Video made available to www.societygazetteng.com shows Peter who has been working solo under the name Mr P visiting his twin brother known as Rudeboy as a solo artist and the two brothers hugging each other while those present were heard saying finally.
The twin had been in a serious fight for a while and all attempts to settle them has been futile until now.
We will be giving you update as things progress.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, has called for increased collaboration of Nigerians in the diaspora for the nation to achieve its economic growth targets. He made the call during the 4th Edition of the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit 2021 organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. The hybrid event which held at the State House Banquet Hall, Aso Villa Abuja & Virtually had in attendance the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and State Governors.
Delivering his remarks on this year’s theme: “Partnership and Linkages for Post Covid Economic Growth”, Onyeagwu noted the aptness of the theme of the summit, as it underscores Nigeria’s need for robust growth following the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered a severe macroeconomic shock.
Onyeagwu commended the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for leading with policies that create an enabling environment for investment in Nigeria, such as the “Naira 4 Dollar Scheme”, which contributed to boosting diaspora remittances by providing incentives for recipients of international money transfers. In his view, this and other policies encourage the senders and recipients to channel inflows through the official market, knowing that they will not be shortchanged.
Onyeagwu also passionately highlighted Nigeria’s enormous investment potential, especially the nation’s huge market and youthful population, which is a veritable source of labour and a consuming population.
Highlighting the need for partnership and collaboration of Nigerians in the diaspora to achieve Nigeria’s economic growth targets, particularly during these challenging times, Onyeagwu pointed out that across the globe, the diaspora community plays a critical role in their home country’s economic growth and development. He noted that Nigeria has enormous potential to attract significant diaspora inflow, most of which is coming in through informal channels. These remittance inflows and investments, which are counter-cyclical, help in ameliorating foreign exchange challenges as the funds form a significant buffer for the country’s foreign reserves.
Onyeagwu identified the healthcare sector as one area where diaspora investment and intervention are urgently required. In his words, “by leveraging the expertise of our diaspora healthcare professionals in some of the emerging world-class health facilities in Nigeria, such as Evercare Hospital, Ibom Specialist Hospital and Base University Hospital, we can begin to curb the loss of foreign exchange to medical tourism”. He, therefore, called on the various associations and groups of Nigerians in the diaspora to pull resources together and identify viable investment opportunities in the homeland.
Whilst commending the untiring efforts of NIDCOM led by Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa in supporting the engagement of Nigerians in diaspora in the country’s policies, projects, and development programmes, Onyeagwu canvassed that the narrative should shift from diaspora remittance to Diaspora Direct Investment as advocated by Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Mr. Emeka Offor, Acting Executive Secretary/CEO, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
Onyeagwu noted that as a socially responsible organization, Zenith Bank continues to play its part in promoting investment in Nigeria. In the light of this, the bank is proud of its partnership with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit (NDIS) and remains committed to creating value for Nigerians in the diaspora through its unique products, services and quality service, including mortgage. He noted that Nigerians in the diaspora could open bank accounts with Zenith Bank through various online and digital channels and do not need to visit Nigeria to have bank accounts back home.
Zenith Bank is Nigeria’s largest and one of Africa’s largest financial institutions by tier-1 capital, with shareholders’ funds in excess of NGN1.1 trillion ($2.64 billion) as at December 31, 2020. The bank is a clear leader in the Nigerian financial space, with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products and solutions that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions.
Overall 800 customers are expected to win N25,000 weekly from now till January 31, 2022. At the end of the campaign, four millionaires will emerge in each of the four regions of Lagos, FCT/North, Mid-West/South West and South South/South East regions, by winning the grand prize of N1, 000, 000 each. A customer can however be rewarded more than once provided they fulfil the conditions for eligibility. In addition, a referral scheme has been introduced to this current season, enabling customers of the bank to earn money when they refer other people to open accounts.
Announcing the winners in Lagos, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Head, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, said the Super Rewards scheme is part of the bank’s loyalty initiatives, noting that the beneficiaries are spread across many customer segments and geographical locations in the country. She noted that the winners have since been contacted.
Further, Mrs. Demola-Adeniyi reiterated that participation is open to both new and existing customers of the bank, advising the public that this is the perfect time to open an Ecobank Savings or Current Account or reactivate and fund a dormant account to qualify for the reward and enjoy a first-rate banking experience. She enjoined existing customers to earn referral commission by introducing family members, friends and colleagues as new customers to participate in the campaign.
The Ecobank Super Rewards Campaign requires new customers to open an account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period; the same condition applies to existing customers, who only need to fund their active account with a minimum of N5,000 or reactivate their dormant account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period. Customers can withdraw funds from their account during the campaign period but will only qualify for the reward if they maintain a minimum balance of N5,000 in their accounts. Other details of the campaign are available at www.ecobank.com/superrewards
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has commended Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) for its contribution to infrastructure development and growth of trade in the 19 countries where it operates, which is why the bank remains its preferred partner for the Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF).
The President, LCCI, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, said this while delivering a welcome address with the theme: ‘Boosting Intra Africa Trade ’during the Africa day celebration, held at the ongoing 35th edition of the Fair in Lagos.
She explained that the Africa Day was implemented because of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which is a long term dream and a long term goal, adding that; “To this end we have started taking first steps and are doing a lot of sensitization and awareness especially for the MSMEs.”
Mabogunje who took time to appreciate UBA’s efforts as headline sponsor, appreciated the bank’s
She said, “Partnering with UBA is significant because it is an organisation that has its footprint in 20 countries and that is a big feat, it is not easy to achieve that. As Partners we are thinking in the same way and working together. UBA is also making it possible for us to successfully deliver LITF to the Nigerian and international public, and based on this fact we are profoundly appreciative and satisfied that we have a competent partner.”
UBA’s Head, Commercial & Corporate Banking, Muyiwa Akinyemi, while speaking at the event, said UBA realises that SMEs are the fulcrum of growth in any economy and is therefore dedicated to helping them thrive.
Akinyemi noted that boosting Intra-Africa trade is pertinent if Africa must truly attain self-reliance and economic development, adding that Africa and indeed Africans, must own the narrative for the economic emancipation of the continent.”
Akinyemi said, “The Theme of this year’s event resonates with our mission to create value for our stakeholders by supporting businesses across Africa, which led to our rapid expansion from Ghana in 2005 to 18 other locations in Africa within a space of five years. AfCTA is a transformational journey that we must all embrace and encourage, because it presents us with opportunities that will lead to creating a market of over 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion. Hence the possibilities of growth and prosperity on the continent are endless.”
The Chairman, Trade Promotion Board of the LCCI, Gabriel Idahosa, agreed with the possibilities that AfCTA presents and said it was one worthy of committing too. He also applauded UBA and the LCCI President as well as all members of the Executive Committee and Council for the tremendous support given which has been instrumental to the success of the fair thus far.
Oyewale, in a statement on Thursday in Lagos, describes the Lagos Speaker as a legislator with courage, forthrightness and diligence in providing exemplary and broadminded leadership for the Lagos Assembly.
He noted that the speaker’s leadership in the Assembly has steadily provided cohesive ambience for the executive to implement peoples oriented policies which have turned Lagos into a mega city.
In particular, Oyewale saluted the nationalistic inclinations of the Lagos Assembly Speaker who is always lending supports to NAOSRE in its national security objectives as well as his genuine concerns for Nigeria’s security situation.
“Obasa’s greatest strength lies in his ability to look beyond religious, ethnic and political stereotyping, embracing the reality of Nigeria as one entity,” Oyewale said.
Meanwhile, aides of the Speaker had also visited an orphanage, a foundation and a school which take care of indigent children and those with special needs.
The visit, which was also part of activities to mark the Speaker’s 49th birthday, had the aides distributing various gifts, including rice, cartons of noodles, clothes and other materials.
At the Compassionate Orphanage Homes in Igando, Prince Sunday Ladipo, Chief of Staff to the Speaker, said the aides decided to celebrate with the children because of Obasa’s love for youngsters, especially those in need.
“Speaker Obasa has a large heart towards people that are disadvantaged,” he said, adding that the aides would take back the requests of the home to the right quarters.
“This visit will be in our memories. Places like this are special to our principal,” Ladipo added, according to a statement by Eromosele Ebhomele, Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker.
Head of the Compassionate Orphanage Homes, Dr. Gabriel Oyediji, while thanking the group for their visit, urged the government to provide grants and assistance to homes because of the financial challenge they face taking care of children.
He said the home had raised over 200 children and given out some for adoption through the assistance of the government.
The home, he said, had also produced some graduates, some of whom are currently serving the nation.
He added that some of the grown children also enrolled into vocational institutions.
“Last year, we had our first wedding here and the family of the man was here from Osun.
“On behalf of the pupils and students, we send our love to him. We pray that his tenure would be the best,” Oyediji said as he prayed for the Speaker.
The aides also visited the Inclusive Unit For Children With Special Needs (inside the Dairy Farm Primary School), Agege and the Tunji Adebayo Foundation.
Whilst studies revealed that over 19% of adults struggle with their mental health every year, a majority of those affected are reluctant to speak-out and seek help for fear of stigmatisation, UBA Foundation, through the panel discussion, sought to address the challenges that individuals are facing and how it has now become important to create consciousness and prioritise the general well-being of employees and clients.
UBA’s Group Managing Director, Kennedy Uzoka, delivered a good will message at the event emphasising the importance of wellness and mental health. He stressed the need for more organisations to ensure that the mental health of their staff and families are taken more seriously.
He said, “UBA has always engaged in a lot of ground-breaking initiatives and the issue of mental health is important to us. We have found that people do not want to talk about mental health because they think it is bad, but the truth is that you can only get good productive people when challenges like these are addressed and I am so happy that this has commenced here. “
The panel was moderated by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, who spoke about UBA’s goal to remain the best place to work. She noted that the bank is addressing these issues and championing the narrative that says that mental health issues shouldn’t be swept under the carpet.
“We want to create a workplace environment where people feel comfortable and encouraged to seek help when necessary, so that they can give the best of themselves in their respective roles. We hope to stomp out the stigma that keeps people suffering in silence and bridge the gap between mental health inclusivity, support and recovery in Africa,” Atta who is also UBA’s Group Head Corporate Communications, explained.
The panellists, UBA’s Group Head, Human Resources, Patricia Aderibigbe, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, BTH Therapy, Chris Abojei, Co-founder Africa’s Health Matters Foundation, Vanessa Adebayo and Angel Yinkore all agreed that wellness, especially at the workplace, has become a front burning issue and should be well addressed.
Atta announced the partnership with UBA Foundation and Inside Out as part of the weeklong activities to shine some light on mental health. Inside Out aims at teaching youths to channel their feelings through art expression and photography. She added that staff members would be able to benefit from free therapy sessions from BHT Therapy and many wellness giveaways such as spa and fitness vouchers.
Another major highlight of the week will be an intimate discussion with the Founder, Genevieve Magazine, Betty Irabor, on Thursday, November 11th, where she will share insights around her personal journey and the realities of balancing life, family, and mental health.
One of the brand objectives of Access Bank is to be the Bank of choice for women, particularly women in business by providing them with access to finance. Accordingly, the Bank through its W Initiative, partnered the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund to launch the LSETF W Initiative loan
The LSETF W Initiative loan is a matching fund financing option for women-owned businesses in Lagos State
To further expand the reach of this offering, W Initiative and the LSETF teams embarked on a comprehensive community engagement across 4 local governments in Lagos to create awareness about availability of the product, processes as well as requirements involved. The sessions were held at Balogun Market, Alimosho LGA, Surulere LGA and Oshodi LGA respectively.
Group Head of the W Initiative, Abiodun Olubitan, encouraged women to take the opportunity noting that access to finance would help to grow their business.
“There is a financing gap for women owned businesses for which the LSETF W Initiative loan was developed. With a highly competitive interest rate of 10% per annum, no collateral requirements, and a maximum repayment period of 24 months, female-owned SMEs are able to thrive,” she added.
Olubitan further encouraged the women to use the funds appropriately to grow their businesses and ensure no diversion of funds for other purposes. She emphasised the need to register their businesses, keep financial records, and run a business account as this would help position them for the loan.
This LSETF W Initiative loan is projected to increase the contributions of women-owned businesses to the Nigerian economy and reduce unemployment which will have a significant developmental impact.
The partnership is basically to consummate Wheat Seed Multiplication Project in Jos as part of the CBN’s Brown Revolution Initiative, the apex bank’s wheat value chain intervention to address the challenges in Wheat value chain, thereby increasing the domestic production of wheat and closing the wide supply gap in Nigeria agricultural space.
The novel initiative that will boost wheat production annually is being process via rain-fed cultivation, as this approach is actually the first ever wheat programme that it would be planted in wet season.
Meanwhile, as part of the pilot phase of the initiative, Heritage Bank financed the first ever large scale rain-fed wheat production in Nigeria.
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony for the Brown Revolution Initiative, which was the pilot project and also declared the 2021 dry season farming open in Jos yesterday, the Deputy Governor, CBN, Edward Adamu stated that the short-term benefit is the addition of about 2, 000 metric tonnes (MT) of high yield seed variety to the national wheat seed stock which is 20, 000MT currently.
According to him, this effort has the potential to add about 750, 000MT of wheat annually through rain-fed cultivation.
He noted that estimated that only one per cent or 63,000MT of wheat, out of the five to six million metric tons of wheat consumed annually was produced locally, whilst with the Brown Revolution and in partnership with Heritage Bank and others, CBN seeks to eliminate dependence on imported wheat by 60%.
The MD/CEO of Heritage Bank; Ifie Sekibo who frowned at that the country’s increased wheat importation bills affirmed that this strategic partnership would help reverse the trends and upscale domestic production of wheat to close the wide supply gap in the agricultural space.
As part of the Heritage Bank’s efforts to support the high yield seed variety to national wheat seed stock, Sekibo represented by the Head Agricbusiness and Export, Ugonwa Ikegwuonu explained that the bank set out to cultivate a total of 1, 000 hectares of farm land at the end of the year with at least producing about 5tonnes of wheat seeds per hectare in terms of yield.
“We set out to cultivate a total of 1,000 hectares of farm land but at the end of the day because of time constraints & other challenges, we have been able to cultivate 357 hectares. The crops according to the project manager are doing very well & in few weeks they will be ripe for harvest, in fact part of the farm is already ripe for harvest. So we set out with this partnership with two anchors which we call service providers,” he further explained.
Speaking during his welcome address, the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong affirmed that Nigeria was on the path of Agricultural food sufficiency with the ‘Brown Revolution’ the rain-fed wheat would help curtail the $2billion spent on importation of wheat.
He further noted that the target of his administration was to attain zero-importation of wheat, attain wheat sufficiency in the economy and commence exportation to raise foreign reserve.
President of Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Salim Muhammad stated that they have good understanding with Heritage Bank for its proactive approach to the objective of the rain-fed wheat production in Agriculture value chain.
He assured, “I assure you that at the end of this programme, by next season, it will be a different scenario/story because we are now doing on a very small scale but I’m sure by next season, the real revolution will start off and it will be seen all over Nigeria. Because, currently we are producing wheat in 16 wheat producing states. By the coming of this wheat dry season, seeds available and practicable; we are going to expand our scope to cover other areas that can produce wheat during the dry season. I’m not saying that we are going to cover the whole 36 states of the Country, but I assure you, by next season we will be thinking of about 20 to 27 states that we have.”
I described him boss of the bosses as a distinguished media guru and accomplished businessman per excellence, whose life is an inspiration to the younger generations and everyone aspiring to be great in life.
Dapo Olaniyan, unarguably deserves all the accolades that have come his way, and even more.
“Without mincing words, the life of Dapo Olaniyan is a clear testimony that with determination and hard work, one can excel in all that he lays forth his hands to do. I salute his determination, intellect, humility, philanthropy and integrity.
His life is worth understudying and stands as both blessing and inspiration to the younger generations.”
I therefore, pray that God Almighty elongates his life as the celebrant of today in good health and abundant prosperity.
