UAE

The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria and Somalia, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park.

The document, which was sent to companies operating in the park and was seen by Reuters, cited an immigration circular that came into effect on Nov. 18.

It said applications for new employment and visit visas had been suspended for nationals, who are outside the UAE, of the 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, until further notice.

The visa ban also applies to citizens of Algeria, Kenya, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey, the document says.

It was not clear if there were any exceptions to the ban.

The UAEs Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

A source briefed on the matter told Reuters the UAE had temporarily stopped issuing new visas to Afghans, Pakistanis and citizens of several other countries over security concerns.

The source did not say what those concerns were but said the visa ban was expected to last for a short period.

Last week, Pakistans foreign ministry said the UAE had stopped processing new visas for its citizens and those of some other countries.

It said it was seeking information from the UAE on the reason for the suspension but that it thought it was related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Pakistani ministry and the source said those holding valid visas were not affected by the new restrictions and could enter the UAE. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Stock exchange

World shares rallied to a record peak on Wednesday following an overnight surge that saw the Dow Jones benchmark crack 30,000 for the first time as investors cheered a dramatically improved global outlook.

The formal start of U.S. president-elect Joe Bidens transition to the White House and increasing confidence a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready soon ushered in renewed appetite for global shares.

After weeks of waiting, President Donald Trumps administration on Monday cleared the way for Biden to prepare for the start of his administration, giving him access to briefings and funding.

The main thing now is that it has become official that the Biden administration will start. And we have ample liquidity from the worlds central banks, said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

I expect the honeymoon between financial markets and the Biden administration and stocks bull trend could continue until around his inauguration in January, he said, though expects reality checks to follow his swearing in.

Reports that Biden planned to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary a move that could shift the focus heavily toward efforts to tackle growing economic inequality also cheered markets.

That pushed MSCIs broadest gauge of world stocks up 0.1 per cent to a record level.

In Asia, Japans Nikkei rallied 0.5 per cent to a 29-year high while MSCIs index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gave up early gains to trade down 0.2 per cent as Chinese shares were capped by worries about rising debt defaults.

Euro Stoxx 50 futures of euro zone shares were little changed in early trade.

On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.54 per cent to 30,046.24 while the S

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is now the second-richest person in the world, at least on paper, but he has a long way to go in catching up to the newly-displaced Bill Gates in impact.

The Tesla and SpaceX moguls wealth edged past the Microsoft founders at just under 128 billion dollars on Monday, according to Bloomberg.

This was due to the surge in Teslas market capitalization to 500 billion dollars still far below Microsofts 1.6 trillion dollars but equivalent to a dizzying 133 times next years forecast earnings according to Refinitiv.

Gates, in fairness, has given vast sums to charity and done much to improve humanitys lot; thats Musks future challenge.

The Bill

A South Korean agency for protecting personal information on Wednesday fined Facebook Inc 6.7 billion won (.06 million) and sought a criminal investigation for providing users personal information to other operators without consent.

The countrys Personal Information Protection Commission, launched in August this year, said in a statement it fined Facebook after a probe found that the personal information of least 3.3 million of the 18 million Facebook users in Korea were provided to operators other than Facebook without their knowledge, from May 2012 to June 2018.

When someone uses another operators service through Facebooks log-in, the personal information of the users Facebook friends were provided to other operators without their consent, the commission said.

The commission said it will refer Facebook Ireland Ltd, the recipient of the fine, to the countrys prosecution for a criminal investigation.

We have cooperating as much as possible throughout the investigation process, we regret that the Personal Information Protection Commission has sought a criminal investigation, a Seoul-based Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement.

She declined further comment as Facebook has not yet fully reviewed the details of the decision. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

INEC Smart Card Readers

By Femi Ogunshola

Rep Aishatu Dukku, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Political Parties Matters, has said that the 2020 Electoral Bill if passed, will further empower the commission.

She said that INEC would now be validly empowered by law to use card reader and other technologies to conduct elections.

Dakku, who sponsored the bill, spoke while briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

She said that card reader would be used for accreditation while other appropriate technologies would be used to transmit results.

The lawmaker said that it was expedient to amend the electoral law in other to deepen the nations democracy, adding that the bill would also help to regulate the Federal, State and local government polls.

According to her, the amendment has become necessary because of the flaws observed in the nations elections, noting that there are some lacuna in the current law that needed to be amended.

A case in point is when a candidate dies when the election is almost concluded like it happened in Kogi governorship election in 2016, she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Abubakar Audu, died while the election result was about to be announced.

Dakku said that the Senate, House of Representatives, the judiciary and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) were on the same page with the new electoral bill.

She said this was to forestall a repeat of what happened during the Eighth National Assembly (NASS) when President Muhammadu Buhari refused to give his assent to the electoral bill.

She said that the current NASS was poised to produce a clean copy of electoral bill, adding that after the second reading, the bill would be subjected to public hearing for Nigerians to have input.

Dakku said that the public would be carried along to reduce the time spent on working on the bill.

She said that the 2020 electoral bill stipulated a maximum of N5 billion that could be spent by a presidential candidate and N1 billion by a governorship candidate.

Also, N100 million and N70 million for senatorial and House of Representatives candidates respectively.

Dakku said N30 million was the limit to be spent by a chairmanship candidate and N5 million by a councillorship candidate.

NAN reports that Dakku is the sponsor of the Bill for an Act to Repeal the Electoral Act 2010, as amended. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Joe Biden

By Harrison Arubu

Pennsylvania, one of the key U.S. battleground states being contested by President Donald Trump, has certified the presidential election in favour of President-elect, Joe Biden.

The state governor, Tom Wolf, who disclosed this in a tweet on Tuesday, said he had signed the Certificate of Ascertainment after the results were certified by the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Biden polled 3,459,041 votes in the state, representing 50 per cent of the total, to defeat President Donald Trump, who secured 3,378,148 votes or 48.8 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes in the Electoral College.

Today @PAStateDept certified the results of the Nov. 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States, Wolf tweeted.

As required by federal law, I have signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Again, I want to thank the election officials who have administered a fair and free election during an incredibly challenging time in our commonwealth and countrys history.

Our election workers have been under constant attack and they have performed admirably and honorably, the governors tweet read.

Trumps campaign organisation is appealing a federal courts dismissal of his lawsuit that sought to invalidate millions of mail-in votes in the state over alleged widespread irregularities.

The presidents team had approached the Middle District Court of Pennsylvania alleging that 1.5 million mail-in votes in the state were illegally counted.

It also alleged that its poll watchers were not allowed to observe the counting of mail-in ballots, and urged the court to cancel the votes.

But in his ruling on Saturday, the presiding judge, Matthew Brann, threw out the case for lack of compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption.

Trump and other plaintiffs had filed the appeal at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday.

Reports say the Pennsylvania case was one of Trumps best hopes to overturn the election results through court, given the 20 electoral votes at stake. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By AbdulFatai Beki

The Kwara State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the state Residents Registration Agency Bill, 2020.

The Kwara Residents Registration Agency Bill is an executive bill sent to the House by Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq for consideration.

The motion for the presentation of a report and passage of the bill was moved by the House leader, Abubakar Olawoyim-Magaji

The bill was passed after the House adopted the report of an ad hoc committee on the bill chaired by Aliyi Opakunle (APC-Afon)

Opakunle, while presenting the report, told the House that stakeholders at the public hearing on the bill expressed support for the establishment of the Kwara Residents Registration Agency Bill.

The Speaker, Mr Yakubu Danladi, directed the Clerk of the House, Hajia Halimah Perogi, who read the bill for the third time and passage to produce a clean copy of the bill for the Governors assent. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Minister of state for trade and investment

By Joshua Olomu

The Federal Government has urged female entrepreneurs to apply for its ongoing intervention grant for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to enable them overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amb. MariamKatagum, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment made the call at a news conference on the implementation process of the survival fund on Tuesday in Abuja.

Katagum, who is also the Chairperson, Programme Steering Committee, said the Project Delivering Office (PDO) for the scheme was receiving feedbacks from Nigerians since its registration portal opened on Sept. 21 for applicants.

According to her, the project, which will run for an initial period of three months, has provisions for 45 per cent female-owned businesses and five per cent for those with special needs.

She however noted that there had so far been low women enrolment on the scheme, and therefore called on state and local governments, and trade associations to mobilise women to apply for the grant.

The minister said: There is need to mobilise more women because by the design of the programme, we are targeting 45 per cent of women beneficiaries and five per cent for those with special needs.

I use this medium to encourage more women to apply, and we also urge associations to try assisting their members who do not have access to the internet.

If you are a woman, apply and encourage others to apply because this money is there and we want to ensure that it gets to the targeted beneficiaries, she said.

Katagum lauded MSMEs performances across the country and urged them to take full advantage of the scheme by applying for any category that suits their needs.

She said that although many Nigerians had applied for the grant but there was need for improved awareness creation for MSMEs, especially those in the grassroots to key into it.

According to her, the white list of beneficiaries fully verified for disbursement and payments to the approved block of beneficiaries has also started.

She said that disbursements had been approved for a total of 16,253 MSMEs businesses, accounting for a total of 101,567 beneficiaries.

Also N30, 000 was paid to each of the 94,696 employees/beneficiaries, while N50, 000 was paid to each of the 6,871 employees/beneficiaries.

And 2.6 per cent of the beneficiaries are people with special needs, while 43 per cent of the total beneficiaries are women in line with the guidelines on disbursement.

The disbursements for payroll support commenced last week Wednesday, Nov. 18 and it is ongoing presently across the country.

However, due to the inability of some states to meet their targets, the portal will be reopened to accommodate such states, she said.

Katagum said that distribution of beneficiaries across the country so far to include Lagos 25,000,Kano -17,000 and Abia 16,000 beneficiaries, whileevery other state has 13,000 beneficiaries each.

The minister said that the Formalisation Support Scheme, which is simply the registration of 250,000 new businesses with CAC started on Oct. 26.

According her, the scheme has so far registered 9,084 MSMEs from Lagos State,8,406from Kano State and 7,906 from Abia, while other states have 6,606 beneficiaries each.

The minister said that prospective beneficiaries under the Artisans and Transport Grants scheme were being paid in three streams with each stream having 12 states.

Under stream one, 29,000 beneficiaries (artisans) have been approved for payment across the following states, they are FCT, Lagos, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Plateau and Delta.

While disbursement to beneficiaries under the first stream was ongoing,enumeration of artisans in stream two commenced on Oct. 26 and concluded on Nov. 11.

Beneficiaries under this stream have been fully verified and will start receiving payments from Tuesday Nov. 24.

The states under stream two comprise Taraba, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Edo, Ogun,Ekiti, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Enugu and Ebonyi.

She said that enumeration of artisans under the third stream commenced on Nov. 13, and was concluded on Nov. 23 for Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Yobe, Sokoto, Nasarawa,Niger, Imo,Oyo,Osun, Jigawa,Gombe, Benue and Zamfara states.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

Stock Exchange Market building Lagos

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

The nations bourse on Tuesday halted three consecutive days bearish posture with a growth of N113 billion due to interest rate retention at 11.5 per cent.

Specifically, the market capitalisation rose by N113 billion to close at N17.943 trillion from N17.830 trillion achieved on Monday.

Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 34,121.78 rose by 218.78 points or 0.64 per cent to close at 34,340.56.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the apex banks Monetary Policy Committee members, at the last meeting for the year, voted to hold all policy variables.

The retention came on the back of the recent National Bureau of Statistics report which confirmed that the economy slipped into recession as GDP contracted by 3.62 per cent in the third quarter.

Consequently, the committee decided to hold Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent; retained Cash Reserves Ratio at 27.5 per cent; and liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.

The upturn in the stock market was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are Stanbic IBTC Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Access Bank, FBN Holdings and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust.

A breakdown of the price movement table showed that UPDC Real Estate Investment led the gainers chart in percentage terms, gaining 9.64 per cent to close at N4.55 per share.

United Capital followed with 9.52 per cent to close at N4.60, while Fidelity Bank rose by 9.47 per cent to close at N2.66 per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 8.70 per cent to close at 25k, while Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 8.62 per cent to close at 63k per share.

On the other hand, Eterna led the losers chart in percentage terms, dropping 9.98 per cent to close at N4.15 per share.

Fidson Healthcare followed with 9.81 per cent to close at N4.87, while Champion Breweries lost 9.43 per cent to close at 96k per share.

Julius Berger dipped 8.95 per cent to close at N17.30, while Chams shed 8.33 per cent to close at 22k per share.

However, the total volume of transacted shares decreased by 35.67 per cent as investors bought and sold 365.41 million shares valued N4.69 billion, exchanged in 6,325 deals.

This was against 568.04 million shares worth N7.33 billion traded in 8,928 deals on Monday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 71.93 million shares valued at N1.73 billion.

Transcorp followed with 37.17 million shares worth N32.85 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 30.003 million shares valued at N1.02 billion.

Access Bank traded 29.55 million shares worth N243.31 million, while UBA transacted 29.33 million shares worth N236.30 million. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Muhyideen Jimoh

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has called for an overhaul of the Super Eagles technical and administrative structure to achieve better results.

The minister gave the order on Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials to review the Technical Report of the Nigeria/Sierra Leone AFCON Qualifiers and other matters.

Mr John Joshua-Akanji, Special Adviser to the minister, disclosed this in a statement.

The minister stressed the need to adhere strictly to the terms of contact of Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr, especially on performance and development of the game.

The recent dismal performance of the Super Eagles in their qualifiers against Sierra Leone has raised a few concerns and brought to fore, the need to do a quick critique.

The government, while concerned about the dismal performance and non discernible pattern of play and team harmony in the Super Eagles, is looking beyond the outcome of the Nigeria versus Sierra Leone matches and AFCON.

We are looking at the present and future administration of football that speaks to the development of the front room and backroom, he said.

Dare emphasised the need for the NFF to hold Rohr to the terms of his contract.

The NFF must tightly hold the Technical Adviser to the KPIs in his contract. Thus, we cannot wait for those conditions to come to life, before we tighten the screws or demand a higher or better performance, better technical depth, better player mix and team harmony and a functional national team.

The Federal Government will ask the tough and relevant questions. The NFF should do the same. The right of Nigerians to ask of government and indeed NFF explanations for dismal performances and football administration cannot be simply characterised as interference.

On our part, we will work to support the NFF but we will also demand for answers and changes too on behalf of Nigerians.

CAF and FIFA, while we appreciate their working partnerships, are expected to support Nigeria in its quest to ensure an effectual football administration.

Football is now both business and politics. A tool of diplomacy. Governments are more than interested in how its run. The FGN is interested even beyond that. Football is a source of national pride. A rallying point and promoter of peace and unity.

Nigeria at this point must use the opportunity of the outcome of the Nigeria/Sierra Leone match to X-ray other factors beyond the technical adviser that must have contributed to the dismal performance, he added.

Earlier, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, while providing a background to what happened, assured the minister that NFF would be more proactive going forward.

He said a few changes and adjustments as discussed and suggested by the ministry will be put into motion.

Pinnick said some of the changes to the team would include a physical trainer, nutritionist, a psychologist and at least
two match readers.

He also emphasised the need to inject three to four home-based players into the team, picked from the professional league, while Rohr must watch weekly NPFL games and evolve a scientific template to benchmark the performance of the team. (NAN)

Source: NAN News