The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerians

  • BVN registration: Senate urges CBN, others to sensitise Nigerians

    The Senate yesterday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks to conduct intensive awareness  campaign  on the Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    The resolution followed a motion by Senate Deputy Minority Whip, Senator  Biodun Olujimi entitled “Danger posed to rural bank customers by the Bank Verification exercise.”

    Mrs Olujimi said: “We appreciate the fact that the Bank Verification Number will help the banking system to track transactions across banks in Nigeria.

    “ There is however the concern that the people in the rural areas are not carried along due to the inability to access print and electronic media.’’

    Senate President Bukola Saraki described the motion as timely in view of the October 31 deadline.

    He said while the exercise was a laudable, the CBN and other stakeholders should ensure that no Nigerian irrespective of location is negatively affected.

    Saraki said: “It is a laudable project but it should be inclusive and there should be more awareness particularly in the rural areas. They should go the extra mile to ensure their customers participate in the exercise.“

    Senator Philip  Gyunka  (Nassarawa North)  said the CBN ought to make provisions to accommodate rural dwellers.

    He said farmers in his community had complained that their finger prints could not be captured in the exercise.

    Senator Enyinaya Abaribe (Abia South) called for a unification of data from agencies saddled with the responsibility of collating data.

    Abaribe said: “I support this motion because it is difficult to  register to vote,  go through the rigour of another biometric  data capturing for  drivers licence and also  dragged into registering for national identity card.

    “We are carrying all manner of identifications  that are not linked in any way and we are concerned.

    “This has to be part of what we will discuss with the CBN governor when he comes.

    “We will discuss how to make life pleasurable for an average Nigerian,’’ he said.

    Senator Shehu  Sani(Kaduna  Central)  expressed concern over the poor state of banking in the rural areas.

    Sani said attempts to promote banking in the villages had not been successful and something urgent should be done to carry them along.

     

  • ‘Why rich Nigerians should invest in technopreneurs’

    Managing Director/CEO of InfoGraphics Nigeria, Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, has appealed to rich Nigerians to start investing in tech start-ups, adding that there is no basis to fear about return on investment (RoI).

    According to him, most studies have shown that rapid growth start-ups generate the most new jobs in an economy and require the highest amount of equity risk capital. He quoted Craig Mullett from the Branison Group as stating that a 2005 study of 37 countries showed that out of various sources of funding including debt, private equity, venture capital and angel investor capital, “only angel investor capital significantly positively influenced the propensity to be entrepreneurs”.

    Mba-Uzoukwu who is also the vice chairman, Demo Africa 2015 edition, said while all successful entrepreneurial hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Tel Aiv, Bangalore and Warsaw all have developed angel investor networks, which incubated start-ups rely on for financing, contacts and strategy advice, rich Nigerians are slow in stepping up to create the platforms and enterprises of tomorrow.

    He said: “Interestingly Nigeria HNIs (high networth individuals) appear unaware of, disbelieving of, and/or uninterested in the latent potential of local technopreneurs despite the relatively low entry barriers to investors and a burgeoning start-up community. We recognise that the tech industry is still in early stage of development.

    “We must be intentional and aggressively so in looking inwards if we are to find sustainable and uniquely suited solutions to the challenges facing our country in the context of a 21st century global economy. Demo Africa is a great step and a new class of indigenous Nigerian investors must rise up and be counted because technology offers the most realistic stairway to a brighter future for Africa.”

    He said Demo Africa connects African startups to the global ecosystem, adding that the initiative “is the place where the most innovative companies from African countries get a platform to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.”

    A successful entrepreneur with proven capability, Mba-Uzoukwu, explained that several options are available to potential investors under engagement models, which range from business angels to venture capital and private equity, for funding technology startups.

    “Whether it is purely a financial investment or a business decision to diversify business portfolio or an eagerness to join the next big game-changer, it seems pretty obvious that every savvy investor should have a technology company in his portfolio.  Local investors who shun technology businesses today will definitely see the earliest pickings taken by their Western counterparts at ridiculously low valuations despite the apparent high risk,” he warned.

    While describing technology as the fourth wave that should not be missed if Africa would hope for economic transformation, he said Konga and Paga are signposts of things to come with Nigerian entrepreneurs requiring an infusion of foreign blood in order to scale in the absence of local HNI interest.

    He explained that investing in start-ups would soon be an investment option from banks to corporate organisations and individual investors. “By simple logic, if you have cash and have already made investments in real-estate, shares, other financial instruments, gold and possibly your own enterprise too, what can you do with any residual cash that you have? Invest in a start-up stands out as a good option – given that Nigeria is now a fertile ground for ideas and innovation, and being an entrepreneur is cool. And if you are wondering if any have been successful, just look at Interswitch, Hotelsng, M-Tech, IrokoTV, and Jobberman.”

    According to him, the technology start-up industry has never been more vibrant with ideas and willingness to tread the uncharted waters and a burning desire to bring change to the communities in which they exist.  “There is a smoldering fire in the eyes of Nigerian youths that view technology as a means of self-expression, actualisation and a driver for creating the Nigeria of their dreams,” he said.

    He said Nigerian youths are “socially-committed, deeply convicted and determined to see the fullest expression of their values and ideas in the markets they have in focus. They want the double-impact – to make it big and to make it happen. High net worth Nigerians should support them. Look around you – there will be an entrepreneur near you and that is the exciting thing about Nigeria. Therefore, if you don’t have the next big idea or experience or inclination to start your own venture, you can play a part in the start-up community by funding them.”

     

  • Nigerians in South Africa laud Speaker

    Following by the peaceful resolution of the leadership crisis in the House of Representatives, some Nigerians resident in South Africa have lauded Speaker Yakubu Dogara for not sacrificing the national interest on the altar of ambition.

    They made the remark at their meeting under the auspices Forum of Nigerian Stakeholders in South Africa (FANSA) in Pretoria.

    In a communique signed by FANSA’s Chairman Dr. Ufuoma Omakara, the group described as commendable the way the Green Chamber ended the crisis.

    The group noted that the crisis could have lingered, if the Speaker had rejected the suggestion of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the selection of principal officers.

    It urged the legislators to, in the spirit of sportsmanship, settle down to the business of law-making, the purpose for which they were elected by their constituencies.

    According to the group, by yielding ground to the party, the Speaker has demonstrated that he is equipped with the experience and competence to lead a virile Eighth House of Representatives.

  • Two ISIS-bound Nigerians arrested in India

    Two ISIS-bound Nigerians arrested in India

    Desperate youths jumped over high barbed wire fence, thinking they had entered Pakistan

    PUNJAB, India  Two young Nigerians suspected to be on their way to joining the Islamic State (ISIS)  terror gang were yesterday  arrested at the volatile  India-Pakistan border  after  scaling a barbed wire fence near the  border .

    Alert Border Security Force (BSF) troopers apprehended  Imran Kabeer and Sani Jamiliu both from Kano  and later handed them over to Punjab Police.

    The  suspects  aged around 24-25  told BSF officials they wanted to go to Pakistan and later to Iraq.

    They carried no valid travel documents to enter Pakistan.

    Both youths arrived in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, 30 km from Punjab , on Thursday from Delhi in a hired taxi. They argued with the taxi driver on Thursday night, hoodwinked him and drove away his Swift Dzire car. They arrived at the integrated checkpoint at Attari  yesterday  morning.

    “On finding the border gates closed, the youths moved towards a barbed wire fence along the Attari-Wagah rail track (on which the Samjhauta Express peace train between both countries plies) and jumped over the high barbed wire fence, thinking they had entered Pakistan. BSF personnel immediately nabbed them,” a BSF official said.

    BSF Amritsar sector deputy inspector general M.F. Farooqui confirmed the arrest.

    The entire 553-km international border between India and Pakistan in Punjab is on high alert following the July 27 terror attack on Dinanagar town in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district by Pakistani terrorists. Security is also tight in view of the coming Independence Day on August 15.

    Since the youths claimed their final destination was Iraq, security officials  said they could be headed to join the Islamic State terror outfit.

    Both youths came to India on student visas about a year ago. While Imran is doing BBA from the Mysuru-based Karnataka State Open University, Sani is a BSc third semester student of the Kerala-based Mahatama Gandhi University. Both were residing in Delhi.

    Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutalab was arrested on Christmas Day,2009 aboard North West  Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam  to Detroit,Michigan following his attempt to blow up the plane.

    He was found to be carrying plastic explosives in his underwear.

    He was subsequently tried  and convicted by a US Federal Court on an eight count charge including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

    Farouk was sentenced on February 16,2012 to four life terms plus 50 years without parole.

    Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula claimed,as the  trial got underway, that it trained the convict and supplied him with the explosives.

  • Buhari charges Nigerians on agriculture

    •Says oil, gas revenue won’t be enough 

    President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that the time has come for Nigerians to take agriculture more serious as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.

    He made the remark during an audience with Dr Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian-born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    “It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice,” Buhari said.

    He said that having used agriculture as a campaign issue in the run up to the last election, he is “ready to assist as many as want to go into agricultural ventures.” He promised that his administration will also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers currently go through to get any form of assistance from government.

    He told the IFAD President that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming, and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.

    He said: “There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organizations like IFAD for advise.”

    He said that foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks.”

    Dr Nwanze congratulated President Buhari on his victory at the general elections and assured him that IFAD was ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.

    IFAD is an international organization dedicated to addressing issues of agriculture and poverty alleviation.

  • Shock as Rep withdraws motion to probe treatment of Nigerians by foreign companies

    The House of Representatives was denied the opportunity of intervening on the reported inhuman treatment Nigerians working in some foreign companies operating in Nigeria were subjected to.

    A motion to address the issue entitled: ‘Urgent need to curb unwholesome practices of Chinese, Indian and Lebanese companies in Nigeria, was withdrawn by the sponsor, Segun Adekola (PDP, Ekiti).

    To the surprise of some lawmakers, who were prepared for the debate, Adekola took the leave of the House to withdraw the motion.

    The motion was listed third for debate on the Order paper yesterday.

    In accordance with House rules, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara granted the request.

    In his argument of the motion, as contained on the Order paper, the lawmaker said a media report on an incident at Wempo where it was alleged that a Nigerian worker’s head got smashed by a faulty machine at Wempo called for concern.

    The lawmaker regretted that incidents of nonchalance to Nigerian workers’ welfare is rampart with foreign companies operating in the country, with less than impressive action from relevant authorities.

    He argued that some of the foreign companies have little regard for the safety of their workers, many of whom had died or got maimed in the work place due to gross negligence by the companies managements.

    As stated on the Order paper, the lawmaker expressed concern that some of the foreign companies act with impunity by subjecting their workers to degrading working conditions and a near absence of safety measures in flagrant disobedience of Nigerian Labour laws.

    In his prayers, Adekola wanted the House to mandate the Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, when constituted to investigate the incident at Wempo and other unwholesome practices of foreign companies operating in Nigeria with a view to bringing an end to the unhealthy trends.

  • ‘Nigerians used Boko Haram to advance interests’

    Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah has accused the Nigerian elite of using the dreaded Boko Haram sect to advance its political, religious and sectional interests.

    Minimah spoke in Abuja while delivering his valedictory address at the Pulling-Out-Ceremony. He said the counter insurgency campaign would have recorded more success if these elite had supported government’s efforts.

    “The insurgency snowballed into a graver dimension because these people exploited the security challenge to further sectional, religious, and political interests”, he said.

    He appealed to the citizenry to support the Federal Government and the security agencies in the fight against insurgency.

    The ex-Army chief urged Nigerians to take practical steps against the terrorists and other criminal elements to ensure lasting peace and security in the country.

    His words: “In the last decade, we have seen the extent to which people who harbour evil against their fellow humans can go to inflict pain and death on innocent people.

    “This is the time for us to rise in unison against the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal elements to foster peace and security in our society.

    “Perhaps, if we had stood against the terrorists at the outset, we would not have been where we find ourselves today.

    “We must therefore unite and support our government and security forces to tackle the current security challenges,” Minimah said.

  • Nigerians fleeing to Cameroon, says UN

    Nigerians fleeing to Cameroon, says UN

    A refugee camp deep inside Cameroon is receiving many people fleeing Boko Haram violence in Nigeria, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported Tuesday.

    Families are leaving unstable and dangerous zones on the Nigeria-Cameroon border “and seeking shelter some 100 kilometres (62 miles) inland at the Minawao camp,” run by UNHCR and its partners, spokesman Leo Dobbs said.

    Most of the new arrivals had initially stayed close to the border after fleeing clashes between Boko Haram jihadists and Nigerian troops in the hope they could return home quickly, Dobbs added.

    Refugees said they ran from militant attacks in Borno State. The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people in Nigeria since 2009.

    The population of the Minawao camp has risen to 44,000 from 30,000 at the same time last year.

    The UNHCR and Cameroon’s government are trying to contact refugees remaining in border territory to see whether they would prefer to come to Minawao or be taken to secure zones inside Nigeria, Dobbs said.

    The UN agency estimates that nearly 12,000 unregistered refugees are in northern Cameroon, while Camerooonian authorities put the figure at 17,000.

    Boko Haram, which has extended its campaign across Nigeria’s borders and prompted a regional military response, carried out its first suicide bombing in Cameroon last Sunday.

    Two women wearing the full Islamic veil blew themselves up in the far northern border town of Fotokol, killing 11 people.

  • Ajimobi urges Nigerians to pray for peace in North East

    Ajimobi urges Nigerians to pray for peace in North East

    The Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the return of peace in the county, especially the  North Eastern part of the country.

    He said Nigerians must strive to live devotedly like the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), even as they beseech the Almighty to bestow His mercies upon the nation in this month and the others to come.

    Ajimobi, who stated this in his Eid-el-Fitr message, implored the people of the state to pray for the people at the helms in the state.

    “As we mark the completion of one of the most important tenets of Islam, the holy month of Ramadan, I pray that our lives will continue to reflect the devotion of the past month and we will continue to aspire to pure living.

    “The lessons you have learnt during the Holy month are not to be discarded only to be re-learnt next year. We must strive to live devotedly like the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), even as we beseech the Almighty to bestow His mercies upon us in this month and the others to come.

    “Since the celebration of the last Eid-el-Fitr, our country Nigeria, and indeed our state, Oyo, have gone through a political season. For the first time in many years, the election season was peaceful and hitch-free. I want to encourage you all to continue to live in that spirit of peace, and I hope that the period of Ramadan has granted you the spiritual strength to do so.

    “Even as we rejoice, I remember our brothers and sisters in the Northern part of the country. The past few weeks have witnessed insecurity in some of those states, as a result of the evil acts perpetrated by insurgents. We must all pray for the safety of our fellow country-men and for an end to the insecurity,” he said.

    Ajimobi called on the people to look out for the less-privileged in the society and extend the hand of generosity to them.

    “My dear people,  please look out for those who are less privileged amongst us. Beyond praying for them, extend a hand of generosity to your neighbour. The Prophet (SAAW) made it a habit to be even more generous than usual in the Holy month. This is a practice we must all imbibe.

    “The spirit of community that we have all embraced in the past month should become a part of our lives. Sacrificing for one another is one of the quickest ways through which we can individually contribute to the growth of our society.

    “The spirit of contributing to the growth of society, I implore you all to make it a habit to pray for your leaders. Pray for those of us in Oyo State upon whom you bestowed your mandate again in 2015. Pray for the leaders at the centre, even as we all work together to bring the change that you overwhelmingly voted for months ago.”

  • ‘Low-income Nigerians can own houses’

    ‘Low-income Nigerians can own houses’

    Mr. Babajide Alade, an architect is the MD/CEO of Structuracasa, a construction company focused on large mass housing development projects.  He speaks with HANNAH OJO on how technology can be deployed to meet housing demands in the country 

    What is your take on recent developments in the housing industry in Nigeria?

    Nigeria has a population that is almost approaching 190 million people, the same size as the United States of America that has a land area that is obviously much bigger. The housing sector is still standing by government policy but the government is trying. I think people are shining their spotlight in the housing area.  The Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company, a new entity is basically starting a secondary market for mortgage finance.  There are not so many banks that can just give out a 100 billion in mortgages so the Mortgage Refinance Company is now buying those mortgages off the banks and structuring them into instruments to sell to investors. That way, the banks have constant capital to be creating mortgages. I think that is one key thing that I see as a policy and a government intervention to help spark housing finance industry in Nigeria.  I am really looking forward to the time we would have a viable industry in Nigeria.

    You accumulated experience practising in real estate development in the United States, what are the things Nigeria can learn when it comes to developing mass housing projects?

    I made a tour of Mexico while I was doing my MBA at the Marshal School of Business in the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Mexico is somewhat similar socio-economically to Nigeria whereby the population breakdown has some few wealthy people at the top although in Mexico they have a decent middle class and then they have a large population of low wage earners. One of the policy trust of President Vicente Fox then was housing. They were basically giving the challenge to the people in the industry to figure out the best way to create mass housing. That involved both the architects and the builders, but more importantly it involved the financial system. They had some policy changes regarding mortgage finance, land laws and land tenure systems. Some of the issues that we are having in Nigeria currently is related to land use but they were able to put things together in a way that allowed large scale housing development. The big engine that was pulling that is housing finance with the most important being mortgage finance.  The fact that they were able to have a successful mortgage finance system enabled low earners who were participating in the society to buy houses that were equivalent at the time of 20-30 dollars. We are talking about 4/5 million equivalent in naira with the ability to pay over 20-30 years whereby they are using only about 25 to 35 percent of their household income.

    How possible is it to repeat this feat in Nigeria where middle income earners find it difficult to own houses?

    I believe this is possible in Nigeria.  Those are the things that drove me into returning after practising in the US.  I felt with my understanding of Nigeria since I grew up here and lived my early life in Nigeria; I could see the difference between Nigeria and some of these countries. In the US, consumer spending is about  70 percent of the economy. There is a big industry related to things that has to do with housing just because housing growth was robust, you have that creating a lot of jobs and that helping to sustain the economy. That is missing completely in Nigeria. That is one opportunity I believe is available for Nigeria. We haven’t task it yet, though we are beginning to try.  The other thing I noticed about Nigeria especially in the mid 2000-2005 when democracy got truly entrenched in 1999 is that a lot of my friends and colleagues in the UK and the United States were coming back to Nigeria. There was a repatriation of experts and we noticed a significant improvement and forward thinking modern ideas in various sectors of the economy.

    Basically, the whole economy is modernising and of the pieces that hasn’t really been touched except in the very highbrow areas in Nigeria like Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja is housing estates.  What is occurring in a large part of the country is that people build incrementally whereby they want to build something bigger but they start small and start adding to it overtime. It’s similar to what you have in agriculture where you have subsistence farming versus mechanized industrial farming. You can translate that into the housing industry. Where there is an opportunity to be able to build large scale housing estate that could afford several things; you can put in infrastructure so everybody is not just building where there is no roads and drainages and gradually it becomes a slum. The problem with housing as it is also with agriculture is land tenure and finance.  Again, there is a huge population of able bodied people who need housing.  A lot of people in middle management find it very difficult to be able to have their own house but in other developing societies like Mexico and Brazil, they can.  So those are the things that I saw that encouraged me to make a plunge back to Nigeria. I felt government was instituting some business regulations that are encouraging the development of job, creating industries and allowing the middle class to grow. That really is a direction that would continue in Nigeria even though there would be hiccups.

    Having identified the issue, what innovation is your company bringing to solve the housing challenge in Nigeria?

    Structuracasa was registered in 2010 but we began operation in 2011 with a small prototype. The main focus of our company is the democratisation of home ownership in Nigeria and across West Africa.  We are currently participating in the construction of housing and we are deploying a technology that we introduced into the country which is called the Aluma Easyset. We are the pioneer and we hold the right to deploy that system of construction in Nigeria. We did get approvals from the various state planning authorities which are the bodies that supervise housing constructions.  We have been working to make whatever local content element we need to test it and to ensure that what we are preparing to deliver enmass to the public is well suited and well-grounded for Nigeria.    We have worked in Legacy estate Ibadan in Oyo State and Abeokuta in Ogun State. We are having discussions with people in Lagos and definitely we will like to work with the government on the benefit of using this novel system of construction to achieve their housing goals. The technology allows us to build much faster than the conventional construction and with better quality and actually at a lower cost especially when you have economics of scale, when you are building a 100 or more units of the same type. How can this technology work in Nigeria putting into consideration our socio-cultural peculiarities?

    We have done a lot of research. We are familiar with concrete in Nigeria. I studied and built in America.  I didn’t build with concrete in America, we were building with gypsum, drywall and wood studs, aluminium but in Nigeria nobody wants to hear what is going on in the next room. Those are some of the cultural things that we feel would ensure our own longevity. It happened in Mexico, there is no reason why it shouldn’t happen in Nigeria. You have a lot of people who want to buy houses and they are not ready to wait, they just want to buy. With the demand that comes with mortgage financing being readily available, there is going to be need for fast, good quality construction and at a lower cost construction. A lot of developers and banks are now going to be looking for solutions; we are already on ground in Nigeria. We are building up slowly and steadily and we have a track record.  The good thing about our system is that we don’t necessarily have to be the developer. We can sell or lease our system to developers or work with government for them to use this system of construction to build the carcass.

    Overcrowding has been a challenger whereby there is a huge population but there is no purchasing power, so how do you intend to get the houses across to people?

    That is a social engineering question. I have my own perception which can be policy ideas but in different countries, you look at the strata of your population and you put so many things in place to help the population. Job creation is important so that people can be gainfully employed and have some money. In some other countries, they provide subsidies for people who want to rent houses. When people cannot afford to own a house and they still need a place to live then the government gets involved somehow by building decent houses which people can rent, they don’t have to own it. The asset is an asset that is owned either by a cooperative or a government or non-profit organisation. Big cooperations can set aside their income and get tax benefits for providing low income housing. Our system of construction can also work in that way because when we are building large scale, we can actually build at a lower cost than the conventional construction. Ours will just be one little element out of a switch of things that can be done to help address housing at the very lowest rung. By building large estates, you can put some infrastructure in place so that people are not living in slum conditions.

    How do you tackle mass production in respect to climate change?

    With respect to climate change, the big area in which we are involved is the reduction in the use of timber which leads to the question of reducing some of the causative effects of deforestation. It is not easy to reforest. In the US and Canada where they have softwoods, they grow in 10-15 years. You can harvest and then constantly replant but that is difficult for us here. If you go to a typical construction site, they are using planks. Apart from the roof whereby the woods stay over the life of the building, all the other woods go to waste.   The rest are going to be burnt somewhere and then you release a lot of emissions. But we use  this aluminium panels, yes they are things and processes that cause carbon footprints while you are using them but these things can be used for over 500 times and after that they can be meted and recycled. That is a big area that we’ll say our own system of construction helps to reduce carbon emissions and carbon footprints.