Branch International has restated its commitment to promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria. During a virtual event in Lagos, the company said it was achieving this by leveraging technology to offer a range of unique financial services to customers. According to Branch, the quest to make formal financial services accessible at an affordable rate to individuals and businesses was critical in systematically driving economic development. It said its offerings were designed to offer value to customers, while enabling them make payments and granting access to loans and investment opportunities. It said the product features included free and unlimited money transfers; free…
Author: Temitope N.
“Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other. Neither will be successfully resolved unless both are tackled together,” the researchers said. The drive by corporate organisations and governments on planting trees to help absorb carbon is not a magic cure, the scientists warned. The report disclosed that the right trees must be planted in the right places in order not to destroy local ecosystems. It noted that climate change could ‘drastically reduce the mitigation potential of forests due to an increase in extreme events like fires, insects and pathogens’ Hans-Otto Pörtner,…
Leadway Health, in partnership with the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service and REPPLAW Blood Donors Club, has said it is set to launch its blood donation drive initiative to commemorate this year’s World Blood Donor Day. It said in a statement on Sunday that the two-day blood donation exercise was scheduled to take place in June at the Leadway Corporate Office in Lagos. Leadway said the initiative was in alignmkent with the 2021 theme of the World Blood Donor Day, ‘Give blood and keep the world beating’, to raise awareness of the critical need to provide safe blood through unpaid…
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the parent company of the Ecobank Group, says it has successfully raised $350m Tier 2 Sustainability Notes. ETI said in a statement on Friday that the bond was more than three times oversubscribed by investors. “This represents the first-ever Tier 2 Sustainability Notes by a financial institution in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it said. According to the statement, the Tier 2 issuance is the first to have a Basel III-compliant 10NC5 structure outside of South Africa in 144A/RegS format and will be listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It said, “The bond, which matures in…
The Federal Government has taken over the construction of the completion of Farin-Ruwa Hydropower Multipurpose Dam in Nasarawa State. Speaking during the inauguration ceremony on Friday in the Wamba Local Government Area of the state, Minister of Water Resources, Malam Suleiman Adamu, said the project had a completion period of 24 months. He explained that the project was initiated in 2003 and started by Nasarawa State Government in 2004 to generate 20 megawatts of electricity to boost socioeconomic development of the state. He said, “The implementation of the project suffered setback due to paucity of fund but the state government…
FBNInsurance Limited said it rewarded its outstanding financial advisors, sales managers, senior sales manager and area sales managers to motivate its retail sales force and in line with its corporate strategy. It said in a statement titled ‘FBNInsurance rewards retail agents’ that they were recognised during its 2020 MD/CEO Ember Award and The Retail Annual Competition Award in Lagos. Speaking on the awards at the ceremony, the Executive Director, Retail Business Distribution, FBNInsurance Limited, Mr Odinakachi Umekwe, commended the efforts of the retail team for the outstanding performances they put forward despite the pandemic. He stated, “The retail team…
After the international crude oil benchmark, Brent advanced above $70 as the PUNCH reported earlier in the month, industry experts see meagre benefits as subsidy payments gulp revenues. The Federal Account Allocation Committee report for May, value shortfall, representing the amount the NNPC paid for subsidy, showed that the March receipts amounted to N111.97bn, while February’s totalled N60.40bn. According to the FAAC reports for January, February and March, the total amount spent on subsidy for the first three months of 2021 stands at N197.74bn. The Nigerian Governors Forum during its May 19 meeting suggested that the Federal Government end…
The African Centre for Justice and Human Rights, has commended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over the plan by the apex financial institution to float a digital currency. The ACJHR Deputy Head of communication, Lady Jasmine Akpeh, gave the commendation in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday. She said that ACJHR viewed the innovation as another major move by the apex bank to further improve the nation’s economy for the benefit of all. The Central Bank Digital Currencies are electronic versions of fiat money issued by central banks and backed by the reserves of…
A life coach and entrepreneur, Mr Abiola Salami, has stated that many people suffering from depression are unaware of the symptoms, encouraging such people that they can overcome the disease. Salami said this in his book, ‘The Magic of Emotional Intelligence: How Champions Apply Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Peak Performance and Advancement in Life.’ The book’s foreword was written by Prof Dana Born of Harvard University, the United States. Salami said in the book, “Depression is like sadness and grief on steroids. In times past, many developing countries downplayed depression, but in recent times, especially since the advent of…
Nigerian airlines have confirmed that passenger traffic has reduced in the last four weeks. This, they attributed to the growing insecurity in different parts of the country. Those who spoke to newsmen insisted that high airfares could be a factor, but insecurity was also identified as major reason. They noted that even at the peak of high cost of tickets in May and April, passenger traffic was still high. Newsmen learnt that some airlines that resumed flights to some destinations in the north had to withdraw, while the south-east airports, which used to be lucrative routes after Lagos and…