Business
Nation-Building: CIBN Seeks Collaboration With Stakeholders
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Lagos branch has called on all stakeholders, government agencies and the media to collaborate in building the Nigeria economy, especially at this period of global financial meltdown.
Speaking recently in Lagos, to formally announce the institute’s up-coming Bankers Night at July 30, 2009, Herbert Okumagba President of the organising committee for the Bankers Night and executive director of Oceanic Bank said the country is endowed with raw materials that could be transformed into finished products if probably harnessed.
He said that the Nigeria economy is very fragile, especially the financial industry, and that it is only a joint venture in building the economy that could enable Nigeria realise its vision of 2020.
According to him, Nigeria has never experienced some natural disaster or toxic assets which most countries in the world could not find solution to. “The problem that Nigeria has is mainly with the media. It is what you call yourself that people calls you. Our media industry has not played their role in projecting the image of the country positively. Most advanced countries of the world experienced worst things that we could record here, but our press tends to blow things out of proportion. There is need however to collaborate with all other stakeholders to build this economy”, he said.
Okumagba therefore explained that the topic chosen Global Financial Meltdown in Africa, asking players in the financial industry, have been assembled as key speakers at the event.
Explaining dignitaries at the occasion, Okumagba said the guest speakers are two erudite Nigerian, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, former Nigeria Minister of Education and the present Vice President with World Bank in charge of Africa and Asia and Bode Agusto, former director general and special adviser to the president on Budget Matters, government agencies and other stakeholders in the country.
Analysing why the choice of the topic for the Bankers Night, he said the current global financial crisis is a clarions call to all nations, particularly developing and emerging economies like Nigeria to address urgently fundamentals socio-political issues, adding also that if the developed and advanced economies think they can survive all alone without due consideration for the state of health of the emerging developing and weak economies of the world is a fallacy which realities are already impacting on everybody.
At a recent workshop organised by CIBN Lagos branch on risk management, Mr. Stephen Onasanya, Group managing director and chief executive of First Bank Plc has called for the implementation of sound risk management practices approached from a global, integrated perspective in order to tackle the deepening and emerging risk issues in the Nigerian environment.
Onasanya said cautious optimism in new credit creation is advised Sound Corporate Governance practices must be entrenched to support risk management structures of the banking industry is to successfully wade through these difficult times.
According to him, the global economic meltdown has become a major topical issue in recent times, in view of its impact on existing businesses, government policies, new development initiatives, rate of employment, standard of living, credit creation and recovering efforts.
He noted that its impact has, however, varied for countries and business sectors, adding that the genesis of the economic crisis could be traced to the “sub-prime, Mortgage crisis” which brought about the collapse of major financial institutions, and the take-over of others, in the United States.
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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