The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to the Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, who has been detained in prison since Monday over his suretyship for Abdulrasheed Maina believed to have jumped bail.
Justice Okon Abang in a ruling on Friday said he chose to grant the senator bail based on his record of good behaviour before the court, notwithstanding that the other grounds of his bail application failed.
The judge granted bail to the senator pending the hearing and determination of Ndume’s appeal filed at the Court of Appeal to challenge Monday’s order sending him to jail for his inability to produce the fleeing Maina.
He ordered the senator to produce one surety who must be a resident of Abuja and present evidence of ownership of property anywhere in Abuja.
According to the judge, the surety must also depose to an affidavit of means to indicate his readiness to forfeit the bail guaranty should the senator jump bail.
The judge also ordered the senator to deposit his passport with the Chief Registrar of the court.
He also ordered the lawmaker to file an undertaking that he would compile records of appeal and transmit it to the Court of Appeal within 10 days, a way the court wants him to demonstrate his readiness to prosecute his appeal.
Maina, a former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, is being prosecuted by the EFCC on charges of money laundering involving N2bn.
On November 18, 2020, Justice Abang revoked the bail granted him, ordered his arrest, and directed that his trial would proceed in absentia.
The judge also on Monday remanded Ndume in prison until he produced Maina or paid the sum of N500m bail bond to the Federation Account.
Ndume, through his lawyer, Marcel Oru, had on Tuesday filed an appeal against the remand order at the Court of Appeal, along with an application for the bail of the defendant filed before Justice Abang.
Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko, mostly known in the business, entertainment and political circles as Ned Nwoko, has become Grand Patron to the National Association of Online Security Reporters, NAOSRE, , an association made up of the finest hands in Nigeria’s security reportage.
Ned Nwoko is one of Nigeria’s outstanding investors in hospitality, a business that requires committed attention to safety and security.
The chairman of THE MOUNT NED NWOKO RESORT, comprising THE TOWER, a 100FT structure built on a 1000FT location and unarguably, the highest point in Delta state, confirmed his acceptance in a meeting with the leadership of NAOSRE led by its President, Mr. Oyewale Femi, in Abuja on Thursday, November 26, 2020.
As a grand patron, Ned Nwoko is expected to play an advisory role in guiding the leadership of NAOSRE in key security information dissemination for a safer Nigeria.
Billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates will pay off $76 million of Nigeria’s debt through their namesake foundation. The payments, which will be made over the course of 20 years, are due to begin this year.
In 2014, Nigeria borrowed the money from Japan to fund its fight against the preventable disease, Quartz reports. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has “agreed to repay the loan after Nigeria met the condition of achieving more than 80% vaccination coverage in at least one round each year in very high risk areas across 80% of the country’s local government areas,” according to Quartz.
No new cases of polio were reported in the country in 2017. That’s a drastic change from 2012, when Nigeria had over half of all polio cases worldwide, according to the publication.
In a recent blog post, Gates acknowledges the significant strides made towards wiping out the disease globally — 30 years ago, there were 350,000 cases of polio per year worldwide, while last year, that number dropped to just 21.
“The heroes who have made this progress possible are the millions of vaccinators who have gone door to door to immunize more than 2.5 billion children. Thanks to their work, 16 million people who would have been paralyzed are walking today,” Gates writes.
Polio is “a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease,” which, after invading the nervous system, can cause paralysis. Among those paralyzed, two to 10 percent die.
The Gates Foundation spent $3 billion in 2017 to help stop the spread of the disease, and names polio eradication one of its “top priorities.” The foundation says it has supported the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s efforts to wipe out the disease by contributing technical and financial resources to accelerate targeted vaccination campaigns, community mobilization and routine immunizations.
“Progress in fighting polio might be one of the world’s best-kept secrets in global health,” Gates previously acknowledged in the foundation’s 2017 annual letter. “If things stay stable in the conflicted areas, humanity could see its last case of polio this year.”
In 1988, the virus was present in over 125 countries, paralyzing about 1,000 children per day. Since then, cases of polio have decreased by over 99 percent.
The Gates’ donation is not out of character; in 2017, they gave $4.6 billion to their namesake organization. In addition to its work with polio, the foundation has also spent $1 billion in an effort to send over 20,000 kids to college and has committed millions more toward fighting Alzheimer’s and providing resources to women in developing countries.
Thanks in part to his massive philanthropic efforts, Gates is no longer the richest person in the world, a title that he had held for much of the last decade. Jeff Bezos is currently the richest person, with a net worth of more than $108 billion, according to Forbes. Gates is currently worth $92 billion.
However, Bloomberg notes that Gates would have a net worth of $150 billion if he had not been so generous. While Bezos is not known for being particularly philanthropic as billionaires go, in January he announced a $33 million donation toward TheDream.Us, an organization that provides scholarships to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as “dreamers.”
Gates also founded The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett. Its billionaire signers have promised to give away at least half of their wealth.
“We have been blessed with good fortune beyond our wildest expectations, and we are profoundly grateful,” Bill and Melinda wrote in their Giving Pledge letter, CNBC Make It previously reported. “But just as these gifts are great, so we feel a great responsibility to use them well.”
To enhance effective growth in profitability and good returns on shareholders’ investment, the Board of Directors of SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited, has elected Mr. Olanrewaju Shittu as Chairman of the Board of Directors to replace Mr. JIbril Aku.
This decision was made at its meeting held on Thursday 26th November 2020. The board also approved the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Datti Yola as a Non-Executive Director, Subject to the approval of the CBN.
While Mr. Shittu was a former Director at Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Datti is a retired General Manager at the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
SunTrustbank, it would be recalled was licensed on September 15, 2015 as the first new commercial bank license given by the Central Bank in 15 years and its journey as a bank began in 2009. It commenced business on August 1, 2016.
The new Chairman, Olanrewaju Shittu retired in 2018 and is a holder of MBA degree, Fellow (FCA) Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Associate (ACA) Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an Associate (ACTI) Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nigeria.
Commenting on the bank’s operations so far, a senior executive in the bank said: “Over 90 per cent of banking transaction are being transacted electronically worldwide. Banking is no longer where you go to… the only financial institution that can stand in the future is no longer those with physical branches but only by banking services that will be driven by technology and therefore most customers of tomorrow will no longer be interested in going to the banking halls… We are a financial technology bank that will bring banking to your home rather than make you come to us…We will be everywhere but we will be nowhere…we will have the minimum branches required to operate as a bank but we will drive financial services through technology…”
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has advocated a closer collaboration between banks, Telcos, Fintechs and industry regulators to enhance savings and lending in the financial landscape. This development according to him will generate activities in the economy and expand wealth creation. Akinwuntan who was speaking at the ‘Fintech in Nigeria: State of Play’ event based on the research and moderation of the Economist Intelligence Unit, stated that the Fintech industry is currently more active in payments as against wealth creation, which is the ultimate goal for financial inclusion. He noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been proactive in providing a regulatory environment for the collaboration of players with emphasis on customer protection which has improved customers’ trust in using digital channels.
Mr Akinwuntan who commended the role fintechs play in facilitating payment, said “there is need to deepen their presence in lending and savings. This is why I maintained that collaboration between Fintech and banks is valuable. We are not at the stage of competition yet; we are at a situation where although we have our profitability interests, we will actually gain much more by collaborating”. He added that “in the area of savings and lending, be it to the agriculture sector, the creative sector or the young graduates setting out to be entrepreneurs directly, the ability to save even in little bits creates a profile that would be able to attract lending that you can translate into economic value.
Specifically, the Ecobank Managing Director stated that the Fintech industry rose to the situation especially in the payment space and increasingly in lending and savings during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown in the country. He noted that “between March and April, the number of transactions in the payment space for Fintech grew in multiples of close to 800%. We saw significant participation of the Fintech industry in actually reaching more of the underserved in the market by reducing cost of access and making these services available all the time ether by using traditional banks or in collaboration with government agencies.”
Mr. Akinwuntan explained that Ecobank had uninterrupted banking services for its customers through its digital platforms and agency banking during the lockdown, “we had invested significantly in our digital platforms; given the nature of Ecobank as a pan African institution, the only way we could reach every household was to leverage the digital platform. We saw a marked growth in the number of digital based transactions as our customers continued in their way of life depending on these platforms. And most importantly is the use of our social media to drive advocacy with the stay safe campaign where we educated the masses on safety guidelines. We were ready for the situation giving the nature of our franchise. And with our agency banking push, people do not need to go beyond their neighborhood to do transaction.”
Also speaking, Director, Payment System Management, CBN, Musa Jimoh said the apex bank’s regulation is driven by innovation. “We have come up with regulations that will enable all the participants to behave symbiotically. Our payment system directive will be driven by the innovation in the banks. We don’t know what will happen in the future in terms of technological development, therefore we follow innovations and prepare a ground for all the participants to work symbiotically. A new innovation is studied before we provide the needed intervention in terms policy derivative that will help everybody to participate”.
He observed that Covid 19 lockdown provided opportunity for banks to sell digital products, test their back up and business continuity processes and explore the technological services available and push for their financial services, noting that CBN is backing up these areas with relevant regulations to ensure all the participants with the payment and financial service space can actually conduct their service responsibly.
On priorities in the regulatory space especially those championing Fintech, Jimoh said the apex bank currently operates both sandbox and the open bank regulation. “the sandbox provides a regulated environment for startups who don’t have the financial strength to take an authorization from CBN to go through the entire process of licensing to test their innovation. We are working hard to show case an environment where startups can come to the regulatory sandbox to test their innovation and services without having the license yet,” adding that “Open banking regulation is a principle that will allow third party to leverage on the existing bank accounts with the banks to get information and provide services. More like democratizing financial services where a person chooses the service provider that will provide services and the kind of services provided. As a Fintech, you will be able to connect to banks to provide value added services.”
Fintech in Nigeria: State of Play: is an Economist Intelligence Unit Research which examines key trends in the fintech sector in Nigeria and assesses both industry drivers and impediments to further growth. This report combines extensive desk research and insights from in-depth interviews with industry experts and executives at regulatory bodies and Fintech firms. Key findings of the report showed that Nigerian Fintechs are moving from payments into lending, micro-investment, wealth management, peer-to-peer transfers and insurance. Secondly, Nigeria’s regulatory environment balances innovation and consumer protection but must continually evolve to respond to market dynamics and lastly, Nigerian Fintech needs to address shortcomings in the broader ecosystem to develop and flourish.
The UBA Foundation, the CSR arm of the United Bank for Africa, today, held its tenth annual National Essay Competition(NEC) in a virtual ceremony that was attended by high school students from across the nation. The UBA Foundation’s Education initiative has been changing lives for a decade as the tertiary education scholarship programme continues to impact the lives of many students and their communities.
For the fourth consecutive year, the females have been leading this competition with14 year-old Eshiet Abasiekeme of Bright Stars Model Secondary School from Akwa-Ibom state taking home this year’s winning prize. Eshiet received an educational grant of N2,500,000.00 to study in any African university of her choice. She will also be supported throughout her educational career and beyond with constant mentoring by the UBA Foundation.
Abasiekeme who had joined the virtual event from her base in Akwa Ibom state in Nigeria, could not contain her excitement as she heard the announcement that she had won the first prize of the NEC 2020. “I feel honoured to be the winner of this year’s NEC, and I want to appreciate UBA and UBA Foundation as this will help towards my dream of becoming a lawyer,” she said proudly, expressing that she would like to go to university in Uyo in her home state.
The second prize was awarded to 14 year old Mofoluwake Adesanya of Spring Forte-Lead College Lagos State, who won a N2,000,000 educational grant, whilst the third prize of N1,500,000 went to Abdulganiyy Habeebah, 16 years old. Abdulganiyy attends the International School, University of Lagos.
Eshiet and the 11 other finalists, took home their brand new lap top computers to enable them continue to work competitively in a world that is rapidly becoming fully digitalised.
Congratulating all the winners at the final event of the competition, the Managing Director/CEO of UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, applauded all the participants for their exceptional brilliance. She explained that the Foundation had taken into consideration the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on lives and incomes across board and had increased the prize money by 33 per cent this year to help cushion any negative or inflationary effects.
Emphasising the driving force behind the annual competition, she said, “We are passionate about the annual NEC because it changes lives and helps to improve the quality of lives of students and their families. The NEC helps to improve the quality of writing and competitiveness amongst students. We have launched in more African countries this year and would have launched the initiative in 20 countries by the end of 2021. It is not just about writing essays, the ripple effect is really quite enormous, and we are glad that it is cascading to other countries where we operate.’ she said.
Also speaking at the opening of the event, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, commended all 12 finalists, expressing that UBA was happy to be touching lives and making a solid impact through its National Essay Competition, which is now in its 10th edition. He was very pleased about the fact that more females again came out tops this year, adding that notwithstanding the constraints and challenges of 2020, the Foundation received the highest number of entries ever, at over 12,000 digital submissions’.
Uzoka who is also the Chairman, UBA Foundation said, “The NEC has been changing lives positively for 10 years, and we have awarded scholarships to students not just in Nigeria but in other parts of Africa like Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal. Some of these students are already graduates and contributing meaningfully to their communities’.
To all 12 of you that have emerged finalists, I would like to congratulate you. If out of 12,000 entries you were able to make it to the top 12, that represents about 0.12% of the entries. You are no doubt, already a winner,” he continued.
UBA Foundation’s National Essay Competition is an initiative under the Education pillar of the Foundation. Now in its tenth year, the aim of the NEC is to ensure that more African youths have access to education. The programme also highlights the good quality of education that exists on the continent as it stresses that the grant must be used in any university of the winners’ choice on the African continent.
Shoprite Nigeria’s supermarkets have offered early Black Friday deals and big discounts on everyday essentials as customers are increasingly looking for value, given the pressure many households are currently experiencing.
The Shoprite bumper black Friday offer begins from 25th November and ends in 29th November, 2020 and it’s a pan-Nigeria value added offer.
According to the Shoprite statement, “ In response to COVID-19 pandemic, Shoprite will for the first time offer early Black Friday deals and keep the deals valid for longer, to allow customers more time to plan and shop, and to prevent overcrowding.”
The statement further stated that some of the great deals on offer include Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite products, Power Vegetable Cooking, Ariel Washing Powder and many others products.
Stringent hygiene and sanitizing protocols will be in place at all Shoprite supermarkets in Nigeria to help protect customers and employees as far as possible.
These include, but are not restricted to, the use of face masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing and limited entry where necessary to avoid overcrowding. Customers are encouraged to pay by card and to capitalize on the extended trading hours to make the most of the deep-cut specials that will be on offer.
Philantropic Prophet and Shepherd in charge of Champions Royal Assembly, Joshua Iginla surely has a milk of human kindness flowing though him as he reached out to members and indigenes of Abuja through a free healthcare services to kick start his ministry’s 14th Anniversary.
We reliably gathered that Iginla through his foundation, Joshua Iginla Foundation engaged professional medical team from United States of America to cater for the well being of people.
In a facebook post on his official page today, he admonished all to pay attention to their body because our spirit needs a flesh to operate with .
“Pay attention to your body, because your Spirit needs a flesh to operate with. Health is wealth they say, while God has given us divine grace to enjoy good health, it is either the devil attacks it or we carelessly do things to harm ourselves.
However, the Joshua Iginla Foundation, has been giving FREE HEALTH CARE attention to people continually for a while now.
As the Joshua Iginla Foundation professional medical team from United States of America are on ground to give out every needed materials spiritually and physically to ensure the health and smile of so many people are reinstated.
May God preserve us all”.
It would be recalled that Iginla, arguably, is one of the leading clergymen who has changed the face of the ministry by affecting lives both physically and spiritually. His philanthropic gesture is second to none.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai has given a thumbs up to officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army fighting in various theatres of Operation and other security threats for admirably rising up to the challenges and successfully bringing the situations under control.
Buratai expressed pride that the prevailing cases on insecurity even though they are evolving from several fronts have continued to succumb to the professionalism and capability of the Nigerian Army which is benefitting from the various capacity advancement and training programmes initiated under his leadership.
His words, “Despite the prevailing cases of insecurity in several parts of the country, I am proud to say this, the Nigerian Army has continued to rise admirably in tackling all security challenges plaguing the nation, as can be seen in the decimation of terrorists in the North East and bandits and kidnapping in the North West and North Central zones of the country.
Gen Buratai who was represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans (COPP), Army, Lt. Gen. Lamidi Adeosun spoke on Tuesday at the Graduation Lecture for Course 4, 2020 of the Army War College, Nigeria and Commissioning of the War College Office Complex Extension in Abuja.
The COAS said the Army War College has continued to play a vital role since it’s inception pointing out that after 3 years, “Our Vision has paid a high level of dividend”.
In this regard, Buratai said, “Graduates of the Army War College have added value to Nigeria Army War fighting capabilities” adding, “This explains why I have focussed a lot of attention in upgrading the facilities and environment of the college to required standard.
Noting that the new office extension has 415 seating capacity at its ultra-modern lecture hall, the COAS said, “It is with a deep sense of fulfilment that I commission the office extension after commissioning new sporting facilities for the AWCN few weeks ago.
Earlier, Guest Lecturer at the occasion and UNDP Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr . Mohammed Yahya disclosed that the United Nations Development Programme was interested in three key programmes in any country it works with.
These are Governance, Environment and Inclusive growth.
He warned African countries to beware of the rise and increase in violent Extremism regretting that in the year 2020 alone, 3,181 Africans have been killed as a result of violent Extremism.
While noting that other than the use of force alone, African countries to consider injecting other strategies in addition, to tackle violent Extremism, the UNDP Country Representative said, “Nigeria has to lead the way. Nigeria needs to be ahead of the curve of fighting extremism.
Present at the occasion were the Ambassador, Indian High Commission to Nigeria and the UK Attache to Nigeria, DG Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Maj Gen Garba Wahab (rtd(), former Commandant, AWCN, Maj Gen Charles Ofoche, Chief of Military Intelligence, Maj Gen AA Adabayo, Commander Army Headquarters Garrison, Maj Gen Hamman, and Acting Provost Marshal Army, Brigadier General Ahmed among several other dignitaries.
Following the resolutions reached at the EARLIER meeting of the Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) renewal workshop held on 24 September, 2020 at IBETO Hotel Abuja in the face of frequent cases of road traffic crashes involving petroleum tankers and trucks leading to wanton destruction of lives and property in the country, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha directed that a meeting of strategic stakeholders be held on Monday, 23rd November, 2020.
At the meeting held at the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Headquarters Abuja, the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi represented the SGF.
According to the press release signed by the Corps Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Marshal Bisi Kazeem, the meeting which had in attendance, Executive Secretaries of MOMAN and NARTO and Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation took some far reaching resolutions aimed at tackling the menace of petroleum tanker crashes in the country. Kazeem disclosed that the meeting recommends that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to consider securing a Presidential Directive for urgent intervention in the provision of soft loans for truck renewal, using similar template as applicable to pharmaceutical companies and other sectors of the economy at the peak of COVID -19 .
He added that as a long term solution to the safe, efficient and sustainable transportation of petroleum products across the country, the meeting stressed the need for NNPC to re-activate failed and vandalized pipelines in the country to reduce the burden on the transportation of petroleum products by road. “Members further called for a timeline to be set for the enforcement of the maximum load capacity of 45,000 litres of petroleum products by trucks operating from the Tank Farms across the country,” he added.
Kazeem further disclosed that the meeting resolved that enforcement of all safety standards including anti-skid, anti-rollover and anti-spill (safety valves) be prioritized within a given time frame as outlined in the similar communiqué reached in 2018. He said “Government to consider issuing directives on enforcement of the 10-year policy on importation of trucks, so that any articulated vehicle that is beyond 10 years of age should not be allowed into the country.”
Part of the resolutions, according to him was that, FRSC, MOMAN and NARTO are to organize a joint enlightenment campaign for articulated vehicle drivers including production and placement of jingles in different languages on radio and television stations, production of handbills and also convene a press conference within two weeks
The resolutions were endorsed on behalf of the relevant stakeholders by Clement Isong and Aloga Ogbogo, Executive Secretaries of MOMAN and NARTO respectively and the Corps Marshal of FRSC.
