Nigeria Content Online

A new law to drive private participation in government business in Cross River state is now in place.

This is the
public-private-partnership (PPP) law that is expected to woo the
organised private sector. Governor Liyel Imoke, while giving his assent
to the PPP Law 2010, said it will give fillip to public private
partnership in the state as well as “create an enabling environment for
transparent process, opportunities for participation, and clear
regulatory framework for the partnership to develop.” The law seeks to
create the legal and institutional framework to facilitate and regulate
the financing, development, and maintenance by the private sector of
some public enterprises and services.

Mr Imoke revealed
that the state is the first state in the country to embark on the
process by providing the necessary statute to guide it and “will
continue to create an enabling environment with clear understanding of
working together with the private sector to develop its economy.” He
also expressed gratitude to the federal government for “its support in
working out the policies of the law,” and commended all those who
played significant roles to ensure the realisation of the law.

Mr Imoke declared
that the implementation of the law is with immediate effect, and called
on ministries, departments and agencies to study it in detail. He asked
them to set up PPP units in their offices because all PPP projects will
be executed in consent with the law which is very critical, adding that
more PPP contracts will be seen in the state in the 2011 fiscal year.
“This will go a long way to relieve the pressure on our capital budget
and addressing the resource gap that has always been a burden to us,”
he said. “We are on the verge of a fast tracking of our growth and
development in Cross River State.”

Fidelis Ugbo, the Secretary to the state government, said the PPP
law will fast track private sector participation and bring about a boon
in economic activities. Mr Ugbo described the law as a milestone in
business development, adding that it has given the right signal to the
private sector in the state and others who want to invest.

The Association of
Nigerian Exporters (ANE), on Thursday, called for the termination of
the contract of Price Waterhouse Coopers, the company handling the
Export Expansion Grant (EEG) computation.

It said the contract should be handed over to Nigerian Export
Promotion Council (NEPC). The President of ANE, Joseph Idiong, said the
NEPC should process the contract “since it is the agency appointed by
law to manage the EEG.” Mr Idiong said the measure was imperative,
because from January 2006 to date, NEPC had trained its staff to take
over the handling of the EEG process from the consultant.

On 20 April the world woke up to what oil spills mean and could
mean. Many reporters and the news media suddenly realised that there were heavy
spills in the Niger Delta, besides the gas flares that toast the skies daily.

However, even as the media lenses are focussed on some of the
atrocious evidence of environmental impunity in our backyard, the angling for
new oil blocks is assuming a stronger beat in the corridors of Aso Rock, as
well as in the board rooms of oil companies and related speculators.

The government needs more revenue; the oil companies need more
profits – it is a crude wedlock of convenience. Meanwhile the people are crying
for mere space for survival. Who listens to them?

Furthermore, as crude oil reserves deplete, oil companies are
moving into more fragile environments: off shore and even eco-reserves. There
are also more concerted moves into dirtier forms of crude – such as bitumen
development.

Bitumen mining produces three to five times more greenhouse
gases than conventional crude oil extraction. With the plans by government to
exploit bitumen from Edo state to Lagos state, we can expect a belt of fire in
this region that will make the Niger Delta conflict a weak prelude.

Bitumen is extracted largely by two methods: open cast mining or
drilling somewhat like crude oil is extracted. The open cast mining system
means excavation of the soil to reach the mineral necessitating the uprooting
of everything in its path. This means that whereas communities have been
polluted in the Niger Delta, in some of the areas where bitumen will be mined,
communities will simply have to be relocated or just dislocated. Where bitumen
is to be extracted by drilling, steam has first to be pumped into the wells to
melt the mineral and thus make it possible to pump to the surface through
pipes. All these add to indicate that bitumen belt will indeed be a belt of
fire.

Even though a monster cap has been fitted over the monster spill
in the Gulf of Mexico, the end of the story has not been reached. The spill has
revealed difficulties in oil field practices even where sophisticated
technologies are involved.

The environmental health concerns of the industry have also been
brought to question. Do the companies in the sector conduct genuine environment
impact studies/analyses for their projects? Do they have adequate oil spill
response plans and mechanisms? To what degree were the health and safety of the
workers considered in the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of
Mexico?

In terms of transparency, we see that the spill volume kept
increasing over time, as the BP was forced to be more realistic with the
figures. It is a shameful display of corporate duplicity and unwillingness to
be open. Check this trend. April 25: 1,000 barrels; April 28: 5,000 barrels;
May 27: 12,000 – 25,000 barrels; Early June: 20,000 – 50,000 barrels per day.
Today it is generally agreed that the spill was spewing over 100,000 barrels a
day right from day one.

Spineless government
officials

In our backyard, ExxonMobil has recorded a string of offshore
spills from their Qua Iboe operations since last May without a whimper from
government about the plight of the local communities and their destroyed
fisheries.

The impacts of the spill in the gulf have made headlines and
cleaning efforts are even televised. What no one knows is the extent to which
these will affect the food chain and ultimately humans. What is not known also
are the cracks that the explosion may have caused on the ocean floor and what
the implications maybe if there is a huge release of gases like methane from
the earth bowels.

The clean up efforts are sustained, but the burning of crude
releases greenhouse gases and the use of a cocktail of chemical dispersants
pose untold dangers.

Photos of the impacts of birds and aquatic lives melt even the
stoniest of hearts. Little wonder government officials have attempted to keep
them from public view. What breaks my heart more than those photos from the
Gulf of Mexico is the nonchalance of our government officials about destroyed
livelihoods and destroyed human lives in the Niger Delta, in the Gulf of
Guinea.

A 2007 report by Nigerian scientists and the World Conservation
Union concludes that “an estimated 1.5million tons of oil has spilled in the
Niger Delta ecosystem over the past 50 years, representing about 50 times the
estimated volume spilled in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.” The Exxon Valdez spill
occurred in 1989. Till date clods of crude oil are still traceable on the
shores that were impacted. And that spill was cleaned 21 years ago.

When will there be a real response in Nigeria?

A Lagos-based firm,
Cifa International, has entered into partnership with the O’dua
Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture aimed at boosting
agricultural production in the southwestern part of Nigeria.

The managing
director and chief executive officer of Cifa International, Adebowale
Aderotoye, said at the official presentation of the prospectus of the
third O’dua International trade fair/exhibition in Ibadan, Thursday,
that the partnership was borne out of concern for the declining
fortunes of agriculture in Nigeria.

Mr. Aderotoye said
through the partnership, new ways of harnessing the climate and rich
land in the region will be discovered to increase food production in
Nigeria and Africa.

“The project is
important because agriculture is becoming something of the past. If
care is not taken, in the next 10 years, all food for consumption in
Nigeria will be imported. Record from the Nigerian Customs says food
importation in the country is above 38 per cent. That now becomes a
driving force for us. We want to use the project to resuscitate
agriculture in Nigeria,” he said.

First international fair

He explained
further that apart from inviting experts from Malaysia, Canada, Poland
and some West African countries to display their wares, the exhibition
will encourage state governments to develop their agricultural sector
in order to boost their economies and provide food for their people.

Olaitan Alabi, the
chairman of the 2010 O’dua International Trade fair/ Exhibition, said
the programme could not hold in the past two years because of logistic
reasons.

Mr. Alabi said this
year’s edition will not be restricted to the promotion of agriculture
alone, but will accommodate other sectors complementary to it. He
appealed to the federal government to build an international trade fair
complex in Ibadan as it has done in all other old regional headquarters
in the country.

Abiodun Oyeka,
chairman of Odua council, said this year’s exhibition was the first to
be approved for international participation to showcase the economic,
industrial and investment potentials of the country in agriculture and
food productions.

Themed,
“Agricultural Industry: Production, Processing and Packaging Synergy to
meet local and foreign markets in the face of globalisation,” the trade
fair is scheduled to hold in Ibadan from 8 to 18 October, 2010.

The Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria yesterday unveiled its new revenue
collection policy targeted at ensuring the quick remittance of all
income due to the agency.

This is coming
because concessionaires, airlines, aviation ground handling companies,
and others regularly neglect to remit accrued charges to the authority
as at when due.

Richard
Aisuebeogun, managing director of the authority, said at a forum at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, that the credit
control system will ensure accountability and objectivity in all
financial transactions between the authority and its customers.

“There have been
situations in which disputes arose between FAAN and some of its
customers over reconciliation of accounts or interpretation of terms of
agreement,” Mr. Aisuebeogun said.

“It was either that
the customer was claiming that the authority had given a higher bill
than he deserved or that the authority was claiming that the customer
under-paid or breached the terms of agreement,” he added.

Mr. Aisuebeogun
spoke of occasions when debts were made to accumulate over a long
period, some stretching for years because debtors refused to pay their
bills on account of the former mode of payment.

“Besides, most of
the transactions that the authority still operates with some of our
customers were entered into many years ago, with conditions that are no
longer feasible or viable in today’s economic reality,” he said.

N18 billion debt

Condemning the
laxity in remitting charges exhibited by clients of the authority,
Azuka Onyia, the new finance and accounts director of FAAN, said that
the authority was owed N18 billion by its customers as at may 2010.

“I know that it is
beyond that now; and they know that the way businesses strive to
survive is the same way FAAN strive to survive,” Mrs. Onyia said.

She reiterated that
perennial debtors to the authority will have to pay accrued interest,
adding that series of complains over the decaying state of the airport
warrant immediate financial attention.

“You can’t owe us
N1 million since 2004 and come to pay same N1 million in 2010,” she
said. “You all know that there has been series of articles in
newspapers condemning the authority, and since you will not allow
anybody to owe you, FAAN will not allow any of you to owe any longer.”
The finance director, however, said that clients are advised to meet
with the authority to negotiate whatever term they find unclear in the
manual.

“There is nothing
in the credit manual that does not give FAAN basis to understand with
her customers, for it is not necessary for us to start dragging one
another to Abuja or to court,” she said. “It is in their best interest
that our customers enter into agreement with us for both parties to
negotiate.” Mrs.

Onyia outlined
penalties against defaulters highlighted in the new manual to include
complete denial of access to the authority’s facilities, and litigation
where all possibilities of amicable resolutions have been exhausted.

How do you keep
your old computer in use? Imagine having that eight year old box which
has a 700MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM? Do you throw it away?

Everyone knows that
the latest version of the popular Windows Operating System is a
resource hungry software that would not even install on older systems
let alone being usable. Weep not though; there is an answer to your old
system worries.

A light-weight
version of Ubuntu Linux has hit download mirrors everywhere. While it
is not yet officially supported by Canonical, the company behind the
world’s most popular Linux distribution, this version of Ubuntu has in
the last three months wormed its way up the Linux charts to become the
twelfth most popular version of Linux. The name of this light-weight
version of Ubuntu is Lubuntu,

To download
Lubuntu, just make a beeline to http://lubuntu.net and click on “get
Lubuntu”. The iso is a 521MB file that should be down in less than an
hour with a decent IPNX connection. When you have it, burn to CD then
pop it into your computer. Installation involves answering a few simple
questions, then going off to make that plate of Indomie while the
computer handles the rest.

Lubuntu’s default
look is geared towards making an easy transition from Windows. There is
a menu button at the bottom left of the screen and a tray at the bottom
right with a taskbar running across.

Sensible design

The creators of
this Operating System have sensibly chosen to include software with the
smallest possible memory footprints so that you can make the best of
your ageing hardware. As a result, the popular OpenOffice.org which is
the office suite included in most versions of Linux has been discarded
in favour of the more lightweight Abiword for word processing, and
Gnumeric for spreadsheets. If you feel more at home with
OpenOffice.org, you can install it through the Synaptic software
installer that comes as a standard in all Ubuntu based Operating
Systems.

For web browsing,
Lubuntu uses Chromium in place of Firefox. I love Firefox, but compared
to Chromium, Firefox is a snail. If you want to watch movies, Gnome
MPlayer is there for you, while Agualung is the default music player.
There is an image editor called mtPaint, but it can only do the most
basic of image editing tasks.

Testing Lubuntu in my test environment, which was a virtual machine
running on 256MB of RAM, the system clocks at 124MB with no programs
loaded. When watching a video from Youtube, the memory usage never went
above 200MB! Now try that with Windows 7.

As the new board
members of the Nigerian Communications Commission resumed for duty on
Monday, some professionals in the telecom industry said the appointees
are competent in exercising their duties. In an email response on what
he thinks of the new members, Olusola Teniola, an engineer and the
chief operating officer of Phase3 Telecoms Ltd said, “According to
public information given about each nominee, it would appear that they
are highly competent to carry out their duties in ensuring the
stability of the political environment within the industry and more
important exercise their oversight mandate.”

The new board
members are Eugene Ikemefuna Juwah as the executive vice
-chairman/chief executive officer, Peter Egbe Igoh as chairman,
Okechukwu Itanyi an executive commissioner, Mohammed Bintude as a
non-executive commissioner.

Since April, the
commission has been without a substantive executive vice-chairman after
the tenure of the former executive vice-chairman; Ernest Ndukwe came to
an end and the retirement of the board chairman, Ahmed Joda.

Last week, after
the presidency released the name of the appointees to the Senate for
approval, the National Assembly disbanded the committee on
communication over an alleged fraud activity in the committee’s
screening of the new board members of the commission. The chairman of
the committee on communications, Sylvester Anyanwu was alleged to have
been screening the appointees of the NCC alone without other members of
the committee and at night. Mr. Teniola said that the dismissal of the
committee on communications, last week showed good faith in democracy.

Ensure sustainability

“The intent and
objective of the president to nominate a new executive vice-chairman
and other board members (including the chairman) is to ensure
sustainability of 10 years of good regulatory momentum and to ensure
that the absence of a leader or referee in the industry is not
elongated to send the wrong signals to the industry and the global
community of investors,” added Mr. Teniola.

Nine years after
the introduction of GSM telephones, the telecom industry has shown so
much growth. Industry watchers say there is more work to be done in
order to move the industry forward. Jimson Olufuye, the president of
the Information Technology Association of Nigeria said, “The commission
should work closely with operators in the private sector, the gap
between the commission and operators should be removed. He should
ensure more transparency in the USPF deployment.”

Mr. Teniola added that the new board members should focus on
projects that are yet to be introduced by the commission. “There is
need for the commission to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) to
address quality of service issues and allow consumers to easily migrate
from operator to another without losing their mobile number. This helps
ensure a level playing field and allows consumers greater choice.”

After
recording positive performance for the eighth trading day, and
recovering over N278 billion during the period in view, the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE), which lost about N15 billion last Friday, further
plunged by N51.3 billion on Monday.

Analysts
have attributed profit taking activities by investors to the downturn
as sell pressures continued across the sectors on the bourse. Even the
news of the assumption of office of the three new chief executive
officers of UBA, Zenith, and Skye banks could not change the banking
sector’s direction. Equity Analysts at Proshare Nigeria, an investment
advisory firm, at the close of trading on Monday, said the negative
trend resumed last Wednesday. “Sectors such as banking that experienced
strongest rally on the back of Asset Management Company expectedly
witnessed the strongest sell pressures,” the analysts said.

They,
however, said considering the positive developments in the market, and
barring any negative news in the market, “we are of the view that the
present bearish mode may not last longer than necessary, as investors
may have reasons for holding some stocks when their prices hit some
certain points.” At the close of the day’s proceeding, the Exchange’s
market capitalisation lost N51.3 billion, or 0.81 per cent, to close at
N6.269 trillion. The All-Share Index was also down by 0.81 per cent to
close at 25,634.39 basis points, reflecting a decrease of 209.79 units.

The
number of gainers at the close of trading session stood at 25 compared
with the 22 gainers recorded on Friday, while losers also closed higher
at 43 compared with the 42 recorded last trading day. The banking
sector led the market transaction volume on Monday with 110.721 million
units valued at N892.096 million exchanged in 3,205 deals. Transactions
in the shares of Zenith, Diamond, First Bank and UBA boosted the volume
traded in the sector. The total volume of 49.586 million units valued
at N590.225 million traded in the shares of the four banks accounted
for 48.75 per cent of the entire sector volume.

Seamless takeover

Meanwhile,
seamless takeover was it at the three banks whose new chief executive
officers assumed office on Monday. Phillip Oduoza for UBA, Phillip
Emefiele, Zenith and Kehinde Durosimmi-Etti for Skye assumed office on
Monday. At the head offices of the three banks, it was business as
usual as there was no visible indication that a change of guard had
occurred. At UBA head office; there was no unusual happening as people
moved in and out of the premises. It was the same thing at Skye Bank
head office on Victoria Island. A visit to one of its branches in the
Central Business District on Lagos Island, revealed the usual throng of
customers conducting normal transactions.

Nasir Ramon, of the media unit of UBA, said the handover was smooth
and seamless. “The new managing director assumed his position
officially on Sunday. Everything is going on well”, he said. The
Central Bank in January unveiled new sets of corporate governance codes
that would see chief executives of banks spending a maximum of 10 years
in office. Bank CEOs who were affected by the directive include Jim
Ovia of Zenith Bank and Tony Elumelu of UBA, who have spent 19 and 12
years as CEOs of their respective banks. Akinfemi Akinfehinwa, former
CEO of Skye Bank, had also spent over 10 years.

Lending by Kenya’s
commercial banks rose steadily between April and June, almost doubling
the lending growth during the same period last year, but remained below
desirable levels, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
said on Monday.

East Africa’s
largest economy is struggling to bring commercial lending rates lower
to stimulate greater credit expansion while facing a key referendum on
a new constitution later this week. Investors see a ‘yes’ vote as
important for stability.

Separate data on
Monday showed Kenya’s inflation rate ticking up slightly to 3.6 per
cent in July from 3.5 per cent a month earlier owing to higher food and
beverage prices, but analysts said it was expected to steady.

Gross bank loans
increased by 30 billion shillings between April and June 2010 to 828
billion shillings, with more than a quarter taken on by the
manufacturing sector. Domestic credit grew by 26.6 per cent in the
first half of 2010.

“The growth of
credit to the private sector, though, was noted to be below what is
desirable for a high growth trajectory,” the MPC said in a written
statement.

Central bank
Governor Njuguna Ndung’u told a news conference that last week’s cut in
the bank’s benchmark lending rate (CBR) by 75 basis point to 6 per cent
was to stimulate credit growth amid benign inflation and worries about
the high level of commercial bank lending rates.

“Despite (the)
reduction in lending rates … there is scope for banks to lower rates.
We are quite concerned about this,” he said.

While the central
bank has made seven cuts totalling 3 per cent to its lending rate since
it began a cycle of easing in December 2008, commercial banks have been
slow to follow.

Latest central bank figures put the average commercial bank lending rate at 14.39 per cent in June.

Market inefficiency

Ndung’u said the
spread between commercial banks’ rates was increasing as deposit rates
fell more sharply than lending rates. “These spreads signal
inefficiency,” he said.

At 1310 GMT,
Kenya’s shilling traded at 80.15/25, up slightly on Friday’s closing
price of 80.30/40 amid growing optimism Wednesday’s referendum on a new
constitution would be peaceful after the final campaign rallies passed
off without trouble this weekend.

Stocks on the Nairobi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 20 share Index climbed 1.27 per cent to 4494.78 points.

A central bank
market survey showed 41 per cent of banks saw credit expansion of more
than 10 per cent by the end of 2010 and more than half of private firms
expected their demands for loans to rise by more than 10 per cent
during the same period, the MPC statement said.

The same study also
showed that Kenya’s private sector is more optimistic the economy will
expand by more than 5 per cent in 2010 against 2.6 per cent last year
thanks to a rebound in agriculture and manufacturing.

The poll in July
showed that 17 per cent of those polled saw gross domestic product
above 5 per cent, nearly double the 9 per cent of those surveyed in
May, the MPC said.

“We are getting out of the trough faster than we thought,” Ndung’u said in reference to economic growth.

Separately on
Monday, month-on-month food and non-alcoholic drinks prices rose 0.5
per cent while alcoholic beverages and tobacco costs were up 1.2 per
cent on June.

“There are
pressures both ways so it (inflation rate) could remain within a fairly
narrow range,” said Nairobi-based independent economist Robert Shaw.

Inflation has been
slowing across east Africa most of 2010, largely due to easing food
prices as a result of heavy rains and increased harvests.

The next rains in
Kenya, usually short in duration, are expected around November. “If
they are deficient, it could exert pressure on food prices,” Shaw said.

Malawi is ready to
cut its spending in order to sustain growth if foreign donors reduce
crucial aid, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo said on Monday. Britain’s
Department for International Development (DFID) said last week it was
adjusting its programme in Malawi as part of a global review of
bilateral aid.

“The forecast for the global economic recovery remains
uncertain on account of huge budget deficits in major economies of the
world and the expenditure cuts in these countries has the potential of
upsetting the growth prospects of other countries including ours,” Mr
Kandodo said.