The Nation Newspaper

Tag: recession

  • ‘Real estate is secret to wealth creation in recession’

    Nigerians seeking wealth need not look too far. This is because the real estate industry provides the secret to wealth creation for those that can key into it. Besides, the sector is the most viable to get the country out of its present recession, if the right things are done.

    These were the views of real estate consultants at a home ownership empowerment programme organised by Pertinence Nigeria Limited- a firm of real estate managers. Renowned realtor, Mr. Olumide Emmanuel, in an exclusive chat with The Nation, explained that for an individual to get to his desired financial destination, the right vehicle must be chosen.

    “The real estate is the secret to wealth creation. We want people to understand that getting to the desired financial destination requires choosing the right vehicle; and one of the best vehicles you can choose is real estate and that’s what we are pushing down today: the power of real estate,” he said.

    Emmanuel advised Nigerians on the need for a change in their mindset to overcome the challenges of recession. According to him, there is a need to understand the concept of recession and how it affects the individual. This, he explained, is because in spite of the recession, people still earn same salary and income, just that the value is lower.

    “The value of what your money can give you in the market is reducing because of the vehicle you choose. You choose the vehicle of salary, somebody else chooses the vehicle of real estate. Now, at times like these, realtors and landlords increase their rent, meaning tenants suffer more and then they enjoy more. So it’s all a function of understanding that what the economy of your geographical location is; it does not have to affect you if you have the financial intelligence and you know how to navigate your way,” he explained.

    In similar vein, the Founder of Pertinence Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olorunseyi  Sunday, agreed that real estate is the solution to Nigeria’s recession problems, saying that recession is a thing of the mind that could be overcome through a change in the mindset.

    Sunday, who spoke at the launch of his firm’s “International Business Mega Summit,”  said: “Everything in life is about mentality, it is your mindset. For us, our mindset cannot accommodate recession even though they say there is recession. An entrepreneur should thrive in all seasons. He does not see a dry season. What you look at is how can I take advantage of that season? And that’s what we are doing now.”

    Co-Founder and Managing Director of the organisation, Mr. Wisdom Ezekiel, also pointed out the opportunity his organisation sees in recession.

    “We see recession as an opportunity. A lot of people see recession as a drawback but we see it as an opportunity because most countries in the world that have become developed today thrived during recession. Recession helps people to start thinking outside the box and that is what it is helping us to do in Nigeria,” he said.

    He said recession is actually an advantage if properly managed by all. He explained that when there is recession, people want to invest in something that is tangible- in asset not liability.  This, he said, is why real estate will continue to thrive and provide a bailout for the country’s economy at this period.

    Ezekiel noted that the launch of the firm’s international presence is a way of contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. He, therefore, called for government’s partnership in the real estate industry in order to spur its growth and contribution to the economic development.

    To stimulate the market and encourage people to invest even at this time, the firm gave out free plots of land, an all-expense paid trip to Dubai and a two bedroom apartment to loyal customers.

    “We are giving because when you give in times of recession, when people have plenty, they will remember you and they would want to come to you; because when they had nothing, you were out there supporting them. So that is the strategy… when seasons like this come, innovation will be what will make you different,” he said.

  • Plateau fights recession with trade fair

    Plateau State government has concluded arrangements to re-introduce the state trade fairs to boost the economy of the state. The trade fair scheduled to hold between October 18 and 27 is planned to encourage medium- and small-scale business.

    The state’s economy, like those of others across the country, is bad owing largely to the recession.

    But the state is hoping to inject life into its economy by encouraging local production, a plan trade fairs help to achieve.

    President of Plateau State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PLACCIMA) Da Bulus Dareng unveiled the plan while briefing newsmen in Jos, the state capital.

    He said, “Over 70,000 visitors are expected to grace the Jos 2016 Trade Fair with over 300 exhibitors from within and outside the county.

    He said, “The 2016 Jos Trade Fair will serve as a platform for intending investors and existing ones, manufacturing, buyers and sellers of goods and services to really exchange ideas, technology and innovations aimed at promoting their businesses even in the area of export and import of commodities in the state.

    “Activities of the fair will cover daily exhibition of goods and technology, product launches, vocational training, and skill acquisition programmes for skill seekers, children fun fair, daily musical concert featuring top Nigerian and upcoming J-Town artist.

    “Also available at the venue will be “Grills, Barbecue and other Nigerian Cuisines, High Life Music, Raggae Night, Campus Blast, Makossa Night, Cultural Night, Dance and Comedy to be handled by different people to provide entertainment for our exhibitors as side attractions at the trade fair ground”

    He said PLACCIMA is commited to protecting life and property at the fair.

     

  • Legal, fiscal pathways to recession exit

    Renowned author and erudite scholar Sebastine Hon (SAN)  suggests ways out of recession through law.

    •Continued from last week

    Rather than sell national assets, the Congress, in October, 2008, established the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP). The Federal Treasury used part of the proceeds from this to inject massive funds into the nation’s banks, which in turn dished out interest-free loans to large scale, medium scale and small scale businesses. The effect this singular policy had on the US economy can only be imagined.

    • Between 2009 and early 2010, the US Government engaged itself in massive ease-offs, by buying treasury bonds and mortgage securities – to consciously lower long-term interest rates.The Government also guaranteed bank debts for responsible corporate organisations – to give then stability and growth, which in turn was to help grow the national economy.
    • The Federal Government also gave tax rebates to the lower and middle income earners – for the purpose of further strengthening the economic and purchasing power of these groups and, therefore,stimulating the economy. Through this and related efforts, close to $1trillion was injected into the national economy.

    With these and several other measures, the Obama-led government successfully pulled the USA out of recession and rapidly placed it back on the fast lane of growth, earning President Obama a well-deserved second term in office.

    Thus, in his last State of the Union Address in January, this year, Mr. Obama proudly announced thus: “Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. We’re in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the ’90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever. Manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And we’ve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters. Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”

    Conclusion

    The economic difficulties faced by Nigeria and Nigerians are not too peculiar as to attract panicky measures. The President as the father of the nation should be proactive, patriotic and unrelenting, as did Presidents Roosevelt and Obama of the US, which saw the US pulling out of the economic complexities of those times.

    I will add that with the resumption of bombing of oil facilities by the Niger Delta militants, coupled with the growing uncertainty in the international oil business, the best bet for the Buhari-led administration is to channel efforts towards agriculture and manufacturing, using the Keynesian economic theories, intermixed with a proactive legislative effort as adumbrated above. And of course, the sooner the herdsmen-farmers’ dispute is put behind us, the faster we shall achieve these goals and move Nigeria out of recession.

    President Buhari acknowledged this role of agriculture and manufacturing on  September 29, this year, at the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

  • Sanusi: why there’s recession

    Sanusi: why there’s recession

    What is the problem with the economy?

    The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, believes the trouble is either policy failure or lack of a clear policy.

    He spoke in Lagos at the weekend during The Point newspaper’s Public Presentation and First Annual Conference on Economic Regeneration.

    The emir, who was the special guest of honour, said decades of policy failures, became a spoke in the country’s wheel of economic development.

    He advised policy makers and Nigerians to focus on the issues that have pushed the economy into a crisis so as to quickly exit the recession.

    The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor said: “We have had decades of policy failure. The last decade was Africa’s miracle decade because we moved from a continent that was known for hunger and war to a decade where we were seen as a land of opportunities and investments.

    “Nigeria grew at seven per cent every year throughout that period as the economy doubled and we became the biggest economy in Africa but lack of policy made us lose all proceeds.”

    He advised the Federal Government to decide the type of economy it wants to run by differentiating between reality and passion.

    “I objected to the increase in the minimum wage from N12, 000 o N18, 000 in 2011 because government only had passion to reward the electorate and failed to consider the consequences along the line. By 2011, the Federal Government was spending about 80 per cent of its revenue on personnel and oil price was $110 per barrel and we were producing over two million barrels per day. That was a failed policy,” he said.

    To Sanusi, stopping Nigerians from consuming imported goods is not the biggest problem confronting the country, but the lack of local production of goods and the will to change policies that will drive the growth of quality local production.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki and Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola also listed conditions necessary to exit the recession and avoid another crisis.

    They also cautioned Nigerians against overdependence on foreign products to the detriment of locally made goods.

    Aregbesola described the theme of the annual lecture series, “What is the Economics of Change?” as “a play on word that indirectly puts to task the campaign mantra of the ruling All Progressives Congress, which promised Nigerians a change for the better during last year’s election campaign.”

    He said a decline in the price of crude in the international market had always been the cause of the recession the country had fallen into at different periods.

    He also attributed the severity of the economic recession to lack of foresight and planning on the part of the government, adding that the difference between the past recession and the current one was the fact that the previous ones never lasted this long.

    “The fundamental problem is that we can no longer fund our imports because our foreign earnings have progressively declined while our taste for and dependence on foreign goods have continued to increase. This is what put pressure on the Naira, makes imported goods to become very expensive and put the economy in a tailspin,” he said.

    The Senate President said that the time had come for the country to diversify its economy. Represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee of Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, Saraki said his experience at a recent trade exhibition had made it clear that there were potentials laying waste due to over-reliance on oil, which he said had made the economy weak.

    “SMEs, not government, not big corporations, hold the key to solving our unemployment problems, raising the GDP, diversifying the economy and promoting production and manufacturing in Nigeria,” he said.

    He said that the country had not fully harness its economic potentials due to the absence of adequate and deliberate interventions that could support SME development and growth.

     

  • ‘How to pull economy out of recession’

    ‘How to pull economy out of recession’

    A lecturer at the Pan Atlantic University, Dr. Austin Nweze, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to explore the options of crashing interest rate, stimulating local production, sustaining the ban on the importation of products for which there are local substitutes and rework the fiscal and monetary policies of the economy.

    Speaking in Lagos at the weekend, the and Politi-
    cal Economist said recession does not happen in an economy overnight, arguing that it must have given policy makers enough warning before unleashing its venom on the economy.

    Nweze blamed the administration for applying the wrong economic therapy to the bad policies of the previous administrations by rejecting some of their policies, arguing that the government should be a continuum.

    He also argued that what led to the suddenness of the recession was the wrong policy choices made by the  administration, especially in its fight against corruption. He explained that the concept of the “unholy trinity” of interest rate, forex and inflation all work together and regretted that the government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been pursuing a policy of ‘inflation targeting’which he said is not the right approach to adopt as a nation, especially in the face of volatile oil prices and dwindling economy. Interest rate, he argued, has a way of affecting the economy.

    He said: “What I expected the government to do was to crash the interest rate to a manageable level. During the global financial crises, many developed nations such Britain and the United States, operated a zero interest rate. What this does is to give money to businesses at a cheaper rate for them to expand. This would lead to employment of more people and then production will increase.”

    He added that in the long term, both factors would merge somewhere and would trigger a drop in inflation because production would have increased. He said the production output has not increased due to the continued closing down of factories that are supposed to drive the economy.

    He said to get the economy out of recession required short, medium and long term measures. He lamented that the Federal Government was only looking at just one aspect of the economy, when a holistic approach ought to have been designed.

    According to him, there are always two sides to an economy- the fiscal and monetary side. The fiscal policy side, he said, would make the government to decide on what it wants to do, such as deciding on how to improve the industrial base while the monetary policy side, the CBN would come up with policies to complement the fiscal policy side.

    He added that there has been disconnect between the two.

    He called for a return to the fundamentals of economics which is to knock down interest rate, encourage local entrepreneurs. These, he maintained, has become necessary because the economy is not in the hands of Nigerians. “No foreigner can develop Nigeria except Nigerians. So, we need to go back and encourage local entrepreneurs and make funds available to them; relax some of the forex policies for the short term and eventually the economy will grow. We need to begin to produce; 75 per cent of what we consume should be developed and sourced from Nigeria. We should encourage science and technology. Science and technology should be well funded because that is what holds the key to the economy of the country,” he said.

    He said until these are done, the government may be embarking on a wild goose chase. “They (government) are just looking for quick fixes to get out of the recession, whereas they should not bother about getting out of recession hurriedly because recession must run its full course. For us to get out of this recession, we are looking at 2018 to 2019,” Nweze said.

    He however urged the government to take advantage of the opportunitiesthe economic recession has opened up to correct the imbalance in the system, which would, ultimately, lead to economic growth.

  • Recession: Lawmaker opens food bank to help constituents

    As part of his efforts to alleviate the effect of the nationwide economic recession on his constituents, Hon. Jimi Benson, representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency at the House of Representatievs on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has launched a food bank where indigent residents of the area can go when in dire need of food.

    At the official opening of the food bank, the federal legislator, who was represented by his wife, Mrs. Jumoke Benson, said considering the hardship being currently faced by less privileged Nigerians as a result of the current economic situation, there is urgent need for the society to show concern to the indigent ones among us.

    Mrs. Benson lamented that majority of those likely to go hungry unless they get urgent help are women and children. She said it is for this reason her husband decided to set up a place where people, especially his constituents, at the risk of going hungry, can go and get food items so as to meet their immediate food needs.

    “Considering the current economic situation, there is urgent need for the society to show concern to the indigent ones among us. According to the recent statistics, 60% of the hungry in the world are women and almost 5million children under the age of 5 dies of malnutrition-related causes every year. This initiative is therefore very dear to my heart because of women, mothers like you and I are the ones that are most affected” she said.

    At the opening ceremony which drew the attendance of prominent indigenes of the constituency as well as traditional rulers and political leaders, more than 300 beneficiaries went home with packs of food items for themselves and their immediate families.

  • ‘How IT can bail us out of recession’—Software expert Yele Okeremi

    ‘How IT can bail us out of recession’—Software expert Yele Okeremi

    WHERE did you grow up?

    I grew up in Ibadan. I am Ibadan born and bred boy (laughs). I came to Lagos in the 80s when I started my working career. I grew up in Agodi, GRA, Ibadan.

    What was life like for you as a child?

    In those days we didn’t build a wall around us. I remember in our house then when I was a child, we didn’t use to lock our doors at night. I still recall that my friends and I who were mostly in the same age bracket with me, used to meet during the holidays. We actually woke up, looked out for one another, and when we met, we moved from one house to another. All we knew then was that, we must be back home before dark. And our parents were usually sure that we were with one friend or another’s house. Also, each of our parents then knew one another. They kept each and everyone of us in check. And we used to walk long distances away from home. We were that free. I even recall that we used to have street football clubs then. We used to go out playing soccer with people who were not so privileged like we were. But none of us saw anything wrong about that class difference. We were not worried or cautious about threats from kidnappers or people with such dubious character, like it is today. It is sad that today, our children don’t even go out to play. Children who live in flat apartments today, are daily restricted to the inside of their homes. Children need to play outside.

    I still recall the day that my dad bought the first black and white television for the family. That was in 1972 or 73. And all of us used to sit in front of that television to watch. The funniest part is that, because we used to sit down together to watch, there were certain things that were said on television then that we all laughed at; even today, when we meet in the larger family, we use to recall some of those things and laugh over it all over again. They have turned to good old memories for us. At times when we recall such times, people around us don’t know what we are talking about. But that was the way it was. Families used to stick together, do things together. But today we are building five-star hotels and calling them homes. Today when you want to speak to your son or daughter in the house, you are calling them with cellular phones. These days all the children have television in their rooms, but they do not even watch them that much again; they are on their computer or mobile phones. So many things have changed. For God’s sake, we used to drink water from the tap. And we did not die!

    Did you see yourself as a privileged child?

    Well, at that time we didn’t see it as a big deal, because for most of us then, our parents were civil servants. Of course we knew that our parents were not fabulously rich, but of course, we also noticed that there were other children who were not as privileged as we were. But the difference was not pronounced. Most of my friends went to public schools. It was just that my father personally decided that he wanted his children to attend private nursery and primary schools not because of his affluence but out of personal preference. The parents in our neighbourhood then were top civil servants but notwithstanding that, their children attended public schools. And the public schools were just as good as the fee-paying primary schools. And the children in the public schools were doing very well in school. There were no differences and we used to go to the houses of those who one would consider as less-privileged to eat in their houses. Their houses might have been different or less beautiful than ours but we remained friends.

    What was your parents occupational background?

    At that time my dad was working in the Ministry of Agriculture. He later became the Director Fisheries and my mom was a school teacher. Some other parents in the neighbourhood were judges and heads of other ministries. Approximately the same background.

    Who influenced you most?

    Clearly my dad has had the greater influence on my life. I speak to my dad almost every day now. We usually have something to say. Somehow, God allowed him to understand how to train his children. Ever since I was 10, I have been speaking to my dad as if we are equals, and that is how it has always been. When I look at his life, his life tells a good story, and it makes me to know that, you do not need to read the bible too much to understand this life.

    What motivated you into banking?

    Serendipity actually. I came out of school and wanted to get a job where I could develop software packages. I studied Political Science and Economics but I wanted a job related to computers. So I got a job with Inlaks Computers; it was a fairly good job, challenging. We were happy, paid well, and being the young men that we were then, all we wanted was to look good, look tidy and look different among our peers. When I used to see those people working in the banks then, I used to feel sorry for them because they sat down in the banks and operated what other people had built. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to build systems. I didn’t think I will work in a bank. I had gone to represent my company in a trade show and some bankers were there to see what we were presenting. One of them became my friend. After a few months, he asked me if I would like to work in the bank where he worked. I replied that I didn’t want to work in a bank. He told me that what I was doing was similar to what he was doing in the bank.

    So I asked a few questions, after which I went for the interview. But because I didn’t really want the job, I was a bit cocky at the interview since I was already comfortable where I was working. Somehow I was offered the job. It looked better than what I expected. So it was a bit difficult to take a decision. I asked a few of my friends who were also working with me at Inlaks Computers. I was advised to take the offer at Industrial Bank. It turned out to be a good decision as Industrial Bank allowed me to develop software. I didn’t want to work on packages that had been developed by somebody else. They said they wanted to build their own software. So I was employed as part of the team to develop that software. So, that is what I have been doing till today.

    Which of the software packages did you develop?

    At that time, the popular packages in the banking industry were bandmaster and clarity softwares. Those were the big ones. We were developing in house understudying how the bandmaster was addressing banking issues. From there we did something that was innovative. I may not say outright that I operated like a whizkid, but I do acknowledge the abundance grace of God upon my life. Yes, I went to school and graduated top of the class, but then so many people are that too. But maybe God just didn’t permit them. But in my case, God made things very easy for me to achieve. I know clearly however that it is not by human power.

    At what point did it occur to you while at the University of Ife that you should be developing softwares?

    It was when I was in my third year that it was glaring to me. In my second year, there was a programme course where group assignments were given but it was easy to copy and everybody got pass marks. It was an elective course for most people but it wasn’t for me. So I was determined not to copy even though it was a group thing. So the group programme worked but mine didn’t. However, during my internship, I picked up that failed programme, re-did it, and this time around, it worked. That was when I knew that I would stick on programming software. And it was a good decision because by the time I was finishing at University of Ife, I had three employment letters waiting for me even before I went for youth service corps programme. One of them was a company from Lagos. I had never lived in Lagos before. Fortunately, I was posted to Lagos for my youth corps service. Again there was no connection or human influence.

    Do we have software programmers in large numbers right now?

    We have but we are not developing them. It is very unfortunate.

    Why are we not developing them?

    That is a question that I will be treating in my doctoral research. If you want to encourage somebody to do some things well, there must be an incentive. Programming is not a job that you do part-time. As a programmer, you need to love your job, you need to marry it. That is the only way to get it. But what is the reward for that, in a situation where people are makings calls from their gardens and making billions of naira from the faulty financial system? I recall that to develop software, my friend and I used to sit on the floor every night; even after we graduated, we wanted to study more and succeed in developing programmes. We were not even thinking of buying houses in Nigeria and London and other such places, we were not looking at that, we just wanted to make a change. But today, nobody blames you if you don’t do the right thing. People want good things but don’t punish bad behaviour.

    So except people who are good or who have been brought up in good families, where good values have been ingrained in their DNA, those ones cannot succumb to do bad things. That is why today, we do not have many programmers around. I feel appalled when the government says that they will use agriculture to capitalise the economy of Nigeria. Which country can they point to that uses agriculture to do that? IT is one of the fields that can actually take Nigeria out of where we are right now. Take a look at what is happening in America, there are companies there that are richer than nations, probably the whole of Africa. Why can’t such companies be in Nigeria? What is their material? Is it not intellect? Head to head, Nigerians are probably better than Americans. The difference is that the Americans have a value system that makes their leaders help them to achieve the best. We don’t have that. We can develop 40 of Mark Zuckerback of Facebook in Nigeria, but we have chosen to do the wrong thing. Just as long as we keep doing the wrong things, we will continue to get the wrong results.

    Can you give us an insight to the kind of money that software developers make in developed countries?

    I have schooled in Harvard and I can tell you that if you are an IT professional in US and they are not after you from your village, you will make an impact in society. If you can then even think outside the box like an average Nigerian boy does, then you will make it big there. That is a country that respects knowledge. There are actually three categories of people who can live anywhere in the world. People who are producing something that the world needs. For instance, if Bill Gates decides to close down Microsoft today, the world will scream. The second category of people that can live anywhere in the world are those that have the purchasing power. The third category of people are those that have specialised knowledge.

    So, the top nations like US, China, Canada, Germany come up with a parameter that if you have a PhD or a degree in certain areas, you are welcomed in their country. But if you do not fall into those categories, then tough luck, you are just one of the surpluses. I had a scholarship to study in Massachusset Institute of Technology. That is a dream of every engineer, but I didn’t go because I knew even at that age that if I go, I will not return to Nigeria. I was loyal. I felt that Nigeria had invested money training me. I went to a Federal Government College and then University of Ife, when they were washing our bedsheets and cleaning our floors, giving us three square meals with chicken twice a week. That was the extent Nigeria spent money to train me and I felt Nigeria needed my services a lot more. It’s not about me, I am comfortable, it is about the country. We have to give back. That is why I will never go to live abroad away from my country. At least I belong to two of the three mentioned categories above (laughs).

    You studied in America, so why didn’t you choose a wife from there?

    Ha! No, remember that by the time I went to the USA, I was already married with children.

    What attracted you to your wife?

    (Becomes nostalgic) My wife and I have known each other for very long time. We used to think back then that what a man should look out for in a woman is the projection of what will she be like in 30 years time. Will the things that attract me to her still be there at that time? Again, I was privileged to have learnt a lot from my parents. I was seeing how my parents lived and it guided my pattern of life. By the time I was choosing my wife, I had no doubt that she was the one God had provided for me. My wife is very beautiful and intelligent, but those were not what attracted me like seeing where she came from and I saw her parents, I saw her siblings and knew she would fit into my family. I also saw her career and projected where she would be in many years to come and I was certain that together, we would do a lot of things. We have now been married for 23 years. I have no regrets. She is the managing director of an IT firm too.

    You are handsome, she is beautiful; you are comfortable, she is comfortable too and there are other attractive things as well between both of you. How have you been able to handle the attention of other women and she, the attention of other men, to ensure that you both still live together happily till now?

    You see (shakes his head and suddenly laughs), if I tell you that I have a panacea to this your question, I will be deceiving you. But I will say it’s God’s grace and the background has also helped because if I say I want to let myself be attracted to someone else, who will I say I want to look like? I know the position of my dad as a Bishop of the Anglican Communion of Nigeria. He has been a clergy man for about 40 years; even when he was in the civil service, he was a part-time priest, so when he retired he went intro priesthood full time. He became an archdeacon, a provost and then bishop of a diocese. When I see men of my age, they don’t want to be like their father, because their father probably made some mistakes. But that isn’t the same case with me. I am privileged. The biggest compliment you can pay me is to say that I am like my dad; that makes me extremely happy. And again, there are things that are difficult to pick up at old age.

    At what point did you decide on creating your style and being a man of your own fashion?

    Even as a child, I used to love looking good. At this age, it is not about me anymore, it is about what I want to be known for when I am no more alive. I want to be known as a man that has helped the black race look for another level. So for that, I need to live an inspirational life. I just don’t know how not to look good.

    How about socials?

    My work is my socials. It takes me around and by the grace of God, I have sat one on one with presidents of this nation and other nations by virtue of what I do.

    What do you value most?

    Character, you must never lose it. Reputation comes from character; that to my mind is what I am concerned about. It is important that we don’t change from who we are. I see some men who all of a sudden run into money or possession that they never thought they will attain and suddenly, they change! I do not think it should be so. For me, my childhood friends are still my friends. We still get together from time to time. The Deputy Managing Director of this company and I have been friends since 1989. It matters to me. I want to be very predictable.

    Do you miss Ibadan?

    I do miss Ibadan. My parents still live there. I speak to them often and I wish I could go to Ibadan more often. But the road is discouraging. This year, I almost bought the dream property in Ibadan, beautiful scenery, lawn and all that. When I saw it, I loved it. I really wanted to buy it. But then, I felt to myself, it will be a waste, because how many times will I go to Ibadan? My home in Lagos is comfortable for everything I want to do.

  • Recession: Backyard farm to the rescue

    Recession: Backyard farm to the rescue

    More backyard farms are emerging to supplement household nutrition and income. Backyard farming topped discussions at the World Food Day by Gourmet Guide Communications at the University of Lagos at the weekend. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Farmers with small backyard spaces are using them to grow vegetables and other crops.

    They cultivate veggies mainly for consumption. One of such farmers is  Kayode Bodunde, a logistics expert.

    He and his wife are operating a small farm within their compound. There’s also a poultry.

    The farm is a collaboration among family members.

    Having enjoyed the benefits of a backyard farm, Bodunde is campaigning to bring such back. The impetus behind this is not so much about reducing grocery costs but championing  a return  to  land and getting back to natural foods.

    At a forum on the World Food Day at the University of Lagos at the weekend,Bodunde said backyard farms would help Nigerians prepare for a future where the economy would make buying vegetables expensive.

    According to him, backyard farms encourage food sufficiency. Aside from the convenience of providing food at one’s doorstep, he said the farms encourage healthier lifestyles and diets. He urged landlords to embrace urban farming.

    Bodunde is involved in a project to instal greenhouse at home and on the farms for those who are interested. In addition, he  said,  there are small greenhouses for those who can’t grow produce outdoors.

    He is happy to see corn cropping  in neighbours’yards, or the small spaces between compound walls and gutters.

    But backyard farming is not new in Nigeria. Years ago, rural areas boasted of a vibrant community of home gardeners who put their terraces and  backyards to good use. It was common to have neighbours growing their own vegetables and collecting eggs from own chickens.

    Many of them translated their passion into business ventures. Egg and poultry meat production depend on backyard farming using indigenous chicken breed. Production is very poor, reflecting low body weight.  But these were life-changing events. However, rural-urban drift has halted this.

    The Chief Executive, Corporate Farmers, Mr Akin Alabi, an accountant and financial consultant, has  taken up farming to improve the  productivity level from backyard  farming. With his capability and enthusiasm, Alabi became one of the progressive farmers in a short time. He operates his farms in Ogun State and played an active role in promoting a food secured environment. He has also been able to employ youths in his farms.

    He is a source of inspiration for  youths in farming.

    Though profitability and labour remain challenges, he does not regret the career switch.

    He noted that though farming may be capital intensive, many people are growing food on small plots.

    According to him, farming appeal had been pretty broad-cutting across professionals in various sectors. The range of operations includes backyard plots, large acre farms and projects designed to provide training for agriculture enterprises.

    His organisation provides material support and expertise to gardeners as well as a programme that helps local farmers sell their produce.

    Alabi, also Chief Executive,  Hayzee Mind Concept, noted that as the average age of farmers continues to rise, there was a need for younger farmers to step in to fill the gaps.

    One of those championing backyard farming is the Chief Executive, farmingbizsetup.com, Mr Lamson Opeyemi.

    A computer graduate, Opeyemi had no background in farming. Today, he is raising mini-livestock. He  runs the business and wants Nigerians to see him as a model backyard farmer.  His campaign is for Nigerians to run mini-livestock farms on  where they live.

  • Recession: Beyond the tragedy and pain

    In the 1960s, thinkers coined the word “Knowledge Economy” to announce a radical shift from traditional economies. It was an extraordinary gift by intellectuals of that era to a world that some people thought had become sluggish, uncreative and desperately in need of ideas.

    Today, more than 50 years after that intellectual uprising, many countries still drive their economic policies with huge emphasis on the power of knowledge and human imagination.  For these countries, there is a strong belief that any system of production and consumption that is not based on intellectual capital will fail.

    I decided to present this background because Nigeria at present reminds one of the pre 1960s knowledge revolution and the deficit of awareness.

    Nothing captures our nation’s knowledge paucity of ideas today like the controversial debate on the sale of our nation’s physical assets. But the question is: what exactly are we really selling? Where is the place of fixed and physical assets in today’s changing world that is governed by ideas and brainpower? And why would the sale of physical assets that are here today and gone tomorrow determine our economic direction? And if we sell now and recession continues, what happens?

    What I enjoyed most about the debate was the cacophony of voices that argued endlessly. Again, the arguments reinforced the benefits of public discourse which everybody agrees is missing in our country today.

    But this piece is not about public dialogue and its benefits. It is essentially about wealth from knowledge and intellectual property, which to my mind is the ultimate asset. There is no doubt that the world is undergoing tremendous change. And we are already witnesses to the transformation affecting production, distribution, trade, employment and life generally.

    Once upon a time, that was during the agricultural economy, land was everything. Also, during the industrial era, natural resource like coal and labour were the main issues. Today, all that has changed because in a knowledge economy, knowledge is the resource and not oil or solid minerals. But I hasten to add that from time immemorial, knowledge has always played a part, no matter how small in every economic activity. What is new today however is that there is now a phenomenal dose of knowledge and information that is fused into economic activity by individuals and governments.

    So when we make sale of national assets a talking point in a recession, we highlight our confusion, pain and misery. It also shows that not much of good thinking is going on at the right places. But we must not despair or even give a thought to the falsehood that the sale of national assets essentially brings about boom. Nigerians must look inwards and face squarely, this demon called recession.

    Anytime I remember Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s famous co-founder, I also remember the hundred hopeless Nigerian versions of this great American inventor roaming our streets. The difference between Jobs and these hapless Nigerians is essentially environment.

    Therefore in this season of economic decline, everything must be deployed into saving our country and its future. And for me, young people should be the starting point. In line with our case for a knowledge economy, Nigeria must urgently take steps towards revamping education. Our schools must return to centres of excellence in learning and research. Technical and vocational studies should be reintroduced and strengthened for optimum results. And we must encourage and remind the youth once more on the virtues of hard work, fair play, principles and patriotism.

    I think it is imperative for Nigeria as a country to learn from the tragedies of other nations. But as I said earlier, there is hope. Recently, I watched with keen interest in Lagos, an event on October 1 as speaker after speaker, spoke on the colossal waste recurrent in running government. The optimism for me is that young people were enjoined at that event driven by a non-government organisation to be active and to question the actions of their political leaders. I agree with the speakers because the future belongs to the young and they must take the moment.

    For politicians, I am afraid that they may not have anything more to say in 2019 if living conditions today do not improve. Things must just get better or we will all have ourselves to blame. I am in agreement with those who insist that infrastructural decay must be urgently addressed. I also want the government of the day to create jobs and provide the enablement that would encourage entrepreneurship. In another breath, I support those who speak against the prevailing atmosphere of fear which naturally encourages capital flight and discourages investment.

    As citizens, we must continually be conscious of the fact that knowledge must be used for economic benefits. And for us to achieve the needed results, we must align with knowledge and technology because both are friends for growth and development. If we do nothing and pretend, then we will be deceiving ourselves because economy is already globalised. This is already evident as we have all seen that even our cottage industry is currently at the mercy of the dollar. This is the way to go and we must brace up and face the reality.

     

    • Lawani, former Deputy Governor of Benue State is an industrialist and philanthropist.
  • ‘Recession’ll allow for local patronage’

    ‘Recession’ll allow for local patronage’

    Senate President Bukola Saraki and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe yesterday urged the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) to co-operate with the Senate and other institutions to get manufacturers to produce quality goods.

    Saraki and Abaribe, who spoke after the NESG summit, said the recession had created an atmosphere that would allow local manufacturers thrive and enjoy patronage.

    A statement by Saraki’s Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) Yusuph Olaniyonu said: “We must discourage a situation where the market is flooded with substandard goods. People will only part with their money when they have quality goods to purchase.

    “I commend the NESG for its choice of theme and urge it to discuss how to improve on quality and packaging of locally produced goods, helping local producers get into foreign markets and sourcing start-up capital for small and medium scale entrepreneurs.”

    Abaribe, who is committee chairman on Power, Steel Development & Metallurgy, said the NESG was better placed to lead the drive towards manufacturing of quality products to compete in local and international markets.

    “I believe the expertise of the NESG is needed at this time to support government’s effort at ensuring that products of international standards are produced in Nigeria.”