FG approves Maritime varsity, policy on SMEs

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the establishment of the first maritime university for the country.



It also approved the revised National Policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Minister of Information, Patricia Akwashiki; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Stephen Oru; and the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Kenneth Kobani, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to Akwashiki, the maritime university will be located in Warri, Delta State.

“In the (council) meeting, there was a ratification of approval of a provisional licence for the establishment of Nigerian Maritime University at Okerenkoko in Delta State,” she said.

The minister also said the council approved the report of the ministerial implementation committee on harmonisation of taxes and levies across the federation.

She explained that the harmonisation becomes necessary because there have been issues, especially of service providers, who, when they move from one state into another, are also levied by the new state and also by the local government.

Kobani explained that the revised National Policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was done because SMEs are strategic and important functionaries in any economy.

He explained, “The first national policy was 2007 and there were problems at that time because a lot of stakeholders needed to buy into it.

“This time, a more holistic approach was taken to ensure that extensive consultation with all the stakeholders had to take place and they all endorsed this particular one and so as a result of that they also came with a recommendation that will replace the National Consultative Council with the National Council for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Council, to push to ensure that it will be a major contributor to the economy.”

Kobani added that the council approved the renewal of the contract for the production of 10 million Nigerian passport booklets of all categories.

He said the renewal became necessary following the expiration of the 10-year contract between the ministry and the contractor.

GoMedia Concept: Why we seized Ankara fabrics from Ogun markets -Cu...

GoMedia Concept: Why we seized Ankara fabrics from Ogun markets -Cu...: The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) yesterday in Abeokuta gave reasons for its recent raid and seizure of some local...

Why we seized Ankara fabrics from Ogun markets -Customs Controller

The Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) yesterday in Abeokuta gave reasons for its recent raid and seizure of some local fabrics, popularly called "Ankara" from markets in the state.



Explaining, the NCS alleged that the fabrics were smuggled into Nigeria by Chinese merchants from neighbouring countries into warehouses in Kano from where they were bought and taken to the Itoku Market by traders from the state for resale.

The Customs said the recent protest by traders in the state at the Governor's Office over the seizure of their Ankara stock by its operatives was not justifiable.

The Area Controller of the Customs in Ogun State, Comptroller Haruna Mamudu spoke when the management of a newspaper, First Awareness Newspaper conferred awards of Excellence on him, three deputy controllers, Agbo A. Hyacinth, Umar Abubakar and Mohammed Gagiyo as well as four other officers of the command, including the command's Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent II, Usman Abubakar.

Mamudu, who disclosed that the four Chinese merchants involved in the smuggling of the fabrics into Nigeria had already been arrested and their warehouse in Kano sealed off, stated that the Ankara materials were not bought by the Ogun traders from markets in Kano as they were trying to make Nigerians believe.

He stressed that the goods were smuggled into the country from Cameroon by the Chinese merchants, adding that no one could justify the act of smuggling.

The controller argued that the Customs had the mandate to seize any item on the prohibition list found anywhere within the country.

"Ankara, if you check, is on the prohibition list. Four Chinese have been arrested in Kano and the goods impounded. Our officers trailed these people and arrested them. It's not as if the goods were bought from Kano Markets. The warehouse in Kano has been sealed off. Ankara is a prohibition and anywhere it is seen, it should be seized," he said.

The area controller stressed that the operatives of the NCS did not need any search warrant before they could carry out their duty in any premises or property suspected of harbouring smuggled goods.

Earlier in his address, the publisher of the First Awareness Newspaper, Mr. Niyi Ogungbola commended the Customs controller in the state and his men for diligence and dedication to duty, which he said had gone a long way in improving the living condition of the residents of the state.

Ogungbola said that Memudu's tenure had, within a short time recorded a giant stride in income generation and the reduction in the rate of smuggling and other related offences in the state.

He stated that the controller who had been the "most media-friendly" Customs boss the command has ever had recorded such achievements due to his "open-door policy."

"It was recently announced that the Command under Comptroller Haruna generated a massive N6.46billion within a period of ten months (between December 2013 and November 2014), which is a landmark achievement in the history of Ogun State Command.

"In this present year, January to March 2015, he recorded an impressive performance in the command's revenue generation drive and the anti-smuggling campaign o the tune of N1.76billion as against N1.46billion collected within the same period in 2014. This shows the difference of N301.8million.

"On ant-smuggling, the Command also between January and March 2015, recorded total seizures of 287 with Duty Pay Value of N248.997million as against 344 seizures with DPV of N372.574million in the same period last year, which shows that smuggling has been drastically reduced because of the aggressive anti-smuggling campaign of the Command which is a pointer to Haruna's unwavering dedication to duty," the First Awareness Newspaper publisher said.

ACEN, ACAN task Govts on foreigners’ incursion, local patronage

TAKING cue from other climes, consultant architects and engineers in Nigeria have decried the influx of foreign professionals into the country, urging governments at all levels to throw their weights behind their regulatory bodies in their bid to sanitise the construction industry.


Wale Babalakin

In a joint interaction with journalists last week at the Engineering House, Victoria island, Lagos, the duo of Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria (ACANigeria) and Association of Consulting Engineering in Nigeria (ACEN), said no nation had developed without giving leading role for its local professionals to play in the provision of building and infrastructural needs of nation.

Represented by their presidents, Mr. Omotayo Babalakin for the architects, and Dr. Temilola Kehinde, for the engineers, the consultants in the built environment said governments must enforce the policy that empowers local consultants to be at the forefront of infrastructural development in the country, adding that, the current trend that allows foreigners to engage in project execution without due recourse to the laws of the land was unacceptable.

Speaking on “Sustainability In Architectural And Engineering Consultancy Practice Through Local Patronage: The Way To Go”, the two professionals chiefs agreed that the country and the industry were much better some 40 years ago, when the governments accorded its local professionals the place in the nation’s drive for development, but noted that the industry had been badly infiltrated now by unlicensed and unregistered local and foreign person practicing on the shores of Nigeria, thereby causing several problems bedeviling Nigeria’s construction industry.

According to Babalakin, the unfortunate development had led to increase in the number of collapsed buildings, degeneration of the built environment due to poorly designed and executed buildings and infrastructure, violation of building codes affecting the health and safety of inhabitants, low patronage of local consultants thereby reducing job opportunities, unemployment of young graduates, flagrant abuse of the country’s laws and regulations and distortion of the built environment, which is detrimental to safety of lives and property of Nigerians.

ACAN president added: “Rather than having our local consultants in the forefront of infrastructural development in the country, the unfortunate situation is that they have been relegated to play second fiddle to unlicensed foreign professionals to the detriment of the host country and in defiance of ethics and codes of professional conduct. The federal and state governments as well as the high net worth Nigerians encourage this this. The need to stem this act of illegal incursion of foreign consultants as well as the unregistered consultants (quacks) is paramount in order to forestall the indiscriminate development of our towns and cities.”

Babalakin said to turn around the “poor conditions of our environment and nurture the culture of self reliance and manage our human resources to deliver an enduring legacy for future generations, the regulatory bodies such as Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) should be involved in preventing the practice of architecture and engineering by unlicensed professionals.”
He urged the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari to rise to the challenge of stemming the illegal incursion into the sector through the enactment of an enabling law that would put a legal stop on foreign illegal incursion in Nigeria.

ACEN President, Kehinde said that, despite a white paper under former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, specifying the involvement level of Nigerian professionals in projects, and the capacity which some Nigerian engineering firms had displayed in implementing some major projects in the country, saying it was regrettable that, even those who suppose to protect the profession had under the guise of inflow of direct foreign investments, brought in “professionals from every imaginable corner of the world.

These include China, India, Brazil, Korea, Canada, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom France, South Africa, to mention a few, who are busy doing good business in Nigeria, on our railway expansion programme, new seaports, new airports, mass transits, new cities – Centennial city in Abuja, Eko Atlantic city in Lagos, etc; to the total exclusion of Nigerian professionals.”

To him, “This is not how other countries have developed; and there is no way that Nigeria can or will develop through this current model. Development stems from technology and engineering being ‘applied locally’; and our Governments are urged to recognize this reality.”
He advocated that the nation needed more than a white paper but a law that would uphold that for projects valued at less than N5 billion, only Nigerian professionals should be engaged; for projects valued between N5 billion and N15 billion,

Consumer Abuse: FG Intensifies Efforts to Curb Business Impunity

The federal government has intensified efforts to check the prevalent business practice of consumer abuse with impunity, with the inauguration of the first in-house audio-visual studio at the Consumer Protection Council (CPC).


Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, who inaugurated the studio in Abuja yesterday said apart from the fact that the project would help increase consumer awareness, business operators would also learn to respect consumer rights more since it would be easier for aggrieved consumers to name and shame fraudulent operators through the various CPC studios across the zonal offices in Nigeria.

He noted that whilst the advent of industries in new areas like telecommunications, information technology and online sales had brought new challenges for consumers as regards getting full value for their money, the current management of CPC was resolute in its drive towards addressingcritical issues of abuses across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Aganga said: “The Nigerian market, like all other markets in the world, is not perfect. I am aware that consumers contend on a daily basis with issues arising from sharp practices of dubious businesses and the abuse of consumer rights by producers and service providers. The advent of industries in new areas like telecommunication, information technology and online sales posesentirely new concerns for consumers.

“Economies are dynamic, and when they grow and add new sectors and technologies like we have seen in the last couple of years, the need for change in people's behavioural patterns becomes imperative. This underscores the important role of CPC in enforcing compliance of businesses with consumer protection laws and educating consumers to be assertive in the marketplace. It is, therefore, gratifying that the current administration in CPC is resolute in its determination to drastically increase the level of consumer awareness in the country and check the impunity of businesses.”

Speaking during the event, the Director-General, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, said that consumer education was a core mandate of the Council, adding that the CPC had already developed innovative awareness strategies towards addressing the problem of consumer ignorance and apathy.

She said: “On assumption of duty, two years ago, I conducted a base line survey on consumer rights awareness in Nigeria, which revealed that consumers in Nigeria were largely unaware of their rights and where to seek redress.

The need to increase the Council’s visibility and impact through an aggressive consumer rights education and advocacy campaigns became my top priority. Consumer education is a core mandate of the Council and a key deliverable of consumer protection.”

Atoki added: “An informed consumer is the best protector of his or her rights. He or she is more proactive, assertive and confident to demand redress for any violations. Conversely, consumer ignorance and apathy contributes to poor service delivery, substandard production and impunity among businesses.”
“To address the low consumer awareness, a number of strategies were developed on how to increase consumer rights education and advocacy through a variety of media platforms, with particular emphasis on the radio, television and social media; due to their vast reach both in the urban and grass root areas.”

She stressed that the establishment of the in-house studio would help enhance the agency’s consumer awareness activities and also reduce media production costs.

She added: “The establishment of an in-house audio-visual studio set up by the Consumer Protection Council with the support of Ford Foundation is an initiative aimed at facilitating an aggressive consumer rights education and advocacy campaigns that will lead to increased consumer awareness and assertiveness in the marketplace. This is a very significant milestone achievement of the Consumer Protection Council.

“In view of the paucity of funds in the Council, we had to approach international donor agencies for funding support and the Ford Foundation graciously approved a proposal to support a varied consumer awareness programme, which includes the setting up of a world class in-house audio-visual studio for our media productions as the first component of the support. This project is expected to greatly reduce the cost of producing our TV and radio programmes by over 60 per cent.It will also give consumers the ample opportunity to have their views aired when necessary.”

GoMedia Concept: CBN, NIBSS, Banks Set for Cashless CardExpo 2015

GoMedia Concept: CBN, NIBSS, Banks Set for Cashless CardExpo 2015: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), including banks, are set for this year's cashless c...

CBN, NIBSS, Banks Set for Cashless CardExpo 2015

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), including banks, are set for this year's cashless card exposition and conference, tagged CardExpo 2015.

Intermarc Consulting Limited, organisers of the annual CBN CardExpo Africa, said it was set to host the 15th edition of the card conference and exhibition, with special focus on Card, Mobile, Identification and payment.



Scheduled to hold in Lagos from 23rd to 25th of June,, this years' card conference and exhibition, with the theme: 'Innovation: The Future of ePayment', has Diamond Bank as the Platinum sponsor, Heritage Bank as Gold sponsor, while CBN and NIBSS are partners.

Speaking at a pre-event conference to announce CardExpo 2015, General Manager, Intermarc Consulting, Lilian Ekwedike, said the conference aims to promote and deepen the adoption and usage of electronic payment in Africa.

"The focus this year is on how new and innovative technologies can meet the payment transaction needs of new markets and the unbanked. The conference and exhibition will also focus on new users as well as the service delivery strategy that will deliver the future of e-payment," Ekwedike said.

Head, Cards, Diamond Bank, Mr. Joachin Iloemezue, explained that banks are associated with the annual card conference and exhibition, because of their roles in driving the cashless initiative of the CBN, which is already having general acceptance among Nigerians.

Head, Corporate Communications at NIBSS, Lilian Phido, said NIBSS would continue to support the process of cashless economy and ensure that cashless transactions remain safe and secured.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and other special dignitaries, are expected to be in attendance.

Explaining the introduction of new innovations for the 2015 CardExpo, Ekwedike said Intermarc had introduced the CBN Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS) awards, where bank customers that frequently use their cards on Point of Sales (PoS) machines from merchants and sales person, will be rewarded. She said other sectors of the industry that promote and encourage the use of card on PoS, will also be rewarded.

"We have also put together, demo sessions for pitches by young developers who will have the opportunity to present their brilliant payment technologies and innovation solutions, where the best four solution will win a price of N250, 000, which is being sponsored by Diamond Bank and MasterCard," Ekwedike said.

She said there would be specific forum for all exhibitors and sponsors to introduce and showcase the products and services to the general public, and that speakers would be drawn from the financial sector and other key industry sectors, to discuss the future and benefit of e-payment in Nigeria.

Special forums like innovation forum, Mobile Point of Sales (MPOS) forum, card forum, Near Field Communication (NFC) forum, security forum, mobile forum, billing and revenue collection forum, Bank Verification Number (BVN) forum, Point of Sales (PoS) forum, among others, will also take place at this year's CardExpo.

According to Ekwedike, top card and e-payment experts would be sharing inside strategies positioning and enhancing card business.

Banks and card companies will have the opportunity to win in different award categories in the 2015 CardExpo award night, that will mark the end of this year's card exhibition and conference. The award process promises to be fully automated, incorporating online nomination and voting. The CardExpo award is being sponsored by CBN and NIBBS, while the awards will be presented by the deputy Governor of CBN, at the closing dinner.

Nigeria to lead African hospitality market with 10.5% revenue gain

The Nigerian hospitality market is set to overtake the rest of Africa as the fastest-growing over the next five years, with a projected compound annual gain in room revenue of 10.5 percent.

This is despite the challenges faced in the past one year, resulting in declining revenue.

Beyond the projected gain in room revenue, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC’s) Hospitality Outlook 2015 report, which forecast the revenue gain, also revealed that the number of hotel rooms in Nigeria is expected to more than double in the next five years, with much of the growth taking place in Lagos.



Comparing the Nigerian hotel market and South Africa which has enjoyed its third consecutive year of strong revenue growth with a 9.1perecnt advance, following two years of double-digit gains, the Hospitality Outlook 2015 report (the 5th edition in this series), noted that virtually all of the gain forecast in the Nigerian hotel market is expected during the latter three years, between 2015-2019.

In line with the projections, the hotel industry in Nigeria, which has attracted significant investment of over US$3 billion in the past five years, is getting stronger with the opening of more properties as indigenous investors, partnerships and foreign direct investments take advantage of the rebasing of the economy to grow their businesses.

According to Nikki Forster, Hospitality Industry Leader for PwC, Southern Africa, increase in investments in the sector would continue on account of growth in travel and tourism. “Growth in travel and tourism is also expected to boost growth in the accommodation industry across the African continent during the next five years”, Forster says.

The PwC’s Hospitality Outlook 2015 report, which studied four key hospitality markets in Africa, comprising South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, and Kenya also revealed that within the forecast period stay unit nights average (total available rooms for sale in a hotel per night) are projected to increase at a 6.6 percent compound annual rate to 2.2 million in 2019 from 1.6 million in 2014.

While growth in available rooms is expected to continue rising by 10.2 percent in 2015 and at a 20.7 percent compound annual rate through to 2019, hoteliers are making frantic efforts at taking advantage of these projections by looking for credible partnerships and, especially cheap funds to build more hotels.

To partake in the projected growth, Magnus Okpeta, a hotelier, said that going by about 23 percent bank interest rate, most hospitality investors are rather embracing cheap funds from equity firms and mutual partnership formula of some hospitality brands, especially Swiss International, African Sun and Golden Tulip to fund new hotel projects across the country.

Okpeta however observed that the major brands are likely going to take advantage of the projected growth than indigenous hotels because of their strong brand appeal, ownership, and connections.

“You need from N5 billion to build a three -star hotel. But the money does not come easy if you are borrowing from any Nigerian bank. The pressure to service and repay the loans at 23 percent interest rate is often difficult.

Samuel Oloyede, a hotelier said, “The hospitality sector here needs intervention fund to enable indigenous investors to compete in delivering standard hotels that will impact room rates.”

However, over 10 branded hotels are expected to open between 2015 and 2019 across the country, to increase the number of available rooms that is expected to impact PwC’s projected growth in compound annual gain in room revenue.

Transcorp eyes coal to Power Business

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) says it has entered into talks with some Canadian and Australian firms to begin investments in coal to power business and is hopeful to make progress on this project in coming months.



The company is also already in the final stages of securing approval to commence the oil drilling programme, Tony Elumelu, chairman, said at the company’s 9th annual general meeting (AGM) where about N2 billion dividend, translating to 6 kobo per share was cleared for investors.

Transcorp is a major investor in oil and gas, agriculture, power as well as hospitality and currently owns Ughelli Power Plant, oil block 28, Nigeria’s Transcorp Hotels and also Teragro, its agribusiness subsidiary.

Elumelu said the company’s ambition to generate at least a quarter of Nigeria’s power consumption remains firmly on course as they continue to consolidate on the gains made at the Ughelli Power Plant.

The plant’s rehabilitation programme saw power output increase from 342 megawatts on December 31, 2013 to 610 megawatts by December 31, 2014.
The target is to raise output to 850 megawatts end of this year.

Full year profitability of the Ughelli Power Plant accounting for 65 percent of total gross earnings pushed up the Group’s gross earnings in 2014 significantly by 120 percent to N41.3 billion from N18.8 billion in 2013.

“The revenue growth was achieved following substantial increase in available capacity at our power plant to 610MW in December 2014,” said Elumelu.
“The company’s gross earnings also increased 196 percent from N2.1 billion to N6.3 billion largely due to dividend income realised from the power business.”

First Bank, Unified Payments in e-payment agreement

First Bank of Nigeria Limited says it has partnered the Unified Payments to implement PayAttitude, a transaction innovation meant to boost e-payment system in Nigeria.



A statement by First Bank said the development was part of its business objectives to drive innovation in service delivery and make mobile payment convenient.

PayAttitude is a chip and pin enabled tag-type solution that is linked to customers’ prepaid mobile wallet, enabling access to their accounts for different payment transactions in a ‘tap and go’ fashion, according to the bank.

This solution is being deployed by Unified Payments, in partnership with leading banks in Nigeria.

It said PayAttitude would guarantee subscribers the confidence and comfort of successful mobile payment for goods and services at merchant locations at all times, notwithstanding the challenges of telecommunication or unavailability of network in the merchant’s bank or a customer’s bank.



With this solution, it said transactions would be authorised offline up to the value of the customer‘s mobile wallet subscription with the bank.

According to the bank, to guard against fraud or unauthorised use, PayAttitude transactions are chip and pin enabled and the holder’s unique pin must be entered before transactions are approved.

The statement quoted the Group Managing Director, First Bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, as saying that the bank was working to constantly provide dynamic and relevant solutions that would improve the lifestyle of its customers while ensuring the safety and security of their funds.

“The PayAttitude tag card is ready to be issued in selected branches and will be deployed in all First Bank locations in due course,” he said.