The Nation Newspaper

Category: Business

  • NAICOM pegs group life commission at 8%

    NAICOM pegs group life commission at 8%

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has pegged group life insurance commission at eight per cent, The Nation has learnt.

    A source said the commission had written underwriters and brokers, ordering them not to charge more than eight per cent commission on group life insurance. Violators, he said, would be sanctioned.

    “NAICOM made it clear to the operators that group life commission is not nine per cent as being canvassed by some practitioners, the source said.

    It was gathered that underwriters and brokers have been on a running battle over what should be charged as commission.

    Investigation revealed that both parties early in the year agreed to raise the commission to nine per cent, but the underwriters later reneged on the agreement, as it was considered inimical to their operation.

    The circular by NAICOM, it was gathered was issued to halt the running battle between brokers and underwriters.

    From a reliable source, it was learnt that NAICOM made several attempts to settle the rift between the parties, but failed because the underwriters were not ready to keep to the agreement reached with the brokers early in the year.

    Though brokers were uncomfortable with the new policy issued by NAICOM, they agreed to abide by it to avoid being sanctioned.

    The commission would be applied on this year’s Federal Government group life insurance, which premium is valued at about N7 billion and over 300 brokers appointed by the Federal Head of Service.

  • Medview airline’s debut brings jobs

    Medview airline’s debut brings jobs

    About 225 new jobs have been created by Medview Airline, one of the country’s official hajj pilgrims carriers.

    Jobs created by the airline include those of pilots, about 16 cabin crew, ground officers, as well as ticketing staff.

    Arrangements have been concluded for the commencement of scheduled flights to four routes, namely Lagos-Abuja, Abuja-Port Harcourt, Maiduguri-Yola and Lagos-Port Harcourt.

    The Managing Director/CEO, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, stated this in Lagos while receiving officials of the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

    Alhaji Bankole, said the company is venturing into domestic operations so as to alleviate the plight of the local travellers. He stated that a Boeing 737-400 has been sourced to enable the company begin operation, adding that the inspection unit of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has concluded the inspection of the aircraft and approved them for operations in the country.

    “We have undergone the necessary inspections as stipulated by NCAA, but I can tell you categorically that we will start very soon.”

    Bankole promised that one of the unique selling points of the airline would be on- time departure and adherence to the safety rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and NCA.

    He said that the company has been known for keeping to time in its handling of hajj affairs in the country.

    “The coming of Med-View airline into the scene of Hajj operations in year 2007 shortly after its incorporation, changed the whole concept of pilgrims airlifting in Nigeria. The marshalling of the operational plans in a professional way, coupled with resourceful and dedicated team of workers, served as a pivot on which this new Airline’s tremendous success rests.

     

  • Unity Bank restates commitment to customers

    Unity Bank restates commitment to customers

    As part of activities to mark the World Customer Service Week, Unity Bank Plc has again restated its commitment to its customers and meeting the yearnings of its entire stakeholders through value creation.

    The bank, which is presently at a N45 billion capital base is working towards raising a tier one capital from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the next few months.

    Speaking at an interactive session with the press at the weekend, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Ado Y. Wanka, represented by the Executive Director, Lagos and West Lanre Fagbohun ,said that bank has overcome all its merger challenges and it set to continue to deliver quality service to its customers.

    According to him, the bank has put in place measures to allow for superior customer experience as never been seen before in the banking industry. Some of these include excellent security measures to ensure that on-line banking and transactions’ safety are guaranteed and uncompro-mised in a bid to safeguard customer identity in support of the cashless policy of the Government.

  • ‘Farmers ’ll suffer financial losses from flood’

    ‘Farmers ’ll suffer financial losses from flood’

    Farmers would suffer cash losses as a result of the ravaging flood, a post harvest specialist, Prof Lateef Sanni, has said.

    He said many farmers are at risk of losing their crop.

    Sanni, who is Deputy Dean, College of Food Science and Human Ecology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), said however, that there is no data to help estimate crop losses. He said but that food production is expected to drop due to the massive flooding in the country.

    Heavy rains fell across much areas of the southern part of the country and left large portions of corn and other crop fields submerged.

    Following this and poor water drainage system, low lying areas were water logged. The same is true of businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the northern part of the country, as they have suffered severe losses as a result of the rains.

    The business community, the government and farmers continue to be seasonal victims of the floods, with the agricultural sector heavily affected, as majority of the communities in the north depend on farming.

    Some states in the north, especially Taraba, Kogi, Katsina and Benue, Sanni noted, have experienced cases of flood and heavy rainfall, which washed off farmlands and food crops in

    The states, considered food baskets, are witnessing constant rainfall. As a result, it is expected that food insecurity will further increase in the affected areas.

    Sanni said it is critical for the government to act quickly to allow producers to make plans for the future. In many of the affected areas, agriculture is the major economic driver and it affects the long-term economic prospects of the farmers and communities.

    He called on the authorities to implement an action plan to alleviate mounting losses facing farmers as a result of the wide spread flooding.

    The effect of the flooding is being felt deeply across the south. Cross River, Delta and Akwa Ibom, are at the top of the list of devastated areas, with hundreds of acres of farm lands, affected.

  • Kill these driving habits

    Kill these driving habits

    Habits once formed are in most cases very difficult to drop. In this write up, I want to talk about the driving habits that must be dropped and detested by all categories of drivers in Nigeria (including vehicle owners).

    •Restlessness :Some drivers are so friendly with impatience that they cannot stay on the queue or in traffic when there is traffic Snarl. They move from one lane to another in a bid to beat the traffic. Drivers must be patient and show sanity on Nigeria roads.

    •Drunk driving :Alcoholism and drug addiction are great enemies of driving. They work on the human brain thereby creating effects such as slow reaction time, wrong judgement, blurred vision and aggressiveness among others.

    •Distraction: Drivers must avoid every act of distraction such as making or receiving calls, texting, eating, drinking, smoking, making up, shaving, etc.

    •Tailgaiting: Inadequate following distance is very dangerous. Under normal driving environment, you should apply the two – second rule but on wet roads, you should increase it to four – seconds. Following too closely is the main cause of multiple accidents.

    •Dangerous:Overtaking vertaking wrongly is dangerous and has become a major cause of road crashes in Nigeria. Before you commence the overtaking process, you must ask whether it is necessary, whether it is safe and whether it can be done without violating the speed limit rule.

    •Poor lane management:Many drivers (private and commercial) don’t know how to keep their vehicles in lane when driving. Your vehicle should always be positioned at the middle of the lane without trespassing to the next lane except when overtaking.

    •Overspeeding:Some drivers are already addicted to overspeeding even on bad roads. This is also another major cause of accidents on roads. Other bad habits formed by some drivers include wrong lane formation, driving off – lane (driving on road shoulder), driving without seat belt, speeding at traffic lights to beat the red light, vehicle overloading, driving with underage children sitting at the front, speeding on wet road, disobedient to traffic officers and driving against traffic among others.

    According to an adage, the best way to break a plate is to drop it. To break the above dangerous driving habits, drivers must drop then without delay. Dropping the above habits by all the drivers concerned will promote sanity and safety on Nigeria roads.

  • NUPENG seeks govt’s assistance for flood victims

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called on the Federal Government to quickly come to the aid of victims affected by the floods ravaging parts of the country.

    In a statement signed by the Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac O. Aberare, the union advised that a state of emergency should be declared in the affected communities, while relief materials and temporary abode be made available to them.

    The union added that a supplementary budget to assist the flood victims should be sent to the National Assembly for approval to provide succour for the affected people and their communities.

    The union commiserated with the families of those who lost lives in the floods. It also warned that state governments should desist from allocating and allowing buildings to be erected in flood-prone areas; especially around the river banks.

    It called on the Federal and state governments to, as a matter of urgency dispatch medical teams to the areas to avert epidemic and diseases from ravaging the communities.

    NUPENG re-iterated that the three tiers of government must begin to enlighten the populace on global warming or climate change, which is partly responsible for the upsurge. The union added that agencies of government, such as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), responsible for providing assistance to the affected people, should be alive to their responsibilities.

    NUPENG stated that adequate forecast should be made available as to the extent of such damages when waters are released from dams to make people move before they are trapped as it is done in advanced countries.

    Towards ameliorating the sufferings of the affected people, the union called on the Federal Government to assist the affected states with funds.

    It called for better ways to channel excess water from dams and to collaborate through a joint commission with the Republic of Cameroun where the excess water was first released.

     

  • Mark appeals for equity in FERMA projects

    Mark appeals for equity in FERMA projects

    The Senate President, David Mark, has urged senators, especially chairmen of committees, to ensure that projects included in budgets representative of the entire country.

    Mark made the appeal while reacting to an allegation by Sen. Ita Enang (PDP-Akwa Ibom) that the 2012 budget of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) was skewed to favour only one zone.

    The Senate president said although he had not seen the budget, if Enang’s allegations were true, the senators were not being fair to the rest of the country.

    “The important thing is that every senator is a senator of Nigeria. If you are a chairman of a committee, you must also know that there are other senators who are chairmen of other committees.

    “We must be fair, and we must ensure that there is justice and that there is equity. I don’t know what they have advertised, but if it is skewed in one direction, it is not correct.

    “ It must be representative of this country. That is what the Senate is all about,” the Senate president said.

    Enang had earlier observed that the FERMA budget was lopsided as all projects for road construction were centred in only one state.

    “The budget of Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is not representative of this country. It starts almost in one state and ends in one state.

    “The roads start mostly in the Southeast and are concentrated in Enugu State. I’m sorry to say this, and that should not be done in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “I am saying this from what is on record,’’ Enang emphasised.

    He had advocated that the budget of FERMA be stopped immediately, and the money for road projects be shared to the zones.

    “Let Enugu State alone not take the money that belongs to the entire country. Mr President, I want us to even dissolve FERMA because it is not doing what it is supposed to do.

    “One person alone has the opportunity to write the budget, he diverts everything to his village and starves the entire country.

    “This is not the purpose of federal character. Even the village of the Senate President is not captured in the FERMA projects, ’’he said.

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Sen. Ayogu Eze had, in his response to the allegations, said that the issue was completely mistaken.

    Eze explained that there had been an earlier publication of constituency projects of some individuals which was not a representation of the FERMA budget.

    “What was advertised during the holidays was mainly some of the new projects that came as a result of constituency projects of some individuals.

    “It is not a representation of the entire budget of FERMA. Before they made this last advertisement, they have awarded about 90 per cent of their contracts in different parts of the country,’’ Eze said.

    He also alluded to the fact that every zone of the country was represented on the committee of works.

    The Senate also confirmed the nomination of Mr Nnoli Nnaji (South East) as a member of the governing board of FERMA.

    Mark congratulated the new board member and urged the board to live up to the expectations.

  • Ogun pays N1.6b pension to local govt retirees

    Ogun pays N1.6b pension to local govt retirees

    The Ogun Bureau of Local Government Pensions said it has disbursed N1.6 billion as monthly pensions patment to retired local government and primary school workers.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Bureau, Alhaji Ade Momodu, said this last week during an oversight visit by members of the Ogun House of Assembly Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

    Momodu said the money was paid between January and September, adding that the money was paid from the monthly allocation the bureau received from the Joint Allocation Account Committee (JAAC).

    “The bureau has also paid N643.3 million as gratuities to retired local government staff, as well as primary school teaching and non teaching staff between January and September 2012.

    “This was paid from the state’s grant to Local Government Staff Pension Fund and the balance of statutory allocation from (JAAC) after monthly pension would have been paid,’’ he said.

    On the new contributory pension scheme, Momodu said it was introduced to remedy the shortcomings of the old scheme, explaining that a 7.5 per cent deduction is expected to be made from the salaries of all serving officers, while another 7.5 per cent of each officer is expected to be contributed by their employers.

    He said the bureau received 15 per cent deduction of the salaries of primary school teaching and non-teaching staff directly from Joint Allocation Account Committee on monthly basis.

    “The local governments are required to remit their own deductions directly to their pension fund administrators,’’ Momodu said.

    The Committee’s chairman praised the bureau for carrying out its assignment, saying, “I think you have done a good job, but l still want you to always make the collection of pensions easy for the retired local government officers, the primary school teaching and non-teaching staff,’’ Oluomo said.

  • Gombe to employ 3,000 teachers

    Gombe State has said it would recruit about 3,000 graduate teachers to improve the standard of education in the state within the next three years.

    Commissioner for Education, Mrs Aishatu Mohammed, told The Nation that 1,000 of the teachers would be employed yearly.

    Mrs Mohammed also said Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo’s intervention in the education sector has started yielding fruitful results.

    She said this showed in the state’s performance in national examinations.

    “This time, we have 906 candidates who passed with five credits, including English and Mathematics, in the recent West African Examinations Council (WAEC) results.

    “You will recall that only 18 candidates passed with five credits, including English and Mathematics in 2011.

    “This development is indicative of more successes in the education sector soon,’’ the commissioner said.

    Mrs Mohammed said the result was also an indication that funds totalling over N6.5 billion spent on education by the state government were not wasted.

    “These were invested in the reconstruction of classrooms and the purchase of instruction materials, and that is why the sector will still witness more success stories,’’ she said.

     

  • Oby Ezekwesili joins Bharti Airtel board

    Oby Ezekwesili joins Bharti Airtel board

    Former Education Minister  Mrs Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili has joined the board of Bharti Airtel. In a statement, the company, said she was bringing her wealth of experience to the board.

    Mrs Ezekwesili is a former World Bank Vice President for Africa and a world-renowned expert on economic reforms and economic governance.

    She also served as director of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic Strategy Programme in Boston and Abuja.

    Mrs Ezekwkesili holds a master’s in International Law from the University of Lagos, a master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She is also a chartered accountant.

    At the World Bank, Mrs Ezekwesili, according to the statement, was responsible for operations in 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and supervised a lending portfolio of over $40 billion.

    The Nation gathered that the change in the Bharti Airtel board affected its subsidiary, Bharti Infratel.

    The change was effected because of the proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Bharti Infratel, which is one of the leading providers of passive telecom infrastructure in India.

    Bharti Infratel deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures, for various mobile operators across 18 states of India. It is the industry’s pioneer in adopting green energy initiatives across its tower network.

    Bharti Infratel also has a footprint of over 33,000 towers and holds a 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers Limited – a Joint Venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone & Idea Cellular.