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Tag: Ohuabunwa

  • Ohuabunwa urges managers to embrace ethics

    Former Chairman/CEO, Pfizer West Africa Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa has urged managers to imbibe ethical values in their workplaces.

    Speaking at Nosak Group’s retreat for its workers in Lagos, Ohuabunwa, who was guest speaker, said: “Value is essential for business growth because it ensures that the consumer is well protected in terms of genuineness of the product he is buying. Therefore, total quality management principle must be adhered to at all times in the production lines.’’

    The theme of the retreat, which was attended by over 30 managers and departmental heads, was  “Turn and accelerate: from stability to leadership”. It was facilitated by Vital Solutions Consult Incorporated.

    Nosak Group’s Chairman, Dr. Toni Ogunbor said training is the bedrock of corporate success.

    Ogunbor, who led a session on ‘The state of the company and trends in the Nigerian economy,’ said it is a global and well known ýpractice for businesses to go on retreats where various issues affecting their businesses are analysed and remedied for future growth.

    He announced the newest baby in the Group, Nosak Farm Produce Limited, which he said, is a premier manufacturing company that provides over 300 direct and indirect jobs, and ranks as one of the top vegetable oil refiners in the country.

    Ogunbor said: “With a capacity of 200 tonnes per day and a farm size of approximately 800 hectares, the company is set to acquire an additional 20, 000 hectares in Edo State for backward integration and further increase its refining capacity in 2016″.

    He said this measure was aimed at creating more jobs and export opportunities for the country, in tamdem with the Federal Government’s policy.

    Ogunbor praised the organisers and participants of the retreat, affirming that the event was outstanding and the results would help to enhance staff performance and position the company for growth and leadership in the business environment in Nigeria and West Africa.

  • Ohuabunwa advocates incentives for manufacturers

    Former chairman Managing Director of Pfizer Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa has urged the Federal Government to provide resources to individuals and corporate organisations to harness the mineral resources in the country.

    Speaking during the HOG public lecture titled, ‘Nigeria Beyond Oil,’ held in Lagos, he said government should harness areas that it has comparative advantages to boost production.

    The economist explained that countries which hitherto depended on oil are diversifying to avoid challenges which normally accompany the failure of mono product for subsistence.

    Waxing philosophical, he said: “It is not by closing the doors. Closing the doors does not help anybody. Some of the areas to be harness include petro-chemicals, rubber technology,   food and agriculture processing.

    “I am equally talking about solid mineral, we should encourage artisan miners; these are small scale operators. They don’t have the equipment to operate, government should take the lead by providing for the artisans the tools and equipment they can work with. This will enable them make impact on the economy,” he stressed.

    Ohuabunwa added that government should explore the tax income for its resources while creating the enabling environment for the other operators.

  • Election tribunals sack PDP senators Abaribe, Nnaji

    Election tribunals sack PDP senators Abaribe, Nnaji

    Abaribe’s election nullified

    The election petition tribunal sitting in Abia State has declared Mao Ohuabunwa winner of the Abia North senatorial election.

    Ohuabunwa was declared winner after the addition and deduction of votes cast for him and the petitioner, Chief Bourdex Ogba Onuoha.

    Tribunal head Justice Adeniyi Onibanjo said Onuoha’s claims of irregularities were not enough to cancel the election, adding that the petitioner was able to prove that some of his votes were deducted by INEC, while Ohuabunwa’s votes were increased by the electoral body.

    The tribunal, therefore, decided to deduct the votes they believed were given to Ohuabunwa by INEC and added the votes believed to have been deducted from Onuoha back to him.

    The results, after deduction from Ohuabunwa, was 43, 738, while Onuoha’s, after adding his stolen votes, was 28, 210.

    The tribunal also dismissed Orji Uzor Kalu’s petition for incompetence, even as the petitioner earlier questioned the jurisdiction of the tribunal to handle the case.

    Onuoha expressed shock with the result, saying the tribunal delayed his mandate.

    He said he would proceed to the Court of Appeal to recover his stolen mandate, even as he urged his supporters to remain calm.

    The tribunal has nullified the election of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Lead judge said the election was inconclusive due to irregularities in Obingwa and Ugwunagbo councils.

    Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chris Nkwonta petitioned the tribunal seeking nullification of Abaribe’s election for electoral irregularities.

    Abaribe said his team was confused about the ruling but has applied for a Certified True Copy of the judgment as a guide to an appropriate response.

    Abaribe, a three-term senator was first elected to represent Abia South in 2007.

  • Senate crisis limited to APC, says Senator Ohuabunwa

    Senate crisis limited to APC, says Senator Ohuabunwa

    The Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, has debunked the claim that there is crisis in the Senate.

    Ohuabunwa said that what is playing out at the 8th Senate is a mere quarrel between members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upper legislative chamber over who becomes what.

    Speaking with The Nation in Umuahia, he said the red chamber had commenced its activities in earnest with the aim of making laws for the country and its people.

    “There is no crisis in the Senate. What we have is the APC caucus whose responsibility it is to produce the principal officers at the Senate, over which they are quarrelling amongst themselves,” he said.

    He said the Senate has been working since the principal officers were elected and sworn in, adding that resolutions had been made and passed.

    “I have even moved a motion for a resolution to be passed,” he said.

    The Senator Representing Abia North said that what the other Senators are telling the APC caucus is that they should not allow their internal problems to encroach on the Senate, stressing that it is a personal issue and not a national one.

    He frowned at those who are contemplating taking the issue of principal officers to court, saying that the issue had been handled and decisions taken.

    “Once such decisions are made, it cannot be reversed,” he said.

    “I pity those senators who want to go to court over the issue, as they do not have the grounds to do that. Whatever happens at the Senate chambers, be it fighting or otherwise, is not given as evidence in any court,” he said.

    Man, 51, docked for allegedly belonging to illegitimate `State of Biafra’

    A 51-year-old man, Ozalla Onyechukwugoziri, on Friday appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly belonging to an unlawful society called the “State of Biafra”.

    Onyechukwugoziri is facing trial on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, attending meetings of an unlawful society and belonging to a secret cult.

    The accused, however, said he was not guilty to the charges preferred against him.

    But the Prosecutor, ASP Elizabeth Ekuma, said that the accused committed the offences on July 13.

    She told the court that the offences were committed between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., at No. 22, Ajijedidun St., off Agunlejika Bus stop, Ijeshatedo.

    She said that Onyechukwugoziri belonged to an unlawful society that goes by the name “State of Biafra” and that he had been attending meetings of the illegitimate group.

    Ekuma said the offences of the accused contravened sections 41, 42(a) and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The Magistrate, Miss B.O. Ope-Agbe, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000 with two “responsible’’ sureties in like sum.

    “The sureties must provide proof of payment of tax to the Lagos State government,’’ she said.

    The magistrate adjourned the case to Sept. 15 for mention.

  • Ohuabunwa advocates three-year budget plan

    President, Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, has called for a three-year rolling budget as done in advanced economies as against the yearly style of the government.

    He said: “We should have three years rolling budget to get the economy running. There is no capital project that can be successfully finished in a year’s budget and this leads to disruptions as contractors have delays with their payments and some abandon their sites completely.

    “Our budget is subject to so much variation and inefficiencies and does not produce the right result at the right time, therefore, having a three-year rolling plan is preferable to the current yearly budget.”

    On franchise manufacturing, he said it would be more beneficial to the country than importing finished goods, adding that new entrants into manufacturing can use certified local manufacturers who have made a name to produce their products to internationally accepted quality.

    He advocated primary manufacturing where everything is produced locally, noting that if it must be secondary, the government must insist on generous local content to balance the equation.

    On strategic management buy out (MBO), he observed that the operating environment was easier now than in 1997 when, through MBO, Neimeth was created from Pfizer.

    He hailed some local entrepreneurs for breaking the mode and ceiling and delving into communication, oil and gas and petroleum refining.

  • Ohuabunwa, Utomi, others join business forum

    Stakeholders in different sectors of the Nigerian and British economy have initiated a new bilateral trade-promoting platform to benefit all categories of Nigerian and London based entrepreneurs.

    In a release made available to The Nation, the state said that the new body which is to be known as the Nigerian London Business Forum (NILOBF), parades distinguished personalities as board members including: Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, former President, Nigerian Economic Summit; Professor Pat Utomi, a respected entrepreneurial advocate; John Momoh, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Channels Television); Ray Ekpu, founding former Editor-in-Chief, Newswatch Magazine.

    Others include Dr. Adekola Ali, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Union Bank, UK Plc, Jonathan Banjo, Managing Director, AJB Executive Search Limited, London and Dr. Chris Onalo, Director, CBS Credit UK, who incidentally is also the initiator of the novel idea.

    Among other things, the board members are expected to carry out functions which are non-administrative and non-executive, but would border on bilateral policy advisory, advocacy as well as other essentials that strengthen bilateral engagements.

    According to the promoters, the objectives of the Nigerian London Business Forum are among others, to promote, support or oppose legislation or other policies and measures capable of affecting trade, investment, and business between Nigeria and London, as well as representing the opinion of London based Nigerian business community on those matters and the economy as a whole.

    The forum has also enjoyed the support and commitment of Nigeria High Commission in London who recognizes that down there in London, there is a very strong consciousness of the large population of Nigerians in business, the skills they have, the energy they have and their great economic potentials which has contributed in no small measure to the prosperity of the UK economy.