Personal Branding: For Madam Stock, It's Injury Time - 2008-09-01

Veering outside her area of core competence, Professor (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Director-General of one of the Nigerian Stock Exchange has assumed the position of a PR guru - first with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's botched third term campaign and now the Barack Obama fund raising campaign, which has docked her in the court of public opinion. Goddie Ofose and Iyke Odoemenam  examine the issues at stake and wonder if the Amazon of the stock business in Nigeria can come out unscathed this time.

Poor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke. Everything she has laboured for seems to be crumbling all at the same time. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) which she has toiled to build for over 25 years and on which her reputation chiefly rested, is in decline. Transnational Corporation (TransCorp), the self-styled mega firm which she was supposed to help build as Chairman has turned out to be a misadventure. And now, her forays into public relations, have proved to be the ultimate disaster, with her Obama 2008 project boomeranging and putting her job at the NSE on the line.

Veering out of her specialty as a stock exchange manager, Okereke-Onyiuke has tried to assume the position of a PR guru in the past few years. Using Corporate Nigeria as her platform, she successfully mobilised millions of naira in support of the political ambition of immediate past President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose third term ambition however met with failure. Though heavily criticised for dabbling into politics while heading a sensitive organisation like the NSE, Okereke-Onyiuke survived as Obasanjo was there to protect her.

Now the story has changed. The NSE DG has gotten her fingers badly burnt in her latest venture as Chairman of Africans for Obama 2008, a Nigeria-based non-governmental group which has been campaigning vigorously, raising funds and mobilising support for the US Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama's quest to become the first black person to rule the United States of America.

As it turned out, the aftermath of the Obama dinner/fund raising luncheon championed by Okereke-Onyiuke is proving too hot for her to handle. For one, she stands condemned in the court of public opinion, with increasing calls for her to resign. Worse, she and her group have since been disowned by the Obama Campaign Organization, while she has also become a guest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the same issue.

To compound the NSE DG's woes, all these are happening at a time when the bears have embarked on a sustained reign at the market. In fact, the situation got so bad that the federal government had to intervene last week Tuesday to rescue the market. (See Box)

The intervention bore immediate fruit, with the NSE recording a 2.2 per cent growth for the first time in five months, after market capitalisation rose from N8.81 trillion to N9.1 trillion and the All-share index rose by 3.0 per cent due to major price gains by blue chip stocks.

The market had plunged by about 40 per cent between March this year and last week Monday, raising fears over the fate of the nation's economy.

Too bad a record for Okereke-Onyiuke, who has been at the NSE for 25 years, joining in 1983 as Head of Research and becoming DG in 2000. Before the decline, she had been regarded as a star of stock exchange management in view of her numerous achievements at the NSE.

She automated and brought the market to global acclaim before plunging into the PR business apparently without sufficient tutelage. Her Africa for Obama 2008 fund raising/dinner is said to be the most expensive fund raising dinner ever to be held in the country. There were reportedly 56 buffet tables at the dinner, loaded with Champagne, red wine, beer and assorted drinks. Obama's posters decorated the stage and the entrance, with a 25-metre-long rug on which was boldly written: YES WE CAN.

According to Reuben Abati, Editorial Board Chairman of The Guardian, at N2.5 million for a Platinum Corporate Table and a minimum of N275,000 for an individual table, it is probably the most expensive dinner anyone has ever eaten in Shell Hall at the Muson Centre, the upscale Lagos events venue.

Similar Campaigns in the Past

In 2003, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke organised a similar fund-raising show under the umbrella of Corporate Nigeria, to help the Obasanjo re-election campaign. In 2006, she was one of the staunch supporters of Obasanjo's anti-democratic third term agenda. She also helped to raise funds for Transcorp of which she was one of the original promoters, although through a sleight of hand at the Stock Exchange.

In the third term campaign, she never hid her intention and action as the forerunner of the agenda. She, like a few others businessmen and women, who wanted Obasanjo to go for a third term were employees of the organisations they represented. While some, like Mr. Festus Odimegwu, former Managing Director of Nigeria Breweries Plc, got their fingers burnt in the process, the stock market Amazon outlived the saga.

Why Obama?

Influential, rich and well-connected, Okereke-Onyiuke initially took the uproar that greeted her Obama campaign as a joke. She was quoted to have said: “Some skeptical people have been writing nonsense and rubbish in the newspapers that what is my business with Obama. But they are free to continue to write petitions. It is not their money that we are spending. Ask them: is it your money that we are spending?”

While some say that she has good intentions and so should be forgiven, critics such as radical lawyer Festus Keyamo insist that she has used her influence and position to attract well meaning Nigerians and corporate organisation to contribute to an illegal endeavour. They say that US laws do not allow non-Americans to raise campaign funds for that country's electoral candidates, adding that there are enough local causes for which any well-meaning person can raise funds.

A PR expert, Mr. Rufus Ademolekun, likens Okereke-Onyiuke's choice of Obama's campaign as a cause for which to raise funds to that of her decision to raise funds for Obasanjo's aborted third term gamble. “It is not working for Madam. The TransCorp she chairs is very unpopular, the third term campaign was not ingenious and Africa for Obama has generated more heat in Nigeria than in the US. It is not just working for her,” he stated.

Where is the Money?

It was reported that over N100 million was raised for Obama. However, Okereke-Onyiuke has consistently said the fund was not raised for Obama but to be use in mobilising Africans in the US to vote for Obama.

Since the Obama Campaign Organization has denied the organization and its fund, the EFCC has intensified efforts to locate the money. The search has moved to the banks; yet it has not been discovered. Okereke-Onyiuke has reportedly refused to disclose where the money.

Super PR Personality

Okereke-Onyiuke has no doubt gotten more than she bargained for. The Corporate Affairs Manager of the NSE was entrusted with media and PR activities of the Africa for Obama campaign group. From the unveiling in early July to the fund raising/dinner luncheon in August, the media spend was estimated at N10 million.

M2 found that the group has spent more than half of the budget allocated for media and public relations. Okereke-Onyiuke is apparently the main beneficiary of the process, as her popularity is now competing with that of Obama in Nigeria. She has succeeded to hit the public scene again after a long absence, said Dr. Labake Akinloye, CEO, Mainstream PR.

The Undoing

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is bent on taking its pound of flesh from Okereke-Onyiuke for allegedly rendering the commission inaudible throughout the Obasanjo presidency from 1999 to 2007. Though the NSE President has absolved the queen of the market of any wrongdoing, the discordant voices are becoming louder by the day.

When Festus Odimegwu of Nigeria Breweries Plc similarly erred during the third term campaign, he was shown the way out, deceived to joined politics and contest for the governorship seat in his state, Imo. He was a flop. But his co-campaigner, Okereke-Onyiuke, was never moved as NSE DG or TransCorp Chairman.

TransCorp

Okereke-Onyiuke's ,refusal to quit as TransCorp Chaiman in a way gives an insight into why she has similarly refused to bow out honourably as NSE DG in the wake of the Obama campaign scandal. Launched with fanfare in 2006, TransCorp promised much but ended up almost dead on arrival. Riding on the crest of a well orchestrated publicity blitz, it sold its IPO at N7.50 but barely survived thereafter. The share value has since plummeted scandalously to N1.72 as at last Wednesday while the company has failed woefully to run NITEL, the country's First national Carrier and one of the earliest licencees for the money-spinning Nigerian mobile telecom market. 

 How much longer can Okereke-Onyiuye hold out in the present circumstances? The pressure is mounting from a broad spectrum of interest groups, among them political parties and socio-political groups which have been calling on her to resign. Similarly, critics such as Festus Keyamo, Pius Adesanmi, Reuben Abati, Yemi Kolapo amongst others have called on the Amazon to apologise to Nigerians and step aside.

Okereke-Onyiuke is however adamant and has defended her position vehemently. “Nobody can move me,” she said defiantly. “I am a private citizen of the country and a Green Card holder since 1978. I am at liberty to use my money, and my time anywhere I want it.”

A great public relations personality, she did it for Obasanjo and she has done it for “Obama.”

Would she ever recover from this dent on her reputation? “She will recover; this is Nigeria,” said Alima Atta, a foremost PR practitioner.

 But even if she does, one thing is certain, according to Rufus Aluko, Brand Strategist, Brand Foot Print, Ikeja, Lagos: she would never make a living out of PR practice.

… Aso Rock Rallies To Rescue Market

As NSE DG, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, continues her fight to save her job, the federal government has decided to stop watching from the sidelines as Nigerian investors pile up losses at the market. Last week Tuesday government constituted a 16-man Presidential Advisory Team to stem the “continuous fall” in the capital market.

Members of the team are: Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice/Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of National Planning, Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Governor of CBN, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, DG of SEC, DG of NSE, DG of the Debt Management Office, Managing Director Union Bank Plc, Managing Director, Access Bank, Plc, Managing Director, Intercontinental Bank, Plc, Bolaji Balogun, Ebilate Mac-Yoroki, Kayode Falowo and Oladipo Aina.

The team, which is expected to meet regularly, promptly took far-reaching decisions to rescue the market.

A Presidential Advisory Team on the Nigerian Capital Market has been constituted; The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has been directed to issue an exemption to the provisions of the relevant sections of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 on share buy-backs to permit quoted companies to buy back up to 20 per cent of their shares. The Securities and Exchange Commission's approval would be necessary before any quoted company is allowed to undertake any share buy-back.

The SEC, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and all Capital Markets operators have agreed to reduce their fees significantly. For example, the NSE with effect from Wednesday August 27th will reduce its fees by 50 per cent.

*The modalities for the establishment of a Capital Market Stabilization Fund are being worked out to intervene promptly, effectively and prudently in the Nigerian Stock Market as the need arises.

*The CBN is taking appropriate measures to review the liquidity situation in the economy and take appropriate measure to improve the liquidity in the system, if required.

*The NSE is taking steps to review its trading rules and regulations. In the interim, effective Wednesday 27th August, 2008, it has taken the following steps: 1 per cent maximum downward limit on daily price movement whilst the current 5 per cent limit on upward movement is retained; The SEC would release guidelines for Market Makers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange before the end of the week; Henceforth there will be strict enforcement of NSE's listing requirement with zero tolerance for infractions. The SEC and NSE will also take administrative actions to stem the rate of new listings until the market stabilizes; Having gone through the steps for delisting, the stock exchange will delist all the moribund companies earlier advertised.

*Nigerian banks would restructure existing facilities extended to licensed stock brokers, institutional and individual investors to allow for longer repayment periods.

*Nigerian Banks would partner with market makers to inject funds into the capital market through appropriately structured credit facilities.

*SEC and the NSE and all capital market operators have agreed to reduce their fees significantly, after which the NSE reduced its fees by 50 per cent.

On her part, Okereke-Onyiuke on Wednesday,  announced the reduction in fees payable in the primary market from initial 0.6 per cent, while secondary market from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent.

She said: “The Stock Exchange has decided, starting from today to reduce its fees on the primary market by 50 per cent. 0.3 per cent reduction in the fees payable in the primary market, from initial 0.6 per cent to 0.3, while secondary market, from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent would be paid now in the primary market, instead of 0.6 per cent while in secondary market, we used to charge one per cent, last year, we reduce to 0.5 per cent but today, we calculated on 0.3 per cent.”

Stockbroking firms and the Central Security Clearing System (CSCS), she said, have been given two weeks to work out modalities on how to reduce their fees.

Other measures include strict enforcement of NSE's listing requirement with zero tolerance for infractions; SEC and NSE are to take administrative actions to stem the rate of new listings until the market stabilises; and having gone through the steps for delisting, NSE with delist all the moribund companies earlier advertised.