The Senate on Tuesday gave reasons for rejecting the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Society gazette reports that the Senate gave its reasons in a statement titled, ‘Senate confirms five nominees as INEC Commissioners, rejects Lauretta Onochie’, by Ezrel Tabiowo, Special Assistant (Press) to President of the Senate.
According to the statement, Lauretta Onochie’s nomination was rejected because of her partisanship and breach of the federal character principle.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South), was quoted as saying that the committee also received several petitions against Onochie’s nomination.
He disclosed that the petitions against Lauretta Onochie were against the backdrop that her involvement in politics and alleged membership of a political party.
The lawmaker explained further that her nomination violated the Federal Character Principle as there is already a serving National Electoral Commissioner from Delta State, Barr. Mary Agbamuche-Mbu who was screened and confirmed by the 8th Senate.
“In the case of Ms. Lauretta Onochie’s, having studied her curriculum vitae and other relevant documents, followed by exhaustive interaction around the petitions against her nomination which she responded to accordingly, including attesting that she is not a registered member of any political party”, Gaya said.
According to the lawmaker, the Committee bound by the provisions of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amendment) on Federal Character Principle, refused to recommend Onochie for confirmation.
“Therefore, based on the provisions of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) on Federal Character Principle as earlier stated, and in order for the Committee and the Senate to achieve fairness to other states and political zones in the country, the committee is unable to recommend Ms. Lauretta Onochie for confirmation as a National Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission,” he explained.
Onyeali-Ikpe’s Seven Point Agenda: Building A Future-Ready Fidelity Bank
John C. Maxwell, an American author and speaker, is a widely acknowledged thought leader. Maxwell asserts in one of his most famous quotes, which encapsulates the true essence of leadership, “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails”.
Fidelity Bank CEO, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe is leading the financial institution through a significant evolution of business culture with the primary objective of improving operational efficiency and expanding market share. Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe is adjusting “the sails” to ensure that her colleagues at Fidelity Bank have the wind at their backs as they work toward common goals and individual successes.
Currently, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe has her sights fixed on positioning the bank as one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, which leverages automation and robotics to replace manual and repetitive processes. The global lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was a messenger unlike any other, signaling that Nigeria’s traditional and over-the-counter banking systems are no longer viable.
Since assuming office in January 1 2021, the bank’s first female CEO and MD, has outlined a seven-point agenda to move the bank further in its quest to become a tier-1 bank that is well-positioned to outlive the competition and serve well into the future.
Overview and timeline
Fidelity Bank’s seven-point agenda focuses on brand architecture, brand building and refresh, talent development and transformation, product and service delivery, agility and performance discipline, digital transformation, and regulatory compliance.
In accordance with this, here are the bank’s strategies for ensuring that it attains its objectives:
1. The bank intends to embark on an Innovation Drive through the implementation of new processes, techniques. The bank is also executing fresh ideas to ensure continuous process improvement, reduce cost to serve, increase competitiveness, improve brand recognition and value, build new partnerships and relationships, drive turnover, and increase profitability.
2. Brand refresh with the aim to increase top-of-mind awareness of the Fidelity brand by external and internal stakeholders.
3. Workforce Transformation to create a future readily supported by a high performing and empowered workforce. This will be achieved by deepening the skills and competencies of staff across the bank, entrenching a culture of high performance, and embedding new ways of working in the bank. So far, the commencement of capacity building training for staff and senior management training are some of the initiatives implemented.
4. Service Excellence which is intended to build brand loyalty through personalized and seamless customer experience delivery. This is already underway with the award-winning virtual assistant IVY. This revolutionary chatbot handles simple tasks like account opening to complex tasks such as complaint resolution, bill payment, transferring users to a live agent, loans, fixed deposit applications, and answering random questions.
5. Digital Transformation involves an end-to-end digitization across all facets of the business. In line with this, the bank has launched a novel digital service —Pay Yourself —which revolutionized payday for salary earners and SMEs.
6. Performance Discipline to ensure focus on strong fundamentals, asset quality, and strategic cost management. Initiatives already carried out in this regard include;
– The Policy Familiarization Program —a capacity-building project geared towards building a knowledgeable and versatile staff network/raising subject matter experts in all business areas that kicked off in March.
– The One Culture Project- which was initiated to reinforce enabling behaviours and value systems towards fulfilling the bank’s goals
– Project Alpha- aimed at helping the bank develop a robust and holistic learning and development framework for all staff.
7. Accelerated Growth which will drive aggressive market penetration and business diversification. This will be achieved through deeper penetration in key retail markets.
Other initiatives geared towards deepening growth include by the Onyeali-Ikpe led management includes; accelerated play in the SME segment, renewal of institutional banking, and drive for transaction-based propositions in corporate banking.
With this seven pronged agenda, Onyeali-Ikpe led Fidelity Bank is well on its way to leading the sector while revolutionizing Nigeria’s financial landscape.
Paternity Mess: FCMB Finally Replaced Suspended Nuhu Adam With First Female Managing Director
Yemisi Edun, who took over the reins of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) in an acting capacity in January after the immediate past Managing Director Adam Nuru proceeded on a leave, has been appointed the tier 2 lender’s new chief, the FCMB Group said Tuesday.
She becomes the first female CEO of Subomi Balogun-backed FCMB, the appointment having received the blessing of the industry regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the financial services group said in a note to the Nigerian Exchange Limited seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
In January, the bank’s board appointed Ms Edun, who was the bank’s executive director/chief financial officer at the time, to hold the fort for Mr Nuru, to allow for an investigation into a paternity scandal involving the former CEO, Moyo Thomas, a one-time FCMB employee and Tunde Thomas, her late husband.
The high-profile misconduct probe, the culmination of a petition signed by over 1,400 Nigerians, followed an allegation that Mrs Thomas, who had informed her husband of her decision to leave for the United State with the kids, called Mr Thomas on arrival that none of the two kids, who had known the 45-year-old as their father, was his
An inferno has caught up with a hospital in the southeastern Iraqi city of Nasiriya.
Society gazette learnt that at least forty-one patients died in the fire incident with at least 5 people critically injured.
Confirming the horrible occurrence in a statement released to newsmen today, Dr. Ammar al-Zamili, the spokesperson for the local health department, said the fire incident happened on Monday night, July 12.
The inferno, Naija News understands was suspected to have started after oxygen tanks exploded in an ICU treating Covid-19 patients,
Al-Zamili said: “The civil defense teams managed to control and put out the major fire that broke out at al-Hussein hospital in the city with the help of health workers and neighborhood volunteers,”
Health officials, however, could not confirmed the exact number of people including patients that were inside the building when the fire broke. It, however, noted that an evacuation operation is underway. Al-Hussein Hospital was set up to treat Covid-19 patients at the start of the pandemic and has quarantine stations on site.
In April, at least 82 people were reported dead in a huge fire at a Covid-19 hospital in Baghdad. That fire had started after oxygen tanks exploded in the Covid-19 ICU.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will hold an emergency meeting with a number of ministers and security commanders “to find out the causes and repercussions” of the deadly fire, the PM’s office said Tuesday morning, July 13.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi tweeted that the fire shows a failure to protect lives “and it is time to put an end to this catastrophic failure, and Parliament will shift today’s session to examine options regarding what happened.”
Buhari To Have Security Discourse Dinner With 109 Senators
President Muhammadu Buhari will tonight at 8pm meet with the 109 Senators of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This follows a resolution of the Senate on April 27, 2021, mandating the leadership of the upper legislative chamber to schedule a meeting between the president and the 109 senators to discuss the high rate of insecurity across the country.
The meeting was conveyed in a letter received from the State House and read during plenary on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, by President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The invitation letter for the scheduled meeting from the statehouse reads, “I write to inform the Distinguished President of the Senate, that President Muhammadu Buhari will host a dinner of Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Tuesday, July,13, at 8 p.m.
“The venue is at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.’’
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, read the President’s letter on the floor of the Senate at the commencement of plenary.
Lawan asked his colleagues to arrive the Senate wing of the National Assembly for take off to the Villa by 7pm.
Six Men In Police Net After Inserting Long Stick Into Anus Of A 16-Year-Old Suspected Thief
Six adults have been apprehended in Ghana for allegedly inserting stick into the anus of a teenage boy suspected to be a thief.
It was gathered that the individuals were arrested after they were caught on camera while carrying out the condemnable act.
Reports revealed that authority arrested the men at Agogo in Ashanti Region of Ghana.
Identity of the suspects are revealed as follows: Kwasi Marfo (24), Boakye Danquah (65), 53-year-old Osei Bonsu, 26-year-old Kofi Asiedu, 30-year-old Obeng Mensah and a 79-year-old man.
The video was captured by those who claimed to have caught the boy stealing in their neighborhood.
The 79-year-old man in the video who was the first person to be arrested by the police following a missing person complaint filed by the boy’s family, aided the police in the arrest of the remaining 5 people who participated in the stick insertion.
However, in their confession upon arrest, the suspects claimed not to know the 16-year-old boy’s whereabouts, alleging that they untied him and left him to go after the stick was inserted into his anus.
While the boy has now been found by the police and is receiving treatments from a hospital, the men are still in police custody assisting in investigations
At Last! Senate Rejects Onochie As INEC Commissioner
The Senate on Tuesday said the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, an aide to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was rejected because of her partisanship and breach of federal character principle.
In a statement titled, ‘Senate confirms five nominees as INEC Commissioners, rejects Lauretta Onochie’, by Ezrel Tabiowo, Special Assistant (Press) to President of the Senate, on Tuesday.
The statement quoted Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South), as saying that the committee also received several petitions against the nomination of Onochie.
He disclosed that the petitions against Lauretta Onochie were against the backdrop that her involvement in politics and alleged membership of a political party.
He explained further that her nomination violated the Federal Character Principle as there is already a serving National Electoral Commissioner from Delta State, Barr. Mary Agbamuche-Mbu who was screened and confirmed by the 8th Senate.
“In the case of Ms. Lauretta Onochie’s, having studied her curriculum vitae and other relevant documents, followed by exhaustive interaction around the petitions against her nomination which she responded to accordingly, including attesting that she is not a registered member of any political party”, Gaya said.
According to the lawmaker, the Committee bound by the provisions of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amendment) on Federal Character Principle, refused to recommend Onochie for confirmation.
“Therefore, based on the provisions of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) on Federal Character Principle as earlier stated, and in order for the Committee and the Senate to achieve fairness to other states and political zones in the country, the committee is unable to recommend Ms. Lauretta Onochie for confirmation as a National Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission,” he explained.
However, the Senate confirmed five other nominees followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on INEC.
The Red Chamber also suspended the nomination of Prof. Sani Muhammad Adam (North Central) for further investigation by the committee.
Those confirmed include Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru (North-West), Prof. Muhammad Sani Kallah (Katsina), Prof. Kunle Cornelius Ajayi (Ekiti), Dr. Baba Bila (North-East), and Saidu Babura Ahmad (Jigawa).
On the nomination against Prof. Sani Muhammad Adam, the committee recommended that “his confirmation be stepped down pending further legislative action by the committee.
“Accordingly, the Senate while confirming the five nominees, adopted the recommendations of the Committee by rejecting Onochie’s nomination and stepping down that of Professor Adam for further action.”
Meet The Black Man That May Likely Take Over As General Overseer Of TB Joshua’s SCOAN
It is no more news that the founder of the synagogue church of all nations (SCOAN), Prophet TB Joshua has been called to glory and was buried on Friday, 9th Of July, 2021 amidst tears.
His death was one that shook the entire world due to the impact he has made across the globe with his humanitarian gestures and prophetic ministry.
During his lifetime, His church was a refuge for international visitors, presidents, governors, world leaders, businessmen who sought miracle and God’s direction in their endeavors in life. His death can be best described as a colossal loss for the world.
Now that Prophet TB Joshua is dead, there has been confusion and uncertainties on who takes over as the general overseer of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) because someone has to lead in order to preserve the memory and continue the legacy of Snr Prophet TB Joshua.
Some days before the burial, several publications shared that the elders in the church have selected the widow of the late prophet, Mrs Evelyn Joshua as the new leader of the church though this was denied totally by the church, while stating that the church has not yet made such decision.
However, digs by Society gazette has revealed that one of the disciples of the late man of God, Prophet Raccine is likely to be the successor of Prophet TB Joshua at SCOAN.
Prophet Racine has been with Prophet TB Joshua for many years and has been actively involved in the ministry of SCOAN. Several times, He has represented TB Joshua in events, preached on his behalf and by all indications, one can tell that Prophet TB Joshua literally poured himself into Prophet Racine.
During the one week long burial ceremony of the man of God, Prophet Racine appeared in almost all the programmes mostly taking the closing prayer or opening prayer even on the day of the burial. During the thanksgiving service on Sunday, He unveiled a book written about Prophet TB Joshua too. All these could be to prepare him for the huge role he is about the play in the ministry of Prophet TB Joshua even though he might not be aware yet.
More than every other disciple, Prophet Racine is more popular and more featured in the services held at the synagogue church of all nations, let’s keep fingers crossed.
How South African Government Failed To Listen To Prophet Samuel Akinbodunse Warnings On Prosecuting Jacob Zuma
It is no more news that South Africa is currently under serious tension following the operations of rioters and protesters.
Some citizens have been killed in this unfortunate incident that has been rocking the country for some days.
This is not unconnected to the fact that the government in power has perfected plans to prosecute the former president of the country, Jacob Zuma.
He has been handed a 15-month jail term for contempt of court relating to corruption allegations against him. Following this development, there has been riot, killings, protest by his supporters threatening sanity in the country.
Meanwhile, a popular south Africa prophet, Samuel Akinbodunse, the general overseer of Freedom For All Nations Outreach (FANO) warned the ruling party and Government against going after Zuma.
He made this warnings during the release of his new year Prophecy in January, stating that an attempt to prosecute Zuma will threaten the country.
Just as he said, The country is not stable at the moment due to the prosecution.
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