Ecobank Transnational  Appoints  Fashina As Group Executive, Operations & Technology

Ecobank Group appoints Tomisin Fashina as Group Executive, Operations &  Technology | Appointment News in Africa
 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), parent company of the Ecobank Group,has appointed  Tomisin Fashina has been appointed as its new Group Executive for Operations and  Technology.
He will hold the position  in addition to his existing role of Managing Director of eProcess International,the company said.
Ade Ayeyemi, CEO Ecobank Group said the rapidly accelerating digital adoption by Africa’s citizenry and businesses, together with the explosion in ecommerce across the continent, is driving transformation throughout the banking and payment sectors.
He added:”Winning across operations and technology is essential for the Ecobank Group’s short, medium and long-term success, and is an integral requirement of our ongoing determination to continue to meet the evolving expectations of our customers. Tomisin is well experienced to ensure this, and his new role provides him with an overarching view of our operations and technology functions.”
Tomisin has over 30 years of experience, predominantly in technology management and financial services. Before joining the Ecobank Group, Tomisin was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Steward Bank Harare Zimbabwe.
 He has also been Chief Executive Officer for Yookos, a social media company, and has held several positions at Barclays Bank, including General Manager & Head, Transactional Banking Products, and Channels Management and Director, Cash Management & Payments. Prior to this, at Citigroup South Africa, he held leadership roles in its Global Transaction Services as Division Head & Director, Client Delivery, sub-Saharan Africa; and Division Head, Electronic Banking & Implementation, sub-Saharan Africa.
Tomisin has a BSc degree in Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Lagos and a PhD in Business Management in Leadership from Capella University, Minnesota, USA.
I Won’t Be Forced Into Marriage-Rita Dominic

The Sad Truth Why Nollywood Actress Rita Dominic Isn't Married - Austine Media
Nigeria’s veteran actress, Rita Dominic,says  she is not in a hurry to marry.
She bares her mind on this week’s episode of #WithChude on marriage and children, the reason behind going public with her relationship and how she has been able to stay relevant for over 23 years.
Speaking on the issue of relationships and marriage, the veteran actress told host, Chude Jideonwo, “I respect the institution of marriage as my parents were married till they died, and they had a beautiful relationship. The problem is at some point, it begins to annoy you because of how much importance people have placed on it. I do want to marry, and I want to get it right once and for all. You know, we make such a big deal of it; we force people and put pressure on them to go in. When they eventually rush into this union, they make mistakes because they were only trying to please people”.
For Rita Dominic, when it comes to handling negativity from the public as regards her marital status and romantic relationships, the strategy is simply to ignore their comments.
“Over the years, it has stopped irritating me because people will always speculate. They do this because they don’t have anything tangible, so they create stories and rumours. I am at a place where I just laugh at their rumours. Being popular, you have to come to terms with the fact that people will create untrue stories. Some people will argue and say there is no smoke without fire, and to those ones, I say, darling, there are smoke machines”, she said.
She recently broke the internet with images of her never-before-seen partner.
Asked about the reason for the  disclosure, she said: “once in a while, you want to share certain things with people, and I felt like my lover had been there for me for decades. We all had a bad year last year with COVID, and we could do with some happiness.”
Rita attributed her success and 23-year industry relevance to her ability to learn and evolve, saying, “I never rest on my laurels, I see the need to constantly learn and grow in my craft while also having an open mind to learn from everybody,” she said.
Ibadan Disco Explains Load Shedding To Ibafo

IBEDC Explains Reason for Poor Power Supply to Mowe, Ibafo, Magboro | Business Post Nigeria
 Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Plc,has explained why it embarked on load shedding of electricity to consumers in Ibafo and its environs.
The company said the action was sequel to a letter made public from IBEDC Consumer Forum, Ibafo on the rejection of the new load shedding formula implemented from the 15th of March, 2021.
The supply to Ibafo originates from a 33kV feeder which radiates supply from Oke-Aro Transmission Station through Magboro, Makogi, Oke-Afa to Ibafo, Asese, Orimerunmu, Pakuro, Lotto and Mowe axis and environs.
According to the company, the current load demand for the axis for an equitable power supply is 35 Megawatts, but the allocated energy from Oke-Aro TCN is 13 Megawatts, which was the initial arrangement based on how sparsely populated the communities were few years ago.
 It said the increase in population has created attendant rise in energy consumption making the 13 megawatts grossly inadequate.
It also said as part of efforts to ensure an even distribution of power supply to the communities, it had met and written to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) requesting for increase in load allocation to the axis, the TCN management however explained that all the transformers at the station are already overloaded, but that plans are in place for the upgrade of the Substation. IBEDC then went further to request for diversion of excess load on another feeder to Ibafo 33kV feeder, the request is yet to be granted.
The power company said it  has commenced radiating another feeder from the recently commissioned Kobape Transmission Station in Abeokuta to Mowe/Ibafo to relieve the load demand of the area and that is expected to take effect later on in the year.
It said the  feeder is overloaded, and it trips frequently,adding that frequent tripping of feeders shortens the life of circuit breakers.
The company added that the development  necessitated the need for load shedding methodology that will promote an amicable and mutual benefits to our substation equipment and all the communities concerned.
“The decision to review the three shifts load shedding management to four, for fair and quality power supply was duly discussed with the community leaders, and agreed upon by the leaders before its commencement on the 15th of March 2021.IBEDC as a customer centric company that has the interest of her customers at heart apologizes for all the inconveniences this new load shedding arrangement might have caused our esteemed customers in Magboro, Ibafo, Mowe and environs. The arrangement is only temporary as IBEDC and the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN are working assiduously to proffer a lasting solution to power supply problem in the area.
Again,CBN Freezes 194 Bank Accounts

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday said it got orders from the Federal High Court, Abuja division, to freeze 194 bank accounts belonging to firms and Bureaux de Change to enable it to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.
The CBN said it got an order to freeze 60 bank accounts of Bluebeam Capital Limited in one of the documents
The accounts were domiciled in 13 different banks, the CBN as the plaintiff stated.
Bluebeam had eight accounts each in Access Bank and Keystone Bank; seven each in First Bank and Ecobank; five each in UBA and GTBank; four each in Fidelity Bank, FCMB and Sterling Bank; three accounts in Polaris Bank; two each in Wema Bank and Heritage Bank; and one in Providus Bank.
The  apex bank said it secured  an order to freeze 84 accounts in 17 banks in another document.
The third documents  disclosed  that the banking regulator had the court order to freeze 50 accounts domiciled in different banks.
The motions exparte which were signed on different dates sought the orders of the court to direct the banks to freeze all other bank accounts of the defendants for a period of 180 days, pending the outcome of investigation and inquiry being conducted by the CBN.
In the document signed by the Presiding Judge, A.R. Mohammed, the court empowered the CBN to direct the banks to freeze all the bank accounts for a period of 45 days only, pending the outcome of investigation.
It added that the order may be extended upon good reasons shown.
 SEC Raises Alarm Over Fake Online Platforms

The Securities and Exchange Commission,has said that there are several unregistered online investment and trading platforms facilitating access to trading in securities listed in foreign markets.
The agency in a circular to Capital Market Operators issued by the Management of the Commission, warned the investing public to tread with caution,
 It added: “The attention of the SEC has been drawn to the existence of several providers of online investment and trading platforms which purportedly facilitate direct access of the investing public in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to securities of foreign Companies listed on Securities Exchanges registered in other jurisdictions.
 “These platforms also claim to be operating in partnership with Capital Market operators (CMOs) registered with the Commission”.
 The  commission stated that by the provisions of Sections 67-70 of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007 and Rules 414 & 415 of the SEC Rules and Regulations, only foreign securities listed on any Exchange registered in Nigeria may be issued, sold or offered for sale or subscription to the Nigerian public.
Nigeria Takes  Stolen Ile-Ife Artifact From Mexico

Mexico Returns Rare Ile-Ife Artefact Stolen From Nigeria (Photos)
Nigeria has received a stolen Ile-Ife artifact recovered from Mexico,the Minister of Foreign Affairs ,Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, has said
He advocated the  need for a more secured border to prevent future occurrence of theft
Onyeama collected the artifact from Dr Yakubu Dadu, Charge d’Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Mexico.
He commended the embassy’s efforts in recovering the artifact,adding that the interventions of Nigerian Envoys in recovering stolen possessions of the country shows the important works they were doing as against negative reports of Nigerian missions on social media.
He stressed the need for sensitising Customs officials at borders, explaining that it is better to secure national heritages from being stolen than to start negotiation for their return after being stolen.
“This Ife bronze was stolen from Nigeria and it was intercepted in Mexico and our Ambassador at the time, Amb. Aminu Iyawa, was very dynamic when he noticed it displayed at the Airport in Mexico and was a little bit suspicious.
“Due to his enterprise, detective work and his diplomatic skills, after a year he was able to find out the origin of the work and the fact that it was stolen and he engaged with Mexican authorities.
“And was able to get the Mexican authorities after proving that it was of Nigerian origin to hand it over to the Nigerian people.
“It was initially to be delivered home last year but because of the COVID-19 lock down he was not able to do so. This is all part of the excellent works that our diplomatic missions abroad are performing.
“Sometimes on social media we have negative narratives about our diplomatic missions but I think it is also important to recognise the important works they are doing as envoys of Mr President.
“Delivering such things back to the country requires a lot of negotiations, a lot of time to achieve these kind of results.
“There also need to be sensitisation of Custom officials to let them know there is a black market in these artifacts so as to have border measures.
“We do not want to be negotiating when they are outside our territory but what we can also do is to secure them from within and ultimately it is going to be about intelligence and Customs and border measures,” Onyeama said.
He  said there would be an official presentation of the artifact to the Minister of Information and Culture in the presence of the Ambassador of Mexico to Nigeria, after which it would be handed over to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Mr Gimba Muhammed, the acting Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said that a lot of measures are already put in place to prevent stolen artifacts from leaving the country.
Muhammed however noted that most of the artifacts were stolen from the country during the colonial era as the present security state of museums in the country would make it difficult for any artifact to be stolen.
“There are lots of measures in place to end theft of artifacts. There are countries to countries agreements.Recently there was an ECOWAS Head of Cultural Directors Ministries which papers were presented by ECOWAS countries to restitute some of these our properties from any country that they are found.
“If you find that of Nigeria in Côte d’Ivoire they bring it and if you find theirs here we return it to them,” Muhammed said.
Mr Babatunde Adebiyi, the Legal Adviser, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said plans were underway to build even more secured museums at global standards.
Access Bank Lagos City Marathon To  Feature Virtual Audience Participation  

Access Bank Lagos City Marathon 2021 set to feature virtual audience participation - Businessday NG
The title sponsors of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Access Bank Plc has announced that the Lagos City Marathon will be held virtually for interested 10km runners this year.
The company said the development was necessary to ensure the health and safety of all runners and essential service workers amid the global COVID-19 pandemic
The Marathon, scheduled for April 10, 2021 can only accommodate 300 runners in line with the guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Athletics and the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
Speaking on the development, Access Bank’s Executive Director of Retail Banking, Victor Etuokwu said, “Our primary consideration is the health and safety of participants, attendees and staff that will be a part of the Lagos City Marathon.
” This is why we decided to have an exclusive virtual event – that allows participants from all over the world to run the race wherever they are.  While we regret that we can’t host the live 10km race and fanfare that have become synonymous with the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, we continue to stand with the other sponsors to preserve public health as we look forward to hosting a successful marathon. We implore all well-meaning Lagosians to please adhere to the movement guidelines put in place by the Lagos State Government to ensure that the Marathon fulfills its purpose of positively placing Lagos and indeed the whole of Africa on the global map,” he concluded.
Though audience participation may have changed, the organisers have also announced that the race route will largely remain the same. Runners will begin the race from the National Stadium, Surulere, opposite Teslim Balogun Stadium and finish at the Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island.