The Nation Newspaper

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  • Crisis in Nigeria sectarian, not religious

    Crisis in Nigeria sectarian, not religious

    Tajudeen Adebanjo

    The Companion, an Association of Muslims in Business and Professions, has described the crisis in the country as sectarian.

    The group disagreed with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that it was religious related.

    A statement by The Companion’s Lagos District Amir (President), Alhaji Abdul-Ghani Abdul Majeed and Public Affairs Secretary, Mukaila Tajudeen Akolade, warned against diving the country along religious line.

    Abdul Majeed said: “The comments credited to the CAN’s Vice President and Chairman of the association in Kaduna State, Reverend John Hayab, on President Muhammadu Buhari’s reference to his encounter with the US President Donald Trump few years ago – on the accusation of being responsible for the killings of Christians in Nigeria is considered by our organisation as being hateful and a total display of religious bigotry.

    “The CAN leader was quoted as saying that the President’s response to the rather offensive and ridiculous question asked by President Trump – that the killings was cultural, and not religious – as being ‘’weak’’ and another confirmation that the present administration does not care about the carnage in the country. The Companion asserts that such a declaration could only come from a biased religious leader.

    “Who does not know that the crisis painted sectarian in part of Kaduna (Southern Kaduna) for instance, has been recurring before the present administration and largely caused by the differences between the natives and settlers? The CAN head also shocked our organisation when he cited cases of the suspected bandits and massacre in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Birnin Gwari, Southern Kaduna, Taraba, Plateau. For all the killings that have occurred in the mentioned states, the truth of the matter is that the gunmen kill both Christians and Muslims.”

    Abdul Majeed urged CAN leaders to always exercise restraint; moderate their emotion; shun religious bigotry and embrace the true spirit of love, as well as peaceful coexistence with others, as preached in their scriptures.

     

     

  • Hospitality industry loses $50b to COVID-19

    Hospitality industry loses $50b to COVID-19

    HOTEL and Tourism industry in Africa has lost more than $50 billion in revenue to the raging Coronavirus (COVID-19), it was learnt on Thursday.

    Transcorp Hotels Plc, which admitted suffering unprecedented losses, plans to restructure its business strategy and optimize the hotel’s operations.

    In the wake of the losses recorded, the hotels management said it will be taking steps to ensure business continuity due to the pandemic.

    “To this end, the hotelier is diversifying its portfolio and reducing its workforce as part of its cost management initiatives,” Transcorp Hotels Plc Managing Director Mrs. Dupe Olusola, said at a news conference yesterday.

    She went on: “The impact of COVID-19 on the business is like nothing the company has ever witnessed. The hotel and hospitality industry in Nigeria has never faced a crisis that brought travel to a standstill, including the Ebola Virus Outbreak of 2014 and the recession of 2015.

    “The slow pick up of international travel, restriction on large gatherings, the switch to virtual meetings and fear of the virus, has drastically reduced demand for our hotels and occupancy levels to its lowest of less than five per cent.

    “Despite the losses incurred we have fulfilled our obligations to staff. At the inception of the pandemic, we maintained a 100 per cent salary payment to our over 900 employees in March and April.

    “We also activated various cost-saving initiatives such as renegotiations of service contracts and restructuring of our loans. We suspended further commitment to buy fixed assets and operating equipment as well as reducing our energy consumption and maintenance costs.

    “Despite undertaking these, it has become apparent that more fundamental changes need to be made for the business to survive. To this end, our workforce headcount will be reduced by at least 40 per cent and our reward system will be optimised.”

    Mrs. Olusola further disclosed how the company plans to adequately compensated its workers given the peculiarities of the economy at this time.

    She said: “A health insurance package to reduce their health burden costs, especially during the pandemic, amongst other payment settlements, will be activated. Equally, all Executives of Transcorp Hilton Abuja have now taken a pay cut.

    “As one of the leading hospitality brands in Africa, Transcorp Hotels Plc has stated its commitment to uphold service standards and ensure that all guests continue to experience the warmth and hospitality that it is known for.”

  • FAAC: Fed Govt, states, councils share N682.060b

    FAAC: Fed Govt, states, councils share N682.060b

    From Nduka Chiejina (Asst Editor)

    The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared N682.060 billion August 2020 Federation Account revenue to the federal, states and local government councils and agencies.

    This was made known after the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for September 2020 held through virtual conferencing; chaired by Dr Mahmud Isa-Dutse, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance.

    The gross statutory revenue of N531.830 billion was received for the month of August 2020. This was lower than the N543.788 billion received in the previous month by N11.958 billion.

    The gross revenue available from Value Added Tax (VAT) was N150.230 billion as against N132.619 billion available in the previous month, resulting in an increase of N17.611 billion.

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    A communiqué issued by FAAC indicated that from the total distributable revenue of N682.060 billion, the Federal Government got N272.905 billion; state governments received N197.648 billion and the local government councils received N147.422 billion.

    The oil producing states received N30.881 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue, while cost of revenue collection and transfers collectively received an allocation of N33.205 billion.

    The Federal Government received N251.948 billion from the gross statutory revenue of N531.830 billion; the state governments received N127.791 billion and the local government councils received N98.522 billion.

    N30.881 billion was given to the relevant states as 13 per cent derivation revenue and N22.689 billion was the collective total for cost of revenue collection, transfers and refund to agencies.

    The Federal Government received N20.957 billion from VAT revenue of N150.230 billion. The states received N69.857billion; local government councils received N48.900 billion, while cost of revenue collection and transfers collectively had allocation of N10.516 billion.

    The communiqué stated that for the month of August 2020, oil and gas royalty, companies income tax (CIT), import and excise duty and VAT increased considerably, while Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) decreased significantly.

    The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at September 17, 2020 stood at $72.409 million.

  • 12 Nigerian students for Huawei ICT Competition 2020 finals

    12 Nigerian students for Huawei ICT Competition 2020 finals

    Our Reporter

    No fewer than twelve Nigerian students from the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and University of Port Harcourt have qualified for the Huawei Global ICT Competition following an excellent performance in the Cloud and Network examination at the just concluded Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa Region ICT Competition finals.

    The Huawei ICT Competition, which generally covers examination on the latest ICT technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, mobile networks and big data, is believed to be the biggest of its kind in Africa.

    The competition featured 123 student-talents from 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, divided into 41 teams (28 network track and 13 cloud track teams).

    At the Sub-Saharan regional finals, the students compete for 18 Prizes and 12 Admission tickets for the Huawei Global ICT Competition Final in October 2020, which will attract more than 300 other student-talents from 66 countries across the globe.

    Team Nigeria had 15 students divided into 5 teams who competed under the Network and Cloud segment. They had a great performance which guaranteed 4 of the Nigerian teams’ tickets to the Global ICT Competition.

    Two teams emerged first position and third position respectively in the Cloud examination, while two other teams of the Nigerian students emerged second position in the Network examination.

    Due to the pandemic, the Huawei ICT Sub-Saharan regional competition was held virtually. The Nigerian students participated from the Huawei Technologies Nigeria offices in Abuja and Lagos respectively.

    Mr. Weilei, one of the Huawei Channel Training Managers (for ICT Talent Ecosystem Development in Nigeria), “the Huawei ICT competition was first launched in Nigeria in 2017 and currently runs under the Huawei ICT Academy which is in collaboration with more than 90 Nigerian universities.

    The Huawei ICT Academy was established to train students for free in the latest internationally relevant ICT skills in subjects such as Networks, Cloud Computing and Big Data. As at today, over 10,000 Nigerian students have benefitted.” He added that “there are 150 instructors from partnering institutions, with 120 of them acquiring various Huawei certifications in different technology track and 250 training classes in various technology tracks, in Routing & switching, storage, cloud services, big data, W-Lan, security and AI delivered by Huawei certified instructors.”

    Ms Melissa Chen, Director, Huawei Nigeria Enterprise D&S Department “The competition-related training has helped over 300 students receive job offers. In Nigeria alone, over 3,000 Nigerian students trained by Huawei have successfully passed the Huawei professional certification exams. Huawei hopes to skill up more than 700,000 ICT professionals by 2023. The aim is to bridge the ICT talent gap, advance the digital transformation of industries, and bring digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.”

    The students and instructors were glad to have qualified to represent Nigeria at the Huawei Global ICT Competition which will be held later in the year 2020.

    Abdullahi Muhammad Khalifa of the Cloud Team, student from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said:

    “I am excited we have qualified for the global finals since we have been preparing for this for over 8 months. Huawei gave us free access to their cloud services and also free vouchers to write the HCIP Cloud Services Certification and also support from their engineers” – “Huawei offered us internship opportunities which exposed us to real-life projects and has played a major role towards our success in the regional final even as we look forward to a greater performance at the global finals. Connection, Glory, Future, the theme of the Huawei ICT Competition says it all. I am looking forward to the glory of becoming a world champion which will make the future brighter for me.”

     

    Huawei ICT Competition 2020

  • Niger discovers 333 ‘dead civil servants’ on payroll

    Niger discovers 333 ‘dead civil servants’ on payroll

    Justina Asishana – Minna

    Barely a week after the Niger state government announced the dismissal of 80 Civil servants; the state government has discovered that 333 dead civil servants are still receiving salaries in the state.

    These dead civil servants who have been certified to be dead have been on the payroll of the state civil service for the past two years.

    The Commissioner for Works, Engineer Ibrahim Mohammed Panti who is the Chairman of the Screening Committee disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Minna.

    He further disclosed that N207 million has also been uncovered to have been paid as salaries to these dead civil servants in the state in these two years.

    “Out of the purported 27,000 civil servants on the payroll of the state government, only 15,907 of them have been discovered to be our genuine workers so far.

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    “There are 3,923 workers from different ministries who are still having pending issues and are still being investigated. These set of people had entered the state civil service with fictitious certificates and their names found on the payroll of the state.

    “Within the last two years, 333 dead civil servants who had been certified dead are still drawing salaries from the state.”

    Panti stated that the screening exercise which is ongoing has been revealing startling revelations stressing that the committee is determined to unveil all those who have been siphoning government resources.

    He further revealed that 1,029 Civil Servants whose names are on the government payroll are yet to appear for screening.

    “if by the end of Thursday which is the end of the screening they do not appear, they will be officially declared as ghost workers.”

  • Diack: Nesiama warns Kleptomaniacs in sport

    Diack: Nesiama warns Kleptomaniacs in sport

    By Olalekan Okusan

    Former Technical director of AFN Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama (rtd) has described the conviction of former head of  International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Senegalese Lamine Diack in France yesterday for corruption as good lesson for Kleptomaniacs.

    Diack, the ex-head of athletics’ governing body, was jailed yesterday in Paris  after being found guilty of corruption.

    The Senegalese, 87, was convicted of accepting bribes from athletes suspected of doping to cover up test results and letting them continue competing, including in the 2012 London Olympics. He was sentenced to four years in prison, two of them suspended.

    Speaking on the development, Nesiama said the jailing of Diack has again painted a bad picture of Africa.

    He said: “It is very painful and shameful that at his age, he was involved in various crimes levelled against him and this again has shown that nobody is above the law; and that if you go against the established rules you can be prosecuted regardless of who you are.

    “It is quite shameful that when he was supposed to be retiring and enjoying his rest, he was sent to jail. I know that some of the accusations against him, he might not be directly involved but by proxy he was found guilty because he was in charge of the sport when the event happened.

    Diack’s lawyers said he would be appealing against the judgement.

  • UBA Foundation increases essay prize money

    UBA Foundation increases essay prize money

    By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

    This year, winners of the UBA National Essay Competition will be getting more money as prices.

    The contest organised by the UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility organ of the United Bank for Africa (Plc) opened entries for this year’s edition on Tuesday.

    The 33 per cent prize money increment would see the overall best get an educational grant of N2.5 million up from N2 million in 2019. The first and second runners up will not get N2 million and N1.5 million educational grants to fund their tertiary education in any African university.

    Participants from secondary schools applying for the competition are required to submit essays on the topic: “Do you think that the lock – down during the Covid-19 pandemic was an essential measure in spite of the hardship it has brought economically? What would you have done differently and why?” before October 2, 2020.

    The Chief Executive Officer, UBA Foundation, Ms. Bola Atta, noted that entries must be hand-written. The applicants can either scanned their essays and submit with school identity cards on the bank’s digital portal or drop them off at the UBA branch nearest to them for submission to the foundation.

  • Plateau community pledges security to varsity

    Plateau community pledges security to varsity

    From Kolade Adeyemi, Jos

    A community in Vwang District in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State has vowed to provide adequate security for the take off and conducive academic activities at the proposed Karl Kumm University, Vom, Plateau State.

    The District Head and Chairman of Vwang traditional Council, the Gwom Rwey Vwang, Da. Gyang Gutt Bala said this last weekend during the presentation of a trailer of cement worth over N1.5 million for infrastructural development of the institution.

    “Being aware that Karl Kumm University is sited in our domain which has become part and parcel of us and desirous of ensuring the actualisation of the take-off of the institution; I therefore on behalf of the peace loving people of Vwang community to donate a full trailer load of bags of cement for the project.

    “I wish to assure the entire Nigerians hat the people of Vwang community have a responsibility of providing conducive atmosphere for teaching, learning and research in the University, once it comes into operation.

    “We will work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure the provision of maximum security of lives and property. It is because of the peaceful posture of our people that has led to the establishment of many institutions on our domain.”

    Da. Balak noted that Vwang community has signed a MoU with COCIN towards providing Corporate Social Responsibility to the immediate community and urged the management of the university to respect the agreement.

    He said the visit also provides the community an opportunity to assess the level of infrastructural development on the 100 hectares of land donated to the university in 2007 by the community and vowed to continue to assist the institution for it take-off.

    He appealed to the National Universities Commission (NUC) to hasten the granting of a licence to the proposed university for it formal and smooth take off of its academic activities.

  • Sterling Bank launches work-study programme

    Sterling Bank launches work-study programme

    Our Reporter

    Sterling Bank PLC has launched a programme that would allow school leavers to study in a foreign university while working for the bank.

    The scheme tagged: “Grow With Sterling Initiative” is being carried out in partnership with the Nexford University, Washington DC, United States.

    The bank would pay 65 per cent of the fees of school leavers to earn international undergraduate degrees under a maximum duration of three years while they are engaged by Sterling Bank to serve in specific capacities in a work-study arrangement.

    A statement by the Chief Human Resources Officer of Sterling Bank PLC, Temi Dalley, noted that the programme is part of the bank’s new-to-the-world opportunities for young Nigerians to access quality and education at affordable cost while gaining cognate work experience.

    The statement further noted that the financial institution will pay not less than 65 percent tuition fee of the learners admitted into the programme, marking a significant investment in the education of young Nigerians.

    Dalley said: “Grow with Sterling’ initiative is a co-branded social impact programme that will enable Nigerian secondary school leavers to further their education under a unique partnership arrangement with the bank as the financier and Nexford University as the learning provider.”

    Listing other benefits, Dalley added that learners would get complimentary access to 20 percent tuition discount, free enrolment on online learning platforms, among other things

  • Special needs pupils rejoice as youth corps member fixes school

    Special needs pupils rejoice as youth corps member fixes school

    From Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

    It was jubilation galore at the God’s Care School for Persons with Disability, Amaenyi, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra state following the renovation of a block of classrooms, a dormitory and three toilets by Mr. Christopher Shiyan, a corps member serving in the area.

    The projects which also included a generator, laptop, projector and some learning materials, were part of the corps member’s community development service.

    Speaking during the inauguration of the projects, Shiyan, a 2019 batch ‘C’ Stream 1 corps member said he was motivated to help as a result of the deplorable state of the school building.

    “With the help of my colleagues I raised fund from philanthropists with which I renovated the classrooms, a dormitory, three toilets and fixed other equipment including a power generating set, a laptop computer, a projector and learning materials,” he said.

    Inaugurating the projects, Commissioner for Social Welfare Children and Women Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue said she was overwhelmed by the corps member’s efforts.

    Mezue, who was represented by Mr. Ernest Onyeka, a Director in the Ministry, urged corps members to always seek to impact other people’s lives positively. She made a cash donation of N50, 000 to the school.

    NYSC State Coordinator, Mr. Kehinde Aremu praised the corps member for his selfless service to the pupils of the school.

    Represented by the Assistant Director Press and Public Relations, Anuli Molokwu, Aremu thanked the school’s management for their humanitarian services caring for special needs children, praying God to bless them in return.

    He praised the corps member for lifting the school, urging others to emulate him.

    Thanking Shiyan for his good work, Proprietor of the school, Mr Afam Ndife, said it came when it mattered most.

    He sought more help from those present, saying the school needed support, especially in the area of feeding.