Abuja-based activist, Deji Adeyanju has disclosed that he is privy to information that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo is supporting the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
This is coming in the wake of Obasanjo’s meeting with Obi and some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in London, on Thursday.
In the post shared on his Twitter page, Adeyanju said the elder statesman has been calling people across the world to support the former Governor of Anambra State.
According to him, Obasanjo has also called on some international connections to fund the campaign of the LP flagbearer.
He, however, added that amidst the support from the former president, Obi will come a distant third in the presidential election and challenged anyone in doubt of his words to bet with him.
He wrote: “I have information and those who know me know this. OBJ is supporting Obi 100% and I said this days ago.
“Baba has been the one calling people all over the place for Obi; from PDP governors to international connects and even people that can help fund the campaign but Obi will still come distant 3rd. Do you wanna bet?”
The Senior Pastor of the Household of God Church, Chris Okotie, has disclosed the reason he failed three times to become president despite claiming to have heard the directive from God to run for office.
The clergyman explained during an interview with Arise TV on Thursday that failing to win the presidential elections three times do not invalidate the prophecy that he would lead the country.
It would be recalled that Okotie contested the presidency in 2003, 2007, and 2011 but lost all the elections, thereby steering debates about the genuineness of his ministry.
Okotie also noted that God’s prophecies are futuristic and could take years to materialize.
“The thing about this is that it is difficult to communicate spiritual realities to a mind that is not renewed. The language of faith is totally different from that which we have in ordinary parlance,” he said.
“When God speaks to you, he doesn’t speak futuristically, he speaks in the present. God always says I have made you. He told Abraham ‘I have made you the father of nations’ when he didn’t even have a child. So, sometimes when we communicate spiritual information, people misunderstand. Because faith is beyond that which is cognitive.
“So, when I make a statement and when people think ‘Oh, well he didn’t win an election’ and they think that it is immediate.”
God’s Prophecies About Moses And Abraham Took Time To Come To Pass
Okotie referred to instances in the Bible where God made promises to Moses and Abraham and it took years before it came to fruition.
He said: “When the Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh, it took several times of going to Pharaoh before Pharaoh capitulated. When the Lord says he’s going to do something, he says it now but it takes time. It took time for Abraham to beget Isaac. So, we need to understand that it took time for the prophecy concerning the rainfall to take place when Noah started telling the people it was going to rain. It took 100 years before it began to rain and the people thought he was crazy. So, many times when we talk about faith, the unbeliever or infidel who doesn’t understand spiritual things runs into a place of confusion.
“But I can assure you that that which has been spoken will definitely come to pass. What I am doing right now is patriotic. I’m trying to evoke nationalistic sentiments at a time when Nigerians need to come together in a cohesive atmosphere where there is love, understanding, and unity. And we have that nationalistic brotherhood that could help us overcome the situation that we face today.”
On the 18th of September 2022, HISTORY will be made in Lagos Nigeria, an unveiling that has never been done in any part of the world will touch down KEEP THE DATE and BE PREPARED.
FirstBank commemorates its annual Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability week and promotes kindness across over 7 countries
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach;
The FirstBank CR&S Week is held in Nigeria and 7 other countries: United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia;
Since its maiden edition in 2017, the FirstBank CR&S week is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
In furtherance of its continued commitment to impacting the lives of individuals in its host communities across 7 Countries: Nigeria, United Kingdom, Ghana, DRC, Guinea, Sierra Lone, Senegal and Gambia. FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced the Fifth edition of its Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) week, scheduled for 22- 27 August 2022.
The event which is themed: “Kindness…. A Way of Life” reflects the single-minded purpose to make a difference in the world by inspiring and institutionalising kindness. SPARK is an acronym for Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness and it is a values-based initiative designed to raise consciousness that we can choose to be kind.
The FirstBank CR&S Week is a dedicated week designed to offer opportunities for employees to give their time & resources to defined causes in line with the Bank’s CR&S strategic approach. The CR&S Week will offer employees opportunities to give their time & resources to defined causes. The Week’s activities are an aspect of the Bank’s Employee Giving & Volunteering Program, which was instituted to encourage employees to give back to the community as well as inculcate in them the integral corporate culture of giving.
The Bank held the maiden edition of the CR&S week in 2017 with a focus mainly on three key initiatives/activities which were giving and visits to orphanages/less privileged homes/IDPs; career counselling day; and Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK) initiative – which is now Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. The CR&S week has become more successful in subsequent years and it is fast becoming a household name in the Bank’s host economies.
There are five main activities to be implemented during this year’s CR&S Week in Nigeria, FBNBank UK and across the SSA markets. These activities include SPARK APP,Kind Comments Day, Visits to orphanage/less privileged homes, SPARK School Engagement, and Women Economic Empowerment. The major highlight of the Week will be the launch of the SPARK APP. The app is strategic in the Bank’s journey to institutionalize “A Day of Kindness” on a national level, and globally position the Bank as a Corporate Citizen in leveraging new media to drive sustainability practices.
The SPARK App is a sensational application designed to have individuals abreast with the act of kindness through various kindness-based quotes and inspirational phrases that will be displayed on one’s phone screen, especially when the phone is idle.
Kind Comments Day is an initiative that focuses on inspiring and encouraging everyone to be deliberate with the use of kind words in relating or interacting with anyone.
In addition, with Women Empowerment, the Bank will support, VVF patients in need of surgical operations and also empower them with vocational skills as they integrate back into the society.
The SPARK Schools Engagement will be implemented through the National Competition of JAN SPARK School Integration. The activity is aimed at rewarding the various participating students, following their SPARK activity, Through the partnership with JAN, SPARK is integrated into the JAN Company Program, where students are taught the values of SPARK. The SPARK schools’ competition has been tied with Company programme regional competition,ensuring they imbibed the values taught during the training. One of the highlights of the event is the visit to orphanage homes and the less privileged, across various cities which will be carried out by volunteers from the Bank.
Speaking on the week, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “The CR&S Week is another opportunity to strengthen our commitment and extend our reach beyond the communities where we operate in Nigeria and across our subsidiaries. Over time, our goal has stayed the same, to create platforms through which our positive impact is felt.”
“For us in the FirstBank Group, beyond saying that we care, we take a step further and show it,” he concluded.
Through the years of commemorating its annual CR&S Week, FirstBank has impacted lives across its host communities in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and its SSA subsidiaries. These impacts comprise the partnership with Lagos State Government on the provision of a Primary Health Centre at Ijedodo Community, Lagos State; engagements with over 60 charities, Non-governmental organisations, orphanages, correctional centres, schools and Internally Displayed Persons (IDP) Camps which resulted in touching the lives of over 20,000 underprivileged individuals in the society including widows, orphans and children with disabilities.
Insecurity: Lagos Speaker Advocates True Federalism, Implementation of Panel Reports
…Says Lagos Government Proactive On Issues Of Security
– Suggests State, Community Policing Systems
Hon. Victor Akande, representative of Speaker Mudashiru Obasa with members of the academic community.
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Mudashiru Obasa, has described Nigeria as a country that desires true federalism as part of the solutions to the nation’s security crisis.
Dr. Obasa stated this on Wednesday at the 2022 National Congress and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Psychological Association held at the Lagos State University.
The Speaker, who was awarded Honourary Fellow of the academic body, lamented that insecurity had continued despite the federal government’s deployment of financial and other resources to its fight.
He also urged the federal government muster the political will to implement the recommendations of different panels and committees that have investigated immediate and remote causes of insecurity in the country.
Represented by Hon. Victor Akande, chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Public Petitions and LASIEC, Obasa further advocated for sincere national mediation, negotiation, arbitration, reconciliation, and broad amnesty as modern conflict resolution strategies where necessary.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Security and National Sustainability’, Obasa described Lagos as one of the safest states in the country owing to the proactive efforts of all the tiers of government in the state.
“Here in Lagos State, we’ve taken preventive steps to ensure that law and order do not collapse for no good reason. We established the Neighbourhood Safety Corps because we are aware of the critical need for quick response from local security officers at the grassroots level.
“The state government’s efforts, led by the Neighbourhood Safety Corps and aided by the other security officers on the ground, have made Lagos a secure place to live for everyone.
“There is, however, reason to believe that the federal government would support the same objective by establishing a state police force. Community preventative policing, as opposed to curative policing, is crucial for maintaining national security in light of the current state of affairs. Constant contact between the security agencies and community people is necessary to get the country out of its current situation.
“At the same time, all three tiers of government should work to significantly cut spending on administration, which includes things like defence and domestic security. As one might expect, this is crucial if we want to see progress in the real sectors of the economy,” Obasa said.
The Speaker, while noting that military action and confrontational approach tend to increase violence rather than decrease tension, added: “to rehabilitate all militants who embrace reconciliation, however, we need to place a greater emphasis on the concepts of mediation, negotiation, arbitration, reconciliation, and broad amnesty as modern conflict resolution strategies.
“The principle of true federalism advocated by militants in the Niger Delta and other groups should be adopted because it guarantees genuine political autonomy and the right to control resources.
“In a similar vein, the federal government and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s violent sociopolitical and ethnically based crisis need to muster the political will to carry out the recommendations of the numerous panels and committees set up to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the crisis.”
He attributed insecurity to a number of factors including the country’s inheritance of a faulty security structure and the failure of successive governments to effectively restructure the system.
Beyond impacting knowledge, the Speaker tasked tertiary institutions to be interested in the affairs of the nation as part of their contributions to the sustenance of national progress.
He commended the NPA and LASU for honouring him as he promised to continue to play roles for the advancement of Nigeria.
Earlier in his address, Prof. Olukayode Afolabi, President of NPA, lamented the security situation of the country saying it now affects every facet of Nigeria’s development and forcing investors away.
Among other suggestions, he said there was an urgent need to bring psychologists into the recruitment and development processes of security personnel.
On her part, Prof Adenike Boyo, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) of LASU who represented the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, expressed hope that the 5-day conference would add value to Nigeria’s development.
Eromosele Ebhomele
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is planning to curb fraudulent transactions carried out through Point Of Service (POS) operations.
The Commission expressed its readiness to help curb fraudulent transactions faced by Point of Sales (POS) vendors and users within the country.
This was made known through the ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), through Director, Systems Study and Review Department (SSRD) Mr. Abbia Udofia, when members of the Association of Point of Sales (POS) Users in Nigeria (APOSUN) paid an advocacy visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Prof Bolaji commended APOSUN for creating jobs for the youth through the POS business.
He also urged them to organise periodic programmes that would ensure that operators are upright and encouraged to report suspicious transactions.
Speaking further, he advised the association to put in more effort on sensitising members of the public about their activities.
This development is in response to the earlier call made by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of APOSUN, Barrister Ibrahim Abdullahi, seeking for the collaboration of ICPC.
The main aim of the collaboration is to minimise fraudulent activities and suspicious transactions at POS centres in Nigeria, as well as draw from ICPC’s wealth of experience in fighting corruption.
Abdullahi stressed that the association was willing to provide relevant information to ICPC on new techniques and methods of corrupt practices through POS transactions as well as report intended fraud and the perpetrators.
He said the association was determined to ensure a safe environment for POS transactions for users and operators in these challenging times.
He also hoped that its partnership with ICPC would help create a better space for operations in Nigeria.
Deputy Director, SSRD, Mr. Clement Obaniyi, who also spoke during the visit, urged the association to update their database.
According to him, this is to ensure that all operators were registered so as to make fraudulent transactions traceable.
He added that it is also advisable that they extend their collaborations to relevant financial institutions.
This he said would help them rid their operations of fraudulent acts.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has again moved to allay the fears and suspicions of Nigerians over the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking on Tuesday, Keyamo said the presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu already has a multi-religious home and everyone is allowed to freely practice his/her chosen religion.
The Minister added that the APC candidate’s wife, Senator Remi Tinubu is already a pastor, adding that the Aso Rock Chapel will be put to good use and Mrs Tinubu will lead worship in it if her husband emerges President in 2023.
He made the submission during an interview appearance on Channels Television Political Paradigm, where he defended the decision of Tinubu and the APC to stick with a Muslim-Muslim ticket by picking Senator Kashim Shettima as the vice presidential candidate despite the outcry by many Nigerians, particularly Christians against the move.
Keyamo however said the move is a winning strategy and not in any way designed to spite Christians in the country.
He said; “It has nothing to do with unity, it’s just a winning strategy.
“It’s not a spit on the Christians. Muslims are a minority in the south and Asiwaju is Muslim from the south. Some Muslims are a minority in the north.
“Like I said, look at Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a person. Look at his record. He was one that returned all the mission schools to them in Lagos when he was governor.
“For the churches, he returned the mission schools to them. He has a multi-religious home. Some of his children are Christians. His wife is a pastor.
“The chapel in the villa will be overly used because the wife automatically will be the pastor, attending that chapel. So the chapel will not be closed down. He will be using it when he is by the grace of God president of this country.”
Naija News reports that Tinubu’s wife is an ordained assistant pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
ZENITH BANK ADVANCES WITH STRONG DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN GROSS EARNINGS IN H1 2022
In a clear demonstration of its industry leadership and consistency in providing superior financial returns, Zenith Bank Plc has announced its audited results for the half-year ended 30 June 2022, recording an astounding double-digit growth of 17% in gross earnings from N346 billion reported in H1 2021 to N405 billion in H1 2022. This is in spite of a very challenging macroeconomic environment.
According to the bank’s audited half-year financial results presented to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday, 23rd August 2022, this growth was underpinned by a 19% YoY growth in interest income from NGN204 billion to NGN242 billion and an 18% YoY growth in non-interest income from NGN127 billion to NGN149 billion. The growth in interest income was driven by the modest increase in the loan book and improved interest margins. The increase in non-interest income attests to the Group’s success in its income diversification strategy.
Profit before tax (PBT) grew 11% year-on-year (YoY) from NGN117 billion to NGN130 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) also grew from NGN3.38 to NGN3.55 over the same 6-month period.
The Group also recorded an 11% year-to-date (YtD) increase in total customer deposits to close the period at NGN7.15 trillion. The retail strategy of the Group continues to deliver outstanding results as retail deposits grew by 17% YtD from NGN1.82 trillion to NGN2.13 trillion. Retail activities also supported the growth recorded in fees on electronic products which grew by 45% YoY from NGN17 billion to NGN25 billion.
Despite the elevated yield environment, the cost of funds increased only marginally from 1.3% in June 2021 to 1.4% in June 2022. The increase in the cost of funds was lower than the increase in yields on interest-generating assets, giving rise to an improved Net Interest Margin (NIM) of 7.1% from 6.4% in June 2021.
Total assets rose to NGN10.12 trillion at the end of June 2022 from NGN9.45 trillion at the end of December 2021. Despite the headwinds imposed by the operating environment, the Group grew its risk assets as gross loans grew by 5% YtD, from NGN3.5 trillion to NGN3.7 trillion. This was achieved at a moderate NPL ratio of 4.4% (FYE 2021: 4.2%) and cost of risk of 1.4% (June 2021: 1.3%). Prudential ratios such as liquidity and capital adequacy also remained stable and well-above regulatory thresholds at 60.5% and 21.0% respectively.
The Group is focused on advancing its digital banking strategy anchored on a strong technology base, and intends to consolidate on the gains achieved in prior years across all business segments. Combined with the Group’s industry leadership, we expect this to drive improved performance and deliver enhanced returns to stakeholders.
Zenith Bank’s track record of excellent performance has continued to earn the brand numerous awards, including being recognised as Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Best Bank in Nigeria, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards. Also, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and Retail Bank of the year at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards 2020 and 2021.
Similarly, Zenith Bank was honoured as Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020 and emerged winner in four categories at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021, carting home the awards for “Best Company in Reporting and Transparency”, “Best Company in Infrastructure Development”, “Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment”, and the coveted “Most Responsible Organisation in Africa.
The University of Abuja branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the Federal Government has not acceded to any of their demands to bring an end to the ongoing strike by the union.
They challenged the government to mention anything they had done to that effect.
The UniAbuja ASUU chairman, Dr. Kassim Umaru, stated this in an interview with members of the press at the end of its Congress held at the University’s Mini Campus in Gwagwalada.
“As far as we are concerned, the federal government has not done anything to our various demands.
“The federal government should tell the Nigerian public what they have done. The two committees that were set up, the Nimi Briggs committee was set up, the Jubrin committee was set up and these committees had their recommendations,” he said.
Umar added that the Congress deliberated on matters pertaining to the strike and decided to reject the offer made by the federal government, saying that the National Executive Council would meet at the end of the four weeks ultimatum to make a decision.
Speaking on reports circulating that the federal government had approved another N100 billion for the university unions as part of the 2009 agreement, Umaru said no official document had been given to ASUU to that effect.
He also urged students to be patient as the strike was for their good as well.
“Is there any document to our union? We should begin to ask them these questions.
“The students will have to be patient, it is a fight we have to do once and for all and it is a fight for the future of unborn children. We have no alternative than to do what we are doing and we must do it so that we can compete with the external world,” he said.
