The Nation Newspaper

Tag: tool

  • Drums as tool for economic growth

    It was not only about drumming. Organisers of the yearly African Drum Festival in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, held a conference tagged: Drumming for advancement, a workshop and an exhibition at the Olumo Rock. The three-prong event featured renowned scholars and drum experts from across the continent. It was initiated to explore the drum as a tool for education, socialisation, cultural and economic advancement of Africa, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

    Renowned scholars and drum experts, including 91-year-old ex-Rex Lawson’s drummer Pa Tony Odili, were among participants who spiced up this year’s African Drum Festival in Abeokuta with intellectual flavour. At a conference, they examined the drum as a tool for education, socialisation as well as cultural and economic advancement of the continent.

    The presence of monarchs, such as Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and Obong of Calabar, Etubom Ekpo, underscored the drum’s critical place in Africans’ socio-economic life..

    Also there were Ogun State Governor Senator IbikunleAmosun, Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed and Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, who directed the conference.

    The theme was Drumming for advancement, with a sub-theme: Drumming for socio-economic development.

    In line with the concept of the conference, the session provided a veritable platform through which the very nature and character of drum and the vocation of drumming were distilled to rediscover its potentialities as a significant instrument for advancing the cause of the society.

    Setting the tone for the discussions, Soyinka raised the alarm that a thick cloud hangs over the indigenous creative and festival events in Nigeria due to religious extremism, violence and instability. In his prologue, From Olatunji to Marsalis, Soyinka related the profound feelings of the familiar in the works of Fela Sowande and the reason for selecting his memorabilia for exhibition at this year’s festival.

    He gave three anecdotes – which centred on the musical works of Babatunde Olatunji, Quincy Jones and Winston Marsalis – to discuss the possible lack of understanding of the true nature of the African drum by most African-American artists who, though are descendants of Africans, are not able to grasp the intricacies of the African drum and its multi-rhythm uniqueness. This, he described as ‘poly-rhythm’- the absence of which deprives their music of the true ‘African pulsation’.

    A revered Nigerian musician of BLO fame, composer, repertoire expert and consultant, Laolu Akintobi (Akins), said African drums have names and their texture determines their tonality, adding that the procedure of making a drum determines the rhythm it produces. He stressed the importance of education via drums.

    In his paper titled: Sustaining drumming culture via structured education, he stated that drumming should be inculcated and entrenched into the younger generation so as to preserve the culture of drumming.He identified different types of drums, noting that African music producers use the rhythms and tonal sounds of African instruments to produce music that is commercial and globally acceptable.

    A member of the famous Osogbo Art School, Mr.Muraina Oyelami, identified lack of reference materials for teaching drum and drumming in schools as a hindrance to an effective transmission of knowledge about drums, while lamenting the lack of interest by publishers to publish his manuscripts.

    Oyelami, who was also a founding member of the late Duro Ladipo Theatre  Company as an actor and a musician spoke on production of digital documentation of an educational audio-visual facility and publication of Bata Drumming Techniques and Notation, a document he has been longing to publish. To drive home his points, he gave a brief demonstration of the speech patterns of the Dundun drum.

    Prof. Jeleel Ojuade, a master drummer and expert dancer, classified drums into three groups – ideophones (these are self-sounding instruments), aerophones (these are instruments such as flutes, trumpets, saxophones) and membranophones (these are the drums made from animal skins).

    In his paper, Drumming for socio-economic development: The application of Dundun and Bata drums,  Ojuade said that drums possess innate language through which messages are transmitted in African societies. “Drums possess ‘sound codes’ which only the initiated can understand,” he said, using Yoruba Bata and Dundun drums to illustrate the essence of drums in African cultures. He noted that drumming is one of the ways value is brought out of any socio economic endeavour without words, but observed that Nigeria is not harnessing the economic capital of the drum. He therefore appealed to the Federal Government through the Minister and other stakeholders to salvage the African culture through the promotion of drum festivals such as this.

    An Ibadan-based research scientist, Consulting Engineer and Culture Activist Dr.Tunde Adegbola stated that the bandwidth needed to communicate in Yoruba language is 10 times less than that needed for other languages because one can lose the consonant and vowel sounds alternatively in a speech and still be understood.He said that the objective of his paper, ‘Probabilistically Speaking: A Quantitative Exploration of Yoruba Speech Surrogacy’ is to demonstrate that history is not a joke based on the use of musical instruments such as drums and flutes, which express the tonality of the Yoruba language. He recalled that in the past, speech surrogacy was the mode of communication in African communities, adding that the tonality of Yoruba drums is mathematically and scientifically demonstrable.

    A public speaker and pan-Africanist, Dr. Bukola Bello Jaiyesimi, stated that drumming gives life and must be preserved just as culture preserves life. According to her, drum is not accorded a place of importance in our society, hence, people with talent in drumming engage in other more lucrative jobs while others go out of the country, resulting in brain drain. She, however, questioned the place of gender in the drumming and reiterated that women can contribute to the socio- economic advancement of our nation through drumming. Citing examples of schools such as the Women Drum Centre in USA, Jaiyesimi called on government and the private sector to continue to support the arts in order to contribute effectively to the nation’s economy.

    Speaking on “Swange Music and Socio-Economic Importance: The Jovena Swange Band of Gboko in Perspective”, Mr. Solomon Terkura Adaa, a master drummer, observed that there had been a paradigm shift in the music industry in recent years where youths moved from disco night clubs to focus on cultural dances choreographed for swange music in Benue State.

    According to him, swange music has been in existence as a form of socialisation for a long time but it did not have a dance expression until a choreographer of Yoruba origin evolved the dance in the course of a workshop. “Swange music has over 100 dance groups in the country and every evening they dance to entertain people,” Adaa said, highlighting the didactic messages passed through swange music, which helps in the social correction of the younger generation.

    Swange traditional performance entertains, educates and has the potential to help the youth earn some income and contribute to the economy of the nation, he said.

    Dr.Sylvanus KwashieKuwor, a master drummer and scholar at the University of Ghana, Legon, said  drumming should not be made to suffer on the altar of modernity as both could be synergised to formulate a holistic aesthetic. He identified Economic Values, Cultural Values and Aesthetic Values as the three major pillars of his paper, noting that drumming can be vocalised and textualised. To him, education is not only about books because education is experiential.

    Other participants who spoke at the plenary included Wanle Akinboboye, Dr. OluAdeniran, Tunde Kelani, Akin Adejuwon,GregoireKabore, Landry Louoba, Bokossa Cocou Armel and Brenda Uphopho. Akinboboye suggested that Ogun State should build adrum festival resort located around the beautiful hills onShagamu-Abeokuta Road because of the availability of expanse of land to accommodate hotels, arts centers and cinema houses that are necessary to drive tourism.

    The workshop segment was coordinated by Peter Badejo – an international African dance ambassador, while Isioma Williams and Emmanuel Ikwue both master drummers and drum instructors were resource persons that assisted in coordinating the workshop. Stand-by troupes such as Footprints of David, Eko Brass Band, Atunda Entertainment and Ogun State Cultural Troupe gave performances.

    There were demonstrations, during the plenary session, by Salisu Mashi, AbegwaAlu, Goiserey Louoba Landry and Mukanyandwi Claudine – all master drummers from various parts of Africa. The session also accommodated honoured performances given by Pa Anthony Odili (Nonagenarian ex-drummer of the late Rex Lawson); Ajewole Oniluola (octogenarian ex-lead drummer of Ayinla Omowura Band); and Mallam Magaji Mahuta (octogenarian ex-drummer of Mamman Shatta Band.

    Also, an exhibition featuring collections of literary works by Fela Sowande was  opened at the Olumo Rocks to celebrate the life and time of the great icon, to critique Yoruba heritage and tradition through Sowande’s works, to develop new audiences for Yoruba art and culture in Abeokuta and beyond, among others.

     

  • Land Use Charge as tool for development

    States in Nigeria can no longer depend solely on income from petroleum products because of the fall in sales price of this national income-earner and the continuous discovery of numerous alternatives to petroleum products as sources of energy which means that federal allocation will continue to dwindle. Real estate sector is a veritable tool for economic development of nations – developing and developed and Nigeria is in economic turbulence due to inefficiency of governments to explore real estate sector, lack of human capacity to efficiently manage real estate opportunities and over-dependence of government on oil and gas incomes, natural resources and personal and corporate taxes.

    Property taxation, which is part of real estate opportunities of income generation, must take into consideration the Canons of Taxation as propounded by Adam Smith in his famous book “The Wealth of a Nation”, which stated that property taxes must be equitable, certain, convenient and economical. Five more canons of productivity, elasticity, simplicity, diversity and desirability or expediency were later added by other economists.

    Real estate is a sure sector of income generation for states. Real estate is defined as landed property, land, buildings, air rights above the land and underground rights below the land. The term real estate means real, or physical, property. Real came from the Latin word ‘res’, meaning ‘things’. Others claim it was from the Latin word ‘rex’, meaning ‘royal’ since kings owned all land in the past. Real estate sector is the sector of the economy that caters for the physical infrastructure development and management like building, bridge, dams, roads, railways, waste management etc. There are different types of real estate. These are: residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, transportation, recreation, tourism, educational, medical, sports etc. Nigeria, as a country, is a piece of real estate.

    The primary aim of any government is to provide enabling environment for the people through ensuring that there is adequate security, giving hope to the downtrodden and providing succour to the vulnerable. Government is the body that is constituted or put in place by the people to provide a level playing ground for every resident. Thus, the primary purpose of government is to make sure everybody can live safely and comfortably, irrespective of class, without molestation and oppression by a third party (The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, Chapter 2, Section 14, Sub-section 2b).

    It is therefore, not out of tune, for governments all over the world, to control the land-based resources of the states and manage them effectively for the benefits of the generality of the people. One of the raisons d’être for the formation of governments is poverty reduction and this is because urbanization, modernism and globalism which are daily occurrence in the world, bring with them the negative feature of widening the rich and the poor gap. It is this steadfast widening gap between the rich and the poor that is called ‘relative poverty’. Abject poverty affects those that live on less than one dollar a day, according to United Nations Organisation (UNO) and it is ravaging Africa. Poor Relief Act 1601 (Elizabethan Act), which aimed to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich, led to land-based taxes. The Poor Relief Act 1601 was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601, popularly known as the Elizabethan Poor Law, created a poor law system for England and Wales.

    Different types of property taxes are available in Nigeria and the benefits of efficient land-based tax management cannot be over-emphasised. Land-based taxes management is still rudimentary in Nigeria. There are over 15 potential land-based taxes that can be exploited in Nigeria, using Global Best Practices including tenement rate, development levy, neighbourhood tax, withholding tax, capital gain (appreciation) tax, capital transfer tax, waste management tax, consent fee, building approval charge, building alteration levy, inheritance tax etc. High dependence on oil as income generator, lawlessness in the high places, lack of enforcement of laws, low capacity building for land-based tax management and the high level of corruption in the country account for the low patronage of land-based taxes.

    It is the prerogative of the governments to charge land-based taxes and to determine how they want to determine the amount to pay, when to pay and who to pay. The majority of U.S. cities apply a singular tax rate to both the land and the buildings. In the Pennsylvania cities like Pittsburg, Harrisburg and Scranton, split rate property tax is applied and the land is taxed higher than the property on it. This is practiced so that land speculators will not just buy land and sit on it. In Nigeria, vacant lands are not charged or levied thereby creating room for speculation. The various ways in which land resources are controlled and/or managed by governments include: (i) Power of Eminent Domain (Chapter 4, Section 44, Sub-section 1 and 2 (a) to (m) of Nigerian 1999 Constitution). This is the power of the government to take a private property and convert it into public use, (ii) Consent and Development Approval on the use of land by the governor or his or her representative/s mostly Governor’s office and Ministry of Land, Planning and Physical Development, (iii) Planning Laws including Development and Building Control Laws and (iv) Land-based and Property charges, levies, taxes, rents and rates.

    Land Use Charge is the consolidation of some (not all) property and land-based rents, levies, rates, taxes and charges payable under various land-based and property laws such as Land Rates Laws (Land Use Act 1978, Chapter L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, Part II, Section 10 (a) and (b) Tenement Rates Law (the Local Government Act of 1976). Aside this Land Use Charge, inheritance tax at 10 per cent of the capital value of the property to be inherited will still be paid to the Probate Registry of state high courts for the purpose of procuring “Letter of Administration” from the governor or else, the management of the property by the heirs or administrators or successors-in-title becomes illegal. In some countries, capital transfer tax is 40 per cent of the capital value of property to be inherited.

    Land Use Charge is a global best practice in property taxation in which some of the land-based and property taxes, charges and rates like ground rent, neighbourhood improvement levy, tenement rate etc are consolidated, billed and collected as a one-off charge for ease of payment by property owners. This is based on the fact that it will be cheaper and easier to charge some related and annual property and land-based rents, rates and levies together and shared between the concerned stakeholders (state and local governments). In Scotland, United Kingdom, this Land Use Charge plus waste management levy, water rate and security tax is called Council Tax. The monthly charge is as high as monthly rent and is payable by the occupier of the house and not the owner. Land Use Charge’s efficient administration is a good way of generating employment and income for some people who are in charge of determination of amount due, collection and punishing defaulters.

    The Nigeria constitution makes each local government the collecting authority of tenement rate within its territory. However, section 1(3) provides that each local government may, by written agreement, delegate the collection of rates and assessment of privately owned houses or tenement to the state. See Knight Frank &Rutleyvs A.G. of Kano State [1990] 4 NWLR (Pt.143) 210″. The consolidation of these taxes and rents by a single authority makes it efficient, effective and economical for the government to collect and property owners to pay their bills. Every land-based and property charge, rate and rent law envisage that there will be defaulters and clearly states penalties. Land Use Charge is an unavoidable tool of poverty reduction, income generation and infrastructure development.

    The Lagos State government has all rights to charge property taxes and the imbroglio that the 2018 review of charges caused was as a result of the high tax burden on the people. Real estate covers a wide array of areas and is the surest tool of economic development. Lagos State government should put in place measures that will make it possible to collect land use charge from as many payers as possible as the current payment rate of less than 10 percent is discriminatory. Government must engage professional Estate Surveyors and Valuers to determine property values because value determination is not only a science, but also an art, and to efficiently explore income opportunities in the real estate sector for the government.

     

    • Oyedele, MPhil., ANIVS, RSV, is an Estate Surveyor and Valuer based in Osogbo.

     

  • Dickson: I’m no tool in Sheriff’s hand

    Dickson: I’m no tool in Sheriff’s hand

    The lingering crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has overstretched the stakeholders. The burden of finding solutions lies with the National Reconciliation Committee headed by Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson. In this interview with reporters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dickson speaks on the new template designed by his committee. YUSUF ALLI reports the encounter with the arbiter. 

    How far have you gone in finding solutions to the crisis in the PDP?

    Essentially, it is a self-inflicted crisis in the sense that everybody was told or warned. My position was very clear when people were bringing Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff. I never supported it, I have never been a fan of Modu Sheriff for any personal reason. There are a lot of reasons.

    My position was that the party after the unprecedented loss of presidential power and losing control in so many states needed a fresh start, and a new beginning. I thought we should have that opportunity to clean up the party, bring fresh faces for Nigerians to see and then formulate a fresh message and formulate new system of engaging the Nigerian people as opposed to the old PDP ways of doing things. I was a minority voice in the PDP Governors Forum. We were then 12 and the chairman came to regret why my position was not supported. I mean the out gone Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who was completely messed up because of the crisis.

    My position is we got to move forward. When I didn’t support Sheriff, there was nobody he didn’t send to talk to me but I am a politician of conviction, I am not a politician of convenience, I am not a typical Nigerian politician. I made my views known to him directly even before telling others. He was my guest in Yenagoa at my inauguration after some of my colleagues had already concluded on his choice  and informed me. And right there in Yenagoa as my guest I told him no. And when we came back I told my other colleagues and I gave reasons. Well, that did not stop him from coming here to engage me from time to time and so on.

    I had to intervene to broker peace for three (3) months tenure for him when he was eventually made the national chairman and crisis erupted. I spent three (3)weeks in Abuja talking to key stakeholders, making a case to prevent a division of the party. And because of those interventions we then all agreed to give him a three-month period of grace within which to conduct a convention and leave.

    Towards the conclusion of the  three months, the people who brought him again went and encourage him to re-contest that nothing will happen. They were more interested in being in control of a national chairman than in the structures of the party or  in rebuilding the party for whatever reasons.

    They planned, did all kind of things in our back, undermined the governors forum. The chairman of the forum didn’t know what they were doing, I too didn’t know what they were doing. All those who were not in support were cut off and they went and zoned things directly to him and again organized another convention.

    Could this be true?

    All these characters that are blackmailing Sheriff now, that are saying no to Sheriff, were all those who went to Port Harcourt twice to elect Sheriff and I stayed away. And like I said,  I take my political belief very seriously and they are not for sale and that was the situation. The conventions were inconclusive especially the first. And we have to come up with a novel concept known as the national caretaker committee and we went to court in Port Harcourt.

    The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt validated the appointment of Makarfi and the caretaker team and it was based on that validation that Makarfi was in a position to now act to lead the party, even though Sheriff and others were questioning the validity.

    Sheriff and others went to the Court of Appeal, Sheriff and we thought we were going to have judgment at the court. I and every other person, majority of us  of about 70-80% of members of the party have been with Makarfi. I was part of the convention that made Makarfi and since then we’ve been mobilizing support for Makarfi. In fact,  Makarfi appointed me to chair the congresses in Ondo State. We have been supporting the Makarfi group because of the essential opposition to Sheriff.

    So, what happened?

    Why that matter was pending at the Court of Appeal, different stakeholders had brokered different meetings. Gen. Aliyu Gusau led one team and brokered an agreement by which he told both of them and their teams to resign. Sheriff said bring the paper I will sign and resign but I won’t leave Makarfi behind because of my honour. Makarfi said he will not resign. So that settlement also collapsed.

    I have been interfacing discretely with teams on both sides even though I am essentially Makarfi. But because of the nature of my work, I have interacted with many leaders across the length and breadth of our country and I thanked them for the confidence they have in me and I also have confidence, respect and love for them too.

    I have also tried several times having a joint meeting with some people in Makarfi group and some people in Sheriff group to see how all can resign or at the very worst co-chair a national convention or a unity convention but all these were to no avail. And now we were sure that the Court of Appeal was going to give us judgment in Port Harcourt.

    Let me also add that I believe that the national convention of a political party as the supreme organ of the party has the capacity to sack everybody and take decisions that will re-position the party, which was what we attempted to do in Port Harcourt. But we are not the court; we have to respect the judiciary. As democrats and as politicians, people who derive our legitimacy from our constitution our first duty  is to respect the laws and the institutions of democracy.

    Is this what informed your new disposition to PDP crisis?

    The Court of Appeal against our expectations proclaimed Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, which means, whether we like it or not in the eyes of the law and in fact from that day of pronouncement, Makarfi and his caretaker team ceased to have legal authority to conduct PDP business any more. Whether we like it or not from that day Sheriff is the only one that can do so.

    As we speak since that day Sheriff has been acting, not only is he at the national secretariat, he is the one sending names of candidates in states that are doing elections even as we speak. If there were to be a bye-election in Kaduna, Makarfi State, Makarfi today is not in the position to send a name to INEC to accept. That is the political reality that everybody in the PDP needs to accept, whether you like Sheriff’s face or not. I don’t also support Sheriff and what he has done but I acknowledge that reality.

    The reconciliation committee which I have chaired for quite some time met to review our position in the light of the Court of Appeal judgment and we said look, let us formulate a realistic, practical and strategic response to that reality because in the end is it only about strategy. Yes we said you can go on appeal but without prejudice to the Supreme Court case let us intensify and even fast track the peace moves.

    Former President Goodluck  Jonathan also intervened. He called all the governors and we had a meeting and some of us spoke in support of a political solution. We resolved that we should adopt a political solution but political solution is vague. There must be templates to discuss; there must be proposals to criticize;  for people to make input and for responsibility to be assigned and time frame perhaps given.

    Are you recommending this same attitude to PDP?

    And I feel at this particular stage of the crisis in the PDP, the party has suffered enough hemorrhage. Prominent members, key leaders, elected officials are decamping by attributing it to the crisis. Leaders of the party must make sacrifices now, those who are in the position to intervene must intervene now and others who can make sacrifices must make it now so that we can move the peace process forward.

    I heard some people say over their dead body that it cannot be this particular person as national chairman. That is not the language of politics, that is the language of war and we are not in politics to kill or injure one another particularly in the same political party.

    So, I feel that the template that was generated can be improved upon; after all , three days ago, the northern caucus of the party met and expanded the template to say okay let all these people meet and more, about 150 or so even if we are 200. Let some leaders be selected and we  should lock up ourselves in a room and discuss and move forward; that is the attitude that we want to promote. So that is where we are.

    Unfortunately, Makarfi and those behind him have been sponsoring very vicious attacks against my person. Everyone knows that I am not a Sheriff man and all of them who are attacking me for submitting a report to Sheriff are the same people who brought Sheriff and who supported him.

    Can you tell us about this template you talked about. What exactly are you proposing?

    The template we are proposing is a template that will lead to a negotiated National Unity convention because the inability to hold a unity convention or a successful convention at all is at the heart of the crisis in PDP. And that was why when that failed to happened we appointed Makarfi caretaker, to midwife another convention, the second one too failed.

    And in that convention we are proposing and this is where the template comes in.  We want a situation where,  since Sheriff after the Court of Appeal  judgment has said he  will be prepared for quick national convention,  we will hold a unity convention. We thought  Sheriff’s position  was a victory for PDP. He has also said he will not contest at that convention that is victory for the PDP. But the challenge however is that a number of people said they cannot trust him. Well, I said that is valid but all you need to do is to engage more and ring fence the convention, how? This is when the template comes in.

    This convention committee should not be done like the other one. Our template says that people to be nominated should from the key institutions or organs of the party. And by the way,  all these key institutions are with Makarfi not Sheriff which is why I cannot understand what Makarfi’s problem is unless he sees himself and his role as either that of, not of a caretaker but a landlord or even an undertaker of PDP.

    Are you not back to square one since Sheriff accepted the template but Makarfi rejected it; you are consulting with leaders, what is the way out because there is still….

    Sheriff is writing to the organs. The organs are not really Makarfi. Makarfi is a former senator and a former governor. So, at least he is a member of the Governors Forum. So, Makarfi really does not determine whether we move forward, it would be nice to have his cooperation. And I think actually he should join me to lead this effort. It would be nice to do that.

    So you are going ahead without Makarfi?

    We are consulting and in the next couple of days and weeks it would be very clear. But let me also say there are issues before you have a convention, there are crisis, some developments in states and some zones; so what we expect is that various teams will go and resolve some of those issues before we move to the stage of the convention.

    In all these, are you taking cognizance of the decision of the Supreme Court?

    No, the Supreme Court will not rock the boat. What I and Makarfi are doing, what my committee is doing is that this template and this peace move is without prejudice to the Supreme Court.

    We are in the Makarfi group. We are not Sheriff. We said let us wait for the decision. But, if the Supreme Court decides earlier, if it is Makarfi that wins, we will still do a convention, if it is Sheriff we will still do a convention. If we push this convention idea fast enough then it will take care of Supreme Court case, so we lose nothing.

  • Etisalat Merit Award: Tool to boost education

    Etisalat Merit Award: Tool to boost education

    Etisalat, through its Merit Awards, is impacting the education sector, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    For the World Bank, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a private sector effort to support the development of a country. To the global bank, it is relatively a new label.

    Experts, however, believe that the greatest impact of CSR comes when the environment is strong, its activities are linked to national priorities,  targeted at poverty reduction, and  are implemented through partnership.

    Several organisations in Nigeria have taken it upon themselves to complement the public sector’s efforts in the education sector. This is in recognition of the fact that the government cannot carry the burden of funding education alone.

    Recently, Etisalat Nigeria, demonstrated how its CSR initiatives, Etisalat Merit Awards, is lifting the education sector, improving the learning environment, raising standards and encouraging academic excellence among pupils.

    The initiative is one of Etisalat’s social investments aimed at rewarding and encouraging academic excellence among undergraduates. Established in 2009 as a dedicated scholarship programme for undergraduate students of universities, the award celebrates students with the highest Cumulative Grade Point Average in the departments of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Computer Science and Management Sciences yearly.

    During a recent regional award presentation in Ibadan, 40 undergraduates from the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Akure and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma were awarded grants of N200,000 each. The universities also received research grants to boost teaching and learning. This year one special category was added to the award, namely the “Award for most academically excellent students with physical challenges.” This is in addition to the other unique Indigenes’ award, for the best performing students from the respective universities.

    Etisalat Regulatory and Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Etisalat, Ikenna Ikeme, said: “The Merit Awards is proof of Etisalat’s commitment to sustainable development of our country through sound and quality education. We have chosen education as one of our core Corporate Social Responsibility platforms because education is the bedrock of development.”

    He added: “At Etisalat we are passionate about making life easier for our customers and members of the communities where we do business.  We also recognise the importance of education as a catalyst for national development, which is why we have numerous initiatives targeted at raising the standards of education and encouraging academic excellence among students.”

    Corporate and Social Responsibility Manager, Oyetola Oduyemi, said: “Over 1,600 scholarships have been awarded under the Merit Awards Scheme since inception. It gets better as we have increased the grant from N100, 000 to N200, 000 to enable students achieve more academic success with the grants.”

    She added that this year alone, 12 universities and over 120 grants will be bestowed in total, under the Etisalat Merit Awards programme.

    UI Students Affairs Deputy Dean, Dr. Keye Abiona, commended Etisalat for its investment in youths. “Etisalat has, indeed, proven that it genuinely cares about educational development of youth in the country through its numerous initiatives aimed at encouraging students to achieve more in their academics and career pursuit,” he said.

  • Don develops tool to track criminals

    A Professor of Telecommunications Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), Prof Elizabeth Onwuka, has developed a tool of complex analysis for investigators and security agencies to track criminals.

    She said the tool would help to track criminal from telecom data without harming innocent citizens or invading their privacies.

    The don was presenting the 47th Inaugural Lecture of the university titled: “Cellular mobile communications: Connecting the world and empowering the people”.

    She said the data got from the tool could also be used to study user behaviour on the network and plan.  She added that research is ongoing to optimise the use of the device.

    “With collaboration with some of my students, I am researching on how to use the tool of complex analysis to track criminals from telecom data.

    “There is a need for further research in mobile communication system in order to help man enjoy his stay on earth. Of all the technological communications systems, the one that has positively impacted the society most is the mobile communication system,” she said.

    Underscoring the need for the Federal Government to invest in communication technology, Prof Onwuka said mobile connectivity brings economic empowerment.  Besides employment by mobile companies and mobile services-related businesses, mobile connectivity enhances businesses by bridging distances, enhancing the cost of contacts and provides information at cheaper rate.

    She lamented that Nigeria is poorly connected due to high cost of connectivity attributed to many national problems, including poor power supply, multiple taxation and average individual poverty level and recommended the laying of communication infrastructure across the country to enable mobile operators tap into it to provide services at affordable rate.

     

  • Communication as tool in policy marketing

    Communication as tool in policy marketing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Airports as tool in destination branding

    Airports as tool in destination branding

    Airports play significant roles in destination branding; but strangely, some countries still do not see any reason to invest in building a befitting airport. Experts highlight how airport branding can drive investment into the country, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    The brand experience of a destination is like the first impression one gets of a person. The English man says it is the real impression; it lasts forever.

    In mo st cases, the experience one gets from a destination makes one to form an opinion about the brand. For a reporter who was a first-time visitor to South Africa to watch the final match of the last Orange African Cup of Nations at the Calabash Stadium, between the Super Eagles and the Chipolopolo of Zambia, the brand experience of the former apartheid enclave came on his arrival at the O.R Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.

    The airport presents visitors with a cherished consumer experience, such as convenience and hospitality. Beginning from the airport, ranked as third in Africa and 28th globally by Skytrax, a United Kingdom-based firm specialising in airline and airport research, everything appeared in order.

    As the plane landed, passing through the Avio Bridge, which leads visitors to the arrival lounge, the adverts adorning the airport walls confirmed why South Africa is leading other African countries in the chase for Cannes Lions, the global advert festivals where the world best adverts are showcased and picked.

    The conduct of the airport officials, spectacular billboards, wall and pillar wraps, airport bus transport, among electrifying indoor boardings, all provided an ambience for brand promotion.

    The quick conveyance of luggage and a fast-tracked immigration counter cut short the amazing experience and sight at the airport. The O.R Tambo Airport is not the best in South Africa. It trails South Africa’s Cape Town International Airport and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

    The allure of modern technology in O.R Tambo reflects monster media digital platforms, baggage carousel wraps, mobile media, the Digital Passenger Assistance Service Systems (DPASS) and massive light emission diode (LED) screens enhance traveller’s experience. But most travellers passing through major airports in Nigeria on their way to watch the final match wrote them off. The airports they argued, seem not to reflect the multi-billion naira wasted in rebranding the facilities.

    The Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, like others, has remained a sour point in Nigeria’s destination branding project. From the hassles of travelling through the dilapidated roads to the MMIA, the heat at the departure lounge, the long queues at the immigration points, all the way to the waiting lounge, it’s all about unpalatable experience. A report by Cable News Network (CNN) rating some Nigerian airports rated MMIA as one of the world’s worsts.

    While the airports of countries such as France leave travellers with memories of its Eiffel Tower, New York for its Statue of Liberty, Singapore for its cleanliness, and Malaysia for the Petronas Twin Towers, Nigeria’s touch point remains an issue brand experts are yet to fully come to terms with.

    Mrs. Funmilola Ashaye, a Void and Allocation Officer at Genesis HA, a United Kingdom-based company, will not forget in a hurry her experience when she came home for the Easter. She was apalled that eight years after she left the country, the MMIA remained in bad shape, even worst than she left it.

    She said she has been seeing some pictures and videos of the airports on social media but felt it was mere marketing stunts of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    “I could see that the ambience is fast changing and it will look better when the current facelift is completed. I think it’s more amazing now. The lounge is looking world class now,” she said.

    Underscoring the importance of airports in nation rebranding campaigns, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), DDB Lagos, Mr. Ikechi Odigbo said the airport is the first touch point to position Nigeria as a brand. “It’s the very first touch point to brand Nigeria at the international market place. Whatever brand message you want to pass across to a first time visitor starts from your airport. Although, it goes beyond the rebuilding but the maintenance must be robust so that visitors can experience convenience,” he said.

    The Chief Executive Director of Noah’s Ark, Mr. Lanre Adisa said airports say a lot about a country. The environments have a way of positioning a nation as a brand seeking good perception.

    “It’s a perception thing. Investing in the airport is a worthwhile venture. To a first-time visitor, it speaks volumes about the government,” he said.

    He said a good airport makes visitors see the country as a good investment destination and a good destination for brands.

    With a recent score card on MMIA by the United States Transportation Security Administration (USTSA) over its compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Standard and Recommended Practices, the General Manager, Communication of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said the efforts is aimed at improving the touch points and bringing them to compete with others not only in Africa but across the globe.

    According to him, recent figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) attest to the fact that Nigeria has grown appreciably in recent years; from 13,891,677 passengers in 2010 to 14,899,958 passengers lifted in 2013.

    ”Surely this growth is the outcome of deliberate strategic transformation by the government in the sector and indeed, a key performance indicator that the reforms are yielding positive outcomes,” he said.

    On the perception of the airports by tourists, he said people’s perception cannot be easily changed through talking until people go see and have a feel of the new change.

    However, Adisa, said the effort to remodel and rebrand the airports is a step in the right direction. He added that the culture of maintenance must be imbibed so that the facilities do no slip back to rot years after the completion of the remodeling.

    “An airport experience for travelers should exhibit convenience. The rebuilding will open up the country. A lot of travelers under this new rebuilding will be able to take direct flight to their destination rather than having to come to Lagos from U.S and still take another flight to another state,” Adisa said.

  • ‘Zoning is propaganda tool in Plateau’

    ‘Zoning is propaganda tool in Plateau’

    Senator Gyang Shom Pwajok is the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s), governorship candidate in Plateau State. He spoke with reporters in Lagos on zoning, succession battle between ruling and opposition parties and his chances at the polls. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

    There is the allegation that your emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Plateau State violated zoning. How are you resolving it?

    I have reached out to quite a number of those that we stood election with. I have also reached out to even those that lost election that I was not involved in. That is, those who lost House of Assembly elections, those who lost House of Representatives election and those who lost Senate election. I have called quite a number of them and a number of them said that, that was the first time that somebody was reaching out to them, especially for those who had contested in the past and lost. Even the deputy governor, I have had cause to sit down with him in the process. I find it clear that in the course of a contest there are bound to be those who win and those who lose elections or those who don’t win because it is not really losing per se.

    The bottom line is that when people begin to throw up issues in the course of a competition, definitely people will look for sentiments and variables that will be conducive to them. For me, zoning was actually a campaign tool by those who contested. The simple answer to the issue was that we had aspirants from all the zones. So, ap­parently, there was no debate about zoning. If there was actually an issue about zoning it would have been very much settled that some would not have even emerged at all.

    Apart from that, when I was canvassing for votes, I went to all the zones, all the 17 local governments of Plateau State and I can tell you that I had a complete feeling of what the outcome would look like because I was very much accepted in all the zones. In fact, I was shocked by the response. Instead of going to see 10, 20 or 30 delegates, I was actually in a rally because most of the people who came to see me in other zones did it in a manner that was difficult to believe. So, while some were busy shouting zoning, the voters were prepared to choose who they wanted because they were quite prepared that what they needed was development and not zon­ing for the sake of zoning. At any rate we have not had a history of docu­mented direction in that order.

    No doubt, the sentiments for zoning which was quite strong among some candidates, however, did not reflect in the primaries. So, it was just argument for the sake of argument. My slogan in the course of the campaign was that we can only be greater if we work together.

    And of course these zones are re­ally administrative boundaries which further divide people rather than what unite people and were mostly drawn for convenience. Senatorial zone is for senatorial election, governorship is for the entire state in the true sense of it. The House of Representatives has its own constituency. My constituency as far as my aspiration for governor­ship was to cover the entire state and the support came from the entire state and is a nail on the coffin of the argu­ment for zoning and the voting itself showed that the people were departing from that argument.

    How do you expect to manage the governor, who is your godfather, if you wins the election?

    The truth of the matter is that God is our godfather including those who have influenced our lives in one sense or the other. It is all about human rela­tions and I truly believe that because the current governor has not just goodwill, but he has good intentions in terms of governance, he would be a supporter of any genuine efforts to­wards further development of the state. That is his dream and we are keying in into that dream because we believe strongly that he is also a genuine, patriotic statesman that has played his role within the space of time.

    But you must also realise that the legacy that has been brought to bear from the past needs to be properly harnessed so that you can move for a better tomorrow. Not necessarily look at things from the negative perspec­tive. We intend to cash in on a very positive note to take stock.

    What are your chances in the election?

    I always go by the dictum that the future is as bright as the promises of God. The truth of the matter is that I couldn’t have been where I am today but for God taking me through where I am today. From being a lecturer in the polytechnic, to DG research and chief of staff to the governor and then senator within a short span of my life means that I am a living testimony of God’s work in progress. What will take me to victory is God Himself be­cause He has a way of influencing the hearts and minds of people to support an aspiration and I believe that this is also God’s agenda to impact on the challenges that we are facing on the plateau which also have a repercussion on the rest of Nigeria.

    What is your position on the security challenges in your state?

    We are very realistic we know that security is a global challenge, it is no longer a Nigerian problem per se. Each time you turn on the television, the first thing you hear is the breakdown of law and order in one place or the other and the increasing trend of terror is also very global. The forces that tend to unite and the forces that tend to divide are actually at play at the same time and that is the challenge that we are facing in Nigeria. For me, security is top on our agenda. Even for Plateau and most parts of Northern Nigeria it is a challenge.

    How is the issue being resolved?

    For us on the Plateau, we have actually gotten to the point where some peaceful resolutions and peace building efforts were carried out and we have reached a point where people were resolving to forget their differ­ences and live peacefully. However, the externalised dimension of the attacks raises a fundamental ques­tion. You know in the past we used to talk about our porous borders. This is a state that is in the hinterland, the middle of Nigeria, yet sometimes you find foreign elements involved in the attacks and we have raised this issue in the past. But nobody seemed to have cared, people thought it was sheer pro­paganda, that we often find Nigeriens, Chadians involved. People at that early stage of the crisis said it was sheer propaganda, but today the dimension we are seeing the crisis in Northern Nigeria shows clearly that there is a serious push in that order.

    You are all aware of the climatic challenges that we are having and of the desertification that is going on and the need for greener pastures even for those who are cattle herders and they come from across border situations outside Nigeria and some of them are actually looking for better lands to occupy. Unfortunately, the way and manner the boundaries of this country were carved out, you find that Kanuris can be found in the Borno axis and on the other side. Fulanis can be found in other parts of West Africa and this tendency allows for easy infiltration by non-Nigerians into areas of conflict. So, there is a serious collaboration that is going on. There are people who are particularly interested in maintaining the peace and there are forces that are interested in moving towards greater harmony and they come from both sides of the divide and gradually real­ising that this challenge may even be external to them and as such there is the need for collaboration. You would have noticed that there has been some relative peace.

    For me there is the need to work further on enriching this understanding among the communities so that they can also be protective of themselves collectively so that rather than assume that each time there is attack, you just assume that it is this my neighbour that is directly responsible. It could be somebody else outside his immediate domain.

  • Firm launches legal research tool

    An information technology firm, Law Pavilion has launched a product – the Solitior’s Toolkit.

    The software developers unveiled the product at the International Bar Association (IBA) conference in Tokyo, Japan.

    The firm was the official ICT partner of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at its Annual General Conference held in Owerri, Imo State, in August.

    The producers said the Toolkit is a user friendly software containing all the information required by lawyers in Nigeria.

    Its appeal is not only local, but international as it serves as a veritable tool for any current or potential foreign investor seeking to know the laws, regulations, guidelines, government policies, agreements and judgments of the courts especially, those of the Federal High Court and National Industrial Court on business in Nigeria.

    The solicitor’s Toolkit is  described as “one product” aggregation of industry relevant solutions and an innovative all-in-one powerful research engine for solicitors and in-house counsel. It is a comprehensive guide, which aims to assist users to be more effective in performing their duties and providing best services with all the required knowledge and information at their disposal.

    The “Solicitor’s Toolkit (STK)” software contains current and correct regulations, guidelines, policies and public notices from various regulatory bodies such as the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) etc.

    It also contains updated and current Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria up to 2014, reported cases of the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court, annotated forms and precedents with relevant cases, statutes, regulations or guidelines related to such precedent, and a super-fast search engine, which searches through all the contents to bring back concise and comprehensive results.

    The Managing Director of LawPavilion, Mr.  Ope Olugasa said: “The principal goal of LawPavilion is to continue to act as a partner to the Nigerian legal industry by developing ICT products for the legal practitioner as a judge, advocate or solicitor.”

    The company, he said, is resolute in its drive to empower professionals through its innovative and user-friendly products, excellent customer service and integrity.

    Case Management Solution and Court Management Solutions recently introduced into the market, according to him, were targeted at all strata of the legal community, such that lawyers and judges can have access to all records of their cases on selected mobile devices, thereby eliminating the inability to work due to absence from the office or court.

    The company’s products, he said, are the results of extensive research and deliberations with relevant stakeholders in the legal industry to ensure that their most pressing needs are taken care of through the use of technology.

    He also hinted that the company is already in talks with many device manufacturers to introduce and offer an inexpensive package, which would enable legal practitioners purchase ICT devices for their official and personal use and thereby promote the adoption of ICT by the entire legal industry in Nigeria.

    Appraising the product, a former President of the NBA, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said: ”They are fantastic. When I came into the exhibition stand and I saw Law Pavilion, as a Nigerian, I  was very  proud of the guys behind it. This is because I have worked with them, patronised them and have virtually all their products. And it is a good thing that NBA continued what I started in Singapore when I introduced exhibition stand. What you are seeing with Law Pavilion is an expression of how people outside perceive Nigeria. So what I need to see at the next conference in Austria, Vienna is a Nigerian stand and not just Law Pavilion so we can be proud to be noticed in the highest gathering of lawyers in the world.

    Another senior lawyer, Joe Kyari-Gadzama (SAN) said: “For the first time we have a local entrepreneur showcasing us to the world. Trying to tell the world that yes,  we can do as much as  you do and can even  do better. It is a thing of joy to all of us because it is an inspiration and we need to encourage one and others and I am proud to identify with Law Pavilion”.

    The Director-General, Nigerian Law School  Dr. Olanrewaju Onadeko said: “I am happy for Law Pavilion because it is one of the visible organisations that deal with law. They are doing fine in that area and portray Nigeria here very well. Although there are many of them in Nigeria, but to be here and present Nigeria to the world is a great achievement.”

    Another senior advocate, Rickey Tarfa (SAN) said: “Law Pavilion is one of the few things that are working well in Nigeria. When I got here and saw Law Pavilion, I became very  proud as a Nigerian. And if we have such an outfit competing favourably with others in the world, and have exhibition to showcase Nigeria to the outside world, I think every Nigerian especially, lawyers among us should encourage them.”

    For the former General Secretary of the NBA, Ibrahim Eddy-Mark, ”Law pavilion is doing its best as a private initiative, we are proud of them as they do their best to showcase the best of Nigeria to the rest of the world.  It shows the ability of the private sector to drive the economy with high sense of  creativity. The ingenuity is there and their competence is not in doubt. I think they have done their best and we Nigerians should encourage them.”

    Former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ekiti State, Mr. Wale Fapohunda, said Law Pavilion is a firm the nation should be proud of.  “Law Pavilion, I am very proud of them. When I served as Attorney-General, we had a lot of engagements with them. They also help in training some of our lawyers. So it is good and this is one of those laudable interventions we need in showcasing ourselves to the outside world,” Fapohunda said.

     

  • ATM… the fraudster’s tool?

    ATM… the fraudster’s tool?

    The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) has moved from being a mysterious machine to a basic tool of business transaction. But it is at the heart of online frauds and internet scams, thereby making many to be weary of the ‘machine that spits cash at the punch of just four digits’. According to experts, more needs to be done to improve its end-user experience, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    To some people, President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Bayo Banjo is an iconoclast of a sort. Speaking on the spate of cybercrimes in the country against the background of the Cashless regime of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he said he does not use automated teller machine (ATM) card and would never advise anybody to do so. His reason: The lenders have cleverly injected clauses in the ATM card request forms that extricate them of liability should a fraud occur.

    But sharing his experience, Group Chief Executive Officer, (GCEO), Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Austin Okere, said his wife and many others like her, who have vowed never to test the efficacy of banks’ assurances on the safety and security of their ATM systems against the increasing ingenuity of fraudsters have now become unwilling converts. This he said is due to the higher risk of being shut out of modern day transactions. Regulatory pressures such as the CBN’s cashless policy have also played their part in this conspiracy against financial conservativism. There are now penalties on cash transactions beyond a certain threshold. Thankfully, she has broken ranks and acquired an ATM card just only last year, he said.

    According to Okere who is also an Entrepreneur in Residence, CBS, the CBN has tried to allay fears by compelling the banks to put additional security measures such as the installation of anti-skimming devices and two cameras on all ATMs. The rationale is that a fraudster who covers both cameras with his hands to avoid detection will have no spare to conduct his nefarious activities.

    The average customer experience of ATM user  is still a tale of woes, mostly self-inflicted, and inadvertently by the same banks in whose major interest it should be to drive its adoption to cut the high cost of serving customers within the branch. For example, it was reported that on Christmas eve last year, customers looking for ATMs to withdraw cash in Gbagada, a Lagos suburb, could not. All they saw on the ATM screen was: ‘Temporary out of service’or‘Unable to dispense Cash.’ The only ATMs that seemed to working on the whole axis were that of UBA at the Charlie Boy Bus stop. Of course, the queue had built up to the extent that faint hearted customers rather opted to go without cash than risk the possible consequences of a stampede. Similarly, on December 14 last year, there were reports that virtually no ATM worked in the Badagry area of the state.

     

    Policy summersault

    Okere said these experiences are exacerbated essentially by the following factors; firstly, stagnation in the ATM population in spite of significant adoption rate. The ATM population in the country has been stuck at the 11,000 mark for the past six years, resulting in an average of 11.39 ATMs per 100,000 adult population (adult population in Nigeria being about 56 per cent or 95.2million according to a World Bank report on population).

    This is not unconnected to the CBN’s misadventure with the Independent ATM Deployers (IAD) experiment of 2008 that barred banks from deploying ATMs outside their branches. This resulted in the sudden halt in the momentum of ATM deployment by banks. “This was largely due to the hasty conduct of the CBN in trying to swallow an elephant at one go. Noble as the intention was, a pilot scheme would have uncovered the soft underbelly of the strategy, the major shortcoming being the fact that the cash in the offsite ATMs would have been too expensive for the IADs to carry, and therefore compel them to charge customers very exorbitant rates or render them totally unprofitable at the flat rate of N100 per withdrawal then allowed by the CBN,” he said.

    Six years later, there are less than the 11,800 achieved at the highpoint because many banks had to abandon the long term rents secured for their offsite ATMs and wheeled the ATMs into warehouses and parking lots because the IADs could not afford the book value to take on the sites and ATMs. The operational lives of those ATMs, about a third of the total volume, were cut short, as they were subsequently unusable two years later when the CBN rescinded her decision, Okere lamented.

    Comparatively, Indonesia with an adult population of about 90million, more than doubled their ATM installed base from 16.7,000 in 2011 to 36.5,000 in 2012, resulting in 37 ATMs per 100,000 adult population, about three times the ATM per adult capita in Nigeria. South Africa has 60 ATMs per 100,000 adult population, while the United Kingdom (UK) has 124 ATMs per 100,000 adult population. Nigeria clearly has a lot to do as the largest economy in Africa after the GDP rebasing.

     

    Challenges

    He said the quality of notes in the ATM are a far cry from standard. In the early days, the ATM was where to go if you wanted crisp notes. Today, the notes in the ATM are sometimes worse that the change you receive at the flea market. This is underscored by the fact that the security features and the general quality of the naira could do with some enhancements. Dirty notes generally cause paper dirt to be lodged in sensitive parts of the ATM when it is dispensing cash, therefore resulting in more frequent system faults or currency jams. When the work rate of the ATM in Nigeria is compared to that of the UK, it is clear that the Nigerian ATM dispense on the average five notes to one in the UK, if it is dispensing N1,000 notes and the UK one is dispensing £20 notes (£20 is approximately N5,000). This coupled with the low ATM density and challenged note quality contributes a lot to the frequent breakdowns and ‘unable to dispense cash’ notices.

    He argued that most ATMs are not under any guaranteed service level support programme. This is very shocking, and a serious anomaly by any stretch of the imagination. Banks inadvertently encourage this malaise. There is a notion that appraisal and compensation for ATM support heads in the E-banking departments seem to be heavily skewed on how much they can save in the ATM support costs. So they devise all means necessary to achieve this, even at the detriment of customer experience and the banks’ brand erosion. There is a blatant refusal to sign any Service Level Agreements (SLA) support for the ATMs in the first year of purchase under the illusion that warranty on the systems equates to SLA support. This results in fallacious claims of reduction in support costs.

    This alluded cost efficiency cannot be further from the truth. Warranty and SLA support are quite different from each other as any owner of a car under warranty well knows. While SLA defines the time within which an ATM should be fixed or replaced in the event of a fault (usually two hours within urban areas and six hours in remote areas), warranty relies on a best effort basis for the replacement of factory defective parts.

    Parts that are rendered unusable due to wear and tear, or as a result of exogenous effects such as power surges cannot be claimed under warranty (as sometimes the bank officials are wont to ferociously argue). For simplicity, warranty on ATMs is very similar to that on automobiles.  If you drive your new car which carries a three year or 100,000km warranty to the dealer for a part replacement. Firstly they check that it is not normal wear and tear, and that it is not due to abnormal circumstances such as the wrong type of fuel or an accident. Then they take in the car and order the part. They call you when the part arrives, which takes an average of three months, and then slap you with a labour bill. This is the type of service that the Bank is hoodwinked to render to their hapless customers. It is worthy to note that warranty does not cover periodic maintenance of the machines. Imagine driving your warranty car for three years straight or 100,000km without any service or Oil change! Not opting even for the bare bones labour-only quarterlypreventive maintenance service does drastically shorten the lifespan of the ATMs. It is therefore not surprising that some relatively new ATMs needlessly break down and cause customers to spend eternity looking for a working one, or in an endless queue.

    The average annual support-spend on an ATM in Nigeria is $2,500, about half of what obtains in Indonesia and South Africa, both spending about $4,500 per ATM per annum. By investing the right amount to keep their systems properly maintained, they prolong the lives of their ATMs and ensure better customer experiences, which we readily testify to when we visit those countries.

    Most ATMs work with windows operating system. Many are currently on the Windows XP operating system (OS) which has recently been announced by Microsoft as de-supported, and a new OS, Windows 7, announced to replace it. This means that any ATM that is not upgraded to the Windows 7 OS shall be vulnerable to viruses and fraud attacks, since the new security patches shall not work on them. Globally, 2.2million ATMs are vulnerable. In Nigeria a significant number of the installed base shall be affected. The solution is a simple upgrade of the operating system if the ATM is upgradable. This is free if the bank has been paying its software maintenance fee. They will otherwise have to incur huge capital costs to repurchase the new software licenses. “Available data suggests that many banks have not kept up with the software support fees. A further complication is that certain category of ATMs cannot be upgraded because of non USB Interfaces. These have to be replaced, and will further deplete the already stretched ATM density,” he said.

    Again, there are serious challenges in stable and consistent power supply, and network connectivity, both of which the ATM cannot operate without. There are also infrastructure challenges in access roads to ATMs in rural areas which cause support engineers to spend significantly more ‘travel time’ than ‘dwell time’ to fix machines. A possible solution will be for service providers to have enough support offices across the country than depend on engineers being dispatched only from the three commercial centers of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Cross training support engineers on ATMs, inverters and network connectivity will ensure that the first engineer to arrive at the ATM can fix the fault and does not have to call another specialist. A monitoring system if installed by the provider would ensure that the ATM correctly diagnoses itself and advices on the correct spare part to be carried to site. A monitoring system will however, require client licenses on the ATMs for which maintenance fees are due to be paid, and which many banks shy away from.

    Banks are by no means the only clog in the wheel of good ATM customer experience. Some of the blames lie squarely on the shoulders of the service providers. In a bid to win business at all costs they are ready to accept terms that tempt them to cut corners in quality of products and service delivery. For example, there is a need to install monitoring systems and a call centre to aid support efficacy. There is also a need to ensure that the custodians are sufficiently trained to provide the crucial first level support. The negligence of these will make the support process expensive, unwieldy and ineffective. This drives the proverbial ‘race to the bottom’ for all stakeholders. A decimation in the number of service providers  or their replacement by uncertified operators willing to collect the cutthroat rates offered by the banks will not bode any good tidings for the banks nor their customers.

    Another emerging class in the clog of ATM availability is the gang of Marauders who attempt to blow-up the ATMs to gain access to the cash in the safes. For this group, Banknote staining could be an effective prevention technique, in which the anticipated reward of the crime is removed by denying the benefits, by marking the cash stolen with special security ink. Of course the ink should be machine detectable to ensure that deposit machines reject stained notes.

    Some customers are also culpable. Furiously banging the ATM when ‘it swallows your card’ or does not dispense the money on your transaction will not solve any problem. If will only compound the problem by taking the ATM out of service. In the rare instance of this anomaly, the right thing to do is to call the number on the ATM body or visit the bank. There are usually journal entries and time stamps that will prove that you were not paid what you have been inadvertently debited, and a routine for redress and refund instituted, Okere said.

    While acknowledging the significant progress that has been recorded in payment systems, underpinned by the opportunity for the average Nigerian to be availed of having access to the global installed base of ATMs, courtesy of his local bank ATM card, and without recourse to a foreign bank account and ATM card, there is still the need to ensure that charity truly begins at home.