The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOVT

  • Govt urged to reposition commodity exchange

    The Federal Government has been urged to strengthen the commodities market to boost trade in the sector.

    The Managing Director, Multimix Academy, Mr Obiora Madu, said failure to do this would put off investors and stifle the development of commodities business.

    According to him, the main factor limiting economic potential of the sector is lack of a common market that boosts the confidence of farmers, as well as financial institutions, to invest in the sector.

    The move, he said, would encourage market access and fair returns for smallholder farmers and facilitate the formalisation of informal agricultural trading.

    Madu  said commodities trading platform has certain innovative features which have been designed to limit risks in the sector to attract agricultural investments, aside from the provision of a ready market and formalisation of commercial activities.

    To create a transparent and efficient marketing system for key agricultural commodities to promote agricultural investment and enhance productivity, he said the government must commit itself to the establishment of a functional commodity exchange and associated Warehouse Receipt System (WRS). One structure of a commodity is the Warehouse Receipt System, where farmers will be provided with receipts based on the food crops that they deposit.

    This system means dealers or farmers certified by the exchange to receive receipts from warehouses showing the quality and quantity of the commodity that they have delivered. The warehouses serve as the point at which the commodities are stored with the owner of the goods issued with the receipt to confirm their existence. In the event of a pressing need, the receipts can be presented to the bank as security for loans, in a manner similar to the way title deeds and logbooks are used in lending.

    At the commodities exchange, the warehouse receipts can be traded like shares, thereby becoming derivative instruments because they are derived from underlying real assets in the form of commodities.

    He said it is good for the banks to understand the system, so that they could see these receipts as collateral to provide funds to various actors along the agric value chain to push sector productivity and growth.

    Madu said banks would introduce financing for commodity traders and farmers secured through warehouse receipts. He said the commodity receipts will be used as collateral by exporters and commodity dealers to get loans from banks. He said dealers could then pay for their business activities even when the goods have not been sold or exported.

    He said the exchange would  tackle the challenges which make the sector a risky investment as farmers and sector actors would produce and deposit their crops to the designated warehouses and get the receipts to source funds from banks.

    This, he said, would help smallholder farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming, as they would grow more crops which the country has comparative advantage in to promote the national quest for an export-based economy.

  • Alausa mini-market strictly for govt workers

    Alausa Mini-Market, established  32 years ago can be referred to as a shopping complex set up to accommodate residents, travellers or passers-by but most importantly, workers. The mini-market is sited in office areas to make it accessible for corporate workers especially government workers who constitute the larger part of their customers.

    The mini market which is very organised is made up of shops, stores, a bakery, supermarkets, canteen, and fashion shop with various names such as Bread Winner Bakery, Olympia Business Centre, Time Supermarket, Bisod Enterprises, Kash Klassic and the likes in contrast to the sheds, stands that are found in traditional market of the day.

    Stationeries, shirts, trousers, shoes, perfumes, voile lace, designers bags, wrist watches, Guinea brocade, jewelleries, ladies slippers, bread accessories and the likes are on display to attract the corporate workers and other prospective customers. Services such as lamination, photocopying, typing, printing, binding of documents are also available.

    Most of the goods sold in the market are of high quality because of the calibre of the customers, hence, an increase in price. A worker of the Bread Winner Bakery, Mary Osundaunsi told The Nation shopping why their bread price is higher than the local made bread.

    “We produce loaves of high quality to suit the taste of our customers, which is why we have different types of bread such as Fish loaf sold for N150, Family loaf sold for N250 and the fruit bread which comes in small and big sizes of N150 and N200 in order to open our customers to having a range of choice,” she said.

  • Activist urges govt on health care delivery

    Activist urges govt on health care delivery

    A founding member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Comrade Linus Ezeala Okoroji has appealed to the federal, states and local governments to give priority attention to the nation’s health sector, with a view to improving the quality of health care delivery to the citizens. He also advocated a policy that would reduce the cost of accessing health care by poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

    Comrade Okoroji spoke after a church thanksgiving service at St Matthew’s Catholic Church, Maiyegun-Oro Street, Amukoko Lagos State penultimate Sunday. The event was organised by members of his family, friends and well-wishers to thank God and celebrate his survival of grave accident he had in Oshogbo, Osun State in January, last year.

    The activist maintained that there was urgent need to improve the equipment and standards of treatments at our hospitals, even as he canvassed strong support to states and local governments that campaign to ban or reduce the operations of motorcycle operators, popularly called okada.

    He said: “I support the initiative of the Lagos State Government and any other state in Nigeria to restrict the use of okada as means of transportation on our highways. The use of okada as a means of transportation demeans the dignity of our citizens. It is not only an extremely dangerous means of transportation but also that which is fraught with high rate of death occasioned by serious accidents resulting from undisciplined behaviours among okada operators.”

    Speaking from experience, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Humanity Services Project (HSP) noted that “having been a victim of okada accident for which we are thanking God today for saving my life, I will not wish my ‘enemy’ boards an okada to anywhere and from anywhere. After the accident, I was taken to the Government House Clinic for first aid, thereafter transferred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi in Lagos where I was hospitalised for six months.  I underwent four surgery operations while on admission.

    “It was an opportunity for me to witness firsthand the ugly experience of many poor Nigerians on health care issues. In spite of my horrific situation, I had no choice than to turn a ‘philanthropist on bed’, out of the generosity of Governors Rauf Aregbesola, Babatunde Raji Fashola, friends and well-wishers, as I supported many co-patients who were not able to meet the payment of their bills and purchase recommended drugs.

    “My bills were very enormous as treatment at the hospital was very expensive. Governors Aregbesola and Fashola had to pick all my bills at Igbobi Hospital.

    My mentor; Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd) deserves special appreciation as he visited me several times at Igbobi and kept close tab on my condition. God bless them and all who supported me through my trying period.”

  • Govt assures angry residents of fixing bad road

    Youths from Umuapu and Umuagwo communities in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, at the weekend, barricaded the Port Harcourt/Owerri road to protest the bad condition of the road.

    They said the abandoned road, which was awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), was devastated by erosion, which cut it into two, thus isolating the communities from others.

    Youth leader Mr. Festus Chukwu said since the construction firm abandoned the road, people had died as a result of accidents.

    According to him, they blocked the road to attract the  relevant authorities, as all entreaties had been ignored.

    He called on the government to prevail on the NDDC and its contractors to rectify the failed portions of the road and complete the project to prevent further demonstrations.

    The state government has assured the people that the failed portion of the road would be rectified soon.

    Addressing the protesters, Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Kingsley Uju, regretted that the NDDC abandoned the work at Umuapu, resulting in the cutting of the road into two.

    Uju lamented that business had come to a halt because of the bad road but he assured the protesting youth that he would lead them on a protest if by next week, the NDDC and its contractor failed to act.

  • APC to govt: looters should face justice

    APC to govt: looters should face justice

    It will amount to a disservice to Nigerians if the massive looting of the  treasury by public officials is overlooked by President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

    The party said only the total recovery of every kobo could  placate Nigerians, who have been short-changed by those entrusted with the commonwealth.

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said whoever attempts, either by deeds or words, to sabotage the recovery efforts of the Buhari administration cannot be a patriot and deserves nothing but public opprobrium.

    Acknowledging Nigerians’ overwhelming support for the Buhari administration in its tough but important task of tracing and recovering the loot, the APC said the government should take a step further by ensuring that the looters face justice.

    The APC statement reads: “It is absolutely gratifying that Nigerians are vehemently opposed to the few who would rather have the government of the day turn a blind eye to the looted funds and, in their words, carry on with the process of governance.

    “Truly, what sort of governance can go on if the billions of naira in a few hands are not recovered? In the first instance, the government needs every kobo of the funds it can muster to bring about the change it has promised Nigerians.

    “Secondly, leaving such hair-raising funds in the hands of the few looters is dangerous, because they can use the funds to destabilise any government. In fact, no one will be surprised if the looters use their dirty funds to sponsor public demonstrations against the government’s determination to recover the funds.

    “Thirdly, allowing those who privatised the commonwealth to get away is offering a thumbs-up for looting. No responsible government will do that.”

    The party alleged that the looters were already   embarking on a relentless and an increasingly-bold campaign to discredit the government in a spirited attempt to sabotage the funds’ recovery process, using newspaper columnists, “talking heads” and otherwise respectable opinion leaders.

    It said: “They and their paid hirelings have tried to employ sophistry to muddle the waters, but Nigerians are much wiser, and will not succumb to the dirty antics of the looters’ megaphones.”

    The party said it was necessary to remind Nigerians of the kind of massive looting that took place in the past few years, so they can better appreciate the seriousness of the issue at stake.

    Putting the issues in perspective, it said: N3.8 trillion out of the N8.1 trillion earned from crude oil (2012-2015) was withheld by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); $2.1 billion from Excess Crude Account (ECA) unaccounted for; N109.7 billion royalty from oil firms unremitted by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and $6 billion allegedly looted by some ministers in the immediate past administration.

    Others are: $13.9 billion being proceeds of 160 million barrels of crude lost between 2009 and 2012; $15 million from botched arms deal yet to be returned to Nigeria; $13 billion Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends mostly unaccounted for; N30 billion questionable waiver granted to rice importers and N183 billion  unaccounted for at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The party said these “missing” funds constituted just a tip of the iceberg since they were from a few sectors of the economy – mostly the oil sector – and were discovered even before the forensic audit now being undertaken in some key areas.

    “The level of looting that went on in other sectors is better imagined, hence the need for all Nigerians to rally around the Buhari administration to recover the loot, bring the looters to justice and to put in place measures to prevent such looting in the future,” the party said.

  • Wike: God’ll disgrace those plotting against my govt

    Wike: God’ll disgrace those plotting against my govt

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said God will disgrace those planning to truncate his administration.

    He said his administration had confounded those who claimed that building roads cannot happen during rainy season.

    Addressing worshippers yesterday at Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Wike said his victory at the poll was ordained by God and made possible by the prayers of clerics, including those at the Lord’s Chosen.

    The crusade was attended by the General Overseer of the Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry, Pastor Lazarus Mouka.

    Wike said: “Those who are fighting and plotting to truncate the lifespan of the mandate freely given to me by the people of Rivers State will be disgraced by the God of the Lord’s Chosen.

    “The way the God of the Lord’s Chosen did it on April 11, that is how he will do it again.”

    The governor recalled that it was at the Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry’s Rivers State headquarters he promised that if it was true that he was a cult member, he should not win the election.

    According to him, he won the election because the rumour was false.

    Also, Wike directed the repair of the road to the Rivers State headquarters of the Lord’s Chosen Renewal Charismatic Ministry.

    The governor also directed the interlocking of the church premises, in line with his promise to the church during his election campaigns.

    He said both projects would be completed before September 7.

    Wike assured that the building of the roads and other projects would be sustained by his administration, despite the rains.

    The governor said the essence of governance is to address the challenges of development the people face, adding that his administration was committed to achieving.

    Pastor Mouka prayed God for Wike to have a successful tenure.

    He also prayed for the governor’s protection and officials of his administration and other residents of the state.

  • Reopen LASU now, NANS urges govt

    By tomorrow, the seven-day ultimatum given by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), to the Lagos State government to reopen the Lagos State University (LASU) will lapse. However, workers are describing the threat as ’empty’ and insisting that students have no jurisdiction to dabble into management workers affairs.

    The academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of LASU, said it suspected that the manner the students action was orchestrated may not rule out an exchange of cash between LASU Vice-Chancellor Prof Johh Oladapo Obafunwa and NANS members.

    But Obafunwa has denied the allegation. He told The Nation that his records of not giving or collecting a bribe are there for anyone to verify.

    On Friday last week, NANS Zone D in conjunction with LASUSU, held a briefing where the former said it is about time they curtailed worker’s excesses.

    “National Association of Nigeria Students Zone D Southwest therefore submits that this ineptitude in LASU was as a result of the inability to curtail the excesses of staff unions by the students’ union in LASU as the largest shareholder on campus,” said General Secretary of the zone, Comrade Bidemi Obanobi.

    Interestingly, some workers eventually got wind of the seemingly discreet briefing held at the university’s Faculty of Education and intercepted NANS, a development that later culminated into war of words between the two parties.

    Obanobi said NANS Zone D comprising 54 tertiary institutions in the Southwest, cannot be underestimated considering the fact that students are also stakeholders in the system.

    NANS described as ‘dehumanising and embarrassing’ the pelting of the Vice-Chancellor Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa with sachet water and forcing him out of the university premises on Monday March 16.

    The student’s body lamented that since that day, Senate and Administrative Block 1 which houses Obafunwa’s office, have remained under lock, making it impossible for the Senate and Obafunwa to operate.

    In a phone interview on Monday, LASUSU PRO Fatai Lasisi said the union had to pitch its tent with NANS because their students who have just concluded their second semester examination, desperately need the Senate back to operate and vet their results so that convocation can hold and their certificates handed over to them.

    “It is very important for the university Senate to call for an emergency meeting to consider the results of the just – concluded examination of all LASUITES so as to fast track the process of release of the results. A delay in the consideration of the students result might delay the release of the result and prolong the academic pursuit of most students on campus. Importantly, the Senate chamber is the heart of every institution” Obanobi added.

    Obanobi, an alumnus of Osun State Polytechnic, recalled that on Friday March 20, LASUSU held a congress and resolved that Obafunwa should return to campus to complete his term which expires on October 31.

    Obanobi said if the state government does not comply with their demand, NANS would mobilise its members for a protest to the seat of government in Alausa.

    He said: “We want to reiterate the fact that the Vice Chancellor is not only the Vice Chancellor of the staff alone but also over 15,001 LASU students, thereby making the students the largest stake holders in the institution

    Obanobi said it is laughable that workers should lock down the institution over their demands, adding that whether Obafunwa returns or not, the situation will still continue.

    As at Sunday, news filtered that Obafunwa might be forcefully smuggled into LASU on Monday. But Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU) LASU chapter Comrade Saheed Oseni, said it would never happen.

    Speaking with our reporter, Oseni said NANS is laying a ‘bad precedence’, noting that the students are acting beyond their jurisdiction.

    “We challenge them (NANS) to tell us what rights have they to dabble into management and union affairs?” Oseni queried.

    “That means students are now teleguiding workers as to what to do. Whenever students are fighting with management we usually keep a safe distance so what’s their business with ours? They can only dabble into issues that directly affect them”

    “Is it in their power to issue a directive to government? We also learned they are threatening to force open the offices that workers locked up.

    “We are using this opportunity to call on parents to monitor their wards.

    ASUU Chairman Adekule Idris alleged that Obafunwa is using NANS against workesr because of his inordinate ambition.

    Idris said despite repeated appeals by the Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for all parties to sheathe swords, Obafunwa has continued to use fronts to publish disparaging stories about workers in the media.

    “Maybe NANS needs to explain to us what they meant by ‘reopening LASU’. Over the last two weeks our students had been writing exam. They have just finished and we are currently marking scripts. Let me also say the tradition of writing exam and promptly marking scripts and uploading same started under Prof (Lateef Akanni, Obafunwa’s predecessor) Hussein, so Obafunwa should not claim credit for that.

    “If you come to LASU now, you will see the institution is at peace. The governor has been magnanimous enough and ASUU wishes to respect him by not taking up issues in the media. We have made available our submission to government and we are awaiting their response.”

    Nonetheless, Obafunwa in a reply to an SMS earlier sent to thim by our  reporter stated:

    “I am sorry I have no idea of what you are referring to (NANS brefing). As for giving money to NANS, it is very laughable and I believe the students concerned will find the claim very offensive.

    “By the way, it is known to even my detractors that I do not bribe people, which is one of their (workers) main quarrels with me. I have not allowed the usual looting in LASU to continue since I took over. I owe nobody apologies for that.

    “I wish the few elements causing all the problems luck.”

    The students also called to mind the just – concluded examinations which need urgent attention to fast track the process of release of result and delay in it could prolong the academic stay in campus.

    He also noted that during NANS visit to the school, last Wednesday “the ambiance of the school was in disarray, where we heard gunshots in the campus. This is not the institution of our dream and it occurred because of the absence of the Vice Chancellor.”

     

  • Fed. Govt. urged to encourage cooperatives

    The president, Ministry of Defence Staff Agricultural Cooperative Society (MODACS), Comrade Babatunde Gbadamosi has said the federal government is not doing enough to strengthen the cooperative system in the country, saying that a well-structured cooperative system will eradicate poverty.

    Gbadamosi made this known during the 10th anniversary of MODACS, at which he said that the need to help civil servants get loans prompted the formation of the society.

    According to him, “government is not doing enough in terms of cooperative management, the cooperative is structured that in every state you have Director of Cooperatives, you have people who monitor how cooperative should function, I think government needs to strengthen those areas properly, because if those areas are properly structured those offices will be able to properly manage and coordinate cooperatives.

    “I tell people that with cooperatives you will eradicate poverty in this country, I am convinced about that, but that is if the government institutions that are to oversee these things have the manpower, commitment, and zeal,” he added.

    He revealed that one of the things the cooperative does is to mobilise funds from all members to solve immediate need of members, stressing that the cooperative society has been able to empower its members through loans, acquiring electronic gadgets, land, houses, and even properties among others.

    The president disclosed further that in an effort to curb exploitation of civil servants by some banks and ‘kangaroo’ cooperative society that it would be giving loans to members and non-members of the society.

    “This is to take advantage of those civil servants who are not cooperators but who are being exploited by people who are giving them loans and outrageous conditions, because they are desperate they just take the money without looking at the condition,” Gbadamosi noted.

    He also said the society intends to go into transportation as part of its effort to diversifying its investment, adding; “now the sector is fairly messed up, but we do know that if we have it in a real format, we can do it properly, already we are in property sector, we have acquired land, and having it tomorrow our members at a very subsidised cost,” the president said.

    Meanwhile, presenting his paper on Mastering your Income Expansion, the guest speaker, Mr. Muyiwa

    Afolabi said many people wasted a lot of years holding on to a wish without a way, noting that there is need to build a very strong foundation not wishful thinking and religion gyrations.

    He added that expenditure thinking is synonymous with Nigerians, thus meeting unnecessary wants and needs, stressing that there is a culture that makes people in this country perpetually poor.

     

  • Alade market: traders, govt trade words

    Alade market: traders, govt trade words

    •‘The place built by the concessionaire is inhabitable’
    •Ministry of the Environment approved it’

    The Executive Secretary of Ikeja Local Government Area Adekunle Dally Adeokun yesterday cleared the air on the controversy surrounding the status of Alade Market traders.

    He said there was no truth in the allegation that the council issued a 60-day ultimatum to the traders to move out of the market. According to him, no date has been fixed for the relocation.

    Describing the ultimatum as a “misrepresentation of facts,” Adeokun said at no time did he address a news conference or issue any statement giving the traders  ultimatum to leave the market.

    Adeokun spoke against the heels of yesterday’s protest by the Concerned Traders of Alade Market Men and Women (CTAMW), who alleged that the proposed relocation site is a flooded and swampy plane that is unsuitable for trading.

    Speaking on behalf of the market women, President of the Concerned Traders, Mrs Sulola Odunsi-Dania said the council authority had initially made the move to displace them and demolish the market in 2003, but the state government denied any knowledge of the planned demolition.

    “The truth is that we were not served any notice by the Lagos State Government. It is sad to note that when the state government wants to repossess a particular place, they come up with sundry excuses. The place built by the concessionaire is inhabitable. It is located beside a canal behind the market. You need to see the place. Reptiles and other animals roam about and it is worse during the rainy season,” she lamented.

    Mrs. Odunsi-Dania said they had gone as a group to the Iyaloja General of Lagos State, Mrs Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, who called a meeting of the market women and the concessionaire, Mr Lai Omotola.

    “At the meeting Mr Omotola blatantly said that he had no business with us, to whom the Iyaloja entreated to have proper dialogue with us because we are the ones directly concerned,” she said.

    Legal counsel for the market women Jiti Ogunye, said there were various abnormalities in the way the concessionaire was going about the relocation.

    “These women are stakeholders who pay tax to the government. They can’t just be treated anyhow,” he said.

    Describing the protests as “a storm in a tea cup,” Adeokun said the issue surrounding the relocation is one that would be resolved amicably between the council, the concessionaire and the traders as it is “a family affair.”

    He said what happened in the council on Sunday was the inaugural meeting of the committee members in charge of the relocation and after the meeting, they all agreed to give the concessionaire 60 days to put some things in place at the new site.

    He said: “The committee of 16, which was made up of six members of the traders and five each from the council and the concessionaire, met and resolved that the concessionaire must open up the area and put interlocking paving stones on the floors, and build 100 locked up shops and additional Kee Clamp, build a perimeter fence and fit same with American wire mesh, all of which, he said, the concessionaire promised could be done within 60 days.”

    He said the true position is that after the 60 days, the committee is expected to inspect the site and review the activity of the concessionaire after which all the stakeholders are expected to meet to now negotiate when the traders would eventually move.

    “It is only after the committee has been convinced that the relocation is feasible that any negotiation on the relocation could be contemplated. The traders at the market are our people and we would not do anything to inconvenient anyone,” he noted.

    Adeokun called the cooperation of the market traders in the redevelopment of the market adding that the council will do everything to protect their interest.

    According to him, there was no truth in the allegation that the site is inhabitable because it was cleared for use by the state’s Ministry of the Environment and they are meant to stay there only for 24 months.

    He said most of the shops are being offered at ridiculously low prices and the council is ready to accommodate all irrespective of their status whether legal or illegal tenants of the market. He alleged that while most of the traders rented the shops from the council at N7,200, they reissued same to tenants at fees ranging from N500,000.

    Adeokun said though the initial projection was for the new site to be temporary, but the concessionaire in accommodating the grievances of the traders have had to invest heavily in constructing solid shops, that would be powered by a 350 KVA electricity generating set.

    He said the lawyers to the traders have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the council and concessionaire on the mode of relocation.

    The concessionaire, Mr Lai Omotola said the company would do everything possible to meet the demands of the traders to facilitate early relocation to enable it commence the contract.

  • Berger Paints’ chief urges govt to support real sector

    Managing Director,  Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Mr Peter Folikwe has called on the government to support the development of the Nigerian real sector by providing enabling environment for manufacturing companies to thrive.

    Folikwe, who assumed the leadership position in Berger Paints in March, said Nigerian manufacturers are contending with several obstacles, which have reduced their competitiveness and limit their growth potential.

    Folikwe urged the Federal Government to address the issues of foreign exchange rate, infrastructural deficit, multiple taxation and enforcement of enabling rules by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in order to create the much-needed enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

    “The real sector is the major sector that can drive economic growth and development. But in Nigeria, the sector has consistently suffered a setback in the scheme of things. The sector is bedeviled with myriad of issues which include infrastructural deficits such as bad road, epileptic power supply, multiple taxation, Naira exchange rate volatility and the extent to which the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is actually tracking and sanctioning those who compromise standard in their product quality. All these increase production cost and force producers to pass the cost to consumers who are already struggling with weak purchasing power. Government should address these issues without further delay,” Folikwe said.

    He added that efforts should also be geared towards instituting a virile consumer advocacy framework in order to promote culture of quality products among manufacturers.

    According to him, quality products are necessary condition for competitiveness in the global market and it enhances consumers’ loyalty and higher turnover.

    He said Nigeria would compete more favourably in the global market if the country leverage on consumer advocacy approach through which consumers of products are made to know that while inferior products appear cheap, they are actually more expensive than quality products in the area of durability and utilitarian value.

    He however assured shareholders of Berger Paints that the company would sustain its profitability noting that the performance of the company in the first half of 2015 indicates that the company has been waxing stronger despite the harsh operating environment for manufactures in Nigeria.

    He pointed out that the company is setting up a multi-billion Naira factory to expand its operations while working on innovative products that would not only appeal to Nigerian consumers but the entire global markets.

    Folikwe reiterated that his pre-occupation is to drive Berger Paints as a brand whose products would continue to define quality and acceptability in Nigeria.