The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Director

  • Fidelity Bank appoints Seni Adetu as director

    Fidelity Bank appoints Seni Adetu as director

    Fidelity Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Chief Seni Adetu, as an Independent non-executive director.

    Adetu, the immediate past Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria Plc, brings to the bank’s board, 30 years of quality private sector experience, having worked at the highest levels with John Holt Plc, Coca-Cola International and Diageo/Guinness Plc in various countries within and outside Africa.

    He was at various times Managing Director of Coca-Cola, English West Africa based in Ghana (2001); the first African Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman of Guinness Ghana Plc (2006), Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Diageo East Africa based in Kenya (2009) and until December 2014, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc and Executive Chairman, Diageo Brands Nigeria.

    Adetu has considerable expertise in commercial, financial and governance best practices, gained from his experience with Diageo in the United Kingdom (UK) and leadership development programmes with Coca-Cola in the United State (US). A great marketer, renowned for championing innovation in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, Adetu was named Runner up Forbes/CNBC Business Leader/CEO of the Year 2012 in East Africa.

    Founder/Group CEO of First Primus W.A. Limited, an upscale Integrated Marketing Communications company, Adetu is a leadership coach and facilitates the chief executive programme of the Lagos Business School. He is a Chemical Engineering graduate and an MBA holder (with specialisation in Marketing), both from the University of Lagos. He is married with children.

  •  “Brexit” will affect Diaspora remittances to Nigeria- Don

     “Brexit” will affect Diaspora remittances to Nigeria- Don

    Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) will cause a contraction of the Diaspora remittances from Britain, a don, Prof. Isaac Albert, said on Monday.

    Albert, the Director, Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, made the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the impact of Brexit.

    Brexit is the exit of Britain from the EU on June 23 through a referendum.

    He noted that Britain hosted many Nigerians and a contraction of its economy would discourage Nigerians from travelling there.

    “We have a very large Diaspora population in the U.K; with Brexit, I see the British economy contracting.

    “As the British economy becomes affected negatively by their exit from the EU, fewer Nigerians will be willing to travel to Britain,” Albert said.

    The don expressed optimism that Britain would get over the present challenges sooner than later, but noted that it might exploit countries with close ties to it on its way to recovery.

    On the political dimension to the Brexit, Albert said that Britain opted out from the EU because it felt it did not have much to gain from it.

    He, however, said that it was contradictory for Britain to respect the rights and wishes of its citizens in pulling out from the EU, since it stood in the way of other groups in Nigeria in their quest for self-determination.

    While noting that as a scholar, he had never been an advocate for secession, Albert said that it was a universally accepted principle that if a group of people wanted to be on their own, they should be allowed to do so.

    He urged the leadership of Britain to be more altruistic and sincere in superintending over the wishes of people of other nationalities in their quest for self-determination.

    NAN recalls that the British people had voted to pull out of the EU, a decision that prompted the Prime Minister, David Cameron’s decision to resign.

    Brexit had also affected global stocks negatively as seen by a contraction in most developed and emerging economies, especially in Asia.

    At the parallel market segment of the market, traders were confused as to the price they could place on the British Pound Sterling as uncertainties stared them in the face at the outcome of the referendum.

  • ‎Synagogue: Collapsed building not caused by aircraft- witness

    ‎Synagogue: Collapsed building not caused by aircraft- witness

    A Lagos High Court sitting in ikeja heard yesterday that there was no truth in the report that the collapsed guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was caused by radiation from a plane that flew over it.

    A former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development‎ in Lagos state, Mr Olutoyin Ayinde, made this assertion yesterday during the continuation of his evidence in the matter.

    Ayinde told the court presided by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo that contrary to  claims of the church, evidences at his diaposal suggested otherwise.

    The ‎ former Commissioner who was being led in evidence by the Director, Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP),Mrs. Idowu Alakija stated that he visited the site of the collapsed building with former Governor Babatunde Fashola alongside two General Managers of the agencies under his ministry.

    He said that during their visit to the site of the building collapse, the General Overseer of the church gave them a CCTV  recording of an aircraft hovering over the building shortly before it’s collapse.

    He added: “My office wrote to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority  (NCAA) seeking advice on the CCTV recording we received.

    “ We got the flight corridor and coordinates as well as a report from the NCAA which showed that the distance between the aircraft and the top of the building is between  137 and 288 meters.

    “We found that the aircraft were not flying directly over the building, Ayinde said.”

    The former Commissioner explained that the least distance from the top of the building to the nearest aircraft was 137 meters which he said is the equivalent of four  buildings, like NITEL building,  placed on top of each other.

    He also explained that evidence was collected from the site during his visit with Fashola.

    “We took pictures of the site as well as did a video recording of the visit of the delegation to the site, he said.”

    At this stage, the DPP, Mrs. Alakija, sought to tender the documents mentioned by Ayinde as evidence to the court.

    “My Lord, we seek to tender the application for building approval for the Synagogue Church auditorium, letter from the NCAA, flight path coordinates, the survey of the collapsed building as well as pictures as evidence, the prosecutor said.”

    The defence led by Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) who is also representing the trustees of the church objected to the tendering of the documents.

    Fagbemi said they oppose the admission of the documents because they were just being served as additional proof of evidence by the prosecution.

    ”We need to have previous knowledge of what is in those documents to enable us confer with our clients”, he said.

    Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, told the  counsel to come up with dates for adjournment to enable them examine the documents.

    The lawyers, however, could not agree on a date for adjournment and the judge had to impose a date on them.

    After waiting for some time, the trial judge ruled on the counsels and fix fresh dated for hearing.

    “I waited patiently for counsel to come up with a date but they couldn’t, I have no choice but to impose these dates on counsel.

    “This case is adjourned to June 27, 28 and 29 for continuation of trial, Akapo said.”

    ‎The trustees of the church, two engineers,Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited are facing trial for the September 12, 2014 collapsed guest house.

    The state government has filed 111 charges bordering on criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain building permit were brought against the defendants.

  • Military scraps JTF, replaces outfit with ODS

    Military scraps JTF, replaces outfit with ODS

    The Defence Headquarters has scrapped the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield (OPS) in the Niger Delta region.

    The outfit according to a statement signed by the acting Director, Defence Information, Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, has been replaced with Operation Delta Safe (ODS).

    This is the second time the outfit domiciled in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, will undergo reforms and change of name.

    The force which was formed before the Federal Government granted amnesty to ex-militants in the region was then known as Operation Restore Hope (ORS).

    But following the amnesty programme, it was reorganized with a new mandate to protect oil installations under a codename, Operation Pulo (oil) Shield (OPS).

    With the renew militancy and economic terrorism in the region by various militant groups led by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), it was learnt that the Defence Headquarters reformed, refocused and renamed the outfit ODS.

    The statement by Abubakar said: “The OPERATION PULO SHIELD in Niger Delta has been scrapped with immediate effect and replaced with OPERATION DELTA SAFE.

    “This is in line with the Defence Headquarters initiative to restructure the Joint Task Force for better service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness in line with the vision and mission of the Chief of Defence Staff to contain the current security challenges in the Niger Delta especially protection of critical national assets and provision of security in the area.

    “Under this arrangement, the Joint Operational Areas of the new outfit have been delineated into 3 sectors and 5 Operational Bases covering the entire Niger Delta, Ondo and Akwa Ibom States.  The Headquarters of OPERATION DELTA SAFE would be in Yenagoa.

    “This development, according to Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin becomes expedient in order to inject new tactics and robust operational initiative to tackle the emerging security challenges in the Niger Delta region such as piracy, bunkering, vandalism and other criminalities prevalent in the area”.

     

  • CBN, banks brainstorm on solution to mass sacking

    CBN, banks brainstorm on solution to mass sacking

    The Bankers’ Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday gave assurance that the rate of mass sacking in banks would be reduced within the shortest time possible.

    The committee stated this at the end of its 327th meeting at the headquarters of the CBN in Abuja

    The Managing Director,Standard Chartered Bank,Mrs Bola Adelola, said the mass sacking in the sector was discussed at the meeting.

    Other members of the committee present at the briefing were the Director, Banking Supervision, CBN,Mrs Tokunbo Martins; Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc, Mr Phillips Odouza and Managing Director, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc,Mr Emeka Emuwa.

    She said that while the banks understood the economic situation in the country, there would always be reasons for workers to be relieved of their jobs.

    “On the recent news item on retrenchment, we also discussed it and obviously banks understand the implications of people not being in employment. We know what the situation is like in the country.

    “Thus we are looking at ways of ensuring that we minimise many exit from our institutions. There will always be exit as you know because there is fraud and so on and so forth.

    “So we have noted the market sentiments and I am sure that going forward it will be different,” she said.

    Adesola said that the framework for a National Collateral Registry was almost ready and when released, it would facilitate the easy access of loans by bank customers.

    She said based on the guidelines, those seeking loans from banks could use movable assets such as vehicles, fridges, and other home appliances as collaterals.

    “You are all aware that the Central Bank of Nigeria is developing a National Collateral Registry. I am pleased to say that they have put the framework in place and the technology.

    “They have begun to engage stakeholders and we should expect a role out of the collateral registry being available to banks to register movable assets that they lend against.a policy statement will be issued shortly.

    And we expect that that will make more robust the banks’ credit process in lending to customers against movable asset,” she said.

    Meanwhile the Director, Banking Supervision, CBN, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, speaking on financial inclusion strategy, said the rate of Nigerians that were financially included in the financial sector had risen to 60.5 per cent.

    She said the committee planned to ensure that an additional six million people were captured into the financial system before the end of this year.

    “As at today, we have a financial inclusion rate of 60.5 per cent, and you will recall that the target is that by 2020 we should have 80 per cent of the population included.

    “So the CBN has agreed targets with the commercial banks and also microfinance banks and by the end of this year, we hope to increase the inclusion rate by eight per cent.

    “Strategies and milestones have already been mapped out to achieve that target at the end of the year,” she said.

    Also, the Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc, Mr Phillips Odouza, said the reason for the delay in releasing the framework for the new flexible foreign exchange policy was to ensure more inputs from stakeholders.

    He said as a result of the huge challenge which the country had experienced in the past in managing foreign exchange, there was need for CBN to consult widely, to come up with a robust foreign exchange management framework.

    He warned those involved in currency speculation to desist from such practice. He said once the guidelines were finally released, currency speculators would regret their actions.

    “We also discussed the framework for flexible exchange rate. As you know, the Central Bank has been working on this for sometime. A lot of input has been received.

    “As you know, some other jurisdictions have also implemented the flexible exchange rate model and some of them have done very well and the others are still fine tuning what they have done.

    “In the case of Nigeria, we want to make sure that we come up with a model that is very robust and very comprehensive that will be able to address the major exchange rate issues that we are dealing with.

    “To this extent, we have gotten a lot of input from various stakeholders and these inputs are being distilled with a view of getting a robust flexible exchange rate model.

    “I believe that in a very short while, the exchange rate will be ready. And once this happens, it is going to be made public.And we will adopt it and start working with it immediately,” he said.

  • Afrinvest appoints new chairman, director

    Afrinvest appoints new chairman, director

    Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, has announced the appointment of Dr. Fidelis Nde-Che as the new Chairman of its Board of Directors while Dr. Abdulrahman Sambo has been named a director of the company.

    In a statement,  its Group Managing Director/CEO Ike Chioke, said, “we are pleased to announce that Dr. Fidelis Nde-Che has been appointed Chairman of the Afrinvest Board of Directors, following the resignation of our erstwhile Chairman, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

    “Obaseki, who founded the company in 1995 as Securities Transactions & Trust Company  before it was renamed Afrinvest in 2006, resigned his position on the Afrinvest board to pursue his governorship ambition in Edo State. We, at Afrinvest, are truly grateful for the visionary leadership he provided to the firm for over 20 years, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavour.”

    Chioke noted, “Dr. Nde-Che and Dr. Sambo bring with them a wealth of experience to the Afrinvest board. Their sterling reputation and invaluable input on the board will help ensure that Afrinvest maintains its tradition of integrity and service excellence, and significantly boost output in all areas of the company’s business to the benefit of our esteemed clients.”

    Dr. Fidelis Ndeh-Che is the Founder and Managing Partner of Quanteq Technology Services, Ltd, an Information Technology Consulting and Systems Integration firm based in Abuja. He graduated from the City University London, UK with a first class honors degree in Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering in 1992 and went on to obtain his PhD in the same area at the same university in 1996.

  • WCWDT: MTN Foundation thanks nominators, launches Phase 2

    WCWDT: MTN Foundation thanks nominators, launches Phase 2

    It was a night of glamour as the MTN Foundation held a special event to appreciate and honour 200 nominators, who recommended their communities for intervention projects in the Phase 1 of the What Can We Do Together (WCWDT) initiative.

    Well-attended by distinguish members of the Nigerian National Assembly led by the Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Hon. Fijabi Saheed Akinade, the event marked the end of the project’s Phase 1 and the launch of Phase 2.

    In the Phase 1, 200 projects were successfully delivered in 200 communities across 200 Local Government Areas in the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The projects focused on four major areas which were: electricity transformer, bore-hole, school furniture and household item donations to select orphanages.

    For the What Can We Do Together Phase 2, the focus is on: electricity transformer, bore-hole, school furniture and medical supply donations to community health care centres. Nominations for this phase commenced on May 12, 2016 and will run till June 1, 2016. Nigerians can send in their nominations by texting MTN Foundation to 321 or follow the link.

    Speaking at the event, MTNF Chairman, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi said, “The What Can We Do Together project is a unique one. It’s a project we cherish so dearly, because it is for Nigerians and by Nigerians. We at the MTN Foundation are pleased that we have this opportunity to impact the lives of Nigerians across the country and we thank the Government for their support, and all our partners for making this possible.”

    In her comment, MTN Executive and Director of the MTN Foundation, Amina Oyagbola, said, “Over 36,000 nominations were received in three weeks in phase 1. The eventual selection of 200 communities as beneficiaries was done after a rigorous vetting process. The experience of this project is awesome and it was very fulfilling to see the smiles and cheers of people in the various communities we visited.

    “We are happy to have worked with the various nominators who are change agents in their communities to positively impact lives and we congratulate all the 200 nominators. Due to the success of the phase 1 and our continuous commitment to support government’s efforts in improving the quality of lives among Nigerians, we have launched Phase 2 of the ‘What Can We Do Together’ initiative.  Again, we use this medium to call on Nigerians to nominate their communities to benefit from this initiative.”

    In the coming weeks, the MTNF Appreciation party will be held in Owerri, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and a grand finale in Lagos to recognize and appreciate other nominators from other regions.

  • ‘Incessant strikes in health sector very embarrassing’ – JUTH CMD

    Prof. Edmund Banwat, Chief Medical Director (CMD), Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), has flayed incessant strikes in the health sector, describing the situation as “very embarrassing”.

    “The incessant strikes in a key sector like health is disheartening and has become a source of embarrassment to us,” Banwat told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Monday.

    Banwat, who was reacting to the two-months-old strike of JUTH workers, said that government was taking stiff measures to check the trend.

    “The health workers have formed a habit of abandoning their duty posts at the slightest excuse; this raises questions as to our professional vow to save lives.

    “The incessant strikes make nonsense of such professional vows to place human lives over any other vain pursuit bordering on money,” he said.

    To check the strikes, he said that the Federal Government has issued a circular reminding heads of medical facilities of the No-work-no-pay policy.

    A copy of the circular, signed By Mr Danjuma Kurau, Director, Human Resources Management Department in the Federal Ministry of Health, directed all institutional heads to immediately implement the policy as contained in the Trade Disputes Act, Cap T8.

    “The total disregard to this law has contributed in no small measure to the incessant labour disputes ravaging the health sector leading to the loss of several months of service.

    “The health sector is one of the essential services prohibited by law from embarking on strikes, but government has been subjected to much ridicule and embarrassment owing to frequent strikes.”

    The circular quoted the minister as directing that salaries and allowances should not be paid to any staff “who chooses the path of strike”.

    On the strike by the JUTH workers since March 7, Banwat said that the action was “very unnecessary”.

    “We met with the JUTH chapter of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOEHSU) before the strike and have met several times after it began where all the local issues were resolved, but I keep wondering why they are still at home,’’ said the CMD.

    NAN recalls that JOHESU’s spokesman, Mr Mustafa Kabir, attributed the strike to issues bordering on promotion, lack of beds and basic consumables in the hospital, as well as the refusal to regulate the appointment of casual staff.

    Kabir also alleged that Banwat had been very insensitive to the plight of the workers, among other issues.

    But the CMD said that his administration had promoted staff stagnated for more than 14 years, pointing out that other issues of promotion were beyond JUTH and being handled by the national body of the union in Abuja.

    He dismissed claims that the hospital had shortage of beds and other consumables, and challenged anyone with doubt to visit the hospital stores.

    He also rejected insinuation that the mortuary was in bad shape, explaining that the one at the temporary site had been handed over to the Plateau Government, while the mortuary at the permanent site was in excellent condition.

    The CMD also accused JOHESU officials of subjecting members to “unncessary pain”, noting that the JOHESU headquarters had confirmed that issues within the capacity of JUTH had been effectively sorted out.

    On the casual staff, he said that he inherited 200 casual staff and was working with the Federal Character Commission toward regularising their employment.

  • Bird flu: Plateau Govt closes 62 farms, culls 190,000 birds

    Bird flu: Plateau Govt closes 62 farms, culls 190,000 birds

    The Plateau Government has closed down 62 poultry farms and destroyed more than 190,000 birds affected by bird flu across the state, an official has confirmed.

    Dr Doris Bitrus, Director, Veterinary Services, in the state’s Ministry of Agriculture, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos that the disease had continued to spread.

    She attributed that spread to the non-compensation of farmers, whose farms were affected by the disease in 2015.

    “With compensation not coming, most farmers now prefer selling their sick birds to the marketers,” she said.

    She explained that the disease was more prevalent in Jos South, Jos North, Jos East and Bassa local government areas of the state.

    According to her, government is working toward promoting more biosafety measures to check the spread of the disease.

    “But aside the issue of some farmers not keeping to biosecurity measures, I think the major reason behind the fast spread of the disease is the non-payment of compensation to farmers affected by the disease in 2015.

    “In the past, farmers used to report the outbreaks, but since compensations are not forthcoming, most of them prefer to sell their sick birds to desperate marketers to cushion their loses rather than wait on government that will promise and fail.

    “With such distrust, controlling or curbing further spread of the hydra-headed disease will be pretty difficult,” she said.

    The director, however, said that no new case had been reported in the past two weeks.

    Bitrus advised poultry farmers to adopt and maintain stringent bio-security measures to fight diseases and protect the poultry industry.

  • Badeh: EFCC’s witness admits making conflicting statements

    Badeh: EFCC’s witness admits making conflicting statements

    Retired Air Commodore Salisu Yushau, testifying in the trial of the case of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, at a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday admitted making conflicting statements.

    Yushau admitted that the statements he made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was different from what he was giving in court based on the nature of questions asked.

    The witness, who was being cross-examined by Mr Akin Olujimi (SAN), told the court that the conflicting statements in to the EFCC and his testimony in court in the same case arose from the technicality of the questions asked.

    He said that the shopping complex bought for N650,000 million was not captured in the statement he made to the EFCC in details.

    “The statement I gave to the EFCC was to address the specific questions that were being asked.

    “I know that it is not everything I am telling the court here that was captured in my statement.

    “But the fact is that ‎everything I told the EFCC was within my knowledge and the records are there,’’ he said.

    He also told the court that Badeh, and Mr Hussein Umar inspected some properties in Maitama and Wuse 2, which were thereafter purchased in the name of Iyalikam Nigeria Limited and Alex Badeh junior.

    “‎After we inspected the property and after been satisfied, my boss, (Badeh) gave me a name, in which the property should be purchased and I forwarded the name to the agent following the instruction of my boss.

    “‎I did not say all this in my statement because I was answering the questions as they were been put through to me by the EFCC.’’

    The witness told the court that he was appointed Director, Finance and Account of the Nigeria Airforce, adding that he had also told his boss that he did not like the appointment.

    “My boss, the first defendant was well aware that I did not like that office and I wanted to retire before he was appointed chief.’’

    The court adjourned the case till April 20.