The Nation Newspaper

Tag: registration

  • Freshers begin registration

    Freshers begin registration

    They all clutched brown envelops and transparent file folders, an indication that they are new students. Motorists had hectic time trying to access Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, as freshers moved in and out of the campus for registration.

    Some parents and guardians were seen helping their wards to move personal effects into the dormitories. Students, who did not have the luxury, created traffic logjam at the university entrance while trying to move their properties into the hostels.

    Following a circular released by management of the institution’s Computer Centre on the beginning of sales of scratch cards to pay the school fees, students thronged the office to purchase the cards.

    For ease of movement, the university commissioned some buses to convey the freshers into the school for registration.

    It is the business period for cyber cafés on the campus. The operators are making profit as students besieged the centres for online registration. Also, computer business centres and photocopy merchants are not left out in the profit harvest.

    An attendant in one of the cafés, Eldorado, who simply identified himself as Kunle, said: “It is so normal to have this high turnout. It is what we have been used to over the years. In our own capacity, we welcome them into the system by assisting them with registrations.”

    As they moved into their hostels, hall potters were available to receive them. The students were welcomed as the officials signed and stamped their hall placement slips.

    In Awolowo hall, it was gathered that the returning students welcomed the freshers into the hall with Aro (mockery) songs.

    A fresher, Gabriel Ayodeji, told CAMPUS LIFE: “After three years of seeking admission into OAU, I am happy that I am finally offered Social Studies to study for my Bachelor’s degree.” He hoped to graduate with excellence.

  • INEC: no registration for African Peoples Congress

    INEC: no registration for African Peoples Congress

    WHO has the franchise to the acronym – APC? The All Progressives Congress or the African Peoples Congress? This controversy will soon end.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday turned down the application of the African Peoples Congress, one of the three parties laying claim to the ownership of the acronym.

    The three parties are seeking registration with INEC.

    INEC had initially kept quiet over the rejection of the African Peoples Congress, but when the group cried foul, the electoral body came out to confirm the rejection, backing its action with Section 222 A of the Constitution.

    The party’s protem chairman, Chief Onyinye Ikeagwuonu, yesterday in a statement entitled: “A brewing storm”, alleged that the electoral body planned to deny it registration.

    He claimed have learnt that a letter to that effect was awaiting the signature of INEC chair Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    Copies of the unsigned letter were made availbale to newsmen in Abuja yesterday.

    Entitled: “Re-Application for Registration as a political party, the letter was on INEC’s letter-headed paper and dated March 21, 2013. It was addressed to Ikeagwuonu.

    The explanation for the rejection according to the letter, is that African Peoples Congress breached Section 222 (a) of the Constitution.

    Section 222 A states that “no association by whatever name called shall function as a political party, unless the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

    This, the letter claimed, was absent in the application of the group.

    The electoral umpire had initially denied the existence of such a letter.

    But the group made copies available to reporters in Abuja. INEC’s Director of Information, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger confirmed that the contents of the letter.

    The letter reads: “Your application for registration as a political party dated 28th February, 2013 refers. The commission has observed that your association is in breach of Section 222 (a) of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which stipulates as follows:

    “No association by whatever name called shall function as a political party unless; the names and addresses of its national officers are registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission;. A close observation of your submitted form PA 1 established that it does not contain the addresses of your national officers as stipulated in the provisions above.

    “Consequently, the commission shall not register the proposed African Peoples Congress (APC) as a political party.”

    Umenger confirmed that INEC declined the application for registration of the group as a political Party.

    He said: “Yes, I am in receipt of a letter similar in content with the one you said was duly signed by INEC’s Secretary, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaugama and it has been delivered to the addressee (African Peoples Congress) and one Michael Ogani signed and collected the letter and dated it March 25, 2013.

    “The content is what you read to me earlier. The point of departure, as I spoke with you before now, was that the letter you had was not signed and because it was not signed, we could not ascertain its authenticity and because of that I declined to speak on it. But as soon as it came to my table, I felt that it was necessary to call you and inform you that I am in receipt of a letter and its content; the letter has spoken.”

    But Ikeagwuonu disagreed with the claims of the electoral body, saying that the excuse was flimsy.

    He said: “Our attention has just been drawn to a desperate effort by some paid INEC officials to conclusively consummate the black market transaction we warned about last Thursday, to deny the African peoples Congress registration, citing purported irregularities in the addresses of our national officers while the INEC documents required either residential address or phone number.

    “We had earlier alerted Nigerians about this high-level conspiracy and have thus been reliably informed today (yesterday) by an impeccable source that a draft letter denying APC registration is right now on the table of the INEC chairman, waiting for his endorsement.

    “This, if executed, would amount to a rape of our democracy, which we in APC would resist with everything we have.

    Just like we said in our briefing of Thursday, last week, we will not fold our hands and watch enemies of democracy masquerading as INEC officials run a roughshod over Nigeria’s democracy.”

  • Digital registration for NBA conference

    Digital registration for NBA conference

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has concluded plans to employ online and digital facilities in the registration of members for the forthcoming Annual General Conference of the association.

    This was disclosed by the chairman of the Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), Chief Joe Agi (SAN) in a chat with our correspondent at the NBA secretariat, Abuja.

    The conference, which is regarded as the largest gathering of lawyers in sub-Saharan Africa is usually held at the last week in August when most courts are on vacation.

    Agi said: “ We are working very hard round the clock to give Nigerian lawyers the best conference. We started early, we have got the theme of the conference, we are trying to get the speakers and putting things on ground and we believe that Calabar will be the best conference for lawyers . This year’s conference will hold at Tinapa Holiday Resorts, in Calabar, Cross River State.

    On how the TCCP intends to use the recently launched NBA portal and website, Agi said: “ We are now moving from analogue registration to digital registration, people will now sit in the comfort of their rooms and register for the conference without having to go the banks, get tellers, forms, fill and send to the NBA through couriers, registered mails and all the rest of it. You can see that the NBA is really going digital, this is a great improvement and giant stride that we have taken.

    The conference fee was approved during the Makurdi National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and has been forwarded to all branches of the NBA. For those lawyers that have been verified, once you go to the portal and click your year of call to the Bar, the amount you will pay as conference fees will come out. On the challenges facing the committee, Agi said: “Well, we have not really confronted any challenges in the course of carrying out this assignment.”

     

  • INEC increases party registration fee to N1m

    INEC increases party registration fee to N1m

    Worried by the reckless formation of parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has increased registration fee from N100, 000 to N1 million.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega had a meeting with party leaders in Abuja yesterday.

    Some political parties, led by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), urged the commission to increase the fee to N5 million to prevent abuse of party system

    Also, the commission has put in place strict rules to monitor finances of all political parties in the country.

    These are the major highlights in the Draft Guidelines for Regulating Political Parties, which were presented to political parties at a meeting in Abuja for review.

    All the parties have one week to send in their written input on the draft before the final copy is produced by INEC.

    According to sources at the closed door session in INEC headquarters, the commission expressed worry about the emergence of mushroom parties.

    One of the sources said: “In the draft guidelines, INEC has proposed increase in the registration fee from N100, 000 to N1million. All the parties embraced the proposal and spoke about the prevalent abuse of party registration system.

    “The parties claimed that the N100, 000 rates accounted for the reckless applications for new parties. These irritants forming parties just look for N100, 000 and apply for registration because the fee itself is abysmally low.

    “In fact, the National Secretary of CPC, Buba Galadima, observed that N1 million is too small. He said the registration fee should be about N5million and above.

    “The parties at the meeting unanimously endorsed Galadima’s proposal that INEC should jack up the fee from its proposed N1million to N5miilion.

    “The electoral commission promised to look into further demand for the review of the registration fee by the parties.

    “The acceptance of the recommendation is at the discretion of INEC. But we are hopeful that it will listen to the parties. Certainly, the new guidelines are meant to check frivolous applications for party registration.

    Another source at the session said: “Our discussions focused on new guidelines on party registration, monitoring of finances, membership register with INEC, alteration of party constitution and delimitation of constituencies.

    “INEC has put in place comprehensive guidelines on how to track finances of political parties, including donations. With the new rules, parties are expected to make full disclosure of all accruable funds or generated funds either through members, donations by individuals or anonymous sources or other means. They will also account for every fund at their disposal which auditors will verify.

    “The essence of the new financial rules is to prevent moneybags from hijacking parties and to control funds limit, especially campaign funds.

    “With the new rules, INEC will also be able to determine when a party has exceeded the threshold allowed by law.

    A third source at the meeting explained that the draft guidelines deal with “verification of members of political parties. Each member of a party is expected to have biometric related particulars so that at the tap of a finger, any claim can be verified.

    “There will be no room again for impostors.

    “The parties also agreed at the session to hold quarterly meeting with INEC to resolve outstanding political and electoral issues to avoid heating up the system.

    “This session will take place every Tuesday of the last month in a quarter. We have decided to institutionalize INEC-Parties Quarterly Meeting because the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) has not taken off.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “INEC made a detailed presentation on its plans to conduct delimitation of constituencies nationwide as part of its plans towards 2015 poll.

    “Although this is a constitutional requirement, the electoral commission said it chose to consult parties and other stakeholders to reduce tension that is usually accompanying such exercise.”

    It was gathered that in view of the sensitive nature of the guidelines, parties made a request for time to further consult with their leaders and members.

    The source added: “At the end of the day, INEC gave the parties a one-week deadline to make written representation or input into the guidelines.

  • NCC arrests 75 agents running illegal Sim cards registration

    NCC arrests 75 agents running illegal Sim cards registration

    National Communications Commission (NCC), said it has arrested 75 agents operating Sim Card registration for engaging in fraudulent practices.

    Five of the agents were apprehended in Minna, will the remaining 70 were arrested in other states in the North Central and South West regions of the country.

    The NCC Head of Enforcement, Mr. Efosa Idehen, disclosed this on Wednesday after the arrest of five agents who engage in fraudulent registration of Sim cards in Minna.

    He accused the arrested agents of pre-registering and selling registered and fully activated Sim cards to the customers.

    Idehen further said the mop-up of agents into illegal Sim cards registration will be extended to other parts of the country in the next six weeks.

    According to him, ‘’agents of fraudulent Sim cards registration have no where to run as the Commission already have the details of everyone and we have been trailing and monitoring these agents since 2012’’.

    He disclosed that five out of identified six suspects had been picked up in Minna, Niger state capital lamenting that some of the agents had more than one machine with them.

    “Today, we came to Minna trailing six lined for three mobile operators. One of the operators, MTN had three lines while Airtel had one and Glo had two machines. The operators fully coperated with us as they brought the agents to their office where they were arrested. We learnt that some agents had machines from each network.”

    The Head of Enforcement then pleaded with Nigerians to allow the registration process work the way it was planned to work stressing that if it works, it will go a long way in being able to track up criminals, help for research purpose and help NCC in having a clean and organized database.

     

     

  • Local content: biometric registration for expatriate workers

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has directed that expatriates working in the Nigerian oil and gas industry would, henceforth, undertake biometric registration as part of conditions they must fulfil before their organisations can secure expatriate quota approvals from the Board.

    The exercise, according to the board, will capture details of all foreigners working for operating and service companies in Nigeria on the electronic platform – Nigerian Content Joint Qualification System, (NOJICJQS) being operated by the Board.

    NCDMB Executive Secretary, Ernest Nwapa stated this in Lagos at the Addax Executive Business Seminar on Nigerian Content. He said the exercise will start in the first quarter of 2013.

    The registration, he noted, will help the board evaluate the skills of the expatriates and confirm that such skills are not available locally in the industry. It will also assist the board to electronically track the numbers of expatriates in the industry, their length of stay, compliance with provided succession plans and expected date of exit.

    He said at the completion of the biometric registration, each expatriate will get a unique card, which he or she will produce whenever the monitoring team from the board comes around for periodic verification.

    Nwapa added that Section 33 of the NOGICD Act mandates operators to apply and receive the approval of the Board before making any application for expatriate quota to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or any other agency of the Federal Government.

    Among other conditions, the Board requires companies seeking to get expatriate quota approvals for their operations in the oil and gas industry to first advertise the positions to Nigerians through national and international media outfits.

    Other new initiatives of the Board endorsed by its Governing Council chaired by Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, include the planned establishment of industrial parks in each oil producing state in partnership with the state governments. This will stimulate the participation of the communities in the local supply chain and provide a direct platform for collaboration with original equipment manufacturers that are now required to manufacture a minimum proportion of components in Nigeria.

    He said the Board will collaborate with major operators, service companies and the relevant state governments to build industrial parks, which will support operations of the industry and help achieve service efficiency through shared services.

    Other benefits of the industrial park concept include the reduction of start-up investment cost for new business, stakeholders’ collaboration and industry commitment to utilise manufactured products from industrial parks.

    The parks will host manufacturing activities driven by the oil and gas industry demand but will certainly service other sectors of the economy as they grow organically into integrated industrial zones. The start-up product slate will include steel pipes and allied fittings, switch gears , panels, skids, pipe racks and brackets, environmental protection equipment and chemicals. It will also include industrial gases, computers, telecom and other ICT equipment components, furniture, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, bolts and nuts, and drilling fluids.

    Nwapa said that the strategy has been successfully deployed to stimulate small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) focused on the oil and gas technology into sustainable engines for technological growth and employment at the grass root level.

    He noted that the major operators will benefit from increased entrepreneurial activities in their host communities, adding that the Board has reached out to the state governments to participate in an SME fair to enable it identify companies with potentials to incubate and grow.

    In this way, over 100,000 productive jobs will be created across the communities for skills ranging from professional to artisanal and deemphasize the social employment prevalent in the communities.

    “The fair will identify SMEs with capacity, which will be supported and accommodated in the new industrial parks to manufacture goods used in industry with the active involvement of the traditional OEMs,” he added.

    He said the Board would activate the provisions of the Act to provide specific incentives for OEMs that participate in the initiative such as locking in orders for equipment or components manufactured/assembled in these parks for extended period. He added that Nigerian companies had committed to invest over $600 million in the manufacture and assembly of various equipments and components.

  • Massive consolidation looms in share registration

    Massive consolidation looms in share registration

    The train of consolidation in the financial services industry may move next to the share registration business as registrars adjust to the divestment and consolidation in banking, stringent supervisory framework, capital requirement and intensive information and communication technology.

    Industry sources estimated that the number of share registration firms which is about 30, may reduce by almost half following ongoing mergers and acquisitions from banking consolidation induced business combinations and competition-induced restructurings.

    When asked about the possibility of consolidation in the share registration industry, both Managing Director, First Registrars Nigeria Limited, Mr Bayo Olugbemi and Chief Executive, Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR), Dr David Ogogo, answered in the affirmative.

    Olugbemi said the consolidation might start from 2013 and it could be due to competition or regulations. Ogogo said well-run registrars would stand good chance to in consolidation period.

    Most banks are selling off their share registration businesses while the consolidation in the banking industry has reduced the size of share registration business. Banks were, and still, the largest customers for most registrars.

    Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Scope of Banking Activities and Ancillary Matters No 3, 2010 requires banks to concentrate on core banking functions. The new model requires banks to either sell non-core banking businesses or form a holding company to hold such non-core banking businesses including activities such as insurance, asset management and capital market operations.

    Five banks including First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc have opted to form holding companies and keep their subsidiaries while other banks including Access Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank and Wema Bank, among others, are pursuing divestments from non-banking subsidiaries.

    Besides being the largest registers, banks own the largest and most active registrars. More than half of the industry operators, which account for more than two-third of the industry activities, are owned directly or indirectly by banks.

    A reliable source said banks that had acquired share registration businesses have started exploring possibilities of merging the businesses.

    First City Monument Bank, which has interest in CSL Securities (Registrars), recently acquired Fin Registrars through acquisition of Finbank Plc.Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), which has interest in EDC Securities, also acquired Oceanic Registrars through its acquisition of Oceanic Bank International. Access Bank also recently acquired Intercontinental Registrars through its acquisition of Intercontinental Bank Plc.

    Besides linear integration due to acquisition of a share registration company by a bank with subsisting share registration business, industry sources indicated that spin-off of share registration businesses and divestments by banks may induce consolidation as newly independent registrars strive to build their businesses.

    First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc has sold its iconic share registration business- First Registrars Nigeria Limited, the largest share registration company in Nigeria, as part of the banking group restructuring into a holding company structure. United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has gotten all approvals to spin off its share registration business- Africa Prudential Registrars, to its shareholders. Africa Prudential Registrars is billed to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), a feat that will make it the first registrar to be quoted on the stock market. Guaranty Trust Bank has sold its share registration business- GTB Registrars, to new core investors.

    Industry sources indicated that the spun-off and divested registrars would come under pressures to build and sustain profits and dividends to investors, a possible game changer in the industry where many registrars were retained to protect the interests of their parent companies.

    Many industry sources also feared that a new capital base for share registration may lead to mergers and acquisition.

    Besides, the changing landscape of the share registration business, which has seen most activities now automated and online, may reduce the quantum of operations and incomes of registrars as companies seek to reduce costs of share management.

    Several companies have opted for online delivery of annual reports and accounts to shareholders, as part of efforts to reduce cost of bulky printing and postal costs. Other initiatives such as electronic dividend, dematerialization, electronic bonus, electronic offer and electronic allotment among others being promoted by capital market stakeholders are expected to increasingly reduce physical operations of registrars and also attendant incomes.

     

  • Residents’ registration begins in January

    LAGOS State Government has said it would begin the registration of all residents in January.

    Dropping the hint yesterday at the Lgos International trade Fair, the Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LSRRA), Mr. Akin Akiniyi, said the agency has held a pilot exercise with public servants.

    He said the project is aimed at providing a database for all residents for better planning and governance.

    “Over 21 million people are estimated to be living in Lagos and there would be need for government to have their data base.

    “The exercise is equally necessary in view of the security situation and the influx of illegal aliens into the state,” Akiniyi said.

    He said all residents, irrespective of ethnic background, as well as foreigners— including tourists— would be captured in the exercise scheduled to hold between January and March 2013.

    “Government has the responsibility to cater for everyone residing in Lagos, regardless of their state or the country they came from, “ he said.

    Akiniyi said identity cards would be issued to those who are captured during the exercise, to differentiate between legal residents and illegal immigrants.

    He said government would be able to accurately determine the overall resources required in formulating and implementing policies, projects and programmes, after the exercise.

  • Tackling hitches of RUGIPO’s online registration

    INFORMATION Communication Technology (ICT) has brought unprecedented development to every sector of the economy – agriculture, mining, health, security, education and others.

    The effect is felt more in the education sector and the role of ICT to engendering a robust education system cannot be overemphasised. Aside helping to facilitate effective teaching and learning, it also helps in students’ registration, payment of school fees and other exercises, thereby bringing an end to the manual registration which was ladened with a lot of stress, giving room for everything to be done online.

    These advantages of ICT may have prompted the management of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO) to introduce online registration last year. According to the Rector, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, ICT was introduced to make its activities comply with 21st century realities.

    There have been commendations from many quarters for introducing online registration, at least, for the first time in the 31years of existence of the institution. This made students to nickname the Rector “21st Century Don.”

    Prior to the introduction of online registration, students had always been subjected to rigorous manual method as they would have to travel to Owo before they could make any payment. Besides, students would have to submit themselves to the rules of banks as they queued under the scorching sun to obtain bank drafts, sign their course forms and perform other activities.

    However, their hope was dashed as the exercise could not bring the expected hope, but aggravated their suffering. Students encountered some difficulties in getting themselves registered. For instance, returning students of Ondo State origin who were supposed to pay N19,000 as their tuition had to pay N22,000 or more for late registration.

    Some could not even register their courses online because of the unfriendly nature of the portal. These and other difficulties made the management to direct students to go back to the manual registration because examination was approaching. Throughout the 2010/2011 academic session, the exercise was a mirage as it could not yield the expected result.

    Reports had it that as academic activities commenced for the 2011/2012 academic session last March, some students could still not register and make payments online one month after resumption. This was as a result of the persistent problematic nature of the online registration exercise.

    The Acting Director of ICT, Mr Alex Akinola, said the problems faced by students when the online registration was first introduced had been surmounted and that the institution was set for full online registration this session. He also said the era of manual registration was gone.

    It is a well known fact that when a new invention is first introduced, the expected result may not be accomplished within a short period. Therefore, there is the need for the management to improve on the exercise. Experts should be consulted on how to make the portal friendlier to do away with over-invoicing and the likes.

    The institution is fortunate to have a world-class academic at the helm of affairs. The rector should deploy all resources needed to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the portal and make it student-friendly. This will surely bring an end to the recurrent problem of over-invoicing and make registration easy for the students. RUGIPO O ni baje o!

     

    Richard, ND II Mass Comm., RUGIPO