The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa

  • Five rights that ensure medication safety, by PSN

    There are five basic rights that must be followed at all times before medication safety can be assured, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has said.

    This was the thrust of a message by PSN to commemorate this year’s World’s Pharmacists Day.

    According to the PSN President, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, the five rights are ensuring the right dose of the right medication is administered to the right patient at the right time and by the right route. As simple as this may appear, he warned that such rights are personalised for each patient, since they are modified by demography, health condition, physiological status and possible allergies.

    All over the world, the world pharmacists’ day is marked yearly in September to appreciate the immeasurable roles pharmacists play in the healthcare delivery system, with this year’s theme being, “safe and effective medicines for all.” According to the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the theme seeks to highlight the role of pharmacists in ensuring patients’ safety through improved medicines use and reduced medication errors (adverse drug events that occur when exposure to a medication results in harm). Among other functions, pharmacists affect patients’ safety in ensuring access to medication, supplying medication information, evaluating medication appropriateness, improving medication adherence, providing health and wellness services, medication management and assessing health status of patients.

    “Pharmacists have continued to perform their traditional role of drug production and dispensing, but the paradigm shift towards a more patient-oriented practice has necessitated the adoption and embrace of pharmaceutical care by all settings of the pharmacy practice, from drug formulation to production, analysis, distribution and dispensing. Pharmacists must be intricately involved in all of these for the integrity of the system to be guaranteed. Pharmacists use their specialised skills to affect the health outcome of patients. Effective medicines will be able to produce the intended or expected outcome when responsibly provided,” Ohuabunwa said.

    To ensure safe and effective medicines for all Nigerians, the PSN president said there are things that require urgent attention. Pharmaceutical care needs to be promoted wholly by health policymakers, applied by all pharmacists and embraced by all stakeholders, he said. There also needs to be better controls so that ethical and psychotropic drugs will be taken away from the streets. For all this to happen, Ohuabunwa said the pharmacy bill needs to be signed into law. He also called for more serious regulation of medicines because drugs are potential poisons, which need to be handled with adequate knowledge.

    The industrialist also asked for more training for pharamcists, improved infrastructure such as transportation and electricity to ease the burdens of the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. “Health is dynamic and pharmacists need training and retraining to retool for emerging and reemerging health problems. Improvement in transportation and electricity will have a big effect on the delivery of safe and effective medicines to Nigerians through timely delivery of pharmaceutical products and adequate storage temperature, especially for cold chain products like vaccines and other heat sensitive products.

    “Pharmacists in Nigeria are not adequately remunerated given the tasking and sensitive role they play in healthcare delivery. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria will continue to encourage pharmacists, through capacity building and professional development to provide safe and effective medicines to Nigerians. We have strived to do that in the past, sacrificially doing it today and will willinglydo it tomorrow,” Ohuabunwa said.

  • ‘Leadership requires high level discipline’

    Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa is a renowned technocrat with expertise across different frontiers of businesses. In this interview with Omolara Akintoye he speaks on his career trajectory, leadership style, family life, life in retirement, among other related issues. Excerpts:

    I think that the Nigerian economy is coming out of recession. It is improving as all economic indices show. However, it is still below where this government met it in 2015.Secondly, the growth is still sluggish.

    Way out

    We need to remove all the obstacles for private sector investment. We should focus on putting incentives to attract both domestic and foreign investment.

    Growing up

    I left the university in 1976 after I graduated from the Department of Pharmacist at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. I was doing my internship between 1976-77.One day we were three pharmacists living in a flat,  we went out in the evening and came back, one of the three guys in my flat had a visitor, he was the only one at home, so when we came back in the evening he told us that two girls had come from Holy  Rosary Teachers College and that they were doing bobber job to raise funds for the needy, and since we were not around they gave them little work to do and paid them and had left. The following morning, the girls came back again, and I decided to go and see those girls, decided to take one of them who happened to be my wife now to come and work for me. I took her to my room and ask her to please help me to clean my room. By the time she was through with the cleaning, it was somehow transformed, then I use to smoke and the whole place was full of ashes and she was able to clean the whole place and brought a basket full of cigarette ashes, so we gave them extra money for the service. I was impressed and I told her I would like to see her again, and then she told me I can come and visit her in school during visiting hours, which I agreed. That was how the relationship started; I knew she wasn’t my type, she was about the youngest girl that I was relating with, I saw her like a pet, so I decided to have a relationship with her then later we can go our different ways. So when I finished my internship and I was going for my Youth Service in Sokoto State, I wrote her a letter, that since my internship had ended it’s better we go our different ways and she also wrote me and wished me well. I knew she was a Christian, but I was a Christian and my name is Samuel (laughs). At that time I knew it was time to get married, and as at then, I had about 10 girls to choose from. There is this thing about me once I’m into relationship I don’t get out, rather, I stay, even my primary/secondary school friends, we are still very close. And for her I decided not to keep the relationship because she wasn’t my type. But somehow even when I was in Youth Service my thought was always going to her. Her name is Stella (my wife), after my NYSC, I started working with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, I started thinking about marriage, I brought my list of girlfriends to choose from, there was this girl I wanted to settle down with, a lawyer from Arochukwu like myself while my wife is from Bendel State. There was a day my lawyer friend came to visit me and surprisingly, she asked after Stella. She said Sam if you are my brother, I would ask you to marry Stella. But because you are not my brother I want you to marry me,” she said. That was how I made up my mind to marry Stella. We got married in 1980 and God has blessed our marriage and the rest is history. What actually attracted me to home so I made up my mind that I don’t want noise in my marriage, but a peaceful home which I didn’t get in my father’s house. So many things endeared me to her, I knew she is the one that will give me the peace I prayed for. She is pretty young and innocent and ideal woman and thank God I did not look at the material issue.

    Creating the right values

    Two issues impacted positively on me. The first one is parental. My dad was an ex-service man and he had his own way of disciplining us. If you do something bad in my house, my father will try to lift you up with your ears and if he does that to you once you won’t like it the second time. Being an ex soldier some level of discipline was expected in my home. The only thing I didn’t like then was noisemaking. But my parents raised us well, my mum taught me entrepreneurship, I managed all her restaurant businesses, I Iater became her purchasing manager. My parents taught me values, respect for hard work and I was the first in my family and today all my younger ones call me ‘Dede’, that was part of the order that was in the family. I also discovered that there was a demand on me on leadership right from my youth. In my primary school I was class monitor, school prefect then in secondary school, the same. In 1966/67, the war started that disrupted our education. In my school then where we had seven junior societies, I was president of five and they were having activities regularly. This demand on leadership put some discipline in my life. First, it limited what I could do and what I couldn’t do and I made sure I was well behaved. I was seen as a very good boy I was always leading my class. I was the best student in virtually all the subjects including art subjects. It shows that when you are successful, be careful. You know that children learn very fast from what they see and by the time they started coming, I taught them example by precept, I never scolded them. They are always very comfortable with my presence. I was hardworking even now retired they still worry that I’m hardworking. In my 38 years of marriage I had never exchange words with my wife. Once she is angry I just stay calm, later she will come back to apologise.

    Solution to marital problems

    Solution to marital problem is first to identify the problem then try and find lasting solution. I knew by the virtue of my job, I was always away from home. I had a disciplined life despite all my shortcomings. So I make sure I find time for an intense relationship with my wife and my children: such travelling home together with them we do stopover and I ensure we do things together. My children never forget such experience, then while I was away; my wife became internally focused, taking care of the home front. There is never a dull moment with her. She has been very supportive, and she makes more impact. Everybody must devise means to make their relationship work. She is humorous and understands my mood. As I speak, she washes my underclothes, she washes the personally, packs my luggage when I’m travelling and when I come back. If our marriage has endured, probably I contributed 40% while she has contributed 60%. She is very prayerful. She is a true helpmeet indeed.

    Life in retirement

    I’m involved in five things, firstly, I’m a writer, I’ve the gift of writing ,which I recognised as a young person in my secondary school I was the editor of my school magazine. Also in the university, I was the Editor-in-Chief of a magazine called Cobra. I was also the Editor of Nigerian Journal of Pharmacist, an academic journal. I write weekly articles for three national newspapers. So I’d become a journalist of a kind. Second, I run a consultancy, Starteam Consult, a leading change management in the economy where I’m using my 32 years of experience in the industry and 18 years as CEO level and all the things I’ve experienced in business development, to help support businesses and companies. Thirdly is my nongovernmental organisation, Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation for Economic Empowerment dedicated to helping people, especially young people to set up and establish their business and other people run their businesses successfully. Fourth is the ministry, I’m a member of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International. I’m a National Officer and the National Coordinator Strategic Operations, which takes a chunk of my time: public speaking, and so on. Fifth, I’ve always been a community person. Presently I’m involved in supra larger community and national issues. I’m also interested in what goes on in my community, my state. Presently I’m the Chairman, Government Council of Public Private Partnership/Investment Promotion of Abia State. I’m also involved in so many other things at Ohaneze level, Ndigbo Development Foundation level looking at issue relating to states and the nation at large. I used to be Chairman of the Economic Summit Group, and so on. So I’m fully loaded, though 90% is without stipend, but they are fulfilling, because I’m able to impact lives positively.

  • ‘Nigeria’s economy will rise again’

    ‘Nigeria’s economy will rise again’

    Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, a seasoned technocrat, has made his mark in the manufacturing sub-sector of the economy including serving in different capacities as founding President/Chief Executive, Niemeth International Pharmaceutical Plc, founding Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, among others. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf and Ambrose Nnaji, he attempts a prognosis of the challenges besetting the economy as well as sets agenda for the incoming government. Excerpts:

    Nigeria’s economy has been badly affected by the plummeting oil prices and the fall in the value of the naira. Do you see any hope for the country?

    There is hope. This is not the first time oil prices have fallen, it’s cyclical. Every once in 10 years prices fall and we go through the same procedure. We will overcome it. It is so because we are dealing with a commodity, oil is a commodity so it is responsive to global supply and demand, when supply is high prices will fall and when supply is low prices will go high. We shall go back to where the price will be high, it may not get to $140 but it will probably get to $100. The problem is that when those prices come let us not go to sleep. We should be much more active and determined to diversify the economy and that’s the way so that we reduce our reliance because another cycle will come. We should not relax the efforts to diversify the economy, we should sustain development and this is where the efforts to have our excess crude account must -because it is from that excess account money was taken-and there could be other things that could be used to invest so that we diversify the economy for the excess crude account and that will help the country ultimately.

    We should put more efforts on power, especially more investments because that would create a lot of industrial development, create enabling environment, issues that will speed up manufacturing generally. We can do a lot more in agriculture. Let us focus on SMEs. If you see somebody building a kiosk by the road side, encourage him because that kiosk he is building will create job for himself, the carpenter, the brick layer and the electrician who will wire it and may be one or two people who will stay in the kiosk. Let us have an enterprise culture whereby we should be thinking of production, what are you doing to create one, is anybody going to add value, that enterprise mentality and focus I believe is what we need. Let people be encouraged to get their own business. Here you find out that there is anti-enterprise development, you see one company developing, the local government will come, and area boys will come everybody will come to molest the company as if it is a crime to set up a business. That mentality has to stop.

    As one of the think tank behind Vision 20:2020, do you think it is realistic?

    I think it is very realistic because our vision is simply to be among the top 20 largest economy by the year 2020. After the rebasing of the economy last year, we came to number 26 and we have five years to 2020. I believe it is achievable irrespective of the fall in oil prices which I believe would not remain this low for too long. By 2016, we expect that there would be a rebound. As I said, it may not go back to high level but expect a rebound in a manner that would cause higher growth. We recorded growth between 6-7per cent for many years. The World Bank projected it is going to fall below 5per cent this year which is understandable. I think that there is going to be a rebound and Vision 20:2020 would be achievable.

    Debt recovery remains a bane of the economy as many businesses renege on their commitments to financial institutions. What best practices would you suggest in tackling this?

    I believe that it a problem of a political risk economy. People were not sure what would happen so they would prefer to owe than to be owed. But with the political and the uncertainty fairly moved, the normal course of activity will surely resume and people would require replenishment of the productive sector. So if you are owing your supplier, you would begin to pay them so that you can get fresh supplies unless you want a complete break in your supply. I think there is reduction in debt profile. Two, I think that we should begin to ensure that agreement and contracts are being respected because most of these things happen because we are not respecting agreement and thirdly, the issue of enforcing these contracts. Many issues arise from the ability to enforce a contract and if a contract is not working and you want to get a relief from court or from the judicial system, it would take much longer than you would find out. We need to improve our judicial system that people can enforce their rights including ability to recover.

    I think, essentially it’s a contractual thing. If people breach contract, you should be able to enforce your own right. There’s no other way.

    The Nigerian Economic Summit Group is supposed to serve as a think tank but their impact hasn’t been felt thus far. As a pioneer member of the group why do you think that NESG has been a lame duck of some sort?

    It is not true. The NESG has been a partner in supporting the reformation of our economic policies. When we started we were running an economy that was a closed shop. While we were trying to drive on the left, others were trying to drive to the right. But through the economic advocacy of the NESG, the country has opened up. We have joined the global best practices in the economic management. Economy has opened up from the regimented system where foreign exchange rate was fixed; trade was fixed to where we are now market determined to government controls all the levers of the economy to where we have a high private sector in economic management of the nation-through privatisation and deregulation. These came from the economic group of NESG, which focused on anti-corruption, education, wellbeing and healthcare. So, it’s never a lame duck. The only thing you can say because changes have become institutionalised, nothing dramatic is happening. We have been preaching deregulation of the downstream sector we have gotten to a point where we were almost done. Until deregulation is completed, it would look as if nothing is happening. We have dwelt on education and that had a lot of impact on education policies and we have taken issues one after the other in areas where we think that additional efforts should be provided. We are continuing our dialogue of advocacy.

    Unlike other advanced economies, Nigeria doesn’t have a fair share of what you can call legacy companies i.e. those who outlive their owners. Why is this so?

    First is that we also have a young history of enterprise development because most of the enterprises were owned by foreigners. But starting from 1978 when indigenisation policy came, we find major enterprises that are locally owned by Nigerians. That’s one major reason overall. The other is the fact that many of the enterprises that were started much earlier didn’t adopt best business practices. A couple of them operated in informal sector, they didn’t adopt proper business perpetration principle. Some of them were run like family businesses and therefore best corporate governing principle were not applied. Things were done from one pocket to another. Structured planning was never made so that when the people die, struggle begins because no proper succession planning was made. Sometimes will were not properly written, we don’t have the best managers. As such, lack of managerial expertise, corporate governance principle and no structure planning have been responsible for the quick demise of these businesses. But I think that has been corrected now because more indigenous companies like Dangote are been run like global businesses so they will succeed their founders.

    What are the quick wins you would suggest for the incoming government to drive the economy?

    First is that they should maintain the momentum in deregulation, they should complete the outstanding deregulation that would save money. Secondly, continue the privatisation efforts in the entire economy, especially in the power sector, complete the privatisation and take it to the downstream in the total value chain to the power sector. The other is to maintain focus on the policies and programmes that are already increasing locally produced food such as rice, cotton, variety of our products are on the offspring. The other is to sustain some of the policy initiatives in the productive sector, especially manufacturing. The focus on sustenance on SME, a lot of products at agricultural level which are in the market should be sustained to give credit to small and medium scale enterprises. I think that our major focus should be on job creation. Every policy that would promote job creation should be -and in everything we do -we should ask this question, how many jobs can this initiative bring? If that remains, we cannot fall below where we are now.

    The private sector was doing its business, there was loss of focus but the economy was not stagnant. Secondly, we may have lost in some areas. However, in the other areas where there was loss of focus, we also gained in other areas because the totality of the economy is to make sure that economic activities are going on. So, if printers were printing more posters and were doing more -they are boosting the economy moreorless. If Nigerians who were unemployed had temporary employment as party agents, wealth is being redistributed in all areas, as such, there is no major loss in the economy. It is a rearrangement of activities. A few areas may have faced some reduction but I don’t think the economy was stagnant and so we didn’t lose anything significantly.

    If you had the opportunity of setting agenda for the incoming government what would be your focal point?

    First is to heal the nation because it seems like the country is divided into two from the way the elections went. The country is politically-divided. So, the first is to unite the country under one banner. We should deemphasise political affiliation. Of course, all of us are one country, we must demonstrate, break the barrier right now and bring everybody under one umbrella not just by mouth but by action because you would be creating camps and wherever you have camps, unity is on the run. We should find a way to unite Nigerians under one umbrella. Secondly, not to waste too much time looking back, there’s so much work to be done. This is not the time to start saying what this person did and what the other person did not do, we should move forward because when you finish somebody will continue. Let us not waste time looking back, let’s look forward and let’s maintain momentum because lack of momentum kills momentum. I suggest that the incoming government should actively handle the economic issues and ensure that we don’t lose momentum, avoid policy reversal because that’s what is found to be wrong with Africans. You see a situation when one government comes, he says what the other government did is bad and wants to start afresh, that takes a lot of time. The good things the outgoing government has done, just build on that. Let us not waste time on unproductive inquest, let’s move forward while we are checking to make sure that things were done right and correct. But let it not be a policy reversal that would not be in the interest of the nation. After all the dribbling and rigmarole nothing will happen, it’s not good for the country at this time.

  • LCCI, Ohuabunwa urge subsidy removal, deregulation

    LCCI, Ohuabunwa urge subsidy removal, deregulation

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the former president, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa have renewed calls on the Federal Government to deregulate the downstream oil sector and end fuel subsidy regime that has constituted a drain pipe on the national treasury.

    Director-General, Muda Yusuf said the need to deregulate the downstream sector had become imperative in view of the wastage arising from fuel subsidy.

    Comparing how the oil resources are managed in the Middle East and other Arab nations, he said while those countries have used the revenue from the sector to develop the critical sectors of their economy and lift the standard of living of their citizenry, the reverse is the case in the country.

    “Unfortunately in our country, the potential of the sector has not been developed or optimised due to fraud, leakages and over regulation. As stakeholders we believe that except the subsidy regime is removed the nation cannot be moved forward,” he lamented.

    Ohuabunwa, who spoke at a lecture by the Petroleum Downstream Sector of LCCI with the theme “Removing subsidy: The implications on banks, downstream &   upstream sectors, government  and the populace, said total deregulation of the sector will increase bank lending and enable local and foreign investors to build refineries and create jobs that will grow the economy it has done to emerging economies that produce oil.

    He blamed the stunted growth of the economy on the non-optimal performance of the oil and gas sector where several licences had been given by government without the owners utilising the opportunity due to the harsh operating environment where importation holds more reward than manufacturing.

    Ohuabunwa, also a former president, Neimeth Nig Plc, said deregulating the sector would check lending by banks to speculators and those who do round tripping and collect money and payments from the government without offering services to the people.

    He berated the government for not curtailing the scandals or concluding the trials of those implicated in the subsidy scam which has plummeted their rating in the face of the public.

     

     

    He said: “The government has unfortunately been wasting over 30 per cent of the annual budget on subsidy payment  as it spend about N1.436 trillion which is about 118 per cent of the budget in 2011 on subsidy payment. This is not sustainable; the fund would be better used in strategic infrastructure provision of other critical social infrastructure such as education, health care and other social safety nets.”

    He insisted that if the nation was saving its money, President Jonathan would not have to ask for $1 billion from the legislators to fight insurgency as the nation would have saved enough money to purchase all the military hardware needed by the military.

    Also speaking, Energy Service Group chair of LCCI, said Mr. Emma Osagie the implication of non deregulation of the petroleum and gas sector is huge for the nation. According to him it shows poor revenue management as the whole exercise depicts the wastage of national resources.

    He also said that people are kicking against the deregulation because they see the oil and gas sector as a common wealth which they must partake in.

  • Onyeka Onwenu for NEBA’s Entertainment Extravaganza

    Onyeka Onwenu for NEBA’s Entertainment Extravaganza

    AS this year’s edition of the Nigerian Elite Business Awards (NEBA) takes place on Saturday, November 9, organisers have announced its fusion with a gala nite, tagged Entertainment Extravaganza, to be serenaded by live music from artistes including the elegant stallion herself, Onyeka Onwenu.

    Advisory board member, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, former Chairman, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, affirms that the awards event will hold at the posh Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos amid glitz and grandeur.

    “The Entertainment Extravaganza will avail attendees a networking session, multi-layered live music, comedy, African dance, sumptuous local and continental cuisines, quality wines and non alcoholic beverages,” he assured.

    NEBA, Ohuabunwa explained, is an initiative of Elite Business Africa Network (EBAN), a business advocacy group comprising a compendium of select highly cerebral and integrity-laden business entrepreneurs and professionals with its operational focus on the African continent in order to propagate professionalism, innovation, adherence to corporate governance, probity, excellence and global best practices across Africa.

    Ohuabunwa also stated that companies and individuals would compete and win in the following award categories; Governor of the Year, Business Enabling State of the Year, Company of the Year, CEO of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Life Time Achievement, Bank of the Year, Insurance Company of the Year, Shipping & Marine Company of the Year, Oil & Gas Company of the Year, Telecoms Company of the Year, Consumer Electronics Company of the Year and Foods & Beverages Company of the Year.

    Expected at the event as Special Guests are His Excellency, Vice President Namadi Sambo, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, renowned economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, among other eminent Nigerians drawn mostly from the corporate world.