Archive for nigeriang

Kopi Kopi fo Naija

23/05/2010 No comments

Kopi Kopi fo Naija

One of the major challenges
confronting us as a people today is the “copy-cat syndrome” which in pidgin
parlance is referred to as “kopi kopi”. It is about our knack for imitating
foreign styles and mannerisms that fail to gel with our unique socio-cultural
makeup.

Despite being aware of this, most of
us still go on pretending about it. Laik say notin de hapun. Time without
number, I had reason to ponder over the mannerisms of supposed “trained”
receptionists and telephone operators who in replying visitors either in person
or via the phone, would say “how may I help you? “- a new way of receiving guests
since the advent of GSM. In the old days, it was “Can I help you?”

My grouse actually is with the
oyi-boik manner in which they speak. Receptionists have had to repeat
themselves with attendant man-hour losses. Situations like these have resulted
in quarrels with pipul wey no get taim fo nonsense. Why not just say “abeg, e
get wetin ah fit du fo yu?” Meaning, “please, can I be of help to you?” Pilots and
crewmembers sometimes spoil the day for passengers in their “spree spree spree” (blabbing) because they hardly communicate.

Passengers have to strain to make
out what they are saying about flight time and general safety tips. After
delaying our flight departure time from 3.20 to 8.30pm, the annoyance of
passengers was set to blow. It was an Abuja – Sokoto flight by one of these new
generation airlines. As preparation for landing at Sultan Abubakar III
International Airport, Sokoto began a member of the cabin crew started
announcing in “spree spree spree” which stoked the anger even more.

You could hear loud hisses and comments like, “abeg mek una drop os”, “wich kain tin bi dis?” “Dis won na big nonsens”. And
there was no apology whatsoever to passengers. To my mind, and just like the
earlier scenario painted in the case of the receptionists, a smart cabin crew
would have doused the tension on board dat aftanun to nait flait by saying, “wi de beg una wel wel. Wi don fol awa han. Wi no go du so egen lai lai. Mek una
fogiv os”.

Translation: We seriously plead for forgiveness. We are clearly at fault. We have
disappointed you all. We will never do so again. Please, forgive us.

In
situations like that, only the use of the language of the people would help. No
bi big big grama wey pesin no go hia wel. Don’t tell that us there may be other
nationalities on board the flight. Oyibo na awa languej? How about pilots
learning Naija Pidgin?

Nigeria’s No.1 rap artist, RUGGEDMAN
once accused his fellow musician Idris Abdulkareem of “kopi kopi” meaning that
his work was “not original”. The accusation led to a thaw in their
relationship. However, they later made up and even did a musical “kolabo” as a
proof of their peaceful reconciliation and resolve to move the music industry
forward.

Previously in this column, I
recounted how a Nigerian broadcaster lost the golden opportunity of working
with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) because, at the interview
session, he was said to have indulged in “tok tok fo noz” like “spree spree
spree”, “kopi kopi” and all that jazz. He was imitating the oyibos, trying to
be more British than the British. He lost the job. Of kos na!

If you have seen Hamisu Rogo
reporting on NTA, you can differentiate between genuine reporting and kopi kopi
reporting; he is a true Nigerian. No kopi kopi! At the National Assembly, one
Hon Alias “Igodomigodo” from Edo State does a lot of kopi kopi that reminds one
of the late Sam Mbakwe of “timba & kaliba” fame.

Whether he is actually helping his
people get the dividends of democracy by his verbosity or effectively
communicating with his colleagues in the hallowed chambers is none of my
business. Mai oun bi se, dis kain tok tok wit big big grama no dey fo maket
egen. (e no de ren).

After taking a second look at the “copy cat syndrome”, it needs to be repeatedly said that, in these times of
re-branding, kopi kopi de fol awa han. It is doing a lot of damage to our true
identity as a nation, as Nigerians in all ramifications. A re-orientation is
urgently required. Hau pesin go jos de tok wit noz. Blo oyibo we no get hed, no
get tel. Haba!

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Opinion

SECTION 39: The path of electoral reform

23/05/2010 No comments

SECTION 39: The path of electoral reform

The National
Assembly doesn’t seem to be able to decide whether to make even more of
a hash of the Uwais Panel’s electoral reform recommendations than the
deadly combination of the White Paper Committee, the Aondoakaa-led
White Paper Review committee and the Council of State with its coterie
of self-serving governors.

This is
understandable: like governors and presidents, most legislators know
that they didn’t get where they are by transparently free, fair or
credible elections. But they also know that to become their party’s
candidates they survived a cutthroat process over which we had better
draw the veil of political discretion and spare ‘honourable’ and
‘distinguished’ blushes. They don’t want to go through that again,
especially if they’ve fallen out with whichever political godfather it
was who secured their nomination. So they exhibit conflicting desires
for elections that are free, but fixed in such a way that they will win.

Still, with their
refusal to sanction queue voting, and early reports that the two-party
system had been rejected, one began to hope that even if they wouldn’t
improve the electoral system, legislators would at least avoid doing
major damage to what is already in place.

But reports can be
misleading. For example, although a lot of nonsense was written about
‘Option A4’ being rejected, all the House of Representatives in fact
did was maintain the existing ‘Open Secret’ system. There will be no
queue voting for the public in national, state or local government
elections. Of course, political parties are free to stipulate whatever
candidate selection method they like, but for the general public, the
secrecy of the ballot to which Nigeria is committed by both local and
international undertakings, remains intact.

Despite the
romantic haze through which so many look back at queue voting, the
election that the same people insist was “the freest and fairest in
Nigeria’s history”, the presidential election of June 12th 1993,
actually used the Open Secret system of voting; with ballot boxes and
ballot papers: Not queue voting. However much former governors may
obfuscate about the “Open Ballot system”, with queue voting there is no
ballot. (Since only 14 million Nigerians voted in that election, which
is now almost 17 years behind us, the sad reality is that many of those
pontificating about the beauties of queue voting probably didn’t
actually vote on June 12th and quite frankly haven’t the faintest idea
what they are talking about.) Now, because the Humphrey Nwosu-led
National Electoral Commission of the 1992/1993 Babangida Transition was
better at logistics than the Maurice Iwu-led Independent National
Electoral Commission (and because Nwosu was operating under a military
dictatorship and had only two parties to contend with) we should hope
that the incoming INEC will learn from Nwosu rather than Iwu. The
decision to require all voters to be present at the same time across
the country and cast their votes within the space of the same hour
nationwide may have been born of necessity (after the illegality of
queue voting had been pointed out) but it was a stroke of genius.

Iwu was not the
only electoral chief to reject the June 12th method of Open Secret
voting and it has not been used since. But for now, the National
Assembly has left the decision about how Open Secret voting should be
organised where it properly belongs. With INEC.

Although the House
avoided another blunder by refusing to limit the number of political
parties to just two, it is a gross delusion to imagine that the
self-serving vote, fixing a limit of five, preserves political
pluralism. One recognises that our ideology-free legislators may have
difficulty grasping this concept, but perhaps they should imagine
limiting religious expression in this way, and dictating that everybody
should be able to find a faith to suit them in one of five
state-sanctioned religions.

It’s always amusing
to hear those who already occupy it complaining that the political
terrain is “too crowded” or that the number of parties is unwieldy.
That theory may wash in one-party dictatorships, but no other country
that claims to be a democracy imposes such restrictions, which risk
delivering the political space, bound hand and foot to moneybags and
incumbents. Unfortunately, like queue voting, the bitter experience of
intra-party dictatorship under Babangida’s two-party regime is
forgotten, remembered through a romantic haze, or simply unknown.

To quote another
dictator, China’s Chairman Mao said: Let a thousand flowers bloom! The
United States has 25 national parties ranging from the American
Conservative Party through the Pansexual Peace Party to the U.S.
Taxpayers Party, with hundreds more at local level.

Leaving aside the
nightmare of implementation for this and independent candidates (as the
House seems to have done, since the Political Parties Commission
recommended by Uwais has already been rejected), Deputy Senate
President Ike Ekweremadu correctly observed that limiting the number of
parties conflicts with the Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of
association and its liberal party registration system.

So it can only take
effect if the Constitution is amended, concerning which, perhaps our
lawmakers should take advice from Britain’s Monster Raving Loony Party
(one of that country’s 25 parties). Britain itself doesn’t have a
written constitution, but item 3 on the MRLP manifesto proposes that
the European [read ‘Nigerian’] Constitution “will be sorted out by
going for a long Walk. As everyone knows that walking is good for the
Constitution.” But what if ‘We the People’ decide that it is costly,
unproductive and uninformed lawmakers who need reforming? Maybe we will
be the ones telling them to … take a hike.

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Opinion

Like 2007, like 2011

23/05/2010 No comments

Like 2007, like 2011

On paper, the 2010 Electoral Act is an ambitious piece of draft
legislation. The Act seeks to repeal the 2006 Electoral Act, under which the
disgraceful 2007 general elections were conducted, and to introduce
unprecedented changes to the electoral process. One striking example is the
independent candidature model.

The Act also seeks to end the idea of state funding of political
parties. In addition, it seeks to confine election petition adjudications to a
sensible time frame, a departure from the current situation where cases are
still being decided by the courts three years after the elections that gave
rise to them.

The bill has its failings. In not seeking to alter the current
mechanism by which the Chairperson of INEC is appointed – the powers of appointment
and sack are currently vested in the President – it falls short of being truly
revolutionary.

There are those who will argue that the conferment of these
powers on the President is the principal defect of our current electoral
set-up. Indeed, speaking at the presentation of the Electoral Reform panel
report to former President Umar Yar’Adua at the Aso Villa in 2008, the Chair of
the panel Mr. Uwais said: “The independent national electoral commission and
the state independent electoral commission lack the requisite independence.
This is a key deficiency of our electoral process.”

To remedy this the Uwais-led panel recommended that the Head of
the Electoral Commission should be appointed by the National Judicial Council,
subject to the confirmation of the National Assembly.

It is indeed absurd to grant that power of appointment to the
President, a patently partisan individual, who clearly has vested interests in
the election process. Take the current scenario as an example: very soon
President Jonathan will appoint a substantive head for INEC. This appointee
will be the person who will oversee the conduct of the 2011 presidential
elections, in which, from all appearances, Mr. Jonathan will be not only a
contender, but also the candidate with the overwhelming advantages of
incumbency.

The failure of the 2010 Electoral Act to adopt the Uwais panel
recommendation on the appointment of an INEC chairman is its “key deficiency”.
As the 2011 elections approach, there are therefore no guarantees of the
autonomy of the electoral commission. We hope that as the draft bill undergoes
further deliberations in both chambers of the National Assembly, and as
Nigerians get a chance to make an input through public sittings of the
Assembly, the Act will be rendered free of glaring loopholes and deficiencies.

It must also be noted, however, that until the new Act is
signed into law by the President, it is merely a commendable listing of hopes
and aspirations, of no value to Nigerians and to the electoral process. As
things stand, the significantly flawed 2006 Act is still the final word on
elections in Nigeria. There is no guarantee that will change in time for next
year’s elections.

That 2006 Act, in the light of the massive changes that its
successor seeks to bring to it, represents the dark ages of the Nigerian
electoral process. It leaves INEC at the mercy of the Executive arm of
government, in terms of funding. It makes no provision for expeditious
adjudication of election petition cases. At the moment, Alphonsus Igbeke, a
member of the National Assembly – the arm of government in whose hands a speedy
overhaul of the Electoral Act lies – is still unsuccessfully trying to claim
his seat, three years after he was elected. Joy Emordi, who fraudulently
usurped his seat, has managed to hold on all the while by exploiting the
snail-like progress of the petition process. Unfortunately, Mrs. Emordi’s
antics are the rule, not an exception.

Instances like this hurriedly dispel whatever meager hopes
Nigerians have that the National Assembly is ready to ensure that 2011 does not
end up being a repeat of 2007.

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Opinion

Who Benefits When Owners Own Up?

23/05/2010 No comments

Who Benefits When Owners Own Up?

Sanusi-watching has become Nigeria’s most popular spectator
sport. Every other week, the Central Bank governor beams his searchlight at a
dark corner of the banking attic to expose a mangled mass of cobweb. Oddly, his
admission at a seminar last week that the regulator does not know the
identities of owners of significant blocs of shares in ‘a very large number of
financial institutions’ has been received with indifference. In typical
fashion, the gallery has latched on to his other announcement at the same event
that the CBN would limit the tenure of non-executive directors of banks to two
years subject to renewal only at CBN’s instance.

The CBN’s authority to impose a ceiling on non-executive
director tenure and the propriety of announcing a major policy decision at a
public forum aside, I think that companies should applaud Sanusi for
championing transparency in shareholder identification. However, my reasons for
urging their interest diverge sharply from the Central Bank governor’s who
asked ‘Who owns the banks? Are they money launders or drug barons?

In fact, it baffles me that there has never been any public
advocacy on the subject of shareholder identification. There may be a good
reason why it has been kept off the agenda. Could it be because quoted company
boards of directors, stock brokers, issuing houses and registrars are complicit
in freezing the trail that leads to some beneficial owners? Or might it be that
they have been so busy covering up their own tracks that they are missing the
significance of the tracks being laid by non-insider investors? Their covert
ambition has been to ensure that control never slips out of their hands. Did
anyone say ‘hostile takeover’? Not in your dreams, not in my time. They and
their proxies are in firm control. Why would they bother about any shareholder
identification when the free float is laughable and they have a maze of
interlocking ownerships that would make any Byzantine emperor proud? With that
kind of moat, they can flick away any interloper’s unsolicited interest like a
dead insect.

Anyone who has followed global markets in the last few years
knows that shareholders can wield influence far in excess of their ownership
stakes. Activist investors with absolutely no interest in taking over the
company have become a fixture of the governance universe. From retail investors
like Eric Jackson who with only 45 shares launched a widely covered shareholder
campaign against the board of Yahoo! using YouTube in 2006 to the Roman
Catholic Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth who pushed for the publication of
risk management policies in plain English at Bank of America’s 2010 annual
general meeting and went on to win 39 per cent of votes in support, there is a
trend for proposals to stand on their merit and not on the number of shares
owned by a shareholder.

The bulky ledgers of tiny print with columns of names and
holdings in registrars’ offices contain a wealth of intelligence for every
company’s investor relations (IR) efforts. Companies are fond of mistaking
blasting ego-propping communications of corporate accomplishments to
shareholders as IR. That is mass communications and useful as it may be, it
does not build relationships, which is the operative goal of IR. Boards need to
closely monitor the geographic breakdown, composition, concentration,
investment styles and turnover of their shareholder base to craft effective
investor relations strategies. Anything else is akin to throwing spaghetti on
the wall.

In a paper calling for improved disclosure in shareholder identification,
‘Shareholder ID: The Resounding Silence of Non-disclosure,’ prepared by PR
Newswire’s Disclosure Advisory Board, the writers lamented the ‘thunderous
silence’ on hidden ownership. They argue that it is unfair to demand full
disclosure from companies while permitting investors who may have hidden
agendas from disclosing their interest in a timely fashion. Transparency is a
two-way street.

In banking, there is the policy of Know Your Customer. Companies
must now institute a policy of regular Know Your Shareholder audits. While
board members with vested interests will want to see Mr. Sanusi’s latest
comments as another round of witch-hunting about to begin, he is doing them a
big favour by indirectly fighting for their right to know buyers of their shares.
At least, now the law would ensure that no one comes from behind them to spring
a hostile takeover. However, the whole point of shareholder identification is
not about stealing the company from its owners. It is about giving them an edge
in their capital market relationships.

The writer is the managing
director of a full service investor relations firm based in Lagos.

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Money

Market decline across all sectors

23/05/2010 No comments

Market decline across all sectors

The decline in the value of equities at the Nigerian Stock
Exchange, yesterday, cuts across all sectors of the market.

The resilient nature noted in sectors like the conglomerates,
breweries, food and beverages in the past week, against the downward trend in
the market, could not be sustained after Thursday’s trading.

The All-Share Index yesterday declined by 0.72 per cent to close
at 27,227.26 basis points compared with the marginal decline of 0.05 per cent
recorded the previous day to close at 27,424.47. Market capitalisation also
followed with N44.611 billion losses to close at N6.622 trillion against the
N3.107 billion losses recorded yesterday to close at N6.667 trillion.

The number of gainers, at the close of trading session, dropped
to 23 from 33 gainers of yesterday .The numbers of losers on the other hand
closed at 58 compared with 59 of the previous trading day.

‘Sell pressures’

Analysing yesterday’s performance, equity research analysts at
Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, in a statement, said the
decline recorded cut across all the sectors in the market.

“This was evident in the bearish outlook recorded in all the NSE
sectoral indices with the highest decline recorded in the Oil and Gas sector.
Massive sell pressures were also more pronounced in the Insurance and
Food/Beverages sectors,” they said.

The analysts added that notwithstanding the current downturn of
the market, “investors are enjoined to look out for the valued stocks whose
prices have declined as the present negative outlook in the market may not
last, most especially considering some of the positive developments in the
market.” All the four sectoral indices declined at the close of trading
session. The Exchange’s Food and Beverages index declined by 1.14 per cent to
close at 860.64; the Oil and Gas index dropped by2.61 per cent to close at 405.71;
the Banking index shed weight by 0.68 per cent; the Insurance also declined by
1.20 per cent to close at 197.73.

The banking sector was the most traded sector yesterday with
139.016 million units valued at N1.333 billion. Transactions in the shares of First
Bank Nigeria, Zenith Bank and Access Bank largely contributed to the volume
traded in the sector.

New listing

The management of the Exchange, on Thursday, listed Sun
International Limited’s 634,585,472 ordinary shares of 50k at N3.79 each on the
official list of the exchange. It also marked down the share price of Berger
Paints Plc for a dividend of 50k per share declared recently by the company’s
board of directors. The share price of Oando Plc was also marked down for 1 for
2 bonus declared.

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Money

West Africa transport costs highest

23/05/2010 No comments

West Africa transport costs highest

Transportation costs in West Africa are among the highest in the
world only East Africa is higher, according to a study of one of the primary
trade corridors in West Africa.

The route connecting Tema Port in Ghana to Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso was used for the study. The study, centred on the reason for the high cost
of transportation and what can be done to reduce it, the organisation concluded
that reducing transportation cost will result in the increase of export and job
creation.

For instance, a study of the cost of transportation along the
Tema- Ouagadougou corridor shows that it cost $4,800 (about N710, 400) to
transport a container and it takes 13 to 22 days to transport container across
the route while in comparison, it cost $650 (about N96, 200)to move a container
the same distance within the United States and it takes only five days.

Joe Lamport, Communications and Outreach Coordinator of West
Africa Trade Hub, a USAID funded project that promotes trade across West Africa
carried out the study alluded to a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
report that said that West Africans spend almost 80 per cent of their income on
food and much of it is spent on imported products: powdered and concentrated
milk, rice, tomato paste among others and so if trucking costs were half what
they are now for imports, consumer prices will likely be lower.

Reasons for high costs

While stating that the bottleneck and the cumbersome documentation
process in the ports are veritable reasons for this high cost of
transportation, the organisation also highlighted retrogressive regulation as
another factor responsible for the hike in the cost of transportation.

West African Trade Hub identified the “one-third two-third rule”
between Burkina Faso and Ghana as one of such regulatory hindrances.

“The rule stipulates that two-thirds of the cargo should be
carried by Burkinabe trucks while one-third can be transported by Ghanaian
trucks”, said Mr. Lamport.

Experts have warned that regulations like these kill
competitions and competition to clear goods at the port is a factor in the
reduction of cost.

The report also pointed at the stripping of containers as
another hiccup militating against the prompt clearance of goods at the ports.
The delay trucker experience on the way to delivering their consignment often
means that they sometimes might miss the ship meant to carry the goods and sure
delays automatically means added cost due to damaged goods and additional port
charges.

Cutting the cost

Lowering West Africa’s transport costs – among the highest in
the world – is critical to poverty alleviation and food security.

“High transport costs ultimately mean consumers pay more for
goods at market,” said Trade Hub Director Vanessa Adams. “High transport costs
make it hard for exporting companies to compete in world markets. When they
cannot compete, they do not create the jobs that West Africans need.” The
statement further suggested that implementation of the ECOWAS integrated
regional market, the elimination of truck queuing rules as well as the
elimination of excessive documentation for importing and exporting and the
streamlining of procedures to reduce delays will reduce the transportation cost
to the level that will spur economic activities leading to the reduction of
poverty.

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Money

‘South Africa growth outlook better’

23/05/2010 No comments

‘South Africa growth outlook better’

South Africa’s economic outlook has improved, although growth
should stay below potential output for “some time”, posing little threat to
domestic inflation, its central bank said on Thursday.

Developments in the euro area – a major trading partner where
sovereign debt worries are growing, sparking global risk aversion – are a risk
to growth and may also hit the rand currency, the Reserve Bank (SARB) added in
its latest Monetary Policy Review.

Africa’s biggest economy pulled out of recession in the third
quarter of last year and the recovery appears to be gathering pace, with data
this week showing annual retail sales rose for the first time in more than a
year, signaling households are starting to spend again.

Consumer spending was the main driver of average 5 percent
annual growth in the five years before the credit crisis, but it has been the
slowest to rebound as banks cut lending and more than one million jobs were
lost, hurting households’ finances.

The central bank said in the review – released twice a year –
that domestic expenditure appeared to be recovering, while manufacturing output
continued to improve.

This, though, did not pose a threat to inflation, as firms
continue to produce below maximum capacity.

“Despite the more favourable growth outlook, the output gap is
expected to remain positive for some time,” it said. The bank has in the past
estimated potential growth at 4.5 percent.

The SARB forecast the economy would grow by 3.7 percent
quarter-on-quarter and annualised in the first three months of this year, and
by 3.2 percent in the second quarter.

It recently raised it prediction for expansion in 2010 to 2.7
percent from 2.6 percent – roughly in line with economists’ expectations.
Statistics South Africa is scheduled to publish first quarter growth data on
Tuesday.

Euro risks

The bank warned the recovery could be damaged by the debt
problems in the euro zone, with austerity measures dampening growth in some
economies and, ultimately, trade.

“The growth performance will also be affected by the performance
of the global economy and the risks posed by developments in the euro area,” it
said.

Another global crisis, and accompanying risk aversion, may hit
the rand, lessening the impact its relative strength has had on containing
inflation.

The central bank said its policy committee had considered the
rand a major contributor to the favourable outlook for inflation, but
recognised it was volatile and subject to external factors, such as risk
appetite.

“The reaction of the rand to the developments in the euro area
demonstrated that the positive impact of the rand on the inflation outlook was
contingent on developments in the euro area and general risk aversion,” the
central bank said in the review.

The rand had held onto last year’s nearly 30 percent gain
against the dollar, supported by strong gold and platinum prices and the lure
of high interest rates. It has weakened sharply this month as fears Greece’s
sovereign debt woes may spread to other European countries prompted investors
to cut back on riskier investments in emerging markets.

The rand fell to 8.0806 versus the dollar on Thursday, a
six-month low and a fall of almost 4 percent, compared with around 7.30 in
early May. At the height of the global financial turmoil in late 2008, it fell
to 11.88 to the dollar.

The SARB reiterated its favourable outlook for inflation, forecasting
targeted CPI to trough at 4.7 percent in the third quarter, and stay inside the
3 to 6 percent band until the end of 2012, when it is seen at 5.3 percent.

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Money

Meet the five highest selling phones

23/05/2010 No comments

Meet the five highest selling phones

International Data
Corporation (IDC), a market research organisation, in information
technology and worldwide phone tracking has announced the top five
selling mobile phones in the first quarter of year.

The phones are,
Nokia, Samsung, LG, occupying the top three positions, while RIM
(Research in Motion) makers of Blackberry replaced Motorola to tie with
Sony Ericsson in the fourth position. Motorola and the Apple iphone did
not make the list.

Motorola formerly
held the number two spot and finished fifth last year, but is now out
of the list. The surprise breakthrough by RIM was considered as a
result of growing demand for Smartphone’s in the global market. The
Blackberry features as a high-end Smartphone device and RIM shipped
10.6 million units of mobile phones in the first quarter of the year.

“The entrance of
RIM into the top five underscores the sustained Smartphone growth trend
that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery. This is also
the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top 5 since the second
quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number 5 spot from BenQ
Siemens,” said Kevin Restivo, a senior research analyst with IDC’s
Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

Interestingly the
much hyped iPhone from Apple Inc didn’t make the list, even though it
officially stands as the highest selling phone in the U.S with 8.8
million units sold in first quarter of 2010 as opposed to Motorola
which sold 8.5 million units (According to Forbes).

According to IDC
the overall global phone market grew 21.7 per cent in first quarter of
2010, thus showing positive signs in phone market for the rest of the
year in contrast to the market reduction in first quarter of 2009.
Demand for Smartphone’s served as catalyst to the market growth.

Their reports said a total of 294.9 million units of mobile phones
were shipped in first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units
in first quarter of 2009.

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Money

Jonathan directs ships to berth at designated ports

23/05/2010 No comments

Jonathan directs ships to berth at designated ports

President Goodluck
Jonathan has directed the Ministries of Transport, Commerce, and
Petroleum Resources and their parastatals to ensure that all goods
imported into the country are discharged at designated terminals of the
Nigeria Ports Authority.

While on inspection
of Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne and inauguration of port facilities at
Onne Port Complex, Rivers State, Mr. Jonathan warned that government
will no longer condone the flouting of the directive, adding that
imported goods should not be discharged at private jetties.

Mr. Jonathan, who
was on his first working visit since he assumed office as President,
said the new facilities at the port show that Nigeria is growing and
commended Governor Rotimi Amaechi of River State for providing the
enabling opportunities and the partnership in the success story as well
as the concerted effort between government and Public Private
Partnership (PPP).

The President said
such efforts is yielding the desired results and the partners have
shown genuine sense of purpose as government will continue to work with
them, disclosing that the Oil and Gas Free Zone in Onne is the largest
in the world dedicated to gas and oil and it will provide jobs to Niger
Delta youth thereby creating wealth as well as curbing restiveness.

He explained that
such facilities will create drive for foreign investment into Nigeria
to make it one of the leading economies in the world while commending
the joint efforts between the Nigerian Ports Authority and Intel in
creating the new facilities at the port to boost maritime operations.

Enabling environment

Yusuf Suleiman, the
Minister of Transport revealed that the policy behind the joint project
is intended to reduce government’s role by creating an enabling
environment for private sector to grow thereby enabling government to
apply funds in other sectors, saying that the project will be useful in
ports operations as every party had lived to the terms of agreement.

Mr. Suleiman
observed that facilities at the port could compete with those in any
part of the world, adding that government will partner with other
agencies to check unhealthy practices at Nigerian ports while it has
established specialized ports at Onne, Warri and Calabar to handle oil
and gas operation and asked people to transact their business within
any of the terminals.

The minister added that with the new facilities at the port, 4,000
jobs have been created while 140 foreign companies operating there will
empower the people, and generate wealth, saying that facilities at the
Onne port are the largest of its kind in the world that meet the needs
of maritime operations and asked indigenous operators to engage local
ship yards.

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Market indices bounce back

23/05/2010 No comments

Market indices bounce back

Market indices at
the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, bounced back to profitability
yesterday after two days of negative performances.

The two days decline plunged the market by over N116 billion from the N580 billion recovered in the last two weeks.

The indices for
measuring market performance; the market capitalisation and the
All-Share Index, at the close of proceedings on Tuesday, appreciated by
0.19 per cent.

While some analysts
have predicted that the capital market will experience sustainable
rebound in the second quarter of the year, past data showed that since
December 2008, the market has not witnessed more than nine consecutive
positive trading days.

Gregory Otsu,
managing director and chief executive officer of Mact Securities
Limited, said the unstable market recovery “is normal and should not
cause panic for investors. There is a worry about the down trend in the
market during the last few days.”

“But the real
situation is that investors are trying to take profit. Any market in
the world is based on demand and supply. You have a situation where
people need money for various reasons; you’ll expect them to cash-in
opportunities to meet their needs. I believe the current performance is
normal and in few days time we should expect positive and stable
reactions,” he added.

Market dynamics

The market
capitalisation yesterday recorded over N13 billion gains on Monday’s
figure of N6.657 trillion, to close at N6.670 trillion; while the
All-Share Index gained 53.34 points up from 27,383.91 basis points to
close at 27,437.25.

A total of 27
stocks appreciated in price on Tuesday while 53 stocks shed their
prices. Over 602.484 million volume of shares, valued at N5.525
billion, were recorded in 8,784 deals.

Equity analysts at
Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, said the market
“out-staged the bears and returned to positive outlook owing more to
market dynamics that revealed a significant increase in transaction
volume.”

They added that the
positive outlook recorded at the close of market was a function of
positive performances in the shares of Petroleum Marketing, Banking,
Food/Beverages and some of the blue chip stocks.

“In the midst of
volatility of the entire market, Food/Beverages and Petroleum Marketing
sectors posted above the general market performance in the past five
trading days,” the analysts explained further.

Active sectors

The hotel and
tourism subsector led the most active subsectors’ chart with 204.046
million volume of shares, valued at over N731.786 million. Volume in
the subsector was largely driven by trading in the shares of Capita
Hotel, followed by Ikeja Hotel.

Trading activities
in the banking subsector followed with 150.711 million shares valued at
N1.411 billion. Deals in shares of Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank of
Nigeria, and Diamond Bank boosted volume in this subsector.

The insurance
subsector was third in the activity chart with 61.736 million shares
worth N57.642 million. Volume in the subsector was driven by trading in
the shares of Universal Insurance Company, NEM Insurance Company, and
Aiico Insurance.

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