Nigeria Content Online

Before Ogbuide of Oguta Lake

I travelled to Oguta, in Imo State recently, with a six-member
crew, to hunt for locations for my debut film, The Distant Light, a story that
has been described by German anthropologist, Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, as an
‘Avatar-in-Nigeria thriller.’ Sabine is an authority on Oguta/Oru-Igbo cultures
and traditions and has written one of the most extensive and deeply researched
works on the cosmology of the Igbo gods and goddesses. She spent close to 26
years there, living with the people and learning everything about them. That
culminated in the groundbreaking work of anthropology, “The Water Goddess in
Igbo Cosmology: Ogbuide of Oguta Lake,” published by Africa World Press.

Our paths crossed last year at a women’s conference, where she
was speaking on Igbo traditions and I was giving a speech on why people need to
study other people’s cultures. I found her quite intriguing (for she could
speak Oguta Igbo, always sports Nigerian fabrics and holds a traditional title
in Oguta). And when I finally bought her book, which she autographed, I saw
names of my maternal family members in there, where she had acknowledged the
help they had rendered during her stay in Oguta.

At the beginning of this year, after getting nominated in the
Creative Artist of the Year of the Future Awards, and Adekunle Samuel Owolabi
beat me in that category, we agreed to work together, at least, to ‘cool me
down,’ for bruising my ego. I agreed to produce a script and he will produce a
camera. And we will do a film together.

Bonny Island

I went into solitude at Bonny Island, and believe me; I finished
the first draft within three days. I worked with a self-imposed deadline. On
the fourth day, I left Bonny Island, with a broken heart, a broken pair of
glasses and a completed script, that kept me happy.

This was just after the 2010 AMAA Awards, which I had attended
in Bayelsa. For a lot, the AMAA was motivational and inspirational. For some,
it was an avenue where anyone could face intimidation. Of course, watching
Kunle Afolayan walk up to that stage, smiling and raising his plaques to thank
the world, I felt I could come close. I just didn’t sleep well that night, as I
kept thinking of how many heads he has! “The Figurine”, from every angle, came
close to a perfect work of art.

A friend recently said that critics are like eunuchs in a harem:
they know how it’s done, they have seen how it’s done, but they can’t do it. I
agree. I’ve always being very passionate about the cinema and decided to enroll
into a film school abroad, where I was trained as a scriptwriter and got to
understand that it is easier said than done. So, as a harsh critic of
Nollywood, I take back whatever harsh criticism I made in the past about its
directors and actors. However we want to summarise it, making a film is never
child’s play. It is a battlefield. People die. People live.

Local beliefs

For choosing Oguta as our location to shoot, we have been asked
by the chief priestess, Akuzzor Anozia, after making incantations and
consulting Ogbuide Lake Goddess, that we will perform rituals. Oh, yes, we have
a long list of things to buy after which we will proceed to the Shrine of
Ogbuide to appease her. The consort of the priestess will guide us throughout
the whole period we will spend in Oguta.

For last time I updated my Facebook about Oguta, a friend
commented: “I lost a close friend of mine to the Lake recently. He got drowned
and the [locals] couldn’t let his people take his corpse.” It was no surprise
as my mother used to tell me similar things. When I asked the chief priestess,
she said that if the dead person’s family had performed rituals, they would
have gone with the corpse. I went back to the friend who had commented and she
said, “Yes, they were asked to perform ritual. But it was expensive.”

“The Distant Light” is my take on arrogance and belief. Is
belief necessary for a people? Does arrogance pay? It is my own way of
contributing to Nigerian cinema, with a cast and crew from different parts of
the world. It is my way of saying that we the young people are quick at
condemning the works of the older generation and still cannot do anything to
make changes. This is my way of saying, “Thank you to Tunde Kelani and Kunle
Afolayan” for refining Nigerian cinema, for inspiring a new generation.

Onyeka Nwelue is author of
The Abyssinian Boy. “The Distant Light” will be produced by DADA Films (Lagos);
and KStunts Media (Johannesburg).

EMAIL FROM AMERICA: Fiction Faction: The Bushmeat Chronicles

EMAIL FROM AMERICA: Fiction Faction: The Bushmeat Chronicles

The deer in our
neighbourhood are racists. They are trying to run my family out of
town. We do not have the money to move to a poor neighbourhood,
otherwise we would move today. We are miserable. What is the problem?
The deer know we are Nigerians. And they know we love bushmeat. So,
they don’t bother us in the daytime. They leave our flowers alone and
they go eat up our white neighbours’ plants. They are smart, they don’t
dare come near us. They can see my firewood, groundnut oil, and cutlass
in the backyard, waiting for foolish meat, who wan die?

One day, my white
neighbours asked me why the deer avoided my flowering plants. I told
them how this tribe of monkeys was always bothering my father’s
vegetable garden until we caught two and had rice and stew with plenty
of monkey meat. They hurried off and never came back, the neighbours I
mean. It was not true of course; we only caught one scrawny monkey.
Getting meat out of the sucker was like raiding a crab for crabmeat; a
lot of work.

I have not seen
the neighbours and their two dogs ever since. We don’t eat dogs, where
I come from. We are ‘civilised’ people. My uncle ate my pet goat once.
It got on his nerves by stealing his one piece of meat and my goat took
the place of his meat. My father consoled me by assuring me that any
goat that ate meat was a witch and needed to be delivered to the
hottest part of hell. Who had ever heard of a meat-chomping goat, my
father asked me, as he chomped on my goat’s head.

My goat was
pretty, you would have liked her. Her name was Goodluck. Don’t ask me
how a female goat became known as Goodluck. I am still traumatised by
that incident. My medical insurance company will not pay for therapy.
They called it a “pre-existing condition”, meaning that I had serious
issues before America granted me a visa. I don’t blame the racist
jerks; hell, coming from Africa is a pre-existing condition. All that
drama.

I have seen a lot
of injustice in my lifetime. I have also been a witness to uplifting,
inspiring stories. One day, right after the end of the Nigerian civil
war, I met this Hausa professor and his monkey, Musa. I noticed that
the monkey had a wooden leg, and he was always nervous around the
professor. Each time Musa spied the owner coming near him, he would
start shrieking and holding on to his wooden leg while exclaiming
“Allah Kiaye! Please don’t eat me!”

I wanted to know
more about this intelligent monkey that spoke Hausa and English. The
owner tearfully shared with me that Musa was a genius; it had saved his
life during the war. Apparently, Musa had a keen sense of sight, smell,
and hearing. Whenever it sensed the rebel army was nearby, it would
blow a whistle and start reciting portions of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.
That was the cue for his owner to go into hiding immediately. That was
how he survived the war. I was impressed but curious about the wooden
leg. I asked the professor why the monkey had a wooden leg. He looked
at me incredulously and exclaimed: “If your monkey was this valuable,
would you eat it all at once?” I go die o!

We were talking
about racist deer. I am sorry. I tend to ramble, it is a medical
problem. As I was saying before Arogundade the monkey got into the
picture, the deer in our neighbourhood are racists. Why do I say so?
Well, I have incontrovertible evidence to back up my assertions.

We normally take
out our trash bins in the evenings and leave them by the curb for the
trash truck to pick them up in the morning. Well, at night when we are
asleep and not inclined to chase them down for our dinner, the deer
come by and knock down the bins and empty the contents on the streets
for our nosy neighbours to inspect.

We first
discovered the perfidy of these racist deer when we were almost
arrested for murder. Well, when the contents of our trash spilled onto
the streets, there were bones, you know, cow foot, cow leg, isi ewu,
goat head pieces, well scrubbed, I tell you, plus other mainstream
stuff like ogbono, egusi, etc, etc. Our neighbours called the police;
they don’t play with bones around here in America. They were sure they
were human remains.

We were not
arrested, but considered “persons of interest” until they finished
their analysis of the bone fragments in a secret FBI lab in Salt Lake
City, Utah, across from the Mormon temple. Until the results came out,
we did not eat anything Nigerian in our house, just sandwiches and
Lasagne and stuff.

Do you know, once we started eating strange things like that those
bad belle racist deer stopped messing with our trash bins? America is a
tough place.

STUDIO VISIT: Michael Kpodoh

STUDIO VISIT: Michael Kpodoh

Why art?

I was invited into it when I discovered that every man has a
purpose on earth and that purpose when discovered becomes a calling.

Training

I graduated with distinction in Painting from the famous Art
School, Federal Polytechnic Auchi where I majored in Painting and obtained an
HND (2004). I have participated in several workshops in print making,
photography and the use of found objects in Nigeria and abroad. Notable among
them is the’ Waste to Art’ workshop at the Alliance Franco, Banjul, Gambia; and
the Auchi Artists Convention workshop in Printmaking.

Medium

I work with pastel, acrylic, oil, charcoal, mixed media. I have
always seen myself as an experimental artist not restricted to any medium.

Influences

My mum, my teachers, mentors in art, and all artist.

Inspirations

I draw inspiration from the day to day activities, the news,
people around, my environment, nature, and lastly from every last work I
produce.

Best work so far

The painting on my mind that is yet to be put on a canvas and I
hope it will be the best because every work I produce always looks like the
best until I produce another and realise/feel like it is also the best. But as
long as I keep painting, I don’t think I will ever choose a work to be my best
work.

Least satisfying work

One man’s meal is another man’s poison. I believe in this
philosophy: “there is nothing like a bad art work”.

Career high point

So far, with over 30 group exhibitions to my credit, I will say
it was participating in the Dakar Biennale 2010 with Senegalese Artists, and
Waste to Art workshop in Banjul, Gambia.

Favourite artist

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Ambitions

Whenever the word art is mentioned the name KPODOH should come
to mind. The world will say there lived a man that did his work as if no other
person could do it better.

Meeting points with Okwui Enwezor

Meeting points with Okwui Enwezor

He is sipping coffee and going through a newspaper in the
restaurant when I arrive. Enwezor rises, offers a seat, and tells me to order a
drink. I decline, but he will have none of that. “Not even water? Please order
something.”

2002 was the last time the dean of academic affairs and vice
president at the San Francisco Art Institute, US, visited Nigeria. He is
visiting with members of his family this time and describes the visit as “a
sort of holiday, if it’s really possible to have a holiday in Nigeria in July
and August.”

Modest analysis

Enwezor, who left Nigeria to study Political Science and
Literature in the 1980s before delving into Art History, is one of those
credited with making people aware of African art in the West. The scholar, however,
is reluctant to claim this glory. “It is important for me to be very conscious
of my part, in not ascribing to myself the notion that my work, such as it has
been over the last two decades, has led to an awareness of African art in the
West,” he states.

“The field of contemporary African art, and by extension, modern
African art, has been an important disciplinary area in which I have taught and
I would probably say my works have been part of for a very long time. This
focus, obviously, has generated wide ranging interest by the public in the
West, by institutions and by colleagues who have responded in rigorous ways to
works that I have done or projects that have been generated through efforts
that I have made. I have been enormously privileged to have had the opportunity
to put together exhibitions of the kinds of scale that is not possible for
African curators. There are many African curators working in the field. There
are others who are working and I think that our work, to some extent, can be complementary
even though our focus might not always be the same.

“I’m not just trying to be modest for the sake of modesty, but I
think it’s important that if any analysis is to be done, it’s not a self
analysis that becomes self promotion, self congratulatory. I can say certainly,
between the time that I entered the field and now, a lot has changed in the
field of contemporary African art. An enormous number of artists have entered
into the global contemporary artistic landscape and sometimes, it turns out that
many of these are artists I have worked with directly, whom I’ve commissioned
works for; whom I have showcased in exhibitions or taught their works in
seminars or given lectures about their works.”

Documenta II

Being Artistic Director of Documenta 11 held in Kassel, Germany,
at the relatively young age of 35 can be said to be one of the high points of
Enwezor’s curatorial career so far. Though many would have been overwhelmed by
the task, the first non-European to direct the still talked about edition says
he was pleased and excited but “was also very daunted by the challenge. The
challenge is not so much about Documenta itself, but the proposal that I
presented and how to carry out that proposal because it was rather ambitious.
It had never been done in the history of Documenta; it had never been done in
the history of any large scale exhibition of that kind. But I thought it was a
historical moment for my generation of African curators and writers and so on
that I was only just simply happy to be there. I felt the task was daunting,
not just necessarily because it was Documenta. That in itself was already
daunting but it’s the scope of the project that I wanted to carry out to the
letter that in itself made it really tight.”

Nonetheless, the recipient of the Award for Curatorial
Excellence from the Centre for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, was
able to realise his goals.

“In fact, it went beyond the scope of what I wanted to do. We
did much more than we anticipated because as the project began to coalesce, it
became very clear that there were technological and logistical imperatives that
had to be put to bear in making sure that the project can be diffused,
absorbed, digested and in years going forward, it can be retained as a model
for new kinds of curatorial thinking. I think we succeeded. I will say that I’m
enormously proud of Documenta 11, it had an incredible paradigmatic influence
on subsequent attempts for how the exhibition model can be both expeditionary
but also… This was really one of the innovations that we brought to not only
Documenta but to the larger discourse of contemporary curatorial production.

“What Documenta 11 was about was the challenge of the 21st
century. It was the first Documenta of the 21st century; we didn’t want to look
back, we wanted to look forward. And to look forward, we had to look at the
landmarks and the critical changes that were occurring within the global
landscape and how to make sense of that. So, we came up with the notion that
what Documenta 11 was going to be about was what we called Transparent
Research. It was not going to be mysterious or mythical.”

Interest in history

“I am always very interested in historical issues when I make
exhibitions,” Enwezor offers while revealing what he considers before taking on
any curatorial job. “I’m also very much interested to do exhibitions that are
grounded in what I call both psychic and visual realities. I’m interested in
the idea of the documentary form which is something that was elaborated very
much within the context of Documenta 11. One of my fields of expertise is
photography, and I have made a shot at it in various ways. So, it all really
depends on the going research.”

Meeting Points 6

The next project of the man who curated the 7th Gwangju Biennale
in 2008 and ‘Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art’ in the US
the same year, is called ‘Meeting Points 6′. It will show in nine Middle East,
North African and European cities: Cairo, Tangier, Tunis, Beirut, Aman,
Damascus, Ramallah, Brussels and Berlin. It will start in April 2011 in Beirut
and conclude around February 2012 in Berlin.

“We are working with small scale institutions; we are working
with an institution in Bethlehem, another in Ramallah, a dance theatre in Tunis
and another theatre in Tunis. I’ve invited two young Tunisian choreographers, a
brother and sister, to sort of use the whole city as the stage in which the
project will be realised but what I indicated to them is that the project will
not take place inside a space. It will be within the streets, the narrow alleys
of the city, and so on.”

The research in Amman will be led by a young Jordanian architect
and will take on “the clash of subjectivities. Looking at how notions of the
body is engaged within the urban landscape of the new Islamic city where to be
veiled or not to be veiled is sort of changing the way in which the city itself
is a constant territory of negotiations. We are working in collaboration with a
comic journal which is based in Beirut, to again do a series of works. So, the
curatorial project might not necessarily be only what you see inside but also
what would be outside. But in terms of what you will be seeing inside, I’m
working with tree structures in terms of the exhibition display. Looking at the
exhibition and performative nature of the stage, I’m working with uncompleted
gestures, uncompleted forms to rather than working with performance or
presentation on a stage. We‘ll be working with audition, with rehearsal as a
form. So, it’s always things in progress and we going to be working with
reading rather than presentations.”

Though The Young Arab Theatre Fund directed by Egyptian
architect, Tarek Abou El Fetouh, is sponsoring the project, Enwezor is also
assisting with fundraising. Raising money, he reiterates, is also a core
function of a curator. “A lot of effort goes into making these exhibitions.
Nobody hands you a blank cheque, steps back, and you just simply do it. It
requires a lot of management and diplomacy. There are many different skills that
go into being a curator. It’s beyond just simply selecting artists and making
them stars, that’s really not what a curator does all the time. The curator
does does many other things.”

African art since 1980

Enwezor also reveals why he and fellow art historian and
scholar, Chika Okeke-Agulu, jointly authored ‘Contemporary African Art since
1980′. “We put together this book in response to an enormous gap in the field.
If you wanted to teach contemporary African art in the last 30 years, the only
way you can put it together is by cobbling together your syllabi, two books or
mostly exhibition catalogues many of which do not really explore as exhaustive
as possible for a general audience to understand the field that we are talking
about. And very few of us had access to a comprehensive archive of what had
taken place over the last 30 years. It’s been enormously successful that even
before it came out, it was already in people’s syllabi, they were already
teaching with it and this was the reason why we wrote it. It’s not an edited
volume. It was a project that took three years and few people will actually
believe how difficult it is to write such a book.”

The academic who used to be a poet no longer preoccupies himself with poetry.
Though he recently published five poems in honour of a deceased friend in the
journal ‘Atlantica’, he admits “I can’t be a curator, critic and writer and be
a poet. It [poetry] deserves a lot of attention”

OIL POLITICS: Shell’s spin doctor

OIL POLITICS: Shell’s spin doctor

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

Money

Local content not about oil blocks

Local content not about oil blocks

The Nigerian
content policy is not about allocation of marginal oil blocks to
Nigerians, but the promotion of the Nigerian service companies’
capacity to participate effectively in the development of the country’s
oil and gas industry, a senior official has said.

Ernest Nwapa, the
executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board (NCDMB), said this in Kaduna, Kaduna State, at the Nigeria Bar
Association (NBA) conference.

Mr. Nwapa noted
that with international oil companies controlling over 80 percent of
the petroleum industry business in Nigeria, government is not satisfied
that indigenous operators are left to be contented with some left over
jobs outsourced from their service arms.

He said the board
has agreed to partner with the NBA towards the effective implementation
of the Nigerian Content Act, recently approved by President Goodluck
Jonathan.

A new mindset is necessary

He added that the
effective implementation of the Act required a change of mindset by
Nigerians, some of who still believe that it is impracticable for
Nigerians to perform on the major jobs in the oil and gas industry,
pointing out that only through collaboration with bodies like the NBA,
Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and Nigerian Maritime
Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) that the provisions of the
Act would be successfully implemented.

He urged lawyers to
always show national interest when handling briefs for clients,
pointing out that some unpatriotic elements would want to manipulate
documents on their ownership of equipment used for work in the industry
as required by the Act. This, he argued, is capable of impeding the
achievement of the objectives of the law.

The board will also
involve the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Customs
Service (NCS) and other relevant government agencies in the
verification of the personnel and assets of all operating and service
companies in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as a way of ensuring
that beneficiaries are up-to-date in their obligations to government.

Nwapa also harped
on the need for the building of standard pipe mills in Nigeria to
service the oil and gas industry, to provide pipes for future projects
like the planned Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMP) and the Trans Saharan
Gas Pipeline.

To demonstrate
government’s commitment to support local investors, he said the NCDMB
is insisting that operating and service companies must not be allowed
to import pipes for their projects until the combined capacity of
existing and prospective developers of local pipe mills has been
exhausted.

The Nigerian
Content Act, he emphasised, was not government’s attempt to drive away
the multinationals from the country’s oil and gas industry. Rather, it
is to attract more investments into the industry, adding that the
provisions of the Act expects the multinationals to do the jobs in
Nigeria, which will ultimately be cheaper for their operations and
yield mutual benefit for the companies and the Nigerian economy.

George Etomi, chairman of the section on Business Law of the NBA,
said it was critical for the NBA to support the implementation of the
Nigerian Content Act, saying this was a strategic effort to raise the
capacity and standards of the indigenous operators to compete globally,
citing the examples of countries like Malaysia and Brazil where such
laws have been used to develop their economies in the recent past.

Money

AP shareholders protest at SEC office

AP shareholders protest at SEC office

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.

Money

Access Bank proposes 20 kobo dividend

Access Bank proposes 20 kobo dividend

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.

Money

Shareholders divided over sale of rescued banks

Shareholders divided over sale of rescued banks

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.

Money

Illegal Internet connection thrives in Lagos market

Illegal Internet connection thrives in Lagos market

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.