Nigeria’s planned dollar release illegal— Presidency

From left, Country Manager, Chemstar
Industries (Ghana Ltd), Fola Laguda; Group
Managing Director /CEO, Chemstar Group
Limited, Apostle Remi Awode; General
Manager, C-PIN Investments Ltd, Sola Opadare;
and General Manager, Operations, Chemstar
Paints Industry (Nig.) Ltd., Adedayo Paseda at
the company’s 2008 annual Sales and
Management Conference held recently at
Gateway Hotel, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Nigeria's plan to release $4 billion of its oil savings to the federal and state governments between now and June is unconstitutional and the payment must be in naira, the presidency said on Friday. The central bank and the finance ministry had said it was important that the release would be in dollars rather than the local currency as this would help manage liquidity and limit the inflationary impact of the disbursement.

"After much argument, the consensus was that the position of the law is against dollar payment and it was so ruled by the president," said Olusegun Adeniyi, spokesman for President Umaru Yar'Adua.

He said the decision was taken two days ago after a long meeting at which the central bank governor and finance minister were present, as well as the attorney general and the accountant general of the federation. Adeniyi said Yar'Adua was fully aware of the inflationary implications of the huge disbursement and a new mechanism would have to be found to moderate the impact.

"There is a commitment to make the payment, but the central bank will have to study how they are going to do it in terms of controlling inflation," he said. It is not yet clear whether the naira equivalent of $4 billion will be released according to the previously announced timetable in three tranches between now and June or whether the modalities will change.

HP Introduces business enhancement devices

Maritin Ayankola, Lagos

LEADING technol ogy distributor, Hewlett Packard has announced two new energy-efficient business desktop PCs, including the industry's solid-state hard drive (SSD), which offers improved reliability.

Both the HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-slim Desktop PC with SSD and the HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC provide the power and flexibility to meet the needs of most businesses. In addition, they include a variety of environmental features that allow them to meet the most stringent environmental requirements of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEA) Gold registry. The two PCs add to HP's industry-topping number of Gold-listed products in the EPEAT registry.

The registry helps businesses evaluate, compare and select technology products based on their environmental attributes, such as meeting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest energy star energy-efficiency requirements. While using more power-efficient PCs can help any business save on energy costs and reduce the environmental impact of their technology, the effect across an enterprise environment can be immense. For example, the recent IDC Go Green PC Power Play Study found that the U.S. federal government could save more than $82.4 million in energy costs- the equivalent to conserving more than 1.3 million barrels of oil in just one year - if its more than 10 million existing energy star 3.0 PCs were updated to the new 4.0 standard. The research study was underwritten by HP to help quantify the savings opportunities energy-efficient PCs could provide the federal government.

"HP's ongoing efforts to design for the environment have spanned decades," said Alan Reed, vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, HP. "HP leverages this expertise to continually develop smart ideas for its PC product lines that not only help business customers to be more productive, but also reduce operating costs and their effect on the environment."

The HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-slim Desktop PC's solid-state hard drive provides many performance and durability improvements, including near instantaneous access to data and the elimination of moving parts, which are the main cause of electro-mechanical wear out. Additional benefits include a faster system start, better reliability, improved power efficiency, shock improvement and a smaller overall footprint.

The dc7800 Ultra Slim Desktop is one of the industry's smallest, enterprise-ready desktops - 46 per cent smaller than previous models—and also features HP's lowest power consuming, 85 per cent efficient power supply, without compromising performance. It is loaded with energy-efficient features, including the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors with optional Intel vPro technology and preloaded Verdiem surveyor network power management software agent. Surveyor can help measure, manage and reduce power consumption on PCs and monitors, and, when paired with Intel vPro remote management technologies, can lower PC energy costs to as little as $10 per year per system. "As partners in a variety of environmental efforts, HP and Intel are seeking ways to improve our environmental impact," said Robert Crooke, vice president and general manager, Intel Business Client Group.

"The dc7800 is a good example. It takes advantage of the energy-efficient performance of the Intel Core micro architecture and the manageability features of Intel vPro technology, which can help bring to an end the practice of leaving computers on all night for IT service and can help IT to verify power-conservation settings on PCs." The new HP Compaq dc5800 Business Desktop PC, available in redesigned small form factor and microtower PC designs, delivers reliable technology, productivity tools and security features that are designed to provide a worry-free foundation for businesses.

Proven industry-standard technologies, such as Intel's next-generation chipset and processors and the surveyor power management software agent, help dc5800 customers reduce processor heat and energy costs, as well as manage power and sleep settings more efficiently to increase the useful life of the PC. The HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC is also equipped with additional manageability and security features to help better protect IT investments.

Available features include access to a suite of client management tools from a single integrated console, minimum 12-month product lifecycle, a single software image designed for use across the entire platform, regardless of model or configuration, and worldwide configurations for consistent deployment for global corporations.

The dc5800 security options include embedded TPM 1.2 to help provide enhanced data protection and limit system access through hardware-based encryption. Optional HP ProtectTools security software further enhances an IT infrastructure's first line of defense.