The Nation Newspaper

Tag: threat

  • Issuing ID card to Northerners in East, threat to Igbo investment in North —ACF

    Issuing ID card to Northerners in East, threat to Igbo investment in North —ACF

    The Northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has warned that the ongoing controversy over the issuance identity cards to Nigerians of northern extraction in  in the Eastern part of the country could endanger the multi-billion naira investments of Igbo businessmen living in the north.

    It will be recalled that Northerners doing business in Imo State were allegedly being registered by the state government in preparation for issuing them identity cards, following the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The ACF also expressed the fear that the country may be envloped in crisis along ethnic lines if it decides to carry out a similar action against the Igbo who are resident in the north.

    While the forum maintained that there was nothing wrong with issuing identity cards, it condemned the plan to target a section of the country for the registration, stressing that everybody deserved the identity cards if it is done in good faith to achieve a goal.

    Addressing members of the South-South/South-East Arewa Coalition who paid a courtesy call on the ACF yesterday, the Deputy Secretary-General of the forum, Engineer Abubakar Umar said statistics available to the forum indicated that Igbos’ investments in Kaduna, Kano, and Jos alone amounted to N45 trillion.

    Umar said with such huge investments in just three states of the north, Easterners have no reason to maltreat northerners doing businesses in the east. He said:  “If the table turns round, it could be disastrous, as these investments may suffer for it. But we are praying for understanding among  Nigerians, for us to accept ourselves wherever we live to earn legitimate means of livehood.”

    He explained that Yoruba and Igbo people in Jos, capital of Plateau State, lost N480 billion and N410 billion investments respectively to the 2011 post election violence, adding that the South-South also lost N970 billion in the same crisis.

    “We know these statistics; we have these statistics, so we expect the Igbos to treat our kinsmen, our brothers and sisters in the East as kings and queens, in view of the fact that they (Igbos) have more investments in the north than in the East.

    “Take Abuja, the Federal capital territory, for example, Igbos occupy over 73 percent of the land, so these are some of the reasons why they should be everybody’s keepers in their place,”Umar said.

    Earlier, the leader of the Coalition, Mallam Awwal Yusuf, told the ACF that northerners were doing business in fear in the east, and called on the ACF to intervene, because, according to him, “every trader or Muslims from the north is considered a Boko Haram”.

    Yusuf said the Arewa Coalition has gone to court on the issue of identity card in order to seek justice and be freed from undue molestation in the hands of the people in the area.

    “We are so embarrassed with this issue of identity cards. Why should it be only traders or Muslims from the north that should be identified. We have taken the case to a court in Enugu and we are that the state governor, Sulivan Chime, is ready to help us by sending his lawyer to stand for us,” Yusuf said.

    In his closing remarks, the ACF Secretary-General, Col. John Ubah (rtd) reminded the visitors that the ACF was established to protect the north and its people, saying that whatever happened to any northerner anywhere was always considered a serious issue.

    Col. Ubah said, “It is very sad to brand our people as Boko Haram in the East. But we want to tell you that we have not been sleeping; we will go through the northern governors to address the issue.

  • Three die as Nasarawa youths clash over impeachment threat

    Three die as Nasarawa youths clash over impeachment threat

    Ethnic clashes erupted yesterday in in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, over the impeachment notice filed again Governor Tanko Al-Makura by the House of Assembly.

    Youths of Eggon and Gwandara ethnic tribes engaged in a fight on the streets. Many were injured.

    Channels television reported last night that no fewer than three people were killed during the protest.

    According to the report, two bodies were seen in a security van, their legs hanging. Some arrests were also made.  Military men were drafted to keep the peace as the protesters demanded that the House of Assembly should leave Governor Al Makura alone.

    Channels quoted police spokesperson Numan Umar as saying that he was yet to confirm the casualty figure but referred reporters to the B division of the Police which was under heavy military presence yesterday.

    Governor Al-Makura is from Gwandara. Information Minister Labaran Maku is an Eggon.

    It was gathered that some armed  Gwandara youths set ablaze a house belonging to an Eggon man at old Al’mis market. They also burnt his car. The house bore Maku’s governorship campaign posters.

    Nasarawa police spokesman Ismaila Numaan confirmed the development, saying the house was burnt early yesterday but he could not however confirm who was responsible.

    A youth with a deep machete cut in his arm, with blood all over him, was seen being taken to the hospital.

    At the scene of the clash, there were burnt commercial tricycles. Shops and other business premises were hurriedly closed for fear of being looted.

    Some of the youths who dressed in black chased their rivals around.

    A police team inside a patrol van was seen trying to maintain the peace.

  • What’s next with Nyako down, Al-Makura under threat?

    What’s next with Nyako down, Al-Makura under threat?

    As the country moves towards the 2015 general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan appears to be showing his true colour. Tuesday’s impeachment of Murtala Nyako, the commencement of a similar plot to remove Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Al-Makura and several developments on the political scene, say analysts, suggest that Nigeria is fast turning into a one-party state, reports Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI 

    With the impeachment of former Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the commencement of the process of removing another governor of the same party in Nasarawa State, Tank Al-Makura, Nigeria may be heading for a one-party state. Nyako was impeached on Tuesday by the House of Assembly, after 18 of the 25 members consented to the contents of the report of the panel which indicted him for alleged financial recklessness. His deputy, Bala Ngilari, resigned on Tuesday morning . His purported letter of resignation was read ahead of the day’s plenary by the former Speaker, Umaru Fintiri, who was sworn in as acting governor. Following this development, the PDP has taken over the state.

    Members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Tuesday began impeachment proceedings against Al-Makura, who is also of the APC. The House directed its Clerk, Ego Maikeffi, to serve Al-Makura with an impeachment notice for alleged gross misconduct and misappropriation of funds the day before. The notice was signed by 20 of the 24 lawmakers  during a sitting presided over by the Speaker, Ahmed Mohammed. The 16-count charge borders on alleged extra-budgetary expenses by the governor.

    The plot to remove Al-Makura has been on  for some time. The PDP has been angling to carry out the impeachment for over a year , using members of the Assembly, which is dominated by the opposition party, which was the ruling party  before it was defeated by the APC. Indeed, Al- Makura’s Special Adviser on Special Duties Mohammed Abdullahi , alleged that members of the Assembly collected about N30 million each for the impeachment.

    Aside from Adamawa and Nasarawa, a political crisis allegedly being fuelled by the PDP is simmering in Edo, Rivers, Ogun and a number of other states controlled by the APC. In Edo State, for instance, following a string of defections from the APC to the PDP, a crisis over the control of the Assembly has ensued. The House is now polarised along party lines and can hardly function. The allegation is that the former APC members who defected to the PDP were financially induced to do so.

    In Rivers State, the PDP made an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Governor Rotimi Amaechi in May, last year, when eight lawmakers in the Assembly joined the camp of the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, bringing to 13 the number of anti-Amaechi lawmakers. But, the attempt to impeach the Speaker, who is loyal to Amaechi, backfired and so the process was stalled. The situation in Rivers now is one of uneasy calm, but the PDP, it is believed, has not given up.

    With these developments, the opposition party is being emasculated in the power equation, as the country approaches the crucial 2015 general elections, no thanks to the machinations of the ruling PDP. This is made possible by the willingness of the ruling party to muscle its way through,  using the financial wherewithal available to it from its vantage position.

    The convener of the Nigerian Voters’ Assembly, a civil society group, Moshood Erubami, believes the PDP is getting ready to slam a one-party state on Nigeria.

    He said: “Unfortunately when you look at the President and his mien, he looks so gentle, but when you see his body language and manifestations, you will know that he is a man that Nigerians should beware of. My fear is that the after-effect of all this anarchy might wake the military up and nobody can predict the end of the saga.”

    A Lagos-based lawyer and the immediate past  chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani, described Jonathan’s latest antics to neutralise the opposition before 2015 as “absurdity of the highest order.” Ubani declined further comment, saying it is a bad omen for the  general elections.

    Nyako’s  crisis is premised on his attempt to pilot the ship of state against the direction preferred by his former benefactors. He was removed, following a prolonged political crisis that started with the bickering within ruling PDP over control of the state between him and then National Party Chairman Bamanga Tukur. Observers say Nyako would have been sitting pretty as governor, but for his conflict with the party that brought him into office and his hard, rebellious posture against Jonathan.

    Erubami said: “Nyako was not a thief when he was dancing to their tune, but since he joined the APC, he has become a thief. By extension, all the governors that defected to APC are now rogues and must be given rogue treatment. But, they should not forget that Nigerians are not stupid; we know whose script is being played out. Very soon all their strategies and tactics would come home to roost.

    “It is a very big threat to our democracy because the process through which Nyako was impeached is very much unconstitutional. The man went to court before the committee started sitting, but they ignored it. Where the rule of law is set aside in preference for personal ambition is an anathema to democratic norms.”

    He told The Nation on Tuesday that: “We know those who are writing the script. It is not strange; we have witnessed a situation where seven legislators attempted to impeach a speaker in an assembly that has over 15 members, all in bid to remove the governor. We are hearing about Nasarawa now. So, where they cannot rig elections, what they do is to impeach?”

    Elder statesman and Second Republic politician Alhaji Tanko Yakassai noted that whosoever advised Nyako and his deputy to shun the invitation extended them by the investigating to defend themselves did not give them a good advice.

    His words: “It was not really helpful because in a matter like this you need to give your own side of the story. Maybe the people have made up their mind, but at least posterity would know what you have to say. This is because when you are accused of committing a crime and you keep quiet, whether you like it or not it would be deemed that you are guilty. Your defence might not make much difference, but it would be on record forever that this was your response.”

    Yakassai does not believe that Nigeria is heading for a one-party state.

    “Nigeria is not the kind of country that would end up with a one-party state,” he said, adding that what happened in Adamawa and what is happening in Nasarawa is a continuation of the PDP crisis.

    “Nyako was a member of the PDP and Tanko Al Makura was also a member of the party before he crossed over to the defunct CPC just before the 2011 election and got elected. So, it’s a continuation of the PDP crisis,” he said.

    Nevertheless, Yakassai said it is unfortunate that the crisis in Adamawa reached this stage.

  • ‘Dearth of infrastructure threat to e-payment

    Failure to fill the gap in the identity management infrastructure and solutions space can derail the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) efforts to put in place a cashless economy through use of alternative payments channels, Chairman, Chams, Ayo Richards, has warned.

    He said without filling the gap, the payments transaction industry and the economy cannot thrive.

    Richards said the firm’s identity assurance programmes being executed in the private and public sectors would strengthen its business, ensure future growth and fuel increased profitability in the long run.

    He spoke on the sideline at the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, stressing that the  sector has become the driver of the  economy, arguing that the infrastructure deficit has to be fixed to move on.

    He said:  “ICT has become a key driver of economic activity in Nigeria and other developing markets. Remarkably, there is a huge gap to fill in the identity management infrastructure and solutions space which is our area of focus. Without filling this yawning gap, the payments transaction industry and economy at large cannot thrive.”

    According to the chair, the identity assurance needs of the financial services industry, state governments, tertiary institutions, and specialised government agencies are the catalyst of the rapid growth in the issuance of identity cards and registration of citizens for record-keeping purposes.

    He said: “There are many government-driven identity assurance programmes going on in Nigeria currently and they are with biometrics, one of our areas of specialty. We have the national identity programme by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Know-Your-Customer biometric registration programme for bank customers, as well as residency and smart identity card programmes being championed by some state governments.

    As a leading player in the identity assurance space, we are engaged with governments and relevant agencies to provide these identity management products and services. The demand for identity management services will continue to grow due increasing to financial inclusion, implementation of CBN’s cashlite policy and digitisation of commerce, presenting future growth opportunities for us as a business.”

    The firm’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said despite its operational costs due to infrastructure challenge, the technology firm improved performance during the accounting year.

    He said: “In spite of cost pressures and infrastructure challenges, especially in the area of power, Chams improved its 2012 performance by focusing on the core business of identity management and payments solutions in the 2013 financial year. We streamlined our business operations by vesting non-core

  • ‘Finance gap threat to agric’

    A GREEN revolution cannot materialise in Nigeria if effort is not made to secure finance for agriculture, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Prof Ini Akpabio, has warned.

    He said to strengthen the sector, the focus should be on increasing public budgets for agriculture and exploring partnerships with the private sector.

    At the moment, he  said, the gap in finance is more acute and that less than 10 per cent of small farmers have  access to finance they need to expand their production and raise their income.

    He said the sector has struggled to access the financing it needs for sustained growth, adding that in most cases, it was who politicians benefit  from the government‘s schemes to boost agriculture to the detriment of genuine farmers.

    He said failures in critical infrastructure, such as inadequate cold storage facilities, unexpected disruptions in commodities trading, lack of adequate feeder roads to production areas, inadequate dry storage facilities, and congested ports prohibiting the export or import of products are threat to the sector.

    Akpabio said farmers were confronting  delays in the supply of critical input, such as fertiliser, seed and fuel because of transportation difficulties in getting goods to market.

    Without tackling these constraints, and their effect on lending, the don said green revolution would not be achieved, calling for investment in the sector.

    He advised also that clustering farmers into cooperatives would  help mitigate repayment default  risk, noting that making farmers dependent on each other and therefore less likely to default on a group, but also giving them greater negotiating strength.

    He called on the government to offer tax incentives and make preferential procurement choices for companies that source from small farmers and to developing inclusive financial models that combine incentives, reduce debt risk and promote longer-term agribusiness model.

    Akpabio  advised that  the government to come  up with proposals aimed at helping it address the key challenges hampering the involvement of youths.

  • Lamido’s un-royal threat

    When traditional rulers speak, we have every reason to take them by their words. Being custodians of our tradition and culture, they wield very great influence on people within their domain and beyond. This is even the more for those of them whose stools attract considerable national respect. For the latter, their actions or inaction bear great influence on the direction of events in an ethnically fragmented country as ours.

    That is why governments at all levels have had to rely on the traditional institution as the quickest vehicle to the grassroots. It is for the same reason that our royal fathers are insulated from partisan politics. Thus, in their actions and utterances, traditional rulers ought to place peace, orderly conduct and the common good of the disparate interests within the society over and above sectional predilections. Only then, will they be able to command the respect and loyalty of their various subjects.

    This pristine perspective came under serious challenge last week when the Lamido of Adamawa, His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha angrily reacted to the seeming disagreement at the national conference over the mode of voting.

    Apparently piqued by the sectional tone the debate was assuming, the Lamido had warned that northern delegates should not be pushed to the wall else they walk out of the conference. He told those who cared that there will be dire repercussions for the country if the north makes good this threat.

    Defying all attempts to call him to order, he said if something happens and this country disintegrates, those shouting their heads off will have no place to go.

    Hear him, “I and the people of Adamawa and many others have somewhere to go. I am the Lamido of Adamawa and my kingdom transcends Nigeria and Cameroon. A large part of my kingdom is in the Republic of Cameroon apart from my kingdom in Adamawa”

    That part of his kingdom in Cameroon is called Adamawa State, he further revealed.

    Ordinarily, one would have been tempted to view Mustapha’s reaction as a ventilation of frustrations with the way debate had been proceeding at the conference on the voting procedure. There is no doubt that the inability of members to arrive at an agreement on it seems to have set a bad tone for the conference. Yet, it is in the nature of gatherings of this nature that serious disagreements will occur.

    The issue is not that disagreements occur (as they are bound to) but how they are eventually resolved. If there were no divergences in opinion as to how best to organize and run the affairs of this country, there would have been no need for the conference in the first place. Sharp differences abound as to the right approaches to harmoniously organize the disparate groups that make up this country and realize their potentials to the fullest.

    The Lamido may have wished that issues be resolved fast and in the overall national interest. But such issues take some time and are better resolved through compromise and persuasion rather than threats.

    Unfortunately, the course of compromise and bargaining cannot be helped by arm twisting others through threats. One would have expected such a concerned traditional ruler to have reached out to his counterparts from other parts of the country to find common grounds on the issue if he is moved by national fervour. But that was not to be.

    Rather, he became the arrowhead of sectionalism, issuing threats and boasting of options available to him and those he purported to be speaking for. By conjuring up the possibility of a section of the country walking out of the conference, the Lamido failed to play that unifying and fatherly role expected of his exalted office.

    Why opt for the line of least resistance instead of deploying his creative energies to find common grounds with his counterparts from other divides who owe their membership of the conference to the national traditional council? It is sad that the Lamido chose very early in the day to act out the script of the north which had threatened even before the commencement of the conference to walk out if they are not favoured by the direction of discussions. Such a temperament at this point in time is to say the least, unedifying as it can no longer serve the cause of this country.

    It would have been much better if such unpatriotic views came from some relatively unknown delegates out there to seek public notice. Coming from a first class traditional ruler, there is more to it than ordinarily meets the eyes. Not unexpectedly, the latest threat fits into the pattern of reactions of the north to negotiations even before independence. At the stage this country is, one had expected that such threats as a way of resolving conflicts should have been consigned to the dust bin of history.

    If we excuse the Lamido for the walk out threat, how do we rationalize the copious efforts he made to drive the point home that he has an alternative country should Nigeria disintegrate? That is the moot question. And in it may be found answers to the insecurity that has held this country down for some years now. Lamido said his kingdom transcends Nigeria and Cameroon and that there is Adamawa State in the Republic of the Cameroon where he and others can find easy assimilation should Nigeria disintegrate.

    These statements are as weighty as they are revealing. Above all, they are loaded with very frightening security implications. It could be construed that the Lamido is a citizen of both Nigeria and Cameroon with his territories and subjects in the two countries. If that deduction is correct, then there is no difference between those of his subjects living in Nigeria and others living in the Cameroon in terms of citizenship. This will further imply free movement of people from both territories in and out of the country. It will also mean that between Adamawa State in Nigeria and Adamawa State in Cameroon, the Nigerian government has vicarious responsibility for their upkeep and maintenance.

    Given the Boko Haram scourge and the fact that Adamawa is one of the three hotbeds of the insurgents, the revelations by the Lamido should not be treated with levity. Not with the suspected complicity of Cameroon in providing safe havens to the insurgents. Before now, the military high command in the three states under state of emergency had variously accused Cameroon, Chad and Niger of duplicity in the war against Boko Haram. What we have been fed with courtesy of the unguarded outburst of the Lamido may be the veritable lead to the festering insurgency in that part of the country. And such a lead can only be ignored at a great risk.

    The royal father has told us that there are no boundaries between these countries and Nigeria. Curiously, despite the obvious threats such pose for our sovereignty and survival, our leaders have failed to muster the needed political will to decisively address the matter. Lamido’s stunning disclosure should seriously challenge the federal government to evolve foolproof measures to secure our borders in those parts of the country. Our national security will continue to be at grave risk as long as our borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger exist only in name.

  • e-ventures under threat of global cloner

    e-ventures under threat of global cloner

    The entrance into the Nigerian e-commerce industry by Rocket Internet, a global e-venture, whose founders are known as “clone” kings because of their company’s reputation for copying existing high-growth web companies, is creating fears it will kill local players, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Oladunni Olajide, an accountant, could not believe her luck. Until last year, she saw e-shopping as being for the developed world. Then she stumbled on online stores and has been hooked since then. She has shopped on Jumia,Taafoo, Shopaholicng and Brandnubians.

    She said: “Jumia is so far my best. It opened me up to online shopping. The shopping was so easy and convenient; their website is easily accessible on mobile phones too. They have competitive prices. My first experience went thus: I logged on to the website, created a profile, searched and searched (this not been helped by the quality of network service in Nigeria), found the perfect dress, decided to buy it after weighing the pros and cons and getting the opinion of my friends, chose the pay on delivery option, completed my purchase and signed off.

    “I felt good with myself. I was buying something online! Although, along with my joy came uncertainty but thankfully they couldn’t run away with my money… I hadn’t paid! The dress came in 8 days after it was scheduled to arrive. I was livid! I mean, who does that? As expected, their representative was full of apologies when I called to complain. Typical Nigerian. Oh well. That didn’t stop me from going back to Jumia. The consequent purchases were easier. Thank God.”

    Like Miss Olajide, many, especially last year, discovered they could buy mobile phones, television sets, refrigerators, books, air-conditioning system, laptop, desk jet printer and so on without leaving the comfort of their homes. All they need is to just log on to an e-commerce site, shop and be ready with their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to pay for the purchases on delivery.

    Really, e-commerce has, in the last one year, redefined the shopping habits of Nigerians. Indigenous e-commerce brands, such as Jumai.com, Dealdey, CityChops, Hotels.com.ng, Cheki.com, Spark Incubator, PrivateProperty.com, have taken shopping from the traditional form to online format. Besides the indigenous ones, some foreign brands, such as Glamour.com, Sunglass.com, Vconnect have played great roles in raising the bars in tandem with speedy rise of internet and mobile phone penetration in the country.

    Last year, the bulk of the players in the industry marked their first anniversaries and looked forward to better times ahead. But, the emerging market seems to be under threat of a global e-commerce cloner. The industry, in an attempt to grow its popularity, customer base and investment, has succumbed to selling equity to a global e-commerce cloner, Rocket Internet. The German global e-business cloner owns a major stake in the African Internet Holding Ventures.

    Rocket Internet has been accused of attempting to kill the local e-retailers through cloning of their web activities and unique selling points. Rocket Internet, according to investigations by this reporter, has also allegedly offered 1.5percent equity to Jumia.com, one of the key local players.

    Local players, who spoke under anonymity, have accused Rocket Internet of allegedly cloning local e-stores, such as CityChops, Hotels.com.ng, cheki.com and Spark Incubator, PrivateProperty.com.

    A source said: “Rocket has created sites that would try to kill them. They recreated Privateproperty.com for their Vamido.com.ng; Hotels.com for their juvago.com.ng; citychops for their hellofood.com.ng; and also recreated Cheki for their carmido.com.ng rather than creating a unique selling point just as the Indian-owned Vconnect, Sunglass.com and others from foreign countries have done.”

    While India and China have protected their e-commerce industry from being cloned by Rocket Internet, some countries have reportedly lost huge local e-ventures resulting in massive job losses. Nigeria may fall into this category soon, said sources.

    In the case of Jumia.com, the local investors are said to be battling with the stranglehold of Rocket Internet, which prides itself as the world’s largest Internet incubator. According to sources, Rocket Internet’s investment in Jumia forced the company to merge its other e-businesses, Sabuntha and Kasuwa, which reportedly led to massive job losses and leaving existing workers disgruntled.

    An interesting angle to the e-commerce’ drama’ playing out emerged last night, with information showing that the country’s biggest e-commerce sites, Jumia and Konga, will soon be under one owner.

    Konga, The Nation learnt, has just raised $25 million. TechCabal reports that: “Beyond the fact that the round skewed towards Swedish Kinnevik’s lead, we could not ascertain the structure of the deal, nor the resulting valuation. Preceding cash injections saw $3.5 million seed (Kinnevik) and $10 million series A (Kinnevik, Naspers).

    “Kinnevik is basically the lead investor and has great control.”

    Significantly, a partnership between Rocket Internet/AIH and MTN will result in MTN, Millicom and Rocket Internet each holding a 33.3 per cent stake in AIH. With this, Millicom and Rocket Internet control AIH with 66.6 per cent and in turn Jumia.

    Kinnevik, which was pivotal to the new cash inflow into Konga, practically owns Millicom, which is a key owner of Jumia by virtue of being the largest investor in Rocket Internet.

    So, technically, Kinnevik controls both Jumia and Konga , which are the biggest e-commerce sites in the country.

    A blogger last night posted that “Konga and Jumia Nigeria will become one and will be run by Simdul Shagaya. With the co founders of Jumia rumoured to have left, I do not think it is that far fetched.”

    Globally, Rocket Internet, owned by three German brothers, Oliver, Marc and Alexander Samwer, is world headline in the business of cloning. A major story in the Wall Street’s Journal, last May 14 described Rocket Internet as a leader in the business of cloning worldwide.

    The report said: “From deciding to execute to going live, the behemoth that is Rocket Internet can launch a site in just 25 days, says a senior company executive. That speed, coupled with a global footprint and the ability to take an existing business model and out-execute others, has made the company feared, even reviled by some.”

    The magazine quoted the Managing Director of the controversial Berlin-based incubator, Alexander Kudlich, as saying: “If we identify (an opportunity), we do it immediately. We would never say ‘in Q4 we will do this.’ If we see something, we do it now. We would start coding the same afternoon.”

    Also, the April 2012 issue of Wired magazine, reported that “Rocket Internet has built high-growth companies that were acquired by eBay, Groupon and News Corporation. They have used their profits to invest in Facebook, LinkedIn and Zynga…Yet they are also are among the most controversial. Mention the Samwer name at an internet conference from LeWeb in Paris to Munich’s DLD, and there’s a good chance you’ll hear them dismissed as “clone” kings, who simply copy existing high-growth web companies, from Airbnb to Pinterest — often selling the businesses back to the people who originated the idea.”

    It was learnt further that Rocket Internet has also been chased out of Turkey and Philippines where they have ripped local e-commerce investment out of business.

    “China and India have actively protected their own local entrepreneurs. But Nigeria doesn’t.

    “Many Nigerians are trying to do online retail and marketplace (e-commerce) but Rocket Internet (owners of Jumia and others) is trying to take all the market places that Nigerian entrepreneurs are striving to build humbly in the areas of general merchandise, car retail, taxis, real estate, food services,” the source said.

    When this reporter contacted the CEOs of the Africa Internet Holding (AIH), Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, who responded on behalf of Rocket Internet, they debunked some of the claims and reports against their company.

    Sacha said the number of members of staff sacked is false.

    “The numbers are false. In the past one year, only one percent of our over 500 employees resigned. We employ more than 1,500 people in nine African countries. Jumia alone has over 500 employees scattered around in six cities – many of them under the age of 30 and most important 95 per cent are Nigerians,” he said.

    The company, however, declined commenting on their alleged activities in Turkey, Philippines and other countries where they had reportedly been chased away as they now look towards Africa and Nigeria for growth. “The Africa Internet Holding is just active and committed to Africa,” Poignonnec said.

    On buying domain names to kill local businesses, giving 1.5 percent to the local entrepreneurs and at the end of the day closing the business when it is not thriving, Jeremy denied the allegations.

    “That is not the case. We support our local entrepreneurs to build up their businesses and employ many people who one day will also be founders – in fact we want that over 50 percent of all our previous employees start their own businesses. Currently, we are creating an ecosystem, supporting startups to have more customers and visitors by building up trust in online companies and all startups in general. We accelerate the online industry in Nigeria,” he said.

    The company has been on a hiring spree since May 2012 aggressively recruiting staff — some of whom were ex-employees of Kalahari Nigeria, a Naspers-owned e-commerce service that was shut down October 2012 and iROKO Partners, a digital entertainment company recently to firm up its 130 employees in Nigeria.

    The Germany-based company, which is one of Europe’s most powerful Internet start-up incubators, launched Kasuwa, its Amazon-clone and Sabunta, its Zappos-clone — arguably two of the largest e-commerce sites in Nigeria — in June 2012 with huge potentials to compete in the African e-commerce market.

    Recently, the company initiated a brand name change of its e-commerce offering, Kasuwa, to Jumia— believed to be due to a copyright infringement threat from the original owner of the ‘Kasuwa’ and ‘Kasuwa.com’ trademark.

    Nigeria is key to Rocket’s operations in Africa because it is Africa’s largest country by population and home to about 170 million people. It is also capitalising on the fact that the people using the internet have increased from just over five per cent of the population in 2006 to about 33 per cent. The economy is rising and a growing online-savvy middle class is helping double online sales from N1.7 billion ($10.5m) in 2011 to N3 billion in 2012.

    Of doing business in Nigeria, Hodara said in an interview: “There is a very nice opportunity to leapfrog traditional retail in Africa. It’s also the most complex. When you understand how to operate a business in Nigeria, it’s easier to go into other countries. Rather than starting a business in Rwanda where it’s easy to do business, all the infrastructure is in place – and then trying to go to Nigeria.”

    Aside the funding provided as part of Millicom’s deal with Rocket Internet, the company raised $26m from regular Rocket Internet partner Summit Partners in early 2013. It claims to have served over 500,000 customers and receives about 100,000 unique visits per day.

    Jumia boasts of about 411,360 likes, 4,303 online shoppers talking about it on Facebook and is on the number eighth position of the most visited retail websites in Nigeria after Google, YouTube and Facebook, according to Alexa.com, but with what Rocket Internet is known for globally, there are fears that Jumia may have found itself in the dragnet.

    The co-founder of Jumia, Tunde Kehinde, said Rocket internet is one of many investors helping it contribute to the nation’s GDP and job creations for the unemployed youths. He said Jumia has many investors and Rocket Internet is part of them.

    Kehinde said: “We raise money from several investors. We have raised money from Summit Partners, which is one of the most renowned investors in the U.S. We have also raised money from JP Morgan, a world class financial institution known around the world. What we have done is all our investment partners are guys that give us capital to grow and they also come with expertise in e-commerce and retail. So, they are directly affecting job creation. In case of Rocket Internet, what they are also doing is helping to empower entrepreneurship across the world. We started with five people in a conference room. Now we invested in a 90,000 square feet campus. How many people will do that in a state of one year? We invested in 35 certain customers services, building it from scratch because how many people offer world class customer service in this country.”

    On how Internet Rocket clones other e-sites, he said: “So, the reason why we partner with any investor is, we think that they can help us of course to accelerate in our competition.”

    TechLoy founder Loy Okezie said Rocket Internet’s arrival via AIH has a dark side. He said: “It will also crush some companies that don’t have that financial muscle but that’s the way it is. Right now it’s the boom time but in the next years there’ll be a lot of deaths for startups.”

    Whether the claim against Rocket Internet is true or not, industry observers believe it is a good indicator that foreign investors are beginning to believe in Nigerian e-commerce brands. But time will tell if it will at the end of the day be in the interest of the country’s e-commerce industry or not.

     

  • INEC’s threat

    INEC’s threat

    The recent admonition by Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), that the commission may not be able to conduct elections in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states deserves more than a passing interest. The statement is unacceptable, coming at a time when the commission just concluded a controversial governorship election in Anambra State, in which it publicly admitted its failure. Some INEC officials, during that election were alleged to have wantonly deployed the electoral process to unethically support the candidate of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) that the commission eventually declared winner.

    At a one-day stakeholders meeting organised by the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Abuja, and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the INEC henchman declared: “The situation under a state of emergency is that you cannot do a free and fair election. Ideally, you cannot conduct election under a period of emergency. It is my hope that the challenges in the North East will be resolved before 2015. If the security is such that we cannot do election, then we may need to fall back on the law to suspend it or postpone it.”

    We abhor the naysayer approach of INEC to election conduct in any part of the country. The problem of Boko Haram induced insecurity in the north east states is surmountable. More importantly, the state of emergency in those states that commenced in May was just renewed for an additional six months last month by the National Assembly at the behest of President Goodluck Jonathan. And this is expected to expire in April, 2014, that is clearly eight months before the 2015 general elections which INEC has scheduled for January to February, 2015. The intervening period, in our view, is long enough to restore hope and peace in these states.

    Rather than see pointers of concerted official efforts capable of hounding Boko Haram out of existence before the next general elections, we are disappointed that Jega is laying foundation that would justify his nullification of elections in these north east states when the time comes. This noticeably regrettable trend is fast becoming the hallmark under Jega. More importantly too, INEC may find it difficult to exonerate itself from justifiable insinuations that these states may deliberately be shut out from the 2015 elections for explicable but punitive political reasons; just because they are opposition states that are not operating on the same political wavelength with the president that is longing for a controversial second term in an intemperate political clime like Nigeria. If this happens, the leeway would sadly have been provided for hostile President Jonathan to appoint his cronies as administrators in the affected jurisdictions. By this, the governors in these states might be forcefully sent out of reckoning.

    We call on INEC to shed the toga of bias if the commission under Jega truly wants to restore its fast waning credibility. The most reasonable path for it to toe at the moment would have been to conscientiously be seen to be planning for the 2015 elections and how to raise the projected funds for the exercise. INEC is not a security agency but a statutorily established electoral umpire. The commission should leave security matters for those agencies legally saddled with that responsibility. After all, Jega has not publicly said that his office was notified by any of the security agencies that general elections, in far away 2015, would not be possible in those states. When this has not happened, it is wrong for him to be prejudging security situations in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states that he is not professionally competent to pass comment on.

  • NUT’s threat

    NUT’s threat

    The threat by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to withdraw services and shut down schools nationwide if the National Assembly carries out its plan to cede responsibility for payment of primary school teachers’ salary to local government councils as part of its on-going constitution amendment brings into focus, once again, some of the challenges confronting the education sector, local government administration and the country’s tortured federal system.

    Apparently unimpressed by the stated motive for the proposed initiative, which is to enhance local government autonomy, the NUT unambiguously stated that “NUT is not opposed to local government autonomy but if local government must be given autonomy, our teachers’ salaries must be removed from the local government, local government cannot pay their workers salary; and let us also understand that the Supreme Court ruling of 2003 gave the authority of running primary schools to state governments”.

    Of course, the fears of the NUT are understandable and perhaps legitimate given the country’s experiences. As the union rightly recalled, teachers were owed salaries for prolonged periods, particularly during military rule when local governments were saddled with the responsibility of primary school administration. This was why primary school teachers across several states were on strike for months due to unpaid salaries at the inception of this dispensation in 1999. It was only when state governments took over this responsibility that the backlog of salary arrears was cleared and the system stabilised, with the timely and sustained payment of primary school teachers’ wages.

    What is at once obvious here is that for the NUT, and majority of Nigerians would agree with the union, there has been little change in the character of local government administration even 14 years after the return to a supposedly democratic dispensation. The local governments remain largely as unresponsive and lacking in transparency and accountability as was the case under military rule. There is thus a continued heavy deficit of trust between local governments and the people to the detriment of effective, efficient and productive grassroots governance.

    A more fundamental problem is that most local governments, just like many state governments, are not viable and functional economic entities. Ordinarily, it should stand to reason that primary education can best be administered by the government closest to the grassroots. This would, however, presuppose a genuine federal system in which administrative entities at various levels are able to generate a reasonable percentage of internal revenue to provide essential services like primary education to their people. What obtains in our situation, unfortunately, is that all tiers of government are dependent on oil revenue and thus have little incentive to creatively maximise the potentials of the human and natural resources at their disposal.

    This flawed federal structure is in turn responsible for the stultifying uniformity that sees diverse categories of workers, including primary school teachers, demanding a unitary pay structure throughout the country, irrespective of the fiscal capacity of the various states and local governments. The attempt by the National Assembly to predicate local government autonomy on a parasitic economic base of oil dependency is, in our view, misplaced and diversionary.

    For one, the federal and state governments are the federating units and local government is not an autonomous tier. Again, the priority should be on fundamental structural changes that compel the component parts of the polity to become economically productive and self-sustaining as much as possible. Equally imperative is the need to strengthen the culture of accountability and transparency at all levels in order to address the kind of legitimate fears expressed by the NUT.

  • Junaid Mohamed’s threat over national conference

    Most Nigerians must by now find it puzzling that, any time any change in the structure or direction of the Nigerian federation is proposed or even mentioned, Dr. Junaid Mohammed comes out threatening war. Is this some sort of personal weakness in Dr. Junaid Mohammed, or is it really the way the Fulani leadership, whom he often claims to represent, think of Nigeria’s affairs?

    I can’t believe the latter. After decades of the existence of our various nationalities together in Nigeria, most of us educated and exposed Nigerians can claim that we know our Fulani compatriots fairly well. They certainly are not the sabre rattlers that Dr. Junaid Mohammed often makes them out to be. Every one of our nationalities brings some asset into the building of Nigeria. As for the Fulani, I would say that one of the greatest assets they bring is a capacity for calm and focused consideration of issues. As a young Nigerian in the 1950s, I was friend to Hausa-Fulani youths of my age in college. Later, in the Second Republic, when I was a Nigerian Senator, I had northern friends in the Senate as well as in President Shagari’s executive government. I would rate people like Senator Jalo Waziri, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of Senate (to whom I was vice-chairman and frequent companion on international assignments), and my close friend, Adamu Ciroma, Minister in the Shagari presidency, as among the best statesmen who have ever participated in the governance of our country. In spite of our political and policy differences, President Shagari won admiration across party lines because of his calm, warm, and friendly leadership qualities. Therefore, when he came visiting my part of Nigeria as President, I very gladly led the welcome committee in my Senatorial District – and very proudly helped him to put on, in front of an enormous welcoming crowd, the big Yoruba agbada that a king in my Senatorial District presented to him.

    I think that Dr. Junaid Mohammed is being unfair to the Hausa-Fulani leadership of Northern Nigeria by presenting them often as people who have only war to offer as solution to Nigeria’s problems – or as people who can think only of war as the way to get their position upheld in the politics of Nigeria. What we often witness in him – his almost invariably threatening war – can only be a personal weakness, even though he always comes posing as a significant leader among his Hausa-Fulani people. There are people who, even though they are intellectually gifted, have a natural predilection, when considering difficult issues, to jump lazily or impatiently over all available options and go straight to the last, and least sensible, option. In the history of societies, such characters might be useful when conflicts have actually started; but when society still has the chance of sorting its problems out in calm and civil ways, such characters simply do not belong.

    Among the present generation of Nigerians, Dr. Junaid Mohammed deserves to be regarded as one of our country’s intellectuals. It is therefore shocking that he would dismiss something that very important segments, and probably most of the leaders, of Nigeria have openly endorsed and are openly demanding. Nobody reading Nigerian news in the past three weeks can fail to see that a Sovereign National Conference is an idea whose time has come among our people. Admittedly, a strong groundswell of support for an idea does not necessarily prove that it will succeed, but leaders of society should not simply reject such an idea off-hand. Nigerians have a right to expect a prominent citizen like Dr. Junaid Mohammed to examine deeply and dispassionately this major development concerning our country. The idea of a Sovereign National Conference may have its risks, but if we are united and determined to make a success of our country, and if we are determined to use a Sovereign National Conference for that purpose, we can do it. Since we all accept that our country is buffeted by terrible problems, any individuals or groups among us that choose to resist change stubbornly are, in effect, saying that the collapse of our country is acceptable to them.

    It is shocking too that Dr. Mohammed seems to say that national sovereignty conferences always fail. He may be right that it failed in some countries. But there are very many countries where, in spite of the risks inherent in it, it has succeeded. The 13 American colonies rebelling against Britain in the late 1700’s used a National Sovereignty Conference to forge themselves into a new country – to produce a Declaration of Independence and a federal union. In Britain, a Sovereign National Conference produced the agreement that allowed the Republic of Ireland to come out of Britain in1921. In more recent years in Britain, it has produced agreements that have given Scotland and Wales their own national governments inside Britain – what the British call “Devolution”. In India in the 1950s (after Pakistan had seceded from India), a Sovereign National Conference produced the agreement whereby Indians restructured their federation, made the linguistic nationalities the basis for their states, created 28 states, made the federal government weaker and the state governments stronger than before, and allocated a lot more revenues to the states together than to the federal government. In Indonesia, Sovereign National Conference is now producing the effect that the Indonesian government has abandoned the practice of automatically declaring war against provinces seeking to secede, but, instead, now pursues a policy of granting them local autonomy. In the Union of South Africa in the 1990s, National Sovereignty Conference created the agreements whereby, surprisingly, Black and White South Africans amicably became one country. There are tens of other examples in various parts of the world. A Sovereign National Conference can be a very powerful instrument of nation building – if it is sincerely pursued and carefully organized and managed.

    Dr. Mohammed repeats the old cliché, often heard from the North, that all who are demanding a Sovereign National Conference are really seeking to dissolve Nigeria. Wow! When will the proponents of this camouflage give it up? There might be some who want Nigeria dissolved. But all? Isn’t it time we began to deal in sincerity with one another in this country?

    Finally, Dr. Mohammed says that a Sovereign National conference cannot solve Nigeria’s problems such as illiteracy, corruption and poverty. But certainly, he must know that the real argument for a Sovereign National Conference is that it can solve the fundamental problem of Nigeria – namely, the awful uncertainty about the basis of our nations’ relationships in Nigeria, resulting in a chaotic federal structure and instability. If we sort this out and have a stable country, we will increase our chances of beating our country’s secondary problems.

    The temptation to hold resolutely to narrow ethnic ambitions is strong in Nigeria. If it does not yield, we will have to part – even if that involves, as Dr. Mohammed says, wars. Dr. Mohammed loves saying that his own nation is not afraid of war. Well, I don’t know of any Nigerian nation that is afraid. I know that most Nigerian nations think, rightly, that wars are needless. He also loves to say that, in war, his North has advantages over the rest of Nigeria. Well, Hitler was sure that his Germany had irresistible advantages over the rest of Europe. Such thoughts are always expressions of folly.