The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it would auction digital licence in the 2.3GigaHertz (GHz) and 2.6GHz spectra to increase broadband access and make internet pervasive across the country in 20112.

Dr. Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC disclosed that the Commission would auction the remainder of the 2.3GHz that it started auctioning in 2010. Currently, the telecom regulator is conducting an audit of all spectra within its jurisdiction.

Juwah revealed that NCC was “Constrained to auction some of the slots that are remaining in the 2.3 gigahertz. We have a plan about the Digital Dividend where maybe some of the incumbents that are there now will gain. We are also looking at the 2.6GHz frequency which today is not in the custody of the NCC, but the NBC (National Broadcasting Commission) and we are discussing with the National Frequency Management Council on these frequencies.

Juwah added “We believe that by the time we conclude all these discussions there would be enough frequency to licence, to be able to add to fibre development to create a good broadband development in Nigeria.”

He stated that modern fixed telephony was deployed through broadband and is part of NCC’s broadband project to ensure that as the Commission is empowering the private sector, providing incentive to the private sector to create broadband centres in Nigeria, this will go in hand with the restoration of fixed telephony to complement the mobile networks that we have.

“We cannot start giving out fixed line licences when we have not deployed our broadband project. So, we are about to start deploying and creating an infrastructure sector in the Nigerian telecoms industry, that will be able to create the opportunity for us to issue fixed wire licences to revive the fixed line telephony that has been in comatose in Nigeria,” he added.

In May 2010, NCC licenced Mobitel and Spectranet to operate on the 2.3GHz spectrum and provide broadband services using worldwide interoperability for mobile access (WiMax) technology to cloud the cities of operation.

The National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) has commended the transparent manner in which the draws for the Ecobank’s Salary Account Domiciliation Promotion were conducted.

The commendation was made at the prize presentation to one of the star prize winners, Mr Iliyasu Kademi, weekend, at the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited branch of Ecobank.

At the occasion, monitored by NLRC, Mr Illyasu Kademi was presented with a brand new Kia Soul car. Other car winners who were presented with their prizes earlier were Uyo Uko Ukom (Eket) and David Ajayi (Lagos).

Speaking at the occasion, the Senior Manager, Regulation and Monitoring, NLRC, Mr Kayode Ojoogun, who represented the Commission, said the mandate of the Commission was to regulate and monitor the lottery industry as well as ensure transparency in the lottery business.

He also stated that the Commission was at the occasion to ensure that the Bank redeems its prizes to the winners. He commended Ecobank for making the promo transparent and redeeming the prizes it promoted earlier.

Kayode also urged other banks and other organisations that run promos in Nigeria to emulate Ecobank by redeeming their prizes to the winners, as well as ensuring that only such promos permitted by the NLRC are carried out. He said that the Commission would not hesitate to clamp down on illegal lottery operators, as provided by the law.

In their speeches, the Area and Branch Managers of the Bank, Zakari Fakai and Alfred Oriakhe respectively said the Bank had given out two cars and 90 Blackberry phones to winners since the promo started six months ago.

The Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas Development yesterday queried the N30b recurrent expenditures of the parastatals under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Of particular concern to the lawmakers was the budgetary proposals of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which will spend N30.399 billion out of its N31 billion on recurrent expenditure.

The angry lawmakers also disclosed that the oil sector devotes over 80 per cent of its budgeted funds to recurrent votes at the expense of capital budget.

These were the highpoints of the disclosures made when the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke led heads of parastatals under her ministry to a sitting of the joint committees of the National Assembly.

Chairman of Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, who raised issues concerning the huge overhead costs in the petroleum sector, described the trend as worrisome.

He asked that ministries and parastatals should strive to raise capital votes above recurrent expenditure.

A breakdown of the budget presentation tabled showed that out of DPR’s N35, 997, 149, 841 budgets, capital expenditure are only N4, 786, 302, 790 while N31, 210, 847,051 will go to personnel costs and overheads.?? The budget estimate also indicated that Personnel costs for DPR in 2012 is N30, 399, 182, 331 while the remaining N811, 664, 720 is for overhead costs.

Director of the DPR, Mr. Austin Olorunshola, however told the Joint Committee that the Department was expecting to recruit more staff within the next two weeks.

Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), otherwise known as benchmark interest rates will not be raised when the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets for the first time this year as a result of the first round of inflationary effects from the removal of fuel subsidy, Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said last week.

The central bank is due to hold its first interest rate setting meeting for the year next Monday and Tuesday.

“In January, because of the removal of subsidy there’s going to be inflationary pressure. Usually we will not respond to that directly because it’s a first round effect … so we will not raise interest rates in response to inflationary pressure from the rising oil prices,” Sanusi told CBNC Africa television.

Based on the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, prices of goods have moved northward, particularly food prices. Incidentally, food accounts for a greater proportion of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket.

That means that any increase in the price of food, would easily translate into rise in inflation. And as we talk today, inflation is already 10.5 percent as at November last year, a notch from the single digit zone.

In Spite of that Sanusi said it may be “counterproductive” to raise interest rates in response to a jump in fuel prices that will probably push up inflation.

“We will have to see where the balance of the data points to, but from where I sit it looks like holding for a bit is the best option,” Sanusi told Bloomber recently.

He however made it clear he was not speaking for the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, which will meet January 30th to -31st 2012.

The Senate yesterday confirmed an upward review of the crude oil benchmark from $70 to $75 per litre for the purpose of the 2012 budget as requested by President Goodluck Jonathan

The confirmation came against the backdrop of senate’s approval of the 2012 to 2015 Medium Term Fiscal framework(MTFF) submitted to the National Assembly by the President.

The approval was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the report of the Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on MTFF.

In doing that however, the senators specifically insisted that with “the partial deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, all savings and accruals must be captured in safety net for targeted expenditures and approved by the National Assembly.”

Nonetheless, they demanded that government should ensure a holistic alignment of the 2012 to 2015 MTFF and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) with the requirements of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

In the same vein, the lawmakers pegged the daily crude oil production figures of 2.48mbpa, 2.55mbpd, 2.58mbpd and 2.60mbp for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.

It said: “The 2012 to 2015 non-oil revenue growth rate estimate of 5 per cent,16 per cent and 17 per cent should be adopted while the federal government should at the same time articulate its plan for plugging revenue leakages, improve the efficiency of revenue collections, encourage the flow of goods and services through the country’s ports and stop granting duty waivers.”

The lawmakers pegged the exchange rate at N155 to one dollar while asking Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their expenditure pattern with clearly defined performance action plan, concrete milestone and measurable performance indicators to the National Assembly.

The federal government, it said, should restrict the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to specialised areas, while not abandoning its social responsibility in the process.

It wants the federal ministry of finance to provide comprehensive information to the National Assembly on the 2012 appropriation proposal with regards to the volume of capital projects to be funded through PPP.

It asked the federal government to freeze increase in allocation to its overhead expenditure throughout the period of the MTFF.

It said that the civil service should be restructured to enhance productivity, while the fiscal deficit ratios of 2.7 per cent, 2 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively, be adopted.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Bassey Out, who presented the report said that the adopted recommendations emerged out of exhaustive deliberations on the MTFF and FSP with due consideration to the provision of the 1999 Constitution (As amended) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.

The Vice President for Africa Region at the World Bank, Ms Obiageli Ezekwesili, would be leaving that post in May this year, according to the World Bank President, Bob Zoellick, in a statement from the Washington DC headquarters of the organisation .

Although Ezekwesili had completed a 4-year tenure last year, and was already hoping to return to her family in Nigeria, she was asked to stay another year by Zoellick, who commended her contributions as the bank’s leading official on Africa since 2007.

Ezekwesili,will be returning to Nigeria to play a role in engaging African leaders and governments towards the attainment and sustenance of good governance and the provision of sound policy tools and agenda for the development of the continent.

She has been known to have actively supported African countries in pursuing core development goals and often praised for her personal zeal and knowledge in advancing a series of policy options for the continent’s leadership, causing even the Economist magazine to recently review its previous doomsday prediction on Africa, and declare that Africa was indeed rising based on the upward growth rate in the continent.

The World Bank statement also referenced how she built a strong team across the range of the bank’s work: Infrastructure and human development, agricultural production and productivity, private sector development, economic reforms to overcome poverty and governance and accountability.

Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, has called on Nigerians not to allow the nationwide protest against the removal of fuel subsidy override national security.

Amadi who made this call in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Abuja, also maintained that people should not allow dependence on fuel subsidy rob them? of the bigger issue of? government reform.

“Our concern is that we should not let the subsidy protest override our national security issue. I will say that we see this as a trigger for deepening some of the reforms that the President indicated in his speech,” he said.

Amadi who said he was in support of the policy, noted that Nigerians were not totally against the policy but the timing. “What we hear Nigerians say is that they are worried about the timing, process and use of the funds. At the CSO meeting we had with the President, we made it clear to him that there is general mistrust of government and he realised that.”

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has begun an audit of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) spectrum which was licenced in May 2002 and issued to? indigenous companies to provide wireless internet and data services.

The audit is to ascertain the number of licences that have not been utilised by the licencees and prepare the spectrum for a new round of licencing.

Confirming the development, Mr. Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, said the Commission was currently carrying out spectrum audit and service providers who have not been using their spectra have been informed to write to the Commission to give reasons why they’ve not been able to utilise them.? Only a few of them like Cyberspace Network Limited, Xcess Broadband which was acquired by MTN are operating.

Some of the FWAs were licenced in 2002 and have not been able to utilise the spectra allocated to them, due to inadequate investment. A good number of them were not able to commence operation because after a number of them carried out due diligence, it was discovered that they may not be able to compete adequately with the GSM service providers.
“For most of them it was like a business decision, do we invest or do we not invest and of cause, there is no service provider that can generate all the? money it requires to rollout its network from day one. For us at the NCC, we have licence terms and conditions and where there is a breach, NCC knows what steps to take,” he said.

Ojobo added that from the time FWA operators were licenced, a lot has happened in the telecom world in terms of technology. “The issue is that how many of them would have been profitable today, offering their services in these days of mobile internet and all of that. The FWA system has function, people have to be carrying their things from one location to the other and also, it had some limited mobility.”

He said if somebody has a GSM which covers the entire country, the fixed wireless restricts you to a particular geographical location where there is lack of service.
“These are some of the things I believe that actually impacted on the bottom line of some of them who are service providers and also some of them who have gotten the licence, but couldn’t probably provide service because the venture capitalists and their investors discovered that the GSM was a much more attractive market to invest.”

As the country wakes up to the removal of fuel subsidy, indigenous airlines are still enjoying a boost in their operations due to increased passenger traffic following the holiday period.

However, cost of car hire services have increased more than 200 per cent following the increase in the price of premium motor spirit (fuel) from N65 to about N141?? per litre. But airfares have not increased because aviation fuel otherwise known as Jet A- one was deregulated many years ago.

At the new domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, the departure hall was brimming with passengers, who were either purchasing tickets at the counter or proceeding for boarding, even as some airlines were charging low air fares to major destinations.

Among the airlines that operated flights were Aero, DANA Air, First Nation Airways, Arik Air and Air Nigeria.
But, for commuters, it was a tale of woes for many airport and airline workers, as they had to pay over hundred per cent increase in transport fares.

On the Ikeja- Airport route, commuters had to pay N100 as against N50 hitherto paid by passengers.

Car hire operators also increased their charges to drop off passengers from the initial N2, 000.00 to about N6, 000.00.
Many passengers who arrived in Lagos on inbound flight were stranded, as they could not pay the high charges by car hire operators at both the old and new domestic terminals of the Lagos airport.

Some passengers who complained of the astronomical increase in transport fare waited at the bus stop, wondering why the operators would effect such increase.

Consequently, some of the passengers walked long distances between Ikeja and other parts of the metropolis.

James Okafor who returned to Lagos on Oweri flight, said that with the increase in transport fares, some people may consider exploring travelling by air.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sold N64.56 billion worth of 91-day and 182-day treasury bills yesterday, the bank said in a statement.

The statement said that the instruments were sold on Wednesday, December 28.
It said that out of the amount, it sold N21.83 billion of 91-day treasury bills at a 14.96 per cent marginal rate, which was higher than the 14.09 per cent it sold at the December 21 auction.

The bank also sold 182-day bills worth N42.73 billion at 16.98 per cent as against 16.20 per cent sold at the December 21 auction.

Also, the interbank lending rates eased further within the week to an average of 14.08 per cent when compared with 14.33 per cent of the previous week.

The secured open buy back rate also stood at 13.75 per cent slightly higher than the 13.50 per cent of last week.

Standing facilities are aimed at providing and absorbing overnight liquidity.

With the presentation of the 2012 budget on Tuesday by President Goodluck Jonathan, the direction of the economy for next year has been set. The country intends to spend N4.75 trillion, with security accounting for the highest allocation at N921.9 billion followed by education at N400.15 billion. The health sector was allocated N282.77 billion; Agriculture N78.98 billion and aviation N49.23 billion. Though recurrent expenditure still accounts for N2.472 trillion (about 74 per cent), capital expenditure, at N1.32 trillion is 15 per cent over the figures of last year.

As noted by the president, the country can no longer afford to be exposed to large fluctuations in the international sphere, hence, the need to peg the benchmark crude price at $70 per barrel and exchange rate at N155 to the dollar. He also mentioned the over dependence on food import, whereas the country has boundless potential to be a net exporter of food.

Just coming in from the turbulence of the financial sector from 2008, the government is really left with little choice as to which direction to go. “So far, the Nigerian economy has weathered these storms well but efforts need to be reinforced to ensure macroeconomic stability and sustained economic growth,” the president stated.

The volatility of the country’s foreign exchange market and the several reaction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to contain huge government spending may become more pronounced next year as the 2012 budget surpasses last year’s figures by? six per cent, which still, somewhat makes it expansionary. The crude oil output assumptions of 2.48 million barrels per day is ambitious, to say the least, as it leaves little room for absorbing the shock, should output go below the threshold.

Delicate balance
Razia Khan, head of African Research at Standard Chartered London believes that given global downside risks, the country needs to maintain a delicate balance in order to achieve anticipated growth trajectory. According to her, while markets may initially react positively to the announcement that the fiscal deficit is likely to narrow further to 2.77 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2.96 per cent in 2011), there is still need for caution. “Given global downside risks, this will still leave Nigeria vulnerable to? unanticipated shocks,” she said of the spending pattern that will continue into 2012.

Though the country has all it takes to achieve the GDP growth projection of 7.2 per cent and keep inflation at single digits of 9.5 per cent as contained in the budget, the country’s over dependence on crude oil revenue (with the international crude price volatility), instead of raising internally generated revenue for financing the budget leaves the more important details out of the country’s control. “Until these changes, forecasts of domestic growth are almost redundant – with little impact on eventual budget outcomes,” Khan noted.

Despite these odds, some analysts are still optimistic on the grounds that other intangibles are still tilted favourably towards Nigeria. Yvonne Mhango, sub Saharan African economist at Renaissance Capital, meanwhile, sees Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio as favourable and strength to build on. Domestic debt at 16.4 per cent and external debt at 2.2 per cent (much lower than the global benchmark of 40 per cent), gives the country much latitude to stretch its borrowing.? Nigeria’s foreign and domestic debt stock jointly held by the federal and state governments is currently put at about N6.189 trillion. “There is room, in our view, to borrow for the budget. The budget oil price is conservative in our view, we project an oil price of $100-110 per barrel in 2012, so they should be able to meet their targets, if they stick to the fiscal programme.” It must be noted that already, Nigeria will spend N560 billion out of the 2012 budget figures on servicing domestic debt alone.

These projections are done at a time when the Euro Zone is in crisis and is capable of upturning some of the projections already made. This has led to the revision of global growth projection to just 4 per cent for 2012-2013. “These developments have implications for our economy as, aside from the impact on the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments, they can also lead to lower demand for our primary export commodity,” stated President Jonathan in his budget presentation.

Imported crisis
In fact, the performance of the Nigerian economy going into 2012 may take a dip, going by available data for the month of October. At a time when the European financial crisis is aggravating, the spill over effect is being felt in Nigeria. With European countries, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain already facing huge debt default, the effect is being felt across the globe, and Nigeria is not totally isolated.

Europe and the United States are major trading partners and the financial crisis in those countries is bound to have reverberating effects on the Nigerian economy. Global economic risks are real and data point to a euro area recession in? the fourth quarter of 2011 and first quarter 2012, and this, no doubt will affect the budget projections.

The precarious state of the global economy and its effect on crude oil demand and the price volatility that could follow, puts Nigeria in a tight position. Europe accounts for about 23.5 per cent of Nigeria’s exports, while the United States accounts for about a third of Nigeria’s crude oil exports. “Analysts at FSDH Research, a Lagos based investment advisory firm noted that the “continued impact of the volatility in international oil price on Nigeria’s oil income receipt and the distortions it creates in its budget planning and implementation.”

According to the president, the country can no longer subject the well-being of Nigerians to such large fluctuations and “we must, therefore, protect ourselves by managing our finances prudently, including by adopting a conservative benchmark oil price for our budgets.”

Nigeria’s budget office cautions that though the economy has recovered considerably from the worst effects of the global economic crisis, global economic activities, particularly the outlook for international oil prices, remain a source of concern. “The main transmission mechanisms of the crisis to the economy were the international price of oil, foreign capital inflows through remittances, portfolio investment and FDI (foreign direct investment),” the office stated in its 2012 to 2015 medium term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper.

Growth contraction
“Trade flows may be hampered by growth contraction and fiscal adjustments,” said Bismarck Rewane, managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a Lagos based investment and financial advisory firm at the November Monthly Economic News and Views, presented at the Lagos Business School recently.

He insists that any economic and financial crisis or adjustment in the EU cannot be ignored by Nigeria. According to him, apart from trade, the bulk of the foreign direct investment stock in Nigeria is held by EU investors, adding that as the future of advanced economies remains mixed, the focus of economic uncertainty is now moving to the emerging markets.

Just when the CBN was about to start thumping its chest for bringing inflation close to its target of 10 per cent, Nigeria’s year-on-year inflation for October climbed to 10.5 per cent from 10.3 the previous month. Food prices, the largest contributor to the consumer index, rose 9.7 percent year-on-year from 9.5 percent the previous month. This is coming at a time when the naira is facing immense pressure and had to be devalued a few weeks ago from N150 to N155 to the dollar to reflect current market realities. The above scenario paints a picture of an economy under immense pressure, due to either internal or extraneous factors. For one, the CBN has always warned government on the need to cut down on frivolous spending. The kind of expenditure which occurred in the build up to the April elections is still very much with us. While the CBN has largely resorted to open market operations to mop up liquidity in the system,? the irresponsible spending pattern of government, both federal and state has nearly made nonsense of the CBN effort.

Dark clouds
While the recent positive outlook on Nigeria by Fitch, the global rating agency is comforting, Standard and Poor’s (S&P), another reputable agency insists that the country’s economy is still risky. This is in line with the global economy which is facing its great depression.

According to S&P, Nigeria has a very high risk in economic resilience, a high risk in terms of economic imbalances, and a very high risk in credit risk in the economy. “Nigeria is a country with high political risk, low GDP per capita, and large infrastructure needs, all factors that contribute to a volatile and risky operating environment for banks. Nigeria has large natural resources, low government debt, and high economic growth potential, which partly mitigate these risks.”

As noted by Khan, the foreign exchange rate, much like in 2011, may still be at the receiving end in 2012, being easily the most volatile of the monetary policy instruments available to the regulator. “The monetary authorities will need to do even more to offset the liquidity impact of increased spending, and preserve some measure of price stability,” she stated.

The effect of all these factors on Nigeria’s economy is more precarious, given the dependence on commodities. As the global recession spreads, the likely impact is that commodity prices will fall. “The risk of global recession has heightened significantly and volatility of commodity prices, which is the mainstay of most developing countries like Nigeria, has increased further,” said Abdul Adamu of Nasarawa State University. He wants Nigeria and other developing countries to come up with policies that will minimise the spread of this crisis to their economy.

Transforming agriculture
The renewed interest in agriculture may provide some buffer, if only government sees these policies to conclusion. For instance, as stated by the president in his budget speech, the agricultural sector is being totally transformed to enable the country move from traditional farming to modern agriculture as a business, both for our small and large-scale farmers.

“To unleash the potential of this sector, the Federal Ministry of Finance has put in place a mechanism to share risks with the banking sector by guaranteeing 70 per cent of the principal of all loans made for supply of seeds and fertiliser by the private sector this season.” He said government is working to subsidise interest rate on loans to farmers to get it down from 15 per cent to seven per cent in order to get the inputs to farmers at an affordable cost.

In addition, machinery and certain specified equipment for the sector, will, effective January 31, 2012, attract zero duty; wheat flour will attract a levy of 65 per cent from July 1, 2012, to bring the effective duty to 100 per cent, while a 40 per cent levy will be placed on imported polished rice in order to encourage local production. On the surface, these are lofty proposals that ordinarily should inspire hope in the people.

In fairness, the government may be sincere in its effort to implement a more salutary budget package but the baggage of the past, present a very clear and present danger. For instance, spending nearly three quarter of the total budget sum on recurrent expenditure is, at best, immodest and at the worst, is unacceptably immoral. Apart from the fact that it creates the impression that government has turned out to be one huge contract managed by a bunch of incompetent contractors, pressure on the inflation, exchange and interest rates and its damage to the manufacturing base of the country and cost of goods leaves much to be desired.? As noted by Khan, “the monetary authorities will need to do even more to offset the liquidity impact of increased spending, and preserve some measure of price stability.” That, in itself, is an unusually tall order. Nigerians expect government to do the right thing.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Bank Limited (EBL), Ahmed Kuru, discussed the workings of the bridge bank and its future with Business Editors. Blessing Anaro was there. Excerpt

As a bridge bank, are? you expected to build and grow the bank or maintain and sustain it???

As for whether the bridge banks’ chief executives are here only to maintain and sustain the organisations, I say no. That is not our mandate. Our mandate is to build, grow and run the banks commercially as if nothing was going to happen. If you come to me today with N200 billion with the intention of acquiring Enterprise Bank, I will tell you I am very sorry I do not have such a mandate. What I am here to do is to run Enterprise Bank commercially, grow, position it alongside other banks in the industry and make it competitive. In the final analysis, if at any point my principals decided that they want to sell, that will be okay, but that is not my mandate.

What? is it like managing a medium size financial institution like yours ?

We still intend to be a medium size bank. With 153 branches and? by any standard, that is scale. I am sure, when you are talking about scale, you may be referring to the size of balance sheet, but a large balance sheet size does not necessarily mean you have the most efficient and profitable bank.

What we intend to do is to leverage on efficiency to create the type of scale we are talking about. Everybody in this industry today will tell you that the future is in retail business. But retail? as it stands today, does not bring money. It is for the long haul. Most of the banks will tell you they want to be retail banks. But when you scrutinise the balance sheet of most banks you will see that retail does not contribute more than five to ten per cent to the bottom-line.
However, for us to reach the unbanked as we all desire, we have to keep pushing at the retail banking end. Nevertheless, the commercial segment is very crucial and it is the area that all of us are now playing in, because it is also the area that gives you quick returns and makes it easy for you to cover the whole spectrum of? the market segments.

There is also the high end which is also known as the upfinance banking segment, which is the corporate and investment banking. Based on the universal banking model, there are banks that are playing in that beat alone.
For some of us, it is important to maintain presence in that segment also in order to follow the value chain. But you must focus on the segment of the market you want to play in. Every bank in Nigeria, besides those that are playing in the up-finance banking segment, will tell you that the retail business is what they are targeting and that informed the recent acquisitions and mergers we? are witnessing in the industry.

The cashlite project, which is the policy that would? limit daily cash transactions for individual and corporate customers to N150,000 and N1million respectively, starting January 1, with Lagos State? is? targeted towards deepening retail banking. The policy is aimed at encouraging banking culture and targeting most of the people that are yet to begin keeping their money in the banking arena without necessarily coming into the banking halls for their transactions.

What happened to the workers of Spring Bank?

In my opening remarks, I did clarify that one of the main objectives of the intervention was to safeguard employment and that has been made very clear by the regulators and it has been re-emphasised by us. I am not also aware of anybody that has been sacked because of the bridge bank arrangement.

Legally, there is no operating bank called Spring Bank in existence with a licence. The new bank has given employment to all the workers of the defunct Spring Bank under new terms and conditions in line with industry practice.

It is not just a change of name, the bank is now totally a new entity that acquired the assets and liabilities of a defunct entity. So obviously, if the staff is migrating to a new entity, there must be new rules of engagement on the basis of the new entity and that is what we did and all of them were offered letters of engagement and they were all incorporated into the new entity. So, there is no job loss at all because it has been the objective of government that no one should lose his or her job.

Nevertheless, going forward, you are running a performance-based entity. Everybody must perform. It is very important.

Banks? all over the world are expected? to?? grant low interest rates and finance small and medium enterprises and agriculture. How is Enterprise Bank dealing with these?

The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has? initiated many interventions in the real sector of the economy particularly in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

Particularly, the CBN Governor is very passionate about this. It is agreed that once you have the right strategy in these two sectors and you are able to fix power, employment could be generated in an unprecedented manner. The economies of major industrialised countries of the world are? being driven by the small and medium firms and businesses. And that is why most banks are targeting the retail business. If we don’t manage inflation and exchange rate properly by encouraging production and local content enforcement, the cost of doing business will continue to be high without appropriate value creation.

As a country we have no option than to give agriculture and other small businesses that have easy “points of entry” for majority of our people priority attention. Big businessese alone cannot turn the economy of a nation where majority of the people are not engaged. We need to build capacity and expose our people on how to approach credit. CBN is doing a lot in this regard, but banks need to,as a matter of deliberate policy,build capacity of the small businessman and woman on how to interact with financial institutions

So, everybody is aware today that for us to move our economy forward, we have to pay a lot of attention to the small scale and agro-allied industries and from what I have seen, all hands are on deck to see that we achieve those mandates. The youth must be empowered by creating employment opportunities for them. All our retail and credit products are being designed to fund the opportunities and sustainability.

What are your managerial and business philosophies?

With a strong balance sheet and professional management team we are poised to create the kind of model institution desired by the regulators and our shareholders.? Part of current challenge is getting skilled workers to blend with our existing resilient workers to create a formidable team. If you don’t have good and experienced hands you can’t make it! Therefore our strategy is to attract and retain talent.

We have been talking about corporate governance and now we have the opportunity to demonstrate it ourselves.

What are you going to tell your customers about the bank?

We are a customer-centric organisation. We want to understand what our customers? want. Before we came in, because of the situation that I highlighted earlier, even lending was a challenge due to liquidity and infrastructural issues. Now we have to tell our customers that we are back to business and we are back to business for good.

We are in a position to attend to all their banking needs.

We are efficient and responsive. Our core values are service excellence, professionalism, innovation, integrity and work as a team of highly motivated service providers.