The Nation Newspaper

Tag: investment

  • LCCI to Fed Govt: stimulate investment to overcome economic challenges

    LCCI to Fed Govt: stimulate investment to overcome economic challenges

    The Federal Government has been advised to stimulate investment to overcome the country’s economic challenges.

    Speaking at Ota in Ogun State,  Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Director-General Mr. Muda Yusuf said stimulating investment will help in bringing the nation out of economic recession.

    “The recession experienced in 2016 was the consequence of internal and external factors. The attack on oil installations by militants in the Niger Delta is the internal factor. The external factors are, principally, the slump in oil price and other adverse developments in the global economy,’’ he said.

    Yusuf urged the Federal Government to urgently devise a framework that would ensure liquidity of the foreign exchange market to accelerate the economic recovery process in 2017.

    “Forex liquidity was a major problem for investors in 2016 because many of them could not access it to procure raw materials and other inputs as and when needed,’’ he said.

    The LCCI chief said remittances had been very difficult, especially from the foreign airlines, adding that foreign exchange inflows from autonomous sources were also impeded because of the dysfunctional ties in the foreign exchange market.

    According to Yusuf, this impacted negatively on the forex supply, resulting in decline in Diaspora remittances, capital importation and export proceeds. He said a credible forex regime was critical to the restoration of investors’ confidence.

  • FBN Capital wins investment banking award

    FBN Capital wins investment banking award

    FBN Capital Limited, the Investment Banking and Asset Management business of FBN Holdings Plc, has received the ‘Best Local Investment Bank in Nigeria’ as well as ‘Best Asset Manager in Nigeria’ awards at the ninth EMEA Finance African Banking Awards, 2016.

    At the event in London,  the Publisher & CEO, EMEA Finance, Christopher Moore, presented the awards to Deputy Director and Head, Advisory & Capital Markets, Afolabi Olorode and Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Lolade Sasore, who  represented FBN Capital.

    Despite the tightening headwinds in the financial services sector and across other sectors of the nation’s economy, the firm ended the year on this outstanding note for innovative transactions closed and service delivered.

    In 2016, FBN Capital executed the largest Commercial Paper to be established by a Nigerian corporation, with the Nigerian Breweries Plc. Commercial Paper (CP) Issuances (Series 5, 6, 7), a transaction worth N12.23 billion, which recorded impressive subscription from investors.

    In the UACN Property Development Company Plc Commercial Paper Issuance (Series 1) of N16.79 billion, the company was a Joint Lead Arranger involved in structuring the notes, advising on appropriate transaction structure, timing and pricing; guidance on investor appetite and distribution of the Notes to investors.

  • IPMAN: Investment in refineries ‘ll boost fuel supply

    The Federal Government’s move to woo foreign companies to set up refineries in Nigeria will improve distribution of petroleum   products, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) National Chairman Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo has said.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, at a stakeholders’ forum in Abuja, invited investors  to  set up refineries in Nigeria.

    To Okoronkwo,  that  would help  grow the downstream segment of the petroleum industry. He said:“Plans by the Federal Government to welcome foreign investors wishing to invest in refineries in Nigeria is a good one. ‘’Such investment is capable of improving activities in the downstream sub-sector. Apart from the fact that the initiative would boost supply of fuel, it would help both independent and major marketers to expand their operation by opening up more outlets in the country.”

    He said the industry is grappling with problems of refining and supplying fuel to end users, adding that the problems would be addressed once crude oil is refined maximally in the country.

    He stated that many people have lost their jobs due to problems such as fall in oil price, oil theft and other untoward practices in the country. He noted that more jobs would be created if such refineries are built in Nigeria.

    According to him, local and foreign-owned refineries would create opportunities for people who wish to work in the refineries, depots, retail outlets and others. The idea would also provide materials for petrochemical industries especially those that are producing water tanks, plastic chairs, slippers, orthodox drugs and others, he said.

    ‘’The issue of allowing foreigners to own refineries as proposed by the Federal Government comes with a lot of benefits. Stakeholders in the value chain will benefit from it in one way or the other. Of note is that marketers will record more profits, which when ploughed back into the system, would improve activities in the downstream segment of the oil industry,’’ he added.

    Okoronkwo advised the government to fast-track the process of bringing companies that will refine crude oil in Nigeria, adding that the initiative would help in reviving the oil industry.

    The former President, International Association of Energy Economists (IAEE), Prof Adeola Akinnisiju, said the more firms that refine crude in Nigeria, the better for the downstream and the economy.

    He said the economy would improve once there is uninterrupted fuel supply in Nigeria, stressing that the economies are doing well abroad because they grow their oil and gas sector well.

    Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, however, will kick off production in 2018. The refinery has an initial production capacity of 450,000 barrels per day, and remains the biggest privately owned refinery to have such capacity in West Africa.

  • ‘Financial literacy important to successful investment’

    Lack of adequate knowledge on the workings of the financial system, especially the capital market, has been identified as the main reason for loss of investment and poor investors’ confidence.

    Chairperson, Technical Committee on the Financial Literacy Week (TCFLW), Mrs Oluwatoyin Sanni, said financial illiteracy contributed to the crash of the capital market in 2008-2009 period.

    “The public is largely unfamiliar with the workings and benefits of the capital market. The loss of investor confidence in the market due to crisis that hit the banking industry and capital market some years back, partly resulted from lack of financial knowledge,” Sanni said.

    She noted that in line with the determination of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to close the financial literacy gap and deepen the level of awareness about the Nigerian capital market, the Commission is set to carry its awareness campaign across the country.

    This is in alignment with the forthcoming World Savings Day celebration by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the entire financial sector. SEC is doing the financial literacy campaign through the TCFLW, which comprises of representatives from regulatory bodies, capital market operators and the media.

    Sanni said plans are being concluded to hold special programmes across the geo-political zones of the country, to coincide the world savings day.

    She noted that literacy drive and awareness campaign is in line with the capital market 10-year master- plan, pointing out that this becomes necessary given the generally low level of financial literacy and capital market awareness across the country.

    She outlined that apart from presentations to be made by market operators and other stakeholders at the various events, quiz competitions, and debates would be organised for secondary schools and universities at the chosen venues.

    “We have invited students from secondary schools and universities to be part of the programme because we believe in catching them young and once they become more aware about the workings of the market, they can, in turn spread the message and educate others as well,” Sanni said.

  • ‘Unregulated importation undermines local investment’

    ‘Unregulated importation undermines local investment’

    Mr Piyush Nair is Managing Director, Bayswater Industries Limited, producers of Mr. Chef Beef and Chicken seasoning cubes as well as other seasoning powders. In this interview with Tonia ‘Diyan, he speaks on the state of the  economy and its impact on the shopping habits of consumers.

     

    With the recession, the disposable income of consumers has shrunk, leading to an adjustment in spending. What is Mr. Chef doing to maintain patronage?

    True, the times are quite challenging for all manufacturing organisations, particularly with the inability to source foreign exchange (FOREX) for import purposes to accelerate local production. With the sharp drop in production, there have been job losses and other consequences. But there is still opportunity for growth if the government supports aggressive production rather than encourage consumption.

    For more than 40 years, customers have been loyal to our products because over the years,  Mr. Chef Beef and Chicken seasoning cubes have maintained consistency in quality regardless of the state of the economy. We are very happy about this, particularly because it has also helped us to remain a partner in government’s efforts to turn the economy around.

    Can you be more specific?

    As a major producer of seasoning cubes and powdered seasoning, our key objective is to be an indispensable kitchen companion that would make the cooking experience of our customers both inexpensive and a great delight. During the recent period of scarcity and high cost of tomatoes and other condiments, for example, our customers did not have to struggle to make great and tasty meals because our brands were and are always in season. Mr. Chef easily filled the gap. Our products like tomato seasoning powder and cubes; ginger; onion; garlic powder; jollof/fried rice seasoning mix; Ata rodo pepper as well as mom’s pride chicken and beef cubes and classic beef and chicken seasoning powder, to mention a few, easily filled the gap for consumers.

    What informed the launch of your latest product, Choco Love?

    Broadly, Choco Love is a nourishing cocoa beverage drink formulated to promote the sharing of family love. This, in itself, makes Mr. Chef different from other brands in the market because we always aspire to put the family first. Choco Love is produced to conform to the African concept of ‘family’, which revolves around sharing love and unleashing the confidence within each individual. This concept recognises that the family does not necessarily refer to bloodlines, but also to the humanity that we all share.

    What is your assessment of the environment where you operate?

    Producers of fast-moving commodity goods (FMCGs) will readily admit that the unregulated importation of substandard food seasoning is killing our market segment. These grey imports also constitute health hazards because many of these products are usually not certified by the authorities. This is a major problem not just for Mr. Chef, but for all producers. At the root of this problem is the fact that consumers tend to place cheap pricing ahead of other considerations. The importation of these unregulated goods also undermine the huge investment that we and other local producers have made in-the economy.

    So, what solutions would you proffer to deal with the problem?

    First, the government needs to encourage local producers to do more so that the economy can experience rapid transformation. With more local production, employment opportunities will open up and there will be more money in the pockets of citizens. It is a cycle that creates prosperity. This, however, will not happen if government does not help us to protect our heavy capital investments. Placing a ban on unwholesome imports to protect the health of the people as well as save our industry and the nation’s economy is an option that needs to be quickly considered.This is not anti-competition. On the contrary, doing this will create a level playing field for all producers. This, in turn, will make the operating environment sufficiently attractive to investors. It is high time everyone that believes in Nigeria demonstrated that love by making serious investment in the  economy as we have done.

  • Osun and its investment in education

    The epigraph to this piece by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, speaks appositely to the significance of education in the development of a country. His view correctly implies that investment in education will always yield the highest dividends. If quality investment in education produces the highest dividends, it is incontestable that a country which invests hugely and consistently,and substantially and not symbolically in education cannot become bankrupt. In any case, human beings remain the surest agency of development. If their capacities are purposefully enriched, meaningfully enhanced, and consistently improved, they will creatively initiate workable ideas and contribute considerably in driving the multifarious engines of sustainable socioeconomic development.

    Education, for any society which privileges and prioritises it, becomes the sub-stratum of itsdevelopment which will always set it apart from those that do not invest in education. This is the core lesson that the informative book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (2012), co-authored by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, persuasively teaches. According to the authors, consistent and hefty investments in education and the necessary infrastructure is one of the reasons that explain why some countries are developed and prosperous while many others come a sad cropper. Access to education facilities contributes greatly in enabling people to move forward and become useful for self and society. No nation whose political and economic institutions are unviable can invest in education and provide motivation for the people to be educated.

    It is against this backdrop that the inspiring efforts of the OgbeniRauf Aregbesola administration in reforming and investing in education in Osun Statecan be appreciated. The conviction of the administration that education holds the key to the realisation of the all-encompassing transformation it envisions for the state informs the undistracted attention it accords educational development right from 2010 when it assumed office. The administration makes education the bedrock of the various policies it has designed and been executing to improve the existential condition of the people of the state.

    The priority the administration gives to the development of education in Osun has inspired many initiatives that have brought marked differences to the grooming of minds there. The blueprint that emerged from the Education Summit the administration organised in the first year of its assumption of office provides useful direction for its drive to reposition education in the state. From huge investments in instructional materialsand teaching aids, crucial changes in curriculums, corrective restructuring of schools into Elementary, Middle, and High in conformity with international best practices in school management, to the construction of mega schools, the administration manfully moves on to ensure that public schools in the state become virile emporiums of sustainable capacity-building. In the last six years, remarkable successes have been recorded and rich lessons distilled from low points.

    What stands out in the administration’s unwavering pursuit of educational development in Osun is the humongous amounts it continues to invest in it. It does not consider any amount too prohibitive if the task is educational development. Like Aristotle, Governor Aregbesola understands that ‘[t[he roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet’. Accordingly, the princely price of investment in education has to be paid for the grand prize of enduring socio-economic development. Nothing can be more important than creating the right environment and emplacing the needed infrastructure for the building of human capacity, the agency and gateway of societal development.

    Clearly, this accounts for why Osun is still able to pluck new fruits of educational infrastructure development even in the face of the disruptive hurricane of cash crunchsweeping furiously across the Nigerian federation. The notable reduction and desultoriness in cash flow have not discouraged Osun from going with its school infrastructural development project. On the first day of September, the state commissioned the Osogbo Government HighSchool in a memorable ceremony witnessed by President Muhammadu Buhari and many other dignitaries.

    Conceived and constructed in line with international standards, the building has the capacity to seat 3,000students; it has 72 classrooms, each capable of sitting 49 students; and is capable of graduating 1,000 students annually.Its other facilities include six offices for study groups, six fully furnished laboratories, 60 toilets (30 apiece for boys and girls), one fully furnished science library, one fully furnished Art Library, one facility manager’s office, one bookshop, one sick bay, one bursar’s office, three furnished principals’ office, three general staff office, one furnished senior principal’s office, one record storage, one security shed/reception.

    More, it has an Olympic-sized football field, a seven-lane sprinting tracks for 100 meters and 400 meters, a pavilion and an outdoor basketball court that doubles as tennis court. It has parking space for 75 cars,and examination hall to sit minimum of 1000 students.This hall has a stage, office space, storage for documents, and 10 toilets for males and femalesrespectively.

    Students of Grades 10-12 (SSS I-III), between ages 15 to 17 years, will be using this school sited on a-10-hectare land. The Aregbesola-led administration has a tidied plan to build 20 mega High Schools across the state and in places where the old, dilapidated buildings that were not healthy for modern-day poultry once stood. The Osogbo Government High Schoolis one of the 11 that have been completed.Of the 100 school buildings planned for the elementary level, 14 have been completed, and 15 of the 50 forthe Middle school have also been finished.

    For Osun State government, the functional education the children of the state must receive has to take place in befitting structures, which have advanced facilities, are conducive for learning, and enhance human dignity. By embarking on these projects, the state government is simply saying the culture of excellence that guide the affairs of standard private schools cannot be impossible for it to attain. The quality, sound education vouchsafed for the children has to take place within modern facilities. What exists in Osun in terms of educational infrastructure development is not symbolism but substance.

    About 12,000 teachers have been added to the already existing pool of teachers across the schools in the state. It is not just about physical infrastructure; the human infrastructural is also seriously taken into cognisance, for no educational system can rise above the quality of the teachers.

    The idea of education for development motivates Osun to prioritise education. Governor Aregbesola underscores this in the address he delivered at the opening of the Osogbo Government High School. In his words, ‘Education for us, therefore, is the path to development. We are 25 years now, but we are looking at the next 25 years and we want to create and determine the next 25 years through education.’

    That education, he adds, is the sort that sees to the full development of the personalities of the learners. ‘The overall aim’, he explains,‘is to develop the new man intellectually, socially and morally. This new man is placed in the centre of society who views his own development as part of and for the development of society.This is a non-parasitic and non-oppressive man who views his existence in light of the growth of others; he views whatever is acquired to be subsumed in the overall interest of others. He is a man in himself and a man for society.’

    In spite of the financial constraint it has, Osun refuses to give up its walk on the path of educational development. It continues to invest in it because it is persuaded that doing so has many invaluable benefits and not bankruptcy.

     

    • Ademola is of the Features Unit, Bureau of Communications& Strategy, Osun.

  • Foreign investment and future of Nigeria

    Since the beginning of the Third Republic and return to democracy in 1999, our elected leaders spend more time travelling to Europe, the West, America and Asia looking and shopping for foreign investors.  When they return from such foreign trips, their intellectual wing in the academia and political jobbers take to the airwaves popping champagne that MOUs are being prepared for foreign direct investment in all areas of our economy. Whenever we have challenges with our economy, we start looking for foreigners; if it is a security problem, we expect that it can only be solved by foreigners. We are still struggling with the problem of feeding our population and beg foreign donors and agencies to come to our aid with all God and nature have endowed us with.

    We have refused to stand up for our country and we do not have faith that we can do anything for ourselves and yet we feel bad when they treat our citizens abroad like sub humans.   Our leaders make us to look inferior before the donor agencies and foreigners who unknown to them are not benevolent benefactors because every such  aids or assistance are tied to demands that are alien to our culture and belief system. These foreign nations with stable political and economic system that we run to at every twist and turn developed their countries through the patriotic efforts of their citizens making great sacrifices.  There is no quick fix and shortcuts for nations to get to the rank of the first world and be a developed country; if you have to get gold, you have to dig deep; it is not found on the surface.

    Before industrialization in Europe and the New World, as America was then referred to, the imperialists came to Africa and carried our fathers into slavery to work in their mines and farms to feed their growing population.  The Europeans only see slavery as evil after they had used African labour to build their factories and became industrialized.   The imperialists remained in most of the African countries to ensure a steady supply of raw materials for their industries using their trading companies as administrators.  They established schools that would provide them with administrators to harness their investment and again when they were done, they closed shop and our school system has not departed from that path of producing administrators and services.  No country survives on the trade-off of its economy to the superior technology of another sovereign nation.  The foreign investors are traders with mercantile mentality for profit maximization and at the close of business; he repatriates his profit to his home country leaving us with the short end of the stick.

    History has taught us that we do not learn from history that is why we are repeating the mistake of yesterday in the 21st Century.  In the 1970s and 80s companies like UAC and PZ controlled the nerve-centre of our economy which of course has never been a producing economy just as it is today, extracting the raw materials to the imperialists metropolis and returning to sell the finished product at a prohibitive cost to us.  During the same period, the Asians controlled the textile industries from Kano, Kaduna to Lagos using our people as slave labours like the caste system in India allowing them barely a survival wage.  During the economic recession in the 1980s the companies’ closed shops and the Asians went home with their profit leaving the factories like the empty shells of a canon, useless.

    America, the West, and Europe have reached the apogee of their civilization today including the Asian countries and are looking for territories and market to rehabilitate their population which they know that in no distant future they would not be able to cater for.   The solution to them was quick in coming and they sold to the world the concept of globalization.  The concept looked attractive to nations of Africa where people do not like to challenge their mental capacity to develop beyond subsistence agriculture.   We refuse to interrogate whether we have anything that we are bringing to the table when the world is reduced to a global village in the process of globalization.

    Europe and America have since conquered nature with superior technology and are today getting fuel from the rock through the technology of fracking as their resources are nearing exhaustion.  They are today in space prospecting for opportunity of life and relocating and leaving to us the famished earth.

    Africa has remained a virgin land and its people and population are unable to harness the abundant natural and human resources for the benefit of her people.  We are busy perpetually fighting one another over mundane things and religion; things that do not unite our people, promote our secularism and develop our economy.  Our leaders cannot think out of the box and we are welcoming with open arms and drums, the handover of our rich arable land to foreigners that were driven away from other climes.  When we invite foreigners with advanced technology to take over our economy, we are only denying our unemployed youths the much needed job and mortgaging the future of our children and posterity will judge us harshly.  Our leaders would rather prefer to behave like rampaging band of gorillas wasting everything along their way, looting our common patrimony to develop foreign land.

    Now is the time for our government to be circumspect and think through their policies once again.  Foreigners cannot solve our political problems; they cannot solve our economic problems and can never solve our security problem because they have no stake in Nigeria.  We have made mockery of ourselves enough; let us stand up to the challenges of our country.  It is mental indolence to think that the solutions to our problems lie in foreign investors whether it is in agriculture, science and technology, politics, economic or security.  Besides Europe and America, countries in Asia closed their borders when they faced the challenges of development and today, India, Pakistan, China, the  two Koreas, North and South, Singapore are all technologically advanced countries due to the patriotic zeal of their leaders.  But today, Indians and Chinese are not only enslaving our people in their companies, our leaders are going cap in hand to them to come and take over the running of our economy for immediate gains and not for the long term benefits because there is none.

    Our youths have to rise up now and engage the political class to reclaim what belongs to us as a nation.  We must challenge the rapacious and voracious appetite of our leaders for exotic food which all of us are beginning to develop the palate for. The war against corruption must be fought and won and it must be holistic; there should be no Jew or Gentile in the prosecution of the war.  We should hold our leaders to account; budget padding is corruption and no linguistic semantics can cure it. We should interrogate the validity of foreign investment; it is tantamount to mortgaging our future. We should interrogate activities of the National Assembly and the viability and wisdom of bicameral legislature; it is fast becoming a drain pipe of waste.  Our leaders should come back home and look inward.  We say no to foreign investment and no to mortgaging the future of generations yet unborn.

     

    • KebonkwuEsq, writes from Abuja.

  • Indorama’s investment in Eleme Petrochem to hit $4.2b

    Indorama  Group, the core investor in the Eleme Petrochemicals is to increase its investment in the firm from $2 billion to  $4.2billion.

    This was contained in a statement  by the spokesman of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh.

    The BPE also said the sale of Eleme Petrochemicals to Indorama followed due process, with the nod of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).

    Okoh quoted the BPE’s Acting Director-General, Dr. Vincent Onome Akpotaire, as saying this at the Investigative Hearing on the Privatisation Process and performance of Eleme Petrochemicals by the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation.

    Akpotaire, who was represented by the Director, Mines & Steel Development Department, Mallam Abdullahi Muhammad Dikko, described the transaction as one of the success stories of the Federal Government’s privatisation programme in terms of compliance to the executed Share Purchase Agreement (SPA)/Post Acquisition Plan (PAP), contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the creation of employment in the country.

    He noted that four firms were pre-qualified for the bidding at the close of the deadline in May 2005 for the submission of Expression of Interests (EOIs), upon which after evaluation, only Dangote Chemicals Co. Consortium, Indorama Group and LG Chem were shortlisted.

    He said LG Chem pulled out on the grounds that it intended to participate as an Operations and Management (O & M) contractor and not to acquire controlling interest in EPCL, which left the contest between Dangote Company Consortium and Indorama Group and, in  the end, the latter won  at the cost of $225 million from the earlier $215,088,888 it bidded, with a commitment to invest $150 million to be sourced from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to revamp the company’s plants and facilities.

    The BPE chief said because of the impressive performance and compliance of the Core Investor to the obligations in the Post-Acquisition Plan (PAP)/Shares Sale Purchase Agreement (SSPA) signed with the government, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), at its meeting on December 18, 2014, approved the ‘discharge’ of the company from the five-year monitoring programme of BPE.

    Consequently, the company would no longer be monitored as provided for in part b of section 8.4 of the SSPA except for occasional performance assessment purpose (s), he added.

    He listed the success story of Eleme Petrochemicals as “Implementing world largest single train Urea plant of 1.5 million tons capacity along with associated infrastructure with total investment of $1.4 billion, making total hit $4.2 billion by 2020; high-quality products, excellent public-private partnership, high corporate social responsibility and community development; and staff of 5300 as at February 29, this year.

    According to him, in 11 years after take over, the company has recorded many milestones in its vision of building Africa’s largest petrochemicals hub in Nigeria as it operates at over 100 per cent capacity, meeting the need of the plastics industry, which uses polymer resins as its raw materials, adding surplus supplies are exported to about 20 countries in Europe, Asia, US and parts of Africa.

    The Bureau’s Post-Privatisation Monitoring (PPM) Director, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, listed the achievements of the new investor as investment of $470 million or 75 per cent EPCL equity; having one of the highest  Foreign Direct Investment  (FDI) in the downstream non-oil & gas sector till date; conversion of dead assets through world-class technical support and committement to expansion; and to build the largest petrochemicals in Nigeria, among others.

  • We ‘re committed to $1b investment plan, says ntel

    We ‘re committed to $1b investment plan, says ntel

     •Firm appoints Danjuma chairman

    Nigeria’s  mobile 4G/long term evolution (LTE) network provider, ntel yesterday in Lagos said it is  committed to invest  over  $1billion into the telco by 2020.

    Its owners , NatCom Development & Investment Limited, also  announced a very significant addition to its board with the emergence of elder statesman, accomplished businessman and respected philanthropist, Gen TY Danjuma (rtd) as its chairman.

    According to the firm, the corporate icon’s appointment as chairman came in the wake of his strategic and significant investment in the telco.

    The announcement followed Danjuma’s inaugural board meeting.  Fondly known as ‘the green general’ on account of his environmental activism, the new chairman has interests in oil and gas, banking and shipping. A respected environmentalist and philanthropist, he was chairman of Abuja Green Society and through the Danjuma Foundation, he established in 2009, he has passionately supported poverty alleviation, education and medical aid initiatives across the country.

    Danjuma brings to ntel board robust commercial experience covering some three decades in the public and private sectors, following a successful career in the army from where he retired as a three-star General and Chief of Army Staff in 1980. He also served as Minister of Defence in the first term of the civilian administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Olatunde Ayeni, lawyer, investor, businessman, key promoter of ntel and until yesterday the chairman of the board now becomes the vice chairman.

    A vibrant, energetic and new generation businessman with never-say fail spirit, Ayeni will join hands with the new chairman to drive the new board alongside the veteran business mogul, Danjuma.

    Other members of the board include Capt. Idahosa Okunbor, Biola Ayeni, Kasheem Shettima, Phil Chukwu, Kola Adesina, John Darlington, Dan Kunle and Tunde Omotoba.

    Commenting on this key addition to ntel’s board, Kamar Abass, ntel’s CEO, expressed delight at the new addition to the telco’s board.

    He said: “We are delighted to have a man of Gen TY Danjuma’s standing join us. As our new chairman, and as a shareholder, we welcome his support as we add momentum to our growth and development in Nigeria’s telecoms industry. We expect to benefit enormously from Gen Danjuma’s sterling leadership credentials and, in this way, build on the excellent work of our immediate past chairman, Dr. Tunde Ayeni, who positioned ntel to deliver the leading broadband experiences already evidenced in Lagos and Abuja.”

    ntel commenced commercial operations of its 4G/LTE-Advanced network in Lagos and Abuja. Network services in Port Harcourt are scheduled to commence early in Q4.

  • Survival (and investment) tips for these times

    Survival (and investment) tips for these times

    These are busy times for financial analysts and investment consultants. Oil prices keep tumbling. The capital market is battling to retrieve its reputation as a sure haven for investment. Budgets are being battered by the reality of the day. The rich are grumbling and the poor are crying. The Wall Street’s wall has indeed fallen flat.

    The wealthy and mighty get tight-fisted. They even fire their employees in a desperate and deft cost cutting move. Yet there are those who will be seeking new havens into which they can pump their fortune.

    In such an uncertain situation, the field becomes an open arena of hyenas and all manner of gangsters, tricksters and pranksters posing as financial engineers. Trust “Editorial Notebook” to weigh in at such perilous times. Here, therefore, are some survival and investment tips. It is all in line with this column’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and in the true spirit of good citizenship. Let’s get cracking.

    There have been reports of some of our compatriots acquiring large expanse of land in Abuja and other places, ostensibly for farming in response to the huge admonition to join the battle for diversification of the economy. Farming, we have been told, is in such cases a mere subterfuge. The real motive, we have learnt from a top source, is to build deep down in the heart of the farm a huge vault in which hard currencies are stashed away, away from the ever-prying eyes of Ibrahim Magu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and lily-livered bankers who can’t keep a secret.

    Yes, banks don’t keep secrets. You deposit just a few billions and before you sign the teller they have leaked the small transaction to the EFCC, which expects you to be able and willing to explain how you came about the cash as if it is some forbidden substance, such as heroin.

    You don’t have to bury your hard earned money in the farm; that is crude. Neither do you need to build shopping malls and filling stations in your wife’s name. No.

    Britain seems to have buried its lofty idea of building a world class prison in Nigeria where our compatriots who have fallen foul of that country’s law could be brought back home to serve their term. The plan is to have such a facility in a quiet area. It will be air-conditioned, with sporting areas as well as food canteens that can compete with the best hotels in town, its chefs certified by some of the best hands in the trade. There will be giant television sets so that interested inmates do not miss the premiership and other shows, including the latest Nollywood movies. Clinics will be well stocked with good drugs, not the expired stuff you encounter all over the place. There will be doctors. That was the glamorous picture they painted for us.

    Why not invest in such a facility and turn it over to the government, which will most likely cry out soon that it cannot cope with the huge army of would-be convicts that are likely to arise after the conclusion of the numerous corruption cases that are in court? It is called Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT).

    The government, I can bet, will jump at such a plan, which will free its dwindling funds for other critical areas, such as the bad roads and unsightly airports.

    The Prisons will no longer need to hire vehicles to convey suspects to the courts. A little bird tells me that should plea bargaining fail to resolve many of the corruption cases in the courts, it will be time to concession the prisons – just as we have done with some of our key roads.

    An investment in a world class hospital won’t be a bad idea. Since the renewed anti-corruption war, there have been many complaints by some prominent suspects who claim to be suffering from one condition or the other. The ailments go by some esoteric names, such as sinus bradycadia. Incidentally, many of them were not diagnosed here in Nigeria where the facilities are lacking.

    Should plea bargaining become a hard bargain, many of our Awaiting Trial (AT) big men may decide to check into hospitals for a long rest, believing that time will strip the anti-corruption war of its bite. They will pay a fortune for such facilities that are comparable to the five-star hotels to which their lives have been conditioned. Sure they will.

    If the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration had not been truncated by popular will, one of its key projects would have by now become a favourite of every household. Besides, it would have saved the treasury so much in foreign exchange. Will somebody invest in cassava bread?

    Many Nigerians seem to have suddenly realised that there is no need rushing overseas for summer holidays. The exchange rate has dampened the enthusiasm of many for the yearly ritual of summer travels. But airlines need not fret over the seeming low patronage. They can deploy their small  and old aircraft, create an artificial shortage of seats on their flights, offer some nebulous discount and, thereby, lure as many as possible to take to the sky again.

    As the wealthy need investment tips, so do the poor need survival tips. What with the failure of “stomach infrastructure” as state policy and potent weapon for votes harvesting. We have seen through it all, some people seem to be saying now as they sneer at those who lulled them to sleep with chicken and rice while they stuffed their vaults with the people’s cash.

    It is not compulsory to eat three times a day. Besides the fact that it is economical to cut down on food, we are told it is healthy. Reduce meat, especially beef. No more cow leg, roundabout and such tantalising stuff. Drink more (pure) water at the local buka.

    When you are done, don’t forget to grab an extra toothpick. Put it away in your pocket. When you step out of the canteen, pull the little stick out, put it in your mouth, strike it gently with your teeth and bite it intermittently. That way you announce the fact that you still feed well despite these hard times.

    With little hope that the electricity situation will improve – attacks on gas pipelines, controversial billing systems and all that – you can set up a mobile phone charging centre. Get a small power generating set, the type derisively called I beta pass my neighbour. It is cheap to fuel. No need for a shop. Just go to places where the power crisis is at its worse. Put the machine on your head. Without saying a word, a crowd of eager telephone users will mob you. You can then charge appropriate rates and smile all the way home.

    You will, in no time, discover that this is better than football betting, the Baba Ijebu type in which many have, strangely, found some succour. Now that commercial motorcycles (okada) are becoming endangered – no thanks to criminals who deploy them in their nefarious activities – it is time you learnt how to walk. Doctors say it is healthy. Those guys who trekked several kilometres to Abuja to mark President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the April election sure know their strategy. They will never feel the impact of the high petrol price. Besides, don’t doctors say it is healthy to walk?

    A cheeky fellow was asking the other day if people would still like to trek and scream Sai Baba! Will they?

    Feel free to use these success tips. They are free. You only need to acknowledge the fact that you got them from here when you hit it big. Best.

     

    Turkey’s future

    It is sad that Turkey’s political situation has snowballed into a major crisis. The world has united behind Turkey not because Tayyip Erdogan has been such a wonderful man – some insist he is a budding dictator – but there is a global revulsion against soldiers running governments.

    Erdogan has hastily blamed it all on the respected moderate Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is on self-exile in the United States. Gulen, who denounced the failed attempt and reiterated his belief in democracy, thinks Erdogan may have plotted it all as a trap to smash the opposition.

    Most of the soldiers deployed in the so-called coup were merely told that they were going on a military exercise. As of the last count, Erdogan has sacked more than 8000 across government institutions. More than 7,500 have been arrested and 15,200 fired in the Education ministry. That is not all. In the Judiciary, 2,700 have been given the push; 140 Supreme Court members arrested and 1,577 deans of private and public universities asked to resign. There are more casualties.

    The death penalty is being considered for the soldiers who are suspected to have been part of the failed coup.

    The world should keep an eye on Turkey to ensure that Erdogan, who has taken over newspapers and jailed journalists, does not use this bloody chance to kill the opposition and become a true dictator.