Nigeria Content Online

Akwa Ibom State
Government says it has concluded plans for the provision of
infrastructure to accelerate the development of the tourism sector.

Mary Umanaette, the
Chairperson of the State Culture and Tourism Board, announced this on
Sunday at the inauguration of the first phase of Precious World Resorts
Limited in Eket.

Ms Umanaette said
that the provision of infrastructure would encourage investors to
participate in the economic development of the state.

She gave assurance that the state government would patronise the
resort in its bid to encourage private sector participation in the
development of the tourism sector.

It is the desire of every parent, to educate their children and to see them move on to become self-sufficient. With today’s challenging global economy, however, there is a huge increase in the number of grown ups having to depend on parents when the real world becomes too tough to cope with. Described as ‘the worst job market in a generation’, huge numbers of graduates face more economic uncertainty than their parents who were born at a time of relatively greater opportunity and promise.

A challenge of 21st century parenting is the sheer number of dependent adult graduates. The question is, have today’s parents raised a generation of spoiled young people who are unable to cope with the real world? Are we perpetuating the ‘Boomerang Generation’ phenomenon, which has seen parents welcoming adult children back home after university, paying off their debts, keeping their mobile phones funded, and paying all their bills? Or, is today’s world just so difficult that they are unable to make their way without our assistance?

What stage are your children at? Have they completed their education? Are they looking for jobs? Have they started work? How much do you continue to support them? Do you give all that they ask for or just a part. Will the money help them to become more self-sufficient or will it just lead to more and more requests for help? The answers will vary from family to family. Consider these scenarios and see where you fit:

• You feel that your financial obligations end when your children graduate

• You support your children financially, and expect to do so for the rest of your life

• You will give your child the first few month’s rent and a security deposit for a new apartment and then they are on their own

• Your child can continue to live at home rent-free and doesn’t need to contribute to any of the household expenses.

• You will set them up in an apartment which you will fund until they are on their feet

• You have educated your child and will not give any further financial support, either because you cannot afford to, or you choose not to.

When should you step in and when should you hold back?

Take the time to analyse the request carefully, particularly if a significant sum is required. Is there a genuine need? If they desperately need the money for an important, legitimate need and you can afford it, then there is no harm in giving or lending as the case may be. Most parents would not mind stepping in during a true emergency, such as if a child or grandchild needs medical care, or school fees must be paid to keep children in school.

The implications for your retirement

It is wonderful to be able to support your children but, at what cost to yourself? For many parents, continuing to financially support adult kids who return to the empty nest could have serious consequences for your financial future, particularly your retirement. If you sit down to actually assess the numbers in terms of how much longer you must continue to earn, it puts it into perspective. Remember you need to look after yourself so that you do not become dependent on them in later years.

Family dynamics

Every child is different. Take a good look at each of your children’s money personalities. In the same family, you will discover that various children deal with money matters differently. You find one child has been frugal from their earliest years, whilst another who is a spendthrift and extravagant, feels that you owe them a living. Some children are simply unwilling to accept that they may need to take a step down on the economic ladder when they leave home. Indeed, many young adults seek to imitate their parent’s lifestyle that has taken nearly a half-century to build.

Emotional and psychological aspects of financial aid

Be aware of the emotional repercussions for the whole family, of financial aid. If the handouts are jeopardising family relationships and family finances, then things need to change. When adult children constantly demand and receive money, there may be feelings of dependency that this creates, which can lead to resentment. Parents too may feel resentful, about being constantly pressured to provide.

The psychological dynamics get even more complicated if some adult children are getting help while others aren’t. You find families where for example two self-sufficient sons deeply resent the hundreds of thousands of naira being given to their spoilt sister; the brothers may have concerns that they are being penalised for being financially responsible.

Does helping do more harm than good?

There is a fine line between helping and spoiling your children. How much are you really helping by keeping them dependent on you? If your children know that they can always come back to you for a bail out, they may never learn how to deal with financial setbacks or how to manage their own money. Studies show that the more dependent children are on their parents, the less able they are to be economically self-sufficient.

Of course it makes smart economic sense for a child to move back home where life is comfortable and rent is usually nonexistent. But by allowing adult children to live at home free of charge so they can spend more money on travelling and eating out is not teaching them financial responsibility. At a minimum they should be encouraged to cover some basic expenses whilst putting away some savings to prepare them for the realities of starting out on their own.

Help your child to be self-sufficient

Even if money is no object for you, make an effort to wean your child off you financially, and consider ways to help them become more self-sufficient. If you are going to help a child pay off mobile phone or other debt, put something in writing clearly stating the terms including interest and repayment schedule. Clear expectations and definite limits are always better for all parties involved. Adult children also need to know in advance when financial aid will begin to be withdrawn and may eventually stop.

Saying no is one of the most difficult things for a parent to do, but sometimes you have to step back, take a deep breath, and let whatever happens, happen. Even if some pain results, your child may just learn some valuable life lessons before its too late. They might not appreciate it now, but remember that your efforts to make them financially self-sufficient will ultimately result in more balanced, more purposeful and more empowered adults; the alternative can be grim.

It has been three weeks since the board of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) was inaugurated. Since then, much of its activities have been shrouded in confidentiality. Apart from ongoing covert plans to recruit management staff which was not publicly advertised, the financial district for which the corporation is expected to provide succour, is in the dark as to the strategy for roll out. Since the inauguration, investors in the Nigerian capital market have lost a whopping N132 billion, while the market performance indices has reached its lowest level in six months.

AMCON portends good

Finance minister, Olusegun Aganga insists that the AMCON portends good for the economy. According to him, the aim is to remove obstacles in the banking sector and bring it to closure. “So that the financial sector and the economy can start moving again and there is liquidity in the market,” he told journalists at a briefing in Lagos last month.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Lamido Sanusi, is worried about the reluctance of banks to lend to the real sector. “Bank lending has not been growing as fast as we would like it to grow. Bank lending is a major worry because we would like to get more money into the real economy,” he told Reuters.

A major source of concern has been how the project will be funded. Mr. Aganga said he is taken a cue from other parts of the world where it has been done. “In other parts of the world where this has been done, the banking sector which you are helping contributes to the cost. The banks, the Central Bank and the ministry of finance have to agree. Banks will generate about N1 trillion towards the cost of AMCON. I want to do this at minimal cost to government,” he said.

Beyond funding

However, beyond the issue of funding, the apprehension among financial sector operators is how the toxic asset to be taken over will be priced. Emmanuel Moore, chief economist and head, Market Risk Management, Access Bank Plc said at a forum in Lagos at the beginning of the year that the pricing of the assets needs to be sorted out before AMCON begins operation. “They can adopt fair value accounting or mark to book value in which case the assets will be marked at current market value,” he said. He said if the assets are priced low, the banks may not be willing to sell to the AMCON and if priced too high, the banks may be unnecessarily rewarding the shareholders. “So this is going to be the most contentious issue,” said Mr. Moore.

Delay in AMCOM operations

More importantly, many see the delay in the take-off of AMCON as eroding the value of the banks it is supposed to rescue. Unity Bank and Wema Bank initially tied their recapitalisation plans to success of AMCON but are now looking beyond it in order to meet the September 30 recapitalisation deadline set by the CBN. Wema Bank company secretary, Oluwole Ajimisinmi said the N10 billion which the bank requires for its regional banking license is not solely hinged on AMCON. “We are raising N9 billion via a special placing offer which has been approved by the Nigerian Stock Exchange. We already have commitments equal to the amount on offer,” he stated via text message. Ndu Eke of the corporate communications department of Unity Bank said the existence of AMCON would give a boost to its recapitalization effort. “Our rights issue was successful from which we raised over N23 billion. Our success is not hinged on AMCON but it is going to be a boost.” He said the bank was well on its way to maintaining its national banking license.

Many operators are of the opinion that the longer the CBN and shareholders of the eight banks take to agree to sell the banks, the less attractive they become. This sentiment is shared by Dianna Games, the honorary chief executive officer of the South Africa-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, who believes that the delays were affecting the performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

“Problems at the NSE, and the possibility that due diligence of the ailing banks may show a worse situation than originally thought, may have eroded investor confidence,” Games was quoted as saying by Times Live, a South Africa based online publication.

No compromise

However, there are no indications that the CBN will reach a compromise with the banks’ shareholders any time soon. The minority shareholders still insist that the regulator has no moral standing to seek investors for institutions it does not own. According to them, the CBN should allow the existing shareholders recapitalize the banks while it supervises the process. On the other hand, the regulator maintains that the N620 billion which it injected into the rescued banks gives it no option that to hand the institutions over to new core investors, or in the alternative, hand the banks over to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for liquidation.

Boniface Okezie, president of one of the shareholder groups said the insistence by the CBN to hand the banks over to a new group of owners was in the manner of riding roughshod over other interests.

“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. According to him, aggrieved shareholders have sought legal protection by obtaining caveat from courts in Lagos, Abuja, and Ibadan restraining any investor from investing in any of the rescued institutions. Meanwhile, the search by the CBN for new core investors for the rescued banks continues.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Its implications

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Solution

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

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

The management of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange (NSE) has appealed to shareholders of quoted stocks to support
the market through regular report of unethical practices of companies.

Sola Oni,
spokesperson for the NSE, in a statement at the weekend, said Emmanuel
Ikazoboh, interim administrator of the NSE, gave the advice when some
members of the Ibadan Zone of the Shareholders’ Association paid him a
courtesy visit.

Mr. Ikazoboh said
investors should also support the market through positive comments.
“Investors are the nerve centre of the market otherwise there would be
no market,” he said.

Meanwhile, the
association’s six-man executive members, led by its chairman, Aderemi
Oyepeju, passed a vote of confidence on the Exchange’s management for
working to reinforce investors’ confidence in the stock market. They
said the on-going market reform will put every operator and quoted
company on their toes.

The group also
commended the Exchange’s recent sanction of all erring quoted companies
that have reneged in meeting their responsibilities, listing
obligations such as prompt release of financial statements and payments
of listing fees among others. “Such zero tolerance is much needed to
build the market” Mr. Oyepeju said.

They expressed
dismay at the way many investors have suffered untold hardship due to
lack of regular information from quoted companies and unethical
practices of some market operators.

They urged the
Exchange’s management not to relent in its efforts at ensuring
compliance with market rules and regulations by operators and quoted
companies.

Necessary machinery

The shareholders
also urged the NSE to put necessary machinery in motion to ensure that
private companies no longer use listing of shares on the Exchange as a
marketing gimmick for private placement. According to them, “Many
investors have got their fingers burnt through participation in private
placement as those companies hardly apply for listing after the offer.”
Commenting on the modalities for payment of dividend by quoted
companies, the shareholders suggested the need for banks to device a
means of informing shareholders whenever dividends are credited into
their accounts under the new regime of e-dividend.

On the on-going
discourse on the status of registrars, they endorsed independence of
registrars for enhanced professionalism and avoidance of avoid conflict
of interest. However, they admonished the registrars to always treat
verification of share certificates with dispatch.

On the need to
strengthen prompt communication between the market and investors, the
group urged the exchange to ensure that Central Securities Clearing
System (CSCS) alerts investors anytime transaction is about to be
effected on their stocks.

The group lauded the on-going market
reform by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but cautioned
that it should be handled in a way that would not heat up the system.
They said, “The Exchange has a lot of potentials that would always make
it attractive to investors globally as long as investors’ confidence is
sustained.” In his response, Mr. Ikazoboh thanked the group for their
confidence in his administration and the Exchange’s management and
noted that virtually all the issues they raised are being addressed.
For instance, he explained that a new window created by the Exchange to
address the challenges of private placement has commenced operation. He
assured them that all forms of breach of market rules and regulations
shall continue to attract stiff sanctions. He informed them that
operation of trade alert is being reviewed to make it more effective
and efficient as a monitoring device.

For the first time in many years, government is taking the issue
of occupational classification and survey seriously as the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), in collaboration with the National Planning Commission and
the Nigerian Institute for Economic Research recently conducted a National
Manpower Stock and Employment Generation Survey.

The study is to determine the employment situation of Nigerians
at home and abroad. The bureau said the survey would measure the size of the
informal sector and its contribution to the GDP (gross domestic product).

Henry Eteama, head of the public affairs and international
relation unit of the NBS, said the purpose of the survey is to know the manpower
stock in the country.

“In line with the International Standard Classification of
Occupations, we need to know how many doctors, engineers, nurses and other
professionals are in the country,” he said.

He said the survey has been concluded and analysis is ongoing,
adding that response from Diaspora Nigerians has not been too encouraging.

Economically active

According to the NBS, the survey aims at determining the
economically active population by examining the employment, underemployment,
and unemployment characteristics distributed by demographic, socio-economic,
and geographic variables, as well as assess the stocks and requirements of
human resources in order to determine under-utilisation and over-supply of
these resources in the Nigerian labour market.

The bureau said from the survey, it would be able to capture the
manpower stock of Nigerians working abroad. It would also examine the impacts
of remuneration packages on labour productivity as well as labour turn-over,
supply to and withdrawal from the Nigerian labour market, and analyse the
manpower stock and occupational profile of the labour force in Nigeria and
Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Educational impediments

Mr. Eteama said the survey would help to identify labour
market-related problems militating against effective development and
utilisation of manpower in the country.

“That would inform policies in areas of deficiency and how
educational curriculum can be modified to meet the needs,” he said.

Doyin Salami, member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of
the Central Bank and lecturer at Pan African University, Lagos, said recently
that there was need for the Nigerian educational system to be overhauled.

“Issues of jobs and youth empowerment have to be planned 10 to
20 years. If the economy has to create jobs, key impediments have to be taken
away,” he advised.

Such impediments include restructuring the education sector so
that institutions can churn out employable graduates.

“Not only do we have unemployment, we also have the unemployable.
So even if jobs are created, where are the people to be employed?”

The International Standard Classification of Occupations is an
International Labour Organization (ILO) classification structure and is a tool
for organising jobs into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks
and duties undertaken in the job.

According to the ILO, the classification, among other things,
helps in the management of short or long term migration of workers between
countries, as well as in the development of vocational training programmes and
guidance.

Some operators at the Nigerian capital market have appealed to
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to give a “full disclosure” of the
Nigerian Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) audit.

Market operators are making this appeal following the
announcement by Arunma Oteh, SEC’s director general, last Friday, in London,
that she expects to publish a KPMG Stock Exchange audit in about six weeks.

Olugbenga Emmanuel, a finance analyst at WealthZone Company, a
portfolio management firm, said, “The Exchange community expects the SEC to do
a full disclosure of the NSE financial results. We don’t want a situation like
what happened to the banks then when they used to publish some parts of their
results while other parts will not be made public.

“Full disclosure will help the market generally in terms of
confidence because everybody will be able to analyse the result,” Mr. Emmanuel
said.

David Amaechi, an executive member of the Shareholders
Association of Nigeria, said the publication of the Exchange’s financial report
“will further help the Exchange Commission to achieve its aim of restoring
investors’ confidence in the market.”

Mrs. Oteh had said last Friday that the widespread anger over
the market collapse, together with press attention on former stock exchange
head, Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, meant there was little choice but to publish the
audited results.

“I’m hoping I will get the interim report on Monday (yesterday).
I hope we will complete the whole process in about six weeks. You have a high
profile former director-general who believes she should not have been removed.
You have a lot of people who have lost money. I haven’t made any public
statements about making the report public, but I almost think I have no
choice,” she said.

Market parameters

Meanwhile, at the close of proceedings on Monday, the two
parameters for measuring performance at the NSE, the market capitalisation and
the All-Share Index, depreciated by a 1.13 percent.

The market capitalisation, yesterday, recorded over N66 billion
losses on Wednesday’s figure of N5.832 trillion, to close at N5.766 trillion;
while the All-Share Index lost 271.24 points down from 23,802.79 basis points
to close at 23,531.55.

The number of gainers at the close of trading session closed
lower at 18, compared with the 24 gainers recorded last Wednesday, while losers
closed higher at 43, compared with the 39 losers recorded the previous trading
day.

Julius Berger and Wapco Cement topped the price gainers’ chart
yesterday, with an increase of N1.52 and N1.50 on their opening prices of
N55.98 and N35.00 per share respectively. On the flip side, Oando and Dangote
Flour Mill topped the losers’ chart with a decrease of N2.95 and 89 kobo, to
close at N56.20 and N17.01 per share respectively.

The banking sector led the market transaction volume on Monday
with 140.17 million units valued at N1.08 billion, exchanged in 2,718 deals, as
against 117.83 million units valued at N1.01 billion, exchanged in 3,458 deals
recorded last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Exchange’s management yesterday marked down the
prices of six companies for dividends and bonuses.

Flourmill was marked down for a dividend of N2.00 and a bonus
one for 10 owned by its shareholders, while payment date is 3rd November 2010;
Nigerian Bags Manufacturing for a dividend of 13 kobo, payment date is 2nd
November 2010; Northern Nigeria Flour Mills for a dividend of 80 kobo bonus one
for five, payment date is 3rd November 2010.

Also, Academy Press was marked down for a dividend of 7 kobo and
a bonus one for three, payment date is 19th October 2010; Seven-Up for a
dividend of N1.75 bonus one for four, payment date is 19th October 2010; Law
Union & Rock for a dividend of 3 kobo, payment date is 4th October 2010.

Industry
professionals in Nigeria’s aviation sector hold divergent views on the
‘pay as you go’ mode of payment recently introduced by the Nigerian
Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) for collecting terminal navigational
charges from domestic airlines.

Some
experts favour the initiative, but other stakeholders in the sector see
the development as cumbersome and an additional tax on the highly
levied air tickets.

The
‘pay as you go’ fuss, which for two weeks resulted in series of
complaints and counter reactions from some airlines, saw to the
grounding of Arik Air’s 120 domestic flights in one day, and led to the
introduction of N100 additional ticket charge by Aero Contractors,
which the carrier described as “NAMA Tax.” Explaining that the
objections of domestic carriers to the new charges are “unnecessary,”
Lateef Lawal, an analyst who has spent over two decades in the
country’s aviation industry and the editor of Nigerian Aviation News in
Lagos, said that the airlines are looking for ways to evade the payment
for services rendered to them by service providers in the sector.

Mr.
Lawal argued that all domestic carriers in Nigeria jointly owe the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency (NAMA) a “whooping N10 billion if not more,” out of
which over N4 billion is owed NAMA.

“Prior
to 1st September 2010 when the management of NAMA took the bull by the
horns after the directive of the Minister of Aviation for aggressive
revenue and debt recovery drives, there had been several meetings
between NAMA officials and those of the debtor airlines on debt
reconciliations.

Some attended others blatantly refused to attend,” he said.

According
to Mr. Lawal, a Ministerial Committee was set up to look at all the
issues at stake and come up with recommendations on the ways out and
members of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) were part of the
committee along with ministry officials and others from parastatals in
the industry.

“After
the committee’s two-week sitting they came up with far reaching
recommendations which included the spreading of the old debt owed by
the airlines since 2005 to June 2010 to be spread across 36months while
they should henceforth make it a point of duty to always pay for
services rendered to them,” he said, adding “this recommendation among
others was endorsed by the Minister for implementation, which was what
NAMA started on 1st September this year.” He said that it is surprising
to see an about turn by the airlines that were part and parcel of the
report to which their representatives at the Ministerial Committee
Meeting appended their signatures.

Different views

However,
Gabriel Olowo, another expert in the sector and chief executive of
Sabre Travel Network, said that the answer to the ongoing palaver is to
“abolish ticket sales charge.” Mr. Olowo posited that the Airline
Operators of Nigeria had in the 90’s agreed to give five per cent of
what they get from the sales of air tickets to the government to
enhance the aviation sector, adding that the contract should replace
whatever levy is placed by any government organization on airlines.

“We
ordinarily should not speak on the matter waiting before the Supreme
Court of Nigeria; but throwing light into the history of Ticket Sales
Tax, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) during early 90’s had a
gentleman agreement with government to contribute five per cent of all
ticket sales for aviation development having appreciated the financial
needs of our airports and airspace,” he said.

“While
this subsists, it is expected to replace and substitute whatever charge
these institutions may have legitimacy to charge. There exists a
sharing formula for the fund by the agencies.” Mr. Olowo said that it
was after the agreement that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA) got its independence and the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) commenced taxation on airlines, stressing that the
levies on domestic airline tickets are exorbitant.

“NCAA
thereafter became autonomous and FAAN was collecting passenger service
charge (PSC) known as airport tax, in addition to its Landing and
Parking fees. NAMA saw the sense also in collecting Terminal
Navigational fees which tantamount to eating your cake and wanting to
have it as this amounts to double taxation,” he said.

“As you are already aware, Airline ticket contains too many taxes
(TST,PSC,VAT) and if we are serious about having strong and thriving
Nigerian carriers, additional tax burden on ticket in whatever
nomenclature will simply turn the airlines to revenue collecting agents
in the face of their already difficult environment of business.”