The Nation Newspaper

Tag: no reason

  • ‘Nigeria has no reason to import shoes’

    The Chief Executive, Melandrie Shoes, Gbenga Olanipekun’s venture into entrepreneurship is a good example of necessity turning into invention. Olanipekun, who studied Linguistics and Communi-cation Studies, was formerly a sales person with a book publishing firm before taking a decision to carve a niche for himself in the shoe making business.

    As a young man, he picked interest in shoe making when a shoe maker made a belt for him and  the job came out so well that many did not believe that  it was made in Nigeria. Even when he got a job with a publishing firm, he still patronised the cobbler until he finally decided to learn the skill.

    Pursuing his trade with an unrelenting vigour, he not only specialises in premium shoe brands, he also leverages social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.

    Olanipekun has also signed up to some digital marketing platforms which makes it possible for people to place orders online.

    One of the highpoints of his business so far was an encounter with the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, and Governor Abiodun Ajimobi during the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) clinic in Oyo State.

    Reliving the experience, he said the Vice President upon seeing the shoe encouraged him and appreciated his effort.

    “The Vice President said:‘This shoe is very good, I like it; this is an All Progressives Congress (APC) shoe’.  He called the governor to check it out so at that moment, I was so elated to the point that I was speechless. It didn’t occur to me to talk to him about anything.  He was the one who suggested that we should take a picture. It was a defining moment for me as it showed there’s a future in what I do,” he said.

    The young man, who said he was looking forward to meeting the Vice President again in order to be sure the shoe he presented to him was the right size, spoke eagerly of his dreams.

    Olanipekun aspires to build a training institute for young people and also expand his business.

    However, as a fast-rising entrepreneur, his journey has not been without hiccups. One prime challenge he encounters is difficulty in sourcing machineries and investors for shoe production on a large scale.

    “Bringing in the right machine to do the right job is difficult. Those machines are very expensive, and the commercial banks are not ready to help raise funds. Not falling into fraud in order to be able to get the right kind of machine is also another challenge. Power is also a major issue; the money I spend on petrol every day is high,” he added.

    Olanipekun said he was in talks with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to see how he could bring in good machinery.

    “I want a situation where people can design shoes online with our app and we will deliver it to them.  Melandrie will also have the mass production stage and also open a shoe and leather trading institute where we will able to train young Nigerians,” he said.

    Another major concern is many Nigerians are yet to key into patronising home-made brands as they have confidence in foreign brands.

    “When I first started this journey, I did not put Made-in-Nigeria  label, so when people heard the name Melandrie they thought it was a foreign brand and it was gaining patronage.  When people see my shoes, they appreciate it but when I tell them I made them locally, they just tune off,” he lamented.

    He believes Made- in-Nigeria brands can compete favorably with other international brands with the needed support.

    According to him, most of the leather he uses is sourced from the international market.

    He asked: “There is no reason why we cannot produce good leather here. It is like the owner of the food eating crumbs. We used to make some of the best leathers in the world, what happened to those industries? Can we start making good quality leader so that our own shoe makers can also buy and produce for internal consumption?’’ Drawing from his experience, he encouraged other young entrepreneurs not to give up.

    “Whatever the situation is, you cannot lose, you can only learn. I have borrowed N300, 000 before and then I lost N200, 000 within the first two months. I was duped; I made shoes and they were stolen. You just have to keep standing even in difficult times,” the young man who referred to his journey as far as a success, said.

     

     

     

  • You have no reason to criticise me, Okorocha tells Anyanwu

    •Governor taunts ex-lawmaker for ‘wasting eight years in Senate’

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday berated two-time Senator Chris Anyanwu for her recent “uncomplimentary remarks” about his administration.

    The governor noted that Anyanwu lacked the moral justification to criticise his administration after she “wasted eight years in the Senate with nothing to show for it”.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor noted that Anyanwu lacked the “moral justification to run down Governor Okorocha, whose achievements in less than eight years have surpassed the achievements of all those who had governed the state before him put together”.

    The statement said: “Senator Anyanwu had taken up on Governor Okorocha in the media, talking about how Imo people are set to take back their state from the governor. And one may be forced to ask Senator Anyanwu: which state and which Imo people?

    “She was in the Senate for eight years for Owerri Zone; let her mention one achievement her eight years in the Senate brought to Owerri zone or to the state, either as entities or as individuals.”

    It added: “The only thing she did for the eight years was to build a radio station for herself, which is called Hot FM in Owerri, with the workers not being paid salaries for years. Also, the only major appointment she got was in the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and she gave it to her husband, Dr. Casmir Anyanwu.

    “The truth is that there is a class war going on in the state at the moment. And the crux of the matter is 2019. The elite and godfathers who felt displaced by Governor Okorocha since 2011 are fighting to stage a come-back, targeting 2019. These elements should stop deceiving the public with their pretences…”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Governors have no reason not to pay salaries, pensions’

    Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam said  yesterday that governors defaulting in payment of salary, pension and gratuity had no reason to owe, as such payments inspired workers.

    He said his government paid salary and pension without recourse to the bailout fund from the Federal Government.

    Speaking while inaugurating the Pensioners House built by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, to serve as its national secretariat in Abuja, Gaidam said his state prioritised payment of salary, pension and gratuity, adding that workers who retired received their payment within one month of leaving the service.

    He appealed to his colleagues and other employers of labour to emulate his administration in the prompt payment of salary, pension and gratuity.

    The governor said the cumulative effects of the reform measures in the public financial management in the state had led to a high standard of accountability and prudent management of scarce resources, making the Yobe State government to remain above board in the payment of salary and pension.

    He said despite the unfortunate insecurity experienced in the state as a result of the activities of insurgents, which had drained a substantial part of its resources, the government had made it a deliberate policy to pay salaries and pensions as a first line charge before any expenditure.

    Gaidam said: “We have also made it a deliberate policy that civil servants start receiving payment of pensions one month after retirement. We have set up a committee to verify gratuities of workers.  So far the committee has cleared a backlog of gratuities of civil servants, who retired from 2014 to July 2017, having paid about N4.7 billion, covering 2,543 beneficiaries.

    “The entitlements of the 11th batch of beneficiaries covering August 2017 to December 2017 are being processed and will be released soon.

    “The government has formulated an owner occupier housing programme in which houses are allocated and sold to civil servants at a highly subsidised rate of 65 per cent of construction cost to enable civil servants retire comfortably in their houses. The government has granted a waiver of outstanding payment in respect of any beneficiary who died before full payments could be completed.

    “We have set up a special committee to pay outstanding gratuities and pensions of verified next of kin of deceased officers and living pensioners of the local governments, having so far expended over N2.746 billion covering 2,793 beneficiaries between 2011 and February 2018.

    “With the continued funding support rendered towards settlement of gratuity and pension arrears in respect of workers of the local governments, our administration intends to settle all outstanding pensions and gratuities of the retirees and deceased officers in the local government service before the end of this year.

     

  • ACN to INEC: you’ve no reason to deny APC registration

    ACN to INEC: you’ve no reason to deny APC registration

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has met all the requirements to consumate its merger, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said yesterday.

    The party said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no defensible reason not to approve the merger.

    In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said despite recent media reports concerning the antics of some negative forces within INEC over APC’s registration, the emerging party’s leadership has no doubt that in the end, the electoral body will do what is right in accordance with the law.

    It, therefore, dismissed as a mere speculation the report that INEC was planning to write a letter to the proponents of APC to find another name because of a court case instituted by a political association over the APC acronym.

    ‘’We are convinced that INEC has no discernible reason to write such a letter to us. In the first instance, there exists no court injunction anywhere restraining the commission from registering APC. There could be many court cases, but until there is a court order, no one can pre-empt what a court will do and act on that basis.

    ‘’Again, we have met all the stipulated requirements. INEC has also inspected our proposed headquarters in Abuja and sighted all our interim officers. The merger process may be novel, but we have played according to the rules and we expect nothing less from INEC,’’ ACN said.

    The party expressed satisfaction with the statement credited to Mr. Kayode Idowu, spokesman for the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that there is no court injunction compelling the Commission to stop the merger.

    ‘’We believe we are on the same page with INEC as far as this trail-brazing merger is concerned, and that has been confirmed by the INEC spokesman, and we therefore call on the Commission to do the proper thing right now – which is the registration of APC.

    ‘’There is no doubt that INEC is under tremendous pressure, from both the card-carrying PDP members of the Commission and their collaborators who are mortally afraid of the merger, and who will want the electoral body to commence, right now, the process of rigging the 2015 election in their favour.

    ‘’But we urge INEC not to compromise its neutrality and integrity by acting contrary to the law. We remind the Commission that Nigerians are keenly watching how it will handle this merger issue, and whatever it does will determine whether or not Nigerians can count on it to organise a free, fair and credible elections in 2015.

    ‘’Given the already over-heated polity ahead of the 2015 elections, we believe INEC will not do anything that will aggravate the situation,’’ it said.

    Meanwhile, the ACN has appealed to all the supporters of the emerging APC across the country to remain calm over the registration.

    ‘’We know that many of our teeming supporters are upset by the report of the shenanigans in INEC over this issue. But it is important for them to remain law-abiding as we await the decision of INEC.