Suspected Boko Haram Members

As the military offensive to dismantle Boko Haram terrorists activities and the camps in North East Nigeria continues, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the release from Police, SSS and Military detention centers, of hundreds of persons held in connection with the insurgency.

The action of the President which took many Nigerians and security agencies by surprise is however interpreted by presidency sources as the ‘Carrot and Stick’ policy by the Commander in Chief to bringing an end to the Boko Haram debacle.

Vanguard gathered that the beneficiaries will cut across such states as Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, `Kaduna, Gombe and Niger, though the exact number was not revealed.

The federal government however explained that the decision to order the release is sequel to the request of the Presidential Committee in Dialogue and Reconciliation set up to explore the possibility of amnesty for converted terrorists.


Suspected Boko Haram members
A statement to that effect signed by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade said “Consequent upon the directives of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Defence Headquarters will be releasing from detention a number of persons being held in connection with terrorist activities”.

“The move is in furtherance of the Federal Government position in response to requests by the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Reconciliation”.

“The measure which is in line with Presidential magnanimity to enhance peace efforts in the country will result in freedom for suspects including all women under custody”.

“The details of the directives and those to benefit from this gesture have been communicated to field units and the Joint Task Force”.

“The beneficiaries will be released to the State Governors who will be involved in further rehabilitation before these suspects are released to their respective community leaders/relations.”
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US President, Barack Obama

United States president Barack Obama will not be visiting Nigeria as recently speculated in the media. Obama and his wife Michelle will only visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania between June 26 and July 3.

A statement by the Office of the Press Secretary in the White House stated this yesterday while clarifying Obama’s visit to Africa.

A copy of the statement entitled “Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to Africa” was made available to LEADERSHIP.

The statement reads in part, “President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 - July 3.  The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.

“The President will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues.  The trip will underscore the President’s commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity.”

This is the second time that Obama is skipping Nigeria from his visit to Africa as the US president had excluded Nigeria during his first visit to Ghana on July 11, 2009.

The US president had alluded his inability to visit Nigeria during the trip to Ghana on the grounds of poor democratic credential and corruption. But the situation is now worse as the aforementioned issues have now assumed a frightening dimension.

On why he decided to visit Ghana then, Obama had said, “Ghana’s history is rich, the ties between our two countries are strong, and I am proud that this is my first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as President of the United States.

“And I have come here, to Ghana, for a simple reason: the 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well.

“This is the simple truth of a time when the boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your prosperity can expand America’s. Your health and security can contribute to the world’s. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere”.



THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2013



Statement by the Press Secretary on the President’s Travel to Africa

 President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 - July 3.  The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.

 The President will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues.  The trip will underscore the President’s commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity.
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The 2013 Resource Governance Index (RGI) of the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), which measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries across the globe has placed Nigeria 40th in the overall global ranking.


According to the report, which was released in Abuja recently, Nigeria, which remains Africa's largest oil exporter and the world's 10th largest oil producer and accounted for more than 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2011 received a "weak" overall composite score of 42 over 100 within the multiple scales of “satisfactory, partial, weak and failing.”
The report was launched by the Chairman Board of the Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC), Auwal Musa, at a press briefing, which held simultaneously across the globe to unveil the 2013 RGI findings to the public.


Accordingly, the 58 countries that were accessed produced 85 per cent of the world's petroleum, 90 per cent of diamonds and 80 per cent of copper. Profits from their extractive sector totalled more than $2.6 trillion in 2010 and in 41 of these countries, the extractive sector contributed a third of gross domestic product and half of total exports on average.
Nigeria with oil revenues that totalled about $50.3 billion in 2011, ranked 40 out of 58 countries with relatively strong performance on its institutional and legal setting component contrasting with poor enabling environment score.


From highly ranked countries like Norway, the United Kingdom and Brazil to low ranking countries like Qatar, Turkmenistan and Myanmar, the index identified critical achievements and challenges in natural resource governance; it indicated that in 2011, oil revenues for Nigeria alone were 60 percent higher than total international aid to all of sub-Saharan Africa, adding that the future of the country depends largely on how well it manages its oil, gas and minerals.


For instance, in its assessment of institutional and legal setting which it scored Nigeria "partial" with 66 points, the report stated that such reflected substantial public access to information but incomplete revenue disclosure policies.
It explained that Nigeria’s minister of petroleum resources grants licenses for oil exploration, while the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), under the minister, oversees the licensing process and regulates the sector, yet some revenues in royalties, rents, license fees and bonus payments still bypass the treasury and are not reported to the legislature.


The report further stated that the lack of contract transparency and incomplete reporting on most aspects of the petroleum industry had led to Nigeria’s "failing" score of 38 in reporting practices, adding that the country received a "failing" score of 18 in enabling environment for government inefficiency and lack of rule of law in the sector.
Musa in his assessment of Nigeria’s performance in the process stated that it was a national shame for the country to continue to encourage opaque practices in its resource management.

“Our preliminary reaction to Nigeria’s overall “weak” rating in the RGI is that the premise upon which the scorecard was based is a true reflection of the state of governance of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
“Indeed, it has only confirmed the bad practices bedeviling the industry on the basis of which the civil society has been seeking appropriate reforms and redress,” Musa said.


He added: “Given its experience in oil and gas production and the quantum of what it produces as the world’s 10th largest producer of oil, it remains a national shame and embarrassment that Nigeria lacks virtually all the basic ingredients of best practices in the extractive industry.”
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Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki said this during a visit to President Jonathan.
The Chairman of the United Nations High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has said that the continent loses, at least, $50 billion annually through illicit fund flows.
Mr. Mbeki, a former President of South Africa, made the fact known in Abuja on Monday when he led a delegation of the UN panel on a courtesy visit to President Goodluck Jonathan. He said the panel was determined to study the problems and propose solutions.
The former South African president said the panel would also like to meet relevant members of the National Assembly in view of the need for legislation to check the potent threat to the survival of the continent.
On his part, Mr. Jonathan stressed the need for Africa to check the huge funds being illegally taken out of the continent.
“The huge funds being illicitly taken out of Africa can solve our infrastructure and other problems, so we must look within and check this haemorrhage,’’ he said.
The president said “Africa needs robust assistance from the developed world’’ to check the outflow, adding that corruption would be minimised if there were no places to hide the illicit funds.
He urged oil refineries worldwide to ask questions about the source of the crude they refined. Jonathan said his administration was taking definite steps to check the theft of crude oil from Nigeria.
He called on the panel to carry out an in-depth and comprehensive study of the issue and produce a template that would help the continent combat the menace.
The president directed all relevant ministries and agencies of government to cooperate fully with the panel.
(NAN)

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The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative says government hardly implements its recommendations on accountability in the extractive industry.
The deliberate inactions of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and those of other Peoples Democratic Party governments since 1999 have encouraged corruption and obfuscation in the Nigerian oil industry, an agency has stated.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, on Monday, expressed frustration in its efforts to boost the level of transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry.
The agency blamed the federal government for Nigeria’s recent poor ranking in the global Resource Governance Index, RGI, report of the Revenue Watch Institute, RWI.
RWI, in the report, which measured the quality of the extractive industries governance in 58 resource-rich countries across the world, ranked Nigeria 40th, with a score that showed the country’s extractive industries governance as ‘very weak’.
The assessment conducted on the quality of four key governance components, namely Institutional and Legal Setting; Reporting Practices; Safeguards and Quality Controls, and Enabling Environment, showed that Nigeria fared better in institutional and legal setting, as a result of the existence of several legislation on openness and transparency, including NEITI Act, 2007 and Freedom of Information Act, while being rated poorly on the enabling environment.
Failure since 1999
Frowning at the rating, NEITI said, as an agency set up with a mandate to enthrone transparency, accountability and good governance in the country’s extractive sector, it is concerned that its efforts are not yielding desired results as a result of “the slow pace of implementation of findings and recommendations contained in series of its audit reports since 1999.”
“Although an Inter-Ministerial Task Team was set up to address the findings and recommendations of NEITI audit reports under a remediation plan developed by the team, implementation by affected government agencies have recorded little progress,” the agency lamented in a statement by its Director of Communications, Ogbonnaya Orji.
“For instance, NEITI audit reports have consistently recommended inter-agency collaboration to recover an outstanding sum of $9.6 billion from companies (indicted in the audit reports, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for refusing to pay to government various revenues). This fund was uncovered by NEITI as underpayment, under-assessment and variance in royalties, signature bonuses, levies and taxes owed to the Federation.”
According to Mr. Orji, NEITI audit reports also highlighted the need for openness and competition in the conduct of bids round for allocation of oil blocks, review of existing contracts with companies, efficient and reliable metering regime for measurement of crude.
President Jonathan and the petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, have been accused in previous investigations by journalists including the now rested NEXT Newspapers of serial violations of Nigerian laws in the allocation of oil blocks and oil export licenses.
Other recommendations that NEITI has made but which have been ignored by the successive federal governments include automation of data gathering and records keeping process, and transparency and accountability in management of revenue flows from companies to the Federation account. Mr. Orji pointed out that Nigeria could have fared better if these identified remedial issues were promptly addressed by government.
FG must commence implementation
While welcoming global assessment like that of the RWI, NEITI said it “strongly believes that for Nigeria to record significant improvement in such global ranking in future, there is need for prompt implementation of findings and recommendations contained in its audit reports.”
It reiterated the demand for swift passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, now before the National Assembly for approval, adding that when passed into law, the Bill would address substantial issues raised in its reports.
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Skye Bank on Monday said that it had concluded arrangements to inject about 150 million dollars (N24 billion) in the power sector in 2013.

Mr Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, its Group Managing Director, disclosed this at the bank's pre-Annual General Meeting media briefing in Lagos.

Durosinmi-Etti said that the bank would invest between 100 million dollars to 150 million dollars in the power sector, while 17 per cent of its loan portfolio would be invested in the upstream sector.

He also said that the bank was planning to raise N50 billion tier one capital for long-term investment purpose.

The group managing director said that the bank had commenced upgrading of its hardware and software which would be concluded in 2013 to ensure efficient service delivery to all its customers.

He  said that the bank would open 12 new branches and 12 new cash centres across the country to improve its operational efficiency.

The group managing director also said that the bank had divested from all its non-bank subsidiaries in line with the directive of  the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Speaking on the bank's performance for the 2012 financial year, he said that gross earnings grew by 25 per cent to N127.78 billion from N102.48 billion recorded in  2011.

According to him, the bank's profit before tax rose by 481 per cent to N16.52 billion from N2.84 billion recorded in 2011.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bank’s profit after tax appreciated by 873 per cent to N12.64 billion from N1.3 billion achieved in 2011.
(NAN)

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Nigeria’s poverty rate should be falling faster given its economic growth this decade, an official of the International Monetary Fund said.

The share of citizens in Africa’s most populous country of more than 160 million who are considered poor fell to 62.6 percent in 2010 from 64.2 percent in 2004, figures published by the World Bank show. The economy of Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, expanded an average 7.2 percent a year during the same period, according to IMF estimates.

“It’s a bit of a conundrum,” W. Scott Rogers, the senior resident representative of the IMF in Nigeria, said in a May 16 interview in Abuja, the capital. “Income per capita has gone up yet poverty isn’t improving and we’re having a difficult time understanding why that is or how that could be.”

Economic growth has been largely driven by the non-oil industries, which expanded an average 8.5 percent a year from 2003 to 2011, the IMF said in a May 10 report, citing figures from the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics. Oil accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Agriculture accounted for 48.7 percent of the country’s non-oil economic output from 2001 to 2011 while wholesale and retail accounted for 21.4 percent, according to the IMF. Agriculture expanded an average 6.6 percent a year, while wholesale and retail trade grew 12.2 percent a year, according to the lender.
Accurate Picture

“This is one thing we’ve learned over the last decade or two, that it’s not just the rate of growth in the aggregate that matters, it’s where it’s coming from and who’s enjoying it,” said Rogers. Still, “in Nigeria, the growth is everywhere.”

The re-basing of the country’s GDP to a more recent year will probably provide a more accurate picture of the composition of the economy and where growth is coming from and may help understand why poverty hasn’t reduced by a larger rate in the country, said Rogers. The IMF started providing technical assistance to the statistics office in September on the re-basing exercise, he said.
Solid Estimate

The West African country’s GDP is currently based on production and consumption patterns in 1990. The statistics bureau will decide before the end of the month whether to use 2010 or 2012 as the new base year, the head of the agency, Yemi Kale, said on May 9. The updated data, to be released next year, will probably boost the reported size of the Nigerian economy while decreasing the annual rate of growth, according to Kale.

The IMF recommends that Nigeria should increase savings in its excess crude account, in which Nigeria saves revenue above a budgeted oil price, and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, to $20 billion, where the savings were in 2008, said Rogers. The ECA has savings of $7 billion, down from $9.2 billion in January, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a May 10 interview.
Accruing Savings

Annual negotiations between lawmakers and the government over what the benchmark price should be aren’t “meaningful” as long as funds that go into the account are spent, said Rogers. The oil price has rarely gone below the set price in the past seven years, and the country should have been accruing savings “the entire time,” he said.

Lawmakers raised the benchmark oil price in this year’s budget to $79 a barrel from the $75 price proposed by the government. Minister of Finance, Okonjo-Iweala and the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi said the move would stoke inflation and proposed that the price should be be determined in future by a technical committee instead of politicized negotiations.

“What’s important is that what’s saved is saved until the rule says when it can be spent", said Rogers.

One of the risks to the achievements of Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary management is if government spending rises again ahead of the 2015 elections, including that of the states’ budgets and the excess crude account, said Rogers. The central bank may have to raise rates from the current record high if this happens, he said. The Abuja-based regulator’s Monetary Policy Committee will hold its policy rate at 12 percent for a 10th consecutive meeting tomorrow, according to all 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“If fiscal policy starts to loosen as we go towards the elections, one of the jobs of central banks is to clean up the mess,” he said. “It doesn’t really have any other choice, and what does that do? It raises the cost of borrowing at a time of fiscal policy expansion. That’s just economics, that’s not Nigeria, but that’s the risk they’re facing now.”

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Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The NSIA stated this on Monday in Abuja.
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) on Monday said it would open its investment portfolio with the injection of $525million for the take-off of projects under the Stabilization Fund and the Future Generation Fund early next month.
NSIA is a savings fund established by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (Establishment) Act 2011 and financed by the Federal Government to build a savings and investments base from the country’s hydrocarbon wealth.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Uche Orji, said, at the maiden media briefing in Abuja to signal the formal take-off of operations of the Authority, that the investment is in line with the allocation formula and guidelines recently approved by its Board for the three Fund’s portfolio, consisting Future Generation Fund, the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, and the Stabilisation Fund.
According to Mr. Orji, the investment allocation formula stipulates that the Future Generation Fund and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund would each get $325 million, or 32.5 per cent of the $1billion seed funding of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), while $200 million, or 20 per cent would go to the Stabilisation Fund, leaving a balance of $150 million, or 15 per cent for future investment opportunities.
While the Stabilisation Fund would start early June, Mr. Orji said the Future Generation Fund, which would start about the same time, would continue till the end of 2013, because of its diversified portfolio and complicated processes. He added that the detailed review of the possible investment areas to be benefit from the Infrastructure Fund is ongoing.
He identified priority areas being considered under the Infrastructure Fund portfolio to include healthcare, transportation, water resources, power, and housing; pointing out that the interest of the agency would be on commercially viable projects that would help it earn good returns on investment for Nigerians.
“Our focus is on investments that are both relevant to the current needs of Nigerians and profitable and sustainable,” Mr. Orji said. “We are ready to go anywhere to get the best deals for Nigeria.”
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Elsha Khare, Indian-American teen

A California teen has attracted the attention of tech giants Google for her potentially revolutionary invention which charges a phone in 20 seconds flat.

The super-fast charging device has been dubbed a super capacitor by 18-year-old Esha Khare, of Saratoga - as she took home $50,000 from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which took placein Phoenix this week.
The device will make waiting hours for a phone to charge a thing of the past and the gizmo packs more energy into a smaller space than traditional phone batteries and holds the charge for longer. Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, Calif.,received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for the invention of a tiny energy-storage device With great power: The supercapacitor is flexible and tiny,and is able to handle 10,000 recharge cycles, more than normal batteries by a factor of 10.

So far, Khare has only used her supercapacitor to power a light-emitting diode or LED - but she sees a bright future that one day will see her invention powering cellphones, cars and any gadget that requires a rechargeable battery.

Winners at the Fair

Heading to Harvard, Khare told CBS San Francisco that this is only the start and that she will 'be setting the world on fire' from here. 'My cellphone battery always dies,'she told NBC News when asked what inspired her to work on the energy-storage technology.

Specializing in nanochemistry allowed Khare to reduve the size of her invention.'Really working at the nanoscaleto make significant advances in many different fields.' Khare claimed the top three prizes at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix Aspirations: Google have been in contact with Miss Khare to explore how she plans to change the makeup of cell phone battery life 'It is also flexible, so it can be used in rollup displays and clothing and fabric,' Khare added.
'It has a lot of different applications and advantages over batteries in that sense.' The supercapacitor is flexible and tiny, and is able to handle 10,000 recharge cycles, more than normal batteries by a factor of 10.
How an 18-year-old girl has managed to figure out something that multi-national corporations have not has led to her being flooded with offers for her amazing leap forward.
Source: Dailymail

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The Bank of Agriculture has entered into a partnership with Cellulant of Kenya to provide mobile money banking services to about 30 million Nigerian farmers.

The move will enable farmers to enjoy broader base services by leveraging the payment system for money transfers.

They will also be able to access their accounts through the mobile phone, as well as engage in electronic banking transactions using Automatic Teller Machine cards.

The Managing Director, BoA, Mr. Mohammed Santuraki, who spoke to journalists shortly after the signing of the pact in Abuja, stated that the mobile money banking services to farmers would serve as revolution to the agricultural sector.

He also said the partnership would assist in driving financial inclusion services in the country.

This, he noted, would be achieved through an ecosystem that would “integrate the un-banked, rural people, banks, microfinance banks, insurance companies, commodity traders, agro-credit guarantee agencies and bilateral institutions together seamlessly in such a way and manner that value and interactions that lift the rural poor out of poverty can take place.”

This, Santuraki added, would leverage mobile payments and near field communications technology to bring savings, micro-loans, micro-insurance, loan aggregation, money transfer, and crop-insurance to people at the grass roots.

The BoA managing director noted that within the last 10 years, the bank had enjoyed a turnover of about N350bn in its customers’ savings accounts.

Santuraki added that the BoA’s plan “is that by the time we go live, we should be able to provide services in all the local government areas in this country, using mobile phone and mobile banking agents.”

Also speaking at the event, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Cellulant, Mr. Ken Njoroge, said Nigeria had a large domestic market.

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As calls for the reduction of the benchmark lending rate deepens, some analysts have predicted that the Monetary Policy Committee may leave the rate unchanged at the next meeting scheduled to hold on Monday (today) and Tuesday.

A report by Meristem Securities made available to our correspondent stated that while the growth argument might support a reduction, the over-riding objective of price stability suggested otherwise.

The report pointed out that on a balance of factors, the MPR would be retained at 12 per cent.

It said, “Outlook on domestic output is quite critical to the decision of the MPC given the attendant impact on inflation and interest rate. There may be arguments to support a reduction of MPR for the purpose of stimulating growth through credit to private sector; but historical data shows that credit to private sector has not really been responsive to changes in MPR.

“In past meetings, the MPC has consistently maintained that until inflation shows a consistent decline over time, there would be no justification for moderation in the MPR as this could trigger a wrong signal on monetary policy stance.”

Similarly, a report by Financial Derivatives Company Limited stated, “It is expected that the MPC may maintain its monetary policy stance, thus, leaving the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 12 per cent per annum as a result of the recent weakness in most of the indicative variables, the most potent threat being the effect of a revenue shortfall resulting from an oil price and production decline.”

The analysts said a quick look at interest rate levels in the economy portrayed a downward trend the people expected to persist, irrespective of the CBN’s position.

They, however, said the decline in oil price and production raised concerns of a decline in revenue estimates, risk of a wider fiscal deficit, slowdown in growth of external reserves and further weakening of the exchange rate.

The report added, “During the month under review, oil prices declined by an average of seven per cent and oil output were eroded by oil theft and bunkering activities. Furthermore, the value of the naira weakened against the dollar by 0.35 per cent at the inter-bank market.

“Hence, the declining oil price, failing oil output and the depreciating naira reduce the likelihood that the MPC may resist the urge to adopt a more accommodative monetary policy in May.”

The MPC will meet on May 20 and 21, 2013 and among the economic indicators to be considered is the inflation rate.

A benign inflation rate outlook forms the basis for the call for an expansionary monetary policy by investors and portfolio managers.

The MPC, which determines interest rate, has in the past one year, kept the MPR at 12 per cent, which some analysts, manufacturers and industrialists believe is not favourable to them.

Also, the CRR and the Liquidity Ratio are currently at 12 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
The Punch.

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No fewer than five million subscribers of the four Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) in the country have ported from one network to the other. Prior to the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) launch, MTN Nigeria had the largest market share of 49 million subscribers, making it the market leader in the telecommunications industry.

On its heel was Globacom with over 25 million subscriber base, while Airtel Nigeria has well over 20 million, and the Etisalat Nigeria has 13 million subscribers. MNP is a service that enables subscribers to retain their mobile phone number when changing from one mobile service provider to another. The initiative was flagged off by the telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to boost quality of service.

According to findings, Globacom and Etisalat Nigeria are worst hit by the porting, owing to several reasons ranging from poor quality of service to customers not able to have accessible customer care agents to register their complaints. Daily Sun source, who didn’t want his names in print, hinted that Etisalat is also currently raging, and has written a petition to the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) over MTN’s controversial advert on “I don port o”. MTN Nigeria used ‘Saka’, Hafis Oyetoro, a former ‘Face of Etisalat Nigeria’, to pass its MNP message to its teeming customers.

“Etisalat has issues that should have been managed before now. I am sure that about a million of its subscribers will have ported. The company will not reveal it and, if the network does not go the extra mile to improve its network, it may experience further depletion. It is not only by wooing subscribers with freebies, there should be a corresponding balance in network improvement,” he declared. He also added that the Second National Operator, Globacom is also experiencing a reduction, which is close to two million because the MNP was just an opportunity for its subscribers to legally move to other networks, saying, “Before now, the network has been poor and nothing significant was done by the company to improve on its network.”

Airtel Nigeria and MTN, according to the source , are also not enjoying the best of times, as their subscriber base have also been down by a million each. However, a stakeholder in the industry, Adebowale Johnson, explained that prior to the MNP introduction, the country has been a multiple network system, where citizens are encouraged to have more than one line by virtue of the poor network being experienced by subscribers. This, he said, is already a lifestyle. He advised that stronger marketing strategies may help the operators not to lose more of its subscribers.

“Like every new thing, people may want to defect to the other network to ascertain whether the network had actually improve or not. Like a Yoruba adage, if a woman has not been married to two husbands, she not know, who is best. “This is what I want to call mass exodus. They may still come back after making their personal decisions. I may not know the exact figures but I know that network operators will be licking their wounds,” he said. Another stakeholder, Obina Obienu, noted that MTN has a wider coverage and that no operator has broken that hold. And that despite the general complaints by subscribers of poor network, most of them have refused to abandon their first line.

“Though, almost everyone has more than one line but there is every indication that the advert may deplete the other’s subscriber base if not well defended. The real business men use MTN network, while most business centres operate from the Globacom platform and Etisalat is more a youth focused network, which have also been captured by MTN,” he added. However, President, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, hinted that it was too early to start making insinuations but that time will tell if truly people may port to MTN.

“I consider that as a creative advertisement, which is just MTN’s strategy. We don’t know other company’s strategies, may be ,we should wait before we start making comparison. But definitely, time will tell,” he assured. Buttressing Ajayi’s point, Ifeanyi Osusueke, a telecoms writer, explained that the advert itself has created different kinds of impression in the minds of people. Maintaining that a number of factors will facilitate porting and not just mere advert campaign.
The Sun.

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The survey revealed that hope for new employments this year is rather fragile and downsizing may be inevitable.
Nigeria’s private sector will downsize or at best, maintain its current level of workforce in 2013 as the nation’s business environment remains largely constrained by rising socio-economic uncertainties, said the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI.
The LCCI, the premier chamber of commerce in Nigeria, in its second quarter 2013 ‘Business Confidence Index’ (BCI) quarterly survey, reflected the thoughts and forecast of 600 top business executive respondents drawn from the coverage of 14 sectors and 37 sub-sectors over the period, February 15 to March 16.
The survey revealed that hope for new employments this year is rather fragile and downsizing may be inevitable, due to rising socio-economic uncertainties hampering on the nation’s business environment, highlighting severity to the nation’s already pathetic unemployment situation.
“For the second consecutive quarter, results from BCI survey shows that the private sector will largely keep their current workforce size or even slash it down in 2013. With official unemployment number already put at 23.9 per cent by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, as at 2011, the job market in 2013 looks ominous,” the organisation said.
A number of variables have continued to constrain business growth in Nigeria. According to the survey, major factors that weakened the index score include: poor access to credit, inhibitive tendencies of monitoring and regulatory agencies, sustained insecurity situation across the country, dwindling public power supply and budget approval/implementation crisis. These, among other variables have kept the BCI scores trailing far below the global optimum levels.
“Macroeconomic factors such as exchange rate and inflation rate exerted neutral influence on the second quarter, 2013 BCI score. The neutral impact of macroeconomic prices on businesses at this time is informed by the relative stability achieved over the last few months. However, the downside remains that the current stabilization of prices through monetary tightening has been achieved at the expense of investment, employment, output and growth,” it added.
LCCI said the second quarter 2013 aggregate Business Confidence Index (BCI) recorded a modest improvement of 16.5 per cent from the 10.5 per cent it achieved in quarter one 2013, a six point movement of the index along a positive trajectory. This improvement notwithstanding, BCI scores for quarter one and two of 2013 continues to trail far below the 50 per cent global confidence threshold. Investors and business leaders are still wary about the state of the economy and the challenging business environment.
Access to credit worse in the last three months
The difficulty of getting credit remains on the top of variables that significantly pool down the BCI scores. The survey showed that access to getting credit by businesses especially the SMEs over the last three months is getting worse.
“Expectations for credit access in the second quarter 2013 even look somewhat more gloomy. Regulatory and monitoring agencies in the states and the Federal Government are another source of major concern for doing business in Nigeria. Incidences of informal/reckless charges/fees, frequent and unscheduled visits, intimidation and seizure of all kinds, collection of excess sample with attendant cost on the intellectual property of the agencies,” LCCI said.
The survey highlighted that the impact of regulatory and monitoring agencies weighed down the aggregate index by scoring -15.1 per cent and -11.1 per cent in quarter one and quarter two 2013 respectively. New employment also followed the same path.
The negative impact of price, (inflation and exchange rate) volatility on doing business seem to have moderated significantly. From index score of -32.3 per cent and – 29.4 per cent respectively in quarter one 2013, inflation and exchange rate posted a neutral impact on business with 0 per cent and -0.5 per cent index scores in quarter two, 2013. The downside, according to the survey, is that this is being achieved through monetary tightening at the expense of investment, employment and growth.
No confidence in public power supply
The concern of companies over power supply is still very high, going by the survey. It stated that the index score for public power supply which was impressive at 3.01 per cent in quarter one, 2013 has fallen back to the negative corridor.
“Companies are increasingly casting “a vote of no confidence” on public power supply” the survey highlighted.
BCI indicators such as capacity of firms to produce, export prospects, turnover/sales expectation, deals closed, strength/patronage of domestic market, new investment/expansion and the impact/size of non-performing credit have consistently boosted the aggregate index over the last two surveys.
“Interestingly, these indicators did not only post a positive confidence, but the levels of confidence achieved this time are more significant and itching closer to the global business confidence threshold,” the organisation said.
The BCI is a leading economic indicator designed to measure the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that business leaders are expressing through their activities of investing and spending. The survey, according to LCCI, covered most sectors sufficiently, though Solid mineral sector in particular is a concern. The participation of top private players across all the sectors was secured in a responsible fashion.
While ideally the sample would reflect the sectoral composition of the economy, gathering the responses per sector, may not be absolutely feasible, LCCI said, adding that it used GDP contribution weighting for each sector to balance the sample outcomes.
The organisation, which has as primary objective to promote, support or oppose legislative or other measures affecting trade, industry, commerce and agriculture as well as represent the opinion of the business community, said the idea is that the more confident business owners and managers feel about the economy, the more likely they are to make new investments and create opportunities. It added that a decreasing business confidence is often a pointer to slowing economic activities because business owners are likely to decrease their investment.
With the progress made so far on the privatization of Nigeria’s power sector, the commencement of the implementation of the 2013 budgets across the states and the Federal Government, and the new momentum given to the consideration of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the National Assembly, the organisation said, “we look to see how far this will reflect in the outcome of our quarter three, 2013 BCI survey and outcome.”
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Nigeria's Minister of petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke

Revenue Watch has ranked Nigeria amongst the weakest of 58 countries covered in the study of transparency and    proper management of its oil resources.
Revenue Watch Instituted, RWI, has ranked Nigeria ‘weak’ among the world’s 58 countries covered in the study conducted on transparency and accountability in the governance and management of their oil, gas and mining sectors.
In the Resource Governance Index report published on Wednesday, the Institute noted that over 80 per cent of the world’s leading oil and gas-producing and mining countries failed to meet “satisfactory standards” for managing their natural resources.
In 47 of the 58 Index countries, governments are yet to embrace openness and accountability in their operations, despite that they collectively account for more than 85 percent of the world’s oil production capacity, 90 percent of diamonds and 80 percent of copper, generating trillions of dollars annually.
“The lives of over a billion citizens could be transformed if their governments managed their oil, gas and minerals in a more open, accountable manner,” the report said.
Countries are judged on four factors: legal framework, transparency levels, government checks and balances, and governance.
The report, which ranked Nigeria 40th out of 58 countries, with a composite performance score of 42 per cent, noted that though the country fared relatively better with strong performances on the institutional and legal aspects, emerging 22nd with a score of 66 per cent, its record in safeguards and quality controls was average, coming 31st with a score of 53 per cent.
According to the report, though Nigeria’s “partial” score of 66 per cent suggests a substantial public access to information, the reality is that revenue disclosure policies are incomplete, despite efforts by the Nigeria Extractive Industries transparency Initiative, NEITI, to compel companies to disclose what they pay to government and vice versa.
While the Minister of Petroleum Resources is empowered to grant operational licenses for oil exploration activities, the report said the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, which is supervised by the minister is responsible for the licensing process as the agency regulating the sector.
Again, it noted that with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, receiving taxes on petroleum profits and other hydrocarbon-related levies and the DPR collecting rents, royalties, license fees, bonuses, and other payments, some revenues may go unreported between the treasury and the National Assembly.
On reporting practices and enabling environment, the report said Nigeria performed dismally, with rankings of 42nd and 44th and scores of 38 and 18 per cent respectively, citing lack of contract transparency and incomplete reporting on most aspects of the petroleum industry.
It accused the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of publishing little information on the upstream licensing process, fiscal and production arrangements, contracts, environmental impact assessments, or operational data, while information are often not available on revenue flows.
On the other hand, the report said the Finance Ministry and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, regularly publish information on production volumes, fuel prices, value of resource exports, estimates of investment in exploration and development, production costs, costs of subsidies, production stream values, royalties, special taxes, and the government’s share in production sharing contracts.
On safeguards & quality controls, the report said Nigeria’s “partial” score shows incomplete government monitoring, with substantial conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements, based on the practice where the Minister of Petroleum Resources still exercises wide discretionary powers in the award of oil licenses, with limited oversight of the process by the National Assembly.
It noted the conflict in the revenue figures in the audit of public accounts by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and those of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; adding that the country does not have published rules and information on its asset and transactions about the Excess Crude Oil Account, which currently receives revenues directly from oil extraction.
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…Says 350,000 companies evade tax

Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, has put the balance of the excess crude account at $5.27 billion after the sum of N89.738 billion was transferred into it in April, this year.

Addressing newsmen, after the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja, the minister also noted that the gross revenue of N621.07 billion received for the month was higher than the N595,70 billion received in the previous month by N25.362 billion.

According to him, this was due to the increased earnings from domestic crude and Petroleum Profit Tax. He, however, said the challenges of production and lifting operation experienced in the previous month have persisted.

Ngama noted that FAAC allocated the sum of N721.51 billion to the three tiers of government for the month of April adding that the amount represents a decrease of N9.628 billion or 1.3 per cent over the N731.133 billion shared in the previous month of March. Giving a breakdown of the allocation, he explained that it shows that N531.332 billion was shared under statutory sources and N54.571 billion was allocated under Value Added Tax (VAT), while N92.436 billion was the augmentation done in the month owing to shortfall.

Also, N35.549 billion was shared under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), while Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) paid N7.617 billion as part of the N450 billion debt it owes the federation account. As for the statutory revenue, the federal government got N246.90 billion or 52.68 per cent and states received N125.124 billion or 26.72 per cent while the local governments shared N96.466 billion.

In the same vein, N59.152 billon was shared to the nine oil-producing states based on the 13 per cent principle of derivation. On the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue which was equally shared, the federal government got N7.85 billion representing 15 per cent; states received N26.194 billion or 50 per cent while local governments got N18.336 billion or 35 per cent.

Meanwhile, Dr Yerima has disclosed that over 350,000 companies in Nigeria evade tax. To this effect, he said, the Federal Government is introducing e-payment system with a view to bringing those companies into the tax net.

In his speech at the workshop of the African Tax Forum organized by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), the Minister disclosed that it was regrettable that most companies in Nigeria were not remitting taxes to government adding that something urgently has to be done on this if the economy is to move forward.
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The NSE is partnering with the CBI for the project.
The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) is to establish a Corporate Governance Index system for listed companies in Nigeria as a way of redressing the perceived inadequate disclosures, corruption and poor business environment and corporate governance in the capital market.
Chairman of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Suleiman Ndanusa, said at the inauguration of the reconstituted Administrative Proceedings Committee (APC) on Wednesday in Abuja that this was intended to build greater trust and integrity in the markets and ensure that it serves as a mechanism for fair hearing to persons suspected to have violated the Securities Act.
The Corporate Governance Ranking System would provide data and Information that the NSE would rely on to build a Corporate Governance Index that would help score listed companies based on the quality of their corporate integrity; corporate compliance; understanding of fiduciary responsibilities by their directors and their corporate reputation.
The four factors are not equally weighted with corporate integrity carrying the highest and corporate reputation the least weighting.
He said the committee, established about 13 years ago, following the enactment of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 1999, was re-structured for greater efficiency and effectiveness, adding that its mandate does not cover deliberations on criminal violations that are under the jurisdiction of the law enforcement agencies and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
“The strategic role of the Committee includes ensuring discipline and justice in the capital and other securities market,” he said, adding that members must adhere to the highest level of confidentiality, ethics and professionalism in their conduct and discharge of their mandate.
The four-member Committee, which has the Director General of SEC, Arunma Oteh, as Chairman, would be made to subscribe to a code of ethics to instill confidence in their capacity to strengthen the confidence and integrity of the capital market.
Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Oscar Onyema, said the NSE is partnering with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) to provide a constant flow of information and data that would be used to develop a Corporate Governance Ranking System for listed companies in Nigeria to empower people, their transactions, systems and institutions tackle corruption.
Mr. Onyema said the NSE placed Corporate Governance as one of its critical fundamentals for ensuring a sound investment environment and maximizing investor returns, adding that the creation of the Corporate Governance Index is in line with the NSE’s commitment to promoting firm and fair corporate governance regime for sustainable growth of the nation’s capital market.
“We are proud to partner with CBi, and confident that this will contribute to our goal of becoming the gateway to African markets” he said.
Executive Director of CBi, Soji Apampa, said the Corporate Governance Ranking project to be funded under the World-Bank, would be supervised by Siemens Integrity Initiative, while IT systems and e-learning technology would be deployed to make the ranking process efficient and cost effective.
The Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Berlin has been appointed as independent observers of the process to report independently to investor fora on the process applied to establish Nigeria’s Corporate Governance Ranking and help promote it internationally.
He said the primary interest of the school include research, assessment of the underlying motivations of companies to participate in the Corporate Governance Index of the NSE and their global project to document incentives and sanctions used in the fight against corruption.

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Shell announced a force majeure on Thursday.
The Nigeria LNG has said that the Force Majeure announced by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) on its gas supplies would significantly reduce its total gas intake to about 40-50 per cent of the usual volume.
SPDC Joint Venture is currently supplying feedgas to NLNG from a number of its oil fields in the Niger Delta, including the Gbaran/Ubie plant, which commenced operation in June 2010, with a production capacity of about one billion cubic feet of gas per day (BCF/D).
General Manager, External Relations of the Nigerian gas company, Kudo Eresia-Eke, said in a statement on Thursday that SPDC had informed the NLNG management that the shutdown of gas production at its Gbaran/Ubie Gas Plant last Tuesday would last indefinitely “until the source of the leak is identified and necessary remedial actions are completed by SPDC, to ensure safe operation.”
“We do not know how long it would take for the problem to be resolved. But, what I know is that the partners have the capacity to ensure that it would not take too long. To guess on the period it would take would be dangerous,” he said.
According to Mr. Eresia-Ekeh, the NLNG is working with SPDC and its other gas suppliers to seek mitigation measures to the problem, saying the closure of Gbbaran/Ubie gas production plant, which has been the normal source of gas supply to the company in Bonny Island, would result in the reduction of supply from its Soku gas plant usually used as alternative route for a limited period before total shutdown.
The General Manager assured that the development would not have any impact on gas supply to the domestic market. He also noted that NLNG has so far delivered over 3,000 liquefied natural gas (LNG) and natural gas liquids (NGLs) cargoes to its customers abroad from the 22.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity plant at Bonny, Rivers State.
“The current situation would not have any impact on the supply of gas to the domestic market. Therefore, domestic gas consumers have no reason to fear. The point is that NLNG usually have gas shipped to Lagos into reserves for dedicated off-takers to collect and distribute. The challenge has always been the lack of capacity by the off-takers to exhaust the reserve. So, Nigerians must be assured that they have nothing to be afraid of,” Mr. Eresia-Ekeh said.
The SPDC had announced that that gas supplies to Nigeria LNG would be suspended till further notice as it may not be able to meet its contractual obligations as a result of closure of its major supply pipeline following a reported leak along the Eastern Gas Gathering System (EGGS-1) right-of-way (RoW) near Awoba in Rivers State.
Shell is a major partner to the NLNG project, through its subsidiary, Shell Gas B.V (SGBV), controlling 25.6 per cent equity of the shares; along with Total, 15 per cent, and Eni International (N.A.) NV, 10.4 per cent. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the principal partner with 49 per cent equity shares.
A fortnight ago, normal gas export operations at the NLNG operations were disrupted for about 24 hours following a disagreement with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) which accused the management of the company of refusing to pay the statutory 3 per cent levy on every freight entering or leaving the country through the nation’s territorial waters.
NIMASA had effectively blocked the Bonny Channel to deny all vessels operating in the area access or exit through the channel.
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The Lagos State Government at the weekend said it has lost property worth N39.6 billion to fire in the state in the last one year. The Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Oyinlomo Danmole, who disclosed this to journalists at a news conference held in Alausa, said the state government also saved properties worth N390 billion.

According to Danmole, the Lagos State Fire Services received a total of 2,342 calls, out of which 1,731 were fire calls and were promptly responded to.  The commissioner added that the fire service received 103 rescue calls, seven collapsed building calls, 458 false calls while 41 victims were rescued, adding that 10 collapsed building were recorded in the last one year. “The fire service has undergone various transformations, which have enhanced its operational capabilities and capacity to effectively curtail incidents of fire outbreaks and related emergencies in the state.

A total of 2, 342 calls were received and promptly responded to in the last one year,” he said.  Speaking on naturalisation of aliens/special immigrant status, the commissioner said 29 applications were received for both naturalisation and special immigrant status in the last one year.  Danmole said that 23 applicants of the lots appeared for interview all of which were eventually recommended to the Ministry of Interior for ratification.

“The state government has given its support to the new passport office recently commissioned at Ikeja Central Business District. The office was provided with furniture, air conditioners, a generating set and a utility van. This gesture was done to quicken the commencement of operation in the new passport office and reduce the inconvenience of Lagosians travelling to Ikoyi or Festac to obtain travelling passport.  “A purchase order for firemen protective apparels such as cork helmet, safety boots, and fire protective suits, among others, to ensure maximum protection for the firemen while performing their duties were ordered.

“Acquisition of 118 complete set of breathing apparatus and 11 compressor machines to enable firemen to work in a smoke-laden environment where the available air does not support life were acquired. The compressor machines are for the refilling of the used breathing apparatus cylinders,” he explained.  The commissioner said that the government also procured thermal image camera to help locate trap victims and detect the primary source of fire during fire fighting operation as well as the provision of new operational and ceremonial uniforms to all officers of the fire service to enhance the image of the staff and boost their self-esteem.

He lamented that indiscriminate on-road parking in residential areas often impede the operation of fire services and called for the removal of street gates which prevents quick access to disaster areas as well as yielding of right of way to fire vehicles by motorists, especially during peak hours.  Danmole said the fire service officers were often faced with unsolicited and violent interference by hoodlums during fire fighting operations, saying the trend resulted in damages to equipment at various times.

“The overwhelming interference sometimes resulted into escalation of fire disaster as the trained officers will not be able to attack the fire from the source while the hose is being dragged from the officers. “There should be the provision of clear and vivid description of fire disaster location by callers. There is need to eradicate false fire calls to stem the trend of wasting human and material resources that would have been reserved for use in fighting real fire disaster. Attack on fire officers and willful damage to fire -fighting equipment should stop.”
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Minister of State, Finance, Yerima Ngama

Minister of state for Finance Yerima Ngama
54 per cent of the business ventures in Nigeria is in the informal sector of the economy.
Worried by the predominance of informal businesses in the country, the Federal Government said it is committed to formalizing its tax processes and integrating its systems to enable it capture all tax potentials to boost the economy.
The Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, said on Thursday in Abuja at the Africa Tax Forum, jointly organized by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, the African Tax Institute, ATI; and the International Tax and Investment Center, ITIC, that the country has not been able to realize its full potentials, with 54 per cent of the business ventures in the country in the informal sector of the economy.
Though the bulk of the businesses do not file their annual returns with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, in line with the requirement of Companies Income Tax regime, the minister said the percentage of these businesses declined to 46 per cent last year, to improved reorganization of their operations, registration and proper keeping of account of their activities.
The Forum brought together senior-level tax policy and administration officials with academic and industry experts to share experience and knowledge on current issues on value added tax, VAT, and tariff/excise taxation, including how to best coordinate indirect taxes between member states in common markets, natural resource taxation and selected corporate taxation issues.
Following the reforms of the 1980s and the 1990s, Mr. Ngama said there have been noticeable changes in the Nigerian economy and those of other countries in Africa, adding that there is a global consensus that the continent is one of the best investment destinations in the world at the moment.
“Growth in Africa and opportunities abound. Funds are flowing in. With a population of 300 million people, with more than half in Nigeria, there is no better destination to invest,” he said. “In Nigeria, we have a revamped Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), with investors coming and going.”
“Last year alone, the number of hits and download of data from the websites of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) was over 14 million. That means people are looking for information on the Nigerian economy, which was one of the three fastest growing economies in the world by 2011, after Mongolia and China. Today, the country is the fastest growing economy in Africa, and the fifth in the world.”
With more people registering to do business in Nigeria, he noted that this should translate into more revenue for government, but he lamented that the rate of tax collection to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is still low, due to the inability to compute, assess and collect taxes on businesses.
He said the rate of tax revenue to the GDP in Nigeria has been the lowest at about seven per cent, when compared to about 10 per cent in other countries, like Ghana, saying government is harmonizing its tax laws and regulations to remove a lot of informalities and wastages, to make it easier for businesses to pay their taxes and contribute to the growth of the economy.
“We need to re-strategize and find out ways to improve tax collection in the country. We need to educate the people that it is in the interest of all, including businesses, to pay tax, to make money available to government for the provision of infrastructure (water, electricity, roads, etc,) necessary to create the enabling environment, or not pay tax, and resolve to provide such infrastructure at a higher cost, which would affect the cost of doing business,” he said.
Mr. Ngama said the essence of the forum is to see how businesses that come to the country can contribute to the growth of the economy by paying taxes, identifying the areas that required improvement to include computation, assessment and collection of taxes.
The Acting Executive Chairman, FIRS, Kabir Mashi, said the workshop was a demonstration of confidence in the Nigerian tax system and the economy, saying the diverse set of participants would greatly enrich the quality of deliberations and discussion of issues.
“Tax Coordination has become more imperative in recent times with increased focus on domestic resource mobilization in Africa countries and special focus on how taxation can be used to facilitate, rather than hinder cross border movement of goods, services and even people.
“African countries must begin to prioritize the issue of regional and continental tax coordination, to ensure that the investment and business climate in our countries are not distorted by discriminatory and uncoordinated tax regimes or practices. This is particularly necessary, if we are to ultimately achieve our aim of building a single African market,” Mr. Mashi said.
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 On Tuesday evening, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a state of emergency in the three states.
The declaration of a state of emergency in three states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in Northeast Nigeria – in order to deal with Boko Haram insurgency will have a negative but relatively small impact on Nigeria’s GDP growth, finance experts have said.
On Tuesday evening, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a State of Emergency in the three states as part of continued efforts to address the nation’s growing insecurity. The President’s declaration implies that certain normal functions of government in these states will be suspended. The army will effectively take control in the states and will have the authority to arrest and detain suspects; take into possession and control any structure used for terrorist purposes; lockdown any area of terrorist operation; conduct searches; and apprehend persons in illegal possession of weapons.
Where previous states of emergency had seen a military administrator appointed for each state, the current proposals leave democratic structures intact with troops being sent in to take over security.
“We see the impact on GDP growth of the state of emergency as negative but relatively small with agriculture the most likely sector to be affected but with a potential second-round effect via inflation should food prices rise significantly,” Renaissance Capital (RenCap), an investment bank, said; adding that the move, seen by many as long overdue, is a bold one by Nigeria’s president.
Economic significance of the States
The firm gave a breakdown of economic significance of the affected states, highlighting in brief, that the households in these three states are some of the county’s poorest with the states also having the least educated and high rates of unemployment.
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa account for 6 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP. Agricultural activity dominates as half of the collective workforce in the three states is involved in the sector. And by implication, 50 per cent of these states GDP stems from agriculture (versus national average of 40 per cent). Notably, Borno State is the country’s third biggest employer of agricultural workers (5 per cent). The three states collectively employ 10 per cent of the country’s agricultural workforce.
In terms of population – the three states are home to 7 per cent of the country’s population. Yobe State’s per capita income of $1,206 (N190, 000) is one of the five lowest in Nigeria, by the bank’s estimates. Adamawa is not far off at $1,233 (N194, 000). Borno State’s per capita income is relatively higher, at $1,631 (N257, 000), which is equivalent to the national average, $1,700 (N267, 000).
Also 25-30 per cent of the working age population in the three states is unemployed, compared to a national average of 21 per cent in 2010. Less than 11 per cent of the population in the three states has completed primary school, compared to over 65 per cent in Lagos State. And these states also have a less than 11 per cent secondary school attendance rate, compared to an over 75 per cent attendance rate in Nigeria’s south-east states.
According to RenCap, a successful operation, which means improving the overall security situation in the three states, would be an economic positive. However, downside risk would be seen if other affected states such as Kano, Benue and Nasarawa were to deteriorate.
“The direct impact on major Nigerian stocks is likely also to be limited, in our view. We include commentaries on the banks, telecoms, consumer and brewing names in Nigeria. In summary, we think the impact is likely to be marginal – the banks, in particular, have very little exposure, and we believe mobile subscribers are likely to be relatively low ARPU in the states affected. Investors might want to monitor consumer-related stocks for any potential disruption to and/or price increases of agricultural inputs,” the firm said.
“Market implications will depend more on the success of the operation and implications for the security situation not just in the three states. On a standalone basis, the regions affected are not significant in terms of the overall economy. The three affected states account for seven per cent of Nigeria’s population, but just six per cent of the country’s GDP.”
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