Lasaco Assurance Plc has paid a total of N364 million as a death benefit to relatives of the late staff of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and local governments in the state. At the presentation of the first batch of the payment, the Commissioner, Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA), Dr. Wale Ahmed, said the Lagos State Government gave priority to payments of staff and ensured that it owed nobody. Ahmed, who was represented by the permanent secretary of MLGCA, Kikelomo Morenikeji Sanyaolu, added that 159 relatives of the deceased were going to be presented…
Author: Temitope Nlewemchi
Barely two years after the resumption of Value Added Tax (VAT) to the stock market, investors have returned about N30 billion into government coffers. The amount includes the 10 per cent withholding taxes remitted to the government, despite market operators groaning under the weight of double taxation. The Federal Government, had in 2014, granted a tax holiday on all stock market transactions, a deliberate action to reduce the high cost of transactions in the market and make it more attractive to investors. However, at the expiration of the tax exemption on July 24, 2019, dealing members were mandated to charge…
Environmental health scientist, Dr. Umar Kwami says more Nigerians must embrace the culture of good personal and public hygiene to curb the spread of infections. According to Kwami, a cleaner environment is crucial to curbing the spread of diseases in the country. Kwami, an Environmental Health Superintendent and Waste Manager with the Gombe State Environmental Sanitation and Protection Agency, stressed that proper and regular cleaning of the environment will help reduce diseases and sickness. He made this plea on Saturday, in an interview with journalists in Bolari, Gombe, after participating in an environmental sanitation exercise organised by the National Youth…
Health experts have warned that smoking shisha is far more dangerous to health than smoking cigarettes. The experts stressed that contrary to the belief held by many people that shisha is less harmful than cigarette, a puff of shisha contains more toxins than a cigarette Shisha is a form of tobacco smoking that has become fashionable in society, with manywho do not smoke cigarettes embracing it. It is considered a better alternative to cigarettes. It is also called hookah, waterpipe, or goza. According to news-medical.net – an online medical media site – the practice of smoking shisha involves burning charcoal…
When the Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, Train 6 was completed in 2008, close observers had anticipated that Nigeria would immediately go ahead with the construction of Train 7, expected to increase the LNG output to 30 million metric tonnes, MT per annum, from 22 million MT. A number of reasons accounted for this expectation. The first is that the Train was widely discussed and embraced as a step in the right direction towards the diversification of the nation’s economy. Second, previous trains had already launched Nigeria into the league of global exporters, thus justifying additional expansion. Third, increased investment was…
The interventions which are part of Federal Government’s effort to ease liquidity challenges and improve infrastructure in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry were expected to improve supply to consumers. Checks on fourth-quarter economic report (4Q’2020) of CBN showed that the interventions include, Power and Aviation Intervention Fund about N300 billion, Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, NEMSF, at N213 billion, about N140 billion Solar Connection Intervention Facility, over N600 billion tariff shortfall intervention as well as a recent N120 billion intervention designed for mass metering among others. The CBN interventions were also necessitated by the inability of the sector to finance…
The nation’s rice revolution has received a boost as Fevick Resources, a private concern, has provided loans to 1, 000 women and youths to undertake massive rice cultivation across the nation. The Project Coordinator of Fevick Resources, Mr. Samuel Adeshina, told journalists in Abuja, yesterday, that the new wet-season rice farming project would link farmers to new technologies and high-yield seedlings. He said that 1, 000 women and youths who are to participate in the novel wet-season rice planting project, have been identified According to him, the rice transformational programme would empower clusters of women and youth Agripreneurs farming together…
Allianz Nigeria has introduced a Covid-19 travel protection cover to the Nigerian market as an extension of its international travel insurance. The company said that the introduction of the product followed the announcement of the Allianz Risk Barometer 2021 results, which was dominated by the Covid-19 risks of business interruption, Covid-19 pandemic and cyber incidents. Speaking on the product, Managing Director of Allianz Nigeria, Adeolu Adewumi-Zer, said that the Covid-19 travel protection cover offers travelling customers protection against emergency medical expenses associated with a Covid-19 diagnosis while on a trip. The travel plan also covers accommodation costs related to Covid-19…
Nigerians, and by extension, their businesses, expend about N7 trillion annually on power generation, a Renewable Energy expert, Mr Stephen Ogboko, has said. Ogboko, also the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Off Grid Tech Solutions Ltd., made this known at a virtual news conference in Lagos. He spoke on the theme: “Analysing the Benefits of Technological Innovation.” According to him, this is inefficient, expensive, noisy, polluting and of poor quality. He said that inadequate power supply had been a major challenge facing businesses in the country, forcing them to source for alternative power supply for their operations. The executive…
Cholera cases have continued to be recorded in some states in Nigeria. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, listed Bauchi, Plateau, Kano, Niger, Zamfara and Kaduna as some of the affected states. The Federal Capital Territory Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu, said 60 persons died of suspected cholera in six area councils, adding that suspected cases had risen to 698. In Plateau State, the disease has killed 21 people and infected 1,144 in two months as of Wednesday. The World Health Organisation described cholera as an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of…
A public health expert, Dr. Taiwo Obembe ha cautioned against excessive consumption of alcohol, noting that it increases the threshold of alcohol tolerance and risk of long-term health complications. According to Obembe, alcohol tolerance is the ability of persons to consume larger amounts of alcohol before feeling its effects. Obembe, who is a public health specialist at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, explained that regular consumption of huge volumes of alcohol usually increases tolerance level thus making the individual less tipsy or drunk. He explained further that drinking alcohol regularly makes the body get accustomed to it while…
After the two–day holiday to mark the Eid-el Kabir celebration, investors’ renewed appetite in some blue-chip firms, especially in Total and Cutix buoyed transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday, causing market capitalisation to increase by N330 billion. Specifically, at the close of trading yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 632.87 points, representing an increase of 1.67 per cent, to close at 38,585.52 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value rose by N330 billion, to close at N20.104 trillion. The improved performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are, Total Nigeria,…
IMF extends zero-interest loans to low income countries The World Bank Group, yesterday, announced its new Climate Change Action Plan that seeks to deliver record levels of climate finance to developing countries through a series of activities. Apart from funding, the Group will help affected countries to firm up incentives and taxes to support de-carbonisation efforts. The new plan is a follow-up to its first Climate Change Action Plan, which delivered over $83 billion in financing over five years, including a record $21.4 billion in 2020. The new move aims to reduce emissions, strengthen adaptation and align financial flows in…
Organisers of the 2021Propak West Africa conference are hoping that businesses and individuals scheduled to attend the conference will use it to tackle climate challenges. The conference, which holds from September 14 to 21, is the region’s largest packaging, printing, plastics and food processing exhibition. With the theme: “Propak Sustainability Conference: Being Responsible,” organisers note that with the much needed global effort to tackle climate change, the responsibility to promote opportunities and educate on ways to limit the industries impact on the environment is more prevalent than ever, especially as companies navigate their way out of the pandemic. The organiser…
The African telecommunications industry has recommended stepping up regional collaboration on radio spectrum management to make room for the expected growth in terrestrial and space services, and to ensure communities are connected across the continent. Regulators, industry experts and academia met virtually to discuss Africa’s future radio-frequency spectrum requirements in the context of revisions made to the Radio Regulations by the last World Radiocommunication Conference WRC-19 held in Sharm-el-Sheikh. Participants at the ITU Regional Radiocommunication Seminar for Africa (RRS-21-Africa) organised in collaboration with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), reviewed updates to the Radio Regulations, the key international treaty governing radio…
To achieve stock market stability, investors have urged the government to promote national savings culture through incentives that would ensure improved patronage in the retail segment and increase investment in the market. Besides, they stressed the need for Federal Government to continue to moderate the rate it offers its debt instruments – Treasury bills and FGN bonds, so that portfolio investors will be compelled to look for alternative instruments with better returns such as the equities market. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) foreign portfolio report confirms the growing apathy to local investment in the capital market. Despite investment opportunities in the…
Government’s failure to revive steel companies and equally develop indigenous petrochemical plants have stalled the local automotive development agenda, leading to loss of $10 billion yearly to large scale importation of fully-built motor vehicles and allied components used for local assembling. For instance, steel accounts for about 60 per cent of raw materials used in automobiles, while petrochemicals are used for plastics and foam used in vehicle interiors. Despite being an oil-producing nation, non-existent refining capacity continues to undermine the country’s capacity to provide feedstock for allied industries. In the alternative, local manufacturers are heavily dependent on imported spare parts,…
The Chief Medical Director, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Shedrack Offiah, said the management had sacked six doctors for abandoning their jobs after collecting their salaries. Offiah disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria while showcasing steps taken to deter ABSUTH doctors who use government time to work in their private hospitals. He said he sacked the six doctors recently to discourage absentee staff members who do not work but collect salaries, adding that such were ghost workers and should be treated as such. He said that some doctors who had left the…
There were indications on Thursday that at least 13 states had stopped testing for COVID-19 despite the impending third wave of the disease propelled by the highly infectious Delta strain. Epidemiological data obtained from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control showed that since the first case of the Delta variant was reported on July 8, 2021, only about 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory had been sending reports to the NCDC. These came to the fore on Thursday as data from the NCDC showed that the COVID-19 tests reduced from 735,573 to 521,738 in three months amid warning by…
The Federal Government says it has commenced the payment of death benefits to deceased doctors and other health workers under the Group Life Insurance. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, said this at the end of a meeting between federal government representatives and the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors on Thursday in Abuja. Ngige described the meeting as fruitful and tendered evidence by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation to show that insurance companies have started paying up. According to him, the evidence corroborated what the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr.…