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The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) has cleared the management of Spring Bank Plc of any
allegation of fraud. There had been reports that the group managing
director and chief executive officer of Spring Bank Plc, Mrs. Sola
Ayodele, and key officers of the bank had been charged to court for
allegedly defrauding Strand Capital Partners Ltd. the sum of N5.2
billion, for which the GMD/CEO of the bank had been declared wanted.

The clearance,
which was contained in a letter dated September 14, written by the
regulator to the principal solicitor, Legal Resources Alliances, who
are legal advisers to Strand Capital Partners, to affirm that Strand
Capital’s claims to N5.2 billion from Spring Bank cannot be established.

The statement,
which was signed by the director of banking supervision of the CBN, Sam
Oni, stated that, “Your assertion that the offer of an underwriting
facility could be construed and treated in a similar manner as an
underwriting commitment could not also be substantiated, while your
promise to provide evidence, as requested by the CBN, has not been
complied with up till time of writing this letter.”

The CBN said Spring
Bank is not registered as an underwriter by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) and so cannot underwrite the IPO as claimed by NSL.

The statement,
titled ‘Spring Bank Plc Underwriting Commitment/Agreement in Respect of
National Sports Lottery Plc Public Offer’, which was a response to a
petition by Legal Resources Alliance on behalf of Strand Capital
Partners Ltd. further stated that the management of Spring Bank, in a
letter dated 7th July, 2008, offered an underwriting line facility of
N5.208 billion to Strand Capital Partners Limited to partially
underwrite the IPO (initial public offering) of NSL Plc, subject to
some conditions. The facility was for 90 days and was to expire on 12th
October, 2008. The source of repayment was to be proceeds of the offer
of NSL or a lien on 336 million ordinary shares of NSL, which was yet
to come into existence.

According to the
CBN statement, Strand Capital Partners Limited on 3rd July, 2008, wrote
to Spring Bank Plc requesting for an overdraft and/underwriting line of
up to N5 billion, to part finance its operations and enable it act as
underwriters to public and private security/stock offerings. The tenor
was to be determined on a case by case basis, subject to a minimum of
90 days, with rollover options, while the security pledged were
shares/stocks purchased with the facility.

The Central Bank
explained that NSL failed to meet some of the conditions that would
have qualified it to draw from the facility. These include opening of
an account by Strand Capital Partners Limited with Spring Bank for the
domiciliation of all proceeds of the public offer counter indemnity of
Strand Capital Partners Limited.

Approximately N110
million, which was realised out of the public offer of N12 billion, was
used by NSL in the company’s business.

However, it is not
clear how this information from the CBN will affect the case in court
as the regulatory body advised that both parties should allow the court
process to run its course.

The desert is not
an organism that spread its tentacles to swallow up land and objects in
its path. This is the image we generally have of the desert when we
speak of the advance or spreading of the Sahara Desert. The process by
which an area becomes a desert is known as desertification. This
process can happen in an area that is not contiguous to an existing
desert. In other words, an area that is not close to an existing desert
can become one through the process of desertification.

Desertification is
one of the key environmental challenges facing Nigeria and indeed all
of sub-Saharan Africa. It has been estimated that the desert area is
increasing at the rate of more than half a kilometre every year, and
that about 35 million Nigerians are directly affected by this menace.
Eleven states in Nigeria, sometimes called the frontline states, are
under threat of desertification. These states include Bauchi, Borno,
Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, and parts of
Gombe, and Jigawa.

Obviously, the
problem of desertification has global implications and that is why we
have the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
that was launched in 1994 and became operational three years later.
Although a majority of nations have ratified the convention, only a
handful have undertaken programmes towards the attainment of its
objectives. For example, Nigeria took steps in this direction in 2001
when the National Action Programme (NAP) on desertification was
launched. Nigeria also has a number of other initiatives: National
Grains Reserve Programme; Drought Management Policy; Desert-to-Food
Policy; and the National Desertification Policy. A question that comes
to mind is how well are these policies and programmes being run?

Generally,
Nigeria’s most visible actions to fight desertification have largely
been about organising yearly tree planting exercises. The planting of
trees is a good step and should be encouraged. The sad fact is that
tree planting alone is not enough to stop desertification from taking
place.

We must look at the
factors that encourage desertification. Without much investigation, it
is obvious that global warming has a major impact on this process.
Other factors include bush burning, inappropriate grazing, and poor
irrigation systems.

Going back to the
contribution of global warming to this phenomenon informs us that
Nigeria faces a peculiar risk of being swallowed up by two migrating
forces – water from rising sea levels, and sand from increased
desertification. Some of the impacts of global warming include droughts
as well as freak rains. Even with the unpredictable rainfall patterns,
Northern Nigeria still has much less rain than the South. The lack of
rain directly encourages desertification, as already stated. Along the
coastal fringe of Nigeria, the big challenge is that of sea level rise.
When we talk of sea level rise, it is vital to keep in mind that the
Niger Delta, for example, is a naturally subsiding environment. With
this in mind, it has been estimated that if a net sea level rise of one
metre occurs, up to 100 kilometres from the Atlantic shore will go
under water.

The implication of
this is that our economy, food systems, security, and livelihoods are
severely threatened by the impacts of global warming. This is an issue
that should be taken as a serious matter of emergency and should be
tackled holistically, and not by seasonal, episodic responses.

One of the most
visible issues relating to desertification in Nigeria is the shrinkage
of Lake Chad. This lake has shrunk by up to 90% since the past 50 years
and we can suggest here that the fortunes of Lake Chad should be taken
as a measure of progress made by our country since political
independence was attained 50 years ago. Lake Chad has shrunk from an
area of 25,000 square kilometres to a paltry 1,500 square kilometres.
Experts believe that at its present rate of shrinkage, Lake Chad may
become dry land within the next 20 years.

The drying up of
Lake Chad and other water bodies is not a mere geographic reality. It
means increasing loss of livelihood, increasing water scarcity, and a
veritable pusher of poverty. Moreover, the drying of the lake and
persisting desertification portend staggering prospects for our nation.
With the understanding that the Sahara is not “marching” but that
desertification occurs autonomously, we can take steps to halt this
process that allows sands to swallow our land.

The implication of
the drying of Lake Chad is already obvious in the displacement of
fishermen, pastoralists, and others who depend on its water. The future
is bleak, unless the root causes of this phenomenon is tackled. It may
even be the case that the recurring land crises in the middle belt can
be traced to the environment displacement of populations in these areas
and the religious colouration may well be convenient cover for
perpetrators of intolerance.

We repeat here that
mere trees cannot stop desertification. Indeed, the trees we plant
require enormous amounts of water to thrive, although we can use
drought resistant species. You can imagine how much land cover can be
achieved by simply planting drought resistant shrubs!

We will end this
piece by returning to the issue of global warming as a major
contributor to desertification. Reflect on the fact that global warming
is caused by the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. There
is one industrial complex that releases massive amounts of greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere on a daily basis. We are talking about the
gas flares in the oil fields of the Niger Delta. If Nigeria is serious
about tackling the issue of desertification, one of the immediate first
steps is to stop the activity of gas flaring that have been illegal
since 1984.

If we continue to
stoke the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses through gas flaring in the
South and keep planting a tree belt with the intention of halting
desertification in the North, we are clearly wasting salt on porcupine
intestine. It will remain a bitter tale.

Professionals in
the telecommunications sector have said that the shutdown of
telecommunications Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites by National
Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has
thrown up security implications for the sector.

The agency, a
parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban
Development, is responsible for the protection and development of the
environment, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development of
Nigeria’s ecosystem.

Speaking at a press
conference on Wednesday, in Lagos, Gbenga Adebayo, the president,
Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON),
said, “Subscribers in some parts of Abuja, Kaduna, Ilorin, Lagos, and
Owerri have been experiencing significant deterioration in service
quality over the last couple of weeks caused by the invasion and
closure of BTS sites by NESREA.”

He said it is
regrettable that BTS sites are incessantly sealed or locked up by
government ministries, departments, and agencies, typically employing
taskforces to forcefully extract illegal levies and other inappropriate
commitments from operators.

“This is done
without careful consideration of the harmful effects of such lockouts
to the economy, foreign investment drive, safety, and security; as well
as the wider implications on the generality of the Nigerian populace,”
added Mr. Adebayo.

However, Mr.
Adebayo explained that the closure of the sites by NESREA was followed
by the alleged failure of the telecom operators to submit Environmental
Audit Reports (EAR’s) for all BTS sites in the country by August 23,
2010.

Its implications

Since the inception
of mobile telephony, telecom operators have constantly complained that
the sector faces many challenges including multiple regulatory bodies,
multiple taxation, lack of power supply, lack of security in BTS sites,
which has drastically affected the operation of their businesses.

“The immediate and
long term implications of these incessant site closure is that BTS
sites go down resulting in the disruption or outright loss of
telecommunications services, and by extension, it is the economy that
is suffering,” Mr. Adebayo said.

He said this has
resulted in dire consequences such as national security concerns, which
prevent law enforcement and security agencies to respond to crime
activities, inability of the concerned persons and agencies to respond
to medical emergencies, as well as economic strangulation. He explained
that a breakdown at BTS sites affects other sectors that rely on their
service to function:

“Most banks’ ATM,
airlines ticketing, government e-payments, and other online services
would be paralysed. This would lead to huge economic losses for
businesses, the government and the nation.”

However, Mr.
Adebayo added that subscribers should not expect reduction in tariff
soon, as the implication of the closure of the BTS sites does not
guarantee the reduction of tariff because the cost of doing business in
the country is still very high.

Damian Udeh, the
publicity secretary of ALTON, said that most of the closed BTS sites
were also collocation sites. In 2008, the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) licenced about fourteen collocation companies in order
to address the issues of such environmental regulations.

“ALTON and the NCC
encourage collocation amongst operators, and operators are responding
to collocation companies. ‘But the way it is every operator wants to roll out their network as quickly as possible. So sometimes, those
collocation companies are not able to meet your demand and that
operator would want to build its own sites,” Mr. Udeh said.

Solution

Mr. Adebayo
explained that the NCC must exercise its responsibility to protect the
sector and regulate issues that affect the sector.

“We believe that the sector should have only one regulator and the
NCC should take up its responsibility as the regulator of the sector,”
he said.