₦airaland Forum

The overarching message of a new list from CareerCast is one you've probably heard before: When it comes to the future of jobs, tech beats paper.

Analyzing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CareerCast ranked the top 10 endangered jobs of 2014. Mail carrier jobs are the most endangered, with a 28% decline in projected growth. The newspaper industry is also on the list, with a 13% decline in projected growth for newspaper reporters. Travel agents are on the fast track to extinction, threatened by convenient book-your-own-travel companies like Kayak and Airbnb.

Here are the 10 most endangered jobs of 2014:

Mail carrierFarmerMeter readerNewspaper reporterTravel agentLumberjackFlight attendantDrill-press operator Printing workerTax examiner and collector

By KC ifeanyin

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mlane:
Well written article.. But we must realise that the blame is not that of Okonjo Iweala. She is trying her best.

Since she became minister, I haven't seen anything unique from the perdormance of her predecessors, And I thought she would be different coupled with her world bank experience.

Leave a comment


Former chief security officer to late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha yesterday urged Islamic scholars to preach honesty and fear of God to leaders of the country.

He spoke to participants and guests at Islamic poems competition organised by Majma’u Rijali Tijjaniyya in Zaria Kaduna State.

Al-Mustapha said, religious leaders being role models have positive role to play through preaching.

Aliyu Yusuf Leadership Newspaper— Dec 24, 2014 |

Algebra12:
Ohhooooo!!!! But he has been blamed for introducing tribalism and religion into Nigerian politics.

He has been accused of all corrupt practices even when a DG of NYSC used 800million dollars to build a website.
While all he had done was sign the FOI bill that give people the freedom to expose these misdealing.

Yet we clamor for he who gaged the press no matter whether they are telling the truth and went on to prosecute those who dared him.

I am really sorry for GEJ

u have said it all, case closed, Next

MudRaker:
You forgot the devaluation and the recent drop in naira will still make the landing cost expensive.

MudRacker leave all this excuses they are giving us, price of PMS is dropping all over the world, Why is that of Nigeria different?

God help us in this country

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, coordinating minister for economy and finance minister and Bright Okogu, director general of budget office of the federation, are at it again. They have put on display their habitual tardiness in presenting annual budget proposals to the National Assembly (NASS) with consequent delay in enacting the Appropriation Acts.

Available data confirms that the time-lag between presentation of the Appropriation Bills to the NASS by the executive and assent by the president averaged four months and 10 days in the 12 years from 2002.

The problem of slippages in the annual budget cycle dates back to the Obasanjo presidency when the highest time-lag of six months in Nigeria’s fiscal history occurred in 2005. However, the Obasanjo administration achieved a feat when the 2007 federal budget received presidential assent on 22nd December 2006.The executive sent the 2007 budget proposals to the NASS on 6th October 2006.

International best practice requires that the budget should be signed into law before the commencement of the target fiscal years. This has eluded Nigeria’s fiscal policy managers over the years. Sadly, the finance ministry under the watch of Okonjo-Iweala has failed to correct this obvious and costly failure.

Presentation of the budget to parliament is an important item on the annual calendar for budget preparation. As every school girl knows, the annual budget outlines government revenue and expenditure for a given period of time, usually a year.

It is the government’s financial statement which reviews past performance and sets out the government’s fiscal objectives for the ensuing year (on an annual basis) within a medium term expenditure framework (MTEF). More significantly, the annual budget reflects the choices that government has to make, and is the tool it uses to achieve its economic and development goals.

The government has to balance a wide range of legitimate demands with limited resources at its disposal. In the budget, government sets out what it is going to spend (expenditure) and the income it collects through taxes (revenue), which it needs to finance expenditure.

In a country notorious for policy inconsistency, the annual budget signals to citizens the direction of public policy and how it will impact deferent income groups. Business owners and managers look up to the budget to know how they can use the document to their advantage. In addition, government remains the biggest industry in our country.

Consequently, most people crave to see the budget as soon as possible. Delaying its presentation to the law makers and citizens tends to be frustrating for decision makers in and out of government.

This is particularly so because with youth unemployment estimated at over 60 percent, Nigeria’s army of unemployed graduates want to see the extent to which government will in 2015 use the budget to promote a certain level of employment, stability in prices, economic growth, environmental sustainability and external balance.

Presentation of the annual budget to the national assembly is one of 10 main activities in the budget preparation process in Nigeria as in most countries. In Nigeria, this key activity is slated for November of each year. The remaining nine steps are tied to the annual calendar.

For instance, January and February are devoted to submission of budget memoranda outlining priorities of MDAs. March sees the federal ministry of finance in consultation with ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) review the medium term macro framework and sectoral ceilings. In April and May, the finance ministry prepares and circulates budget preparation guidelines popularly called budget call circular.

The months of June and July are devoted to engagement with identifiable groups notably, civil society organisations including the media. Running concurrently with engagement with civil society is policy hearing conducted among MDAs which spans June and August.

The next activity is technical hearing expected to take place in September. October is spent to procure cabinet approval while November is for presentation of the budget to parliament. Parliament is expected to approve the budget in December, sometimes with amendment.

Strict adherence to the budget preparation timeline ensures that budget implementation kicks-off in earnest in January of the target year. This is significant for many reasons. First, delay in presenting the budget to parliament frequently leads to its passage out-of-time with serious consequences for budget performance.

For example, our recent experience has shown that enactment of the appropriation law could drag till March or April often providing the finance ministry with excuses for not releasing the first quarter capital budget within the first quarter.

Secondly, the lack of synergy between the budget circle and the nation’s climate has often contributed to poor capital budget implementation. Releasing funds for capital projects when the rainy season has set in makes it more difficult to achieve acceptable levels of budget implementation. The least our elected officials can do for longsuffering citizens is to avoid delays in enacting the annual appropriation law in furtherance of good governance.

“The Value of Intellectual Capital is the Ability to Breed Ideas that Ignite Innovation” Anonymous

Weneso Orogun

At the current $78 average world market price for crude Nigerians will have to pay only N109.43k per litre were the highly abused subsidy on petroleum product to be removed immediately today. This price, analysts say, completely debunks the fear widely expressed that the removal of the subsidy will result in a substantial jump in the pump price of petrol.

The country’s controversial subsidy on the pump price of petrol is now about N12.43 per litre on the back of falling oil prices, BusinessDay can authoritatively report.

Industry sources confirmed to BusinessDay that the product’s pricing template authorised by the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), recognises four main headings.

First is the product cost defined as the monthly moving average cost of products, as quoted on Platts Oil gram. The reference spot market is North West Europe (NWE). Next is freight cost which is the average clean tanker freight rate (World Scale (WS) 100) as quoted on Platts.

It is the cost of transporting 30, 000mt (30kt) of product from NWE to West Africa (WAF). Then there are margins for marketers, dealers and transporters.

Other cost items on the template are jetty-depot through-put, as well as other charges and taxes.

As at yesterday, landing cost of petrol was estimated at N100.98 per litre, consisting of product cost (N86.02), freight (N5.34) and other delivery costs, excluding local distribution, marketing/dealers margins but including port and financing costs at N9.62. Local distribution cost to Lagos attracts N2.05 per litre, marketers’s margin of N4.70 and dealers’ margin of N1.70 giving a sub-total of N8.45 per litre.

Thus, the total cost of petrol at the pump is N109.43 per litre.

However, given the regulated pump price of N97 per litre, the subsidy element works out at N12.43 per litre.

Nigeria’s daily consumption of petrol is estimated at 35million litres today. This means that the daily subsidy comes to N435.05million, or N13.051 billion per month.

Analysts observe that with the falling price of oil, dropping the subsidy entirely may not hurt the economy too much. It is also estimated that at the peak of oil prices, the subsidy was about N44.00 per litre.

Weneso Orogun is the Chairman of the Editorial Board of BusinessDay newpaper
First published in BusinessDay Newspaper November 25, 2014


Comments are welcome

MrSinister:
Let's be optimistic after all no anioma man don rule delta before. So make we see wetin e go do.

At least there is hope for delta this time around, the Ibori jinx has been broken, Okowa might have a mind of his own and We hope we don't see this type of performance in Delta state anymore

Price to pay for being unproductive, Do not despise little beginnings O youth of our generation, Crime does not pay

o achieve the Mission and Visions as well as imbibe the values illustrated above, it is expedient to formulate a Code of Conduct for all Police officers employed into the Service of the Nigeria Police Force. The code will be regarded as an accountability code that will apply to all officers (irrespective of rank) and will reflect International conventions for Law Enforcement Agents, the provisions of sections 353-368 of Part XV of the Police Act (cap 359) and other relevant Force Orders as well as Public Service Rules. The purpose of having a code of conduct is to provide all members for the Nigeria Police Force with a set of guiding principles and standards of behaviour while on or off-duty. It is intended to be used by Police officers in determining what is right and proper in all their actions. The code should set an outline which every member of the Force can easily understand. It will enable Policemen to know what type of conduct by a Police officer is right and what is wrong. The code will encompass the following: Primary Responsibilities of a Police Officer – A police officer acts as an official representative of government who is required and trusted to work within the law. The officer’s powers and duties are conferred by statute. The fundamental duties of a police officer include serving the community, safeguarding lives and property, protecting the innocent, keeping the peace and ensuring the rights of all to liberty, equality and justice; Performance of duties as a police officer – a police officer shall perform all duties impartially, without favor of affection or ill will and without regard to status, sex, race, religion, political belief or aspiration. All citizens will be treated equally with courtesy, consideration and dignity. Officers will never allow personal feelings, animosities or friendships to influence official conduct. Laws will be enforced appropriately and courteously and in carrying out their responsibilities, officers will strive to obtain maximum cooperation from the public. They will conduct themselves both in appearance and composure, in such a manner as to inspire confidence and respect for the position of public trust they hold. Discretion - a Police officer will use responsibly, the discretion vested in his position and exercise it within the law. Use of Force – a police officer will never employ unnecessary force or violence and will use only such force in discharge of duty, as is reasonable in all circumstances. The use of force should be used only after discussion, negotiation and persuasion have been found to be inappropriate or ineffective. While the use of force is occasionally unavoidable, every police officer will refrain from unnecessary infliction of pain or suffering and will never engage in cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment of any person.Confidentiality – Whatever a police officer sees, hears or learns which is of a confidential nature, will be kept secret unless the performance of duty or legal provision requires otherwise. Members of the public have a right to security and privacy, and information obtained about them must not be improperly divulged Integrity – a police officer will not engage in acts of corruption or bribery, nor will an officer condone such acts by other police officers. The public demands that the integrity of police officers be above reproach. Police officers must therefore, avoid any conduct that might compromise integrity and that undercut the confidence reposed by the public, in the Police. Officers will refuse to accept any gifts, presents, subscriptions, favours, gratuities or promises that could be interpreted as seeking to cause the officer to refrain from performing official responsibilities honestly and within the law. Police officers must not receive private or special advantage from their official status. Respect from the public cannot be bought; it can only be earned and cultivated.Cooperation with other Police Officers and Agencies – Police officers will cooperate with all legally authorized agencies and their representatives in the pursuit of justice. An officer or agency may be one among many organizations that may provide law enforcement services to a jurisdiction. It is imperative that a police officer assists colleagues fully and completely with respect and consideration at all times; Personal Professional Capabilities - Police Officers will be responsible for their own standard of professional performance and will take every reasonable opportunity to enhance and improve their level or knowledge and competence. Through study and experience, a police officer can acquire the high level of knowledge and competence that is essential for the efficient and effective performance of duty. The acquisition of knowledge is a never ending process of personal and professional development that should be pursued constantly;


http://npf.gov.ng/code-of-conduct

Watchers of Nigeria’s political landscape welcomed with great expectation the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Nigerian political scene. The main reason was the urgent need for a formidable opposition to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which acronym some love to render “People Deceive People” or “Papa Deceive Pikin”. A strong opposition party is required to put a ruling party like the PDP on its toes as it strives to reverse the paradox of “rich nation, poor citizens” which aptly summarises the experience of most Nigerians.

The paradox means that as Nigerian governments at all levels have more money to spend as measured by the size of their annual budgets, the nation’s human development index (HDI) decreases. The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. Consequently, while the World Bank estimates that the Nigerian government earned over US$ 400 billion in oil revenues since 1970, standards of living have declined over time.

Most analysts who have contemplated this debacle regret that although Nigeria is resource-rich (human capital, oil and gas, solid mineral resources, climate and other assets), the country lacks leaders who could devise effective means of exploiting, managing and utilizing the potential wealth to increase output and bring large numbers of the poor out of poverty like China.

Consequently, Nigeria’s past leaders failed to develop the manufacturing sector while running an import-driven services sector that now accounts for 52 percent of the rebased GDP of $510bn. This fact means that Nigerians cannot expect to prosper until the problem the import dependence places on the foreign exchange rate. The recent devaluation of the naira by the Jonathan administration in response to dwindling revenues from exports and the related austerity measures rolled out by Ngozi Okonjo Iweala , coordinating minister for economy and finance minster, are important policy pronouncements that APC’s shadow finance minister aught to respond to in clear terms. Does APC have such a cabinet at federal and state levels?

The Jonathan administration has surrendered the economy to purveyors of economic policies encouraged by the IMF and the World Bank. What is APC doing about this? What policies will the APC introduce in this respect if it were to wrestle power from the ruling party?

Today, oil wealth fuels the instability, corruption, and patronage-driven politics that is now a feature of governance in Nigeria. What is APC’s shadow oil minister saying about this challenge?

The ruling party recently came under informed criticism by Mike Obadan, professor of economics at the University of Benin when the CME stated that Nigeria’s real growth performance over the 2002-2012 decade called for celebration.

“We have been celebrating growth for quite some time now, indeed, right from the Obasanjo administration. Where has it led the country to in terms of development?”, Obadan queried.

“Our celebration of the country’s growth performance, as one of the macroeconomic achievements of successive administrations, has the implication of making the government complacent”, the professor observed. Why was APC not very active in this debate? A well trained shadow finance minister would have feasted on the national debate that followed the issuance of 50 questions the state of the economy to the CNE by a committee of the House of Representatives.

Economists have consistently pointed out that the incidence of poverty has increased from 54.4 percent in 2004 to 69 percent in 2012 (relative poverty measure), indicating that 112,518,507 Nigerians are in poverty. The Central Bank of Nigeria reports a provisional poverty incidence of 71.5 percent for 2011. Besides the relative poverty measure, all the other measures of poverty indicate increasing poverty incidence. This thus creates a paradox in that the poverty incidence has increased substantially in a period when the economic growth rates were relatively high, averaging over 6.0 percent. Currently, Nigeria faces the challenge of meeting the MDG of halving poverty by 2015. Indeed, the recent reports on Nigeria’s MDGs show that on current trends, Nigeria would not achieve some of the MDGs by 2015

Human Development index (HDI) was 0.471 in 2012 (marginally up from 0.434 in 2005), putting the country as a low human development country with the rank of 153rd out of 186 countries. Nigeria’s human development index of 0.471 did not compare favourably to levels achieved by many other developing countries, e.g. Korea (0.909); Chile (0.819); Argentina (0.811); Malaysia (0.769); UAE (0.818); Saudi Arabia (0.782); Libya (0.769) and Iran (0.742), the last four being major oil producing countries.

Obadan notes that the HDIs of the states in the country reflect the National HDI. As many as nine states in the country have HDIs below 0.40; some others have less than 0.30. Human development is thus so low across the country in a period of celebrated growth rates. What role is APC’s shadow national planning minster doing about this? The same question applies to the following points ably analysed by Obadan.

“The inequality index has remained high and, indeed, worsened. High inequality weakens the impact of growth on poverty reduction. And the restricted drivers of growth in the economy worsen inequalities. Between 1985 and 2004, inequality in the country worsened, with the index rising from 0.429 in 2004 to 0.45 in 2010. The figure reported in the Ministry’s response is 0.49. These place the country among those with the highest inequalities in the world. The high inequality manifests in highly unequal income distribution and differential access to basic infrastructure, education and training and job opportunities.

“Human Development index (HDI) was 0.471 in 2012 (marginally up from 0.434 in 2005), putting the country as a low human development country with the rank of 153rd out of 186 countries. Nigeria’s human development index of 0.471 did not compare favourably to levels achieved by many other developing countries, e.g. Korea (0.909); Chile (0.819); Argentina (0.811); Malaysia (0.769); UAE (0.818); Saudi Arabia (0.782); Libya (0.769) and Iran (0.742), the last four being major oil producing countries. The HDIs of the states in the country reflect the National HDI. As many as nine states in the country have HDIs below 0.40; some others have less than 0.30. Human development is thus so low across the country in a period of celebrated growth rates.

“The inequality index has remained high and, indeed, worsened. High inequality weakens the impact of growth on poverty reduction. And the restricted drivers of growth in the economy worsen inequalities. Between 1985 and 2004, inequality in the country worsened, with the index rising from 0.429 in 2004 to 0.45 in 2010. The current figure is 0.49. These place the country among those with the highest inequalities in the world. The high inequality manifests in highly unequal income distribution and differential access to basic infrastructure, education and training and job opportunities.”

APC must end the waiting game for its shadow cabinet.

Weneso Orogun
First published in Business-day Newspapers December 7, 2014
http://businessdayonline.com/2014/12/how-apc-should-checkmate-pdp/#.VJkq0V4AB4

Na real wa my brother, 30 percent budget achievement

MrSinister:
Wow!

This are the kind of report cards the populace need to know before voting a governor for second term, and come to think of it, the Governor Uduaghan is still looking for senatorial ticket.



Na wa o

The Delta State Government, through the Ministry of Economic Planning (MEP), engaged the firm of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants of Germany in 2012 to develop an Economic Dashboard Model (Dashboard) as a performance monitoring tool that provides reports on economic performance. A brief on the tool by MEP states that its implementation enhances performance management, increases transparency in inputs and outcomes and highlights areas that require improvements. An economic dashboard exercise, according to the ministry, “… entails the evaluation of the activities of the MDAs against pre-determined key performance indicators”. “Through this mechanism, the present administration is able to assess the actualization of the targets it has set for itself”, the MEP claims in the briefing document.
Government also describes the dashboard as a colour-coded performance measuring tool that shows at a glance how well all the micro and macro sectors of the economy are performing:
• The colour green implies that a sector is performing on target (i.e. 100 percent)
• The colour amber implies that a sector is performing at 75 percent
• The colour red implies that a sector is performing below target/expectation
Rationale
What is the rationale for the dashboard? The Government explains this in the following words:
To successfully implement the state’s policy thrusts in its 3-point agenda, greater transparency is required in presenting the economic situation in Delta state through effective and efficient channelling of the available limited resources. This would go a long way towards encouraging internal and external investors to develop interest in investing in the state as the accountability of government becomes clearer. This desire led to the birth of the Delta State Economic Dashboard.
Citing an article by SA to Governor Uduaghan on Research, Mr. Willy Bee, Professor Alex Akpodiete traced the idea of the Economic Dashboard to the gap between where Delta State ought to be and where it was in 2012. According to him, the idea was a brainchild of the Delta Economic Advisory Team, made up of nine (9) commissioners, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay and some private sector operatives from the state including Mr. Bismark Rewane (Chairman), Chief Albert Okumagba, Mr. Dere Otubu, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, Ms Evylene Oputu, Dr.(Mrs.) Ndidi Nolly Edozie, Mr. Lambert Koboye, and Chief John Paul Odhomo.
The commissioners that were members of the Advisory Team included Mr. Kenneth Okpara, Mr. Bernard Okumagba , Kingsley Emu, Dr.(Mrs’.) Anthonia Ashiedu, Mrs. Ann Cahlokwu Orumade, Mr. Patrick Fawthrop, Mr. Afam Obiago, Mr. Charles Ajuyah [SAN] and Barr. Chike Ogeah.
‘’The Delta Economic Advisory Team’s assessment of the Economic management was not too robust’’ Akpodiete quoted Ken Okpara as . saying. The team said ‘’relying on quarterly reports sent in by MDAs was not it.’’ Okpara said that after seeking the advice of a strategy consultant who came up with a computerized tool now known as ‘’Economic Dashboard Computerized Economic Management Tool’’, the Governor bought into it and that was how the Dashboard idea was born. Finance commissioner Kenneth Okpara immediately took the initiative and drove the idea.
Benefits
When asked about the gains of the Economic Dashboard, Mr. Ken Okpara replied: ‘’There was lack of coordination of government business with glaring duplication of government activities as many did not know how they fitted into the Governor’s over- all objectives. However, with the Economic Dashboard implementation that took place recently, most of the challenges have been put in proper perspective and some of the issues resolved. For example, the Direct Labour Agency has been returned to the Ministry of Works as the supervising ministry. In the same vein, the Waste Management Board has been told to report to the Ministry of Environment, and of course subject to the laws establishing the Boards and the Agencies.”
Implementation
The first edition of the dashboard exercise assessed 26 MDAs for the 2011 fiscal year. The second edition covered 28 MDAs for fiscal 2012 and the first half of 2013. A third edition is under way that will assess the 28 MDAs for all 12 months of 2013.
Findings
The maiden edition of the dashboard exercise reported that the entire Delta state economy achieved only 30 percent of its potential in 2011. This was a damning verdict confirming the under-performing government run by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan during his first four-year tenure as the chief executive of Delta state. Further breakdown using the four segments into which the model classified the state’s economy revealed the degree of the problem per segment. For instance, revenue performance was 4 percent relative to a target of 10 percent. Similarly, human capital development achieved only a third of its target contribution; it scored 12 percent relative to a target of 36 percent. Productivity, another segment of the economy assessed, accounted for 7 percent of the economy-wide performance of 30 percent relative to a target of 22 percent. Lastly, infrastructure accounted for a paltry 7 percent instead of the target of 32 percent.
Furthermore, the report of the 2011 dashboard exercise showed that none of the 26 MDAs assessed was performing on target; five MDAs achieved 75 percent performance while 21 performed below target or expectation!

Weneso Orogun is chair of BusinessDay Ediorial Board
Link: http://businessdayonline.com/2014/12/delta-state-an-economic-dashboard-of-dubious-value-1/#.VJkZ_F4AB4