₦airaland Forum

The Distribution of Engagement Letters and Monitoring Devices to 46 Independent Monitors in South-East began today in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq reiterated the commitment of the federal government in ensuring that the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) are adequately monitored for effective service delivery.

The Minister who was represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics Mr Raphael Obi, urged the Independent Monitors to diligently report on the various social investment programmes targeted at lifting vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty in line with President Muhammadu Buhari aspirations.

“Today I am here to flag off the distribution of Engagement Letters and Devices for the Trained Independent Monitors in Ebonyi State. These Devices are equipped with an Application that will be used to report on monitoring activities of the trained Independent Monitors.

“All devices to be used for monitoring the programme are locally made in Nigeria and the Monitoring Application was designed by an indigenous Company.

“The Application, which we call the Social Investment Management Information System (SIMIS), is a mobile and web-based Application designed for monitoring the National Social Investment Programme”.

The Independent Monitors will follow up on government’s Social Investment Programmes including N-POWER, National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).

Each Independent monitor will be paid a monthly stipend of N30,000 and will be expected to meet up to 80 per cent of their deliverables monthly to be eligible for their stipend.

In his remark, the Ebonyi State Governor who was represented by the Commissioner, Ministry of Human Capital Development Mrs Ann Abigwe applauded the Hon Minister for the social investment programmes currently in operation in Ebonyi state.

Hon. Abigwe who is also the State Focal Person stated that the programmes have impacted tremendously on the lives of the vulnerable in Ebonyi State. She urged the Independent Monitors to remain committed and ensure accurate data collation in the discharge of their duties.

The State Director National Orientation Agency represented by Odono Mathew also expressed delight in Federal Government’s efforts under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and assured that NOA will continue to partner with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Pan African financial Institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has emphasized its unwavering commitment to the support of businesses and financial inclusion in Africa through its array of consumer lending products.

There has been clear evidence that credit remains a major economic stimulant and growth driver; but this has been largely inaccessible to the informal sector which dominates the African economies and small businesses that constitute the primary growth engine.



Consequently, the bank has further deepened its consumer lending product offerings with an aim to delivering services that will empower the customers, thus stimulating economic growth on the continent.




UBA’s Head, Consumer Lending, Anant Rao, said that the bank focuses on this critical aspect in line with its customer 1st philosophy is to ensure that the customers and delighted at every touchpoint.



Speaking during a virtual media parley attended by a diverse group of journalists and publishers from all over Africa, on Wednesday, he said: “UBA takes consumer lending very important because of the active role in plays in economic development. At UBA, we recognise that customers are important to economic growth, therefore our various offerings are positioned to support them in this regard. These loans have been developed by the bank in line with its purpose to meet the financial needs of customers and to be a part of their daily lives.”

“And this is why consumer lending is very essential to us, as it is the category of financing centered on individual and household consumers, which includes personal loans extended to people who use the funds for individual or family purposes as well as home and auto loans; and so, today in UBA, we make the following loan products available to our customers: UBA Personal Loan; Credit Card; Advance to Pensioners; Education Loan; Auto Loan; Asset Finance; Insurance Premium Financing; UBA Mortgage among others,” Rao continued.



He took time to speak on UBA’s Click Credit – a much loved and accepted facility that makes instant cash available to customers with salary accounts within minutes. “Available to all salaried customers, the Click Credit product is an instant loan with no form of documentation, paperwork or queues and is available within seconds of request. In fact, anybody who owns a mobile phone can borrow from UBA,” Rao said, adding that the product can also be accessed via USSD, Leo, U-Mobile and Internet Banking.

While emphasising that UBA will use consumer credit as a means to an end to satisfy the full range of a family’s financial needs and aspirations across Africa, the consumer banking boss took time to talk about the innovations that drive the bank’s business including Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, USSD, LEO, Kastle among others.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty-one million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries.

With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.

All is set for the launch of “Ellevate”, a bespoke women empowerment proposition of the Ecobank Group. Ellevate is targeted at empowering women-owned, and women-focused businesses in Nigeria.

Executive Director, Commercial Banking, Carol Oyedeji said the initiative which is scheduled for launch on July 7, 2021 in Lagos (Registration link https:///3hDPHkT ), is specially designed for women in business, and businesses with a high percentage of female executives or employees.

The programme also targets manufacturers of products used by women. Ellevate is an initiative of the Ecobank Group which is being launched in the 33 African countries where it operates. Its launch underscores the bank’s commitment to empowering women by providing the platforms and opportunities for them to thrive.

Ecobank understands that women’s needs are unique and has put in place the appropriate resources to meet those needs.

“With Ellevate, we recognise and acknowledge the critical role of women in the society. Ellevate offers women-owned businesses a wide reaching suite of solutions, incorporating smarter money management, discounted financing and value-added services to deliver, that female entrepreneurs need at the right time. We will work with the private sector and other interest groups to realise this. Ellevate offers end-to-end, differentiated business solutions, financial support, advisory services and networking opportunities for businesses in Nigeria that are managed and owned by women. In developing Ellevate, Ecobank took into consideration what women require from their bankers and successfully came up with pragmatic solutions that will help bridge identified gaps,” she stated.

Further, she said Ecobank Nigeria remains a women friendly bank, that has many initiatives and innovative products targeted at empowering female entrepreneurs. One of these is the Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs’ Initiative (EFEI), a platform designed to empower and support women owned small-scale businesses. In addition, there are business loans for SMEs, inventory finance for key distributors, shop owner’s facility for traders, purchase order and invoice discounting, asset finance and agriculture finance among other laudable offerings.

The Special Guest of Honour expected at the Ellevate launch is the Managing Director, Development Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Tony Okpanachi; the Panelists are: Founder,  Health Africa, Fola Laoye; Founder, Braveline Growth Partners, Taba  Peterside and Founder of Ruff n Tumble, Nike Ogunlesi. While the moderator is Tolulope Babajide, the Innovations and Partnerships Advisor on (Nigeria for Women Project), A World Bank-supported project.

Ecobank Nigeria Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking group with operations in 33 African countries and an international presence in four locations (London, Paris, Beijing and Dubai). Ecobank Nigeria is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals.

Ecobank is a major player in the distribution of financial services in Nigeria, leveraging digital platforms and an extensive  network of over 250 branches and more than 30, 000 agency banking locations (Xpress Points).

The Pan-African banking group, the Ecobank Group, is the African Banker’s 2021 African SME Bank of the Year.

Ecobank beat a host of other banks in the African Banker Awards 2021 to take home the SME Award in a 2020 tumultuous year characterised by the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to ravage many African economies, with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) taking the greatest hit.

Among other criteria, the African SME Bank of the Year award 2021 recognises the bank which has significantly contributed to the development of the SME sector, thus helping them to build the economic backbone of the continent. Part of the entry criteria required that the winning bank has significantly catalysed funding into the private sector in Africa and promoted enterprise development by facilitating credit and access to finance for SMEs.

Since the onset of Covid-19, the Ecobank Group has considerably ramped up investments in programmes targeting SMEs by expanding SME-focused lines of credit, providing technical assistance to SME development institutions and building SMEs’ capacity via linkage programmes in partnership with its strategic partners. The Group has been at the forefront of promoting gender inclusion and closing the gender finance gap through innovative initiatives such as ‘Ellevate by Ecobank’ that targets women-led and women-focused businesses across the continent.

Ecobank Group Executive, Commercial Banking, Josephine Ankomah, said: “2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. It required resilience and innovation. We needed to rethink our business and provide innovative ways to assist our SME customers to help them to survive the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. We are truly honoured to receive this recognition. Our immense gratitude goes to our staff, customers and partners who have made this possible.”

Some of the measures taken by the Bank to support SMEs in 2020 include:

Proactively instituting mitigating actions, including tenor extensions and moratoriums on interest, to assist SMEs to manage their loan repayments;
Increasing the utilisation of digital channels, such as Ecobank Omni Lite, to provide customers with capabilities to make payments remotely and conveniently;
Upskilling staff to ensure their capacity to help develop the SME sector;
Collaborating with existing risk sharing partners, particularly Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), to share a portion of the risk associated with our lending to the SME sector;
Partnering with tech giant Google to provide SME customers with the means to develop free online presence through the Google My Business platform;
Collaborating with the African Union’s Development Agency – AUDA-NEPAD – to focus on strengthening Africa’s support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and assist their recovery from the impact of the pandemic by empowering MSMEs with access to capabilities, markets and finance, so that they can play a pivotal role in restarting Africa’s economies;
Launch of ‘Ellevate by Ecobank’ which is a women-owned and women-focused product offering women an end-to-end partnership, through which they gain access to both financial and non-financial services such as financial education, product information, networking and recognition; and
Growing the number of merchants using Ecobank’s point-of-sale (POS) terminals from 5,571 to 15,878, in addition to attracting significant onboards onto EcobankPay, our flagship QR collections platform, from 180,060 to 248,664.

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was lured to a location in an African country with a promise of cash donation in millions of dollars.

The IPOB leader, who was facing charges bordering on treasonable felony following his campaign for the secession of Republic of Biafra, had jumped bail in 2017 after a military action, code-named “Operation Python Dance”, targeted his family house in Abia state.

Security sources informed TheCable that the operation to re-arrest and put him back on trial had been “ongoing for a while” until success was recorded on Sunday, June 27.

“He was not arrested in the UK or Brazil or Czech Republic. He was not crated either, contrary to speculations,” the source said.

The Nigerian government has not named the country where Kanu was arrested, with Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation, just saying he was “intercepted” and extradited to Nigeria.

However, THEWILL, an online newspaper, reported that the “interception” took place in Ethiopia, where it said Kanu had been living for a while.

THISDAY specifically named Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, as the location.

TheCable learnt that Kanu was tracked through some members of IPOB who were recently arrested following a massive military operation in the South-East.

The security agencies worked through the links to give the IPOB leader the impression that he was going to be given some “millions of dollars” in cash donations to the organisation.

He was said to have decided to collect the money himself “because of the huge amount involved”.

Kanu even kept his associates in the dark about his mission, according to the security sources who said the top hierarchy did not know his whereabouts on the day he was arrested.

He had been having a crisis of confidence with some of his lieutenants over financial matters.

On arriving at the location where he was to collect the ‘donation’, he was arrested by that country’s security agencies and Interpol, and his extradition was expedited, the source said.

This has brought an end to the long-running episode since he left Nigeria while on bail.

His trial is expected to resume on July 26.

Small Medium Enterprises are the ultimate drivers of the economy, and when they are under-utilized and not given the much-needed support to thrive, it has an overriding effect on the overall growth and development of a Nation.

In a demonstration of its continuous commitment to National development, FirstBank’s ‘SMEConnect’ continues to create an atmosphere for SMEs to build, grow and scale.

SMEConnect is FirstBank’s value proposition geared towards building the capacity of SMEs to deliver business goals and contribute even more significantly to national development. It is a digital platform through which SMEs can access the bank’s plethora of services. The portal is designed to help SMEs access the Bank’s unique propositions and identify various gaps that hinder their business growth.

With FirstBank’s over 127 years of impacting the economy, the portal helps proffer tailored services solutions, whilst creating avenues for business improvement, profitability and sustainability. Currently, there are 4,225 registered businesses and 20,880 users on the platform.

SMEConnect was birthed out of the need to bridge the gap and connect SMEs to resources, products and services that will enable them to overcome the challenges of poor business structures, lack of infrastructure, poor market penetration, limited access to information and professional services, inconsistent government policies amongst others, hence the bank has identified seven strategic pillars considered essential for the sustainability and growth of SMEs.

The pillars are: connect to infrastructure, connect to talent, capacity building, connect to policy and regulation, connect to resources, connect to market as well as connect to finance to further reinforce the Bank’s role in putting SMEs at an advantage whilst contributing to national growth and development. SMEConnect serves as a medium of connecting SMEs to these solutions from the comfort of their offices, homes, and anywhere they are in the world. The uniqueness of the platform lies in the fact that these offerings are either free or substantially discounted.

The unique selling proposition of SMEConnect is the congregation of value-adding products & services on one platform for easy access and at rates (prices) that are competitive and (in most cases) discounted. The SMEConnect has special features such as the Business Diagnostic tool which has been specifically developed to evaluate one’s business and give one a business effectiveness score, it goes further to tell one what one has done well and what one needs to improve on. One is also able to request a business coach on the portal and get up to a 34% discount.

SMEs can also have access to free business advisory services through the business diagnostic tool, they can showcase their products and services at no cost at all, interact with their customers and other SMEs alike, Connect to free capacity building workshops, seminars and webinars and get regular updates on policies and regulations impacting SMEs. All these interesting features combine to make FirstBank the first-choice bank amongst SMEs.

Other features of the SMEConnect platform include enlightening blog articles that provide tips on growing businesses, e-newsletters, and useful webinar content.

What are the pre-requisites for SMEs to be listed on the portal?

SMEs can join the SMEConnect community by visiting https://smeconnect.firstbanknigeria.com/ to sign up seamlessly for free. Users only need to enter their email addresses and create a password to get started. Businesses must be registered and have a corporate account with FirstBank to list their business on the business hub and access all the beneficial offerings on SMEConnect.

Furthermore, individuals and businesses can register to be users of SMEConnect without listing their business. SMEConnect is open to businesses operating across all sectors.

Businesses who wish to list their businesses on the business hub in addition to being registered and having a corporate account with FirstBank must accept the terms and conditions of the platform.

There are some exceptions, however, businesses that deal in cryptocurrencies, sports betting and other similar business ventures that do not align with the Bank’s T&Cs (https://smeconnect.firstbanknigeria.com/terms)are currently not allowed to be listed on the business hub.

Visit https://smeconnect.firstbanknigeria.com/ to sign-up and enjoy the rich benefits the FirstBank SMEConnect offers.

Culled from Nairametrics

A routine fire safety drill has been carried out -Company

Residents of Ijegun Egba, Satellite Town in Lagos State have raised the alarm over the leakage and smell of gas in their community.

The alarm was contained in an emergency note sent to inform Lagos State Fire Service of the happenings in the community on Thursday.

They alleged that the leakage was coming from the Rainoil Depot in Ijegun Egba Gas Farm.

According to the statement by the Satellite Town Forum, the offensive smell has enveloped a small part of the community.

The note read: “The Lagos State Fire Service is hereby notified that there is a huge smell of gas in the community coming from Rainoil Depot in Ijegun Egba Gas farm.”

They urged relevant regulatory agencies to call on the farm management to ensure that “there should be no fire outbreak as a result of the leakage in the community due to gas vapour clouds in Ijegun Egba, Satellite Town.”

They also called on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to carry out a proper investigation on the gas leakage that happened around 1.05 pm on Thursday.

“We at Satellite Town Forum hereby advise that Lagos State Fire Service and Federal Fire Service should kindly carry out thorough investigations that led to the gas leakage which happened today, 24th June 2021.

“We don’t want what happened in Ade-Soba gas linkage clouds vapour explosion to happen in Ijegun Egba Tankfarms,” they said.

But, in a reaction, Rainoil Limited assured safety around the Ijegun-Egba community where its LPG depot is located, stating there is no gas leak.

In a statement, Rainoil said a routine fire safety drill has been carried out to ensure the preparedness of staff in the event of an emergency.

The House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilisation, on Thursday, grilled the Acting Managing Director, Polaris Bank Limited, Innocent Ike, over an account belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Over $200m was said to have been allegedly hidden in the account, which was opened in 2012.

Polaris Bank, formerly Skye Bank, said it forwarded the balance to the Central Bank of Nigeria in compliance with the Treasury Single Account policy of the Federal Government.

The committee, however, invited the NNPC to come forward and explain the circumstances surrounding the account, while asking the bank to forward evidence of the remittance within one week.

Chairman of the committee, Adejoro Adeogun, had noted that a special prosecutor to the defunct Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Mr Tosin Ojaomo, raised the alarm over the alleged maintenance of an account with the Deposit Money Bank against the TSA policy.

Adeogun noted that several top government officials had been summoned and appeared before the committee to account for recovered loot.

He said: “In the course of our ongoing inquiry, we did find out that there were depositions; they alleged that there were infractions by your bank and there were gaps in the records supplied by some of these agencies, and you have been invited to give your side of the story.”

Ike, in his presentation, recalled that the defunct Skye Bank was enmeshed in financial and administrative crises, making it difficult to meet its obligations.

According to him, huge credit facilities were granted to operators in the petroleum sector following there was a major crash in global oil prices.

He further recalled that the CBN, in July 2016, dissolved the board of the erstwhile Skye Bank and Polaris Bank took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile Skye Bank.

Ike noted that it was a normal banking service to the NNPC, adding that the account was opened before the TSA policy was introduced.

“Permit me to conclude that the money deposited at Skye Bank and Polaris Bank was at no time hidden from any government agency and, therefore, we do not believe that it should be classified as looted funds at all.

“At that same time, the bank, among other things, was unable to honour the directive to remit all government funds to the TSA, inclusive of the NNPC fund. So, when we came on board, it was one of the challenges that we had to deal with at that point in time.

Barely one week after they called off a three-day warning strike, bread makers and Gurasa Bakers Association of Kano state has threatened to embark on indefinite strike if BUA Group (owned by Abdulsamad Rabiu), IRS, Super and Golden Confectionery fail to reverse the price of flour.

Gurasa is a Kano indigenous local bread made up of flour that serves as one of delicacies used by Hausa people in the state.

In a statement on Thursday, the association, through its Chairperson, Fatima Auwalu, said nothing has changed since they called off the warning strike, prompting them to embark on indefinite industrial action until authorities and stakeholders do the needful.

According to Mrs Auwalu, all Gurasa bakers in the state are counting losses due to the recurring increase in the price of flour, which is the major ingredient for making of one of the local staple foods.

The Chairperson pointed out that not long ago, the price of flour was N9,500 but now it has reached N16,200, calling on the companies to reverse the price to N9,000 or shutdown the business.

She further lamented that a part from the increase in the price of flour, the quality of the product has been reduced, saying, “this has negatively impacted our business.”

“Since calling off the warning strike, we thought the price would reduce, but to our dismay, the price is rather going up day by day.

“The three-day strike had inflicted hardship on us and our customers, but we could not do anything to resolve this problem but to take industrial action in order to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to bring lasting solution to the problem.

Mrs Auwalu added that the association had decided to call off the strike because of the intervention of the Kano state Commissioner of Police and other agencies.

“We normally use IRS flour, BUA, Golden Confectionery and Super Flour. These are the only three brands that we used always. But we’re in a difficult situation because our business has become the shadow of its former self due to the hike on the price of the flour.

“Let me use this opportunity to call on Abdussamad Isyaku Rabiu and other stakeholders to quickly reverse the price of flour or we shut our business down. If we shut it down, it will not affect us alone, it will affect many people in this state and the North as a whole,” she warned.

Another Gurasa baker, Usaina Adamu said they had been forced to embark on the indefinite strike due to the fact that their warning action did not yield desired results.

According to her, the bakers had decided to go on the strike in order to bring the attention of the stakeholders to control the price of the flour, noting that but their action did not change the situation.

“We called on the stakeholders to do the needful in a bid to control the situation but it is rather deteriorating.

“We therefore call on Abdussamad, IRS and other companies to as a matter of urgency reverse the price of flour to N9000 or we go on indefinite strike. They should know that thousands have relied on this business. If we shut it down, a lot will suffer,” she warned.

On his part, Umar Badamasi, who is the Vice Chairman of Gurasa Sellers Association, expressed surprise on how the price of flour is raising day in day out.

“We call on stakeholders, the Manufacturers such as BUA, IRS, Super and other manufacturers to investigate this matter and provide solution. They should also warn those dealers who we suspect are increasing the price whole they get the commodity at cheaper rare from the manufacturers. If this is not done, we have no choice than to shut down the business,” he threatened.

Former national president of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Ernest Elochukwu and his company, Nestilo Nigeria Limited; Sir John Oforbike and his company DENCA Services Limited and others were Wednesday expelled by National Executive Council (NEC) at its ongoing meeting at MARRIOT Hotel in Ikeja GRA, Lagos.

Details shortly…

The Lagos State House of Assembly has approved Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s request of ₦85 billion special dispensation for bond redemption as well as ₦85 billion for bridge loan for a quarter.

This is in pursuant to the approval of Bonds, Loans and other Security Law of Lagos State 2015 and comes at 9.25% per annum to bond financing programme.

At a sitting on Monday, the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, stated that the terms of reference of the request received from the executive arm appraise the request for a special dispensation; enquire into the debt profile of the State and ascertain the source of the fund for repayment and refinancing.

According to Hon. Olowo, based on briefing and documents received, the redemption of bonds will allow for extension of maturity of the same with a two years moratorium in 2031 and the special dispensation approval will enable the State earmarks for capital projects.

Addressing journalists after the approval, Hon. Olowo explained that the request from the governor had two aspects.

The first was for an approval for Bond Brigde Loan which would allow the state to access bond market as soon as possible while the second aspect is a loan from a commercial bank at the interest rate of 9.25.

Olowo explained that as at February this year, the federal government went to bond market at coupon rate of 12% , saying that in june it had increased to 13.5%.

He also said comparing the rate with the bond secured by the state government in 2016 and 2017, the least of all was 16.6%, adding that the highest was around 17.25%.

Olowo explained that the opportunity the market provided was enough for the state to access it now, adding that the state would be able to get the rate cheaper and that the current bond of the state would mature in 2024.

“When you look at our Consolidation Debt Service Account (CDSA) we have about N22billion and we are talking N101.2billion in the next 2 or 3years. It will amount to a lot of pressure on our debt obligation, so what we thought that is necessary is that we should quickly access the bond market with the approval of the House so that we can get it at cheaper rate and it will be for 10years with 2years moratorium.

“What it means is that, in the next two years after securing the bond we will not pay any money. We will not pay the interest and the capital, it will be like tax holiday. It will relieve the state the burden of sourcing for money to pay the creditors.

“On the second aspect, if today we don’t access the commercial loan from one of the banks at a single digit of 9.25%, we will still be losing because what we will still access, we will pay the holders of the bond between now and the next one months. That means we have been able to save money worth an average of N1.5billion in form of seeking fund to be able to make up to 2023.

“So, if we don’t pay that in the next three years, what it means is that we have gotten a saving of about N75billion. It is obvious that there cannot be a better time for the state to go for the bond market which we called ‘ Special Dispensation Bond’ and the second is a loan from a commercial bank at the interest rate of 9.25 which is very cheap. That is the reason why the Assembly speedily supports the executive. We always want to support the executive when it comes to infrastructure,” Olowo said.

Ecobank Nigeria says its vision to use agency banking scheme to drive entrepreneurship, provide employment opportunities and supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is yielding fruits, as over 32,000 Nigerians including former employees and retirees have adopted the scheme to sustain their everyday living.

According to the bank apart from helping to drive its financial inclusion strategy in Nigeria, the agents were empowered to create wealth and enjoy financial freedom.

Head of Agency Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Olanike Kolawole stated this while responding to media questions in Lagos. According to Kolawole the customer experience is very good as customers can do the simple deposit, payment and transfers in their own neighbourhoods rather than travel for hours to a bank branch.

“These are all parts of our efforts as a bank to help more Nigerians embrace entrepreneurship as best strategy to tackle poverty and address growing unemployment. We are happy with our agency banking services providers also known as our Xpress point agents, knowing they are playing a critical role in helping us reach out to the unbanked and underbanked in the society.

“They are bringing more people to the banking space through their services. They carry out financial transactions on our behalf and earn commission on every transaction processed. Also, the Xpress Point is also a channel that is also being used for the deployment of national social intervention programmes of the government,” she stated

Nike Kolawole cataloged the services offered by the Xpress point agents as cash in, cash out, fund transfer, bills payment, airtime recharge, remittance and account opening, among others. She said the services are available for “sole proprietors, partnerships, co-operative societies, microfinance banks, companies with large distribution network – like petrol stations, FMCGs, telecommunication companies, super agents, aggregators and unregistered businesses such as petty traders, hair saloon and others.

Ecobank boasts of a bouquet of digital channels comprising solutions aimed at delivering convenient, accessible and reliable financial services. The USSD platform: *326#, makes it possible to open an Xpress account and Xpress Save account instantly. The bank’s mobile banking app, Ecobank Mobile offers the option of generating a virtual card; this comes in handy as customers are continually turning to web payments for their shopping.

There is also the Ecobank virtual card, which offers the flexibility and convenience of creating a shopping card that is not linked to a customer’s account but is fully capable of carrying out online payments. The virtual card can also be shared with loved ones as a gift card for their own shopping.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says private aircrafts in the country with unverified documents will be detained from July 6, 2021.

Joseph Attah, NCS public relations officer (PRO), said this during a media briefing in Abuja on Monday.

On May 31, Customs had announced that it will commence verification for private aircraft owners from June 7 to July 6, 2021, due to rising insecurity.

It explained that the verification exercise is to ensure strict compliance with NCS regulations and revenue generation through the payment of one percent comprehensive import supervision scheme.

“Within two weeks into the 30 days’ verification period, only six owners of private aircraft owners have responded to the invitation,” Attah said.

“We are necessitating this update and reminder to those who have not responded, to do so in order to avoid possible detention of their aircraft.

“We also know that some brought their private jets under a temporary import certificate.

“The period for such temporary importation for some of the aircraft has expired and they have neither renewed nor re-exported the aircraft in line with extant laws governing that in Nigeria. These are infractions.

“At the end of the verification, some of the things we want to expose will come to light. We will make our findings known on July 6 after the expiration of the 30-day grace window. Those in default risk detention of their aircraft as nobody is above the law.

“As (an) agency of government responsible for enforcement of laws governing import and export in Nigeria, NCS will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions on a defaulting private aircraft owner immediately after the verification expiration period on Tuesday 6th July 2021.

“The ongoing investigation is not intended to inconvenience any owner of a private aircraft as such an individual or his/her representative can come with the documents for verification.

“What is important to the nations is to ensure that all aircrafts, privately owned, in the country were properly imported and cleared with all appropriate taxes paid.”

The required documents for the verification includes aircraft certification of registration, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) flight operations compliance certificate (FOCC), NCAA’s maintenance certificate (MC), NCAA’s permit for non-commercial flights (PNCF) and temporary import permit (TIP) where applicable.

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday reviewed and amended a portion of the law creating the state’s Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

The Assembly amended the law by creating a subsection for Section 2 of the law.

The newly added subsection 5 gives the Governor of the State the power to extend the tenure of the commission based on exigencies.

While Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, Leader of the House, told his colleagues that the amendment was permitted by existing law, his colleague and chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Public Petitions and LASIEC, Hon. Victor Akande, explained that the amendment is to resolve the lacuna that could occur between the period the tenure of the commission elapses and when new members are appointed by the Governor.

“The bill is just for a singular amendment or a fraction of the law and the major issue is that it is seeking for us to give the Governor a leverage in case of scarcity of time,” he said while urging his colleagues to support its passage.

Contributing, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti-Osa 2) said the amendment is in good faith for the progress of the state and effective running of the government.

He, however, suggested that the amendment should be in such a way that there would be recourse to the House should there be any reason to extend the tenure of the commission.

On his part, Hon. Tobun Abiodun (Epe 1) supported the amendment and noted that it was being done to “ensure we abide by the law.”

He noted that the amended portion of the law states that if the tenure of the commission expires when the government has yet to make fresh appointments, the tenure could be extended by six months.

Concluding the debate, Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Mudashiru Obasa explained that the portion of the law was being amended to meet the exigencies of time.

He explained that the amendment became expedient to ensure that the process leading to the effective conclusion of the local government election in Lagos State is not hampered as a result of the soon-to-end tenure of the members of LASIEC.

To this end, he argued, a legal extension of the members of the commission would help them effectively conclude the elections with the backing of the law.

He, however, noted that an additional six months as suggested by the bill was too wide since the period is simply meant to perfect fresh appointments.

While suggesting a reduction of the time period to three months, the Speaker also opined that the request for such extension should be subject to a review and approval of the House.

He directed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, to pass the clean copy to the Governor for assent.

Ecobank Nigeria has announced the promotion of 682 staff effective May 1st, 2021 representing 26% of its core staff despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the attendant impact on business performance globally.

This according to a statement signed by the Managing Director, Patrick Akinwuntan is targeted at recognizing and rewarding employees for their efforts and commitment, stressing that it was also in alignment with the unrelenting desire of the bank to grow its people.

The Managing Director explained that the exercise is part of steps taken by the bank to realign its work force for better efficiency in line with best practices, adding that its workers remain the greatest asset to maintain high service quality standards, constantly improve on customer satisfaction and enhance the Ecobank brand experience.

“It is commendable that the Board and Management of Ecobank Nigeria exceptionally approved the promotion exercise at this time. As we progress on the journey to becoming the Bank of choice in Nigeria, the empowerment and growth of our people remain a critical cornerstone for achieving the desired market leadership, the Ecobank brand promise, and a respectable return to our shareholders. We are re-building our Bank and our people continue to be the most valuable contributors to our present and future success.

“While these individuals have been recognized at this time, it by no means belittles the contributions of other colleagues who have also done well. The promotion is a continuous exercise and all hard working employees will eventually be promoted,” Mr Akinwuntan stated.

Advising members of staff, the Managing Director said: “Let us continue to grow the bank and delight our customers to enable us achieve our desired target of becoming the preferred bank in Nigeria and contribute positively to the growth of the Ecobank Group and Africa.

“As a bank, we remain committed to prioritizing the development and career growth of our people and ensuring commensurate recognition continues to apply to all other deserving staff”.

The promoted staff were selected through Ecobank Group’s standardized performance management system; an in-house developed performance management system which uses both financial and non-financial metrics to appraise staff.

Also Ecobank has announced the recruitment of the first batch of 60 new entry level trainees into its workforce as part of its growth agenda. The new employees will be absorbed into the firm’s training programme at the state of the art Ecobank academy in Lagos. This being part of the bank’s deliberate policy to train and equip its workforce in line with its transformation drive to make the bank the most preferred financial institution in the country. The rigorous training of new staff is targeted at preparing the graduates to better serve its customers ina convenient and accessible manner.

Ecobank Nigeria Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking group with operations in 33 African countries and an international presence in four locations (London, Paris, Beijing and Dubai). Ecobank Nigeria is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals.

Ecobank is a major player in the distribution of financial services in Nigeria, leveraging digital platforms including Ecobank Mobile App and USSD *326#, Ecobank Online, Ecobank OmniPlus, Ecobank Omnilite, EcobankPay, Ecobank RapidTransfer, ATMs, POSs and an extensive distribution network of over 250 branches and about 30,000 agency banking locations.

Media entrepreneur and popular blogger Linda Ikeji, said she was motivated to partner with Ecobank on her “Selfmade Woman” initiative because of the bank’s various women friendly programmes, stressing that many individuals, especially women who own small businesses are supported by the bank to succeed.

“When I conceive the idea of self-made women empowerment conference, Ecobank was the first bank I thought about because I love how much they are into women empowerment. They have a lot of programmes, a lot of platforms internally to help women in business. They are really into helping women reach their full potentials. Fortunately, when I met with them and told them what I wanted to do, they immediately said yes to me, and they have been fully involved and here we are today. Ecobank today is my bank of choice”.

Linda Ikeji who spoke at the “2021 Selfmade Woman Conference”, her women empowerment initiative testified that Ecobank Nigeria as a female friendly is helping women achieve their dreams and full potentials. On why she initiate the Selfmade Women Conference Linda Ikeji said “I am very passionate about women succeeding and it was very important for me to put something together as a platform where successful women would meet and mentor those aspiring to be successful.

“My purpose for doing this is to hopefully encourage more women to believe in themselves, encourage more women to fight for their dreams, encourage more women to know that there is absolutely nothing that they can’t achieve. I want them to hear stories of women who have achieved great feats, women who have broken tables and know that it’s possible for them to break through all these barriers, believe in themselves, see people like myself, Tara Durotoye and other women who have done amazingly well. Getting a women friendly bank like Ecobank to partner me is heartwarming”.

Also speaking, Founder, House of Tara, Tara Fela-Durotoye, applauded Ecobank for supporting women initiatives. She observed that partnering with young women and young entrepreneurs would go a long way to empowering women to play greater role in families.” I appreciate Ecobank’s various empowerment initiatives to support women and we can see the results. My advice to the bank is to sustain the initiatives”. This was the view of several other speakers which included

In his keynote address, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, said the decision to partner with Linda Ikeji Selfmade Woman Conference aligns with the bank’s empowerment policy for women. He noted that Ecobank recognizes women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in the society, stating that to succeed as a nation, it is imperative to recognize women’s unique potentials and support them sufficiently.

Akinwuntan who was represented by Head, Consumer Banking, Korede Demola-Adeniyi reiterated that Ecobank remains a women friendly bank and have been playing the role, stressing that, the bank has many initiatives and innovative products targeted at empowering female entrepreneurs in the country.

“We have many women centred empowerment programmes such as the Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs’ Initiative (EFEI) which is designed to empower, and support women owned small-scale businesses. Under this initiative, there is special loan package where prospective female entrepreneurs could easily access credit facility with interest rates as low as 1 per cent. Through EFEI, we have trained many female business owners on digital marketing skills in our state-of-the-art Academy and have also organized capacity building workshop for them. We also have another women empowerment programme “Ellevate” for women in Business; this will be publicly launched across the country in July. With Ellevate, we want to ensure we raise and recognize our women for the significant role they have always played to ensure a better society for us all,” he said.

Further, the Ecobank Nigeria Managing Director said examples of the bank’s support to women entrepreneur includes: “Our long-standing partnership with Tera Kulture, that is Bolanle Austen Peters who has come out with various movies such as ‘Bling Lagosians’, ‘Moremi The Musical’, ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens,’ ‘The Oluronbi Musical’ and others. Recently, we also supported ‘The Wait’, a movie inspired by the popular book from renowned lawyer and entrepreneur, Yewande Zaccheaus.

“We are currently working with the Ogun state government to promote the Adire industry which is also primarily women driven. In the agric industry, we have supported the Anchor borrowers programme of the CBN across the six regions of the country to reach out to farmers, especially the women folk to support them financially to increase their farm size and yield capacity through the introduction of new techniques.”

The 2021 Selfmade Women conference attracted over 3000 female participants both online and at a physical event. The Linda Ikeji Selfmade Woman Conference was borne out of passion to see women succeed. it is a platform for women who want to achieve success to meet those who have already achieved success. The all-female event attracted many speakers and wide audience including potential and established women entrepreneurs, businesswomen and students.

The Linda Ikeji Self-Made Woman debuted in 2013, as an advocacy project with the sole aim to mentor and provide financial empowerment to young female entrepreneurs or aspiring ones. it is essentially to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities.

Bank to enrich 15 lucky customers with millions of Naira


Fidelity Bank Plc, top Nigerian lender, has announced plans to enrich the lives of fifteen Nigerians with a total of 39 million Naira at the final draw of the Get Alert in Millions Campaign (GAIM) Season 4 savings promo, slated for July 22, 2021.

The savings promotion, which is specifically aimed at promoting the culture of saving among Nigerians, is one of the bank’s many initiatives aimed at rewarding new and existing customers for their unwavering loyalty and patronage.

Despite the fact that the promotion was halted in 2020 due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the resulting global lockdown, hundreds of Nigerians have benefited from this unique reward scheme in which lucky customers are credited with millions of naira and consolation prizes via a draw system.

The Chairman, Promo Committee, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Richard Madiebo expressed his delight at the resumption of the savings promotion, stating that the campaign seeks to reward customers for their loyalty and patronage. According to Mr. Madiebo, for the past twelve years, the bank has empowered new and existing customers, providing an avenue for many to change their fortunes through its savings Promo.

He stated that the bank takes pride in keeping its promises, adding that the lender would continue to look out for innovative ways to satisfy and enrich its customers across the nation.

“And as we wind down on the 4th season of the GAIM promo, we are elated at the prospect of not only driving financial inclusion across Nigeria, but also at the unique opportunity to enrich the lives of our customers especially in times of economic uncertainties,” noted Madiebo.

Over the years, the leading tier two Bank has continued to intensify its efforts and innovate ways towards ensuring customer and stakeholder satisfaction. Through this promo, Fidelity Bank has promoted financial inclusion through digital channels and enriched the lives of its customers even in times of economic uncertainties.

For the second consecutive year, Zenith Bank Plc has been named as the Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa 2021 by the Ethical Boardroom.

The Moment Nigeria reports that, the award, which was published in the June 2021 edition of The Ethical Boardroom magazine, is in recognition of the bank’s adherence to global best practices and institutionalization of corporate governance, setting an industry-wide example of best practices in that field.

Commenting on the award, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu said that: “This recognition is a testament to our commitment to quality, accountability, fairness and transparency in our engagement with all stakeholders. It is also an affirmation of the bank’s professionalism, ethical conduct and sustenance of global best practices and standards which is attributable to the joint collaboration of the management and staff.”

This award comes on the heels of several awards and recognitions that have come the way of bank in recent times for its track record of excellent performance and commitment to global best practices.

Zenith Bank was voted as Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2020, Best Bank in Nigeria in the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards 2020 and 2021, and Best Corporate Governance ‘Financial Services’ Africa 2020 by the Ethical Boardroom.

Also, the bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, and Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital in the “2020 Top 1000 World Banks” Ranking by The Banker Magazine.

Similarly, the bank was recognised as Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020, Retail Bank of the year at the 2020 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards, and Best Company in Promotion of Good Health and Well-Being as well as Best Company in Promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment at the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2020.

Zenith Bank has been generally adjudged a Corporate Governance compliant bank by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) hence its listing on the Premium Board of the Exchange. The bank continues to sustain this reputation and reappraise its processes to ensure that its business conforms to the highest global standards at all times.

The bank places a premium on its core business strategy anchored on People, Technology and Service, to create value for its numerous clientele. With a team of dedicated professionals, the bank leverages its robust Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to provide cutting-edge solutions and products through its network of branches and electronic/digital channels.

After 10 years, former Managing Director of Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank), Mr. Francis Atuche standing trial for stealing the sum of N25.7 billion belonging to the bank have been found guilty of theft and sentenced to six years imprisonment.

His former Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ugo Anyanwu standing trial alongside him was also sentenced to four years by Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.

Atuche’s wife, Elizabeth standing trial with him however has been found innocent and discharge of the charges of conspiracy and stealing brought against them in a suit instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC when they were initially arraigned on May 17, 2011.

Finally, the trial judge convicted the duo in a 12-hour long judgement which began at 9:12 a.m and stretched into the hours and minutes of 9:21 p.m on Wednesday.

The jail terms are to run consecutively.
They were convicted for 21 out 27 counts charges.

The trial judge also held that in case of conspiracy and stealing against the 2nd defendant, the prosecution failed to prove any case against her.

She added that there’s no evidence that linked her to the offence.

The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has pledged more support and collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the umbrella body of all bank workers in the country.

Akinwuntan who was speaking during a courtesy visit by the President and Council members of the Institute to Ecobank Nigeria’s head office in Victoria Island, restated that Ecobank will continue to contribute to the efforts of the Institute to become top class and remain relevant globally.

According to him, “For us at Ecobank, we are extremely proud of CIBN’s efforts at ensuring public discourse on the future of the Nigerian economy; this is not in isolation of relevant issues within the banking and finance industry such as ethics, professionalism, accountability, transparency, good corporate governance and harnessing the opportunities technology has provided in the new world order. Be assured of our maximum support and collaboration at all times”.

The Managing Director also identified with the efforts of CIBN to raise the bar of competency and capacity building in the industry, stressing that with sound professional conduct, every banker would be held in high esteem. He said Ecobank is working assiduously to ensure majority of Ecobank Nigeria staff become members of the Institute, adding that the bank will also provide more mentees and mentors in its mentorship programme.

“We are working on a medium to long term programme to ensure all Ecobank Nigeria staff become chartered members of the Institute. At Ecobank, we take human capacity development very seriously. Some of our staff that wrote the last examinations are now chartered members of the Institute,” he stated.

Earlier in his address, the President/Chairman, CIBN, Bayo Olugbemi commended Ecobank’s consistent support for the Institute to ensure the realization of the Institute’s mandate of determining the standards of knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the banking profession.

In particular, he conveyed the gratitude of the institute to the bank for the various local and international recognitions and awards garnered over the years. He observed that Mr. Akinwuntan has made immense contributions to the growth of the Institute.

He disclosed that the visit was to share with Ecobank Nigeria’s management, the Institute’s strategic initiatives with the acronym A-TEAM; explaining it as “A- Accelerated Development, T- Technology and Digital Enhancement, E- Engagement for Growth, A- Accountability and Transparent Leadership and M- Membership Drive for Value.”

He solicited Ecobank’s support and collaboration in its proposed amendment of the CIBN Act No. 5 of 2007; compliance of the Bank’s staff for mandatory registration with the Institute, urging the Management of the bank to ensure staff enroll and become Chartered Bankers and also participate in its Internship Scheme by accepting students of linkage institutions who are members of CIBN as interns.

“We also solicit Ecobank to enlist in our Endowment/Prize Awards in any subject of interest in its name or personal capacity; donate towards the renovation of Abuja Bankers’ House; support the establishment of banking museum by donating artefacts and other relevant materials; participate actively in training programmes of the Institute, regular impact assessments and satisfaction surveys for the institute’s respective initiatives, which are targeted at improving quality service delivery and to identify gaps where necessary.”

As President Bosso was alleged of funds diversion

President of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association, Ladan Bosso is currently facing the heat from members and executives of the national body for Nigerian coaches after he confessed to diverting funds meant for the association into his private purse.

The worrisome revelation was made on Monday when executive members of the association held a virtual meeting to discuss matters concerning their finances, recent courses for coaches, amongst other relevant subjects.

Bosso made the confession when he was quizzed about the missing money that was paid to the organisation by the Football Coaches Association of African Nations, FCAAN, a global football coaches platform. After securing approvals from the Nigeria football federation, FCAAN held a coaching programme in Nigeria in 2019 and thereafter paid two hundred and seventy-five thousand Naira (275,000) as royalty to the Nigeria football coaches association; but the money was diverted into Bosso’s private account.

When asked to provide details of how the money was expended, he explained that he used the sum to fund projects on behalf of the Nigeria football federation. Bosso’s explications were considered absurd by members of the Coaches Association who have ostensibly lost confidence in his leadership.



The Football Coaches Association of African Nations, FCAAN recently staged courses in Lagos, Akure and Port harcourt under the auspices of the Nigeria football federation and duly notified the Nigeria coaches Association via a letter.

But Ladan Bosso misled the committee of Nigerian coaches about the authenticity of the FCAAN courses which led to the recent misinformation by the association’s secretary general, Stanley Eguma who erroneously told reporters in Port Harcourt that FCAAN is not approved nor recognized by the Nigeria football federation.

This is considered a scheme by Ladan Bosso to undermine the coaching programme and misinform the general public because of his failed attempts to extort FCAAN before and after the just concluded courses.

Ladan Bosso, a former National Under-20 coach has been advised to refund every money he received in his private account on behalf of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association before their next meeting, as this will be the first step to right his many wrongs within the association.

The Nigerian Senate has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for its efforts towards entrenching transparency and stamping out corruption from its system.

The commendation was given by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari, at a hearing which held at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, to assess the level of implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy by government agencies and parastatals.

Speaking at the hearing, Senator Kwari, said it is heartwarming to learn that the NNPC was making great strides towards profitability and urged the Corporation to sustain the gains recorded so far for the good of the country.

In his presentation at the hearing, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari, said the Corporation was championing the fight against corruption in the Oil and Gas Industry by emplacing measures to curb incidences of corruption across its various business portfolios and by enlisting as a partner company of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

He said the Corporation, as part of its commitment to the war against corruption, has set up processes and structures that are irreversible which would ensure transparency and accountability.

“We have created an anti-corruption desk in NNPC that engages the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies on a regular basis. The desk ensures that in all our operations, every staff complies to the code of conduct procedures with consequence management. We have established regulatory compliant governance charter and transparency policy, this is a mark of our compliance to the anti-corruption strategy,” Mallam Kyari informed.

The NNPC helmsman maintained that the Corporation has automated its business operations thereby reducing opportunity for discretion to the barest minimum as part of measures to promote institutional framework for entrenching the culture of transparency in its operations.

The GMD disclosed that the Corporation, on its own, has reported several incidences of infractions such as products diversion and crude oil theft to the police, the EFCC and other investigating agencies of the Federal Government to stem corruption within the Oil and Gas Industry.

“For the first time in 43 years, NNPC, as a part of the evolving culture of transparency and accountability, published its Audited Financial Statements for 2018 and 2019. We are going to publish that of the 2020. The AFS is the only document that tells how a company does its transaction. We are happy that by the time the 2020 AFS will be published, Nigerians will see the dividends of our accountability. Mr. Chairman, no National Oil Company does what we are doing today,” Mallam Kyari enthused.

He said the Corporation, in collaboration with security agencies, has reduced the incidences of pipeline vandalism to four per cent across the country, but decried the rise in smuggling of petroleum products which he said has become a national challenge that must be addressed urgently to stem the huge loss to the nation.

When Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith assumed duties as Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), he was appalled by the state of the institution.

The facilities were dilapidated, the conveniences were run down and there was little to suggest that the premises he had driven into was home to NISER which remains unarguably, one of Nigeria’s pre-eminent research institutions.

Not a man given to hand wringing, he went to work immediately. As he recalls it “I knew I had to make NISER look like, feel like and produce work like a globally recognized research institute.”




Gbadebo-Smith knew he had to reform the institute and it was his reform agenda that set him on a collision course with entrenched interests not willing to see a turn-around.

One of the first things he did as DG was connect NISER to the world wide web because what is a research institute if it cannot connect to the vast world of information available on the web or reach out to other researchers and research institutes at the click of a mouse?

It was a welcome and timely development, one that was duly acknowledged by a group of four professors who wrote a testimonial to NISER’s supervising minister requesting a renewal of the Director Generals tenure for a second term.

In the letter signed by Professors F.O.N. Roberts, Head, Political & Governance Policy Dept; A.O. Adesanya, Head, Env. & Physical lnfra. Policy Dept; J.O.Adeoti, Head, lnnovation & Tech Policy and S.O. Odekunle, Head,Human Capital Policy Dept, the erudite academics informed the minister that the DG installed “full time, 24/7 functioning internet service within NISER premises. This has been consistent and we have never had it so good at NISER.”

With NISER connected and plugged in, Gbadebo-Smith embarked on a diplomatic manoeuvre of sorts, one aimed at shoring up NISER’s image within and without Nigeria as a research institute of note and one that deserves support from donor agencies.

The success of his overtures is evident in the fact that NISER has “re-established relationships with major international grant makers including MacArthur Foundation, ODI of London, King’s College University of London” and also reactivated “NISER’s Knowledge Network including MOUs with Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology Mirtna, University of Cape Town, University of Delaware USA, and INEC lnstitute.”

A research institute derives its name from the research it engages in. This was a major concern for Gbadebo-Smith who remains fully convinced that research is a veritable tool for national development and this was at the core of his decision first to carry out a “Merit based recruitment of 40 research staff, thus introducing fresh rigour into NISER and its research activities.”

He also followed that up with not just regular funding of departmental research projects but quickly revived the moribund Individual Research Project (IRP) programme for NISER research staff because by the time he assumed office in 2017 “very few researchers had IRP ongoing. Today, almost all NISER research staff now engage in IRPs.”

The qualification, ‘almost’, is because, as a reformed minded technocrat at the helm of a world class research institute, Gbadebo-Smith has continuously insisted on merit and sterling academic credentials as prerequisites for staff of NISER.

This of course has not gone down well with the laggards, who unable to pursue pure academic endeavours have found safe havens in the unions which they have now hijacked and turned into instruments of attack.

There is an extant rule in academic institutions of which NISER is one; if a researcher fails to acquire his or her PhD within 5 years of employment at the institute; such an individual is asked to withdraw.

Some of the more prominent members of the unions have failed to make that mark after 15 years of trying. These failed academics have now found refuge in the unions especially after they have sought promotions and been denied on the basis of lack of qualifications and academic rigour.

Having failed to arm-twist the DG they have chosen the oft travelled road of false and baseless accusations of financial impropriety hoping to smear the DG’s reputation and assassinate his character because of this administration’s well known zero tolerance for corruption.

But their accusations are not just baseless they lack merit because a DG cannot, for instance, misappropriate N1.5bn over four years when the entire budget available to him for the same period was under N850m.

In their letter to NISER’s supervising minister, Honourable Clement Agba, the professor’s gave a unanimous vote of confidence in the man who has championed reforms in his capacity as helmsman of the institute.

“We the undersigned, having served the institute for many years as Research Professors, Heads of Departments and members of NISER Management, believe that Dr Gbadebo Smith has done a commendable job as Director General of our lnstitute. A second term for him is in order and most desirable to improve NISER performance and prevent a return to a state of despondency and loss of the gains of almost four years of Dr Gbadebo-Smith’s leadership at NISER…Dr Folarin Gbadebo-Smith has demonstrated exceptional brilliance and high intellect in public policy discourse and in various public engagements. Though not a professor, he has distinguished himself in the understanding of development policy research and the expectations of NISER’s mandate. ln our opinion, he eminently qualifies for a second term to advance and complete the good works he started.”

One would expect that with such glowing testimonial from eminent professors and leading lights of a pre-eminent think tank, an institution which carries the banner of Nigeria’s intelligentsia, that NISER’s academic unions would sheathe their swords and allow the train of reforms and progress proceed without let.

But sadly this has not been the case because as at press time, the gates of the institute were under lock and key with the unionists keeping their fellow colleagues away from work and daring a confrontation.

As one looks forward to a quick and peaceful resolution of the current impasse, the hope is that as Dr. Gbadebo-Smith returns for another term, he will be able to complete his reforms and that the hardworking, diligent members of staff, the successful professors who continue to do excellent work do not get frustrated by these unfortunate series of events.

*Yusuf Kazeem writes from Ibadan.

The easiest way for falsehood to triumph is to let it run amok unchallenged.

Dr. Folarin Gbadebo Smith’s first term as Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), one of Nigeria’s pre-eminent research institutions was dogged by a slew of unfounded accusations, baseless charges of financial recklessness and sundry falsehood orchestrated by amorphous entities masquerading as interested parties.

His major traducers remain the “Academic Staff Union of Research Institutes headed by Babatimeyin Muyiwa; Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions headed by Matthew Olagunju, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions headed by Tubi O. Theophilus” as reported by an online publication.




The most egregious accusation as published by the same online medium playing advocate for the traducers is that Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith had squandered “almost N1.5 billion in combined annual budgetary releases without commensurate projects to justify such spending in his four years as head of the institute.”

This charge is laughable and puerile because a quick check of budgetary allocations will establish that NISER’s budget for the four years was a little under N850m. So, how could the Director General have squandered money that was not allocated?

In a dramatic escalation of their protests and allegations the Unions on Monday June 7, 2020 took their issues to Abuja. They printed banners, rented a van and drove round the town in what was a crude attempt to get the attention of government.

Alongside this, an obviously rented crowd purporting to be members of the institute (only one person in the crowd could be positively identified as NISER staff) confronted the Minister of Finance under whose ministry NISER functions. Honourable Minister Zainab Ahmed in her usual calm and distinguished manner granted audience and assured them that their issues would be looked into and that in the interim peace and order should be maintained.

Meanwhile, in Ibadan where the NISER is located, the gates remain locked preventing over 200 staff members from accessing their offices and carrying out their statutory obligations despite it being an offence in law and against the labour laws for a union to deny workers access to a federal government premises. This action by the unions is clearly a cheap attempt to draw the DG into a violent confrontation on the premises of the institute.

NISER which began life as a center in the University of Ibadan, was made autonomous by the Federal Government in 1977 and so became a full-fledged research institute distinct from the University of Ibadan. The autonomy was granted via NISER Act No. 70 of 1977 (now Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2006 CAP 115). NISER moved out of the University of Ibadan to its headquarters at Ojoo, Ibadan in 1987.

NISER’s mandate was clear from inception; to employ the best and the brightest minds from the academia who would be fully equipped to serve as a think-tank in the field of social and economic development for the country.

Upon assumption of office, Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith focused fully on making NISER a world class research institute in which scholars would have a sense of pride and an institute which grant making institutions would be happy to support.

Educated, affable, well-travelled and globally exposed, Dr. Gbadebo Smith was keenly aware that nothing makes a good impression as the first impression. So he went about improving the facilities at NISER to provide an environment and facility conducive for conducting research. This was critical because a grant making body had visited NISER and seeing the state of their rest rooms and facilities backed out from supporting NISER.

To facilitate research based activities especially in a 21st century research institute, Dr. Gbadebo-Smith quickly connected the institute to, what a group made up of Research Professors, Heads of Departments and members of NISER Management, called “full time, 24/7 functioning internet service within NISER premises. This has been consistent and we have never had it so good at NISER.”

In a May 7, 2021 letter to NISER’s supervising minister, Prince Clem Agba, Honourable Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, the group provided copious evidence to disprove the accusations leveled against the DG while providing proof of measures and actions and initiatives taken to restore NISER to its pride of place.

The letter was signed on behalf of the group by four professors and heads of four departments at NISER. The signatories include Prof F.O.N. Roberts, Head, Political & Governance Policy Dept; Prof A.O. Adesanya, Head, Env. & Physical lnfra. Policy Dept; Prof J.O.Adeoti, Head, lnnovation & Tech Policy and Prof S.O. Odekunle, Head,Human Capital Policy Dept.

The quartet, in their letter, noted without equivocation that: “We the undersigned, having served the institute for many years as Research Professors, Heads of Departments and members of NISER Management, believe that Dr Gbadebo Smith has done a commendable job as Director General of our lnstitute. A second term for him is in order and most desirable to improve NISER performance and prevent a return to a state of despondency and loss of the gains of almost four years of Dr Gbadebo-Smith’s leadership at NISER.”

The professors went ahead to note, in clear response to the DG’s perceived lack of capacity to lead a research institute like NISER: “Dr Folarin Gbadebo-Smith has demonstrated exceptional brilliance and high intellect in public policy discourse and in various public engagements. Though not a professor, he has distinguished himself in the understanding of development policy research and the expectations of NISER’s mandate. ln our opinion, he eminently qualifies for a second term to advance and complete the good works he started.”

Following Dr. Folarin Gbadebo-Smith’s return for a second term the 5th columnists have risen again with more outrageous accusations backed up by a tissue of lies. This is despite the accusations having been fully addressed in the letter signed by the four professors in which they showed, clearly, that Folarin Gbadebo-Smith’s first term was one of beneficial capacity building as well as research and innovation at NISER.

In the letter the professors noted that aside the provision of high speed internet, the DG has facilitated the “re-establishment of relationships with major international grant makers including MacArthur Foundation, ODI of London, Kings College University of London” as well as “Reactivation of NISER’s Knowledge Network including MOUs with Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University of Technology Mirtna, University of Cape Town, University of Delaware USA, and INEC lnstitute.”

As DG, Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, the professors averred, has championed capacity building with the “introduction of NISER webinar with attendance by high profile individuals in development policy research and advocacy”, facilitated “Merit based recruitment of 40 research staff. This has introduced new and fresh rigour into NISER research activities”; enabled “implementation and regular funding of departmental research projects” and the “revival of Individual Research Project (IRP) programme for NISER research staff. Only very few researchers had IRP ongoing when Dr. Smith resumed as Director General in 2017. Almost all NISER research staff now engage in IRPs.”

With these testimonials from eminent academics and researchers refuting the outrageous accusations leveled against a clear reform minded performer, the question becomes: who is to be believed’ unionists who are clearly dancing to the tune of pecuniary interests or professors whose work and research are daily impacted by Dr, Gbadebo-Smith’s progressive policies and initiatives?

Only time will tell but while we await posterity’s verdict we must take a firm stand against lies and outright falsehood.

*Dapo Bruce is a public analyst and writes from Lagos

The federal government has given a condition to lift its indefinite suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said at a meeting with some envoys that Twitter’s operations in Nigeria will be restored only if the platform can be used “responsibly”.

Asked when the ban will be lifted, Onyeama said there is no definite timeline for that, but added: “The condition would be responsible use of the social media and that really has to be it.”

“We are not saying that Twitter is threatening the country or any such thing; why we have taken this measure is to stop them to be used as platforms for destabilisation and facilitation of criminality or encouragement of criminalities,” he also said.

At the meeting held in Abuja on Monday were the envoys of the US, UK, Canada and the European Union, all of whom had condemned the “indefinite” suspension of Twitter in Nigeria.

Despite the government’s claim that Twitter is being used to undermine the existence of Nigeria, some have argued the suspension may be connected to the company’s decision to delete President Muhammadu Buhari tweet recently.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the envoys had said: “We strongly support the fundamental human right of free expression and access to information as a pillar of democracy in Nigeria as around the world and these rights apply online as well as offline. Banning systems of expression is not the answer.”

This prompted the federal government to invite them to the meeting. After the parley held behind closed doors, Oneyema said both parties had successful discussions on the issue.

The minister said the government takes the comments of the envoys “very seriously”, hence the decision to discuss the matter with them in the “usual friendly way.”

He, however, insisted that the Buhari administration has to keep an eye on its “main objective and legacy” which, according to him, is the security of lives and property.

He said Nigeria will nowt sit back and watch social media being used to “destabilise” the country, adding: “We want to use social media for good.”

“Differences of opinion is not a problem; everybody will not think alike,” Onyeama said.

“But lives matter; Nigerian lives matter and we have to do everything we can to preserve Nigerian lives. And when we feel our goals are threatened, actions need to be taken.”

Great visions attract the best people, and so is the case at Ecobank Nigeria.

The Moment Nigeria reports that the Nigerian franchise of the Pan-African financial institution is making good on its mission to empower Nigerians with all the tools to take control and make the most of their finances.

With the recent revamp of its full-stack mobile banking solutions – *326#, Ecobank Mobile app, OmniLite, Omni Plus, EcobankPay and NQR, the Bank’s Marketing and Corporate Communications department is being built up to connect customers to greater value in banking and to ensure that the innovative products are effectively articulated to the public.

Led by the seasoned Pan-African financial services expert Mr. Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank Nigeria has been bolstering its digital capabilities and human capital with the goal of delivering optimum value for clients and shareholders across several value chains. It is in this line that Mr. Babajide Sipe was recently appointed to Head the Marketing and Corporate Communications department for Ecobank Nigeria.

An experienced Marketing & Brand Manager, Mr. Sipe’s multi-faceted career, which cuts across several fields, industries and regions within the country and abroad will come to play in leading and enriching the Bank’s Marketing and Communications efforts with in-depth expertise, top-notch creativity and an extensive breadth of value-adding networks.

Under Mr. Akinwuntan, who is both the Managing Director and Regional Executive for Ecobank Nigeria, the Bank has strongly positioned itself as a key stakeholder and supporter in the growth of the real sector of the Nigerian economy.

Recently, Ecobank announced that it would be empowering MSMEs with N100 Billion Naira, a special fund set aside for business growth and to reduce unemployment in Nigeria; and also the Ecobank Female Entrepreneurship Initiative (EFEI) targeted at boosting female entrepreneurship, amongst others.

Ultimately, Ecobank’s goal is to remain the go-to bank for Pan-African trade facilitation and payments. This would mean leveraging the full value of its unrivalled Pan-African footprint covering 33 African countries to create greater market access and financing opportunities.

The Marketing and Corporate Communications department, under the leadership of Mr. Sipe thus has a huge task to position the Bank for the future. With the fine blend of experience, expertise and cutting-edge solutions, growth seems certain, if not near.

By Jeremiah Agada

As the world gears up to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED), Brand Communicator’s focus on Eco-Friendly Brands in the Nigerian market falls on Nigeria’s premier and perhaps the strongest financial institution, First Bank of Nigeria Limited. The focus is on the Bank’s environmental policies and its impact on the global environmental issues.

This brings to fore the importance of environmental sustainability in our world today. Environmental sustainability is one of the biggest challenges and most important targets of the present times. Stakeholders (researchers, academicians, scholars, governments and non-government organizations involving individuals, communities, countries, and the continents, are increasingly focusing their attention on how to tackle the challenges associated with driving environmental sustainability.

Key stakeholder concerns include the constant exploitation of the environment due to economic development. While the current generation is enjoying the fruits of economic development, they tend to be oblivious of the uncertainty and dangers that future generations would confront as a result of scarce natural resources and polluted environment. It is therefore, our responsibility to leave the planet as a self-sustainable system providing equal opportunities of survival not only to our future generations but also to all other species co-habiting with us.

In Nigeria, studies have shown that various sectors of the economy are vulnerable to climate change. These include human settlements and health; water resources, wetlands and freshwater ecosystems; energy, industry, commerce and financial services; agriculture, food security, land degradation, forestry and biodiversity; coastal zone and marine ecosystems.

Because of the seriousness of climate change and the impact it poses to the environment, an organization like First Bank of Nigeria Limited is leaving nothing to chance in ensuring an eco-friendly society. Its recognition of the environmental and social impacts of its operations has made it adopt policies and procedures that minimize negative environmental and social impacts.

In doing business, the Bank, which is Nigeria’s first and arguably its most prestigious, takes cognizance of potential environmental risks with a view to nipping them in the bud. This it has done by constant interactions with stakeholders, driving sustainable insurance and putting necessary frameworks in place towards ensuring that its actions as a corporate entity does not impact negatively on the environment.

As such, the sustainability of the societies and physical environments in which the Bank operates are critical to its own sustainable success. Therefore, the Bank has shown over the years that it is committed to making positive contribution wherever it does business while avoiding or minimising any direct or indirect negative impact on communities and the environment resulting from its activities, beyond its responsible lending and investment efforts.

The acknowledgement of the fact that its environmental impacts can be indirectly linked to climate change and its global effects has led the bank to adopt an approach to environmental sustainability which is two-fold based on its direct and indirect impacts. The approaches to reducing the direct impacts of its operations include approach to minimising carbon footprints and carbon offsetting; work towards carbon neutrality as well as promote wildlife and biodiversity conservation and preservation.

In minimising waste, the Bank works to improve energy efficiency in its data centres and offices as well as reduce air travels and implement safe paper use initiatives. It also increased the use of conference calls for meetings as against attending physical meeting schedules thereby minimizing fuel consumption and carbon emission from vehicles. Its ‘Going Green’ efforts have also seen the Bank purchase renewable energy; promote tree planting initiatives and the indirect impact of its activities focuses largely on responsible lending.

The Bank’s key objectives of minimizing carbon footprints through the planting of trees, creating awareness among school children of the need to preserve wildlife and biodiversity, developing and educating environmentally conscious students through partnerships with reputable NGOs and institutions, are huge. The challenge in implementing this project is not just in identifying suitable locations with the right soil and climatic conditions for tree planting, but also ensuring students’ participation.

These objectives and FirstBank’s responsible approach to protecting the environment has seen it partner with Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Nigeria’s premier non-governmental environment conservation foundation dedicated to nature conservation and sustainable development in Nigeria. Its on-going partnership with the NCF has seen it actively support annual activities promoting conservation and preservation of wildlife and biodiversity.

The FirstBank Conservation Initiative is part of our long-term approach to promoting sustainability, which involves minimising our direct and indirect impacts on the environment. And the success of this initiative is dependent on our meaningful engagement with our stakeholders.

With its huge expertise in environmental issues, the Bank found a worthy and perfect partner in the NCF to help implement this programme successfully. The NCF used its experience and influence to engage the various stakeholders to support the programme. This included utilising its conservation clubs, which provided educational sessions for the students on the importance and benefits of conservation and supporting biodiversity. The subsequent enthusiastic participation of the students, and the encouragement they received from the Ministry of Education and school authorities, enabled the programme’s objectives to be achieved.

So far, 240 trees have been planted at the Lagos State Civil Service Model College Igbogbo in Ikorodu, and Evboesi Mixed Secondary School, Benin City. More than 1,000 environmental sustainability champions have also been appointed in these locations. These champions are young people who look after the trees and ensure that they are adequately cared for to help the bank achieve its afforestation goals. “The planting of trees is just part of our efforts to contribute to Nigeria’s green economy and to combat deforestation/desertification, while recognising the key role of children and young people in the sustainability agenda,” the Bank in a statement disclosed.

Through its partnership with Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), FirstBank sponsored the National Company of the Year (NCOY) Competition. The competition is an extension of the COY programme that brings secondary students together to form a company, choose a business name and elect officers to oversee operations of the company for the programme duration. It teaches students to put theory into practice in order to fully understand what financial literacy and entrepreneurship is. At the end of the programme, the students that complete the programme successfully, compete in the regional competition and represent their school in the National Company of the Year competition in Lagos. In 2020, the New Phase from Brookstone Secondary School, Port-Harcourt, Rivers state emerged winner, producing an eco-friendly block. The eco-friendly construction blocks were made from plastic waste. These sustainable blocks are the next wave of sustainable construction.

Beyond the initiatives above, responsible lending remains one of the strategic pillars in delivering the sustainability goals of the FirstBank Group. FirstBank has put in place an Environmental, Social and Governance Management System (ESGMS) to help the Bank integrate environmental social and governance considerations into its decision-making processes. This includes an ESG policy and procedures for screening transactions. The ESG policy is based on existing policy documents and international best practice, while procedures to screen transactions are aimed at conducting ESG due diligence on potential transactions. These are based on Central Bank of Nigeria’s Sustainable Banking Principles, IFC Performance Standards, and international best practice and are tailored to FirstBank’s procedures, risk management framework, risk appetite and tolerance, and adapted to its strategic objectives

The key objective of this policy is to ensure that all the transactions that FirstBank is considering funding, include adequate provision for actions necessary to prevent, control and mitigate negative impacts on the environment and communities, and improve environmental quality.

With this, FirstBank has shown its commitment to integrating social and environmental principles in all its operations; promoting good corporate governance and ensuring social and environmental considerations are included in the business decision making; reviewing and managing potential social and environmental risks in its lending and investment processes and activities and reviewing all borrowers against the criteria like exclusion list; the International Finance Corporate Performance Standards, and other applicable international standards as well as the Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP) requirements.

Others initiatives are, providing constant education and training for all staff on issues of environmental and social responsibility relevant to the business; regularly communicating to all stakeholders on progress of commitments including achievements, challenges and future direction; continuous improvement on the way in which it identifies, assesses and manages Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks within its businesses.

The successful and productive implementation of the ESGMS has propelled the bank to integrate the associated checklist (which is usually completed by a relationship manager and verified by an analyst against the EIA report), into the bank’s credit application platform designed for reviewing credits. The goal is to ensure efficiency through automation as relevant implementation documents such as the environmental, social and governance risks screening checklist will be fully automated.

These initiatives over the years and activities have shown that environmental sustainability remains a key corporate responsibility & sustainability focus for FirstBank.

UEFA Euro 2020 is starting in about six days. To ensure that every home can enjoy the thrilling tournament, StarTimes is offering a wide range of affordable watching options.

Starting June 5, new subscribers can enjoy a special Euro 2020 offer as StarTimes dish and decoder kit will be slashed to N8900 as against N11,200. The dish decoder comes with a month subscription for subscribers to see all the EURO 2020 matches live in HD as well as enjoy over 120 TV and audio channels.

For existing subscribers, StarTimes brings all the matches on basic bouquet (antenna users) for N1700 monthly or Smart Bouquet (dish users) for N2200 monthly.

For more flexibility, StarTimes subscribers can choose to recharge monthly, weekly or daily. Daily subscription is N160 daily on basic bouquet and N200 daily on smart bouquet.

From June 11 to July 11, the top 24 European teams will play 51 matches, up to three matches a day during the group phase.

“We are excited to air UEFA Euro 2020. We expect great action with most of the world’s best players and teams participating. Football fans have been forced to pay ever-higher prices to watch major competitions in the past. This isn’t right. Football should be made available for all. This is what StarTimes strives to achieve, to ensure that every African football fan can enjoy Euro 2020,” Viki Liu, Content Director, StarTimes Nigeria said.

Nigeria’s multinational bank and financial services institution, First Bank, has dismissed reports that it has shut down all its branches in the South East of Nigeria.

The bank said that its branches were “fully open for business” urging customers to disregard to the reports making the rounds on social media.

Some elements had claimed that the bank shut down its operations in the South East because of the growing tension in the region.

In a message on its official Twitter account, First Bank said, “This is to inform the public that our South East branches are fully open for business.

“Please disregard any news making the rounds that is contrary to this,” First Bank added.

Determined to sustain the current tempo on unwholesome products across the country, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Monday evacuated substandard tyres from a warehouse located in a remote area in Ogun State.

Recall that the standards body recently stated that purveyors are devising new methods by taking advantage of the vast nature of the country to warehouse substandard goods in remote areas.

The Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, who was represented by Mike Dakhing, Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, SON said the evacuation exercise of the seized stuffed-in tyre of 200 containers in Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State was to ensure that the tyres do not find their ways into the nation’s market, stressing that products have been tested and they all failed the critical parameters as a result of stuffing.

He said: “You may recall that few weeks ago, the Director General, Mallam Farouk blew open to the whole world the nefarious activities going on in this community and as you know he opposes fake and substandard products and any unwholesome activity that will encourage it because that is the mandate he has been given.

“Today we are here to evacuate these tyres which is the first stage in their destruction. It will interest you that we obtained the laboratory results after testing these tyres which they all failed. In our warehouse, we will await the necessary legal procedures that will enable us to destroy them.”

According to the SON top official, he said the evacuation and destruction would cost the agency much money, adding that the agency has been perfecting an act that would ensure the substandard products importer bear the cost.

Reacting to a question on why these tyres are classified as substandard, he stated that the act of stuffing them into have rendered the tyres dead on arrival into the country.

He stated: “The act of stuffing them into one another and instead of bringing in the tyres into different containers, the purveyors of these tyres stuff into one another. For example, if they are to bringing 300 tyres in one container, they will now have the opportunity to bring in 1500 tyres and in doing that, this compromises the quality of the tyres and as you know the tyres are made of wires and carbon and the test reviewed that the textile strength of the tyres have been compromised so they are no more fit for use and this is why we are going to destroy them. They may look nice in the eyes, but we rely on scientific investigation and analysis.”

He assured that the agency would prosecute the unscrupulous importers of these tyres, stating that SON has a law that specify the right type of punishments to be melted on dealers of fake and substandard products in the country.

“We have a law that specifies what punishment would melt to purveyors of this kind of illicit trade and we would go by that law, so after destroying these tyres, we will subject these unscrupulous importers to the provisions of the law,” he said.

He called on Nigerians to always support the agency by giving relevant information should they suspect any form of dubious activity in their locality, maintaining that SON cannot be everywhere to checkmate the preponderance of these products with no economic value.

“I will like to appreciate the tip off to this place, because we got this through intelligence reports. We crave for the indulgence of Nigerians and implore them to help us identify not only tyres, but all products that are dangerous to human lives and the environment. We are calling on Nigerians to let us have any information because in line with our mantra which is “see something, say something”, the truth is that we cannot be everywhere if Nigerians do not help us we will not be able to address this issue headon,” he stressed.

He pointed out the need to increase its sensitization activities across the country as Nigerians who still purchase substandard products because they are cheap, needs to be warned about the negative effects of these products, saying that as a standards body, it would invest more in sensitizing the populace to desist from the purchase of substandard goods.

I was driving on the third mainland bridge in Lagos when his call came in.

‘Ayeni, I’m not happy with how the work for X3M Music is going, and I’m beginning to think you guys are not giving us the kind of attention we need…’

Steve Babaeko, the advertising executive and music entrepreneur who was one of the first to believe in my little PR agency, was upset. But he was calm. He picked his words carefully, almost as if he had rehearsed the call many times over. He wanted to pass his message across as strongly as possible without being unprofessional.

And I got the message.

Not one to give excuses, I apologised, took responsibility, and assured him he’d never have cause to complain again.

The year was 2009.

Our relationship has since grown in many ways, from the first time I met him at Prima Garnet, having gone to seek his help on the advice of my friend Jubal Dati. Story for another day.

As he clocks 50 today, I thought I’d share some of the most important lessons I’ve picked from him, that you may want to consider, if you’re not already applying them.

1. Take no prisoners: The story of how he supported himself through school, found his way to Lagos, walked the entire city looking for help, knocked and tore down doors until he got one foot in, needs to be told more. And no Nigerian copywriter living or dead has accomplished what he has, in rising through the ranks of a major agency, setting up on his own, climbing to top three in less than a decade; and then internationalising as if it was a walk in the park. Steve does not stop, does not settle; and will give all it takes to do what must be done. Something tells me he believes he’s fighting a war. And if you read his story carefully, you’ll understand why.

2. Dream big: When he was setting up X3M, I remember telling him to not go all out with the office, since it was a new business and they were renting the place. We joke about it now; about how he didnt even argue, because he knew he was going to do the exact opposite of what I’d advised. Whether he’s planning events or setting up a new company; or even creating ideas, he sets out hoping to accomplish what’s hitherto been thought impossible. And I think it’s paid off really well.

3. Diversify: I learnt a long time ago that it’s dangerous to count other people’s money for them. You know, looking at their perceived success, based on the parts they expose to us, and thinking ‘oh, this must be how they’re making it; I’m going to try it too. Afterall, what makes them more qualified to do it than I am?’.

Many imagine creating and designing some of the best creative concepts in the market is solely what turned X3M into a commercial success therefore making its owner rich.

The formula, as far as I know, is understanding the entire value chain and diversifying enough to play strongly. There are core fields, there are allied fields, and there are related fields. Those who succeed the most are those who, after getting a foot (or their entire bodies in), understand what parts of that ecosystem they can add value to, and what kinds of value they can extract. In the case of Steve, he’s sold you on X3M Ideas, but he’s built Media 101 which no one ever hears of or talks about despite it doing excellently well; he’s built Zero Degrees, and he’s now planning to play big in sectors not even related to advertising.

4. Be young: I don’t know if or when he’ll eventually cut his locs, but his hair, his wardrobe, and generally pop persona continue to refresh his brand in such a way that makes people think he’s much younger than he is. He even sags. Now this will not work for everyone. But I think in an industry that requires that you’re trendy and cool and on top of everything urbane and avant-garde, it’s important to be able to not just look and act young, but to be able to connect with youth. Advertising needs it. But life itself will compensate you if you find a way to keep fit, stylish, and in form even as you age.

5. Be Humble: You don’t have to diminish yourself to make others feel better about themselves; or suffer fools gladly with the hope of being thought nice. But there’s something about respect for others irrespective of class or status that demonstrates a deep understanding of how life works. I learnt from Steve that you can live your best life; be yourself, and exist on your own terms without being arrogant, full of pride or disrespectful – especially to those one might consider of less means.

6. Family is everything: First your parents and siblings; then your spouse and your kids. Nothing is more important. And Steve uses every opportunity – a pitch session, an Instagram post, a newspaper interview; anything within his means to show you he puts family first. And it was he (and my other friend Chris Ihidero) who first showed me many years ago that husbands can be intentional about parenting and about domestic role sorting with their wives.

7. Draw boundaries: In relationships, business or personal, people often fail to define the rules of engagement; of what’s acceptable or not, that more often than not, things end up in chaos and an otherwise promising friendship is destroyed. The beauty of Steve’s personality is not just having so many ‘friends’, knowing so many people, or interacting with plenty professionally; it is that he’s able to articulate deal breakers in a way that everyone’s clear about where the lines are.

8. Make money: Oh well, I wish I’d learned this on time. Steve believes in working hard, but he also unapologetically believes in getting paid in full. It’s actually possible to follow your passion and still focus on extracting the kind of value that can make sure your unborn generations never have to go through what you went through. In an industry where too many creatives bury their heads in the work, only realising when it’s too late that money matters, Steve provides a good case study in prioritising income as well as passion. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s a zero-sum game.

9. Be disciplined: The older you get, and the more successful you become, the easier it will be for you to think you can get away with anything. It’s what’s led so many important people into trouble. Because, actually, the older you get, and the more successful you become, the more disciplined you will have to be. And it’s not just always the big stuff. It’s the basic things like being punctual. Keeping required routines, or even staying fit. Steve started an alcohol fast many years ago, staying off liquor From December 31st to May 31 every year. And this year, he’s determined not to taste a drop of alcohol. Why? He’s trying to keep fit and healthy. For someone who loves his spirits, you must realise what that kind of fast means.

Steve clocks 50 today, June 1, 2021. His life has been a miracle, but it only looks like that because he’s been intentional about so many things. He’ll be the first to tell you about where he’s coming from, and why he’s never going back there. And I think that’s perhaps the most important lesson of all: understanding your circumstance and determining, all other things being equal, to not let it stop you.

That’s where greatness comes from, and Steve is well on his way to achieving that greatness we all dream of. Can’t imagine anything stopping him.