Business

Invest More In Technology To Scal-Up Africa’s Growth-UNDP

Published

10 years ago

November 3, 2014

The UN Develop
ment Programme (UNDP) on Saturday in Addis Ababa urged governments to invest in African technology innovation to speed up the continent’s growth.
The UNDP Chief Economist and Head of Strategy and Analysis Team for Africa Region, Ayodele Odusola made the call at a news conference shortly after the ninth African Economic Conference (AEC) opened in Addis Ababa.
Odusola said that poor technological capability remained a major constraint to Africa’s growth and needed to be scale up for faster growth.
“The pace of skills, technological development and innovation has been slow in Africa because of the absence of critical research institutions and African universities with technology driven manpower and skilled education,’’ he said.
The UNDP, UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank (AfDB) convened the three-day conference with the theme “Knowledge and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation’’.
The conference will hold from Nov.1 to Nov. 3 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Earlier, while declaring the conference open the Ethiopian Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Demitu Hambissa, advocated for more technology institutions that would compete with their counterparts worldwide.
Hambissa said that the continent was also constraint with lack of quality laboratories and scientific equipment as well as the unavailability of long term finance and weak private sector initiative.
“To sustain the impressive economic growth Africa has experienced over the last decade, policymakers of the region should focus and learn the best practices in fostering technology transfer.
“They should identify critical innovation barriers and gaps to achieve increased productivity and structural transformation of its economies,’’ Hambissa said.
The Tide source reports that the theme of conference “Knowledge and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation was drawn from the AU Agenda 2063 and the African Common Position on its Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The agenda identified science, technology and innovation as key to Africa’s growth and development.
In her address, AU’s Chairperson Dr Dlamini Zuma stressed the need for skills, technology, knowledge and innovation to ensure democratic and responsive governance for delivery of effective public services.
“That will facilitate universal access to basic services such as food and nutrition, water and sanitation, shelter, health and education.’’
Zuma underscored the need to strengthen higher education in universities where enrollment had increased by 16 per cent over the last decade.
“We must all support the universities in line with the effort to scale up development of the continent,’’ she said.
She said that a summit had been planned for Dakar, Senegal, in March next year to evolve a strategy for investing in higher education to prevent the absurdity of graduate unemployment.
“As the continent pursues its agenda of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena, success will depend on adequate accumulation of skills, technology and competences for innovation,’’ she said.
Also, the ECA Executive Secretary, Carlos Lopez said the continent was endowed with capabilities.
“Capacities are not the same as capabilities. We have lots of capabilities; but are in need of capacities,’’ Lopez said.
He emphasised the need to build capacity to transform growth into quality growth on the continent.
He underscored the need to build capacity for strategic decision-making, enhanced productive economic activities and aggressive absorption and generation of knowledge intensive technologies.
The ECA boss noted that Africa’s stock of graduates was skewed toward the humanities and social sciences.
He said that the share of students enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics was less than 25 per cent.
In his remarks, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa, acting Chief Economist and Vice-President, AfDB, noted that adequate accumulation of skills, technology and competences for innovation were key to Africa’s transformation.
Mugerwa said that most governments recognised the importance of knowledge generation and innovation but failed to implement strategies to address skill deficit in critical areas for realisation of the goal of structural transformation.
“Innovation does not happen by chance or in a vacuum. Innovation cannot be legislated; it takes deliberate policy actions, enablers, positive incentives and entrepreneurship to make it happen.
“To leapfrog and sustain the resurgent, Africa requires smart solutions anchored in knowledge and innovation,’’ he said.
The conference is expected to feature presentations and discussions by prominent academics, policymakers, business actors including emerging technological and digital entrepreneurs.
The sessions will involve in-depth and technical analyses of salient issues arising from the thematic focus of the conference.
The sub-themes will enable a broad range of discussions on the current state of Africa’s transformation capacity and generate valuable insights for improved policy making mechanisms.
The sub-themes include Knowledge Generation for Structural Transformation; Technology for Africa’s Transformation; and Addressing the Skills Deficit.

Shu’aibu Adamu

Business

Fuel Scarcity: IPMAN threatens shutdown over bridging claims

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2024

The Tide

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Depot Chairmen Forum, has exonerated its members from the current fuel scarcity in the country.

According to IPMAN, this is caused by its inability to source petroleum products.

The IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum also threatened to withdraw its services over non-payment of N200 billion bridging claims by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to its members, since 2022.

Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, the Chairman, of the Forum said this while briefing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.

Alhassan said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) was the sole importer of the product, but the marketers could not source products from NNPC Ltd. deport, rather from the private depots at high rate.

“We cannot buy fuel from the private depots at N950 and transport the product from Lagos to the North and other parts of the country with N2 million and still sell it at N900 or N1, 000.

“It is expedient for us to state that we are more pained by the non-availability of petroleum products in the country, which has given rise to another round of untold hardship for Nigerians.

“Contrary to claims that IPMAN members are hoarding Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as fuel, we would like to categorically state that PMS scarcity is wholly triggered by inability to get fuel from NNPC and not IPMAN,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Ltd. Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye said the disruption was due to logistical issues which had since been resolved.

“We currently have an availability of products exceeding 1.5 billion litres, which can last for at least 30 days. Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations.

“Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximise profits. Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain,’’ Soneye said.

He however, said the lines would clear out soon.

On the non-payment of bridging claims, the IPMAN forum said it was distressed and depressed by the laidback attitude of the NMDPRA towards the survival its member’s businesses, arising from its refusal in paying the claims.

“It is with deep frustration that we have assembled here today as the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum. It is also disheartening to note that some of our members have completely shut down businesses and retrenched employees.

“As businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running on a daily basis across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in order to serve the teeming population of Nigerians,’’ Alhassan said.

He recalled that Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), at a stakeholders meeting in February mandated the NMDPRA management to clear the entire debt in 40 days.

“However, today, we have crossed the 40 days’ time lapse given to the NMDPRA to clear the debt, and it is shameful to state that only the paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid, ignoring minister’s directive.

“We are not happy with the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of Sales and Storage Licence, by the NMDPRA, and the subsequent delays in acquiring the licence, which our members are recently subjected to.

“We are also calling on President Bola Tinubu to look into this unwholesome figure which is highly detrimental to our business and reverse it forthwith, as it is bound to impact negatively on the masses.

“We are poised to take far reaching decisions that may cripple the supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria if our demands are not met within the shortest period of time.

“We are collectively prepared to withdraw our services, shut down every single outlet, and suspend lifting of products forthwith till our demands are fully met, and the consequences will be terrible.

“We call on our members to however remain resolute and law abiding, even as we draw close to the immediate ultimatum for our demands to be met by the NMDPRA,’’ the chairman said.

Reacting to the IPMAN’s claims, the Acting Head, Corporate Communications, NMDPRA, Seiyefa Osanebi said the bridging claims payment was ongoing.

“The bridging claims payment is always an ongoing process,” she said.

Maritime

Shippers’ Council Registers 160 Port Operators

Published

7 days ago

April 29, 2024

The Tide

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) says it has registered 160 Port stakeholders into its Regulated Port Service Provider and Users platform since the initiative began in 2023.
Executive Secretary, NSC, Mr Pius Akutah, made the disclosure on the sideline of a sensitisation programme by the commission for port operators in Lagos, with the theme, “Regulated Port Service Provider and Users”.
Represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs, Chief Cajetan Agu, Akutah emphasised the significance of the programme for stakeholders.
He said the sensitisation programme was the second edition after its commencement during the last quarter of 2023.
The Secretary said the 160 registered port operators consist of agencies, terminal operators, shipping companies, individual port users as well as service providers.
“We invited the ports stakeholders for enlightening them on the processes for online registration of Regulated Port Service Provider and Users.
“We have demonstrated to them how to register and how to make payment and we were able to present before them the various categories of the registration.
“The rate of payment is also in the registration. The payment of each group depends on the operation. A shipper pays N30,000, terminal operators and shipping companies pay N300,000, truckers also pay N30,000, while some pay N50,000 and N100,000.
“The Council was able to intimate them on the benefits, because port users benefit more as we help to interface on reducing port charges from time to time”, Akutah said.
He said that there was a need to continue to work with port operators to stop delays and eliminate high costs to make the port efficient.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Stakeholders, Service, NSC, Mr Celestine Akujobi, said “the sensitisation exercise was important for the council to enable us bring all the port stakeholders together”.
According to him, this is to avoid challenges during the implementation of the council’s responsibilities.
“By the time we introduce sanctions on defaulters, no operators will complain that he or she is not aware of the registration.
“I’m happy with the turnout of this sensitisation. This shows that the operators are well informed of the statutory friction of the council as the port regulator.
“The final implementation will commence as soon as we discover that all the operators have keyed into the portal.
“We are engaging other ports across the country and we’re hopeful that before the last quater of 2024, the council will implement sanctions on defaulting operators”, Akujobi said.
Earlier, Vice Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwards (NAGAFF), Dr Ifeanyi Emoh, said port challenges were enormous, adding that they originated from some of the government agencies.

Emoh urged the council to look into regulating other government agencies, so that there could be a window through which they can collect port charges collectively instead of indiscriminately.

By: Chinedu Wosu