By Tayo Oredola and Dayo Akinboro
While the
Yuletide season is celebrated globally as a period not just to share
goodwill and good tidings, but to express appreciation through showers
of gifts for friendship and support received throughout the year among
individuals, corporate entities and government, the irony seems to be
the case in Nigeria last year.
Indeed, such goodwill showers have been drastically affected by
current economic recession in Nigeria, to the extent that most
individuals and corporate organisations simply preferred to opt out this
time around.
The situation was worse among government ministries, departments and
agencies (MDAs), who tried to hide under managing costs to save for more
pressing economic needs.
The few individuals and organisations, which indulged in the yearly
ritual of sending hampers, did so prudently, compared with the lavish
gifts in the past.
Already, some Lagosians while speaking with The Guardian lamented
that they did not receive any hamper this year and are not sure of
giving out either, therefore affirming the state of the economy.
Indeed, The Guardian market survey revealed significant and dramatic
changes in the packaging of these gifts by consultants and various
outlets.
Specifically, the sizes and types of gifts and hampers this season
were a perfect reflection of how deep recession had eaten into Nigeria’s
economy after three consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic
product, GDP growth.
Beside the contents shrinking dramatically, the prices of the hampers
more than doubled compared to previous years, which the consultants and
dealers attributed to the high exchange and inflation rates.
Dealers from popular markets across Lagos, told The Guardian that the
high cost of items made prices of hampers to rise, even as they also
complained of low patronage.
A popular dealer in Mushin (Ojuwoye) market, Olawunmi Olabanji, said
dealers experienced low patronage compared to previous years because of
the untold hardship in the economy.
According to her, hampers that sold for N5,000 with the same content
last year now sells for N15,000, adding that although the N5,000 worth
packages are still available, “but they are not rich in content and
quality of products.”
Olabanji lamented that unlike in 2015, when she sold a daily average of
between 15 and 20 hampers, and a total of about 300 during the season;
she barely sold up to 50 this time around.
“Even the corporate organisations that come to order as much as 50 at
once sparingly showed up and when they did, they only took four or six
hampers,” she added.
Mrs Angela Onwogu told The Guardian that “sales have dropped so much
as the stores are full of goods, and customers are not forth coming, I
have not seen most of my customers, only few came. The few that came
even bought less than what they usually buy,” she said.
However, a senior civil servant who doesn’t want her name mentioned
in the print said that the dwindling economy has affected the numbers of
hampers that she often receive during the yuletide period.
“By now, enough hampers would have been dropped in my office but none
is here. People are struggling to cope with the economic condition of
this country. Prices of almost everything has increased 100% and
gifting, at this period will not be their priority.
In an interaction with Tina Philips, an official of a corporate firm
in Lagos, who came to order for her company, she said: “My company
bought 20 hampers last year at a cost of N5,000 each with high quality
content, but all I am buying now is six at triple the cost with less
content and quality.
“The quality of hampers this year cannot be compared to that of last
year, it has dropped for the same value of money as last year,” she
noted.
Tina affirmed that the recession has really affected prices of items so
bad that a hamper she got for N3,500 in 2015, now sold for N10,000.
I have to go back to the office twice to collect additional money because I budgeted N8,000 for each, Tina stressed.
Meanwhile, The Guardian gathered that prices of hampers in some
supermarket around the Oshodi, Ikeja, Isolo and Yaba axis ranged from
N31,000, N20,000 to N15,000, and N12,500 as seen displayed.
In one of the supermarkets, an attendant said, few hampers were on
display because, most people prefer to choose items lesser than already
packed ones to meet their budget.
The story wasn’t different at the Cane market in Maryland, Lagos
where hundreds of hamper baskets were sighted with no customers around.
The Vice Chairman of the Progressive Association of Cane Sellers,
Courage Daniel told our correspondent that because of the recession,
more customers are opting for plastic hamper baskets to cane to minimise
cost.
This phenomenon, he attributed to the high cost of baskets owing to increased cost of materials.
Culled from The Guardian
Thursday, 9 February 2017
Unmetered electricity consumers cry out in Lagos
Electricity firms links metering challenges to forex crises
By Roseline Okere and DayoAkinboro
More than three years after they took over operations of the power sector, the distribution companies (Discos), handling retail distribution and marketing of electricity in Nigeria, have not been able to effectively tackle the issue of metering, thereby leaving millions of their consumers at the mercy of estimated billings.
When the nation’s power sector was privatised, many Nigerians had hoped that things would get better, especially with regard to improving power supply and quality of services provided.
But, both the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (DISCO) and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) who lament the high cost of foreign exchange, insisted that they are trying their best to ensure every customers within their networks are metered.
Consumers had expected that upon the takeover by the new owners, metering would be one of the issues that will be urgently addressed to restore confidence in the billing system, as this is the only way to determine actual consumption of energy. The Discos have a five-year agreement post-privatisation agreement with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to meter their customers. But three years down the line, the Discos seem to be in no hurry to fulfil their part of this agreement, preferring to hound customers with jaw-dropping estimated bills.
For this and many more reasons, some consumers including individuals and corporates prefer to provide electricity for themselves.Dammy Okegbami, a shipping consultant in Apapa, told The Guardian he has never used the public power in the four years he has been running his office, but relied on his generating sets.
He explained: “when I got to this complex four years ago all the occupants of this complex run their various businesses with power generators. Of course Eko Electricity Distribution Company brought us estimated billing that was very outrageous and very difficult for us to pay, so we all decided not to pay them and we were cut off.
“I applied for a pre-paid meter long time ago, the answer I got was that meter was not available. I spend N13,500 monthly to fuel my generator, which does not include the money I spend on the maintenance of the generator. If I had been properly metered I may not be paying this much, but still cheaper than the estimated bill,” he said.
Tunde Ibrahim, a residence of Ilasamaja, a Lagos suburb, told The Guardian he is being frustrated by the high estimated billing he has been subjected to for over two years.
He said he had complained many times to the Ikeja Electric, the distribution company about his ordeal but nothing has been done to relieve him of the burden. According to him, “I live in a room and parlour and I usually paid less than N2,000 a per month before the prepaid meter I was using with my landlord got spoilt about two years ago. Since the meter got spoilt, we have been placed on estimated billing, the amount they bring keep increasing every month.
“There was a time we complained and they promised to do something about it, although the subsequent bill they brought after the complain was moderate, but the bill that they brought after that one went up again, so we do not know what exactly is wrong with this people,” he lamented.
A consumer, Blessing Okafor, who lives in Itire, another Lagos suburb, said while she is billed between N3,900 and N4,900 monthly for her one room self-contained apartment, her next door neighbour, who is on prepaid metering spends N2,000 monthly, even with more electrical appliances.
Okafor said although she has applied for a prepaid meter since 2013, she is yet to have one installed, as Ikeja Electric insists the meters are not available.
More frustrating, she said, is the fact that switches off all her appliances, when she went to work daily, but and her neighbour’s wife, who is mostly at home with her children and use more power end up paying less, while she paid more.
Another consumer, Mrs Tayo Odutola, complained that she went from paying N2,000 to N7,000/month after her prepaid meter got spoilt in 2014, and she was placed on estimated billing.
She said she has complained to Eko Disco about her ordeal and she was told to disregard what is on the bill and pay at least N3,000 monthly, to avoid being disconnected.
Speaking on the company’s efforts to meter every customer in its network, the Chief Executive Officer Oladele Amoda, said the devaluation of the Naira compared to the dollar has partly contributed to inadequate meters within the Eko Disco’s network.
But he said the Disco had signed an agreement with Mojek International, an indigenous smart meter manufacturing company, for the supply of over 100,000 meters in December.“We also signed another agreement with Huawei Technologies Company Limited, an international company based in this country, to supply the remaining 100,000 pre-paid meters.
“We have started metering consumers under our network with these meters. It is our responsibility to meter all consumers and we are looking at being able to deploy the 200,000 meters before the year runs out. The motive is to eliminate estimation of consumers billing by 2017,” he said.
Amoda said the company had been on a metering programme since 2015, and would have metered all its customers, but for some challenges confronting successful implementation of the scheme.
He listed inflation and increase in foreign exchange rate as challenges the company had to contend with.Also speaking with The Guardian yesterday, spokesman for Ikeja Electric Plc, Felix Ofulue, believed that the scarcity of dollars has increased the price of installing meters in the country.
He claimed the Disco had metered 90 per cent of its customers in the zone, to make the electricity billing based only on energy consumed. He said the company is doing its best to ensure all its customers are metered, adding that “Recently, the estimated billings of consumers are coming down because more consumers are now under the company’s database.”
Ofulue however noted that: “The reason why it seems many costumers are yet to be metered is because there are a lot of developing areas under our network, which are yet to be reached; it is a gradual thing. We are not going to reach everybody the same day, but will definitely do our best.”
Culled from The Guardian Nigeria
By Roseline Okere and DayoAkinboro
More than three years after they took over operations of the power sector, the distribution companies (Discos), handling retail distribution and marketing of electricity in Nigeria, have not been able to effectively tackle the issue of metering, thereby leaving millions of their consumers at the mercy of estimated billings.
When the nation’s power sector was privatised, many Nigerians had hoped that things would get better, especially with regard to improving power supply and quality of services provided.
But, both the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (DISCO) and Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) who lament the high cost of foreign exchange, insisted that they are trying their best to ensure every customers within their networks are metered.
Consumers had expected that upon the takeover by the new owners, metering would be one of the issues that will be urgently addressed to restore confidence in the billing system, as this is the only way to determine actual consumption of energy. The Discos have a five-year agreement post-privatisation agreement with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to meter their customers. But three years down the line, the Discos seem to be in no hurry to fulfil their part of this agreement, preferring to hound customers with jaw-dropping estimated bills.
For this and many more reasons, some consumers including individuals and corporates prefer to provide electricity for themselves.Dammy Okegbami, a shipping consultant in Apapa, told The Guardian he has never used the public power in the four years he has been running his office, but relied on his generating sets.
He explained: “when I got to this complex four years ago all the occupants of this complex run their various businesses with power generators. Of course Eko Electricity Distribution Company brought us estimated billing that was very outrageous and very difficult for us to pay, so we all decided not to pay them and we were cut off.
“I applied for a pre-paid meter long time ago, the answer I got was that meter was not available. I spend N13,500 monthly to fuel my generator, which does not include the money I spend on the maintenance of the generator. If I had been properly metered I may not be paying this much, but still cheaper than the estimated bill,” he said.
Tunde Ibrahim, a residence of Ilasamaja, a Lagos suburb, told The Guardian he is being frustrated by the high estimated billing he has been subjected to for over two years.
He said he had complained many times to the Ikeja Electric, the distribution company about his ordeal but nothing has been done to relieve him of the burden. According to him, “I live in a room and parlour and I usually paid less than N2,000 a per month before the prepaid meter I was using with my landlord got spoilt about two years ago. Since the meter got spoilt, we have been placed on estimated billing, the amount they bring keep increasing every month.
“There was a time we complained and they promised to do something about it, although the subsequent bill they brought after the complain was moderate, but the bill that they brought after that one went up again, so we do not know what exactly is wrong with this people,” he lamented.
A consumer, Blessing Okafor, who lives in Itire, another Lagos suburb, said while she is billed between N3,900 and N4,900 monthly for her one room self-contained apartment, her next door neighbour, who is on prepaid metering spends N2,000 monthly, even with more electrical appliances.
Okafor said although she has applied for a prepaid meter since 2013, she is yet to have one installed, as Ikeja Electric insists the meters are not available.
More frustrating, she said, is the fact that switches off all her appliances, when she went to work daily, but and her neighbour’s wife, who is mostly at home with her children and use more power end up paying less, while she paid more.
Another consumer, Mrs Tayo Odutola, complained that she went from paying N2,000 to N7,000/month after her prepaid meter got spoilt in 2014, and she was placed on estimated billing.
She said she has complained to Eko Disco about her ordeal and she was told to disregard what is on the bill and pay at least N3,000 monthly, to avoid being disconnected.
Speaking on the company’s efforts to meter every customer in its network, the Chief Executive Officer Oladele Amoda, said the devaluation of the Naira compared to the dollar has partly contributed to inadequate meters within the Eko Disco’s network.
But he said the Disco had signed an agreement with Mojek International, an indigenous smart meter manufacturing company, for the supply of over 100,000 meters in December.“We also signed another agreement with Huawei Technologies Company Limited, an international company based in this country, to supply the remaining 100,000 pre-paid meters.
“We have started metering consumers under our network with these meters. It is our responsibility to meter all consumers and we are looking at being able to deploy the 200,000 meters before the year runs out. The motive is to eliminate estimation of consumers billing by 2017,” he said.
Amoda said the company had been on a metering programme since 2015, and would have metered all its customers, but for some challenges confronting successful implementation of the scheme.
He listed inflation and increase in foreign exchange rate as challenges the company had to contend with.Also speaking with The Guardian yesterday, spokesman for Ikeja Electric Plc, Felix Ofulue, believed that the scarcity of dollars has increased the price of installing meters in the country.
He claimed the Disco had metered 90 per cent of its customers in the zone, to make the electricity billing based only on energy consumed. He said the company is doing its best to ensure all its customers are metered, adding that “Recently, the estimated billings of consumers are coming down because more consumers are now under the company’s database.”
Ofulue however noted that: “The reason why it seems many costumers are yet to be metered is because there are a lot of developing areas under our network, which are yet to be reached; it is a gradual thing. We are not going to reach everybody the same day, but will definitely do our best.”
Culled from The Guardian Nigeria
History and True Meaning of St Valentine’s Day
History and True Meaning of St Valentine’s Day
Dayo Akinboro
St Valentine’s Day is approaching and
many young people are still living in the misconception of what the day is
actually meant for or represents. St Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers, it is
a special day when lovers shower themselves with affection by exchanging love
messages, simple gifts like flowers, cards, chocolate and candies. Some will
like to make it romantic by gifting things like panties, perfume, lipsticks and
so on. Lovers take themselves out to exotic places, club and party around
during this period.
St Valentine’s day because of it
origin should be a day not for lovers alone but a day for humanity, care and
kindness towards the less privileged, especially the rejected, the lonely, and
the sick at home or in the hospital, the widows, the prisoners, the orphans,
vulnerable children and every other child around us.
On February 14 around the year
278A.D, Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II,
was executed.
During Claudius rule many young
people were unwilling to join the military because of their strong attachment
to their wives and families so, Claudius gave a decree which was unpopular that
no young lovers should get married or get engaged.
Realizing the injustice of the decree
Valentine defiled this decree as he continued wedding young lovers who are
willing to get married secretly, the gist got to Claudius who ordered for
Valentine arrest, he was eventually found guilty of disobeying the king’s order
and sentenced by the Prefect of Rome to be beaten to death by club and have his
head cut off from his body.
During his time in jail he healed the
daughter of his jailer of blindness, he later became a friend with the girl and
wrote a farewell letter to her before his execution which he signed with “From
Your Valentine”.
On how his name became connected with romance
His name mingled with the Feast of
Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love practiced in Ancient Rome. During the
festival which was celebrated Feb 15, men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or
dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their
fertility, said classics professor Noel Lenski of the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to
put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be
celebrated as St Valentine’s Day.
What should Valentine be about ideally?
It should be a day married couples
reflect on their journey so far renew and strengthen their bond with
affectionate passion, parent and guidance should teach their children about
God’s love, justice and humanity and
encourage them to always demonstrate the love of God to one another at all
times.
This way we will change the erroneous
perception some young people have about the St Valentine’s Day.
Now as it is, it a day teenagers are
exposed to a lot of sexual abuses, young people attend different parties that
are organized to perpetrate perversion in different forms.
Also, philanthropists and the well to
do in the society, churches, mosques, NGOs and so on can capitalist on this day
to visit the prisoners, the abandoned, the weak, the sick people at home and in
the hospital, the widow and unprivileged people among us. Show them love by
encouraging them and gifting them necessary thing that will make them feel
better and accepted.
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