The Nation Newspaper

Tag: growth

  • World Economic Forum selects Waltersmith as global growth company

    THE World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced  the selection of Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, a wholly indigenous Nigerian oil exploration and production company as a member of the Forum’s Global Growth Companies (GGC).

    According to Olivier Schwab, Head of Business Engagement at WEF “when choosing entrants to our community of Global Growth Companies, we assess companies on their business model, annual revenues and growth rates, executive leadership and market position. Waltersmith is a dynamic company with a clear potential to shape the future in its relevant business sectors and so is a per fect fit to our GGC community.”

    With the selection, Waltersmith becomes a member of a group regarded as the most dynamic, high-growth companies, which are trailblazers, shapers and innovators, committed to improving the state of the world.

    Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited was incorporated in 1996 as a joint venture between Waltersmith and Associates  Limited, a Nigerian investment company, and Petroman Oil Limited of Canada, to operate as an oil exploration and production company. In 2001, Waltersmith became a wholly indigenous company after the divestment of Petroman Oil.

    Responding to the honour, the company’s Chairman/CEO, Mr Abdulrazaq Isa said: Waltersmith is delighted and proud to be selected as a member of the Global Growth companies of the World Economic Forum.  This is clearly a recognitioin of the giant strides the company has made in the past 10 years in the realization of its long term goals and objectives. Waltersmith is focused on creating a resilient and robust enterpreise with a clear vision of being an integrated energy company, with interests in gas, power and petroleum refinery. The emergent Waltersmith will have a significant impact on employment while making important contributions to the national GDP.”

    With alomost 400 members from about 65 countries, the world Economic Forum believes each GGC has the potential to become a leader in the global economy arising from their business models, growth records, leadership and unique markets.

    Membership nominations come from WEF’s network of media leaders, existing GGCs, Forum members and partners, faculty members and the general public. The WEF selection committee of regional business experts evaluate the nominees on the following stringent criteria: the company’s sustainable growth over a five-year period, major influence inb the industry of operation or national competitive skills, visionary leadership and global corporate citizenship.

    The GGC membership is a platform for executives from high-growth companies to network with other businesses, as well as leaders from government, civil society and academia, to discuss global, regional and industry issues while advancing a sustainable and responsible path of growth.

  • Funds’ paucity, equipment hinder fish farming growth

    Lack of funds, fish drying machines and other equipment have been identified as factors affecting the SUTEX Fish Farm at Okongntekong Ete village in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

    The President of Ukpum Ete Youth Association, Comrade Ubong Essien, highlighted the challenges on the farm and appealed for government’s assistance when the state governor visited and inspected some basic facilities for skill acquisition development in the area. The Youth President urged the state government to come to their aid through provision of more capital  to accelerate efforts in training more youths in the area, and promised to be law abiding.

    Represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Skills Development Project Centre, Dr. Majorie Abasiodiong George, the governor congratulated youths from Ukpum Ete clan for pro-actively initiating lofty programmes that would engage youths meaningfully in the area.

    The governor advises youths to engage themselves in raising fish of all sorts, and engage in other skill developmental activities in order to stem the tide of unemployment in the state.

    George, who commended the leadership of Ukpum Ete Youth Association, thanked them for giving youths in the area a pride of place in skill acquisition and other developmental activities, adding that, she was impressed with the fact that, youths in the community did not fold their arms to wait for white collar jobs from the government, but make good use of their resources to establish a fish farm.

    She, however, called on youths in the area to support government programmes and shun acts capable of giving the community a bad image.

    She lauded the pragmatic efforts of the Managing Director of SUTEX Farm in establishing such farm in the community, adding that, the administration of Mr. Udom Emmanuel is interested in developing skills in youth on all sectors of the state’s economy.

  • NESG summit to focus on growth

    The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), a private sector funded think-tank, in partnership with its public sector counterpart, the National Planning Commission (NPC) is set to host the 21st Nigerian Economic Summit.

    Secretary, National Planning Commission, Bassey Akpanyung, said the summit has become the largest and most prestigious annual economic forum for policy makers and captain s of industry from the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy, as well as representatives of the academia, civil society organizations and development partners.

    It provides a unique opportunity for the participants to interact and share thoughts on the key issues and challenges facing the Nigerian economy, with a view to evolving a common strategy and policy frame work for addressing them.

    The programme is scheduled to take place from 13th – 15th October in, Abuja. The theme of the summit is: “Tough Choices: Achieving Competitiveness, inclusive Growth and Sustainability”.

    Akpanyung said the summit is coming at a unique time in the history of Nigeria when regardless of recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebasing exercise which placed the country as Africa’s foremost economic power.

    He explained that with the estimated GDP of $536 billion in 2014; the current macroeconomic space is characterized by a continuous decline in international oil prices, weakened public finances, foreign exchange crisis, weak institutions, insecurity weak infrastructure and high youth unemployment rates with attendant negative impacts on the nation’s competitiveness index.

    The summit will examine and facilitate stakeholders’ consensus on the tough choices that need to be made in order to achieve competitiveness and inclusive growth in a sustainable way, through measureable outcomes.

    It is therefore expected that the summit conclusions will be crucial in defining the agenda that will help in making Nigeria’s socio-economic environment globally competitive. The summit has been structured to include presidential policy dialogue where His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to lead a conversation which will focus on key strategic elements required to make Nigeria globally competitive.

  • Quality education key to economic growth’

    Quality education key to economic growth’

    Quality education, particularly at the basic level, is the panacea for economic growth, a Director at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Oyinade Osinubi,  has said.

    Mrs Osunubi, who was the guest speaker, stated this at the presentation of scholarships to 12 pupils by CANI School in Egan-Igando, Lagos.

    Delivering the keynote address, Mrs Osinubi said: “Qualitative education will contribute immensely to building a strong and vibrant Nigerian economy.”

    These awards by CANI School is a welcome development particularly as it would encourage parents to ensure active participation of their children to learn and focus on the need to acquire education.

    These scholarships would no doubt, help more children in Nigeria gain access to opportunities that will help them explore their potential.’’

    The Proprietress of CANI School, Ms Gbemi Aminu, who presented the certificates to beneficiaries, said since the institution started  in 2012, giving of scholarships to children in its host community had become an integral part of its culture.

    She said: “We recognise qualitative education as key to grooming children. If a child is equipped with adequate knowledge and intellectual prowess, it will in the long term contribute to the success and benefit of the family, which will in turn have a positive effect on the community and Nigeria.”

    On the criteria for the scholarships, she said pupils from between Basic One and Basic Four, wrote basic tests at the school premises which were marked same day and results announced.

    The 12 beneficiaries would join other children as the school resumes later this month.

    “The scholarships to each winner means that CANI will give them free tuition; books, uniform and all other materials needed to ensure the pupils attain quality education spanning their study duration,” she said.

     

  • Human capital development key to growth’

    A public affairs analyst, Mr Innocent Osaghe, has spoken on how the nation can surmount its challenges at a symposium organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

    Held at the FirstBank Lecture Theatre, the lecture’s theme was: Developing leadership qualities and positive thinking among university undergraduate.

    Osaghe said lack of thoughtful and competent leadership was the cause of the problems facing the nation, dismissing the belief that the challenges were political or financial.

    He said: “Leadership problem has been the bane of African countries and I believe Nigeria has been worst hit by this factor. There are qualities that must be present in a leader, without which the nation suffers. These are competence, personal drive, character, diligent, hard work and fear of God. All these must be present in anyone aspiring to lead others.”

    Noting that the strength of any nation and its people is determined by the strength of it leaders, Osaghe said thoughtless leaders are  liabilities on the society. Liability leaders, he said, will make a nation unproductive and underdeveloped.

    Despite its endowment with milk and honey, the speaker said Nigeria lacked quality leadership, which is why, he said, poverty remains a scourge in the nation.

    He said countries, such as Qatar, Singapore and Malaysia, which have no resources, fought poverty with visionary leadership and achieved prosperity through human capital development.

    He said the rot in education made the youth to migrate to developed countries in search of knowledge, stressing that the nation’s health and tourism sectors are nothing to write about.

    “Our leaders need to follow the footsteps of their counterparts in Qatar and Singapore. We must develop human capital for the nation to progress to its dream destination in terms of economic growth and physical development,” he said.

    Osaghe hailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s character, saying: “When a leader distinguishes himself in behaviour and character, everything will work well with the nation.”

    Earlier, the former Dean of the faculty, Prof Anthony Akinlo, said the seminar was to help students develop good character that would position them as future leaders.

    He said: “So much has been heard about leadership, and yet we are having leadership challenge. Since students are the leaders of tomorrow, we must prepare their minds for that task. This is the reason the faculty put in place this seminar.

    The Dean, Prof Chris Ajila, described the event as a good youth development initiative.

     

  • Second-quarter UK growth steady at 0.7%

    Image caption A rise in oil and gas production boosted United Kingdom(UK) GDP in the second quarter.

    UK economic growth for the second quarter of the year was unrevised at 0.7 per cent, official figures have shown.

    The initial figure released in July was boosted by a sharp rise in oil and gas production.

    As expected, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) made no change to the reading for the three months to June.

    It was higher than the 0.4 per cent growth recorded for the first quarter of the year.

    Net trade boosted GDP by one percentage point in the second quarter – the biggest contribution from trade in four years – as exports jumped.

    Economists have said the boost to trade might be temporary, because the persistent strength of sterling is making British goods more expensive abroad, while turmoil in Chinese financial markets has increased uncertainty about the global outlook.

    Business investment rose 2.9 per cent compared with the first three months of 2015 – the highest figure in a year.

    Samuel Tombs, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said the figure “put paid to the idea that uncertainty about the general election would weigh on capital expenditure”.

    Household spending increased by 0.7 per cent, but was lower than the 0.9 per cent rise in the first quarter.

    Weak inflation, low interest rates and a strong pound have helped to keep consumer sentiment buoyant.

    The UK economy expanded by three per cent last year in its best result since 2006. The Bank of England expects the same momentum to be maintained this year, forecasting 2.8 per cent growth.

    “With growth in households’ real incomes set to remain supported by low inflation, building wage growth and strong job creation, we continue to think that the economic recovery will sustain its current pace in the second half of 2015,” Mr Tombs said.

    US GDP for the second quarter was revised sharply higher at an annualised rate of 3.7 per cent, up from the first estimate of 2.3 per cent. Growth of 0.6 per cent in the first three months of the year was not revised.

  • NBS blames low oil prices for slow economic growth

    NBS blames low oil prices for slow economic growth

    Nigeria’s economic growth slowed sharply in the second quarter of the year as lower crude prices took their toll on the local economy. Annual growth dropped to 2.35 per cent from 6.54 per cent a year earlier, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

    Reuters report said oil production fell to 2.05 million barrels per day from 2.21 million over the same period. With oil accounting for more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings and about 70 per cent of government revenues, the fall in crude prices and output has hurt Nigeria’s finances and its naira currency, with foreign investors pulling out of its stock and bond markets.

    The naira has fallen about 15 per cent over the last one year, with devaluations in November and February, despite the central bank spending billions of dollars to prop up the currency.

    The weakening currency has fuelled inflation, which at 9.2 per cent is at its highest annual rate since February 2013 and above the central bank’s target range. Tuesday’s figures showed the continent’s second biggest economy, South Africa, shrank for the first time in over a year, raising the risk that labour disputes and slowing Chinese demand for commodities could push it towards recession.

  • African ministers, to discuss growth

    Key Finance Ministers, central bank governors, and private sector operators from Africa would meet to discuss ways of implementing development financing initiative in the continent.

    Tagged, Financing For Development (FFD) Agenda, the meeting is part of the Africa Investors (AI) summit that is coming up on September 24 this year concurrently with the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

    AI said the meeting will discuss issues bordering on a new development agenda in Africa, universal agreement on climate change,  among others.

    Being the first summit after the FFD meeting which  took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,  critical problems  affecting development in  the continent are  going to be discussed with a view to finding lasting solutions to them.

  • Ahmed: IGR drive ‘ll boost growth

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said his administration’s revenue drive would generate funds for developmental projects, stimulate the economy and create jobs.

    Speaking at an interactive session with community leaders in his office, the governor said his administration planned to create new infrastructural projects to promote the welfare of the people, stimulate commerce and attract investments that would create a conducive economic environment for job creation.

    He stressed the need to grow internal revenue and place less emphasis on federally-allocated revenue, which he noted, had dropped and was unlikely to return to the previous level in future.

  • Why NNPC’s growth is slow, by don

    Why NNPC’s growth is slow, by don

    It is not the dearth of technical know-how, but undue political interference and continued appointment of wrong personnel into the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that have been responsible for the slow growth of the Corporation, the President of the Nigerian Chapter of International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE), Prof Wunmi Iledare, has said.

    The industry, he said, boasts of enough technical manpower, adding that interference from  political elite has made it difficult for people with the right skills to get on Board of NNPC and manage its affairs well in recent times.

    He said the development has prevented the Corporation from managing and moving the nation’s oil and gas industry to enviable height and compete favourably with their counterparts globally.

    He said Nigeria needs to choose between having a politically constituted NNPC’s Board or a technically constituted NNPC’ Board, if it wants to achieve meaningful progress in the petroleum industry.

    He said when the Board of NNPC is technically constituted, the Corporation would be able to carry out its commercial activities of producing and selling oil well for socio- economic growth and further compete with institutions such as Petrobas among others.

    According to him, failure to have a well regulated political process in Nigerian means that activities in NNPC and the entire industry would not go on smoothly.

    Iledare, an Emeritus Professor at the Centre for Energy Studies, University of Louisiana, United States (US), told the The Nation that some people have misconstrued the restructuring of the NNPC to mean unbundling of the corporation, adding that what the Federal Government was trying to do was to reposition NNPC commercially.

    He said: “The Federal Government has unbundled NNPC into different units or institutions several years ago. The development culminated in the emergence of subsidiaries like the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and others. What the government is doing now is to make NNPC more commercially-oriented and stronger.  The issue is line with the NNPC’s Act 1977, which stated that the Corporation should make the production, refining and selling of oil its major objectives.

    However, this has not been the case. What NNPC is doing is to preoccupy itself with many responsibilities by regulating the industry, collecting royalties from operators, refining crude oil and selling petroleum products. Why should there be multiplication of duties in NNPC if we want to compete with its counterparts across the world?

    Iledare said the government wants NNPC to focus on its commercial duties of producing, refining and selling of oil; the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to concentrate on collection of taxes; Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) focusing on assets evaluation and management, among others.

    He said the idea of repositioning NNPC and the industry for greater performance is important, in view of the fact the country relies mainly on earnings from oil for growth.