The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national

  • National banking licence: Wema Bank opens new branch in Abuja

    National banking licence: Wema Bank opens new branch in Abuja

    Wema Bank Plc has opened a new branch on Dunukofia Street, Area 11 part of Garki, Abuja as it continues its strategic expansion following Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) approval of its national licence.

    The license, approved in 2015, allows the lender to operate in all parts of the country.

    The new branch is expected to further strengthen the lender’s business in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in line with its growth plan.

    The bank’s Regional Operations Executive, South West & Abuja, Adeyemi Oshundiya said: “When we reopened our branch in Minna in September, I emphasised that Wema Bank, in its quest for growth, will only expand to places where there are compelling business opportunities. The bank’s position on this has not changed.”

    He explained that the new Dunukofia Branch used to operate from the Le Meridien Hotel. “The need to move to a bigger and more strategic location which will help us serve our customers better necessitated the opening of the new branch,” he said.

    In addition to expanding strategically, Wema Bank is also using technology to improve how it serves its customers. One such is the recent launch of Wema EasySavers, an account that can be opened with the unique code *945*10#, launched in partnership with youth-friendly telcoEtisalat. Wema EasySavers is available to all Etisalat subscribers. Its unique code *945*10# is layered on Wema Bank’s USSD banking code *945# launched earlier in the year. Wema Bank has been able to onboard more customers and has provided easier ways of banking through this service, as the code gives everyone with access to a GSM network the opportunity to bank on their mobile phones.

    Wema Bank has continued to show strength in the face of economic challenges in the country, opening new branches when people expect banks to downscale. Its strength and good standing in the Nigerian banking industry was recently validated by respected global ratings agency Fitch which affirmed Wema Bank’s Long-term National Rating and the Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) despite downgrading some bigger banks. The bank also raised N20 billion from the bond market recently to fund its expansion plans.

  • Kachikwu to present National Oil Policy

    Kachikwu to present National Oil Policy

    The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said the ministry will next week present the Draft National Oil Policy to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    The Senior Technical Adviser to Kachikwu, Gbite Adeniji, who made this known at the ongoing stakeholders’ consultation forum on the draft National Gas Policy and National Oil Policy, in Abuja, said  the final document which would be ready in the next couple of days, when issued, would be binding on all, including on government, operators, investors and all stakeholders.

    He also noted that the new policy document addressing fiscal issues in the petroleum industry would soon be drawn up and presented to stakeholders with the aim of the addressing the thorny issues surrounding fiscals.

    He said the last Petroleum Policy was approved in 2006, which is a reflection that the industry is in a completely new world of oil, while time is due to take a fresh look at the industry, ensuring that it reflects current trends.

    Adeniji lamented that Nigeria was not prepared for the headwinds brought about by the volatility in the global petroleum industry due to the absence of a clear cut policy and lack of coordination between government and investors.

  • Fed Govt, ILO to validate national employment policy

    The Federal Government, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and others have met in Abuja to validate the much-expected National Policy on Employment.

    The meeting, which was organised by the Federal Government, in conjunction with the ILO, aimed at moving Nigeria forward.

    According to the Director, ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), Mr. Dennis Zulu, the meeting was to determine whether the government and stakeholders could contribute towards taking steps to address unemployment and under-employment in a comprehensive, coherent and integrated way.

    Zulu said the stakeholders forum marked an important milestone in the process of preparing an employment policy for Nigeria, which started in 2012. The  objective, according to him, is to prepare a policy that would promote full and productive employment by developing integrated employment, development and skills policies that will maximize the employment impact of economic growth, investment and development; and which are inclusive, gender sensitive, productive and sustainable.

    The ILO director said extensive consultations involving a wide range of stakeholders across the length and breadth of the country have been held during the last four years.

    He said: “The ILO wishes to note that the validation of the draft national employment policy is in line with the prescribed process of preparing national employment policies as articulated by ILO Employment Policy Convention No. 122 of 1964.

    “The Convention requires national employment policies to be positioned as a major goal within the national agenda. It calls for an active employment policy to be pursued as a major goal of macroeconomic policy, with a focus on the design and implementation of such policies.”

    Given the progress that has been made in Nigeria in putting in place an employment policy, Mr. Zulu appealed to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and  the social partners to consider ratifying ILO Convention 122 .

    He pointed out that by putting in place an employment policy, Nigeria is already in line with the objective of the convention.

    At the meeting, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige reiterated the commitment of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, to job creation and provision of decent employment opportunities for Nigerians.

  • FHA, UN-HABITAT, others to partner on national housing

    FHA, UN-HABITAT, others to partner on national housing

    The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is to work with other agencies on the development of a national housing profile for the country.

    Its Managing Director, Prof Mohammed Al-Amin, made this known during a visit to the UN-HABITAT Programme Office in Abuja, where he received by its Programme Officer, Mr. Kabir Yari.

    According to him, the initiative has become necessary because of the unreliability of the country’s housing statistics.

    Al-Amin noted that though an attempt was made to incorporate a housing census into the 2006 national headcount, the data obtained from the exercise was unreliable. That failure, he said, was due to the defective nature of the tool designed for it. For instance, enumerators were only trained on how to capture data on individuals and not housing units.

    He noted that the lack of reliable housing data had armstrung proper planning and called for concerted efforts to address the situation.

    The FHA chief, however, expressed doubt about the authenticity of the 17 million housing deficit figure being bandied in various quarters, saying such figure has not been proven. The FHA, he explained, is in touch with the National Population Commission (NPC), which he disclosed has indicated that it would embark on a proper housing count during the next population census. He, therefore, urged the UN-HABITAT to make its expertise available to ensure the success of the exercise.

    Al-Amin said the FHA was keen to participate in the implementation of the resolutions of the just concluded Habitat III- the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development held in Quito, Ecuador.

    Expressing regret that Nigeria had not been taking advantage of platforms opened to it by international organisations, he said FHA was poised to participate in the follow-up to Habitat III at the national, sub-regional and regional levels.

    He said FHA was also eager to work with the United Nations’ agency on critical housing issues, such as slum development and the rising housing deficit in the country to improve the quality of urban life.

    Yari noted that the UN-HABITAT had helped many nations to develop their housing policies but expressed regret that monitoring and implementation had been the bane of policies in Nigeria.

    He said a nation should, with available statistics to project into how many houses it would need for its populace in the short, medium and long term.

    He said his agency and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had projected that the global population of urban dwellers would rise to three billion by 2050.

    In view of that projection, he said it was important for policy makers to be on guard to ensure the availability of adequate waste disposal facilities and sustainable use of resources. Yari noted that low income earners who formed the bulk of the housing need base got their housing mostly from the informal sector, adding that he was  characterised by acute lack of infrastructure.

    He said if nations could get it right with pro-poor housing, they would reach the majority of those who needed housing.

    Yari, who pointed out that the UN-HABITAT was not a funding agency, promised to provide technical assistance to the FHA in the execution of its programmes.

  • Sterling Bank, six others get Moody’s National Scale Ratings

    Sterling Bank, six others get Moody’s National Scale Ratings

    Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Services has assigned national scale ratings (NSRs) to Sterling Bank Plc and six other Nigerian banks.

    This rating action, according to a statement from Moody’s, follows the publication of new national scale rating maps for Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco, which provide a measure of relative creditworthiness within a single country; and are derived from global scale ratings using country-specific maps.

    The agency assigned A1.ng/NG-1 national scale local currency deposit ratings to Sterling Bank. These ratings were underpinned by a standalone baseline credit assessment (BCA) of b3 and one notch of government support uplift, which results in a global scale long-term issuer and deposit rating of B2.

    Moody’s also assigned A2.ng/NG-1 national scale foreign currency deposit ratings to Sterling Bank.

    According to Moody’s, “the A1.ng rating is the second highest of three national scale ratings categories corresponding to the bank’s local currency deposit global scale ratings.

    Other banks that national scale local currency deposit ratings were assigned to included Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), First Bank of Nigeria Limited and the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    “Sterling Bank’s national scale ratings capture the bank’s solid asset quality metrics (reported non-performing loans ratio of 2.8 per cent as at end-June 2016 versus 11.7 per cent for the banking system), provision coverage and solid deposit funding base”.

    These strengths are balanced against low foreign currency liquidity buffers, which underpin the lower national scale foreign currency deposit rating compared with its local currency deposit national scale rating; vulnerabilities in asset quality; and relatively modest capital levels.

    Commenting on the rating outcome, Executive Director, Finance and Strategy Mr. Abubakar Suleiman  said the ratings affirm the bank’s business model and resilience amidst challenging operating conditions. He further noted that the bank’s solid asset quality metrics reflected a robust risk management framework put in place by its management.

  • National Robot Olympiad, three winners for India global contest

    Two public and one private schools would be heading for the World Robots Olympiad in India having emerged winners of the National Robot Olympiad competition.

    Imperial Gate School Lekki, Lagos, emerged first in the elementary Category, Model College, Meiran Lagos dusted others in the junior category, while Surrogate Achievers clinched the crown to wrap up the junior category.

    Expressing her joy on Saturday at  Oriental Hotel Lekki venue of the event , representative of Imperial Gate School Sandra Umeh who won at the open category scoring an astounding 200 over 300, expressed her excitement in victory.

    Sharing her experience, Umeh said robotics challenges an individual’s creativity, constant thinking and practice to achieve success.

    Meanwhile, Mr Bayo Biyeye, the Director of Science and Technology, Lagos State Ministry of Education praised the Lagos State government for showing enthusiasm in robotics.

    Biyeye, who described the exercise as laudable, noted that the competition has enjoyed government support over the last five years.

    He said: “The state government has also provided Leego kits for our schools. We want to make sure that the schools have the kits so that the children can practice.

    “It is a good programme and an application of Information Communication Technology,” he said.

    Head, Infant School Meadow Hall School, Lekki, LagosMrs Bisola Obasanya said robotics promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics among children.

    Obasanya said about 22,000 particpants globally from across public and private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions feature in the completion before arriving at the qualifier.

    She said robotics had made children to be creative and think out of the box.

    “Kids like it (robotics) a lot, it is not like the normal regular boring school work.

    “Whenever they are on their own, it looks as if they were playing with toys but they are learning in actual sense.

    “Kids love Leego education, children learn through it; it is a different way of teaching,” she added.

    She, however, praised the Lagos state government for the support given to robotics or Leego education in the state.

    Prior to the grand finale, competitions were held across states and regional levels nationwide which eventually climaxed in the 48 finalists that competed for the crown at the sixth edition of National Robotics Olympiad qualifier.

     

  • ‘Stop destroying national assets’

    Aggrieved groups in the country have been advised to stop destroying national assets and killing of innocent Nigerians. They have been urged to engage in constructive negotiation of their grievances.

    The groups were also advised to channel their requests in an orderly and civic manner. The advice was given by a group, Ancient Religion Societies of African Descendants International Council of Nigeria (ARSADIC) in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    ARSADIC,  in a congratulatory message signed  by His  Imperial  Majesty, the Ooni  of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye, Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT) and Chief  Sola Olalekan Atanda (BOT Secretary/National President), a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Ibadan, the group  implored all citizens  not to engage in acts capable of dividing  the country  but to contribute their quota to  the progress of the country.

    The groups, according to the statement, include the Niger Delta Avengers, Boko Haram, MEND and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

    The statement reads in part: “As the nation’s independence is a collective will of all Nigerians, we urge all who are in the act of sectoral disorderliness to bury their differences and negotiate their grievances through civil and orderly manner.

    “We strongly believe in our nation and her unique diversity which is our great strength. We are of the opinion that the present national challenges are factors in the nation’s development that call for contributions from all Nigerians.

    “ARSADIC, the umbrella body for all Ifa/Orisa/Traditional religio-us organisations, rejoices with Nigeria as a nation and all Nigerians both at home and abroad on the occasion of the 56th Independence celebration of our great country –Nigeria.”

    The group, therefore, used the medium to appeal to Nigerians to support the Buhari-led administration in waging war against corruption in all quarters.

    “We also resolve to denounce corruption and urge all Nigerians that believe and engage in corruption to have a rethink and stop their acts of corruption. Nigerians need to work harder and encourage development from within. No other nation can come and build our nation for us. “Rather, we have to patronise ourselves and build confidence in ourselves. We similarly call on all Nigerians to love one another and respect the state. We have to stop all inhuman acts including kidnapping and religious violence.

    “We strongly believe that in doing these; Olodumare and all Irunmoles will listen to our prayers, bless us and raise our country to greater position. We felicitate with our President and all those in positions of authority and all Nigerians both at home and abroad.

    “We wish that by next year’s celebration, we shall have more joy and peace in the land. Our country shall witness more positive development,” it said.

     

  • LASU VC: education key to national growth

    LASU VC: education key to national growth

    LAGOS State University (LASU) Vice Chancellor Prof Olarenwaju Fagbohun has canvassed good education for youths and governance as panacea for national development.

    Fagbohun, who was guest speaker at the installation of Lanre Akintilo as president of Rotary Club of  Gbagada in Onikan, Lagos recently, noted that education could galvanise youths for development since ‘’they are the greatest assets of a nation’’. He said youths have enormous energy, do protest the present and have no fear about the future. He urged the youth to embrace education and use their abilities and training to tackle the challenges facing the country.

    Speaking on Education, youth and national development –redefining the future of Nigeria, Fagbohun said: “Education develops the personality of the individual and significance of his life to himself and to others. With the right education, our youth will be empowered to pierce the curtain of the future and give shape and usage to mysteries still in the womb of time. Getting governance right is the key to ensuring that our youth positioned to contribute to national development.’’

    The professor of Environmental Law said since the adults, who are leaders today, were yesterday’s youths, they had failed us, noting that the youths could not contribute meaningfully  to national development because they have been neglected by the leaders and this had  led to their frustration and despondence. He added: “I am convinced that the situation is not helpless and that, indeed, there is so much that we can do to bring about desired changes.’’

    Fagbohun called for good governance, adding that Nigeria’s problems were caused by bad administration over the years. Good governance, he said, translates to respect for rule of law, human rights, transparency, lack of corruption, effective institutions, conflict resolution mechanism, among others. ‘’When good governance is enthroned, it will bring together the cooperation of the public sector, the business community, civil society and organisations like Rotary,’’ he added.

    He said governance would assist the government to have in place frameworks for managing its problems and move the country forward. He called for strategic governance that would encourage policy experimentation and learning and push the ministries, departments and agencies to be inclusive, transparent and accountable.

  • 1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    1966 coup changed the national spirit that prevailed at independence Septuagenarian journalist

    My name is Alhaji Tajudeen Tijjani Ajibade”, the veteran journalist started. “Before I talk about independence, it is important to talk about my background. I was born in Ibadan on Sunday, 1st of June, 1947 to a Nupe woman and a Nupe father, people the Yoruba refer to as Tapa. My parents came from Bida, but I was born in Ibadan. My parents decided to name me Tajudeen because of the environment they found themselves. Although it is a Muslim name, the Yoruba bear it most. My parents lived in the palace of Balogun Ogunmola because my father’s sister was married to the Balogun Ogunmola of Ibadan. Up till today, our house is located in Oriolowo’s compound around the famous Mapo Hill.

    Nigeria since independence

    Talking about Nigeria before independence, at independence and now, a short history about myself becomes necessary. For a long time, I did not even know I came from the northern part of the country because everyone was equal. I grew up like any other child and nobody discriminated against me. Nobody ever spoke about my background until I grew and my father had to tell me by himself. And that was even because I am the only son of my father. As at that time, I only heard people call my mother Gogo, but what did I care? All I knew was that she was my mother.

    So, when we were growing up, there was no discrimination of any sort. We attended free primary education in the old Western Region. I started my primary education in 1954 at Islamic Primary School, Odoye, Ibadan. As at that time, Nigeria was actually very stable in terms of economy and politics. People were living together without anybody thinking about where someone came from.

    Suddenly, things started to unfold after the 1966 coup. The background to what is happening in Nigeria today is the 1966 coup. I am not condemning it. I am not saying it is good or bad, because I don’t know the reason why the coup plotters came in. But since it was the coup that led us into civil war and the civil war led to everyone moving from one place to the other and people started to know where they came from. That was the beginning of ethnicity, religions sentiments and what have you.

    Again, there was a military government that created states. That states creation polarised us the more. Now people talk about their states than even the nation. They talk about their local government area than their states. Those are the things that were not happening before.

    When I came to Kaduna in my late tens too, despite the fact that I bear Ajibade, nobody discriminated against me, except that they called me a Yoruba boy when they wanted to describe me. But it really didn’t matter, because I used the name while going to school to work in New Nigerian Newspapers for many years, I worked in Standard, Punch, Sketch and edited a few newspapers, and I was at home everywhere.

    So, anyone who grew up during our time will be sad and would ask: is it not the same Nigeria we were living in that has turned into this unsettled nation? A country where people think about differences in religion and ethnicity, and because of that, people are not friends again, as if it is not the same people that grew up together, went to church and mosque together. During Christmas, we used to go to church with one Samuel who was our friend. During Sallah, we would go to the mosque with one Mohammed, so that we would come back and slaughter the ram. It was fantastic.

    The sudden change in this country we call Nigeria is really very unfortunate. In those days, nobody asked where you came from to get employment, all you needed to do was fill a form, and once you are qualified, they gave you job. It is unlike today that you have to go to your local government to get your paper. You have to even go to your ward for them to identify you. Even for admission into schools, you have to go through all that. No country can move forward like this.

    A lot of things started happening after the 1966 coup. The military were coming, civilians were also coming and there was no stability, politically and otherwise. Why did things get suddenly wrong to the extent that we started talking about federal character and zoning system, which means even if you are qualified and you are not from the zone where certain things have been zoned to, you can’t get it?

    So, these are some of the things that are crippling this country, which I think we have to work seriously hard to get out of the woods. Because if we don’t settle it before people who saw Nigeria pre and post-independence vanish, it will get more polarised so much that people will not talk about Nigeria again but their local governments. Because in Nigeria of today, somebody will tell you I am an indigene of Sokoto or Kaduna. Nobody says I am a Nigerian.

    Americans are bigger than us, but there are no indigenes. You are just an American. We were working for Nigeria to get to that stage. That is why when they talk about national issue, we support it. We don’t care where it starts from, because we believe in nationalism.

    The way out

    So I think there is clarion call to both the old and the young to look inward and see exactly what our problem is. The late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo were said to have met somewhere, and when they were talking and Awolowo called Sardauna, ‘Prince, why can’t we settle our differences?’ Sardauna replied: ‘Omo Oba, let’s understand our differences before we can settle them.’ I think we should go back to such conversations. Let us first of all understand our differences and find a way of settling them; those differences that are making us live apart.

    Nigeria of our dream is not the Nigeria that we have today. I have never bothered about where someone comes from. My concern is what you can do for this country and how we can work together to move Nigeria forward as a single entity devoid of sentiments of religion, ethnicity and others. That was how we grew up

    My prayer now is that the leaders that are there today will be able to do something better for us to go back to the good old days of one Nigeria, one destiny, one nation. That was the slogan of the NPN in those days.

    Why we are in serious economic crisis

    What actually killed us was the abandonment of what we had or the abandonment of what we were using before the advent of oil and gas. We have all concentrated on oil and gas, forgetting agriculture and other things. This led to the deaths of many industries and people started coming into oil and gas. But what many people don’t know is that the whole money we have made since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri, India made it in software in just about two years.

    There are countries of the world who don’t have oil and they are doing fine. But since God gave us oil in Nigeria, we were thinking that the oil should be a blessing to us, but it turned out to be something else. At least before oil was discovered, we had what we were running the country with.

    But above all, what I want to see before I leave is a united Nigeria, like it was before and shortly after independence. The Queen gave independence to Nigeria and called it one country. But what are we seeing today? We have what you can call 36 countries in Nigeria. May God help us.

  • MAAFA TO IGNITE NATIONAL THEATRE

    MAAFA TO IGNITE NATIONAL THEATRE

    FOLLOWING weeks of intense preparations, all is now set to stage Maafa, a tale of man’s quest for redemption at the darkest hours of his life.

    Scheduled for tomorrow at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos from the stable of Eda Theatre Group, visioner and playwright, Segun Olujobi, said that the vision for putting Maafa on stage is to rebuild the walls of Nigeria. He also revealed that in order to put up a superlative performance, the National Troupe of Nigeria is partnering with his group for the show.

    “The vision is to rebuild the walls of Nigeria, as delivered to us by God through the account of Nehemiah in the Bible. I know it sounds vague because it will be hard for people to believe, but every vision that changed the world was first laughed at. Ask Bishop David Oyedepo when God told him he’ll build a 50,000 worship auditorium with no single pillar- the world laughed but we can all see the outcome of that vision today,” he said.

    Maafa tells the story of a warrior who never lost a battle until he finds himself in a situation where, in order to survive, he must make a sacrifice to lead not just himself, but a whole nation, out of its trouble.

    It is directed by Mr. Makinde Adeniran, the newly-elected president of the Lagos State Chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP).

    The play will show at the Cinema Hall II by 4pm