To this end, the stylish Queen celebrated her birthday with over three thousand indigents in the Ikate kingdom, as well as petty traders and market women in Ajah, Jankande and Ikate Elegushi market of Eti-Osa LG Area. She doled out millions of naira to support these petty traders and market women in commemoration of her birthday celebration.
Aside the celebration, she also ensured a free medical treatment for the aged members of the Ikate Kingdom, conducted free health checkups that include breast cancer, eye-screening and other health-related checkups. She also distributed free drugs and ensured medical personnel were on ground to give advice on living a healthy lifestyle devoid of sickness and other health complications. Also were free eye-test treatment and distributions for many, and distributed over two thousand free-eye glasses for the people as part of the activities for her 45th birthday celebration.
On the day, November 10, 2021, Queen Elegushi’s very loving husband, plus many of her unrepentant admirers, followers and fans wouldn’t allow the day to just go by like that without celebrating her to high heavens.
The highlight of the celebration was when her effervescent and the support she gets from her super wealthy, well-connected husband and king, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi.
King Gushi, who remains one of the youthful and wealthiest monarchs in Nigeria till date and also probably one of the most stylish, most distinguished looking king in the country, the handsome Kabiyesi took the media space to celebrate his beloved wife and mother of three, whom he extolled graciously in his birthday statement saying, “…so my QSE, I celebrate you today- as I always do; it is undeniable my connection with you, unbelierable is how much I love you, and unbreakable is the bond that we have formed with each other. I thank you for all that was; all thar is and all that will be. Have a wonderful birthday my Queen.”
Queen Gushi as she is fondly called by admirers has always been a support system to her hubby. As she continues to take great steps in this dimension, especially when her husband is in the vanguard of doing great things for his people, she was applauded by many for her giant strides in constantly engaging and bridging the gap between the palace and the people.
UBA Foundation Sensitises Staff, Customers on Mental Health Awareness, offers Therapies, Creative Opportunities, Giveaways
In line with its commitment towards giving back and impacting lives,UBA Foundation – the corporate social responsibility arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – has kicked-off a week-long series of activities aimed at promoting mental health awareness for staff and customers starting with a panel session on Wellness at the Workplace.
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.
ACCESS BANK CONCLUDES LSETF W INITIATIVE GRASSROOT ENGAGEMENTS in LAGOS
Access Bank Plc, through its W initiative has concluded a community engagement program to create awareness for the LSETF W initiative loan package created for women in business.
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.
Heritage Bank, CBN adopt novel approach to boost wheat production capacity…To add 750, 000MTs via rain-fed cultivation, reduce annual import by 60%
In a bid to meet high demand amid poor production capacity of wheat, the Central Bank of Nigeria and Heritage Bank Plc have adopted a novel but more robust approach to boost local production and reduce dependence on importation.
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.”
Lawrence Ajojo, the lead suspect in the illegal raid of the Abuja home of the Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mary Odili, has disclosed that he has a connection with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Naija News earlier reported that fourteen suspects said to have been responsible for the raid on the Abuja home of Justice Mary Odili have been arrested by the Nigeria Police.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba while parading them at the Force Headquarters Annex, Garki, Abuja.
He said seven others are still at large and security operatives are in pursuit, adding that one of the arrested persons include Ajojo who reportedly led the team.
But speaking with reporters on Thursday when he was paraded, Ajojo said he is not an officer of the Nigerian Police but a consultant for Malami.
He, however, revealed that the Justice minister did not authorise the illegal invasion of Justice Odili’s Abuja home.
“I am not an officer of the Nigeria Police but a consultant for the AGF; he did not send us to raid Mrs Odili’s house,” he said.
The Senator Andy Uba Campaign Organisation has rejected the result of the just-concluded Anambra state governorship election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The campaign organisation described the outcome of the election as a charade, adding that it did not reflect the wishes of the people of the state.
In a statement signed on Thursday in Abuja on behalf of the campaign organisation, Ambassador Jerry Ugokwe, alleged that the candidate of the APC, Senator Andy Uba is a victim of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation by INEC.
“The elections were characterised by widespread irregularities, intimidation, and voter suppression in order to clear the path for the inglorious ‘victory’ of APGA in the polls.
For instance, in polling units where the Biometric Voters’ Accreditation System malfunctioned, INEC went ahead to conduct the elections manually. There were numerous cases where votes announced by INEC exceeded the number of accredited voters in polling units.
“Another clear manifestation of collusion between the Obiano administration and INEC was the publishing of results on the social media handles of APGA even before the official announcement by INEC. Yet mysteriously, the votes announced in advance by APGA always corresponded correctly with the official figures released by INEC. “It is inconceivable that our candidate, who polled over 200,000 votes in the APC primary election would be allocated slightly above 43,000 votes by INEC.
“It is surprising that APGA that lost almost 80% of its stalwarts through defection to the APC before the election came out ‘victorious.’” According to the statement, the only people remaining in APGA at the time of the election were Governor Obiano, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and their households. Ugokwe added: “There was definitely no way the carcass of APGA could have defeated the APC without the active collusion and manipulation by INEC and the Obiano administration.”
The campaign group appealed to the APC supporters to remain peaceful and calm, saying the party will use legal means to recover its electoral mandate.
Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), may have been sentenced to eight years in prison for over N2billion pension fraud, but he is currently “living like a king” and has never been in a prison cell, FIJ can report.
On Monday, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, sentenced Maina to eight years in Kuje Medium Security Prison, where he has been held, convicting him and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd., on all the 12 counts filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
MAINA’S FULL PUNISHMENT
Maina was sentenced to various concurrent jail terms ranging from three to eight years. He was jailed three years for Count 1, five years for Count 2, eight years for Count 3, eight years for Count 4, two years for Count 5, five years for Count 6.
He was jailed for eight years for Count 7, three years for Count 8, five years for Count 9, eight years for Count 10, three years for Count 11 and three years for Count 12.
Justice Abang ordered that the terms of imprisonment shall run concurrently beginning from October 25, 2019, the date he was arraigned, meaning he will serve only the lenghtiest of all the terms: eight years. However, FIJ can confirm that in those two years since October 2019, Maina has never slept in a prison cell.
‘LIVING LIKE A KING’
The fully air-conditioned building where Maina is housed, almost living like a free man.
“Which Maina? Maina that since he was admitted to Kuje correctional facility, he has never seen a cell,” one prison source, who asked not to be named for fear of official vicitmisation, told FIJ.
“He has been living in the hospital inside the facility; it is more or less like a living room. He lives inside one of the rooms in the hospital building — not in the hospital ward itself.”
A second prison source, who also asked not to be named, told FIJ Maina was “living like a king” in prison, even though some other high-profile prisoners, such as Jolly Nyame, former Governor of Taraba State, and Farouk Lawan, former House of Representatives member, are indeed in cells.
Nyame is serving a 12-year jail term for misappropriation of funds while he was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, while Lawan is serving a seven-year jail term for demanding a $3million bribe and receiving $500,000 in two tranches from businessman Femi Otedola.
Maina’s abode is just two rooms to the left of this visible air-conditioned room
“Maina is a northerner treated like a king. He is living large inside a well-furnished room in the hospital,” the second source said. “Even Farouk Lawan is inside his cell in Custody 4; Jolly Nyame is in Custody 3 downstairs.”
FIJ understands Maina’s room is just two rooms to the left of the air-conditioned room in the picture above.
FIJ contacted DSC Awiza, who was the Chief Warder of Kuje Prison until just a few days ago, but calls and a text message to his line were both unanswered.
The Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has released an internal memo which banned students from riding cars to the campus
Naija News understands that the school management lamented the recklessness of some students bringing cars to the campuses, noting that the development has become a threat of life to commuters and pedestrians.
The memo titled ‘Prohibition of use of cars by students on the University Campus” and dated November 10, 2021’ read thus: “The University Management has noted with deep disappointment, the indiscriminate and reckless driving by some students within the University. This has put commuters and pedestrians at high and unnecessary risks.”
“Consequently, Management has directed that no student be allowed to drive/use any car on the University Campuses with immediate effect,” the memo signed by FUOYE Registrar, Mufutau A. Ibrahim added.
All students concerned have been directed to henceforth pack their cars properly outside the campuses, Naija News reports.
Aston Villa on Thursday announced Steven Gerrard as their new manager to replace the sacked Dean Smith.
The former Liverpool captain has left his role as Rangers boss to take the reins at the club, who have lost five straight Premier League matches.
Gerrard guided Rangers to a first Scottish Premiership title in 10 years last season, finishing the campaign undefeated in the league.
“The board of Aston Villa are delighted to appoint Steven as our new head coach,” said CEO Christian Purslow.
“He then took the brave decision to test himself in the intense and high pressured environment of the Scottish Old Firm. His subsequent achievement in winning the Premiership title with Glasgow Rangers really caught our eye as did his experience in Europe.”
Gerrard is considered one of the greatest players in Premier League history, scoring 186 goals in 710 appearances for Liverpool.
However, this will be his first taste of management in the English top-flight.
“Aston Villa is a club with a rich history and tradition in English football and I am immensely proud to become its new head coach,” said Gerrard.
“It was apparent how ambitious their plans are for the club and I am looking forward to helping them achieve their aims.”
Villa are 16th in the Premier League after picking up 10 points in their first 11 games.
Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, has hit back at state governors after they criticized his office over plans to deduct $418 million from their monies to settle a debt owed to consultants by the 36 states and local governments in the country.
The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) were said to have engaged legal services of the consultants in 2013 to help them recover funds that were over-deducted by the federal government from their monthly federal allocations to service loans taken from the Paris Club.
The state governors had few days ago faulted Malami on the planned deductions and stated that his alleged backing of the consultants to get paid, “raises questions of propriety and the spirit of justice”.
The governors had noted that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had recently stopped the Federal Government from deducting the said $418 million and alleged that the “undue haste” by Malami to effect the payment “suggests that there is a special relationship between the AGF and the consultants over and above Nigerian citizens.”
But responding in an Arise TV interview monitored by THE WHISTLER on Thursday, Malami noted that the Paris Club Refund issue, particularly the contract entered into between the states and the consultants, predates the current administration.
According to the AGF, the contractors had delivered on their job and were “fundamentally not paid the fees for the services they claimed to have rendered”.
He noted that the NGF and ALGON’s alleged refusal to continue with payment of the legal fees prompted the consultants to institute a suit against the state and local governments for “the determination of their rights and indeed enforcement of their fees” and had made the Federal Government a party to the suit.
Malami said a consent judgment entered into and submitted to a court by the NGF, ALGON and consultants in 2013 resulted in “the liability in contention today”.
The AGF said after the states failed to pay their legal fees, the consultants approached the Federal Government between 2016 and 2019 to intervene in the matter.
“The Federal Government approached the governors’ forum and ALGON and they collectively wrote to the Federal Government and conceded to the provision that the consultants have indeed provided the services and they were ready and willing to effect the payment of their fees,” said Malami.
According to him, the governors and ALGON had agreed that the “payment should be deducted from their monies and should be effected to the consultants”.
He said, “So, in 2017, these deductions were carried out at the instance of the governors’ forum and the instance of ALGON. Now that was the situation on the ground.
“But when eventually theses claims were made (by the consultants), the Federal Government under the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation felt that the amounts the ALGON and NGF had agreed to be paid to these consultants was in fact a very huge amount of money and the Federal Government became suspicious of what the NGF and ALGON were up to, taking into consideration that what was in contention were the services.
“So, the Federal Government wrote to the EFCC and DSS seeking for the verification of the veracity and authenticity of the claims on one hand and the judgement that gave rise to the claim.”
The AGF said the EFCC and DSS wrote back to him, confirming the liability of the state governments in the contract.
Malami said the implication of making the Federal Government a party in the suit filed by the consultants is that “the Federal Government could as well be liable and that execution could be levied against the interests of the Federal Government. So, on that note, the Federal Government took steps to approach the NGF and ALGON for the purpose of having their take as per this liability is concerned.
“I am happy to report that the governors, as at 2017, individually wrote in confirmation of admission of liability and the same thing ALGON.”
Malami wondered why the state governors did not object to the deductions when they commenced in 2016, saying “Now, nothing untoward happened thereafter until perhaps of recent when the NGF wrote, seeking to avoid liability”
The AGF said the implication of the governors planned avoidance of liability in the contract, “taking into consideration that the Federal Government was indeed sued as a party, was that at the end of the day, the liability will be placed exclusively at the doorsteps of the Federal Government when in fact this a liability that was incurred and admitted by the NGF and ALGON.”
He said, “it is indeed amazing that the governors are now belatedly, after having serviced the same claims over a period of five years, turned around to raise objections in respect of the payment even when they had consented on their own to a judgment which was entered in 2013 before this government came in place.
“Two, they had been effecting periodic payments in respect of the same [and] they had provided individual indemnity commitment that these payments should be effected over time.”
Malami said that the responsibility of his office is to “provide the necessary protection to the Federal Government,” stressing “I cannot be sitting here as the Attorney-General and allow the Federal Government to be exposed to a third-party liability incurred by the NGF and ALGON.”
The AGF stated emphatically that he won’t sit idly and watch the NGF and ALGON “turn around to create a situation that would expose the Federal Government to a liability even when it was indeed their liability that by their own showing, admission, and commitment, they have been servicing and they have conceded to.”
The Paris Club is group of public lenders who help debtor countries secure debt relief either by postponement or reduction in debt service obligations, amongst others.
