HIGHLIGHTS
- Concessionaire seeks N150bn to complete Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
- The new dimension to e-fraud
- 97 million Nigerians now use Internet –NCC
- Top officials’ retirement won’t affect our operations – Customs
- Customs name six DCGs to replace retired officers
- We’ll surpass N944bn 2015 revenue target – Customs CG
- 6.6 million BVNs not linked to accounts – NIBSS
- FG Targets 90m Nigerians with New National e-Health Framework by 2020
- Buhari Tasks Accountants on Accurate Reporting, Transparency
- CBN Lists Benefits of IFRS
- With New Regulation, NERC Targets 2,000MW from Renewable Energy
- Trading in MTN shares suspended in South Africa
- Champions League Results - Wednesday 4th November 2015
Concessionaire seeks N150bn to complete Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
The private sector investor currently in charge of the redevelopment of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is looking for around N150bn to complete the 127.6-kilometre project.
Paucity of funds is said to have hindered further work on the road, but our correspondents gathered that the new investor, Motorway Assets Limited, was in the final stages of negotiation with lenders to raise between N120bn and N150bn for the second tranche of funds to complete the project.
The Federal Government had provided the initial N50bn in the first tranche by appropriating N25bn each in the 2013 and 2014 budgets following the revocation of the initial concession agreement with Bi-Courtney Highway Services.
Our correspondents also gathered that the management of Motorway Assets Limited would meet with the potential financiers of the project on Friday to fine-tune the details of funding arrangement and other aspects of the project.
The reconstruction of the busiest highway in the country into 10 lanes was initially projected to cost N167bn, but the Managing Director, The Bank of Infrastructure, Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye, told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview on Monday that the project cost was likely to rise now because of the redesign of the road to accommodate new features.
According to him, the new set of consultants coming into the project are currently redesigning the road because the initial design was not comprehensive and did not take into account some peculiar factors.
Oyinloye said though the initial design made provision for a flyover to take vehicular traffic to the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God along the expressway, the consultants were looking at the sites of other religious bodies along the road and how best to solve the gridlock usually associated with the road anytime they had a programme.
He noted that other key features of the new design were the provision of 24-hour emergency and rescue services on the road, an engineering solution to the Mowe/Ibafo area where human activities were currently taking place almost in the centre of the road, and other facilities such as truck parts that would make the highway to be of international standard.
The TIB boss said, “The seeming lack of activities on the road is as a result of the new arrangement. The road is now a Public-Private Partnership project, which has a process and structure. About 75 per cent of the process is documentation; if we don’t get that right, the entire project will become a problem.
“Motorway Assets Limited has been given consideration for the project. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has to give the concession certificate; while the lenders and investors have to ensure that all the details are properly worked out. We have now got all the relevant approvals.”
Oyinloye, who said the TIB was just a facilitator of the project, noted that what had been done on the road so far was early work, adding that upon the conclusion of the funding arrangement, the reconstruction would move at a higher pace.
Read the rest: PUNCH
DEAR customer, due to the new BVN policy by the CBN your account has been deactivated and to reactivate, call…”
The above text message is the latest bait used by fraudsters to lure unsuspecting bank customers to disclose their bank account details, especially their debit or credit card details and their Personal Identification Number (PIN), so that they can gain unauthorized access into the accounts and fraudulently withdrew the money therein.
The fraudsters realized that many bank customers may not have enrolled for the BVN, and hence decided to take advantage of the warnings from the banks to deny customers that have not enrolled access to their accounts, to lure people into divulging their card details. Thus the BVN deadline and the threat of account deactivation became a potent weapon in the hands of fraudsters.
While it may be difficult to ascertain if any bank customer have fallen prey to this new antic, the enormity of the threat and perhaps the potential impact on the industry, was reflected in a press release issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) calling the attention of bank customers to the circulation of such text message.
The press release stated, “It has come to the notice of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) that certain unscrupulous individuals have been sending unsolicited mails and text messages to unsuspecting bank customers, alerting them about deactivation or suspension of their bank accounts due to uncompleted Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration process.
An example of such messages reads thus; “Dear customer, due to the new BVN policy by the CBN your account has been deactivated and to reactivate, call……”
The Central Bank of Nigeria wishes to warn individuals and the general public that those messages are intended to lure bank account holders to reveal their personal details with which the fraudsters could use to defraud them.
Deposit money banks
“The public is therefore warned that neither the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and deposit money banks nor their employees or agents would ever call bank customers or send e-mail/text messages requesting for passwords, card details or personal identification number (PIN). Bank customers are therefore advised to personally visit their banks for any issue requiring disclosure of personal bank details. Please be warned.”
The warning, though necessary, may be too late, and most importantly, it does not address the root of the problem. The real problem is the lopsided communication about the BVN. There is so much emphasis on the deadline for enrollment as if customers that fail to enrol by the deadline won’t be able to enrol again.
Read the rest: VANGUARD
97 million Nigerians now use Internet –NCC
The Nigerian Communications Commission stated on Sunday that the number of Internet users on the telecommunication networks in the country had hit 97.21 million, up from the 95.37 million recorded in August.
The telecoms regulatory agency made the disclosure in its monthly Internet Subscriber Data for September obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The data revealed that Internet users on both the Global System for Mobile communications and Code Division Multiple Access networks increased by 1.84 million in September.
The data showed that of the 97.21 million Internet users in September, 97.06 million were on the GSM networks, while 151,816 were on the CDMA networks.
However, the CDMA operators lost 367 Internet users, after recording 151,816 in September, against 152,183 in August.
MTN has 41.84 million subscribers browsing the Internet on its network.
The NCC explained that MTN recorded an increase of 423,448 Internet users in September, after recording 41.41 million in August.
According to the data, Globacom has 21.89 million subscribers surfing the net on its network in September. About 20.77 million used the Internet on the network in August.
Airtel had 17.73 million Internet users in September as against 17.49 million recorded in August.
The data showed that Internet users on the Airtel network increased by 235,941 in September
Read the rest: PUNCH
Top officials’ retirement won’t affect our operations – Customs
The Nigeria Customs Service on Sunday said that the retirement of 35 of its senior officers would not affect its operations.
It said that contrary to insinuations in some quarters that the exit of five Deputy Comptrollers-General last Thursday would create a vacuum, the NCS explained that Assistant Comptrollers-General had been directed to take charge in order to continue the duties of those officers retired.
The Public Relations Officer, NCS, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, while responding to enquiries from our correspondent stated that the level of synergy within the organisation would make it difficult to feel the absence of the retired officers.
A total of 35 senior officers of the service were retired last week in a reorganisation exercise aimed at repositioning the customs for improved performance.
Those affected in the exercise were five deputy comptrollers-general. They were John Atte, Ibrahim Mera, Musa Tahir, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi.
Before their retirement, Atte was the DCG, Finance Administration and Technical Services, Adewuyi was the DCG in charge of Tariff and Trade,while Nwosu was the DCG, Strategic Research and Policy.
Tahir was the DCG in charge of Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection while Mera was the DCG, Human Resource Development.
Three others with the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General were also affected in the reorganisation.
They were the Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Madu Mohammed; Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’, Victor Gbemudu; and Assistant Comptroller-General, (Headquarters), Bello Liman.
The rest were of the rank of comptrollers serving in Customs headquarters, zonal offices and various area commands.
Read the rest: PUNCH
Customs name six DCGs to replace retired officers
The Nigerian Customs Service on Monday announced the appointment of six Acting Deputy Comptrollers-General in the ongoing re-organisation in the service.
The service, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Wale Adeniyi, stated that appointment had been approved by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.).
It said the six officers, who are Assistant Comptrollers-General, will occupy the positions of Deputy-Comptrollers-General in acting capacity.
Those appointed are ACG Idris Suleiman (Finance Administration and Technical Service); ACG Iya Umar (Tariff and Trade); ACG Dan Ugo (Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection); and ACG Grace Adeyemo (Excise, FTZ and Industrial Incentive).
Others are ACG Austin Warikoru (Human Resource Development) and ACG Paul Ukaigwe (Strategic Research and Policy).
Similarly, the statement said Ali approved the appointment of eight Comptrollers to occupy the positions of Assistant Comptrollers-General created in the exercise.
The eight comptrollers, who are to occupy the new offices in acting capacity, are Umar Sanusi (ACG Headquarters); Comptroller Funsho Adegoke (ACG Information and Communications Technology); Comptroller Mohammed Abbas (ACG Board) and Comptroller Olatunji Aremu (Command and Staff College).
Others are Comptroller Charles Edike (Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’); Comptroller Abubakar Dangaladima (Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘B’); Comptroller Azarema Abdulkadir (Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘C’) and Comptroller Chidi Augustine (Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘D’).
Read the rest: PUNCH
We’ll surpass N944bn 2015 revenue target – Customs CG
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali, on Tuesday expressed optimism that the steps being taken by the new leadership of the Nigerian Customs Service would enable it surpass its 2015 revenue target of N944bn.
He also vowed that any officer caught engaging in corrupt practices would be severely sanctioned.
Ali stated these while speaking during a courtesy visit to some key stakeholders of the service.
He admitted that there were challenges in the area of raising revenue, adding that with strategies so far put in place in blocking revenue leakages, the agency would be able to meet its target.
The CG, who did not provide details of how much has so far been raised, however, added that the agency was currently behind its revenue target.
He said, “The fact is that we are behind what we are supposed to realise, but we are hopeful that this is our ember months- October, November and December – and I believe by the time October return comes in, we will expect rise in what we have been able to gather.
“We are hopeful that November will bring some good tidings and also by December we should be able to round up to meet our target, which is N944bn.
In other to discourage corrupt practices, he said the agency would increase the remunerations of officers as revenue improves.
He said, “Corruption has become a general perception with which the public sees the service and this is because our job entails dealing directly with the public.
Read the rest: PUNCH
6.6 million BVNs not linked to accounts – NIBSS
Three days after the expiration of the deadline set for bank customers to register and obtain their Bank Verification Number, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc has disclosed that Deposit Money Banks in the country have yet to link 6.6 million BVNs to bank accounts.
The PUNCH had on Tuesday exclusively reported that at least five million bank accounts had been blocked by the banks.
The NIBSS, owned by the CBN and commercial banks in the country, is the technical organisation appointed by the central bank and the Bankers’ Committee to be in charge of the BVN project.
The NIBSS, in an emailed response to enquiries by our correspondent on Tuesday, stated that only 14.4 million BVNs had been linked to bank accounts out of the total of 21 million BVN holders in the country.
The organisation absolved itself of blame for the delay in linking the BVNs to bank accounts, saying only the banks had the details of their customers and could therefore link the numbers to the accounts.
The Head, Corporate Communications, NIBSS, Lilian Phido, said the organisation and the CBN had done several public enlightenment campaigns to educate customers on the BVN process, adding that failure to register and link the BVN at the banks could not have been caused by the organisation.
Meanwhile, long queues of customers seeking to obtain and verify their BVNs persisted in banking halls across the country on Tuesday, leading to chaotic situations in most of the branches.
For most part of the banking hours on Tuesday, officials battled to manage the crowd of customers at most of the bank branches visited by our correspondent in Lagos.
Reports indicated that similar situations prevailed in Abuja, Port Harcourt and other major cities in the country.
Branches of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Access Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Diamond Bank and Guaranty Trust Plc visited by our correspondent in Lagos were filled with customers seeking to obtain and verify their BVNs.
At some of the branches, bank officials were heard advising some of the customers to go to the lenders’ websites to link the BVNs to their accounts.
They also asked them to send SMS to certain numbers and the BVNs would be linked to their bank accounts.
However, the angry customers refused and insisted on staying in the queues until the problems were resolved and their bank accounts reactivated.
Read the rest: PUNCH
As part of government’s efforts towards a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all by 2020, the Federal Ministries of Health and Communication Technology, on Monday commenced the process of meeting the health needs of 90 million Nigerians, using a new national electronic-health framework.
The digital framework, THISDAY learnt will be implemented in synergy with the United Nations Foundation (UNF), the Save-One-Million-Lives-Initiative (SOMLI), is part of a prepatory meeting towards an all-inclusive African Health Summit slated for 2016.
Speaking at the technical meeting, in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, of the Ministry of Communication Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, who was represented by Tope Fadeshemi, a Director in the Ministry, said government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has developed an e-governance based master plan that would help in speeding up progress on the provision of e-health solutions for Nigerians.
He said: "In developing the master plan, it was clear that we looked at all the sectors and health is an area that cannot be kept aside, and with this realization and also in fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Ministry of health and ICT came together with the support of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) to form a framework toward providing healthy solutions for all Nigerians."
According to Olaopa, the strategic partnership of all the stakeholders will help in the direction of having the UHC, in Nigeria in 2020, adding that one of the roles of ICT health is the development of national framework to guide and provide direction for the deployment and utilization of ICT in health care.
He said: "Some work is already going on so that this goal can be attained on this laudable initiative and make it faster and in a more cost efficient manner. The collaborative nature of it is something that the ministry applauds and we are happy about it will continue to support it.
"There are some key areas like the area of policy and standards and the implementation like how do you store health data because we want to be sure like when somebody moves from area to the other how are we are we going to ensure that the data that is kept is easily transferable and readable. The unique identification of healthcare organizations these are the issues that ICT is generally geared towards solving."
Speaking along the same direction with Olaopa, the DG, NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack, said: "So we have decided to synchronise all our efforts and now we are talking about a multi-stakeholder partnership strategy where all the stakeholders are involved for a preparatory technical meeting towards the meeting in 2016 at the global national e-Health Summit. The idea is to begin to develop standards guidelines for interconnectivity of all the health information system across the country so that we have an integrated national health system in the country."
Read the rest: THIS DAY LIVE
Buhari Tasks Accountants on Accurate Reporting, Transparency
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians and other investors in the country that his administration would continue to promote policies that would bring about accelerated economic development, even as he stressed the need for prudent management of public funds by accountants and other public servants.
Buhari, stated this in a message at the opening of the 2015 Annual National Conference of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The president, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Nwaobia, said it was necessary that accountants and holders of public office should uphold the ethical standards and professional ethics in the prudent management of pubic, funds. He urged accountants to also design a robust model for proper accounting of resource utilisation, financial reporting and performance evaluation.
"Our statute books are replete with laws, rules and regulations for accountants and accounting practice but we have been unable to arrest the tide of unbridled corruption which is largely aided by unethical practices by those whose duty it is to uphold public trust.
"In recognition of this situation, government put in place several initiatives in the public financial management system, namely GIFMIS, IPPIS, IPSAS and more recently, the treasury single account (TSA) for which I demand faithful implementation,’’ the president said in a statement.
The president stressed the need for the accounting profession "to partner with the government in instituting a system which is performance focused and sensitive to the best professional standards in revenue mapping and capturing."
Read the rest: THIS DAY LIVE
CBN Lists Benefits of IFRS
The Deputy Governor (Economic Policy), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Sarah Alade, has highlighted the benefits of adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to the banking sector as well as the economy.
Alade stated this in a keynote address at the launch of the Africa IFRS Academy (AIA) by KPMG Professional Services and Shasat UK Limited, in Lagos recently.
According to her, globalisation had been the major driver for uniform financial reporting standards. She pointed out that countries that adopt recognised international standards are better positioned to attract investors.
“Financial information needs to be relevant, reliable, understandable and comparable. It is therefore important for those seeking capital to prepare financial information in line with globally accepted standards.
“A common reporting framework helps those seeking capital to compete better globally. This provides credibility to financial reports; helps investors and protect other stakeholders from bias reporting. Other benefits derivable from the adoption of IFRS include a reduction in the cost of operations for multinationals and better coordination of internal and external reporting,” she explained.
From a regulator’s standpoint, the deputy CBN governor said enhanced disclosures and transparency required under the IFRS contributes to the reduction of vulnerabilities, which in turn strengthens the resilience of the banking sector.
She also noted that the requirements as regards financial reporting originated from the bankers’ committee core principles for effective banking supervision.
Read the rest: THIS DAY LIVE
With New Regulation, NERC Targets 2,000MW from Renewable Energy
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved the application of a new regulation to stimulate investments that would give Nigeria up to 2000 megawatts (MW) of electricity generated from renewable energy sources in the next five years from now.
The new law, ‘feed-in tariff regulations for renewable energy sourced electricity in Nigeria’ was reportedly approved at the last regulatory meeting of the commission.
A statement from the commission’s Head of Public Communication, Dr. Usman Arabi, on Sunday in Abuja, explained that NERC envisaged that the country would generate at least 1000MW of electricity from the various renewable energy sources that she’s endowed with by 2018.
The balance, it however hopes, would be realised by 2020.
Renewable energy sources are electricity generated from biomass, small hydro, wind and solar energy sources, amongst others.
Chairman of the commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, according to the statement, noted that: “With this regulation, we have been able to unlock further investment potential in the country’s power sector. Its major objective is to diversify our sources of electricity and take advantage of our options.”
Amadi also noted that the regulation expects electricity distribution companies to procure 50 per cent of the projected renewable sourced electricity, while the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) is expected to procure the balance of 50 per cent.
The regulation also specifies that the capacity for renewable plant for use in the sector should be between one and 30MW. Plants above this threshold will require additional conditions other than those already specified in the regulation.
“The provisions of these regulations shall apply to all qualifying renewable energy sourced electricity of capacity above 1 megawatts and smaller than 30MW at a site that is connected to the transmission grid or the distribution networks,” the statement said.
It further stated that: “For large renewable (30MW above), integrated resource planning will be carried out before the NERC will initiate a competitive bid process.
“The buyer will after this solicit bids and purchase at the most cost effective based on the optimal technology available at the location.”
The maximum amount of renewable sourced electricity a distribution company can have on its network based on optimal potential available in their franchised areas was also allotted.
The statement noted that this provision of the law was geared towards helping the sector achieve the right mix of energy for the Discos as well as protect electricity consumers from spike in tariff.
“For instance, the regulation allots higher volume of biomass 26MW; 22MW and 19MW to Ikeja, Ibadan and Eko electricity distribution companies respectively; whereas Abuja Disco has the highest of wind sourced electricity at 14.4MW, while Port Harcourt has 11.4MW of biomass and 6.5MW of wind sourced electricity.
“However, Kaduna and Kano Discos have highest allotments of solar sourced electricity than other Discos at 12MW, with small hydro at 10MW and biomass at 6MW apiece,” it explained.
According to the statement, provisions of distribution code would also apply to embedded generation while grid code would apply to those that would use the transmission network to transport their electricity.
Read the rest: THIS DAY LIVE
Trading in MTN shares suspended in South Africa
The South African bourse yesteday suspended trading in the shares of telecoms firm MTN , a senior official said, a week after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slammed an unprecedented N1.04 trillion ($5.2 billion) fine on the telecom operator.
“Yes, trading in MTN shares has been suspended and the information was broadcast across the trading platform,” said Peter Redman of the exchange’s surveillance department.
MTN was fined last week by Nigerian regulator for failure to cut off unregistered users.
MTN is Africa’s biggest phone operator, and derives its largest (a third) earnings from Nigeria.
It has 5.1 million unregistered or incomplete subscribers in Nigeria.
The NCC had in August directed mobile telecoms companies to deactivate all unregistered SIM cards or face severe sanctions.
MTN missed the deadline to deactivate its 5.1 million unregistered subscribers, prompting a N200,000 ($1,000) fine for each unregistered SIM.
Read the rest: THE NATION
Champions League Results
Wednesday 4th November 2015
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP E
Barcelona 3-0 BATE Bor
Roma 3-2 Bayer Levkn
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP F
Bayern Mun 5-1 Arsenal
Olympiakos 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP G
Chelsea 2-1 Dynamo Kiev
M'bi Tel-Aviv 1-3 FC Porto
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - GROUP H
KAA Gent 1-0 Valencia
Lyon 0-2 Zenit St P
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