Tell Magazine

The exploitative airfares charged by foreign airlines on Nigerian routes raise cardinal questions over price deregulation in the aviation sector, with Nigerians wondering if the policy is a licence for arbitrary airfares “Our doors are open to foreign airlines to explore Nigeria and the business opportunities the country has to offer, but our doors are closed to exploitation of Nigerians. We will defend our people against exploitation.” That was the stern warning issued by Harold Demuren, director-general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, while welcoming yet another foreign airline, United Airline, a United States, US-based airline, recently, into the Nigerian market.…

More Money Won’t Help the North Now – General Useni   Jeremiah Useni is a personification of the popular Nigerian cliché “retired but not tired.” Sitting behind a huge glittering table littered with files and piles of papers, Useni, who retired as a general in the Nigerian Army more than 15 years ago, sees himself as a general doing general things. He cuts the picture of a busy chief executive, which indeed he is. His residence and office in Jos, the Plateau State capital, and Abuja receive an endless stream of visitors. His day in the office starts at 8…

Fresh plans by government to revive the ailing refineries rather than sell them to private investors, and establish three new ones, is seen by experts as another needless gamble incapable of turning around the fortunes of the refining sub-sector Anyone who knows the history of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, KRPC, would be excused if he says the company is now dead or in a comatose state. The hustle and bustle associated with the refinery built in 1979 by Chiyoda Engineering and Construction Company of Japan at the cost of $525 million are now consigned to history. Although there were…

The reforms being implemented by Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, bring a bittersweet experience to the banking sector and the nation’s economy Shortly after Lamido Sanusi became governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in June 2009, he initiated reforms, which many thought would completely transform the entire banking industry and get banks to increase lending to the manufacturing sector, thereby propelling economic growth. However, in the concluding stages of the exercise, some experts say while the reforms have infused some discipline into the sector, they have also brought some limitations in banking practice. For…