Abuja fiesta renamed Nigeria National Carnival

Hope that Abuja Carnival will hold this year came alive last week with the meeting of chief executives of culture departments from across the country in Abuja. The one-day stakeholders’ meeting, which was convened by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation was to brainstorm on how to successful host the carnival, which opens on November 21 and runs through November 24.

To host an all inclusive festival, culture administrators also thought it wise to rename the annual cultural fiesta which made its debut in 2005. From former Abuja Carnival, it will now be known as Nigeria National Carnival. The reason, Permanent Secretary, Culture and Tourism Ministry, Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, who chaired the meeting said, was to give the carnival a national outlook.

According to her, the former name made the carnival appear like a sectional event, thereby hampering total commitment and participation of states of the federation that perceived it as a Federal Capital Territory affair.

At the forum was the two-term Artistic Director of the Carnival, Mr. Biodun Abe, Director General, National Gallery of Art, Mr. Abdullahi Muku, some departmental heads in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism including Mr. George Uffot and Grace Gekpe, who heads the Department of Entertainment and Creative Services, where the carnival is domiciled.

While declaring the one-day meeting open, Ejele expressed the urgent need to develop the carnival to the level where it would be self-sustaining like other national carnivals around the world, including the great carnivals of Trinidad and Tobago.

She listed the benefits of the cultural festival, and said it was not only a platform for showcasing talents, projecting cultural heritage and building national identity, also creating employment and enhancing social interactions among Nigerians.

She stated, “It is therefore pertinent to note that the Nigeria National Carnival generates business opportunities for singers, song writers, make-up artists, choreographers, costume builders and designers. The recognition on the numerous contributions of the carnival to socio-economic development is vital for its sustainability”.

With this year’s theme ‘The Creative Industry: Pivot to Economic Growth,’ Ejele said the annual carnival is a noble initiative which represents the warmth, nature and rhythm of Nigerian people.

In his remarks, the Carnival Artistic Director, Abe, said the choice of the theme was to emphasise the role of the creative industry as a key contributor to the nation’s economy.
“It is however instructive to know that this carnival which started in 2005 has remained focused on its objective of presenting and preserving the rich intangible cultural heritage of Nigeria”, Abe said.

According to him, the carnival equally helps to project Abuja as a tourism destination of choice. In spite of numerous challenges, greatest of which is poor funding, Abe believed the event has become a huge tourism product, which does not only attract international patronage but also helps to boost Nigeria’s economy.

Abe, who acknowledged last year’s por outing due to prevailing socio-political atmosphere, assured the art community and indeed all Nigerians in general of a bigger and more colourful outing this year. Although there was no likelihood of government’s financial support, Abeh said the carnival committee has been working round the clock to seek private sector support.

He regretted that most Abuja residents were always in the dark as to the opening of the festival. To create proper awareness and increase participation, Abe assured that a pre-carnival event has been planed to sensitise residents of FCT and its environs.

Also, some of the measures put in place to ensure that every state was carried along is the appointment of zonal coordinators, who would serve as links between the federal government and states.
It was expected that culture executives and zonal coordinators who were drawn from states’ arts council and history bureau would return to their respective states with information that would guide artists on their rehearsals and choice of costumes.

Fortunately, in spite of the economic situation, only few states were unavoidably absent at the meeting – an indication of an increased participation at the main event.

For Gepke, who has participated actively in previous editions and whose department is saddled with the responsibility of this year’s outing, 2015 carnival will mark a turn around in the history of the carnival. She is optimistic that with efforts being put in place by the committee as well as the rebranding of the festival, it would record a tremendous improvement this year.

Some of the events planed for this year’s edition include Durbar, which comes up on November 22 at the Eagle Square. Others are masquerade fiesta, boat regatta, command performance, street carnival, children fiesta as well as contemporary music and carnival beauty queen.
According to Mr. Abe, the Carnival Beauty Queen would serve as the carnival ambassador for the period of one year.

Apart from the few initial editions, Abuja Carnival had suffered neglect from successive governments in terms of funding and participation. As the nation continues to harp on the need to diversify the economy in the face of dwindling oil fortunes, the art community looks forward to seeing how much input the new government of All Progressives Congress (APC) would make in boosting one of the country’s biggest tourism products during this year’s Nigeria National Carnival.

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IMO cautions ship masters over carriage of bauxite

THE International Maritime Organization (IMO) has cautioned ship masters of the possible dangers associated with carriage of bauxite.IMO explained that the development is based on investigation over the loss of the 10-year-old Bahamas flag bulk carrier, Bulk Jupiter that carried 46,400 tonnes of bauxite when it sank rapidly with 18 fatalities in January 2015.

The circular approved by IMO’s Sub-Committee on Carriage of Containers and Cargoes (CCC), warned ship Masters not to accept bauxite for carriage unless the moisture limit for the specific cargo is certified as less than the indicative moisture limit of 10 per cent and the particle size distribution as is detailed in the individual schedule for bauxite in the Code or the cargo is declared as Group A (cargoes that may liquefy) and the shipper declares the transportable moisture limit (TML) and moisture content; or the cargo has been assessed as not presenting Group A properties.

The circular noted that bauxite is currently classified as a Group C cargo (cargoes that do not liquefy or possess a chemical hazard) under the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code, adding that there is a need to raise awareness of the possible dangers of liquefaction associated with bauxite.

Also, If a Group A cargo (cargo which may liquefy) is shipped with moisture content in excess of its transportable moisture limit (TML), there is a risk of cargo shift, which may result in capsizing.

However, the mandatory IMSBC Code requires Group A cargoes to be tested before loading and to determine their TML and their actual moisture content. The testing should confirm the cargo is below the maximum moisture content considered safe for carriage.

The Sub-Committee was informed of the marine safety investigation into the loss of the Bulk Jupiter, which has uncovered evidence to suggest liquefaction of cargo led to loss of stability.

Also, ongoing research to evaluate the properties of bauxite is being carried out by Australia and Brazil, while an ongoing research project in China suggests that bauxite has various behaviours, based on the parent rock and how the materials weather.

The Sub-Committee has established a correspondence group to evaluate the properties of bauxite and coal (some types of coal may liquefy) and consider any necessary amendments to the IMSBC Code.

Liquefaction occurs when a cargo (which may not appear visibly wet) has a level of moisture in between particles. During a voyage, the ship movement may cause the cargo to liquefy and become viscous and fluid, which can lead to cargo flowing with the roll of the ship and potentially causing a dangerous list and sudden capsize of the vessel.
IMO said special consideration and precautions should be taken when loading a cargo, which may liquefy.

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Calls for apex bank reform: A hasty alert?

The call for the current administration to reform the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been described as hasty and smacks of “an over-boiling steam for patriotism and consummate desire to ensure that the management of the Nigerian economy delivers growth and generate employment.

Besides, the calls were also adjudged extremely fascinated with efficiency and growth of the Chinese economy, which was cited as an example of sustainable Gross Domestic Product’s growth (7.5 per cent yearly) and job creation.

But a Cross River-based financial analyst, Dickson Enobong, said the call premised on money supply challenges, does not hold water as it does not take the manipulation of only one variable (money supply) to achieving macroeconomic objectives of full-employment growth.

There is currently no literature in economics that suggests achievement of macroeconomic objective of full-employment growth by just manipulating a single variable (money supply). The usual practice all over the world has shown some sort of symbiotic and supportive relationship with the fiscal authorities in order to ensure economic growth and employment.

It is all the more disturbing, the way and manner the call banded and elevated Quantitative Easing (QE) used by the industrialized economies to a magic wand. Simply put, QE is expansionary monetary policy, which connotes increased money supply or cheaper cost of fund.
“In the delicate art of economic management, policy prescriptions, whether tight or expansionary, are hardly deployed without necessary recourse to the structure of the economy in question. That country A applied QE in peculiar circumstance, does not necessarily suggest that Country B must also do same without taking into consideration the inherent structure of its economy,” he said.

Enobong said the huge infrastructure gap that doted the country over the years, obviously explains the apparent rigidities that characterise the Nigerian economy, thus, placing some limitations on the relative efficacy of monetary transmission mechanism to actualise full employment and economic growth.

In other words, the analyst meant that even if the apex bank were to subscribe to the prescription of massive dosage of QE, it would have resulted to a sub-optimal outcome, with minimal impact on the Nigerian economy.

One key challenge in the conduct of monetary policy operations in Nigeria is the fact that, the Nigerian economy has a long history of fiscal dominance, with the CBN being constantly confronted with excess liquidity problem. Given this situation, any attempt at expansionary monetary policy has often frittered away in terms of the high inflationary rates.

Also, in line with the key mandate of the apex bank, “to maintain price and monetary stability”, the CBN in keeping with the tradition of most central banks have always preferred to rein in inflation within single digit level, since QE would not register any appreciable growth.

Like the saying goes, if you cannot improve on the condition of the poor, it is better to leave him where he was. It is only stable inflation rate that can ensure that. Most advanced industrialized economies, the United States, inclusive, have been experiencing low, if not, negative inflation and low GDP growth. This readily explains why these advanced economies adopted QE geared towards boosting growth. On the other hand, the Nigerian economy has been battling with perennial liquidity surfeit and recently, followed by declining GDP growth, hence the action of the CBN in deploying tight monetary policy measures to rein-in inflationary pressure,” he said.

It is equally important to point to the need to properly situate the context within which comparative policy analyses are made if the essence is aimed at making positive contribution to the society. In other words, we compare like with like.
In the middle of the argument for the reform of CBN, the analyst noted, is an article written by Odilim Enwegbara titled: “Why Buhari Must Reform CBN.”

For China’s GDP to be growing more than 7.5 per cent annually with 12.5 million jobs created annually too during the past three and half decades, the People’s Bank of China has always pursued a pro-investment, pro-growth and pro-jobs monetary policy.
“But in the endless pursuit of this overall national prosperity and job growth, China’s socialist market economy as an organic communitarian system is driven by Chinese monetary policymaker always working hand-in-hand with China’s fiscal policymakers.

Therefore, while fiscal policymakers constantly stimulate economic growth by massively investing in infrastructure expansion and upgrade in ways that lower the cost of doing business in China, maximizing this pursuit of rapid economic growth, the People’s Bank of China, on its part floods the system with cheap liquidity, which the banks in turn make cheaply available to the country’s real sector economy — manufacturers and other goods and service providers,” Enwegbara said.

But according to Enobong, a closer look at his thesis reveals a deceptive ploy to blackmail the apex bank by comparing Nigeria with the economies of United States and China, with well-developed infrastructure that ensure efficient and effective monetary transmission mechanism, making their economies very elastic.

He said that it is simply foolhardy to assume that by manipulating a single variable (money supply) in an economy with humongous infrastructure gap, it is possible to achieve macroeconomic objective of growth, and employment generation.

Monetary policy has its limitations, which explains the reason for collaborative efforts of fiscal authorities in the drive to achieve sustainable economic development. Nigeria is not an exception. The CBN has always applied quantitative easing in some deserving circumstances that yielded desired result. For example, at the onset of global financial crisis, the CBN deployed a unique quantitative easing through the bailout granted to eight distressed commercial banks.

In realisation of the increasing need to provide funding for real sector activities that translates to economic growth and job creation, the current management, under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, embarked on various types of real sector development initiatives aimed at inducing employment generating growth. That is quantitative easing in all sense of it. Above all, the uniqueness of the approach remains the fact that it recognizes the interest elastic nature of the Nigerian economy, and therefore designed the development financing model in a way that shields these real sector entities from market determined interest rates.

This explains why the interest rates for all of the real sector development initiatives of the CBN were pegged at single digit (nine per cent). If indeed, the intention of CBN is to feather the interest of commercial banks, the financing structure would have been made to be governed by market determined interest rates,” he said.

Enobong alleged that the intention of the agitators in the call for reform was to incite the Presidency to dismantle the present leadership of the CBN and dilute the independency of the bank.

From every ramification, the present leadership of the CBN has gone beyond mere verbal pronouncements to demonstrate, in real terms, concrete efforts in enunciating policy prescriptions aimed at real sector development and employment generation. Nothing can be farther from the truth, especially the CBN policy that barred importers of 41 classified goods access to foreign exchange demonstrates in strongest term, a bold initiative ever taken by any government agency to encourage domestic production and employment,” he added.

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TSA debit falls short of expectations, says report

Indications have emerged that the Treasury Single Account debit was short of expected amount by 47 per cent at N345 billion.
In a report put together by Renaissance Capital on Monday, out of the estimated N652 billion government’s naira deposits in banks, only 53 per cent entered the TSA vault, falling short of N307 billion.

While it is unclear about the figures on the value of federal foreign exchange deposits that were moved to TSA as at deadline, estimates as at first quarter of the year put federal foreign exchange deposits at N570 billion, which brought the total federal deposits in banks to N1.2 trillion.

The development also means that a net TSA debit would be below N240 billion, against expected N1 trillion.
“While we acknowledge that last minute exemptions were given to some profit-oriented Ministries, Departments and Agencies- Transcorp Hilton; Power Holding Company of Nigeria; development banks (Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and NEXIM); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation subsidiaries, excluding NAPIMS and NIPEX; and few others), and the fact that some monies had been moved to TSA ahead of previous deadlines through 2015, we find it inconceivable that 47 per cent of Federal Government deposits are attributable to these exempted firms or previous TSA movements.

For example, we observed that TSA debits by FBN Holdings and Zenith represent 10 per cent and 15 per cent of their first half 2015 public sector deposits, compared to 45 per cent at GTBank.

One plausible explanation for this significant difference may be that FBNH and Zenith transferred more federal foreign exchange deposits than naira. This would imply that on a gross TSA debit basis (NGN + FX), they benefit proportionately less from CRR credits than GTBank, as CRR is only on Naira deposits,” the Head of Research Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa Bank Lead Analyst at Renaissance Capital, Solanke Adesoji, said.

Among the top 10 banks with high TSA debit were Ecobank (N26.3 billion), Diamond Bank (N24.8 billion), Keystone (N14.3 billion), Fidelity (N14.1 billion), First City Monument Bank (N13.1), Skye Bank (N12 billion), Wema Bank (N10.9 billion) and Access Bank (N10.1).

Updating our analysis from last week on the CRR percentage that will be necessary to offset the ‘net TSA debit’, we conclude that the CRR could be eased slightly to 29 per cent against our previous 23 per cent estimate. The gross TSA Naira debit amounted to NGN345bn while NGN107bn was total CRR credit, implying a ‘net TSA debit’ of NGN238 billion.

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