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Tag: Nigeria

  • LASU beats nine others to win Maritime debate

    Students from the Department of Law, Lagos State University (LASU) have emerged winners of the 2019 Maritime Blue Print Competition after defeating law students from nine other universities.

    The competition, sponsored by SIFAX Group, is one of the activities of the Taiwo Afolabi Annual Maritime Conference, which is in its fourth edition and held in partnership with the Maritime Forum of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    At the end of the keenly-contested debate final involving the teams from LASU and UNILAG, the trio of Tiamiyu Hezekiah Toheeb, Enifeni Ibrahim and Emmanuel Omotayo Johnson lifted the trophy for LASU with 67 points, while the UNILAG team made up of Mubarak Agboola, Otitoola Folajimi and Alao Omeiza Joshua got 65 points.

    Other schools that participated in the debate were: Bowen University, University of Ilorin, Babcock University, Afe Babalola University, Crescent University, University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Benin.

    The teams debated the topic: “Achieving the Blue Economy Dream in the Nigerian Maritime sector”.

    Speaking on the competition, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group, praised the winning team for its doggedness and well-researched presentations.

    He noted that the competition’s key objective of stimulating university students’ interest in the maritime industry was gradually being fulfilled.

    He said:  “The quality of the thoughts and styles of delivery by the students have been very encouraging. This has shown that the competition on an annual basis is yielding its desired results. This competition will go a long way in stimulating the interests of the students in maritime business. SIFAX Group will continue to partner the Maritime Forum to make this a sustainable initiative.”

  • Anegbe is MAN FBT chair

    The Food, Beverage and Tobacco (FBT) sectoral group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has appointed Patrick Anegbe as its new Chairman.

    He also doubles as the President, Association of Food and Beverages Tobacco Employers as well as the Chairman, Blenders and Distillers Association of Nigeria, a sub-sectorial group of MAN.

    Anegbe is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Distillers Limited (IDL), a distillery company.

    Since he assumed duties at IDL, the company has witnessed a tremendous turnaround and hasgrown at the fastest pace both in turnover, profitability and brand portfolio than any other period since the founding of the company.

    Anegbe attended the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, where he obtained Higher National Diploma (HND) in Electrical Engineering, Power/Machines options. He  bagged Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Lagos State University, Ojo.

    An alumnus of the Lagos Business School-Pan African University: IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain; Harvard Law School, USA; the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, USA; and IMD Business School, Brazil, among others, the new FBT chair is a member of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Governing Council and a Knight of Saint Mulumba (KSM).

  • FUTO SUG advises students against rape, ritual killing

    President of Students’ Union, Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) Comrade Frank Chigozirim, has urged the entire students of the institution to desist from immoralities.

    Chigozirim spoke with CAMPUSLIFE at the flag-off of ’War against vices in FUTO’ a student advocacy group against social vices in the university.

    “We are also saying no to rape and indecent dressing in our campus,” Chigozirim added.

    He explained that the essence of the awareness campaign was to encourage students not to be part of social decadence.

    “As students of the institution, we are intelligent, good Nigerians who want to be part of the development of the nation,” Chigozirim added.

    The campaign, which began with a roadwalk was launched last week by the Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies (IWoGDs) in collaboration with the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Women Association (FUTOWA).

    The Director, IWoGDs, Prof Gloria Okwu, told CAMPUSLIFE that FUTO has begun the fight today because it could no longer tolerate such vices in on campus. She frowned at vices such as internet fraud which she said is now prevalent across institutions nationwide.

    “There is a lot of internet fraud happening around here which we also want to also stop. We are beginning the fight in our institution and we want to encourage others to join in the fight against these vices.”

    “We don’t want these vices. There is no need for any boy to co-habit with any girl. It cannot be heard of, we cannot tolerate such a thing around us,” she said.

    She the campaign aims to first to sensitise the students after which sanction might then be applied to defaulters.

    Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Administration) Prof Julius Orebiyi who represented the vice-chancellor, Prof Francis Eze, described the war against these vices as a remarkable project in the annals of FUTO.

    “I have served the institution close to 30 years but I’venot seen this kind of development. FUTO is known for its good performances and the institution cannot lag behind in this aspect.

    Also, the president of FUTOWA and wife of the VC Mrs Eze Egejuru, observed that anti-social tendencies such as drug abuse, rape and ritual killing creeping into FUTO are not part of the culture of the institution.

    Eze warned that students caught in any of the aforementioned vices after the sensitisation campaign, stands the risk of being dismissed.

    “This is a warning to all our youth. We are doing this so that they will be guided,”

  • Philosophy behind Nigeria’s foreign policy on decolonization

    I am writing this to elucidate some of the principles that has guided Nigeria’s foreign policy since independence. This is necessary in view of the casual and glib talk among Nigerians who while deprecating the violence directed against Nigerians in South Africa always say “we after all, liberated the ungrateful country”. This is wrong history. We as a country contributed to the liberation of South Africa, we did not liberate the country. As far as I know, no Nigerian died any where in the liberation of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa. South Africans liberated their own country with the support of fraternal countries including our own.

    When Nigeria became an independent and sovereign country, the principle guiding our foreign policy was clearly articulated by our prime minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who for some time doubled as our foreign minister before Jaja Wachukwu was appointed foreign minister. Sir Abubakar, while addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations in October 1960, said Nigeria will support and protect the interests of all black peoples in the world wherever they may be. This presumably extended even beyond Africa to the Americas, South and North and the Pacific islands where blacks live. This was an ambitious declaration and many doubted the capacity of Nigeria to carry out this policy.  It is the hope and not its practical application of the policy that mattered. It gave hope to black Americans and other blacks under one kind of oppression or the other. Sir Abubakar was a cautious and conservative politician. He must have read the speech over and over and digested it. He must have asked his principal officials the import of his declaration. He also wanted to undercut his critics at home and the radical elements within his cabinet who must have convinced him he had to snatch leadership of the black world from Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who since the independence of his country in 1957, three years before Nigeria attained independence, had become the acknowledged leader of the black world. This policy was unanimously supported by the critical mass of our people. It is remarkable that since 1960 till now, this policy has endured in spite of the several changes of regimes and personalities at the helm of our country’s national affairs.

    This policy was grounded on the principle of when  a man, any man, suffers any where in the world, humanity as a whole suffers a little but when a black man suffers any where  in the world, because of the pigmentation of his skin colour and not because of his character, all black people every where suffer a lot. From this reasoning, it was clear to foreign policy makers and executors that in defending black people everywhere, Nigeria was vicariously defending its own honour and humanity. In other words, whether in the case of Sir Abubakar’s government breaking diplomatic relations with France in 1961 over the third nuclear test of that country in the Sahara thus protecting the entire African continent from radioactive fallouts, or Yakubu Gowon assisting to pay the salaries of police and civil servants in Grenada in  the Caribbean 1973, or Muhammed/ Obasanjo buying weapons for the MPLA government in Angola in 1976 and assisting the FRELIMO government in Mozambique and the various liberation movements in Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, or, Shagari government’s intervention in Chad in the 1980s, Babangida’s assistance to Jamaica after the devastation of the Island  by hurricanes in  the 1990s, sending Technical Aid Corps to Fiji and his continued support for the liquidation of the apartheid regime in the 1990s and final emergence of  Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa and recently Buhari’s commitment of Nigerian troops to secure a peaceful transfer of power from  Yahya Jammeh to Adama Barrow in The Gambia; all fall within the rubric of protecting the interest of the black man and in so doing protecting our own interest.

    If blacks all over the world are doing well, we as a black people will not suffer the indignity of being looked down upon because of our black colour. In other words, the fate of Nigeria is intricately linked with that of all black people in a world where racism thrives. Even though everybody denies the place of race in foreign affairs, it is however without doubt central to politics among nations.

    This was the political phase of our foreign policy. Nigeria has succeeded to a certain extent in our foreign policy of decolonization. The continent has been rid of colonialism and imperialist domination but neo-colonialism still thrives in the sense that African economy is still largely dominated by former colonial powers of Britain, France and to a certain extent the West generally. In what was called economic diplomacy, Nigeria wanted to engage with other African countries including those it had assisted in joint partnership for mutual economic development to free the continent from neo-colonial domination. This was why Nigeria in the  1990s encouraged Nigerians to participate in fishing off the coast of Angola for example and in the development of Bauxite mines of Guinea in the 1970s and investment in cement and sugar industries in Benin in partnership with the governments of those countries.

    It must be admitted  that these economic ventures did not always succeed as expected but there was no attempt by Nigeria to exploit for its national benefit, inappropriate crude exploitative way western  countries exploit the countries they give aid and a technical assistance to. To do this would have destroyed the high moral grounds on which our foreign policy was founded. This policy of assistance with no strings attached informed the Technical Aid Corps put in place to assist other African countries and black countries in the Caribbean and the pacific countries during the Babangida’s regime. We could not have been criticizing the West and be following a post-assistance policy of exploitation. This however does not preclude individual business people doing businesses in countries where as a result of Nigeria’s goodwill, the environment is favourable for Nigerian private investment. In pursuit of this, we need not rub in the fact that the country so involved benefited from our largesse in the past. That would be immoral and unChristianly and unIslamic. Of course, there is no morality in politics but in the case in which we based our policy of decolonization on the wrongness and immorality of colonialism, standing on a high moral principle was appropriate.

    In the case of recent  xenophobic attacks against our nationals in South Africa, we can make a case for African solidarity without harping on whatever assistance we rendered in the past. Our assistance in the past based on our enlightened national self-interest which happened to have been in the interest of blacks in South Africa was out of our free will and judgement of what was good for our country. It  is quite different from asking for compensation for  current economic damage and injury inflicted on our people. This should stand alone from the sentimental issue of past assistance. Secondly, the nature of our people’s business in South Africa in particular and in other parts of Africa where our people are coming under serious pressure and sometimes murderous attack, needs to be considered and if necessary changed. Any business bordering on criminal and illegal nature must be deprecated and wound up. It is disgraceful for our people to be involved in  human trafficking, prostitution, drugs peddling, and  advance fees fraud and swindling of innocent people of their hard earned money. It is sad that the few of our people involved in these nefarious activities have damaged the many genuine business men and women. We must some how find a way by which our people would be told that each and every Nigerian is an ambassador of this country and that their behaviour abroad will either enhance or damage the image of the country which previous generations have built. Unemployment at home should not be an excuse for criminality abroad. Our government also must take more seriously the issue of job creation at home and control and reduction of our geometrically growing and ballooning population. It is a pity that the issue of the population bomb has not received the attention it deserves. No matter what we do to build a thriving economy, if the population continues to outstrip the economy, we shall continue to create an underclass of criminals at home some of who will find their ways to other parts of the continent as is already happening in our neighbouring countries where the image of the “ugly Nigerian” looms very large.

  • Sokoto releases N300m for WAEC, NECO exams fees

    NOT less than N300 million has been approved for payment of Sokoto State pupils who sat for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO).

    In a statementd by the Public Relations Officer, Sokoto State Ministry for Basic and Secondary Education, Nura Bello Maikwanci, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal noted that the essence of the payment was to ensure prompt release of the results of its indigenes.

    The sum covered part of the cost of the 2018/2019 examinations for both bodies.

    “The  amount is meant for the payment of examinations fees for students who sat for the two examinations as it is expected that with this development the results of the students would soon be released”, the release stated.

    The government urged parents and candidates to exercise more patience, adding that” Sokoto State government is doing everything possible to ensure the release of their results in good time’’.

  • Group to Buhari: curb loss in steel sector

    A Non-Governmental Organisation, Social Integrity Network (SINET), has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to devise an effective monitoring policy to reduce the loss in the iron and steel sector.

    The group lamented that Nigeria has lost about one million tonnes of steel manufacturing products and about 30,000 jobs, from 2017 to date due to high rates of smuggling and importation of substandard products.

    Other reasons it adduced to the losses include alleged high conspiracy and connivance among Customs officers, perpetrators of illegal acts, as well as wrong declarations of goods.

    SINET, however, advised the president to issue an Executive Order compelling the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to fish out corrupt officers who have been allegedly assisting importers to clear goods illegally.

    The group’s National Coordinator, Mallam Ibrahim Isah, stated this in a statement on Tuesday. He noted that the remark of President Buhari on border closure being a blessing to Nigeria was commendable.

    The president made the remark last week when he received a delegation of the Nigerian Association for Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) and representatives of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).

    He said: “We cannot fold our arms and allow smuggling to take over our economy thereby subjecting us to high economic risk and massive downsizing of industrial workers.

    “Many local industries have collapsed due to high rate of importation of substandard products such as coloured corrugated roofing sheets, aluminium roofing sheets as well as galvanised corrugated roofing sheets.

    “It is saddening to note that while the nation is gradually winning the war against smuggling through the closure of inland borders, no attention is given to seaports where containers are checked into the country without adequate inspection thereby paving ways for substandard goods as well as dangerous weapons into the nation.

    Isah said there can’t be significant success without paying attention to the seaports and the creeks. “Despite the hues and cries of Nigerians on the influx of smuggled goods, the NCS is yet to make any public arrest of economic saboteurs thereby confirming the fact that there is strong conspiracy within the system,” he said.

    He said although the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has played significant role of shutting down some warehouses with substandard roofing sheets in Imo and Anambra states, “We want the President to set ‘Eagle Eyes’ on the seaports for effective monitoring.”

    Isah appealed to the Federal Government to enact a strong national policy that would further protect the economic interest of the local manufacturers as well as reduce revenue evasion rate, which has made Nigerian Customs to be losing a minimum of N1bilion to smugglers weekly.

    “If Buhari must triumph in his fight against corruption and insurgency, he must take bold steps towards sanitising the NCS and prevent the persisting massive smuggling activities. This is to further demonstrate his strong political will of promoting local content and safeguarding the future of over 200 million Nigerians,” SINET stated.

  • Senate rolls out legislative agenda

    The Senate on Wednesday received report of its ad-hoc committee on the 9th Senate Legislative Agenda.

    Chairman of the Committee, Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) presented the report.

    The consideration and adoption of the report has been slated for Thursday.

    “This is to enable Senators time to read and digest the report for effective contributions during its debate,” said the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

    Lawan had on assumption of office pledged to fashion a legislative agenda to guide the effective performance of Senators.

    Senator Aliero listed youth empowerment to curb increasing number of youth unemployment, poverty alleviation to ensure that 100 million Nigerians are lifted out of poverty in the next four years as part of the plank of the agenda.

    Read Also; Senate moves to regulate inflow of aids to Nigeria

    Aliero also listed a legislative framework to tackle the phenomenon of out of school children in the country, creation of special health centres in the six geopolitical zones and reduction of acute housing deficit in the country.

    The Kebbi Central Senator also listed fashioning legislative measures to further enhance gender equality, tackle infrastructure deficit, increase agricultural production, fast track the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and holistic reform of the oil and gas sector as other part of the agenda.

    He said the Senate would also work to further block revenue leakages, back anti-corruption agenda of the Federal Government and make procurement processes less cumbersome.

    He highlighted the Open NASS policy, where the budget of the National Assembly would be in the public glare.

    “By throwing open the budget of the National Assembly, Nigerians will know that we have nothing to hide,” Aliero said.

  • I’ll waive my constitutional immunity to clear my name – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has declared his readiness to waive his constitutional immunity to “enable the most robust adjudication” of several baseless allegations, insinuation and falsehoods against his person and office.

    Prof. Osinbajo made the declaration in a tweet he personally authored on Wednesday afternoon.

    He said “In the past few days, a spate of reckless and malicious falsehoods have been peddled in the media against me by a group of malicious individuals.

    “The defamatory and misleading assertions invented by this clique had mostly been making the social media rounds anonymously.

    Read Also: Nobody must maltreat Osinbajo – Northern youths

    “I have today instructed the commencement of legal action against two individuals, one Timi Frank and another Katch Ononuju, who have put their names to these odious falsehoods.

    “I will waive my constitutional immunity to enable the most robust adjudication of these claims of libel and malicious falsehood.” he said

  • $9.6b award: Fed Govt raises 13 points against P&ID, exposes trick clause in MoU

    Twenty Four hours to its sitting, the Federal Government team has raised 13 grounds on why a London court should reverse the $9.6billion judgment secured against Nigeria by Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID).

    The delegation has also  exposed the trick clause used by P&ID to secure the Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA), which led to  the controversial arbitration award.

    The government has discovered that the Memorandum of Understanding on the gas contract was signed in 2009 by P&ID Nigeria Limited with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

    But, a trick clause was inserted in the MoU, which allowed the British Virgin Island (BVI)- registered P&ID to replace the original contractual party, P&ID Nigeria Limited, to sign the contract on January 11, 2010.

    The team said the P&ID case cannot stand because the contract was fraudulent.

    According to sources, who spoke with The Nation, the government was able to discover the supplanting of P&ID Nigeria Limited in the course of the ongoing probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Police and others security agencies.

    Read Also: Buhari at UN lashes P&ID for $9.6b swindle attempt

    The latest evidence is one of the strongest points to be tabled by Nigeria’s lawyers tomorrow when the legal battle on the arbitral award begins.

    Nigeria is also insisting that the contract was not  vetted by the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation and it was not taken to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for  approval.

    One of the sources said: “We are raising 13 grounds  of defence on Thursday against P&ID  for a stay of execution and a declaration of the arbitral award as a nullity, based on substantial evidence of fraud and economic sabotage.

    “Of importance, detectives have  discovered that the MoU for the GSPA was entered into with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources  by P&ID Nigeria Limited and the contract signed by P&ID of the British Virgin Island.

    “It was a contract filled with deception, with an ultimate target of swindling Nigeria. Our legal team has taken judicious notice of this amorphous clause.”

    The source added: “A contract of that magnitude cannot be valid until it has been vetted by the office of the Attorney- General of the Federation and taken to the Federal Executive Council for approval. None of these was done. The sham contract was also signed in contravention of the infrastructural Regulatory Commission Act and Public Procurement Act.

    ”While the initial MOU for the project was signed in 2009 by P&ID Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian government (Ministry of Petroleum Resources), a ‘trick’ clause in the MoU was curiously activated that allowed British Virgin Island (BVI) registered P&ID to replace the original contractual party, P&ID Nigeria Limited, to sign the contract in January 11, 2010.

    “ P&ID incorporated in the British Virgin Island is a Shell Company that has no history of any business except the phantom gas supply project in Nigeria. There was no board resolution approving the assignment of the contractual interest to the BVI registered entity.

    ” P&ID never kick started the construction of the project facility, it claimed to have incurred $40 million in preliminary expenses. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed that there is no record of such investment, or any transaction related to the gas project in Nigeria by P&ID from 2010 to date.

    “There is no proof of any initial commitment by P&ID toward the execution and implementation as its own obligations as stipulated in the agreement signed in 2010.

    “P&ID could not meet any of the requirements the company was asked to provide. They include:

    • Updated proposal for the gas processing and utilisation
    • Identification of project site
    • Land acquisition
    • MoU with other agencies pertaining to gas processing in Nigeria
    • Evidence of financial capacity

    Another source, who is privileged to be involved in the investigation and legal battle against P&ID, said the contract was a sham dotted with bribery and corruption.

    The source said: “Suspicious payments were made to Mrs. Grace Taiga who, as the Legal Director in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, was vested with the responsibility of providing legal counsel to the Federal Government and ensuring that the interest of the country was adequately protected in the contract. Industrial Consultants International limited, a company associated with P&ID, made two transfers to Ms. Taiga in 2017 and 2018. These transfers could only have been made in appreciation of the ‘good deed’ done to the company by Mrs. Taiga, which has entitled her to agreed or perpetual benefits.

    ”There was no budgetary provision for the implementation of the GSPA in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in 2010 while the P&ID did not have any licence to deal in petroleum product.

    “The firm also failed to file tax returns and pay VAT to the Federal Inland Revenue Service as required by law.

    ”The unprecedented $9.6 billion in arbitration award to P&ID is an unreasonable reward to a company that has done nothing more than to engage in fraud and economic sabotage.

    “Not only does this run against the course of justice, but more importantly, failing to recognize this sham would bring harm and hardship to Nigeria, as well as the wider region.

    ”Two directors of P&ID in Nigeria have been convicted of charges of money laundering and economic sabotage. Muhammad Kuchazi, commercial director of P&ID, the British Virgin Islands, and Adamu Usman, a director of the company in Nigeria, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of economic sabotage and money laundering at a Federal High Court in Abuja last Thursday.”

    It was learnt that the government delegation in the United Kingdom has so far succeeded in setting the records straight to stakeholders, investors and the media.

    Another source said: “We have been going round in the last three days to meet with the critical segments of the UK society. We discovered that many stakeholders did not have balanced information on what led to the $9.6billion, which was a judicial ambush.

    ”The dispute that led to Arbitration between the Nigerian government (Ministry of Petroleum Resources) and the Irish engineering company P&ID arose from a 20-year Gas Supply and Processing Agreement (GSPA) entered in 2010 between the two parties in respect of an accelerated gas development project in Nigeria’s OMLs 67 and 123.

    “P&ID’s claim in the arbitration proceedings was mainly for loss of profit for the entire 20-year term of the GSPA, initially claiming the sum of  $1.9 billion and later increasing its claim to  $5.9 billion.

    “The Arbitral Tribunal on 3lst January, 2017, rendered its Final Award against Nigeria (Ministry of Petroleum Resources) in the sum of  $6.597 billion together with pre-award interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum effective from 20th March 2013 and post-award interest at the same rate till date of payment. This interest has increased the size of the award to $9.6 billion.

    “In arriving at this decision, the tribunal ignored the ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos that the award be set aside.

    “On Friday 16 August 2019 at the United Kingdom’s Business & Property Courts (the Commercial Court), Mr. Justice Butcher granted P&ID’s enforcement application which converts the arbitration award secured by P&ID into a domestic UK judgment against Nigeria.”

  • How we plan to create 100m jobs, by VP

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has explained how President Muhammadu Buhari plans to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

    He said the Federal Government’s policies and programmes aimed at promoting financial inclusion remain key to the actualisation of the plan.

    Prof. Osinbajo spoke in Abuja at the opening of the Annual Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

    In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the Vice-President referred to the President’s June 12 speech where he stated that “we are working to lift Nigerians out of poverty and set them on the path to prosperity. We intend to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years”.

    Read Also: AfCFTA’ll open new vistas to banking sector, says Osinbajo

    Osinbajo said: “Financial inclusion, of course, is the key to realising so much of what we expect as an economy and the President promised in his June 12 speech to lift 100 million people out of poverty in 10 years. That is the commitment of the government of Nigeria.

    “We started that journey with our collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to deliver the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) programme, better known as TraderMoni and MarketMoni by providing microcredit to almost two million petty traders.

    “The Bank of Industry has now brought this huge bottom of the pyramid into the formal financial system and that has been recognised worldwide. “Recently, the programme won the African Development Bank (AfDB) prize for financial inclusion because of the work that was done with TraderMoni. This is a huge task.

    “Going forward, we now need to embark on financial training for all of those who have been brought into the net. As you know, when they’re given N10,000 and they pay back, they are given N15,000, N20,000, and it goes all the way.

    “But at that point they’re given their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), they’re formally included in the financial system; they’re formally included as formal traders. So, we are able to give them financial training and all that.”

    He added: “…For very long, that bottom of the pyramid has been completely excluded and yet informal trade is a significant part of trading that is going on in our country.

    “So, there’s a real need out there and we must devise the methods by which those at the bottom of the pyramid can be uplifted. We must look at how we can even resource the entire value chain. What we find is that the petty trader, who just has a trade, is usually selling little bits and pieces from many of the manufacturers or fast-moving products. We found that just by giving them credit, we can resource the whole value chain all the way up.”