Saturday 31 January 2015

The Beauty Of Hausaland



The Hausa, numbering more than 20 million, are the largest ethnic group in West Africa. They are widely distributed geographically and have intermingled with many different peoples.

Islam arrived in the area by the 14th Century. By the 15th Century, there were a number of independent Hausa city-states. They competed with each other for control of trade across the Sahara Desert, slaves and natural resources. In the 19th Century, the region was unified by a ‘Jihad’ (Islamic holy war) and became known as Hausaland. The British arrived and colonised the area in about 1900. Even during colonial times, the city-states and their leaders maintained some autonomy. Many Hausa traditions were preserved until late in the 20th Century.

Location

The Hausa people are concentrated mainly in North-western Nigeria and in adjoining Southern Niger. This area is mostly semi-arid grassland or savannah, dotted with cities surrounded by farming communities. The cities of this region — Kano, Sokoto, Zaria and Katsina, for example — are among the greatest commercial centres of sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara Desert). Hausas are also found living in other countries of West Africa (Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana).

Language

Hausa is the most widely spoken language in West Africa. It is spoken by an estimated 22 million people. Another 17 million people speak Hausa as a second language. Hausa is written in Arabic characters and about one-fourth of Hausa words come from Arabic. Many Hausas can read and write Arabic while a number of them can speak either French or English.

Folklore

According to tradition, Bayajidda, the mythical ancestor of the Hausas, migrated from Baghdad in the 9th or 10th century AD . After stopping at the Kingdom of Bornu, he fled west and helped the king of Daura slay a dangerous snake. As a reward, he was given the Queen of Daura in marriage. Bayajidda’s son, Bawo, founded the city of Biram. He had six sons who became the rulers of other Hausa city-states. Collectively, these are known as the Hausa bokwai (Hausa seven).

Hausa folklore includes ‘tatsunya’— stories that usually have a moral. They involve animals, young men and maidens, as well as heroes and villains. Many include proverbs and riddles.

Religion

Most Hausas are devout Muslims who believe in Allah and in Muhammad as his prophet. They pray five times each day, read the Koran (holy scriptures), fast during the month of ‘Ramadan’, give alms to the poor and aspire to make the pilgrimage (Hajj) to the Muslim holy land in Mecca. Islam affects nearly all aspects of Hausa behaviour (dressing, art, housing, rites of passage and laws). In the rural areas, there are communities of people who do not follow Islam. These people are called ‘Maguzawa’. They worship nature spirits known as ‘bori’ or ‘iskoki’.

Major Holidays

The Hausa observe the holy days of the Islamic calendar. ‘Eid’ (Muslim feast days) celebrate the end of ‘Ramadan (month of fasting), follow a ‘Hajj’ (pilgrimage to Mecca) and celebrate the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. On ‘Eid al-Adha’, Muslims sacrifice an animal to re-enact the time Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son to God. Families also slaughter an animal in their own homes. This may be a male ram or bull. People then celebrate with their relatives and friends and give each other gifts.

Rites Of Passage

About a week after a child is born, it is given a name during an Islamic naming ceremony. Boys are usually circumcised at around the age of seven, but there is no special rite associated with this.

In their mid-to-late teens, young men and women may become engaged. The marriage ceremony may take as long as several days. Celebrations begin among the bride and her family and friends as she is prepared for marriage. Male representatives of the bride and the groom’s families sign the marriage contract according to Islamic law, usually at the mosque. Shortly thereafter, the couple is brought together.

Following a death, Islamic burial principles are always followed. The deceased is washed, wrapped in a shroud and buried facing eastward — toward the holy land of Mecca. Prayers are recited and family members receive condolences. Wives mourn their deceased husbands for about three months.

Relationships

Hausas tend to be quiet and reserved. When they interact with outsiders, they generally do not show emotion. There are also some customs that govern interaction with one’s relatives. For example, it is considered a sign of respect not to say the name of one’s spouse or parents. By contrast, relaxed, playful relations are the norm with certain relatives, such as younger siblings, grandparents and cousins.

From an early age, children develop friendships with their neighbours that may last a lifetime. In some towns, young people may form associations whose members socialise together until they marry.

Living Conditions

In rural villages, Hausas usually live in large households (‘gida’) that include a man, his wives, his sons, as well as their wives and children. In large cities, such as Kano or Katsina, Hausas live either in the old sections of town or in newer quarters built for civil servants. Hausa housing ranges from traditional family compounds in rural areas to modern, single-family houses in new sections of cities.

Family Life

Relatives cooperate in activities such as farming and trade in rural areas and business activities in urban areas. Relatives hope to live near each other to socialise and support each other. Families arrange marriages for their young people. Marriages between relatives, such as cousins, are preferred. Under Islamic law, a man may marry up to four wives.

Following Islamic custom, most married Hausa women live in seclusion. They stay in the home and only go out for ceremonies or to seek medical treatment. When they do leave their homes, women wear veils and are often accompanied by their children.

Clothing

Hausa men are recognisable by their elaborate dress. Many wear large, flowing gowns (gare or babban riga), with elaborate embroidery around the neck. They also wear colourful embroidered caps (hula). Hausa women wear a wrap-around robe made of colourful cloth with a matching blouse, head tie and shawl.

Food

Staple foods include grains (sorghum, millet, or rice) and maize, which are ground into flour for a variety of foods. Breakfast often consists of porridge. Sometimes it includes cakes made of fried beans (kosai) or wheat flour (funkaso). Lunch and dinner usually include a heavy porridge (tuwo). It is served with a soup or stew (miya). Most soups are made with ground or chopped tomatoes, onions and peppers. To this are added spices and other vegetables such as spinach, pumpkin and okra. Small amounts of meat are eaten. Beans, peanuts and milk also add protein to Hausa diets.

Education

From about the age of six, Hausa children attend Koranic schools (schools where teaching is based on the Islamic holy scripture, the Koran). They learn to recite the scriptures and learn about the practices, teachings, and morals of Islam. By the time they reach adulthood, many achieve high levels of Islamic scholarship.

Since Nigeria gained her independence in 1960, the government has built many schools and universities. A majority of Hausa children, especially in urban areas, are now able to attend school, at least at the primary level.

Cultural Heritage

Music and art play important roles in everyday life. From a young age, Hausa children participate in dances, which are held in meeting places such as the market. Work songs often accompany activities in the rural areas and in the markets. Praise-singers sing about community histories, leaders and other prominent individuals. Story-telling, local dramas and musical performances are also common forms of traditional entertainment.

Employment

Hausa society has a strong division of labour according to age and sex. The main activity in the towns is trade; in rural areas, it is agriculture. Many Hausa men have more than one occupation. In the towns and cities, they may have formal jobs, such as teaching or government work and engage in trade on the side. In rural areas, they farm and also engage in trade or crafts. Some Hausas are full-time traders with shops or market stalls. Many Hausas are full-time Islamic scholars.

Hausa women earn money by processing, cooking and selling food. They also sell cloth scraps, pots, medicines, vegetable oils and other small items. Since women are generally secluded according to Islamic law, their children or servants go to other houses or the market on their behalf.

Sports

Both wrestling (‘koko’) and boxing (‘dambe’) are popular traditional sports among the Hausas. Matches take place in arenas or markets, often during religious holidays. Music, particularly drumming, accompanies the competition. Opponents wrestle until one is thrown to the ground. Boxers fight until one is either brought to his knees or falls flat on the ground.

Soccer is the most popular modern competitive sport and is considered the national sport of the nation.

Recreation

Musicians perform at weddings, naming ceremonies, and parties, as well as during Islamic holidays. Today, Western forms of entertainment are popular. Hausas listen to Western music, including rap and reggae, and view American and British television programmes. Many have stereos, televisions, VCRs and digital electronics in their homes.

Crafts, Hobbies

Hausas are well known for their craftsmanship. There are leather tanners and leather-workers, weavers, carvers and sculptors, ironworkers and blacksmiths, silver workers, potters, dyers, tailors, and embroiderers. Their wares are sold in markets throughout West Africa.

Acknowledgment: Leadership Newspaper
Source: www.everyculture.com via Leadership Newpaper

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Looking Forward From Davos: A New Framework For A New Age By Tony Elumelu


Last week Tony O. Elumelu and a delegation from his pan-African investment vehicle, Heirs Holdings Group, travelled to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. As a representative of the African perspective on global business, Mr. Elumelu was invited to express his views and give multiple interviews.

Hear from Mr Elumelu: 

This week world leaders from the public and private sectors, civil society, and academia, will convene at Davos to discuss the “new global context”—the theme of the World Economic Forum’s 2015 annual meeting. In this new context, the WEF fears that profound transformations (social, economic, political and technological) are hastening the end of “economic integration and international partnership.”

Indeed, the Davos agenda sounds like a daunting catch-all of global crises, from unemployment and income inequality, to global monetary policy, to clashing values systems, to sustainability and management of the world’s common resources. The WEF argues these and other pressures are deepening social and geopolitical fault lines around the world. Given recent headlines one can hardly disagree— the terror attacks in France and northern Nigeria; a major cyber attack attributed to North Korea; the bombing of an NAACP office in the U.S.; and the rise of extremist political parties in Europe; to name just a few. The fault lines are very real, and increasingly dangerous.

There is no doubt that we must accept the premise that this “new context” creates new challenges, but we must also recognise that the world, and the African continent in particular, is not short of solutions that can be used to address them.

I believe that these solutions must have four primary goals: First, must be sustainability, or we risk returning to Davos years and even decades from now, bedevilled by the same challenges and threats. Second, no solution will be sustainable if it is not inclusive. Our political, social, environmental and economic solutions must create value for all stakeholders—because fault lines are exacerbated when broad value creation is not driving the agenda. Third, sustainable solutions are integrated: the issues cited by the WEF cannot be treated in isolation from each other. They are, in fact, all interrelated and interdependent. Finally, we must have the disciplined focus to deliver a simple framework that is designed to prioritise the potential for implementation. The WEF agenda is so broad as to almost defy redress. Focusing on three key linchpin issues—unemployment, entrepreneurship, and resource management—will ease collaboration and lead us to an actionable programme and improved outcomes across a broad spectrum of issues.

In Africa we are developing and applying these solutions in a programme we call Africapitalism. Nowhere in the world do we stand to lose and gain more from the disruptive forces facing us than here. That’s why we are taking action that focuses on delivering true tangible outcomes within these specific focus areas, and seeking to deliver local value creation and social wealth.

We are going far beyond the established norm of working hand in hand with policymakers, legislators and NGOs to craft policies that expand entrepreneurship and trade—we are intervening directly. Whether through our US$100 million programme to identify, train, mentor and fund 1,000 entrepreneurs per year for the next decade, or our establishment of an index that will track the level of local value creation in African markets; we must go beyond the rhetoric to establish a clear and precise measure of our continent’s ability to retain value.

I would propose that we use these examples and others like them to build specific policy proposals in three key areas: entrepreneurship, trade, and resource management. Entrepreneurs, and the small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) they run, are engines of employment and economic growth—much more so than large global institutions. We need direct policy, investment, educational and infrastructure support for the SME sector in both the developed and developing world. Such an effort would re-energise our economies from the bottom up while stimulating the creation of the jobs we must create in order to ensure sustainability.

In trade, rather than focusing merely on the largest of global business, we need to take advantage of all our new technological and communications tools to expand the trade possibilities for entrepreneurs of all sizes. For example, new regional commodities exchanges in Africa are opening new markets and stabilizing prices for smallholder farmers all over Africa. E-commerce and mobile based transactions are also linking African entrepreneurs to consumers in ways that were not previously possible. Further, trade policy should pay special attention to intra-regional trade, as this type of trade includes a much higher share of manufactured goods: another level of support for local entrepreneurs and wealth creation. Greater intra-regional trade by definition requires closer integration and cooperation, and, therefore, less conflict.

Finally, we need to develop some common principles to guide resource management, but from the perspective of the nation’s providing the resources. Can those who own the resources (mostly in emerging nations) get a fair share in the process? We must come away from Davos with at least the beginnings of some core principles that regulate natural resource exploitation but that also obligate some level of local value addition of natural resources. This is important not just to avoid disputes, resource grabs, and potentially even resource wars, but beyond this to ensure that the resource owners can achieve sustainable and inclusive development.

As an entrepreneur who has launched and grown several multi-national companies, I believe strongly in the power of the private sector to solve problems, and 2015 can be a pivotal year, for good or ill, depending on how bold and decisive we are. So, as we arrive at Davos, let us focus not just on “raising awareness” about problems. It is our responsibility to leverage this important event and come away from Davos with concrete solutions that can contribute towards pulling the world back from the brink, toward a new era of economic cooperation, integration and growth.


Tony Elumelu is a Nigerian economist, banker, investor, and philanthropist.

This article was originally published on the Financial Times Blog
Photo Choice: Tun Images

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Former international, John Fashanu Regrets Not Playing For Nigeria


Former International , John Fashanu has expressed his regret for not playing football for Nigeria during his professional career.

He lamented how a few people from time to time try to rub his non-appearance for Nigeria to his face in public.

John noted that he came home on three occasions but he was told by the teams technical adviser that he was not comfortable with his British style of playing football which was at variance with the teams style at that time and so he was not used on those occasions.

He insisted that it was the way he was treated that made him keep his distance from the green eagles squad which eventually led him to the English national team where he made two appearances.

Presently, Fashanu is fully back in Nigeria and has founded a world class sporting academy in Abuja, estimated to cost 10 billion Naira which he has since acquired 10 hectares of land for the purpose.

This project would be commissioned in march 2015 by President Goodluck Jonathan and it would be called 'Goodluck/Fashanu International Sports Academy'.

The Tennis department of this academy would be headed by Serena Williams; similarly,  Kanu Nwankwo, Jay Jay Okocha and Fashanu would be heading the football department.

Re: Buhari V Jonathan: Beyond The Election By Dr. Kayode Fayemi



We commend Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s for his insightful and incisive article published on January 26th in the Vanguard Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper and major online news platforms under the above title. We agree with Professor Soludo that if the political parties, including ours, must justify the overwhelming enthusiasm of Nigerians about the 2015 elections we must remain focused on the issues that matter most to them, which is the progress of our country and the well being of our people. Indeed, this has been the driving conviction of our party and our campaign all along.

While we accept his critical comments on our party, more for the intentions than for the letters, we believe some clarifications would be quite necessary. We wish to emphasise that our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), presents a real option to Nigerians. Professor Soludo expressed the sentiments of most Nigerians when he spoke about the incalculable damage that the PDP under President Jonathan has done to the Nigerian economy and the unprecedented hardship that his six years of the locust has brought upon Nigerians.

However, the APC does not intend to ride into power on a mere rhetoric of 'change'. The change that we propose is fundamental in many ways as it is critical to the very survival of our country. This in itself presents a major distinction between our party and the PDP. Perhaps, the most compelling argument against the People's Democratic Party today is that its government and leadership does not even see that Nigeria is in trouble. While majority of our people wallow in abject poverty, and the gap in inequality gets ever wider by the day, yet PDP has basked in self-celebration of imagined accomplishments. How can a party or a government even begin to solve a problem that it does not believe exist? Like in all things, PDP is stuck in denial.

APC does not promise Eldorado. Neither our candidate nor our manifesto has made such promise. Our programs are based on the critical awareness of the difficult task ahead, while holding out a ray of hope to our people. The promises that we make reflect our innermost belief that the people must be at the centre of development. Especially, we believe that any economic growth that leaves the majority of the people behind, and does not protect the weakest and the vulnerable among us, is merely delusionary.

Professor Soludo has drawn our attention to the striking but unfortunate similarity in the nation's economy in 1982-1984 period and what we are experiencing today. Back then, a period of sustained high crude oil prices had also ironically led to unsustainable debt levels and introduction of the austerity measure. Just as it happened more than three decades ago, it is difficult to explain how a sustained period of oil boom should ultimately lead to austerity measure except to say that huge opportunities that the period of boom presented were frittered away by mindless profligacy, wanton corruption and bad economic choices made by the PDP government, which has rewarded a protracted period of boom with uncertainty and austerity and is still asking for another mandate to do more damage. 

If we sound upbeat in our manifesto, it is because we recognise that this crisis period also presents us a great opportunity to restructure the economy in a way that improves the quality of lives of our people by ensuring that our economic growth is job-led. Our party has identified job creation as a critical priority of government. We have noted with concerns that Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 23.9% should be seen as a national crisis. And if this government was more sensitive to the enormity of the challenge that this presents, it would be reluctant to jump all over the place in self celebration while so many of our youths are wasting away. In the immediate future, our priority is to tackle unemployment and provide good jobs by embarking on a massive programme of public works, building houses, roads, railways, ports and energy plants. Over the long term, we believe we must wean Nigeria off its dangerous addiction to oil, which currently provides 80% of our spending leaving us at the mercy of volatile international oil prices. Even as a federalist party, we believe that an economy that is dependent on a commodity that is so dangerously exposed to price volatility must always prepare for eventuality through savings and investments once the agreed thresholds are met. What we disagree with is the unilateral and arbitrary deductions in accruable revenues in a way that hampers the development of the federating States.

Going by the government's own statistics, is it mere coincidence that the three States with the lowest unemployment rate - Osun, Lagos and Kwara - are all APC States? This is evidence of our Party's ability to tackle this problem head-on. APC’s policy thrust will create an enabling environment and incentives for the formal and informal sectors to lead the quest for job creation. This will be done in addition to skills acquisition and enterprise- training to ensure our youths are equipped with the appropriate skills to take these jobs. Merely introducing a National Qualification Standards would power a whole new world of opportunities for our artisans by launching them into the international job markets. We note the issue that Professor Soludo picked with our figure of 720,000 jobs. We need to clarify that this is limited to immediate direct employment opportunities from public projects and maintenance works only. Our manifesto actually promises a lot more jobs but we see that as the product of the enabling environment we seek to create for private sector-led job creation, especially in high opportunity sectors like agriculture, construction, entertainment, tourism, ICT and sports. APC economic policy is driven by an overwhelming concern for the level of inequality in our country today. Specifically, to quote from our manifesto, we intend to achieve our job-creation agenda through:

-Massive public works programme especially the building of a national railway system (complete with tramline systems for our major cities), interstate roads, and ports. These projects must commence early in the life of the new administration.

-Establishing a new Federal Coordinating Agency - Build Nigeria - to fast track and manage these public works programmes with emphasis on Nigerian labour.

-Embarking vigorously on industrialization, public works and agricultural expansion.

-Diversifying the economy through a national industrial policy and innovative private-sector incentives that will move us away from over reliance on oil into value-added production especially manufacturing.

-Reviving textile and other industries that have been rendered dormant because of inappropriate economic policies.

-Reinvigorating the solid mineral sector by revamping our aged mining legislation and attracting new investment.

-Developing a new generation of domestic oil refineries to lower import costs, enhance our energy independence and create jobs.

-Working with state governments to turn the country into Africa's food basket through a new system of grants and interest free loans, and the mechanization of agriculture.

-Encouraging and promoting the use of sports as a source of job creation, entertainment and recreation.

-Creating a knowledge economy by making Nigeria an IT /professional/Telecom services outsourcing destination hub to create millions of jobs.

-Filling the huge gap in middle level technical manpower with massive investment in technical and tradesmen's skills education.

-Ensuring that all foreign contractors to include a plan of developing local capacity (technology transfer).

-Creation of six Regional Development Agencies covering the country with representatives from the Federal Government, States and the private sector to manage a new N300billion growth fund.

Our obsession with job creation stems from the fact that we believe we must focus on actions that would serve the twin purpose of closing the gap in inequality and creating opportunities for our people, especially the youth. Our current situation is dangerous for the stability of the country. The Human Development Index position ranks Nigeria 152 of 169 countries surveyed. This is incompatible with the present administration’s insistence on celebrating GDP growth and our absolute economic size hinged on a routine rebasing exercise. As many commentators have pointed out, rebasing the GDP is not an achievement. Rather, it is a mere statistical adjustment that does not impact on the real or imagined standards of living of the people. So, we also wonder what this PDP government is celebrating. And maybe it is not that difficult to explain when one discovers that a small elite has captured the state and converted our commonwealth into private gain, becoming disproportionately rich from massive corruption while poverty has deepened. The income gap and illicit capital flight are growing alarmingly. Instead of investing in modernizing our economy, massive theft has starved the country of desperately needed resources for infrastructure and public services and left us dangerously dependent on fluctuating global oil prices for our economic survival. For the ordinary Nigerian, the much-touted economic growth cited by the present administration has not translated into employment or development. Over 100 million Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet on a regular basis.

Furthermore, we understand Professor Soludo’s concern on the cost of implementing our various programmes, especially those relating to social welfare. The enormity of this challenge is not lost on us. We also know that sometimes, going into government is like buying a "no testing" electronic equipment. You may never know the true state of what you are buying until you get in. We want to assure Professor Soludo and other likeminded Nigerians that our policy team is looking at all the options – including the worst-case scenario of a completely empty treasury. We are however confident that by blocking avenues of wastages and corruption alone, savings could run into billions of Naira that could be deployed for productive use. Even so, we agree with Professor Soludo that savings from corruption alone will not tackle the enormous challenges we are likely to confront in government. We are however comforted by the fact that a four-year period provides opportunity for phased implementation while growing the resource base as well as changing the culture of graft while reducing the cost of governance.

Quite significantly, we know that periods of economic downturn also potentially provide opportunity to lay the foundation for real economic restructuring and development; and we can reflect on how Singapore under Premier Lee Kuan Yew and the United States of America under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used historic moments of economic downturn in their countries to launch a period of sustained development and a new deal for their people. General Buhari has never claimed to have the magic wand nor the answers to all of the country’s problems. His greatest assets would be his moral authority borne out of his self-sacrificing integrity, his sincerity of purpose and his patriotic zeal to return Nigeria to the path of progress and genuine development. He is committed to utilize competent and committed people of integrity wherever he may find them. This is precisely why he promised when flagging off his campaign in Port Harcourt on January 5, 2015 that if voted into power, it would be an opportunity to, in his words, "finally assemble a competent team of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country”. This is a clear sign that a meritocratic process will govern the appointment of those that would be entrusted with managing our economy and country. His stint as Head of State shows a track record of using self-sacrificing professionals in his governance team. His previous cabinet included the likes of Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Tam David-West and Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to lead Nigeria in the direction of change that is so urgently required. And even as we prepare for the immediate rescue mission in 2015, our minds are also set on building the necessary democratic institutions that would entrench our ideological conviction as a progressive and people-centred party. A National Progressives Policy Institute is part of this plan in the near future but we are very clear about the enormity of the task ahead. We would not seek to underplay it. We are supremely confident that we are equal to the task and we appreciate the commitment of majority of Nigerians to this quest for change.


By Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Former Governor Ekiti State and Head  Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign.

26 Year Old Bankole Cardoso Resigns Position as EasyTaxi CEO



Bankole Cardoso belongs to the league of the youngest and brightest CEO's in Nigeria. As the founding CEO of Easy Taxi Nigeria, Bankole has carved his niche by a wide margin.

Easy Taxi is a free smartphone app which allows users to hail a licensed taxi in just one click. It also lets taxi drivers get more passengers when they want them.

The aim of this innovation then was to create a lasting legacy in Nigeria by changing the perception of taxis and by making people think twice about using their cars and eventually there will be no more traffic jams!

Bankole was born and raised in Lagos Nigeria . He obtained his B.Sc in Business Management (Accounting) from Boston College in the United States of America. He then worked abroad for a 12year period before moveing back to Nigeria permanently to be an entrepreneur.

Under Bankole's leadership, Easy Taxi experienced a high growth rate and it became the most used online traffic app in the city of Abuja . Even more, Bankole put a personal touch to the gospel of technology he preached. He would wake up early, put on flip flops and drive around Lagos talking to different taxi drivers and explaining the Easy Taxi application to them.

Unflinching about walking away from all that hardwork and launching into new projects as he calls it, Bankole has hinted that his exit from the company will not translate into a burned bridge. Bankole reassures that he will always be affiliated with Easy Taxi but is taking the opportunity of leaving the startup to advance and work on new projects.

As a young and budding entrepreneur, Bankole was, in 2014, listed on Forbes as one of the 30 most promising African entrepreneurs under age 30 and has been featured on CNN Africa Start-Up.


Acknowledgement: techcityng.com
Source: techcityng.com

Nigeria Consolidates Status As Most-Watched Frontier Market



By Dan Keeler

Nigeria has consolidated its position as the most-watched frontier market in the latest WSJ Frontiers/FSG Frontier Market Sentiment Index as an increasing proportion of multinationals put the country on their watch list for potential future investment.

Nigeria has held the top spot since the index was launched in June 2014 despite having endured a rough ride for the past few months.

Based on a study of around 200 multinational companies, the index, created exclusively for WSJ Frontiers by Washington-based consultancy Frontier Strategy Group (FSG), tracks which frontier markets major European and American firms are focusing their attention on. It also reveals trends in corporate thinking by tracking the rate of change in corporate sentiment among FSG’s clients, which include companies such as Cisco , Merck and MasterCard.

Corporate sentiment is calculated as the percentage of companies that include a country on their watch-list. If 50 of the 200 companies are watching a particular country, the sentiment index score would be 25%.

Nigeria’s travails have primarily been caused by its heavy reliance for foreign exchange and tax revenues on oil, whose price has slumped by more than 50% since last June. Presidential elections are due next month, too, and the outcome is far from certain. Continuing attacks by rebel group Boko Haram are also having a negative impact on perceptions of Nigeria.

But for corporations looking beyond the short-term turmoil, the country’s problems may provide an opportunity to buy into Africa’s biggest economy at a discount. “Nigeria is about to enter a world of hurt but these are the times when you can really make a difference – both from investors’ point of view and corporates’,” says Matt Lasov, FSG’s global head of advisory and analytics.

Lasov argues that the sharp devaluation of the naira will push up prices of imported products, encouraging Nigerians to buy more locally produced goods. “Companies that produce locally will capture a huge amount of market share,” he says.

At the same time, the currency’s decline will make it cheaper for foreign firms to acquire Nigerian assets. “The reason the country’s gaining more attention while other oil exporters’ [appeal to corporations] shrinking is because companies are opportunistic,” Lasov adds.

According to Nnamdi Chiekwu, a partner at New York-based corporate finance advisory firm Namdex Group, foreign companies are taking a long view on Nigeria. “The political uncertainty is putting everything on hold,” he says, “but companies that can afford to wait it out will find great opportunities there.”

The trends in corporate attention illustrate starkly the impact lower oil prices are having on other oil-dependent frontier markets. The three worst performers in terms of change in sentiment in this quarter’s survey are all oil exporters: Angola, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Although lower oil prices are arguably beneficial for a significant proportion of frontier markets, the confusion and anxiety over the impact of the precipitous fall in prices hit the sector’s equities hard. In the fourth quarter of 2014 the benchmark MSCI FM index plunged by 14%. Over the prior three quarters, the index had notched up a gain of almost 18%.

The general level of corporate interest in frontier markets reflected a similar pattern, with a majority of the countries covered in the WSJ Frontier Market Sentiment Indexseeing a decline in corporate interest over the quarter. Sentiment declined toward 37 markets out of a total of 68 during the fourth quarter. In the preceding quarter 48 of the 68 markets experienced an increase in corporate attention.

Overall, though, the magnitude of the changes in corporate sentiment towards frontier markets was remarkably low, ranging from +2.62 percentage points to -2.78 percentage points. The previous quarter’s range was +8.68 percentage points to -7.45 percentage points.

Vietnam, with a gain of 1.98 percentage points, climbed to second place on the list. Like Nigeria, the country is a perennial favorite among frontier investors but has seen some turmoil over the past year. China’s mooring of a floating oilrig in contested waters off Vietnam triggered a spate of anti-Chinese demonstrations that threatened to undermine the country’s growing appeal as a manufacturing base. The unrest doesn’t seem to have dented Vietnam’s appeal among multinationals, though, and almost three in 10 now include it on their watch list.

Vietnam’s appeal is reflected in the continuing steady growth of foreign direct investment in the country. According to Asian Development Bank estimates, net FDI last year rose to $7.1 billion from the prior year’s $6.9 billion. In 2015 the bank expects that to rise again to $7.3 billion.

Vietnam is not the only market in the region to attract more interest. Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos were all in the top five of countries that saw the greatest improvement in sentiment.

Central and Eastern Europe’s frontier markets were also among the top gainers, a refreshing change for countries such as Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria that had been some of the worst performers in previous surveys. Absolute sentiment toward CEE countries remains weak, however. Ukraine is the region’s highest placed country, ranking 25th on the list after a 1.26 percentage point rise in the number of companies focusing on it.

Alison Graham, chief investment officer at frontier market fund manager Voltan Capital Management, says companies taking a long-term view are likely to be keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine: “Ukraine is relatively small with low population growth but the agricultural sector there is globally important. I imagine the big agriculture companies would definitely be looking really closely at it.”

As CEE has begun attracting more attention, South Asia seems to be losing its appeal. All three South Asian frontier markets — Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan — were among the 10 countries that experienced the steepest declines in corporate sentiment.

Lasov contends that Sri Lanka’s appeal may have been dented by the presidential election that took place last week. He may have a point: While they applauded the peaceful conclusion of the election, ratings agencies have raised some concerns about the impact it will have on Sri Lanka’s business environment and economy.

Nikhil Bhatnagar, who covers Asian equities at brokerage Auerbach Grayson, is blunter. Noting that the new president has promised to reduce the Sri Lanka’s reliance on China, he questions the country’s fundamental economic structure. “The Sri Lankan model [is] nothing but a massive vendor-financed Chinese infrastructure build-out,” he says. If China’s investment eases back, it could have an impact on Sri Lanka’s GDP growth, which could sap companies’ enthusiasm for investing there.

Hiran Embuldeniya, Managing Partner at Sri Lanka-based Ironwood Capital Partners, which late last year raised $30 million to create the country’s first private equity fund, says he has not seen any decline in interest from financial investors. “Last year was one of the most positive in terms of net foreign purchases,” he explains.

And although he concedes that corporations could be holding off until it is clear how the presidential election will affect the business climate Embuldeniya says companies are still looking for opportunities. “It’s not an avalanche of investment but it certainly hasn’t dried up either,” he adds.

http://blogs.wsj.com/frontiers/2015/01/15/nigeria-consolidates-status-as-most-watched-frontier-market/

Director-General, Consumer Protection Council Awarded US State of Georgia’s Citizenship


Mrs. Dupe Atoki, the Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, CPC has been awarded the honorary citizenship of the State of Georgia, United States of America, in recognition of her continued exemplary contributions to the development of Africa's largest economy-Nigeria.

The Director General was notified of the award while receiving a delegation of visiting US lawmakers from the Capitol Hill of the Georgia General Assembly, comprising the Chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Hon. Rep. Dee Dawkins – Haigler, and Senator Donzella James, including the Chief Executive Officer of African Leadership Magazine, Dr. Ken Giami.

According to the Chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, the award of honorary citizenship of Georgia is conferred on “individuals deemed worthy, and who have great experience and knowledge, doing great work abroad.”

Mrs. Dupe Atoki, is a lawyer of over 35 years experience in corporate and human rights law, graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University and was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. She is also an alumnus of the Washington College of Law and that of Oxford University, United Kingdom.

She has served Nigeria in many capacities, including being a member of several Presidential Committees, a former Commissioner of the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission and currently, the Director General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC).

At the continental level, she served as a legal consultant in the drafting of several legal documents for the African Union and was a Commissioner of the African Union Commission on Human & People’s Rights (the continental body, responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa). She was a Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Places of Detention in Africa and also chaired the Committee for the Prevention of Torture in Africa.

She later rose to become the Commission’s Chairperson, making her the first Nigerian woman to head an African Union Organ. As Chairperson of the Commission, she did not only transform its management, she also eliminated the awful backlog of cases filed against African governments and delays in its decision making.

For her significant contributions to peacekeeping in the realm of human rights advocacy in Africa, Mrs. Atoki was, in November 2013, conferred with the 2013 Gusi Peace Prize in Manila, Philippines. The Award is the Asian counterpart of the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the first Nigerian and third African woman to receive it.

In the same vein, barely two weeks later, she received another award on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), the Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Institute (NBAHRI), the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in recognition of her advocacy on human rights in the African Union (AU) at a reception and award dinner held in Abuja.

Also, earlier in the year 2014, her home state, the Kogi State Government, added to her glory by honouring her as an outstanding woman of the state, while her community, the Kabba Development Union, in recognition of her achievements organized a civic reception for her, where a Plague of Honour was presented to her in Kabba by his Majesty, Obaro of Kabba, Oba Dr. Michael Olobayo, on Saturday, June 7, 2014.

Mrs. Atoki, who assumed office as the Director General of CPC in May 2013, has demonstrated commitment and focus in the execution of her assignments in the Council and has taken giant strides towards re-positioning the agency for better performance.

Monday 26 January 2015

Billionaires Tony Elumelu And Aliko Dangote Launch The African Energy Leaders Group At The World Economic Forum


Speaking at a high profile panel on energy at the 2015 annual meeting for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Nigerian billionaire and philanthropist Tony Elumelu emphasized the key priority for 2015 for Africa as “policy, policy, policy”. Launching the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG), a multi-stakeholder advocacy group that aims to address Africa’s power deficiency; the continent has approximately 620 million people without electricity, Mr. Elumelu said “investors in this space are rational. The risks are huge; the capital requirements are equally huge. If you want to invest in this space, you have to first survey the environment beyond economics; policy, stability, enforceability of rules, the nature of the regulatory framework. If the right policies are in place, investors and financiers will be encouraged to invest.”

AELG will bring the continent’s leaders together in an effort to build public – private partnerships, leverage political support and mobilize funds for sustainable energy and development. Created by a working group of African leaders including billionaires Mr. Elumelu, Aliko Dangote; Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, Prime Minister Daniel Duncan ofIvory Coast and President John Mahama of Ghana, AELG’s mission takes the form of three pillars; driving universal access, driving efficiency and driving renewables. “Currently, every single African country is experiencing energy shortages and power outages. This costs the continent 2% of its GDP,” said Kaberuka, “We are a continent of miracles; if we are growing at 5% without enough electricity, think of what the continent could do with enough electricity.” Kaberuka also added that the African Development Bank does $5 billion of infrastructure per year; half of that investment is spear-marked for energy, in both the private and public sectors.

Mr. Elumelu (@TonyOElumelu), the leading voice highlighting the African private sector agenda at WEF was the third most tweeted person at Davos after Bill Gates and Kenneth Roth (Executive Director, Human Rights Watch). Using the hashtag #AfricaAtDavos to drive the African agenda during the annual meeting, some of Mr. Elumelu’s top tweets included; ‘In Africa we need one thing…ENERGY #AfricaAtDavos #wef15’; ‘1 million people in Africa share an average of 91-megawatts of electricity while in the US the same number of people consume an average of 3360-megawatts #AfricaAtDavos’; ‘Powering Africa therefore is not a choice between coal, gas, hydro, wind, solar or between grid and off-grid. We need all to fill the huge deficit’; ‘We need government to set predictable policies on power so investors know they can recoup their investment #AfricaAtDavos #wef15’. This aligned with Africapitalism, an economic philosophy that Mr. Elumelu created, that calls for long-term investments in key sectors in Africa, to spark economic prosperity and social wealth.

At a time when new leadership in Africa is required to address increasingly complex and interlinked global problems; a new set of African leaders are stepping up to contribute towards Africa’s solutions. The complex, volatile, interconnected nature of the world’s economies and societies, means that Africa can be both the source and the solution to many of these issues. As such, Mr. Elumelu spoke on several high-level panels on energy,Ebola, access to capital among others and hosted key events during the annual meeting, which was themed “The New Global Context.” Africa is engaging more strategically and proactively than ever before at WEF; “In the past, political leaders led the discussions but increasingly, business leaders from Africa are leading and driving the agenda on Africa and engaging with their peers around the world,” said the revered business leader. Mr. Elumelu and Mr. Dangote hosted a high-profile CEO breakfast at WEF because according to Mr. Elumelu while the perception on Africa was changing, “one of the primary reasons why investors do not invest in Africa, is because they do not know what is happening on the continent.” Listed on FORBES Africa’s 50 Richest, Mr. Elumelu is the founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a privately held investment vehicle, with interests in the power, resources, financial services and hospitality sectors and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which focuses on empowering entrepreneurship across Africa.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/faraigundan/2015/01/26/billionaires-tony-elumelu-and-aliko-dangote-launch-the-african-energy-leaders-group-at-the-world-economic-forum/

Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election, by Charles Soludo


I need to preface this article with a few clarifications. I have taken a long sabbatical leave from partisan politics, and it is real fun watching the drama from the balcony. Having had my own share of public service (I do not need a job from government), I now devote my time and energy in pursuit of other passions, especially abroad.

A few days ago, I read an article in Thisday entitled “Where is Charles Soludo?”, and my answer is that I am still there, only that I have been too busy with extensive international travels to participate in or comment on our national politics and economy. But I occasionally follow events at home. Since the survival and prosperity of Nigeria are at stake, the least some of us (albeit, non-partisan) must do is to engage in public debate. As the elections approach, I owe a duty to share some of my concerns.

In September 2010, I wrote a piece entitled “2011 Elections: Let the Real Debate Begin” and published by Thisday. I understand the Federal Executive Council discussed it, and the Minister of Information rained personal attacks on me during the press briefing. I noted more than six newspaper editorials in support of the issues we raised.Beside other issues we raised, our main thesis was that the macro economy was dangerously adrift, with little self-insurance mechanisms (and a prediction that if oil prices fell below $40, many state governments would not be able to pay salaries). I gave a subtle hint at easy money and exchange rate depreciations because I did not want to panic the market with a strong statement. Sadly, on the eve of the next elections, literally everything we hinted at has happened. Part of my motivation for this article is that five years after, the real debate is still not happening.The presidential election next month will be won by either Buhari or Jonathan. For either, it is likely to be a pyrrhic victory. None of them will be able to deliver on the fantastic promises being made on the economy, and if oil prices remain below $60, I see very difficult months ahead, with possible heady collisions with labour, civil society, and indeed the citizenry. To be sure, the presidential election will not be decided by the quality of ‘issues’ or promises canvassed by the candidates.The debates won’t also change much (except if there is a major gaffe by either candidate like Tofa did in the debate with Abiola). My take is that more than 95% of the likely voters have pretty much made up their minds based largely on other considerations. A few of us remain undecided.During my brief visit to Nigeria, I watched some of the campaign rallies on television. The tragedy of the current electioneering campaigns is that both parties are missing the golden opportunity to sensitize the citizenry about the enormous challenges ahead and hence mobilize them for the inevitable sacrifices they would be called upon to make soon. Each is promising an El-Dorado.Let me admit that the two main parties talk around the major development challenges—corruption, insecurity, economy (unemployment/poverty, power, infrastructure, etc) health, education, etc. However, it is my considered view that none of them has any credible agenda to deal with the issues, especially within the context of the evolving global economy and Nigeria’s broken public finance.The UK Conservative Party’s manifesto for the last election proudly announced that all its programmes were fully costed and were therefore implementable. Neither APC nor PDP can make a similar claim. A plan without the dollar or Naira signs to it is nothing but a wish-list. They are not telling us how much each of their promises will cost and where they will get the money. None talks about the broken or near bankrupt public finance and the strategy to fix it.

In response to the question of where the money will come from, I heard one of the politicians say that the problem of Nigeria was not money but the management of resources. This is half-truth. The problem is both. No matter how efficient a father (with a monthly salary of N50,000) is at managing the family resources, I cannot see how he could deliver on a promise to buy a brand new Peugeot 406 for each of his three children in a year. Even with all the loopholes and waste closed, with increased efficiency per dollar spent, there is still a binding budget constraint. To deliver an efficient national transport infrastructure alone will still cost tens of billions of dollars per annum even by corruption-free, cost-effective means. Did I hear that APC promises a welfare system that will pay between N5,000 and N10,000 per month to the poorest 25 million Nigerians? Just this programme alone will cost between N1.5 and N3 trillion per annum.Add to this the cost of free primary education plus free meal (to be funded by the federal budget or would it force non-APC state governments to implement the same?), plus some millions of public housing, etc. I have tried to cost some of the promises by both the APC and the PDP, given alternative scenarios for public finance and the numbers don’t add up. Nigerians would be glad to know how both parties would fund their programmes. Do they intend to accentuate the huge public debt, or raise taxes on the soon to-be-beleaguered private businesses, or massively devalue the naira to rake in baskets of naira from the dwindling oil revenue, or embark on huge fiscal retrenchment with the sack of labour and abandonment of projects, and which areas of waste do they intend to close and how much do they estimate to rake in from them, etc? I remember that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was asked similar questions in 1978 and 1979 about his promises of free education and free medical services. Even as a teenager, I was impressed by how he reeled out figures about the amounts he would save from various ‘waste’ including the tea/coffee served in government offices. The point is that at least he did his homework and had his numbers and I give credit to his team.Some 36 years later, the quality of political debate and discourse seems to border on the pedestrian. From the quality of its team, I did not expect much from the current government, but I must confess that I expected APC as a party aspiring to take over from PDP to come up with a knock-out punch. Evidently, from what we have read from the various versions of its manifesto as well as the depth of promises being made, it does not seem that it has a better offer.

Let me digress a bit to refresh our memory on where we are, and thus provide the context in which to evaluate the promises being made to us. Recall that the key word of the 2015 budget is ‘austerity’. Austerity? This is just within a few months of the fall in oil prices. History repeats itself in a very cruel way, as this was exactly what happened under the Shehu Shagari administration.Under the Shagari government, oil price reached its highest in 1980/81. During the same period, Nigeria ratcheted up its consumption and all tiers of government were in competition as to which would out-borrow the other. Huge public debt was the consequence. When oil prices crashed in early 1982, the National Assembly then passed the Economic Stabilization (Austerity Measures) Act in one day— going through the first, second, and third readings the same day. The austerity measures included the rationing of ‘essential commodities’ and most states owed salary arrears. Corruption was said to be pervasive, and as Sani Abacha said in that famous coup speech, ‘unemployment has reached unacceptable proportions and our hospitals have become mere consulting clinics’.General Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon regime made the fight against corruption and restoration of discipline the cardinal point of their administration which lasted for 20 months. I am not sure they had a credible plan to get the economy out of the doldrums (although it must be admitted that poverty incidence in Nigeria as of 1985 when they left office was a just46%— according to the Federal Office of Statistics).We have come full circle. If the experience under Shagari could be excused as an unexpected shock, what Nigeria is going through now is a consequence of our deliberate wrong choices. We have always known that the unprecedented oil boom (in both price and quantity—despite oil theft) of the last six years is temporary but the government chose to treat it as a permanent shock. The parallels with the Shagari regime are troubling.First, at the time of oil boom, Nigeria again went on a consumption spree such that the budgets of the last five years can best be described as ‘consumption budgets’, with new borrowing by the federal government exceeding the actual expenditure on critical infrastructure. Second, not one penny was added to the stock of foreign reserves at a period Nigeria earned hundreds of billions from oil.For comparisons, President Obasanjo met about $5 billion in foreign reserves, and the average monthly oil price for the 72 months he was in office was $38, and yet he left $43 billion in foreign reserves after paying $12 billion to write-off Nigeria’s external debt. In the last five years, the average monthly oil price has been over $100, and the quantity also higher but our foreign reserves have been declining and exchange rate depreciating.I note that when I assumed office as Governor of CBN, the stock of foreign reserves was $10 billion. The average monthly oil price during my 60 months in office was $59, but foreign reserve reached the all-time peak of $62 billion (and despite paying $12 billion for external debt, and losing over $15 billion during the unprecedented global financial and economic crisis) I left behind $45 billion.Recall also that our exchange rate continuously appreciated during this period and was at N117 to the dollar before the global crisis and we deliberately allowed it to depreciate in order to preserve our reserves. My calculation is that if the economy was better managed, our foreign reserves should have been between $102 –$118 billion and exchange rate around N112 before the fall in oil prices. As of now, the reserves should be around $90 billion and exchange rate no higher than N125 per dollar.Third, the rate of public debt accumulation at a time of unprecedented boom had no parallel in the world. While the Obasanjo administration bought and enlarged the policy space for Nigeria, the current government has sold and constricted it. What debt relief did for Nigeria was to liberate Nigerian policymakers from the intrusive conditionalities of the creditors and thereby truly allowing Nigeria independence in its public policy.How have we used the independence? Through our own choices, we have yet again tied the hands of future policymakers. This time, the debt is not necessarily to foreign creditor institutions/governments which are organized under the Paris club but largely to private agents which is even more volatile. We call it domestic debt. But if one carefully unpacks the bond portfolio, what percentage of it is held by foreign private agents? And I understand the Government had removed the speed bumps we kept to slow the speed of capital flight, and someone is sweating to explain the gyrations in foreign reserves. I am just smiling!In sum, the mismanagement of our economy has brought us once more to the brink. Government officials rely on the artificial construct of debt to GDP ratio to tell us we can borrow as much as we want. That is nonsense, especially for an economy with a mono but highly volatile source of revenue and forex earnings. The chicken will soon come home to roost.Today, the combined domestic and external debt of the Federal Government is in excess of $40 billion. Add to this the fact that abandoned capital projects littered all over the country amount to over $50 billion. No word yet on other huge contingent liabilities. If oil prices continue to fall, I bet that Nigeria will soon have a heavy debt burden even with low debt to GDP ratio.Furthermore, given the current and capital account regime, it is evident that Nigeria does not have enough foreign reserves to adequately cover for imports plus short term liabilities. In essence, we are approaching the classic of what the Shagari government faced, and no wonder the hasty introduction of ‘austerity measures’ again.Fourth, poverty incidence and unemployment are also simultaneously at all-time high levels.

According to the NBS, poverty incidence grew to 69% in 2010 and projected to be 71% in 2011, with unemployment at 24%. This is the worst record in Nigeria’s history, and the paradox is that this happened during the unprecedented oil boom.One theme I picked up listening to the campaign rallies as well as to some of the propagandists is the confusion about measuring government “performance”. Most people seem to confuse ‘inputs’, or ‘processes’ with output.

Earlier this month, I had a dinner with a group of friends (14 of us) and we were chit-chatting about Nigeria. One of us, an associate of President Jonathan veered off to repeat a propaganda mantra that Jonathan had outperformed his predecessors.He also reminded us that Jonathan re-based the GDP and that Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa; etc. It was fun listening to the response by others. In sum, the group agreed that the President had ‘outperformed’ his predecessors except that it is in reverse order. First, my friend was educated that re-basing the GDP is no achievement: it is a routine statistical exercise, and depending on the base year that you choose, you get a different GDP figure. Re-basing the GDP has nothing to do with government policy. Besides, as naira-dollar exchange rate continues to depreciate, the GDP in current dollars will also shrink considerably soon.We were reminded of Jonathan’s agricultural ‘revolution’. But someone cut in and noted that for all the propaganda, the growth rate of the agricultural sector in the last five years still remains far below the performance under Obasanjo. One of us reminded him that no other president had presided over the slaughter of about 15,000 people by insurgents in a peacetime;no other president earned up to 50% of the amount of resources the current government earned from oil and yet with very little outcomes; no other president had the rate of borrowing; none had significant forex earnings and yet did not add one penny to foreign reserves but losing international reserves at a time of boom; no other president had a depreciating exchange rate at a time of export boom; at no time in Nigeria’s history has poverty reached 71% (even under Abacha, it was 67 -70%); and under no other president did unemployment reach 24%. Surely, these are unprecedented records and he surely ‘outperformed’ his predecessors! What a satire!One of those present took the satire to some level by comparing Jonathan to the ‘performance’ of the former Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi. He noted that while Obi gloated about ‘savings’, there is no signature project to remember his regime except that his regime took the first position among all states in Nigeria in the democratization of poverty—- mass impoverishment of the people of Anambra. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, poverty rose under his watch in Anambra from 20% in 2004 (lowest in Nigeria then) to 68% in 2010 (a 238% deterioration!). Our friend likened it to a father who had no idea of what to do with his resources and was celebrating his fat bank account while his children were dying of kwashiorkor. He pointed out that since it is the likes of Peter Obi who are the advisers to Jonathan on how to manage the economy (thereby confusing micromanagement which you do as a trader with macro governance) it is little wonder that poverty is fast becoming another name for Nigeria. It was a very hilarious evening.My advice to President Jonathan and his handlers is to stop wasting their time trying to campaign on his job record. Those who have decided to vote for him will not do so because he has taken Nigeria to the moon. His record on the economy is a clear ‘F’ grade. As one reviews the laundry list of micro interventions the government calls its achievements, one wonders whether such list is all that the government could deliver with an unprecedented oil boom and an unprecedented public debt accumulation.I can clearly see why reasonable people are worried. Everywhere else in the world, government performance on the economy is measured by some outcome variables such as: income (GDP growth rate), stability of prices (inflation and exchange rate), unemployment rate, poverty rate, etc. On all these scores, this government has performed worse than its immediate predecessor— Obasanjo regime. If we appropriately adjust for oil income and debt, then this government is the worst in our history on the economy. All statistics are from the National Bureau of Statistics.Despite presiding over the biggest oil boom in our history, it has not added one percentage point to the growth rate of GDP compared to the Obasanjo regime especially the 2003- 07 period. Obasanjo met GDP growth rate at 2% but averaged 7% within 2003- 07. The current government has been stuck at 6% despite an unprecedented oil boom. Income (GDP) growth has actually performed worse, and poverty escalated.This is the only government in our history where rapidly increasing government expenditure was associated with increasing poverty. The director general of NBS stated in his written press conference address in 2011 that about 112 million Nigerians were living in poverty. Is this the record to defend? Obama had a tough time in his re-election in 2012 because unemployment reached 8%. Here, unemployment is at a record 24% and poverty at an all-time 71% but people are prancing around, gloating about ‘performance’.As I write, the Naira exchange rate to the dollar is $210 at the parallel market. What a historic performance! Please save your breathe and save us the embarrassment. The President promised Nigeria nothing in the last election and we did not get value for money. He should this time around present us with his plan for the future, and focus on how he would redeem himself in the second term—if he wins!Sadly the government’s economic team is very weak, dominated by self-interested and self-conflicted group of traders and businessmen, and so-called economic team meetings have been nothing but showbiz time. The very people government exists to regulate have seized the levers of government as policymakers and most government institutions have largely been “privatized” to them.Mention any major government department or agency and someone will tell you whom it has been ‘allocated’ to, and the person subsequently nominates his minion to occupy the seat. What do you then expect? The economy seems to be on auto pilot, with confusion as to who is in charge, and government largely as a constraint. There are no big ideas, and it is difficult to see where economic policy is headed to.My thesis is that the Nigerian economy, if properly managed, should have been growing at an annual rate of about 12% given the oil boom, and poverty and unemployment should have fallen dramatically over the last five years. This is topic for another day.So far, the Government’s response to the self-inflicted crisis is, at best, laughable. They blame external shocks as if we did not expect them and say nothing about the terrible policy choices they made. The National Assembly had described the 2015 budget as unrealistic. The fiscal adjustments proposed in the 2015 budget simply play to the gallery and just to pander to our emotions.For a $540 billion economy, the so-called luxury tax amounts to zero per cent of GDP. If the current trend continues, private businesses will come under a heavy crunch soon. Having put economics on its head during the boom time, the Government now proposes to increase taxes during a prospective downturn and impose austerity measures. Unbelievable!Fortuitously, just as he succeeded Shagari when Nigeria faced similar situations, Buhari is once more seeking to lead Nigeria. But times have changed, and Nigeria is largely different. First, this is a democracy and dealing with corruption must happen within the ambit of the rule of law and due process. Getting things done in a democracy requires complicated bargaining, especially where the legislature, labour, the media, and civil society have become strong and entrenched.Second, the size, structure and institutions of the economy have fundamentally altered. The market economy, especially the capital market and foreign exchange market, impose binding constraints and discipline on any regime.

Third, dealing with most of the other issues— insecurity, unemployment/poverty, infrastructure, health, education, etc, require increased, smarter, and more efficient spending. Increased spending when the economy is on the reverse gear?If oil prices remain between 40- 60 dollars over the next two years, the current policy regime guarantees that foreign reserves will continue the precipitous depletion with the attendant exchange rate depreciation, as well as a probable unsustainable escalation in debt accumulation, fiscal retrenchment or taxing the private sector with vengeance. The scenario does not look pretty.The poor choices made by the current government have mortgaged the future, and the next government would have little room to manoeuvre and would inevitably undertake drastic but painful structural adjustments. Nigerians loathe the term ‘structural adjustment’. With falling real wages and depreciating currency, I can see any belated attempt by the government to deal with the bloated public sector pitching it against a feisty labour.

I worry about regime stability in the coming months, and I do not envy the next team.The seeming crisis is not destiny; it is self-imposed. However, we must see it as an opportunity to be seized to fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s political economy, including its fiscal federalism and mineral rights. The current system guarantees cycles of consumption loop and I cannot see sustainable long term prosperity without major systemic overhaul. The proposals at the national conference merely tinker at the margins.In totality, the outcome of the national conference is to do more of the same, with minor amendments on the system of sharing and consumption rather than a fundamental overhaul of the system for productivity and prosperity. President Jonathan promises to implement the report of the national conference if he wins. I commend him for at least offering ‘something’, albeit, marginal in my view. I have not heard anything from the APC or Buhari regarding the national conference report or what kind of federalism they envisage for Nigeria.In Nigeria’s recent history, two examples under the military and civilian governments demonstrate that where the political will exists, Nigeria has the capacity to overcome severe challenges. The first was under President Babangida. Not many Nigerians appreciate that given the near bankrupt state of Nigeria’s finances and requirements for debt resolution under the Paris Club, the country had little choice but to undertake the painful structural adjustment programme (SAP).I want to state for the record that the foundation for the current market economy we operate in Nigeria was laid by that regime (liberalization of markets including market determined exchange rate, private sector-led economy including licensing of private banks and insurance, de-regulation, privatization of public enterprises under TCPC, etc). Just abolishing the import licensing regime was a fundamental policy revolution. Despite the criticisms, these policy thrusts have remained the pillars of our deepening market economy, and the economy recovered from almost negative growth rate to average 5.5% during the regime and poverty incidence at 42% in 1992.Under our democratic experience, President Obasanjo inherited a bankrupt economy (with the lost decade of the 1990’s GDP growth rate of 2.2% and hence zero per capita income growth for the decade). His regime consolidated and deepened the market economy structures (consolidation of the banking system which is powering the emergence of a new but truly private sector-led economy and simultaneously led to a new awareness and boom in the capital market;telecommunications revolution; new pension regime; debt relief which won for Nigeria policy independence from the World Bank and Paris Club; deepening of de-regulation and privatization including the unbundling of NEPA under PHCN for privatization; agricultural revolution that saw yearly growth rate of over 6% and remains unsurpassed ever since;sound monetary and fiscal policy and growing foreign reserves that gave confidence to investors; establishment of the Africa Finance Corporation which is leading infrastructure finance in Africa; backward integration policy that saw the establishment and growth of Dangote cement and others; established ICPC and EFCC to fight corruption, etc).The economy roared to average yearly growth of 7% between 2003 and 2007 (although average monthly oil price under his regime was $38), and poverty dropped from estimated 70% in1999 to 54% in 2004. Obasanjo was his own coordinating minister of the economy and chairman of the economic management team— which he chaired for 90 minutes every week. I met with him daily. In other words, he did not outsource economic management.We expected that the next government after Obasanjo would take the economy to the next level. So far, we have had two great slogans: the 7-point agenda and currently, the transformation agenda. They remain empty slogans without content or direction.Let me suggest that the fundamental challenge for the next government on the economy can be framed around the goal of creating twelve million jobs over the next four years to have a dent on unemployment and poverty. The challenge is to craft a development agenda to deliver this within the context of broken public finance, and an economy in which painful structural adjustments will be inevitable if current trends in oil prices continue. Most other programmes on corruption, security, power, infrastructure, etc, are expected to be instruments to achieve this objective.So far, neither the APC nor the PDP has a credible programme for employment and poverty reduction. The APC promises to create 20,000 jobs per state in the first year, totalling a mere 720,000 jobs. This sounds like a quota system and for a country where the new entrants into the labour market per annum exceed two million. If it was intended as a joke, APC must please get serious. On the other hand, President Jonathan targets two million jobs per annum but his strategy for doing so is a Job Board— another committee of sort. Sorry, Mr. President, a Job Board is not a strategy. The principal job Nigerians hired you to do for them is to create jobs for them too. You cannot outsource that job, Sir. Creating 3 million jobs per annum under the unfolding crisis would task our creativity and audacity to the limits.I heard one politician argue that once we fix power, private sector would create jobs. Not necessarily! Well, this government claims to have added 1,700MW to the national grid and yet unemployment soars. Ask Greece, Spain, etc with power and infrastructure and yet with high unemployment. Structural dislocations play a key role. For example, currently in Nigeria, it is estimated that more than 60% of graduates of our educational system are unemployable.You can understand why many of us are amused when the government celebrates that it has established twelve more glorified secondary schools as universities. I thought they would have told us how many Nigerian universities made it in the league of the best 200 universities in the world. That would have been an achievement. Surely, creating millions of jobs in this economy would, among other things, require ‘new money’ and extraordinary system of coordination among the three tiers of government plus the private sector.Unfortunately, from what I read, the CBN is largely likely to be asleep at this time the country needs the most revolutionary finance. This is a topic for another day. Only the President can lead this effort. Moreover, we are waiting for the two parties/candidates to spell out HOW they will create jobs, whether it is the 20,000 jobs per state by APC or 2 million per annum by President Jonathan. Let us know how you arrived at the figures. Whichever of the two that is declared winner will have his job cut out for him, and I expect him to declare a national emergency on job creation.Surprisingly, none of the parties/candidates has any grand vision about African economic integration, led by Nigeria. There is no programme on how to make the naira the de facto currency of ECOWAS or the international financial centre that can attract more than $100 billion per annum.

Where is the strategy for orchestrating the revolutionary finance to power the economy during this downturn? For President Jonathan, I find it shocking that the most important initiative of his government to secure the future of the economy by Nigeria refusing to sign the ruinous Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union is not even being mentioned. President Obasanjo saved Nigeria from the potential ruin of an ECOWAS single currency while to his credit Jonathan safeguarded our industrial sector/economy by refusing to sign the EPA. Or does the government not understand the import of that? It will be interesting to know the APC’s strategy for exploiting strategic alliances within Africa, China, and the world for Nigeria’s prosperity.If Buhari wins, he will ride on the populist wind for “change”. Most people I have spoken to who have decided to vote for Buhari do not necessarily know the specifics of what he would offer or how Nigeria would be different under him. I asked my driver, Usman, whom he would vote for President.He responded: “If they no rig the election, na Buhari everybody go vote for”. I asked him why, and his next response sums it: “The man dey honest. In short, people just want to see another face for that villa”. But if he wins, the honeymoon will be brief and the pressure will be immense to magically deliver a ‘new Nigeria’ with no corruption, no boko haram or insecurity, jobs for everyone, no poverty, infrastructure and power in abundance, etc. As a first point, Buhari and his team must realize that they do not yet have a coherent, credible agenda that is consistent with the fundamentals of the economy currently. The APC manifesto contains some good principles and wish-lists, but as a blue print for Nigeria’s security and prosperity, it is largely hollow. The numbers do not add up. Thus, his first job is to present a credible development agenda to Nigerians.The second key challenge for Buhari and his team will be to transit and transform from a group of what I largely refer to as aggrieved people’s congregation to build a true political party with a soul from the patchwork of political associations. It is surely easier to oppose than to govern. This should not worry us much. After all, even the PDP which has been in power for 16 years is still an assembly of people held together by what I refer to as dining table politics.I am not sure how many members can tell you what their party stands for or its mission and vision for Nigeria. The third but more difficult agenda is cobbling together a truly ‘progressive team’ that will begin to pick the pieces. The lesson of history is that the best leaders have been the ones who went beyond their narrow provincial enclaves to recruit talents and mobilize capacities for national transformation.In Nigeria’s history, the two presidents who made the most fundamental transformation of the economy, Babangida and Obasanjo, were exceptional in the quality of the teams they put together. I therefore pray that Buhari will be magnanimous in victory – if he wins—to put together a ‘team Nigeria’ for the rescue mission.If Jonathan wins, then God must have been magnanimous to give him a second chance to redeem himself. Most people I know who support Jonathan do so either out of self-interest or fear of the unknown. As a friend summed it: the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. One person assured me that we would see a ‘different Jonathan’ if he wins as he has been rattled by the harsh judgment of history on his presidency so far. I just pray that he is right. In that case, I would just draw the President’s attention to two issues:First, beside the coterie of clowns who literally make a living with the sing-song of transformation agenda, President Jonathan must know that it remains an empty slogan. His greatest challenge is how to save himself from the stranglehold of his largely provincial palace jesters who tell him he has done better than God, and seek out ‘enemies’ and friends who can help him write his name in history. Propaganda won’t do it.Second, Jonathan must claw back his powers as President of Nigeria. He largely outsourced them, and must now roll his sleeves for a new beginning. I take liberty to tell you this brutal truth: if you are not re-elected, there is little to remember your regime after the next few years. On 7th January 2004, I made a special presentation to an expanded economic management team to set agenda for the new year (as chief economic adviser). The focus of my presentation was for us to identify seven iroko trees that would be the flagship markers for the administration as well as how to finance them. I use the same framework to evaluate your administration.What I say to you, Mr. President, is that your record of performance so far is like a farmland filled with grasses. Yes, they are many but there is no tree, let alone any iroko tree, that stands out. Think about this. The beginning of wisdom for every President in his second term is to admit that he is racing against time to cement his legacy. So far, your report card is not looking great. You need a team of big and bold thinkers, as well as with excellent execution capacity. So far, it is not working!Under the executive presidential system, Nigerians elected you to manage their economy. You cannot outsource that job. Our constitution envisages a federal coordination of the economy, and that function is performed by the National Economic Council (NEC) with Vice-President as chairman. Indeed, the constitution and other laws of Nigeria envisage the office of the VP as the coordinator on the economy.All major economic institutions of the federal government are, by law, chaired by the Vice-President including the national planning (see functions of the national planning commission as coordinator of federal government economic and development programmes), debt management office, National Council on Privatization, etc. As chairman of National Planning (with Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, CBN governor, etc as members), the VP oversees the federal planning and coordination.Then the Constitution mandates the VP as representative of the federal government to chair the NEC, with only CBN governor and state governors as members—to coordinate national economy between federal and states. No minister is a member of NEC. Many people do not understand the logic of the design of our constitution and the role of the VP. Of course, the buck stops on the desk of Mr. President. Only the President and VP have our mandate to govern us.Every other person is an adviser/assistant. I bet that you will only appreciate this article AFTER you leave office. Now that you are in power, truth will only hurt!

Be assured that those of us who are prepared to die for Nigeria will never spare you or anyone else this bitter truth.Nigeria must survive and prosper beyond Buhari or Jonathan!

By Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, ( former CBN Governor)

Uzo Aduba Wins Two Awards in Los Angeles


The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards held last night in Los Angeles and Nigerian Hollywood actress, Uzoamaka Nwaneka Aduba, won two great awards .

Uzo clinched the award for 'Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series' and 'Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series'

A visibly happy Uzo expressed her gratitude to God and the Screen Actors Guild while receiving her awards. Uzoamaka couldn't hold back her tears as she emotionally let it roll and the crowd cheerfully applauded her till she stepped down from the stage. 

Sunday 25 January 2015

Onalo: Unmasking Nigeria’s Mr. Credit



By Tope Templer Olaiya

Dr. Chris Onalo is not your usual Nigerian, who relishes in hugging the limelight, but he is definitely a man adept at multi-tasking. He is one of those very few individuals around who are known to possess more than one business call cards, as he is at present the Registrar/CEO of the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), President/CEO of the Postgraduate School of Credit and Financial Management which is Nigeria’s frontline credit management higher educational Institution for credit professionals, Managing Director/CEO of Credit Business Services (CBS), Director of Nigerian London Business Forum (NILOBF), and General Overseer of the House of God Fellowship Church (HGF).

While Onalo will go down in history books as the man who saw tomorrow and brought credit management to Nigeria just the same way Mr. Akintola Williams introduced accountancy to the country, the heights attained today began with small steps.

“Life is a journey from the known to the unknown. The unknown; is what makes it riddled with so many uncertainties,” he said while recounting how his voyage to become the doyen of credit management started. “You never can tell what is planned ahead. It is only God that knows that.”
However, the conviction to trudge along in the unknown path was triggered by a dream he had many years ago. “Whether you like it or not, human existence embodies body, spirit and soul. I recall vividly one of those dreams I had, I was on a journey and suddenly I came across two directional roads – the proverbial broad and narrow way.

“I came to that fix and paused for a while, then I heard a tiny, slim voice saying ‘keep going and take your right,’ which is the narrow way. Immediately I heeded the voice, I entered a ditch of thorns, and the more I was going, the narrower the pathway became. At a point I encountered a door opening to a seaside, I was a bit afraid of what lay in store beyond the door. I became fearful, but I had an uncommon courage to go on despite being alone except for the voice that kept nudging me to keep going.”

“I kept going. When I woke up, I knew I was in a tough terrain in Nigeria and that what I was doing to bring the culture of credit management was going to be a tough one. I had this dream during the period of then President Shehu Shagari’s austerity measure and the government propaganda then was this: ‘Andrew, don’t check out, stay in your country and let’s salvage it together.’”

Obviously, like the fabled Andrew at the time, Onalo was tempted to return to the United States of America, where he got his training in credit management. To enforce his conviction, he subsequently had other dreams, which instructed him to stay and help transform Nigeria from cash to credit system.

“I knew I had to tighten my belt to face up to the task. I didn’t know where it came from, but I suddenly had the power of creativity, resilience, patience and adaptability and all these kept me going when it was tough. Several people were discouraging me and advising that I should change course since our economy will always be cash driven and it will never change in the next 50 years.

“Besides, credit management is not in the educational curriculum nor in the knowledge skills of Nigerian professionals then, you will never read it in any university. It was tough for me. I received rejections from CEOs, executive directors and people who were not thinking beyond their present circumstance. I battled this frustration between 1983 to the early 90s.”

All these sacrifices came at a huge personal cost to ‘Mr. Credit’; one of which was that for most part of his adult life till date, Onalo has found it extremely difficult to keep any savings. “I couldn't have any savings because I was running a graduate school of credit administration, which name was later changed to Postgraduate School of Credit and Financial Management. I also introduced the first magazine on credit management in Nigeria because it was strange to the media at the time; yet I needed a mass media platform.

“It has taken a lot from me. The struggle is no longer to put food on the table, but rather to institutionalize the virtues of giving, taking, managing and facilitating credit management in our private, public and national life. As a result of these, I have lived most of my adult life without savings. It was a tug of war to build my house and presently, I have no house in my village. If my mother of about 125 years drops dead today, I have no personal house in my village to keep my guests (he laughs).

“Secondly, the ICA, which I singlehandedly founded took me 12 years to scale through the legal processes because some indigenous professional institutes thought the only way to remain relevant was to ensure other professional institutes are not registered.

“This was a major stumbling block, particularly coupled with the fact that you need to be cleared by the office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation before an organization whose name begin with the word “Institute” can be registered in the country,” he added.


Today, the Institute of Credit Administration has become a formidable, highly regarded national body for all matters relating to credit management in Nigeria, imparting strongly on business credit stakeholders namely, credit givers, credit takers, credit facilitators and managers of credits, including public institutions which in one way or the other inspired the growth and development of credit economic system in the country.

Now close to his 60s, the only thing Onalo has known and committed his energy to is credit management. He sleeps, wakes, dreams and breathes credit management. With benefit of hindsight, he has seen how dangerous it is to live on a cash and carry system as a nation and from examples of other countries; he could spend hours elucidating on the benefits of a fully developed and robust credit system.

“Credit is basically taking something of commercial sense now and paying for it at a later date. The question to ask is what can I take now and make quick use of that can produce enough income to pay for it with the little interest added. That way, several job opportunities and wealth would be created. The option for any economy to grow is to put in place policies that stimulate people to bring out the best in them.

“Sadly, the huge number of banks and other financial institutions we have in the country have not translated to a robust credit availability due to some unfavourable government policies. In an ideal economy, bank loans would be easily accessible to SMEs to enable them grow the economy; since it is not the duty of government to be a major player in the generation of employment.

“It is the private sector and professional citizens that generate sustainable employment. It is against this backdrop that I am continually pressing the Nigerian federal government to take a bold step now to establish a well capitalized National Credit Guarantee Corporation to serve as collateral/security backbone to the nation’s SMEs for accessing loanable funds.”

Onalo has safely predicted that the future of credit management in Nigeria is extremely bright because no economy can survive without credit system. “Government policies may be very slow or not encouraging but there is a continual economy that factor in the truism that people must eat and engage in credit system to survive.

“A cash and carry economy cannot take Nigeria anywhere in terms of human and capital development index. The future is massive and the starting point is to build that foundation of credit line availability and access. It is not enough to have a cashless economy but it must be supported by a credit system,” he said.

After more than three decades of living his dream as a career credit economist, he was last month duly acknowledged as the Father of Credit Management in Nigeria and earned his nickname as Mr. Credit, when the London Postgraduate Credit Management College (LPCMC) in collaboration with its affiliate universities across the world appointed Onalo as professor of Credit Management.

In a statement, a copy of which was made available by the college’s International Programmes Director, Danette Gayle, LPCMC considers this a justified designation as Dr. Onalo has had great influence and profound impact on credit management profession in Nigeria and beyond.

“He has been quite instrumental to the establishment of a number of credit management development infrastructures such as his involvement in the setup of Nigerian Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), the Postgraduate School of Credit & Financial Management (PSCFM), Nigeria and African Director of London Postgraduate Credit management College UK (LPCMC). He has contributed immensely to the development of credit management faculties, which are largely used today by universities and other learning institutions around the globe.

“These strides cannot go unnoticed. LPCMC is honoured to have Dr. Onalo on board to share his level of expertise and vast experience in the credit management field and as an affluent role model for our students to emulate. Though his footsteps will be hard to follow, it will be an exciting experience for our students as they aspire to his level,” the statement added.

Onalo is from Elele, Ibaji in Kogi State, but has gradually grown to become a very respectable world citizen, who has made so much contributions and commitments to the present world’s credit management industry.

A highly principled man with strong Christian orientation, Onalo will be remembered for his articulation in credit management, by solely spearheading contributions to the formation of critical infrastructures needed for the growth, development and professionalization of credit management nationally and internationally.


Such institutions include the ICA, which is Nigeria’s national body for the regulation and setting standards for people in credit management; and the Postgraduate School of Credit and Financial Management (PSCFM), the only specialist institution in Africa offering higher professional learning programmes in the field of credit management.

Chris, a much-sought after teacher of credit management and renowned expert in the credit guarantee scheme project with countless industry, individual and institutional friends around the world, holds a Bachelor of Science, Masters of Arts and Doctorate degrees in Credit Management.

He is currently designated African director of the London Postgraduate Credit Management College (LPCMC) UK, the first African to be appointed “professor of credit management” by the LPCMC.

He is the first to establish in Nigeria a company that provides credit and business information on company (Credit Business Services Global Ltd –CBS Credit); the first to publish monthly magazine on credit management (The CreditManager, Creditnews and CreditMarket); and the first to run ‘This Week Credit Business’ live programme on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

All of these endeavors has strengthened and maintained Onalo’s strong advocacy voice in Nigeria’s credit economy, industry and market for best practices and policy reforms aimed at creating awareness, enhancing and promoting credit management profession not only in Nigeria but the world over.

Success, as defined by Booker Washington, is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, but by the obstacles, which he has to overcome. It is the obstacles, rather than the successes that define the journey of one of Nigeria’s unsung heroes today.