The New Nigerian

Economic interests should drive foreign policy, says Jonathan

2011-08-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

Nigeria’s foreign policy should be reviewed to protect the country’s domestic priorities, particularly its economic and political interests at home and abroad, President Goodluck Jonathan has recommended.

Jonathan made the call yesterday, while declaring open a seminar on the need to ‘Review Nigeria ’s Foreign Policy’, organised by the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.

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Nigeria will soon be self-sufficient in cement production – Minister

2011-08-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, said on Monday that cement importation would soon be a thing of the past in Nigeria.

Aganga, who spoke while inspecting the level of work at the Dangote cement plant, Ibeshe, Ogun, said the country was on the verge of being self-sufficient in cement production.

He said that when completed, the Ibeshe plant would be capable of producing six million tonnes of cement yearly.

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Rivers State plans 250 bln naira bond issue

2011-08-02T00:06:00.000-07:00

One of the states in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta plans to issue a 250 billion naira ($1.63 billion) bond in October to fund infrastructure projects in the region, the state governor's office said on Sunday.

A similar issue two years ago by Lagos State, the major commercial hub in Africa's most populous nation, was well subscribed by investors.

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Investing in Nigeria: The energy deal

2011-08-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

If you have been closely watching investment boom trend in Africa, then it would be no mystery to you that the next biggest investment break worth tapping into is the Nigerian energy sector. This is simply going by the law of demand and supply which states that the more of a product or service that is needed, is supplied, it will be paid for, by the buyer(s).

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Poor Electricity is ICT Sector's Greatest Challenge - ATCON

2011-08-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has said that lack of reliable public electricity accounts for 70 percent of the problems facing the telecom sector.

Speaking in Lagos last week at the Broadband Investment Summit, the ATCON President Engr. Titi Omo-Ettu said that the remaining 30 per cent is attributed to low technical skill, poor access to financing, barrier to investment and others which were what the association aimed at proving solutions to from the summit.

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Nigeria records tremendous increase in non-oil export

2011-08-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jubril Martins-Kuye has pointed out that Nigeria non-oil export has increased by eleven fold from $0.2 billion in 2000 to $2.3 billion in 2010.

The minister made this known during the presentation of the report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the comprehensive review of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) by the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Abubakar Mohammad, in his office during the weekend.

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Local content policy opens opportunities for small enterprises

2011-08-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

The signing into law of the Nigerian Local Content Development Act in the oil and gas industry has thrown open business opportunities worth over $10 billion.

In the next few years, the programme is expected to create about 30,000 direct jobs for small-scale enterprises as many of the fabrication yards where the service of these entrepreneurs are needed are being supported to come on stream by the government through the Nigerian Content Monitoring Board (NCMB).

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FG targets $2bn from Nigerians in Diaspora

2011-08-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

The Federal Government has set a $2 billion fund target for Nigerians in Diaspora to serve as an instrument of sale to the Diaspora for the development in Nigeria.

Dr. Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Investment, said this in Abuja, recently at a diaspora conference, entitled, ‘Diaspora and Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda’ in Abuja yesterday.

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US debt crisis: Nigeria’s economy will suffer -Experts

2011-08-01T00:19:00.000-07:00

As the United States of America (USA) struggles to find a way out of its debt crisis, a professor of Economics at the University of Ibadan, Adeola Adenikinju and a Lagos-based economist, Dr Ayo Teriba, have warned that the value of the dollar and dollar-denominated commodities such as crude oil in Nigeria could depreciate.

The United States Congress has until Tuesday, August 2, to agree to raise the US debt ceiling which would allow the government to continue paying its creditors and to fund state pensions, student loans, military salaries and contracts.

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One South Africa Bank bigger than nine top Nigeria banks

2011-07-31T23:56:00.000-07:00

Nigeria’s top nine banks that featured in the Banker’s top global 1000 banks have a combined tier one capital of $11.332 billion.

This is lower than the $12.06bn of Standard Bank Group of South Africa which is, by capital base classification, the leading bank in Africa.

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Reps Halt N500 Billion CBN Bail-Out for Banks

2011-07-30T04:06:00.000-07:00

House of Representatives yesterday stopped an attempt to compel the Federal Government spend N50 billion annually, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as bail out fund for ailing banks.

The Bailout Fund is expected to be generated by a pool of contributions by all the commercial banks, as well as the CBN, from where bail outs could be drawn for banks in critical financial condition.

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2011-07-30T04:03:00.000-07:00

Nigeria urgently requires a broadband policy to improve its rating on the global ICT league table, says Ernest Ndukwe, former executive vice-chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission.

Ndukwe, who was the keynote speaker at the stakeholders' conference and exhibition on the proposed NigcomSat-1R launch earlier this week, said the absence of such a policy was hampering Nigerians' access to broadband-related services.

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Lagos strategic to Nigerian economy says Onolememen, Works Minister

2011-07-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

In less than two weeks as Federal Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen made a working tour of on-going federal government roads in Lagos State last weekend to scan the extent of damage and progress on the roads.

He went from the Tincan Island Port Project, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to Lagos-Otta Highway and the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway. He also visited the flooded areas in Lagos, including Mile 12. Onolememen told the contractors handling the projects that he would not accept anything other than performance from them .

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Probing the Privatisation Process

2011-07-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Nigerians are increasingly worried about the wisdom of selling government-owned enterprises to individuals in the name of the unfortunate IMF-orchestrated privatisation within the past twelve years.

Protagonists of privatisation claimed that it would stimulate the economy, create employment and generate profit. This seems to be far from the truth as more than 80 per cent of government companies privatised, especially during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, has failed to operate properly due to what is described as lapses in the privatisation process.

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Technocrats, not solution to Nigeria’s problems

2011-07-30T03:45:00.000-07:00

That President Goodluck Jonathan decided to appoint some Nigerians in the Diaspora, minister is not popular in some circles. The impression created is that experts in various fields would know how to get Nigeria out of the hole.

But criticism of the appointment of technocrats is growing by the day. Critics claimed that the president should know by now that what Nigeria needs are people knowledgeable about the way things work in the country and not Nigerians in the Diaspora that will apply unrealistic principles. Such ideas, they said had further confused issues in the past.

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World Ranking: Same Old Story For Nigerian Universities

2011-07-30T03:41:00.000-07:00

The webometric ranking of world universities often paints a gloomy picture of university education in Africa and Nigeria in particular as no Nigerian university was listed in the top 2,500, and the ensuing contentious issues.

The world university ranking since its inception has always generated controversies whenever it is released. For some years, top flight universities such as Harvard University, University of Oxford UK, University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto have been at the top of the ranking. However, this year’s ranking published in January shows the table taking a different complexion with some universities making their way up.

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FG unveils 25 years development plan for railways sector

2011-07-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

THE Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar has assured that the nation’s railway sector would be fully resuscitated within the next twenty five years to enable Nigeria to compete favourably with the other countries of the world in the area of railway transportation.

Senator Umar who disclosed this while on the inspection tour of the ongoing construction of Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge, railway modernization project, said the government is developing a twenty five year plan that would ensure the fully resuscitation of the railway sector.

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Nigeria oil output on 15-year high

2011-07-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nigerian oil output has rebounded to levels not seen in years, but crucial issues after April elections remain unresolved and could have a major impact on future growth.

The boost in production has occurred thanks to relative calm in the main oil region, the Niger Delta, hit by years of militant attacks before the 2009 amnesty deal. According to OPEC’s 2010 figures, Nigeria overtook Iran as the organisations’s second-largest crude exporter.

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Nigeria spends over $450m on bandwidth importation

2011-07-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Nigeria currently spends huge portion of its foreign exchange earnings on importation of bandwidth due to the increasing demand.

The minister for science and technology, Ita Ewa, who disclosed this said as the country moves towards becoming an information society, the relaunch of a new communication satellite will ease this burden to a large extent.

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Nigeria's foreign direct investment dips

2011-07-27T00:38:00.000-07:00

Nigeria has recorded about $2 billion deficit in its foreign direct investment ratings in the past year, Mustafa Bello, executive secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission has said.

He announced this on Tuesday in Abuja at the launch of World Investment Report 2011 produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

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9 Nigerian banks make Top 1000 World Banks ranking

2011-07-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Nine Nigerian banks have made the list of the Top 1000 World Banks Ranking by Tier One Capital in the 2011 edition by The Banker magazine as published in its current edition.
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Nigeria needs $900b domestic product for Vision 2020

2011-07-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

Nigeria needs to grow her Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to over $900 billion in order to be among the top 20 economies by the year 2020.

Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, who stated this at an interactive session with media executives in Lagos yesterday, said current GDP figures of $194 billion places the country in the 41st position, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.

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Nigerian GDP to grow 7.8 pct in 2011 - Central Bank

2011-07-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Nigeria's central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Tuesday that sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest economy grew 6.64 percent in the first quarter of this year, and forecast full-year growth of 7.8 percent.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

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Nigeria may become largest mobile payment market in Africa – experts say

2011-07-26T00:12:00.000-07:00

Nigeria may indeed be positioning herself to become the largest mobile payment market in sub-Saharan Africa, analysts said at the weekend. According to the analysts, there are only 22 million individuals who have a bank account out of the 150 million people but there exists about 90 million mobile phone users, which provide huge opportunity for the development of mobile payment.

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10 banks hold 77 percent of banking deposits

2011-07-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

Nigeria’s top 10 banks which include three of the rescued banks, control 77 percent of the total deposits of the banking industry (as at the close of 2010) data obtained by BusinessDay has shown.

First Bank with a deposit base of N1.33 trillion had the highest deposits in the Nigerian banking industry as at the close of 2010. It was followed by Zenith Bank with a deposit base of N1.29 trillion while UBA ranked third with a deposit base of N1.27 trillion. GTBank ranked fourth with a deposit base of N713 billion as at the close of 2010.

Union Bank had the fifth highest deposits of N648 billion as at the end of 2010 followed by Oceanic Bank with a deposit base of N637 billion for the same period.

It was followed by Intercontinental Bank Plc which had the seventh highest deposit among Nigerian banks of N626 billion.

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Nigeria Kerosene Too Expensive For Oil-Rich Country's Poor

2011-07-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

The status of kerosene, long considered gas' poor cousin, only recently rose to become one of the most sought-after fuel products in the resource-rich West African nation. Many are taking advantage of the situation.

Because of government subsidies, kerosene is supposed to only cost 30 cents a liter. But middlemen are reselling it so many times among themselves that it reaches the end-users at highly inflated prices.

It turns into an expensive – and time-consuming – odyssey just to stay in business for many.

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Dredging on River Niger Near Completion

2011-07-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

The Managing Director of Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Achitect Aminu Ahmed Yar’ Adua has said that the dredging of River Niger will soon be completed.
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Architect Yar’Adua added that when completed the dredging would go a long way in improving water transportation and the economy of the country.

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Unlocking capital in Nigerian economy

2011-07-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Nice interview in today's Vanguard about improving trade and investment by the new Minister of Trade and Investment click here for full interview.

Psyche of Nigeria’s banking elite

2011-07-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

I was privileged to experience a bit of colonial banking when I went into formal employment in 1972 in the office of Harriman and Company, Chartered Surveyors and Valuers. White bankers were receding from Nigeria at that time following Independence 12 years before. The economy of Nigeria was captive forhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif white business. There was no vision for Nigerians to hold the commanding heights. A few indigenes could leverage sizeable loans from banks. Colonial bankers looked after their English businessmen here effectively. ...more

Why is Africa Poor?

2009-08-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

A thoughtful insight into why poverty plagues the great continent? - Click here.

The Cockroaches come running out!

2009-08-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did Hilary Clinton a disservice by saying she was stating the obvious when she said the Nigeria's biggest problem was its failed leadership. Little did I know how much her statement will rattle them. So Senator Clinton I apologise for my comments, stating the bloody obvious sometimes does have its benefits.

Nigerian Banks Bailed Out N400 billion, Heads Roll.

2009-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

That the Nigerian government has finally bailed out some of the banks in the country with a staggering $2.5 billion (N400 billion), may come as no surprise to many analysts who have insisted that the Nigerian banking system was on shaky ground despite the constant denial by the former governor of the Central Bank, Emeka Soludo. However what might be surprise a few are the names in the five banks bailed out - Afribank, Finbank, Intercontinental, Oceanic and Union Bank.

With the exception of FinBank, the rest are considered amongst Nigeria's top ten banks. It was also widely believed that Union Bank had enough cash deposits from its numerous customers to weather the the global financial crisis that has now begin to take its toll on Nigerian banks.

The CBN also wasted no time in sacking the CEOs of the affected banks, amongst them two time winner of the African Businesswoman of the Year - Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank, and sealing off their premises with armed police. It has also been quick in replacing the sacked officials.

However with the CBN yet to complete its audit of all Nigerian banks, it may yet find itself bailing out some more banks in the country. How many execs that will join the others on the chopping block and its effects on the volatile stock market remains to be seen.

Hillary,Tell Us Something We Don't Know

2009-08-14T09:27:00.001-07:00

On her recent visit to Nigeria, the US Secretary of State declared at Town Hall Meeting jointly organised by the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, that Nigerian leadership had failed at all levels - DUH! The last last regime (Obj's) presided over the longest period of sustained high oil prices in the history of the country and the only legacy Obj left for us - a mess!

The Dangers of Relying on a One-Dimensional Strategy for Power Supply

2009-08-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

The present government has long declared that it is going to surprise Nigerians come December 2009 by increasing the nation's power generation to 6000 megawatts. However its insistence on relying on gas powered plants only to achieve this goal has again proven to put those plans into jeopardy as gas supply to the country's largest power plant has been disrupted reducing the country meager output of just 2400 megawatts to 1900 megawatts.

One wonders if the honourable minister for power has any contingency plans in place should in case their one track strategy gets knocked off its path. Shouldn't Nigeria be using a multi-faceted approach to solve its power problems from all angles. We are struggling to exploit our vast gas reserves to meet current demand, let alone have any to power the number of gas plants the government has supposedly made provisions for.

It will be interesting to see if the goal of 6000 megawatts will actually be met, but then again maybe not for the millions of suffering Nigerians and local businesses.

Nigerian Minister - Nigerians in Diaspora Will Be Forced Out of Jobs and will Come Back Home

2009-02-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

The Minister for Labour, Adetokumbo Kayode, reckons that the global recession will force Nigerians in Diaspora out of a job and send them running back to Nigeria.

The Minister, speaking with members of the Labour Correspondents Association of Nigeria (LACAN), in Abuja, believes that a lot of Nigerians will be rushing home from abroad after losing their jobs, and declared that the Federal Government had envisaged this, and is already preparing to receive them back home.

According to the Minister, a buffer was already being put in place to reduce the shock and difficulties their influx would have, and as a result the government has made the issue of job creation as a matter of priority.

"We want to take the issue of job creation as a matter of priority and development in Nigeria. There will be a national summit coming soon with a work plan. It is not just going to be a talk-show and just one of the programmes, especially now that the economic crunch is here." said the Minister.

"We know that a lot of Nigerians are going to be coming home from abroad because the foreign jobs they used to do are no longer there. With the new policy abroad, foreigners shall be forced to leave for the citizens to take over and when there is no job there, you are finished when you cannot pay your bills, your mortgages."

Well it is about time that the government took the issue of job creation seriously, but then again isn't it what it was supposed to be doing in the first place?

One wonders what the millions of already unemployed Nigerians feel about the government scrambling to create an economic buffer for the few thousands of Nigerians that are most likely to relocate back home.

Considering that the Nigerian economy is not exactly immune to the global slowdown, and companies in Nigeria, are also laying off people, it will be interesting to hear exactly what the government plans are.

Federal Government Rules Out Bailout for Financial Sector

2009-02-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

The Federal Government yesterday ruled out bailing out the financial sector yesteday Remi Babalola, minister of state for finance, disclosed yestedray that the government has been made to believe that the banking industry is strong to withstand the meltdown ravaging foreign banks.

He also stated that the government was more focused on delivery on wider economic stimulus rather than focus on the financil sector but did not rule out the possibility of a bailout, if the need did arise for it.

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Nigeria to roll out it own Economic Stimulus

2009-02-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

President Umaru Yar'Adua has directed all relevant government agencies to immediately work out incentive packages that would help cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on Nigerians.

This follows the recommedations of the Presidential Steering Committee on the Global Economic Crisis, which met last Tuesday, to work on a number of palliative measures for the short, medium and long terms.

According to a spokesman for the President, Olusegun Adeniyi, the stimulus will include "a package of incentives that will ginger production, increase the purchasing power of the ordinary man on the street and help generate employment opportunities. In the medium and long term strategies, aside infrastructural development, the government is looking in the direction of agriculture through commercial farming clusters and value chain, not only for food security but for employment generation. In the oil sector, the local content guidelines are being reviewed as a component of the reforms to give more leverage to our people."

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Nigeria’s Naira May Fall 15% If Crude Weakens, Citigroup Says

2009-02-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

Citigroup believes that Nigeria’s naira may weaken as much as 15 percent this year should the price of oil, which accounts for 90 percent of the country’s export earnings, decline to an average $35 a barrel in 2009.

According to David Cowan, an economist at Citigroup Nigeria's currency may slump to about 173 per dollar by year-end. It is currebtly being traded at 150.25 per dollar.

Nigeria’s currency lost almost a quarter of its value following a Nov. 26 decision by the central bank to limit sales of dollars to commercial banks to protect its $52 billion of reserves as oil revenue shrank and foreign investors sold the nation’s assets. Oil has slumped almost 72 percent since its July record of $147.27 a barrel, cutting Nigeria’s export earnings.

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12 Steps: Energy - The Nigerian Natural Gas Industry

2009-02-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

OGJ estimates that Nigeria had over 180 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, more than three times the proven oil reserves, as of January 2007, making it the seventh largest natural gas reserve holder in the world and the largest in Africa. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study however estimates that the gas reserves potential in Nigeria could be as high as 600 trillion cubic feet.

There has been a steady growth in the amount of proven natural gas reserves in country, with the amount almost doubling over a period from 1992 to 2006, with most of new discovery occurring in deep water basins. More significantly gas reserves discovered, were as a result of exploration of oil as there has not been any dedicated gas exploration of any kind carried out in the country.

The biggest natural gas initiative in the country is the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), is jointly owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49%), Shell (25.6%), Total LNG Nigeria Ltd (15%) and Eni (10.4%). It was incorporated in 1989 and began exploration and production in 1999.

In 2008, company added a sixth unit to its natural gas export plant, located on Bonny Island in the southern Niger Delta, lifting annual shipments by a fifth to 22 million tonnes. The $1.6 billion unit took three years to build and should raise annual sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the whole complex to about $6 billion, while a seventh unit is expected to be completed by 2011 depending on a Final Investment Decision (FID) scheduled for 2009.

The facility is currently supplied from dedicated natural gas fields, but it is anticipated that within a few years half of the natural gas feedstock will consist of associated (currently flared) natural gas from existing oil fields.

Additional LNG facilities in Nigeria are also being developed. In January 2005, Chevron announced it was looking into constructing the $7 billion OK-LNG plant at Olokola, Ondo State. In March 2007, NNPC awarded a construction contract to France-based Technip and the project includes connecting the LNG plant to oil and natural gas reserves in the Niger Delta through a network of pipelines. Once expected to produce its first LNG in 2001, OK-LNG is now expected to come on stream in 2015 according to a report released in October, 2008.

In December 2005, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Agip met with NNPC to sign a shareholders agreement for the establishment of the $3.5 billion Brass River LNG plant. The project, which includes two LNG trains, is also now expected to come on stream in 2015.

Both the Brass and OK-LNG have been hit by independent oil companies (IOCs) reaction to the government’s decision to meet local demands for gas products before exports are made. This has led to the IOCs holding back on making further investments, as they believe they would recoup their investments more quickly by exporting to the more competitive markets in Europe and North America.

Chevron is working on the Escravos Gas-to-Liquids (EGTL) project and completion of the project was scheduled for 2009. However, in January 2007, work on the EGTL project came to a halt after a breakdown in negotiations over its cost, which had shot up to from $2.5 billion to $5.4 billion. Plans for the project included linking the Escravos pipeline system with the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) for natural gas export to Benin, Togo and Ghana.

There has been a global increase in the demand for natural gas, more so as it is seen as a cleaner alternative to other fossil fuels such as oil and coal. The Nigerian government is seeking to harness the potential natural gas has to offer by;

• Improving domestic use; mainly through the use of gas for the production of electricity.
• Consolidating its position as a regional player; By supplying gas to other African countries through the West African Gas pipeline project and the Trans-Saharan Gas project.
• Rapidly growing LNG exportation: Nigeria has the second fastest growing LNG capacity in the world after Qatar.

To help it achieve its goals the Nigerian government has developed the Nigerian Gas Master Plan (NGMP), along with other initiatives. The plan aims to;

1. Increase Market Share and Penetration: Fully exploit the potential gas has to offer by increasing sales and market penetration in the domestic, regional and international markets.

The government intends to protect supply to the domestic market, through the introduction of the Domestic Gas Supply Obligation regulation, which mandates that a certain portion of gas production be set aside for the domestic market. This is to prevent a scarcity of the gas products in the local market through the actions of Joint Ventures operating in the sector, who might want to sell majority of their products in more competitive international markets.

2. Establish a Competitive Gas Industry: By improving Nigerian gas industry’s competitiveness by implementing an integrated infrastructure strategy to support domestic, regional and export markets; and attracting new players; and ensuring the commercial viability of investments.

As part of its strategy, the government has approved a sector based gas pricing framework which divides the domestic market into three categories, encompassing the power sector; strategic gas-based industries that use gas as feedstock (fertilizer, methanol); and wholesale distributors, with a different pricing model developed for each of the categories.

A gas infrastructure blueprint has also been approved by the government, which will provide the backbone for the Nigerian gas grid. The blueprint, which was developed to provide for flexibility and scale ability of supply, and cost effectiveness, will see the creation of a gas infrastructure that concurrently supports the supply of gas to the domestic, regional and export markets.

The government believes that the proposed network of infrastructure, will improve the country’s ability to increase gas supplies rapidly and flexibly, and putting the country in a better position to respond to growth in demand both domestically, regionally and for export.

Joining the GECF
The government hopes the plan will lead to fully develop a market driven gas industry by 2014. Nigeria also became one of the founding members, along with 17 other countries, of the newly formed Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which was formally established on December 23, 2008 in Moscow, Russia.

GECF is expected to function in the same way as OPEC, regulating and controlling natural gas production in the international market and will be strictly guided by the framework and agreement which bind member states together. Members are also expected to share a common purpose to maximise value to their various nations while working towards ensuring a stable gas market that delivers fair price to both consumers and suppliers.

Analysts are of the view that Nigeria's membership of GECF is a step in the right direction in developing and exploring the country's long abandoned natural gas reserves as well as creating an alternative source of revenue for Nigeria outside crude oil revenue. It is also hoped, the member ship would also bring about a quick end to wasteful practice of gas flaring in the country.

The government’s current plans for the gas industry should bring needed improvements to a much neglected sector, what remains to be seen is if the government will execute it plans properly, or it will just fizzle out be like other government backed projects.

Nigerians Spend US $8.2 million on Power Generators in First Week of The Year

2009-02-04T00:11:00.000-08:00

According to the Nigerian Vanguard, Nigerian businesses in an apparent response to the worsening power situation in the country, spent a whopping $8.2 million (about N1.180 billion) on importation of power generating sets in the first week of January.

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Bail Out of Banks Not Neccessary - CBN Hits Back

2009-02-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

Following our story yesterday about the SEC director general calling for a bail out of banks, the CBN has hit back, saying that the a bank bail out was unneccessary, rubbishing the comments made yesterday.

A spokeman for the CBN, Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs of the CBN, Festus Odoko stated that the banks were well capitalised to deal with the fall out of the nearly N400 billion loan given to stockbrokers being defaulted.

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Call made for American-styled Bailout for Nigerian Banks

2009-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Musa Al-Faki, yesterday called on the Nigerian government to take over the sick banks and companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Al-Faki also called for the prosecution of the CEOs of identified sick banks and firms for contributing to the crisis engulfing the stock capital market which had lost N2.08tn (US $13.8 billion) in January 2009 alone.

Al-Faki blamed the banks for giving unsecured loans of close to N400 billion to stockbrokers to dabble in the stock market. Stockbrokers however, are now defaulting on the loans, tiggering a sub-prime mortgage type credit crisis that is threatening to bring down the Nigerian capital market.

The SEC DG believes that the bail-out strategy, as implemented in other countries, would restore confidence in the market and buoy prices.

However the CBN believes that Nigeria banks have sufficient enough capital to weather the current storm, though for long they might be able to do that remains to seen.

Nigerian Finance Minister - Economy at Critical Juncture

2009-02-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at the inauguration of the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) in Abuja, the Minister for Finance admitted that the Nigerian economy was at a critical juncture as the the global economic slowdown has brought about a sharp drop in the market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange; reduced budgetary revenues; falling external reserves and marked Naira depreciation.

This should hardly surprising as many economic commentors, including myself raised the issue last week on how the Nigerians should brace themselves for tough times ahead.

The admission is a step in the right direction but it will be more interesting to see what solutions the new team comes up with to salvage the economy and how quickly they come with the goods. Even the most optimistic of economists do not believe that the global economy will rebound this year, and even if it does, most are expceting an almost flatline growth in the next few years. This will ultimately affect the demand for oil, Nigeria's chief earner.

Hopefully the team will focus on reducing the country's dependence on oil receipts and come up with viable ways to diversify the economy.

Open Letter to Nigerians

2009-01-30T15:04:00.001-08:00

Fellow Nigerians,

On October 1, 1960, Nigeria became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations. This historic event brought hope to millions of Nigerians, who had long suffered under the heavy foot of slavery and colonialism. It was a defining moment in our history as Nigerians freed themselves from the shackles of their colonial masters. But 49 years later, most Nigerians are still not free as the average man on the street is still shackled by the manacles of political ineptitude and the chains of socio-economic failures.

The life of Nigerians is typified by being surrounded by plenty of water but not a drop to drink as many are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty in the midst of bountiful resources that most countries in the world can only dream of. Nearly fifty years later, the average Nigerian still languishes in his own land and millions have placed self imposed exiles on themselves as they move to other countries to find greener pastures.

We must no longer tolerate the shameful condition that our dear country has been reduced to. This is not the country that Nigerian nationalists, who fought to liberate it from the clutches of British rule, envisioned. They fought tooth and nail to gain our independence and bring together Nigerians of all stripes and from all corners of the country. At the heart of their fight was a desire to build a country where every Nigerian could prosper and not be dominated over by a minority whose only interest was to fleece the country dry.

One of the Nigeria’s greatest sons, Herbert Macaulay wrote that the dimensions of the colonial masters looking after the interests of Nigerians were “algebraically equal to the length, breadth and depth of the white man's pocket." Regrettably, that attitude still applies today but replace the white man with Nigerian politicians.

It is very doubtful that Herbert Macaulay would have foreseen the day that Nigerians would be denied the basic rights of life - education, healthcare, personal security, the right to elect, not select , our leaders and the pursuit of happiness by fellow Nigerians. It is obvious to all that our leaders have failed to deliver time and time again on any of these as more than 100 million Nigerians still live in penury.

But we refuse to believe that Nigeria is broken and cannot be fixed. We refuse to believe that this country cannot be one of great and boundless opportunities. We refuse to believe that this cannot be a country where justice is no longer a privilege but is guaranteed to very single Nigerian. We refuse to believe that every Nigerian cannot benefit from the limitless riches the country has to offer.

We must however make that pledge to rebuild this good country, and we must do it together. Like the great John F Kennedy once said, “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of shared accomplishments. Divided, there is little we can do as we dare not meet powerful challenges that will easily split us apart.” This will not be a one man job or a one day job, it is an every man every day job.

This country can achieve the potential it has long promised. And the only way we can do this is by working together, struggling together, fighting injustice together, believing in one another and knowing that one day this country of ours will be free of all the fetters that have held us down.

For the Nigerians who believe that we can be better than we are and are willing to make the sacrifice to improve our country, join us. For those, who are hell bent on destroying the country just to line their pockets, we shall fight you to the very end. We will fight, not with violence but with the might of a united people determined to no longer submit to the excesses of corruption and moral decay that have engulfed our country.

For those who are laugh at us and call us dreamers, we say Martin Luther King once had a dream, and that dream is now sitting on the most powerful seat in the world as you read this.

We are well aware that we will face challenges that will task us to the limit, test every ounce of our resolve and scare the life out of us. But we also know that it is normal to be afraid and we shall not give in to fear which paralyses needed hard work to convert this country’s stagnation into progress.

It would be fatal for us not to recognise the urgency of the moment as the time to fight the injustice and inequality long suffered by our brethren is not tomorrow, next week or even next year. That time is now upon us.

The time has come to do away with all the traditions and customs that debase our women and hinder the growth of our children. And to put to rest all forms of tribalism, nepotism, cronyism and religious intolerance.

The time has come for Nigeria to reclaim the vision of our forefathers when they fought for the independence of the country.

The time has come for urgent reformation of a nation where the phrase “Giant of Africa” is no longer met with laughter and raised eyebrows but one that other nations respectfully bestow on our nation.

The time has come to fulfill the words in our national anthem “Great lofty heights attain, to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.” But if Nigeria is to attain those lofty heights we must fight the battles of eradicating poverty, political and social injustice with the same gusto as those for fought for the independence of our nation. For a society where many are poor and only a few handful benefits off its lands cannot call itself free.

The time has come for Nigeria to take its position amongst the Commonwealth of Nations, not as a failed state struggling to meet the expectations of all around it but standing shoulder to shoulder with the leading nations of the world.

Now is not the time to rest on laurels when millions of Nigerians, and indeed millions of Africans, are depending on us to deliver on the promises of democracy.

Now is not the time to give in to shouts of “You dey blow too much grammar” or “We do this the Nigerian way” when we should be doing things the right way.

Now is the time to deliver our nation from the slippery slope of violence due to armed robbery, political thuggery, corruption and intolerance to a solid foundation of law and order.

Now is the time to make peace, justice and personal security a reality for all Nigerians.

Now is the time to abolish all forms of human poverty in our country and ensure its people’s economic prosperity.

Now is the time to stand up and fight for all that we believe in, to not only safeguard our future but that of our children, and their children, and their children’s children.

Now is the time to finally recognise that we are all brothers and sisters. It is not wrong that we have different cultures, languages and dialects. Indeed, that diversification should be our strength as we embrace the model of a melting pot of cultures and ideas like other great nations before us have. It is wrong however to allow people use those differences between us to stoke up fear and hatred for their own personal gain. Until we stand up to them, we will never be able to redefine this nation in a way that will inspire other nations of the world.

Fellow Nigerians, the time has come to come together and begin the difficult journey of rebuilding our nation. To this end we have devised a plan that we pray could spark the beginning of a socioeconomic revolution in Nigeria.

The plan is designed to address the following:

1. Transportation: A more efficient mass transport system allows for the movement of goods and people to all corners of the country. We can achieve this by engaging the private sector to assist in the building and maintenance of road and rail transports networks that reach every major city in the country, airports that facilitate the safe air travel, and the harnessing of the vast waterways we have for the movements of large cargoes to reduce the stress on the roads and railways.

Every Nigerian should be able to travel safely to all corners of country at the choosing of their own time and mode of transport.

2. Communications: Communication systems eliminate the physical distance between any two communities and allow for the speedy exchange of information. In today’s world of increasing globalisation, it is now a requirement for any business to be able to communicate effectively and quickly.

The telecommunications industry in Nigeria has taken off with a bang since the introduction of mobile phone services, but more work still needs to be done. We need to ensure that mobile phone services are within the reach of every Nigeria at affordable prices. We also need to take the Internet into every home, every office and every nook and cranny of the country. The Internet plays a big role in the world today and it is now considered the most cost effective way of reducing the knowledge and technology gap between developed and developing nations.

3. Energy: Every aspect of the economy is dependent on energy. The vital role it plays in today’s society cannot be understated. The provision of affordable energy and the constant supply of power to light up houses, offices and factories will be essential in getting the Nigerian economy back on track.

Nigeria has vast and under utilised reserves of oil, natural gas and coal. We will need to push through reforms in these industries and stop the outrageously wasteful practice of gas flaring immediately. We should look into building a couple of nuclear power plants for our electricity needs.

We should also be looking at depending less on oil and gas for our energy needs and looking more at renewable energy sources. The potential for solar, wind, thermal, bio and hydro-energy sources in our country is enormous and is one that we should begin harnessing now, as carbon-based energy sources are not going to be around forever and place an enormous strain on our environment.

4. Healthcare: A healthy workforce is the engine of any economy. Failure to cater for the health needs of the country’s population only leads to a decrease in the production of goods and services as workers take more time off work than they need to.

Focusing on providing affordable primary health care services to every man, woman and child is the only way we will tackle scourge of HIV, malaria and other infectious diseases that threaten over livelihood. It is only way we would really be able to bring down the alarming rates of maternal and infant mortality.

The building of large hospitals, while noble, is a bit counter productive at this moment as it averts much needed resources away from the building of primary healthcare centres who form the frontline in the battle for keeping our people healthy. We should revive and expand the late Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti’s work in taking primary health care to every nook and cranny of Nigeria by ensuring that every council district in every local government area in every state has at least one primary health care center.

We should also exploit Internet and mobile technologies to build a national e-health network to achieve our objectives and enable the storing of the medical records of Nigerian in electronic format, so that these records are within the reach of registered healthcare providers at every hospital, every ward and every clinic at any time of the day in Nigeria as to ensure continuity of care and reduce deaths due to medical errors.

We must also put drinkable water either through pipes or boreholes within the reach of every single Nigerian child. Nigeria has one of the largest fresh water resources in the world. It is no longer excusable that children should die of diarrheal diseases because we failed to put clean water within walking distance of the child’s mother.

5. Education and Training: An educated workforce is a more efficient workforce. A better educated population also presents multiple opportunities for the economy to diversify beyond its traditional pillars. This was an approach followed by the Asian Tigers, who invested heavily in education to produce a workforce that could provide value-added services as income generators for economies that had little or no natural resources.

We will have to increase the budgetary allocation to education, and indeed healthcare as well, as both sectors are critical to our success as a nation. The provision of compulsory quality primary and secondary school education with a strong focus on the sciences and mathematics to ALL children is a matter of urgency if we are to take our true position amongst the league of leading nations.

We will also need to increase funding to our universities, which are neglected over the years, and task them to get more involve d in research. We must also endeavour to build community colleges in every local government area whereby vocational and technical skills training could be provided for school leavers before they entered the workforce.

Lastly we must design and deliver a series of informal programmes that educate our people on religious and tribal tolerance, civil rights and civic duties, and a host of educational programmes aimed at ridding our society of the social injustices that are carried out under the auspices of culture and tradition.

6. Agriculture & Natural Resources: With the global food prices on the rise and Nigeria being a net importer of food, the country will be better served by reviving its agriculture sector, which was also Nigeria’s chief export earner before the discovery of oil.

Nigeria, once an exporter of food crops, now has to import food to meet local demand. It is unacceptable, as a nation that fails that to feed its population is preparing the ground for civil unrest which can tear our society apart.

We will need to reform the agricultural industry as the availability of cheaper foods will also lead to an increase in the quality of life for Nigerians as more people will be able to afford put more food on the table for their families.

Agriculture is the biggest sector of the economy but yet past leaders have spent all their attention on oil sector, to the detriment of developing an industrialised agro-based economy.

7. Environment: Damage to the environment has long term implications to the Nigerian economy as it can lead to a deterioration of health of the general population, a depletion of natural resources and increased cost of doing business. It is much cheaper to put in preventive measures to protect the environment than to clean it up down the line. Protecting the environment is no longer a social issue but an economic one, and one that the Nigerian government will need to embrace fully.

We must put an immediately end to the sloppy practices of oil companies and their local accomplices, who in order to save a buck, are wrecking the environment of the Niger Delta, while recording multi-billion dollar profits at the end of the financial year.

8. Finance & Housing: Developing a strong financial sector which stimulates growth in the private sector through the availability of credit would be a priority, more so given the current global financial crisis.

While it might not possible to provide cheap housing for all Nigerians, we must develop a mortgage system that puts owing a home within the reach of most Nigerians.

We must also strengthen our tax system, as it would provide the necessary funding needed to improve education, healthcare, the enforcement of law and order, and other public services.

9. Enterprise & Innovation: Promoting micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) can lead to a reduction in poverty and unemployment, and lead to wealth creation for the owners of the businesses. All these have a direct effect on the economy, and it also useful in reducing the wealth gap between the haves and have-nots.

10. Legal & Security: The enforcement of contracts and adherence to the rule of law not only provides a suitable environment for doing business locally and fighting corruption, it can also lead to increased confidence almost investors looking to plough their money into the Nigerian economy.

Increased internal security also fosters external foreign investment and adds to the quality of life of the country’s citizens. Tackling the crisis in the Niger Delta region and the wave of violent crime across the country will go a long way in improving the quality of life for all Nigerians.

We will also need to strengthen our judiciary system and the police, which have been systematically weakened over the years so as not to challenge the nefarious activities of wayward politicians and military rulers. We must push through legal reforms to change acts and decrees (such as the Land Use Act) that have long put ordinary citizens at a disadvantage and introduce new laws (Child Labour Act, Spousal Abuse Act) that protect the most vulnerable in our society.

11. Trade: Improved trading opportunities in Nigeria’s non-oil sectors can be a major foreign currency earner for the country. Nigeria has a number of mineral and natural resources that have yet to be exploited due to the government’s focus on petroleum.

Also the country is blessed with cheap labour but high energy cost and poor infrastructure have discouraged the growth of a manufacturing base in the country. If an enabling environment where the overhead costs of operation can be brought down to within reason, along with the enforcement of laws in the country, protection of investors, and education reforms, Nigeria can develop a manufacturing base that can rival those in South East Asia.

12. Tourism: Tourism is a good foreign currency earner for any country as every tourist dollar spent has a multiplier effect on the local economy. Improving internal security, improved transportation and a strong financial system can aid the government s efforts in improving the tourism sector in the Nigeria.

The country has lot to offer from the diverse ethnic makeup of the country to different climatic conditions (hot humid weather in Lagos, cool temperate weather in Jos) and geographical features (Mangrove swamps in the south, arid savannah in the North). There is something for everybody.

Our plan was designed to achieve the following:

• Increased Efficiency in the Economy: Improvements in the transport, communications and the energy sector will bring about a reduction in the cost of production and distribution of goods and services. This will invariably lead to putting goods and services within the reach of more Nigerians.

• Better Quality of Life: Improvements in education, healthcare, agriculture and housing sectors will bring about an improvement in the quality of life of Nigerians. Also taking active measures to protect the environment, not only improves the quality of living in the country, it also prevents huge avoidable costs in cleaning the environment later in the future. Lastly improvements in security will make the people feel safe.

• Fight Poverty: Promoting and supporting enterprise, along with improvements in the financial sector and legal framework will foster the growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) which have been show to fight poverty, increase wealth creation and reduce unemployment.

• Increased Investments: Improvements in the infrastructure, along with those in finance, security, enforcement of laws and education should bring about an increase in both local and foreign investments. The presence of the right infrastructure makes it cheaper to produce goods and services, the enforcement of laws makes it easier to conduct business, and an improved educational system produces quality candidates from which companies can select their staff from.

• Increased Foreign Earnings: Improved trade and tourism will bring about an increase in much needed foreign earnings.

• Diversification: Opening up other sectors of the economy brings out diversification, making the country less reliant on a traditional base e.g. agriculture and oil. This is particularly significant for rural communities.

• A More Open Society: By creating a more open society via our education programs, we can put an end all forms of discriminations that hold our people back from being the best they can be. We can finally begin to see an end to barbaric practices such female genital mutilation. But most of all, an end to tribal politics. We should be able to elect our leaders based on their intelligence, character and integrity, and not because he or she is from a particular part of the country.

Indeed there is a lot of hard work to be done to rekindle that beacon of hope that Nigerians once felt when we gained our independence. And work hard we must, for this is no longer just the North’s country, or the South’s country, neither is it the East’s country nor the West’s country. This is our country. This is our Nigeria.

Yours sincerely,

Alliance for a New and Better Nigeria

12 Steps - Energy: Reforming the Petroleum Industry

2009-01-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

Petroleum is essential to many industries, and accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption, ranging from regional average of 32% for Europe and Asia, up to 53% for the Middle East. In Nigeria that figure is about 60%.

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products. Taken as a whole, the processes represent the world's largest industry in terms of dollar value and accounted for close to 20% of Nigeria’s GDP in 2007.

The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline (petrol). Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics. The industry is usually divided into three major components: upstream, midstream and downstream. Midstream operations are usually included in the downstream category.

Oil was discovered in Nigeria by Shell-BP, at the time the sole concessionaire, in 1956 in the Niger Delta after half a century of exploration. Two years later, Nigeria joined the ranks of oil producers when its first oil field came on stream. After 1960, exploration rights in onshore and offshore areas adjoining the Niger Delta were extended to other foreign companies.

Following the Biafra war in 1970, the government under the leadership of General Gown, decided to secure and gain more control over the oil industry, and nationalised it by creating the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) via a decree.

Nationalisation of the oil sector was also precipitated by Nigeria's desire to join OPEC, which required that member states acquire 51% stake and become increasingly involved in the oil sector. The creation of the NNOC, which later went on to be known as NNPC, made government participation in the industry legally binding. The federal government would continue to consolidate its oil involvement throughout the next several decades.

Petroleum production and export have since grown to play a dominant role in Nigeria's economy and account for about 90% of her gross earnings. This dominant role has pushed agriculture, the traditional mainstay of the economy, from the early fifties and sixties, to the background.

Nigeria's proven oil reserves are estimated by the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) at between 16 and 22 billion barrels, but others believe it could be as much as 35.3 billion barrels. Its reserves makes Nigeria the tenth most petroleum-rich nation in the world, and by the far the most affluent in Africa.

The majority of the reserves are found along the country's Niger River Delta, in southern Nigeria and offshore in the Bight of Benin, Gulf of Guinea and Bight of Bonny. Nigeria has total production capacity (total potential production capacity if all oil currently shut-in came back online) of three million barrels per day (bbl/d) including two million bbl/d onshore and one million bbl/d offshore.

However, the Niger Delta has been engulfed by a conflict which arose in the early 1990s due to tensions between the foreign oil corporations, the Nigerian federal government, and a number of the Niger Delta's ethnic groups who felt they were being exploited, particularly minority groups.

All petroleum production and exploration in Nigeria are undertaken as joint ventures between foreign multi-national corporations and the Nigerian Federal Government, through the NNPC. The joint ventures account for approximately 95 percent of all crude oil output, with the remaining 5 percent produced by local independent companies operating in marginal fields.

The utilisation of oil in Nigeria is carried out with the backing of legislation, the most important ones being the Petroleum Act 1969, Oil pipelines Act 1956, Oil in Navigable Waters Act 1968, Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act 1988, and the Land Use Act 1978. The Petroleum Act (which really a continuation of an old colonial policy) vested the entire property in petroleum (mineral oils) to the state.

This gave the federal government the absolute right and control over oil resources in the country, which it exercising by farming out oil mining rights to oil companies and receives rents and royalties from them.

Until the promulgation of the Land Use Act (LUA) in 1978, while the ownership of oil belonged to the federal government, the land where the oil was found was vested in the communities and families that owned the land, with whom oil companies had to negotiate compensation for granting access to the oil and any damage to the land.

The passing of the LUA, which vested all the lands comprised in the territory of a state of the federation in the governor of the state in ‘trust' for all Nigerians, meant oil companies no longer had to deal with the local land owners and communities, instead paying the right to access the oil to the federal government.

It is the LUA that has been the source of much of the agitation in the Niger Delta Region, whose community leaders and activists are demanding that oil companies should pay rents and royalties for the use of the land directly to land owners and to local communities instead of to the central government.

In 2000, President Obasanjo established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for the sole purpose of developing the oil-rich Niger-Delta region of southern Nigeria. Since its inauguration, the NDDC has focused on the development of social and physical infrastructures, ecological/environmental remediation and human development.

However the tensions continued to persist in the Niger Delta region, and a spike in the availability of small arms and other weapons, led increasingly to the militarization of the region. This has led to frequent clashes between government troops and paramilitary groups who have declared “all-out war” with the Nigerian state as well as the oil corporations and threatened to disrupt oil production activities through attacks on wells and pipelines.

During the 16 months preceding the 2007 presidential elections, militant activity in the Niger Delta (especially near Warri and Port Harcourt) has severely impacted Nigeria’s oil production potential by shutting-in an estimated 20 percent of total production.

Upon taking office in 2007, President Yar’Adua made reforming the oil sector and tackling the crisis in the Niger Delta his top priorities and has taken a number of steps towards fulfilling his pledge.

Petroleum Industry Reforms
The Federal Government has begun to implement some of the oil industry reforms that it promised to carry out. The reforms which have been drafted into the Petroleum Industry Bill, which is currently being reviewed by the House of Assembly before being passed into law, have begun with the appointment of the Executive Secretary of the new Nigeria Petroleum Directorate.

The Nigerian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), which will be headed by the Minister of Petroleum and have the executive secretary as the administrative head, is expected to replace the current Ministry of Petroleum and serve as the policy cum administrative secretariat of the oil and gas industry when the bill is passed.

Key proposals of the Petroleum Industry Bill include:

• Measures to ensure the government increases its take from a growing number of deep-water developments.
• Review of the royalties on gas production.
• Increasing the tax take from gas by creating a new fiscal regime separate from rules governing oil.
• Changes to the way tax breaks are applied for new developments.
• Oil companies will be encouraged to refine at least 50 per cent of their production in Nigeria by the end of the decade.
• New rules to boost employment of Nigerians in the oil industry.
• Incentives to encourage development of marginal fields.
• Improved community programmes in the Niger Delta.

The bill also aims to aims to see the restructuring of the NNPC from its opaque, octopus-like structure to discrete units to handle tasks such as exploration and production, regulation and research.

The restructured company, which will be known as the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, will be free to raise private capital for its joint ventures with the major multinational oil companies, rather than rely on a notoriously unreliable annual injection of cash from Nigeria’s government. The restructuring will also allow the private sector to acquire equity in its subsidiaries like the refineries and data services among others.

The government anticipates the newly formed company to operate like Brazil's Petrobras, Malaysia's Petronas, Saudi Arabia's Aramco and other government-owned but commercially viable national oil companies that operate globally, without relying on their home government for funding.

The new bill will also set up the Nigerian Petroleum Inspectorate (NPI) to replace the current Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and will be responsible for the technical regulation of all upstream and downstream activities of the entire oil and gas industry.

Another provision of the new bill is the National Petroleum Assets Management Agency (NAPAM) to regulate the cost and commercial operations of the upstream sector.

While in the downstream sector, the bill seeks to create a Petroleum Products Regulatory Agency (PPRA) as the downstream commercial regulator. Some of the duties of the PPRA will include the issue, renewal, suspension or cancellation of permits or licences, as well as ensuring that quality service provided by the operators to the consumers is in keeping with the guidelines laid out by the Consumer Protection Council.

It is expected that the House of Assembly will pass new laws to overhaul the country’s oil and gas sector before the end of the year, ramping up the pace of reform in spite of fears among Western majors that the changes could cost billions in profits.

The new bill says the reform of the joint ventures will take effect a year after it is passed, although analysts said the complex task of re-engineering the businesses – which account for the bulk of Nigeria’s oil production – could take much longer.

The Nigerian president, Umaru Yar’Adua, hopes the new law will form the foundation for a revival of an industry where attacks on pipelines and constraints on investment have fuelled a growing sense of crisis among energy companies. Though many of the multinational have expressed concerns about the new proposed terms being so stringent that they risked deterring investment rather than encouraging it.

The ongoing global financial crisis has also raised a question mark over the kinds of terms for financing multi-billion dollar oil ventures that Nigeria may ultimately attract and falling oil prices may also weaken the government’s leverage in its push to enact the reforms.

However there are few who doubt that the reforms are much needed in an industry that has been beleaguered by corruption and government red tape, and has yet to reach its full potential despite the huge untapped reserves the country possesses.

It is hoped that the new bill will also address Nigeria’s rather underdeveloped downstream sector, which deals with the refining of crude oil, and the selling and distribution of natural gas and products derived from crude oil. For all its oil wealth, Nigeria still has to import petroleum products as its local refineries are unable to meet local demands.

Oil Refineries
According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Nigeria's state-held refineries (Port Harcourt I and II, Warri, and Kaduna) have a combined capacity of 438,750 bbl/d, but problems including sabotage, fire, poor management and a lack of regular maintenance have reduced the operating capacity to around 214,000 bbl/d.

To increase refining capacity, the Nigerian government is granting permits to build several independently-owned refineries. Oando, a leading petroleum-marketing company in Nigeria, is considering building a refinery in Lagos. The refinery would be built in two phases, with each phase providing 180,000 bbl/d of refining capacity.

Under President Obasanjo the government began plans to privatise state entities by selling NNPC's four oil refineries, petrochemicals plants, and its Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC). 51 percent equities in both Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries were sold in 2007 by the administration to Bluestar Consortium. But the sale was reversed by the present administration of Yar’Adua after calls by the Nigerian Labour Congress that the refineries were undersold, amongst other things.

The ownership was passed back to the NNPC, who have so far failed to fix the problems with the refineries. This has led to speculation that the present government is reconsidering selling the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries.

However, while the privatisation process would be a welcome step, more work will still be needed to do to meet the local demand for petroleum products. Analysts have put current local demand at close to 2 million bbl/d, with 90 percent of that being imported at a premium with the government subsidising the costs.

Even if the all the refineries were operating at 100% efficiency, they would only be able to meet 25% of the needs of the local market. Privatising of the refineries was one of the methods that the Obasanjo government looked to improve local production.

However, even though they did manage to privatise the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries, very little interest was actually shown in the process by independent oil companies (IOCs) with many viewing investments in refineries as providing poor financial returns. It is also one of the reason why there has not be a new refinery built in the US or Europe in over 25 years.

The BBC also discovered some evidence that shows that IOCs are purposely not building new refineries so reduce the global supply of petrol, which in turn pushes up its price, so as to make oil refinery a more profitable business. The investment outlay in oil refineries is huge, and many IOCs struggle with making returns on their investments due to the thin profit margins involved. They instead prefer to focus on the more profitable upstream oil sector.

In many countries around the world, onus now falls on the state owned oil companies balance the commercial objectives with the building of refineries along with strategic drivers which include maintaining the security of the country’s supply of petroleum products.

There have been regular announcements in the past that both China and India would build new refineries in Nigeria. One of the commitments of ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL), a joint venture of Indian state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Mittal Investment, in return for oil blocs was to build a Greenfield 180,000 bpd capacity refinery.

The project was to be funded by direct investment and done on a build, operate, manage and ownership basis. The downside however is that the project will not start until the oil blocs they had been awarded were in production. It can take 3-5 years of prospecting before an oil bloc starts producing. This has meant that work has yet to start on the refinery and the company recently had to come out to reiterate its commitment to the project.

While China had originally pledged to invest US$ 2bn in the ailing Kaduna refinery, which has yet to happen and it remains to be seen whether the Indian and Chinese promises to build new refineries are translated into reality.

While the building of new refineries requires a huge amount of financing, one of the ways the government can go about financing the building of new refineries in the country is through Build-Lease-Transfer contracts.

The type of financing arrangement typically involves a developer who designs and builds a complete facility, sells it to the government or a joint venture partner, while simultaneously leasing it back (usually for 10 to 30 years) to operate it as a business and, after the expiry of the lease, transfer it back to the government or partner.

This allows the government to pay facility over a long period of time, while allowing the developer to not only recoup its building costs but earn additional income by running the facility over a period of time.

Fuel Subsidy
The Federal Government recently announced that it had removed the controversial fuel subsidy and that the price for selling petroleum products in Nigeria will now be determined by the market. Though labour unions are planning to make their calls for the return of the subsidy should the price of crude oil begin to rise in the international market.

The government should however resist these calls are there is little evidence to show that fuel subsidies actually help the poor, instead it diverts much needed funds from vital projects and perpetuates inefficiencies in an economy.

The government should take the opportunity to explain its stance in removing the fuel subsidy and demonstrate how it plans to use the savings it makes from not paying fuel subsidies to fund infrastructure projects which are going to have a long term impact on improving the Nigerian economy.

Niger Delta
The Niger Delta situation has presented the government with a three fold problem; firstly is the breakdown of law and order in the region as a spate of kidnappings, and gun battles between the government security forces and militants are now commonplace.

Secondly the conflict in the region has led to 25% reduction in the production of oil through the destruction of property and the abduction of foreign oil workers in the region. As a result of the continued hostilities in the region, thousands of foreign workers and their families have left the Niger Delta. At least three companies, including a private drilling company and pipeline laying company have also left.

Thirdly, it has discouraged oil companies from making further investments in the region, with the companies unwilling to commit to new projects until the unrest has been finally resolved. On its part the administration of President Yar Adua has created the new Ministry of Niger Delta, which would serve as the primary vehicle for the delivery of his administration's agenda for the rapid socio-economic development of the restive region.

This announcement was also followed with that of converting the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to a government parastatal. Some observers believe that this was prompted by the revelations of corruption at the commission with the disclosure that one of the directors used about N800 million on juju.

While some have welcomed the creation of the new ministry, others have been more sceptical citing the marginal impact that the NDDC and increase monetary allocations from to federal government to the state governments of the Niger Delta have had.

Critics also argue that introducing another government organisation will not only lead to duplication of effort but also increase what they see an already bureaucratic process. Additionally the NDDC was routinely deprived of funding amounting to millions of dollars by the Obansanjo administration.

They are also unhappy about the amount allocated to both the Niger Delta Ministry and NDDC in the 2009 budget, which totalling at 74 billion naira is 5 billion less than the maximal allocation the NDDC had received in the past.

We however believe that the community development of the Niger Delta could be better served by restructuring the NDDC into a company called the Niger Delta Infrastructure Development Company Limited, which will be limited by guarantee, devoid of undue political influence and given the social agenda of developing the Niger Delta region, more or less a social enterprise, which will receive its funding from a trust fund created from proceeds from the sale of drilling and mining rights in the region.

Niger Delta Development Fund (NDDF)
The Niger Delta Development Fund is a trust fund set up primarily to provide financial assistance in the development of the Niger Delta region. NDDF will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the federal and state governments. NDDF will managed by a board of trustees who all have considerable experience in the financial sector.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

NDDF will be used to provide financing for:
• The Niger Delta Infrastructure Development Company Limited and its activities.
• Infrastructural development in the Niger Delta region such as the building of roads, bridges and clinics by other meaningful foundations and non-government organisations..
• Social and business development programmes in the Niger Delta region.

NDDF will be financed by:
• A 50% derivation from the sale of drilling and mining rights in the Niger Delta region.
• A 3% percent tax in the profits of oil and mining companies operating primarily the Niger Delta region.
• Returns on investments made by the management board in the global capital and money market.
• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

Oil and mining companies will be required to make their payments directly into the funds account rather than to the treasury, as to reduce the red tape involved in getting acquiring the money from the government. However all parties will be required to notify the federal government all of such payments.

Niger Delta Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NDIDCL)
The Niger Delta Development Commission will be restructured into a legal company called the Niger Delta Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NDIDCL). The main purpose of restructuring the NNDC is to turn it into an independent company tasked with developing infrastructure central to economic development in the Niger Delta region, similar to the National Infrastructure Development Company in Trinidad and Tobago.

The new company, which will be wholly owned by the federal government and state governments in the Niger Delta region, will be run by a Managing Director who has a background in financial and infrastructure development and who will report to a board of directors. The board of directors made of professionals with expertise in community development, rural and urban planning, project management, and business and financial management.

International companies with expertise in community and infrastructure development will be invited to sign up as technical partners. The company will be primarily charged with executing the Master Plan already drawn up by the current NDDC. The NDIDCL and its activities will be funded by the Niger Delta Development Fund (NDDF).

The company should be given the independence it requires to develop infrastructure and provide services that are targeted at improving the economic fortunes of people of the Niger Delta by following a people-centric approach rather than having the projects determined by politicians, which more often than at aimed improving their profile.

For instance people are more likely to benefit from several primary health centres that caters for young children and pregnant women scattered across a local government area than a 200 bed hospital which is hardly accessible because it is located at a distance to far for many them to get to. In this case both projects will probably cost about the same price to deliver, but the building of a hospital is more newsworthy and has more a higher profile because it is large structure that stands out.

Quality performance of the NDIDCL will only be achieved if appointments to the company are done from a commercial aspect, bringing on board people that will add to the growth of the people, rather than political appointees who are more likely to less motivated to achieved results and are more likely to be less qualified for the post they were appointed to.

Reforming the Land Use Act
The Land Use Act (LUA), which was promulgated in 1978, and controversially incorporated into the 1979 Constitution and retained in the 1999 Constitution, is on the list of laws soon to be reformed by the administration of President Yar’Adua.

The opinion at the time was that all forms of customary land tenure systems were not intuitive enough to deal with the fast changing landscape in the Nigerian society, especially in areas that had to deal with agriculture and government infrastructure development. The act was introduced to vest all land in the state through the office of the governor of each state. The land, which is held in trust, is administered through the government’s authority to the use and benefit of all Nigerians.

LUA was introduced to primarily address the following;

• To remove bitter controversies resulting at times in loss of lives which land is known to be generating.
• To streamline and simplify the management and ownership of land in the country.
• To assist the citizenry, irrespective of his social status, to realize his ambition and aspiration of owning a house.
• To enable government to bring in control the use to which land can be put in all parts of the country and facilitate planning and zoning programmes for a particular use.

The act was intended to shore up security in the acquisition and possession of land, but 30 years after its passing, it has done the exact opposite. Many have called LUA to be repealed but others like the present governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola have called for a measured approached, stating that though the law does need tinkering, the major fundamental problem with LUA has been its application.

This was also the view of Justice Augustine Nnamani who as Attorney – General was responsible for drafting of the act and its incorporation into constitution. He said “in the course of these years, it has become clear that due to its implementation not its structure or intendment, the objectives for which the land use act was promulgated have largely remained unfulfilled; indeed, they have been distorted, abused and seriously undermined.”

One of the areas in which the LUA has been indeed had a major impact has been the Niger Delta region. After the passing of the act, the Niger Delta residents literally woke up to find oil companies drilling in the backyards. The oil companies were absolved from dealing the local communities after acquiring drilling rights from the Federal Government. This also meant that the owners of the land or communities in which the land was located were no longer entitled to any direct compensation from the oil companies who were drilling their lands for oil.

This has unfortunately led to several years of exploitation of oil which has not only devastated the local environment, depriving the people of Niger Delta, of the optimum use of their land and water; it has also led to loss of life by many in the region who have protested over the application of Land Use Act and damage to their environment in clashes between the protesters and government security agencies.

It is clear that any kind reform of the Land Use Act will have take into account compensation to the communities and land owners who have to deal with the damage to their environment and their livelihood by the activities of the oil and mining companies.

Environmental Protection
The Niger Delta's environment is an incredibly well-endowed ecosystem, which contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, as well as supporting abundant flora and fauna, arable terrain that can sustain a wide variety of crops, lumber or agricultural trees, and more species of freshwater fish than any ecosystem in West Africa.

However this ecosystem is being threatened by the careless activities of oil companies in the region. Nigeria has one of the one of the highest rates of oil spills in the world and flares more natural gas associated with oil extraction than any other country on the planet. Apparently the amount of gas wasted this way is equivalent to the 25% of the annual gas consumption of the United Kingdom.

The inhabitants are amongst some of the poorest in the country and rely on small scale farming, hunting and fishing off the land to survive. However, oil spills in the region, which amounted to a total of 1,260 incidents over a two and half year period from 2006, has impacted negatively on the ecosystem and is causing untold hardship to the inhabitants as their only source of livelihood has been destroyed.

Old, improperly maintained equipment causes many of the leaks (corrosion of pipelines and tankers account for 50% of all spills), but oil operators blame sabotage and theft, speculating that disaffected community members deliberately cause oil spills to collect compensation money.

Gas flaring is a very common sight in the Niger Delta region, practice that began simultaneously with oil extraction in the 1960s by Shell-BP. Although, the flaring of gas has been banned in many European countries, the international oil companies from that part of the world still continue the practice in the Niger Delta region without any real efforts to change infrastructure and prevent the waste of the gas.

Gas flaring contributes greatly to climate change, which ironically can display its most devastating effects in developing countries like Nigeria and the Niger Delta's low-lying plains are also quite vulnerable as they lie only a few meters above sea-level.

Despite the formation of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the legacy of oil spills, lax environmental regulations, and government complicity has allowed the oil companies to continue to pose a serious threat to the people of the Niger Delta region through their activities and basically resisting all calls to

The irresponsible behaviour of the oil companies in Nigeria has begun to draw a huge outcry from the international community, but it is unlikely that it would have any effect as oil companies have a long history of getting their way in Nigeria. This was aptly demonstrated who again failed to stop gas flaring despite a 1st of January 2009 deadline, which also happened to be one of the several deadlines that government has issued on that particular issue.

Oil companies know they have a position of strength in the Nigerian economy as oil accounts for huge slice of the revenue the government makes, and until the government either takes a strong stance with them, and damn the consequences, or diversifies its economy as to reduce Nigeria’s dependence of oil revenues, the environmental degradation and loss of billions of dollars through the activities of oil companies is likely to continue.

50 million Nigerians illiterate

2009-01-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

THE Minister for Education, Dr. Sam Egwu has disclosed that no fewer than 50 million adult Nigerians are illiterates which effectively places the country among the least educationally developed countries in the comity of nations.

He added that over seven million Nigerian children of school age have not had the privilege of acquiring formal education which has left a yawning gap in the education of the populace.

Dr. Egwu made this startling revelation during the commissioning of the Otukpo Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria which was built and handed over to the Federal Government by the Senate President, David Mark.

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Tough Times Ahead for Nigerians

2009-01-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

Oil, the chief contributor to the the federal government's revenue, has taken a big hit over the last six months, when it was trading at a peak of $147 a barrel, to the $45 it mustered at the close of trading on Friday. The sharp fall in price has been due to the global economic slowdown.

The reduced revenues from the sale of oil has led to the Nigerian government announcing budget cuts and the Central Bank of Nigeria, stating that it is deliberately crashing the value of the country's currency, the naira, as a means to stabilise the country's economy and of its foreign reserve. If that is the case, the CBN and Nigerians are in, like the Chinese will say, "interesting times" ahead and here is why.

The global economy is slowing down faster than most analysts expected and, despite the best efforts of OPEC to reduce production to stabilise prices, this will likely force oil prices down further.

The demand of for oil products in the US, has meant that it has been able to build up its oil reserves, which has a negative effect on the price of oil as the world's largest consumer (the more oil it has in its reserves, the less it needs to buy which leads to lower oil prices), and if the the economic slowdown is protracted as usually the case in global economic recessions, then the lower demand for oil will allow for the country to keep building its stockpile.

The truth is nobody knows how deep and how long the global recession will be. Obama in his inauguration speech was calling on Americans to brace themselves for tough times ahead. It is unlikely he would have said so if he truly believed that the bailout package being put in front of congress will have any more effect than slowing down the rate of economic collapse.

Then there are the added fact that the United States is now going to push a more aggressive strategy to develop and use alternative forms of renewable energy. This will further decrease in demand for oil.

What this mean for Nigeria? The US is the largest importer of Nigeria Oil, which accounts for 95% of the government foreign exchange receipts and 60% of its total revenue. A reduction in earnings for the government spells bad news for the Nigerian economy as government spending is the chief economic driver.

A reduction in government spending will lead to a slow down in the Nigeria, unless somehow the following happen:

1. An increase in consumer spending: This is unlikely in a country where 90% of population lives on less than $2 a day.

2. Increased investments: A decrease in the value of the naira might have led to an increase in foreign investments, but with the poor infrastructure and tough business climate, Nigeria has struggled with attracting major investments outside its oil and telecoms industries. With the stock market crashing it will be hard to see if any serious investor will want to put their money in the Nigerian market.

3. Increased trade: With oil being the major export of the country and its price falling, unless Nigeria begins to focus building a proper manufacturing base or focuses on increasing the export of non-petroleum based goods, it is likely the country is going to continue see a fall in revenue from its trading with other nations.

Unless the government begins to implement reforms to stimulate growth in non-oil sectors, Nigerians should brace themselves for some interesting times ahead.

Obama’s Energy Policy, Threat to Nigeria

2009-01-23T01:15:00.000-08:00

Twenty-four hours after Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has warned that the energy policy of the new administration may spell doom for the Nigerian economy.

He said Obama’s proposed vigorous search for alternative energy to drive the world's largest economy poses “great dangers” for Nigeria whose economy is highly dependent on revenue from oil.
Nigeria is the fifth largest exporter of crude oil to the US.

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12 Steps - Communications: Nigerian Media Reforms

2009-01-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Nigerian media is probably the most vibrant in Africa, with government –owned media services reaching all corners of the country. All 36 states run their own radio stations, and most of them operate TV services.

More importantly the Federal Government as of 1992 allowed private participation in the electronic broadcasting, while there is a long history of private participation in the print media. More recently there has been a move towards establishing an online presence by Nigerian newspapers and bloggers, but with the current low Internet penetration preventing them from fully exploiting the new media.

Besides the social and educational services they provide, the media has a role to play in Nigeria’s economy as they provide the medium for businesses to advertise their goods and services to a large audience. Well placed and structured adverts have been shown to lead to increased sales, and invariably increased profits. This has not been lost on Nigerian businesses, which have been spending an increasing amount on advertising in the media.

However, high cost of operation, tight advertising revenues, frequent government interventions and a lack of a Freedom of Information Bill, along with poor pay for journalists in the country continue to hinder progress in the media sector.

Pushing through energy and transport reforms would help in reducing the operation costs for media operators in the country, while education reforms would increase the literacy rates, and invariably push up readerships for the print media and their websites. It would be equally important for the House of Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law, which could, if anything, give journalists the confidence they seek to carry out investigative reports on government activities.

Broadcasting in Nigeria is dominated by State and Federal Government owned outfits, which had monopolised the industry until 1992, when the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was formed to license private broadcasters.

The largest broadcasting companies are the government-owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). The NTA has two television services; NTA 1, which is distributed among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and NTA 2, which is distributed nationwide and is funded mostly by advertising.

In all NTA operates about 97 stations across the country, creating the largest television network on the continent. Both organisations, NTA and FRCN, along with two other government owned media outlets, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Nigeria Film Corporation, have been slated for commercialisation in 2009.

Each state also has a broadcasting company that broadcasts one or two locally operated terrestrial stations. This means that there are 39 radio stations and 37 television stations owned by the different state government across the country. Most operate partially independent of the state governments.

There are currently about 17 private radio stations and 10 private televisions stations operating in the country. The likely explanation for the low ratio of private to publicly owned stations can be traced to the fact that both compete for the same pool of advertising revenue, while the state owned organisation have the luxury of offsetting high operating costs through public funding.

It also does not help that press restrictions are place on media outlets and with many viewed more as social and political tools rather than engines of economic growth.

However, such limitations are being worked around in order to reach larger audiences both within Nigeria with the growth of satellite television (which has long been preferred throughout the African continent due to the expensive nature of laying ground cables). The substantial uptake in Pay TV in Nigeria has been attributed to the broadcast of European football.

The reverse of private-public ownership can be found with the print media, with most of more than 100 national and local newspapers and publications being privately owned. There has also been a move in recent years by the state governments to divest from the state owned publications.

The newspaper sector has witnessed something of a mixed fortune in terms of size. While there has been an increase in the number of daily newspapers, the number of weeklies has declined at both national and regional level. The only increase in weeklies has been at local level.

While newspapers suffer from poor investments and political interference, the increase in the number of dailies has brought about health competition in the sector, and has led to increased diversity on the range of topics being covered in their content. However many believe that the quality of reporting in country still leaves a lot of room for improvement as a lack of professionalism and poor pay remain a bane in the industry.

Nigeria has a huge domestic media market of 150 million, and there is not doubt that with the right policies in place, the country can harness that to make itself a leading media giant on the continent and the rest of the world.

Restructure the Nigerian Press Council

The Nigerian Press Council (NPC) was established in 1992 to promote professional standards for the Nigerian Press and to treat all complaints received from the public about the conduct of journalists in their professional capacity as well as arbitrate on complaints made by the Press about the conduct of persons or organisations towards the media.

NPC basically regulates the activities of newspapers and magazines in the country, along with the conduct of journalists in general. However the NPC is far from being an independent body as it is run as a department of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, with many of its staff deployed from the civil service, especially from the Ministry itself.

This brings into question the decisions of the NPC and whether it would truly be able to carry out functions that do not favour the Federal Government. There are many cases in the past, where it is the clear that the NPC has acted in favour of the Federal Government rather in the interests of the Nigerian people and journalistic integrity.

Until the NPC gains true independence, it will neither have the authority or clout to direct the development of the Nigerian Press nor attract the right calibre or people and funding it needs to carry out it functions.

Merging the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission

Due to the convergence of technologies in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries, Nigeria will be better served having one regulatory body overseeing all telecommunication activities, which will include broadcasting. Merging the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) would go a long way to preventing overlapping regulatory activities.

The merger will see to giving the resulting regulatory body independence in areas such as applications of broadcasting licenses, where the NBC currently has to forward all applications to the President, who then uses his discretion in approving the license.

There is already precedence for this around the world for a single regulatory body overseeing all the communications industries in a country. In the UK, the Office of Communications, the independent regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom, was established in 2003 and inherited the duties that had previously been the responsibility of five regulatory bodies:

• the Broadcasting Standards Commission,

• the Independent Television Commission,

• the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel),

• the Radio Authority, and

• the Radiocommunications Agency.

While in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable, including wireless telecommunications.

We would also recommend that new regulatory body seek to achieve the following;

• Establishing and securing the independence of publicly owned media.

• Encourage and support the establishment of community-based media outfits.

• Cater and push for the establishment of independent media.

• Establish a media development fund.

• Oversee the establishment of the Nigerian Media and Film School

• Oversee the digitalisation of radio broadcasts in Nigeria.

Independence of Publicly Owned Media

The newly restructured regulatory bodies will work to ensure the independence of all publicly owned media outlets. While they might get their funding from the various levels of government, they should still be allowed to operate without any interference from those in political office.

Any evidence of political interference, such as being overly critical of the political opposition or failing to give them any coverage, should be met with serious sanctions. In the case of persistent and heavy handed interference, the license to broadcast or publish should be suspended. Publicly owned media should be run to serve the public who pay for their funding and not be used as political tools by those in office.

Community-Based Media Organisations

The establishment of community based media, which will complement, rather than duplicate the activities of commercial media outlets, should be encouraged. The community media outlets will have to 60% of local content targeted at the community they serve, with 50% of the content produced by the members of their local community.

The community based media outlets will be allowed to carry sponsorship messages, with some restrictions, as a means of funding their activities but will be prevented from carrying full blown adverts as that would mean encroaching on the ground of commercially operated outlets.

Community based outlets have a two fold advantage as they provide relevant and tailored content for the communities they server and have also acted as an excellent training ground for many award winning journalists and media personalities in countries that have well established community based media.

The only operational community media outfit is the non-profit, campus-based, UNILAG FM, which has been granted an experimental licence only.

Independent Media

Independent or alternative media are media (newspapers, radio, television, movies, Internet, etc.) which are alternatives to the business or government-owned mass media. Independent media tend to provide a different viewpoint than that provided by major mainstream and corporate newspapers, magazines, and other print media.

Independent media is also sometime referred to as citizen media, where ordinary members of the public can also become participants in the media using the different resources offered. This form of media reporting has bloomed with the advent of technological tools and systems that facilitate production and distribution of media. Of these technologies, none has advanced citizen media more than the Internet.

In some countries, the success of small, independent, private journalists have begun to rival corporate mass media in terms of audience and distribution. Citizen produced media has earned higher status and public credibility since the 2004 US Presidential elections and has since been widely replicated by corporate marketing and political campaigning. Independent media websites like the Huffington Post and Politico, which did not exist four years ago, gained enormous popularity and credibility covering the 2008 US elections.

With Internet penetration set to increase in Nigeria, there is no doubt that independent media will have a role to play in the Nigerian society.

Media Development Fund

The Media Development Fund (MDF) will be created a fund dedicated to the developing and training of Nigeria’s media talent. The fund will awards grants to organisations to create, deliver or facilitate media specific training. The aim is to address the skills shortage in the Nigerian media industry and promote its professions as viable career choices.

MDF will be funded by:

• Subsidies levied at all media companies in the country.

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

• Capital market investments

The Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the government and regulatory bodies.

The Fund will be administered and managed by a Board of Trustees representing various interests in the public and private sector and will be completely isolated from the management of the NCC and NPC.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

Nigerian Media and Film School

The Nigerian Media and Film School will be established mainly to train new talent in the areas of media and film production. The idea behind the school is to have a nurturing environment dedicated specifically to training students for the media industry.

The school will be equipped with its own studios and will form alliances with various media schools around the world such the National Film and Television School in the UK. The school will be partly funded by Media Development Fund and grants from governments and international donors. The school will also seek funding by striking sponsorship deals with key local and international media corporations.

The school will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and managed by a Board of Trustees representing various interests in the media industry.

Digital Radio

While 2012 has been slated for the conversion from analogue to digital terrestrial transmission for television services in Nigeria, not decision yet has been made for digital radio transmission.

This is probably due to the vast array of digital radio technologies out there in the market.

Digital radio broadcast offers many benefits, such as allowing for the broadcast of many radio stations offering more choice to listeners, better sound quality and the potential to introduce new data and information services that will be displayed on the radio’s small screen. For example, a station could send background information about a band when that band’s music is playing. Advertisers could send information about discounts and sales. Listeners could program their radios to receive customized weather reports, news, or stock quotes.

Efforts should be made in selecting a digital radio technology that would be suitable in Nigeria, and plans drawn up to roll out the services in country.

Privatisation of NTA and FRCN

As the two largest media organisations in the country, the Nigerian Television Authority and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria are far from setting the pace in the media industry. Both organisations are in need of investments and restructure to achieve their potential.

It is unlikely that this will be achieved under the current commercialisation plans. Both organisations have been running commercial activities for most of their existence, so unless the government plans to invest heavily in new equipment, especially with the pending transition to digital transition for terrestrial broadcast, it is unlikely the quality of broadcast will change.

Privatising both outfits will bring in the much needed investments they crave as well as instil a level of professionalism that a lot of state owned organisations lack. It will also hopefully bring in new management, who will provide new direction in broadcasting standards for both organisations.

12 Steps - Communications: Telecommunications in Nigeria (Part 3)

2009-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

Internet

Nigeria has the highest number of Internet users on the African continent (10 million as of June 2008) which is a far cry from December 2000, when only 200,000 people when connected online. This represents a change in user growth of 4,900%. However as impressive as that figure is, it only represents an Internet penetration of 7.2%, as compared to the world average of 21.9%.

Much of the recent growth has been attributed to the number of people accessing the Internet using their mobile phones. According to analysts at Nielsen Online, an Internet media research group, 7.3 million Nigerians accessed the Internet using mobile phones during the second and third quarters of 2008, representing a change in 25%, while those who accessed the Internet using a PC slumped by 3% during the same period.

It is thought that the increase in mobile Internet use is due to operators offering flat-rate tariffs for data, more user-friendly handsets and improved network technology. The pattern of use also indicated that mobile users were going online to catch up on the weather, sports and news as well as access their e-mail.

The trend however belies the use of broadband Internet (high data rate Internet access) in Nigeria, when according to ITU, there are only 500 subscribers in the country, a compared to 800,000 in South Africa. The reason for the low broadband Internet uptake has been attributed to absence of last mile equipment and high cost of bandwidth.

Broadband access, which is used now being used as an economic indicator, has been shown to enhance economic growth and performance, and that the assumed economic impacts of broadband are real and measurable.

Some of the economic variables that have been measured as a result of broadband access include higher employment annual growth rate; higher housing rental rates; higher rate of growth in the number of business establishments; and an increase in the share of establishments in IT-intensive sectors.

The Federal Government has recognised the importance of providing broadband access and through the NCC has developed two programmes which aim at breaking down the barriers of broadband access for the average Nigeria – the State-Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI) and Wire-Nigeria Initiative (WiN).

SABI is designed to take broadband infrastructure to all the 36 state capitals of the country as well as urban and semi-urban centres. The project which is partially funded by the Universal Service Provision Fund, a fund set up by the NCC and contributed to by local telecom operators, will see private companies build fibre-optic based broadband infrastructure and deploy high speed wireless networks in and around some of Nigeria’s most populated urban and semi-urban centres.

The project will be complemented by the Wire Nigeria Initiative, which is to provide a national backbone infrastructure which will allow multiple operators to hook on at any point to deliver quality broadband transmission services across the country It is expected that the first wireless broadband services as a result of the both projects will be rolled off by the middle of 2009.

There are some companies already offering broadband services in the country, with mobile operators offering mobile broadband access through their 3G networks and a couple of others offering WIMAX services.

However it must be noted that as observed in other countries, particularly Malaysia and Philippines, the initial pick up for broadband services can be slow but it then speeds up. We believe that this will be the same with Nigeria, and with the landing of the Glo-1 submarine cable (bringing with it bigger and cheaper bandwidth) and the roll out the first phase of SABI later in the year, we will witnessing the beginning of the Internet revolution in Nigeria in very much the same way the mobile phone changed people’s lives.

We however have some recommendations in preparation for the new online society of Nigeria.

Increasing Personal Computers Penetration

The availability of personal computers has been central to the growth of the Internet in recent years. The uptake of personal computers in Nigeria is low, and has been put at just under 2% as compared to other developing nations such as the Philippines with 8.9% and Vietnam with 7.8%

The relative high cost of purchase has been identified as one of the major barriers to owning a PC as a standard mid-range computer costs between US$650 and $750. To help boost the uptake of personal computers, the government introduced the Computer for All Nigerian initiative (CANi), a Government Assisted Purchase Program (GAPP), designed to help Nigerians acquire computers at affordable and discounted prices. However the programme limits the access of the ordinary Nigerian to these computers as they are primarily targeted at civil servants in the employment of the government alone.

More tellingly, the CANi initiative was generally not locally driven as none of the local PC vendors, who are already facing stiff competition from imported brands, were excluded from the scheme. The government is also involved in One Child Per Laptop (OLPC) project, which aims each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop.

While these projects will help will increasing computer ownership, it is doubtful if there will more than scratch the surface of increasing PC penetration in a nation of 150 million. If the government will need to apply far more radical and broad reaching schemes to improve PC uptake. Some of these could include:

• Zero tax policies for local computers manufacturers/assemblers and an exemption on duties on the import of computers parts.

• Tax breaks and reduced duties for imports personal computers.

• Introduce a tax deduction scheme for employers in the private sector who provide PCs for their employees. The more employees they buy a PC for to conduct their work, they less tax they have to pay at the end of the financial year.

• Income tax deductions for families who make a PC purchase.

Developing an E-Commerce Legal Framework

An increase in Internet use should lead to an increase in e-commerce activities in the country but this could be hampered by the lack of a legal framework regarding e-commerce activities. The absence of legal protection for consumers and business for any business activities they carry out online could act as a deterrent.

The passing of e-commerce legislature concerning intellectual property, consumer protection, contract law and dispute resolution, compliance and enforcement, taxation and classification of e-commerce transactions will go along way in creating confidence in using the Internet to carry out day-to-day business transactions.

12 Steps - Communications: Telecommunications in Nigeria (Part 2)

2009-01-22T16:21:00.001-08:00

Telephones

The increase in the number of phone subscribers over the past five years in Nigeria has been above 40% on a year-on-year average. However most of that increase has been in the mobile phone services and the level of penetration is just about 30%, as compared to a more mature market like South Africa where it is 70%.

It is however a different with fixed lines where there were under 1.5 million active subscribers in Nigeria up from 900,000 in 2003. It is unlikely that the fixed number lines numbers are going to be anywhere what is being seen with the mobile phone subscribers.

Nigeria does however have the most competitive fixed line market in Africa, featuring a second national operator and over 50 other companies licensed to provide fixed telephony services. The alternative carriers, besides the national carrier NITEL, combined now provide over 95% of all active fixed lines. Majority of the new lines were implemented using wireless technologies and that gave network operators the opportunity to enter the lucrative mobile market under a new unified licensing regime. This has also helped them to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from local and foreign investors.

Several microwave and fibre-based national backbone infrastructures are being rolled out by various companies, and three new international submarine fibre optic cables are scheduled to reach Nigeria’s shores in 2009, 2010 and 2011, which will deliver a major boost to the country’s underdeveloped Internet and broadband sector.

Fixed wired phone systems are expensive are construct even more so when fibre optics rather than copper wires are used. It is a lot cheaper to set up a mobile phone system than a modern day fixed line system. There is also a growing trend from around the world where consumers are beginning to ditch their fixed lines in favour of the more versatile mobile phones lines.

While fixed phone lines have their advantages including that of security and price, for now it seems the drive with phone operators in African countries is to focus more on providing mobile phone services.

Shortly after taking over the reins of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the new minister, Professor Dora Akunyili laid out her 10 point agenda for improving services in the communications sector of the economy. The agenda is primarily aimed at improving phone services in Nigeria and is listed below:

1. Dropped Calls: Telecom operators will be held accountable for providing uninterrupted connections to their phone calls made on their network as a basic prerequisite.

2. Poor Voice Signal Quality and Poor Reception: Operators will be held accountable for poor voice signals and reception of service anywhere in the country.

3. Lack of Adequate Interconnectivity or Its Partial Blocking: Operators will be tasked to work more on providing adequate connectivity to their rivals’ networks.

4. Tariffs: Policies will be implemented to reduce the current tariff and billing within the market to more competitive prices, passing savings to the Nigerian consumers.

5. Infrastructure Sharing: Efforts will be made to get operators to jointly own and share various telecommunications facilities, wherever it is practical and prudent to do so. This is aimed at reducing capacity building costs for the operators and invariably passing those savings to the consumers.

6. National Roaming: Operators will be encouraged to sign local roaming agreements to enable subscribers roam from one network to another whenever there is no service fro their primary network.

7. Number Portability: A number portability framework will be implemented to enable subscribers keep their numbers when moving from one network to another. This will ensure that a subscriber is not penalised for leaving an uncompetitive network.

8. Convergence of Technology and Services: The possibilities and potential benefits of convergence between information technology, telecommunications and broadcasting will be explored.

9. Deployment of Fixed Lines: More fixed lines would be deployed for their full benefit of fixed, more stable, cleaner, safer and cheaper calls.

10. Adequate Rules Enforcement: NCC will fully enforce adopted international regulations and guidelines for all operators in deployment of facilities. It will also collate existing and proposed optic fibre network plans of various operators into a national transmission plan to achieve a harmonised transmission network. Finally the NCC will facilitate the establishment of the unified national emergency communication system and work with all authorities to facilitate the eradication of multiple taxes.

If properly implemented, the Minister’s agenda should bring about an improvement in the quality of telephone services as well as a reduction in the mobile phone tariffs. The Minister has a reputation for getting the job done and only time will tell if her efforts will make a difference. We would however like to make a recommendation of our own, which would be urgent reversal in the fortunes of the current National Operator, NITEL.

Reprivatisation of NITEL

NITEL which enjoyed a monopoly for decades in the telecommunications industry was sole provider of fixed phone lines from its inception in 1985 till 1999 when where the market was deregulated and other operators were licensed.

Unfortunately, being run as an extension of the government department, NITEL failed to capitalise on its position and only managed to provide 450,000 subscriber lines for a population of 120 million. In a bid to increase its reach and efficiency, the Federal Government decided to privatise the outfit and has followed a long arduous route to have it done.

The process of privatisation started in 2000 but was stopped two years later, when Investor International London Limited (IILL), the then investor failed to pay the $1.317 billion it offered. In 2003, Pentascope was appointed by government to run a three year contract to prepare the sleeping giant for sale but this failed following alleged embezzlement and incompetence.

In 2006, Orascom of Egypt offered $260 million but this was rejected by the federal government on the ground that it was ridiculously low. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria

(Transcorp) came in with a better offer of $500 million in November, 2006.

However, following the failure of Transcorp to revive NITEL’s fortunes, the government revoked the sale agreement and now in the process of revaluating the worth of the company and seeking new partners to provide much needed investment in the nation’s National Operator.

However the sale reversal has also been plagued with legal problems and it is unclear whether the government will be able to meet the February, 2009 deadline it has set for completing the sale reversal process.

NITEL’s fall from a dominant position in the market has been nothing short of surprising. According to NITEL, as of June 2004 it had 720,000 lines installed, although only around 500,000 were activated. This figure represented around 85% of the total fixed lines in the country. As of September, 2008, NITEL only had 60, 000 active subscribers, representing 5% of the total number of subscribers.

NITEL and its mobile phone subsidiary Nigeria Mobile Telecommunication (Mtel), have an advantage of their rivals in terms of already existing, though decaying infrastructure and a considerably larger phone line capacity. However it organisation suffers from a poor reputation resulting from the poor delivery of services and the reputation of its staff. It still however represents an exciting opportunity for potential investors, more especially in the fixed line market, which still has considerable room for growth.

With the right amount of investment and management in place, NITEL can become competitive in an already vibrant sector. However the longer this is left, the more ground NITEL loses to its competitors, and the more likely it is to become a failed corporation.

12 Steps - Communications: Telecommunications in Nigeria (Part 1)

2009-01-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

Telecommunication is an important part of modern society. In 2006, estimates placed the telecommunication industry's revenue at $1.2 trillion (USD) or just under 3% of the gross world product. Its importance on economic and social development cannot be underestimated and it direct effects include;

• Modern telecommunications provide a cost effective and time efficient medium for accessing and diffusion of new ideas and knowledge which have been identified by economists as key elements for stimulating economic growth rate.

• Availability of telecommunication services help to improve information flow between rural and urban regions and help reduce the gap of economic development between them, the same can be applied to developed and developing countries.

• While telecommunication services are to some extent a low cost substitute for information handling labour and have very low substitutability with other traditional inputs such as capital, production, labour and materials, they can however help businesses by increasing the productivity of each of these traditional inputs and thus increasing the efficiency of the entire production process.

• By facilitating information flow and by enhancing the communication between buyers and sellers, telecommunications increases the efficiency of market operations.

• Besides its direct contribution to end-users, telecommunication networks and their use generate significant spill over effects in other sectors of the economy. Once the telecommunication infrastructure is built in any nation, it is available to all sectors of the economy and some of its benefits include the lowering of transaction costs, the ability to search widely or the ability to control a greater pan of production and organizational activities.

As a result, the social rate of return on telecommunications is expected to be much higher than its return just on the telecommunications investment itself. Studies done by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, ITU and the World Bank, recognize the role of telecommunications in stimulating efficiency and growth of other sectors in the economy.

• The easy acquisition and transfer of information among economic units, and the facilitation of rapid two-way communications over distance helps in the coordination of economic activity. This provides a platform to improve the capability of business managers to communicate with each other and make better decisions and business plans. Telecommunications help to remove, to a great extent, the physical constraint on organisational communications in all sectors of the economy.

However it is a mistake to view the impact of telecommunication as purely economic. Telecommunication facilitates emergency medical assistance, long distance consultation, and quality assurance to remote locations, easing the cost of providing medical care throughout the nation subject to a tight national budget constraint.

Telecommunications also helps to spread education to remote locations, with voice, data and video services through high bandwidth allowing effective distance learning. Recent development of Inter networks as a layer on telecommunication networks is making this effort more cost effective.

For decades the telecommunications market in Nigeria was dominated by, Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), a government monopoly. NITEL began operations in 1985 when the Nigerian External Telecommunications and the Telecommunications Division of the Post and Telegraphs (P&T) Department were merged.

Prior to this development, it was the P & T that was responsible for the provision of domestic telecommunications services, while the Nigeria External Telecommunication (NET) provided international services.

Although deregulation of the telecommunications sector in Nigeria began in the late 1990s with 11 companies given license to provide fixed-line services to end consumers (so-called “last mile services”), it was not until the arrival of mobile phone operators in 2000 that the Nigerian telecommunications market took off.

In a short time the number of mobile phone subscribers surpassed the number of fixed lines and year-on-year growth of over 40% saw the Nigerian telecommunications market emerge as the most vibrant on the African market and the largest ahead of South Africa in 2008, with close to 60 million digital mobile subscribers and just under active 1.5 million fixed lines.

The Nigerian telecommunications sector is one of the better performing sectors of the Nigerian economy and one of the fastest growing employers of labour in the country. As of 2004, the sector had an impact of creating 5000 jobs directly and more than 400,000 indirectly. Its rapid growth has seen some project that the industry will be worth US$ 10 billion by 2010.

Despite the recent boom, the industry is still blighted with relatively high tariffs, poor quality of service including dropped calls, poor voice signal quality and lack of adequate interconnectivity; and poor penetration, serving only a third of the Nigerian population (The more developed South African market has a higher penetration rate of 76%).

Even with operators facing a hostile business environment which includes high operating costs, the constant threat of vandalism to their equipment and a reduction in the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), the Nigerian market still remains one of enormous potential and growth.

The Nigerian market is probably the most liberal and competitive market on the African continent and is likely to remain that way in the next few years due to the following;

• Globacom, Nigeria’s Second National Operator and the one of the largest mobile operators in the country has announced that it expects to commission its international submarine cable, Glo-1, for commercial services in March 2009. The multi-billion dollar infrastructure will connect the West African region to the United Kingdom, providing a major boost to Nigeria’s bandwidth requirements.

• Main One Cable Company is also expected to start services on it submarine cable in 2010, and the ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) submarine cable by Orange and France Telecom expected in 2011.

• The Federal Government has revived the stalled Rural Telephony Project, which was designed to provide telephone service in 96 rural communities in Nigeria. The project, which is partly funded by a $500 million loan from the Chinese government, was recently awarded to five telecommunications companies in announcement recently made by the Minister for Information and Communications.

• 2008 saw another player, Etisalat, throw its hat in the Nigerian market as a mobile phone operator. Etisalat is a telecommunications service provider in the United Arab Emirates since 1976 and has operations in 16 countries traversing the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In Africa, Etisalat’s operations span 10 African nations including Sudan and Zanzibar. Since its entrance into the Nigerian market, the company has gone a nationwide marketing blitz to advertise it services and win over customers of its more established competitors.

• In October, 2008, Daar Communications launched its direct-to-home digital satellite multi-channel television platform, DAARSat. The digital TV platform, which has the capacity for 120 channels, started off offering about 45 channels from around the world to consumers. Its entrance into the market is expected to introduce competition and reduce the prices for consumers, as well as speed the transition from analogue to digitalised terrestrial broadcasting in line with the global deadline of 2015 set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

One major drawback for the telecommunications industry however was the loss of the Nigerian space satellite to a solar flare. The satellite is expected to replaced by insurers, but an exact date of when that will happen is not known,

Before looking at the individual services offered by the telecommunications sector in the country, we look like to put forward some proposals to maximise the potential of the Nigerian market and take advantage of the recent growth spurt in the industry.

Energy Reforms

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria are faced with the high cost of doing business in the country and one of the major challenges they face is the erratic power supply. The operators have cited this as the singular most contributory cause for the poor quality of service (QoS) offered by all operators. Operators have to generate their own power and that adds a significant cost to their overhead costs, which they then pass on to consumers. For instance MTN, the leading mobile phone operator in the country, has a power generation in comparison to the public power supply, of 3 to 1.

There are also the added costs of providing security for their power generating equipment as there is a high demand for them in the country. The equipments are a target for armed bandits who already have an establishment market to sell on to.

By prioritising energy reforms, the Federal Government can ensure constant power supply to many of the operators’ infrastructure leading lower costs in operations and an increase in the quality of service offered.

Education Reforms

Industry leaders have cited that an emphasis on the provision of science and mathematics education provides an edge in closing the technology gap between develop and developing countries. The global call has been spearheaded by Bill Gates, founder of technology giant, Microsoft, who through his foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made philanthropic contributions to educational causes around the world.

Technological advancements, and indeed the telecommunications industry, are dependent on the basic understanding of mathematics and science and then applying them to solve complex everyday problems. By placing an emphasis on the teaching of sciences at all levels of education, it is possible for a nation to make it competitive on the global stage and indeed challenge many of the more established nations.

Indeed this was one of the approaches of the Asian Tigers (Malaysia, The Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore), who increased the student enrolments in science, engineering and technical-related courses so as to intensify the production of manpower with scientific and technical knowledge.

A similar approach in Nigeria is likely to have the same effect and provide a steady flow of talent from which technology related industries, including the telecommunications industry could benefit immensely from. More importantly, Nigeria can replicate the success of these countries in providing value added services, not only for the local Nigerian telecommunications market but the global market as well.

Prioritisation of ICT

The Federal Government will need to place more emphasis on the use ICT to promote its use in the Nigerian society. Though the government some moves towards providing e-Government services to its citizens, a majority of its dealings are still non- electronic, and it has been slow in implementing some of the earlier promises made under the National e-Government Strategies.

Embarrassingly, even the Government’s official website (www.nigeria.gov.ng) was shut down for several months in 2008. Perhaps even more disheartening for many IT practitioners in the country are the plans of the Federal to merge the IT sections of federal ministries with the departments of Planning and Statistics.

By aggressively embracing e-government, the Federal Government can easily place itself as one of the largest consumers of telecommunication services in the country. Given the role that technology has to play in today’s modern economies, it is imperative that the pushes a technology initiative as much as it would any health, education or agriculture initiative.

At this stage we would recommend splitting the Ministry of Information and Communications into two distinct organisations;

• Ministry of ICT – This would oversee regulation of all information and communication technology activities in the country, including telecommunications and postal services. It will also implement all of the Federal Government’s ICT strategies.

• The Press Office - This would be under the supervision of the Office of the Presidency and will be merged with the Office of Public Communications. The new body will handle all the public relations for the Federal Government.

Stimulate Local Telecommunications Manufacturing Base

Developing a local telecommunications and computer manufacturing base in Nigeria will go a long way in developing and maintaining growth in Nigeria’s telecommunications market.

Creating a conducive environment for foreign investments (tax breaks, enabling environment, constant energy, adequate security and quality graduates from the educational system) for the local manufacturing of telecommunications equipments will not only help in reducing the cost of operations for many of the service providers in the country and provide cheap communication devices such as mobile phones to the Nigerian consumer, but possibly create a new line of export for the country, bringing in valuable foreign currency.

12 Steps - Communications: Reforming Nigeria's Postal Service

2009-01-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Postal services are typically restricted to the transmission of information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages, are delivered to destinations around the world.

However in some countries, the postal system also has some authority over telephone and telegraph systems and it others, they also provide additional services such as savings accounts and handling applications for passports.

While postal services can be privately or publicly owned, governments all over the world often place restrictions on private postal delivery systems. Since the mid 19th century national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. However many of the publicly owned postal services run on deficits are often used as examples of government inefficiencies.

Plans of privatisation of national postal system to make them more efficient and cost effective are usually met with fierce opposition by groups who will like the government to still play the traditional role of owning and operating the postal service because of the peculiar nature of the postal system also providing a social service to the communities it serves.

However, Holland’s TNT, Japan’s Japan Post and Germany’s Deutsche Post are examples of where the government has relinquished its role to the private sector and the resulting companies have gone on to become successful companies.

Postal services in Nigeria dates back to the 19th century when the first post office, a branch of the London General Post Office, in the country was opened by the former British Colonial Masters in 1851. This was followed by a private company, the Royal Niger Company and the British Post Office operating their own postal systems in the country.

Governmental role in the Nigerian postal system came in 1900, when the Southern Nigeria Government took over the responsibility of running the postal system in the entire country. At the time of independence the postal services was administered jointly with Telecommunications as a government department with 176 Post Offices, 10 sub Post offices and 1,000 Postal agencies were in the country.

Since then the postal service has grown in leaps and bounds with the establishment of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), as a government-owned and operated corporation responsible for providing postal services in Nigeria. It has more than 20,000 employees and runs more than 5,000 post offices.

NIPOST is also responsible for the regulation of all postal activities in the country, including that of the courier services, which are being provided by private local and multinational companies.

However the organisation, like a lot of publicly owned enterprises is besot with its problems, with lost mail, poor public opinion of the postal service, poor infrastructure and high operating costs, abysmal debt collection, and operational inefficiency being some of the challenges it faces.

Nigerians face significant social opportunity costs that arise from an inefficient postal sector, and the government through its Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) contracted a Dutch company, NethPost, in 2004 to make recommendations on reforming the Nigerian postal industry.

The key notes of the recommendations made by NethPost included:

• The formulation of Postal Sector Policy/Strategy;

• The design and development of new postal sector legislation;

• Establishment of an independent sector regulatory agency;

• Restructuring of NIPOST into New Business Units (NBUs); and

• Privatization of the NBUs.

NIPOST has already begun to implement some of the recommendations made including;

• Adding new services such as the Parcel Post Venture (a parcel delivery service), PostCash (a domestic money transfer service) and Cash4Africa (an international money transfer service).

• Trimming the workforce, as the organisation announced plans in March, 2008 to lay off 4,000 of its 9,000 workforce.

• Providing e-Business services and creation of a virtual private network for 1500 of its post offices across the country through an agreement signed with Galaxy Backbone Plc in September 2009.

• Improving debt collection drive through the setting up a committee specifically dedicated to going after debtors.

The BPE has also pushed plans to bring about changes in the postal sector legislation and drafted the Postal Act 2007, which also proposed the to expand the reserved service advantage currently enjoyed by NIPOST and levy private courier companies to subsidize postal services it provides. The act has yet to be passed in the National Assembly.

Plans are also afoot to bring about the establishment of a regulatory body for the postal sector as the Postmaster-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba, announced in November, 2008 that a draft of the bill to pass the body’s creation into legislature was being sent to the National Assembly.

With the reforms being undertaken by the Government for the postal sector to prepare NIPOST for commercialisation, we would like to mention a few factors that should be taken into consideration;

• First, developments such as e-mail, wireless communication devices, and the Internet are transforming business and communication patterns, calling the future of letters into question.

• Second, postal operations themselves are evolving due to developments in information systems, postal automation and retail services, logistics, and distribution technology. Modern postal services now see themselves as logistics and distribution companies, rather than a social service provider.

• Third, with growing globalization of the sector, national postal services face increased competition from domestic and foreign entities.

• An efficient transport system will play a crucial role in producing an efficient postal system. The more efficient the transport system, the quicker and cheaper it would be to deliver postal services. At the moment it takes NIPOST more than three days to deliver a N50 stamped letter anywhere in the country despite its origin at an average cost of N1, 000.

• The current low postal volume in Nigeria, less than half a mail sent or received per person per annum which less than a lot of developing countries, has been attributed to the loss of confidence in the postal service. A more efficient and reliable postal system is likely to bring about an increase in the postal volume within the country.

We will at this point like to make a few recommendations of our own which we will hope will provide fresh impetus for reform in a long mismanaged sub-sector of the economy. We would recommend the following;

• Speed up the setting up of the Postal Regulatory Commission: This should help in eliminating the role that NIPOST plays as both operator and regulator in the postal service industry. It would be extremely difficult for any organisation to regulate itself since it is hardly going to enforce or create rules that threaten its position in the market and favour its competitors.

To create a truly competitive environment where everyone has a fair chance of succeeding, an independent regulatory body will need to be formed, backed with all the powers it needs to pursue offenders, including NIPOST, to the full letter of the law.

• Continue the push towards commercialising/privatising NIPOST: The push to give the NIPOST its own autonomy independent of government interference and restrained commercial mandates will go a long way in making NIPOST a commercial viable entity.

The postal industry in Nigeria is estimated to worth about N100 billion but currently generating only N5 billion through NIPOST. The lack of infrastructure, political interference and inefficiency has been blame for the lack of NIPOST to achieve its potential. Around the world, commercialising or privatising postal operations have been successfully implemented where the postal service was treated more as a business concern than a social service.

Commercialising and then eventually privatising NIPOST will allow it to pursue a strategy of aggressive growth and efficiency, diversification, and internationalization, and possibly turn it into one of the Africa's preeminent postal and communications operators.

• Demonopolise the postal sector: A gradual elimination of the monopoly that NIPOST currently enjoys for all postal articles below 500 grammes as enacted in the Nigerian Postal Service Decree in 1992 would help foster competition in the postal sector. Competition usually leads to increased efficiency by operators within any business sector and invariably lowers cost of operations, which leads to improved services and lower costs for the customers.

This was the case in Germany where Deutsche Post's exclusive right to deliver letters less than 50 grams in Germany expired on 1 January 2008 following the implementation of European legislation. A number of companies are vying to challenge Deutsche Post's near monopolistic hold on letter deliveries, including Luxembourg-based PIN Group and Dutch-owned TNT Post

• Universal Service Obligation: The BPE proposed in its draft of the Postal Act 2007 that NIPOST be compensated from a fund contributed to by all operators in the postal industry for carrying out the function as the universal service provider (providing a baseline level of services to every resident of a country at just, reasonable, and affordable rates). We believe that other companies who are willing to perform the role a universal service provider should also be allowed to participate in the scheme.

The interested companies would apply for licenses from the Postal Regulatory Commission, who will make a determination of the type of services and localities to be covered, as well as the level of compensation on a case by case basis. Failure to provide a universal service, which will be reviewed on a periodic basis, will result in fines or withdrawal of the license.

Ongoing reforms in the postal sector will need to take in the scope of traditional postal monopoly of NIPOST being reduced or eliminated to provide for more competition. NIPOST, and indeed future private postal operators, will have to respond to these changes in the regulatory environment by, for example, reducing costs and improving service.

12 Steps - Transportation: Reforming Nigeria's Sea Ports

2009-01-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Spanning a two-year period which begun in late 2004, the Nigerian Federal Government implemented one of the most ambitious port concessioning programs ever attempted. The success of this program resulted from the government’s determination, as well as the need to remedy massive shortcomings in the sector, which were sharply inhibiting economic development.

However the seaports in Nigeria are constrained by congestion with ships waiting on the high sea to discharge their consignments and the country losing billions of naira as demurrage increases on both the containers at the ports and on the ships waiting to berth.

Various reasons have been given for the congestion at the ports and include an increase in the container traffic; tendency of some importers to use the stacking areas of the port for storage of their consignment; technical hitches experienced in some of the ports which resulted in loss of some operational man hour; and the lack of sufficient capacity to handle the number of cargo traffic, especially container, in the nation's seaports.

However some have suggested that the single most damning cause of congestion is the number and activities of government agencies at the sea ports. As many as twenty agencies operate at the sea ports with some of them being accused of extorting illegal fees from freight forwarders before they are allowed to leave the port with their cargo.

To help ease the congestion at the seaports the Federal Government has embarked on a private public partnership (PPP) to establish Inland Container Depots at six locations over the country - Aba (Isiala Ngwa), Bauchi, Ibadan, Jos, Kano, Katsina, Gombe and Maiduguri.

The current proposal saw successful concessionaires bid under Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model to put the onus of building the ICD facility. Under the BOOT agreement, they will build the ICD, equip and operate it as their own. After operating the facility for 25 years, the firms will transfer ownership to the Federal Government.

The Federal Government has also mandated that containers should spend no more than two days being in the processed at the ports, however many believe that unless more reforms are brought about in the subsector, the Nigerian economy will continue to loss billions of naira due to the delays and these avoidable costs passed on to the Nigerian consumers.

Some of the ways that the government can maximise the contributions of the sea ports to the nation’s economy and fully establish itself as the shipping hub in the region include:

• Having clear cut laws and guides on the operations and role of the customs and other agencies at the port.

• Establishment of a Nigerian Ports Development Fund.

• Establish an expansion programme to increase the capacity and the number of ports along Nigerian coastline.

• Construct highways and railway tracks to the all the ports and inland depots.

• Create a regulatory body for port and inland depot operators.

Role of Agencies at Nigerian Ports

The number and activities of the government agencies, including the Nigerian Customs, at the Nigerian ports have come under a lot of criticism following the concessions of the operations at the ports.

The main agency for inspection of cargo at the ports should be restricted to the Nigerian Customs, who will act as an agent for the other agencies and bring them in if and when needed. For instance, if illegal drugs are found upon inspection of a container, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency could be brought in to investigate the matter. This would help in getting rid of any bottleneck that might arise from having several agencies examine the same container.

Despite the introduction of the Destination Inspection Scheme, many importers have expressed dismay that all cargo is still subjected to 100% inspection by the Nigerian Customs, who still apply sections of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) to carry out the import inspection. The government should press on the Nigerian Customs on the need to stick with the faster and equally effective Destination Inspection Scheme, and possibly modify the sections of CEMA to accommodate the faster cargo processing guidelines.

The Nigerian Customs’ different inspection units should also be streamlined to ensure that there is no duplicity of effort and speed up the process of cargo inspection.

Nigerian Ports Development Fund

A Nigerian Ports Development Fund, which will be managed by professionals from both the private and public sector, will be established to assist the government in the expansion and maintenance of already existing ports and the construction of new ports.

The Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

The Fund will be financed by:

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

• Proceeds from the concession of the ports’ operations and inland depots.

• An ad valorem tax paid directly to the Fund by commercial users of the ports.

• Returns on investments made in the capital and money markets.

The Fund will used to finance:

• The updating and maintenance of already existing ports through the construction of operational infrastructure such as jetties and terminals.

• The construction of new ports along the Nigerian coastline.

• The construction of inland depots in the hinterland.

• Construction of highways and railway tracks linking to all the ports and inland depots to the national transportation network.

Ports Expansion Programme

This will be an infrastructural development programme to increase the capacity of already existing ports facilities and construct new ports along the Nigerian coast and Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in the hinterland. The programme will be partially financed by the Nigerian Ports Development Fund and private public partnerships (PPP) schemes.

The expansion programme will provide the following benefits to the Nigerian economy:

• Ease congestion at the ports and decrease the container processing period to the mandated 48 hours.

• Improve the country’s ability to handle an increase in containerised traffic and position itself as a strategic player in shipping to and from the African continent.

• The construction of ports and inland depots, with the consequent construction of highways and railway tracks, in the smaller towns and cities will act as economic boon, providing much needed economic development in these communities.

Nigerian Port Operations Board

Before 2004, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which is owned by the Federal Government, was the sole operator of all the ports in the country, and hence there was no need for a regulatory body to monitor activities in port operations.

However since the concessioning of the port operations and inland container depots, a need has arisen for a government agency to regulate the activities of all the private companies involved in the operation of these facilities. NPA only acts as a technical supervisor as regards the private public partnerships signed by the Federal Government and does not have the legislative authority to act as a regulator in this subsector of the Nigerian economy.

The new agency will provide some of the following services:

• Licensing and registration of all port operators in the country.

• Regulate the economic activities of the port operators to ensure they fees are not exploitative.

• Ensure that port operators comply with international and national maritime rules and regulation.

• Act as mediatory party in conflicts between port operators and other parties.

12 Steps - Transportation: Reforming Air Travel in Nigeria

2009-01-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

As of 2006, the National Bureau of Statistics stated that the contribution of air travel to the Nigeria economy was negligible. This is probably due to the poor state of all the major airports in the country. Stories of animals strolling on the runway during the landing and takeoff of aircrafts, along with the breakdown of essential operational equipment are known to occur.

Many observers have noted that good airport service enhances economic development—and that poor airport service discourages it. A study by the Aviation Policy Program at George Mason University in the United States, found that the number of high-technology jobs in Cincinnati region had jumped from about 65,000 in 1989 to almost 80,000 in 1996. The study pegged the region’s strong hub airport as an important factor in growth.

The Federal Government under former president Olusegun Obansanjo announced a plan to reform the aviation sector in the country by proposing to privatise all the airports managed the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

FAAN manages 21 airports across the country including Nigeria’s four main internal airports at Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. Under the plans the government mode of privatisation is concessioning beginning with the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja on a pilot basis before the others, including:

• MMA Plc comprising Murtala Muhammed international airport Ikeja, Lagos, Akure, Ibadan, Ilorin and Benin airports

• MAKIA Plc comprising Kano, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Yola and Katsina Airports.

• PHC International Airport Plc comprising Port Harcourt, Calabar, Owerri, Enugu Airports. and

• Abuja Plc comprising Abuja, Kaduna, Jos, and Minna Airports.

A winning bid for the concession of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja was awarded in 2006 by the past government. However the deal was reversed by the present government of Yar’Adua and renegotiations have been stalled by warring government parties over who should oversee the sale of the airport.

However some success has been recorded in the Nigerian aviation sector with the concession of Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA 2). After fire gutted the domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport international in Lagos, the Federal Government made a decision to redevelop the airport using private sector investments under a Public - Private Partnership Scheme.

In 2003, a private company, Bi - Courtney Limited, was awarded the concession by the Federal Government of Nigeria to design, build and operate the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Domestic Terminal and ancillary facilities. Despite early teething problems, passengers at MMA 2 have expressed satisfaction with their experiences at the terminal.

The operator of MMA 2 currently employs about 1,000 people and plans to employ some more as expansion of both the apron and fingers of the terminal continues. The success of the MMA 2 should spurn the government to increase the speed of the much needed reforms in the aviation sector.

Apart from the privatisation of the airports, which will be regulated by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), it would be recommended that an Aviation Maintenance Fund be created to replace the controversial Aviation Intervention Fund.

Following recommendations by a panel investigating the spate of air traffic accidents in the Nigeria, the government of Obasanjo set up the Aviation Intervention Fund. The Fund which was partly financed by loans from the private sector was to assist with the replacement of the crumbling infrastructure of the aviation industry.

However an investigation has been started by the Senate into the N19.5 billion naira (US$ 162.5 million) Fund, amid fears that the money might have been misappropriated and the revelations that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is struggling with making repayments on the loan and unable to continue with its plans to upgrade and maintain the aviation infrastructure.

Nigerian Aviation Maintenance Fund

The Nigerian Aviation Maintenance Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the NAMA and FAAN.

The Fund will be administered and managed by a Board of Trustees representing various interests in the private and public sector and will be completely isolated from the management of the NAMA and FAAN.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

The Fund will be used finance:

• NAMA’s capital projects such as the installation and maintain adequate Communication, Navigation Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) facilities at all airports in Nigeria, plus the provision of facilities for effective security of navigational aids outside the airport parameters.

• The construction of an aviation training school for pilots, air traffic control officers, etc. The school will be built under the guidance provided by the IATA’s Training and Qualification Initiative.

• Upgrade and maintenance of the training facilities at Zaria airport.

• Airport improvement and expansion programmes, such as the building of a new runway or terminal.

• Providing financial assistance to state governments for the construction of new airports.

The Fund will be financed by:

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

• Proceeds from the concession of the airports.

• A fuel tax paid directly to the Fund by commercial airlines.

• Airport tax by paid by every air travel passenger departing from Nigerian airports.

• Returns on investments made in the capital and money markets.

12 Steps - Transportation: Nigerian Waterways

2009-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Nigeria has the second longest length of waterways in Africa. It has 8,600 kilometres of inland waterways and an extensive coastland of about 852 kilometres.

Nigeria’s waterways centre on its longest rivers, Rivers Niger and Benue, which dissect the country into east, west, and north sections. The two rivers run into each other at Lokoja and flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The coastal waterways extend from Badagry through Warri to Calabar.

Most of the activity on the country’s waterways, especially by larger powered boats and for commerce, is in the Niger Delta and all along the coast from Lagos Lagoon to Cross River.

However water transport scores a distant second to road transport, with an average share of about 1.6 per cent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product. Water transport is slow and while unsuitable for passenger movement, an efficient coastal and inland waterway system can relieve pressure on a country’s rail and road transport infrastructure.

Inland water transport is advantageous in terms of costs of moving heavy traffic, especially where speed is less important than cost. A single 15-barge tow is equivalent to about 225 railroad cars or 870 tractor-trailer trucks.

This would be advantageous in the transportation of tonnes of agricultural products from the middle belt areas to the delta areas through the waterways and verse versa, and hopefully bring about a fall in food prices in the regions.

This mode of transport will equally play an important role in the importation of raw materials through the ports in the delta areas for use at the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, which is a major industrial centre on the Niger, will benefit from the importation and use the same route to export its products.

The Nigerian inland waterways despite its great potentials are underutilised and underdeveloped. The Federal Government hopes to reverse this and has recently signed N34.8bn contract for the dredging of the Lower Niger. The project covers about 572 kilometres of waterway that stretches from Warri in Delta State to Baro in Niger State. The project is expected to be concluded by 2010.

To maximise the potential of the inland waterways, the Federal Government also plans to restructure the Inland Waterways Authority so it can focus on regulatory duties and concession its other activities.

Under the current plans, the Inland Waterways Authority will be responsible for:

• Issuance and control of licenses for inland navigation, piers, jetties and dockyards;

• Granting of licenses to private inland water crafts;

• Approval of designs and construction of inland river crafts.

The restructured Inland Waterways Authority will look to the private sector to assist it in revitalising the inland waterways. One way this can be achieved is through the formation of a Nigerian Inlands Waterways Fund.

Nigerian Inlands Waterways Fund

The fund will be similar to the US’s Inland Waterways Trust Fund, which funds half the cost of new construction and major rehabilitation of the inland waterways infrastructure. The Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

The Fund will be financed by

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

• Concessions of jetties and dockyards owned by the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority.

• Sale of vessels and other non-operational assets of the Inland Waterways Authority.

• A fuel tax paid directly to the Fund by commercial operators along designated inland waterways.

• Returns on investments made in the capital and money markets.

The Fund will be used to finance:

• Developing and maintaining the inland waterway infrastructure.

• Property development in riverside towns and construction of road and rail links to existing and new river ports and inland depots in conjunction with the Nigerian Highways Authority and the Railways Infrastructure Company.

• A Vessel Tracking System for the inland waterways.

• Provision of communication and navigational aids along the various routes of the inland waterways.

Developing and Maintaining Inland Waterway Infrastructure

The contract signed by the Federal Government to dredge the River Niger, included a clause for the construction companies for maintain the dredged waterway for two years. After that, financing from the Nigerian Inland Waterways Fund will be used to maintain the waterway. Any contract awarded in this respect will be of the output based performance variety, where contractors are paid on the performance on reaching set goals rather than given a lump sum to complete the job.

Navigation improvement feasibility studies financed by the Nigerian Inland Waterways Fund will be carried out throughout the inland waterway system. These studies will be used to identify the navigation and natural environmental actions needed to support the inland waterway system.

The Fund will then finance the dredging of other major rivers, the constructions of canals and other essential infrastructure such as locks and dams which have been identified by the studies as necessary to open up new water transportation channels and make the Nigerian waterways infrastructure as valuable to the economy as the roads network.

Property Development and Regeneration

Working closely with the Nigerian Highways Authority and the Railways Infrastructure Company, the Inland Waterways Authority will carry out feasibility studies on the construction of highways and rail tracks to the towns which play host to major river ports if these infrastructures do not already exist. The Nigerian Inland Waterways Fund will then finance possible road and rail track constructions alongside the National Highways Fund and the National Railway Fund respectively.

This would help to speed the development of such towns and cities which will play a vital role in the Nigerian transportation system. The Nigerian Inland Waterways Fund, working alongside private financiers and developers will also aid community regeneration in these riverside towns and cities by financing property development projects which will include a range of homes, offices, shops and community facilities set in the stunning background that Nigerian rivers have to offer.

Inland Waterways Vessel Tracking System

A vessel tracking system that automatically and accurately monitors vessel movements along the Nigerian inland waterways will be deployed with financing from the Nigerian Inland Waterways Fund.

The system would be deployed to:

• Increase safety along the waterways by reducing the search time in search and rescue operations.

• Increase security as the positions of most vessels in the inland waterways will be accurately tracked and monitored by the system.

• Help in identifying a vessel and pinpoint its location accurately.

• Guiding river pilots through navigable channels and avoiding probable collisions.

• Organising shore service facilities more efficiently by collating different shore control points through computers to maximise efficiency and profitability.

• Introduce night navigation facilities in the waterways by installing virtual buoys in the vessels' monitors and thus to improve the average turnaround time of the vessels.

12 Steps - Transportation: Reforming Road Transport in Nigeria

2009-01-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

Road transport is the most commonly used mode of transportation in Nigeria and accounts for more than 90% of the sub-sector’s 3% contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Road transport activities involve the conveyance of passengers en-masse or in small numbers, the transportation of animals, farm produce and merchandise and the rendering of mobile services (clinics, libraries and banks).

The optional use of motor cars for pleasure also contributes tremendously to the importance of road transport in Nigeria given the poor state of alternative means of transportation and also due to the psychological satisfaction offered by the possession of a car.

Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa and the second largest south of the Sahara, with the national network is currently estimated to be 194,200km of which 34,120km (17.6%) are federal roads, 30,500km (15.7%) state roads and 129,580km (66.7%) local and rural roads. However, the federal roads network carries 70% of freight in the country.

Nigeria’s road networks are poorly maintained and overused as alternative modes of transport are poorly developed. After various failed interventions to address the need for the maintenance of the federal roads network, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) was created in November 2002 (Establishment Act 2002) to monitor and maintain the federal roads network.

FERMA, along with the Highways Department of the Federal Ministry of Transport are responsible for looking after the federal roads network. The Highway Department is charged with the construction of new highways, and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of badly damaged highways, while FERMA is charged with maintaining the highways at acceptable levels of usability.

FERMA began patching the federal roads network in 2004, and has outlined a short, medium and long term strategy to carry out its work.

• Short Term Road Maintenance Strategy (STRMS): This focused on making the roads accessible for the movement of people and goods. Under this strategy, the agency adopted the direct labour, retainership contract and regular contract type of methods to carry out its activities.

• Medium Term Road Sector Maintenance Management Strategy (MTRSMMS): The MTRSMMS is a form of Output and Performance-Based Road Contracts (OPRC). Under the scheme, contractors who are responsible for the maintenance of the roads will be paid for their based on agreed service levels at which the contractor has to maintain the road over a long period of time.

• Systematic Road Strengthening and Enhancement (SRSE) Programme: This approach is the same with MTRSMMS with the scope of works expanded to include periodic maintenance. The strategy will be used to recover the 30% of the network that required overlay and strengthening over a period of 8 to 10 years.

The importance of a good road network has not been lost to many of the emerging economies, especially in China, which did not have an inch of expressway in 1998 and now has the second largest network of expressways only after the US.

Nigeria can learn from China, India and Malaysia about developing a network of expressways which provide a real boost for the economy. This can be done by Federal Government merging the Department of Highways and FERMA to form a singular agency which will be responsible for the growth and maintenance of the federal roads network.

Nigerian Highways Authority (NHA)

The Nigerian Highways Authority (NHA) will be formed by the merger of the Department of Highways of the Federal Ministry of Transport and FERMA. The newly formed agency will be responsible for the creation of new highways and the maintenance of existing ones.

The new agency will be an autonomous body whose board members will include professionals and administrators from both the public and private sector.

The agency would achieve its agenda using the following strategies:

• Concessioning of the existing high volume traffic highways.

• Using Output and Performance-Based Road Contracts (OPRC) for maintenance of existing low volume traffic highways.

• Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects for the building of new highways.

NHA will also apply recommendations by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a research paper looking at the maintenance of federal roads, to establish similar agencies to FERMA, then known as the Nigerian Road Maintenance Agency, at state and local government levels. It also recommended that half of the revenue accrued by the national agency be shared with the state and local government agencies to assist them as both levels of government account for 83% of the total road network.

To help achieve its agenda, the agency will be aided with funding from a newly formed National Highways Fund.

High Traffic Highway Concessions

Existing highways with high traffic, such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway should be concessioned to private companies that will be responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the highway.

Under the concession agreement, the concessionee will:

• Upgrade the highways where appropriate to dual carriageways of at least eight lanes, four in one direction and four in the other.

• Operate a closed toll system where users collect toll tickets before entering the highway at respective toll plazas and pay an amount of toll at the exit toll plaza. The toll rate in this system will be based on the distance travelled.

• Install and maintain solar-powered street lights along the whole stretch of highway.

• Ensure road usability and comfort by getting rid of all potholes, cracks and deformities.

• Ensure that the strength and structural integrity of the road and any bridges along the route of the highway is of a high standard.

• Be responsible for the management of traffic along the highway, ensuring that there as few possible disruptions to journey times for the road users.

• Fence the route of the highway to prevent people, animals and other moving objects from getting into the path of moving traffic.

• Be responsible for putting up and maintain road signage to guide road users on speed limits, exits intersections, toll gates and service/refreshment areas.

• Responsible for the development of service and refreshment areas along the route of the highways. The service areas will have facilities such as restaurants, public toilets and bathrooms, car parks and petrol stations.

• Provide emergency phones along the highway can be used to report breakdowns and attendants from the nearest toll plaza will tow the broken cars.

• Liaise with the authorities to provide highway patrol units to ensure the safety of road users.

Output and Performance-Based Road Contracts (OPRC)

The approach will be similar to FERMA’s MTRSMMS and SRSE Programme but will be used for low-volume highways where user fees will not be enough to make them attractive enough for concession. This practice is currently being used by the Argentine government for its nonconcessioned road network and pilot initiatives with similar contracts are already under way in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Highways subject to OPRC will:

• Be upgraded by contractors where appropriate to dual carriageways of at least four lanes, two lanes opposite directions of each other.

• Meet or exceed the minimum thickness of overlay.

• Not exceed the maximum level of roughness, rut depth, cracking, or ravelling

• Operate an open toll system where users only have to pay at a fixed amount at certain toll plazas along the route of the highway.

• Have guardrails, along with vertical horizontal signs installed.

New Highways

BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) contracts will be used to build new highways in the country. The contractors will have the same responsibilities to develop and maintain highways to the same standards and to have the features those already highways given concessionees but will be given a longer contract length.

The new highways will be only be built after it has been show that it would have a positive socioeconomic impact on the communities the highways targets with limited environmental disruptions.

National Highways Fund

The National Highway Fund will be established with the primary purpose of providing financing for the maintenance, rehabilitation and construction of highways in Nigeria. The Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the Nigerian Highways Authority.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

The Fund will be financed by

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

• Toll gate collections.

• Fees or services rendered by the Agency and monies accruing from road concession.

• Capital market investments

12 Steps - Transportation: Fixing Nigeria's Railways

2009-01-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

Rail transport is usually the most suitable mode of transportation for heavy traffic flows when speed is also an advantage because of the lower cost per person per load as the train load increases.

In Nigeria, rail transport accounts less than a half per cent to the GDP of the country. Although rail has always contributed a tiny proportion of value-added in transportation, its share of value-added continues to decline because road transport (freight and passenger) has virtually taken over all the traffic previously conveyed by rail.

The railways in Nigeria are regulated and operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which was established by the government in 1955. It inherited a rail network, from British Colonial masters, which was designed in a north to south fashion to facilitate the flow of goods, such as groundnuts, cocoa and cotton, from the inlands to the coast, where they were shipped to Britain.

During this period, Nigeria’s single-narrow-gauge railway line was constructed and for many years was the only mode of freight movement between the northern and southern parts of the country. The current rail network consists of 3,505km of narrow gauge tracks and 276km of standard gauge tracks which connect Ajaokuta, when the country’s steel mill is located to Warri, a major oil city and transit point for goods through its port (Delta Ports).

The narrow gauge tracks cover two major rail lines: one connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin and Nguru in the northern state of Yobe; the other connects Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta and Maiduguri in the north eastern state of Borno.

Years of neglect and lack of investments have severely hampered the capacity of the rail network to act as a mass transit vehicle. As part of its plans to revitalise the nation’s railways, the government is seeking to privatise the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). Under the privatisation plan, the government will grant concession to private sector companies, who would be expected to provide train service and maintain the infrastructure. Three separate concessions of 25–30 years are expected to be given out for the western, central, and eastern regions.

Under the plans, the NRC through its subsidiary, Railway Property Company Limited, will also sell it nearly 200 million square meters of lands, landed property and other fixed assets.

However the government could go a lot further by separating the railway operations in to two broad categories – railway infrastructure and train operations, and form a railways regulatory body which regulate activities in the railways sector. Also proceeds from the privatisation process should be put into a National Railway Fund which will be used to finance railway projects.

Railway Infrastructure Company (RIC)

The ownership and maintenance of the national railway infrastructure will be transferred to a newly established special purpose vehicle (SPV) which will be partially owned by the Federal Government and private investors. The initial lifespan of the SPV will be for thirty years with the purpose of updating and maintaining the national rail network.

The RIC will also be responsible expanding the network around the country and building new rail links as air-rail links which connect the countries airports to the centre of cities they serve, similar to the Paddington Heathrow Express in the UK. It will also be responsible for traffic control and signalling, and the construction of new train stations on the railway network.

The RIC will also take ownership of all the existing train stations and warehouses owned by the NRC in the country, which it could operate itself or lease out to train operating companies, who will also provide passenger and freight train services out of the any of the train stations in their command.

The newly formed RIC will have the following streams of revenue:

• Track Services Fees: These are fees that the company will charge train operators who make use of its tracks for passenger and freight services.

• Station and Warehouse Leases: This includes the revenue accrued by leasing out train stations and warehouses to train operators.

• Government Subsidies: Because of the capital intensive nature of rail track maintenance and new line creations, the Federal Government, through the National Railway Fund, will subsidise some of its operations. The amount of subsidies given will be based on the performance of the company in the previous year. The review of subsidies would be done on a yearly basis until the company is at the stage where it does not require government subsidies to run its operations.

The RIC will be subject to regulation from a newly created railway board, which monitor its performance and will pass down fines in areas in which the company has failed to meet standards or agreed milestones.

For the time being, it would be more economical to keep and update Nigeria’s narrow gauge tracks, rather than convert them to the standard gauge tracks. Narrow gauge tracks tend to be slower, carry less load and far less adaptable than the standard gauge tracks.

However narrow gauge tracks involve significantly less civil engineering costs and countries like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have shown that with the right calibration and design, it is possible to get almost the same performance of standard gauge tracks out of narrow tracks. 200-car trains operate on the Sishen-Saldanha railroad in South Africa, and Queensland Rail's tilt train is presently the fastest train in Australia, despite running on narrow gauge tracks.

Train Operating Companies (TOCs)

These will be private sector companies which will operate passenger and/or freight train services on the national rail network. In order to offer train services, potential companies will have to bid for a franchise license from the railways regulatory body, which will grant them a government backed monopoly to operate services on certain routes for a specified duration.

The TOCs will responsible for providing their own rolling stock (locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons). The rolling stock will be have of an agreed standard and quality to avoid train companies from using old and unsafe equipment to ferry passengers.

The TOCs will also agree to lease a number of train stations from the RIC for passenger services and warehouses for freight services. These facilities will be located along the route in which they operate. Under the lease agreement the TOCs will be responsible for the following:

• Maintenance and upgrade of the buildings and land on which the facility is located.

• Security at the facilities.

• Train ticket payment collections.

• Commercial activities at passenger stations, such as the renting of shop spaces.

• Parking fee collection from other TOCs who might decide to park their own trains at the station overnight.

Railway Services Companies (RSCs)

The services units of the NRC which provide direct services to the railway industry will be sold to private companies. The benefit of selling the units is to aid them focus on their core business and improve the efficiency of the services they provide.

The services units include:

• The workshop services unit: The unit mainly provides maintenance of rolling stocks.

• Printing press: This unit is responsible for the printing of the all the tickets currently used on the national rail network.

• Catering services: This unit presently provides catering services on the long distance train services.

The proceeds from the sales of these business units will be paid directly into the National Railway Fund.

Railways Regulatory Board

The Federal Government will establish a new railway regulatory body which will oversee all activities in the Nigerian railways sector.

The major responsibilities of the body will be to

• Carry out economic, environmental and safety regulation of the railways sector.

• Work cross the borders with Nigeria’s neighbours to ensure harmonisation with the country’s rail network.

• Monitor performance of the RIC and its agreed milestone attainments.

• Negotiate franchise agreements with TOCs and monitor their performances.

• Assist state governments in establishing intra cities mass transit rail networks.

• Investigate major incidents and accidents that occur on the railways.

• Monitor observance of public service obligations

• Conflict resolutions within the rail network system

Intra City Light Rail Systems

While state governments will be responsible for the development and deployment of a light rail system within their states, they would however be able to apply for financial assistance from the National Railway Fund.

Interested state government will submit their proposals to the Fund which will make a determination into the amount of money it plans to contribute towards the project. Every submission will be treated on a case by case basis as to determine the economic viability of the project and its likely social and environmental impact.

The following cities have already started work on their own light rail system or announced plans to do so:

• Lagos

• Abuja

• Calabar

• Port Harcourt

Winding up the National Railway Corporation

Once the national rail infrastructure, the train operation and support services have been be taken up by the companies as described earlier, the National Railway Corporation will be wound up as a legal entity and the remaining operational and non–operational assets sold off. The proceeds of the sale will be added to the National Railway Fund.

The rolling stock could be sold to the TOCs or other companies and individuals express an interest in those assets.

The Federal Government should transfer all the assets held by the Railway Property Company Limited, a subsidiary of the NRC, which manages nearly 200 square metres of non-operational lands and landed properties held by the NRC, to the National Railway Fund, which will either sell or grow these assets.

While it would be desirable to ensure that all members of staff of the NRC be retained or reassigned by the new companies taking over, it is more practical to expect that a only a certain percentage would be rehired as a means of making these companies more efficient.

National Railway Fund (NRF)

The National Railway Fund will be established primarily to provide financial assistance to the railway sector. NRF will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the Railways Regulatory Board and Railways Infrastructure Company.

The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.

The NRF will be responsible for:

• Providing subsidies to the RIC to assist it in the maintenance and upgrade of the national railway network.

• Provide financial assistance to state governments looking to develop their own light rail networks.

NRF will be financed by:

• Proceeds from the privatisation process of the NRC.

• A railway tax passed on to passengers and companies who make use of the national railways. The tax will be 5% of the cost of a train ticket or freighting goods by rail.

• Returns on investments made by the management board in the global capital and money market.

• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.

A Twelve Steps Programme for the Nigerian Economy

2009-01-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

The 12 Steps Recovery Programme from Oil Addiction is a composite of the current reforms being carried out in Nigeria, along with those successfully implemented in developed and emerging economics. Some of its recommendations are also bore from avoiding the mistakes in others in faulty implementations of reforms. Nigeria has an enviable position from learning what has worked in other countries and what has not.

The “12 Steps” focuses on sectors in need of attention for the plan to be successfully implemented, as they would hold the key to shoring up the Nigerian economy and provide a platform to launch its people into prosperity.

It must also be mentioned that while a good size of the recommendations involve liberalisation and deregulation, it must not be confused with non-regulation. A poorly regulated or unregulated industry only lays down the foundation for much bigger problems in the future as the US financial crisis can testify to.

The programme is designed to address the following:

1. Transportation: A more efficient transport system allows for the movement of goods and people to all corners of the country.

2. Communications: Communication systems eliminate the physical distance between any two communities and allow for the speedy exchange of information. In today’s world of increasing globalisation, it is now a requirement for any business to be able to communicate effectively and quickly.

3. Energy: Every aspect of the economy is dependent on energy. The vital role it plays in today’s society cannot be understated. The provision of affordable energy and the constant supply of power to light up houses, offices and factories will be essential in getting the Nigerian economy back on track.

4. Healthcare: A healthy workforce is the engine of any economy. Failure to cater for the health needs of the country’s population only leads to a decrease in the production of goods and services as workers take more time off work than they need to.

5. Education and Training: An educated workforce is a more efficient workforce. A better educated population also present multiple opportunities for the economy to diversify beyond its traditional pillars. This was an approach followed by the Asian Tigers, who invested heavily in education to produce a workforce that could provide value-added services as income generators for economies that had little or no natural resources.

6. Agriculture & Natural Resources: With the global food prices on the rise and Nigeria being a net importer of food, the country will be better served by reviving its agriculture sector, which was also Nigeria’s chief export earner before the discovery of oil. The availability of cheaper foods will also lead to an increase in the quality of life for Nigerians as more people will be able to afford put more food on the table for their families.

7. Environment: Damage to the environment has long term implications to the Nigerian economy as it can lead to a deterioration of health of the general population, a depletion of natural resources and increased cost of doing business. It is much cheaper to put in preventive measures to protect the environment than to clean it up down the line. Protecting the environment is no longer a social issue but an economic one, and one that the Nigerian government will need to embrace fully.

8. Finance & Housing: A strong financial sector stimulates growth in the private sector through the availability of credit and can lead to more affordable housing for the average Nigerian.

9. Enterprise & Innovation: Promoting micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) can lead to a reduction in poverty and unemployment, and lead to wealth creation for the owners of the businesses. All these have a direct effect on the economy, and it also useful in reducing the wealth gap between the haves and have-nots.

10. Legal & Security: The enforcement of contracts and adherence to the rule of law not only provides a suitable environment for doing business locally and fighting corruption, it can also lead to increased confidence almost investors looking to plough their money into the Nigerian economy.

Increase internal security also fosters external foreign investment and adds to the quality of life of the country’s citizens. Tackling the crisis in the Niger Delta region and the wave of violent crime across the country will go a long way in improving the country’s image.

11. Trade: Improved trading opportunities in Nigeria’s non-oil sectors can be a major foreign currency earner for the country. Nigeria has a number of mineral resources that have yet to be exploited due to the government’s focus on petroleum.

Also the country is blessed with cheap labour but high energy cost and poor infrastructure have discouraged the growth of a manufacturing base in the country. If an enabling environment where the overhead costs of operation can be brought down to within reason, along with the enforcement of laws in the country, protection of investors, and education reforms, Nigeria can develop a manufacturing base that can rival those in South East Asia.

12. Tourism: Tourism is a good foreign currency earner for any country as every tourist dollar spent has a multiplier effect on the local economy. Improving internal security, improved transportation and a strong financial system can aid the government s efforts in improving the tourism sector in the Nigeria.

The country has lot to offer from the diverse ethnic makeup of the country to different climatic conditions (hot humid weather in Lagos, cool temperate weather in Jos) and geographical features (Mangrove swamps in the south, arid savannah in the North). There is something for everybody.

The “12 Steps” were selected to achieve the following:

Increased Efficiency in the Economy: Improvements in the transport, communications and the energy sector will bring about a reduction in the cost of production and distribution of goods and services. This will invariably lead to putting goods and services within the reach of more Nigerians.

Better Quality of Life: Improvements in education, healthcare, agriculture and housing sectors will bring about an improvement in the quality of life of Nigerians. Also taking active measures to protect the environment, not only improves the quality of living in the country, it also prevents huge avoidable costs in cleaning the environment later in the future. Lastly improvements in security will make the people feel safe.

Fight Poverty: Promoting and supporting enterprise, along with improvements in the financial sector and legal framework will foster the growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) which have been show to fight poverty, increase wealth creation and reduce unemployment.

Increased Investments: Improvements in the infrastructure, along with those in finance, security, enforcement of laws and education should bring about an increase in both local and foreign investments. The presence of the right infrastructure makes it cheaper to produce goods and services, the enforcement of laws makes it easier to conduct business, and an improved educational system produces quality candidates from which companies can select their staff from.

Increased Foreign Earnings: Improved trade and tourism will bring about an increase in much needed foreign earnings.

Diversification: Opening up other sectors of the economy brings out diversification, making the country less reliant on a traditional base e.g. agriculture and oil. This is particularly significant for rural communities.

The Nigerian Economy

2009-01-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

Oil is a major feature in the Nigerian economy and has been since the oil boom in the 1970s.At its independence in 1960 agriculture accounted for well over half of GDP, and was the main source of export earnings and public revenue. The oil sector however, which emerged in the 1950's and firmly established itself during the 1970's, is now of overwhelming importance to the point of over-dependence.

The increasing dependence on the oil sector, which now provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues, was accompanied with a decrease in investment and size of the agricultural sector. Nigeria once, a major export of agricultural produce, now has to rely on food imports.

Nigeria has struggled with the daunting task of reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalising democracy.

This has played a major role in Nigeria’s economic fortune as the sporadic growth in the Nigerian economy is largely dependent on the rise and fall in the price of oil. Falling oil prices, along with decreased output in the late 1970’s and 1980’s contributed to decline in per capita real gross national product, which persisted until oil prices began to rise in 1990.

Indeed, GNP per capita per year decreased 4.8 percent from 1980 to 1987, which led in 1989 to Nigeria's classification by the World Bank as a low-income country (based on 1987 data) for the first time since the annual World Development Report was instituted in 1978. It also declared that Nigeria was poor enough to be eligible (along with countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Chad, and Mali) for concessional aid from an affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA).

The classification also saw, along with the economic reform efforts made by the then Olusegun Obasanjo led government, part of the country’s US $31 billion debt being written off by the Paris Club of debtor nations in 2005.

The rise of the price of oil from 1999 to its peak price in July 2008 has seen growth in the Nigeria economy, making it one the fastest growing in the world with the International Monetary Fund projecting a growth of 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.

Despite it recent economic largess, the failure of successive Nigerian governments to diversify the economy beyond the capital intensive oil sector bore its head again when the Nigerian government announced that it will reduce its budget for 2009 amid a recent fall in oil prices.

The failure also masks a more serious situation in the country – poverty. Nigeria has one of the highest poverty levels in the world, with 70% of its 140 million living on less than US$ 1 a day. The poor infrastructural development in the inefficient non-oil sectors have been a big contributor to the levels of poverty in country.

The inefficiency of relying on the oil sector did not escape the Obasanjo government when it implemented an economic reform program called the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS). The purpose of NEEDS is to raise the country’s standard of living through a variety of reforms, including macroeconomic stability, deregulation, liberalisation, privatisation, transparency, and accountability.

However the implementation of the reforms has not been without their problems. In January, 2008 Nigeria's new President Umaru Yar'Adua announced that between 1999 and 2007, the administration of his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo spent $10 billion on the power sector without building any new power plants. The figure was later revised up to $16 billion.

The UN has also sponsored a longer-term economic development program called National Millennium Goals for Nigeria. Under the program, which covers the years from 2000 to 2015, Nigeria is committed to achieve a wide range of ambitious objectives involving poverty reduction, education, gender equality, health, the environment, and international development cooperation.

The UN however found that while Nigeria was making progress toward achieving several goals but was falling short on others, in a report it released in 2004. Specifically, Nigeria had advanced efforts to provide universal primary education, protect the environment, and develop a global development partnership. However, the country lagged behind on the goals of eliminating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality, and combating diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and malaria.

When the current president was elected into office he revealed a seven point agenda which he said would be his immediate attention. The seven point agenda involves implementing reforms regarding power and energy, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reform, security and finally, education.

For many Nigerians, the country is presents something of a paradox that a nation blessed with many natural resources seems unable to reach the potential that many believe it should have by now. They have seen so many economic reform policies come and go, with little or no effect. It is too early to determine the effectives of the reforms being proposed by the current administration.

Nigeria has been listed amongst the Next Eleven (N-11), a group of nations identified by investment bank, Goldman Sachs as having potential to be world's largest economies in the 21st century along with the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). One of the telling points in the report was the question of how high energy prices have helped some of the N-11 and what will whether recent growth and market performance can be sustained if there was a challenge to that environment.

The report also stated that present economic reforms would need to be carried out, if not stepped up, for Nigeria to fulfil its potential. This is especially important in Nigeria’s case for if the current global economic slow down continues, it is likely to have a downward effect on current oil prices.

While Nigeria is approaching the status of an emerging economy, its dependence on oil receipts poses a serious threat to wipe out gains made in recent years and further hinder any effort to alleviate poverty in the country.

The present Nigerian regime should look no further than the Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan) and BRIC economies for inspiration and ideas of how to go from a third world country to become a bristling global and diversified economic power and change the status quo in the league of economic powers in the World.

It should also look at these countries to avoid making some of the mistakes they made, like those that led to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, the environmental problems that China is currently faced with or the South Korea’s weak financial sector. There is also something to be learnt from the real estate problems facing economies like Ireland, Spain and Dubai.

The ongoing global financial crisis will also present a challenge as financing will be needed for some of the infrastructural development recommended but it is also hoped that this will act as a deterrent to wasteful spending and white elephant projects.