Coach Mauricio Pochettino Plays Down Decision to Substitute Lionel Messi in PSG Win
Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino defended his decision to take off Lionel Messi as the former Barcelona man made his home debut in Sunday’s Ligue 1 game against Lyon. Messi was outstanding in the first half at the Parc des Princes but began to fade from the game after the break and was replaced by Achraf Hakimi for the final quarter of an hour with the score 1-1 at the time. PSG won 2-1 with a stoppage-time headed goal by substitute Mauro Icardi. “Everyone knows we have great players, a squad of 35. It is my decision. We can only have 11 players on the field at one time,” Pochettino said.
“I only think about the best decision in each game, for each player, just as every coach does.
“We are here to make decisions. Sometimes people will be happy with them, sometimes they won’t be.”
Messi appeared to reject Pochettino’s hand as he walked past his coach towards the Paris bench.
Sekibo urges govt., stakeholders to prioritise SMEs, youth entrepreneurship
L-R: Preye Ojeme, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Manager, Maitama, Abuja; Daniel Oniko Regional Head Abuja 1; Dr. Bayo Olugbemi, President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Isaiah Ediae, Experience Centre Manager, Algiers Wuse; Dab Okosun, staff of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and Efehi Cole, Experience Centre Manager, Garki, during the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance,” held in Abuja.
Bridging the gap to attain sustainable solutions to economic recovery will be the most impactful route to drive lasting and meaningful growth; for this to be achieved, creation of opportunities, conscious inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises and youth entrepreneurship are crucial – Sekibo.
MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo gave this submission on the sidelines of the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance.”
According to him, one of the key areas where government, financial institutions and other stakeholders can move this nation from poverty to prosperity is through conscious creation of viable environment for small businesses and young entrepreneurs to thrive because they are the backbone of local economies around the world – they happen to be the biggest employers, job creators and contributors of the national gross domestic products.
“We cannot talk about moving from poverty to prosperity without taking SMEs very seriously in this country.
“We must support the SMEs sector reform through providing infrastructure, providing loans to farmers and ensuring interest rate loans is single digit,” Ifie Sekibo affirmed.
Sekibo who was represented at the conference by the Regional Head Abuja-1, Daniel Oniko, stated that giving SMEs and young entrepreneurs leverage to contribute immensely to the development of their host community through engaging the youths and unemployed individuals will bring about and facilitate economic recovery. He emphasized that the role of SMEs in creating and sustaining national development in relation to job creation has been considered a key tool in modern-day poverty alleviation, economic emancipation, and total well-being.
The MD, however disclosed, “One of Heritage Bank’s major cardinal point as a bank is supporting micro, small and medium scale businesses and our
L-R: Edison Okoro, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Manager, Herbert Macaulay, Abuja; Dr. Uche Olowo; Immediate past President/Chairman of Council, CIBN; Daniel Oniko Regional Head Abuja 1; Isaiah Ediae, Experience Centre Manager, Algiers Wuse and Blessing Eyo, Heritage Bank’s Experience Centre Associate, during the 14th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) with a theme: “Economic Recovery, Inclusion & Transformation: The Role of Banking and Finance,” held in Abuja.
strong desire to see young men and women succeed in any area of their business. This will help the society and economy to grow, thereby moving the nation from poverty to prosperity, he added. He noted that Heritage Bank was taking the lead through various initiatives such as its youth entrepreneurship development programmes which were aimed at increasing the contributions of the MSME segment to the economy.
Sekibo further explained that the entrepreneur schemes of the bank in the support for business had always focused on dependable job-creating sectors such as the agricultural value chain: fish farming, poultry, snail farming, etc., cottage industry, mining and solid minerals, creative industry: tourism, arts and crafts, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).Speaking earlier, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said emerging challenges require that the banking and finance sector takes on more transformative projects such as housing and renewable energy.
The VP acknowledged that the banking and finance sector has over the years played significant roles in the nation’s economic development. According to the Vice President, “it is time for the sector to take on some of the transformative big-ticket items that would fundamentally transform our economy. Such matters include consumer finance but housing finance.
“In his goodwill message, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele stated that the banking sector remained well positioned to support the recovery efforts of the monetary and fiscal authorities. “Clearly, Nigeria’s banks have become not only strong and resilient but have also carved a good niche in the world to consolidate on the growth and resilience of the banks in the last decades”, he added.
‘Reconsider your position’ — Ngige begs resident doctors to resume work
Chris Ngige, minister of labour and productivity, has appealed to striking resident doctors to resume work.
Speaking on Sunday during an interview on Channels Television, Ngige said the resident doctors should come for discussions after they return to work.
On August 2, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on strike over “irregular payment of salaries”, among other issues.
Efforts of different stakeholders, including President Muhammadu Buhari and the house of representatives, to ensure the resident doctors shelve the strike did not yield the desired result.
On Friday, the National Industrial Court, in a ruling by Bashir Alkali, had asked the resident doctors to return to work.
But the striking doctors faulted the court’s ruling, vowing to appeal the order.
Reacting to the development, Ngige described the decision of the resident doctors to continue the strike despite the court order as “contemptuous”.
The labour minister said he is determined to protect the profession from being “vandalised”.
“I want to appeal to NARD for them to reconsider their position, get back to work tomorrow or next and then come back again for discussions. We have so many things to discuss,” the minister said.
“I have nephews who are resident doctors. I have three of them in the east — at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching hospital, UNTH Enugu, Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu. I have so many of them.
“I have my son — a house officer. I have my daughter who is joining housemanship in October. I have a son, God willing, who is going to graduate again in October. I cannot destroy the profession but I have to protect the profession too if it is going to be vandalised.”
Commitment to Customer Service Translates to Financial Gains – UBA GMD
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Kennedy Uzoka, has said that the bank recorded significant improvement in its operational and financial performance as a result of its unending commitment towards delivering products and services aimed at meeting customers’ demands.
Uzoka said this during the Investors/Analysts Conference Call at the bank’s head office in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday September 16, 2021, following the release of its results for the half year ended June 30, 2021.
UBA delivered a 33.4% appreciation in its profit before tax which rose to N76.2bn as at June 2021, up from N57.1bn recorded in the same period of 2020, translating to an annualised Return on Average Equity of 17.5% as against 14.4% a year earlier. Profit after tax grew to N60.6bn representing a significant rise by 36.3% compared to N44.4bn recorded in 2020, while gross earnings grew to N316bn from N300.6bn as at June 2020; a 5.1% growth
This feat was recorded despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The GMD expressed optimism that the bank is on the trajectory of achieving and even surpassing its targets for the financial year, adding that its focus on delighting its customers remains at the forefront of all its activities.
He said, “We are very committed to prudent and responsible growth of our risk assets, quality of our balance sheet and the overall health of the bank. We will continue to balance our growth appetite with the need to maintain very good healthy portfolio of our assets.
“Our customer first philosophy remains our guiding strategy. We want to assure you of positive customer experience for all our customers. In addition, we would like to deliver our banking services only from the standpoint of our customers. And indeed, as we say at UBA, our customers are our ultimate employers,” Uzoka explained.
Whilst expressing optimism that the Nigerian economy and the broader economy will continue to recover and rebound from the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the remaining quarter of 2021 and all the way into 2022, the GMD assured the investors and participants of the bank’s commitment to maintain professionalism and continue to ensure strict compliance with the rules and regulations guiding our operations in all our presence countries. “With the trusted commitment of all our great and wonderful employees, board and management, we will continue to match towards actualising our enterprise goals,” he noted.
UBA’s Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Nwaghodoh, who spoke on the bank’s significant geographical diversification across key economies in Africa and beyond, noted that UBA recorded impressive growth in interest incomes and net incomes, with steady growth in funding and deposits from customers.
He pointed out that even as the operating environment remains largely uncertain and volatile, despite marked improvement from Covid-19 induced macroeconomic stress, UBA will continue to build resilience through its geographically diversified business model to support headline earnings growth for the Group.
“We remain committed to our 18% and 15% respective RoAE and deposit growth guidance for FY 2021, as we continue to invest in growth opportunities across our geographies of operation, whilst managing capital and balance sheet prudently,” Nwaghodoh said.
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.
Actress Hannah Ojo Drags Nollywood Notables For Marital Dilemma In Lagos
One of Lagos’ high society ladies, the multimillionaire businesswoman behind famous Montai brand, Hajia Tai Elemosho-Okesanjo is the newest actress in town.
The woman of substance will be making a dramatic appearance in actress Hannah Ojo’s first-ever feature length movie titled Marital Dilemma.
The educative and highly informative movie which is directed by one of Nollywood‘s best, Kingsley Omoefe stars notable actors such as Matilda Lambert, Gbemisola Scarlet Shotade, Moc Madu, Efe Henry, Age Anthony, MaryGold Adams, Frederick Imoni Jav, Onome Ababe, Otwetwe 1 of Urhobo Kingdom, Sheriff Ajalaruru, Andrew Anyanwu to mention but a few.
Marital Dilemma treats the puzzles of relationships and love uncertainties. It is a story of two beautiful friends, Naomi and Prisca who’re at the mercy of love’s predicament. Naomi, who enjoys companies of men chooses a wrong choice for marriage while desperate Prisca who’s not too lucky with men decides to woo her bestie’s ex, Sam. The story comes to roost when Naomi discovers her friend, Prisca is head-over-heel in love with the man she can’t do without. The plot gets messier when Naomi gives birth to a set of twins with controversial paternities. And only Prisca has the answer. Will Prisca betray her best friend to leak the secret because of her interest in Sam? Find out more in Marital Dilemma.
According to the producer, Hannah Ojo, this is one story line that’ll blow your mind, it is something I’ve been looking forward to shooting and am very happy the day is here, she said.
Government Begins payment Of Batch A and B of N-Power Beneficiaries
With the removal of technical hurdles, the Federal Government has resumed payment of allowances to remaining Batch A and B of N-Power volunteers.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Bashir Nura Alkali, in a statement, confirmed that payment has resumed after solving problems of system setbacks.
Alkali explained that the accounts of the affected 14,021 volunteers were flagged in March 2020 by the Federal Government payment system, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), for various reasons.
He blamed the delay on beneficiaries having multiple accounts or accounts receiving salaries and allowances from multiple channels and the government on permanent employment, or for participating in other schemes.
“These acts violate the regulations guiding the N-Power volunteer programme and could amount to gross misconduct and corruption,” he warned.
He noted that the Ministry carried out detailed investigation with relevant MDAs, and so far 9,066 volunteers beneficiaries have been cleared for final payment.
“Based on this reality, the five months allowance arrears of N150,000 each, is currently being paid,” he further explained.
He also clarified that the allowances of the remaining 4,955 volunteers is still withheld for further investigation.
Alkali promised sanctions for volunteers who violated agreement guiding the scheme and the law.
“Where clear violations of the agreements are established, such violators will be subjected to appropriate sanctions as stipulated by the law,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary reiterated that the exercise clearly demonstrated the Ministry’s resolve to address outstanding issues in a transparent manner for accountability and to forestall future occurrences
At the moment, the university which sits on several hectares of land, leads in the supply of agricultural produce to markets across the States of Nigeria through its ABUAD Farms.
The large farm is powered by Independent Power Project, IPP of 2. 5 megawatts with projection for 5 Megawatts.
It comprises crop and animal farming and accounts for major supplies of nutritious farm produce to the Nigerian markets ranging from fruits, vegetables and different categories of meat.
Revealing his love for contributing to Nigeria’s drive for food sufficiency, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, founder of the university, said during an interactive session with reporters that “I have passion for farming.
“We grew up in local community where farming was the predominant engagements.
“I even thought I would inherit my father’s cutlasses and hoes because of my love for farming,” he said.
This passion, he maintained, provoked the huge investment into farming which has led to supplies to Lagos for onward distribution to other parts of Nigeria.
It would however be noted that at a time, Nigeria was reputed as an agricultural hub on the continent with regional governments accelerating developments through agricultural revenues.
But following the discovery of petroleum, Nigeria rapidly grew into a major food importing nation as the government neglected agricultural sector since petroleum became a viable resource for economic development.
This situation quickly polarized the nation into high and low income groups.
Since then, the country has been grabbling with challenges of inadequate food supply for its teeming population, a development that has been partly adduced as a major factor responsible for unending criminal activities in the system.
But to Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, food deficit in Nigeria is a task that must be confronted with all vehemence. The ABUAD Farm is the designed vehicle to accomplishing this mission.
The 91 years old legal luminary, described as an uncommon gift to Ekiti State, Nigeria and the whole world, is reputed as a leading employer of Labour as well as biggest tax payer to Ekiti State government through ABUAD.
“Stop Accumulating Debt For Next Generation to Come, It Is foolishness to keep borrowing” – Obasanjo Begs Buhari Govt
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has fired the Muhammadu Buhari administration over its continuous borrowing to fund recurrent expenditure.
Obasanjo, in a recent interview with Channels TV, said that it was ‘foolishness’ to keep borrowing and creating debt for the future generation.
“If you want to build a commercial house and you go and borrow money, and you have 50 per cent of your own money and you borrow 50 per cent and in five years, you pay the 50 per cent that you borrowed. That is a wise thing to do. But if you have to go and borrow money for you to be able to feed yourself and your family, that is a stupid thing to do.”
“So, if we are borrowing for recurrent expenditure, it is the height of foolery. If we are borrowing for development that can pay itself, that is understandable; then how long will it pay itself? But we are borrowing and accumulating debt for the next generation and the next generation after them, it is criminal, to put it mildly. What are we borrowing for?”
“When I came into government and was elected President, we were spending $3.5bn to service debt, and even with that, our quantum of debt was not going down.”
The Buhari administration has borrowed a total of N21tn within six years.
According to the Debt Management Office, a at the end of March 2021, Nigeria’s public debt hit a total of N33.12tn, which means in the last six years under the President, the country’s debt rose by N21tn.
As of the end of June 2015, one month after the present regime came into power, the country’s debt profile stood at N12.12tn. The country’s debt profile has risen by 173.27 per cent within the six-year period.
Shocking! Woman Exposes Popular Pastors Who Visits Her Husband’s Shrine For Power
The wife of the chief priest of Idemili Cultural Centre, Ralph Ndidi Obi, Lolo Ebelechukwu Obi, has alleged that some pastors get power from her husband.
Lolo disclosed this during an interview with BBC pidgin.
The wife of the chief priest who had married him for eight years revealed that some popular pastors visit her centre in Agulu in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, for spiritual power to enable them to perform miracles in their churches.
She further stated that before she tied the knot with the chief priest, she was a prayer warrior in the church.
Lolo said, “After getting married to my husband, some pastors that I cannot even mention, I started seeing them here and my husband, the chief priest, usually works for them.
“They used to come to him for power but when they return to their church, they will begin to cast the water spirit. We deliver people from spiritual husbands and wives. When you come to us, we just settle the spirit and you will go and marry your spouse.”
According to her, being a traditional worshipper is not bad, adding that the perception of Nigerians of the religion is wrong.
She added, “When I was a prayer warrior in church, I used to see traditional worshippers as bad people but after marrying my husband, I found out that it is not even a bad thing.”
AbokiFX Announces Interim Suspension Of forex rate updates as CBN investigates founder
ABOKIFX, the website that quotes daily foreign exchange rates against the naira, has announced the interim suspension of the updates on its platform following serious allegations of currency manipulation, speculation and illegal dealings in forex levelled against it by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, had earlier vowed to prosecute the founder, Oniwinde Olusegun Adedotun after the regulator launched an investigation into the company and Oniwinde’s activities and blocked bank accounts linked to them.
In response, AbokiFX took the decision on September 17, 2021, to temporarily suspend rate updates on all our platforms, until it gets better clarity of the situation.
Meanwhile, final rates were posted on Friday but the abokiFX news section and the Crypto rates section would remain active.
Emefiele alleged that Oniwinde and his company operate 25 bank accounts in eight banks that are filled with money from his alleged speculative activities.
According to Emefiele, “The founder of AbokiFX is an illegal dealer with tens of millions invested across several Nigerian companies,” but vowed to track him down in his UK abode and have him prosecuted.
AbokiFX released the statement following the CBN governor’s statement after the MPC decision briefings.
AbokiFX was established in 2014 as a research and information service company, to conduct market research and gather data on the parallel market rates.
“We also wanted to provide some transparency around the parallel market with the availability of information technology,” the firm noted in a statement.
AbokiFX purely provides benchmark parallel rate information which helps guide users in almost 200 countries across the world.
The management says abokiFX does not trade in FX, which it has always maintained in its emails and social media platforms.
“We do not trade FX neither do we have the power to manipulate the rates as we do not create the rates. We are the only entity in Nigeria that has a full set of parallel rates, right from our inception in 2014 when the exchange rate was trading at N166 to $1.
“We collated data for years before we started publishing, as we realised the demand increased for our historical data,” a statement from the firm observed.
To most users of its platforms, it is just a parallel rates board but to many institutions, ranging from Ivy League universities to global businesses and research centres, “we are a key source of data, especially, historical data (almost a decade’s worth of data on parallel rates).
“Companies use our data for their internal and external audits as well as planning and budgeting,” it stated.
The firm added that it only publish what was sourced on the streets of Lagos, hence the phrase, Lagos Parallel Rates.
The rates sourced are carefully collated, reviewed and a mean rate is published from the data pool. This explains our three daily updates – * morning, ** midday, ***evening.
It should be remembered that in 2017, Nigeria experienced an FX crisis and the Naira depreciated to over N500/$1. AbokiFX was accused of manipulating the parallel market rates.
Once liquidity was injected, the Naira appreciated and it published the appreciation which is basically what it does.
It observed that 2021 has seen a similar scenario with the naira depreciating and “we have published what we have been given, which has led some to believe we are manipulating the market.
“Yet no one can complain about our rates deviating +/- 2 per cent from the parallel market rates when they patronise the dealers in the market. If we do not create the rates, how then can we control the rates. Our only sources of income have been our API and advert sales,” it explained.
