The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Local

  • Local firms set to drill gains from oil reforms

    Local firms set to drill gains from oil reforms

    The news that the new helmsman at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, has taken the bull by the horns by signing on an international audit company to review the contracts between the NNPC, its subsidiaries and the oil companies, is a good omen for the nation’s troubled oil sector.

    It falls in line with the pledge of President Muhammadu Buhari to clean the sector and give it a new direction so that it can serve the long term interests of the Nigerian people.

    It is regrettable that despite huge crude oil and gas deposits, the country is yet to get on top of the management of this critical resource to address the challenges of power generation and industry. Clearly, the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, a former Petroleum Resources minister, has put in place a round peg in a round hole, a man historically and mentally fitted for the task of revamping the oil sector.

    His first move was to bring Kachikwu, an internationally exposed and renowned top brass of the multinational oil company, Mobil, to work  with him on the task of transforming the oil sector from a parasitic institution to an elixir that would breathe new life into the nation’s populous consumers.

    When the refineries were built, the strategy was to reduce the reliance of Nigeria on the imports of petroleum products, develop local capacity and take advantage of the numerous by-products of crude oil. The hope of a vibrant petro-chemical industry that would be the foundation of the country’s industrial and agro-allied sectors was built on the expansion of the refineries and increase in value-added.

    Unfortunately, the leadership of the country until May 29, 2015 could not rise to the challenge of implementation,  even when the vision seemed to be apparent and the urgency seemed so pressing. Forty-five years after the import substitution strategy was unveiled, it has taken a key operative of the generation of the 70s to lead us back to the Promised Land.

    In recent interactions with indigenous oil companies, President Buhari declared that his administration would support them in the implementation of his reforms, re-kindling hope of the revival of the indigenisation culture that his generation spearheaded with the Indigenisation Law that put many commercial sectors in the hands of Nigerians and gave the economy a truly Nigerian face.

    According to the President, “we have the manpower for a more effective participation in our oil industry. We will give you all possible encouragement. You certainly won’t be ignored under my leadership.”

    Industry sources believe the cleansing of the oil sector should position the indigenous oil companies to play greater role in determining how the oil sector would help in ending the years of misery of the millions of Nigerians who seek jobs and dream of setting up their own small scale industries.

    The auditing of the Strategic Alliance Contracts (SAC), should aim at ensuring that there were no sacred cows and under-the-table deals in the contracts signed to date. The SAC, is by its definition, a distress call from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to private companies for assistance. Under its terms, there is a clear admission that NPDC devised the SAC because it lacked the required funds to fund the petroleum operation costs and provide the technical and professional skills needed to produce oil and gas in contract areas.

    A regular clause in the agreements states that the “government, in considering the huge capital outlay and other resources required for petroleum operations has approved NPDC to enter into strategic alliance for the provision of funding and technical expertise”. Considering the fact that many of the companies have paid entry fees running into millions of dollars, it is important that the on-going audit recognises the risk of time and value of the operations and the need to ensure that a level playing field is achieved in favour of indigenous companies.

    It is therefore gladdening that very reliable sources at the NNPC have assured that the exercise is not meant to witchhunt any company but to ascertain the state of the contractual agreements, fine-tune where necessary and ensure that there is value for money, performance and excellent benchmarking. This also means partners in the SAC must be ready to meet their obligations and ensure that the country does not lose money due to lack of diligence in enforcing the contract terms.

    Considering the challenges of benchmarking, it is obvious that many indigenous oil companies do not have the same years of experience as their foreign competitors and a bench mark that refuses to recognise this fact may work against the President’s obvious determination to grow the indigenous petroleum sector to international stature.

    Similarly, the current crude oil price regime and the dynamics of the financial market indicate that the expectations which underscore the negotiations have headed downwards. This raises the possibility of reviewing the entry fee to suit the current climate of the market and ensure that crude oil and gas production service the refineries and the local industry.

    As it walks on the tight rope of national economic stability and international investors’ confidence, the Buhari administration must not be torn between a citizenry, whose high expectations of a Messiah that has come to put the country in good shape and an international community watching silently and studiously, the opportunities that the new reforms promise. Both the local and foreign stakeholders must meet at a point where needs meet feeds and reforms call for cocktails.

    The oil reforms are already registering visible impact. The responsive management of Dr. Kachikwu has been able to ensure that the Kaduna Refinery, which was comatose, has been repaired and now operates at 60 per cent installed capacity.

    Similarly, there is good news from the New Port Harcourt Refining Company. Despite the on-going Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) to overhaul its Fluid Cracking Catalytic Unit (FCCU), the refinery reported production of 39 million litres of petrol in July. The return of the Warri Refining and Petochemical Company to full production following the conclusion of its TAM will increase its contribution to daily production from its current 30 million litres.

    No doubt, for a country with estimated crude oil reserves of 35.3 billion barrels lying pretty in over 159 oil fields and 1,481 wells, and a daily production of 2.2 million barrels per day at the peak of its capacity, the Buhari administration has only stepped on to the throttle on a journey of economic stability.

    The indigenous oil companies must respond positively to the pledge of Mr. President by investing in the vision of the administration to make the petroleum sector serve the citizenry. In this regard, the utilisation of our 187 trillion feet gas reserves not only for export but to be piped to gas stations so that more cars can run on Liquified Natural Gas (NLG) must come under the Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAG) model.

    As it is said by philosophers, the past is a story told, the future of our petroleum sector can still be written in gold.

  • ‘CBN’s policy ‘ll promote local self-sufficiency’

    The Managing Director,  Okomu Oil Palm Plc, Dr. Graham Heifer, has said the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on forex only affected businessmen asking for waivers especially on palm oil.

    He said granting waivers by previous administration has affected oil palm production in the country negatively.

    Heifer who spoke with reporters said granting waivers was unfair because some people have to pay duty while others got waiver to bring in things and it affected the industry negatively.

    The Okomu Oil chief said the CBN policy offered local producers of oil palm to produce more as well as an opportunity for others to invest in the business.

    He said his firm has purchased 12,000 hectares of land in Ovia North East Local government Area of Edo State with a view to expanding production to meet market demands.

    He said: “We produce palm oil here locally and we have the market already. The CBN’s directive is good for us. It does not stop people from importing because some can still pay the duty but if you want to import now, you cannot (raise foreign exchange) through the CBN. You have to go to parallel market.

  • Protecting local content

    •Is Agip riding roughshod over an indigenous oil firm?

    Oil industry experts seem to believe that one major reason the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has not seen the light of day is because of the overarching influence the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have over Nigeria’s oil sector. These giant firms include Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, (Agip).

    These oil majors that have operated in the country since pre-independence sometimes wield such powers and influence that are overwhelming even among government circles. At a point in Nigeria’s history, the leading ones among them were said to have their own police and quasi-army. In fact they did not only have the capacity to critically influence the course of government, they could actually effect a change in government.

    While this may have been possible in the  military era, so much have changed in the polity now. Notwithstanding, occasional muscle-flexing and power shows still go on. Perhaps this undergirds the long-running tiff between one of the majors, Agip and an indigenous oil service firm, Arco Petrochemical Engineering Company Plc., (Arco).

    According to reports, Agip, an oil giant, may be dealing unfairly with a small indigenous oil service firm for the following reasons: One, Agip which has Italian origin, is accused of unilaterally revoking its service contract with Arco, and awarding same to another oil service firm of Italian origin, not minding the requirements of the local content laws. Two, Agip is said to have repudiated a court injunction that status quo ante be maintained in the matter between the two firms. And three, Agip is alleged to have taken advantage of the crises in Nigeria’s petroleum industry to trample upon Arco and deny it of a legitimate business proposition.

    As the story goes, in 2006,  Agip signed a maintenance contract with Arco which had Nuovo Pignone as its foreign technical partner. It was a five-year contract which lapsed in 2011.  The contract was for the maintenance of Agip’s Obob/Kwale/Ebocha Gas Plant. This is a strategic plant that supplies gas to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG); Eleme Petrochemicals and Omoku Power Plant. Arco had also carried out an interim contract up till 2013; six months of which it handled alone without foreign partners because the Niger Delta areas were too hot for expatriates at that point.

    All these contracts were approved by the board of the joint venture partner, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS). However, when time came to award another five-year contract, Arco was literally bypassed and the job was unilaterally handed to an Italian oil service firm based in Nigeria, Plantgeria.

    The NNPC board was supposed to approve all such contracts but because it did not meet for quite a while, Agip acted unilaterally. Though the oil major averred that it offered the job to the firm with the most cost-effective bid, Plantgeria, having quoted $10 million against $37 million for which Arco had done the job all these years.

    But Arco insists that Agip was being clever by half and economical with the truth. It stated that it is not possible to deliver the sort of maintenance job it does for the sum Plantgeria has bid; besides, the low bid must be a ploy to remove Arco from the picture only to increase the contract sum down the line. It also noted that the offshore component of the job handled by its new technical partner, GE had been extracted from the contract. In other words, the contract had been split.

    To buttress the point that it has been hard done by, Arco says that both Plantgeria and GE are now poaching its staff.

    We will urge Agip to endeavour to be sensitive to the local content laws and requirements of the country. And since the matter is in court, we urge both parties to return to status quo as requested by the court.

  • Frontier Oil seeks better deal for local gas firms

    The Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Oil Limited, Dada Thomas, has called on the Federal Government to discuss with indigenous gas companies on ways of boosting gas production to meet the nation’s power and other domestic gas needs.

    He made the call in Lagos at the yearly conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) titled: “Tackling gas supply challenges to arrest power crisis.”

    He said about 182 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas is in Nigeria waiting to be developed but that what is required to achieve it, is the political will, enabling policy, commercial and regulatory framework.

    Thomas said the future of gas and gas-to-power in the country is bright and called on the government to grant the kind of incentives it gave International Oil Companies (IOCs) in the past to the indigenous operators who contribute over 53 per cent of local gas production in Nigeria.

    He said: “I strongly believe that the Federal Government should incentivise indigenous operators to undertake domestic gas projects, which will help Nigeria meet its power and other gas related requirements. If the government could give incentives to IOCs in the past, then surely it is only fair and equitable that it also give similar incentives to the indigenous operators.”

    He said the highly successful Nigeria LNG project at Bonny owned by the Shell-led Joint Venture, the Chevron Escravos Gas project and similar projects were all given incentives to ensure these projects came to fruition.

    He condemned the gas prices in Nigeria, saying it is lower than what obtains in other markets around the world. This, according to him, has made the gas business less attractive than the oil business for more than 40 years.

    He said: “For the gas transactions to be based on a willing-buyer, willing-seller driven commercial platform, government should stay away from regulating the commercial transactions between interested parties.”

    He said though the Federal Government increased baseline gas price to the power sector to $3.3 per thousand standard cubic feet in 2014, the gas producers, transporters and end users were yet to actualise the new pricing regime as the necessary modalities were not put in place for the implementation of this price regime.

    He stressed the need for Nigeria to get a collaborative gas distribution system between the private sector and the government, which would be led by the private sector, and based on an open access and economic tariff basis. This, according to him, would enable gas producers tie in to the nearest pipeline and reduce the security challenges facing gas distribution in the country.

    “In spite of the fact that we lack adequate pipeline transportation and distribution system, the disturbing thing is that the little we have has been subjected to attacks and sabotage over the last five years, a phenomenon that created the crisis this conference is trying to address,” he added.

  • ‘Local poultry farmers can meet consumers’ demand’

    ‘Local poultry farmers can meet consumers’ demand’

    The importation of frozen poultry was banned by the Federal Government but despite this ban since 2003, the smuggling has remained unabated. Recently however, considering the health issues arising from the consumption of the smuggled meat and the loss of revenue to the Government, Government through the National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration and Control [NAFDAC] and the Nigerian Customs launched Operation Hawk Descend to combat the activities of these nefarious smugglers.

    However, with the Operation Hawk Descend, the price of both the smuggled and indigenously produced poultry has gone almost beyond the reach of the average Nigerians. Many people are asking questions; With the large population of Nigeria, which is still increasing, Can the poultry farmers in Nigeria produce enough poultry to meet demand of consumers?, As the Government is enforcing this ban, what policies has it put in place to grow the Nigerian poultry?.

    In this interview with Dr. Ayoola Oduntan,  National President, Poultry Association  Farmers of  Nigeria, he tried to address these issues including the current price of poultry meat, the many challenges facing the poultry industry, how Government can grow the Agricultural sector through poultry and what is expected from consumers at this transitional period among many things.

    There are so many speculations, we will like to know the exact annual demand of poultry meat in this country.

    Local demand of poultry is about 1.5million metric tonnes, while Nigerian farmers can produce about 700-1million metric tonnes but right now we are only producing about 300,000 metric tonnes.

    So, do the poultry farmers in Nigeria have the capacity to feed the Nation.

    Our capacity as it is, is between 700- 1 milliontonnes and we can grow that capacity quickly as the Government  is willing to support, and determined to grow the poultry industry. Our capacity utilization is about 46% but all that can increase within 2years.

    Within that two years, how do you intend to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of poultry. As you said, the local demand is about 1.5million metric tonnes while local farmers are producing 300,000 metric tonnes now, creating a shortfall of 1.2million metric tonnes of supply.

    We shall activate all the abandoned farms, use the existing major players as hubs around which we would develop smaller farming groups. In the area of trainingwe shall mobilize organized knowledge sharing plateforms and Government will of course come in with infrastructural support targeted at farms. A situation where most farmers in this country are borrowing money at 20%-30% is not encouraging. In most places where Government is determined to turn Agriculture around, farmers borrow money at between 3%-6%.More farmers should have access to development finance initiatives.

    How can poultry industry grow other economies in the country?

    Poultry Industry is so unique because it can stimulate other economies down the line. That is why many countries around the world will actively promote their Poultry Industries. In doing that Government will now need to focus on the activation of Maize, Rice, Soya, and Wheat, farms, Quarries, palm kernel and palmoil because all these industries feed the poultry industry thereby creating millions of jobs. So you can imagine how much jobs will be created if Government focuses on growing the industry.

    Since the campaign of Operation Hawk Descendstarted, has the Government come up with new policies to support poultry farming.

    The response from the Customs, NAFDAC and Ministry of Agriculture has been great. NAFDAC has done a great job in identifying the fact that this imported poultry is in direct opposition to their mandate of safe guarding the health of the Nation.

    But what more can Government do to encourage indigenous poultry farming

    Yes, there is so much more that can be done.  Ministry of Information can launch a campaign encouraging the consumption of eggs. The Health Ministry should educate pregnant women on the impact of egg meals as they can get the needed Folic acid for the growth of the baby. Ministries of Internal affairs, Education should insist  that egg be inculcated in Government school meals. An egg a day is recommended in most countries as part of healthy nutritious diet. Government should use it’s propaganda machinery to increase and generate demands for our products. It will cost them nothing but the impact will be huge in the economy.

    When you say an egg a day is recommend as part of a healthy diet, are you referring to children or adults.

    For everybody. We all know that the egg is probably God’s best gift in terms of food for us because of the nutrient contents. We have one of the lowest per capita egg consumption in the world.

    Maybe the cost is what is discouraging the consumption and the believe that it has high cholesterol content. An average sized egg sells between N25 to N30.

    Egg is not expensive compared to other food items especially when you consider the nutritional contents. The wrong information from the Americans in the 70s that egg is high in cholesterol has been demystified by new scientific facts which says that the cholesterol in egg is the good and healthy one and that there is no direct relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

    Since the recent enforcement of the ban on imported frozen chicken, the prices of both the imported ones and the indigenously produced ones have gone up by about 50%.

    The price of the locally produced chicken has not gone up.

    No, from my research the price has gone up. The local producers are taking advantage of the shortage of the smuggled ones to fleece the public.

    I have spoken to the Chief Executives of most of the farmers and we have agreed not to raise prices for now. It is the traders, the Channels that are raising the prices.

    So how do you intend to monitor and control these traders.

    Now that government policy is being enforced and is here to stay, any increase will just be for a while and supply will soon meet with the demand as much as possible. The increase will only be for a short while as a lot of supply will eventually come into the market.

    When exactly should people expect this more supply.

    Is a process and we need to remain committed. The demand for day old chicks has gone up and people have started talking to their banks about reactivating their abandoned farms again.

    Why do you think that smuggled poultry has persisted despite previous efforts to stop it even with the health challenges

    Most people were ignorant of the health implications but now that they are realizing the negative health issues they will desist from patronizing it.

    What parting words do you want to leave with the consumers .

    Right now we have pride to consume made in Nigerian products that are good for our health and our economy and it should continue. What we are envisaging in the Poultry Industry now is only a transition that will stabilize in due course. People should not panic and take the wrong decision when the solution is just round the corner.

  • Local meter manufacturers seek govt’s intervention

    The Electricity Meters Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (EMMAN) has called on the Federal Government to assist its members’ firms from folding up.

    He said some of the firms might go under for lack of patronage by the privatised power companies.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mr. Muideen Adebayo Ibrahim, told The Nation that despite the huge loans his colleagues took from banks to build the meter manufacturing factories, the electricity distribution companies  (DISCOS) have refused to buy meters from them. The situation has forced some of their members to close shops, while others drastically cut their workforce, he decried.

    He said: “Our members out of sheer patriotism, despite numerous challenges confronting manufacturers in Nigeria, took undaunted risks with borrowed funds with the accompanying high interest rates, established world-class factories with state-of-the-art facilities.

    “Every local manufacturer has production capacity of 1.2 million meters per annum with room for future expansion. Not only that, smart meters (single and three-phase) are produced with GPRS data bundle that allows for communication between the meter and the server.

    “Our members have robust billing application system, energy theft accounting system, automatic metering infrastructure, superlative customer relationship management system platform, prompt after sales service and asset management mechanism, among others.

    “In fact, some of the billing application system or platforms designed by our members are currently being used by some of the distribution companies. This actually laid credence to the fact that the local meter manufacturers can do it, even if not better. But they have been faced with plethora of challenges in the past, which became more serious within the last one and half years, especially since the new owners of the distribution companies took over.

    “In fact, without mincing words, it has been very tough for our members, hence some have downsized their workforce and others shut down factories. Currently, one of the financiers threatened to dispose the factory of one of our members for his inability to service his obligation. It is, indeed, a sad commentary because we are running from pillar to post in order to ameliorate the situation.”

    As a result of the enormous challenges facing them, the EMMAN scribe urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the sector, create and make available a special intervention fund where local electricity meter manufacturers should draw soft loans at a maximum of two per cent interest rate. With such loans, locally produced meters can be sold to the distribution companies (DisCos) at very competitive price just as their counterparts from China sell to the DISCOS  on one year moratorium and five per cent interest, he said.

    He also asked the government to prevail on all the DISCOS to patronise locally produced electricity meters to create more jobs for Nigerians, increase its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which would on the long run boost the yearly revenue earnings of Nigeria and curb capital flight, among others. The government should support and encourage EMMAN members as the Chinese Government gave unflinching support to their counterparts in China, he added.

    Other requests by the local meter manufacturers include providing them (manufacturers) with the necessary infrastructure and facilities because some of the manufacturers rely on generating sets to operate, prevail on the DISCOS to stop estimated billing, and let the    Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) step up and perform its oversight functions and responsibilities effectively and efficiently without bias or sentiment. NERC should apply the necessary sanction to any errant firm if need be, and ensure that the provision of Local Content Act on power sector is obeyed to the letter, he said.

    “Government should place embargo on the importation of meters in order to encourage local meter manufacturers, just as it was recently done in the automotive sector, protect the local manufacturers just as done in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa, allow local manufacturers to sell meters to consumers and/or approved vendors in order to open up the market, and mandate all the local meter manufacturers to roll out at least 200,000 units of meters monthly.

    ‘’This will keep the factories running and more Nigerians would be gainfully employed. Rather than allowing the DisCos to buy from Chinese companies, which means developing China at the expense of our dear nation. NERC and Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment should act as the supervisory bodies in this regard.

    “We will like to recommend the constitution of a monitoring committee for the DisCos and the manufacturers. The committee should comprise of representatives from; NERC, DisCos, EMMAN, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), EMS, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Ministry of Power. This will ensure that things move on in the right direction which in the long run will propel the economy and this would no doubt enable more jobs to be created for the teeming unemployed,’’ he added.

  • Farmers explore local agro processing

    Farmers explore local agro processing

    Local farmers are exploring the option of agro-processing of their produce to lessen waste, add value and increase earnings, reports DANIEL ESSIET.

    Chief Executive, Natural Nutrient Limited, Sola Adeniyi, a moringa farmer, has established himself as a successful agro entrepreneur. He focuses on moringa and plantain. His company produces moringa fruits from improved cultivars.

    Over the past five years, he has worked with other farmers to make moringa a tropical, multi-purpose tree grow from being practically unknown, even unheard of, to being a new and promising nutritional and economic resource. The seeds and leaves are rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals. They are widely used in fighting malnutrition.

    But harvesting could be a challenge because a high level of hygiene is required. The leaves have to be harvested at the coolest time of the day: early morning or late in the evening.

    The other thing is that there should be no dew on it before harvesting, especially in the morning, to avoid rot during transport. The farmers strip the leaves off the branches before transporting them to the processing centre or tied together in bunches by their stem or better, thinly spread out on trays or mesh to reduce temperature build up. Once this is not achieved, they face the challenge of post harvest loss. It is estimated that 40 per cent of crops, fruits and vegetables produced goes to waste, with loss mainly occurring during posthar-vest handling. One major effort to reduce food wastage is processing.

    Adeniyi has taken it as another part of his business. He said he processes his produce to power and other forms to reduce postharvest losses and increase shelf life.

    Where there are no adequate application of recommended post-harvest treatments, the solution is processing to minimise losses and maximise profits. After harvest, the produce is transported to processing points where it is treated, sorted and packed, and then transferred to facilities or sent to markets. Processing moringa leaves and the seeds into power and other products helps  Adeniyi to make more money. In all, the potential of agro processing is huge.

    Aside from reducing wastage and enhancing food security, many Nigerians have found employment in small scale food processing, majority of them women.

    This is because many farmers are establishing cottage food processing businesses to turn primary agricultural produce into other commodities for market.

    Indeed, the agro-processing sector is going to play a significant role in terms of job creation and sustainability in the economy.

    Consequently, members of  groups such as Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN) and Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) and other farmers organisation have taken to processing cashew, oilseeds, grains, fruits and vegetables, peanuts, cassava rice, maize, fruit canning and juice extraction and animal feed production.

    AMEN President, Prince Saviour Iche said there are promising options for Nigerians to invest in small scale agro processing enterprises.

    He identified agro-processing as a sector with high growth potential, despite the challenges of imports competition, loss of market, and the unstable currency and exchange rate.

    According to him, the agro-processing sector has the potential to become an industrial impetus that can create jobs and answer some of the country’s macro-economic questions.

    Thus, AMEN is encouraging young Nigerians and retirees to undertake ventures in agro food processing.

    Improvement in high-added value means that processors can earn a reasonable income as processed produce can fetch high retail prices than unprocessed produce.

    However, there are major constraints to the development and growth of such enterprises due to inadequate raw material supplies, limited access to appropriate technology, failure by locally processed products to compete against imports, and limited access to credit.

    The President, ASBON, Dr Femi Egbesola agrees with  him.

    According to him, the agro-processing sector is relatively underdeveloped, comprising mainly of small and medium sized enterprises involved in the processing of traditional agricultural products for domestic use and export. There are a number of competitive constraints that currently hinder the expansion of the agro- processing sector, one of which is food safety requirements.

    He added also that local processing industry is being truanted by multinational companies as they enjoy advantage over local players.

    He stressed that agro-processing is important because adding value to the crops produced brings real income and that is where the real job opportunities lie.

    The promotion of agro-processing, he noted, would add value to the nation’s agricultural products, which is an extremely important stream of industrialisation.

    President, Anjorin & Atanda Investment Limited, Sunday Anjorin said it is of paramount importance that food producers compete on the global space. This, he added, can only be achieved through meeting  stringent regulatory or certification needs for international food safety through processing.

    Though, it is expensive to add value to agricultural materials, he added that there are significant benefits to all parties within food processing, for example in jobs created or supply chain efficiencies.

    He said there is potential to enter the international markets for processed agro-produce, including cashew butter and cashew oil.

    To do this, he said small-scale processors must be able to demonstrate that they can produce kernels that can be accepted by international buyers.

    He wants the government to provide local producers with incentives to explore new technologies to increase food production.

    At the moment, experts believe that the cassava boom is largely depended on local processing into wet and dry starch, and higher value food and industrial products.

    As a result, so many local processing activities are taking place across the cassava sub sector.

    This is expected to fuel economic growth and economic development.

    One of them is the Project Director, Cassava Adding Value for Africa (CAVA) phase II, Prof Kola Adebayo.

    He said CAVA supports farmers with machines that allow for quicker processing of raw cassava, which is chipped and dried ready for sale within days.

    The main opportunity for technology to make a difference is in the drying process. A flash dryer dries cassava mash very quickly, preventing fermentation.

    A critical part of the technology transfer process was that CAVA mentored a Nigerian fabricator to produce a flash dryer that meets international standards. As a result, new engineering knowledge and skills are being developed and embedded locally.

    So far, experts from the University of Greenwich and the Natural Resource Institute, United Kingdom have rated made-in-Nigeria flash dryers as a good tool for cassava processing that can be exported. The assessment was made by Dr Andrew Graffham, a food safety and quality expert and Dr Andrew Marchant, a consulting engineer also from the institute, when they visited Nobex Technical Industries in Lagos.

    The experts were in the country to promote the utilisation of cassava in other non-traditional products under the CAVA, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CAVA involves Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.

    The programme works in collaboration with the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

    Graffham said: “In connection with what is going on here today, we’ve been working with a range of fabricators here in Nigeria, particularly with Nobex Industries to try and improve the processing equipment that the company produces, to make it more cost efficient and to get a better output, lower cost per tonne and generally improve the quality.

    “Nobex has exported one of its products to a commercial factory in Malawi and I believe that there will be a lot more export and I think this is very significant, because this is not Nigeria importing products now, but this is Nigerian made equipment being sold in another country and the people there are very happy with the product,” he said.

    He also praised the Bank of Industry (BoI) for partnering with the company under the Cassava Bread Fund Initiative which has procured about 20 flash dryers for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country for the production of high quality cassava flour (HQCF).

    “Under the programme, we are interested in working with the SMEs, of which there are many across the country, processing equipment and improving the efficiency of them is quite an important area for us. And that has been going on now for more than six years, what you see today and what has been done with the Bank of Industry has been a good collaborative effort,” he said.

    According to Marchant, the impact of cassava development in Nigeria was encouraging and has also been felt by the fabricators of the equipment as there are now factories with more machineries and 10 times the number of people that used to work in them.

    “Another good thing we see is that the scale and quality of machinery is increasing, it is bigger and better, it would be a nice thing to display imported machineries with what can be produced here and import only what cannot be made here in Nigeria,” he said.

  • Local debt yield up on new cash reserves rule

    Local debt yield up on new cash reserves rule

    Nigeria’s bonds yields rose slightly yesterday after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) harmonisation of the Cash Reserves Requirement (CRR) on public and private sector deposits triggered a sell-off by some investors.

    At it’s rate-setting meeting on Tuesday, the (CRR), the amount the CBN requires banks to set aside, was revised to 31 per cent for both public and private sector deposits. Previously the CRR on private sector deposits was 20 per cent and 75 per cent for public sector deposits.

    Some banks that held more of the private sector deposits in CRR would be required to make an additional provision of 11 per cent due by today, triggering the selling down of their investment in bonds to raise additional money.

    “Some banks that have their deposits skewed to private sector are selling down their bond holdings in order to make provision for the increase in the CRR on the deposit, driving up yields at the market,” one dealer said.

    The yield on the benchmark bond maturing in 2024 inched up to 13.63 per cent from 13.60 per cent the previous day, while that on the 2022 paper rose to 13.59 per cent from 13.51 per cent. Interest rates on short borrowing among banks eased, following the injection of portion of the budgetary allocations to states and local government in the banking system.

    “Market liquidity increased to around N235 billion ($1 billion) on from deficit level the previous day,” a currency dealer said.

    Secured Open Buy Back (OBB) eased to seven per cent, while overnight placement fell to 8 percent from 15 per cent the previous day, traders said.

  • ‘Why MTN is supporting local app developers’

    ‘Why MTN is supporting local app developers’

    Global system for mobile communication (GSM) service provider, MTN, said it is building a robust distribution platform to enable millions of Nigerians access locally-relevant mobile software applications at zero data cost to deepen the industry and enhance the fortune of apps developers across the country.

    The telco said it was motivated by the need to enable local app developers make money in the increasingly competitive mobile app space dominated by Blackberry World, Google Play, Windows Store and App Store.

    To make this happen, MTN said it will open up its network that has over 60 million mobile subscribers to the local app development community.

    It said it is part of its one-week apps awareness campaign targeted at encouraging the download of free app downloads.

    Its Chief Marketing Officer, Adebayo Adekanmbi, who spoke during the MTN APPtitude Conference in Lagos said the telco intends to ensure that more apps get into the hands of Nigerians. He said: “We have organised all Nigerian-centric apps in a portal and through our special gateway Nigerians can access digital content at no cost. We are making it open for all developers in the country to join MTN by bringing the APK for their apps so that we can put it in the hands of Nigerians.”

    Analysts say the liberalisation of the telecoms sector has been of immense benefit to the country as it has given rise to a new class of tech-preneurs that specialise in the development of mobile applications that have been very useful in solving contemporary problems.

    Traffic, healthcare, education, transportation, e-commerce, tourism and hospitality among many others are some of areas these applications have been addressing.

    According to them, the huge strides being recorded in mobile applications development is going unnoticed because Nigerians are unable to quickly find relevant apps, without the distractions of applications that are only useful to people in North America and Europe.

    “Every Nigerian can now download any app relevant to them free of charge for the next one month,” Adekanmbi said, adding that the telco will also assist Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to convert their websites into apps.

    He said 99 per cent of Nigerian- centric websites have long Uniform Resource Identifier (URLs), which are difficult to remember, hence, customers hardly visit these pages more than once thus making the an urgent need to simplify access in order to grow uptake and consumption of digital services inevitable.

    Adekanmbi said through the campaign, MTN is playing a critical in democratising the internet as it looks to allow the generality of the Nigerian populace access relevant digital content.

    Speaking on the occasion, Co-founder, Co-Creation Hub (CC-HUB), Femi Longe, urged local developers to build apps that address the daily activities of the people of Nigeria.

    CC-HUB is an innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. It is located in Yaba, a Lagos community that is fast turning out to be Nigeria’s Sillicon Valley.

  • Association urges NASS to pass local content bill

    Association urges NASS to pass local content bill

    The Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association (CCESSA) has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to take all the necessary steps to fast tract the deliberations on the Local Content Bill to ensure that the policy is established as a Local Content Act in the construction industry

    CCESSA’s National President, Comrade (Dr.) Augustine Etafo made the declaration in Lagos while interacting with newsmen on the dangers of government refusal to intervene in the challenges facing construction workers in the country

    He said: “We call on the NASS to take all the necessary steps to fast track the deliberations on the local content bill to ensure that the policy is established as a local content act in the construction industry to save the industry from collapse”

    “We also call on the federal, state and local governments to start as a matter of urgency, to address the unemployment needs of the youths”.

    According to Etafo, the association has specifically looked at youth unemployment, high level of corruption that create a wide gap between the rich and the poor, and poor infrastructural facilities as some of the key challenges which the government must pay attention to in order to address the security challenges in the country.

    While identifying policies that would help to boost the level of economic activities in the construction sector as well as necessary changes to be effected to ensure job creation and also minimize brain drain in the industry, he called on the three tiers of government to intensity effort in the creation of job for the teeming youths who are graduating from the higher institutions on yearly basis.