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  • Zedcrest Group Appoints Olumide Odewole As New Chief Financial Officer

    Zedcrest Group Appoints Olumide Odewole As New Chief Financial Officer

    Africa’s foremost new-age financial solutions powerhouse, Zedcrest Group has announced the appointment of Olumide Odewole as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the executive management.

     

    In a statement issued by Zedcrest, the GMD of the company, Adedayo Amzat stated that Olumide will play a key role in the scaling of the Group’s operations; driving cultural change and strong sustainable performance.

     

    “I am pleased to welcome Olumide to Zedcrest Group and our leadership team. His deep and extensive experience in leading financial operations and value integration, as well as driving performance, operations, control and shared services results, will make a strong contribution to the leadership of Zedcrest.

     

    “We have achieved a whole lot since inception in 2013, being lucky to have scored the most amazing senior leadership team to steer the ship. However, with an ambitious roadmap to execute, we clearly need a lot more management competence to drive our growth initiatives.

     

    “Olumide is bringing on-board a competence and culture we have struggled with in-house, that of ordered and methodical execution”, he said.

     

    Prior to joining Zedcrest Group, Olumide was the Chief Operating Officer with Monument Group, a diversified company with interest in key sectors of the Nigerian Economy, from November 2017 to December 2020. He has over 15 years’ experience covering Global business leadership, Corporate Finance, Deal Structuring and Fund Raising, Risk Management and Control, Financial and Treasury Management, P&L and Budget Management and Direction, Performance Management, Strategic Planning and Execution, Financial Analysis and Reporting, Product and Venture Development, Operational problem solving, Business Process Development and Improvement, Project Management, amongst others.

     

    Over the last decade, Olumide has worked as Corporate Finance and Governance Consultant for Phillips Consulting Limited (a leading business and management Consulting firm in Nigeria); Finance and Strategy Manager for a leading downstream oil and gas company in Nigeria; Core Planning Manager for a telecommunications consulting firm in Nigeria, and Accounts Manager and Tax Accountant for a leading FMCG company in Nigeria.

     

    Olumide is a CFA Charter holder, a Qualified Accountant (Nigeria and the United Kingdom), and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from the Oxford Brookes University (UK).

  • ATCIS Lauds NIMC’s Decision Allowing Telcos Generate NINs, Raises Concerns Over Safety of Subscribers’ Data

    ATCIS Lauds NIMC’s Decision Allowing Telcos Generate NINs, Raises Concerns Over Safety of Subscribers’ Data

    Nigerian telephone subscribers have lauded the decision of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC to license telecommunications companies to register people who do not have National Identity Numbers.

    According to the subscribers, the decision would no doubt go a long way in reducing the large crowds that normally throng the NIMC offices on daily basis.

    Speaking with Business Bells on Wednesday, the National President of Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS), Prince Sina Bilesanmi said the gesture was a welcome development as it is long overdue.

    “I consider it good news that the NIMC has given the mobile network operators, MNO licences. I believe it would help in reducing the crowds as well the risk of people contracting COVID-19 especially against the manner in which Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has exposed our people in this period of pandemic.

    “This is part of what we have been clamouring for that the NIN registration should be suspended considering the situation we are in whereby people are expected to strictly observe social distancing, but unfortunately the bid to beat the NIN registration deadline has made people to throw caution into the winds,” Bilesanmi submitted.

    The Business Bells reported on Wednesday that the Director-General, NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, announced that some other private and public organisations had also been licensed by the commission to provide NINs in order to address the crowds at commission’s offices.

    Responding to an enquiry as regards measures taken by NIMC with respect to complains by citizens and the crowds at the commission’s offices, Aziz said mobile network operators had been empowered to also give the identity numbers.

    “We have licensed private and public sector organisations including telcos (telecommunications companies) so as to create more centres,” he stated.

     

    Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS),

    However, while subscribers believe that with telecommunications firms set to be issuing out NINs, it would reduce the stress on NIMC staff nationwide, they have on the other hand raised another important poser about the safety of their personal data.

    According to the ATCIS President, Prince Bilesanmi, the federal government should compel the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to ensure that personal data of subscribers are safe with its members ( telecom operators).

    “Now that the government has decided to allow telecom operators and other private organisations to provide the NIN for Nigerians, we at ATCIS are saying that it is a good decision and we support it. But the question we need to ask is; how safe are the data being provided by subscribers?

    “We are raising this poser because there had been reported cases in the past whereby telcos staff connive with fraudsters by selling off their data to them for fraudulent activities.

    “ALTON should assure us that subscribers’ data are safe with its members,” he said.

    Basically, ensuring that the NINs issued to individuals are protected and kept safe from fraudsters cannot be over-emphasized as the NIN-SIM linkage is primarily for security purposes.

    Government believes that harmonising all phone numbers through the NIN will help curb rising cases of terrorism and banditry because most of the bad guys would have no option but to link their phone lines to the NIN or lose their numbers.

    This, government said, will definitely help to curtail and checkmate the lingering security challenges in some parts of the country.

    Speaking on the importance of ongoing NIN-SIM linkage, Pantami, had warned Nigerians to secure and protect their NINs, urging subscribers to desist from selling their NINs or allowing others to use their NINs for registration.

    “For any act committed with the SIM, good or bad, it will be officially traced and attached to the NIN owner,” the Minister warned.

    On December 15, 2020, the Federal Government had declared that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.

    It later extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement and gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020 to January 19, 2021.

    It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021, but many organisations had called for further deadline extension or outright suspension of the NIN registration process due to the large crowds who had yet to have their NINs.

    To be part of ATCIS, please visit:

    www.atcisnigeria.com

    Email: atcisnigeria@gmail.com

    Instagram: atcisnigeria

    Twitter: @atcis9ja

    Facebook: atcisnigeria

    P.O Box: 8356, Marina

    Call ATCIS: 07052713300.

  • Banks’ Credit To Economy Hit N25tn In 2020

    Banks’ Credit To Economy Hit N25tn In 2020

    Banks’ total credit to the economy rose to N25.02tn as of the end of 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

     

    This was disclosed during the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

     

    Delivering the committee’s submissions, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the figure rose by 13.4 per cent between November and December.

     

    He said, “Aggregate domestic credit, also moved further up by 13.40 per cent in December 2020, compared with 9.48 per cent in the previous month.

     

    “This was largely attributed to the bank’s policy on Loan-to-Deposit Ratio, complemented by its interventions in various sectors of the economy.

     

    “Consequently, banking sector gross credit as at end-December 2020 stood at N25.02tn compared with N24.25tn at the end of November 2020, representing an increase of N774.28bn.”

     

    The committee urged the bank to sustain its current drive to improve access to credit to the private sector while exploring other complementary initiatives, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to improve funding to critical sectors of the economy.

     

  • Agric Productivity Declining, Food Security Threatened – FG

    Agric Productivity Declining, Food Security Threatened – FG

    The level of agricultural productivity in Nigeria is declining due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and this is threatening the country’s food security, the Federal Government said on Tuesday.

     

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said this at the public lecture and investiture ceremony of the 6th Chairman of the Abuja Chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Environmental Engineers, Lynda Elesa.

     

    The theme of the lecture was ‘Environmental sustainability and resilience for food security in Nigeria: The post COVID-19 era.’

     

    Reacting to the theme in his remarks, Mustapha said the restrictions on movement following the outbreak of the pandemic had led to a decline in agricultural productivity.

     

    He said, “As it is becoming more obvious that, especially with restrictions placed on movement, our levels of agricultural production are declining and this translates to threats to food security in the country.

     

    “The latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics indicate this declining levels which have also translated into inflation in food items.

     

    “That the Abuja Chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Environmental Engineers is, therefore, looking ahead on how to handle this situation after the pandemic is highly commendable.”

     

    Mustapha, who was represented by an official from his office, Andrew Adeja, said the globe had changed so rapidly in the last decade and particularly in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19 as Nigeria was already witnessing a second wave.

     

    “However, we are also comforted with the fact that there is good news with adherence to laid down protocols and guidelines as well as the production of vaccines,” he said.

     

    On her part, Elesa said her team would strive to maintain a balance of the ecosystem in order to effectively support agriculture and enhance Nigeria’s food productivity, among other tasks before the current NIEE executives.

     

    This came as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, in a statement from his ministry on Tuesday, said the Federal Government was set to commence a livestock pilot scheme in Nasarawa State to improve the sub-sector.

     

    He said Nigeria’s livestock sub-sector was a national asset worth over N33tn that should be encouraged and exploited by Nigerians.

     

    Nanono said the livestock pilot scheme in Nasarawa was worth €400,000 for a start, adding that Bauchi and Gombe states were also part of the programme.

     

    He further stated that the agriculture mechanisation programme of the Federal Government would soon commence in 632 Local Government Areas across the country.

  • Buhari Appoints Auditor-General, FRC Boss

    Buhari Appoints Auditor-General, FRC Boss

    President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Mr Aghughu Adolphus for appointment as the auditor-general for the Federation.

     

    The appointment according to a statement on Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Babajide Omoworare, is in pursuant to Section 86(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

     

    Aghughu has been acting as the auditor-general since the retirement of Mr Anthony Ayine from service upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age of 60 years on 25th October 2020.

     

    The auditor-general designate hails from Edo State and holds a master’s degree in economics.

     

    He is a Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management and Associate member of Chartered Institute of Taxation.

     

    He became an auditor in the Office of the Auditor-General in 1992 and was promoted to the rank of Director of Audit in January 2016.

     

    In a related development, the President has also nominated Victor Muruako for appointment as Chairman for the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in accordance with the provision of section 5(3) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

     

    Muruako, a legal practitioner had served as the Secretary to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and currently acts as the chairman of the commission. He is from Imo State.

     

    Both letters of nomination have been forwarded to the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, for confirmation by the Senate.

  • Lufthansa Bans Fabric Face Masks Onboard

    Lufthansa Bans Fabric Face Masks Onboard

    Lufthansa has specified the type of face masks that passengers on its flights are allowed to wear while flying with the airline from February 1.

     

    In a press statement titled ‘Adjustment of the facemask obligation as of February 1’, the company asked customers to use only FFP2, KN95 and N95 standard face masks or surgical masks.

     

    In the travel advisory issued on Monday on its website, it said masks made with fabric would no longer be permitted.

     

    Part of the statement read, “Lufthansa is adapting the obligation to wear mouth-nose covers while travelling. From 1 February 2021, only face masks of the following standards will be permitted on flights to and from Germany: FFP2, KN95 and N95 standard or surgical masks.

     

    “These have to be worn during boarding, onboard and when leaving the aircraft. Masks made of fabric will no longer be permitted, visors and masks with valves have been permitted already.

     

    “Thus, in order to protect the health of all passengers and employees, the Lufthansa Group Airlines are taking up the regulation the German federal states have issued on 19 January 2021.”

     

    It, however, stated that exceptions to this regulation could still be made for health reasons.

     

    It explained that an exception would only be accepted if the passenger could present a current (not older than 48 hours) negative COVID-19 test result in connection with a medical certificate on the Lufthansa Group form.

  • PIB: Petroleum Minister Faults Communities’ 10% Trust Fund Demand

    PIB: Petroleum Minister Faults Communities’ 10% Trust Fund Demand

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has faulted the position of host communities who are insisting on collecting 10 per cent of the operating expenditure of the oil firms to set up a trust fund.

     

    The leaders of the oil rich areas under the aegis of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, had on Tuesday, openly rejected the 2.5 per cent proposed for them in the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020, being considered by the joint Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources, (Downstream, Upstream and Gas).

     

    They insisted that nothing short of the 10 per cent of the operating expenditure they were demanding would be acceptable to them because the proposed 2.5 per cent was grossly inadequate to provide basic social amenities and improve the standard of living of their people.

     

    But the Minister, who spoke with journalists after the end of a two-day public hearing on the proposed bill by the Senate panel on Tuesday, faulted the argument of the oil communities’ leaders.

     

    He said, “The 2.5 per cent as proposed in the bill is fair and of course, I speak as a member of the host communities myself.

     

    “If you have to look at it properly, you will see that 10 per cent in profit is different from 10 per cent of the OPEX (operating expenditure).

     

    “Before now, you had a provision of 10 per cent of profit for the host communities but we discovered that if the oil firms do not declare it, host communities won’t have anything.

     

    “But in this case, it is 2.5 per cent of the operating expenditure. So, at the end of the year we will calculate the operating cost and take the 2.5 per cent of that cost to the budget of the next year.

     

    “Of course, I don’t like to discuss details of the bill at this point because these are just proposals before the National Assembly.

     

    “Until it is passed, we cannot discuss it but since it came up here, I thought I should just mention it.

     

    “As far as we are concerned, we have made a very fair proposal – fair to the host communities, fair to the country and fair to the oil companies.

     

    “We have put this bill before the National Assembly and they have the competence to look at it and pass it the way they see fit.

     

    “So, at this point I do not want to go into detailed aspect of the bill. The bill is before them and we are happy with the progress.

     

    “As you heard the Senate President say yesterday, we expect that this bill would be passed at the end of this quarter or early next month.”

     

    Leaders of the Host community of Oil Producing Areas also called on the Federal Government to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission and transfer all its allocations to the them for effective management.

     

    The President of HOSTCOMS, High Chief Benjamin Tamaranebi, stated this while addressing journalists.

     

    He said with the reduction of host community development trust fund from 10 per cent in 2008 to 2.5 percent in 2020 PIB, the proposed document would deny the people of the required funds to develop their areas.

     

    Tamaranebi said the NDDC should be scrapped so that the allocation being given to the commission could be directly paid to HOSTCOMS for critical interventions especially after the revelations that followed the investigative hearing on the commission.

  • CBN Retains Lending Rate at 11.5%, says High Recurrent Expenditure Raises Debt Servicing Challenges

    CBN Retains Lending Rate at 11.5%, says High Recurrent Expenditure Raises Debt Servicing Challenges

    The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 per cent.

     

    The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this after the committee’s two-day meeting in Abuja.

     

    It also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio and Liquidity Ratio at 27.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

     

    The committee retained the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR.

     

    At the meeting, the committee also expressed concerns of eminent challenges of servicing the country’s mounting debt liabilities.

     

    Ten members of the committee were in attendance.

     

    “The committee expressed concern over the rising public debt stock, as recurrent expenditure remained relatively high, compared with capital expenditure, thus, signalling future debt servicing challenges,” Emefiele said.

     

    Members of the committee reiterated the adverse impact of insecurity on food production, stressing that the current uptick in inflationary pressure could not be solely associated with monetary factors, but due mainly to legacy structural factors across the economy, including major supply bottlenecks across the country.

     

    The committee called on the government to redouble efforts at strengthening infrastructural efficiency and address the emerging security challenges in the country.

     

     

    In addition to this, the committee called on the government to explore the option of effective partnership with the private sector to improve funding sources necessary to address the huge infrastructural financing deficit.

     

    To improve government revenue sources and investment in capital, the committee called on the government to take advantage of the take-off of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which could boost domestic production and generate sizeable revenues for government, as well as improve domestic productivity and competitiveness.

     

    The committee noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary measures put in place by the government to forestall its public health impact, such as the lockdown and other associated restrictions, contributed to the Nigerian economy going into recession, much like almost every other country in the world.

     

    Members agreed that the committee’s current priority remained to quicken the pace of the recovery through sustained and targeted spending by the fiscal authority supported by the bank’s interventions.

     

    A professor of capital market at the Nasarawa State University Keffi, Uche Uwaleke, said as usual, the choices before the MPC was whether to reduce, increase or hold the rates.

     

    He said, “While on the one hand, a rate cut appeared justified by need for the CBN to support economic recovery efforts of the government; on the other hand, the need to stabilise exchange rate as well as tackle the rising inflation favoured tightening monetary policy.

     

    “This presented a dilemma which the MPC rightly managed by maintaining the status quo and holding the rates in a bid to strike a balance between the two seemingly diametrically opposing sides of enabling output growth and curbing rising inflation.

     

    “By doing so, the CBN will have some more time to monitor macroeconomic response to all its interventions in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

     

    “So, in my view, the MPC did not disappoint. Their unanimous decision is consistent with market consensus and expectations.”

     

    A professor of economics, Babcock University and past President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Prof. Segun Ajibola, said the rates had very little impact and difference either in the money market or the economic environment as a whole.

     

    He said, “Let’s look at the MPR of 11.5 per cent, as at today, treasury bills rates and deposit rates are hovering between one and three per cent, whereas MPR is supposed to be a reference rate.

     

    “Lending rate is still in the average of over 20 per cent. So you see that the MPR is just hanging somewhere, not necessarily dictating either cost of borrowing or return on your deposit from banks, and it is supposed to be a reference rate for both sides.”

     

    “So there is that disconnect,” he added.

     

    Explaining further, he said, “When you look at the CRR, you tend to ask, if the CBN is still enforcing 65 per cent loan to deposit ratio, add 22.5 per cent to that, you will discover that at the end of the day, the banks themselves are left with little or nothing out of their deposit portfolio, not other businesses.”

  • NIMC Gives MTN, Airtel, Others Licence To Provide NIN

    NIMC Gives MTN, Airtel, Others Licence To Provide NIN

    Telecommunications companies have been licensed to register people who do not have National Identity Numbers so as to reduce the large crowds at the offices of the National Identity Management Commission, the NIMC has said.

     

    Director-General, NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, said some other private and public organisations had also been licensed by the commission to provide NINs in order to address the crowds at commission’s offices.

     

    This came as workers of the commission said on Tuesday that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had constituted a committee to address the demands of NIMC employees.

     

    NIMC workers had downed tools on January 7, 2021 in protest against the poor welfare issues at the commission, but their strike was suspended after the intervention of the minister.

     

    Responding to an enquiry as regards measures taken by NIMC with respect to complains by citizens and the crowds at the commission’s offices, Aziz said mobile network operators had been empowered to also give the identity numbers.

     

    “We have licensed private and public sector organisations including telcos (telecommunications companies) so as to create more centres,” he stated in a WhatsApp message to our correspondent.

     

    On December 15, 2020, the Federal Government declared that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.

     

    It later extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement and gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020 to January 19, 2021.

     

    It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021, but many organisations had called for further deadline extension or outright suspension of the NIN registration process due to the large crowds who had yet to have their NINs.

     

    On the meeting between NIMC workers and the communication minister, the President, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC Unit, Asekokhai Lucky, said some resolutions were reached.

     

    He said the minister told the union that some of the demands being presented by the workers were new to him, as he only took over the supervisory role of NIMC in October 2020.

     

    “So what he (Pantami) did was to set up a seven-man committee to work on the issues and submit a report to him in two weeks’ time,” Lucky stated.

     

    Lucky said the 21-day ultimatum earlier issued the management of NIMC was still in force, although there had been calls for the union to step down the ultimatum.

  • Sahara Group To Increase Investments In Technology

    Sahara Group To Increase Investments In Technology

    The Sahara Group says it will increase its investment in technology, artificial intelligence, and human capital transformation as critical drivers of its next expansion phase.

     

    This was disclosed by the Group’s Executive Director, Temitope Shonubi, in a statement on Sunday, while unveiling the group’s plan for the future.

     

    Celebrating the energy conglomerate’s growth trajectory since 1996, Shonubi noted that Sahara planned to mark its 25th anniversary with several events and activities all through 2021 with the theme, ‘Harnessing safe energy today’.

     

    He stated that emphasis would be on promoting the ‘capacity to do and achieve positive and sustainable transformation’ in the energy sector, adding that innovation would define Sahara’s brand positioning and offering in the coming years.

     

    Shonubi noted that Sahara’s focus was on continuous improvement, operational efficiency, and sustainability.