Lalong inuagurates Abuja-Jos Max Air flight

By Martha Agas

Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau has inuagurated the operations of Max Air flights from Abuja to Jos on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inauguration followed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Plateau Government and Max Air on Sept. 1, 2020 to boost business activities and tourism in the state.

Lalong said after he had landed in Jos from Abuja that the day was historic in opening more business opportunities for the state.

He added that the launch of the flight operation was part of his administrations policy of economic rebirth.

He explained that part of our policy is economic rebirth and we cannot do that without ease of movement, without ease of doing business.

Just recently, we launched a one-stop centre and we saw the eagerness of a lot of investors coming into Plateau but our roads are not too good.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari and Plateau members at the National Assembly in working toward repairing the roads in the state.

Lalong said the operations of Max Air would encourage the business class who expressed concerns on the safety of the roads to patronise the airline, saying the duration for the flight was only 25 minutes.

The airline is not only for business people but also to ease the movement of our sons and daughters who want to visit the state, he said.

He urged Plateau people to support his administration by sustaining the peace in the state, saying it was critical for investors to explore the potential of the state.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Ahmed Maje, congratulated Lalong for the feat, saying it was a great milestone in the development of the state.

He expressed the hope that the airline would ease the transportation of pilgrims from the state, while praying for the Jos Airport to commence international flights during his administration.

This will improve our security and our welfare, he said.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, said that the flight operation was critical to opening up economic opportunities.

She prayed for peace in the state and urged Plateau people to live in peace, irrespective of their differences, saying it would shore up development.

NAN reports that the Boeing 737, 300 Series from Abuja had 62 passengers, including the Plateau governor, his wife, and the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen.

Others were the Senator Representing Plateau Central, Hezekiah Dimka and the Chairman of the National Christian Pilgrims Commission, Rev. Yakubu Pam, among others.

The flights are scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged leaders of destination countries to insist on repatriation of illicit funds and proceeds.

Osinbajos spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said the Vice President made the submission at the virtual inauguration of a publication by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the impact of illicit financial flows (IFFs) on African Development.

Osinbajo called for an overhaul of the international tax system in order to tackle the scourge.

The enormity of efforts required to tackle illicit financial flows is evident in the many dimensions the scourge presents itself.

It manifests through harmful tax policies and practices, abusive transfer pricing, trade mis-pricing and mis-invoicing illegal exploitation of natural resources as well as official corruption, and organized crimes.

We have to pay particular attention to efforts to reform the international tax system.

The commercial form of illicit financial flows, especially tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance accounts for up to 65 per cent of illicit financial flows.

This means that we must pay particular attention to these issues, which are aided by things such as tax treaties, tax havens, and financial secrecy jurisdictions and indeed tax competition which leads to a race to the bottom in terms of tax rates amongst developing countries.

He said that another important issue that must receive attention was the identification and return of proceeds of illicit financial flows back to countries of origin as an effective deterrent to the scourge of illicit financial flows.

According to him, exposing those involved in practices that facilitate illicit financial flows, and retrieving proceeds of illicit funds are efficacious in deterring perpetrators, rebuilding the confidence of the citizenry, and compensating for the damage caused by such crimes.

I encourage all leaders, whose countries are considered absolute outliers for illicit financial flows, to join forces and take the responsibility of combating the scourge by insisting on the repatriation of illicit funds and their proceeds.

Let me also avail myself of this opportunity to call on leaders, whose countries are the main destinations for illicit financial flows, to take concrete steps to prevent and stop the receipt of illicit funds into their countries, and to assist in freezing, seizing, and returning such funds and its proceeds already in their countries.

On the way forward, the Vice President called for cooperation and synergy among the private sector, civil society, trade unions and professional groups to work with governments in tackling illicit financial flows.

He appreciated the immediate past President of the United Nations General Assembly, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, and Amb. Mona Jul of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), for taking the initiative to establish the first global Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity Panel (FACTI Panel)

Osinbajo called on the UN system to facilitate the establishment of clear rules and enforcement mechanisms on all aspects of illicit financial flows.

Making reference to the Mbeki report on Illicit Financial Flows during an interactive session with journalists at the event, the Vice President called for concerted efforts among African leaders and cooperation between Africa and multilateral organisations to end the scourge of Illicit Financial Flow from the continent.

On the proposal to combating Illicit Financial Flows by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Osinbajo said there was need for adequate representation of Africa during negotiations about illicit funds and their proceeds.

For his part, the Secretary General of UNCTAD, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, said the determination of political authorities in Africa to address issues relating to abuse of tax practices, among others would be crucial in tackling illicit flow of resources to havens outside the continent.

Kituyi commended Nigeria for its leadership on the subject matter.

He added that sharing data on trade among African countries and adopting best practices such as the Open Governance Initiative as well as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, would help in tackling the scourge of Illicit Financial Flows.

The publication by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the impact of illicit financial flows (IFFs) on development in Africa was designed to broaden the awareness on the scale, scope, and cost of illicit financial flows.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

NLC, TUC suspend nationwide industrial action for 2 weeks

By Joan Nwagwu

Organised Labour has suspended its planned nationwide industrial action for two weeks over the recent hike in electricity tariff and fuel pump price in the country.

Sen. Christ Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment said this while reading a joint communique on the resolution of the Trade Dispute between the Federal Government and the organised Labour on Monday in Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had threatened to embark on industrial action over the Federal Governments refusal to reverse the hike in electricity tariff and fuel pump price on Monday, Sept. 28.

NAN recalls that the removal of the subsidy had led to an increase in electricity tariff from about N30.23 to about N62.33 per kwh, while the price of petrol was increased from about N145 to about N161 per litre.

Ngige said the resolution reached with the organised labour was an outcome of a fruitful deliberation.

According to him, on the issue of electricity tariff reforms, the parties agreed to set up a Technical Committee comprising Ministries, Departments, Agencies, NLC and TUC, which will work for a duration of two weeks effective from Monday, Sept. 28.

The committee is to examine the justifications for the new policy in view of the need for the validation of the basis for the new cost reflective tariff.

The technical committee membership included Mr Festus Keyamo, Minister of State Labour and Employment, as chairman, Mr Godwin Jedy-Agba, Minister of State Power, Mr James Momoh, Chairman National Electricity Regulatory Commission,

Others were Mr Ahmad Rufai Zakari, SA to Mr President on Infrastructure, Dr OnohoOmhen Ebhohimhen, Member, NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero NLC, Mr Chris Okonkwo, TUC and a representative of DISCOS.

The minister said the committee should also look at the different Electricity Distribution Company (DISCOs) and their different electricity tariff vis--vis NERCs order and mandate.

Ngige, on the issue of the downstream sector deregulation, said all parties agreed on the need to expand the local refining capacity of the nation to reduce the over dependency on importation of petroleum products

He said NNPC was directed to expedite the rehabilitation of the nations four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna and to achieve 50 per cent completion for Port Harcourt by December 2021, while timelines and delivery for Warri and Kaduna will be established by the inclusive Steering Committee.

According to him, the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) will be integrated into the Steering Committee already established by the Corporation.

The Federal Government and its agencies are to ensure delivery of one million CNG/LPG AutoGas conversion kits, storage skids and dispensing units under the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme by December 2021 to enable delivery of cheaper transportation and power fuel.

A Governance Structure that will include representatives of organised Labour shall be established for timely delivery, he said.

Ngige also said on the issue of general intervention that the government will facilitate the removal of tax on minimum wage as a way of cushioning the impacts of the policy on the lowest vulnerable.

He said the Federal Government would give the labour unions 133 CNG/LPG driven mass transit buses immediately and provide to the major cities across the Country on a scale up basis, thereafter to all States and Local Governments before December 2021.

He said 10 per cent of the ongoing Ministry of Housing and Finance housing initiative would be allocated to Nigerian workers under the NLC and TUC.

According to him, a specific amount is to be unveiled by the Federal Government in two weeks time, which will be isolated from the Economic Sustainability Programme Intervention Fund that can be accessed by Nigerian Workers with subsequent provision for 240,000 under the auspices of NLC and TUC.

This is for participation in agricultural ventures through the CBN and the Ministry of Agriculture. The timeline will be fixed at the next meeting, he said.

In his remark, Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President said that both the government and organised labour have looked into the issue of fuel price hike and what was needed to be put in place in order to address the issue of the increase.

We have discussed the state of our refineries and how to achieve sustainable refineries.

We have also looked at the issue of the tariff hike and other challenges.

We agreed to suspend the strike, and we agreed to also put a committee in place to work out lasting solution in addressing these challenges, including the issue of metering and importantly also is to bring about the issue of efficiency.

We also reviewed the process of privatisation and other issues such as clear palliatives that were needed to be extended to our members and Nigerians to cushion the effect of these policies, he said.

Wabba, therefore, called for social dialogue as a way of addressing issues of industrial relations, socio-economic issues and also issues of development.

According to him, the labour hopes that the communique will be implemented, and therefore, the decision of the organised labour as represented here is to suspend the action.

We are going to convey our Central Working Committee meeting to present the communique to them, he said.

Also, Mr Quadiri Olaleye, TUC president noted that based on the agreement signed between the government and the labour, the planned industrial action would be suspended for two weeks.

He added that the planned industrial action was called to draw the attention of the government to certain issues.

Source: NAN News

President Buhari greets Onabule at 81

President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with frontline journalist and columnist, Chief Duro Onabule, as he turns 81 years on Sept. 27.

The presidents congratulatory message was conveyed in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Sunday.

Buhari lauded Onabules more than 50 years contribution to journalism and incisive public commentary, which has gone a long way to inform and educate the public, and shape policies and programmes.

I am glad that like old wine, Chief Onabule tastes better daily, he observed.

He, therefore, urged him to continue sharing knowledge and expertise with younger generations of journalists, who have a lot to learn from a committed professional.

Onabule, Chief Press Secretary to former military President, retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida for eight years, was Editor of National Concord (now defunct), before going to serve in government.

He is currently Chairman, Board of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The president wished Onabule longer life in good health and prosperity.

Source: NAN News

171 millionaires emerge in Dangote Cement Promo

Dangote Cement Plc says 171 millionaires across the nation have emerged in its ongoing Bag of Goodies Promo season 2.

The company made this known in a statement signed by Mr Anthony Chiejina, Group Head, Corporate Communications, Dangote Industries Limited on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the promo, which kicked off in July, is expected to produce 1,000 millionaires by November 5, 2020.

According to the statement, the increase in the number of millionaires came as a result of new winners who were given star prizes at ceremonies held in Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Ibadan.

Speaking at the presentation of dummy cheques to winners in Port Harcourt, Regional Director, South-South Dangote Cement, Mr George Okoro, said that the promo was to reward Nigerians.

He said they were rewarded for their continued patronage of Dangote Cement over the years.

He added that the company was well committed to uplifting and raising the standards of living of Nigerians as well as their financial stability.

He charged the winners not to relent but invest the prize wisely to yield more benefits in the future for them.

The Dangote Regional Director stated the companys readiness to give out one billion naira to 1000 customers.

He noted that other prices to be won included refrigerators, tricycles, recharge cards and television sets.

Also, Regional Director, Lagos/Ogun, Tunde Mabogunje, at the prize giving ceremony in Ikeja, commended the winners for their loyalty and continuous use of Dangote Cement in their projects.

He said the company was making progress because of consumers who formed the end chain in the distribution of any product.

Without consumers, no product will become a success, he said.

Mr Bankole George, Regional Director, South East, addressing the winners at the event held at the regional office in Enugu, tasked them to buy more of Dangote Cement to improve their chances of winning.

He urged the purchase of Dangote cement in the completion of building projects by taking advantage of the timing of the current promo in a win-win situation.

Whoever completes his projects this period and still wins one millionaire naira in the promo has won on two fronts, he said.

In her remarks, Director of Marketing, Dangote Cement, Mrs Funmi Sanni, said the promo came at an appropriate time to cushion the effects and impact of COVID-19 on businesses and families.

Sanni said the company had been making efforts to satisfy its teeming customers to the fullest.

She added that apart from the premium quality of the product, the firm has also introduced several customer-driven promotional offers in order to keep their relationship intact.

According to her, a customer could only win the N1 million cash prize on collection of the scratch cards that each carried letter D, A, N, G, O, T and E to make up the name DANGOTE.

Winners were presented with dummy cheques and received alerts during the presentation ceremonies held in several cities across the nation, she said.

Chief Commercial Officer, Dangote Group, Mr Rabiu Umar, in his remarks, said following the negative impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Dangote Cement decided to award total of N1 billion to 1,000 winners across the country.

According to him, the company deemed it fit to continue with the second phase of the promo, tagged Bag of Goodies 2 in order to give back to the society to cushion the effects of the pandemic.

Umar noted that the promo was like palliative to the teeming customers in the wake of the pandemic as most of them had suffered economic hardship caused by the coronavirus.

Despite effects of COVID-19 on global economy, Dangote cement company has decided to go ahead with the Bag of Goodies promo in order to give back to the society.

This promo is like a palliative to our teeming customers who have suffered economic hardship, occasioned by the pandemic.

Therefore, this would at least cushion the effects of the pandemic.

We feel that despite the pandemic, it is worthy to put a smile on the face of our teeming customers across the country. I am sure we have achieved our aim in this round of the promo, he said.

Source: NAN News

COVID-19 updates by NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced two deaths and 126 new cases of COVID-19 infections in the country.

The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 502, 545 samples have been tested by the agency since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in February.

It also said that the 126 new cases were recorded in 12 states, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 58,324.

The NCDC stated that 72 patients had recovered and had been discharged in the last 24 hours, while the country recorded two coronavirus-related deaths.

According to NCDC, FCT tops the chart with 30 new cases of the infections followed by Lagos, Rivers and Ogun with 24, 23 and 13 cases respectively.

Other states with new infections, it said, included Katsina-9, Plateau-9, Ondo-6, Kaduna-4, Kwara-4, Imo-2, Bauchi-1 and Edo-1.

Till date, 58,324 cases have been confirmed, 49,794 cases have been discharged and 1,108 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, it said.

It said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre, activated at Level 3, have continued to coordinate the national response activities across the country.

Meanwhile, the NCDC has said it is working hard to ensure travel into and out of the country is seamless while prioritising public health and safety.

The agency also said two new laboratories had been activated for inclusion in the NCDC Molecular Lab Network.

They are the Osun State University Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory, Osogbo, and Nasarawa State Diagnostic Laboratory, Lafia.

According to NCDC, testing at any laboratory in the NCDC network is free.

Source: NAN News

Kyari, NNPC boss hails labour for suspending planned strike

Mr Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has hailed the decision of labour leaders to scheduled to have commenced Monday.

Kyari, in a tweet on his official Twitter handle on Monday praised the leadership of the unions for choosing the pursuit of common good.

Being a former Union leader, I understand the difficulties of Labour leadership when faced with choices between stark realities and legitimate follower expectations. The leadership chose the pursuit of common good and posterity will vindicate us all for standing with our country

Mele Kyari (@MKKyari)

He said : Being a former union leader, I understand the difficulties of labour leadership when faced with choices between stark realities and legitimate follower expectations.

The leadership chose the pursuit of common good and posterity will vindicate us all for standing with our country.

Kyari said the the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had by their action demonstrated absolute faith in the country.

They showed understanding on inevitability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) deregulation and jointly charted way forward to secure local refining sufficiency through greater stakeholder inclusiveness and transparency.

We will follow through diligently, he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NLC and TUC had suspended the strike at the early hours of Monday following a meeting with the Federal Government.

Labour had called for the strike in protest against the recent hike in electricity tariffs and pump price of PMS commonly referred to as petrol.

Source: NAN News

COVID-19

By Edith Ike-Eboh

A public Finance expert, Dr Greg Ugochukwu Ezeilo has suggested survival strategies that organisations can use to revitalize their operations and bounce back to profitability quickly in the post COVID-19 era.

He gave the suggestion at a webinar organised by Team Bronze, a Think-Tank Group from Igbo-Ukwu, a historical town in Anambra State, on Sunday.

Team Bronze is also a group that is driven by the overarching goal of championing the wholesome development of their community and the Nigerian state in general.

Ezeilo is a consultant to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAN).

He said that Some of the survival strategies include digitisation of business operations, right-sizing of staff and outsourcing of certain functions.

Others include renegotiating wages of staff, adaptation to the dictates of the new normal and close collaboration with key stakeholders.

The webinar, which had the topic: Business Recovery and Survival Strategies in Post Pandemic, was the second in series organised by the group.

Ezeilo said that the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow on the world economy, with the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracting by 7.7 per cent, while Nigerias GDP shrunk by 5.3 per cent.

He noted that COVID-19 pushed many Nigerians into abject poverty and misery, warning that the devastating effect on local and world economies might remain for a long while.

He regretted that key industries in Nigeria had remained shut since March when the pandemic broke out and that resulted in the closure of several small businesses and loss of jobs for thousands of persons.

Ezeilo further advised promoters of organisations to consider profitable new ventures, mentioning some of them to include the agricultural value chain, transportation, food stuff and groceries, bakery and confectionary as well as commodity brokerage.

Other tips include deciding if the companys workforce should operate remotely or in physical offices, exploring new sources of finance and ensuring optimal customer service and care, he added.

He disclosed that the Federal Government had floated the Survival Fund, a funding scheme that will support micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to overcome the challenges of COVID-19.

He advised businesses to examine the criteria for accessing the fund and take advantage of the opportunity.

He listed a few other sources of low cost funding for MSMEs to include Renmoney, Green Stallion, NIRSAL MFB and Anchor Borrowers Programme.

He identified innovation and technology as a smart technique for reviving businesses, stressing the need to move from brick and mortar business to online business.

He said: Whatever business or trade you are engaged in, you need to embrace technology.

According to him, other benefits of transacting business online include increased sales, brand promotion, being in touch with customers across round the clock, world-wide delivery of goods and services, cost reduction and convenience.( NAN)

Source: NAN News

U.S. Soldiers in action

Five more U.S. soldiers in South Korea have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the lingering worry about the virus spread, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday.

The USFK said in a statement that five USFK service members were confirmed to be infected after arriving in South Korea between Sept. 10 and Sept. 25.

Four service members arrived at Osan Air Base on U.S. government-chartered flights from the U.S. on Sept. 10, 23, 24 and 25.

The Osan Air Base is located in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of the national capital, Seoul.

One service member arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on a commercial flight from the U.S. on Sept. 11.

The five soldiers have been transferred to designated isolation facilities at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.

The total number of infections among the USFK-affiliated personnel rose to 198, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

Worries remain in the country over the spread of the COVID-19. In the latest tally, South Korea reported 50 more confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total tally to 23,661.

In spite of the recent confirmed cases, USFK remains at a high level of readiness with less than one per cent of its active-duty service members currently confirmed positive with COVID-19, the USFK said. (Xinhua/NAN)

Source: NAN News

Students observing the COVID-19 guidelines by washing their hands

Maureen Ojinaka

Public and private schools in Enugu State have resumed academic activities after six months of lockdown, following COVID-19 pandemic.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the resumption in some schools in Enugu metropolis, on Monday, observed that public and private schools visited had commenced academic activities.

The schools head teachers, who spoke to NAN, said that students and pupils resumed in large numbers with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

NAN observed that the schools made available water, hand sanitizer and liquid soap for everyone and students were wearing facemasks.

The pupils were made to sit in pairs on each seat that formerly meant for three persons while others, especially in primary schools sat one each on a seat in their classrooms.

The Vice Principal, Union Boys, Awkunanaw, Mrs Ijeoma Jideofor, told NAN that a large number of students turned up.

Jideofor said that COVID-19 protocols were observed both in the classrooms and within the school premises.

Each classroom has a plastic tap bucket with clean running water, sanitizer and soap.

Both the students and teachers were mandated to wear green colour facemasks provided by the school management as it is now part of the school uniform, Jideofor said.

The Head Teacher, Igbariam Primary School 3, Mrs Caroline Ogbodo, told NAN that about 65 per cent of the pupils came to school with their face masks on.

Ogbodo said that all the schools were working according to the Enugu State Government directives as regards reopening of schools in the state.

According to her, the state government provided all public schools with the necessary materials for everyone to remain safe while in the school environment.

Supervisors from the state ministry of education are already here to monitor the academic activities and to find out if the COVID-19 protocols are being observed effectively, she explained.

Miss Ogochukwu Eze, Gods Care Nursery and Primary School, Achara Layout, said that the academic activities in the school had commenced for the third term of the 2019/2020 academic session.

According to Eze, a circular from the state ministry of education on school resumption exempted pupils in nursery classes. (NAN)

Source: NAN News