The Nation Newspaper

Tag: float

  • Ex-NDPHC boss to float power firm

    The former Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Mr. James Olotu has disclosed that in partnership with the best brains in the power sector, he is floating a company counting on the team’s longstanding intelligent base, human relationship, energy, power and trust.

    He told a select journalists in Abuja that he is the chairman of the firm, which is known as Innovest Solution Limited, that will be providing solutions to Nigeria’s issues.

    Asked to state the capital base of the company, Olotu said that “You don’t really need much money except to have the intelligent base and the human relationship, energy and power and the trust which you have invested in for so many years.”

    He revealed that the firm is already discussing with a state governor that wants to build a 500mw plant, deep sea port, a fertiliser plant, etc.

    According to him, since the firm and the state government do not have the money, it has manpower in different fields  and could approach international investors to inject their funds into the project base on confidence.

  • Nigeria’s pioneer credit bureau to float N503m rights issues

    CR Services (Credit Bureau) Plc, Nigeria’s pioneer credit bureau operator, plans to raise N503.15 million in new equity funds to strengthen its operations.

    CR Services will be raising the new equity funds through a combined rights issue of ordinary and preference shares.

    A document obtained by The Nation indicated that the company will be offering 32.86 million ordinary shares of N1 each to existing shareholders at N1.05 per share. It will also simultaneously offer 72.86 million ordinary shares of N1 each with class A preference rights to existing shareholders at N1.11 per share. Also, a total of N352.87 million ordinary shares of N1 each with class B preference rights will be offered to existing shareholders at N1.09 per share.

    The qualification date for the rights issue was September 25, 2017 and the combined offer is expected to open for subscription in the next few days.

    The shares will be pre-allotted on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every seven ordinary shares of N1 each; five new ordinary shares with class A preference rights for every seven class A preference shares of N1 each and five new ordinary shares with class B preference rights for every seven class B preference shares of N1 each held as at the qualification date.

    Incorporated in Nigeria in January 2003 as Nigeria’s first private credit bureau operator, CR Services commenced full operations in December 2003 as the pioneer fully operational credit bureau. It has since set record as the first credit bureau in the world to integrate anti-fraud and biometric technologies into a credit bureau system.

    CR Services, with strategic technical partnership with CreditRegistry Corporation, has laid the foundation for fraud-proof, large-scale consumer and small business credit in Nigeria, providing information, innovation and practical know-how that set it apart.

    With biometric technology, CR Services identifies consumers based not only on their personal information, but through fingerprint and facial recognition, which are unique to every individual. CR Services enables creditors to know a customer’s true identity, preventing revenue loss and protecting consumers from identity theft fraud.

    After a successful private placement in 2007, the CR Services began a significant expansion of its services through the creation of the credit and risk management division. Through this division, CR Services has provided risk management solutions that have helped clients with new products touching every strategic and tactical element of the credit cycle model – planning, acquiring accounts, maintaining accounts, collections and remedial management and creating management information systems (MIS).

    CR Services is reputed to have the largest credit bureau database of over 30 million records and widest member coverage by industry, strengthening its trail-blazing efforts as the first credit bureau to record 100 per cent coverage of commercial banking industry in Nigeria and the first to introduce credit bureau scores into the Nigerian market.

  • Katsina State float catches fire at Carnival

    The Street procession of Abuja Carnival, which began on Saturday was temporarily disrupted as the Katsina State float went up in flames.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident occurred when the beautifully decorated float mounted on an articulated truck came in contact with a high tension electric wire at Area One.
    The float was very high, while the wire was not that high.
    The Katsina State contingent did not notice that their float was too high to pass beneath the electric cables as they and everyone were carried away by the excitement and fanfare that being experienced during the procession.
    It took the combined efforts of the contingent, spectators, residents and other good Samaritans to put off the fire.
    This they did by pouring sachets of packaged water, popularly known as “pure water’’ on the burning float.
    While some were pouring water on the float, others tried to tear off the fabric used in decorating it to save the truck from burning.
    However, it was the fire extinguisher brought by a Good Samaritan that saved the truck from burning.
    NAN reports that nobody was injured during the incident.
    While, there were securities agencies, medical personal and other government parastatals on ground, the Nigeria Fire Service was conspicuously absent.
    The carnival continues on Sunday Dec. 4.
    Some states participating in the event includes Kwara, Bayelsa, Kogi, Yobe, Delta, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa among others. (NAN)

  • Kano, French Embassy float PG scholarship scheme

    Kano State government and the Embassy of France in Nigeria, have initiated a joint scholarship scheme to sponsor postgraduate training of 12 indigenes of the state in reputable French universities in the next three years.

    Under the arrangement, Kano government would provide accommodation, upkeep and travel expenses, while the French Embassy would take care of beneficiaries’ registration, tuition and health insurance, according to Deputy Governor Prof Hafiz Abubakar.

    The government, which disclosed this at a ceremony at the Kano Government House, said the government had settled its part of the deal for one year.

    Giving highlights of the programme, Abubakar explained that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje ‘’decided that the offer should be dedicated to lecturers of the state tertiary institutions’’, adding that beneficiaries were drawn from Kano University of Technology, Northwest University and the state polytechnic.

    “The aim is to build the capacity of lecturers, and the initiative clearly demonstrates the Ganduje administration’s commitment towards promoting learning and attaining higher education levels for citizens of the state,” Abubakar said.

    Abubakar who is the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, said candidates were meticulously selected and interviewed by a committee of the French Embassy, which  sourced the universities that offered the admissions.

    Abubakar, described the scholarship as first of its kind in Kano and a demonstration of the cordiality between the government and French Embassy, charged beneficiaries to be good ambassadors by exhibiting excellence in character and learning.

    At the event, Abubakar presented 15 partial scholarships offered to indigenes of the state by Near East University, Cyprus, to study Engineering and Nursing at undergraduate, masters and doctorate levels.

    Under the deal, the university would provide tuition and Value Added Tax for each student, while the government would provide living and travelling expenses.

    Mr. Denys Gauer said:  “Nigeria and France have in recent times increased their level of political cooperation, with exchange visits by our presidents.”

    Gauer said while both countries were working to address the security challenges facing Nigeria, his country, through the French Development Agency, was determined to execute more projects for Nigerians.

     

  • ‘How to float a national airline‘

    ‘How to float a national airline‘

    An aviation expert,  Group Captain  John Obakpolor (rtd), has proposed a model on how government could deliver a new national airline which, he said, should not be 100 per cent owned by the government.

    He said  for the proposed national carrier to operate profitably, the government should not have a controlling share in it.

    Speaking in an interview in Lagos, Obakpolor said previous attempts to deliver a national airline failed because the wrong  model was adopted.

    He said many things went wrong in the past with the attempts to float a national airline. He listed some of them to include, but not limited to, a lack of interested technical and airline partners, inadequate equipment and improper framework.

    On the modalities for the proposed carrier, Obakpolor said Nigerians should participate in establishing it through equity shares.

    He welcomed the idea of a new national carrier for the nation, maintaining that it was necessary for the national pride and employment generation.

    “This attempt to re-establish a national carrier for Nigeria is correct. There is no nation that doesn’t have a national airline. The so- called aviation experts have been proffering solutions that should not even be mentioned. The national carrier is essential for national pride.

    “People have been greedy, that’s why the national carrier never took off. Let Nigerians participate in the formation of the national carrier and not government. Let people buy into the project and let’s see if it will not move forward. In U.S. some of the airlines, their shares were sold to the workers. So, when you buy shares, you cannot work lackadaisically. You know if you do that, there will be no profit for you to share at the end of the year. The airline will work, but the modality is important.

    “Personally, I will say government should have 49 per cent equity while the public should have 51 per cent shares,“ he said.