Category: Business

A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Hon. Bola Ilori has said the National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was the one who instructed them to join the Alliance for Democracy.

According to Ilori, Tinubu’s decision was taken following the way he was treated on the party’s governorship primary election which was upheld on September 3, by the national executive committee members, led by Chief John Oyegun.

It will be recalled that Tinubu had been reportedly supporting one of the aspirants, Mr. Segun Abraham to become the party’s candidate, ahead of the November 26, gubernatorial election in Ondo State.

But, his anointed aspirant came second with 635 votes, while Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, was declared winner with 669 votes.

Ilori, who is a stunched supporter of another aspirant, Chief Olusola Oke was said to have raised alarm over alleged padding of the delegates’ list.

But their action failed as the APC NWC threw out the report of the Appeal panel on the ground that the committee did a shady job.

However, Oke has defected to AD and is expected to fly the flag of the party in the coming poll.

Ilori, who spoke on TVC political programme said ”I don’t know APC before; it was Asiwaju Tinubu that said we should move to APC and we did.

“He has said AD is the option now; even If he said AA we won’t look back before we move to the party.

“All they are doing in the National headquarters of the party is Anti-Tinubu policies; not in Ondo alone but also in Kogi, Edo, Ogun and other parts of the country.

“Let Oyegun resign first and the problem of the party will be drastically reduced.

“Some people said it is because I want to be deputy governor at all cost. No! No! that is not true, we are fighting for what is not right.

“The younger generation of the party is bitter with what is happening in the party, we don’t have option than to move out.

“Some people are using president Buhari’s name to do the evil but I don’t know why the President kept silent.

“Someone who keeps silent in a situation like this, it is either the person is a coward or confused.

Finally, President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the sale of two presidential aircraft, a Falcon 7x executive jet and Hawker 4000 from the Presidential Air Fleet, PAF. This was in the fulfilment of his 2015 election campaign promises of selling off many of the airplanes to reduce cost if elected as president. More of the aircraft would also be sold in the coming days.

Recall that Controversy had trailed the promise in the past as to whether the president would live up to his words. Presidency sources confirmed that PAF contains 10 aircrafts which affected the nation’s revenue. The aircraft included Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-800 or AirForce One), one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V (Gulfstream 500), two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters and two AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopters. In readiness to dispose the machines, the presidency yesterday put out some advertorial, announcing the sales. Reacting afterwards to the authenticity of the advertorials, the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to president Buhari, Mallam Grana Shehu said that indeed, the president made the approval for the sale. He recalled that it was in line with the APC election campaign promises in 2015, stressing that the development would help save more money for the country. “The newspaper advertisements for the sale of two Presidential aircraft, a Falcon 7x executive jet and Hawker 4000 were duly authorised by the Presidency. “This is in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that aircraft in the Presidential air fleet be reduced to cut down on waste. “When he campaigned to be President, the then APC candidate Muhammadu Buhari, if you recall, promised to look at the presidential air fleet with view to cutting down on waste. “His directive to a government committee on this assignment is that he liked to see a compact and reliable aircraft for the safe airlift of the President, the Vice President and other government officials that go on special missions. “This exercise is by no means complete. “I am sure the Commander of the Presidential air fleet will any time from now, call you to a ceremony at which he will hand over some other aircraft to the Airforce for their operations”, Shehu explained in a statement yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No fewer than 404 graduates of Ultimate Achievers Youths Initiative (UAYI), a skill acquisition academy of Paseda Legacy Foundation (PLF) in Ogun State were on Monday empowered with financial aid and equipment.

The graduands, who underwent the six months skill acquisition / entrepreneurship programme, received their certificates of apprenticeship and financial grant to set up their businesses.

Presenting certificates to the graduands, the founder, Paseda Legacy Foundation, Otunba Rotimi Paseda commended the courage and tenacity of the young entrepreneurs, stressing that the country and indeed the Ogun State need the young citizens to showcase their inherent potentials.

Otunba Paseda emphasized that, there must be increase in productivity and real growth through innovations and competitions, which would later translate into higher wages in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The business mogul stated that the creativities of the new entrepreneurs would reduce unemployment rate in the state, which would later boost the nation’s economy and pave way for localized products in the country.

According to him, competitive businesses are important to any developed nation’s thrust.

“For any sustained increase in the quality of life, there must be an increase in productivity and real growth, which can be later translated into higher wages originating from innovation and competition.

“More than ever, our country needs its young citizens to stand up and showcase their inherent creativity.

“At Paseda Legacy Foundation, we have strived over the years as part of the cardinal objectives of our foundation, to empower the youth initiatives as one of our core values.

“My foundation would continue to support in all ramifications any youths innovation as being celebrated today,” Paseda said.

He, however, commended the group’s instructor, Ultimate Achievers Youth Initiative for the successful completion of the second phase of the programme of the academy, imploring all unemployed graduates in the state to avail themselves the genuine opportunity of building their careers.

Meanwhile, not less than N2million was presented on the spot to some of the beneficiaries of the phase II programme of the academy to start off their personal businesses.

One of the beneficiaries, Daramola Samuel was given the sum of N1million to further expand his business and education, while another five graduands went home with N200, 000 each.

Otunba Paseda therefore enjoined other participants of the training to visit his foundation’s head office in Abeokuta to obtain a soft loan form to set up their businesses.

While thanking Otunba Paseda for the lofty idea and philanthropist gesture,  the Chief  instructor of Ultimate Achievers Youth Academy, Daramola Samuel enjoined all well meaning Nigerians to assist the youths for a better society.

The skill acquisition entrepreneurial programme include: Beads-making, paint-making, customizing hand bag and school bag, shoe-making, make-up, cake-making, deodorant-making, insecticide-making, body and hair cream, among others.

 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, painted a gloomy outlook for Nigeria’s economic fortunes, as it disclosed that the country’s crude oil and gas reserves were fast depleting. The NNPC in a statement in Abuja, therefore, begged oil and gas exploration companies, professionals and other stakeholders to focus on increasing the nation’s oil and gas reserve base to match national aspirations to increase oil production.

Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this when the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, NAPE, hosted him in Abuja, also expressed readiness of the NNPC to partner with stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to grow the nation’s fast depleting reserves in order to increase productivity in the petroleum sector.

He said:  “Our national gas demand forecast to year 2020, domestic plus export, indicates a rapid growth to 15 billion Standard Cubic Feet per day (bscfd), meaning current reserves level can only sustain that production for 35 years, if we do not increase the 2bscfd gas reserves base which require three trillion cubic feet (tcf) to replace production yearly.” It was also revealed that the country’s drive for industrialization risks being truncated, as Baru stated that the country’s aspirations were to increase oil production to four million barrels per day and meet gas demand of 15 billion standard cubic feet per day, bscfd, by 2020, required for industrialization and consumption. He further lamented that less than three per cent of all oil wells drilled in the Niger Delta Basin, both onshore and swamp, were deeper than 15,000 feet, adding that a greater number of these wells had not gone beyond the 10,000 feet as a high pressure regime seemed to be a limiting factor. However, he stated that “some of our earlier drilled non-commercial holes could be turned around if we deploy requisite technologies; we need to change our perspective of risk as technology is advancing.” Baru further explained that the 2016 national average oil production of 1.9 million barrels was low, partly due to oil infrastructure vandalism. He stressed the need for stakeholders to share data and use common available resources to reduce cost of operations in the area of rig-sharing, vessel sharing and synergy in projects development, adding that this had become even expedient in this era of low oil prices and security challenges. On frontier exploration, Baru said the NNPC was progressing in exploration efforts in the Chad Basin, the Benue trough and other frontier basins to shore up the reserve base of the country. In his own presentation, NAPE President, Mr. Nosa Omorodion, said the association was ready to support NNPC in its drive to grow reserves towards increased production in all the frontier basins.

Challenges faced by market women desiring access to credit has become a thing of the past as Sterling Bank Plc through its ‘One Woman’ propositionlaunched a new initiative called the “Market Women Quick Cash.” This is in partnership with Afrigrant, a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO). The new proposition is expected to promote women empowerment and capacity building.

The scheme is designed to bridge the gap between women entrepreneurs and access to funds, thus aiding the process of bringing them into the formal sector, where they can benefit from financial advisory services, capacity building and mentorship.

Disclosing this at the launch of the initiative held last weekend at the Entrepreneur Research and Development centre Kaduna, the Bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Yemi Adeola said the proposition is specifically designed to provide access to convenient savings, transaction and quick loan services for women using both self-service methods and agent banking.

Mr. Adeola who was represented by the Bank’s Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Justina Lewa explained that the Bank adopted both methods because “we believe the future of banking resides in the hand of the customer and we must begin to drive that paradigm shift by empowering them from now. Our partnership with Afrigrants allows us bridge this gap by providing a familiar interface for the customers”.

The Bank boss explained that the significant number of women in Nigeria’s population makes it imperative to deliberately focus on their needs to ensure sustainable economic development and growth.

His words: “Adult women constitute over 50 million of Nigeria’s population and only about 31% of this population are banked according to EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey 2014. The business case for targeting women is simple, they are the more excluded gender. Moreso, 21.4m females (42.7% of the total female population) are financially excluded; 15 million of these women are earning income frequently. This provides a huge opportunity for structural changes within the economic and financial system if we pay attention. To enable us to make an impact for inclusion, we must reach as many women as possible”.

In her goodwill message, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Rabi Abdulsalam noted the Quick Cash initiative would help government at all levels to cushion the effect of the current recession especially as it relates to access to required funds by women entrepreneurs to grow their business.

Her words: “It is on this note that l am happy with the idea of having private sector operators coming together to bring this noble innovation of giving out loans to women at 9 percent interest rate, zero collateral to enable women play active role in the economic development of the country at a time when the economy is in recession”

In her keynote address, Her Excellency Hajia Aisha Ummee El Rufai commended the Bank for coming up with the initiative which is going to transform the lives of women in the country.