Home Blog Page 2941

Bank Of Industry Supports Youth Entrepreneurs With N10 billion

Editorial
-
0
Bank Of Industry Supports Youth Entrepreneurs With N10 billion

bank-of-industry-supports-youth-entrepreneurs-with-n10-billion

Bank of Industry, BOI, has allocated N10 billion to the Youth Entrepreneurship Support, YES, across the country during the present fiscal year.

This disclosure was made on Tuesday in Maiduguri during the flag off of the training of additional 105 youths  by the Entrepreneur Development Centre, EDC, in conjunction with the Bank of Industry.

The 105 fresh trainees are part of the 2,500 youths currently receiving training  nationwide.

The BOI North East Regional Head, Mallam Aliyu Umaru, representing the acting Managing Director of the bank,  Waheed Olagunju, said about 25,000 youths were shortlisted out of the 71,788 that registered online for the programme nationwide.

He said: “We had about 71,788 applications based on the two online registration batches that we did.

Based on this we are envisaging that we will be getting 25,000 participants every quarter and that makes it about 10,000 participants in a year.”

He added that: “The figure might even go up to 20,000 in few years to come,” while revealing that the participants were selected based on their business proposals and the workability of their plans.

He said the participants will be granted loans up to N5 million to enable them set up their businesses at the end of the training.

He said: “At the end of the training we will determine the exact requirements for each of the participant to set up his business based on the feasibility study submitted by applicants.”

He explained the mechanism put in place to prevent default by beneficiaries of the loan to include strict monitoring, insisting that: “If you are doing groundnut oil production. We will visit your site to inspect the place and get your equipment requirements, rather than give you cash we will order the equipment direct from the sellers and pay them the actual price on your behalf. We will also make sure that the equipment are installed and production commences to avoid diversion.”

Permanent secretary in the state’s  ministry of commerce, Tijani Balama  while speaking at the flag off, expressed delight with the Federal Government policy which is targeted at reviving and creating more small scale industries.

He said that in spite of the insurgency, market women and other traders have been given similar sums through microfinance to enable them benefit from the state government’s scheme by becoming empowered.

He revealed that the state government had started the reactivation of some industries to revive the economy of the state.

Oyo Assembly Approves 35 New Development Areas

Editorial
-
0
Oyo Assembly Approves 35 New Development Areas
Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi
Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi

The Oyo state house of assembly has passed the local government amendment bill 2016, which makes for the creation of 35 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, in the state.

This followed the adoption of a report by the committee on local government, chieftaincy matters and state honours.

Oyo state already has 33 local Government Areas, which are reportedly having financial constraints.

The bill was unanimously approved during the state assembly plenary presided over by the speaker, Michael Adeyemo.

The speaker commended members of the assembly for their inputs to the bill, adding that it would bring government closer to the grassroots when signed into law by the governor.

However, the passage of the bill was not without controversy as some lawmakers insisted that the distribution of the LCDAs was lopsided.

Ganiyu Oseni, representing Irepo/Olorunsogo, insisted that the allocation of 11 LCDAs to Ibadan zone was unfair compared to the number allocated to other zones in the state.

Similarly, Muideen Olagunju of East-Oyo west, noted that some citizens of the state were dissatisfied with the distribution of LCDAs.

Fatai Adesina and Gbenga Oyekola, expressed scepticism about the viability of the new LCDAs given that the 33 local government areas in the state were having financial difficulties.

CBN Ignores Finance Minister, Retains 14% Interest Rate

Editorial
-
0
CBN Ignores Finance Minister, Retains 14% Interest Rate
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele fielding questions from journalists
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele fielding questions from journalists

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has decided to retain benchmark interest rate at 14%, saying that monetary policies alone could not totally save the economy.

Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, made this known after a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, at the CBN headquarters in Abuja.

This is against the advice of the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who had urged the CBN to consider cutting interest rates, to make it easier for the federal government to take domestic loans and stimulate the economy.

“We need lower interest rates, because when we are borrowing and interest rates go up, it increases our cost of debt service and it reduces the amount of money that is available to spend on capital projects,” the minister was quoted as saying.

But at the meeting, all the members of the MPC voted to keep interest rate at 14 percent, while cash reserve ratio and liquidity ratio were also maintained at 22.5 percent and 30 percent respectively.

The CBN governor noted that the apex bank was certain that cutting rates without appropriate fiscal plans may not help the economy, calling on fiscal side to fasten the budget-implementation process.

Emefiele said he is more confident of inflow of foreign investment today, than he was during the last MPC meeting, adding that $1 billion had come into the economy in the past two months.

He pointed out that inflation had begun to recede since the bank’s last MPC decision, which indicates that the decisions were having expected effects on the economy.

Saraki Urges Executive-Legislature Partnership On Economy

Editorial
-
0
Saraki Urges Executive-Legislature Partnership On Economy
Senate President, Bukola Saraki was all smiles as the senate resumes sitting after long recess
Senate President, Bukola Saraki was all smiles as the senate resumes sitting after long recess

Senate President, Bukola Saraki has urged his colleagues in the Senate to buckle up and get ready to work together with the executive in order to restore citizens’ confidence in the government and revive the economy.

He said this during his opening speech at the resumption of plenary after the senators had embarked on a two-month break.

Saraki said that during the holiday,  he held series of interactions with members of his constituents where he learnt firsthand of the sufferings and hardship facing the people.

He said: “During this year’s Sallah as it is my tradition, I had close interaction with a cross section of my people in Kwara Central, including the aged, youths, market women, and leaders of thought.

“I believe many of you did the same. I recall unforgettably, how one of the women came straight to me with a look of utter desperation and all she could mutter out was, ‘please our senator, do what you can to put an end to this suffering; it is becoming unbearable’.

“I don’t know what your experience was, but if your experience mirrored mine, then the challenge before us could not have been made clearer.”

The senate president told his colleagues that the situation demands that “we must do something drastic and quick to restore confidence back into the economy and get people investing.”

Saraki noted that Nigerians are not concerned about who is responsible for the present economic hardship, rather people want to know how to end it.

“During my interaction … I remember trying to explain to my people that this kind of thing does not happen overnight; that the seeds for the condition that we suffer from today must have been planted by past administrations that refused to do what was necessary.

“However, I soon realised that my people are not so interested in how we got here or who to blame for our current situation.

“They only wanted to know that government has plans to get them out of this current predicament.

“To them, the only explanation that makes sense at the moment is that which puts food on the table, reduces price of rice, garri, salt, sugar, meat and saves jobs,” Saraki said.

He urged leaders in the country, including the legislators, to be visionary as the Nigerian citizenry is in dire need of “leadership with a clear vision, leadership whose daily actions reflects the very urgency of the people’s condition.”

“Therefore, our response to the current challenge must be dictated by the urgency of the hardship that the people suffer on a daily basis,” Saraki urged.

Committee Recommends Cancellation Of Ondo APC Primary

Editorial
-
0
Committee Recommends Cancellation Of Ondo APC Primary
Rotimi Akeredolu, winner of the APC Ondo State governorship primary election
Rotimi Akeredolu, winner of the APC Ondo State governorship primary election

The appeal committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State, set up to handle petitions arising from the just concluded governorship primary in the state has recommended the annulment of the exercise.

Recall that the primary election had produced Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s candidate for the November 26 governorship election.

Akeredolu was declared winner of the exercise by the chairman of the election committee and Governor of Jigawa State, Mohammed Abubakar, with a total of 699 votes.

The process appeared peaceful at the time as all the other governorship aspirants congratulated Akeredolu, expressing satisfaction with the exercise.

Olusegun Abraham, Akeredoulu’s main rival, who had been endorsed by APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu, issued a statement two days after the primary, pledging to support the party’s candidate.

He however made a U-turn on September 7 and said the primary election should be cancelled due to irregularities.

Other aspirants, including Olusola Oke and Ajayi Boroffice, also joined in the call that Akeredolu’s victory be annulled.

The Hellen Bendega-led appeal committee said it received a total of six petitions and after thorough consideration decided that there was merit in the call that the election be annulled.

It also recommended that a rerun primary be organised as soon as possible in order to meet up with the deadline as stipulated in the electoral act.

The panel also suggested that the party’s national leadership should revert to the initial delegates’ list, which was given to aspirants in Abuja prior to the election.

Supreme Court Upholds Bello As Governor Of Kogi State

Editorial
-
0
Supreme Court Upholds Bello As Governor Of Kogi State
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

In a unanimous judgment, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by former governor, Idris Wada and James Faleke, running mate to the Late Abubakar Audu, who was the initial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The Supreme Court said it will give reasons for its judgment on September 30, 2016

Recall that the Kogi State election petition tribunal and the court of appeal had also dismissed petitions against the governor for lacking in merit.

The APC had substituted Bello as its governorship candidate following the death of Audu while the election was yet to be concluded.

The party, however, retained Faleke as its deputy governorship candidate but the Lawmaker rejected the position, insisting that he should be the governorship candidate and not Bello.

Former governor, Wada, on the other hand, is positing that since he was the runner up to the late Audu, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should declare him winner of the election, and consequently, Governor of Kogi State.

Experts Back Finance Minister’s Call For Interest Rate Cut

Editorial
-
0
Experts Back Finance Minister’s Call For Interest Rate Cut
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun

Experts in the manufacturing sector have expressed support for the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun’s call on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to lower interest rate so that government can borrow domestically to boost the economy without increasing debt servicing costs.

President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Frank Jacobs, said that a cut in interest rate would be “the best thing to happen to the economy” particularly the manufacturing sector.

“It is what we have been agitating for since and if the interest rate is brought down, it will be the best decision in the current economic dispensation,” Jacobs said.The manufacturing industry operators said it would be the best thing to happen to the country’s economy given the present challenges.

Adeosun in an interview had said: “We need lower interest rates, because when we are borrowing and interest rates go up, it increases our cost of debt service and it reduces the amount of money that is available to spend on capital projects.

“The attempt was to manage inflation and the trade-off for the economy right now is: what is a bigger problem? Is it growth or inflation?

“For me it is growth. I would rather seek growth. We can manage inflation. I think for us, at the moment in the Nigerian economy, growth is the most important thing,” she said.

The Finance minister also said that the country had received commitments to its planned $1bn Eurobond from international investors, which it aims to issue before the end of the year, but insisted that pricing would be key.

“We already have quite strong indications and indeed we had some commitments. Even though we weren’t doing a deal, we already have commitments to our bond offer; so, we are very confident that it is just a question of pricing,” Adeosun said.

At a meeting of business leaders in Abuja on Monday, the minister noted that regulators had approved plans to enable the investment of as much as $20bn of pension funds in the development of infrastructure.

According to her, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Pension Commission have approved “a new instrument that will allow pension funds to invest in infrastructure bonds.”

“That’s what will drive, for example, our social housing and our roads programme outside the budget,” she added.

Also, the minister of budget and national planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma, hinted that government is also planning an “immediate large injection of funds” through asset sales, advance payments for licence renewals and infrastructure concessions.

The minister also said that government had almost finished preparing a bill for the National Assembly to approve emergency powers for President Muhammadu Buhari to improve the business climate.

Renowned economist, Bismarck Rewane, in a telephone interview with correspondents of the PUNCH Newspaper, also supported the call for a reduction in interest rates.

He said: “There is no other way but to reduce the interest rate.

“During recession, Britain brought down interest rate; and in the US during the recession, what did they do? They brought down interest rate as well. So, we need to bring down the interest rate.”

Another expert, Akpan Ekpo, an academic professor, also described the move as “the only way to fast-track the recovery of the economy.”

“The interest rate must be reduced to close to single digit, if not single digit, in order to stimulate the real sector. Now, it is an average of 25 per cent and that is too high.

“The real sector is dead now; when you are in a recession and the real sector is dead, then the recession will last for long.”

The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN had at the end of its meeting in July raised the MPR to 14 per cent from 12 per cent.

The committee is currently holding a meeting at the end of which it is expected to announce its next rate decision.

Some economists are predicting that it will keep the key interest rate at 14 per cent, while others say a cut is inevitable.

Tension Over Dogara As National Assembly Resumes

Editorial
-
0
Tension Over Dogara As National Assembly Resumes

Speaker of the National Assembly, Yakubu Dogara greeting members at the resumtion of sitting on Tuesday
Speaker of the National Assembly, Yakubu Dogara greeting members at the resumtion of sitting on Tuesday

There is tension in the atmosphere as members of the National Assembly resumes after a two-month recess during which the leadership of the House of Representatives was mired in corruption controversy.

Though plenary was postponed in the house of reps to honour two members who died during the recess – Alex Eze, from Enugu and Adewale Elijah from Lagos, but the move to make speaker Yakubu Dogara step down appeared to have gathered momentum.

A group of legislators in the House of Representatives, known as the Transparency Group, are insisting that speaker, Yakubu Dogara, must step aside. 

Mohammed Soba a member of the Transparency Group said that the group, at a meeting on Monday night, had agreed to mobilise members against the Speaker.

Soba said: “We shall insist that the house leadership step aside and submit themselves for investigation. And we cannot allow any matter concerning the so called vote of confidence to be entertained.”

However, supporters of the Speaker are also getting ready to block any move against him.

Dogara’s loyalists are expected to give him a standing ovation at the end of his opening speech on Tuesday.

One of the backers of the speaker reacting to the information that some group of lawmakers will pass a vote of no confidence on the speaker stated: “While they are planning (the vote of no confidence), others are planning to pass vote of confidence in the leadership of the House.

“I want you to know that after the prayer, first thing tomorrow is the Speaker’s speech. In the speech, he will welcome everybody and address all the issues and the allegations.

“Then, his supporters will rise to give him standing ovation, which will be followed by a vote of confidence.

“So, I doubt if those planning vote of no confidence will still go ahead,” he said.

Ousted chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, had made several allegations against speaker Dogara bothering on wrongful insertions into the 2016 appropriation Budget.

Dogara denied the allegations.

Women Affairs Minister Slumps At IDP Camp

Editorial
-
0
Women Affairs Minister Slumps At IDP Camp
Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-hassan
Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-hassan

There was panic at an Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camp in Fufore local government area of Adamawa State, after the minister for Women Affairs, Aisha Hassan, slumped while on a visit to the camp.

The minister was on a two-day official visit to Adamawa State and had visited the IDP camp to present relief materials to the people there.

Shortly after presenting the items and addressing the displaced persons, she went into a big hall which serves as the store where relief materials were kept to inspect the items as well as have an audience with some of the women when she suddenly slumped.

The minister’s security aides reportedly engaged journalists preventing them from taking pictures of the incident.

READ ALSO:

One of them ordered newsmen out of the store and reportedly smashed recorders of some reporters.

Immediately the minister came to, her entourage left the IDP camp saying that she needed to rest.

Earlier in her address, the minister said her visit was on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari who had ordered an investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse and rape in IDP camps in the Northeast.

“President Muhammadu Buhari sent me to you people as he is highly worried about your continued staying in IDPS camps and has given you every assurance that you will soon return to your kith and kin,” she was quoted as saying.

Al-Hassan assured the IDPs that the present government is working hard to ensure that they returned to their ancestral homes soonest.

The women affairs minister had earlier visited the Adamawa state Governor, Mohammed Bindow where she urged the governor to return the Women Development Centre, which is presently occupied by the Appeal Court, to the real owners.

The governor promised to address the issue while also pouring encomiums on President Buhari for his zeal in rebuilding the Northeast and improving the living standard of women in the state.

Terrorists Ambush Nigerian Troops

Editorial
-
0
Terrorists Ambush Nigerian Troops

boko-haram-terrorists-ambush-escort

Boko Haram terrorists on Monday ambushed troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE escorting commercial vehicles from Damboa to Maiduguri, at Sanda general area, Borno State.

Five civilians lost their lives during the ambush and another died on the way to the hospital, while three soldiers also sustained injuries.

The wounded have been evacuated to Maiduguri.

A statement by Sani Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations said a patrol team has been despatched to reinforce the troops, clear the general area and pursue the terrorists.

The statement read: “This unfortunate incident has brought to the fore the need for more vigilance and cooperation amongst all.

“We would like to assure the public that we would not allow this isolated incident to thwart the peace and security commuters enjoy along the route and all other opened routes in the North East,

“Troops are on the heels of the attackers and would not relent till they are apprehended or killed.

Additional security measures have also been placed to avert reoccurrence.”

He also debunked claims that Boko Haram terrorists attacked Chibok village.

“What happened was that, 2 persons were murdered at Kwamjilari village, (which is over 30 kilometres from Chibok, and very close to Sambisa forest), by suspected remnants of Boko Haram terrorists looking for food.

We wish to reiterate that they weren’t killed outside or near a church as being bandied around,

“The people from the said village are all in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Chibok. Those who went back to the village without authorization were moved back to Chibok 2 weeks ago.

Those killed went back on their own contrary to security advise.

“Nevertheless, a patrol team was sent from Chibok went to the village this morning. Adequate measures would be taken to ensure no one go back to the village for now.”

1...2,9402,9412,942...3,441Page 2,941 of 3,441