The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Development

  • Ikoyi Club partners NSF on grassroots development

    Ikoyi Club partners NSF on grassroots development

    THE squash section of the Ikoyi Club 1938 are planning a partnership programme with the Nigeria Squash Federation (NSF), as they organized a six-day competition which ends today.

    The competition is powered by Prime Atlantic, and started on Monday at the Ikoyi Club.

    About 65 participants registered for the competition, and they were categorised into groups A,B,C, and D. It also feature the ex-professionals, the women, and veteran categories.

    Speaking in a press conference staged to herald the competition, Chairman of the Squash section, Ikoyi Club, Tokunbo Ogundipe said the main focus of the section is to develop the sport from the grass root and discover budding talents.

    “Our facilities are in good condition, there’s much more interest among members of the section. We’ve also tried to reach out to the younger members of the section. The coaches are doing bit of small trainings and generally its having its impact on the game.

    “The Nigeria Squash Federation is in charge of squash in the country, ours is only within the club, so if we are to make any impart nationwide, more so now that squash has been approved for the Olympics.”

  • CIBN reassures on manpower development

    The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has reaffirmed its commitment to the development of manpower for the banking sector.

    President/Chairman of Council of the Institute, Segun Aina disclosed this during his address at the World Press conference to flag off activities marking the institute’s 50th Anniversary in Lagos.

    He noted that the institute has continued to fulfill the mandate for the promotion of practice of the banking profession in the country.

    Aina said that CIBN would continue to make strategic effort to support banking sector, regulatory authorities and stakeholders as they pursue reforms in the midst of constant changes in the global financial landscape.

    He stated that the Federal Government, state governments, National Assembly and other regulatory bodies rely on the institute for input into fiscal and monetary policies and related matters, adding that it had at various periods been called upon to serve in special committees of the government on financial matters such as Committees on Drugs and Other Financial Crimes; Nigeria Accounting Standards Board (now Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria); Money Laundering Committee; FSS 2020; National Productivity Board among others.

    On ethics and professionalism, Aina said that the institute serves as the Secretariat of Sub-Committees of the Bankers’ Committee, which has helped to reduce cases involving banks and their customers in the courts thereby promoting mutually beneficial relationship between both parties. “Since the establishment of the Sub-Committee in 2001, a total of 1,419 cases had been received out of which, 1,277 were amicably resolved, giving a success rate of about 90 per cent,” he said.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Anambra guber poll: CNPP shops for Obi’s successor …lauds governor on development

    Anambra guber poll: CNPP shops for Obi’s successor …lauds governor on development

    As Anambra State governorship election draws nearer, the state chapter of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has begun shopping for who will replace the incumbent governor, Mr. Peter Obi.

    The group, in a statement yesterday in Awka, hailed the achievements of Governor Obi in the state, adding that it would not allow anybody who will not follow his footsteps to emerge as governor in the state.

    The statement by the CNPP was signed by its new chairman and the state chairman of Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), Oby Okafor.

    The Nollywood actress, therefore, warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to manipulate voter register ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

    She said that the absence of a fresh and comprehensive voter register for Anambra State will yet be another plot to manipulate the electoral process.

    Okafor, said that CNPP would screen the candidates of each of the political parties, to know those who are qualified and capable of giving Anambra good leadership like Obi.

    “We in CNPP will not take it kindly to the use of the old voter register by INEC to conduct the 2013 governorship election in Anambra State to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2010,” she said.

    Okafor further said that the body was now working as a united family unlike before when all manners of people hijacked CNPP in Anambra, thereby ridiculing the association.

    “Obi has tried his best for the people of the state and therefore we want anybody who will take over from him to continue from where he will stop.”

     

  • ‘Lending to SMEs key to growth, development’

    A group, Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), said improvement in lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is key to boosting economic growth and development.

    Its President, Prince Saviour Iche, said access to finance remains a key challenge to SMEs and a stumbling block to recovery.

    He said banks and financial institutions are yet to tap into the huge market potential of SMEs’ financing.

    Iche, who spokein Lagos, last week, said although many financial institutions are said to have targeted the SMEs segment, the group was yet to feel the impact.

    He said SMEs lending needs to be driven like any retail product and that the number of bank branches suggests that there is a strong distribution of infrastructure in place.

    He said there is an untapped market for SMEs lending and that bridging the huge funding gap in the small business sector, would aid growth and development of this sector.

    He said SMEs requesting loans faced higher interest rates. Credit conditions continued to be tougher for SMEs as small businesses faced shortened maturities and increased demands for collateral.

    According to him, the business environment continues to be a challenge for SMEs. He explained that SMEs and entrepreneurs are crucial for tracing new paths to more sustainable and growth, adding that their role in developing and diffusing innovation and providing employment. However, they can only fulfil this role if they obtain the finance necessary to start and grow their businesses.

    He said there should be adequate funding for small businesses planning to expand into emerging markets.

    He said there are opportunities for small firms to be involved in international trade and that they lack funding to maximise these opportunities.

    He said SMEs were still being turned down for lending, and that those that get approved said the terms were often prohibitive.

    He said small and medium-sized enterprises account for a significant part of the working population.

    He explained that small firms are employing more Nigerians than large enterprises, and so specific policies are required to improve the situation among SMEs.

    According to him, the higher chance of enterprise growth,the greater the opportunities for job opportunities. He said measures should be put in place to improve the chances of SMEs employing more Nigerians.

  • CEOs and development (2)

    CEOs and development (2)

    In the quest for a society of high probity, Nigerians have either turned a blind eye or have fallen prey to institutional ignorance about the connection between the political elite, the business class and government bureaucracies on the one hand, and the banking elite on the other.

    Unless we x-ray this maggoty part of our national narrative on corruption and attack it, we shall remain a nation of hypocrites. Since the dawn of this republic in 1999, the Federal Government has lofted as priority the significance of installing the rule of law. The idea is to trim our excesses as a people of impunity and establish discipline as a national habit.

    The establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) became the signpost of this grand ambition. But since then, we have seen appearances of gravity in this battle. Many big names among the political elite have been charged with fraud, whether as governors or as ministers. The news initially generates a lot of excitement, but after a few months, the story fizzles into stagnation in the courts. They crawl through several adjournments. Eventually they die in public either on the altar of technicalities or over the frivolity of plea bargains.

    We are also not unaware that some of the cases thrived on political blackmail as the government of the day deployed the war on corruption as revenge or intimidation. We still have that today.

    In the early days of the EFCC when the war on corruption swung about in a berth of innocence, the anti-corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu, swaggered on the image akin to a rock star. He had a messianic glow, even dwarfing any other national figure, including clerics, in moral grandeur. The arrest and conviction of an inspector-general of police helped to seal the public perception. We were ready to abide the contradiction that a supposedly thieving elite had institutionalised a mole in their midst to expose and root them out. It appeared in the form of a classic class suicide.

    In spite of all that, the Ribadu regime enjoyed declining, though acceptable, levels of public praise that ached with doubts and scrutiny. It was a measure of the political elite coming to terms with its own moral perfidy. It coalesced forces in the early days of the regime of former President Umaru Yar’Adua to oust Ribadu. The result has been a craven warfare with battles that came across less as blows than as handshakes between government institutions and the accused.

    We have had a few of such narratives in the country, but the glue between the political elite and the business class and bureaucracies has been the chief executive officers of the banks. As we noted in the first part of this editorial, tons of money are moved in the bank vaults from one place to the other, and such heavy lifting is not possible without the knowledge and – or connivance – of the bank executives.

    We know the case of now pardoned former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha, who was not only convicted but served a term in prison. We know of the case of former Delta State Governor James Ibori who is now serving his term in a British jail. We know of the plea bargain that former Edo State Governor, Lucky Igbinedion, secured after a sustained hullaballoo died as though it never sounded in the first place. We have had smaller “sins” belonging to less decorated or flamboyant men of that class.

    Hardly were the complicities of the banks delineated in these heinous endeavours. The charges against the chief executives involved billions of Naira and we can only lie to ourselves as a people if we deny that such tremendous money flows transpire out of the ken of the bank elite. If the banks know about this, why do the bank officers involved not come up for questioning? Why are they not prosecuted?

    We do not want to accept that the bank officers were used as informers. The offenders do not have the capacities to move money in the banks because they are not bankers. They need co-conspirators, partners in felony.

    We have also had many former governors that have been prosecuted, like in Ogun State with Gbenga Daniel, or Oyo State with Adebayo Alao-Akala, but the bank CEOs were not named in the suits.

    The bureaucracy suffers the same fate. The pension scandal still rankles the nation’s skin today. Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, who is now at large, could not have tinkered with the money of the lifetime perspirations of hardworking Nigerians without the role of the bank management.

    There are many of such stories. If we say we want to follow due process, we must apply the same logic in investigating fraud and malfeasance in government. The EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) cannot dig out the scum of financial crimes without encountering the bank officers and their roles along the way. Again, such monies cannot move without catching the eyes of the CEOs unless they are incompetent and they lack requisite vigilance for their offices.

    News reports have swarmed the media about the cosy relationships between the political elite and the business elite. Reports also have it about how governors, ministers, even local government chairmen connive with banks to stay payments, including contract money and salaries in order to generate interest. The relationship between politicians and banks is inevitable, but it ought to be regulated. The story is also rife that the business elite serve as fronts for political elite, and it is in that context that we must locate the invisibility of the bank CEOs in the story of political fraud.

    We have not reached the stage where we can hold political operatives to account on the money spent on elections and other campaigns. But if we take seriously the war on corruption, we must unleash our searchlights not only on the obvious suspects but also their subterranean backers.

    Unless we do that, we make trifle the war on corruption. We will continue to clutch at straws. We will accuse and not convict and that becomes a vicious cycle that hardly addresses the issue.

    It is an irony that an anti-democratic regime under General Sani Abacha hounded down errant bank chiefs. Also ironic is that the democratic dispensation under Obasanjo pruned the banks for their inefficiencies and corruption. Yet the bank chiefs enjoyed immunity while he hunted corrupt politicians over billions of Naira.

    The political elite govern this country, and if they are not above board, we need to create a rubric to hold them in check. If we fail in that regard, we mock ourselves when we yell to the world about the war on corruption.

    The consequence is immeasurable. We shall have contracts awarded but siphoned away with the help of the CEOs. Roads will not be constructed, school supplies will suffer neglect, hospitals will churn out the dead and not the living, etc. We shall run a country for ruin. If politicians are the source, the banks and their CEOs are the glue. We need to initiate the divorce and free taxpayers ‘money to lift the lives of our people.

  • Banks and development

    Banks and development

    LESS than four years after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s axe fell, wiping in one fell swoop, the careers of dozens of top bankers, opinions expectedly remain divided on the overall impact of the exercise on the industry. At the heart of the debate is whether appropriate lessons have been learnt, given the N3 trillion cost of the clean-up. This amount includes the initial N620 billion injected to bail out the initial eight banks, the N1.725 trillion spent by the Asset Management Corporation, (AMCON) to acquire the non-performing loans of banks, and the N679 billion also expended to recapitalise the three Bridge Banks.

    Today, financial stability has no doubt returned to the industry just as the path of profitability seems pretty assured. Naturally, there are those who would argue that the outlandish figures of banks profitability being declared mean nothing in an economy where poverty and unemployment rule, and where the phenomenon of de-industrialisation is a grim, distressing reality. While the point is unquestionably a valid one, it merely highlights the yawning gap between what is expected of the banks as catalyst to the economy and what it is doing at the moment. There can be no questioning the fact that the banks have a long way to go.

    The rosy picture of an industry on steady growth path is however a partial one. The humongous cost of the bailout aside, the real sector remains ill-served both in terms of access to credit and cost of funds – about four years after. Credit, the lifeblood of business remains a sticky issue. Where available, it is only to a few privileged class; not necessarily those who need them the most, at least, not the small and the medium scale industries that have impossible requirements to contend with. And then of course is the prohibitive cost – the result of which our traditionally non-competitive firms are rendered even more so.

    We wish we could vouchsafe that the factors which precipitated the crisis are no longer with us. We refer to the problems of fraud, corruption and mismanagement in the environment of poor corporate governance culture and ineffectual leadership. These were to manifest in sundry abuses of credit guidelines, the jettisoning of the extant industry’s financial controls, and in extreme cases, outright theft of depositors’ funds.

    We recall the once upon a time when bank executives took heavy bets with depositors’ funds; when they lived large and chased after luxuries that money can buy at a time the real economy headed south; when bumper profits, which rather than reflect the grim actually reflected the creative book-keeping of the era, were cited as proof of financial soundness. We wish we could state that these belonged in the past; the truth however is that it is far from being the case. The men who ravaged the industry and brought it to near ruin are very much around still; those who took bad credit decisions for personal gains are walking in freedom; their accomplices – the chronic, pathological debtors whose portfolio debts nearly took the economy down have since gone back to business despite the so-called naming and shaming of barely four years ago.

    Several cases on the matter presently linger in various courts for want of diligent prosecution. As for those convicted of grievous economic crimes, they have since been asked to go and sin no more. The atmosphere of impunity has all but returned – sadly a few years after the last crisis. A variant of the same malignancy of institutional corruption which although has been with us, has not only gone full bloom, it has since metastasised. In its more serious form, it comes in the billions of public funds misappropriated, stolen and laundered by officials through banks’ vaults. A most recent example is the alleged scam in the police pension’s office running into hundreds of billions of naira. We have also seen milder forms of the same malfeasance in the countless reported cases of officials putting funds meant for paying salaries and other emoluments of workers in interest-bearing accounts for private gain. Yet another example is the phenomenon of ghost workers that has come to characterise the public service.

    To cite a specific example – a recent staff audit involving 153,019 Federal Government employees. The exercise reportedly yielded 45,000 ghost workers said to involve a net loss of N100 billion to the treasury. Who collected the money? Of course, the ghosts were not paid through the relevant ministries’ cash offices but through the banks. Whatever happened to the Know Your Customer (KYC) rule which requires banks to keep basic data of their customers?So pervasive is the menace that nearly all the states have at one time or the other reported ‘shock finds’ of ghosts in their work force. The verification in Bayelsa State for instance, is said to have yielded a net saving of N2.5 billion in the wage bill – from N6 billion to N3.5billion in one year. That of Rivers is said to have yielded 8,000 ghosts; Delta 7,000; and Kebbi 9, 300. If the amounts involved are mind-boggling; the frequency is even more benumbing. Their prevalence raises questions on the efficacy of existing financial intelligence regulations and the willingness of bank executives to comply with them. And if we may add that these workers are ghosts only to the extent that the top officials prefer to make the individuals unknown, and to the extent that the officials of the banks through which these payments are made would shield them for their pecuniary benefits.

    The point here is that banks have a huge role to play in providing muscle without which the economy will not lift. They have stayed far too long in their comfort zones of conservatism when their creative interventions are sorely required. They need to address the issue of access to credit by the small and medium scale industry; ditto the issue of prohibitive cost of lending. It is high time the bankers committee did something about the high cost of funds.

    We believe that the banks have a big role to play in fighting corruption. We do not think that the banks have done enough to assist the anti-graft bodies to fight the menace neither have they done enough to purge their ranks of same. Rather than new regulations, we believe that existing regulations, scrupulously observed, will go a long way to tame the scourge. It seems about time also the CBN made good its threat of zero tolerance for violations of financial regulations.

  • Research key to e-payment development, says expert

    The rapid growth of electronic payment across the continent is driven by innovative products occasioned by huge investments in research and development, Managing Consultant Intermac Consulting, Mr Adeyinka Adeyemi, has said.

    Speaking at the maiden edition of the Card and e-Payment Africa Awards (CePAA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Intermac boss said: “There is just nobody noticing the huge investments going into research and development to bring about new technologies and new solutions. Sometimes these solutions succeed, sometimes they fail and when they fail what most stakeholders tend to do is go back to the drawing board, spending double and sometimes triple until they get to the market.

    “Now once they get to the market with a fantastic product like Mpesa for instance, nobody recognises that effort, even though they are making money, they are selling services and we believe that we must come to terms with the fact that there are people that are doing a lot of work to get the products to the shelves, to get technologies that will work to the table and to the shelves. And that is why we came up with the concept of Cards and E-payment Africa Awards (CePAA).”

    Corroborating Adeyemi, Charlton Goredema, the Vice President and Area Business Head for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands of Mastercard Worldwide, while receiving the award for Best Security and Authentication Programme, said card use and acceptance in Africa has become phenomenal, especially given the volume and value of transactions recorded daily for ecommerce.

    He said the financial institutions and payment system providers who are making this convenience and security happen should be recognised for their efforts and investment in innovative products and services.

    The event featured 12 categories of awards with Diamond Bank, and the Congo subsidiary of Access Bank, emerging among the winners. Diamond Bank won the Best Credit Card Product of the Year and the Best Co-branded Card Programme while Access Bank Congo won the Best Debit Card Product of the Year award.

    The Best Mobile Payment Product award was won by Fundamo (PTY) South Africa, while DrawCard, South Africa won the Best Alternative Payments Programme award. Master Card emerged as the winner of the Best Security and Authentication Programme, while the Best Card Benefits Programme of the Year award went to Absa Bank of South Africa. Other awards were:  Best Card Processor of the Year won by HPS Worldwide, Morocco; Best POS Integrator of the Year won by Transaction Payment System (TPS) Zimbabwe; and Industry Personality of the Year won by Mr. Jose G. Matos, Chief Executive Officer, Emis Angola.

    Speaking while receiving the Personality of the Year award,   Jose de Matos, Managing Director of Empresa Interbancaria de Servicos (EMIS), commended Intermarc Consulting for its leadership, passion and commitment in organising the award.

    Receiving the Best Card Benefit Programme of the Year award on behalf of Absa Bank South Africa, Juanita Matelakengisa, the Chief of Staff – Card and Consumer Finance, noted that since  similar awards are being held in Europe, Asia and America for those continents,  developments in the card space across Africa need to be recognised and success stories celebrated.

    On his part, Lincoln Boweni, a Director with eTranzact Global South Africa (Pty) Limited, who received the Best Mobile Payment Initiative of the Year for his company, praised the organisers for a successful event and encouraged key stakeholders in the epayment industry across Africa to  celebrate success stories as the African electronic transaction industry has come of age.

    The Executive Director, Diamond Bank Nigeria Plc, Uzoma Dozie, while receiving the Best Credit Card Product of the Year and Best Co-Branded Card Product of the Year, said Diamond Bank was happy to receive the awards, which will further encourage the bank to focus on providing excellent customer experience across electronic channels.

    The 12 award winners emerged through an online voting system on the Card and ePayment Africa Awards website. The voting was supervised by a panel of Judges comprising   six industry experts from the card and epayment sector across Africa with experience within the industry brought together for the selection of winners.

    Adeyemi explained, “The aim of the Award is to recognise and reward excellence and cutting –edge innovation in the card and electronic payment market in Africa.  This is the trend in Europe where Cards Awards (Europe) is hosted annually in London and in Asia, where Card Awards Asia is hosted annually.

    “Unlike other parts of the world where such companies are recognized for their R and D roles, and turning out new innovations; in Africa we don’t do that. So we said to ourselves, we can change all of that in Africa and do even better what the stakeholders are doing in Europe, the US and Asia.

    “The first one was held at the prestigious Michelangelo hotel in Johannesburg on the thirteenth of March and it was a huge success. Because we had people from Ghana, from South Africa, from Congo, from Zimbabwe, all over Africa, attending that event and everybody had the same thing to say with the need to support this initiative because we need to recognize achievements, and that essentially is the vision of INTERMAC consulting by putting this award together.”

     

  • Obasanjo: dearth of good leaders, bane of development

    Obasanjo: dearth of good leaders, bane of development

    ... Express shock over graduate – drivers in Nigeria

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said he was shocked when told sometime ago by the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, that six PhD holders and hundreds of masters degree holders applied for truck drivers positions in his company.

    In Obasanjo’s estimation, the incident resulted from the problems of job creation, wealth creation, among other challenges facing the country.

    Not a few Nigerians were disturbed and scandalised  last year by newspaper reports that six  Phd holders and over 600 masters degree holders, aside first degree holders, applied as truck drivers to Dangote Group of Companies.

    But yesterday, the former Chairman Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, during African Regional Inter- collegiate Debate on Human Security at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), said dearth of good leaders is the bane of development in Nigeria.

    The debate drew participants from some secondary schools within Nigeria and Cotonou, Republic of Benin and undergraduate students from the nation’s universities, including University of Lagos and Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State.

    Obasanjo noted that there are many Nigerians but not many leaders and said efforts should be made to change the situation.

    He said: “In Nigeria, with due respect, there are not many good leaders in Nigeria; we have many Nigerians and not good leaders in Nigeria which can be extended to Africa and leadership problem is something we have to correct because we can not continue the way it is.

    “We have problems of job creation, employment generation and wealth creation, it doesn’t matter who emerges as winner of the debate, to me all aspects of education must be embraced.”

    He said the yoke of poverty can only be broken from a people if they are educated to check the scourge from spreading to succeeding generations.

    Obasanjo said :”if you want to break the irk of poverty, education is the instrument to do that. Yorubas say three generations don’t go into chronic poverty. The future belongs to the youth because nobody can help Africa than we Africans.

    “I must confess that when the idea of the debate was mentioned to me, I did not know it will be inspiring and interesting. What I saw today is beyond my expectation and what we’ve achieved today, we should build on it.”

     

  • Munroe to leaders: promote youth development

    Munroe to leaders: promote youth development

    •Empowerment magazine launched in Lagos

    NIGERIAN leaders at the weekend got a food for thought. Motivational speaker Dr. Myles Munroe urged them to promote youth development because they are the future.

    Munroe told his audience at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos that a leader is deemed to have left a good legacy only when he successfully transferred his deposit of knowledge to younger generations.

    It was at the graduation of leadership trainees and the launch of Strategy for Mentoring Initiative and Leadership Empowerment (SMILE) connect magazine.

    The Motivational speaker urged leaders to think more about the next generation than themselves.

    In his lecture entitled: “Youth empowerment: A catalyst for change”, Munroe said most leaders in the developing countries do not transfer their knowledge, describing it as unfortunate that many leaders die with their dreams without leaving successors to actualise them.

    He added that a leader’s legacy and achievement should be gauged by the success of his successors.

    “Success without a successor is a failure,” Munroe said, likening true leadership to a marathon relay race run with a perfect exchange of the baton.

    On the act of true leaders, Munroe said, they should identify their replacement and begin to mentor them.

    He said: “Leadership is what happens in our absence because when you are present to do everything, you are less a leader.”

    Munroe identified one of the greatest untapped resources in life as youthful years, saying they were wasted by the old because they minimised their value and ability.

    He described as a misconception by the elderly to think that youths cannot be effective, useful, credible, capable and valuable.

    He said youths, if discovered and developed can be useful as agents of change.

    Munroe said the thought that youths will fail is mostly the cause of the problems they experience in the society.

    “You are always what you are born to be,” he said.

    SMILE’s President Mrs Adebimpe Bangbose-Martins, urged the government to focus on youth development to bring about meaningful progress and change in the society.

    She advised the governments at the three tiers to formulate more polices for youths and provide funds to ensure they are self-sufficient.

    Mrs Bamgbose-Martins traced the prevalence of misguided youths to disintegration of the family unit, advent of absentee parents and dearth of mentors.

    According to her, many of the unruly youths are the products of technology and their peers.

    Mrs Bangbose-Martins said a lot must be done to reduce youth unemployment, poverty, low self-esteem and lack of direction among others.

    She said nation-building and creating a lasting legacy lie in the hands of the leaders.

    Urging leaders to take youth empowerment seriously, SMILE president noted that the youth deserves better living standards.

    Her words: “Let us come together as leaders from the public and private sector and make commitment to the implementation of youth empowerment in the country. Let us build Public -Private Partnership (PPP), forge collaborations and pull resources together to promote education, training and job creation, among others, to enrich the youths.”

    Among dignitaries at the event were Lagos State Governor’s wife Dame Abimbola Fashola, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who is a member of SMILE Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora and Education Commissioner Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye.

     

  • Elite club urges community development

    The Oyo Chapter of the National Association of Saki Elite has called on indigenous people of the community, as well as the government to help develop the town.

    President of the association, Alhaji Taiwo Olawoyin, made the call at its annual meeting in Oyo.

    Olawoyin said that the development of the town, which is located in the northern part of Oyo State, is a collective responsibility of the government and all indigenous people.

    He also called for the upgrade of the Saki satellite campus of The Polytechnic, Ibadan to a fully-fledged polytechnic in accordance with the report of the visitation panel on establishment of the proposed Oyo State Technical University.

    Olawoyin and Dr. Folake Samuel of the Department of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan who delivered a lecture on the occasion, stressed the need for rural and urban communities to serve as the nucleus of human development.

    Dr Samuel spoke on the topic: “Pathways to Optimal Nutrition.”

    According to them, this generation needs to return to the core African culture neighbours serve as their brother’s keepers.

    Alhaji Olawoyin thanked God for helping members of the association in various ways in 2012 and lauded members’ commitment to the association.

    Also speaking on the occasion, former National President, Association of Saki Parapo, an umbrella body of all indigenes and affiliated associations at home and abroad, Alhaji Raimi Akande, acknowledged contributions of Saki elite  towards the development of the town.