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It is sad that the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that ought to be an arbiter
in cases of environmental and human rights abuses has become a partisan
at a price tag of $10 million at the behest of Shell. Just imagine what
that amount of money could have done if it had been deployed towards a
serious environmental audit and remediation.

UNEP is preparing a
report claiming that 90 percent of the oil spills in Ogoni are caused
by the locals in the process of stealing crude from the pipes and that
Shell’s aged pipelines and ill maintained installations account for a
mere 10 percent of the spills.

What period was
covered by this study? Does it include the spills over which the
Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) complained and
resisted further degradation? Does it include the degradation that
pitched Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP against oppressive dictators and Shell?

This attempt to
rewrite the history of environmental violence visited on the Niger
Delta by transnational oil corporations sounds like a story from outer
space. UNEP has simply lent itself to become Shell’s pet parrot. What
they are saying is in line with what Shell used to claim in the 1980s
and at any given opportunity.

Then, they claimed
that about 80 percent of the oil spills were caused by vandalism or
sabotage. The claim of sabotage is particularly attractive to oil
corporations because they are exempted from payment of compensations.
In order to maximise profits, it makes sense for oil to spill into the
creeks, swamps, and farmlands, destroy the means of livelihood of the
locals; and then turn around and blame the victims.

Anyone who wishes
to gain more insight into the story of Shell in Nigeria, the book,
‘Where Vultures Feast – Forty Years of Shell in Nigeria’ written by
Oronto Douglas and Ike Okonta is worth reading. It clearly shows that
the story of Shell and its records of oil spills are not new.

Expert assessment

Another specialist
who has done significant work on the Ogoni and the Niger Delta
environment is Richard Steiner. An international expert on oil spills,
Steiner, a professor, participated in two studies on oil damage in the
Niger Delta, and was contracted to write the manual on oil damage
assessment and restoration by UNEP in 2004.

When Shell hired
UNEP to carry out the present study, Steiner offered to provide
scientific advice and guidance to the UNEP Ogoni study, but his offer
was declined. When asked what he thought of the UNEP report, Steiner
said,

“The conclusions
from the Shell-financed UNEP study on oil damage in Ogoniland are
simply incorrect. Our earlier results suggest that much of the oil
spilled there was due to poor practice by Shell, rather than bunkering
and sabotage. I will need to review their methodology and expertise,
but it is entirely implausible that 90 percent of the oil spilled was
due to bunkering.

I suspect this was
not peer reviewed. This is not an independent, credible assessment, and
is a real disservice to the environment, the people of the Niger Delta,
and environmental justice globally. I suggest that the study be
recalled by UNEP, a credible independent peer review process be
implemented, and then reissued, if there is anything left to report.”

Environmental field
monitors have compiled a catalogue of spills by oil companies operating
in Nigeria. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency
(NOSDRA) reports a total of 3,203 oil spills in the Niger Delta region
in the last four years, while the records of the Directorate of
Petroleum Resources’ show that 4,835 incidents resulted in the spillage
of at least 2,446,322 barrels of crude oil between 1976 and 1996.
Seventy seven percent of that quantity was not recovered and was lost
to the environment. The list continues to lengthen everyday.

Some notable past
spills include the Escravos spill of 1978 in which 300,000 barrels of
crude oil was spilled into the coastal waters and another 1978 spill
caused by tank failure at Forcados Terminal in which 580,000 barrels
were spewed into the environment. Their spill in 2008 at Ikot Ada Udoh
went unattended to for months before it was stopped.

The matter of their 2004 spill at Goi, Ogoni, is in the courts in The Netherlands.

A victim testimony

On June 6, 2001,
Shell oil pipeline, which passes through the Baraale community,
ruptured and started spilling crude oil into nearby forests, farmlands,
and houses. Aseme Mbani, chief of the community, was in his farm when
the pipeline ruptured, he told environmental field monitors.

Mr. Mbani said he took steps to ensure that Shell repaired the ruptured pipeline.

“I reported the
matter to the Shell contractors in charge of the pipeline and also to
the police that the pipeline is leaking. After that, we wrote Shell a
‘Save Our Soul’ letter. When there was no response, I went to Shell to
report at a section they call ‘Ogoni Re-entry.’ They told me they have
seen the letter I wrote. They said we should suffer the spillage
because we caused it. They said we have been cutting pipelines and we
should reap what we sow. Disaster struck on October 1, 2001, when the
leaking oil caught fire.”

Detection of causes
of oil spills does not require rocket science. One of the first steps
is the conduct of the Joint Inspection Visits (JIVs) by teams having
oil company representatives, relevant government agencies such as the
DPR and community representatives. There are allegations that these
visits have been used to bribe and divide communities. It will be
interesting for UNEP to produce the JIV reports, with identifiable
signatures of community representatives to back up the claims of a
clean bill of health for Shell in the matter of oil spills.

Bassey is Chair, Friends of the Earth International

At
the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Access Bank posted
significant improvement in its audited financial result for the second
quarter ended June 30.

The
bank, which recorded a loss after tax of about N11.952 billion in the
period in view, 2009, posted a profit after tax of N6.666 billion this
year, reflecting a 155.77 percent increase. Access Bank also recorded a
3.61 percent growth in its total net asset during the quarter, from
N168.346 billion to N174.429 billion.

However, the bank’s gross earnings for the period declined by 19.47 percent, from N61.351 billion to N49.408 billion.

Meanwhile,
the company’s board of directors has proposed an interim dividend of 20
kobo per share for its shareholders. The bank’s share will be marked
for payment on September 3 while the cash will be disbursed on
September 14. The stock price of Access Bank went up yesterday by 4.12
percent, “most probably on the back of the dividend declared,” some
analysts said.

Also
on Wednesday, Royal Exchange, an insurance company, released its
audited accounts for the period ended 31st December, 2009. The result
shows a 9.60 percent increase in turnover, from N3.314 billion to
N3.632 billion. The profit after tax inched up by 106.57 percent from a
loss of N2.435 billion to N160.07 billion, just as net asset for the
period went up by 29.27 percent from N6.084 billion to N7.865 billion.

Decline continues

The decline in the value of equities at the nation’s capital market on Wednesday cuts across all sectors of the bourse.

The
resilient nature seen in sectors like the breweries, conglomerates,
food and beverages, since the current downturn started last week, could
not be sustained after yesterday’s trading session.

The
All-Share Index declined by 1.60percent to close at 24,111.51 basis
points, from the previous day’s figures of 24,503.61. Market
capitalisation also followed with N96 billion losses, to close at
N5.896 trillion from Tuesday’s N5.992 billion.

The
number of gainers at the close of trading session closed at 20,
compared with the 16 gainers recorded on Tuesday, while losers closed
lower at 50, compared with the 57 losers recorded the previous trading
day.

Egbo
Amaechi, an executive member of the Shareholders Association of
Nigeria, attributed the current poor performance at the Exchange to
“profit taking by institutional investors.” Mr. Amaechi, however,
expressed satisfaction with efforts by some companies to give their
shareholders returns on investment.

The
NSE, yesterday, marked down the share price of Honeywell Flourmills for
a dividend of 11 kobo per share, declared by the board of the company.

The
banking subsector led the market transaction volume on Wednesday with
115.437 million units, valued at N909.02 million exchanged in 3,387
deals. Transactions in the shares of First Bank, Access Bank, Diamond
Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, and Zenith Bank, boosted the volume traded
in the sector.

The
total volume of 62.346 million units, valued at N677.413 million,
traded in the shares of the five banks, accounted for 54.01 percent of
the entire sector volume.

The crisis rocking
African Petroleum continued yesterday with some shareholders and staff
staging a protest at the head office of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) in Abuja.

The protest was in
support of the petition written by the company’s former executive
director, finance and IT, Clement Aviomoh, against the chairman, Femi
Otedola. Otedola’s company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas limited, is the
major investor in AP.

A press release
signed by Lanre Oloyi, the head of corporate affairs of SEC, said “some
persons claiming to be shareholders and staff of the African Petroleum
Plc (AP) staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the commission
head office in Abuja this morning (yesterday).”

Mr. Oloyi also said
in the statement that the commission is in receipt of Mr. Aviomoh’s
allegations against Mr. Otedola. “The commission has launched a formal
investigation into these allegations,” the statement added. The
Nigerian Stock Exchange has also said it will make public its findings.

Mr. Aviomoh, in the
petition, insisted that he has facts and data which show that Otedola
has been milking AP for his private gain for the past two years.

“AP made a loss of
N15 billion in 2009 due to the fact that Otedola’s companies started
selling products to AP at higher prices than normal, at times higher
than the retail pump price at gas station.”

Mr. Aviomoh also
alleged that for daring to challenge his style of administration, Mr.
Otedola forced Tunde Falasinnu, the managing director of AP, to resign
his office, and suspended the company secretary, Elizabeth Idigbe, and
himself.

No knowledge

However, Mr.
Aviomoh denied knowledge of yesterday’s protest. When NEXT contacted
him on the phone, he said. “I have sent my petition and SEC is
investigating. The last I heard from them was they asked for some
clarifications and I have replied concerning an annexure to the
petition.”

When NEXT contacted
Tajudeen Adeyemi, the spokesperson for AP, he insisted members of staff
at AP were not involved in the protest. “How can our staff be involved.
Yes, some shareholders hired by the sacked director (Aviomoh) staged a
protest. We did our investigation and found out that he is in Abuja. He
is based in Lagos, so what was he doing in Abuja?”

Mr. Adeyemi said
the company is not bothered about the development as it is awaiting the
conclusion of SEC investigation of the petition.

Lately, AP has been
in the eye of the storm in the aftermath of the allegation s and
counter allegations between the sacked former Executive Director, Mr.
Aviomoh and the Management of AP. .

A statement
released by AP, a fortnight ago, said that Mr. Aviomoh’s petition is
unfounded and was triggered by an earlier petition written by Mr.
Otedola in June to SEC about how N24.5 billion, which was due to be
paid to AP, is still outstanding. Mr. Otedola himself is on self exile
apparently because according to sources close to him, he fears for his
life.

Some finance
analysts have said that the recent change in leadership of the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE) would bring stability to the market soon, despite
the current unsteady performances at the Exchange.

The NSE measuring
parameters, which recorded gains in three of the five trading days last
week, depreciated at the close of Monday’s trading by 0.51 percent.

Laoye Jaiyeola,
president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, said the
recent action taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to
regulate the Exchange is similar to that which the Central Bank took
over the banking industry.

“I believe what the
SEC is trying to do is to ensure a strong, stable, and safe capital
market for all investors,” Mr. Jaiyeola said.

He said the regulatory measures the Exchange Commission has taken will soon boost investors’ confidence in the market.

David Adonri, chief
executive officer of Lambert Trust and Securities Company Limited, a
stock broking company, is also optimistic that the market “may firm
stronger as we approach the end of the third quarter.

“The past weeks
have been very turbulent in the market but there is calmness now,” he
said, adding that investors’ confidence is gradually picking up.

Market performance

Meanwhile, at the
close of trading on Monday, the NSE market capitalisation recorded
about N32 billion losses on Friday’s figure of N6.140 trillion, to
close at N6.108 trillion; while the All-Share Index lost 130.21 units
down from 25,106.86 basis points to close at 24,976.65.

A total of 27
stocks appreciated, yesterday, in price while 38 stocks depreciated.
Evans Medicals, Spring Bank, and Northern Nigerian Flourmills topped
the gainers chart for the day with five percent price appreciations.
However, Union Homes topped the losers chart for the day with five
percent depreciation.

The banking sector
led the market transaction volume today with 133.895 million units
valued at N1.001 billion exchanged in 3,000 deals.

Transactions in the
shares of Zenith Bank, UBN, FCMB, and Fidelity Bank boosted the volume
traded in the sector. The total volume of 78.92 million units valued at
N534.637 million traded in the shares of the four banks accounted for
58.40 percent of the entire sector volume and their value represented
53.39 percent of the sector’s value.

The downward trend dominated trading activities in the banking
sector on Monday as the sector records four gainers to 13 losers.At the
Exchange’s floor yesterday, Goldlink Insurance, in its second quarter
financial result of 2010, recorded 10 percent growth in gross earnings
and a 22.11 percent decline in profit after tax.

If you are one of
those always-wanting-to-spend-the-money types who work in the IT
department of a multinational that has billions to spend on IT, you can
stop reading now. This article is not targeted at you.

But if, on the
other hand, you belong to one of the small or medium enterprises that
constantly need to justify cost, the question must have arisen before:
where can I get XYZ program that will not cost an arm and a leg? Truth
is that, in Nigeria, some just plunk down to Otigba and buy the
software for N300.

But that is piracy, deemed to be a crime, and a serious business cannot afford to take that route any more.

But before you pay
another kobo to Microsoft or another software publisher, consider
whether you can use a free or open-source application instead. Just
about every commercial application you use on a daily basis has an open
source alternative.

The most well known
open source software is the Operating System which serves as an
alternative to the almost ubiquitous Microsoft Windows operating system, Linux. However,
because of the fact that just about every computer you buy from a
vendor already has Windows pre-installed, there is no need to switch
from that. You have already paid for it when buying the computer, and I
am not quite sure that PC Outlet or any of the other major computer
vendors in Nigeria would refund the N12k plus that a Windows license
costs nowadays. In any event, there are a lot of other applications
that need to be installed, and paid for.

Whether you are
looking out for your small business or personal computing needs, the
open source community delivers excellent applications that are
completely free of charge. In most cases all you need is a working
Internet connection to download the software and you are home free.
Using these applications can save you loads of money. The poster child
for free and open software in the Windows world for the past few years
has been Mozilla’s popular browser, Firefox. Ahh, those young ones who
spend a lot of time on Facebook must be nodding their heads in
agreement right now. No other open-source software has taken the world
of software by as much storm as the little browser, and none has been
as successful in winning converts. But in an office environment, a
browser is not the most important thing so let us start from the basics.

Anti virus

In my experience,
this is the single most important piece of software that you need to
have on your computer, and quite often, the most overlooked. A lot of
people on popping their new computer out of the packaging take a look
at the Norton or McAfee that ship with the computers, and believe that
they have protection.

Rain check here,
these factory installed anti-viruses while having their own merit have
one fatal flaw; they are time-bound. In almost no time at all, you’ll
find that your copy of Norton has expired, and to continue to receive
protection from software you have to subscribe, for a fee. To get
around this,I advice
uninstalling those software and getting either AVG or Avast
anti-viruses. They are very good programs (AVG has been ranked highest
at Cnet.com forever now). AVG has an integrated spyware suite. Another
program that is fit for purpose is Google’s anti-spyware offering.

Office and Productivity Software

The next thing you
will need in your office is your productivity software, and this is
where Microsoft’s Office Suite is king. But the question is can you
afford the licence to buy six copies of Office for your computers? No
worry needed here-OpenOffice.org (OOo) has been around for many years
as a feasible substitution for just about any operating system. It
includes Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for
presentations, Draw for illustrating, and Base for databases.

OOo is pretty much
a copy of MS Office 2003, with a few improvements such as support for
Microsoft’s OOXML format that later versions of MS Office default to.

However, unlike MS
Office, OOo does not include an email client (Outlook). For an email
client like Outlook, you can download and use Mozilla Thunderbird. You
may even consider Mozilla’s SeaMonkey, an all-in-one Internet suite
which includes a browser, email and newsgroup client, HTML authoring
program (Dreamweaver), and chat client.

Scribus is an open
source substitute for Microsoft’s Publisher. It does offer page layout
control and provides professional publishing features, such as CMYK
color, separations, ICC color management, and PDF creation. Some people actually use it as a replacement for CorelDraw.

Photo/Video Editing

For an open source
alternative to Adobe Illustrator, there exists Inkscape. It’s a vector
graphics editor similar to Illustrator and CorelDraw. For those who are
Adobe Photoshop users, there is the GIMP.

Kino can substitute
for the video editing application Adobe Premiere, while PiTiVi is an
excellent video editing program for those who just want to do the
simple stuff.

Again for amateur video producers, try Avidemux. It still supports editing AVI, MPEG files, MP4, and ASF using a variety of codecs.

Money Management and Accounting

My personal
favourite in this category is Eqonomize, but I’m not quite sure there
is a Windows version. Grisbi is more for simple personal accounting,
suitable for the family budget, similar to the commercial products MS
Money and Quicken.

GnuCash is a
personal and small-business financial accounting application. It offers
more-advanced features, as in PeachTree and QuickBooks. GnuCash
supports import from both Microsoft Money and Quicken. Also it can
communicate with your bank accounts, though this feature is hardly used
in Nigeria.

With eight months
to the deadline, banks are already gearing up for compliance with the
new uniform accounting system recently introduced by the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN).

In a circular
issued to the 24 commercial banks by the banking and payment system
department of the CBN and dated July 14, the banks were given a nine
month compliance period to migrate to the new system, which ends on
April 2011.

To be known as the
Nigerian Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) system, the aim is to
standardise account numbers in banks in order to eliminate delays that
come with filling wrong account numbers for clearance.

Under the new
format, every bank is required to create and maintain a NUBAN code for
every customer account in its customer records database, which should
be the only account number to be used at all interfaces with a bank
customer. The Central Bank said the new format is in line with
international best practice and is expected to enhance the e-payment
system.

“We expect every
bank to maintain their present account numbers and use them for their
internal operations only as from the effective date of NUBAN, but every
such account number would have to be mapped to a NUBAN code as an
alternate account number,” the bank said in the circular. The new
number format will comprise 13 digits which includes the three-digit
bank code and a 10-digit NUBAN code.

Banks’ compliance

Moshood Isamotu,
Afribank spokesperson, said the bank had put in place modalities to
meet the deadline. “We have started implementing, even though we have a
nine month period. Our technology platform is flexible and can
accommodate such change,” he said. He added that Afribank would comply
with the CBN directive and begin to issue compliant account numbers to
its customers as soon as possible.

Frank Barde, head
of corporate affairs of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, said the bank was
still studying the directive and would ensure that its customers are
carried along. “We have nine months to comply. We will look at the
document and follow up as directed by the CBN,” he Barde said.
Intercontinental Bank on its part said the deadline period gives it
enough time to ensure compliance. “We are understudying and looking at
the implementation within the timeline given by the central bank,” said
a source in the bank who spoke off record.

Migration

The Central Bank
said banks are to submit their comprehensive migration plan to the new
system one month from the release of the circular. Compliance
monitoring will commence six months from the release of the circular.
“Any infractions to the dictates and stringent timelines provided in
this document shall attract severe sanctions as may be determined by
the Central Bank of Nigeria from time to time,” the circular stated.

The bank noted that
the upsurge in automated direct credit was as a result of the January
2009 directive that all ministries, departments, and agencies should
replace all forms of cheque payments with electronic payments, hence
the need to adopt a new cheque number system to make clearing and
settlements of cheques less cumbersome.

“As the Automated
Clearing House volume increased, so have complaints of banks and bank
customers resulting from the incidents of abuse of the clearing
system.”

The Central Bank
said the change would enable Nigeria to fully comply with the 10-digit
Account Number structure required by the West Africa Monetary Institute
(WAMI) towards the economic integration of ECOWAS countries.

Ghana is on track
to pump its first barrel of crude oil in December from total reserves
put at 1.6 billion barrels, vice president, John Dramani Mahama, said
on Tuesday.

The comments
reaffirmed its push to join the league of oil producers this year, and
the reserve estimate breaks from previous, more cautious forecasts, to
concur with a top-end figure given by operator, Tullow Oil Plc.

“In December this
year, Ghana will join the league of petroleum-producing nations as
commercial production begins in the Jubilee field,” Mahama told a
conference in Accra.

“Conservative
appraisal of the wells and available statistics based on credible
scientific findings indicate that the country holds potentially about
1.6 billion barrels of crude oil,” he added, updating previous official
forecasts of merely 800 million barrels – widely considered as overly
conservative.

Field operator,
Tullow, puts the upside potential of the core Jubilee Unit Area at one
billion barrels of crude, with the southeast section under appraisal at
a further 500 million.

Mahama said Ghana
could expect oil revenues on average to contribute seven percentage
points to annual gross domestic product, but warned it would not in
itself transform the fortunes of the country, a third of whose people
live in poverty.

“Ghana cannot see
the oil industry as a miracle wand to solve all problems. Rather, the
country can prudently use this resource to achieve significant economic
turn around,” he said, noting plans to base a nascent petrochemicals
sector on gas from the field.

Mahama stressed the
importance of ensuring local employment in the oil business, which has
typically been more capital than labour-intensive, and said oil revenue
management legislation aimed at ensuring transparency was before
parliament.

The field is due to
take four to six months to reach planned output of 120,000 barrels per
day – a level it will maintain for three years, Ghana’s energy minister
told Reuters in an interview last month.

Kosmos’ stake

Oil firm, Kosmos
Energy, said it had $350 million of extra credit to develop its assets
in Ghana’s Jubilee field and was committed to staying in Ghana, a week
after it said it cancelled an accord to sell its stake to ExxonMobil.

“The funds will
support Kosmos’ share of Jubilee Field phase one development, appraisal
of additional discoveries, and ongoing exploration activities on the
West Cape Three Points Block and adjacent Deepwater Tano Block offshore
Ghana,” it said in a statement issued in Dallas.

Ghana’s state
petroleum company, GNPC, a fierce opponent of the sale of the Kosmos
stake to ExxonMobil for what sources close to the deal put at $4
billion, last week reiterated its interest in the Kosmos assets.

But the Kosmos
statement noted the new funding was part of its plan to build on the
value of its assets and repeated that “the company will remain in
Ghana.”

Kosmos is backed by
private equity firms, Warburg Pincus and Blackstone Group LP. It is the
operator of the West Cape Three Points Block in which it holds a 30.875
percent interest and holds an 18 percent interest in the Deepwater Tano
block.

Trading
performances at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) got poorer after
Tuesday’s proceedings as investors record more losses, making it a
total loss of over N1 trillion since trading began this year.

The NSE market
capitalisation, which opened the year at N4.989 trillion, had
appreciated to N6.796 trillion during the second quarter of the year,
before it began depreciating at the start of the third quarter.

At the close of
Tuesday’s trading, the Exchange market capitalisation further plunged
to N5.992 trillion, after opening the day at N6.108 trillion,
reflecting 1.90 percent decline or over N116 billion losses. Meanwhile,
about N32 billion losses was recorded on Monday. The NSE All-Share
Index also shed 1.90 percent or a loss of 473.04 units on the previous
day’s figures of 24,976.65 basis points, to close at 24,503.61.

Some analysts said
that the negative market sentiments persist as a result of the gradual
fall of investors’ appetite for equities, which resulted to cut down in
investment activities for safety.

A chief executive
officer of a stockbroker firm, who pleaded anonymity, said, “We (stock
broking firms) are trading and treading cautiously because we are not
sure of what’s going to happen next in the market.”

He said until
Emmanuel Ikazoboh, the interim administrator of the NSE, achieves his
primary assignment of giving the Exchange a new head, “investor
confidence may not improve.”

Also, finance
analysts at Proshare Nigeria Limited said the present negative
performance serves as indications of continued reactions from the
investing public to the crisis, which has compounded the spate of
uncertainty in the market.

“It should be
apparent to all and sundry at this time that the present crisis, though
may be necessary for the paradigm shift needed for the kind of market
we deserve, the manner and how it is being handled may leave bitter
experiences for investors, at least in the short run,” they said.

Market performance

Meanwhile, the
number of gainers at the close of yesterday’s trading closed at 16,
compared with the 27 gainers recorded on Monday, while losers closed
higher at 57, compared with the 38 losers recorded the previous trading
day.

Nigerian Bottling
Company topped the gainers chart for the day with five percent price
appreciation, while Sterling Bank and Bagco topped the losers chart for
the day with five percent depreciations.

The banking
subsector led the market transaction volume on Tuesday with 158.783
million units valued at N1.275 billion, exchanged in 3,837 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank,
and UBA boosted the volume traded in the sector. The total volume of
82.807 million units valued at N774.595 million traded in the shares of
the four banks accounted for 52.15 percent of the entire sector volume.

The downward trend
also dominated trading activities in the banking sector yesterday as
the sector recorded two gainers to 18 losers, as against the four
gainers to 13 losers recorded the previous day.

At the Exchange’s floor yesterday, Airline Services & Logistics,
in its second quarter financial result of 2010, recorded 8.48 percent
decline in gross earnings and a 95.02 percent decline in profit after
tax.

Some
telecommunications companies in the country are missing out on their
income due to the activities of illegal software pirates. A major hub
of these pirates is the Computer Village at Otigba, Ikeja, in Lagos.
Welcome to the place where young men and some boys sell illegal
Internet connections by bypassing the Internet service providers.

A young man,
Taofik, said that selling illegal Internet connection was to enable
consumers spend less than what service providers charge.

“All I need is for
you to bring your laptop and any of the telecom operators modem. If you
don’t have, we can buy it around here. Then I would add software that
can allow you browse for two months, if you pay well,” said Mr. Taofik.

“I charge N4, 000
to install the connection for you, and it would bypass the service
provider and they would not know or disconnect your Internet
connection. It does not affect the modem; you can always pay to your
service provider anytime after the software I put in for you stops,”
added Mr. Taofik.

Adeola, who
identified himself as Mr. Taofik’s brother and partner in the business,
said that the selling point of their business is the rate and the
duration of their service.

“Let me ask, which
do you prefer? To pay N10, 000 for 30 days or to pay N4, 000 for up to
60 days. Now, you see the difference is clear and when you come back to
re-connect after the two months, you can give us less amount, like N1,
000”, said Mr. Adeola.

Cheapness does not justify illegality

However, Jimson
Olufuye, the president of Information Technology Association of Nigeria
(ITAN), said in a telephone interview that cheap rates or long duration
for illegal service does not justify the illegal business going on at
the Computer Village.

“The fact that a
rate is cheap or that the duration for the service is long does not
justify an illegal business,” Mr. Olufuye said.

“It does not help
the legitimate business owners because they have their business plan
and have invested a lot of money into their business.

“ITAN opposes all
forms of piracy, as that is a breach of intellectual property (IP) of
the business owners and it affects their business growth and the
economy, as it does not create room for other investors to come into
that business,” he said.

In an email on a
separate story, Serge Ntamack, IP manager for Microsoft Nigeria, had
said, “The federal government needs to set a vision to enable a
business-friendly environment, make IP a top policy priority, empower
the agency in charge of IP laws, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC),
increase penalties for IP-related offences, enforce IP laws, be vocal
at highest political level against piracy (awareness), commit
government funds to fight all sort of piracy (books, music, film, cable
TV, software), regulate the market, and close down piracy hot spots
across the country.”

A report from
Business Software Alliance/IDC Global Software Piracy Study this year
revealed that Nigeria lost $156 million in 2009 to software piracy.

Mr. Olufuye
explained that it is time for government and the copyright commission
to act fast as piracy is growing very fast in Nigeria.

“This issue needs to be addressed faster than we have done before.
The government and the copyright commission have to work harder,” he
said.

Shareholders are
split over plans by the Central Bank (CBN) to sell some banks that were
bailed out last year. The banks are Intercontinental, Oceanic, Finbank,
Union Bank, Afribank, Bank PHB, and Spring.

After several
months of negotiation, Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank governor, said
on CNBC Africa last week, that bids have been received for the affected
banks from two foreign institutions and some local banks.

Shareholders agree that the Central Bank has no right to sell the banks, but for different reasons.

Timothy Adesiyan,
president of the National Shareholders Solidarity Association, a
shareholder group, said the Central Bank is not selling the banks
because it has no right to do so. “It is recapitalisation, not sale,”
Mr. Adesiyan said.

“It is only when
the shareholders are not able to recapitalise that the CBN can
liquidate. All the Central Bank wants to do is give out some percentage
to core investors, who will come in subject to the approval of
shareholders.”

He said the CBN was
doing the right thing to ensure that the banks do not go under. When
told that the entrance of core investors would change the ownership
structure of the banks, he said it did not amount to outright sale.

“When Actis went
into UAC as core investor, of course the ownership structure changed
but the company was better for it. What we want to change is the
recklessness with which the former directors were managing the banks,”
he said.

Riding roughshod

Boniface Okezie,
president of the Progressive Shareholders Association, another
shareholder group, said the Central Bank’s insistence on handing the
banks over to a new group of owners was in the manner of riding
roughshod over other interests.

“We have not struck
any balance. The CBN governor’s original statement was that the press
was misquoting him; that he never said he would sell the banks. What we
are saying is that the management appointed by CBN cannot midwife the
handover of the banks. Up till now, the Central Bank has not told us
how much is required to recapitalise each bank,” he said.

Mr. Okezie said
there is already a caveat obtained from courts in Lagos, Abuja, and
Ibadan warning investors to beware of taking interest in any of the
banks. “Even the local banks that are showing interest, how many of
them are sound? How much dividend are they paying their shareholders
now for them to muster enough resources to take over the banks?”

He said the Asset
Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Bill was unfairly lopsided in
favour of the Central Bank to take over troubled banks.

Timely intervention

Godwin Anono,
chairman of Nigeria Professional Shareholders Association said the CBN
action was timely and was intended to save the banking industry from
imminent collapse. Mr. Anono claimed that many of the shareholders that
are fighting against the sale of the banks were merely fighting for
their own selfish interest.

“Go to the register
of members, how many shares do they actually own in these banks? They
are the ones who were conniving with the sacked management who were
mismanaging the banks. Let these banks be taken over,” he said.

“Shareholders fund, depositors funds are wiped out once CBN calls back its funds.”

Mohammed Abdullahi,
CBN head of corporate affairs, said even though new investors will
alter the ownership structure of the banks, the move was in the overall
interest of the institutions. “The CBN is not selling. We are merely
inviting new investors. If a bank issues IPO, (initial public offering)
does that mean it is selling the bank?”

Mr. Abdullahi said shareholders who were not satisfied with the CBN decision were free to seek legal redress.