The electricity company indicated its readiness to invest N2.7 billion needed to place all its over 741, 000 customers on smart meters.
The Chief Executive Officer, BEDC, Funke Osibodu, who said this at a parley with newsmen, stated that the company had recruited 250 young graduates in a bid to give top service to its 741,376 customers.
“The recruitment is in two batches: The first batch consisting 100 young graduates has been completed while 150 young graduates for the second batch are undergoing training as we speak,” she explained.
Osibodu stated the readiness of her company to invest N2.7 billion needed to solve the metering challenge in its network.
The Benin Disco CEO lamented that the Discos took the blame for every problem in the power sector because they directly interface with the power consumers.
She said : “We don’t have control over generation and transmission. We are like collection agents for the entire power industry. Across the financial value chain in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), we get just 25 per cent of the total collections.
“Once we collect the billing from the customers, the generation companies (GENCOS) get 60 per cent, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) gets 11 per cen. We are directed to meter all our customers within one year, but we are constrained by the limit of CAPEX that we can invest. We at BEDC cannot spend above N4 billion per year as capital expenditure and if we invest above that, we won’t be able to recover our investment due to the present tariff structure.”
The South Africa Airways, SAA, will today, Wednesday, January 27, commence its direct flight from Abuja to Johannesburg, South Africa.
The carrier said the inaugural flight is part of measures to boost bilateral relationship between Nigeria and South Africa.
Regional General Manager-Africa and Middle East Aaron Munetsi and the Country Manager-Nigeria Thobi Duma, told Daily Trust that it has always been the dream of SAA to ensure air travel in the continent hence its sustained efforts since it began operation in Nigeria in 1998.
The flight will be on simultaneous to and fro operation and would be on three times weekly for a start.
South Africa High Commissioner to Nigeria Ambassador Lulu Louis Mnguni during the formal launch in November 2015 in Abuja said the flight will among others engender the tourism relationship between Nigeria and his country and that more Nigerians are expected to visit South Africa and vice versa.
“We are happy to witness and to deepen Africa Agenda. We can have another Krouga Park in Bauchi State through tourism exchange. This will also assist the youths of the two countries to collaborate with each other and generate more employment opportunities that can also be used to stem the insurgency in the North East,” Mnguni said.
Munetsi said a Boeing A330-200 would be used for today’s inaugural flight and that the three times weekly flight would soon be extended to daily flight.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday, January 26, rounded off their 3-day debate on the proposed 2016 budget estimates and subsequently passed it into the second reading.
The lower chamber had last week Wednesday kicked off debate on the budget, 24 hours after receipt of the “corrected” document by President Muhammadu Buhari.
By the passage into second reading, the proposed document of the budget will now be treated by the appropriation committee of the House before its onward transmission to the standing committees for detailed scrutiny.
Different committees will engaged relevant ministers, heads of departments, agencies and parastatals to defend their allocation in the budget, after which the House would receive back the estimates for the final passage.
Minority leader of the House, Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), who opened the debate said the budget was incomplete in view of discrepancies contained despite the correction from the presidency.
Ogor, after commending the president for fulfilling what he called the constitutional responsibility of presenting the budget estimate before the House, however tagged the budget as an “incomplete document.”
He told the House that “The budget has the total figures of N6.077 trillion, but when you add all the sub headings, you will find out that the budget is actually N6.30 trillion. Where is that particular remaining money?”
Ogor also said the president has violated the provision of section 81 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which says budgets of independent agencies like CBN, NNPC and others must be attached to the annual budget proposal.
However, Femi Gbajabiamila challenged the assertion in a Point of Order, saying that since the president has fulfilled the constitutional provision of presenting budget estimate, any other law is subservient to the 1999 constitution. Chairman of the appropriation committee, Abdulmumini Jibrin (APC, Kano) whose committee’s duty is to work and oversee all other standing committees on the budget defense assured of a speedy work and deliberations.
Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/reps-pass-2016-budget-for-second-reading/130920.html#7GsKrtrixqblmiOM.99
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sealed off buildings allegedly owned by the embattled former National Security Adviser (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki in Kaduna State.
The commission was said to have sealed the property, all located in the Kaduna State capital, in the late hours of Sunday.
Dasuki, who was National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, is being investigated by the EFCC over his alleged misappropriation of about $2.1 billion meant for the procurement of arms during the last administration.
Some of the seized houses belonging to Colonel Dasuki are said to be a hotel complex located on Rabah Road, Malali GRA in Kaduna metropolis and a mansion still under construction on Sani Sami Road, also in Malali GRA.
Construction work has also stopped at the property while the building was marked with the red colour by the anti-graft agency asking people to keep off as they were under investigation.
The property of a serving Army General, who was also linked with the arms scandal were also confiscated by the commission in Kaduna.
A mansion still under construction along Ibrahim Biu Street at Ungwar Rimi GRA and a shopping complex on Sultan road both alleged to belong to the serving General and his wife were also sealed by the EFCC.
The corpse of the patient that died of Lassa fever is still at the National Hospital in Abuja. It is suspected that the corpse must have been abandoned as a result of the nature of his death. They fear that they might contact the deadly disease in the process of burial.
However, the spokesperson for the National Hospital, Dr. Tayo Haastrup, said the hospital management is waiting on the Federal Ministry of Health to give instructions concerning the corpse. He denied reports of employees panicking whenever any suspected case of Lassa fever was brought to the hospital.
Also, laboratory tests conducted on the patient with symptoms of Lassa fever who was brought to Kubwa General Hospital in Abuja tested negative.
Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said that a 24-year-old female student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and 18 others are currently under observation.
He said the undergraduate had contact with the index case in Lagos State recorded in Ahmadiyyah Hospital in the Ojokoro Local Government Area of the state.
According to the Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, the slide in crude oil price can become a big blessing that will bring good tidings to Nigeria if the country uses the opportunity to develop its potential in the non-oil sectors to develop the nation. He stated that Nigeria is passing through the danger of dependence on mono-economy and that the survival of Nigeria’s economy lies in diversification.
Ahmed also revealed that a change in the focus on a single-product economy through exploration and exploitation of potential in agriculture and other natural resources would curb the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country.
“No doubt, the time is now; we all need to stand up and take advantage of agriculture and use it to drive an economy that will employ and also feed Nigerians, governments at all levels should explore potential in the non-oil sector to drive national economy,”
The governor also applauded the Armed Forces for protecting the territorial integrity of the country. He also called for their greater involvement in nation-building programmes under a democratic dispensation.
He stated that an extensive sensitisation of the citizenry so that the wealth of the country could come from a regenerative process through the development of primary products locally.
The bearish sentiments returns to the Nigerian stock market causing a N46 billion loss at the close of trading on Tuesday, January 26.
Market capitalisation dropped from N8.242 trillion to close at N8.196 trillion and the NSE All Share Index depreciated by 131.61 basis points or 0.55 per cent to close at 23,832.03 basis points, compared with the 0.58 per cent appreciation recorded previously.
Market breadth closed negative as Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc led 15 gainers against 29 losers topped by Nestle Nigeria at the end of the trading session which was an unimproved performance when compared with previous outlook.
Global Oil price soared higher above 30 dollars a barrel on Tuesday on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers may reach deal to tackle one of the biggest supply gluts in decades.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is making renewed calls for rival producers to cut supply alongside its members.
Russia, seen as key to any deal, has so far refused to cooperate. Iraq’s oil minister said on Tuesday he saw some flexibility for a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC.
Brent crude leaped 17 cents to 30.67 dollars a barrel. U.S. crude was up seven cents at 30.41 dollars.
“Without a production agreement, fundamentals point to lower numbers,” said David Hufton of oil brokers PVM. “With one, oil becomes a 40-to-60 dollars-a-barrel market.” (Reuters/NAN)
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday, January 26, retained lending rate in the country at 11 percent.
The apex bank also pegged cash reserve ratio at 20 percent.
The CBN governor Godwin Emefiele who announced this at the end of the monthly monetary rate policy meeting in Abuja said the liquidity ratio will be 30 percent.
A fresh contract project for the maintenance of the State House, Abuja facilities is to gulp a total of N3.914 billion within the financial year, the 2016 budget document shows.
The budget estimate shows an allocation of N39.124 billion for the President, out of which, the new “annual routine maintenance of Villa facilities by JBN” will consume N3.914 billion.
It also shows that the State House will purchase new vehicles totaling N877.015 million in 2016. The breakdown shows that the purchase of motor vehicles will consume N599.015 million, while the purchase of buses runs to N278 million.
Also, in 2016, refreshment and meals at the State House will gulp N104.744 million.
Purchase of newspapers in 2016 for the State House is put at N11.406 million, according to the proposed budget.
The document also shows a total of N115.829 million for the wildlife conservation within the State House in 2016.
The 2016 budget proposal also indicates a total of N89.172 million for the purchase of canteen/kitchen equipment, while telephone charges will consume N30.601 million.
The volume 1 of the 2016 FGN budget proposal document contains the statutory transfers (finance), which means the first line charge list that receive their allocation directly from the federation account.
Under the first line charge, National Judicial council has N70 billion, Niger-Delta Development Commission has N41.05 billion and Universal Basic Education has N77.110 billion for the year 2016.
Others are the National Assembly with the allocation of N115 billion, INEC with N45 billion and National Human Right Commission with 1.210 billion.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami announced in Abuja on Tuesday, January 26, that the federal government will retrieve more loot of past leaders.
The federal government will appoint a foreign lawyer in its effort to recover a total of N150 billion stashed abroad by late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha and former Delta state governor, James Ibori.
Malami announced this while testifying before the House of Representatives committee on Justice.
He said the money was made up N148. Billion ($750 million) allegedly laundered by Abacha and N1. 98 billion (£6.9 million) by Ibori.
Malami said the government would “engage in an aggressive policy” to seek the cooperation of foreign governments to “ensure the repatriation of illicitly-acquired assets.”
According to him, “The collaboration will equally involve the engagement of foreign-based counsel to attend to the matters on behalf of the Federal Government.
“Low-hanging fruits being targeted in this initiative include $750m of the ‘Abacha Loot’ as well as the sum of GBP6.9m of the ‘Ibori loot.’”
The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, NIGCOMSAT, will get N1.8billion for managing the Belarus’ satellite, Managing Director Abimbola Alale has said.
NGCOMSAT, in 2015 won a very competitive bid to manage satellite for Belarus republic for 15 years but the agency then kept silent on the cost implication of the deal to Nigeria.
Fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, November 23, Alale said Nigeria would get $400,000, annually, for 15 years for the management of the satellite.
NIGCOMSAT would provide a 15-year In-Orbit Test (IOT) and Carrier Spectrum Monitoring (CSM) Services for the Belarus’ satellite.
Apart from N1.8 bn, the Belintersat-1 satellite management deal will also provide hundreds of jobs for Nigerian engineers, Alale, who was speaking at the unveiling of the new ICT road map at Radio House in Abuja, said.
Belintersat-1 had already been launched on January 16 in China by China Great Wall Industries Corporation (CGWIC).
Emirates continues to engage with its fans far and wide as it becomes the first airline to hit the coveted one million follower mark on Instagram. The remarkable achievement positions Emirates as the largest transportation brand on the popular photo and video-sharing platform.
Recently named the world’s most valuable airline brand, Emirates launched its Instagram channel in November 2013. In less than three years, the airline’s diverse and engaging content on Instagram has generated over 5.8 million likes and comments. From sports, lifestyle and travel, to adventure and food, Emirates uses the channel to tell visual stories that embody what the brand stands for: connecting people with what they love. Creative activations such as its hugely popular “Emirates Cabin Crew Instagrammers” campaign – where six members of the airline’s cosmopolitan cabin crew community exclusively took over the Emirates Instagram channel to showcase their life, travels and experiences – generated over 1 million likes and comments in less than two months.
“As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Instagram is a great platform for us to share inspiring visual content about our people, interesting aspects of our operations, places to see, and things to do while travelling. Emirates has grown its Instagram following organically, and we are proud to hit the 1 million followers milestone,” said Boutros Boutros, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Marketing & Brand.
Aside from its recent Instagram milestone, Emirates has also become the first airline to hit 500,000 followers on LinkedIn. This positions the airline as the most followed travel brand in the world on the professional social media network as well as the most followed brand in the Middle East. With a combined community size of over 11 million users across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram, Emirates has set the bar for engagement, not only in the airline category but amongst other lifestyle brands.
“Our engaged and growing audience on social media reflect the deep-rooted connection that our customers and fans have with the Emirates brand. We would like to thank all of our fans for their support. We will work hard to continue surprising and delighting them with relevant, entertaining, and inspiring initiatives,” Boutros added.
To thank its 1 million Instagram followers, Emirates has launched a month-long global competition on Instagram with flight tickets and goodie bags up for grabs. To participate, users need to upload a photo or video on Instagram featuring Emirates, using the hashtag #ILoveEmirates and mention @emirates for a chance to win a pair of Economy Class tickets to any one of Emirates’ 150 destinations, or one of five goodie bags featuring products and merchandise from the Emirates Official Store.
The Emirates story started in 1985 when we launched operations with just two aircraft. Today, we fly the world’s biggest fleets of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s, offering our customers the comforts of the latest and most efficient wide-body aircraft in the skies.
We inspire travellers around the world with our growing network of destinations, industry leading inflight entertainment, regionally inspired cuisine and world-class service. Find out more.
Since the entry of social media into the Nigerian space, many people have explored it to their advantage in various ways. One interesting way is becoming social media influencers. Many of them with thousands of followers use their platforms to drive engagement, promote brands, market events and fight for a cause. With these concerted efforts, quite a number of them are smiling to the bank. If you want to become a social media influencer in the future, here are a few tips from Jovago.com Africa’s largest hotel booking portal.
Focus
This is the first thing a budding social media influencer should do. He should select a particular field he has comprehensive knowledge about. This will help you narrow your research work to the subject rather than skirting around different fields.
Set Alerts
Tools like Google Alerts or Social Mention can help you to keep tabs on different topics or keywords in your field. Use these to write and contribute current information and opinion.
Be Unique
Your field is saturated with knowledgeable experts like you. They do almost the same thing you do. But, if you want to become a serious social media influencer, strive to be unique. Take time to conceptualise your messages, posts and tweets. In addition, avoid posting first drafts but edit to clear it of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
Engage
Building an online community takes dedication and constant engagement with your commenters, followers and fans. If you make the engagements regular and focus on a particular field such as economics or fashion, you will have a steady rise in your social media profile.
Share your blog posts
Whenever you write a blog post, ensure that you share it on all the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. It keeps your account active.
Share other influencer’s content
If you admire the work of a senior colleague in your industry, share their articles, posts and tweets regularly. This will help you grow a relationship with them which can help enlarge your area of influence.
Business travel – both domestic and international – is an essential part of the economy. Aside from the fact that it contributes to the GDP of any country, it opens doors of opportunities of businesspersons.
In most companies however, many view business travel as simply an expense and do not see the benefits that come from it. Therefore they set aside little budget for it, making the trip in itself extremely tedious for the employee who gets the assignment to embark on the journey.
The truth is, no matter the budget or destination, any Nigerian can survive a business trip by following certain rules. Jovago.com, Africa’s No.1 online hotel booking site offers 5 of these rules to aid business people who regularly find themselves in the road.
Make punctuality a habit
Although some business trips may be impromptu, most of them are usually scheduled with ample time to make adjustments. Do not leave your travel arrangements for the last minute and if the office is making the plans for you, ensure you follow them up and they keep you updated.
Book your flight in advance. And on the day of the trip, get to the airport on time, check in on the way if you can. This way you limit every chance of missing your flight and dealing with the complications of a cancellation. Also ensure that you call ahead to notify the hotel and the car rental, and if you are being picked up by business partners at your destination, an early or scheduled arrival gives a good impression and hence a good start.
Stay on top of your expenses
When you are on business trip, usually your expenses are catered to by the office management. In most cases, there will be a budget while in other you may be asked to bring back a list of costs insured for reimbursement. Whatever the case, it is important to stay on top of your expenses.
Take a small jotter to record your spending and ensure you write on the back of each receipt where you were or the reason for the expense. Keeping track of your purchases will help you stick to your budget and will make writing a report easier.
Make a packing list, and use it at all times.
As a traveller, you already know what your trip essentials are. However, before you set out on your journey, it’s best to make a checklist where you run through every item you need, including personal documents and gadget. This helps you remain organized and there is very low risk of forgetting anything on the trip. You really do not need to download an app or use a software to do this, a pen and paper will suffice. Good thing is that once you make the list, you can always use it for every other business trip, only updating it where necessary.
Stay away from the minibar and room service
The minibar poses a huge temptation for most business travellers as it is usually easy to reach into the fridge and snack on something while working. But the thing about most minibars is that the price of the items in the minibar are highly inflated and never worth the convenience. Even the room service comes at an extra charge and also deprives you the chance to stretch your legs and drink in the ambiance of the hotel surroundings.
The fact that you are on a business trip, does not mean you should stay confined to the hotel room. Forget the minibar and room service, go out to local restaurants and stores far away from your hotel, mingle with others and explore in your free hours. Rather than spend more time at the hotel, you will gain enriching experiences that you can share with your colleagues upon your return to the office.
Always keep your batteries charged
When you are on the road, your devices should remain charged as they are what keep you connected to your office and the contacts at your destination.
In this era of laptops and Ipads, most of our information are stored as files on these gadgets. Charge these devices to full capacity before you set out on the trip, and even while on the trip, carry a travel charger and look out for ports where you can plug in and keep them functional. A great idea will be to pack a portable power bank. Also, you can travel with extra batteries.
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, closed on Tuesday, January 26 on a negative note as the All Share Index lost 0.55 per cent to close at 23,832.03 points from 23,963.64 on Monday, January 25.
Similarly, market capitalisation also plunged from N8.242 trillion to N8.196 trillion.
The market recorded 25 gainers today led by Cadbury with a gain of N1.34 or 9.19 per cent to N15.92 followed by AG Levent with a gain of N0.03 or 5.00 per cent to close at N0.63 while SEPLAT gained N6.34 or 3.85 per cent to close at N170.88 per share.
On the other hand, Caverton topped 29 stocks on the losers’ chart with N0.19 loss or 8.48 per cent to close at N2.05 followed by Glaxosmith that lost 1.40 or 5.00 per cent to close at N26.60 per share, and Unilever that lost N2.05 or 4.99 per cent to close at N39.04 per share.
All together, a total of 142,851,380 shares worth N1.644 billion exchange hands in 3,298 deals.
The Nigeria Customs Service , NCS, on Tuesday, January 26 restated the determination of the service to exceed N1trillion revenue in 2016 by plugging all revenue leakages.
The Comptroller-General,Col. Hammed Alli (rtd) who stated this, however said the NCS was yet to get its 2016 revenue target from the Budget Office.
Alli spoke with reporters at 2016 International Customs Day celebration at the NCS Command and Staff College in Gwagwalada, Abuja.
He said: “We have not received the target from the Budget Office yet. But we normally set target for ourselves. We are looking at targeting all we could, blocking all the revenue leakages and making sure that all the systems work perfectly. And hopefully, the policy of government will also be in our favour. We hope to cross the N1trillion mark.”
Alli said the NCS fund raising method is a factor of trade facilitation that is based on export and import, adding that he would strive to block leakages and ensure that the system worked perfectly;
He said once that is achieved, the NCS would collect the accurate duty and deposit in the Federal Government vault.
“Ours is dependent on trade facilitation. It is dependent on export and import. What we will do inward is to be able to re-invigorate our own system, block all the leakages and make sure the system is working perfectly.
“With that, once we get influx of export, import and collect the right duty, we will put it in the coffer of government,” he said.
On assets declaration, Alli noted that the officers of the NCS were already complying. He however vowed to apply the law on officers that refuse to comply with the asset declaration directive.
He said: “I believe my officers are obedient. And when we get there and they don’t comply, we will apply the law as it is. But for now I am sure they will comply. “
He also warned operatives and stakeholders of the service not to abuse the e-customs process.
The Shippers‘ Association, Lagos State, on Tuesday, January 26, said 50 per cent of cargoes meant for Nigerian ports were being diverted to Cotonou port due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) forex restriction on some imported items.
The Association President , Jonathan Nicol who spoke while speaking in Lagos, said many Nigerian shippers had diverted their cargoes to the ports in the Republic of Benin since the policy started, adding that there were less restrictions on imports in the West African country.
Nicol said the development had deprived Nigeria a lot of revenue , urging the Federal Government to ease the policy to boost revenue.
He said: “When the CBN forex restriction policy came into effect, we appealed to the Federal Government to review the policy and remove some critical items because it is hurting our business and the country‘s revenue. The reflection of that restriction is beginning to show up because we are having less cargoes in our ports. Rather than shippers bringing their cargoes to Lagos, they prefer Cotonou and they do their foreign transactions there because Benin Republic does not have such restrictions as we have.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on Tuesday, January 26, said it would conduct the 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) between February and March.
According to a statement by its Head of Media and Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin in Lagos, the Computer-Based Test (CBT) exam would hold in over 400 centres within and outside Nigeria.
He added: “JAMB has approved more centres to give Nigerians the best computer-based test.
“The board insisted that these centres must meet best global requirements.
“Some of the requirements are steady power supply, 200 computers, including Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), accessible road, security and a waiting room.
“This year, there are innovations to ensure candidates write under the conditions.’’
The board said sale of forms closes on Friday.
It noted that new measures would be introduced to ensure the board remains top in assessment and measurement.
The three tiers of government on Tuesday, Janaury 26 shared N387.7 billion for the month of December last year at the end the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja.
The amount shared represents an increase of N17.88 billion more than the N369.8 billion shared for the month of November.
Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse said the money was distributed from statutory allocation-N315.01 billion; Value Added Tax-N62.07 billion; exchange gain-N4.35 billion; and refund made by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)for debt owed the Federation Account-N6.33 billion.
From the statutory allocation, the Federal Government pocketed N147.56 billion after deducting the cost of collection, states received N74.84 billion and local governments went away with N57.7 billion.
From VAT, the Federal Government got N8.93 billion representing 15 per cent of the total, states N29.79 billion or 50 per cent and local governments-N20.85 billion representing 35 per cent.
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