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Jim Obazee, the
managing director of National Accounting Standard Board, said 2012 has
been set aside as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
adoption date for listed companies.

Mr. Obazee, on Thursday, said that this was to ensure that the
companies listed in the Nigeria Stock Exchange adhered to the
transition process. He said that the process was in phases, to ensure
smooth transition.

The Nigerian Stock
Exchange (NSE) has reiterated that the newly appointed Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) and executive directors “will assume duties no later than
April 1st.”

The Board of the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the market regulator, had on
Tuesday ratified the selection of Oscar Onyema as the new CEO of the
NSE and Ade Bajomo as executive director, IT and Market Operations.

The commission,
however, urged the Exchange council to conclude the executive selection
process for the other two positions, executive directors for Strategy
& Business Development and Quotations and Listings.

“The interim
administrator said whoever is appointed will resume latest April 1st
and I don’t think he has said anything in contrary to that,” Wole
Tokede, the NSE spokesperson, reaffirmed.

Also, Emmanuel
Ikazoboh, the Exchange interim administrator, said last week that the
remaining two positions could not be competed “because of the weather
situation in UK and in US in December” which affected some of the
candidates in those places from flying in to the country.

“Fortunately for
the CEO position, all the three selected candidates were around and
that was how we completed that,” Mr. Ikhazoboh said, adding that the
interview for other positions would continue this month.

He said the
recruitment process, which saw over 1,600 applications for all the four
positions, is longer than expected because “we (NSE) wanted to ensure
that we have a thorough, auditable, efficient, and transparent process
in determining who would be the next executive officers” at the
Exchange.

Meanwhile, while
investors at the nation’s capital market continue to record additional
gains on their equities’ value, as market capitalisation gained N87
billion at the close of Thursday’s trading, the NSE has assured
investors who are clients of the stockbroking firms it suspended of
safety of their investments.

The Exchange on
Tuesday suspended 61 dealing member firms for failure to meet up with
the N70 million minimum capital base. Between Tuesday and Thursday,
five of them had met the requirement and their suspension subsequently
lifted.

Mr. Tokede, in a
statement on yesterday, said, “Mr. Ikazoboh dismissed the allegation by
some of the affected stockbroking firms that the Exchange did not give
them enough time to beef up their capital base before suspending them.
He described the allegation as baseless.”

On the security of
clients’ investment, he said that the Exchange on January 18, 2011
issued a circular to remind all suspended Dealing Members Firms of
their duty to instruct and appoint another stockbroker to carry out the
mandate they had got from their clients prior to their suspension.

The Nigerian
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) wants erring oil
companies identified in the 2005 oil and gas industry audit report
sanctioned by the appropriate government regulatory agencies.

Assisi Asobie,
NEITI chairman, called on the reconstituted Inter-Ministerial Task Team
(IMTT) handling the implementation of the 2005 audit report to ensure
that all remediation issues raised in the document, including sanctions
against erring multinational oil companies, are implemented.

Some of the issues
included revenue flow interface between the oil companies and the
government agencies involved in their collection and management, need
to improve Nigeria’s oil and gas metering infrastructure, determination
of the cost component of calculating the barrel, human capacity
development, and general improvement of extractive sector corporate
governance practices.

Mr Asobie added
that since it was established in 2006, the task team has little to show
in clear advice on handling the issues identified in the report,
particularly those bordering on enforcement of sanctions against
indicted multinational oil companies that failed to remit appropriate
revenues and taxes to government.

At a workshop
yesterday in Abuja organised by the Coalition for Accountability and
Transparency in Extractive Industries, Forestry and Fisheries in
Nigeria (CATEIFFN) on ‘NEITI’s Road to Validation: Key Issues and
Challenges’, Mr Asobie said he was certain that Nigeria will attain
Extractive Industry Transparency initiative (EITI) compliant status
either by March 1 or latest mid-April.

He said Nigeria,
which is currently designated ‘candidate country’ and ‘close to
compliant’, has met virtually all the six remedial actions requested by
EITI during its Board meeting last October in Dar es Salam, Tanzania,
including publication and dissemination of the 2006-2008 audit report
and development and agreement on the National Stakeholders Working
Group (NSWG) Charter to strengthen the EITI process.

NEITI Executive
Secretary, Zainab Ahmed, said a draft report of the 2006-2008 audit has
already been discussed by the NSWG during its meeting last week, adding
that an enlarged meeting of all entities involved in the process is
scheduled for January 31 to approve give approval to the final draft,
to be disseminated to the public on February 1.

Some years ago, I
read about the pathetic story of a young man in the South Eastern part
of the country. He had participated in the promotion of a drinks
company. He had a winning number and he approached the company
representatives. However to his chagrin, he was told the winning number
was a fake. Through this, he suffered several forms of humiliation and
harassment by the company. The end result, he lost out completely.

The above story is
a true life experience and there are several others whose stories were
not published in the media. Consumers are treated with so much disdain
and disrespect by companies. It is disheartening, to note that the
aphorism ‘In Nigeria, everything goes’ has had adverse effects on the
rights of an average consumer. Some companies even go to the extreme
extent of using security agents to intimidate harmless citizens. The
rights of consumers are being eroded on a daily basis and very soon,
consumers will pick the gauntlet against offending companies.

Consumer Protection Council’s roles

A major function of
the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) is to provide speedy redress to
consumer complaints through negotiations and reconciliations. It is
also expected to ensure that offending companies provide compensations
to aggrieved consumers.

CPC needs to
intensify its efforts and create engagement sessions to interact
directly with consumers. Though it has succeeded in handling thousands
of cases through its enlightenment campaigns, a lot needs to be done.
It should embark on a mass media campaign with the sole objective of
educating consumers on their rights. The consumers need to see CPC more
as a vibrant and dynamic organisation championing their rights and
defending their cases.

While CPC has not
been totally dormant, it needs to give its activities a huge bite to
make companies treat consumers with respect and there should be
awareness in the media about what CPC is doing to protect consumers.
This to a large extent will instil consumer’s confidence in the
organisation.

The implication of
this is that when consumers see such, they will have no doubts that
their cases will be treated with utmost importance.

The organisation
can also achieve success when it connects directly with the consumers.
The connection here may be in form of a consumer research and consumer
insights generation, wherein it sets up a veritable platform to gauge
the feelings of consumers; the result will assist it in discharging its
roles effectively.

Consumer forum is
also a potent tool to address the grievances of consumers. CPC should
set up such across the country. It is also expected that CPC publishes
cases against offending companies and penalties imposed. This will
serve as a deterrent to others.

Consumer groups
should also be encouraged to promote the interests and rights of
consumers. This is part of the roles of CPC and its support for such
organisations will serve as a buffer for CPC activities and programmes.

This is why the
activities of Consumer Advocacy Forum (CAFON) led by Sola Salako needs
to be commended. This organisation has risen to the defence of consumer
rights and has remained a viable instrument to champion the causes of
an average consumer. CAFON also needs to touch base more with consumers
and publicise its activities. It has remained a vibrant advocacy group
by focusing on several sectors.

Challenges to consumers

This comes with
serious challenges to consumers not to be docile again. It is expected
of consumers to challenge any infringement of their rights. We need to
use all available legal avenues to express our grievances. When there
is consistency, our case will receive attention. It is no longer a time
for consumers to sit in despair. Let everyone begin to shout from the
roof top to register their complaints. The onus is also on the media to
assist such consumers. The media needs to set the agenda and protect
the rights of consumers.

I foresee a
consumer revolution in the very near future. This is because any
company that maltreats consumers will face dire consequences. The
situation cannot remain like this for too long.

South Africa’s rand
gained slightly against the dollar on Thursday, coming off six week
lows ahead of the central bank’s interest rate decision later in the
session. A Reuters poll forecast the Reserve Bank will keep its key
repo rate at 5.5 per cent, taking the view that 650 basis points of
cuts since December 2008 is sufficient stimulus to help lift growth
after the economy contracted in 2009. Government bonds firmed,
recouping some heavy losses that pushed yields to multi-month highs
this week.

The rand fell to a
six week low of 6.9978 in the previous session, inching close to the
key psychological level of 7.00/dollar that could indicate further
losses if breached.

Plans for a
delayed 300 MW wind farm in Kenya can now proceed after lenders agreed
to rely on the government’s assurance that it backed the plan, instead
of proper guarantees, the chairman of the project said. “Guarantees, we
are not being given. What we are getting is a letter of comfort, or
support, from the ministry of finance. This has now been agreed with
the lenders as an acceptable format so we can move forward,” Carlo van
Wageningen, chairman of LTWP, told Reuters in an interview. Kenya’s
government has been scratching its head over how to deal with demand
from lenders for financial guarantees. Kenyan law does not allow the
Treasury to put down a security for a private venture.

Stronger-than-expected
Chinese growth data spurred concern on Thursday about tighter monetary
policy, prompting a sell-off in equities led by emerging markets.

The euro dipped on
profit-taking after reaching two-month highs in the previous session
but then trimmed losses as speculation grew that the euro zone’s rescue
mechanism for fiscally troubled peripheral states might be strengthened.

Chinese growth
soared past forecasts and inflation slowed less than expected in the
fourth quarter, prompting worries that the government may intensify
tightening. Disappointing U.S. earnings added to the mix.

Nigeria sold 60 billion naira in 5-year and 3-year sovereign bonds at
its first debt auction of the year, the Debt Management Office (DMO)
said on Thursday. The debt office sold 30 billion naira each in the
5-year and 3-year instruments at Wednesday’s auction with marginal
rates of 11.13 per cent and 10.40 per cent respectively, slightly lower
yields than at the previous auction in December. The bonds were issued
at 12 per cent each last month.

Nigeria’s Central
Bank expects a drop in foreign reserves to end due to higher oil
prices, tighter monetary policy, and stronger capital markets, and sees
no need to let the naira weaken, Governor Lamido Sanusi said. “The
Central Bank is convinced that a stable exchange rate is crucial both
for maintaining price stability and attracting foreign investment as it
provides a transparent anchor,” Mr. Sanusi told Reuters late on
Wednesday.

Over the last two years the National Assembly made attempts to
enact laws that would bring about needed changes in the oil and gas sector and
in the overall socio-economic environment. Somehow, both the Senate and the
House of Representatives slipped into deep sleep over the salient issues.

The first bill that comes to mind is the highly talked about
Petroleum Industries Bill (PIB). Oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria
have generally been happy to continue business as usual, riding on the tracks
set by various military dictators who held sway over the powers of state in the
past. The PIB, with all its imperfections, attempts to bring some level of
sanity into the sector and allows for some form of integration as well as
enabling the nation to derive more financial and socio-economic benefits from
the sector.

Expectedly, the oil companies have fought the bill. They have
openly said that they would not accept any law that is not favourable to them
and have often twisted statistics to suggest that Nigeria is attempting to
drive them into bankruptcy if the bill is passed into law without being watered
down.

Similarly, the government seems to be bending back and doing the
donkey work to ensure that the oil companies are happy. Having been in bed
together for so long, the necessary social distance needed for serious
negotiations between the government and the companies is difficult to create
and so they continue with their pillow talk away from public view.

While the oil companies kick and scream over who gets to pocket
how much money, the issues that really concern the local communities living in
the oil fields were largely overlooked by the PIB. For example, there are no
concerns about the impacts of the sector’s activities on the environment.
Neither did the first draft make any allowance for community consultations and
participation.

This writer fully appreciates the difficulties that governments
have when it comes to communities. I often recall a conversation I had with a
Mines and Energy minister of another country over serious agitations from
communities who feared that mining activities in their communities would
destroy their livelihood. They demanded a consultation with the government and
the government would not agree to hold one because, according to the minister,
the national constitution did not say anything about popular consultations and
as such the government could not say what it meant, how it should be held, and
who would pay for it.

Even when the community folks were ready to hold the
consultation at no cost to government and insisted that this was a right under
the International Labour Organisation’s covenant, the government would not
budge. The only promise our meeting left with was that the government would not
proceed with the mining projects until a suitable agreement was reached with
the affected people.

Consequently, violent conflicts deepened in the area and it does
seem that this is the sort of dialogue that some governments would prefer to
have. Conflicts in Nigeria have similar roots.

The PIB has the possibility of making environmental and
community concerns central in the sector. The environment has been trashed for
long enough and there is need for a cease-fire now. And if we like, we can
extend an amnesty to the oil companies too.

Sleepy chambers

The Gas Flares Prohibition Bill of 2008 is another critical bill
that has been sleeping in the chambers of the House of Representatives. The
Senate passed the bill and going by it, gas flaring would have been outlawed
again by the end of 2010. Gas flaring has been illegal in Nigeria since 1984
and a High Court sitting in Benin City affirmed in November 2005 that the
activity is indeed illegal and a flagrant abuse of human rights.

Shell informed the world about the origins of gas flaring in
Nigeria in a May 2010 document on their website. “When The Shell Development
Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) built many of its first production facilities
in the 1950s, there was little demand or market for gas in many parts of the
world, including Nigeria. So, Associated Gas (AG) was usually burned off safely
– a process called flaring. This remained accepted industry practice as SPDC
established a major oil operation across the Niger Delta.”

As you can see, this dastardly act goes back five decades! Gas
flaring may have been a practice accepted by Shell and their co-travelers in
the pursuit of ecocide, we can loudly say that the practice was never
celebrated by the suffering people of the oil region. Neither will communities
elsewhere in Nigeria accept it if oil is found in their territories.

The gas flare prohibition law for the first time proposes
sanctions that should deter the companies from engaging in the destructive
activity. Apart from prison terms proposed, offenders would pay fines
equivalent to market value of the flared gas. The bill also proposes that no
company should be given any lease for oil and gas exploitation without an
accepted gas utilisation plan.

Now the slumber of the House of Representatives over this matter
has allowed the 2010 deadline proposed by the bill to slip by. Added to dinner
party deadlines set and ignored by past governments, this one has been swept
under the carpet and no future deadline is even hoisted to keep hope alive.

Gas flaring is an abuse that cannot be tolerated for any reason.
We have allowed it for long enough. We do not need new deadlines. And the farce
of presenting projects with regard to existing gas flares for carbon credit
under the United Nations Framework Convention must be halted.

The slippery terrain of the oil sector has dulled the outgoing
NASS into sleep and given room for continued abuse and pillage. If
electioneering will allow governance to proceed, it is not too late in the day
for the legislators to rouse from slumber and do the right thing.