The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Lagos State will on Monday commence ‘Operation Show Your Driver’s License and Vehicle License’.
In a statement on Sunday, the Commander, Olusegun Ogungbemide condemned how owners of vehicles, tricycle and bike riders ply the road without permit.
Ogungbemide lamented that a high number of permanent driver’s licenses were yet to be picked from FRSC stations.
The first phase of the operation showed that a number of motorists drive without valid documentation while some don’t have.
“With the recent increase in vehicular movements as a result of the ember months, there is the need for all drivers to be handy with their driver’s licenses.
“The exercise will ensure all drivers have valid vehicle papers”, Ogungbemide added. The operation starts Monday, October 4 and will end October 10, 2021.
The FRSC hinted that defaulters will have their vehicles impounded until they provide genuine documents.
The commander said the National Road Traffic Regulations (NRTR) 2021, Regulation 67(1) states that any person driving a vehicle on any public road must be in possession of an original driver’s license.
Ikeja Electric Plc on Monday announced an eight-week power outage in some areas in Lagos State.
According to the Disco, this is to enable the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) re-conduct its 132KV lines to boost electricity for Nigerians.
Olajide Kumapayi, chief technical officer of the electricity distribution company (DisCo), said the project will begin on October 11.
The areas to be affected include Oregun, Police Training College, Oba Akran, Oke Ira, Ogba, Magodo, Anifowoshe and Omole Phase One.
He noted that the outage became necessary because some of the 132Kv lines installed over 50 years ago had become obsolete and degraded due to time and usage.
“The TCN is currently embarking on the upgrade of the 132KV lines from Ikeja West to Ota and Alimosho in stages. This is the second stage.
“We will replace all the aluminium conductors with gap conductors which is more sophisticated to withstand heat and has more capacity to carry current.
“The implication of this is that from 8am to 6pm every day, the substations controlling these areas will be switched off which will affect the feeders connected to them,” Kumapayi said.
Also, Maximum Demand (MD) customers such as Ikeja City Mall, Police College, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Ikeja High Court will be affected by the project.
The chief technical officer disclosed that the TCN will also move to Alimosho and Agege axis in the next stage.
Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram went down Monday evening in an apparent outage.
The three apps – which are all owned by Facebook, and run on shared infrastructure – all completely stopped working shortly before 5pm. Other products that are part of the same family of apps, such as Facebook Workplace, also stopped working.
Visitors to the Facebook website simply saw an error page or a message that their browser could not connect.
The WhatsApp and Instagram apps continued to work, but did not show new content, including any messages sent or received during the problems.
Per Down Detector, a crowdsourced website that tracks online outages, the three social networks appeared to be having widespread issues around 11:40 a.m. ET. The company’s status tracking website was also down around noon ET.
Facebook’s outages happen relatively rarely but tend to be vast in their impact, not least because they affect three of the world’s biggest apps.
The company is often cryptic about the causes of any issues, and does not tend to explain them even after they are fixed. In 2019, for instance, it suffered its biggest outage in years – and said only that it had “triggered an issue” during “routine maintenance operations”.
In a leaked transcript published in The Verge in 2019, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg note that such outages are a “big deal”.
Any problems can often lead people to start using competitors instead, and noted that it can take “months” to win back trust and get people back on Facebook’s platforms – if they come back at all.
As is often the case with these outages, users flocked to other social networks to note that these social networks were down. By 12:06 p.m. ET “Instagram and Facebook” was the top Trending Topic on Twitter in the United States with “WhatsApp” and #instagramdown also gaining traction.
Other trends for Facebook and Instagram quickly dominated other locations in the top 30 spots on Twitter’s list.
It was not immediately clear what caused the issue for the three Facebook-owned properties or when any of the services might be restored.
… customer can now share their data plans with family members, friends
In a move that will deepen family bond and promote camaraderie amongst close friends, leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has unveiled a new data plan that will enable a customer share his data plan with five family members or close friends.
Dubbed ‘Family Plan’, Airtel says the new value offering is specifically designed to ensure that no one is left out, empowering all customers regardless of income and location to enjoy uninterrupted mobile Internet connection constantly.
Speaking on the Family Plan, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, said Airtel is inspired to promote a culture of togetherness and deep bonding amongst family members and close friends.
“We care about our customers and through this plan, we are offering them both an expression and an opportunity to also demonstrate that they truly care about those in their circle and family line. At Airtel, we will continue to promote friendship, innovation just as we will always prioritize our esteemed customers,” he said.
With ‘Family Plan’, an Airtel data subscriber can share their data plan with up to five additional Airtel subscribers, giving them the liberty to allocate the volume of data each subscriber gets, with an option to also allow unlimited data limits.
The subscriber’s line, also known as the Master Line can register additional lines, known as Dependents and consequently purchase and allocate data using USSD code (*141#).
The ‘Family Plan’ comes with complimentary voice minutes and SMS that is accessible to group members, and makes a great fit for Family, SMEs, Small Office Home Office (SOHO) as well as small groups.
For every dependent line added to a Master Line, a one-time benefit of 500MB is credited to the account, with an additional flat call rate of 12k/sec to all subscribers on the plan.
The new plan offers customers various packages to pick from, including N5000, which offers data volume of 20GB; N10, 000 with 50GB; while N15, 000 offers 80GB. Other packages include N20,000 with up to 120GB data volume; N30, 000 with 200GB and N50, 000, which offers a whopping 400GB data volume.
Each package offers complimentary bonus data of 500MB per added dependent, 50 minutes call time and 100 SMS, with a maximum limit of 5 dependents per package.
In light of the growing unemployment rate in Nigeria, Heritage Bank Plc has partnered Living Faith Church (LFC) Worldwide via its Youth arm at the 17 th Annual International Youth Alive Convention to help prepare and empower millions of young Nigerians with the aim of boosting their employment prospects.
Incidentally, no less than 40million of unemployed people in the country are youths, which happens to be 66% of Nigeria’s working population, according to the National Bureau Statistics (NBS).
As an institution at the forefront of empowering youths, the MD/CEO of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo said there was need to help prepare the millions of young Nigerians for the transition to work and engaged citizenship, by connecting both post-secondary and University graduates into understanding career opportunities and getting prepared for employment and entrepreneurship.
He also emphasized and canvassed for effective and increased investment in young people as a key pathway to jobs in today’s changing world of work.
The MD of Heritage Bank, who was represented by Adesoji Ogunsanya, Head, Talent Resourcing, human Capital Management, whilst giving career talks on “Getting a Job Immediately after School,” hinted on apt CV writing tips, how to prepare for interviews, personal effectiveness and, career and personal fulfilment.
Admonishing the Winners’ Youth Ministry, Sekibo also advised them to take care of themselves spiritually, emotionally and physically, whilst noting that self-management was also required for optimal productivity.
According to him, it is quite appropriate to also carry out a SWOT Analysis on yourself, leverage on the areas of strength and opportunities, build competency in the area of weakness and threat.
Sekibo explained that the level of joblessness amongst young Nigerians was of interest to Heritage Bank to ensure that they were equipped to find decent jobs, adding that “young people are almost three times as likely as adults to be unemployed”.
However, he disclosed that one of the channels churned out in partnering the youths to leverage their talents and contribute their quota to the growth of the economy, was the use of financial inclusion strategy which would be adopted to prepare them and boost entrepreneurship development, as this is critical to Heritage Bank’s mission to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations.
The Assistant National Youth Pastor of Living Faith Church, North Central, George Eko, who expressed appreciation for the impartation of knowledge upon the youths by Heritage Bank; affirmed that the self-esteem of the youths had been elevated by being given the opportunity to interact with the Bank which they thought could never be a reality.
He expressed his joy and announced that the people were overwhelmed as the church was not only concerned about their spiritual development but with their physical development which had to do with employment, welfare, and other areas of their lives.
George added, “regardless of the no job scandal, the youths have been empowered differently and Heritage Bank partnered with the Church in the “Job Fair” to ensure that the lives of the youths are improved.
Nigeria’s foremost media intelligence agency, P+ Measurement Services is set to host its quarterly edition of EvaluatePR as it welcomes all communications professionals around the globe to the 18th edition of this event.
EvaluatePR is an informative event that will be honoured by communications and media monitoring professionals, who will be sharing their experiences, advice, insights, and quotes on Media Measurement, Monitoring, and Evaluation during the interactive session.
This edition will feature public relations and measurement practitioners which includes: Francois Van Dyk, Head of Operations, Ornico Group, Johannesburg, South Africa and Samuel O. Adeyemi, Lead Strategist, Media DNA, Nigeria, who together will share from their wealth of knowledge, experiences and insights to the theme of the event.
The 18th Edition of EvaluatePR, is scheduled to take place on Friday, 24th September 2021, with the theme “Media Monitoring & Measurement: An Essential Tool in Public Relations” between the hours of 12pm and 1pm (West African Time) on the Google Meet platform.
As Nigerians continue to mourn the sudden demise of the late chairman of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria, BJAN, Princewill Oziomachukwu Ekwujuru, members of the association have concluded plans to hold a candle light procession and Night of Tributes in his honour.
The event, which holds on Friday, September 24, 2021, is expected to attract friends, family and stakeholders in the integrated marketing communications industry, as his death has left people across different divides devastated.
According to a notice by the chairman, Funeral Committee for BJAN, Goddie Ofose, the event would hold at the Archbishop Vinning Ground Oba Akinjobi Ikeja GRA Ikeja opposite Police College, Lagos at 5pm.
Attendees to the event are urged to don all-white attire as all Covid-19 protocols would be duly observed.
However, many have testified to the late Vanguard’s Brands and Marketing reporter’s humility, simplicity and affinity with his roots.
Born Princewill Oziomachukwu Ekwujuru on June 24, 1965, the late Brand Journalist veteran was a Mass Communications graduate of the Abia State University.
Ekwujuru is survived by his wife and children.
It would be recalled that Ekwujuru suffered a fatal injuries as a result of bike accident on July 6th, which left him in coma for over two weeks but eventually, lost the battle on July 23rd at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo, Lagos.
The late BJAN chairman’s remains will be interred in his native home, Njaba, Imo State on September 30th, 2021.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has said that the state needs ₦140 billion for 14 ranches to fully settle herders and their families in the state.
He stated this on Tuesday while addressing journalists at the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat in Abuja, arguing that the measure is the most sustainable means to boost livestock production.
“It is not a matter of populist legislation or saying that tomorrow this or that; it is not the solution. We have taken a position as northern states governors and we are implementing that,” he said.
“We cannot do it overnight. We need billions of naira. This is just one ranch that is costing N10 billion. I have 14 grazing reserves in Kaduna State and I would like to convince them into ranching. Do I have 14 times N10 billion? I don’t have.”
“In my state for instance, we are developing a huge ranch at Damao to centralise the herders and that is the solution (on the) long term. But can it be done overnight? No. This project that we are doing will cost us about ₦10 billion. The CBN is supporting us with about ₦7.5 billion and [it] will take about two years to do.”
While El-Rufai maintained that ranching remains the recipe for the recurring farmer-herder conflict in the country, he described the anti-grazing law enacted by some of his colleagues as unrealistic.
According to him, although ranching is the ideal solution to the problem, it cannot be done overnight. He urged those pushing for the immediate ban on open grazing to exercise patience as time and resources are required to have ranches across the country.
“We will be settling about 1,500 Fulani herders’ families and [I] hope they will see that there are alternative ways of producing livestock instead of running up and down with cattle and going to people’s farms and causing all kinds of problems,” Governor El-Rufai added.
El-Rufai is among the latest high-profile personalities to have voiced concerns over the ban on open-grazing by governors – mostly those from the southern region.
The governors had met earlier in the year and banned the open grazing of livestock, giving a September 1 deadline for members to enact the anti-open grazing law.
While a good number of the states have enacted the law and others still in the process, the move has caused ripples across the nation. It has also been criticised by several government officials.
One of such persons who has faulted the Southern Governors’ Forum’s move is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) who said the development is unconstitutional.
“For example, it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the northern governors coming together to say they prohibit spare parts trading in the north,” he said.
“Does it hold water? Does it hold water for a northern governor to come and state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts trading in the north?”
According to him, the governors should first amend the Constitution to prohibit open grazing before going ahead with their decision.
“If you are talking of constitutionally guaranteed rights, the better approach to it is to, perhaps, go back to ensure the Constitution is amended,” he added.
Despite Malami’s stance, the governors maintain that there is no going back on the ban, insisting it will be enforced to the fullest extent in the region.
“Mr Malami is advised to approach the court to challenge the legality of the laws of the respective states banning open grazing and the decision of the Southern Governors’ Forum taken in the interest of their people. We shall be most willing to meet him in court,” the Chairman of the forum and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, said.
“The decision to ban open grazing stays. It will be enforced with vigour.”
In the face of the effects of global COVID-19 pandemic, Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Limited supported by its Partner Microsoft has recently taken the bull by the horns to equip women, young graduates with little or no technical knowledge in the 21st century on Data Analytics.
Women, most especially, are believed to have suffered the largest economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Limited, a technology company situated in Lekki recently announced the graduation of eight participants from the 2021 Microsoft LEAP program.
This 12-week intensive training was focused on Data Analytics and Engineering.
For the first week, participants were taken through soft skills like conflict resolutions, time management among others.
The next three weeks of the training covers Foundation data analytics, SQL, and Power BI.
The next 11 weeks see participants undergo training and development, in the acquisition of about three Microsoft certifications covering Azure cloud computing basics and associate level of data analysis with Power Bi.
In his words, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Wragby Business Solution and Technologies Limited, Dr. Yomi Alarape, mused that “this is in accordance with one of the company’s core values.
‘’The company has strongly demonstrated this with the support and sponsorship of Microsoft; the training is aimed at empowering young graduates with on-demands – technical and soft skills to create jobs in the technology industry for self-reliance and economic development.
This initiative would help them stand out among their counterparts.
This program prepares participants for positions in the technology industry and helps them become self-sufficient.’’
The General Manager, New Business, Partnership, Adewale Adeyemi also said, ‘’the LEAP programme has provided great opportunities for ladies to develop themselves into the Technology space. This is the second cohort Wragby has participated in and I can say that I have since not less than 15 ladies develop great skills in Software Engineering and Data Analytics. I have no doubt these ladies will turn out to be captains of this industry in the nearest future.
‘’Adewale further said, Wragby’s mission is to make the world a better place through technology. We believe this process starts with the young ones. Allowing them to express themselves through technology gives them opportunities beyond their foundational training.
Toyin while responding to question during the training session Wragby Business Solutions 1
Wragby’s Head of Datazone Department, Olanna Ogbenna, who was one of the trainers while describing the program and its impact on participants said, ‘’the program gives young women from all works of life just beginning their career in tech, the opportunity to learn and work with experienced professionals in the field that they have chosen.
‘’This has greatly impacted the participants who joined the team, I must confess; they have not only developed their skills in Analytics, but they have also gained real work experience which has given them independence in task delivery as well as the respect of co-workers.
‘’Olanna further said, ‘’the program is intentional about growth and development because this is also something I am committed to, I like that the participants took advantage of the opportunity, put in their very best, and are still working to be a better version every single day.’’
A cross section of the young graduates trained in Data Analytics by Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Ltd 1
On the project executed by these young graduates, Olanna said, ‘’the team of participants with little supervision was able to deliver some BI products and services which is now available in the Microsoft Azure marketplace. This Power BI apps enable in-depth analytics for Retail, Manufacturing, and HR which are all offered on the Microsoft app source. We can only urge you to keep your fingers crossed because the team will soon be publishing our BI add-ins to AppSource for the Wragby’swBizManager product (an ERP for Corporates and SMEs).
‘’I am super proud of our achievements and look forward to doing more with this amazing Wragby team.’’
In a chat with Oluwakiite Koiki, one of the successful participants who now works as a Data Analyst with Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Limited, she noted; ‘’Learning on the job has helped improve my mental framework for critical thinking and I can proffer solutions to issues much quicker than I could before the program”
Another participant, Rebecca Ogunyemi said, “This program has helped in building a cordial and good working relationship with brilliant mentors within the organization. It exposed me to multiple projects, learning platforms, and personal development workshops. It inculcated teamwork and a good work ethic.
Head, Software Engineering Dept at Wragby Business Solutions in a session with LEAP Participants
“I now have a great idea of (Software Testing/Quality Assurance) which has further built my technical skills in Test Strategy of User Products.
“I have four (4) Microsoft certifications which have elevated my career in Data Science. I now work with Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Limited.’’
Interestingly, all participants have been offered jobs in the technology company as Data Analysts.
The Sokoto government has asked the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to direct all telecommunications companies to shut down their services in 14 LGAs in the state.
This is coming less than a week after the house of representatives asked the NCC to shut down telecommunication services in three LGAs of Sokoto.
In a circular seen by TheCable, the state government had asked Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, to issue a temporary shutdown of telecommunication networks in some LGAs as a measure to bring an end to banditry and other criminal activities in the state.
On Monday, Muhammad Bello, spokesperson to Aminu Tambuwal, the governor, said the disruption in the telecommunication network will enable security agencies to deal with the increasing rate of insecurity in the state.
“In any case, the state governor has requested the minister for communication and digital economy to block services of communication providers in 14 local governments in the state. Thirteen of them in the eastern flank where the insurgency is high. One of them in the southern flank which is also bordering Zamfara state,” Bello said.
“As of this afternoon when the blockade began, it affected Sokoto metropolis which includes Sokoto south and north LGAs which are not in the list that was submitted to NCC. I think it could be a technical hitch that if rectified will exclude the Sokoto metropolis. That is the situation now.”
The government noted that some bandits had migrated to Sokoto from neighbouring north-western states where they have been facing military actions.
Earlier in the month, the NCC instructed all telecommunication companies to shut down their services in Zamfara over lingering insecurity in the state.
