The Nation Newspaper

Tag: map

  • MAP, Siemens pact positive interventions in power sector’

    The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) has praised the Federal Government and Siemen agreement and the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) programme, describing such initiatives as positive interventions in the power sector.

    The Executive Director, Research and Advocacy of ANED, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, stated this while fielding questions from reporters in Abuja. He reiterated commitment of electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and the Federal Government to tackling challenges affecting retail electricity distribution in the country.

    According to Oduntan, the Federal Government and the DisCos remain committed to working together in order to address current challenges in electricity distribution to customers.

    He said: “The distribution franchise consultations and the present wrap-up of the minor electricity tariff reviews, among others, meant to provide affordable and consistent power supply for electricity customers are some of the collaborative efforts between the DisCos and government.

    “It is the hope and expectation of the DisCos that collectively the aforementioned initiatives and activities in tandem with respect for sanctity of contracts, increased regulatory and policy certainty, will provide the enabling environment.

    “That will result in a Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) that is commercially viable and sustainable, thereby, attracting the desperately needed investment that continues to be elusive in the sector.

    “The commitment by the DisCos and Federal Government to providing electricity to customers was demonstrated by the recent Government/Siemens initiative and regulatory activities. The ongoing Meter Asset Providers (MAP) programme is another collaborative effort of the Federal Government and the DisCos.”

    Also, Oduntan stated that the recent report on government trying to pay N736 billion to investors to repossess the DisCos is sensational. He said the report itself clarified that to do so within the provisions of the Share Sale Agreement  (SSA)would require a sum in the region of 2.4 billion dollars (about N736 billion), some of which would  be paid as compensation to the investors.

    “This is not a desirable outcome. It is noteworthy that government is yet to pay the investor in Yola DisCo for its negotiated return to government,” ruling out the possibility of such a repossession.”

    Oduntan said there were doubts about the document on which the report was based, adding that such sensationalism could scare future investors from investing in the economy.

    “We are troubled that a sector that is already bedeviled with multiple challenges now has to deal with sensationalism and irresponsible journalism rather than an informed discussion of how we can move the sector forward,” he said.

  • MAPs will achieve 30% local content input in metering

    Only genuine electricity consumers will get meters when the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs)  start operation in January 2019, Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company (MEMCOL) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kola Balogun, has said.

    By so doing, MAPs will comply with the 30 per cent local content directive given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    In an telephone interview with The Nation, Balogun said meter asset providers have agreed to meet 30 per cent local content requirement in order to ensure a seamless operation when the new metering regulation comes into effect in 2019. According to him, the 30 per cent local content requirement also includes the inputs into a meter. This means 30 per cent of the materials must be sourced locally.

    Balogun said: “To meet the  30 per cent local content requirement as contained in the regulation that set up meter asset providers,  an agreement has been reached by the parties involved (meter asset providers), to be more arithmetical in the ways and manners they distribute meters to consumers.

    “For instance, if a meter asset provider signed an agreement with a power distribution company (DisCo) to supply 10,000 meters to customers, what MAP will do in this situation is to divide 10,000 meters by 30 per cent. This will give us 3,000 meters, which is the 30 per cent the government asked us to provide.”

    Balogun said the regulation is flexible and simple as  a firm can apply to be a meter asset provider for one or three power firms.

    “If a meter asset provider is having two or three DisCos as clients, it means more jobs or profits for that organisation. If everything goes according to plans, local production and sales of meters have been encouraged by the government. This is good for the power sector, which has 4.1 million metering gap to cover. This is achievable, once the power firms, meter asset providers and other stakeholders follow the rules and regulation of the industry, “ he added.

    Also, a meter asset provider, who does not want to be mentioned, said the issue of meeting the 30 per cent local content requirement is not a task for meter asset providers, especially meter manufacturers among them.

    He said firms approved by NERC to play such roles would meet such requirement as they would not want to go contrary to NERC stipulation.

    In addition, Meter Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ( MMAN) Executive Secretary, Mr. Muhideen Ibrahim, said the new metering policy, which emphasised the use of a third party for distribution of meters to consumers, is a good one capable of reducing meter deficit in the metering sub-sector.

    He said complaints about lack of meters by consumers would end as there are many firms that will engage in the distribution of meters to them.

    The firms approved by the Federal Government to produce meters locally, he said, would improve their operation and contribute to the growth of the power sector, adding that the sector has refused to grow, due to problems such as shortage of gas, poor supply of electricity, inability of consumers to access meters for growth, among others.

     

  • Nigeria in global maritime map

    SIR: With the nation boasting of over 850 kilometers of coastline, it is a trite postulate that the Nigerian maritime industry is a gold mine that investors with foresight must take advantage of, for maximum profit.

    There are numerous incentives as income tax exemptions for infrastructural development in ship-building and there are financial incentives for ship-building and ship-scrapping with assurance of foreign repatriation of capital and profit.

    In its bid to reduce in bureaucratic red tapes impeding investment in the country, the presidential enabling business environment council approved a national action plan to be implemented across priority areas to enhance entry and exit of goods and services to spur inflow of foreign investment into Nigeria. There is also the National Trade Data Centre to promote investments in Nigeria. Further, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) recently declared that the Kaduna Dry Port having been completed is set to commence operation.

    At the recent Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston Texas, chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Sani Yerima and the chairman House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Mohammed Umaru Bago assured that the legislature is committed to providing the legislative framework to enhance foreign investments in Nigeria. In keeping to this the Nigerian Senate has already passed the PIG Bill.

    It is also believed that with a more conducive investment climate, entailing amongst others, adequate security of maritime assets and elimination of corporate governance abuses, Nigeria, being the most populous country in Africa with about 183 million people will be able to take its place in world maritime map to enhance Nigeria’s per capital income and salvage the nation from the pangs of recession.

     

    Michael O. Ogunjobi Esq,

    Lagos.

  • Pupil puts Africa on ICT map

    Pupil puts Africa on ICT map

    Managing Director of Readmanna Ventures, Mrs Edna Agusto, had reasons to be excited at the national awards programme for last year’s Certiport Microsoft Office Specialist National Championship held at Queen’s College, Lagos.

    One reason was that the firm secured a significant sponsor for this year’s edition of the competition.  The other was that her daughter, Olubunmi, became the first African to win on the global stage of the 13-year old competition last year.

    Olubunmi, a pupil of Day Waterman College, Abeokuta, won second place in the Microsoft Word 2007 category of the Certiport Microsoft Office World Championship after earning the highest score of 967 in the national edition of the competition last year.  She won $2,500 for her effort in the competition held at Disneyland, Carlifornia, United States.  Mrs Agusto described the success as a victory for Africa. She was particularly happy that Nigeria got recognition on the world stage after so many years of the national winners being denied visas to compete.

    “When Agusto’s name was called, all Africans in the hall became Nigerians and they started shouting ‘Africa, Africa’.  Thank you Bunmi for making us proud,” she said.

    Following Nigeria’s performance, Delta Airlines has offered eight return tickets to the 2015 edition of the competition holding in Dallas, Texas.

    An excited Mrs Agusto said this would allow the organisers fly all the six winners of the three categories (Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint) that would emerge from the national contest in Nigeria, as well as two teachers for the competition. Representatives of the airline were at the awards programme to assure that the promise was real.

    Seasoned Banker and Chairman of Main One Cable, Mr Fola Adeola, who chaired the occasion, added $500 more to Olubunmi’s prize money, bringing it to $3,000.  He challenged other pupils at the event to enter for this year’s edition of the competition and excel on the global stage so they could also win extra money like Olubunmi.

    “I will increase the $2,500 to $3,000.  That amount is to encourage the next African champion,” he said.

    At the event, Olubunmi got a laptop and printer for winning in Word 2007 category and a laptop for coming third in the Powerpoint 2007 category.  The 17 other winners and runners up in the Microsoft Word 2007/2010; Excel 2007/2010 and the Powerpoint 2007/2010 categories were also presented with laptops and printers.

    For the next edition, Mrs Agusto said candidates would only contest in the 2010 and 2013 versions of the Microsoft Office software applications as the 2007 versions have been phased out globally.

    She admonished secondary schools to register their pupils, as well as university undergraduates to participate in the competition, which is open to 13-22 year olds, so they can win Xbox One video games next year.

    The event also featured a talk by Mr Olalekan Olude Co-founder of Jobberman, an online search engine for jobs, and an ICT quiz competition in which the secondary school participants won the latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

    Olude urged the pupils to think out of the box and be the best – like he did as an undergraduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University and was selected for an internship to work with Goldman Sachs. He said he earned up to N1million working at the firm during his holidays.

    He said the MOS competition would equip the pupils with skills that would separate them from the crowd.

    “What they are doing now will definitely stand them now.  One of the major problems that we see is that people lack soft skills and these are some of the soft skills required – ability to use presentation software, ability to be able use Excel and Microsoft Word.  And this would be a plus for them,” he said

  • ‘Why we need a food map’

    ‘Why we need a food map’

    The Deputy Director and Head, General Management Division, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI), Dr. Ademola  Adeyemo, said  the  nation  needs  a  food map to  help identify food clusters across the country.

    Adeyemo said a  food map would  not only help identify plus points in terms of crop strength, production, processing, but also help the government  in ensuring the desired interventions to expand the food export market.

    To boost  food production, he said the government needs  to  devise new schemes to provide last- mile delivery to farmers, which include farm-to-shelf schemes  such  as  setting up mobile processing vans which could reach out to farmers. It also includes setting up small food processing units, providing business incubation, training and a processing centre at village level so that farmers’ produce is processed and reach markets.

    Outlining other  priorities for the  government, he  called  for  measures  to  boost food processing; mitigate post-harvest fruit and vegetable losses;drive and accelerate food processing industries’ growth; deregulate and simplify governmental systems.

    He  suggested  that  more  efforts  be made  to   promote  industry-government education linkages, favourable tax regime, rejuvenate mega food park schemes, cold chain development, growth-oriented regulatory environment, and reforms, to take on inflationary challenges to the  economy.

    Given the inflationary pressure on perishables , he  asked   that  supply chain management needs to be improved.

    He also emphasised on connecting directly with farmers to bridge the gap between wholesale and retail prices.

    Meanwhile, the  President, Association of Small  Business Owners  of Nigeria(ASBON),Dr Femi Egbesola   has called  on the  government to take steps to   incentivise the   private sector to invest   in agricultural infrastructure.

    All efforts are required, he  added,   should  be done through   technology interventions, training of stakeholders to produce the world class processed food products. The output, according to him, should be able to meet the global standards.

    Egbesola   urged government  to  strengthen the  Agricultural   Research  Council of Nigeria  to   carry out cutting edge research; provide for a framework for constantly updated curricula to research  institutions, assist and provide a linkage to regional institutions in their activities.

    He   said  strong linkages need  to  be built to transfer the technologies developed in isolation at different research organisations to their targeted beneficiaries and that  the industry should share the responsibility of product innovations by offering “value for money proposition” and design customised products to be readily accepted by  consumers.

     

  • ‘New road map for sector coming’

    The Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PENOP), Mr Dave Uduanu, said the group has reviewed the developments in the industry from inception and has charted a new road map for the sector.

    He said the regulator was taking all steps necessary to ensure that state governments key into the Contributory Pension Scheme, adding that PenCom released the guidelines so that state governments that want to access the pension fund by way of issuance of bonds would not only participate in the scheme, but be committed in remitting the monthly contributions of their workers to contributory pension scheme.

    For this reason, he said, the regulator had introduced more stringent requirements to ensure that the states would not stop contribute after accessing the fund.

    “What we try to do is to equate pension payment with salaries and, therefore, put in place a mechanism to ensure that at the end of every month, paying pension would no longer be discretionary.

    The idea, Uduanu added, was to make pension rank at par with salaries, noting that a greater percentage of the pension funds was allocated to the bond market, especially the Federal Government bonds.

    The Pension Fund Administrators, he added, were working with the government to find ways through instruments, mechanisms and the money market to expose the funds to the real sector.

     

     

    He said the PFAs were speaking with the regulator, the government and International Finance Corporations interested in growing the economy.

    According to him, the more the real sector grows, the more employment will be created and the more the pension business will grow.