All Posts in "Day: December 10, 2021"

Access Bank’s Amaechi Okobi Wins ‘COVID-19 Response Banker of the Year’ Award

Access Bank's Amaechi Okobi is 'COVID-19 Response Banker of the Year'
The Group Head, Corporate Communications, Access Bank Plc, Amaechi Okobi, has been recognised with the “COVID-19 Response Banker of the Year Award” at the 56th Annual Bankers Dinner, held recently at the Balmoral Conventional Hall, Federal Palace, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The award category sought to recognise and celebrate players in the industry who innovatively went beyond the call of duty to ensure business continuity and drive the protection of lives, property and business interests during the global pandemic.
Receiving the award, Okobi said, “Indeed, COVID-19 disrupted our lives and our business procedures. Before the pandemic, I, and many others in this room, could meet with teammates, visit favourite relaxation spots and move around freely. COVID-19 altered all of that. Being someone who takes relationships seriously, I was determined to do my part in restoring a form of normalcy to society while protecting lives and business interests.”
“However, all my bright ideas would not have come to life without the amazing team at Access Bank and extensively, CACOVID, who worked tirelessly to ensure we impacted lives through a truly testing time.”
Okobi, who has been steering Access Bank’s corporate public image for the past six years, has been pivotal to driving Access Bank’s sustainability communications which has led to several recognitions including the 2021 Karlsruhe Award for Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement (fifth-time consecutive winner); World Finance Award for Most Sustainable Bank (tenth-time winner); Central Bank of Nigeria Award for Sustainable Bank of the Year (third-time consecutive winner), and the ‘Sustainability Team of The Year (Financial Services)’ award at the 2021 Brandcom Awards.
 Okobi has received several recognitions, including the ‘Most Outstanding Corporate Communications Professional (Financial Services)’ at the 2021 Brandcom Awards ceremony; the reputable Fellowship award by the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) in 2020 and the “Corporate Communications Professional of the Year Award” at the Corporate Communications Awards 2017.
The Annual Bankers Dinner is one of the most prestigious events in the Nigerian banking industry’s calendar, hosted by The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. The event attracts hundreds of top government functionaries, policy shapers, diplomats, key industry players and more.
Online Editor by — December 10, 2021 in Banking&Finance 0
Coscharis Motors Shelves Electric Vehicle Sales In  Nigeria – Coscharis Motors

Why We're Yet To Commence Electric Vehicle Sales In Nigeria – Coscharis Motors – Independent Newspaper Nigeria
Coscharis Motors says it is shelving importation or assembling of Electric Vehicles (EV) in Nigeria on account of  inadequate charging points and infrastructure were responsible for its delay in investing in electric vehicles.
Mr. Abiona Babarinde, General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Coscharis Group, told motoring journalists
at the unveiling of the seventh generation of BMW 3 Series
He said his  company was willing to go into the electric vehicles sales, but said right infrastructure must be put in place in order to assist its clients.
He said: “Whatever we want to go into, we want to set the pace, which means we want to do our homework very well. It is not about joining the bandwagon, but doing it and doing it rightly. We don’t want to sell electric vehicles today and then leave our customers struggling with charging points.
“The infrastructure have to be put in place. As we are selling the electric vehicles, we are also giving you the charging points. You need to have where you can peacefully charge your car, which is part of the aftersales Coscharis is known for. The moment we get the infrastructure right, we are good to go.”
Speaking, Joseph Omokhapue, National Sales Manager, Coscharis, also said  that once the charging ports are available in the country, the company would not hesitate to focus in that segment of the market.
Online Editor by — December 10, 2021 in Motoring 0
Renewable Energy:FG Woos More Investors

Power minister unable to defend N42bn project in 2022 budget before Senate
The Federal Government is encouraging more investors to key into renewable energy investment,saying prospects abound in same .
Engr. Abubakar  Aliyu, the Minister of Power, gave the assurance at a one day workshop, organised by the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) with the theme: : ‘Moving the Power Sector Beyond The Transition Electricity Market’ .
“We are not just looking at foreign investors, we want our local investors too to embrace the renewable energy sector” he added.
He reiterated  government’s commitment to creating enabling environment for private investors to thrive in the power sector.
 .
Represented by the Minister of State, Power, Dr. Goddy Jedy-Agba, the Minister said the President Muhammad Buhari led
administration has introduced many favourable policies to water the ground
for our partners.
“We understand that government can’t do it all, this is why we’ve opened the vista for more people to invest in the sector.
“We want to assure all our investors and would-be investors that we will continue to create favourable policies and business – friendly environments for their investments to thrive.
“The President Muhammad Buhari’s
administration has introduced many favourable policies to water the ground
for our partners. We want the media promote these policies so investors can know that truly, Nigeria is the investment hub of Africa” he said.
Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Mr. Obas Esiedesa, said the capacity building workshop was specifically organised in order enlarges the knowledge of journalists covering the electricity sector and afford them the
opportunity to interact with top government officials, regulators and industry operators.
Good journalism is now confronted with fake news.
“We can only fight this by investing in conventional journalists to tell
stories from the right perspective. That investment will go a long way to save government, investors and other operators
the costly impacts of fake news” he said.
Mr. Esiedesa expressed optimism that the capacity engender cordial relationships between the journalists who cover the sector and other stakeholders in the sector.
Online Editor by — December 10, 2021 in Power 0
  Gas Resource Will Nigeria’s Economy Around In 10 Years-NGA President

Shell Nigeria Gas MD, others emerge 2020-2022 Executive of NGA -
The Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas & President Nigerian  Gas Association , Ed Ubong has advocated   urgent strategy to grow Nigeria’s capacity in the gas sub-sector.
He said this would ensure that gas is used to spur industrial development across all parts of the country.
He disclosed this recently  at the Practical Nigeria Content Forum held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
He said:“We need to begin the process of retooling seasoned oil professionals to work in the growing gas sector, provide foundational training for young professionals and engineering graduates and actively  supporting indigenous companies to build capacity that will allow them deliver world class services in the gas value chain,”
He noted that the country’s potential for economic growth and self-sufficiency in energy lay in gas which he said was in abundance to meet local demand and export.
He  “I see Nigeria taking advantage of this resource to usher it into prosperity in the next 10 years of the decade of gas.”
He described the Nigerian content policy of Shell as a model worthy of replication by key players in the industry.
“Shell’s Nigerian content initiatives predates the local content legislation and we have continued to grow in-country value addition in human capital development and support to vendors, contractors, suppliers and Nigerian service companies to position them for local and international market,” Ubong said, adding that over the past 3years, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) has always awarded all its its contracts to indigenous companies.
Online Editor by — December 10, 2021 in Oil&Gas 0
Omicron:Nigeria Should Shun Economic Lockdown -LCCI

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, has urged  the Federal Government of Nigeria against any imposition of lockdown on account  of the discovery of Omicron variant of the COVID-19.
President of the Chamber, Michael Olawale-Cole,who said this in  Lagos, said any imposition of lockdown as a measure to contain and manage the spread of the virus should be avoided at all cost.
He also said Nigeria needs a long-term containment strategy and public health action plan to manage epidemics and pandemics without having to lock down the economy”, he said.
He added:“While we celebrate the positive Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth recorded all through the three quarters of this year, the recovery of the economy from the impact of Covid-19 in 2020 is still fragile. The Government must do everything in its power to sustain the positive growth trajectory towards an inclusive and sustainable growth rate.
“We urge Nigerians to increase compliance with Covid-19 safety protocols, present themselves for vaccination and obey all international travel protocols. We must all work towards a safer Nigeria to avoid any consideration of lockdown or restrictions that could disrupt economic activities”.
According to him,the government needs to provide the necessary support and enabling environment for the private sector to invest heavily in the manufacture of vaccines that can meet the nation’s  domestic demand and for export,adding that in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, this has the potential to be a major source to earn foreign exchange.
“The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the voice of the organized private sector in Nigeria, wishes to recommend the following multi pronged approach to further strengthen Nigeria’s response to the Covid 19 virus and the latest discovered strain
He advised the  the government to develop and deploy strategies to get more citizens vaccinated in the short term.
 These strategies,he said, need to address both the supply and demand-side challenges to vaccination.
He emphasized  the need to have constructive engagement directly with vaccine manufacturers and indirectly through the COVAX facility on the supply side.
 On the demand side,he said,there was  need to continuously educate citizens on the safety of vaccines and the importance of being vaccinated.
“The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, needs to conduct quick studies on the new variant and advise the Government on the next steps of containment.
“The Government needs to clamp down on any existing vaccine card racketeers who issue fake vaccination cards to outbound travelers from Nigeria to developed countries. Any trace of fake vaccination certificates to Nigeria is damaging to our international reputation. In addition the Government needs to create an intelligence monitoring mechanism to check the utilization of funds allocated to Covid-19 interventions.
“Scientists, epidemiologists, and the World Health Organization, WHO, have all recommended that the most potent protection against the COVID-19 virus is vaccination. Unfortunately, developing countries have suffered from a lack of access to vaccines and a weak pharmaceutical manufacturing base. In addition, and like in other parts of the world, vaccine hesitancy has been prevalent. Recent statistics from Our World in Data indicate that as of 2nd December, the number of vaccines doses administered in Nigeria was 10.9million, translating to about 1.8 percent of the Nigerian population. South Africa as at 5th December has administered about 26.3million (about 25 percent of the population), Kenya has administered about 7.58million (5.5 percent of the population). Ghana’s vaccination statistics for  total doses given stood at  3.5 million, translating to about 2.7 percent of the population.
“The total vaccination in Africa stood at 246.05million as of that date. In comparison with the developed economies, the United Kingdom has administered 116.95million jabs (64 percent), the United States of America 468.34million (almost twice the number for the whole of Africa and about 43 percent of their population), Russia 128.45million (51 percent), while the World’s second most populated country – India has administered 1.26billion vaccines (59 percent).
“We are obviously lagging behind our peers. While we agree with the Federal Government that the travel bans imposed on Nigeria are knee-jerk reactions, the Lagos Chamber wishes to recommend to the Federal Government measures to sustainably manage the Omicron strain.We wish to emphasize that the Federal Government must take this pandemic as an opportunity to make sustainable changes and improvements in the Nigerian Healthcare sector and accelerate progress towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage, UHC.
Online Editor by — December 10, 2021 in News 0