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  • 200,000 agent banking jobs likely

    200,000 agent banking jobs likely

    The prayers of the unemployed may be answered in the New Year, which begins tomorrow, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduces agent banking. The initiative is expected to create 200,000 jobs as a way of boosting the economy. AKINOLA AJIBADE writes.

     

    THE New Year begins tomorrow, with a lot of hope for the unemployed. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is introducing tomorrowAgent Banking, a scheme which holds a lot of promise in job creation. About 200,000 jobs are expected to be created under the scheme. It is coming under the CBN’s Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS).

    Launched in Abuja in October, the strategy comes with various concepts aimed at increasing banking penetration and growth.

    At the launch, CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said concepts under the strategy include mobile money and agent banking. Mobile money has since been introduced under the cash-less policy. It is now the turn of agent banking.

    Agent banking is a system whereby a postal outlet is contracted by a financial institution, or a mobile network operator, to process clients’transactions. Rather than a branch outlet, it is the owner or an employee of the retail outlet that conducts the transactions. The agent banker performs banking function. Clients can deposit, withdraw, transfer funds, pay their bills, inquire about their balances, receive government benefits, or a direct deposit from their employers at an agent banking outlet.

    It can be operated in supermarkets, petrol stations, gas stations, stores, laundry shops, post offices, cybercafes and eateries, among others. As such, people are employed to provide an array of services.

    Agent banking has helped to improve access to financial services, as well as create jobs for people in places, such as Kenya.

    In its framework, the CBN described agent banking as a catalyst for growth because it has the potential to provide jobs.

    The CBN said outlets would be created nationwide for agent banking operations. It said rural areas, perceived by the conventional banks as unprofitable, would benefit through employment creation.

    Experts lauded the idea, saying it has potential of providing jobs for the people. They said about 200,000 jobs would be created in the first two years of the scheme’s implementation. More jobs, they said, would be created, if things work according to plans. Noting that Nigeria has an estimated 50,000 villages, they said each village would have at least two or three agent banks to provide financial services for people. They said no fewer than four people are required to work in each bank, adding that the figure would increase as the system becomes acceptable.

    According to them, agent banks are equipped with a combination of Point-of-Sale (PoS) card reader, mobile phone, barcode scanner to scan bills for bill payment transactions, Personal Identification Number (PIN) pads, and sometimes personal computers that connect with the bank’s server using a personal dial-up or other data connection that may be required.

    The scheme, they said, has provided opportunities for people to work as back-office operators, system programmers, credit application, verification officers and security.

    Speaking during the second retail banking series of Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA’s) in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Top Image, Ms Jennifer Barassa, said agent banking enables delivery of financial services at affordable costs across a wide range of income segments of the society, and provide opportunities for employment generation.

    Ms. Barassa, a mobile money transfer expert, said the idea would provide opportunities for middle-income earners.

    Citing Kenya, she said the system is a tool for jobs creation because it has helped in providing employment for people in other places.

    Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Money Africa,Mr Emmanuel Okwogale, said the strategy comprises concepts that can easily create jobs and further grow the economy.

    He said: “Be it mobile money banking, microfinance banking, or agent banking system, there is no limit to their employment generation capacity. Research has shown that each concept has the ability to improve banking penetration, and generate employment opportunities. Given the size of the Nigerian population, the system is going to provide a lot of jobs for people.”

    He said mobile and agent banking systems have different structures, adding that they achieve common goals of reducing the number of the unbanked population.

    Okwogale said last year CBN implemented mobile banking frameworks by licensing 16 firms to provide the service, adding that at the moment it is developing the guidelines for the implementation of the banking system. He said more job opportunities would be created, when agent banking starts in 2013.

    Okwogale said: “Agent banking operates through different outlets, such as supermarkets, cybercafes, petrol stations, laundry shops, among others. These outlets are going to be run by people. This implies that people would be employed to work in these outlets. When you look at Nigeria from the geographical point of view, you would observe that the country is large. This shows that agent banking has a lot of prospect for the unemployed.

    “Given the right policies and implementation procedures, agent banking, among other concepts, introduced to drive the financial inclusion strategy would create jobs for Nigerians.”

    When people are equipped with the right skills, they would work in any aspect of the industry, he added.

    A financial market analyst, Mr Dayo Adeosun, advised CBN to implement the guidelines on agent banking well, arguing that many policies have become a flash in the pan in Nigeria.

    He agreed that the idea has prospect to create jobs, urging the apex bank to implement it.

     

  • NDE trains 3,000 women, youths

    The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Akwa Ibom has begun the training of 3,000 women and youths under the Federal Government Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

    The state Coordinator of the directorate, Mrs Patience Osunkwo, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Uyo,the state capital.

    Osunkwo said that the Federal Government designed programme would create employment and reduce poverty among women and youths in the state.

    She said participants would be engaged in various skill training, rehabilitation works and community services, adding that each participant would be placed on a monthly stipend of N10, 000.

    “Akwa Ibom state has commenced the immediate implementation of the SURE-P programme of the Federal Government.

    “We have commenced the sensitisation in the 31 local government areas of the state to enable us recruit 3,000 women, youths and vulnerable persons into the community services under the SURE-P,’’ she said.

    She said that 30 per cent of the participants were reserved for women while 20 per cent was for persons physically challenged and the remaining 50 per cent reserved for youths.

    The coordinator gave assurance that the directorate would be fair in making sure that participants were drawn evenly from all the local government areas.

    Osunkwo also disclosed that the directorate had trained more than 2,500 youths and women on skills such as welding and fabrication, plumbing, catering, hairdressing, computer operation, and GSM, repairs among other.

    She advised the youths, women and vulnerable groups to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by Federal Government to acquire skills and become relevant in the society.

  • 5,000 patent medicine stores shut in Kano

    Over 5,000 patent medicine stores have been shut at the popular Abubakar Rimi Market in Sabon Gari, Kano.

    The move, it was learnt, was to protest the government’s December 31 deadline to quit the market for allegedly selling fake and counterfeit drugs.

    The government’s decision followed increasing drug abuse and addiction by the youths.

    This, it was learnt, has put the state among the highest with illicit drug use and consumption in the country.

    The Nation investigation showed that the Kano branch of the Nigerian Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED) took the decision to make the government rescind its decision and dialogue with the association to resolve the impasse.

    The government, it was learnt, may have been misinformed that members of the association sold fake and counterfeit drugs to the public at rock-bottom price.

    This informed the decision of the government to issue the December 31 deadline for the patent medicine sellers to quit the market without providing an alternative for their business.

    The Nation further discovered that the sudden closure of the medicine stores would not only affect Kano residents but also all the northern states that patronise the market, including government agencies.

    The patent medicine sellers noted that it would be better for the government to start an enquiry to test the drugs that are sold to the public in the market.

     

  • ABU graduates 800,000 students in 50 years

    Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria has graduated over 800,000 students since its inception about 50 years ago, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha said yesterday in Zaria.

    The univesity will today confer honourary doctoral degree on former military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida; former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; the Emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jabar Al-Sabah and the Iyalode of Lagos, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji. It will also unveil the ABU hall of fame among other activities.

    Speaking at the golden jubilee convocation ceremony, the Vice Chancellor said the figure included the 7,680 students which graduated on the occasion, with 21 of them obtaining first class degree in various disciplines.

    He said the performance of the graduating students was an improvement on the quantity and quality of graduates and an indication of a gradual, but inspiring return to excellence.

    He told the graduating students that in the last 50 years, ABU has in very difficult moments trained and produced graduates in a set of curricula which are based on the principles of learning for service.

    According to him, “we expect all our graduates to live, work and prosper on the basis of a solid character defined by humility, honesty, dedication, respect, tolerance, moderation and sacrifice for the sake of others and society.

    He noted that from training manpower for government, universities are now required to produce learned and skilful people for the open market and for self employment, pointing out that the days of assured employment are fast fading away while the dawn of creative employment of skills has just come.

    He assured that the current administration in the university will continue to partner with stakeholders to create a conducive atmosphere for learning, teaching and research so that knowledge production in the institution will be qualitatively higher and vastly useful to the beneficiaries and the society in which they live and work.

    Prof Mustapha noted that “since its inception about two and a half years ago, this university administration has been preoccupied with the creation of an enabling learning environment and the enhancement of municipal, recreational and medical services to staff and students as much as the limited resources permits.

    “It is worth remembering that we are celebrating ABU’s golden jubilee when the social, material, security and even spiritual situation in our dear country are in a precarious and explosive state.

    “In this type of situation, it is important to put in place a stable learning environment devoid of rancour, vanguardism and other disruptive tendencies.

    “Mindful of its enormous responsibility to create and nurture a secure intellectual climate, this administration has gone fairly far in instituting a student management system that is dynamic, responsive, but fairly depoliticised.”

    The Vice Chancellor announced that the institution has reviewed its curricula so that its products are better placed to operate within the emergent realities of the society.

  • Super Eagles to get $100, 000 each for AFCON victory

    Super Eagles to get $100, 000 each for AFCON victory

    Each Super Eagles player could earn as much as $100,000 should they win next year’s African Cup of Nations in South Africa, MTNFootball.com reports.

    “Incentives will not be the Super Eagles problem at the Nations Cup.

    “If they go all the way and win the competition, they will each take away about $95,000 and when you add that to their daily allowances of around $5,000, you will have about $100,000.

    “And the chief coach (Stephen Keshi) will get double this amount,” a top official told MTNFootball.com at the weekend.

    In the proposed budget for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, each Super Eagle player will earn $10,000 for a win in the first round, where they are drawn against defending champions Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

    This would translate to $30,000 each if they win all three first round matches, the same amount they also received when they qualified for the quarterfinal of the 2010 tournament in Angola.

    However in Angola, the bonus was a winner-take-all one in the sense that the players were paid $30,000 each for going past the first round rather than being paid per game.

    The team’s win bonus will then be reviewed upwards as they move up in the knockout stage of the biennial competition.

    Victory in the quarterfinal will fetch each player $15,000, while victory in the semi-final will see them $20,000-a-man richer.

    And should the Eagles clinch Nigeria’s third Nations Cup trophy inside the magnificent Soccer City in Johannesburg on February 10, each player will pocket a win bonus of $30,000.

    Each player to the Nations Cup in Angola two years ago earned about $80,000 when they placed third.

     

  • OAU to admit 10,000 more

    The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, has concluded plans to admit 10,000 students next year.

    The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said this at a retreat for management staff at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.

    He said the additional admission would be made possible through the new e-learning platform of the Distance Learning Centre, which has been developed to replace the face-to-face learning.

    According to him, the new e-learning is an upgrade of the current distance learning developed in partnership with the United States-based Venture Garden Group (VGG), which has developed the same learning platform for many universities in the US.

    Prof. Omole said the e-learning delivers contents on electronic medium with the minimal use of the Internet.

    Explaining the rationale behind the project, the VC said: “We decided on this because we realised that any university in the 21st Century must not only be innovative and forward-looking, but must adopt new technologies that can create opportunities for thousands that can not access university education.

    “Only about 20 per cent of those who write the University and Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are admitted yearly based on the available places. So we believe that this retreat is a good sensitisation for the top echelon of the university to make them to be aware of what our distance learning is doing. We began the programme in 2002. It was conceptualised as a result of the inability of some of our workers’ children to gain admission.

    “The new project will give us an expand base of the number of students we can accommodate. Over 70,000 candidates apply to OAU yearly, but we have capacity for about 5,000 students. We believe it should not be so in terms of giving opportunities to different categories of people. This will develop the existing distance learning programme by upgrading it to e-learning. Again, distance learning education is a way to the future. What is happening by and by is that the percentage of the people having face-to-face engagement in learning is dwindling. It is important for us to catch up, to reposition ourselves for the challenges of the future.”

    Omole said the workers are prepared for the task, adding that the university also has the technological base to support it.

    “We have confidence in the ability of our workers in partnership with the VGG. OAU is the most IT-compliant university in Nigeria. Our band is the biggest among the universities. We pioneered Internet use.

     

     

     

  • Cole fined £90,000 for Twitter outburst

    Cole fined £90,000 for Twitter outburst

    ASHLEY Cole has been fined £90,000 after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to his profane outburst on Twitter.

    The Chelsea and England full-back labelled the FA a ‘bunch of t***s’ on the social networking site after an independent regulatory commission of the governing body investigating the John Terry racial abuse case had cast doubt on Cole’s evidence.

    His comments were swiftly removed but the FA reacted quickly and charged Cole, who has requested a non-personal hearing, which will determine his punishment.

    A statement on the FA’s website read: ‘Chelsea’s Ashley Cole has been fined £90,000 after he admitted an FA charge in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.

    ‘Cole, who had requested a non-personal hearing, was also warned as to his future conduct.’

    Cole’s furious outburst was retweeted more than 19,000 times and provoked large condemnation from the footballing world.

  • O’tega Emerhor coughs out $250,000 for anniversary gift

    THE 25th wedding anniversary of former bank Chief, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and his wife, Rita may have come and gone . But the displayed of love and affection showed by the Group Chairman of Standard Alliance to his wife has continued to sent tongues wagging.

    The Delta State born businessman, we gathered gave his wife brand new Rolls Royce Phantom said to have cost the princely sum of $250,000. The couple no doubt proved to the all and sundry at the octane soiree that they are soul mates for life.

    Trendy, nothing in her trim physique suggests that she is a grandmother. Rita who is also the chief executive officer of Standard Alliance group, and a big player on the party scene in the days of yore until she limits her attendance of social functions after the birth of her twins some years ago after the lost their eldest son in an armed robbery incident in Lagos.

  • Advocates, opponents of N5,000 note

    Advocates, opponents of N5,000 note

    •Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo

    “The way Sanusi was fighting inflation by removing money from circulation was improper…, as this approach would kill production and affect small businesses negatively.”

    •Gen. Yakubu Gowon

    “The production of the N5,000 by the CBN will surely cause devaluation of the country’s naira.”

    •Alhaji Aliko Dangote

    “I think it is even to protect the economy. The cost of printing is not anything different from the amount they are using in printing any other note. It is the same cost.”

    • Information Minister Labaran Maku

    “I believe we should allow CBN to have leadership on this issue. This is not an opinion poll debate but a technical matter and the heated debate will not help in the management of our economy.”

    •Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

    “We are in an interesting country because my uncle or my father, who is our former Head of State, Gen. Obasanjo, you know he is a very successful farmer, but he is a very bad economist. He says that this higher denomination will cause inflation and improve hardship.

    “Gen. Obasanjo did N20, he did N100, N200, N500 and N1,000. He introduced higher denominations in Nigeria than any other head of state. He did a N100 note in 1999, he did N200 in 2000, he did N500 two years later and in that period inflation was coming down because it was accompanied by prudent fiscal and monetary policy.

    “For somebody (Obasanjo) who had done this to stand up and say introducing a higher denomination will cause inflation must be an empirical, most important determinant of inflation in our country given the number of notes he had printed.”

    • Managing Director, IRIS Consulting, Richard Obire

    “The policy may spur demand for wage increase. CBN is further devaluing the naira as there is a direct relationship between higher bank notes and devaluation.”

    •NLC Vice-President Issa Aremu

    “The policy would raise inflation and further pauperise the common man. It also contradicts CBN’s cash-less policy and raise corruption level in the country.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking Bassey Otu

    “This type of action is only taken where there is a major currency crisis and the CBN must be careful not to send a wrong signal to households or the domestic sector, or even the external economies that the Nigerian currency is valueless, which, I believe is definitely not and that for every unit of value, they need to carry a large quantity of cash.”

    •NBA President Okey Wali

    “The introduction of the N5,000 note should not be imposed on Nigerians.”

    •Atedo Peterside

    “Money is a store of value. All these thieves, rogues and vagabonds running around various states and all over the country when they steal money will want to keep it outside the banking system, so they need higher denomination notes.”

    •Hon. Jones Onyereri

    “The House would not support any policy that would further impoverish Nigerians.”