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In keeping with its
timeline of absorbing all the non performing loans in banks books by
the end of the year, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria
(AMCON) will today sign debt purchase agreements with chief executive
officers of 21 banks in the country. One bank is yet to submit its debt
profile while two foreign owned banks, Citi and Standard Chartered,
withdrew from submitting any bad loan.

With the agreement,
over N2 trillion of nonperforming loans (NPLs) will be taken off the
books of the banks and transferred to the asset company. Today’s
meeting will be attended by finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Lamido Sanusi, and director general of
the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo.

AMCON was set up to
take up the bad loans in the books of banks in the wake of the global
financial crisis which took a toll on the Nigerian financial sector.

Thereafter, the CBN
injected N627 billion into Afribank, Bank PHB, Equitorial Trust,
Finbank, Intercontinental, Oceanic, Spring, Wema, and Union, to save
them from imminent collapse.

At a meeting with
bank executives on December 16, Foluke Dosunmu, AMCON executive
director of finance, explained that the rescued banks will enjoy two
sets of funds injection. One is to buy their non performing loans and
two, to cater for their capital adequacy. Mrs. Dosunmu said AMCON will
issue the first set of bonds by the end of today.

She said bonds will be issued for a two year period which will be refinanced by issuing another set of bonds next year.

“The bonds will be
zero coupons, fixed or floating, that will be tradable and liquid and
listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange,” she said.

She added that the
liquidity of the bonds will be enhanced, as it will not only be held by
banks but also fund managers, pension fund administrators, insurance
companies, trustees, and custodians. The bond will be guaranteed by the
federal government.

This development is
expected to trigger price rally at the stock market as investors cash
in to take advantage of the valuation model already released by the
asset company.

AMCON’s managing
director, Mustafa Chike-Obi, listed assets which are to be taken over
from the banks; they will be priced at 60 percent of market value on a
60-day price average on the NSE trading platform, counting back from
November 15.

Mr. Chike-Obi said AMCON will buy all non performing loans by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

This column came
into existence in August and since this will be the last for the year,
I want to do a summary of the topics focused on during the year. All
that you will find are snippets of what this column focused on in the
year.

A brand that must
retain consumers’ attention in the New Year should be one that feels
their pulse. The quantum of consumers insight generated is central to
the overall success of the brand in the New Year. It is important for
brands to touch base with consumers while also ensuring satisfaction
and superior service delivery.

Brands should also
speak the language of consumers as consumers respond more through
persuasive and emotive communication messages. It is also important to
say that any sales/consumer promotion embarked upon in 2011 should be a
reward scheme for consumers and not exploitative in approach. Consumers
want brands they can identify and relate with as their own.

Despite the
economic meltdown, brands should seek to sustain the tempo of their
messages to retain their established image. Since 2011 is an election
year, it is important to have strategy based political campaigns which
will inspire and move the electorate to action.

Brands should
ensure that negative perception is eliminated to the barest minimum as
this can hinder the brand in the market place. To forestall negative
perception, brands should embark on image building tactics that will
position the brand in the minds of the target audience. The issue of
Corporate Social Responsibility thus become important here. Brands
should be good corporate citizens. Some brands and their companies
should embark on projects that will impact lives meaningfully in the
communities where they operate.

The rebranding
Nigeria project should be given utmost priority in the New Year. The
import of this is that our leaders should make concrete efforts in
leading by example. Now that Dora Akunyili is a politician, one hopes
the fire of tenacity will keep burning.

The recurring name
change by Airtel generated so much discourse. It was one topic that had
the highest number of feedback this year. In the New Year, Airtel
should consolidate on the gains of the name change and connect more
with the subscribers on the network.

The media also has
a critical role to play as the purveyor of information. It is highly
expected of the media to focus on professionalism and ethical standards
in the New Year.

Public speaking is
a skill everyone needs to leverage a positive image. It is not an
activity to engage in to pour venoms on other people. It is one that
comes with panache, style, and delivery. This is one skill that a brand
personality needs in the New Year.

The insurance
industry also needs to raise the bar of its visibility in the New Year.
The industry needs to wake up from its slumber and set an agenda for
public discourse on insurance services.

Evaluation

This column debuted
over twenty weeks ago and I will appreciate feedback of readers on the
column, its contents and approach to issues. This I believe will enrich
the column the more.

Till we meet in 2011, may all your days be colourful and bright. Also, believe you can make it in the New Year.

Ayopo, a Communication Strategist and Public Relations practitioner
is The CEO of Shortlist Ltd, email-shortlistedprspecialists@gmail.com

Investors
at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday recorded additional
gains on their equities’ value, as market closed trading on a positive
note.

The Exchange market
capitalisation closed yesterday at N 7.912 trillion after opening the
day at N 7.908 trillion, reflecting 0.05 percent upturn or over N4
billion gains. The market had gained about N21 billion at the close of
trading session on Wednesday.

The NSE sectoral
indexes maintained previous positive outlook as NSE-30, which measures
the performance of blue chips in the market, gained by 0.28 percent;
the NSE Food & Beverages gained the highest point by 0.52 percent;
the Banking moved up by 0.39 percent; and the Oil & Gas appreciated
by 0.19 percent, while the NSE Insurance, the only loser, closed with
2.07 percent loss.

Commenting on
Thursday’s market performance, analysts at Proshare Nigeria, an
investment advisory firm, said the early session witnessed stocks of
Building Materials, Food & Beverages, Industrial & Domestic
Products and Agriculture sectors dictating the pace in price
appreciation.

“The moderate
buying activities in Food & Beverages, Maritime, Construction, and
Agriculture sectors with slight bargain towards blue chips despite much
selling across the sectors, took the market higher with modest gain,
closing year-to-date All-Share Index performance higher at 18.94
percent,” they said.

High losers

At the end of
trading, the number of gainers closed at 27 stocks; same position with
the 27 gainers recorded previous session while losers closed higher at
31 stocks when compared with the 24 losers recorded on Wednesday.

Presco Nigeria and
Costain West Africa topped the price gainers’ table with an increase of
4.98 percent each on their opening prices of N6.22 and N6.43 per share
respectively. IHS and Vitafoam followed in the chart with an increase
of 4.84 percent and 4.79 percent, to close at N2.60 and N6.35 per share.

On the losers’
side, Wema Bank and C & I Leasing led the price losers’ chart with
a decline of 5 percent and 4.97 percent, to close at N1.33 and N1.53
per share. Evans Medical and John Holt followed with a decline of 4.96
percent each on their initial prices of N1.21 and N9.28 per share.

Active subsector

The Banking
subsector led the market transaction volume on Thursday with 111.04
million units valued at N1.04 billion, as against the 138.29 million
units valued at N1.22 billion recorded on Wednesday.

The volume recorded
in the subsector was driven by transaction in the shares of Zenith
Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Oceanic Bank, and Diamond Bank. The total
volume of 64.54 million units valued at N715.82 million traded in the
shares of the five stocks accounted for 30.62 percent of the entire
market volume.

Disturbed
by the seeming increase of substandard cigarettes in the country’s
markets despite several raids by it and other relevant regulatory
agencies, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) says it will soon bare
its fangs.

The Council read
the riot act to cigarettes merchants, threatening that those caught
would henceforth face the full weight of the law.

Abiodun Obimuyiwa,
head of public communications in the Council, said in a statement that
more stringent punishments would be meted out to those behind the
circulation of these “deadly products”.

The statement came
on the heels of its surveillance activities, which revealed the
existence and circulation of spotted Super King Cigarette in the north
west zone of the country.

“Markets within
Kano Metropolis had been raided and we will close in on the major
outlets of the distribution of the product nationwide,” Mr. Obimuyiwa
said.

While drawing the
attention of the marketers of the sub-standard product to the danger of
smoking spotted cigarette, the Council warned the marketers to “halt
the distribution of the spotted product and withdraw all packs that are
in the market place or face prosecution.”

Mr. Obimuyiwa
added, “Efforts to mop up those found in the markets are in top gear,
just as it seized the opportunity to alert Nigerian consumers of the
existence of the spotted cigarette, which has been found to be
deadlier.”

Experts said
consumption of substandard cigarette has grave health implications as
it contains high levels of a cancer-causing toxic metal picked up from
the soil the tobacco is grown in.

“Counterfeit
cigarettes that contain more than three times the usual levels of
arsenic and can cause vomiting and abnormal heart rhythms. There is
hardly a better way of delivering some carcinogens to the lungs than
smoking tobacco grown in contaminated environments. Counterfeit
cigarettes are substantially contaminated with toxic elements such as
arsenic and lead compared with genuine brands,” the statement said.

Fake cigarettes can
cause nausea and vomiting, abnormal heart rhythms, damage to blood
vessels and increase the risk of bladder, liver and prostate cancer,
among others.

Abubakar Mohammed,
a lecturer at the University of Abuja, said the impact is in two folds:
irreversible and reversible mental effects.

“These include
hallucination, delusion, illusion, complete madness, decay of teeth,
shortage of oxygen due to narrowing of lungs, and cancer of the bones.

Mr. Mohammed noted
that many Nigerians consume fake cigarettes ignorantly. There is
therefore, the need for proper consumer education to save consumers
from careless death.

Equity
performance rebounded at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday
as market measuring parametre, the market capitalisation, appreciated
by a 0.26 percent.

At the close of
proceedings yesterday, the market capitalisation recorded over N21
billion gains on last trading figures of N7.887 trillion, to close at
N7.908 trillion.

All the NSE
sectoral indexes maintained previous outlook to close positive as the
NSE-30, which measures the performance of blue chips in the market,
gained by 0.41 percent; the NSE Banking gained the highest point by
0.50 percent; Oil & Gas moved up by 0.13 percent; the Food &
Beverages appreciated by 0.08 percent; while the NSE Insurance closed
flat.

Commenting on
Wednesday’s market performance, analysts at Proshare Nigeria, an
investment advisory firm, said the nation’s capital market witnessed
“low participation and lackluster performance in the early trades, but
later geared up in the noon session with key benchmark indices
recording thin turnover.”

They said banking
stocks and food/beverages stocks with few insurance stocks remained the
“toast of investors” during the session, while majority of the rescued
banks saw profit booking.

Low gainers

At the close of
trading on Wednesday, the number of gainers closed lower at 27 stocks,
as against the 30 gainers recorded the previous session, while losers
closed at 24 stocks; same position with the previous trading day’s
figures.

The NSE’s
transaction volume moved down by 62.62 percent to close at 211.60
million units exchanged in 3,939 deals, as against a growth of 80.57
percent recorded the previous trading to close at 566.04 million units
exchanged in 3,300 deals.

Also, market value
dropped yesterday by 2.97 percent to close at N1.67 billion, as against
a decline by 39.73 percent recorded last Friday to close at N1.73
billion.

Active subsector

The Banking
subsector led the market transaction volume on Wednesday with 138.29
million units valued at N1.22 billion exchanged in 2,547 deals, as
against the 104.93 million units valued at N827.70 million exchanged in
1,939 deals recorded on Friday.

The volume recorded
in the subsector was driven by transaction in the shares of Zenith
Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Fidelity Bank, and Oceanic Bank.

The total volume of
69.30 million units valued at N823.93 billion traded in the shares of
the five stocks accounted for 32.75 percent of the entire market volume
and their value represented 49.07 percent of the market’s value.

The banking
subsector closed on Wednesday with 9 gainers to 8 losers, compared with
10 gainers to nine losers that was recorded the previous trading day.

It was obvious to
observers that the climate negotiations at Cancun were wired to support
commerce rather than tackling the climate crisis that the world is
confronted with. This trend took solid steps a year earlier at the
summit in Copenhagen when a handful of nations sidestepped the
multilateral tradition of the United Nations and working through “green
rooms” away from the conference floor concocted the so-called
Copenhagen Accord instead.

The Copenhagen
Accord could not be adopted at the end of the 2009 conference for the
basic reason that majority of country delegations did not know how it
was crafted and on what basis. Countries like Bolivia and Venezuela
stood resolutely against it and that conference only agreed to take
note that such a document existed.

The fact that the
Accord was not adopted as a conference outcome did not deter its
authors, principally the United States, from working behind the scenes,
bilaterally, to get several countries to endorse it. Some analysts have
said that the endorsement was achieved through arm-twisting tactics and
promises of financial and other aids. Those who refused to yield were
sanctioned by way of having climate or environment assistance cut.

From the beginning
of the Cancun negotiations, signals were sent that its essence was to
elevate the Copenhagen Accord to the level of being the conference
outcome. The first salvo was fired by the delegation of Papua New
Guinea who declared that a few nations with divergent votes from the
majority must not prevent the conference from reaching a decision. They
suggested that if a consensus became impossible a decision should be
made by a vote. This position, as noted in an earlier article on
Cancun, was immediately objected to by the delegations of Bolivia,
India, Saudi Arabia and others.

At the end of the
Cancun summit, with the Copenhagen Accord now dressed in new garbs,
there was no consensus for its adoption. Not to be deterred, the
Mexican presidency of the conference banged the gavel repeatedly on her
table and rammed the document through, after redefining consensus as
not necessarily meaning unanimity.

Empty promises

Nations yelped and
cheered. Cancun had delivered; they enthused and backslapped each
other. But what did Cancun deliver and how will the planet fare under
the scenario set by what has been termed Copenhagen Accord 2?

The conference
outcome avoided legally binding emissions reduction targets for the
main polluting nations – the rich industrialised countries – and rather
urges a voluntary pledge based system with no monitoring mechanisms.
From recent WikiLeaks regarding discussions in France, it is clear that
the rich countries are determined not to make binding commitments to
act for the safety of the planet.

Looking for
something to celebrate, some countries latched on the promise to create
a Climate Fund within the United Nations climate change framework but
having the World Bank as a trustee. The promised climate fund did not
specify how the funds would be sourced.

The agreement did
not review subsisting intellectual property regime that does not freely
allow the exchange of green technology. It took big steps in paving the
way for new market based mechanisms that would allow for speculation
and avoidance of actions to reduce emissions at source and generally
position the planet at great risks of catastrophic climate change.

Teresa Andersen of
the Gaia Foundation, who wrote about the manner the Cancun conference
ended, captures the disbelief of critical observers:

“We sat in
disbelief as the crowds leapt to their feet, cheering, applauding,
whooping and whistling the Mexican chair of the Cancun climate
negotiations. Mexico’s foreign secretary, Patricia Espinosa, graciously
bowed her head, her hands crossed over her heart in an authoritarian
simulation of modesty, as we shook our heads, open-mouthed, at the
eerie frenzy taking place around us. In the last hours of the Cancun
climate negotiations, the world’s deluded leaders were cheering as they
tossed the planet onto the bonfire.

According to
Teresa, “The Cancun Agreement, we are told, has “saved
multilateralism”. What it has not done though, is offer any meaningful
solution to climate change. As it stands, the Cancun Agreement could
mean global temperature rises of up to 5 degrees centigrade, and a
possible 6.5 degrees in Africa.”

An initial analysis
of the Cancun outcome by Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) saw
the prospects of opening new market mechanisms as potentially creating
practices that are more harmful to the climate than current ones.

According to FoEI,
“the establishment of one or more market-based mechanisms over the
course of the next year is to be considered, with a view to taking a
decision to adopt these new mechanisms at COP 17 in South Africa. The
new mechanisms could include a number of different types of
instruments, some of which would be more destructive than others.”

Little gains

All was not lost in
Cancun. Social movements pushed the path of climate justice in various
venues in Cancun. The government of Bolivia, which had facilitated a
Peoples Conference on climate change and the Rights of Mother Earth in
April 2010, stood with the people, pushing the right analysis and
solutions, right to the end of the conference.

Social and climate
justice movements clearly stated that the causes of climate change are
systemic and that the only way to tackle the climate crisis is through
a change of the capitalist and patriarchal system that caused it.

With the clear
indication that rich nations are not keen to tackle climate change, but
would rather make bogus promises that poor vulnerable nations
unfortunately lap up, it is doubtful if the 2011 conference to be
hosted in Durban, South Africa, will produce anything different from
Copenhagen and Cancun.

The South African
government has dubbed COP17 the Peoples COP. It will be seen whether
the voices of the people will prevail or if corporations and their
surrogate politicians will hold sway in their market-based chariots.

The Nigeria Customs
Service (NCS) says its main objective in 2011 is to mobilise its
workforce and resources toward surpassing the revenue generation target
achieved in the outgoing year.

Reviewing its
operations in the last quarter of the year, NCS Comptroller General,
Abdullahi Inde Dikko, said in Abuja that the various reforms initiated
in the service’s operational procedures will facilitate the realisation
of a new revenue target of more than N500 billion next year, from N450
billion set for 2010.

“Concrete steps
have been taken to reduce the corruption environment through a mixed
bag of welfare packages, including the approval of 100 percent increase
in the salaries and allowances of all officers and men in the service
to give them the new impetus to work harder to achieve the target,” Mr.
Dikko said.

The service, in its
2010 Annual Report by the Deputy Comptroller (Welfare), Mohammed
Ibrahim, indicated that in the last one and half year improved welfare
package has positively impacted the morale and wellbeing of the
officers, resulting in enhanced performance.

Areas of manifest
impact, Mr. Ibrahim claimed, include insurance, health, housing,
cooperative, pensions and training, as no fewer than 435 retired
officers and relations of about 134 others benefitted from the
insurance policy during the outgoing year.

The policy, which
commenced in 1992, has evolved and expanded into three schemes, with
the first requiring officers to contribute five percent of their annual
salary for a benefit that is three times their annual pay in event of
death, in addition to N80, 000 support for burial expenses. Besides, a
retired officer is entitled to 60 percent of his annual salary, in
addition to an interest payable on his contribution.

Though the NCS is a
self-accounting service, he said it has also initiated a Group Personal
Accident (GPA) policy since 2005, that enables claims of between N2
million and N6 million to be paid to officers who lost their lives in
violent circumstances in their line of duty.

“A premium of N800
million was secured during the year (2010), while claims for more than
40 officers were settled. In 2010, the insurance scheme should cover
assets, marine and aviation,” Mr. Ibrahim said.

Similarly, a
compulsory Group Life Assurance policy, as spelt out under the Pension
Reform Act 2004, entitles an officer to a minimum pay that is thrice
his annual total emolument as death-in-service, payable into his
Retirement Savings Account (RSA).

The NCS has also
been working with the Federal Mortgage Bank for a housing loan scheme
for a monthly contribution of 2.5 percent into the National Housing
Fund (NHF), deductible from individual officers’ monthly salary to
facilitate decent accommodation for officers.

Bank
customers are expectant that service deliveries by banks would improve
in 2011. Seething from a plethora of complaints over banking services
in 2010, many customers spoke on the need for banks to update their
services in the coming year.

Ibrahim Buba, a
Kaduna-based architect and building contractor, said there was need for
banks to modify the modalities for usage of Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs). According to him, some of the machines choose the wrong time to
malfunction while banks insist that amounts below a certain threshold
must be done via the ATM.

“Why should banks charge me for withdrawing from the counter below a certain amount. Is it not my money?”

Mr. Buba said banks should be sensitive to the needs of the Nigerian economy.

“What this economy
needs now is entrepreneurship. Banks must be willing to support young
Nigerians with brilliant business ideas. Otherwise, if they cannot
fulfill this basic function of granting loans to businesses, then there
is no need for banks. I would rather go to a money lender to get funds
to run my business,” he further said.

He said in the New
Year, banks should look at viability of business plans to grant loans
instead of seeking fabulous and fake business proposals which fail
eventually and default in payment.

Improve services

Still on ATM
service, a bank customer who gave his name as Elvis, said banks need to
improve their services in order to reduce the hardship of customers. He
wondered why banks push people to use ATMs, even when ATM services are
not optimal.

“Last weekend, I
had to visit about five banks in my neighbourhood before I could get a
functional ATM to use,” he said. According to him, banks should employ
technology more in order to improve service delivery in 2011.

“We have heard
talks about mobile money for almost forever. Banks should embrace
mobile money technology, since the focus is now on reducing cost,” he
added.

Some customers said
banks do not abide by laid down instructions, thereby costing their
business. Bayo Adeoshun, a brand and marketing communications
consultant, said banks should take customised service as important in
2011. According to him, despite making a request to his bank that that
he should be notified of any third party withdrawal beyond a specified
amount, his bank still goes ahead to pay beyond the amount without
notification.

“This has caused me
embarrassment on a number of occasions. Going forward, I expect banks
to deliver more of specialised service to cater to the needs of their
customers. They should be friendly and reduce the stress that one has
to go through,” Mr. Adeoshun said.

Banking industry challenges

Eddy Ademosu,
president of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks
(ACAMB), said the challenges facing the banking industry were not
peculiar to Nigeria alone.

“We appreciate the
complaints, but those complaints must come against the background of
the scenario in the banking industry this year and the challenges the
industry had to contend with. Yes, in some few cases we have had
service issues, non availability of credit,” he said.

He said with the gains that have been achieved with reforms in the banking system, things can only be better.

“Service can be
better and service will be better. A lot of initiatives that the
operators and regulators have put in place will impact on service
delivery. Banks are now talking about shared platform. The moment we
are able to streamline technology, the issues relating to ATM services
will be a thing of the past,” he said.

On access to
credit, he said more credit will be available to businesses from next
year. He said documentation for loans was important before banks can
grant loans.

“Even beyond
collateral, what about character of the customer? Part of the problems
we have in the banking industry today is as a result of default on
loans by the customers themselves.

“Customers may have good business ideas but lack organisational
structure. So, how do you relate with a formal organisation like a
bank?” He queried.

Operators of phone
call centres in Lagos yesterday called on service providers to reduce
tariffs so they, ( the operators) can remain in business.

Some of the
operators who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the
business is no longer profitable for them because of high tariffs and
low patronage.

Both Etisalat and Airtel Nigeria have recently reduced their
tariffs. Etisalat to a 25k per second (N15 per min) charge and Airtel
to N20k per second (N12 per min), billing but the operators say this
reduction does not apply to them.

The secretary,
Bwari Area Council, Ali Kawu, said the Bwari/Kawu Road, currently being
constructed, will improve the socio-economic activities of the area.

He told the News
Agency of Nigeria in Bwari on Wednesday that the project, which was
approved by the Federal Executive Council, would transform the area and
facilitate the conduct of elections in 2011.

Mr. Kawu explained
that in the past, election results from the area were usually collated
late because of the difficult terrain in the area.

“It is important to know that there are more than 100 villages along
the road, and 99 percent of the populations are farmers. The project
will also boost agricultural activities,” he said.