddenly found themselves in the survival list, because government is like that. So, the Oronsaye Report was completely mutilated during the White Paper. While the activity in itself was commendable, as a government, it is only natural that we look at it in the context of our own objectives. So, we are looking at it. A lot of hardwork went into it, and we would like to study it and implement it in agreement with our policies.

     

    Are you most likely to also look at the 2014 Confab Report in that manner?

     Well, the government has not taken a decision on the 2014 National Conference. I understand that some Nigerians want it implemented but the government has been too busy with key areas of governance to talk about an exercise that we thought was essentially diversionary and a sort of, maybe, a ‘job for the boys’, because if you remember, it was reported that almost everybody in the committee got N7 million, and we consider it essentially as job for the boys. They probably produced a document that is good and commendable but I mean, this government is too busy with very more vital areas of governance, and we are not intending to spend our time reading reports. The exercise of governance is not about reading reports. The reports are here, so many volumes that for example, it would take me like seven days to go through. Economy needs attention I wonder what happens to my work while I am reading it; while the economy needs attention, unemployment is there, insecurity is there, people are blowing up pipelines and so on.

    How true is the allegation in some quarters that you are responsible for the travails of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu?

    Let me tell you, the Office of the Secretary to Government is the punching bag of everybody, and that is how it should be. My own understanding of the present government in relation with the opposition is such that the integrity of our president has been established over his almost 73 years as solid; you cannot assail it. So, the only option left for you as a ‘dirty’ opposition since you must attack the government is to attack those less known. And those less known that are easy targets, that they think when they attack them, they are attacking the president are the SGF, the Chief of Staff, Minister of Petroleum and the CBN Governor, for one reason. These are appointive positions; they are not elective. Probably, they think that “oh, if we make him look dirty, the president would sack me.” In my life, I have seen Ekweremadu for, maybe twice, and the second one, was incidentally, in a church in Yola. I do not understand the psychology of, when you are accused of something, instead of defending yourself, you waste your time hunting for who could have been the cause of your travails. If they remove Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President, how does that personally benefit us? Of course, while I was in the party then as National Vice Chairman, it was the party position that because we are the majority party in Parliament, that we should produce all the Principal Officers. To that extent as an APC member, I am not happy that APC has not produced the deputy senate president. It is an aberration, but the senators decided, which is their constitutional right, to create the aberration. The solution, if they need any solution would lie with them not BD Lawal, not SGF because I am not a senator. I am the SGF. So, whoever tells you that I am responsible for the travails of Sen. Ekweremadu is burying his head in the sand rather than running.

     

    When is the president going to start dealing with corrupt persons in APC?

     Let us be very sincere and reasonable. Obviously, to my mind, the preponderance of corrupt people would be in the PDP for one reason; they have been in government for 16 years and they were the only ones enjoying the booty, and they were doing it in a flagrant manner. Tracing my own (political) genealogy for instance, from ANPP to CPC and now APC, we were not getting anything. Nobody was giving us contracts. PDP were the ones in government; they were the ones the president was approving money for sharing; they were the ones that took government money to fund their election. This is the truth. APC had no access to government money to fund the president’s election. It got to a stage when PDP saw it clearly on the wall; you remember they even shifted the elections; it was so clear they were going to lose, and so they thought they could buy it. Throughout the last tenure of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign, their goodwill among Nigerians was on the decline and they were spending, and it got to a stage that they did not care about following the due process anymore because they thought they were in power and they thought they could buy their way through and remain in perpetuity. So, they became even careless about the manner they were taking the money. Remember Nigeria even borrowed $100million from the international market to fund the war on Boko Haram and they simply shared it. APC did not go to borrow anywhere. We were not sharing oil wells. We had no access to NNPC funds. So, if these agencies were converted into agencies for looting and pilfering, it is obvious that even if we had corrupt men in the APC, they did not have the opportunity to steal, and that is assuming we had. I cannot, in all honesty, say that all of us in APC are saints, but the truth is, we did not have access to funds to steal in the first place, and so we did not have opportunity also to reject the stealing. So, let them roast in their stew. Let them carry their cross. They can make all the noises and try to deflate APC, but our hands are clean by providence. Look, let us face it. If they arrest you, why don’t you say, ‘I shared the money with so and so persons’ and then let him turn out to be in APC? Those that they are arresting, it is from the interrogation that the information burst out. Let them leave us alone. This is just the beginning. They will return our money by the time we finish digging their soak-aways and bringing down their (overhead) tanks; we would recover our money.

  • Banks drive SMEs’ funding, entrepreneurship

    Banks drive SMEs’ funding, entrepreneurship

    Capital is the single most important factor needed to drive sustainable growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Such funds are needed for the government’s plans to create wealth through entrepreneurship development. Skye Bank, FirstBank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank and Sterling Bank, among others, have so far identified with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) drives for SMEs sector funding and development, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    The economies of great nations thrive on the strength and capabilities of their Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Banks play a big role in this as the level of funding the operators get from commercial banks determines to large extent, their success.

    Development patterns across the globe show the primacy and pre-eminence of the SMEs in resource mobilisation, deployment of resources for growth and development, and the emergence of an industrial economy. In Asia, Europe and North America, SMEs  play significant roles in the growth, development and industrialisation of such economies.

    However, Nigeria remains an exception as SMEs have largely performed below expectation as a result of a plethora of factors including lack of access to funds, managerial skills, poor accounting practice, among others. Also in the list of limiting factors to SMEs development in the country are poor infrastructure, policy somersault, multiple taxes, environmental factors, and marketing problems, among others.

    However, some far thinking banks have recognised the need to boost SMEs financing, giving priorities to projects and businesses that support the continued operation of small businesses.

    One of the Nigerian banks that has deployed its resources to the nurturing and development of the SME sector is the Skye Bank Plc. The lender has carved a niche for itself in the SMEs segment of the economy, helping budding Nigerian businessmen to realise their aspirations of wealth creation, and employment generation for the teeming unemployed people in the country.

    The Group Managing Director/CEO, Skye Bank Plc, Timothy Oguntayo, said his bank has not only provided the enabling environment for SMEs to thrive, but has been in the fore front of extending credit to the operators as well as real sector businesses.

    The bank chief said the lender has been involved in the process of optimising value and benefits from the agricultural value chain by extending credit facilities to operators in the agro allied industry, ranging from cocoa processing, flour production, and animal husbandry, among others.

    These projects, he said, are located in the six geo-political zones of the country. Some of these companies do not only produce for local consumption but also export to the rest of the world thereby earning foreign exchange.

    “The bank’s foot prints are also visible in the healthcare sector where several pharmaceutical companies have either been revamped through credit lines or assisted to expand their production capacity and improve their operational and logistic resources. The bank has also assisted many pharmaceutical firms to achieve certification by the World Health Organisation thereby placing some Nigerian drug makers among world-class drug companies that can bid for drug supplies globally,” the lender said in a statement.

    For instance, drug makers such as Evans, Chi and May & Baker are the latest companies to secure World Health Organisation (WHO) Good Manufacturing Practice certification, after SwissPharma, which received its certification earlier this year.

    The certification means products from the four drug makers—now adjudged to be world-class—became eligible to be assessed and granted WHO pre-qualification. Pre-qualification is a step toward enabling Nigeria’s local drug companies compete for drug supplies on an international scale.

     

    Consumer goods funding

    Skye Bank said it provided part-financing of one of the largest integrated plants in Sub-Saharan Africa for the production of flour, pasta, noodles and feed meal. The bank is the major financier in the development of one of the biggest confectionery companies in the West African sub region which produces one of the best cream crackers. The company is currently installing its fifth production line and discussions are on–going with the equipment manufacturers for the sixth line. The new line has increased the customer’s capacity to produce 30,250 metric tonnes annually.

    Such significant project financing by the bank, analysts said, will enable the consumer goods firm expand operations and increase market share while at the same time aiding it  to tap into the Nigeria’s large population and rising middle class that crave for consumption.

    According to a recent report by McKinsey and co., a global consumer and retail firm, annual sales in Nigeria’s consumer goods sector could more than triple to $1.4 trillion by 2030 from $388 billion currently.

    Other funding interventions of the bank are in the steel, fertiliser and power sectors where it has provided credit lines under syndicated loan arrangement.

    Skye bank alongside six other lenders participated in the funding of the acquisition and rehabilitation of the 500,000 MT Urea Plant in an asset purchase transaction.

    Since the transaction was consummated, it has continued to support the Onne based plant to ensure it remains the biggest producer of fertiliser in Nigeria and the West coast.

    The bank is also a development partner to many other SME firms across the length and breadth of the country, supporting their growth aspirations and taking them from infancy to the level where they are currently big players in the Nigerian economy.

    The potentials and opportunities for SMEs in Nigeria to rebound and play the crucial role of engine of growth, development and industrialisation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment creation are enormous. To achieve these lofty objectives, however, requires pragmatic steps towards solving the problems enunciated above.

     

    Banks, other stakeholders speak

    Managing Director/CEO, M&E Limited, Michael Stephens-Obi, said that while SME operators need to change their attitude and habits relating to entrepreneurship development, the local, state and Federal governments need to involve them in policy formulation and execution for maximum impact.

    He said there is also the dire need to introduce entrepreneurial studies in the universities in addition to emphasising science, practical and technological studies at all levels of our educational system.

    “Through financial intermediation, banks play a crucial role in mobilising deposit from surplus zones to areas of deficit, thereby creating jobs, reducing poverty and bringing about economic growth and development in the country,” he said.

    “Many industry experts and economists say that for any developing country to grow and develop economically, greater attention and emphasis must be paid to the SME sector. The SME sector is a viable and crucial channel of utilising locally available resources to produce for local consumption and export trade”.

    Stephens-Obi said small and medium enterprises in the agricultural sector constitute growth drivers and strong guarantees for sustainable food production, enhanced employment generation and for combating food shortage in developing countries.

    Head, SME Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinna Ukachukwu, said without capital, it would be difficult for any business to attract finance or investment.

    He defined capital as the value of and the history behind a business. According to him, if a promoter of a business does not know the value of the business, it is very unlikely that any investor or financier will be comfortable committing their money because the equity or debt investor is bringing in money in exchange for value.

    “If you don’t know the value of your business then you do not expect a debt investor to put in his money,” Ukachukwu said.

    He, however, assured that Stanbic IBTC Bank continues to work with operators in the SME sector, particularly through capacity building and information sharing, to ensure they build capital. He explained that the value of a business can be determined if the proper structures, such as proper book keeping, annual reports, tax returns, auditor’s report, and record of banking transactions, which form the history of the business, have been put in place.

     

    The CBN on SMEs funding

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) set up the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises fund as part of its developmental role and mandate of promoting a sound financial system. This was in recognition of the significant contributions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sub-sector to the economy. It said the sub-sector is characterised by huge financing gap which hinders the development of MSMEs.

    “To fulfill the provisions of Section 4.2 (iv) of the policy, which stipulates that women’s access to financial services to increase by at least 15 per cent annually to eliminate gender disparity, 60 per cent of the Fund has been earmarked for providing financial services to women,” it said.

    “This informed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to establish the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF). The Fund prescribes 50:50 ratio for on-lending to micro enterprises and SMEs respectively by Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs)”.

    It explained that two per cent of the wholesale component of the Fund shall go to economically active persons living with disabilities (PLWD) and 10 per cent provided for start-up businesses.

    “The broad objective of the fund is to channel low interest funds to the MSME sub-sector of the Nigerian economy through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) to enhance access by MSMEs to financial services; increase productivity and output of microenterprises; create jobs; and engender inclusive growth,” it said.

    Deputy Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Gbenga Shobo said fund was launched by the CBN as part of its developmental role and mandate of promoting a sound financial system. This was in recognition of the significant contributions of the MSME sub-sector to the economy. It said the sub-sector is characterised by huge financing gap which hinders the development of MSMEs.

    Shobo, who spoke at the 2016 Entrepreneurship Development Centre/FirstBank SME Breakfast Series tagged: The Economy and You!, urged SMEs’ operators not to be discouraged by ongoing economic challenges facing the country. He advised the operators to identify key sectors of the economy where opportunities for businesses are available.

    He said FirstBank will continue to support the SMEs because of the critical role they play in creating jobs and economic development for the country.

    He disclosed that the level of non-performing loans in the banking industry is also a disincentive for new lending. “As banks explain the bad loans in their books, they will be less ready to give out new loans,’’he said.

     

  • Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has asked the management of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) to explore other revenue sources to fund itself.

    A statement sent through the office of Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the governor insisted that his administration would no longer sustain the existing funding system because of the present poor financial situation of the state.

    The statement said Dickson spoke in Government House, Yenagoa, when he met with the Governing Council and principal officers of NDU.

    The governor said a situation where the state government’s monthly subvention of about N480million was spent on recurrent expenditure was unsustainable.

    He expressed concern over the bogus wage bill of the university and the need for its leadership to be prudent in the use of funds.

    He said his administration religiously provided the school’s funding until January this year, to enable the institution gain some degree of financial autonomy.

    On the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU),  Dickson appealed to the striking lecturers to call off their action and join hands with the government in proffering solutions to the issue of unpaid salaries caused by the sharp drop in state revenues.

    He empathized with the staff and students of the institution over the development and re-affirmed his commitment to measures that would help in cutting down the wage bill of the university.

    Dickson called on the university to work with the government for a more feasible funding arrangement that would cater for the salaries of all academic staff and appropriate number of non-teaching staff.

    Describing the current non-academic staff strength of 2,502 as unacceptable, Dickson frowned at the practice, where the university asserted its autonomy only in the area of employment, but passed all salary obligations to the state government.

    He said:  “At the inauguration of the NDU Governing Council four years ago, we laid out our vision of what our University should be.

    “We realized that it was going to be unsustainable to have the situation we met, hereby the university with its very high recurrent wage bill will be drawing its salaries on a monthly basis from the government.

    “A situation where the university will employ as they wish and then transfer the salaries to the state government can no longer be sustained.

    “Our vision, moving forward, is for an NDU that is properly organized and run as a university that can stand the test of time irrespective of the economic vicissitudes that may afflict our state.

    “We are interested in an NDU that will be a centre of excellence, as we all want it to be; an NDU that will stand the test of time irrespective of the government that is there or whether the government gets low or high allocation.  That is why we must all be united in looking inward and seeking alternative funding pattern for our great university”.

    The statement also quoted the Chairman, Governing Council of NDU, Prof. Turner Isoun and Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Humphrey Ogoni, as acknowledging the financial contributions of the present administration to the effective running of the university in the last four years.

    But he asked the governor to see the proposed new policy of financial autonomy in the management of the university as a medium-term initiative.

    He said any attempt to enforce immediately would result in the escalation of tuition fees and other charges that could spell doom to many indigent students.

  • UACN drives growth with internal funding

    UACN drives growth with internal funding

    After many failed attempts to raise new equity funds from existing and new investors, the board of UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc has suspended new equity issues and opted to finance ongoing restructuring and investments within the group with internally generated funds.

    At the annual general meeting of the company yesterday at Golden Tulip Festac, Lagos, chairman, UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, Mr. Dan Agbor, said the group decided on internal funding after attempts to raise new equity funds from strategic investors and existing shareholders were frustrated by the slowdown at the Nigerian capital market.

    He said the group had sequel to approval by the shareholders at the annual general meeting in September 2015 made efforts to raise new equity funds, especially with a view to attracting a strategic investor or investors and obtain equity control that would be used to drive growth in certain subsidiaries.

    “Following your approval of a one for 12 rights issue of 160.07 million ordinary shares, your board and management made all necessary arrangements to launch the issue. Unfortunately, the weak performance of the Nigerian capital market has made it impossible to raise the requested capital on optimal terms and at the end of March 2016, a decision was taken by the board to discontinue the rights issue. Your board and management will now undertake the needed investment and financial restructuring of those subsidiaries using internally generated funds,” Agbor said.

    He added that the group decided to retain the larger part of its net earnings in 2015 to ensure that it remains in a position to participate in new equity issues that might be launched by its subsidiaries.

    According to him, the board had recommended total dividend of N1.92 billion for the 2015 business year while being mindful of the need to conserve funds so that the group can participate in the rights issues to be undertaken by three of its subsidiaries, including UACN Property Development Company Plc, Livestock Feeds Plc and Portland Paints & Products Nigeria Plc.

    Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of UACN for the year ended December 31, 2015 showed that group turnover dropped by 14.6 per cent from N85.6 billion in 2014 to N73.1 billion in 2015. Group profit after tax dropped by 52.6 per cent from N10.9 billion in 2014 to N5.2 billion in 2015.

  • Fed Govt mulls zero JV funding for oil exploration

    Fed Govt mulls zero JV funding for oil exploration

    • Nigeria, Texas trade hits $15b

    The Federal Government would adopt the zero funding model for JV operations from next year, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has said.

    Kachikwu, who made this known at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, U.S, said the step became necessary following the arrears of Corporation to the various Joint Venture (JV) projects,

    Kachikwu, who was represented by the Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, NNPC, Seidu Muhammed, said the zero JV funding is to be adopted in view of the long debt of cash calls of over $5billion owed by the NNPC on behalf of the government over the years.

    He said  government has a very big funding challenge, and unable to meet its JV counterpart funding, lamenting the current realities in the epileptic operational condition of refineries, and the high level of poverty in the communities where these oil firms operate, among others.

    Under this model, he said, the operating companies would no longer wait for the NNPC counterpart funding before going on with operations and projects’ implementation. They will get funds and go ahead with implementations, while the NNPC’s bureaucratic processes of approval including endorsement by the National Assembly continues. The operators of the JVs will deduct costs at the end and remit what are due to NNPC.

    Kachikwu added that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC are carrying out interventions in the security issues, noting that such intervention in pipeline security has yielded fruit with three major pipelines including Escravos and Forcados linked to operation of the refineries. He also extended hand of partnership to the private sector to help in the refineries.

    Meanwhile, the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, has said the oil and gas trade between Nigeria and Houston has become a success story as it reached $15 billion.

    He stated this in his special message to Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Houston’s Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in this year’s Nigeria Content Investment Forum in Houston, Texas.

    According to him, the existing close ties between Nigeria and Houston have made many oil companies to open offices and associates in Nigeria. “330 Houston companies have businesses and trade connection with Nigeria,”he said,  adding that Houston is ranked Nigeria’s largest U.S gateway for international trade and for greater partnership.

    To further strengthen Houston/Nigeria oil and gas trade, the Mayor said in 2011, United Airlines opened direct flight to Nigeria from Houston to Lagos, linking two major energy cities.

    “This flight has promoted robust connections, and Houstonians and Nigerians have benefited greatly from this connection,” he added.

    Turner thanked the organiser of NCIF and publisher of Sweetcrude Reports, Mr. Hector Igbi kiowubo for the vision of the forum, which seeks to continue to grow credible partnership, fostering industry support and participation, cultivating new and innovative ideas  and initiatives that will be mutually beneficial to Nigeria and Houston.

  • ‘No more funding for treatment abroad’

    ‘No more funding for treatment abroad’

    The Federal Government will not provide funds for government officials travelling abroad for treatment unless the case cannot be handled in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Health said yesterday.

    A statement by its Director, Media and Public Relations, Mrs. Boade Akinola, in Abuja, said President Muhammadu Buhari made this known at the opening of the 56th Annual General Conference of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Sokoto.

    The President, who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the government would not deny anyone his or her fundamental human rights.

    But he added: “We will not encourage expending resources on government officials seeking treatment abroad when such can be handled in Nigeria.”

    Buhari called on health professionals to discontinue inter-professional crises impacting negatively on the healthcare delivery system .

    “We have seen the hazards this unfortunate and highly preventable problem caused the quality of health care delivery in Nigeria.

    “May I employ NMA to always imbibe teamwork to ensure harmonious relationship with health professionals, no profession can function without the other,” he said.

    Concerning their welfare, the President said “government will review previous agreements and take decisions that will not infringe on rights of the workers.

    “This government will invest in programme that will improve capacity of all cadres of health workers.’’

  • FG urged to increase funding of police force

    FG urged to increase funding of police force

    The Federal Government has been advised to increase the budgetary allocation of the Nigeria Police Force in order to enhance the effectiveness of its officers and men.

    This is contained in a communique issued at the end of a human rights training the trainers’ workshop held in Kaduna on Saturday.

    The communiqué was signed by Dr Uju Agomoh and ACP Ambrose Onah on behalf of the organisers and participants of the workshop.

    It said authorities concerned should improve the funding of the Nigeria Police Force, particularly the provision of adequate and effective working materials and other logistics.

    It also called for the training and retraining of officers and men of the force and all other agencies involved in the administration of justice and maintenance of law.

    It urged authorities and other relevant agencies to protect the rights of officers and men with improved conditions of service, pension and insurance.

    It also called on police officers to conduct themselves, whether on or off duty in line with the Nigerian Constitution, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and all applicable laws.

    According to the law, Police Officers shall not compromise their integrity nor that of the Force by accepting, giving or soliciting any gratuity, which could be interpreted as capable of influencing their official acts or judgments.

    “That the Police Force should encourage and promote child friendly policing practices while enhancing the protective role of police officers and improving access to justice for children.

    “Police officers shall mainstream gender into their duties particularly in protecting the rights of women and other vulnerable groups,” it stated.

    The meeting, according to the communique, also reiterated the need for officers to treat all members of the public courteously and with respect.

    The capacity building training was aimed at enlightening men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force on the need to promote and protect human rights in the discharge of their duties.

    It was coordinated by Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action and supported by the German Corporation for International Cooperation.

    The workshop was also supported by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Government, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

    Participants at the workshop include instructors from all the nine Police Training Institutions in Northern Nigeria and officers from the Department of Training and Development of the Police Headquarters.

    Members of the Civil Society Organisations and representatives of the media were also in attendance.

  • FCMB enhances funding for agric sector

    FCMB enhances funding for agric sector

    First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc has reiterated its readiness to enhance funding for agricultural sector and value-chain segments of the sector in the interest of the economy.

    The lender said the crash of crude oil prices has created opportunities for financial institutions to support non-oil segments of the economy, especially agriculture and its value chains.

    The bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Ladi Balogun said  with Nigeria’s favourable climatic conditions, vast arable land and fertile soils, agriculture funding is critical as it will play significant role in the nation’s drive to achieve sustainable development.

    “Agriculture not only ensures food availability, but remains instrumental to effective jobs creation, value addition, wealth creation as well as spurring economic development. We believe that as desirable as agriculture is to economic well-being, Nigeria is yet to maximise the potentials inherent in the sector,” the bank chief said.

    The fall in crude oil prices, according to him, has affected both the naira and inflation statistics as the country imports the vast majority of goods and services consumed locally.

    Balogun said relegation of agriculture to subsistence farming, non-prioritisation of agribusiness at various levels of governance, poor state of research and storage facilities, extension and disjointed value chains are some of the challenges hampering the sector.

    The bank chief said a major component of the bank’s sustainability principle is on agriculture and helping farmers to reduce the level of poverty among them as part of its financial intermediation role for national development.

    He said the bank’s intervention has resulted in better access to financial resources by deserving individuals, organisations and companies. It has also led to improved processes, better output and profitability and enhanced confidence in the ability of the financial services sector to drive economic growth.

    Also, Chairman, Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN), Alhaji Danladi Garba, praised the lender for providing a N300 million facility to the group for the acquisition of tractors distributed to farmers in Kaduna State.

    The bank also collaborated with Doreo Partners to launch a support programme for farmers, known as Babban Gona or ‘’great farm’’, which is an agricultural franchise model, where farmers are trained and offered specially packaged loans to carry out their farming activities.

    The bank has also collaborated with the International Financial Corporation, (IFC) to promote agribusiness and education sub sectors of the economy.

    “By the agreement, the IFC was to route more lending to private businesses involved in the agribusiness sector, which, as already stated, is a key driver of the country’s economic growth. The bank  reasoned that continued credit availability for agricultural-based businesses would help maintain the sector’s growth momentum. The package was a long-term senior loan of $50 million and a convertible loan of $20 million aimed at supporting the bank’s growth strategy and helping it increase financing of small and medium enterprises,” the lender explained.

    Balogun views IFC’s investment as a stamp of approval on the bank’s strategy and commitment to good corporate governance and risk management.

  • S&T Media secures seed funding from EchoVC Partners

    S&T Media secures seed funding from EchoVC Partners

    •Announces exclusive distribution deals with Total, Spar, Oando, Forte Oil

    Nigeria’s leading place based digital advertising company; S&T Media has raised a six figure seed round from EchoVC Partners, an early stage technology venture capital firm.

    S&T Media pioneers several innovative digital advertising platforms including AdPump – a digital advertising network targeting consumers at petrol pumps – and AdEdge – an in-store digital advertising screen – which secured its first retail deal with retail giant, Spar recently.

    The seed round which could go up to $1, 000, 000 according to the investment details which have not yet been fully disclosed, will be dedicated to growing S&T Media including increased investments in AdPump’s expansion, product development, and further hardware and staff acquisition.

    Launched in 2014 as AdBox, S&T Media has since installed 160 AdPump screens across Lagos in 17 strategically located filling stations and successfully entering into distribution deal with a number of Nigeria’s petroleum products marketing companies, including Oando Plc, Forte Oil and Total Plc which boasts more than 1,000 filling stations capacity across the country. The company has also recently signed up key advertising partners including Etisalat, Jumia, Smile Communications, House on the Rock, Guaranty Trust Bank and Mall for Africa.

    Speaking on the deal, Co-Founder of S&T Media, Tolu Roberts said: “Since inception we wanted to create platforms that can give brands the reach they crave in a more efficient and targeted manner. Securing institutional funding with the right investor has allowed us to accelerate that vision, as we rapidly develop and install platforms that connect brands with captivated consumers. With EchoVC on board, we have found more than just an investor but also a partner who understands effective growth of tech start-ups. We are confident that we can penetrate the advertising market with our innovative platforms whilst leveraging on EchoVC strategic partnerships.”

    Also speaking, Managing Partner, EchoVC Partners, Eghosa Omoigui said: “We were impressed with AdPump’s ingenuity in developing new routes to market for advertisers in Africa, namely via digital. The velocity at which they’ve attracted content suppliers, key advertising partnerships as well as a distribution network with such notable brands, is a combination of their excellent product, as well as the market’s willingness to use targeted marketing methods to reach their end user.”

    Nigeria’s advertising spend currently stands at about N100 billion a year, and according to PwC, is the fastest growing market in the world, boasting 15.1percent CAGR. Capitalising on the continent’s fast growing consumer class, and working with both home grown and global brands to connect products and services with end users, AdPump is marrying the latest technology with hyper-targeted messaging.