FirstBank Explains Introduction Of New Website

JUST IN: FirstBank Introduces New Features To Its Banking System
FirstBank, Nigeria has launched  new website: https://www.firstbanknigeria.com/.
The  new website was upgraded with features that are streamlined to reinforce its role in delivering seamless banking and technology solutions to its customers across the world,according to the bank.
It stated that it is configured with modern design and improved functionality that eases customer experience whilst carrying out various activities on the site, including electronic banking. Non-customers are also able to open an account, putting them at an edge in the industry as they establish a relationship with the Bank that puts YOU, its customers, First.
The new website seamlessly adopts a fresh, magazine-style look and feel for easy navigation in order to promote the access to essential information for its customers, FirstMonie agents, prospective agents and the public. This upgrade also guides one to make well-informed decisions about one’s personal, business and private financial needs.
Dr. Adesola Adeduntan,the CEO of FirstBank Group, said that, “as one of the key contact points to existing and potential customers, the Bank’s website remains a gateway to our business, supporting our unique value propositions and financial services solutions. As such, we are committed to continuously improve the overall user experience through intriguing content quality, exciting features and ease of navigation.”
He further noted that the bank’s new website will be updated on a regular basis with exciting features that will continue to reinforce its  resolve to promote digital customer interactions and transactions across our virtual touch-points and platforms.
Sterling Bank  Introduces Mobile PoS Solution

Sterling Bank Unveils Contactless Payment Solution, "OnePay For Business"
Sterling Bank Plc has launched a product called ‘OnePay for Business’, a mobile app that empowers merchants to use their mobile phones as Point-of-Sales systems.
The bank explained that  it allows merchants and their customers to receive and make cardless, contactless and cashless payment for goods and services in a near-cash form using QR code, bluetooth and PaywithSpecta.
Dipo Alabede, the Group Head, Digital Banking, Sterling Bank, said  OnePay  met the need for a hygienic payment method in a COVID-19 world.
He said: “The contactless payment feature on the app is essential for merchants and customers because it keeps both safe as the world combats the coronavirus pandemic. It is also an effortless way to make payments.”
He added that the product was easy to use and available for download on the Android Play Store and iOS Store.
He said it required a smartphone with an Internet connection to set up.
“After setting up, customers can log in to use payment options that include QR code, nearby payment (bluetooth) and PaywithSpecta,” he said.
Explaining, he said a QR code is a unique barcode containing the merchant’s business name, QR merchant ID, and other information encoded into it. Instead of manually entering data into their mobile phones, customers would scan a merchant’s QR code using the QR feature on their app to start the payment process.
Alabede explained that customers could make payment using the app’s QR feature if it was enabled as a part of their mobile banking offerings.
 “To pay merchants, customers have to open their OneBank app or any other bank mobile app to select the QR service option, validate and complete the transaction,” he said.
He identified being able to make payments anytime and anywhere, even without a wallet or sufficient cash at hand, as one of the benefits of using the Sterling QR service.
Merchants could also accept payments anytime and anywhere by using the mobile app, he said.
Urging merchants to download and use the app, the Executive Director, Commercial Banking at Sterling Bank, Tunde Adeola, noted that it would save them money and reduce their cost of operations.
The Chief Digital Officer of the bank, Olayinka Oni, described the product as another means of enriching lives through immediate settlement value for merchants.
SON Seeks Return To SeaPorts

The federal government has been urged to introduce
 The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has emphasized the need to return to the nation’s ports in order to check the influx of substandard products into the country.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, on Monday, when he led a team on an inspection visit to a steel manufacturing company in the state capital,
Farooq Salim, the Director-General of the SON, who gave the advice when he led a team on an inspection visit to a steel manufacturing company in Ilorin,lamented that chasing substandard products all over the country rather than waiting for them at the ports and border stations has been challenging to the regulators.
He said: “It is important to note that non-involvement of SON at some ports in the country’s operations has continued to pose challenges particularly to the agency’s compliance and monitoring units.”
Salim maintained that it is only in Nigeria that the nation’s standard organisation’s directorate is not at the ports to authenticate goods brought into the country.
He added that “This is counter-productive to the economy of the nation.
“It is easier to fight the influx of substandard products at the points of entry than chasing them around all over the country in markets and warehouses, among others,” he added.
According to him,over 85 per cent of the products imported into the country daily, monthly or yearly come through the seaports and waterways, adding  it would be difficult to ignore the maritime sector operators in the quest for zero imports of substandard and unwholesome products, as well as the federal government’s ease of doing business policy.
Also speaking,Alhaji Kamoru Yusuf, chairman of KAM Holdings, advocated the  for the reintroduction of pre-shipment inspection of goods at the nation’s ports to check the proliferation of arms, substandard products and loss of revenue in the country.
 ‘Repentant Kidnappers Now Work In Oil Companies’

8 repentant militants, kidnappers become pastors in OPM Church
Some repentant Niger Delta militants and kidnappers undergoing rehabilitation in the Omega Power Ministries (OPM) rehabilitation centre ,had been gainfully employed in different oil companies in the country, while others  got jobs abroad,the General Overseer, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, has said.
He also  also said  no fewer than eight of the repentant  kidnappers are now pastors in the church.
He said that the repentant militants/kidnappers  changed after a divine encounter through evangelism organised for some of them in their various camps.
 “I preached to them and many of them hearken to salvation call and gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Before I embarked on this move, I bought some estates to relocate them.
“Initially when I preached to them, because I could not relocate them out of their place, it was easy for them to go back to their old ways.
“So, I decided that the best way to approach them is to change their environment and that became the first step of their healing process,” he said.
He said that he took them to the estate, got them baptized and began to teach them the words of God to complete liberation from crime.
“These kidnappers have wives and children, so what we did was to put their children in the free school operated by the church and at the same time established businesses for their wives.
“We started teaching them different skills and by the grace of God, after they acquired the skills, some said they wanted to be pastors.
“And, currently we have eight of them that are full-time pastors in OPM branches.
“Others are into different skills like carpentry, pipeline welding, scaffolding, mechanics and so on,” Chinyere said.
“The Nigerian Police have been cooperating with us; some of these youths have been in crime for many years and they were not caught, but they came with their arms to surrender.
“The police decided not to go after them since they surrendered willingly as long as they don’t go back to crime again; there is somebody that submitted three AK-47 rifles.
“We took them to police headquarters in Rivers, located at Moscow Road and they took their biometrics, pictures and fingerprints as well as the record of guns submitted and the crimes they committed.
“With this, the police have their full data in case they go back to crime. However, I know they won’t go back to crime,” he added.
 FG Must Domesticate Regional, International Instruments Safety of Journalists-Lawyers

Lawyers urge FG to domesticate regional, international instruments on safety  of journalists -
Participants rising from a Litigation Workshop for Lawyers on the Safety of Journalists have
Stakeholders in the nation’s judicial sector have implored  the Federal Government to take urgent steps to domesticate relevant regional and international instruments and standards on the safety of journalists in order to give impetus to compliance and enforcement processes at the national level as a way of ending impunity for crimes against journalists.
They also urged government to live up to its international treaty obligation to guarantee the safety of journalists and other media practitioners, including by preventing attacks on them whenever possible and ensuring that all attacks on journalists and other media workers are investigated and that the perpetrators of the attack are prosecuted and punished.
These were some of the recommendations made by legal practitioners who participated in a two-day Litigation workshop on Safety of Journalists held in Abuja organized by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) with support from the Global Media Defence Fund (GMDF) through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The participants urged media organizations in Nigeria to undertake periodic and regular safety training for their journalists and other workers to ensure that they are able to carry out their work safely and professionally, adding that the organizations should also kit journalists and workers with the appropriate equipment, including protective gear, where necessary, to prevent or minimize their exposure to various hazards that they may confront as they carry out their work.
They advised lawyers and civil society organizations to liaise with relevant organizations, institutions and agencies, such as the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as well as the heads of various courts in organising sensitization programmes and activities for judicial officers on the safety of journalists so that judges are appropriately informed about the importance of the safety of journalists and their role in the process.
The participants suggested that lawyers litigating cases touching on the safety of journalists and other media workers should prepare their written addresses or briefs of argument with the objective of enlightening and sensitizing the judge handling such matters about the issue of the safety of journalists, adding that they should also prepare diligently for their cases and familiarize themselves sufficiently about the issue in order to adequately respond to questions or queries that the judges may raise.
To ensure speedy adjudication, the participants pointed that for cases touching on the safety of journalists in Nigeria as well as to ensure that judges handling such matters have the requisite knowledge and expertise, the heads of various courts in the country should designate judges to hear cases on the safety of journalists.
Besides, they said, as part of efforts by Nigeria to meet its obligations under regional and international instruments to prevent attacks against journalists and ensure accountability for any such crimes, “Practice Directions” should be issued to guide the hearing and determination of such cases in order to improve the effectiveness of judicial mechanisms in addressing the challenge of crimes against journalists.
The participants said it was a shocking irony that attacks on the media, particularly the killing of journalists, have escalated during the period of civilian democracy with the result that attacks on journalists have risen far above the levels recorded during the period of military regimes in Nigeria, pointing out that it means that the democratic environment has become far more hostile and dangerous for journalists than the period of military rule.
They pointed out that if journalists are frequently intimidated into distorting the information that they provide to the society or if they are too afraid to report truthfully and accurately because of constant attacks, legal practitioners and the entire society will be worse for it because most, if not all members of the public make serious and sometimes life-changing economic, political, professional and other decisions based on the information that they receive through journalists and the media.
 UPDC Names New Managing Director

Inline image
The Board of Directors, UACN Property Development Company has announced the appointment of Mr. Odunayo Ojo as Managing Director.
 Mr. Ojo has over twenty years experience in the property development, assets management and housing industry, working in different property companies across three continents.
He has at various times worked with Eagle Hills, Abu Dhabi, Ocean & Oil Holdings (Oando) and most recently, as the Chief Executive Officer, Alaro City, Lagos, Nigeria.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate from the University of Lagos, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree also from the University of Lagos’ Business School. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, UK, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers, Nigeria and International Facilities Management Association, USA.
Mr. Odunayo Ojo was announced as the Managing Director of UPDC resulting from the company’s strategy to reposition the Group.The statement also thanked Deborah Nicol—Omeruah for a good job in steering the company aright whilst she acted as the Managing Director.
Rite Foods Puts Nigeria On Global Map

GET TO KNOW US - Rite Foods Limited
Large, diversified, family-owned businesses are dominant players in the economies of most emerging markets and can be excellent business partners for Western companies.
 Besides, Conglomerates in emerging markets aim to gravitate towards building, developing, or buying new capabilities, as well as strengthening core capabilities and retrofitting obsolete capabilities to help them succeed in the next decade.
It is, however,ironic that most business concern in Africa, indeed Nigeria struggles and eventually goes into oblivion after the exit of the founder and first generation custodians, but, this jinx has been defiled by Rite Foods Limited.
Rite Foods, a world-class and proudly Nigerian foods and beverages manufacturing company was established in 2007 as a subsidiary of the innovative, ESS-AY Holdings Limited.
This strong heritage started in 1963 with ESS-AY Holdings Limited, having four (4) companies under its wings; Fototek Industries Limited, Photo Palace Limited, Photo Product Division and Prints Speciality Limited. Competing with Multinationals e.g. Kodak, Fuji, Konica Minolta. Also, had the first fully-equipped Colour and largest Photo Lab in West Africa, responsible for AGFA in eight countries of the West African region namely Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon.
Rite Foods Factory started from the Ground Floor of Adebola House, Opebi, Lagos in 2008, following the digital evolution in photography that the Group decided to diversify into the FMCG sector, which led to the birth of Rite Foods Limited.
Producing three variants of sausage brands, competing for the market share with multinationals like Leventis, UAC Foods and UTC.This emerging conglomerate has imbibed the exceptional culture of excellence and success of always being No. 1 in any business ventured into with the introduction of innovative products. With time, Rite sausage brands became the Most innovative Sausage Roll, Number 1 Sausage Roll in Nigeria with the Innovative Rite Spicy Sausage and Dominated the Sausage Market with variety of the Sausage Rolls.
Also, it introduced the Bigi Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) in 2016 and Fearless Energy Drinks in 2017.Since then, the brands have set the pace for others to follow, as the most preferred products by families nationwide, as well as addressing the market need of young pupils in schools. The CSD has 12 variants, the Bigi Premium Table Water, which is produced with global best practices in purification for hydration, freshness and healthy living.
The company’s inventiveness has earned high recognition in the energy drinks market with the first ever packaged polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle brands for the Fearless Red Berry and Fearless Classic. It is perhaps, the fastest-growing Foods and Beverages Company in West Africa, with the vision of becoming the industry’s foremost conglomerate by 2030.
For a Nigerian based refreshment organization with humble beginnings, Rite Foods has defeated the chances in an industry soaked with numerous International Brands. Their prosperity is expected less to what the organization did before dispatch, yet how it figured out how to flourish after launch.
Starting a beverage industry that is undertaking all operations in Nigeria has been quite a challenge especially with consumers remaining very adamant to change especially with the mentality of not wanting to try out new brands. They have been able to win the hearts of Nigerians with top quality and their taste not differing from that of their giant rivals.
Being an industry that undergoes all operation in Nigeria they have been able to employ over 3000 youths which is an estimate of the number of youth corpers in one batch stream in Lagos in just three years of establishment. And not only did they create a large number of employment, they also provide them with staff accommodation within a stone throw from the office that makes working stress free.
The rapid success of Rite Foods Limited, presently led by second generation custodians and gradually extending into the next generation, broken all encumbrances known with indigenous businesses, can be attributed to its quality consciousness and technological advances within the market space.
Due to the vision and expansion drive of the founder, a Truly World-Class Factory was built in Ososa, Ogun state and started production in 2012. Both the sausage and beverage products are produced in world class facilities with machineries that are the best from all over the world ensuring the most hygienic conditions. The factory which is automated with little or no – human interference, generates its own source of electricity via the largest solar plant in West Africa alongside it usage of Gas and Diesel induced plant connected to the National Grid that facilitates seamless,24/7 uninterrupted power supply to the highly sensitive, sophisticated technology factory.
With the vision of leaving an enduring legacy, Chairman, ESS-AY Holdings Limited, Dr.S.A Adegunwa while receiving The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at the factory in 2017, noted that “with the visit of his excellency to our factory, this is a defining moment in the history of Rite Foods Limited”. The VP also corroborated the submission of the Chairman, stated “this is a testament to the true Nigerian spirit of hard work, bold entrepreneurship and commitment to world class standards”.
As part of relief efforts to cushion the economic effects of coronavirus, Rite Foods Limited partnered with the Lagos State government in its COVID-19 Emergency Food response Project, also provided thousands of bottles of drinking water to support residents of the state. The Euphoria generated at the 2020 Headies awards which was the 14th edition of the annual awards would not have been created without the influence of Rite Foods. It was a very exceptional one as 75% of the attendance was virtual due to the Corona Virus pandemic.
It is definitely more fitting that the number one Energy drink brand in Nigeria, Fearless, sponsored this edition of the Headies. Also, with the recent sponsorship of Prophetess, a movie shot in Nigeria and presently running at the Cinemas, Rite Foods Limited is gradually making inroads into Nigeria’s fledging and lucrative Nollywood. Nigerian Idols, a platform for budding and talented singers to express themselves is also been sponsored by this emerging, friendly conglomerate.
At the recent tour of the multi-million dollar factory, journalist were inundated with the Nigerianess and “I CAN, I AM” mantra of the Brand.
Established in 2007, Rite Foods Limited is a truly world-class and proudly Nigerian Food and Beverage Company, a subsidiary of Ess-Ay Holdings.
Its product line comprises the Bigi Cola, Bigi Orange, Bigi Apple, Bigi Bitter Lemon, Bigi Soda Water, Bigi Lemon & Lime, Bigi Tropical, Bigi Chapman, Bigi Tamarind, Bigi Cherry Cola, Bigi Ginger Lemon, Bigi Ginger Ale, Bigi Premium Table Water, Fearless Redberry and Fearless Classic Energy Drinks, Rite Spicy, Bigi Beef Sausage roll and Rite Sausage roll.
The company’s inventiveness has earned high recognition in the energy drinks market with the first ever packaged polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle brands for the Fearless Red Berry and Fearless Classic.
Why FG Retirees Didn’t Get Pension For A Year-Pencom

FG retirees not paid pensions since March 2020 – PenCom - Punch Newspapers
 Most  Federal Government workers that retired from March 2020 and this year could not get their pension on the non-payment of their accrued pension rights,the Director-General, National Pension Commission,Aisha Umar has said.
“This challenge, which started in 2014, was essentially triggered by the appropriation of insufficient amounts for payment of accrued pension rights of FGN retirees and further aggravated by late or non-release of full appropriated amounts,” she said
She disclosed  this in  her welcome remarks during the oversight visit of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Services to the commission in Abuja,where she also said the challenges included the Federal Government’s non-compliance with the new minimum statutory rate of pension contribution of 18 per cent since 2014; non-payment of approved 15 per cent and 33 per cent pension increases to pensioners under the CPS.
According to her,others are non-payment of shortfall for payment of full retirement benefits of retired heads of service and permanent secretaries; and non-payment of Federal Government pension protection levy.
“These have created sad and negative impression on the full realisation of the objectives of the CPS in Nigeria,” she said.
She said that PenCom appreciated the role played by the Senate committee in the past to move the National Assembly to intervene in the matter of payment of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government.
However, she noted, the challenge had not been because pension liability was a moving target that increases on monthly basis as FGN employees retired.
She said, “Another issue that is worth mentioning to this distinguished committee is the persistent complaints against certain sections of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which need amendments.
“This is normal with every new system and the experience of the CPS in Nigeria is bound to be the same. Consequently, the commission had obtained inputs from critical stakeholders and cataloged their proposed amendments of provisions of the PRA 2014.
“However, as was done in the first review exercise that birthed the present Act, it is imperative to subject the proposed amendments to extensive experts’ and stakeholders’ engagements prior to presentation to the Federal Executive Council and then National Assembly for further legislative action.”
FG Considers Review Of Mambilla Power Project

 The Federal Government  says it  subjecting the 50 per cent reduction in the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project installed capacity to an independent review.
 The  Federal Ministry of Power stated that the government was currently reviewing the revised capacity independently to validate it.
It  added that both the potential lenders, project contractors and consultants of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project now believed that the project bankability would be improved by increasing the project Plant Factor.
It  also said  that the plant factor was being increased from the current level of less than 20 per cent to at least 40 per cent.
“This change comes with the opportunity of reducing the project capital cost and potential power tariffs of the project,” it added
According to the Ministry:“It is, however, to be noted that the reduction in the project installed capacity from 3,050MW to 1,525MW, while it will increase the project bankability, it will not necessarily reduce the annual gigawatt-hour of energy output from the project in any significant way.The Federal Government of Nigeria is currently subjecting the project to independent review with a view to validate the recommendation by the Presidential Project Delivery Committee.”
How  NITDA Saved  N22.45bn  For FG

FG saves N22.45bn through IT clearance regulation - Punch Newspapers
National Information Technology Development Agency(NITDA) has so far saved the sum of N22.45 billion for the Federal Government through the clearance of Information Technology projects of various  Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) of government.
Mr.Kashifu Abdullahi, the  Director General of NITDA,who  disclosed  this in Abuja at a media briefing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the agency,noted that with the release of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), NITDA has created a new industry, stimulated new business models, and empowered thousands of Nigerians through capacity building and skills development.
“We licensed 72 Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs), created over 2,686 new jobs roles in the industry, developed a new data protection sector valued at around 2.2 billion Naira.
“The agency has also successfully investigated and issued data breach fines to many organisations, including public institutions.  More importantly, other countries are looking up to the Agency for guidance on Data Protection Regulation,” he explained.