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  • Govt to dismantle checkpoints on Nigeria-Benin route

    The Federal Government has set up a presidential task force to dismantle check-points on Nigeria-Benin route.

    This, the government said, will pave the way for smooth trade between both nations and prepare the ground toward regional integration.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, broke the news yesterday when members of ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ELTS) Task Force at the borders of member-states visited him in his office in Abuja.

    The ELTS Task Force, led by its spokesperson Ken Ukaoha, also gave the report on activities across the borders on the route and factors impeding free trade in the region.

    Read also: Clearing of drains, road repair begin to avert flood

    The minister said the Presidential Taskforce on Checkpoints, which will be inaugurated soon, is domiciled in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

    “The government has set up a task force to address the checkpoint issues. Clearly, Mr President has given directive to remove all checkpoints.

    “As soon as this is implemented, we will have some progress in that area,” Onyeama said.

  • Turkish Airlines hails Abuja Airport facility upgrade

    Operational facilities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NNIA), Abuja have been stepped up to ease passenger facilitation, Country Manager, Turkish Airlines, Abuja, Mehmet Asik, has said.

    He said the carriers now have a different flight experience using the newly inaugurated Abuja Airport Terminal, as opposed to the old terminal where its aircraft could not park near the aviobridge, forcing it to use a bus to convey passengers to the terminal building.

    Asik disclosed this in an interview with The Nation last week.

    He said the carriers had devised strategies to handle short landing of luggage into Abuja Airport experienced about two years ago.

    He said the carrier considers the Nigerian market very important, a development that has made it  to work harder to proffer solutions to infractions arising from poor services.

    His words:  “We are so happy to move our operations to the new terminal, we are happy to have the very latest technology in Abuja, it will give us the best opportunity to handle our passengers. At the old terminal, there was no such opportunity for us to park near the bridge, passengers only use the bus to connect the terminal on arrival but the new terminal offers more facilities”,

    Speaking on what led to passengers blocking an aircraft on the tarmac in Abuja in 2016, Asik attributed this to capacity and seasonality, adding the airline had since made some technical adjustments to prevent a similar experience .

    “The problem had to do with capacity and seasonality, sometimes some people prefer to carry over 100 luggage and during period, it becomes an issue but we have been able to prevent this from happening since then and we will continue to update the system.”

    He said the airline   will begin London-Istanbul-Port-Harcourt flights beginning from June 24.

    He  added that  the airline plans to introduce student fare on the route by offering discount to passengers going to study abroad from the region.

    He also disclosed that the airline will introduce its Corporate fare (club) to institutions, non-governmental organisations and ministries in the Port-Harcourt region, adding that they will enjoy benefits such as discounts, no penalties, incentives and excess baggage. On why the airline expanded flights  into  Port Harcourt, he  said it would be an opportunity to open the route to the world through Istanbul.

    He commended the fact that the international airport in Port Harcourt is new and would support the airline’s services and give passengers a world of wonderful experience.

    He  said Turkish Airline  has seen steady and significant passenger and cargo growth from 2005 till date. The airline, he said, has grown from a 14 million passenger per annum in 2005 to 78.5 million per annum in 2018 basing it on the airline’s drive for safety, customer satisfaction.

    He also said that the airline has grown from 135,000 tonnes in 2005 to about one million tonnes in 2018, stating that Lagos houses its biggest cargo operations in the world with three cargo flights weekly.

    On fleet acquisition, the Turkish team stated that  the airline has 336 aircraft, all at an average of 8.2 years old making it the youngest fleet in the world and has ordered over 150 new aircraft to boost its fleet size to approximately 500 in the next five years.

    Turkish airline said on Thursday, it airlifted 75.2 million passengers to and from its over 307 destinations in 2018.

    “The fleet age is very important to us, Turkish airline fleet is one of the youngest in the world, the newer the fleet, the more efficient it is. We operate to 307 destinations in the world, we have 336 aircraft in our fleet and in the next years, we plan to increase the fleet to approximately 500”, he said.

    On cargo operations, he said the traffic grew from 145,000 tons in 2005 to 1 million tons annually in 2018, adding that it records the highest tons from Lagos where it operates three weekly flights.

    Speaking on products and services, Asik said its Business Class catering is the best in the world while the economy catering is number two.

    “We always try to keep the travel experience in the Business Class as the best. We have 350 movies in in-flight, we have free on board WI-FI apart from the flying Chef who prepares passengers’ meal onboard, this is why we have the best catering in the world.

    “We have the corporate club, which offers benefits such as discount, incentives and excess baggage. We also have the Miles and Smiles where we reward frequent flyers and loyal customers. There is also the Istanbul Tour for transit passengers.. In this programme, we take passengers on sightseeing of historical places in Istanbul and offer them free breakfast and lunch before joining their flights. We fly to more countries in the world than any other airline, so in terms of international destinations, we are number one.

  • PTML Customs makes N36.7b

    The Ports Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Command of the Nigeria Customs Service made N36,728,799,903 in the first quarter of the year.

    The collected figure is 43 per cent higher than the N25,656,118,181 recorded between January and March 2018 by the command.

    According to a statement made available by the Customs Public Relations Officer for the Command, Mohammed Yakubu, it shows a difference of N11,072,681,722 between last first quarter 2018 and 2019 collections.

    A breakdown of the monthly collections, according to the statement, indicates that N14,850,154,616 was collected in January 2019, which is 49 per cent higher than N9,967,751,491 collected same period in 2018.

    Read also: Customs seizes smuggled items worth N10.6b

    In February 2019 the command collected N10,024,673,259 which is 38 per cent higher than N7,267,306,206 collected in February 2018.

    In March, N11,853,972,028 was collected. The March figure is 41 percent higher than N8,421,060,484  collected same period last year.

    Yakubu said the increase in revenue was due to higher cargo throughput and diligence on the part of the command’s operatives.

  • Tin Can receives 213 vessels

    The Port Manager, Tin-Can Island Port (TCIP), Lagos, Emmanuel Akporherhe, has said the port received 213 ships with 6.77 million tonnes of goods in the first quarter of the year.

    He made this known while welcoming the board members of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led by its Chairman, Emmanuel Adesoye, last Friday.

    The Tin-Can Island Port was inagurated on October 11, 1977, to address the increase in the volume of imports and exports brought about by the oil boom in the 70s, and the post-civil war reconstruction era.

    Urging the board to support the port with more funds to enable it carry out some renovations, Akporherhe commended the efforts of the Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman and her team, in drawing the Federal Government’s attention to the plight of users of the Oshodi-Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway, which he noted was critical to the port business.

    Read also: Tin Can receives 213 vessels

    Responding, Adesoye said the NPA board visited Lagos ports to assess the impact of the traffic gridlock on port operations. “The solution to the gridlock is currently being addressed although there are few roads and there is also the need to create more roads,” Adesoye said.

    He assured that when the railway system becomes operational, together with the concrete road construction of Mile 2–Tin-Can Road– Oworonshoki Road, the problem of gridlock on ports access roads would be a thing of the past.

    He also praised the introduction of barges at the Tin-Can Port, Ikorodu Lighter Terminal and Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, saying it was reducing pressure on ports access roads. According to him, the availability of an operational rail system and functional barges would ease the incessant gridlock to a large extent if not completely.

    Adesoye said that the Federal and Lagos State Governments had commenced the construction of Lekki Deep seaport to enable bigger vessels call at the port.

    Other places visited during the tour were, JosepDam Ports Service Nigeria Ltd. ENL Consortium, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Five Star Logistics, Flour Mills of Nigeria Limited, and APM Terminal.

    However, at the APM Terminal, the NPA board members were not allowed in by the company.  An official of the firm at the entrance  said to nobody in particular: “we were not informed of their coming so how are we to know they will be here?”

  • The dragon lives!

    Had Nigerians not lived for so long with the pathology of denial to the point where it is now second nature, one would be sympathetic to the feigned outrage over the latest reminder by the IMF about the rumblings of the ghost we thought we had long committed to mother earth. Having enjoyed the breather all these while, it took last week’s reminder by an institution that could, in the eyes of most Nigerians,  pass  for the veritable messenger of Satan – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to again draw attention to the under-recovery element in the fuel-pricing template. As far as Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director is concerned, that  element and the consequences thereof, which she says has claimed about $5.2 trillion, needs to be hived off – perhaps with automatic alacrity – so Nigeria can live!

    Soon after, the fuel marketers switched to the panic mode. The oil sector unions – theNigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) later picked up the gauntlet. In their joint response to the IMF, they blamed the body for creating panic the result of which was the hoarding of petroleum products, panic buying observed in some parts of the country last  week.

    Not only that, the two unions considered it “bewildering and baffling that the IMF is not considering the pains and agonies Nigerians went through even to achieve the acknowledged gains of 2018, with almost two-thirds of the world’s hungriest people among Nigerians”.

    “One wonders why the IMF is still callously and wickedly advising the government to inflict more pains and harm on the people”.

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on its part says that the continued devaluation of the Nigerian currency is what has created the impression of the existence of subsidy. According to its president, Ayuba Wabba, as long as the value of the naira was left to market forces, the issue of subsidy would continue in the country.

    The arguments though familiar, are certainly as old as the subsidy itself.  I  understandthe current anger in the context of the existential realities that have defined the daily struggles of the ordinary citizen, particularly the stats which show how further down Nigerians have plumbed on vital socio-economic indices. Part of that reality is the finding in the report by The World Poverty Clock that Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people (some 86.9 million, representing nearly 50% of the population) in the world despite having its population seven times larger than Nigeria’s. Then of course is the latest Misery Index 2018, which ranks Nigeria as the 6th most miserable nation in the world.

    To those familiar with  the position of this columnist, the point of divergence has always been the denial of the basic economics which underlay the subsidy debate right up to the ensuing policy stasis that it bred. As it is, the only progress that the country could claim to have made is the agreement that the under-recovery element does in fact exist. If that is progress, the issue of how to address it in a way that does not further injure the economy or take more citizens down the poverty route has not only remained a tough call for successive governments, the rentier economy spawned by the subsidy and its associated culture of opacity has  made it a no-no to Nigerians.

    Let’s for once forget the IMF; does anyone know how much the subsidy currently cost the treasury? How many litres of petrol does the country consume daily? Doubtful if anyone knows for certainty. However, we know for a fact that the subsidy bill grew from roughly N300 billion during the administration of late President Umaru Yar’Adua to N1.9 trillion under President Goodluck Jonathan. Today, no-one knows how much the NNPC spends to bridge the price differential; the only thing Nigerians know is that their state oil corporation does little else than import fuel since importers, according to the government,  have long abandoned the business due to reason of under-recovery. Trust me, the busines is thriving with some estimates putting the annual spend on the subsidy alone in excess of N1 trillion – close to the 50 percent of the N2.03 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure in the 2019 budget.

    That is bad public finance and economics – if you ask me. The only thing that could be worse – or if you like more toxic – is the failure by IMF and cohorts to recognise the subsidy as something of a constantly moving target not only subject to the vagaries of oil prices but exchange rate fluctuations. For an import-dependent country like Nigeria with a relatively unstable currency, the IMF prescription is the surest route to disaster; as for the other  alternative, which requires the country to continue to shell out a trillion naira annually to subsidise petrol consumption, it is akin to swallowing poison in small doses.

    This is where the NLC and the IMF are both right and wrong.

    First,  had the NLC shunned its traditional brashness which tended to foreclose contrary opinions, the nation most probably would have long before now, made a headway in putting appropriate policies in place to address the problem. By the way,  what happened to the billions of naira loan given to NLC for its mass transit services to cushion the effects of the Jonathan-era subsidy removal?

    As for the IMF, apart from the fact the officials do not live here and so could be excused for assumptions that are at variance with the Nigerian reality;  theirs is at best advisory. What the Nigerian government makes of it is entirely its business.

    However, the issue at this time is hardly one of right or wrong but what is best for the country.

    Clearly, the easiest solution is to have the government build more refineries. I say the easiest but not necessarily the best solution as the option comes with the requirement that we trust a government that could not fix its ailing refineries to launch new ventures – a most unrealistic proposition at this time.

    The other option which is already bearing fruits, is to get more private sector players like Dangote Refineries on board to address not just the domestic supply gap but to address permanently the other macro-economic issues associated with the fuel import trade. Understandably, Nigerians claim to love the idea; the issue is whether they are prepared for the removal of any form of price ceilings by whatever name which will inevitably come with true liberalisation. With the commencement of operations of the largest single train refinery in the world slated for April 2020 – less than a year from now, only when that singular issue is firmly settled can we begin the talk of interring that Nigerian dragon. 

  • How to prevent luggage stuffing at airports , by experts

    Security experts have advised travelers to disclose the content of their checked-in luggage to ground handling personnel,  airline staff and other officials that will profile them to prevent the stuffing of their baggage. Stuffing is where passenger baggage are opened and narcotic substance put into them by unscrupulous airline staff during check-in.

    Chief Security Officer at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, Sadiku Mamman said full disclosure of the content would enable personnel handling such baggage carry out appropriate tagging and identification.

    He said the matter became worrisome because of insinuations that some foreign carriers stuff the luggage of some Nigerian passengers with drugs as they are being checked in.

    He noted that some passengers were unwittingly accepting luggage with contents unknown to them at the airport.

    Mamman said it was against the standard operating procedures for a passenger to accept any luggage from another, when it was not packed by him before the flight.

    Airlines, ground handling companies and other personnel, he said, asked passengers vital information before their luggage is put inside the aircraft.

    He canvassed cooperation among security agencies at the airport to checkmate criminal acts by those whose mission to create problems for others.

    Mamman said improved surveillance at airports’ departure halls and other areas would help to arrest any criminal attempts.

    He said the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) security personnel would continue to collaborate with profiling companies and others who handle passengers’ luggage to avoid their luggage from being stuffed.

    Security expert, Garba Ahmadu, canvassed improvement in security infrastructure to eliminate any form of luggage stuffing and other narcotic related crimes at the airport.

    He said there was need for close interface between security and allied agencies to monitor airport workers who might be involved in such activities.

    Ahmadu said last year 93 persons were arrested with  5.377.125 kilograms of illicit drug. The NDLEA, he said, secured 25 convictions.

    The government, he said must invest in technology to police MMIA, as the busiest airport in West Africa with an average of 35 daily international flights and  10 million passengers yearly.

    He said: “This shows the reality and the enormity of the drug trafficking challenge in MMIA.

    “ We face many challenges at the airport and among this is lack of modern scanners, ICT equipment, sniffer dogs and advance passenger information system.

    “The issue of insider threat is there to grapple with because a staff that is not well paid could compromise or collude with traffickers to commit the crime.

    A  RwandAir staff member who pleaded not to be named said airlines were taking steps to prevent stuffing, by ensuring that passengers personally and the contents.

    Many carriers, he said, had taken steps to monitor the activities of ground handling and other companies involved in the tagging and profiling of luggage.

    Last week, on a visit to the MMIA, chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PASEDA), Brig.- Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) threatened that government would sanction foreign carriers involved in such practice.

    His warning came on the heels of a Kano Airport incident which could have led to the conviction of a Nigerian in Saudi Arabia following the discovery of drugs in his luggage, which was wrongly tagged.

    Marwa said: “What I said is real that some airline staff and some persons collude to check in and tag passengers name on baggage that they are unaware of and does not belong to them. The passenger was arrested in Saudi Arabia and he denied ownership of the bag.

    “Through the Closed Circuit Television Camera at the Kano airport, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officials discovered that he was innocent as the bag was checked in and tagged in his name by an airline staff.

    “Henceforth, such airlines will be penalised once we discover that such a thing happened on their flight.”

    According to him, the move was necessitated by the high number of Nigerians languishing in foreign jails as well as the recent execution of a Nigerian woman for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia.

  • Making gas flare regulations work

    Legal experts and stakeholders met in Lagos to discuss how to make the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2018 effective, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE.

    Gas flaring not only wastes valuable energy, it has significant detrimental effects on the environment and the economy.

    The Federal Government has, therefore, come up with policies aimed at reducing gas flaring by 2020.

    In 2016, it approved the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).

    Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari issued the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations of 2018.

    The Regulations focus on the reduction of the environmental and social impacts of gas flaring, prevention of waste of natural gas resources and creation of social and economic benefits from gas flare capture.

    The Regulations aim to incentivise the commercialisation of flare gas because of the zero royalty regime.

    On other hand, it discourages continued gas flaring through the imposition of a new flaring fee regime.

    The Regulations underpin NGFCP’s implementation, which involves a bidding process.

    Speakers at a two-day workshop in Lagos believe that if properly implemented and enforced, the subsidiary legislation will erase the historical narrative of Nigeria’s associated gas wastage.

    The workshop’s theme was: Taking advantage of the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulation 2018.

    It was organised by George Etomi & Partners in collaboration with Syncrest Energy Limited and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

    Lawyers, in-house counsel, industry players, investors, representatives of the ministry and regulatory bodies in the oil and gas sector were in attendance.

    Key issues

    The workshop unravelled insights into the nitty-gritty of the flare gas regulatory environment.

    Issues such as gas monetisation strategies, gas dynamics in sub-sahara Africa and other regional markets, the NGFCP, the transnational and commercial structures, project bankability, among others, were discussed.

    NGFCP Programme Manager Mr. Justice Derefaka spoke of the importance of eliminating gas flare.

    “Flare gas is a waste of natural resources. Only 12.5 million out of 180 million people have access to electricity,” he said.

    He said the NGFCP is designed to eliminate routine and non-routine gas flaring through gas utilisation projects which are technically and commercially sustainable.

    “These projects would be developed by competent third-party investors who are being invited to participate in a competitive and transparent bid process, the first stage of which commenced in January 2019.

    “The NGFCP hopes to attract investment of about $ 3Billion USD, creating over 300, 000 direct and indirect jobs and reducing CO2 emissions by over 20, 000MT yearly,” he said.

    The NGFCP Programme Manager observed that there are over 16, 000 flare sites in 90 countries globally many of which are in Nigeria.

    He said about 145 to 150 Billion Cubit Meters of gas is flared per year globally, enough to produce 750 billion kwh of power, which is more than the annual power consumption in the entire African continent.

    He noted that over US10billion in revenue at $2 per MMBtu is lost yearly and over 600,000 people die of air pollution as a result of flare gas, which can be akin to wiping an entire community like Polaku in Bayelsa State within a year.

    He explained the bid process as well as the expectations under the NGFCP.

    ‘Crucial to the economy’

    Giving an overview of the gas industry, Principal Consultant with Wycliffe Advisory & Consulting, Mrs Abimbola Olufore, said gas was crucial to the economy.

    “With respect to commercialisation of gas, there is a nexus of gas with virtually all sectors of the economy, from the power sector to the healthcare sector, the agriculture sector and the textile industry,” she said.

    The seasoned consultant underscored the importance of factoring non-technical as well as resource bearing host community risk issues into the risk matrix during the gas flare project development process, in order to ensure they are well addressed.

    Olufore made a case for the development of the gas industry, emphasising that gas was in abundance, affordable and acceptable.

    She said there is need for each component of the gas value chain to be bankable.

    Olufore highlighted the various risk components associated with gas project development in Nigeria, some of which are: transport risk, infrastructure risk, regulatory risk, political risk, contract risk and project management risk.

    On the commercialisation of gas, she said there is need for massive investment in physical and virtual pipelines, storage facilities, among others, as there currently exist 40 per cent of stranded gas assets in Nigeria.

    Olufore said there were enormous opportunities within the gas space.

    She underscored the novelty of the Greenville project which deploys virtual pipeline trucking technology solutions and recommended the Greenville model for developers amongst other key gas projects.

    In her closing presentation, she emphasised the need for thorough evaluation of non-technical host community risk associated with gas projects in Nigeria.

    She provided a case study of how the $20Billion USD project in Ogidigben Delta State was stalled and delayed due to failure in thoroughly evaluating host community issues as a potent risk to be factored into the project development life cycle.

    She underscored the importance of avoiding time stealers during the project development stages or delay in project timelines due to the impact of erosive currency value effect or forex change impact which may ultimately derail a project or make it unduly expensive and, therefore, unattractive for financing.

    ‘Remotely operated solutions’

    General Manager of Pioneer Energy, Ann Norman, discussed the benefits of various remotely operated modular flare gas processing solutions.

    She highlighted the various technologies that exist to support the flare gas commercialisation programme.

    According to her, said there were technologies that can be applied to difficult terrains in the Niger Delta region in order to deliver solutions.

    Norman indicated that the new technologies, such as flare gas capture technology and the fractioning unit, are remotely controlled modular solutions relevant to the Niger Delta terrain and designed for stranded gas.

    She stressed the importance of deploying end to end modular technology solutions in delivering comprehensive projects that are commercially viable.

    ‘Gas-energy nexus’

    A financial expert and Chief Executive Officer at Tranergy & Co, Abolaji Femi-Ishola, discussed the gas-energy nexus.

    “The core of gas production goes to power consumption to ensure that power plants are not stranded and have enough gas as feedstock,” he said.

    The financial expert emphasised that “as gas prices come close to market prices, there will be an increase in gas deals”.

    Femi-Ishola explained the need for gas projects to be bankable.

    According to him, the few and sparse projects available in the pipeline today are not a function of lack of capital but because projects are not well structured and bankable to attract the needed capital in Nigeria.

    He stressed that a project is bankable when the banks become comfortable with it because the risks have been efficiently allocated.

    Femi-Ishola, therefore, advised developers and sponsors alike to recruit investment bankers and legal counsel from the onset of project development so that it will be easy to manage the various risks associated with capital raising both locally and internationally for project delivery.

    He added that when all forms of risks, such as macroeconomic risk, are well managed, gas projects will most likely succeed in Nigeria.

    Senior Partner with Primera Africa Legal, Israel Aye, enlightened participants about the legal and regulatory expectations within the Regulations.

    He underscored the importance of approaching the investment opportunities under the NGFCP with different lenses in order to fully appreciate the significance of the programme.

    He noted the need for all stakeholders to be realigned with the objectives of NGFCP for the laudable aspirations of the programme to be achieved.

    Head Energy and Infrastructure Projects at George Etomi & Partners, Ivie Ehanmo, discussed the legal, regulatory, transactional and commercial structures and strategies for flare gas commercialisation and sale to off-takers.

    The energy and infrastructure expert underscored the imperative for evaluating projects carefully under the NGFCP while deploying adequate commercial and contractual structures envisaged under the legal and regulatory framework.

    He further reiterated the need for an end-to-end understanding of the niceties in the commercial agreements, milestones, financial and performance guarantees, licencing regime, approvals and permits.

    This, he said, is particularly as it relates to Gas to Power Projects (G2P), in order to deliver robust projects that can attract private and development capital.

     

    Key takeaways

     

    Speakers noted:

    • Flare gas is a tremendous waste of natural resources which can be used to develop the economy.
    • Nimble, scalable and modular technologies for capturing flare gas now exist and are economical and applicable to the difficult terrain where gas flaring sites are located.
    • Bidders under the NGFCP have the flexibility of choosing which flare site to bid for, how much they wish to buy the flared gas from a floor price of $0.25c/1000scf, the end market or gas product, as well as the technology to be used.
    • Bidders and project developers would be required to develop a comprehensive approach in ensuring that their flare gas projects are well structured to attract the much-needed finance.
    • Project developers would require the support of legal counsel and finance advisors in drafting the commercial terms and agreements that would take into account the entire value chain of the specific project development.
    • There is need for all industry stakeholders, lawyers, legal advisors, participants and investors alike to realign towards supporting the laudable objectives of the NGFCP in order to achieve a win-win outcome.

  • Nigerian carriers demand roadmap on 5G

    Telecoms operators in the country have advised the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to unveil the roadmap on 5G, which  the latest technology developed countries are warming up to embrace.

    Acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), the operators, said the inevitability of the technology making an inroad into the country has become obvious, underlining the need for the regulator to come out with a roadmap for its adoption.

    ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke on the sideline of the official launch of a product by Smile Communications in Lagos, said the operating environment has remained hostile, a development that could be seen by the high mortality of members of the group.

    According to Adebayo, at inception, the group had about 40 member, which has now reduced to 16 because of the difficulty in the operating environment.

    He said: “There is need for the regulator, the NCC, to come out with a roadmap on 5G, on how to embrace it. This is important for the industry.”

    He urged the NCC to revisit the issue of data floor line in the industry because it is affecting smaller operators, asking it to release the result of the study conducted on data floor.

    He also urged the Federal Government to roll out incentives for players such as Smile Communications because all players, regardless of size, spend the same funds to run business in the country.

    Already, competition is fierce on the 5G global stage. International activity around the technology is growing at a fever pitch, as vendors and service providers in technology-focused countries work on early 5G network trials and test 5G with friendly users. The NCC said the technology has already been tested in some parts of Lagos.

    Four countries most likely to have the earliest and biggest 5G debut include China, South Korea, Japan and the United States (U.S.).

    Already, two service providers in South Korea are vying to be first to market with a 5G network. SK Telecom has acquired spectrum in the 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz frequencies in anticipation of deploying 5G. China is also expected to be a fast-mover in 5G. The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) estimated that by 2025 China will represent 40 per cent of global 5G connections.

    According to a study from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the research arm of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), 5G could account for 3.2 percent of China’s entire GDP in 2025, generate eight million jobs, and add 2.9 trillion yuan in economic value by 2030. As hungry consumers demand more and more 5G services, the country expects a huge increase in the number of new companies, employment opportunities, and equipment sales.

    Japan is mobilising its communications industry in the hopes of being among the top 5G network players. According to Nikkei Asian Review, NTT DoCoMo and Sohgo Security Services demonstrated an advanced security service based on 5G network technology to determine the effectiveness of the service in handling security for the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Olympics. The trial involved the use of artificial intelligence (AI), a drone with an HD 4K camera, and smartphones.

    The U.S. has some advantages in the 5G network race. It already has a lead when it comes to existing 4G networks, thanks to spectrum holdings and the use of unlicensed spectrum. It also leads the way in spectrum efficiency, permitting the repurposing of broadcast spectrum for broadband. However, the U.S. also has disadvantages slowing it down in the 5G network race between countries. Local and municipal governments hold zoning authority over cell towers and base stations, which can slow down authorisation — a potentially bad sign for 5G, which will be characterised by a dense network of small cells.

    However, the FCC voted unanimously last year to open nearly 11 GHz of high-frequency spectrum for mobile, flexible, and fixed-use wireless broadband for the 5G future. Numerous vendors and providers are clamoring to make the most of this advantage by launching new trials in more markets with friendly users.

     

  • Two charged with stealing

    TWO men, Adetoyese Adenikinju, 42, and Stanley Obinna, 35, yesterday appeared at an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing and buying an excavator worth N15 million.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Prosecuting Inspector Victor Eruada alleged that Adenikinju stole the excavator valued at N15 million, property of Laratex Ultimate Construction Company.

    Read also: Court frees Ozubulu massacre suspects

    He alleged that Adenikinju committed the crime with one other person at large, on March 28, at Joke Ayo Road, Suberu Oje Quarters, Alagbado, Lagos.

    “He stole the item where it was parked and sold it to Obinna at N15 million,” the prosecutor said.

    Chief Magistrate M. I. Dan-Oni granted the defendants N500,000 bail, with two sureties each in the like sum and adjourned till April 24.

  • ‘Why PDP can’t bounce back in Plateau’

    Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication Yakubu Dati spoke with YUSUFU IDEGU in Jos, the state capital, on why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to bounce back during the last governorship election.

    It was a two-man contest between Governor Simon Lalong of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Jeremiah Useni of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Why was it so?

    It was simply because the two parties are the ones that have elected representatives at various levels; I mean both of them have members in the state House of Assembly, they have members at the Senate and the House of Representatives. So, the two parties are the major contenders in the contest. Remember before the advent of the APC, the PDP was the only party known in this state. So, it was like a battle between the party that was in power, lost the power and is battling to return to power versus the APC that is in power at the moment. While the PDP was trying to come back to power in the state, the APC wanted to consolidate. At the end of the battle, the people decided to give power to the person they preferred, which is Governor Lalong of the APC. There are other governorship candidates representing other political parties, but their parties are not as popular as the APC and the PDP. Again, it might be the preference of the voters to reduce their choice for governorship to two, hence they had the APC and the PDP candidates to chose from and between the two, the people has demonstrated their preference for the APC. This boils down to the people’s choice; that is the beauty of democracy, the people’s choice must prevail. In other parts of the country, voters don’t even look at the parties, they looked at the personalities and so you see people making their choice of candidate outside the APC and the PDP. At the end of the day, it’s people choice. In Plateau State Lalong was the people’s choice.

    What do you think are Governor Lalong’s attributes that endeared him to voters?

    In the first place, Governor Lalong is humane, humble and he is a God-fearing man. His kind of humility is unparalleled, his nature is such that does not want to hurt a fly, not to talk of a human being. He came with a mindset to be fair to all residents of the state, irrespective of political leaning, ethnic, political or religious background. He is at home with everyone and that personal attributes reflected positively in his style of administration in the last four years. The administration that ruled the state before him was the type that did a lot to elevate one tribe above others in their policies and programmes and such ethnic politics caused major divisions among the multi-ethnic population of the state. But, when Lalong took over, he made it a deliberate policy to eradicate ethnic divisions and tried to bring the people together as equals. He made everyone equal stakeholder in the state and that alone endeared him to the people.

    Secondly, Governor Lalong has kept his electioneering promises to the people. As soon as he took over the mantle of leadership in 2015, he made wide consultations with the people to find out their areas of priorities and at the end he came up with what we called the “5-Pillar Policy” of the administration. It is a kind of developmental blueprint that guides the government in addition to the promises he made to the people. That was why, if you take the issue of welfare of the people, for example, Lalong is second to none. He did not only make salary payments regular, he also made sure that he cleared backlog of salary arrears. In fact, he came into office when workers were on strike and he promptly promised that he was going to pay the backlog and he has not disappointed them. The payment of salaries alone made the entire state happy, because even those that are not civil servants were happy because those who collect salaries patronise them and money is always in circulation. You can imagine a government that releases at least N2.5 billion into the state every month through salary payments. Definitely, it will impact on the economy of the state and petty traders, artisans, farmers ussually feel the impact of the money in circulation. If you realise the economic impact of one month salary no government can afford to delay salary payments because that salary touches on every aspects of the economy. The local economy has picked up and everybody is pleased with the government.

    Thirdly, Governor Lalong recalled all civil servants that were sacked by previous administration and those placed on indefinite suspension. He reinstated them and they were paid their arrears. The unemployed youths also like Governor Lalong, because they have also benefited from the administration through entrepreneurship trainings. As I’m talking to you, more than 100,000 Plateau youths benefited from the entrepreneurship programme organised by the Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (PLASMEDA), an agency created by the governor himself. The beneficiaries of this entrepreneurship programme cut across all the 17 local governments. It was another means of job creation, because most of these trained youths were equipped with relevant tools for them to start their own businesses. Most of them did well and thereby also employed others on their businesses. So, everywhere in the state the youths are just singing praises of Lalong.

    His achievements in the areas of peace and security have also endeared the governor to the people. I can say Governor Lalong brought peace to people. You can only appreciate Lalong’s peace initiatives when you think of a period that the state was completely polarised along ethnic and religious lines. Then, there were no-go areas in Jos; where you go depends on your religion or the ethnic group you belong to. But Lalong did well to eradicate that within the first year of his administration. Why will people not like him? More so, he run an all-inclusive government. So, all these and many more really endeared him to the people and eventually made him the number one choice of the people during the election.

    But, there was gang up against his re-election bid. What do you have to say about that?

    Yes, there was that gang up against Lalong in the election; the gang up was made up of some elites who felt he did well to deny them access to public funds, as it used to be in previous PDP administrations. You know in the past, these elites lived big on state resources and they don’t care if civil servants are paid salaries or not. Such elites never cared if there are provisions of social infrastructure for the benefit of the entire populace.