The Nation Newspaper

Tag: proposals

  • 2018 budget proposals

    Given the delay in implementing the 2017 budget, it was good a thing President Buhari last week presented his 2018 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly. The early presentation is to allow reasonable time for the legislature to do its work and ensure timely approval.

    As usual, Nigerians were treated to the annual ritual of jaw-breaking figures of government’s projected revenue accruals and expenditure within that time frame. Tagged Budget of Consolidation because it is envisaged to consolidate on the gains of previous budgets, its overall outlay was N8.6trillion, representing an increase of 16 per cent from the 2017 budget estimate.

    The president took considerable time to remind the nation of the gains his administration has so far recorded even as he raised hopes of a prosperous future. He talked of the managerial dexterity of his economic team that culminated in the exit of the country from economic recession and measures in place to avert a relapse. It sounded as a budget of hope in view of the numerous promises to make life more bearable for the citizenry.

    But as he read out his programme for the coming year, what must have struck the citizenry is the future the high sounding financial figures hold for the teeming army of the toiling and suffering people. This is more so given the inability of the 2017 budget to impact positively on the overall living standards of the people.

    And for a people under severe hardship occasioned by biting inflation, debilitating level of unemployment and intolerable poverty in the face of massive official corruption, the main concern is how the trillions and billions will put food on their family tables. That is their parameter for assessing the success or otherwise of every budget. Else the trillions and billions would seem the similitude of a tale; full of sound and fury but practically signifying nothing.

    With a capital budget performance of less than 30 per cent in the 2017 budget year, there are fears that if the current proposals go the same way, the conditions of our people may be worse off.  In fact, President Buhari himself captured this dilemma very succinctly when he promised in the current budget speech that he envisages that by December, disbursement of the 2017 budget would have peaked by 50 per cent. That in itself is a tacit admission that the previous budget had a less than average performance. December is a few weeks away. And one begins to wonder the kind of difference that will be made in so short a time.

    So what gains are we really consolidating with such low level implementation of previous year’s budget? Expectedly, there has been apprehension regarding the capacity of the government to implement this year’s budget approvals to the letter even as indications are that some of the capital projects for the previous year will be rolled over to the current year.

    Perhaps, the biggest innovation in the current appropriation bill is that out of the total revenue projections, N4.165 trillion is expected to be generated from non-oil and other revenue sources while N2.442 trillion will come from oil and gas. That sounds ambitious and a sharp departure from previous experiences given that oil and gas had been the major source of foreign exchange earnings for the funding of our development projects. Ironically, our budget implementation had suffered the vicissitudes of oil price fluctuations in the international market.

    By the new policy thrust, the government seeks to demonstrate its commitment to diversify the revenue base away from the mono-cultural economy. It seeks to make the point that we can go beyond mouthing the imperative of diversification by taking practical steps to give effect to it. That is the way to go. However, it is not clear the projections that gave the government the comfort of mind that non-oil revenue will play such significant role in the funding of the 2018 budget.

    The president is banking on the agricultural sector where he said a lot of progress has been made in many states. The solid mineral development sector is another area especially given on-going work in Ondo State to fully exploit bitumen resources to meet the nation’s domestic need of 600,000 MTS of asphalt import.

    With the full exploitation of our domestic production of asphalt, monies hitherto expended in the importation of the commodity will be deployed to fund the budget. That sounds very promising. Whether this is achievable within the budget time frame either in part or whole is another kettle of fish.

    Since we have no idea of our current local capacity for bitumen, projections that all of our domestic needs would come from the engagement in Ondo next year would appear a tall order. If we had the privilege of the percentage contribution of locally sourced bitumen to our domestic needs presently, it would have formed the basis for hope of self-sufficiency in it next year.

    The other area the government places much premium on in its non-oil revenue drive is taxes. It intends to step up efforts to ensure that all taxable Nigerians declare their incomes from all sources and remit due taxes to the appropriate authorities. Other taxes from which the government intends to fund the budget include Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax and Customs and Excise receipts among others.

    But the overall burden of funding the budget projections will fall back on the people who bear the brunt of these taxes. So the year under focus is bound to witness more aggressive tax drive in a milieu where a majority of the citizens, including the wealthy deliberately evade tax payment. With an efficient tax collection system in place, the government is bound to make more revenue. But it will impact very adversely on the ordinarily people who will ultimately shoulder the burden as it will eventually translate into higher prices for goods and services.

    When this is paired with the directive by the government banning all forms of employment in government ministries, departments and agencies the gloom picture becomes more glaring. For a country buffeted by debilitating unemployment especially among the youths, it is curious the government intends to shut down every window to give direct job to the unemployed. It claims the policy is designed to cut down personnel overhead which is already considered high. That may well be. But government as a social contract; has a bounden duty to provide job for its citizens. Whatever policies and innovations it espouses, whatever future Eldorado it intends to build, must factor in the overall survival of the people for it to make a success. After all, these policies are for the living and not the dead. So the people must as a matter of necessity live before they can savour the benefits of such policies.

    The real issue is not as much with the number of those in government employ as with the mismanagement of our collective patrimony. If the trillions and billions that are wrongly in private hands (courtesy of the festering corruption), are available to a visionary leadership, we would have by now invested heavily in social infrastructure such that would have had a major leap on employment generation. But that has failed to happen and the masses are being made to suffer the serial failures of governments’ overtime.

    Even then, with regular incidence of ghost workers in governments, subsisting statistics on total personnel outlay may not be fool-proof. We are privy to disclosures of huge amounts of government monies (federal and states) paid to the so-called ghost workers. If the government further scrutinizes its payroll, it may discover to its chagrin that it may have been misled by fictitious staff data into shutting down all employment windows.

    Overall, the effectiveness of a budget hinges on its capacity to improve the general wellbeing of the people. President Buhari must give a human face to implementation of the 2018 budget. Banning employment in the face of spiralling and suffocating youth unemployment and poor infrastructure for job creation is anti-people and an invitation chaos.

  • On proposals for cutting costs in diplomatic service

    On proposals for cutting costs in diplomatic service

    I was saddened by the report in this newspaper last Friday about the deplorable state of the ‘Nigeria House’ in New York, as well as the poor condition of its staff. The report claimed that some of the diplomatic staff had not been paid for up to four months. While I was Ambassador at the UN (1981-84) I was involved in the early stages of the plans for the development of the property which was intended to bring the Nigerian Mission at the UN and our Consulate General in New York together under one roof, instead of two rented properties. The property was intended to save costs and was developed after I left New York in 1984. I have visited it a couple of times since then. It is a magnificent building of which Nigeria should be proud. But over the years I could see that lack of maintenance of the property has made it less alluring. Its neglect, like many other Nigerian diplomatic missions abroad, is due largely to lack of adequate funding, not really due to lack of funds. The following is an article by me, first published in my column in this paper in September, 2015, that sought to address the problem of inadequate funding for the Foreign Service. It is being published again unedited as I believe it addressed some of the critical problems of funding in the Nigerian diplomatic service.

    One of the main challenges facing President Muhammadu Buhari is the urgent need to reduce the overall cost of public administration in the country. This has soared over the years. There is a national consensus that the bureaucracy at all levels of government has become too large, and that a reduction in its size and cost has become imperative. The current sharp decline in oil revenues, which have fallen this year alone by over 60 per cent, leaves the governments of the federation with no other choice but to begin to think seriously about how these much needed cuts in the cost of public administration can be achieved. President Buhari is well aware of this challenge and has alluded to it publicly several times. But he has not yet taken any practical or concrete steps to address this lingering problem. It is a difficult and painful task which requires great care and circumspection particularly at a time of mass unemployment. It will adversely affect the diplomatic service as well.

    There were recent media reports that while being briefed by the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Lulu, President Buhari expressed his concerns about the large number of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions abroad, and the huge number of its overall diplomatic staff. Ambassador Lulu told the press that the President informed him that he intended doing something to reduce the number of our foreign missions. It is also possible that the overall staffing of the Foreign Ministry itself will form part of the review being proposed. But so far he has done nothing about this.

    There is no doubt that the number of Nigerian diplomatic missions abroad has increased significantly in recent years. At independendence in 1960 Nigeria had less than a dozen diplomatic missions, mainly in Africa and Western Europe. In 1964, when I entered the diplomatic service this increased to about 25, largely in response to the need to have diplomatic representation particularly in the newly independent African countries. By 1976 the number of our diplomatic missions increased to 65. The civil war had ended and the need was felt for more missions to be opened abroad. From 1970 to 1976, over 100 new Foreign Service Officers (FSO) were recruited to staff both the expanded Foreign Ministry and the new diplomatic missions abroad. The surge in oil revenues made the increase in the number of missions and diplomatic staff possible and sustainable.

    Today, we have 119 diplomatic missions abroad and it is becoming increasingly clear that, in our present dire financial situation, it is going to be financially difficult to sustain such a large number of diplomatic missions and staff. In 1964, the overall cost of our total diplomatic establishment, at home and abroad, was only 33 million pounds sterling. Since then, the cost of running both the MFA and our diplomatic missions has continued to rise inexorably. According to an official document issued by the MFA in 2012, by 2006, total MFA budget appropriation was N25.2b, of which over N20.2b, or 81 per cent, was spent on running our foreign missions. In 2011, budget appropriation for the MFA had increased to over N40b, with our foreign missions still accounting for over 81 per cent of the overall cost. This is where the major operating cost of the MFA is incurred. Average annual personnel cost of the MFA is less than N4b. Huge as these figures may appear to be, they account for an average of only 1 per cent of the total federal budget. In fact, it was only in 2007 that budgetary allocations to the Foreign Service reached 1.34 per cent of the budget of the federal government.

    Two issues arise from this analysis. First, is the state spending more on its foreign representation than other public agencies? Relative to other agencies of the federal government, can we really say that the cost of running the Foreign Service, with its enormous global responsibilities, is too much? It is by no means clear that is the case, except that most of the cost incurred in running the Foreign Service and our diplomatic missions abroad is in foreign currencies. It is this that leads the public and the government to demand a reduction in appropriations to the MFA. For example defence and national security take an average of 15 per cent of the budget annually, education about 7 per cent, home administration over 12 per cent. So, in real and comparative terms, the overall cost to the nation of its Foreign Service is not as high as it seems. The second issue regarding costs is where the cuts, if necessary, are to be made. Is it in the cost of personnel or the number and size of our diplomatic missions abroad? I raise these questions because previous efforts to cut the cost of running the Foreign Service have on the whole focused on the senior staff of the MFA rather than on the large number of our foreign missions which account for over 80 per cent of the overall cost of running the Foreign Service. As a matter of fact in 1976 and 1984 when there were purges in the Foreign Service, more diplomatic missions were opened after. This showed that the purges were political and not motivated by any demonstrable need for cost reduction. Only a few years ago, a new diplomatic mission was opened in Juba, South Sudan, and our embassies in Caracas, Belgrade, the Vatican and Prague, which had been previously closed, were all reopened. Even the MFA complained officially about these inconsistencies in the manner our missions are opened, only to be closed later for lack of funding.

    The fact of the matter, often ignored by the government and the public, is that some of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions were opened to accommodate failed politicians and political hacks who demand diplomatic postings as compensation from the government. And non-career ambassadors cost more to maintain than career ambassadors. Of Nigeria’s 119 diplomatic missions, about 60 have non-career ambassadors. But only a handful of these can be said to have what it takes to be a good ambassador. Many of them go abroad to serve themselves and not the nation. A few years ago when I visited Argentina and called on our embassy in Buenos Aires, I met a junior staff there who told me the political Ambassador had been absent from his post for over six months. Again when I served in Ankara, Turkey, in 1975, with concurrent accreditation to Iran, I could not understand the reason for our having a diplomatic mission in Ankara at the time. Subsequently, I learnt that the two missions were opened to accommodate Brigadier Kurubo, a former head of the Air Force. When I went to Teheran to present my letters, I discovered that Kurubo was not even known in the Foreign Ministry. Our Mission in Teheran was being run by a junior attaché who had not been paid for six months. I duly recommended that one of the two embassies be closed as our residual interest there in those days did not warrant us opening full-fledged embassies there. In fact, in disgust, I requested a posting back to Lagos after only a year in Ankara.

    Many critics of our foreign representation have pointed out to the lack of resources in running our missions abroad. This is, in fact, the critical issue. For lack of funds most of our missions cannot be run properly and professionally. The Foreign Service is costly and cannot be run on shoe strings as is the case now. For instance, total MFA budget in 2009 was only US$306 million. That year, South Africa’s budget for its Foreign Ministry was US $702 million, nearly twice that of Nigeria. In 2010, while Nigeria’s Foreign Service budget fell to $232 million, South Africa’s was US$634. In 2012 our MFA budget was only US$317 million, while that of South Africa was US$720 million. Yet, South Africa’s GDP is only a third of Nigeria’s. As acknowledged by the MFA publication of 2012 , ‘Our diplomatic missions continue to suffer needless and painful embarrassments arising from  disconnection of utility services, ejection of staff from rented apartments, ejection of children from schools for failure to pay school fees and arrears of salaries of the diplomatic and other staff’. In 1989, after verification, the federal government settled an accumulated debt of $100m in our diplomatic missions. In 2005 a similar exercise took place with the missions being bailed out again. From the huge financial scandal of the Jonathan federal PDP government in which over $20b was simply diverted to private pockets, can we seriously say that our country cannot afford to run a decent and well funded diplomatic service? The MFA was not involved in any of these financial scandals. Less well endowed African countries fund their diplomatic missions better than ours.

    It is up to the government to determine how many diplomatic missions our country should have. A preponderant number of these diplomatic missions are in Africa, our primary area of strategic and political interest. It will be difficult to close any of them. The number and size of our diplomatic missions should reflect the government’s foreign policy objectives and strategies. Nigeria’s global responsibilities and obligations have continued to increase. Yet, in our present challenging financial situation, with oil revenue falling steadily, and the  GDP growth rate projected to decline this year to roughly 2.5 per cent, it is obvious that something concrete and urgent must be done to reduce the cost of governance. As far as MFA is concerned it is now inevitable, though regrettable, that the number of our foreign missions could be reduced. But it is going to be a difficult exercise. We have over 125 foreign diplomatic missions in Abuja. Exchange of embassies and ambassadors is reciprocal. Foreign countries from which we withdraw our embassies will not take kindly to it. They will almost certainly retaliate by closing their own diplomatic missions here too. The idea of ‘smart’ embassies proposed by the Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, is useful. It involves running the embassies with fewer staff. But this will not lead to much savings. Instead, it will create many more inefficient Nigerian embassies abroad.

      In conclusion, I have to say that we need to consider the fact that the total expenditure of the 125 foreign diplomatic missions in Nigeria is probably higher than the total cost of running our 119 missions abroad. In other words, the total cost of running our missions abroad is far less than what foreign diplomatic missions spend in Nigeria. That should be food for thought.

  • Proposals for reduction of diplomatic missions

    Proposals for reduction of diplomatic missions

    One of the main challenges facing President Muhammadu Buhari is the urgent need to reduce the overall cost of public administration in the country. This has soared over the years. There is a national consensus that the bureaucracy at all levels of government has become too large and that a reduction in its size and cost has become imperative. The current sharp decline in oil revenues, which have fallen this year alone by over 60 per cent, leaves the governments of the federation with no choice but to begin to think seriously about how these much needed cuts in the cost of public administration can be achieved. President Buhari is well aware of this challenge and has alluded to it publicly several times. But he has not yet taken any practical or concrete steps to address this lingering problem. It is a difficult and painful task, which requires great care and circumspection, particularly at a time of mass unemployment.

    However, there were recent media reports that while being briefed by the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Lulu, President Buhari expressed his concern about the large number of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions abroad, and the huge number of its overall diplomatic workers.  Ambassador Lulu told the press that the President informed him that he intended doing something to reduce the number of our foreign missions. It is also possible that the overall staffing of the Foreign Ministry itself will form part of the review being proposed.

    There is no doubt that the number of Nigerian diplomatic missions abroad has increased significantly in recent years. At independence in 1960, Nigeria had less than a dozen diplomatic missions, mainly in Africa and Western Europe. In 1964, when I entered the diplomatic service, this had increased to about 30, in response to the need to have diplomatic representation in the newly independent African countries. By 1976 the number of our diplomatic missions had increased to 65. The civil war had ended and the need was felt for more missions to be opened abroad. From 1970 to 1976, over 100 new Foreign Service Officers (FSO) were recruited to staff both the expanded Foreign Ministry and the new diplomatic missions abroad. There was also a surge in oil revenues that made the increase in the number of missions and diplomatic workers possible and sustainable.

    Today, we have 119 diplomatic missions abroad and it is becoming increasingly clear that in our present dire financial situation, it is going to be difficult to sustain such a large number of diplomatic missions and workers. In 1964, the overall cost of our total diplomatic establishment, at home and abroad, was only 33 million pounds sterling. Since then, the cost of running both the MFA and our diplomatic missions has continued to rise inexorably. According to an official document issued by the MFA in 2012, by 2006, the total MFA budget appropriation was N25.2b, of which over N20.2b, or 81 per cent, was spent on running our foreign missions. In 2011, budget appropriation for the MFA had increased to over N40b, with our foreign missions still accounting for over 81 per cent of the overall cost. This is where the major operating cost of the MFA is incurred. Average personnel cost of the MFA is less than N4b. Huge as these figures may appear to be, they account for an average of only one per cent of the total federal budget. In fact, it was only in 2007 that budgetary allocations to the Foreign Service reached 1.34 per cent of the budget of the Federal Government.

    Two issues arise from this analysis. First, is the state spending more on its foreign representation than other public agencies? Relative to other agencies of the Federal Government, can we really say that the cost of running the Foreign Service, with its enormous global responsibilities, is too much. It is by no means clear that is the case, except that most of the cost incurred in running the Foreign Service and our diplomatic missions abroad is in foreign currencies. It is this that leads the public and the government to demand a reduction in appropriations to the MFA.  For example, defence and national security take an average of 10 per cent of the budget annually, education about seven  per cent, home administration over 12 per cent. So in real and comparative terms, the overall cost to the nation of its Foreign Service is not as high as it seems. The second issue regarding costs is where the cuts, if necessary, are to be made. Is it in the cost of personnel or the number and size of our diplomatic missions abroad? I raise these questions because previous efforts to cut the cost of running the Foreign Service have on the whole focused on the senior staff of the MFA rather than on the large number of our foreign missions, which account for over 80 per cent of the overall cost of running the Foreign Service. As a matter of fact, in 1976 and 1984 when there were purges in the Foreign Service, more diplomatic missions were opened after. This showed that the purges were political and not motivated by any demonstrable need for cost reduction. Only a few years ago, a new diplomatic mission was opened in Juba, South Sudan, and our embassies in Caracas, Belgrade, the Vatican and Prague, which had been previously closed, were all reopened. Even the MFA complained officially about these inconsistencies in the manner our missions are opened, only to be closed later for lack of funding.

    The fact of the matter, often ignored by the government and the public, is that some of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions were opened to accommodate failed politicians and hacks who demand diplomatic postings as compensation from the government. Of Nigeria’s 119 diplomatic missions, about 60 have non-career ambassadors. But only a handful can be said to have what it takes to be a good ambassador. Many of them go abroad to serve themselves and not the nation. A few years ago when I visited Argentina and called on our embassy in Buenos Aires, I met a junior staff there who told me the Ambassador had been absent from his post for over three months. Again when I served in Ankara, Turkey, in 1975, with concurrent accreditation to Iran, I could not understand the reason for having our diplomatic mission in Ankara at the time. Subsequently, I learnt that the two missions were opened to accommodate Brigadier Kurubo. When I went to Teheran, I discovered that Kurubo was not even known in the Foreign Ministry. Our Mission in Teheran was being run by a junior attaché who had not been paid for six months. I duly recommended that one of the two embassies be closed as our residual interest there in those days did not warrant us opening full-fledged embassies there. In fact, I requested a posting back to Lagos after only a year in Ankara.

    Many critics of our foreign representation have pointed out to the lack of resources in running our missions abroad. This is, in fact, the critical issue. For lack of funds most of our missions cannot be run properly and professionally. The Foreign Service is costly and cannot be run on shoe strings as is the case now. For instance, the total MFA budget in 2009 was only US$306 million. South Africa’s budget was US $702 million. In 2010, while Nigeria’s Foreign Service budget fell to $232 million, South Africa’s was US$634. In 2012, our MFA budget was only US$317 million that of South Africa was US$720 million. Yet, South Africa’s GDP is only a third of Nigeria’s. As acknowledged by the MFA publication of 2012, ‘Our diplomatic missions continue to suffer needless and painful embarrassments arising from  disconnection of utility services, ejection of staff from rented apartments, ejection of children from schools for failure to pay school fees and arrears of salaries of the diplomatic and other staff’. In 1989, after verification, the Federal Government settled an accumulated debt of $100 in our diplomatic missions. In 2005, a similar exercise took place with the missions being bailed out again.

    It is up to the government to determine how many diplomatic missions our country should have. A preponderant number of these diplomatic missions are in Africa, our primary area of strategic and political interest. It will be difficult to close any of them. The number and size of our diplomatic missions should reflect the government’s foreign policy objectives and strategies. Nigeria’s global responsibilities and obligations have continued to increase. Yet, in our present challenging financial situation, with oil revenue falling steadily, and the  GDP growth rate projected to decline this year to roughly 2.5 per cent, it is obvious that something concrete and urgent must be done to reduce the cost of governance. As far as MFA is concerned, it is now inevitable, though regrettable, that the number of our foreign missions should be reduced. But it is going to be a difficult exercise. We have over 125 foreign diplomatic missions in Abuja. Exchange of embassies and ambassadors is reciprocal. Foreign countries from which we withdraw our embassies will not take kindly to it. They will almost certainly retaliate by closing their own diplomatic missions too.

  • EIOPA’s solvency II-style pension proposals criticised

    EIOPA’s solvency II-style pension proposals criticised

    Responses to EIPOA’s consultation paper on further work it carried out on the solvency of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions (IORPs) have been submitted over the past week, The Actuary has reported.

    EIPOA is the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority.

    These include submissions by actuaries Barnett Waddingham and umbrella pensions body for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).

    This consultation focuses on various difficult elements of the Holistic Balance Sheet (HBS) and identifies where further work is necessary in order to better specify or bring more clarity on some elements of it and on how it could be used in practice.

    Following the consultation and an impact study, EIOPA intends to provide advice to the European Commission on EU-wide solvency rules for pension schemes. One of these areas is the valuation of legally enforceable sponsor support. The overarching principle is market consistency when valuing liabilities and assets.

    The HBS is discussed as both a potential driver of capital requirements for pension schemes and as a risk-management tool.

  • ‘Confab’s proposals ’ll lift Nigeria’

    ‘Confab’s proposals ’ll lift Nigeria’

    A delegate at the National Conference and National Coordinator, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, has said honest implementation of the recommendations of the conference would pave the way for the nation’s rebirth.

    Adams, who hailed the conduct of the parley despite initial reservations by some “doubting Thomasses,” advised the National Assembly and the Council of State to be patriotic in considering the recommendations.

    “We have had talks over talks in the past; this one is different because of the calibre, passion and the shared vision of the delegates and their leadership who are equally concerned about how to find lasting solutions to the nation’s challenges.

    “Therefore, if we are truly committed to moving this nation out of the woods, the stakeholders involved must be dispassionate in their consideration of the over 600 recommendations we arrived at,” he said.

    Shedding light on some of the salient recommendations, the OPC chief said: “We have the issue of immunity removal which, if allowed to sail through, would nail the coffin of corruption and looting of public treasury in our land.

  • Joselyn Dumas fumes over marriage proposals

    Joselyn Dumas fumes over marriage proposals

    Ghanaian actress, Joselyn Dumas, has said that she is engaged and does not intend to accept any more marriage proposals from her numerous suitors. Adjudged the hottest Ghanaian celebrity in 2012 by 4syte TV, the 33-year-old said she had had enough of reports that she is single and searching for a man to marry.

    Following what she described as “unnecessary harassment”, she took to the social networking site, Facebook, last Friday, to declare that she is “simply” not available.

    “Hi folks, I am not single and searching; so, please, kindly ignore those publications on social media. Those are not exactly my words.

    “For those who have been sending me tons and tons of marriage proposals….sorry, guys, I’m simply not available. Thanks for your understanding. God bless you,” the curvy actress said.

    Earlier in the year, the actress was enmeshed in a controversy when she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the Ghana Movie Awards for her role in a movie titled A Northern Affair. Pitched alongside others like Lydia Forson, Lisa Nana Yaa Awuku, Rose Mensah (Kyeiwaa) and Roselyn Ngissah, many, including the director of A Northern Affair, Leila Djansi, felt she should not have been nominated for the award.

    A night before Joselyn Dumas won the award, Djansi took to the social media to express her displeasure over the award categories: “Ghana Movie Awards, what on earth? How can Joselyn Dumas be nominated in supporting actress, when the entire story of A Northern Affair was told from her point of view? If we are going to do something, let us do it right.  We can’t continue like this. Get it together and get it right. GMA is a laudable enterprise, but it needs to grow in the right direction,” she posted.

  • Persuasive proposals and positive business impacts

    Persuasive proposals and positive business impacts

    Persuasion can be variedly defined. At one level of definition, it is conceived as the process by which a communicator tries to influence the attitudes, values, belief system, or action of his listener(s) or audience. In other words, persuasion involves motivating the audience through the power of communication to voluntarily change their beliefs, values or behaviour.

    Persuasion can also be defined as a form of influence employed by the communicator when his audience has the freedom of making a choice, whether commercial, social or political, among available options. The good news is that ability to successfully persuade others to align with your view is a skill that can be developed through training and practice.

     

    Experience

    Experience shows that many people approach persuasion in a way that makes it difficult for them to achieve success. The beginning of successful persuasion is to build trust and credibility so that you can be accorded attention by your audience. In business, lack of persuasive skills leads de-marketing even when the modern language of competition is “Co-opetition”, a blended word realised from the structural and conceptual fusion of the words “Cooperation” and “Competition”.

    One way

    One of the ways of enhancing your business by winning big and profitable business is through effective and persuasive business proposals.  If your service or product is the best in your industry, you need to communicate your uniqueness to the target customers in a way that relates to the specific needs of such customers. Proposals also help you explain financial terms and procedures to your prospective customers to avoid misunderstanding down the road. Complete proposals offer details and help you land great jobs.

     

    Presentation mode

    An effective and persuasive business proposal clearly identifies the consumers’ problem, need or issue, and recommends a solution. It backs up your proposed solution with a discussion of the capabilities of your business as well as market research related to the proposal. It shows that your experience puts you ahead of the competition.

     

    Your focus

    The way you present your business in this proposal will shape the success or failure of all future relationships with target buyers. To earn their respect and attention, your proposal must show that you have a keen understanding of the prospective customers’ needs.

    You need to focus on the fact that your business is very well-equipped to handle their needs in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Therefore, make the time investment—conduct research to have full understanding of the nature and scope of the customers’ requirements, then, present your ideas in a manner that convinces them that your product or service represents the best possible solution.

     

    Effort and benefits

    Though writing an effective and persuasive business proposal is challenging, you have to consider the valuable benefits for your business. The effort you make in tailoring the proposals to prospects’ specific needs shows the level of service they will receive from you. And your prospects or target customers are bound to notice that extra effort.

     

    Components

    To get started with your personalised proposal, you will need to understand the basic formats and components. Before you write, determine what the overall message of your proposal will be. Stating the theme or the reason for the proposal helps to ensure that your proposal will be sent to the appropriate personnel.

    The theme should be one of the first things that your prospect sees. This is not a headline whose purpose is to entertain, but a description that clearly persuades the prospect regarding the reason for the proposal. An appropriate theme might describe how your product (or service) will enable the client to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Or better still, it must communicate benefits to the prospect or recipient.

     

    Accuracy

    In seeking contracts, for instance, you win business when your proposal persuades clients or prospects that your solution is superior to your competitors’. Your proposal will persuade the reader if you understand a client’s or prospect’s needs, show the benefits, make a firm, clear recommendations accompanied by action steps and give the reader technical and other supporting details that highlight your qualifications and competence to deliver the solution on time, on budget and to specification.

    The effectiveness of a proposal is not judged by its volume but based solely on the value you bring to the table. When you do your initial presentation, that is part of your proposal. When you meet your prospects for the first time, shake hands and talk, that is part of the proposal. When you start listening and asking questions, that is part of the proposal.

     

    Request for Proposal

    The task of responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) is daunting. Apart from the pressure of getting the best proposal in on time, defining an effective approach to the response poses several challenges. For example, the various proposal team members may argue that their respective contributions are worth the most attention. But you need to assimilate each contribution into the final document from the customer’s perspective.

    You need to avoid a situation whereby the final proposal is bidder-focused. Rather focus on benefits to the prospect, client or recipient.

    Finally, through effective and persuasive business proposals, you will enhance your business, achieve profitability and stay ahead of competition.

  • Mfbs reject farmers’ loan proposals

    Mfbs reject farmers’ loan proposals

    Microfinancebanks’ (MfBs) operators are turning down loan proposals from farmers due to cash crunch, it was gathered.

    Some operators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the banks do not have enough cash to lend to the farmers.

    Confirming the development, the Chairman, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMBs), Southwest, Mr Olufemi Babajide, said many farmers who opened accounts were finding it difficult to access credit.

    He said some farmers opened accounts with N100, adding that the system has been made flexible for the growth of the farmers. He said virtually all the banks are afraid of taking the risk of lending to farmers because they are not sure of when CBN will release NIRSAL funds.

    He said many of the banks are not liquid, and therefore, not ready to advance credit to a sector where they are not sure of recouping their money immediately. He said the idea runs contrary to the provisions of the NIRSAL.

    He said: “Under NIRSAL, microfinance banks are expected to contribute 15 per cent, farmers (10 per cent) while NIRSAL provides the balance. The total would be handed over to the banks for lending to farmers. The agreement stipulates that each farmer will get 10 times whatever they have in their accounts with the banks. If, for instance, a farmer opens an account with N10,000, he is expected to get N100,000 as loan. Though CBN has promised to release the N75billion for lending to the farmers, the money is not forthcoming.”

    Adding that” the banks do not want to sound stupid. CBN told the mfb operators to lend to the farmers, while promising to pay them back from NIRSAL fund. Do you think a bank that is battling will take that risk and still continue in business,” No, it is not possible.

    Speaking on the issue, the Managing Director, Best Foods Limited, Mr Emmanuel Ijiwere said agricultural sector has suffered a lot in the hands of the banks. Ijiwere said the level of credit to the sector is less than 1 per cent, arguing that the issue is having a telling effect on the sector. He said farmers have been trying to access credit for operations, butin most cases have their proposals rejected by the banks.

  • Yakowa, Al-Makura, Jang present 2013 budget proposals to Assemblies

    Kaduna State Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and his Nasarawa and Plateau states’ counterparts, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura and Jonah Jang, have presented the 2013 budget proposals.

    Yakowa yesterday presented N176.5billion to the House of Assembly.

    He said his administration would spend 57.9 per cent of the estimate (N102,038,518,425) on ongoing and new projects.

    He said his administration would explore untapped areas of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to generate N29billion to execute vital projects.

    The government is expecting N105,459,728,838, comprising the opening balance of N8,000,000,000; an IGR of N29,087,728,838; Statutory Allocation from the Federation Account N65,000,000,000 and SURE-P of N3,372,000,000.

    The government is also expecting N44,866,605,535 from foreign and local loan sources and N12,966,701,625 from foreign and local grants.

    The governor said the IGR projection for 2013 is realistic.

    He urged the Assembly and the residents to cooperate with his administration to deliver the contents of the budget.

    Yakowa said the government would spend N74,441,824,583 as recurrent expenditure, with the economic sector receiving N33,106,250,100 and the social sector N26,719,764,830.

    According to him, regional development would get N25,867,929,910 and general administration would receive N16,344,573,585.

    Al-Makura presented N107.9billion budget proposal to the Assembly.

    The governor told the lawmakers that the budget would focus on the completion of abandoned projects considered essential for the socio-economic development of the state.

    He said the projects his administration initiated would be completed in the next fiscal year, adding that it would start new ones with direct bearing on the people’s well-being.

    Al-Makura said his administration was implementing the 2012 budget as an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) obligation because of the contractual agreements the previous administrations had in place.

    The governor explained that this was why his administration had been paying a monthly bill of N350,000,000.

    He added that N209,000,000 was also being paid monthly to Plateau State as Paris Club refund.

    According to him, the deductions will continue until May 2014.

    Al-Makura said the government was also paying N8,000,000,000 as irrevocable commitments and debts.

    Jang praesented N133.4 billion budget proposal to the Assembly.

    The governor said his administration would focus on infrastructural development and priorotise security.

    The estimate showed a recurrent expenditure of N48.3billion and a capital expenditure of N85 billion.

    Jang named the 2013 budget estimate as Budget of Continuity and Inclusive Growth III.

    The governor said he would ensure a faithful implementation of the budget through vigorous internal revenue mobilisation and generation, prudent utilisation of resources and commitment to the contents.

    He said: “These estimates may appear ambitious, but we are positive that with our renewed vigour in internal revenue mobilisation and generation, prudent utilisation of resources and commitment towards achieving our vision, we will achieve the targets set out in the budget.

    “We only require the cooperation and understanding of all citizens.

    “The Works and Housing sector takes the lion’s share, with N14billion, being allocated for the construction of new and ongoing road projects. This is followed by Education, with an allocation over N7billion.

    “The Healthcare and Agricultural sectors will have N5.4 billion and N2.8billion.”

    House of Assembly Speaker John Clark Dabwan promised the lawmakers’ cooperation to enable the government implement the budget effectively.