Kate Henshaw, Banky W unveiled as Samsung envoys

 

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE
Nigerian Star actress, Kate Henshaw, has finally been unveiled as 2013 Samsung brand ambassador.
The Nollywood icon was presented alongside R&B star, Banky W, as 2013 brand ambassadors for Samsung Mobile Division at a special media breakfast meeting in Lagos today.

Kim, Kate Henshaw and banky W

Brovo Kim, Managing Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa, stated that Kate and Banky W represent the values that Samsung stood for over the years.
“The Samsung brand stands for qualities of innovation, change, discovery, self-expression and excellence in performance. And these very same qualities are epitomized by Banky W and Kate, whose quality and depth of work as well as versatility as artistes have endeared them to Nigerians today. We are indeed very proud and privileged to have them as our Brand Ambassadors,” he stated.
Kim further described its signing of Kate Henshaw as an opportunity for Samsung to reach out to its customers through Nigeria’s movie industry. “We want to further connect with our customers at all touch points, especially through film as it is one of the passions of people in West Africa,” he explained.
P.M.NEWS learnt that Samsung plans to leverage Kate in its brand advertising as well as product advertising for mobile phones. She would alongside Banky W work together to raise awareness for Samsung mobile products and ultimately contribute to making Samsung phones the preferred brand in the West Africa sub-region.
It was further disclosed that in sync with its thrust on introducing innovative, consumer-oriented, breakthrough technology products, Samsung is introducing a brand new member in its Galaxy line-up: Samsung Galaxy Grand. The 5-inch display, smart dual-SIM Galaxy Grand will combine the features of Samsung’s game-changing Galaxy S III and the revolutionary Galaxy Note II, which were released by the manufacturing giant last year.
The device has already gone up for pre-order on various online stores in Nigeria, ahead of its release in February.

Why Nigeria’s educated will remain in exile

 

Published on February 3, 2013

By MAY AKABOGU-COLLINS
I was a visiting professor in Paris last fall and it was the first day of class. I was making copies for my 10:30 class at the faculty lounge where two female professors were kibitzing by the coffee machine.
“Oh, yeah,” one said. “Soon as I learned he’s Nigerian, I discounted everything he’d said as fraud.”
“Smart move,” agreed the other, nodding, “nothing good’s ever come out of that country. …”
I cringed, held my breath and skedaddled on to my classroom, where my students wanted to know my nationality. I’m American. “Bot Professa,” an African student’s hand flew up, “ware you from originally? I hear the voice of Africa.”

May Akabogu Collins: Nigeria needs a Honest Ernest

I inhaled deeply, chuckled but ignored that question.
When I left Nigeria for the United States in 1980, the plan was to earn an M.B.A., a doctorate in economics, and then return. It was my moral obligation to help develop my country, whose oil wealth financed my education. An M.B.A., a Ph.D. and 32 years later, I’m still here, abroad. In 1992, when I applied for a position at my alma mater, the University of Ibadan, the dean replied, “Why on earth would you want to return when everybody’s trying to escape?” No one’s been paid for over three months, he explained, and universities are on strike half the time.
Twenty years later, Nigeria can still bring the crazy.
In 1980, the naira had a very favorable exchange rate against the dollar. En route to the United States, I stopped over in London. All along King’s Road, the shopkeepers beckoned: “Nigerian? Welcome. Come inside.” I was proud to be from Nigeria and was offended when the country was confused with Niger. But, today, if I can pass for someone from Niger — sadly, I would be glad.
Is there a person on the planet who remains unfamiliar with the Nigerian e-mail scam? As a Nigerian living abroad, I’ve become embarrassed — indeed scared — after learning that in February 2003 a Czech victim of an Internet fraud murdered an innocent Nigerian in Prague.
That isn’t the scariest narrative — not by a long shot. In recent years, Nigerians abroad have been warned: “Don’t come home. Just send money.” But if one must, say, attend a wedding, a funeral or take a chieftaincy title, it is necessary to hire prearranged police protection from the moment you land at the airport until the moment you depart.
Last summer, my ailing 87-year-old mother, worried that her days are numbered, called a family reunion for Christmas. My three U.S.-based siblings and I made plans to return home with all our kids. At the last minute, my brother sent an e-mail canceling the reunion. “What?” my daughter said, her glass of iced tea slipping out of her hands and shattering on the tile floor. Uncle Tony can’t guarantee our safety in Nigeria, I explained.
“What about hired armed security like the last time?” she inquired. I showed her the link to the news report my brother had sent headlined, “Gunmen Kill U.S. Returnee in Enugu,” his hometown in Nigeria.
Ogbo Edoga had returned from the United States to attend the meeting of an organization of Nigerian professionals in the United States to raise funds for an ultramodern medical diagnostic center in his ancestral village. On his way, he was robbed and shot and killed with an AK-47. He had hired police protection, as had many Nigerians who visited our motherland only to be robbed and murdered. The lucky ones got kidnapped and released after their families paid a huge ransom. And now, Mom’s joined the choir: “Don’t come home.”
Here’s what is shameful: This is the Nigeria that has been one of the world’s top 10 oil exporters for decades; the presumed “Giant of Africa” when I was leaving in 1980. But three decades later, despite a half-century of billions of petrodollar inflow, in March 2011, at a World Bank-O.E.C.D. conference in Paris, I found myself sliding down my chair to hide my face behind my laptop as a fellow economist explained why Nigeria was excluded in a comparative study thusly: Since Nigeria (with South Africa) dominates the Sub-Saharan African economy and since Nigeria does so poorly at wealth creation, if included, it would render Sub-Saharan Africa’s genuine savings dwarfish vis-à-vis East Asia and Latin America.
Here’s the thing: One doesn’t need a Ph.D. in economics to understand the correlation between poverty and today’s high crime rate in Nigeria. When corrupt politicians persistently embezzle public funds rather than produce proper policies, the result is a stagnant economy and its attendant human misery — high unemployment and massive poverty. Marginalized youths resort to Internet scams, kidnapping, or join Boko Haram. When the police go unpaid for months, the citizens become the logical prey.
That’s where Nigeria is today. It will not change until we, the people, join in a mass outrage against corruption, demand transparent accounting of our oil revenues and economic justice. Only then will an honest leadership emerge to invest a fair share of the oil revenues in capital in such a way as to permanently raise the consumption level of the masses. Otherwise we Nigerian expatriates — the most educated immigrant group in the United States — will remain in exile, and Nigeria will remain a breeding ground for terrorism.
Is there an Honest Ernest among Nigerians who is able to galvanize us? Can something that good come out of Nigeria? That’s a palm reader’s guess.
May Akabogu-Collins is a visiting professor of economics at the American Business School in Paris.

So Much Inspiration For Creative Ideas

3 Feb 2013

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SHE WAS NAMED AMONG TOP WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT AND FORTUNES 500 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN EMERGING GLOBAL ECONOMIES. THROUGH HER COMPANY, MY DESIGN AFRICA, A FULL SERVICE EVENT DESIGN, MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTION AGENCY WITH A NETWORK SPANNING SOUTH AFRICA, CENTRAL, EAST, WEST AFRICA (CEWA) AND MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA), SHE IS SET ON A MISSION TO CONQUER AND DOMINATE HER WORLD. ZOE MOLAPISI SPOKE TO KASIE ABONE

Her story
I have a BSc in Pharmacology from UK; and after 1995, I returned to South Africa. I worked in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry and from there, I moved to pharmaceuticals. By the time I was 24 years old, I had actually gained massive real corporate experience. I was managing budget exceeding $25 million, which was totally unheard of. And for me, an experience gained as a 24-year old to be given such an opportunity was absolutely amazing. From then, I said to myself, I have gained corporate experience, but in order to fulfill my vision, it will never be done on the corporate arena. 

The vision started as a financially independent vision. It’s really just about me cutting my own destiny rather than reporting to an employer. It is strange, however, that it wasn’t until I entered the business arena that the purpose of my vision began to unfold. I started my business in 2002; and I had been planning it for two years prior. It’s been running for ten years; I think the first three years in the life of a business is the make or break of any business. I managed to navigate the difficult periods of high failure rates among small businesses.

Her type of business
Well, the first type of business I started was My Design Africa. We are a global experience agency. We are event designers and producers. However, the way we do our business, given our experience in the corporate field. I was one of those that built the Avon brand in South Africa. Avon is one of the top five cosmetics brands in the world. We have event design, production and management agency. We do this for only high net worth individuals as well as private and government sector; but we only play in the high-end stake.

Playing in a male-dominated corporate environment
The first thing I learnt in the corporate world was to understand the rules of the game. One of the rules that I understood was that when men know five percent of something they put their hands up. But women over analyse, they want to understand 100 percent before they put their hands up. We get personal about certain things. So, if I understand what needed to be done, just like men, I will put my hands up. That came through in my work as well as just as I gave it everything that I had.

I put in the hours that men would put in; I didn’t behave like them; I didn’t take on the aggression of the men; as women, we don’t have to lose who we are on getting to the board; we needn’t lose our feminity. We should carry such characteristics to the boardroom without compromising any other expectations in the workplace. So, the first thing for me was that it was critical that I deliver.

Beyond South Africa…
To tell you the truth, it has been beyond my wildest expectations. I mean, when we started the business, we did a turnover of ten times more in the first year than what I planned. The business has surpassed us. I am not saying that there are no challenges, but when I started it was like “I want to cross my own way in life; I want to chat my own destiny. I have done well in corporate life. I want to leave the corporate world while I was at the peak of my career.’
I don’t know where that came from, to be a person that was obsessed to do her own business. I am obsessed about fulfilling my own destiny, about being everything that I was created to be, break every barrier that was ever created whether it was for womanhood or black people. For me everything has always been possible. I live in a world of possibilities.

Communications market in South Africa and Nigeria…
Honestly, we know that South Africa is really the hub of creative industry in Africa. We know that Cape Town has been selected as one of the creative cities globally. We understand that the industry there is far more developed. But if I can juxtapose it with the way Nigeria is, Nigeria is beginning to grow. There is a lot of homegrown talent, but no industry can ever grow without external influence.

Even if you go to developed economies like UK, or US you will find a large contingent of players in that economy will come from outside the economy, which is why countries grow by attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). So, I think the creative industry here should see that coming in of creators from South Africa actually as a direct investment into the creative industry.
I know another place creative industry is growing is places like Kenya, East Africa. So, I must say in the West part of Africa, certainly Nigeria is where you want to be because there is so much inspiration around this nation for new creative ideas.

South Africa and fear of foreign incursion…
One of the most important things in South Africa is that we have an extremely high work ethics. This is not to say that others don’t have, but I think truly that is what the rest of Africa can do. Productivity for us is key; when it comes to creative industry, why it is elevated is that there are a lot of creators that came in from Europe and US to South Africa. And therefore a skill transfer began to happen.

However, the industry could be larger, but when you come to creative work, we are at par. Nigeria should actually embrace the skills transfer that people from outside are trying to bring into the country; we do not necessarily want to take their business, but we are looking for partnership in order to elevate, enhance and augment the skills that are already here. 

Operational environment
It is a very different environment. This is where I am urging Nigerians to take stock of the situation. People think it’s so funny to always get stuck in the traffic; but it also affects productivity of a nation. The speed of the Internet is much slower. This industry is deadline driven. If you have a deadline and the power is out, your broadband is slow, either in South Africa or Europe you are working with people; you are going to miss deadline. These are some of the challenges that affect productivity.

Rebranding lessons from South Africa
One of the things I could call a development issue in this country is to have a huge sense of who you are and where you are. What helped us in South Africa is that we took a good look at ourselves: where we were and where we want to go. I just find some of the conversations I heard in this country that could be an over-inflated view of oneself; an issue that can shield one from getting to the next level. So, I find that a lot in Nigerians.

For Nigeria to begin to rebrand, Nigerians need to have honest conversations about themselves and truly about who they are; where they are and what kind of image they want to deliberately build and how people in the outside world want to see them. You will find that people will come with all sorts of conclusion that are not in line with where the country is currently. So, if you are not realistic about your problem it will be difficult to solve it. If you think you don’t have a problem, then there is no problem to solve. A lot of my experience is that people don’t think there is problem when you know there is.

No capital, no connection
I was able to tell my story to the people that I wanted to have opportunity to hear me. I understood that I had a skill, that I could add value to an organisation. When people had the story and I told them where else I added value that was what actually got me started. When I didn’t have the business experience I used my corporate experience to say these are the brands that I have built, this is what I have done, this is who I have done it for and this is what they have to say about what I have done for them.

So, when someone gives me an opportunity, I will make sure it is not about the profit initially but about my reputation. So, if you give me opportunity I run with it so that when I am finished, you not only give me more opportunities, but you also lead me to other opportunities that will give me greater opportunities. This is how I organically built the business through reputation.

Awards
There was an article that was written about me “No Connections, No capital”. It was a triumph not only for me but for every entrepreneur that thinks I can’t make it because I don’t have the right connection; I don’t have the network; I don’t have the capital. It is very remarkable for being recognised in a world where I am seen as one of the top women in government in South Africa; one of the top young entrepreneurs and also being selected as one of the Fortune 500 in a programme that recognised women leaders from emerging economies globally.

It’s been a testament to resilience, perseverance; can-do-attitude to the world of nothing is impossible I operate in. It’s not a triumph for me but to every woman that wants to be where I am. If you think that you need capital and connections, I say you need neither.

Nokia to launch iPad rival in February?

Nokia has sent out invites for a press meet scheduled for the first day of Mobile World Congress.

• Nokia 808 PureView is last Symbian phone

Nokia has sent out invites for a press meet scheduled for the first day of Mobile World Congress and tech grapevine is abuzz that the company is likely to use this event to showcase its first tablet. The manufacturer was absent from Consumer Electronics Show in 2012, but may make its move against rival Apple in the tablet segment at the biggest mobile device expo.

The Finnish manufacturer is, as expected, mum on the devices it will unveil at the event. It is rumoured to be working on a tablet that will operate on Windows RT and have a 10.1-inch touchscreen. Previously, Taiwan-based tech website Digitimes reported, Nokia is in talks with Microsoft, Qualcomm and Compal Electronics to manufacture this tablet. Another report said this device will have two batteries - one standard and other in keyboard cover. The upcoming Nokia device is also rumoured to have HDMI as well as USB ports and support cellular data connectivity.

Apart from this tablet, a smartphone with 'true' PureView camera technology is also expected to be showcased at the event. Earlier, The Verge reported that the company is working on a new Windows Phone-powered smartphone - codenamed EOS - that will have true PureView technology. This phone is rumoured to have aluminium body and launch this year.

The company's flagship phone, Lumia 920, also features this imaging technology in its camera, but has an 8.7MP sensor. This sensor is small compared to the 41MP unit used in Nokia 808 PureView, which was unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2012.

Virgin Atlantic 'rejected me because of my African name but then offered me an interview when I re-applied as Craig Owen'

• Max Kpakio was turned down for job at Virgin call centre in Swansea
• But received enthusiastic response when he re-applied using British name

By Hugo Gye
PUBLISHED: 14:34 GMT,

Fury: Max Kpakio claims he was turned down for a job with Virgin Atlantic because of his name

Virgin Atlantic was today accused of racism after allegedly rejecting a job application from an African refugee, but accepting him when he applied with a British name.
Max Kpakio was turned down for a call centre job - and when he suspected his foreign-sounding name was at fault, he re-submitted his application under the name Craig Owen.
He claims the enthusiastic response the second application received proves that his initial rejection was based solely on racial discrimination, and is taking the airline to an employment tribunal.
The 36-year-old graduate was born in Liberia, but has lived in the UK for the past 10 years and is now a British citizen.
When his application to work at a Virgin call centre in Swansea was rejected, he was convinced it was due to his African name.
Not only was he invited for interview when he applied as Craig Owen, but the company repeatedly contacted him encouraging his application - even though it was nothing more than a simplified version of his genuine CV.

After he failed to respond to their initial email, they sent a string of messages saying how much they were looking forward to meeting him.

Application: Mr Kpakio hoped to get a job at the Virgin call centre based in this building in Swansea

'There was an enormous difference in the way I was treated when I used a British name,' Mr Kpakio said.
'When I was first sent a rejection, I couldn't understand it - I thought I had provided a very good CV.

 

'I'd offered advice to clients over the telephone before, so I believed I was a very good candidate for the job.
'It occurred to me that my ethnic origin may have something to do with the rejection. I then decided to make a further application to Virgin, using the name Craig Owen.
'They were in touch with me seven or eight times, and kept coming back to me when I didn't respond.'

Refugee: The 36-year-old left his native Liberia to escape the civil war and graduated from Swansea University

Mr Kpakio moved to Swansea with his three children in 2002, to escape the civil war which was tearing his home country apart.
He earned a degree in International Relations from Swansea University.
His case for alleged racial discrimination against Virgin, which was founded by flamboyant tycoon Richard Branson, is due to be heard by an employment tribunal in April.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: 'We are an equal opportunities employer.
'We pride ourselves on providing opportunities to talented people regardless of their race, sex, age or other characteristic.

Lawsuit: Virgin Atlantic, founded by Richard Branson, pictured, denies racial discrimination

'We take allegations of discrimination extremely seriously.
'And whilst we do not comment on individual cases, we strongly deny any of our recruitment decisions or practices are discriminatory in any way.'
Research done over the past few years have suggested that job applicants with foreign-sounding names face obstacles to being hired in many lines of work.
A number of studies in which researchers have submitted identical CVs under two sets of name, British and non-British, have shown that the former are significantly more likely to receive a positive response from employers.

How to prepare for your family’s financial future

Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00 BusinessDay

College, school clothes, toys, electronics – everything adds up when it comes to providing your children with their best possible future. What are you doing to give them the life they deserve?

This is a paycheck to paycheck society

Thanks to the wretched state of the present economy, much of society has become a paycheck-to-paycheck society. Once upon a time, our parents scrimped and saved to stash all that they could for their children – even if they didn’t have enough money to buy themselves those things they needed most. Yet, they would gladly go without in order to provide for us, putting away the money required to safeguard our futures. Thanks to the “freedom” of credit, we’ve spent every cent, digging ourselves a hole that will take years if not decades to crawl from.

Spending beyond our means has become a time honored American pastime, spending on anything from daily stops at the convenience store for sodas – because we work hard and deserve it – to buying cars because the commercials make it easy for us to imagine sitting in the driver’s seat with the wind in our hair.

The daily stress of work, school and family responsibilities drives us to look outside ourselves to find the instant gratification that helps us feel whole – a habit that can destroy our wallets rather than massage our psyches. We believe that if we spend money on movies, we’ll feel better. Buying a new car will help us to love our job. Yet, this is erroneous. Our quest for happiness drives our financial decisions, both for ourselves and our future families – often right into the ground.

Genetic finances

The worst part about this lifestyle is that we pass it on to our kids. How can we teach our children to discern the difference between need and want if we’re unable to articulate the difference ourselves? Our children look to our example, expecting us to show them the best possible financial road. If we detour from the responsible road, they’ll never learn life’s most valuable monetary lessons – at least not from us.

You don’t want your children to believe it’s acceptable to go around spending money they don’t have by using a credit card they can’t quite afford. It’s important to understand how buying behavior impacts your bank account.

When children don’t understand how their daily decisions affect their wallets, then they won’t learn how those decisions affect their emotional state. We know how difficult this can be for us, but kids can’t necessarily see our internal struggles each time we pull out the credit card, nor do we want them to.

Yet, it is important for them to have a basic understanding. They may not see your internal struggle, the whisper that says, ”I know I don’t need to eat out tonight, but I’m tired and deserve a break. Even though I’ll pay for it later, I’m going to eat out anyway.”

Eliminating that mindset will help prepare your children for a better financial future.

Steps to recovery

1. Focus on what you have. Use quiet moments each day to sit with yourself and reflect on the things you have so that you can grow more aware, and grateful enough to look outside yourself less for gratification.

2. Budget. Take the time to sit and articulate accurate budgets. This will help you learn to live within your means. Funds that are left over after paying bills can be set aside for savings.

3. Cherish those moments when you do have extra money. When you learn to value money for what it really means to you, it will be easier to keep it close. You can then budget for affordable entertainment on a regular basis, rather than restricting yourself.

4. Learn the difference between needs and wants. If you don’t HAVE to have a new sweatshirt with your favorite team plastered across the front, then don’t buy it. Essentials are always more important.

5. Pretend you’re teaching your future children about money, then use the lessons you want them to learn most as a springboard for your own financial life lessons.

6. Take a long, hard look at your habits, then trade them off one by one. If you’re bad about budgeting, then get better. If you’re bad at looking for instant gratification through shopping, find another way to satisfy that need, maybe by taking a trip to the park, a walk around the block, or spending quality time with your family.

7. Don’t get discouraged when you don’t have the money to buy the things you want. Consistently stick to your budget and you’ll eventually climb out from under the mountain of debt. But even better, you’ll be able to teach your children from experience that it can be done – even if it’s better to avoid having to do it at all.

Effective ways to reduce fuel bill

Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00 BusinessDay

In our world of rising expenses, there is need to always cut costs where ever the opportunities arise. In a fast moving economy like ours, the bill for fuel is a remarkable component of our budget. Even the National Bureau of Statistics has indicated that cost of purchasing petrol has contributed to the increase in expenditure. So, here are some tips on how to reduce your car fuel consumption, these tips are adopted from Aaron Gold:

Slow down

One of the best ways to save gas is to simply reduce your speed. As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially. You will save a lot of fuel and your journey won’t take much longer.

Check your tire pressure

Under-inflated tires are one of the most commonly ignored causes of crummy MPG. Tires lose air due to time (about 1 psi per month) and temperature (1 psi for every 10 degree drop); under-inflated tires have more rolling resistance, which means you need to burn more gas to keep your car moving. Buy a reliable tire gauge and check your tires at least once a month. Be sure to check them when they are cold, since driving the car warms up the tires along with the air inside them, which increases pressure and gives a falsely high reading.

Check your air filter

A dirty air filter restricts the flow of air into the engine, which harms performance and economy. Air filters are easy to check and change; remove the filter and hold it up to the sun. If you can’t see light coming through it, you need a new one.

Accelerate with care

Slow starts are an obvious fuel-waster but that doesn’t mean you should crawl away from every light. If you drive an automatic, accelerate moderately so the transmission can shift up into the higher gears. If you accelerate to speed then have to brake right away, that’s wasted fuel.

Get back to nature

Consider shutting off the air conditioner, opening the windows and enjoying the breeze. It may be a bit warmer, but at lower speeds you will save fuel. That said, at higher speeds the A/C may be more efficient than the wind resistance from open windows and sunroof.

Clean out your car

The more weight your car has to lug around, the more fuel it burns.

Downsize or hybridise

If you are shopping for a new car, it is time to re-evaluate how much car you really need. Smaller cars are inherently more fuel-efficient, and today’s small cars are safer and roomier than ever.

Don’t drive

If you can avoid driving, you will save fuel. Take the BRT, and consolidate your shopping trips. Walking or biking is good for your wallet and your health. And before you get in your car, always ask yourself: “Is this trip really necessary?”

Nigeria sees growth in in-bound business travels

Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00 Sade Williams & Obinna Emelike

Despite the difficulty in securing the Nigerian visa, the uncompetitive airfare, security threats and several travel warnings by most embassies to their citizens against travelling to Nigeria, the country still received more visitors in the last three years than Ghana.

Analysts, who attributed the influx to better business environment, among others things, noted that with more stability in governance, more international airlines and investors would signify interest in doing business in the country, adding that Nigerians also have started appreciating the need to travel by air as the fastest and safest means.

“Nigeria is one of the biggest markets in Africa, especially with its population. The whole Africa does not have the kind of market Nigeria has and with the number of people travelling, foreign airlines capitalise on it to apply for landing rights and domestic airlines to apply for air operator’s certificates. Also, on the domestic side, passenger traffic rises when the fare is low, with the coming of more airlines after the Dana crash, the fares dropped, while traffic is increasing,” Muhammed Tukur, secretary general of Airline Operators of Nigeria told BusinessDay.

Available records from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) show that between 2009 and 2011, at Lagos airport which is the busiest airport in the country, passenger traffic increased from 5,644,572 to 6,748,290 while aircraft movement increased from 84,588 to 105,215.

In 2010, total passenger traffic was 6,273,454, an 11.41 percent increase upon 2009.
Aircraft movement rose from 86,552 in 2009 to 96,599 in 2010 representing 11.60 percent increase.

A breakdown of 2011 report according to the annual traffic figures obtained from FAAN shows that passenger traffic at domestic wing of Abuja airport increased from 3,361,107 to 3,624,862 while at the international wing, it increased from 561,440 in 2010 to 591,285.

At Port-Harcourt domestic side, the airport witnessed traffic increase to 1,256,266 from 1,198,668 in 2010 while at the international wing, it increased from 13,148 to 90,345. At the Kano domestic, it increased from 234,996 in 2010 to 272, 911 in 2011 while it went up from 146,845 to 175,881 at the international wing. Enugu airport in 2011 played host to 301,744 passengers.

“Even when you arrive the domestic airports or you board aircraft from the domestic wings, you see a lot of foreigners and you begin to wonder where they are heading to and the kind of business they do in Nigeria. That means that they see what we cannot see in the economy,” Olumide Ohunayo, a travel analyst said.

Also, according to statistics from Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, (NTDC), the country received more business visitors than any other country in West Africa in the last three years, and is making effort to overtake the region in tourist arrival.

In recent years, Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA)signed between Nigeria and other countries are being revived and new ones signed. These agreements have seen the likes of Etihad, Delta Air, United Airlines, Rwanda Airlines, among others, express interest and receive landing rights to Nigeria’s largest international airport.

With Federal Government approval for the expansion of the departure and arrival halls of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to accommodate the ever increasing traffic at the airport, many new restaurants and duty-free stores are being opened.
Yakubu Dati, FAAN spokesman noted that the increase in traffic attests to the fact that Nigeria is truly the hub of Africa.

He said that is why the current administration sees the opportunity in remodeling the terminals and creating an enabling environment to attract more investors and traffic to the country.

“Nigeria is an investor’s haven, we have the population that loves to travel, we have all that it takes to be the hub in Africa, we also occupy a very central role; it is easier to connect other West African countries from Lagos, that is why FAAN is committed to the remodeling project. The traffic is an indication that the sector is responding positively to the changes at the terminals, just as the government is trying to restore passenger confidence. These are indicators of positive developments”, he said.

The development has led to more pressure on accommodation as most of the visitors comprising business travellers, expatriates, Nigerian Diasporas and the diplomatic community look for quality and safe accommodation for their stay in posh hotels.

Already, about 35 percent of the occupancy rate of most international hotel brands in Nigeria especially in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, is maintained by foreigners on first time visit to the country and those spending between three days to one week in the country.

In Lagos alone, the development has resulted in proliferation of hotels, especially around the airports (both international and indigenous brands) that increased total room supply from 2,994 in 2003 to 7,229 in 2010.

According to a report by W Hospitality Group, an Ikoyi-Lagos based hospitality consultancy company, total room supply in Lagos is expected to reach 11,335 by the end of 2013 as many more international branded hotels (particularly Intercontinental Hotel Lagos and Starwood Group) are set to usher in more rooms in the market this year in an effort to address shortfall in room supply.

According to the report, by the time the expected rooms are ushered into the hospitality market, the industry will be raking in over N2 billion in revenue from increased hotel occupancy and readily available rooms.

While over 2000 jobs, experts say will be generated with the development, government revenue in tax will increase, skills will improve and the cities where these hotels are domiciled will be given a facelift.

While five international brands opened over eight hotels across the country in the last three years, regional brands opened about 10 because of their size and service capacity, yet a few international brands led by Movenpick, a Swiss brand, opened shop in Ghana.

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