First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has urged Nigerians, especially those in government and politics, to be exemplary in their conduct.
She advised other Nigerians to cultivate good attitude and exhibit righteousness to enable all build a virile nation.
The First Lady spoke at the Wise Men Conference of the Christian Pentecostal Mission International in Ajao Estate, Lagos, through the Special Adviser to the President o Ethics and Values, Dr Sarah Jubril.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged youths to participate in governance to deepen democracy in the country.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, said youths must participate for Nigeria to have a better future.
He spoke during a leadership summit in Yaba, Lagos, organised by Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI), a group supported by the United States’ Consulate-General.
Ogunmola, who was represented by the INEC’s Head of Department, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Civil Society Organisations, Mrs. Ijeoma Okey-Igbokwe, recalled that their involvement in 2011 elections assisted the commission to achieve better results.
He said: “The youth corps members and final tertiary year students who were used as electoral officers had no grant from the government. So, they did the job well and the commission had no regret using them.
“We are not paying their school fees. So, they didn’t have any reason to manipulate the result in favour of anybody. They made us proud and gave the country what it needed. The elections went well and next year must be better.”
A fellow of the CYFI, Mr. Ebenezer Ogun, said there is the need to encourage political education among youths.
he said: “The youths need to understand certain issues revolving round governance, to show that we are the leaders of today. We must be involved in the electoral process in relation to next year’s elections.The youths should not only be concerned about entertainment, fashion and fun on the social media, but they must engage in politics,” he said.
The Chief Operating Officer, Impact Your World Leadership Initiative, Mr. Joseph Baiyekusi, said the social media could help the youths and the government to play their role in national development.
“This can be achieved, if our leaders communicate their plans and activities on the social media and other communication technology media, with the aim of carrying the youths along,” he added.
The Executive Director, Human Development Initiatives, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, urged youths to use the advamntage of technology productively for the progress of the society.
Heritage Bank Limited yesterday in Lagos, said it made full payment for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank Limited two days ago.
With this development, it is expected to pursue the agreed completion phase which includes seeking regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC’s) approvals.
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had in a statement yesterday, confirmed that HBCL Investment Services Limited (HISL), acting on behalf of Heritage Bank Limited, has paid the required balance for the purchase of bridged lender.
Heritage in a statement said Enterprise Bank’s acquisition is a clear signal that the lender is on its way to becoming a strong national bank.
It entered the market over a year ago with a regional bank status following the acquisition of the banking licence and liabilities of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN).
It said the acquisition of Enterprise Bank which currently boasts of 165 branches will increase its points of presence from 15 Experience Centers to nearly 200 branches spread all over the country.
Heritage Bank CEO, Ifie Sekibo confirmed that the lender paid the 20 per cent or N11.2 billion of the N56 billion bid prices before the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) was signed in Abuja last month.
He said: “It was tough and challenging to face the institutions that competed. We consistently provided super information to AMCON and abided by the principles. HISL acted on our behalf. If HISL succeeds in having the combination, we will be disposed having a business combination and it will have Heritage brand.”
The emergence of HISL and Fidelity Bank as preferred and reserve bidders respectively, he said, resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, which was coordinated for AMCON by Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Vetiva Capital Management Limited (Financial Advisers) and G. Elias & Co. (Legal Advisers).
The bid process started with interest shown by 24 parties cutting across local and international boundaries.
There are strong indications that Ecobank Nigeria is considering raising additional capital in order to boost its tier-1 capital.
Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital adequacy ratio at the end of the first half of 2014 stood at 13.3 per cent. The additional capital will be a boost as the recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) draft guidelines categorised the bank as systemically important.
The lender, a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), recently raised $250 million in tier-2 capital, thereby lifting its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to 16.5 per cent.
Adesoji Solanke of Renaissance Capital, said: “Considering the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) preference for tier-1 capital for a bank of this scale, we think the subsidiary needs a tier-1 capital injection.”
Group Chief Executive, ETI, Albert Essien, said recently that Ecobank expects South Africa’s Nedbank to convert a $285 million loan to shares in the Lome-based bank before the end of the year.
He was confident that Nedbank would exercise the conversion option and also top up the conversion amount, with $206 million to give it a 20 per cent stake in Ecobank.
After the Nedbank deal, Ecobank expects its capital adequacy ratio to hit 18.7 per cent of assets by year-end, up from the 17.5 per cent it was in the first six months of the year. “The Nedbank stake is capped at 20 per cent. If they do convert, I think that will strengthen the business relationship that we have or had since 2008,” Essien said.
He added that: “The conversion will trigger reciprocal board seats. We see it as very positive and we expect that it will happen.”
It is expected that ETI managementexpects will invest a portion of the Nedbank top-up into its Nigeria operations to boost capitalisation levels.
Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Hon. Gabriel Pidomson has called on the people to support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election. He enjoined Northern politicians to give the 2015 project maximum support, in appreciation of the gesture of the founding fathers of the Niger Delta to the North in previous dispensations. Pidomson spoke in Port-Harcourt, the state capital, when members of the Vanguard for Good Governance (VGG) paid him a solidarity visit at his campaign office.
The former Secretary to Government (SSG) explained that a bloc support for the President is in the interest of the state.
He said President Jonathan has performed, despite the distractions.
Pidomson said the President has good plans for the country, urging Nigerians to allow him to complete the unfinished business.
He said the transformation agenda is on cause, adding that the President needs the support of stakeholders to succeed.
In his view, President Jonathan is determined to built on his performance in the first term, if given another opportunity.
The aspirant unfolded his agenda, assuring that he would reposition the state for excellence.
Pidomson, who is a former federal lawmaker, promised that, under his leadership, the state a Rivers will co-operate with the Federal Government to attract more dividends of democracy.
He explained that Rivers State has abundant resources that have not been tapped.
Urging the people to endorse the President for re-election, he said a vote for his is a vote for national progress and prosperity.
The leader of the group, Comrade Chinwendu Marcus-Amadi, pledged the support of his organisation to the aspirant.
He said: “We assure you of our unflinching commitment to the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, and your emergence as our governor in the election.”
The Federal Government is currently sourcing for N33billion soft term credit line to enable the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) acquire smart meters.
Vice President, Namadi Sambo who made this knowm in Abuja yesterday while inaugurating the National Council on Power (NACOP), said for the power sector to grow in line with the Federal Government’s projection, it requires funds for the operators to bridge the metering gap.
He said: “It is for this reason that government is sourcing various funding avenues, including opening an initial N33billion soft term credit line to enable distribution companies acquire smart meters and making them more available to consumers.”
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who represented him said a number of efforts are being made to leverage resources from various funding agencies to ensure that all participants in the sector have access to funds under soft conditions.
Pledging Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring adequate funding of the Transmission Company of Nigeria ( TCN) to exceed generation capacity in terms of wheeling power, he said a total of $4.7billion (N752billion) is already being set aside for transmission expansion in the next five years.
Sambo said the Federal Government is committed to attracting investors to improve the country’s energy mix.
“As available studies show, Nigeria’s coal belt covers over eight states and is capable of generating about 5,000 Mw of power if fully developed.
“The Federal Ministry of Power and Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals Development have therefore been directed to ensure that the first large scale coal to power project takes-off at the soonest time possible, following the model of partnership between government and the private sector,”he said.
He said the ceremony marked the official kick-off of the development of the national renewable energy action plan, the national energy efficiency action plan, and the energy sufficiency action plan in Nigeria.
Speaking in his capacity as the minister, he acknowledged that the primary purpose of privatisation was to bring into play new owners with “deep pockets” who could finance and /or access financing for the rapid restoration of lost capacity and add significant new capacity to make up for negative consequences of a vertically integrated monopoly.
Nebo said the NACOP comprise the Federal Ministry of Power as well as the commissioners of power/energy in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
President Goodluck Jonathan has said the volume of trade between Nigeria and the United States (U.S.) has risen to a record level of $36 billion per annum.
In a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the president the present level of trade will continue to grow with greater cooperation between Nigeria and its allies in the U.S. government and private sector.
Jonathan, who spoke at a dinner held in his honour by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce and the Corporate Council on Africa in Washington DC said his administration welcomed the support of the Obama administration and both organisation’s for ongoing efforts to positively transform the Nigerian economy and ensure that it becomes one of the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020.
Calling for greater direct investment in Nigeria from the U.S., President Jonathan said recent developments had shown that President Barack Obama was right when he spoke in September last year, of increasing international recognition of Nigeria’s role in the global economy.
He said: “Our economy has since been re-based and it is now the largest in Africa. We are the 26th largest economy in the world and the largest trading partner of the United States in Africa.
“Latest figures show the volume of trade between Nigeria and the U.S. to be $36 billion and still counting. Between last year and now, we hosted the World Economic Forum on Africa which was attended by 1,000 participants from 70 countries.
“The forum attracted over $68 billion in investment to the African continent in the form of Foreign Direct Investments, as well as private and public investments targeted at projects that would foster the agriculture sector, improve infrastructure such as roads, railways, hospitals, education, skill development and ICT across African countries.
“We remain the largest source of natural gas and have large areas of unexploited fertile lands for agriculture.”
“We have a huge stock of untapped solid minerals and we continue to make Nigeria an attractive destination for foreign investors through the constant implementation of our policy of creating an attractive and conducive climate for investors.”
The President also told his audience at the dinner that while the oil and gas industry remains Nigeria’s main source of revenue and foreign exchange earner, his administration was working very hard to fully diversify the country’s economy and will welcome greater support from the United States for its efforts to make other sectors of the Nigerian economy more productive.
Union Bank is to boost its loan portfolio by 30 per cent in the second-half of 2014, after increasing it by 10 per cent in the first six months, targeting retail and business customers, its Chief Finance Officer, Mrs. Oyinkan Adewale, has said.
“In the second half we would do 30 percent (in loans). We closed December 2013 at N231 billion loan book. We are looking generally in the region of 40 per cent growth for 2014,” she told Reuters.
Union Bank was bailed out in 2009, along with eight other Nigerian banks in the wake of the financial crisis that hit the financial services sector.
A private equity consortium recapitalised the lender, which reported last week that its first-half pretax profit fell by a third, on lower gross earnings. Shares in Union Bank, which have fallen 14.3 per cent this year, were up 0.2 per cent at N8.20 yesterday.
Mrs. Adewale said she expected the second-half profit to be “strong” without giving a guidance for the full year, but said that the fall in the first-half was due to one-off writedowns in the first six months of 2013, which would not occur in the second half.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde has urged journalists to assist the commission in the war against corruption.
He said the EFCC relied on the media to expose acts of malfeasance and draw attention to the challenges facing the anti-corruption campaign across Nigeria.
Lamorde addressed some select reporters in the Northwest yesterday in Kano at a workshop with the theme: Reporting Economic and Financial Crimes, organised by the agency.
The EFCC chairman, who was represented by the Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Osita Nwajah, said the commission got 117 convictions on various financial crime cases in 2013.
He said: “As a commission, we have stepped up financial intelligence and tracking of illicit transactions across the borders.
“The policing of the major entry and exit points in our country, in the last two years, recorded the seizure of huge sums of money, at the three major airports in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt. Some of the suspects in the cases have been prosecuted and convicted.”
The EFCC chairman said the commission was investigating alleged corruption in the Judiciary, particularly in justice delivery process.
Lamorde said: “EFCC has decided to sanitise the system by investigating some of the alleged cases of corruption involving high-level officers. Some of the cases are ongoing, although one of them has sued the commission in a bid to forestall further action.”
The commission chairman assured that it was committed to bringing the culprits to justice.
He said the EFCC would probe cases of malfeasance in the Judiciary and other sectors, such as the pension and subsidy cases.
Kano State Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information Alhaji Mohammed Danyaro said objectivity, which had been the core value of reportage, had been abandoned.
The ministry head noted that this had made Nigerians to become easily enticed with bad news.
He said rather than promote unity in diversity, the media preferred the opposite.
Danyaro said: “The issue of control of the media has become part of the leading struggle for the control of power. It has, therefore, become very worrisome that a large assessment of the media content lately suggests that the media are now leading a sharp deviation from the projection of national interest and integration.
“Nigerian media are emphasising on North/South division. Everything is about region, religion or sensationalism, rather than the promotion of oneness.”
The family is a place to mentor real leaders.
It is the place where a father shows himself as an example to his children, where mothers help the kids to become the leaders they should be.
This is a picture of a typical home painted at a gathering of hundreds of men and women from across the country during the July edition of Awesome Treasures Summit with the theme where are the real men II?
The Chief Executive Officer of Gemstone Group, Fela Durotoye; the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Homebase Mortgage Bank, Dr Paul Johnson and the Africa Marketing Director, Family Nutrition at GlaxoSmithKilne, Mr. Lampe Omoleye, among others, spoke at the summit.
It considered the vital roles of parents in the upbringing and mentoring of their children.
To the convener, Mrs. Olajumoke Adenowo, the examples parents present their children make a huge difference because children easily relate more with what they see.
This, she said, has changed because men no longer have a personal walk with God and fail to take up their responsibilities at homes.
She told fathers: “Your children will become who you are and not what you say.”
She said men in the country have failed in their duty to bring back the abducted Chibok girls.
“The Bring BacktheGirls campaign is for all to know that we have not forgotten. Real men protect and are there for their children.
“Each woman’s child is a Chibok child and we cannot forget. Time or the length of day will not make us forget.
“The fact that the noise has gone down will not make us forget because we are mothers who do not forget their children,” Adenowo, an architect, said.
Johnson was of the opinion that couples have been getting married for the wrong reasons, leading to massive divorces.
Lasting marriages, according to him, are built on friendship, understanding, forgiveness and kindness.