Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has met with local manufacturers of pre-paid meters in Abuja to address the problems of electricity theft and estimated billing.
The meeting, was to re-focus attention on the need to rapidly roll-out meters in order to ensure that Distribution Companies (DISCOs) charge electricity consumers only for energy they consume.
Speaking at the meeting, representative of the local manufacturers, Engr. Kola Balogun, said that access to and cost of credit is a major impediment to the growth of their production capacity in meeting present and future demand for meters. He assured the minister of their readiness to support the rapid roll out of meters, but expressed concerns over government’s readiness to put in place clearer incentives for local production as opposed to importation of meters.
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We are recruiting to fill the following positions below:
Tastee Fried Chicken, a reputable Fast Food Company with branches spread across Lagos, Nigeria; invites applications from suitable candidates to fill the following vacant positions:
The Obafemi Awolowo University is a comprehensive public institution established in 1962 as The University of Ife. The University is situated on a vast expanse of land totaling 11,861 hectares in Ile-Ife, Osun State, southwest of Nigeria.
Applications are hereby invited from suitably qualified candidates to fill the following positions below:
The Eye foundation hospital was started in 1993 as a high tech specialist Eye hospital capable of providing services comparable to those obtainable abroad. It is the first and foremost indigenous eye practice in the country that runs a group practice with many sub specialized ophthalmologists.
We are recruiting to fill the following vacant positions:
The Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has appointed the former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru to head the Board of Trustees for the N25billion State Employment Trust Fund (ETF).
Ambode who revealed this in a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, also approved the appointment of nine others to serve as members of the Board of Trustees of the ETF, which is geared towards addressing the challenges of youth unemployment as well as promote wealth creation through entrepreneurial development in the state.
Other members of the board include Mr. Dele Martins, Mrs. Bilikis Adebiyi-Abiola, Mr. Otto Orondaam, Mrs. Olufunmi Olatunde Daudu, Mr. Tunde Bank-Anthony and Mr. Micheal Popoola Ajayi.
The governor also approved for the commissioner for Wealth Creation, Mr. Tunde Durosinmi-Etti and his counterpart in Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi to be part of the board, while Mr. Akintunde Oyebode is to serve as Executive Secretary of the Board.
Ambode had expressed optimism that the fund will address the challenge of unemployment and promote wealth creation through entrepreneurial development, adding that an annual contribution of N6.25billion will be injected into the fund by the state government for four years totaling N25billion.
In order to fulfill its promise of helping Nigeria fight the Boko Haram insurgency, the United States will today, donate 24 mine-resistant and armor-protected vehicles to the Nigerian Army.
The vehicles, which are valued at $11m, would be handed over to the military authorities at the Nigerian Army 9th Brigade Parade Ground, Ikeja Army Cantonment in Lagos.
A statement yesterday, by the Public Affairs Section of the United States Consulate General Lagos, said: “The US is pleased to donate 24 Mine-Resistant, Armor-Protected (MRAP) vehicles valued at $11m to Nigeria’s military authorities.
“The equipment donation represents part of the continuing US commitment to Nigeria and its neighbours to counter Boko Haram’s senseless acts of terror and promote regional security.”
It was gathered on Wednesday that the EFCC operatives were still investigating the account of the army officer, who featured in the procurement of arms in the immediate past administration, whom N400m out of the N2.1bn arms deal was traced to his account.
It was also learnt that the commission would next week invite nine prominent northerners, who were mentioned in a letter which a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, wrote to the anti-graft agency.
A senior operative of the commission said the EFCC was still probing other accounts of the army officer with a view to finding out if more discoveries could be made.The commission is planning to make a series of arrests in security circles very soon.
“Efforts are still being made on more investigation into the matter. The motive is to go after some of these funds that are in private accounts.”
The Federal Government has put the number of reported cases of Lassa Fever outbreak in eight states at 76 with 35 deaths already recorded and 14 cases confirmed by laboratories.
Nigeria has been experiencing Lassa fever outbreak in the past six weeks in Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Edo and Oyo states.
The government, which said measures had been put in place to curtail further spread and reduce mortality among those affected, however, ruled out placing travel restrictions from and to areas currently affected.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who stated this in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Abuja, in response to the outbreak of Lassa Fever in the country, added that “the World Health Organisation is being notified of the cases confirmed, and they are also working assiduously to curb the spread.”
Adewole added that in response to the reported outbreak, the Federal Government had taken some drastic measures to curtail further spread and reduce mortality.
The measures, he said, included immediate release of adequate quantities of ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa Fever to all the affected states for prompt and adequate treatment of cases; and deployment of rapid response teams from the Federal Health Ministry to all the affected states to assist in investigating and verifying the cases and tracing of contacts.
Netflix CEO, and Co-founder Reed Hastings has announced that the video streaming service will now be available in 130 new countries, including Nigeria.
Hastings made the announcement during his presentation at the global consumer electronics tradeshow, CES
Netflix is a provider of on-demand Internet streaming media and with this expansion, users in Nigeria can subscribe to the service starting at $8 a month.
Stakeholders believe that the introduction of this service in the country means more competition for the established cable tv providers such as Dstv, while others are of the view that poor internet and huge data consumption might be a huge barrier tto the success of the video streaming service in the country.
Whether Netflix will give the cable tv big boys a run for their money, time will tell. Till then, let’s try to Netflix and chill.
Twitter is considering building a new feature that will allow users to tweet things longer than the traditional 140-character limit, and the company is targeting a launch date toward the end of Q1.
Twitter is considering a 10,000 character limit which is the same character limit the company uses for its Direct Messages product.
It is said that Twitter is currently testing a version of the product in which tweets appear the same way they do now, displaying just 140 characters, with some kind of call to action indicating that there is more content you can’t see.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been looking for ways to jumpstart user growth for some time and recently the company has threw a number of product updates at users to make this happen.
He made the announcement on Twitter with this tweet
Spamming issues may arise from the character limit extension but Twitter will definitely perfect the character limit extension before rolling out.
Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services partnered with United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) recently to organise a stakeholders consultative meeting in Lagos with farmers to discuss the prospect, challenges and marketing of cassava production in the country.
Speaking at the forum, Managing Director of Robert Bosch West Africa, Mr. Ghislain Noumbessy, said it is imperative for farmers to take advantage of the technological tools and services that could help them find solutions to their food loss and perk up their profit.
Noumbessy stated that Bosch has been motivated by the search for ever-better technological solutions and fresh approaches that will help tackle the great challenges of today and deliver benefits to her customers.
A representative of UNIDO from Austria, Dr. Yvonne Lokko stated that organization is working with Bosch in line with the United Nations agenda to reduce poverty, facilitate trade capacity building, agri-business and agro-industry development in Nigeria.
Speaking on the Bank of Industry role in Agric-Business development in Nigeria, its Managing Director, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa stated that agriculture is one of the cardinal agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, saying the bank will continue to give adequate necessary supports and loans to farmers to grow their business.
Olaoluwa, who was represented by the Group Head, Agro Processing Unit of BoI, Mrs. Ruth Kadafa said farming is a serious business and cassava is a profitable trade but there is a significant need for many farmers to improve on their skills and management structures to enable them improve their farming in 21st century.
She said BoI has noticed that many farmers are individualistic and hardly come together as a team to have a registered corporative or association which could enable them to access loans from financial institutions.
Mrs. Kadafa therefore charged farmers integrate and collaborate with like-minds, utilize technological tool to improve the quality of the produce and package them as premium brands that consumers will be willing to pay for.
To encourage farmers to leverage on the opportunity to improve the quality and quantity of their cassava and other farm produce with the aid of her offerings, the company’s Sales Director for Bosch West Africa, Mr. Francis Omoniyi said: “Bosch will be giving one year free service maintenance to customers that purchase any of their tools and educate them how to fully utilize the equipment”this is in a bit to structure Agric business in the nation and as well boost her GDP.
Two suspected oil thieves arrested last week by the Nigerian Navy, Warri, Delta State have been handed over to the area commander, Nigerian police Warri, Mr Muazu Mohammed, for further investigation.
Also in police net were trucks used by the hoodlums to commit the alleged crime and one hundred and thirteen (113) empty drums also for the same purpose.
Handing over the suspects whose names were given as Igere and Oyor, and the items recovered from them, NNS Delta base operations officer, Commander Shehu Tasiu, requested that the suspects be properly profiled for future references.
CEO Mr Kingsley Makhubela today announced the appointment of Mrs Linda Sangaret as Chief Marketing Officer of the country’s official marketing and reputation management agency.
Mrs Sangaret has recently concluded a decade long tenure as South African Tourism’s Country Manager in France. During this time, she was key to South Africa’s efforts to position the country as a destination of choice for French tourists.
Between 2000-2005, Mrs Sangaret held the position of Global Communications and Marketing Manager at the Societe Generale Investment Bank in France and was responsible for the implementation of the Bank’s communications and marketing strategy in Asia and the Americas.
Mrs Sangaret has also served the country as a diplomat in Paris between 1995-1999.
Welcoming Mrs Sangaret to Brand South Africa, Mr Kingsley Makhubela said, “Brand South Africa is pleased to have a global citizen of the calibre of Mrs Sangaret as its Chief Marketing Officer. Mrs Sangaret will be responsible for co-ordinating national efforts to position South Africa as a competitive destination of choice in a range of areas and we wish her a successful tenure at Brand South Africa.”
Speaking about her appointment, Mrs Sangaret said, “After many years of working to position my country positively on foreign shores, I am pleased to be able to showcase to the world, including South Africans, the beauty and magnificence of our country and its people. In an increasingly borderless global world, a nation’s reputation and its competitive strengths are its biggest assets. I look forward to the task of defining South Africa’s value proposition with a range of stakeholders so that we can leverage the best that the country has to offer to position South Africa as a world class destination of choice,” concluded Mrs Sangaret.
On Wednesday, the Lagos State Government demolished the Owonifari Market at Oshodi which has been in existence for more than 40 years.
The Lagos State government had on tuesdsay closed the market to deal with security challenges within the Oshodi metropolis.
According to the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the move was geared towards the need to sanitise and beautify the Oshodi area and bring transformation, in particular, to the Owonifari area, as well as the entire bus stop terminal, which had been constituting a menace and an eyesore in the locality.
The demolition was directly supervised in the earlier hours of Wednesday by the Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode among a host of other officials.
It was further learnt that the affected traders and shop owners had been relocated to the new Isopakodowo Market at Bolade Area of Oshodi.
According to the World Bank’s January 2016 Global Economic Prospects, weak growth among major emerging markets will weigh on global growth in 2016.
However, economic activity should still pick up modestly to a 2.9 per cent pace from 2.4 per cent growth in 2015, as advanced economies gain speed,
Simultaneous weakness in most major emerging markets is a concern for achieving the goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity because those countries have been powerful contributors to global growth for the past decade. Spillovers from major emerging markets will constrain growth in developing countries and pose a threat to hard-won gains in raising people out of poverty, the report warns.
“More than 40 per cent of the world’s poor live in the developing countries where growth slowed in 2015,” said World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim.
“Developing countries should focus on building resilience to a weaker economic environment and shielding the most vulnerable. The benefits from reforms to governance and business conditions are potentially large and could help offset the effects of slow growth in larger economies.”
Global economic growth was less than expected in 2015, when falling commodity prices, flagging trade and capital flows and episodes of financial volatility sapped economic activity.
Firmer growth ahead will depend on continued momentum in high income countries, the stabilisation of commodity prices and China’s gradual transition towards a more consumption and services-based growth model.
Many flights were cancelled on Monday, January 4 and Tuesday, January 5 as a result of the inclement weather in many cities in the country.
According to sources, virtually all the airlines cancelled many domestic flights while passengers were stranded across the country.
Daily Trust gathered that Arik Air, Med-View, Dana Air, among others had to cancel flights due to poor visibility occasioned by the harmattan haze.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had alerted airline operators especially pilots to take cognizance of the weather before flying.
Arik Air spokesman, Adebanji Ola promised to find out about the flight cancellation and get back to our correspondent.
However, Dana Air Communication Manager, Okwudili Kingsley confirmed that some flights were cancelled on (Monday) and Tuesday.
“We were also affected by the weather. I am aware some flights were cancelled yesterday (Monday) and even today (Tuesday)”, he said.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has instructed the 11 distribution companies, Discos, not to connect new customers except they are provided with meters.
This was announced on Wednesday, January 6, in a statement by its Public Affairs Head, Usman Abba-Arabi.
The commission, also said the increase in tariff would be effective February 1. It said it has not changed the take-off date as speculated.
It quoted the acting Head of the Commission, Anthony Akah, said the removal of fixed charge under the new tariff regime “was in response to electricity consumers’ complaints and a measure to ensure electricity distribution companies improve on service delivery as their income is dependent on the quantity of electricity used by their customers.”
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has flayed the federal government over the recent cut of 50k in the pump price of fuel, stressing that the margin was not justifiable given the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market.
The TUC president, Bobboi Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Barrister Musa Lawal, said in a statement in Lagos on Wednesday that the appropriate deed for the Buhari’s government was to have reduced the price of fuel by 40 per cent.
It said: “Considering the drastic fall in the price of crude in the international market, we expected that the pump price of fuel would be reduced by, at least, 40 per cent.
“It is most disappointing that the government reduced the price by just N1 and 50k at filling stations respectively owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the independent marketers”.
Nigeria is set to become a major exporter of fertilizer in the first quarter of 2016 when Indorama’s brand new fertilizer plant begins production.
The Indorama fertilizer project is the world’s largest gas-based single stream urea plant being built in Eleme, Rivers State, by the Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited (IEFCL), a sister company of the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Ltd. (IEPL).
The company, in its in-house magazine, Impact, disclosed that several critical sections of the plant are going through various stages of commissioning and test-run leading to the plant’s inauguration in 90 days’ time.
An 84km gas pipeline to supply the Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) feedstock and a port terminal at Onne Port Complex are also being completed to complement the fertilizer project.
