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Tag: entry

  • AMAA announces entry deadlines for 2018

    AMAA announces entry deadlines for 2018

    The Africa Film Academy (AFA) has invited filmmakers to submit their films for the 14th edition of its annual Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), scheduled for June 2, 2018.

    The film entry areas include Feature length films, Shorts, Animation and Documentary works to compete in about 30 categories of the awards.

    Organisers say the deadline for all submissions which is on Film Freeway – https://filmfreeway.com/festival/africamovieacademyawards-882089; on www.amaasubmissions.comand and any of the AMAA offices across Africa, is January 30, 2018, while late entry deadline is put at February 14, 2018. Submission is on Film Freeway and in any of the AMAA offices across the continent.

    Nominations into the award proper is expected to be announced in April, ahead of June 2, 2018 when the show will hold and be televised globally.

    It is required that only films produced and released between June 2016 and January 2018 may be entered for the award.

    Organisers say the primary aim of the AMAAs is to facilitate the development and the showcasing of the social relevance of African film and cinema. The awards are presented to recognise and honour excellence in professional filmmaking in the African film industry and the African Diaspora.

    Over the years, the award presentation has been attended by numerous international media representatives, Hollywood celebrities, Nigerian politicians, other African politicians, journalists, film industry professionals, and actors and actresses from across Africa.

    The 2017 African Movie Academy Awards took place on July 15, 2017 at the Eko Hotels Convention Center in Lagos. The exciting and glitzy event was hosted by notable Nollywood actress Nse Ikpe Etim.

    For this year’s event, organisers say filmmakers must ensure that each completed entry form must be accompanied by all the supporting materials listed on the submission forms, including the synopsis of the film, the list of credits, marketing stills of the film, filmographies of the directors and producers, copies of the film in 3DVDS or a hard drive plus a compulsory online submission via vimeo / we transfer and proof of the right to submit. All films must also indicate the year of copyright.

    They say the Academy will not accept any film that exceeds the 120-minute run as a feature or a short film that is longer than 40 minutes.

  • Nnamdi Kanu’s grand entry

    Nnamdi Kanu’s grand entry

    SIR: It was a meteoric entrance into prominence orchestrated by an electronic age conman not so familiar with Igbo history but was a brilliant theatre artist with clear scripts of his path to political prominence.

    The tragedy is that he used a humiliated people as cannon fodder. He had fooled a lot of people who did not know he was too young to pontificate on a system to which he was not privy. He had not been in war. He did not know Nigeria enough. He did not know enough of the war from stories of grief. He had little knowledge of Nigeria’s problems. But he found the limelight on account of Nigeria’s dumbness in seeking to muzzle free expression.

    One other Kanu had been on this path for Abacha. He crashed and vanished and earned The Dustbin of History. One Mazi Goddy Uwazurike had earlier claimed to be anointed by Ojukwu for Ndigbo. He had his fill of funds expropriated from restive young men itching for change to circumstances created for youth during Biafra War which made them incarnate in worse conditions they seeded in previous incarnations. He lives in relative opulence now and speaks no further of his anointment. I had warned restive youth in my clan that they should not bother about Biafra until Ndigbo found unity. They listened to me and pieced their lives together with their half education. In the meantime school age drew by and they were lost to dreams and fantasies of a nation in anticipation of which they had shared offices based on phantoms created by subterranean media. One of them was Nnamdi Kanu’s.

    Now the youth can lay down arms once more and believe me. No one should hurry the sunrise.

    Peoples Democratic Party led us to the path of ruin through 16 years and our assets for growth got burnt up in the process. Providence threw up an indigene from a disadvantaged region to midwife federalism and he goofed over another chance to sit on the saddle. He was a goner for it. He slept over Resolutions of National Conference 2014 that ought to have brightened survival chances for the contraption called Nigeria.

    In comes a strangest figure in Nnamdi with Biafra Mantra that was dropped like hot lead upon regaining freedom. This is a third error. There should not be another. Technocrats should step forward and keep charlatans at bay perpetually. We have burnt our Nature’s dose of good luck even in the hands of Goodluck.

     

    • M A C Odu,

    profmarkodu@yahoo.co.uk

  • KENYA’S SINGLE ENTRY EDGES NOLLYWOOD OUT

    KENYA’S SINGLE ENTRY EDGES NOLLYWOOD OUT

    I was more concerned with films from Africa and the Middle East at this year’s TIFF for the purpose of proximity which is one of the parameters for newsworthiness. On the other hand, I know that the narrative is fast changing to our part of the world, and there is just the need to know those that Nigeria would be competing with within the same region, because whether we agree or not, the window to the outside world is the lens with which African stories are told.

    Therefore, even though none of the Nigerian films won in the competitive categories, our East African brothers from Kenya grabbed a laurel, a tougher one, if you ask me –  Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), awarded to Mbithi Masya for the film, Kati Kati.

    Yes, the film, even though it is from a first time feature film director, got some foreign collaboration, which is one of the factors that make a film huge and disposed to other audiences. Beyond that, that a more critical audience like FIPRESCI found it worthy, makes this more pleasing to me.

    The jury remarked: “With a generous and poetic tone, not without a degree of anger at personal and political injustice, FIPRESCI is pleased to present the prize in the Discovery programme to an exciting and unique new voice in cinema, Mbithi Masya for his debut feature Kati Kati.”

    By implication, another African film is Oscar hopeful, knowing the chances that TIFF’s strong films have had at the Academy awards.

    Recall that the film, 12 Years a Slave, which fetched Kenyan girl, Lupita Nyong’o her first Oscar was first premiered at TIFF in 2013. Perhaps another Kenyan is about to get global attention again.

    Nigeria can take a cue and make the best of existing cultural agencies like Ford Foundation, British Council and Goethe Institut for such exports; I recall that Nigeria had a similar chance in 2013 with the 30 percent sponsorship of Biyi Bandele’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by British Film Institute (BFI), which couldn’t fly as expected, even with British-Nigerian actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, playing the lead.

    Kati Kati’s director, Mbithi Masya, a member of Kenya’s acclaimed alternative house-funk trio, Just a Band, is just an unassuming filmmaker who has directed numerous short films, documentaries, commercials, music videos, and video installations, just like some of the directors of the Nollywood films selected for TIFF. Pundits believe that there is really no difference in the opportunities that Nollywood filmmakers are exposed to, just personal drive, simplicity, thoroughness and strategy.

    “I’m used to working on a small scale,” Masya says. “I think if they told me to write a big African epic … I would have been out of my depth.”

    The film opens with a shot of a woman standing in an empty field, unsure of how she got there. She soon discovers that she’s dead and now finds herself trapped at the mysterious wilderness lodge from which the movie takes its name.

    Shot entirely on location at a working safari lodge, the movie has an intimate scope that Masya says suits his first foray into feature films.

    Kati Kati was produced by One Fine Day Films and Kenyan production house Ginger Ink, with support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Goethe Foundation, Arri, and Deutsche Welle’s DW Akademie, a non-profit sponsoring media development.

  • SERAS-CSR awards call for entry

    SERAS-CSR awards call for entry

    TruContact CSR Nigeria has called for entries for The SERAS-CSR Awards 2016, to mark its 10th anniversary.

    The award has earned the position of the biggest, most consistent and most credible awards of its kind on the African continent.

    Having enjoyed nine successful seasons, its organisers promise that this year’s edition would be bigger and more exciting.

    The theme of the awards is:  Sustainable Development Goals and The Future of Africa: Organisations as The Game Changers.

    The theme is based on the launch of an ambitious global mission by world leaders to reduce poverty and enhance human development.

    The organisers said assessments and categorisations would be based on the recent globally launched 17 sustainable development goals, urging companies to download the entry form at www.theseras.com.

    However, the organisers also announced that, for the first time, in its 10-years history, the awards would be opening its doors to entries from other parts of Africa.

    Its coordinator, Ken Egbas, during the unveiling of the new awards logo in Lagos, said: “When we commenced the awards in 2007, we had short, medium and long term goals. We expected by the tenth or eleventh year to make the awards accessible to all of Africa, that is after we must have proven our mettle in Nigeria which of course is not only one of the largest markets in Africa, but also at the moment Nigeria rates as number two the continent in terms of CSR and sustainability investment and related activities.”

  • AFRIMA extends call for entry

    AFRIMA extends call for entry

    Organisers of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) have announced their resolve to extend the deadline for the submission of entries. The new closing date, Friday July 31, they said became necessary due to appeals from certain quarters.

    The show, which is in preparatory stage for its second edition, is in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC).

    The new deadline is one of the outcomes of a meeting in Casablanca, Morocco, last Thursday, as leeway for a more inclusive participation by music professionals.

    “Artistes, music producers, songwriters, music video directors or any other eligible music professional of African origin now have till Friday to enter your valid works for consideration for AFRIMA 2015 nomination,” reads a statement from the AFRIMA Secretariat in Lagos.

    They reiterated that guidelines for submission, eligibility and the entry form are available on the company’s website in both English and French languages.

    AFRIMA opened the 2015 entry submission on May 18, and received a deluge of submissions during the first month. With entry submission deadline set as July 20, the awards project embarked on a continental campaign to sensitise artistes about the 2015 awards programme of events. Some of the countries visited are Addis Ababa, Kampala, Johannesburg and Casablanca.

    Other events for the 2015 main awards ceremony which holds on Saturday, November 15 will include a two-day AFRIMA Music Village, slated for November 13 -14 and the Africa Music Summit, taking place on November 14.

  • Igali protests Uzbekistan’s refusal of entry

    Igali protests Uzbekistan’s refusal of entry

    The president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Daniel Igali has written to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) to protest the decision of the Uzbekistani government to deny him access into the country for the FILA Congress in Tashkent, where elections into the Bureau are supposed to hold.

    The Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalist is vying to become an Executive Committee member of FILA in an election scheduled to hold on  September 7 during the World Wrestling Championships. Igali will be contesting against over 10 candidates for five available seats.

    However, Igali’s dream of becoming the first elected African on the FILA Bureau has come under serious threat following Uzbekistan’s refusal to allow Nigeria’s contingent entry into their country for the World Wrestling Championships because of the dreaded Ebola Virus disease (EVD).

    In a series of letters addressed to FILA President, Nenad Lalovic, copies of which were made available to SportingLife, the NWF boss explained the importance of his presence at the congress.

    The latest letter dated  September 2, 2014 reads: “Mr. President, I would like to get clarification from you on whether the said five federation Presidents (now six, if Senegal which recently had a case of positive Ebola infection) can be allowed entry into Tashkent for the FILA Congress. As Prince Sualley mentioned, there are stringent health checks in place at airports in these countries which make it impossible for affected persons to make it through these checks to board flights out of them. Sir, you know the importance of the FILA congress in the calendar of a National Wrestling Federation. More importantly, there are a few Presidents from these affected countries that are candidates for the FILA Bureau.

    “Sir, it would not be fair if we are not allowed to mingle with our colleagues and be involved in the horse trading that precedes an election of this magnitude. In my case, I belong to the Commonwealth nations numbering over 30 wrestling nations and the African Confederation that has over 40 wrestling nations. Aside the CALA President who sits on the Bureau in his position as a continental President, we have no elected representative on the FILA Bureau – a situation that needs to be corrected at these elections.

    “Mr. President, I am passionate about wrestling and would do whatever I can to serve the interests of wrestling. It would therefore be a huge disservice to the wrestling cause if I and my other colleagues are disallowed from participating at the FILA congress and the ensuing elections. I am prepared to submit myself to any kind of tests if that will placate the minds of the Uzbekistani authorities.

    “While awaiting your reply at your utmost convenience, please accept the highest esteem of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation.”

  • Stop this Direct Entry form racket in Kano

    We are fond of accusing our leaders of corruption, mismanagement and saying that they are the cause of all cankerworms killing this country. We always heap the blame on our leaders, shielding ourselves of any blame in what the country has become today. But the fact is that, in our tiny communities, we also share in whatever Nigeria has become today – either good or bad.

    The crux of this piece is to expose the exploitation and heartless racket in the sales of Direct Entry forms in Kano.

    Every Nigerian is aware that gaining admission into a university is one of the most depleted phase of the country’s education system and the most unnerving task of a student’s life. Secondary school leavers scramble to gain admission into universities with all they can. They struggle to sit for West African Examination Council or National Examination Council (NECO) or both. Afterwards, they sit for tertiary matriculation examination to further their studies.

    Over the years, these examinations have been fraught with malpractice and fraud, yet they are prerequisite to gaining admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. Although, the recently-introduced post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is an effort to check fraud in matriculation examination, but the two combined are just unnecessary, stressful and costly. But like many Nigerian issues, we have adapted to it and continued to live with it.

    In Kano, over 60,000 pupils graduate from secondary schools yearly. A roughly 15 per cent of this figure gain admission into degree-awarding institutions but majority will opt for other tertiary programmes like National Diploma, Certificate of Education, etc. Many of these school leavers will still seek admission into university via Direct Entry (DE).

    Successful DE applicants are admitted into universities from second year upon completion of a two-year National Diploma or its equivalent. Others that performed averagely join as freshers. I know many graduates that gained admission via DE either as sophomore students or fresher.

    Until the last few days, I was never privileged to learn of the internal processes involved in gaining admission via DE. What follows is the sad truth surrounding Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Direct Entry Forms. I saw it as monopolistic, fraudulent and exploitative, which puts applicants’ lives in danger.

    I was with a friend a few days ago when his sister asked for N7,000 to obtain the BUK Direct Entry form. My friend told me the young lady was a three-point student and he was optimistic she would be admitted as sophomore student into BUK.

    The next day, facts began to emerge regarding the purchase of the DE form. For a start, the form can only be purchased in Zenith Bank branches in Kano. How and why BUK choose only one bank to be their outlet in getting the form? But Zenith Bank only has 11 branches in the whole of Kano; three of these branches are loosely located around the Sabon Gari business area, which is more than 10 kilometres away from the institution’s two campuses.

    Thus, the choice of a bank only outlet is unfair to applicants, because there are other banks within the campus. Imagine an applicant travelling to Wudil or Gwarzo local government areas in Kano where Zenith Bank branches are to purchase DE form and on getting there, he is told all forms have been sold out. This is the situation my friend’s younger sister faced.

    However, a staff of the bank told us we could get the form at Ciroma Cyber Café in Sabon Gari area. But why did a Zenith Bank staff direct us to a cyber café when the bank was chosen as the sole outlet to get the form?

    We took the pain to locate Ciroma Café, where we met over 300 people registering for one exam or the other. The DE form was supposed to cost N7,000, but we purchased it at the rate of N12,000 at the café. An applicant was seen pleading with the vendor to collect N10,000, but he replied: “You can go and sort yourself I will still be here tomorrow.”

    My friend counted N12,000 and extended to the vendor, but the happy guy looked at us and said its N14,000. Just like that! We actually purchased the form at double cost. We saw a young lady, crying because she could not afford to pay double for the form. There was someone, who rushed to look for balance only to return and learnt that additional N2,000 had been placed on the asking price.

    This is Kano and not Lagos or Abuja, where people want to make money faster.

    It is obvious that Ciroma Cyber Café is either in collaboration with the Zenith Bank or some dishonest members of staff of the university to rip off applicants. Or what could have given the café owner an effrontery to hike price of the DE form at will if he is not supported by the monopoly or the issuing institution?

    This is nothing but a legalised exploitation of the poor admission seekers. And this may have been the situation in others universities that accept DE. Applicants, who could not afford to buy at Ciroma café’s price, might have been deprived of the right to education. The might be thrown into a state of mental depression.

    I am sure the Kano State government, which has invested hugely in education, is not aware of this exploitation of indigent admission seekers. I hope the Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso would read this and take necessary step to stop this exploitation.

    Authorities must ensure that only qualified applicants purchase the DE forms. It is my hope that stakeholders will take diligent action to ensure DE candidates gain admission through a fair process.

     

    Salihu, a former student, writes from Kano

     

  • ‘Entry, exit are free in capital market’

    ‘Entry, exit are free in capital market’

    The financial markets are major sources of raising funds for transactions. In this interview with AKINOLA AJIBADE, the Managing Director, UBA Trustees Limited, Mrs Oluwatoyin Sanni, advises investors to operate a balanced portfolio of investments. She also speaks on the capital market, retail bond trading, appointment of women onto boards of companies and attainment of Vision 20: 2020 objectives, among others.

     

    The capital market is topsy-tursy. What does this portend for the long-term growth of the market?

    The market is a critical part of the financial industry. The growth recorded in the market is crucial to the health of the financial industry, and the economy in particular. When you look at the stock market, you will discover that it is an integral part of the financial services market. Now that the market is rebounding, it’s going to provide long-term avenues for individual and institutional investors to make money. It will also provide opportunities for long-term wealth creation, if investors recognise the fact that it is not wise to concentrate all their investments in one market such as equities. It is worthy of note to say that our markets are inter-dependent. Each needs the other for growth. We need the money and capital markets to grow our investments and vice versa. They work hand in hand. Therefore, investors should not put all their investments in one basket if they want to achieve good returns on the investments. There must be good and balanced investment portfolios.

    Do you think the tempo of activities in the market can be sustained, given the measures put in place by the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)?

    The reforms are still unfolding in the market. Many are initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Others came from the Exchange. The Exchange has shown a strong drive to grow the market in recent times. For instance, the introduction of market making, lending, investors protection fund among other initiatives have buoyed confidence in the market. Before now investors have lost confidence. But many have now regained their confidence as a result of the steps taken by the regulators. I think the activities in the market are sustainable.

    The growth in the market is largely driven by local and foreign investors. Do you foresee a recurrence of what happened in 2008 when foreign portfolio investors were forced to leave?

    You cannot force investors to stay in your market. We need to understand the pull and push factors in the market. What we need to do is to make our market attractive as much as possible. We must ensure that our market in comparative terms is more attractive than the next market. We must ensure that all necessary infrastructure are available in our market.We must ensure that our disclosure obligations meet international standards. For instance, if there is a major liquidity squeeze in the continent and investors need funds to meet their domestic obligations, they have no choice than to pull out their investments from the crisis zone. That is the reality on ground. But that does not give us room to discourage the participation of foreign investors in our market. The truth of the matter is that we need inflow of capital into our market to make it stronger. Sometimes people need to move their money out. What we need to do is to put in place measures that would allow them to get their money easily or move it out as when due. In a situation where regulatory impediments prevent foreign investors from moving their funds out, such investors would come back. Be that as it may, we still need to encourage domestic investors because they are more likely going to be stable. If you look back at what happened in the market, it is not only the foreign portfolio investors that left, everybody left. Everybody crashed out. What we are trying to do is to encourage investors to come back. It took sometime before retail investors came back to the market. Foreign portfolio investors are the first to come back. Since they came back, they have been able to get over 80 per cent of volumes of shares in the market.

    Has the market makers really impacted positively on the market?

    I think the market making initiative is still relatively new. I understand that four more market makers are coming. We are expecting an updated list of market makers. Even, the securities that are available for market makers are still being updated. Whichever way you look at it, market makers are relatively new. The securities lending that support the market is in progress. It is too early to measure the performance of market makers.

    You earlier mentioned the issue of having balanced investment portfolios. Can you explain better?

    There are various ways of having good and balanced investment portfolios. First, people should try and seek professional advice. Secondly, they should monitor the movements of their investments in line with the realities of the market. For instance, when equities market goes up, a lot of investors move in. When this happens, investors would like to exit the market. As they do that, rates would probably go up in the alternative investment portfolios. As investors, your best bet is to maintain some reasonable investment balance. What you should be more interested in is the credibility of your income to meet your needs. You have to consider your active employment years before you arrive at investment decisions. If you are much younger, let’s say you are in your 20s, you can afford to have investment portfolios of about 60 per cent in equities. Because what you are interested at that stage is an opportunity to grow your wealth overtime. If you are looking for classes of assets that can give you a healthy investment returns over a long time, returns that have a good chance of being higher than the cumulative rates of inflation, then the stock market is a very good place to invest.

    When you also consider that there are people at various stages of employment, we have people in the early 20s, 40s, people that just joined the workforce, they also have provisions being made for them in the National Pension Scheme as contained in the pension reforms Act. If you were to invest pension savings in money market instruments, there is the possibility that the returns may actually be lower than the rate of inflation in an inflationary environment. In real terms, you may actually have lost money. I always say that a big proportion of endowment fund, pension fund among other long-term funds be invested in the capital market. The reason is because the rate of returns always exceeds that of inflation. But like I said, the whole idea is striking a balance.

    To what extent do you think the retail bond trading will impact positively on the market?

    I’m cautiously optimistic about the issue. You need to recognise the fact that the bond market needs big players to grow. The market is dominated by corporate investors. Therefore, do not expect the level of retail activities you see on the equities side in the bond market. The bond market has huge potential, and should naturally be bigger and larger in volumes than the equities market. The main reason for creating retail bond market is to enable investors to enjoy free entry and exit. In the past, there were individuals who had bonds (primary offers) and were unable to exit the market. They bought these bonds when they were issued as initial subscription, and could not get an outlet to exit the market. Before now, bonds were not only being traded at Over-The-Counter (OTC) platform, but in large volumes. Then, the only outlet available was the corporate end of the market that attracted larger and high-volume investors.

    The advantage is that if I subscribe to Lagos State bonds or Benue State bonds and I buy N1 million or N500,000 worth of bonds, I can only sell under that platform. That would encourage me to buy again when any state government rolls out its bonds for corporate organisations. Nobody wants to be locked into investments where there is no way out.

    Now that the retail bond market has been created, people can buy bonds at the retail end of the market. Even at that, people should not expect huge growth from the market compared with wholsesale bond trading market.What I’m saying is that we should not be over optimistic about it in our expectations of the market because we need to recognise that the bond market is not predominantly a retail market anywhere in the world.

    It appears women have been crowded out of the financial services sector, especially in the area of giving higher responsibilities. What is your comment on this issue?

    This is something I’m passionate about. I do not think that marginalisation of women is limited to the financial industry, it is all over. In the business and employment worlds, women have been marginalised from time immemorial. There was a time it was not lawful for a woman to own properties. Experience has shown that in most cases where women have been given opportunities to function, they have shown what it takes to excel. I’m gladdened by some of the initiatives that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, spearheaded to ensure that there are more positions for women on boards of the banks. The Deputy Governor Services (DGS) recently talked about financial inclusion for women. Rather than discriminating against women on the boards, we need to give them opportunities to function.

    Before we look for the next man for the job, we need to compare the number of qualified men with that of qualified women with open minds. You would be surprised that there a lot of qualified women. Before a woman can get to a position of authority, she has faced a number of challenges that a man has faced or more.

    Can we say that the CBN Governor has bailed out women?

    CBN has not bailed out women, rather it is trying to champion the cause of women. I do not want to look at it from the point of numbers. Like I said, do not limit it to one sector. Generally in the business, employment, financial and industrial worlds, we need to ensure that the number of women at the head increase because nobody has been able to show me that women are inferior to men intellectually or capacity wise. Findings have shown that the ratio of men to women is 50: 50. From Assistant General Manager (AGM) to Managing Director (MD), the ratio becomes 1 to 50. Won’t you wonder what is happening? What I’m saying is that the proportion of women at the apex should reflect the proportion of women in the entire organisation.

    Can Nigeria achieve the goals of Vision 20: 2020, given the fact that enough steps have not been taken in this regard?

    To achieve the dreams of Vision 20: 2020, we need to address political problems. We need to place emphasis on unity. As long as we are not united, we cannot trust each other. We would be working against each other, rather than working together. There is no way we can achieve the objectives without unity. We need to understand the fact that we cannot go far, if we do not deal with the problem of corruption. We keep paying lip service to the fight against corruption. Corruption permeates every facet of life.

    If I have a project and cannot be sure that the fund for the project would not be diverted, what is the guarantee that the project would succeed. If I have the plans to put critical resources in place, I cannot guarantee that qualified person would be put in a position as opposed to a favoured person. There is no transparency in the ways and manners people are selected for positions in both the public and private sector. That is another problem. Infrastructure is another problem. If we do provide necessary infrastructure, we would still have big companies moving out of Nigeria to neighbouring African countries. We need a radical change in the way we think as individuals and a nation to achieve the goals of Vision 2020.

    What are the areas of competence of UBA Trustees Limited?

    The company provides services to all categories of clients. Broadly, there are two types of trustees. First is the Public Trustees, which ensures that services such as collection of investment schemes and handling of public offers such government and corporate bonds are provided to investors. Others are holding trust on syndicated loans, and other similar structures designed to help companies raise funds from banks. Secondly, is the private trustee. This has to do with the issue of project financing, among other services. Of note is the fact that UBA Trustees has been providing quality services to clients since inception. The firm’s franchise dates back to 50 years ago, hence, we have attained leadership position in some key areas. These have created opportunities to boost skills, and develop upcoming professionals for growth. Also, the company is an active member of Association of Corporate Trustees, of which I’m the president.

    UBA has a holding structure, which allows it to retain some of its subsidiaries. What added-value has UBA Trustees brought to the group?

    In actual sense, UBA did not go for the holding structure. What happened was a unique kind of restructuring in the bank. Under the restructuring, the bank divested from its investment banking and assets management subsidiaries within the group. Those subsidiaries are now under the holding company known as UBA Capital Plc. One of such subsidiaries is UBA Trustees Limited. In terms of value addition, UBA Trustees made a profit of over a billion naira last year and has over N40 billion assets under its trust.

     

  • LG Nexus 4 makes grand entry

    LG Nexus 4 makes grand entry

    Nigerian smartphone users are in for a swell time with the introduction of

    the LG Nexus 4 smartphone into the Nigerian market by LG Electronics, a global leader in mobile communications.

    The Nexus 4 Smartphone which comes with exciting features such as the Android Jelly Bean Operating System (OS), an 8 Mega Pixel camera, 16 GB internal Memory capacity, 2GB of RAM as well as a 2,100 mAh Li-polymer battery has been highly rated by phone pundits. The device in a massive way solidifies LG’s position as a brand to be reckoned with in the global smartphone market.

    Commenting on this topical feat in setting the pace in the Smartphone market, the marketing manager, Mobile Communications, LG Electronics, Mrs. Bukola Arabome, said: “LG Nexus 4 E960 has an excellent display with a fast processor and Graphic Processing unit; the Android jelly Bean 4.2 brings some welcome new features that puts the best of Google in the hands of users.

    Weighing a mere 139g, the LG Nexus 4 employs LCD display technology with a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels, 320 ppi; and a16M colours display with dimensions of 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm. With the uniquely designed display photos and videos come to life with stunning clarity and crisp, natural colour. The gently-curved glass edges allow user’s finger to slide smoothly on and off the 4.7-inch screen, while Zerogap Touch technology allows the user to practically touch the pixels- with the scratch-resistant corning Gorilla glass2 providing the needed protection. The thoughtfully designed hardware displays a quality of finish that can compete with the best rival smartphones.

    For camera, there is an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel front camera. Users are going to find this feature very interesting as it is so easy to create a panorama with the device. Users will be able to capture 360-degree Panorama directly from their camera app. Once they have a photo to share, they can opt to share their Panorama on Google maps and Google +.

    LG E960 which has proven to be a global hit since its introduction in other climes features a cutting-edge 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 processor to give users the power speed they require to stay ahead. Users will also be able to zip round the web, effortlessly switch between multiple apps without ever missing a beat as well as experience rich 3D graphics and gameplay. The application quality and variety of Nexus 4 outruns those of the other smartphones, allowing users to experience wider variety of features with more user-friendly and considerate settings.

    LG Nexus 4 is a powerful unlocked Smartphone with a beautiful minimalist design and fast performance. It wins on internal performance and user experience. The Korean giant, LG Electronics strategically designed and manufactured the E960 in partnership with Google. The introduction of this high-end phone is informed by the company’s quest to achieve its primal objective of meeting the needs of its esteemed consumers.

    Regarding display, the large 4.7-inch screen is crisp, detailed and beautiful. NFC (Near Field Communication) and wireless charging show LG pushing new platforms forward. Latest Android, directly from Google, with no delays from carriers or hardware makers guarantees speed and high performance.

    LG Nexus 4 is a rare device with a great battery life; with the 2100mAh battery, it features 15 hours of talk time and 390 hours of maximum standby time.

    Over all, LG E960 has a distinct advantage over the competition which is why many tech savvy individuals consider the device to be worth investing in. all over the world, people are joining the Nexus 4 brigade because of the amazing features and functions of the Smartphone.

    LG Mobile has always been a game changer; the company has good form when it comes to innovation. In recent times it has churned out winning mobile devices such as the BL40, the Shine and the Chocolate.

    With the introduction of the LG Nexus 4, LG has once more demonstrated that it is committed to providing consumers with mobile devices that enable empower them in amasing ways that enable them enjoy everyday life and achieve their personal goals.