An unexpected drama played out at the screening of career ambassadorial nominees by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday when three of the ambassadors designate could not answer elementary questions posed to them by the committee members.
The first nominee to be screened, Vivian Okeke, from Anambra State, failed in her recitation of the National Anthem.
In spite of several attempts, she continued to omit the last eleven words in the last stanza of the anthem, “to serve with heart and might, one nation bound in freedom,” before ending with peace and unity.
Also the nominee from Niger State, Ibrahim Isa, failed to recite the national pledge correctly as he also fumbled with the last stanza of the pledge.
When told by the committee to recite the pledge, he concluded by saying, “to defend her unity and integrity, so help me God,” instead of “to defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory, so help me God” which is the right wording of the pledge.
Jane Ndem, the nominee from Benue State, shocked the committee most when she failed the question posed by Chairman of the Committee, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu ( APC Oyo Central).
The nominee was asked to mention 12 out of the 36 states in the federation and their capitals, and she repeatedly mentioned Lagos and added Lagos as its capital.
Ikeja is the capital of Lagos State.
Surprised by her submission, a member of the committee, James Manager, interjected by asking, “Are you saying the capital of Lagos is Lagos?”
The nominee failing to get the drift of the question responded affirmatively by saying “yes, capital of Lagos State is Lagos because I even started my working career there,” which made the entire eight-man committee to burst into laughter.
Though newsmen were on hand to witness the embarrassing situation, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Senate Matters, Senator Ita Enang, however, tried to cover up the embarrassing situation as he issued a statement denying the failure of the nominees, saying nothing of such happened.
Okeke, in her submission on difficulties being faced by the embassies, mentioned underfunding as the major problem crippling the nation’s embassies which, according to her, has turned to big embarrassment to staff of the embassies who are more or less squeezing water out of stone to run the embassies.However, the nominees made very good submissions in their responses to other questions in terms of policy statement.
Pressed further on his knowledge of foreign economic blueprint, the nominee explained succinctly how China got their economic prosperity right because their president at the time of their recession decided to shut its doors against import from other nations and was busy rebuilding China through domestic policy approach.
She also stressed that if Nigeria could configure its foreign policies with the interest of benefiting from resources abroad, it would help the situation immensely.
A total of 15 out of 47 were screened by the committee on Tuesday.
Senator Enang, in his rebuttal of blunders committed by some of the screened nominees, said the reported blunders were misrepresentation of fact.
The statement read: “Our Attention has been drawn to report by a section of the media that some Ambassadorial Nominees were unable to recite the National Anthem and Pledge while appearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for screening today.
“May I state that the nominees were able to respond to questions asked them, and also recited the National Anthem and Pledge when called upon. As such, the report by the media is incorrect.
“Subjecting them to criticisms at this point over a situation which never happened in the first place is most unfair and uncalled for.
“Let me use this opportunity to appreciate the effort of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Monsurat Sumonu, and members of the committee, for the intellectual and thorough manner in which the exercise is being carried out.”
Global Organised Labour under the aegis of African Industrial Global Union has commended the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his strategic investments across African countries and creating thousands of jobs for the teaming population.
The body, at a meeting in Lagos, called for special recognition for the African entrepreneur, describing him as a success story from African soil for which African countries must be proud of.
Speaking at a network meeting on unionisation in Dangote group, organised by Industrial Global Union Africa Region in Lagos, Union leaders one after another said Dangote has offered a relief to Africa from the negative narratives the western countries latched on to discredit her and her people.
They stated that much as an African could be so patriotic as to be dotting African soil with billions of dollars investments to create jobs and reduce poverty, he needs to be given special recognition to motivate others to tow similar line.
Relishing on the prospective of an African country hosting the single largest Refinery and Petrochemicals train project, the union leaders said it was planning in their next African meeting to bring the business mogul to address global union leaders.
Regional Secretary, Sub-Saharan Africa, Fabian Nkomo said the body cherished the business acumen of Dangote and would like to work closely with him so that as he creates jobs, the union could also partner to ensure job quality is maintained.
He said he has moved round Africa and discovered no one else has invested so much in Africa as an Africa and therefore Dangote should be encouraged. “He has help governments across African states to create vital jobs and reduce poverty among our people, the unions are very proud of him”, Nkomo stated.
In his remark, the Africa Regional Chairman of Industrial Global Union, Issa Aremu who is also the General Secretary of Textile Workers Union commended Aliko Dangote for leading industrialisation in the Africa continent.
Aremu acknowledged the remarkable efforts of Aliko Dangote at re-industrialisation of the continent, stimulating the continent’s growth and creating more jobs for its huge population.
Dangote Group was commended for the strong network of branches across the Africa continent; Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo, Cameroun, Kenya, Ethiopia among others.The labour leader lauded the commitment of Dangote to sustainable industrial development and urged government to provide favourable environment for investments as well as improvement in infrastructural development.
Aremu added that it was time Dangote group entered into mutually rewarding engagement with relevant unions with a view to unionisation even as he called on trade unions to support business through improved productivity.
He alluded to the $12 billion dollar Refinery, Petrochemicals and Fertilizer projects which he said will be a revolution of the Nigerian industrial space when completed.
As partners in progress, Aremu pledges the support and cooperation of Industrial Global to ensure business-friendly unionization of the Dangote workers.
He nevertheless cautioned the unions involved to be proactive and strategic in approaching the exercise saying “we need to show that we are partners to improve on the businesses of Alhaji Aliko because we are talking of unionization because there is an investment in which workers are engaged. If there there are no businesses, we can’t be talking of unionism.
“So first and foremost, we must be seen to be part of forces that are protecting investments. We are not business killers, if anything we are adding values. So we cherish him as one of the few Nigerians making a good story out of Nigeria and Africa and would like to collaborate with him.
Industrial Global Union with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the cement, mining, energy and manufacturing sectors. Industrial is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.
Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief, Babajide Komolafe & Peter Egwuatu ABUJA—The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), yesterday, jerked up its Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)to 14 per cent, attracting criticism from business experts who predicted that the hike will lead to increased corporate failures, unemployment and decline in the nation’s stock market.
At the end of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja yesterday, the CBN, raised the MPR from 12 percent to 14 per cent, while retaining the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the rate. The apex bank also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and the Liquidity Ratio at 22.50 per cent and 30.00 per cent, respectively.
Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who announced the outcome of the MPC meeting, said that the move was towards ensuring price stability as it would attract more inflow of foreign exchange into the country.
Justifying the new rate, he said, “Basically, the issues were that you notice during the May meeting, the MPC decide to say look, if we notice the balance between inflation and growth that we should stay with growth and expect that growth. But given the fact that monetary authorities cannot directly influence, we expect that working with fiscal authorities, we can achieve growth
But at this meeting, we took a lot of time to deliberate on whether to favour growth as against inflation.
“We felt that there was a need in line with the CBN core mandate to look at price stability at a time- that if we favour price stability at this time and it signals an interest rate movement that will curtail inflation that when we curtail inflation, a lot more stakeholders interests would have been met, thereby encouraging in this case the inflow of capital into the country.
“And as we have more inflow of foreign exchange into the country, what that does is that it deepens forex supply base and by deepening the forex supply base it makes forex available to end users , particularly to the manufacturing sector who need raw materials to boost manufacturing and industrial capacity and we are also hoping that when this is achieved, what you find is that naturally, prices would be affected downwards.
“When you have a situation when foreign exchange is also made available to those who want to import agriculture inputs, insecticides or plants it helps to boost agric productivity which will also help to moderate the effects on prices downwards.
“What this does is that it generally creates activities that would boost not just manufacturing outputs but will indirectly push growth forward. That was purely the essence of let’s push to the direction of inflation and price stability which was the focus of this meeting against growth.
“It didn’t mean that we didn’t have growth at the back of our minds. But we felt let’s start by looking at price stability. Push towards curtailing inflation, and at the same time ultimately see how we can achieve growth in the same vein.”
Hike will worsen economic situation
Analysts however faulted the decision of the MPC to hike the MPR saying it would worsen the economic situation in the country.
“This is not an answer to recession, the answer is to make more money available, but the CBN has decided to be tactical because growth is a long term goal”, commented Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Financial Derivatives Limited
“He stated that the MPR hike, “Is a formalisation of what is happening in the money market, where treasury bills rate are already higher than 14 percent hence it would not have effect on interest rate in the market. But it will increase cost of borrowing especially for small and medium enterprise (SMEs), increase default on debt, corporate failures and hence increase unemployment. It will also increase cost of borrowing for state governments. It will increase appetite for regulatory borrowing, because banks would now prefer to buy treasury bills and bonds which now offers higher rate. However it will make the naira to strengthen.
According to the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds, Mr. Garba Kurfi, “
The upward increase in interest rate by the CBN is not the best at the moment if government is serious in encouraging local production. This is because high interest rate will make the cost of production higher if producers are to get loan at higher rate from the financial institutions. The high interest rate will discourage investments in the capital market if one can get 14 per cent risk free from the money market. This move apparently is likely to promote money market but with the inflation rate at 16.5 per cent may encourage”.
Also commenting, Head, Investment Research, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Edgar Ebinum said, “The reason for the hike is obvious but it is challenging for capital market, and it would stifle borrowing. While it is necessary to ensure a positive real return, by making the interest rate higher than inflation, but investors look beyond interest rate, the conditions in the economy is still not attractive to foreign investors
The decision will cause the real sector to slow down, because there would be reduction in lending to the sector. In fact the hike makes lending more difficult for banks. The banks are already battling against rising non-performing loans and hence have reduced lending activities”.
Speaking in the same vein, Managing Director, High Cap Securities Limited, Mr. David Adonri said, “The increase in MPR to nearly match inflation rate is expected response from the monetary authority. It will crowd out credit from real sector and depress equities market. The manufacturers would be affected as credit would be on the rise. Response of fiscal authority should be to reduce domestic borrowing and move towards fiscal consolidation”
On his part, Mr. Kunle Ezun, a research analysts with Econbank Plc noted, “The decision was expected and the expectation has been factored into transactions in the money market. Remember that TBs were been sold at 14 per cent last week. That is why the market is calm.
“I also believe that the 200 basis point raise is sufficient to address the rising inflation level now. The reality is that inflation level is more of consideration to foreign investors and they are not in the market now. The local guys don’t really bother about inflation.”
The hike in MPR was however commended by Managing Director, Chief Economist,Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Mrs Razia Khan. She said, “The decision to raise the monetary policy rate despite growth concerns will give investors a clear signal on the authorities’ intent to sustain FX reforms. This should be well-received.
“Given the cost-push nature of inflation in Nigeria, which largely stems from the shortage of FX, we believe that this was the right thing to have done. Today’s monetary policy decision demonstrates a commitment to FX liberalisation, which alone will undo some of the bottlenecks that have contributed to inflation.
“As Nigeria embarks upon the path of reform (FX liberalisation, fuel price deregulation, transparency initiatives, efforts to boost revenue mobilisation, power sector reforms), all with a view to easing the economy’s transition to lower oil prices, and creating the foundation for more sound long-term growth, we think that today’s MPC decision represented an important initial step in the right direction.
Chief Executive Officer, SOFUNIX Investment and Communications Ltd and Chartered Stockbroker Mr. Sola Oni, said The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pushed up the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 12 per cent to 14 per cent on the basis that the existing nominal anchor is a disincentive to investment for both foreign and indigenous investors, particularly, when compared to the current inflation rate.
In portfolio management, the logical assumption is that relationship between interest rate and stock market is inverse. This implies that when interest rate is low, speculators move their funds from the money market instruments’ to the stock market to make a kill.
As a corollary, the same speculators move from the stock market to other asset classes, especially, fixed income securities when the interest rate is high.
By this logic, one can assume that the current increase in the MPR would boost investment in the fixed income securities while it may depress investors’ appetite for equity investment.
But the fact remains that it is not always so as economists would say ceteris paribus which means all things being equall. There are many exogenous factors that affect investment decision at the level of investment objective. As for the economy, the stock market mirrors the economy.
Therefore, it is not cast in iron to just conclude that the CBN’s increase of the MPC to a 10 -year high will have negative impact on the stock market.”
A number of Indian state-owned refiners have been actively picking up Malaysian oil cargoes for loading in July and August amid growing uncertainty over the exports of Nigeria’s crude grades, according to regional sweet crude traders.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited on Monday issued a spot tender to purchase several Malaysian light sweet crude grades, raising expectations that more Indian end-users could switch their focus to Southeast Asian supplies, Platts reported.
BPCL was said to be seeking up to one million barrels of various Southeast Asian light sweet crudes, including Malaysia’s Miri Light, Labuan, Tapis, Kikeh, Kimanis and Bintulu as well as Brunei’s Seria Light and Champion crudes for loading over September 11-20, according to an official tender notice seen by S&P Global Platts.
According to the latest shipping fixtures seen by Platts, India Oil Corporation fixed Olympic Sky and Seafalcon to move a total of about 1.2 million barrels of Malaysian Labuan crude for loading in July, while BPCL fixed Nordic Jupiter, Mare Siculum, Shah Deniz and Pavino Spirit to move around one million barrels each of light sweet Kikeh and Kimanis crudes for loading in July.
The tender closes July 22, with validity until July 26. The latest spot tender raised a few eyebrows in the Asia-Pacific sweet crude market, as the Indian state-owned company does not regularly seek Malaysian and Bruneian crude grades in the spot market.
“BPCL, like many other Indian state-run companies, prefers to take Nigerian light sweet crudes like Qua Iboe and Bonny Light. Those are the number one choices,” the source said, adding that “when production [of light sweet Nigerian grades is] in doubt, the next best option would be Malaysian (grades).”However, BPCL’s latest move was seen as necessary, as the procurement of any Nigerian crude grades would be a big risk amid ongoing production hiccups caused by militant attacks in the Niger Delta, a company source said Tuesday.
Late last week, Mobil Producing Nigeria, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, said Nigerian crude grade, Qua Iboe, had been placed under force majeure and exports were halted, while Italian company Eni confirmed earlier this month that 4,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent of equity production had been shut in following an attack claimed by Nigerian militants in the Niger Delta.
Nigerian militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, said Friday that it would not permit foreign oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to carry out repairs on bombed oil pipelines, threatening more devastating attacks on any repaired facility.
“There is no guarantee the Nigerian crudes will load and set sail safely. It’s very risky,” said a Singapore-based sweet crude trader.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to check corrupt practices in higher institutions.
A statement signed by Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, the commission`s spokesperson, on Thursday in Abuja, listed the corrupt practices to include indiscipline, examination malpractice, extortion and sexual harassment, among others.
Okoduwa said that the MOU was aimed at getting students involved in the anti-corruption campaign and to educate them on how to report corruption cases to ICPC for prosecution.
She said that the MOU would also encourage students and teachers to engage ICPC through its training arm, the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN) in research on corruption and related matters.
The commission’s Secretary, Mr. Elvis Oglafa, was quoted in the statement as saying that the commission was “looking at a bigger picture where institutions of higher learning can achieve 100 per cent discipline and zero tolerance for corruption’’.
“But with the signing of the MOU, a new door has been opened for the reporting of such vices.’’Oglafa, the statement added, stated that over the years, NANS had not provided any platform which could enable its members to report corrupt practices within the educational system.
He expressed optimism that since Nigerian students had demonstrated willingness to confront corruption, a new vista which had just been set, would cleanse the system of the debris of corruption in institutions.
“NANS President, Mr Tijani Usman, commended ICPC for the initiative and affirmed that Nigerian students were willing to fight corruption because they were always at the receiving end of its adverse effects.
“The MOU was signed on behalf of ICPC by the Secretary to the Commission and Usman, the head of the students’ delegation, on behalf of Nigerian students,’’ Okoduwa said in the statement.
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