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Tag: policy

  • Okorocha: govt won’t enforce three working days’ policy

    Okorocha: govt won’t enforce three working days’ policy

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has said public servants should not be forced to comply with his administration’s new policy on agriculture, which mandates them to work for only three days – from Monday to Wednesday.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the governor said his administration had concluded that “since the policy is a popular one and in the overall interest of the public servants and, indeed the state, there is, therefore, no point using force to make them comply”.

    The statement said public servants were free to comply with the Back to Land for Agriculture programme, which reduced working days from five to three.

    It added that this would enable them to participate in agriculture, promote farming and boost the state’s and individual family’s economies.

    Okorocha said his administration would provide agricultural loans to workers and identification cards to participation of the programme, in line with the new policy.

    He said: “The new policy will not affect the salaries of workers. Rather, at the end of the payment of the June and July salaries, which is already in progress, the salaries of Imo workers would begin to be paid between 20th and 26th of every month.

    “In view of the new policy on working days, the permanent secretaries would, as a matter of compulsion, have departmental briefings between 7.30 a.m and 8 a.m each day, while the list of civil servants in the state will be published, with about 3,000 civil servants, also to be recruited, to replace those who have retired over the years”.

    The governor said he expected labour leaders to support his administration’s Agricultural programme and even encourage the public servants to use the opportunity the new policy offered to improve workers’ welfare “instead of sounding as if there is something to quarrel about over the policy”.

  • NUPENG seeks govt policy on kerosene

    NUPENG seeks govt policy on kerosene

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the Federal Government to unveil its policy on kerosene.

    NUPENG Southwest Chairman,  Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, who made the appeal in an interview with the The Nation in Lagos, said the product has become unaffordable.

    He said while the government deregulated diesel and petrol, there was no clear policy on kerosene. This has led to the high cost of the product – a litre sells for as high as N240 at most filling stations.

    Korodo noted that many filling stations, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Stations in Lagos, did not have the product, forcing the masses to buy from independent marketers

    “Kerosene has not been deregulated, according to the Federal Government policy on the product.

    “Part of the excuse given to us is  the hostility in the Niger Delta, which reduces the quantity of the products given to refineries.”

    “The increase in the price of kerosene has also triggered up price of gas which is now between N4,000 and N4,300.

    “Kerosene is the only product that is accessible to rural and urban women and government needs to explain to us why the product is more expensive than diesel and petrol now.

    “For kerosene to be sold for more than N200 at pump price is uncalled for and the government should look inward and address it urgently,’’ he said.

    The Federal Government on January 19, increased the pump price of kerosene from N50 per litre to N83 per litre.

  • Communication as tool in policy marketing

    Communication as tool in policy marketing

    Over the years, governments have executed policies without  engaging the people to get their support. Stakeholders in the marketing communications industry say for government policies to enjoy more support, factors, such as experiential marketing, community engagement and others, are critical, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Experiential marketing, citizen engagement and community relations have been described as one effective way of engaging Nigerians and market government policies.

    This was the highlight at the Third Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) in Abuja.

    Its President, Dr. Rotimi Olaniyan, who delivered a paper titled: Building Nigeria through meaningful Experiences: The role of experiential marketing in citizen engagement and the marketing of government policy, said the relationship between experiential marketing, citizen engagement and community relations has some dimensions when using it to communicate government policies.

    “First of all, these concepts require the existence of people. They involve efforts, and activities aimed at engaging people, and they also seek to ensure positive relationships with people. For experiential marketing, it is a form of marketing that requires a good strategy for it to be as effective as intended by those undertaking it. Like many marketing campaigns, there is an underlying strategy guiding it to achieve its objectives and aims,” he said.

    Olaniyan also noted that community relations can serve as a strategy for experiential marketing. “For example, in Casanare, Colombia, where it is developing oil interests, British Petroleum invests in community activities that support the business plan and contribute to the region’s development. In 1996, the company committed $10 million to the region, setting up a loan fund for entrepreneurs, giving students technical training, supporting a centre for pregnant women and nursing mothers, working on reforestation, building aqueducts and helping to create jobs outside the oil industry,” he said.

    He said EXMAN is ready to help government put these strategies into use and create a strong understanding of government policies among the citizens.

    “We offer the opportunity for government to receive immediate feedback from citizens on the effects of public policies and projects. The association has healthy relationships with most communities across the country, thanks to many years of brand activations and engagements within these communities,” he added.

    According to him, having feedback is important for adjustments on public policies and projects to be made.

    Former Director-General, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, who was the guest speaker at the event, said both concepts focus on engaging people.

    “Experiential marketing seeks to create experiences that are pleasurable and meaningful for consumers while community relations involves activities that help establish and maintain positive relationships with people in a certain community,” he said.

    Amadi, who faulted the failure of government reforms on lack of adequate communication, said since 1980, the Federal Government undertook several reforms and policies but many of them ended on the shelf because of inadequate communications.

    He said proper communication, which he called awareness, could help in marketing government policies.

    Stakeholders, however, urged the government to tap into the capacity of the current experiential marketing agencies to leverage their policies.

    “Given the worth of the experiential marketing industry in Nigeria and the capacity of its key players most of whom are active members of the EXMAN, it is fair to state that the industry contributes massively to the economy of the country and so cannot be ignored much longer,” former EXMAN President, Kayode Olagesin, said.

    Meanwhile, the association has launched Certified Brand Ambassador Programme and unveiled the association first newsletter. The programme, which seeks to protect and reward non-staff of the agencies that form greater part of the workforce, kicked off immediately after launch in Abuja.

  • Tenure policy and future of Nigeria’s civil service

    Recently, the news about the tenure policy in the federal civil service silently burst into the public sphere, and rather silently seems to have fizzled out like most significant issues that concern the progress of the Nigerian state. I however consider the issue one of rather immense significance, especially to the reform and transformation of the civil service in Nigeria, and so deserving of protracted debate and discussion that affects policy about how the civil service can perform and hence fulfil its mandate as a cornerstone of national development. My concern with this issue is, of course, not far-fetched. I have been a civil servant all my life; and my brief revolved around the reform of the civil service system in a way that backstopped Nigeria’s burgeoning democratic governance. For me, therefore, what is at issue is not the appropriateness of removing or retaining the tenure policy, but rather situating it within the overall well-being and performance capacity of the civil service.

    There are so many things that are wrong with the Nigerian state. And the civil service system is one of the focal point of the inability to transit into a developmental state with the capacity to empower its citizens in terms of a democratic service delivery that concretises democratic dividends. And the civil service system in Nigeria has been the focus of more than six decades of active reforms that targets almost every dimension of its operational modalities, from wages to staffing. Yet, these reforms have had ambivalent effect on the progress of the system. Let us cite one cogent instance. By the time the massive purge of the civil service by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime was completed in 1975, the system had been so eroded that civil service professionalism was effectively compromised, and the critical performance that would capacitate the system was effectively lost. It was therefore most appropriate that the Phillips Report, which undergirded the Civil Service Reform of 1988, would essentially be concerned with restoring and enhancing professionalism and performance. Unfortunately, this report politicised rather than professionalised the civil service elite corp. The wastage which ensued from this politicisation was the result of making permanent secretaries political appointees who mark time on a position for as long as the lifetime of the government which appointed them, and effectively ensured the erosion of cooperation and motivation.

    When the tenure policy was established under the Yar’Adua government, one positive purpose it served was as a check against systemic demotivation to career progression officers who have always been in the Federal Service. No one civil servant would have the opportunity of sitting at the helms of affair in a ministry until s/he attained to managerial level through rigorous pipelining and tested career progression. The reversal of this policy simply demonstrates the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which politics oftentimes trump policy and reform in Nigeria. I doubt if anyone would be able to seriously fault its significance as a plank in any effort to take the civil service, and especially its senior level cadre, to the next level in terms of productivity and performance.

    Let us put the discourse in a new light. The tenure policy is not a stand-alone administrative policy; it does not exist or cease to exist for its own sake. On the contrary, its effectiveness or lack of it, in global administrative best practices, it tied to its specific function in the performance record of the civil service. All across the globe, from USA and the UK to the Netherlands and France, the tenure policy issue goes beyond the career progression of the civil servants; it has often been tied to the urgency of achieving a result-oriented civil service that is lean, economical, effective and efficient. Countries which have confronted the tenure issue have done so, therefore, within the context of a larger smart practice which performance management imperative actualized through the deployment of numerous human resources toolkits like flexible employment policies and performance accountability systems that draw any civil service into the service mandate of producing tangible results.

    When Nigeria lost the golden opportunity presented by the Udoji Report of 1974, the Nigerian civil service system has been in a race against time to constitute the civil service into a policy implementation hub that efficiently delivers development outcomes through the effective circumvention of the policy execution trap which choke visions, development plans and policy outcomes. Since 1974, in other words, the civil service system has failed to achieve a shift from a system which manages input processes to one which supervises output outcomes. Mr. Oronsaye cannot be blamed for his valiant effort at laying the foundation of the tenure policy. The real issue is why successive heads of services have failed to deepen the administrative implications of that policy as a performance game changer which not only tenure civil servants but ask for price of the tenure in terms of accountability for results and outcomes within the context of rigorous and continuous annual assessment metrics. With the politicisation of the issue, and its eventual reversal, it becomes clear that we have on our hand a case of the system protecting its own top management in a manner that precludes accountability and results.

    The tenure policy must be placed within the larger issue of cost of governance and the overbloatedness of the civil service in Nigeria. The reality in the civil service today is not only the existence of many deadwoods and ghost workers who shoot up the overheads of the service. This reality is complicated by the fact that government pay through its nose for the outsourced services of policy consultants and analysts. There is also the obscene surplus of special/personal assistants and special advisers as well as the frameworks of over-reliance on technical assistance from development agencies. All these have become the unfortunate dynamics by which the civil service cope with its own deficiencies, compromised by skills deficits, nepotism, lack of any re-professionalisation programmes that bring the civil servants up to date on current administrative skills, and wrongheaded industrial actions.

    The civil service in Nigeria has a tough choice to make between remaining a lumbering bureaucratic contraption that circumvents Nigeria’s democratic governance and a lean, efficient and professional system girded around by values and procedures that compel performance and results. This is the dilemma that the adoption or reversal of the tenure policy places on us. While the objective of the civil service, according to the National Strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) is fast moving, intelligent, professional, information-rich, flexible, adaptable and entrepreneurial world class civil service that is performance-focused, accountable and capable of creating the policy climate that will instigate a new productivity paradigm in the national economy, there are obviously many options that could take Nigeria to this objective. One of these numerous options is the concept of the Senior Executive Service (SES). This refers to a small, professional, non-political career civil service that would not only enjoy career protection, but would also enjoy a compensation package that serves as adequate incentive, especially in the face of private sector recruitment.

    But the task of the SES goes beyond being retained in the public service. Specifically, it constitutes the nucleus of reflective innovation, leadership core and skills repository of the civil service. It is around the SES that the reform of the civil service can be achieved. Those recruited into this top echelon will be distinguished by a different pay package which is inevitably tied to a performance contract scheme. Thus, the SES is more about administrative leadership, performance outcomes and accountability than about security of tenure. More significantly, the SES option ensures that the civil service system is constantly kept in check within the purview of the administrative requirements of the knowledge society and its reform imperatives. The Senior Executive Service becomes critical in its mandate to increase the intelligence quotient of the civil service at the strategic, tactical and operational levels.

    According to the French ecclesiastic, Cardinal de Retz, “Nothing indicates the soundness of a man’s judgment so much as knowing how to choose between two disadvantages.” The present administration is faced with the weight of public opinions on the rightness of removing the tenure policy or not. The way out, I submit, is to insert the retention of the tenure policy within a larger framework that not only allows the civil service to press its top management into performance management, but also gives the civil service system a firmer footing within the comprehensive change agenda of the government. Tenure by itself makes no sense except within the context of how it facilitates the performance of the system. Or fails to do so.

  • Manufacturing loses over N300b to forex policy

    Manufacturing loses over N300b to forex policy

    Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Vice President Mrs. Stella Okoli has said the sector lost over N300 billion to the distress in the economy, accentuated by the foreign exchange (forex) policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Mrs Okoli, who explained that though she was not privy to the method used in computing the loss, a critical look at the sector would reveal that more than N300 billion had actually been lost.

    Her position is based on the forex rate when compared to what it was about seven months ago.

    “When you really look at it, you will find out that more than the N300 billion has been lost because we (manufacturers) bought foreign exchange (forex) last year between N170 and N200, but now technically, we are buying it for N350. This is because with the new forex policy, manufacturers have to wait for a certain period of time to be able to get forex allocation from government,” Mrs Okoli said. The earliest allocation of forex to some manufacturers would mature by July 22, whereas some of the commitments made to their suppliers have not yet been redeemed, she said.

    Shedding more light on manufacturers’woes, Mrs. Okoli, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Emzor Pharmaceuticals, explained that those that placed orders for raw materials at the old exchange rate and hadn’t paid for them because they didn’t have access to forex at the time, are now worse off as they must redeem the payment and commitment to their suppliers at a higher cost now given the current rate.

    “So, we have lost and people have scaled down operation; while some others have closed shop. We lost through forex; interest rate and manpower and though it causes us so much to produce, but we can’t pass on the extra cost to consumers because they will complain,” she said.

    But irrespective of this development, Okoli says there is a very bright future for the sector. Her conviction is derived on the belief that the government is not going to neglect the manufacturing industry.

    “The government had made it clear that they are going to support manufacturing and we will believe them, it’s just that maybe they need more time, but we cannot get worse than we are now. So, the future is very bright because without manufacturing we are dead,” Okoli added.

  • Union praises govt on auto policy

    The Automobile, Boatyards, Transport, Equipment and Allied Senior Staff Association (AUTOBATE), has praised the Federal Government for its affirmative position and endorsement of automotive policy made known by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

    The union said in a press statement by  its National President, Comrade Sola Olorunfemi, that  it is particularly elated that the endorsement vindicated its earlier position that the auto policy must be fully implemented in order to boost local production and create more jobs. The essence of a real change seeking economy is human development and this is one precise way to correctly demonstrate industrial growth, it said.

    “AUTOBATE firmly believes that the auto policy should only be progressively reviewed. The Federal Government should continue with its promise to working to engage banks and other financiers to act as technical partners both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria to provide funding for operators.

    “It is also a right step that the Federal Government is planning to “leverage technology to fight smuggling of used cars across the border.”

    He, however, urged the Federal Government to move further by directly investing in the industry and making history with a public-sector auto company that will earmark us as real local producer of automobile. This, according to him, will widen public profit and create much more massive employment.

    “AUTOBATE congratulates auto stakeholders for agreeing with our viewpoint rather than continual preference for a second hand industry. We hereby urge all auto companies to treat workers’ welfare as utmost, and stop the recent redundancy. There is no excuse anymore,” he said.

  • Dangote: we lost N50b to ‘flexible exchange’ policy

    Dangote: we lost N50b to ‘flexible exchange’ policy

    Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote said at the weekend that his company lost N50 billion to the flexible foreign exchange policy.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week scrapped the dual exchange rate policy, creating a single window for the trade in naira.

    Dangote spoke when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo toured the project sites of Dangote Fertiliser and Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.

    Dangote said the $161 million his companies bought during that period from the CBN merely reflected the size of his business and did not represent preferential treatment.

    “We have been badly affected like any other company,” he said, arguing that operational costs totalled $100 million each month due to recurring expenses, such as the purchase of parts for cement production and running a fleet of 9,000 trucks.

    “When you are talking about 20 billion dollars worth of projects, what is 161 million? One-hundred-and-sixty-one million dollars is what I need in just six weeks,” he said.

    “This week (last week), the Central Bank removed the peg that has held the naira at the official rate of 197 for the last 16 months, leading to a 30 per cent devaluation as the currency traded freely on the interbank market.”

    Dangote said the decline had pushed up costs. “This devaluation alone, we have lost over 50 billion naira ($176 million),” he said.

    “The gas, which is our main source of power, is priced in dollars. If there is 40 per cent devaluation, your price will go up by 40 per cent. Every single aspect of the production will go up by that percentage,” he said.

    To Osinbajo, the Dangote Fertiliser and Petrochemical projects are capable of assisting in the government’s drive to reduce poverty through generation of foreign exchange.

    He said it was also in line with the Federal Government’s immediate objective of diversifying the economic base of the country as a result of the plummeting of the price of oil, the country’s sole foreign exchange earner.

    Osinbajo was accompanied during the working visit to the Dangote Refinery, Petrochemicals and fertilisers, reputed to be the biggest in Africa when completed, by Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Ministers of Finance (Mrs Kemi Adeosun); Power, Works and Housing (Babatunde Fashola); Solid Minerals Development (Kayode Fayemi) and others. He was amazed at the size of the projects and reiterated the government’s preparedness to provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

    Dangote said the diversification of Nigeria’s economy was long overdue and that one sector that the government can focuses on is agriculture.

    He said his investment in fertilizer production was a sure way the diversification into agriculture could succeed because according to him, it will amount to little if focus is directed to agriculture and fertilisers would be imported.

    “By the time we complete this project, there will be opportunity to take on agriculture and say bye to poverty, because there will be jobs, no sector has more job potential than agriculture,” Dangote added.

    Dangote told the Vice-President that the $12 billion refinery would have a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day. According to him, there will be market for the refined products because only three African countries – South Africa, Egypt and Cote D Ivoire – have functioning refineries.

    On the project, he said: “Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019.”

    The refinery, petrochemicals and fertiliser in one spot according to Dangote, is the single largest stream in the world. “This site is the biggest site in the world, the refinery is the biggest single refinery in the world, the petrochemicals is 13 times bigger than Eleme petrochemicals while the fertiliser plant will be 10 times bigger than former National Fertiliser company. The project, with the  $2 billion fertiliser unit  was the funded through loans, export credit agencies and our own equity, Dangote said.

  • Forex policy ‘ll save real sector, says MAN

    Forex policy ‘ll save real sector, says MAN

    Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Vice President Alhaji Ali Madugu has hailed the new foreign exchange (forex) policy, describing it as the “much needed intervention” to save the manufacturing sector.

    Madugu, in a telephone chat with The Nation from Saudi Arabia, he said the new forex policy is the only way manufacturers can access forex for their raw materials, spare parts and machines.

    Although he agreed that the policy translates to an indirect devaluation of the naira, he argued that the initiative will make the real sector to survive even with a very poor margin.

    According to the MAN chief, the policy presents an opportunity for every sector of the economy to redefine itself, even as he maintained that the policy presents an avenue for the country to find her way out of the economic crunch.

    He, however, cautioned that unless Nigerians are able to substitute their dependence on imports, develop local raw materials and patronise locally made products, the naira will continue to lose its value.

    He said the desired impact of the policy on the economy could only be felt if it is made sustainable. This, he explained, would mean that government should ensure that the dollar influx into the country can be improved on and maintained.

    Similarly, a former Vice president, African Development Bank (AfDB), Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, agreed with Madugu’s submission. According to him, the sustainability of the forex regime will depend on the initial inflow of forex into the market- as this will to a large extent determine its success or otherwise. This, he added, will also be dependent on the availability of the dollar in the market.

    “I am convinced that in the next few weeks, the positive impact of the budget will set in and will further help the forex regime to attain stability and probably shore up the strength of the local currency sooner that we think,” Ogunjobi said.

  • LCCI renews call for CBN’s exclusion policy review

    LCCI renews call for CBN’s exclusion policy review

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has renewed calls on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its policy shutting out 41 items from accessing foreign exchange (forex) from its official window.

    Its Director-General, Muda Yusuf said many of the items on the list are inputs for manufacturers, lamenting that this has continued to have negative impacts on the real sector.

    He told The Nation that the exclusion has led to considerable job loss in industries, the distributive trade sector, as well as the maritime sector, adding that the policy has led to considerable loss of customs revenue.

    He warned that if the CBN fails to retrace its step on this policy, the phenomenon of smuggling would be aggravated for some of the excluded items.

    However, Yusuf commended the new forex policy, stating that the Organised Private Sector (OPS) had consistently canvassed this position over the last 18 months.

    He said the OPS is expecting improved liquidity in the forex market, significant improvement in the allocative efficiency of forex and improved investor confidence.

    Yusuf maintained that the new policy will enhance the supply of forex to the market from capital importation, export proceeds and diaspora remittances.

    He said the policy will also moderate the exchange rate in future as the supply of forex improves.

    He said: “The policy is a major incentive to exporters as they will have unfettered access to their export proceeds. Besides the federation account will benefit from better revenue inflows from the CBN as sale of subsidised forex comes to an end.”

    Investors, local businesses and international lenders had called for a devaluation of the naira long before now but the government insisted that devaluation is not an option. This is in the face of strong reasons for devaluation, though observers knew that it was just a matter of time before the government will cave in due to the stark realities of the challenges of a mono economy and the paucity of forex reserve for businesses.

    Head of Trade & Economics at the European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, Mr. Fillippo Amato commended the policy and stated that it has the potential to attract huge investments into the economy. He said prospective foreign investors who have been holding on to their funds will be impressed with the new policy and will have no choice but to invest as market forces will determine the real value of the naira.

    Emerging Market Specialist at UBS Wealth Management in Zurich, Jonas David said: “It is positive, it is a more credible and flexible exchange rate regime in the long-run; you will see an external rebalancing of the economy, a fiscal adjustment and so on.”

    He however, warned that in the near future, things will get worse before they get better.

    A slide into recession after the economy shrank in the first quarter of the year and a fresh spike in inflation are among issues investors will want to wait out, said David, together with confirmation that the new regime is functioning properly, he added.

  • ‘What flexible forex policy means to manufacturers, investors’

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) decision to adopt  flexible foreign  exchange (forex) rate  has been long-awaited by local and international investors, analyst at Eczellon Capital Limited, Mustapha Suberu, said yesterday.

    According to him, the policy allows only one single market structure where rates are determined by market forces, adding that it is expected to boost investors’ confidence and get more dollars into the system.

    The policy, which was unveiled yesterday by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, would not only increase the volume of dollar in the system, but give government the desired confidence to approach the issue of $1 billion Eurobonds in August.

    Explaining what the new policy entails, Suberu said the interbank market will from Monday, become the only market where rates for the naira and dollar would be determined. He said the naira three-month forward rate currently trades at N333 to dollar, and that the rate to be adopted would not be too far from the forward rate.

    Going forward, he said the naira/dollar rate would be determined by the forces of demand and supply, adding that the policy would help government source debt from the international market because investors would be more confident about the state of the local currency against the dollar.

    Suberu said the manufacturing sector would no longer access forex at the official rate, a practice that would likely raise the prices of goods.

    Also, Nigeria is expected to source for more foreign loans  to take advantage of lower interest rates and allow local banks to lend to small businesses.

    The Federal Government said it wants to switch its debt mix so that 40 per cent of loans would come from abroad, compared with 16 per cent that obtains now, and extend its debt maturity profile.

    It plans to borrow as much as $10 billion from debt markets, with about half of that coming from foreign sources, to help fund a budget deficit worsened by the slump in oil prices that has slashed revenues and weakened the currency.

    President, Association of Bureau De  Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu  Gwadabe,  said the policy  is skewed in favour of only a few operators in the forex market. “To me, instead of deepening the market, the policy will lead to further shrinking in the volume of dollar available in the market,” he said.