The Nation Newspaper

Tag: policies

  • Laudable policies

    Laudable policies

    •New CBN regulations on savings accounts and others show sensitivity to a changing economy

    As part of its efforts to strengthen the payments system in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks to allow savings account customers with Bank Verification Number (BVN) to lodge cheques of not more than N2million per customer per day, into their accounts. A circular dated July 28, 2016, signed by the bank’s director in the banking and payment system department, ‘Dipo Fatokun, which made this policy known, also listed other measures taken by the apex bank towards this effect.

    These include asking the banks to start embedding BVN in payment cards, to facilitate off-line BVN verification. The bank also removed fixed interest rate on credit cards and discontinued the actual address verification in account opening, for customers with BVN.

    The circular stated, inter alia: “The CBN in furtherance of its efforts at strengthening  the Nigerian payments system  hereby issues the following directives: “The removal of fixed interest rate on credit cards; discontinuation of actual address verification in account  opening  for customers with the BVN;  banks should begin to embed BVN biometric data in payment cards issued henceforth, to facilitate offline BVN verification  and biometric based customer authentication on such payment devices as  Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, Point of Sales Terminals, POS, Kiosks, etc.”

    Until now, savings account holders were not permitted to lodge cheques into their accounts as this was an exclusive preserve of current account customers which, unlike savings account, has a more tedious process to open. What had a semblance of cheque lodgements into savings accounts was the practice by some banks allowing their customers to pay cheques into savings accounts in the same bank, but the transaction was intra-bank as such cheques did not go to the clearing house.

    These are welcome developments. Indeed, it is the way to go, especially since the introduction of BVN last year by the apex bank, in conjunction with the Bankers Committee which sponsored the initiative. With BVN, some of the fears associated with paying cheques into savings accounts are eliminated. BVN gives a unique identity that is not peculiar to one bank but can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry. This being so, it should not make any difference whether cheques are deposited into savings or current account since the cheques can now be cleared at the clearing house, using the customers’ BVN.

    Cheque lodgements into savings account will help expand the formal base; people hitherto shut out of such transactions – artisans, traders, students, etc. most of whom avoid opening current account due to the charges and the cumbersome nature of opening it can now accept cheques from their clients, instead of cash payment. In a sense, it will also help in boosting the cashless policy of the CBN.

    We welcome the developments in the banking sector in recent years because they have made banking easier and much more customer-friendly. Many of the unnecessary documents that bank customers were hitherto asked to produce to do certain transactions, like electricity bills, international passports, etc. will no longer be necessary, courtesy of BVN. Even transactions that customers hitherto spent long time to do in the banking halls can now be done either online or by mere issuing of cheques, irrespective of whether the payee has current or savings account.

    However, the objective of cheque lodgements into savings accounts would be better served if there will not be commission on transaction (COT), which is one of the reasons many people run away from current accounts. Alternatively, the charges should be customer-friendly such that those paying it would hardly notice.

  • Need to inform about government policies

    I overheard a lady saying to her colleague that she prefers Jonathan’s corruption to Buhari’s change. Needless to say I was sad and felt very bad that this lady does not understand what the present government is doing and nobody is informing her about why things are this bad!

    One might say the lady in question is not well informed. But when one hears comments from apparently knowledgeable people saying the same thing one gets worried. It is axiomatic that change must involve moving from the known to the unknown and in most cases this may mean going through some tough time with the hope that things overtime will be better. Shouldn’t everybody know that Nigeria operates a mono economy of oil and gas and that the price of crude petroleum has declined by 60 percent? Consequently the foreign exchange accruing to Nigeria has fallen by 60 percent. This little money coming in is largely used to import refined petrol and a few other things. The result of this is the scarcity of foreign exchange and falling value of the Naira.  This is simple logic and it does not require a degree in economics to understand this law of demand and supply. If we had saved money at time of plenty when oil was selling between $100 and $140 a barrel, we would not be in this bind. If we had maintained our refineries, we would not be importing to our shame refined petrol to power our vehicles and industries. This was not because we did not vote humongous amount for so called turnaround of our refineries. We did but the money was serially stolen. I remember writing about this when the roguish Abacha awarded TOTAL petroleum company a contract of $100 million for turnaround maintenance of Kaduna refinery. I wrote to ask how much a new one would have cost. My reward was detention in Child Street Military Camp for months for having the effrontery to challenge those who were robbing the country blind. If we had used the petrol money to diversify our economy and go into mechanized farming, open up the country by building railways, ports and roads, there would have been growth and development and we would not have the scourge of Boko Haram and Niger Delta insurgency because the youth would all have been gainfully employed and would have had no time for the devilish things they are doing to our country. If we had not had venal politicians looting the treasury to the point of emptiness we would not be where we are today.

    The worst type of stealing took place under the totally disoriented and incompetent Jonathan who apparently was not in charge of things under his watch or he personally joined in and encouraged the feeding frenzy of money eaters. I find it really offensive that Jonathan will be going around the world saying how he fought corruption by giving phones to farmers and how this simple innovation of his put an end to corruption in fertilizer distribution. My God! Does this man know what he is saying? Does he remember allegedly giving his cousin $40 million for doing nothing? Does he remember alienating hectares of prime land to himself near Abuja Airport ostensibly for farming which allowed his minister of the FCT Bala Muhammad to do the same for himself with flagrant impunity thus taking property which is our commonwealth and converting it to personal property?  I hope Buhari will visit the Abuja land racket where civil servants and politicians built estates and where land bought at N50 thousand was sold at a hefty price of N560 million as revealed during the Badeh trial. When Buhari probes the NNPC and Central Bank of Nigeria, people will break down and cry like babies about how their lives and country have been irredeemably ruined. Some of us who have worked all our lives and saved money have now seen the value of our savings wiped out by the declining value of the Naira.

    Poor Buhari; these are the economic problems caused by previous governments which he now has to tackle. Sometimes I wish Jonathan had won the election. I believe he would just have woken up one day to find that he had no country but his Ijaw heartland to run because he would have carelessly given all the money in the Central Bank to political jobbers, friends, family members, hustlers and so-called Niger Delta militants and others scattered all over Nigeria telling him how wonderful a job he was doing. I personally think he was saved from this eventuality by the Nigerian people who mercifully relieved him of a burden he did not have the capacity to carry. So instead of going about and celebrating himself, he should be apologizing to Nigerians for betraying their trust.

    What then is to be done? I pray for good health for Buhari. Even though government is not a one man business, but I do not know anyone who has the determination and capacity of Buhari to save us from ourselves. It is important to institutionalize the anti-corruption campaign by building legal structures to tackle it. Special courts made up of a mixture of lawyers, academics, clerics and workers should be set up to take on cases of flagrant stealing and corruption. Cases must not last more than three months so that we can do away with the prevailing legal rigmarole benefitting and enriching lawyers

    Whatever has been recovered must be made open and deployed to fix roads, railways, airports seaports, schools, universities, hospitals and such public things that people can identify with and big signboards should be placed in front of them declaring them to be what has been done with stolen public money.

    Anybody involved in acts injurious to the people must be named and shamed and banned from holding public office for life.

    Governments at all levels must embark on campaigns of informing the people and the reason why things are as they are and for how long the people should bear with government. There is a need to tell the people to be patient and patriotic and instead of complaining they cannot find tomatoes and peppers they should be told to plant them behind their houses especially those of us outside Lagos where there is enough land. The president, the vice president and the federal cabinet and governors and state commissioners must hold regular press conferences to intimate the people about the direction of government.

    I support restructuring of the polity but the time of crisis is not the right time to embark on such fundamental reforms as being advocated by some well-meaning persons and by some political opportunists who while in power did not see fit to champion the cause  of true federalism, resource control and other emotive slogans. What this country needs right now is peace in our time. There is too much insecurity in the land. My heart hankers after the past when I used to drive alone from Lagos to Jos to Maiduguri to Yola and down to Jalingo, to Gboko to Ogoja, Calabar, Aba, Onitsha, Asaba, Benin, Lagos. Or Lagos to Ilorin, Jebba, Mokwa, Kontagora, Tegina, Kaduna, Zaria, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto or Zaria, Panbegua Jos, Bauchi, Potiskum, Maiduguri. These are routes I have personally driven on. Who can do that today without fear of kidnappers, assassins, herdsmen carrying Kalashnikov rifles and even the dread of pot holes and huge craters on the roads? The point one is making is that we need to be able to move around our country again without molest and unnecessary fear. The first task of government is personal security of its citizens. Any country that is not in motion is a dead country. We must move around and open our eyes to great possibilities of our country. By so doing, we may be able to discover that in spite of our obvious differences, there is more that binds us together than divides us.  We may be able to overcome our sometimes irrational prejudices.

    Just as the government has much to do, we the citizens also have much to do. We should cut down our senseless taste for foreign goods, food, wines, champagne, and clothes and eat and drink and wear only what we can produce. We should be proud of who we are and stop being miserable mimics of foreign cultures. There is no reason on earth for us to eat foreign food and if we must eat them then let us add value to our corn and turn them into cornflakes. We should grow our own rice and even wheat. There is enough fish and poultry in this country to stop importation of them just to name a few. We look better in our Kaftans, agbadas  babanrigas and other wares than in the totally unsuitable three piece suits in the humid tropics where we sweat and smell as a result of wrong dressing. This times call for campaign of patriotism and we need to begin now with the federal ministry of information leading the way and all of us following this struggle of a life time.

  • Bank directors advise CBN to discuss policies with banks

    Bank directors advise CBN to discuss policies with banks

    Bank directors have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to explore dialogue in addressing key policy issues that affect the industry.

    The new President of Bank Directors Association of Nigeria (BDAN), Sir Steve Omojafor, who disclosed this at the 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association in Lagos advocated for increased exchange of ideas between both parties on the introduction and implementation of policies to guarantee success of the industry.

    One of the CBN policies that have shaken the banking sector include plan to introduce flexible exchange rate with the intention to curb the rising volatility affecting the naira and foreign exchange reserves.

    Omojafor said BDAN, as the primary all-inclusive platform for all bank directors for both non-executive and executive directors, has a key role to play in getting banks to meet and review matters affecting the industry.

    Sir Omojafor, who is also a director of Zenith Bank Plc, used his address at the occasion to present the achievements of the Association during the 2015 financial year. According to him, the year was characterised by challenges and turbulence in the macro-economic and political environment: including the general elections, issues in the global economic environment, and the attendant CBN’s policies.

    These, he said, had varying impacts on the Nigerian banking industry, but BDAN was nevertheless able to record some remarkable successes in its operations.

    He said the CBN has also included BDAN on the list of ‘Competency Framework for Nigerian Banking Industry’ as a minimum qualification for non-executive directors.

    Another achievement highlighted by Sir Omojafor was the launching of the newly designed BDAN website, which is expected to serve in updating and providing useful information about the association and the banking industry to its members.

  • Ministers to explain policies before House of Reps

    Ministers to explain policies before House of Reps

    The House of Representatives has invited ministers to appear before its plenary sessions to defend the activities, it was learnt yesterday.

    They will be expected to present their agenda for the diversification of the economy.

    Minister for Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed will lead the first set of ministers to appear when he takes the first shot tomorrow before plenary.

    Mr. Turaki Hassan, spokesman of House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara said yesterday that the move forms part of the sectoral debate on the diversification of the economy aimed at crafting of new laws or amendment to existing ones or generate recommendations on how to address specific problems.

    Other minister expected to appear this week are Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture) Mr. Kemi Adeosun (Finance) and Kayode Fayemi (Solid Minerals).

    Hassan said: “The Speaker has approved the holding of the Sectoral Debates consistent with the Legislative Agenda of the House, Paragraph 7(ii)

    “The 8th House will introduce sectoral debates on various aspects of Nigerian economy as part of its legislative initiative to address national problems.

    “These sectoral debates will lead to the crafting of new laws or amendment to existing ones or generate recommendations on how to address the specific problem in question.

    “The House will designate specific legislative sitting days or weeks in its calendar specifically for discussion on various problems facing the nation. Such identified themes, sectors, areas or problems include employment and job creation, Health, Education and Social Services; Women, Youths and Children concerns; Power/Energy Sector, Oil and Gas, Science and Technology; Commerce and Industry; Transportation; Telecommunications; Agriculture; Mining; Manufacturing; Diversification of the Economy, Finance, Corruption, Security Matters, Infrastructure and other initiatives of urgent national importance.

    Modalities for carrying out the sectoral debates will be as approved by the House.”

    “It was also provided by Order XVI, Rule 3 (New Rule).

    “The House may engage in sectoral debates on issues of national importance as may be directed by the House or the Speaker.”

    “The Honourable Speaker has approved the scheduling of the first set of debates from 3rd May to 5th May, 2016 on ‘Diversification of the Economy: Real Sector Development’.

    “The Honourable Ministers of different Ministries concerned with this topic are to be scheduled to present their different perspectives, on the diversification of the economy”.

  • Policies to cushion oil price fall under way, says Kentebe

    Bracing for the challenges of falling oil prices, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has initiated steps to fashion out strategies to protect local capacities developed by oil and gas service companies in the past five years of implementing the Nigerian Content Act, its Executive Secretary, Mr. Denzil Kentebe, has said.

    He stated this at an event to mark the load out and sail away (taking the platform to the point of operations) of the Sonam non-associated gas wellhead platform (NWP) topside at the Nigerdock Yard on Snake Island, Lagos. The topside is for the Chevron/Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s Domestic Supply Obligation (DSO) gas project.

    Celebrating the feat by Nigerdock in fabricating the topside, which is the largest in Nigeria, weighing about 2,700 tons, Kentebe harped on the need to ensure that such achievements are sustained and the gains recorded not eroded as a result of the crash in oil prices and cutbacks on capital expenditures and projects.

    “While we celebrate the feats, we are mindful of the current economic environment, lull in business and threat to these capacities,” he said.

    Kentebe said the new strategies would require stakeholders to work together to see that new projects come on stream to sustain jobs and capacity in fabrication yards and other facilities. He added that the Federal Government was taking steps to bring stakeholders to the table to work out solutions to the challenge.

    Kentebe hailed the commitment of Nigerdock to the development of Nigerian Content, recalling that the company had recorded many firsts on several projects, including modules fabricated on USAN and Ofon for Total, Abang and Itut topsides for ExxonMobil and Meren and Sonam topsides for Chevron.

    He said: “The capacity has not only been sustained but increased over time. Thousands of Nigerians have continued to be employed and trained. Nigerian suppliers have also been built up on the back of these projects and activities.”

    An example is Wellmann Nigeria Limited, which has developed the capacity to load out heavy fabricated modules by investing in the acquisition and operation of Self Propelled Modular Trailers (SPMTs), he said.

    The Executive Secretary challenged other service providers to take a cue from Nigerdock and deliver quality and efficient service when given the opportunity, noting that every stakeholder has a part to play in making Nigerian Content work.

    Nigerdock Chairman, Mr. Anwar Jamarkani said there had been a dramatic increase in the capability of indigenous companies since the signing of the Nigerian Content Act in 2010.

    He said: “Many companies in Nigeria were inspired by the bold steps taken by Nigerdock and the Jagal Group.”

    Jamarkani said the company was ready to take on more ambitious projects, stressing that Nigeria must domesticate its work in-country to be able to develop, build its future and train its youths. He lamented that the lull in industry activities had taken a toll on the company, noting that it does not have job orders ahead of six months, a situation that is threatening the job security of the company’s 1000 employees.

    He charged regulators and operators to come up with initiatives to ensure that the enormous infrastructural and human capacity built up in the company and other service companies are not lost.

    “We are national assets and we are committed to the success of this government; we want more from Nigerian Content and we have to keep the engines of our companies running,” he added.

  • Union seeks implementation of workers-friendly policies

    The Leadership of Senior Staff Association of Communications Transport and CorporaFtion (SSACTAC) has urged federal and state governments to ensure the effective implementation of the government formulated policies geared towards improving the welfare and living conditions of the workers.

    Speaking to reporters in Abuja, the union’s National President, Comrade Mohammad Yunusa, said the government’s commitment to implementation of programmes would not only better the living conditions of the workers but all Nigerians.

    Yunusa said government has enormous goodwill from the Nigerian workers to achieve positive change for the betterment of the people.

    He also urged the government to reactivate the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for the training of young Nigerians in industrial entrepreneurship.

    The union’s boss said the training of the young Nigerians would boost the industrial sector of the nation’s economy, stressing that training is key to developing the right attitudes in the young Nigerians’ entrepreneurships.

    He added that the union is totally in support of the war against corruption and other societal ills currently being carried out by the government.

    He said government officials must make things happen by embarking on the right actions, create a system to expand the nation’s economy, stressing that the government invest upgrade industrial and commercial centres to international standards to justify the country’s role as a hub for commerce and industry in the West African sub-region.

    The union’s boss said its leadership would continue to give priority attention to the welfare of its members through meaningful dialogue with government officials at all levels.

  • Economic policies: Sosan counsels entrepreneurs

    Economic policies: Sosan counsels entrepreneurs

    Former Lagos State Deputy Governor  Sarah Sosan has called on entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to search for innovative ways of adapting their businesses and organisations to government policies no matter how unfriendly they seem.

    She said no government will intentionally hurt the growth of businesses in the name of policies, urging entrepreneurs to be on top of their game and apply themselves to the rules governing business operations.

    Speaking to The Nation in Lagos, she said although, the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Foreign Exchange (forex) policy that eliminated importers of 41 items from accessing forex through CBN window may on the face value seem inimical to the manufacturing sector due to attacks on the policy by members of the oraganised private sector, the policy is for the overall well-being of the economy.

    According to her, government, through the policy, seeks to protect local manufacturers against unhealthy competition from imported goods. She insisted that the end of the current economic pain will justify the means, which will ultimately grow local capacity and encourage value addition in the manufacturing process.

    Sosan, however, decried the free fall of the naira against the United States dollar. She, therefore, threw her weight behind every effort of government to shore up the value of the naira.

    The former deputy governor urged government to step up efforts on job creation, insisting that engaging the youth remains the panacea to restiveness and security challenges facing the country.

    Speaking on the success of the just concluded International Trade Fair organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the increased interest by overseas participants, Mrs. Sosan said the heightened interest in the fair may be attributed to the renewed confidence on the economy.

    The just-concluded fair with the theme: “Enhancing Value Addition in the Non-oil Economy”, China, Egypt, Japan, Ghana, India, European Union, Indonesia and Pakistan, with an average of 500,000 visitors daily.

    Sosan stressed that what the economy lost in the 2014 fair as a result of the outbreak of Ebola virus that discouraged exhibitors from Europe and Asia was recovered this year with the huge presence of exhibitors from overseas countries with products and services that will impact positively on the economy.

    She said the current administration has brought in sterling qualities in the management of the economy with fiscal and monetary reforms poised at driving economic growth. She expressed optimism that the new ministers will drive policies that will encourage local entrepreneurs, the non-oil economy and export trade.

  • Soludo knocks Buhari’s economic policies

    Soludo knocks Buhari’s economic policies

    The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo yesterday came down hard on key economic policies of the Federal Government, saying their implementation won’t take the economy to its destination.

    He says the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the CBN’s foreign exchange (forex) policy, and bailout funds for state governments are all in bad taste. He also believes that the removal of fuel subsidy should be done immediately and that capital controls policy of the apex bank is chasing away investors.

    The ex-CBN boss who spoke on the theme: ‘It’s the Nigerian Economy, Stupid” at the third anniversary lecture of Realnews held in Lagos, said the CBN’s forex policies are not in the best interest of the economy, arguing that fixed exchange rate is a disincentive to investors.

    Soludo says the politics of naira devaluation and CBN’s promotion of fixed exchange rate is not good for the economy. He said Nigeria is currently facing trade shock.

    “The economy has always done worse in fixed exchange rate regime. Capital will fly out. Such policies do more harm than good. Capital flight in a country that is in dire need of capital is bad. Private capital is on the run,” Soludo said.

    He believes forex restrictions on the import of 41 items by the apex bank is a mismatch and is causing the economy to go down.

    “What is going on in the capital market is not an accident. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) suffer the most. You must have an exchange rate regime that overvalues or undervalues the local currency. No economy has succeeded with overvalued exchange rate”.

    Soludo said: “In my five years at the CBN, we maintained undervalued real effective exchange rate. Delayed adjustment of the naira value is dangerous because investors don’t wait”.

    He said the forex policy of the CBN has triggered massive lobbying for the greenback. “Lobbying for forex is the new trend now. Why must people get forex to pay for school fees, medical bills and mortgages abroad. Such expenses cost the economy billions of dollars and are creating briefcase millionaires. It is creating instant millionaires,” he said.

    He also condemned capital control policy of the CBN, saying it does nothing good to the reserves. “CBN thinks capital control saves reserves. But that is not true. Capital flow works on reverse psychology. If you make it so difficult for investors to take out their money, it will be difficult for them to invest,” he said.

    He said the philosophy that condemns importation of goods that can be produced locally is not right, saying such position will reduce trade among nations.

    He challenged the CBN to explain why it pegged the naira at N197 to a dollar, saying it was wrong to arbitrary pick numbers. “The policy will continue to make a bad situation worse. The forex policy will complicate issues,” he said.

    Soludo called on the government to quickly remove fuel subsidy before it is too late. “If government does not deal with fuel subsidy removal now, I don’t know when he can do that. It is a waste that should be checked. Government should come up with credible agenda on fuel subsidy. It should have been done yesterday,” he said.

    He faulted the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), saying it does not add positive value to an economy that is in urgent need for re-fueling. For him, TSA is not sound economics.

    He advised that government adopt a hub and spoke strategy, where the CBN acts as the hub and banks act as spoke in galvanizing to the economy.

    However, he admitted that the CBN cannot do much without the collaboration of the Presidency. “The market will react if investors find out that the Presidency controls the CBN. There should be independence of the CBN,” he said.

     

    Speaking further, he said CBN’s bailout fund to states was a mistake that should not be repeated arguing that the Fiscal Responsibility Act should be implemented to fully. Soludo said a sitting governor can decide to bankrupt his successor and will be applauded at the moment. It is the next government that feels the pain of the bailout fund. “We must watch the balance sheet of the CB and banks very carefully,” he said.

    The former CBN boss said the proposed N5, 000 welfare package for the unemployed is a good idea, but not for this time. He explained that although promises have been made, the welfare payment cannot be sustained, unless government wants to overtax the private sector. “Corporate taxes should go down. This is not a good time to raise taxes,” he said.

    He said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government bequeathed on the nation, a failed state and was consistently living in denial.

    Soludo said said he supported President Mohammadu Buhari over former President Goodluck Jonathan because he was convinced the previous economic team was bankrupting the economy.

    He believes President Buhari seriously desired the job and worked very hard to get it. He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) government is hungry to deliver dividends of democracy to the people. On People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the former CBN boss said the party had grown and was taking power for granted.

    “I strongly support the new cabinet. His team believes in the vision and mission of the party and is likely to give no excuses. The Vice President should be the co-ordinating minister for the economy even as I strongly believe that President Buhari wants to rebuild institutions. The question is: Can a new Buharinomics save Nigeria? he asked.

    He said the fundamental challenge of APC is that it is standing on a stronger base than PDP 16 years ago.

    He however applauded PDP for some of its achievements in the last 16 years. “Under PDP, the size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) doubled within 12 years, with the economy growing at over six per cent per annum to $550 billion.

    Soludo said the GDP handed over to the APC should be doubled to in the next eight years as such would help to reduce poverty.

    He said the last PDP government left only $30 billion in foreign reserves, instead of estimated $100 billion based on the level of revenues that accrued to government coffers in the last five years of the administration. He said the current government must succeed and that failure is not an option.

  • NSITF urges harmonised social security policies

    The Federal Government has been urged to harmonise and coordinate the social security programmes in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

    The General Manager and Head of Social Security, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr. Ismail Agaka, who spoke in Abuja on the challenges of implementing social security initiatives, explained that though the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity is charged with regulating implementation of social security, it has not been empowered to carry out the function.

    According to him, Nigeria does not have a structured social security system, hence, the need to urgently address it.

    “What Nigeria has are various social security programmes that are simultaneously implemented in at least nine MDAs. Therefore, the lack of synergy is really affecting the implementation of these programmes. Nigeria does not have a national policy on social security,” he said.

    Agaka noted that the last attempt at having a national social security policy was the Gowon Committee report. The committee, he said, submitted a report but several years after, there is no white paper published to enable legislation on the recommendations of the committee report. He, therefore, said there is an urgent need for a national social policy.

  • MAN prays Buhari for policies to grow manufacturing sector

    The Chairman, Ikeja Branch, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, (MAN), Prince Felix Oba Okoje, has said the manufacturing sector will  flourish if there are good policies, to support manufacturing.

    He therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to put long-term policies in place, adding that manufacturing cannot thrive with short term planning. “Manufacturing should be at the forefront of the economy, with a consistent, tested and lasting policy. Until we learn to do that, the sector and the economy will remain as it is now,” he said.

    Okoje said the problems facing the manufacturing sector in the country go beyond power supply. According to him, the situation in the sector has become so critical because of the harsh operating environment. Therefore, he said, operators in the sector now have to come up with good initiative to be creative and also to study the intricacies of market via the intuition of supply and demand.

    He identified the industry’s challenges to include double digit interest rate, rising cost of foreign exchange as the naira continue to depreciate against major currencies of the world, among others.

    Okoje regrets that the unpalatable experience of the sector in the area of electricity supply is now panning out in that of gas supply to the sector. This, he explained, is because the gas suppliers or the franchise owners, at the moment have the absolute monopoly.

    To ameliorate the sufferings, the former President Goodluck Jonathan, in 2010, was said to have set up a committee to deliberate on a national gas plan. This plan, Okoje believed, would have brought about the diversification of gas supplies and other associated issues by putting infrastructure in place. However, the outcome of the committee’s deliberations cumulated into a national gas price which was a little bit higher than any other price that existed around that time. Under the arrangement, he said each year, there would be some percentage increase, such that at the end of last year, manufacturers were paying between N38 and N40; a price regime he said was reluctantly accepted because it was meant to be used for four years. Today, manufacturers are being asked to pay N50 and N60 per cubit of gas, he lamented.

    He asked rhetorically: “How can we pay that? Why do they want to price Nigerian manufacturers out of market? Where is that done?”