A State of Security Poll (SoS), conducted by NOIPolls, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), yesterday revealed that majority of Nigerians across the country are divided over the extension of emergency rule by the federal government in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
The three states had become the hotbed of security challenges in the country.
The report shows that Nigerians from the North-central and North-west regions are in support of the extension of emergency rule in the troubled areas, even as those from the troubled zones are however, opposed to it.
The organisers of the poll however, said the main objectives of the state of security surveys were to gauge the perceptions of Nigerians regarding the state of security within their communities and the nation as a whole.
The disclosure, which was made available to THISDAY in Abuja, in its second quarter poll ratings, showed that 76 per cent are apprehensive of the state of insecurity across the country.
“On one hand, when asked to rate the current state of security in the country, majority 76 per cent were of the opinion that the country is not secure,” the poll stated.
In a further revelation, the poll added: “When asked to rate the state of insecurity in their local communities, only 34 per cent viewed their communities as insecure, an indication that one feels safer when the danger is not in close proximity.
“Interestingly, a reverse of this is found in the North-east region that views the country as much safer than their communities.”
On the impact of checkpoints mounted by security agents across the highways, it said a slight majority of 47 per cent think that security checkpoints are effective in deterring terrorist attacks, while 43 per cent think that checkpoints are ineffective.
According to the poll, top key measures identified by Nigerians to help tackle security challenges in the country include unity among religious leaders, increased security within the country borders and better motivation of security personnel with good pay, equipment and training.
The report also underscored insecurity as a major challenge the current administration was battling with, adding: “Also the current state of insecurity in the country has affected the president’s approval ratings in the last couple of months as incessant attacks across the country continued.
“A combination of terrorist attacks, ethnic clashes and violent clashes within communities have further heightened the need to deal with the insecurity and its effect on lives and properties of the Nigerian people.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A former Minister of Power and high-ranking officer of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Bello Suleiman, has
States based power supply company, Enron, in 1998.
Suleiman who is a delegate to the National Conference and a member of the Committee on Energy told THISDAY in an interview in Abuja that as a result of the financial burden incurred in servicing the Enron power deal, PHCN became totally broke.
However, the present minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said the power sector is not broke.
The minister who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Kande Daniel, attributed the current revenue situation to both technical and commercial losses, which he assured Nigerians that the ministry is making effort to reduce.
"The power sector is not broke. The entire system has a lot of losses (both technical and commercial) which government is working hard to reduce. In some Discos, it is as high as 40 percent, meaning that for every N1 of energy, the distribution company is able to collect about 60 kobo. The causes of the losses include ageing and obsolete infrastructure, lack of metering and energy theft," the Minister added.
Nebo said the federal government had taken into consideration the ability and capacity to reduce losses as a major criterion for the preferred bidders who eventually won and took over the distribution companies. To the minister, the new distribution firms are to commence the implementation of their respective business plans which include metering and replacement of obsolete equipment.
"The distribution companies are presently revalidating the loss profiles in their respective distribution companies, and this should be factored in the review of the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO). The power sector is expected to be fully liquid when TEM is declared. More and more investors are coming into the sector, indicating confidence in the system and the economy," he said.
On the present generation capability, the minister said the power plants were capable of doing 6,730Megawatts (as at yesterday) while distribution capacity was put at about 7,000MW.
But Suleiman who also made a presentation to the Energy committee at the conference, went further to state that the reason most of the reforms in the power sector failed to produce significant result was because they did not address the financial inadequacies facing the sector.
Speaking on the failure of the country to attract private investors to buy into the independent power project (IPP) initiative over the years, Suleiman said the first major venture into private investor deal on IPP with Enron was messed up by the signing of a lop-sided contract which stifled the power sector.
He said: "The Enron power project was about the first of the IPP which came into being in the sector. The problem is that the contract signed with Enron was the most one-sided contract I have ever seen.
“Enron, at the best of times, will only provide 10 percent of the power generation but for more than a decade now, nearly 30 percent of the revenue obtained from the power sector is being paid to Enron.
“Under the contract, Enron was to provide 200 MW and even if they do not provide 1MW they will still be entitled to payments. Nigerian government is also expected to supply gas to Enron free. This agreement has really ruined the finances of the power sector.”
Suleiman explained that although many members of the PHCN management objected to the contract with the US firm on the grounds that it was going to destroy the power sector, government, nevertheless, went ahead to concretise the deal.
According to him, the government saw the problem going into such contract but because it was signed as an international deal between the US and Nigeria, dumping it was not quite easy.
"The contract was signed in 1998 and they deployed in 1999, about a year after. Since then, they have been getting payment from the PHCN. The contract with Enron was signed when late Bola Ige was the Minster of Power,” he said.
On the exact amount involved in the alleged contract ripe-off, Suleiman said: "I cannot say exactly the amount but the Enron contract gulps about N3 billion every month and we are talking about nearly ten years.
“The result of the faulty contract is what is playing out now as the sector has become largely unattractive to investors who are afraid of not recouping their investment.
"It was not only the minister; quite a number of actors then did not agree with our objection. They had alleged that we were opposed to Enron because we did not want anybody to come into the power sector, sometimes I was even dubbed arrogant, being a Prince from Sokoto Emirate.
"In fact because of the Enron contract, PHCN has not been able to sign any IPP. Although arrangement was with the international oil companies as part of the agreement to lift crude oil, it also tries to set up power plants, like Agip, Shell and Chevron.
"They remain the only private driven investment in the power sector. Other small contributions came from some state governments as part of their political agenda. But in reality, I have not seen any sort of outside investor coming to Nigeria because the power sector itself is broke, it had not been able to pay and I can recall a number of times that even PHCN itself could not pay Enron and government has to look elsewhere for money to pay.
“Even now, I think the sector owes Shell, Agip and Chevron some money. So the power sector is financially bankrupt," he said.
With regard to the none availability of pre-paid metres, he said there were certain policies which he met on ground when he became the deputy vice- chairman of PHCN which involved disagreements over contracts signed with three companies to supply pre-paid meters.
The former minister said there was another female contractor who also claimed to have a contract to supply close to two million meters and that she is insisting she should be allowed to complete her contract before anyone else.
When asked to assess the current policy intervention by the federal government under its power sector roadmap, Suleiman said it was yet to fully address the actual problems in the power sector.
"It is a rash sort of policy to say that the power sector has been privatised but in reality the actual problems that exist in the sector have not been solved, and that is why power supply generally has not improved. As at today I was told that the generation was hovering around 1,700 MW. This was the same figure that I met when I became the minister in 1998.
"What I can tell you is that the current roadmap is targeted towards privatisation and we should ask ourselves, what is there to be privatised? Can we privatise plants of 2,500 MW? To me, that is not the roadmap that should take Nigeria to the 20,000 MW we are aspiring. Before you can rely on something and say this is the way, you must see that it works.
"If for the last 15 years, the emphasis that the private sector must drive the power sector has not yielded the kind of result we are looking for. It is either that the right policies that will attract the private sector are not there or the policy itself is wrong.
"As I said earlier, before the privatisation began, the sector was bankrupt. So for a sector that cannot pay its bills, the first thing to do is to ensure that it is structured properly so that it could pay its bills and then investors from the private sector will come in," Suleiman added.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
In order to improve the retirement benefit administration process and to enhance the comfort of pensioners, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has defined roles for the different stakeholders in the system.
In addition to computing models for calculating programmed withdrawals, the regulator said it will set investment guidelines for active members and retirees’ funds while ensuring timely payments to retirees among other things.
The pension regulator said while retirees are to supply necessary information including the bank accounts they want their pensions to bepaid into, Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are to ensure that payments are made at the appropriate time to ensure adequate comfort for retirees.
The Head of Benefits and Insurance at PenCom, Mr. Lana Loyinmi, highlighted these roles while addressing participants at the 2014 Retirees’ Forum hosted by PenCom in Abuja recently.
In his presentation titled “Rights/Privileges of Retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme,” Loyinmi said the commission provides PFAs computation models for calculating programmed withdrawal and approves benefit withdrawal modes and change of PFA.
He said the regulator issues investment guideline for active members and retirees' funds and general regulations and guidelines to PFAs and supervises PFAs and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) to ensure accurate and timely payments of pension to retirees.
PenCom also monitors PFAs for compliance, sanctions non compliance and constitutes Board of Inquiry (BOI) for case of missing persons and communicating the findingd of the board to the affected PFAs before approving the payment of death benefits.
According to Loyinmi, a retiree enjoys the right to continuous enlightenment on pension and financial matters by PFAs even as he is free to transfer his RSA before or after retirement from one PFA to another whenever the window is opened.
The retiree also has the right to negotiate or change the mode of withdrawal of pension benefits from programmed withdrawal to annuity and make available to his PFA, a quotation or provisional agreement from a life insurance company for the purchase of annuity, he said.
In line with the above rights, the retiree must understand that he cannot change from annuity back to programmed withdrawal at any time even as he is entitled to receive periodic statement of account from his PFA, by hard copy or e-mail.
The head of benefits at the commission also stated that for a retiree to be eligible for the above benefits, he is expected to provide his contact address after retirement and other documentations required by the PFA.
He is also to introduce his next of kin to his PFA before or after retirement, provide details of a bank account for receiving his retirement benefits, write or update a will naming an administrator.
Loyinmi also said PFAs are to enlighten retirees on the features of programmed withdrawal and life annuity, issue payment instructions to Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs) for periodic withdrawals and reissue standing order every 12 months.
The administrators are also expected to confirm the identity of the next of kin of the deceased, advice him on the valid Letter of Administration or Will admitted to probate and other requirements as well as notify PenCom of the death of a deceased or disappearance of a worker among other things.
Also, PFCs are to execute standing orders from PFAs for payment of periodic withdrawals to retirees, pay lump sum and periodic withdrawals and credit retirees’ bank accounts promptly, Loyinmi added.
Before now, the Acting Director General of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, assured that new ways of improving retirement benefit administration processes to enhance the comfort of pensioners would be introduced.
She said the commission was collaborating with the insurance regulator, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to ensure that life annuity as proposed in the law is implemented fully.
Anohu-Amazu also underscored the need for adequate sensitisation and public enlightenment in order to create awareness on these regulations which also encapsulate the retirees’ rights and privileges.
The forum was convened to enable PenCom get feedback on the experiences of current beneficiaries of the contributory pension scheme to be incorporated into the future plans and programmes of the commission.
The programme also afforded retirees an opportunity to relate on common issues and correct any misinformation earlier passed to them by PFAs and insurance companies with regard to programmed withdrawals and life annuity.
It is also meant to identify grey areas, as perceived by retirees’ requiring the urgent attention of the pension regulator.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Mr. Yemi Kale Tuesday said the structure of the services sector of the economy which constitutes over 50 per cent of nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) does not benefit the country in terms of job creation but rather enriches other countries from which services are being imported.
Speaking in Abuja on the “Rebased GDP-Understanding the Statistics,” at the 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Learning Series themed: "The Rebased GDP and its Impact on the Nigerian Capital Market," Kale said the services industry merely import and consume services without a counter output, a situation which he said partly explains why the impact of the recently rebased GDP could not be evaluated through job creation and better living condition.
He also said the fact that only a few individuals, companies and sectors continue to be accountable for the larger GDP output would always ensure that the country grows without a proper income distribution and job opportunities.
He said there was need to bring some of the sectors and companies which contributed significantly to GDP growth to the capital market so as to ensure income redistribution.
However, he stressed that the rebasing of GDP was not expected to fulfill monetary expectations by individual, but rather give policy makers direction to formulate policies that could impact on living standards.
Contrary to assumptions, he said GDP growth is no guarantee for development and job creation.
He said: "The growth in GDP is not synonymous with job creation. It is expected that as the economy grows, people’s income rise and their demand for goods and services increase. As a result, producers increase output and employ more people so that employment increases.
"However, though jobs are being created, the jobs may not enough to reduce unemployment or poverty. This is the challenge of non-inclusive growth, which occurs when an economy that is greatly endowed with human labour (population) actually employs more capital-intensive production processes rather than labour."
Continuing, he said: "In fact, developing countries have been known to have higher and faster GDP growth rates than developed countries. The fact that a country has a higher nominal GDP than the other does not in itself suggest that one country is ‘more developed’ than the other, since development encompasses a broader set of measures of human progress than GDP, which is strictly a measure of economic output.
“However, GDP (or output) growth is necessary for development. When output rises, producer profits increase, government tax and revenue rise and, if deployed appropriately to building physical or social infrastructure, one can expect to witness tangible development progress."
Continuing, the NBS boss said:"Where this link is not maintained however, it is difficult for growth to translate to meaningful development progress, whether in terms of physical infrastructure or progress with social indicators.
“Rebasing the GDP is an exercise which brings the comparison of current GDP estimates to the closest picture of reality as possible. By measuring better the level of economic activity, GDP rebasing provides a more accurate picture of the economy which is crucial to informing policy makers on the current economic trends.
“This helps in the formulation of more- informed policies to address poverty, unemployment and human development challenges."
Also speaking at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane said although the World Bank had suggested borrowing domestically rather than outside, the Nigerian stock market needs to sustain investor confidence after the recent financial crisis.
He said efforts should be made to ensure the capital market reflect the economy because most of the remarkable GDP growth results do not come from listed companies.
He added that getting more companies to list could contact the income inequality in society as well as reduce social vices.
Speaking on the 'Nigerian Economic Outlook' he said the country must choose an appropriate and sustainable strategy for growth.
Bismarck also said the country needed to move from a bank- based economy to market based system, arguing that the latter is more effective for development purposes.
On the macroeconomic front, he said there had been excess liquidation in the system adding that this could increase the pressure on the currency.
He also said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would soon accept the reality of Naira devaluation earlier than anticipated while excess liquidity in the system may become a real problem.
He said the higher amount of money shared at the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings despite shortfall in oil revenue was not in the best interest of the country because it meant reserves and other savings were being depleted to make up for the shortages.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
FBN Holding Plc Tuesday announced a dividend of N1.10 per share for the year ended December 31, 2013, showing an increase of 10 per cent above the N1.00 paid the previous year.
The dividend, which amount to N35.895 billion would be paid out of profit after tax recorded by FBN Holdings for the year. The audited results made available yesterday showed that the financial institution ended 2013 with gross earnings of N395.9 billion, up seven per cent from N370.2 billion posted in 2012.
Interest income rose by 10 per cent from N295.4 billion to N323.6 billion. While FBN Holdings tried to control operating expenses, which fell by four per cent from N193.5 billion to N185 billion, high impairment charge of N20.3 billion affected the bottom-line. Consequently, FBN Holding recorded profit after tax of N70.6 billion compared to N76.8 billion in 2012.
Further analysis of the results indicated that the company witnessed an increase of 22 per cent in customers’ deposit, rising from N2.395 trillion to N2.929 trillion.
Loans to customers grew by 15 per cent from N1.541 trillion to N1.769 trillion, while total assets also rose by 20 per cent from N3.228 trillion to N3.871 trillion.
Commenting on the results, the Chief Executive Officer of FBN Holdings, Bello Maccido, said the prevalent theme over the course of 2013 was one of moderate economic growth within the context of significant regulatory changes in our sector.
“Our financial performance was impacted largely due to revised banking charges, whilst the increase in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) impacted our overall performance as reflected through FirstBank, our flagship subsidiary.
"During 2013, whilst the Group delivered a year-on-year rise in gross earnings of 7.0 per cent to N395.9 billion, profit before tax dipped marginally by three to N91.3 billion,” he said.
According to him, the diversification and strong natural synergies, in turn, reduce risk and improve the quality of the company’s earnings.
“With the recent acquisition of ICB banks across four West African countries, the acquisition of Oasis Insurance and our on-going effort to strengthen the investment banking and asset management business through the acquisition of a merchant banking license, the Group is on track to deliver on its promises to its various stakeholders,” Maccido said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
UBA Capital Plc, the first and only investment bank listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) surmounted the challenging operating environment and recorded a growth of 106 per cent in profit after tax to N1.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2013.
Speaking at the first annual general meeting in Lagos yesterday, Chairman of UBA Capital, Mr. Chika Mordi, said the company posted an impressive performance in the first year of its operations.
According to him, the business activities of the company covered investment banking, asset management, trusteeship and securities brokerage, saying all the business lines operated profitably and collectively contributed to positive results.
Mordi said as a result of the diversification of the company’s business lines and expansion in each business line, gross earnings grew by 241 per cent from N1.3 billion to N4.6 billion.
“Profit after tax from continuing operation grew by 106 per cent to N1.8 billon from N856 million. This is as a result of growth in our various business lines as well as a more diversified income stream and efficient cost management,” he said.
The directors recommended a dividend of 25 kobo, which was approved by the shareholders at the meeting.
Mordi assured shareholders that with the strategies adopted and the structures the board has out in place, the 2013 performance would not only be sustained but also be surpassed.
Speaking in the same, the Group Chief Executive Officer of UBA Capital, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni said the strong gross earnings were driven by fees and commission from execution of various investment banking mandates and generated from various funds under the management.
Sanni said notwithstanding the challenging start for the money and capital markets in 2014, the company is confident of the ability of its leadership to optimise market conditions to deliver consistent results.
“We are convinced that our renewed marketing vigour, concerted efforts towards repositioning the company, strengthening of the workforce at all levels, service delivery and efficiency drivers such as group shared services initiative and robust new information technology infrastructure platform will support accelerated business growth, the improvement of service delivery and appreciable cost improvements. All these are expected to enhance productivity, revenue generation and profitability,” Sanni said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Chief Executive Officer of Idea House, Mr. Kehinde Salami, spoke to Raheem Akingbolu on the importance of experiential marketing to business development and the efforts being made by practitioners to strengthen the industry
A new body called ‘Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN)’ was inaugurated last year to coordinate the affairs of experiential practitioners, how far has it gone in redefining the industry?
From any angle one chooses to look at it, the establishment of the body was a step in the right direction. In fact, it came a bit late. A body like EXMAN supposes to have been in place 10 or 12 years before we finally have it.
How I wished your question is directed at my president or the association’s secretary who I know would have given you the details of our activities in the last one year better than I will do.
Having said this, let me state that EXMAN was established to reposition the industry, thereby strengthening the practice to enhance professionalism. With the association in place, we are easily identified and coordinated.
If you recalled, EXMAN executive recently visited the leadership of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) with a view to creating a good working relationship with the regulatory body on how to raise the bar in the marketing communications industry.
Among other things, at individual and collective levels, we have earned more respect through the association and it has made it easy for stakeholders to know who is who in the industry.
Experiential wasn’t as popular as this in the years past, what do you think responsible for its patronage in the recent time?
Many people do think experiential is new in our market and is not so. It is just that it has started being reshaped in the last seven years. Over the years, people call it different names and that still continues.
I have always said the way we define whatever we do is important and the way people understand what we offer is also germane. Experiential marketing is a field in marketing communication that business owners use to communicate with a market in a more active and direct manner.
Each time I discuss this, I like to use to draw analogy between it and medicine, where we have ophthalmologists, gynecologist or psychiatrist. All of them practice medicine but in different field.
That is exactly what happens in our industry too, where each of the sectoral bodies play different roles in marketing mix. In my view, it is in stages; identity creation, relationship marketing, digital and then reputation building.
At the level of identity creation, advertising readily comes to mind, experiential handles relationship marketing before the digital people come in to create interactive forum around the brand. The last is Public Relations practitioners that are hugely involved in reputation building.
With about two decades put into practice, you are in a good position to say whether the industry is appreciated in Nigeria or not.
Let me first emphasise that part of my practice years experience was in the UK but like you said, I have spent enough time in this market to be able to state my view about the level of patronage and appreciation.
If we consider the activities in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), I think the sector has consistently engaged experiential agencies to help create good bond between brands and consumers over the years.
When you come to the financial sector, the reverse is the case, experiential marketing is not appreciated the way it should be. In the financial sector and to some extent in public service, marketing is still not regarded as investment but cost.
To improve on bottom lines and get policies across to relevant targets, marketing should be seen as investment not as cost.
Things are fast changing anyway as the market is daily being redefined. In experiential industry, professionals have become more understanding and more professionals.
They are ready to handle things differently to add value to what their clients bring into the table. Consumers have become more sophisticated and segmented, which tend to make business owners appreciate the need to approach the market through various approaches, depending on which class of the market one is targeting.
Experiential marketing thrives on brand experience. A lot of brands that use experiential marketing to sell their brands give the consumers the opportunity to understand the brand more. Brand owners can interact with consumers on experiential platform and get feedback. Experiential marketing is basically marketing a brand by driving understanding of the product through human senses.
What are the challenges confronting the industry?
Like other creative endeavours, there is always a challenge of convincing clients on the best thing to do. Experience has shown that not every marketing team would like to be told that something is deficient in their strategy or that their agency has a better way of getting better marketing results for them.
This is a challenge we are contending with but let me quickly add that there are some discerning clients who are always willing and open to other creative ideas.
Beyond this, I’m happy that at Idea House, we are contributing our beat to the development of the industry.
Our creative ideas are impacting the bottom line of our clients. But much more, we are delighted that we are providing employment for the youths of this country. Apart from the staff at our office here, we usually have between 200 and 250 contract staff on the field almost all time. To us, that's the way to measure impact and we are happy that we are doing that.
There is general challenge, which all the players in the marketing communication industry are daily contending with. There is infrastructure problem and shrinking in marketing budgets of many companies, which has reduced billings on the general outlook.
In our own industry, the major one at the moment is the insecurity in the north, which has made experiential marketing difficult to explore in that region. There is constant fear of the possibility of attack of both the field workers and ad-hoc staff on parade. As a result of this, we are suffering in silence and daily losing millions of naira.
How measurable is experiential solution?
From every brief or work that comes your way, the client has some objectives; therefore, experiential marketing is measured by the level of achievement against what was set as objective at the beginning of your activation.
Coming to your agency, what is the strength of Idea House?
Idea House is a revenue growing firm; it is not just a supplier of services in the mould of other marketing agencies. We partner with clients to deliver on marketing targets in a creative manner.
We truly partner with them and that's why our thinking, processes and orientation are very different. We don't wait or expect change, we initiate it. We are not a brief-dependent agency. By this, I mean we don't sit down and wait for clients to call us and brief us on what they expect us to do. As an agency, we pride ourselves as an ideas factory. We incubate ideas and execute for the benefit of our clients.
Can you further explain what you mean by saying your firm is not brief-dependent?
What we do is simple. We take a look at the business of a prospective client and do a comprehensive review of its marketing operations. This could take us so many months to do but we are not bothered. After gaining detailed insights about the brand, with our deep understanding of the marketing communications, we will then come up with the relevant solutions
Can you single out any major activation by your company, which you consider a landmark achievement?
There are many but let me make reference to how the agency brought drama into Mouka Foam's activation a few years ago and how we handled the satchet launch of Lipton in the north. The Mouka’s sale activation I mentioned was unique because we displayed a lot of creativity around the activation.
We got a boxing ring at a designated Mouka Foam distributor and got two persons doing shadow boxing. While the boxers were busy with their boxing, the referee was sleeping nearby on a Mouka mattress with the inscription beside him, 'Body No be Wood'. The comic scene grabbed people's attention and actually got them buying the mattress.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Delegates representing the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) at the ongoing National Conference have objected to the recommendations of the conference Committee on Political Restructuring to scrap the third tier of government from the concurrent list of the constitution.
The leader of the delegation and former National President of ALGON, Dr Felix Akhabue, who addressed journalists yesterday at the venue of the conference said those calling for the scrapping of local government administration are enemies of the people.
He reassured the people that the recommendations would be defeated when the conference reconvenes at the plenary. He said delegates would resist the recommendations, adding that rather than scraping local government administration, the committee should recommend ways to strengthen it.
Akhabue, instead, urged the conference to scrap state electoral commissions and allow the federal body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct free and credible local government elections.
He also called on the delegates to ensure that local government administration gets direct funding from the federation account if they want fast development to get to the people.
"Let me believe that it is still a rumour. What I know is that the local government is the only arm that is closer to the people. All the recommendations of previous conferences and committees have advocated for the strengthening of the local government in Nigeria.
"When members of the National Assembly went round the whole country and sampled the opinions of Nigerians, more than 80 percent said local government administration should be strengthened. So, it is funny for just 25 people to sit and agree that the tier should be scrapped.
What power have they to do that? We are holding trust on behalf of the people.
"When you talk about democracy, how many people can get to states and the federal government? Local government is the closest to the people and Nigerians are saying they want it strengthened. What we should do is how to ensure that INEC conducts local government elections in all the states of the federation in order to ensure free and fair elections.”
According to him, "Local government should be given full autonomy and get their allocations directly from the federal government. That is the only way to ensure that they deliver and not call for it to be scrapped. We will do all we can to ensure that the third tier of government is strengthened for the benefit of the people."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
African Ministers of Trade and experts in trade and regional integration have aligned with Nigeria’s position on the trade liberalisation deal with the European Union under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), saying it will have a long-term negative impact on the continent’s efforts towards industrialisation and job creation.
The ministers spoke during the Extra-ordinary Session of the Conference of African Union Ministers of Trade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia yesterday.
The meeting was convened to discuss Africa’s common position ahead of the October 1 deadline for signing of the EPA with the EU; the establishment of the Common Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2015; extension of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the American Government for 15 more years; and Africa’s strategic response to World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, among others.
While reiterating Nigeria’s position on EPA, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said, “Nigeria’s position on EPA is very clear. Africa is on the rise. It is a very big and strategic market for any trading partner. That is what the EU wants from us but Africa must jealously protect what it has.
“We should leverage our abundant natural resources and large market to develop our industries; create jobs for our people; increase intra-African trade and achieve regional integration. We must not be in a hurry to give away what we have. We must not sign an agreement without first of all carrying out a robust economic analysis of the overall impact the agreement will have on the region, our children and future generations.”
Zambian Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Mr. Robert Sichinga, said he agreed with Nigeria’s position, noting that rather than jeopardising their industrialisation and job creation drive by hastily signing the EPA, African countries should work towards enhancing regional integration and intra-African Trade through value addition of their abundant raw materials, “especially in the areas where they have competitive and comparative advantage.”
He said, “Just like Nigeria has pointed out, before we sign the EPA, we should consider the impact on our children and the future of the continent in terms of industrialisation, job creation and regional integration. I want to state that as long as we have not appended our signatures to the agreement, then there is no agreement. Also, I believe that it is better not to sign an agreement at all than to sign a bad one.”
The African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Mr. Fatima Haram, also agreed that signing the EPA would have a negative impact on Africa’s industrialisation, job creation and regional integration of African countries.
Haram said, “Just as Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has pointed out, industrialisation is an issue that is very critical to the economic and political survival of African countries. If we sign the EPA as it is today, it is going to be difficult for us to integrate because of different Custom Areas.
“Let us be realistic and look at our statistics. The population of Africa is growing very rapidly. Statistics shows that more than 50 per cent of our population are between 18 and 30 years. If we sign the EPA, how do we create the jobs that we require for our growing population; how do we stop the illegal migration of our youths to developed countries?”
Similarly, the Minister of Trade and Private Sector Promotion, Republic of Niger, Mr. Alma Oumarou, said there was the need for African countries to realistically evaluate the impact of EPA before signing.
“We support the position of Nigeria on EPA and should also take a cue from what they have done in terms of carrying out a study on the impact assessment of the implications of signing the EPA,” he said.
Aganga, however, stressed that it was also very important not to do anything that would undermine Africa’s regional integration.
“Whilst it is important to look into the October 1, 2014, deadline for the signing of EPA, we should also fully examine the impact of the withdrawal of market access by EU after this deadline. If it is necessary, Africa should look at ways of compensating member countries that will suffer losses as a result of this withdrawal. We must not be in a hurry to sign an EPA if it will not be in the overall best interest of the continent,” he said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Osun State Government Tuesday vowed to confiscate the based stations of a mobile telecommunications' operator, MTN Nigeria, over its failure to pay the right of way permit fees due to the state government to the tune of N399,409,800.
The base stations had on April 7 has been seized by the officials of the state Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but was later released two days after following the intervention of Mr. Emmanuel Seton, one of the top management of the telecommunications outfit.
The acting Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the state IRS, Mr. Dayo Oyebanji, in a standing order statement released in Osogbo, said the state government would be forced to shut the services of the company in the state following the failure of the organisation to pay the outstanding right of way permit fees.
The revenue service lamented that the organisation had reneged on its promises to pay the permit fees on or before April 8.
The revenue boss who drew the attention of the management of MTN to the assessment bill with reference number HW01/MT/09/66 dated February 19, 2014, and the notice from IRS dated March 26, in respect of the outstanding payment of right of way permit on the optic fibre operation in the state.
The letter read: “Please be informed that the issue of non-payment constituted one of the reasons why we distrained five of your mast base stations in our state on April 7, which were released on April 9, based on the mutual understanding with Mr. Samuel Seton during our meeting on April 8 that the payment should be effected on or before April 15.
"We therefore wish to express our disappointment on the failure of your organisation to fulfill your civic responsibility in respect of this payment despite several demand notices.
"In this regard, we are therefore left with no other option than to confiscate your base stations in our state provided we do not receive payment on or before the close of business on April 25 to the coffer of the state government."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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