₦airaland Forum

[size=14pt]BBC Africa[/size]

Ghana has re-called it's long-serving Black Stars goal keeper Richard Kingson for its upcoming world cup qualifier against Egypt. This has set off a trend on social media using ‪#‎olelefacts‬. Football fans argue the goalie is too old as he's been in the post through many generations of black stars players. Also known as Olele, Mr Kingson, was the goal keeper for the Black Stars when Abedi Pele was in his prime as Captain of the national team. So since Olele was called up for the Black Stars, he has gone viral on social media for his age. But the question from all this is: does age matter? should there be a cut-off age for footballers? Please let us know and we shall sample your views on ‪#‎focusonafrica‬ radio.

[size=14pt]BBC Africa[/size]

Ghana has re-called it's long-serving Black Stars goal keeper Richard Kingson for its upcoming world cup qualifier against Egypt. This has set off a trend on social media using ‪#‎olelefacts‬. Football fans argue the goalie is too old as he's been in the post through many generations of black stars players. Also known as Olele, Mr Kingson, was the goal keeper for the Black Stars when Abedi Pele was in his prime as Captain of the national team. So since Olele was called up for the Black Stars, he has gone viral on social media for his age. But the question from all this is: does age matter? should there be a cut-off age for footballers? Please let us know and we shall sample your views on ‪#‎focusonafrica‬ radio.

Lilimax:
I saw Berem in one thread hustling as usual with her two monikers .
What I can only tell her is :God bless your hustlings

geeez: The Lagos Island IPP (over 11MW) currently powers the State House, Island Maternity, General Hospital, The High Court and the street lights in and around Marina and stretching to Eko Bridge

This Power Plant will serve the secretariat and provide electricity for street lights around Alausa and all the way to Ikeja

More plants will be built to serve public buildings and eventually industrial areas

This will free up electricity for commercial and residential areas

Slowly but surely we are on the right path towards addressing the most critical infrastructural need which the FG has consistently failed to address

kwame tut: @Naptu2
Dude am young mid 20s and didn't knw the DEAD 3rd person again. Read my post I said theyr 3 of them YORUBA AND STILL DON'T SURPASS SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS.

kwame tut: @Nap
You brought forward 3 names all Yorubas, that still doesn't change the FACT. That NO IGBO has won a GRAMMY.

AGAIN Naaigeria still legs behind SA MUSICALLY.

taharqa: So what is going to happen to fairly used cars??

solomon111: Like someone said before,the ban which will be later in the future will affect only foreign made used cars.
Those foreign made used cars will be replaced with Nigerian-made used cars.

0lumide: First of all, it said MOU. Now, should tariffs be increased to force people to buy locally made vehicles? in a society where people need more money than available to them?

In the Nigerian society where the welfare function of the economy is systematically and legally violated? Where income distribution is very very very unequal? should we be looking for ways to make prices higher or ways to redistribute wealth? Shouldn't we be first creating the environment that will attract investors instead of tariffs? and playing protectionism in an economy where the income distribution favours only the rich?

MTN, came, didn't meet any much competition, the government opened ground for other like Vmobile, glo etc.. and the competition is driving down prices. Did the government started by imposing Nitel on customers? NO!, it just allowed competition. now glo is close to if not bigger than MTN and is also expanding beyond our border. That is a result of open competition.

What Dangote enjoys is monopolistic powers. Being a price setter in an unregulated industry is injustice simple. No matter how you try to spin it.

[size=14pt]Fashola inaugurates committees to grade Lagos hotels[/size] 

Published on July 29, 2013 by

The Lagos state government has set up two committees to assess hotel facilities in the state and advise government on how to improve them.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), who inaugurated the committees for the grading and certification of hotels and hospitality facilities as well as for hearing and addressing grievances arising from the exercise saw the constitution of the committees as a positive step in re-energizing the industry.

The main Committee, Hotels Grading and Certification Committee, headed by Larry Segun-lean, is to grade and certify the hotels in terms of their standards as one, two, three, four or five star hotels while the second committee, the Appeal Committee, chaired by Mr. Gbolahan Elias, is to hear appeals and address complaints arising from the exercise.

In his remarks before inaugurating the two Committees, Governor Fashola said the decision of Government was informed by the need to create jobs through the proper grading and classification of hotels in the State pointing out that when properly graded and classified, the hospitality industry would the better for it as more tourists would be attracted to them thereby creating jobs for both practitioners and related industries.

Governor Fashola, who noted that the State has seen very rapid development in hotels and other hospitality facilities in the last six years, said this has happened as a result of deliberate Government policies aimed at expanding the economic frontiers of the State.

Apparently making reference to the recent Supreme Court Judgment which validated the Hotel Licensing Law of Lagos State as Amended and the Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law of the State, Governor Fashola declared, “It was clearly unacceptable for another arm of government or another tier of government to seek, as it were, to regulate an industry it did not help to build”.

“And for us, there is a longer story here, there is a bigger journey here, there is a larger dream here; to open up an economy that can create employment. Tourism and Hospitality in many parts of Africa are big sources of employment, job creation and earnings in terms of revenue strings”, the Governor said adding regrettably that “because the administrative regime was, at the best, unclear and at the worst really in disarray and because operators did not know which government it was safe to deal with, the industry has not grown to expectation.

Acknowledging that tourism traffic in Lagos has increased, Governor Fashola who put the number of visitors to Lagos last year at 2.2 million “by the ranking of a major financial service solution”, said even though that figure made Lagos the second most visited city in Africa, it was nothing compared to Dubai which, according to him, “was receiving close to 20, 30 million visitors”.

“Now, this is a larger market than Dubai in terms of population. Now, Egypt and some other parts of Africa, Mali, Timbuktu are in crisis and, as sad as it may be, they provide opportunities for us to take the tourism business. Tourists are not going there but where are they going? Are we responding or are we just twitting our tongues”, the Governor asked.

Expressing confidence that the Committees would do a good job, the Governor declared, “We can from now begin to properly classify our hotels the way that we have the privilege to choose the hotel we want to go to even before we travel out of the country. We expect that the same thing will happen here once all of the hotels are properly graded and put on the websites of the hotels themselves and with the Ministry and all of that; and that can only embolden tourists to now say, ‘oh they now have properly graded hotels, let’s go there’. They are taking the right steps”.

Governor Fashola urged members of the committees “to act in the best interest of the citizens that we serve, in the best interest of the State and to ensure that whatever personal interest that you acquire does not conflict with your official positions; because you will be assessors and judges more or less and that you discharge this responsibility with the fullest candor and integrity which has informed our choice of you”.

Responding on behalf of the two Committees, one of the members, Mr. Dele Momodu, thanked the Governor and the State Government for the opportunity to serve the people saying they were pleased to serve “because if a government is doing very well, it is for us all to give our support to it”.

Also present at the occasion were the Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, Secretary to the State Government, Dr. (Mrs.) Oluranti Adebule, Chief of Staff Mr. Lanre Babalola, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaiye, Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Sola Oworu, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba and Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr.Disu Holloway among other members of the State Executive Council as well as other top government functionaries.

[size=14pt]Hotel rating[/size]

Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. The development of the concept of hotel rating and its associated definitions display strong parallels. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating has expanded into a focus on the hotel experience as a whole.[1] Today the terms 'grading', 'rating', and 'classification' are used to generally refer to the same concept, that is to categorize hotels, mostly using stars as a symbol

There are a wide variety of rating schemes used by different organizations around the world. Many have a system involving stars, with a greater number of stars indicating greater luxury. Forbes Travel Guide⁠, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, launched its star rating system in 1958. The AAA and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant ratings levels.

Food services, entertainment, view, room variations such as size and additional amenities, spas and fitness centers, ease of access and location may be considered in establishing a standard. Hotels are independently assessed in traditional systems and rest heavily on the facilities provided. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller hotels whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but the lack of an item such as an elevator would prevent it from reaching a higher categorization.[2]

In recent years hotel rating systems have also been criticised by some who argue that the rating criteria for such systems are overly complex and difficult for laypersons to understand. It has been suggested that the lack of a unified global system for rating hotels may also undermine the usability of such schemes.

Standards of hotel classification

The more common classification systems include "star" rating, letter grading, from "A" to "F", diamond or simply a "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" footnote to accommodation such as hostels and motels. Systems using terms such as Deluxe/Luxury, First Class/Superior, Tourist Class/Standard, and Budget Class/Economy are more widely accepted as hotel types, rather than hotel standards.

Some countries have rating by a single public standard — Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Hungary have laws defining the hotel rating. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the rating is defined by the respective hotel industry association using a five-star system — the German classifications are Tourist (*), Standard (**), Comfort (***), First Class (****) and Luxury (*****), with the mark "Superior" to flag extras beyond the minimum defined in the standard. The Swiss hotel rating was the first non-government formal hotel classification beginning in 1979[3] It did influence the hotel classification in Austria and Germany.[3] The formal hotel classification of the DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association) started on August 1, 1996 and proved very successful with 80% of guests citing the hotel stars as the main criteria in hotel selection.[4] This implementation influenced the creation of a common European Hotelstars rating system that started in 2010 (see below).

In France, the rating is defined by the public tourist board of the department using a four-star system (plus "L" for Luxus) which has changed to a five-star system from 2009 on. In South Africa and Namibia, the Tourist Grading Council of South Africa has strict rules for a hotel types granting up to 5 stars.

stexsy: he is not 'head of state but president', take note

taharqa: The 1st Nissan cars from this new colla with d already minimally active Stallion/VON Assembly Plant in lagos will be out in early 2014, as the Japanese Car Manufacturer makes Nigeria a Manufacturing Hub in Africa.

Toyota will announce its own Manufacturing Plans in Nigeria in days/weeks. Others, like Scoda and BMW, may soon follow........

While 'mistakingly' Watching NTA Tuesday Live Yterday (after a really long time of doing so), d CEO of d Peaguot Nigeria Plant in Kaduna, afta receiving about $20m from d National Automatic Council and employing/reactivating about 4000 workers, said his near comatose Assembly/Manufacturing Plant wud start producing new cars in weeks. Innoson at Nnewi is already expanding- ALL AS A REACTION TO THE NEW COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL AUTOMATIC POLICY.

#And they as ask me why am supporting this man as passionately as I do!!!

iterator25: PARIS (Reuters) - The Renault-Nissan Alliance and West African conglomerate Stallion Group have signed a preliminary agreement to start vehicle assembly in Nigeria and potentially create a major Nissan manufacturing hub for Africa.
The memorandum of understanding would see Stallion, which is Nissan's exclusive distributor in the country, increase capacity at its existing plant in Lagos, Renault-Nissan said in a statement on Wednesday.

Stallion currently produces commercial vehicles at the facility, but the plant's annual capacity would be expanded to 45,000 units to assemble a range of cars, light duty trucks, pickups and vans, the alliance said.
"Nissan is preparing to make Nigeria a significant manufacturing hub in Africa," said Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and Renault. "As the first-mover in Nigeria, we are positioned for the long-term growth of this market and across the broader continent."
The move comes as the government is expected to approve a new policy designed to encourage the development of the automobile industry in Nigeria, the carmakers said.

The first vehicle to be introduced was expected to be the Nissan Patrol SUV in the spring of next year. The plant would also be opened to French auto group Renault, though the companies did not give any details.
Japan's Nissan is aiming to double annual sales in Africa by 2016 from 110,000 units last year. It already plans to launch the Datsun brand in South Africa before the end of next year.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/nissan-stallion-sign-nigeria-assembly-deal-075607595--finance.html

[size=14pt]Nissan to Build Cars in Nigeria[/size]

Article | October 10, 2013 - 12:47am | By Michael Paul


Giant Japanese automobile manufacturer, Nissan has announced it plans to build a Manufacturing plant in Nigeria.
 
If it will becomes reality, Nissan will become the first global carmaker to build cars in Nigeria since west Africa's largest economy rolled out a policy to tempt investors into its nascent automotive industry.
 
“Nissan is preparing to make Nigeria a significant manufacturing hub in Africa,” the Japanese carmaker said in a statement on Wednesday.
 
The statement quoted Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and Renault as saying: "As the first-mover in Nigeria, we are positioned for the long-term growth of this market and across the broader continent.”
 
The move comes as the Federal government is expected to approve a new policy designed to encourage the development of the automobile industry in Nigeria, the carmakers said.
 
The first vehicle to be introduced was expected to be the Nissan Patrol SUV next year. The plant would also be opened to French auto group Renault, though the companies did not give any details.
 
Japan’s Nissan is aiming to double annual sales in Africa by 2016 from 110,000 units last year. It already plans to launch the Datsun brand in South Africa before the end of next year.

[size=14pt]Nigeria: No Immediate Ban On Used Vehicles, Says Aganga[/size]

4 October 2013 , Source: Vanguard

Abuja

The Federal Government said in Abuja on Thursday that the new automobile policy was not aimed at immediate ban on the importation of fairly used vehicles.

The Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, made this explanation at a news conference on the content of the new automotive plan.

Aganga said the policy would, instead, focus on promoting investments in affordable made-in-Nigeria vehicles that will in future minimise their importation.

The new Automobile Industrial Policy Development was approved on Wednesday by the Federal Executive Council.

"This policy will not result in the banning of the importation of vehicles in Nigeria but focus on promoting investments in affordable made-in-Nigeria vehicles that will in future minimise the importation of vehicles" , he said.

Aganga, who said phasing out second hand vehicles, popularly known as 'tokunbo', was a gradual process.

He said what government had done was to raise tariff on importation with a view to discouraging the influx of used vehicles into the country while also encouraging local manufacturing.

According to him, no responsible government would ban importation of used cars without putting in place viable alternatives.

"The importation of tokunbo cars will not be a major threat to the plan. Production of vehicles is in stages and involves a long process.

"You do not remove a thing without providing a viable alternative", he said.

The Director General, National Automotive Council, Mr Aminu Jalal, said the policy would help to open up the industry to many international auto manufacturers.

He said Toyota, Nissan, Renault and GM have all indicated keen interest to invest in Nigeria following the articulation of a comprehensive automotive development plan.

"These companies are now conducting feasibility studies on assembling vehicles in Nigeria.

"The elements of the plan, which will ensure competitiveness and increased productivity of the sector, are: industrial infrastructure improvement, skill development, standards, investment promotion, market development and anti-smuggling measures."

The Chief Executive Officer of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN), Mr Ibrahim Boyi, commended the Federal Government for the initiative.

He urged the government to map out strategies for the gradual banning of importation of used vehicles.

Boyi, who held that the importation of used cars had been a great challenge to the industry, said there must be a strict regime on the importation of fairly used vehicles.

"It is something that we have been clamouring for and something we have been hoping for.

"When you look at the performance of the industry, it has been a very unfortunate situation for the country.

"Apart from the environmental effects, importation of used cars had remained a great challenge to the industry.

"Most of the vehicles shipped into the country fall short of the stipulated environmental standards of the exporting countries", he said. (NAN)

yoddy: [img][/img]For the pips who wonder why some of us think GEJ is clueless, check this out.

While its an applaudable move to encourage car manufacturers to set up assembly plants in the country, I think the ban on tokunbo should come after these plants are up and running.

Now that the ban came first, the cost of these new cars won't be competitive.

naptu2: 1) I wrote on another thread that the government was planning to increase tariffs on imported cars and that this will encourage foreign firms to open up shop here, but some people laughed at the idea. I guess I've been vindicated.

2) Some people are still fixated with today. They are not looking at yesterday or tomorrow. Businesses invest because they want to sell and make a profit. They do not invest just because they want to throw money away. Therefore, the companies that are currently investing will have to develop some kind of credit scheme or cost effective measures to ensure that they have a large market to sell to (there are many companies in Nigeria that already sell goods on credit [if you can provide your employment details]).

3) Used cars are not being banned immediately. It is a gradual process that will involve periodically increase tariff on imported cars.

4) I hope this government and future governments stick with the policy. There has been a law in place since the 1970s that prevents the federal government from purchasing imported cars (it was put in place to encourage manufacturing at PAN, VON, Anamco, Steyr, Leyland, etc). However, the government later ignored this directive.

5) I give credit to the GEJ Administration for initiating this policy and to the OBJ Administration for selling government shares in VON.