The Gombe State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, says the state has intensified COVID-19 surveillance at the Gombe NYSC camp and in the various local government areas. According to the commissioner, the surveillance started after 25 corps members tested positive for COVID-19 at the Gombe NYSC camp. He said, “We are conducting more surveillance at the NYSC camp. We are also conducting surveillance across the Local Government Areas as we are getting more cases in the town. Speaking in an interview, Dahiru, who also doubles as Gombe Incident Manager, noted that the state reached out to other states, where…
Author: Temitope N.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control says cholera has so far killed 816 people in Nigeria in 2021. The agency in its latest report also said 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory have reported suspected cholera cases in 2021. According to the NCDC, as of August 1, 2021, a total of 31,425 suspected cases including 816 deaths have been reported from Benue state, Delta state, Zamfara state, Gombe state, Bayelsa state, Kogi state, Sokoto state, Bauchi state, Kano state. Other affected states are Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Cross River, Niger, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Yobe, Kwara, Enugu, Adamawa, Katsina, Borno and the…
Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Mohammed-Baloni, says more than 130,000 residents of the state have been tested for COVID-19. Mohammed-Baloni disclosed this on Monday while delivering a lecture at Kaduna State University, Kaduna. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the event was the 2021 Annual Faculty Day Lecture of the Faculty of Public Health and Community Medicine of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria. NAN also reports that the lecture was entitled: ‘Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Communities and the Mitigation Efforts.’ According to the commissioner, 9,100 people have tested positive for the virus in…
A survey by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) estimates the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country, which Taiwo Oyedele, tax lead at PwC Nigeria, said could reduce the unemployment rate by more than half if there is a new policy that would enable them to employ engage one additional employee. Such policies, the Managing Director of Wema Bank Plc, Ademola Adebise, does not necessarily have to be restricted to funding, saying, “I have seen many MSMEs with access to funds struggle as a result of the absence of skills to manage…
The reduction in employment shrinks disposable incomes and consumption. A falling consumption further swells inventories, leading to additional cuts in variable costs, including labour – a decision that frequently renders many people unemployed. When this cyclical process continues uninterrupted as it has become in Nigeria, poverty and social tensions increase. And when a society becomes unsafe, existing businesses also get hit and start rounds of layoff, which further threatens the economic prosperity of the country and complicates the job outlook. The socio-economic disaster of a downtrend economy justifies the rising stimulus culture, among modern economies. Unfortunately, Nigeria currently nestles in-between…
The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) has initiated the second edition of its insurance textbooks for both secondary school and college students. The move, according to the institute, is to promote insurance education and sensitisation to the next generation. The second edition of the textbooks is an improvement on the first edition in terms of quality, design, and contents. The Lagos State ministry of education had earlier approved the institute’s secondary school textbooks as recommended textbooks for insurance in all secondary schools across the state. The President/Chairman of CIIN, Muftau Oyegunle, at the unveiling in Lagos, said all tertiary…
Underwriters have keyed into the market development and restructuring initiative (MDRI) to rewrite and create more awareness on the relevance of insurance to the economy. Stating this in a paper delivered at the launch of a new office in Ogun State, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Joyce Ojemudia, reiterated the importance of viable retail presence in insurance marketing. Ojemudia said life insurance, especially in this part of the world, “is not bought but sold. Therefore, we remain in close contact with the target markets to drive penetration to grow premium incomes via deliberate market expansion and…
Amid the harsh operating environment, FMDQ Securities Exchange’s activation of market penetration strategy for securities-related services attracted a total of 21 securities valued at about ₦411 billion in 2020. At the exchange virtual 9th yearly general meeting held at the weekend, the Group Chairman, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, said 2020 was a landmark year for FMDQ, as the company transformed into a Group structure, with FMDQ Group becoming a non-operating Holding Company registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with three SEC-registered capital market subsidiaries. According to him, the regulated subsidiaries, which include FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, FMDQ Clear Limited,…
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the African Development Bank (AfDB) has agreed to support Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs), especially technology-based ones with 500 million dollars in Nigeria. Osinbajo disclosed this on Sunday at the 33rd Inaugural Lecture of Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun. The institution’s 33rd Inaugural Lecture was delivered by Oluseyi Oduyoye, Professor of Business Administration. The title of the lecture is, “From Small Business to Big Business: A Future with Little Hope”. The vice president said that one of the things the Federal Government did with small business during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards was the introduction…
The global total industry passenger revenues fell by 69 per cent to $189bn in 2020, with accumulated net losses of $126.4bn, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association. The industry statistics show that the number of passengers carried on schedule services plunged by 65.7 per cent, with Africa as the largest loser of passenger traffic after Europe. The decline in air passengers transported in 2020 was the largest recorded since global revenue passenger-kilometers started being tracked around 1950. The statistics also confirmed that domestic air passenger demand dropped by 48.8 per cent, compared to 2019, while…
The Nigeria Labour Congress has said the Federal Government must implement by December the agreement to reduce electricity tariffs by N15 per kilowatt-hour. The congress cautioned that it would not accept the serial violations of agreements, noting that it was serving the government a notice. The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday titled ‘Gas sale to Gencos should be below $1.50/scf’. He said, “It is significant that the incessant increase of electricity tariff was one of the several issues discussed between the representatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria and organised labour, hereinafter…
The Transmission Company of Nigeria has suspended the evacuation of electricity to eligible customers, it was learnt on Thursday. In July 2018, the immediate past Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, announced the introduction of the Eligible Customer policy, explaining that it would accelerate power supply to industries and heavy consumers. Fashola, who is the current Minister of Works and Housing, had stated that the policy was introduced in pursuant to powers conferred by Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act. The policy allows power generation companies to sell electricity directly to consumers without passing through the distribution companies,…
The Financial Derivatives Company Limited has described the documentation process required by banks for the sale of foreign exchange as cumbersome, saying this will pose a challenge to the public. The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had last week, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, announced the stoppage of forex sale to the Bureaux De Change, saying they had turned themselves into “agents that facilitate graft and corrupt activities of people who seek illicit fund flow and money laundering in Nigeria”. He said the CBN would channel a significant portion of its weekly allocation currently meant for…
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has announced that it plans to spend $1bn on expansion after the Central Bank of Nigeria made the firm one of the three sole importers of the sweetener into the country. Bloomberg reported that the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Ravindra Singhvi, said during an investor conference call on Thursday that Dangote Sugar had put more than a hundred thousand hectares of land under cultivation to grow sugarcane for local sourcing of inputs. Singhvi was quoted as saying, “The plantations in Adamawa and Nasarawa will be ready by 2023 while work to almost double the capacity of…
The Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has said it will hold a power sector stakeholders session on the proposed Lagos State Electricity Policy. The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Olalere Odusote, was quoted in a statement as saying the session slated for next week was aimed at proffering sustainable solutions to power-related issues in Lagos. He said the policy would serve as a blueprint for the vision to achieve sufficient access to electricity in the state and would also accelerate the ‘Light-up Lagos’ initiative when it becomes operational. He advised concerned stakeholders to register ahead…
The total claims paid by sixteen insurance companies in the country rose by 36.48 per cent in the first half of this year from N49.18bn in the same period of 2020. An analysis of data collated by our correspondent from the companies’ unaudited financial statements showed that they paid policyholders N67.12bn in claims in H1 2021. It was reported in July that the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, said the National Insurance Commission was ensuring that defaulting insurance companies paid all their outstanding claims. He added that NAICOM was putting measures in place to boost insurance penetration and prepare…
The Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has unveiled the 2020 Corporate Sustainable Investor Report (CSIR), a landmark research document that analyses the sustainability progress of companies operating in Nigeria. Developed by CSR-in-Action, a sustainability consulting and advocacy outfit in Africa, the independent scorecard provides critical insights into the sustainability approach of Nigerian companies in line with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors. The Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has unveiled the 2020 Corporate Sustainable Investor Report (CSIR), a landmark research document that analyses the sustainability progress of companies operating in Nigeria. Developed by CSR-in-Action,…
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has said that with the current state of the Nigerian economy, the country needed to adopt a different approach with a profound sense of urgency to find workable measures towards achieving growth and national security. Chairman of the NESG, Asue Ighodalo, said governments at all levels must intensify efforts to address the challenges of kidnapping, theft and other social vices, to pave way for economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction.Ighodalo said this during the inauguration of the joint planning committee for the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) with the theme ‘Securing our future:…
Amid growing concerns of low revenue generated from the lottery and gaming industry, the Federal Government has projected to rake in over N100 billion from the sector yearly. Executive Secretary of National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF), Bello Maigari, disclosed this yesterday, during the presentation of sporting kits to the agency’s staff in Abuja. According to the research firm, Research, and Markets, there are roughly 60 million Nigerians aged between 18 and 40, involved in active betting. Despite a huge number of people engaged in betting, the Nigerian government-generated less than N1 billion from the gaming industry in 2019. Bello, however,…
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) halted four consecutive trading sessions of an uptrend, as profit-taking by investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) dragged the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.3 per cent. Specifically, the ASI dipped by 126.32 points, representing a decline of 0.32 per cent to close at 38,801.51. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by N66 billion to close at N20.216 trillion. The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are, MTN Nigeria Communications, Ardova, Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company, United Capital, and Access Bank. Analysts…