Business
Nigerian business leaders forge towards social and economic sustainability
ABUJA – Over the weekend, 28 Business Leaders from critical sectors of the Nigerian economy engaged in a session on creating sustainable economic future for business, society and the environment.
The high-profile engagement session which was held at Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos and was hosted by Managing Director Shell Development Corporation (SPDC) and Country Chair of Shell companies in Nigeria Mutiu Sunmonu saw in attendance Business leaders from oil and gas, telecommunications, financial services, real sector, pharmaceuticals and business services.
The meeting served as a platform or precursor for the setting up of a business council for sustainable development, which will affiliate with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The thinking of advocates of such an association is that businesses, has been and should remain drivers of innovation and efficiency, creator of wealth and a harbinger of economic freedom.
The epoch making roundtable meeting was meant to seek the buy-in and commitment of businesses in Nigeria for the establishment of the council. The council is expected to provide solutions to critical sustainable development challenges confronting Nigeria, thus providing a positive sustainable future for the society and rapid development of the economy. In other words, evaluating their social duty to enable them behave responsibly within social and environmental. As experts argue, sustainable development is a dynamic process that enables all people to realize their potential and to improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the earth’s life support systems, thus aligning sustainability with business success.
With the camaraderie displayed by the executives who thronged the venue of the engagement session, it was easily discernible that business, solidarity, and friendship were at display as the event created an ambience of true solidarity and gave space to development of partnership for a sustainable course.
In his remarks at the event, the convener of the engagement session and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu enjoined Business Leaders to join forces for the goodness of Nigeria as corporate entities, saying that he mooted the idea of forming the association to plough back into Nigeria value creation process that would engender and align with the country’s long term economic and social development.
He opined that “Business leaders should take collective steps as the business community to give help to the country in needed areas, aside from the usual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) embarked upon by corporate organizations on yearly basis, by also acting as forces of good of the society in which they operate.”
Sunmonu said the project has to be collectively owned and driven in a special way for the good of the country.
“As individual companies we are doing a lot in terms of CSR. I believe we don’t need to boil the ocean, but take little steps as a business community in needed areas to create the impetus for Nigerians to perceive us as corporate bodies that will not only make money and take off, but also impact on Nigeria,” he spoke further.
The CEO of Julius Berger, Engr. Wolfgang Goetsch harped on the need for companies to deploy a needs analysis to decipher what should be done for host communities as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to avert the problem of duplication of same project and spread.
Engr. Wolfgang Goetsch commended the idea of informal alliance of business leaders to foster sustainable economic development in the areas of financial capital, and capacity building, stressing that the forum should also focus on climate change especially as it affects global impact. He averred that business leaders should think of designing, in consultation with their stakeholders, common guidelines for environmental and social assessment of their operations in line with best global practices.
Sir, Chris Ogbechie, Director, First Bank Sustainability Centre at Lagos Business School (LBS), who moderated the event, posited that business leaders must also through their alliance promote dialogue on sustainable development issues, saying that within such context organizations approach of implementing CSR should be based on environment issues and structures. He enjoined corporate bodies to do more research work on intervention areas and collaborate with each other to avoid duplication on CSR projects.
The business leaders conceptually believe that businesses should not only engage in value creation, but incorporate social, environmental and other metrics into corporate accounting, balance sheets, by factoring in calculative trade-offs between what is socially desirable and what is economically sound for a corporate body.
From the feelers generated at the engagement session, observers will not be surprised if the Chief Executives empower their boards with a specific mandate of fiduciary duty, which ensures that value creation includes broader stakeholder community, and that the social and ecological impacts of their activities are part of governance responsibilities.
In justifying the rationale for the formation of the council, the business leaders argued that it was timely and imperative given the pedigree of Nigeria as a country with the largest economy in Africa going by the rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at $510billion, 100million GSM subscribers, but the country whose citizens are low on the Human Development Index (HDI).
They maintained that with the council in place, member companies will share best practices on sustainable development through exchanging information with peers from a cross section of industries and countries.
It will further enable them participate in policy development and influence the framework conditions under which companies operate, while creating a virile avenue to network like-minded business people and educate, influence business leaders globally.
The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has uncovered financial irregularities amounting to ₦514 billion in the 2021 operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).
The revelations were contained in a comprehensive audit report highlighting non-compliance and internal control weaknesses within Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) during the 2021 financial year.
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Breakdown of Infractions
The audit detailed four major financial discrepancies within NNPCL:
“Irregular Deductions: A total of ₦343.64 billion was deducted from domestic crude oil sales at source without proper documentation.
“Sinking Fund Deposits: ₦83.66 billion, categorized as miscellaneous income, was retained in a sinking fund account.
“Unauthorised Refinery Deductions: ₦82.95 billion was deducted from federation revenue purportedly for refinery rehabilitation.
“Unsubstantiated Payments: ₦3.75 billion was flagged for transactions related to petrol sales that lacked proper verification.
The Auditor-General’s report stated that these financial activities violated the 1999 Constitution and the Financial Regulations Act of 2009, underscoring significant lapses in compliance with statutory guidelines.
According to the report, NNPCL generated ₦484.73 billion from domestic crude oil sales in March and May 2021.
However, ₦343.64 billion was deducted for various purposes, including “Value Shortfall,” “Strategic Stock Holding Cost,” and “Pipeline Maintenance.”
The deductions were made unilaterally by NNPCL without adequate documentation or justification.
Additionally, the report flagged ₦50 billion of the net payable amount for May 2021 as unaccounted for, creating a significant gap in the federation’s revenue.
“Audit observed from the review of NNPC SAP payment record for March and May 2021 payments that the sum of ₦484.73bn was the gross amount generated for the sale of domestic crude for the months of March and May 2021.
“The sum of ₦343.64bn from the gross amount was unilaterally deducted from the gross domestic crude sales as NNPC Value shortfall, Strategic Stock Holding Cost, Crude Oil and Products Pipeline Losses, as well as the pipelines maintenance and management costs.
“The details of each of the cost components deducted were not provided for audit review. Hence, the reasons for the deductions could not be justified by the management.”
On the unremitted ₦50 billion from May 2021, the report noted: “In the month of May, the net payable that could have been remitted ought to have been ₦127.075bn, but only the sum of ₦77.075bn was remitted, leaving an unremitted balance of N50bn to the Federation Account, which has remained unaccounted for.”
The report attributed these anomalies to weaknesses in NNPCL’s internal control systems, warning of the risks they pose to public funds.
It read, “The above anomalies could be attributed to weaknesses in the internal control system at NNPC, now NNPC Ltd. This is a potential loss of Federation revenue, diversion of public funds, or misapplication or misappropriation of funds.”
The success of the maiden edition of the Lagos Shopping Festival (LSF), Africa’s first 72-hour non-stop commerce and entertainment event has been credited to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
This is the view of Managing Director/Chief Strategist of Chain Reactions Africa Ltd, Israel Jaiye Opayemi, one of the main organisers of the event.
According to Opayemi, though Chain Reactions Africa conceptualised the event, the festival could be rightly described as the Governor’s baby and owes its success to his leadership. “Firstly, the Lagos Shopping Festival could not have come to fruition if the Governor did not buy into our audacious plan when we first presented the idea to him during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Secondly, it was the Governor’s exemplary leadership of the project as its Chief Marketing Officer which attracted the buy-in of key sponsors like Zenith Bank, Tolaram Group, First Bank Plc, and Guinness Nigeria Plc,” Opayemi revealed.
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While the duo of Zenith Bank and First Bank provided their bank on wheel platforms for buyers at the Lagos Shopping Festival, they also supported the Vendors with special Point of Sale Machines with which to process payments from buyers. The banks were also seen marketing their diverse banking products to guests within the shopping arena.
For Tolaram, it was a time to support the citizens and give back to society. Guests at the Lagos Shopping Festival were freely given some of the products of the group such as PowerOil, Indomie and Kellogg’s packaged into goodie bags and given out to prospective buyers at the shopping arena. The Children’s Arena was however activated by Indomie with the children entertained by Santa Claus within a well-equipped arena manned by the Indomie Brands team and the Lagos State Safety Marshalls. The children were daily treated to free Indomie meals daily and given various gifts to go home with.
On its part, Guinness Nigeria came through as the real life of the Nigerian party by organizing product sampling activation for the teeming guests at the festival using brands such as Singleton, Johnnie Walker, Ciroc, Don Royale and Captain Morgan to deliver pleasant experiences to guests aside from Guinness and Malta Guinness.
While unveiling the identity of the festival last month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had thanked the management of Zenith Bank Plc, Tolaram Africa Group, Guinness Nigeria Plc and First Bank of Nigeria for supporting the idea of a Lagos Shopping Festival, describing it as a value addition on the state’s tourism calendar and the overall efforts to grow the State’s GDP. The Governor further said, “I must specially acknowledge your pioneering sponsorship role. It is easy for a corporate sponsor to jump on the sponsorship band wagon of an already established festival and fund it. But you are supporting the maiden edition of this Lagos Shopping Festival with us. The competition is watching you now. Do not build this brand with us and yield the space for the competition to take over. I do hope you would all commit long term to this brilliant initiative.”
On his part, Girish Sharma, CEO Guinness Nigeria Plc, expressed enthusiasm for the initiative. “Lagos is the commercial heartbeat of Nigeria and Africa’s entertainment capital, and the Lagos Shopping Festival captures its essence. We see opportunities in this initiative because it is a creative fusion of commerce and entertainment. This partnership reflects our dedication to fostering economic opportunities and support the nation’s vibrant entertainment industry.”
A first-of-its-kind, the festival was a convergence of commerce and entertainment, bringing together buyers and sellers in the MSME ecosystem, and hordes of fun-seekers who were entertained with thrilling performances by A-list entertainers, including Adekunle Gold, Wande Coal, Teni, Young Jonn, BNXN, Ayo Maff, SB Live and EmmaOMG. The list also included some of Nigeria’s most sought after DJs such as DJ Neptune, DJ YK Mule, DJ Baddo while Gbenga Adeyinka the 1st and Larry J dished out rib-cracking comedy performances.
Held from 23rd to 25th Day of December 2024, at the iconic Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan Stadium, Lagos, the Lagos Shopping Festival saw thousands of fans throng the main venue and select Lagos malls during the three-day period to bag the latest bargains from local and top global brands.
The Nigerian Naira experienced mixed movements in the foreign exchange markets on Monday, as it depreciated to N1,665 per dollar in the parallel market, down from N1,660 per dollar recorded over the weekend.
In contrast, the official exchange rate saw the Naira appreciate to N1,534.56 per dollar, improving slightly from N1,535 per dollar last Friday, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
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This reflects a marginal gain of 44 kobo in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
As a result, the gap between the parallel market rate and the NFEM rate widened to N130.44 per dollar, compared to the N125 per dollar margin recorded over the weekend.
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