All Posts in "Day: March 28, 2022"

Access Bank ‘W’ Initiative Facilitates Successful Childbirth Through Maternal Health Service Support

Access Bank’s women empowerment arm, the ‘W’ Initiative, has welcomed a new set of twins through its Maternal Health Service Support (MHSS) Scheme.
The scheme, which was created to ease the financial burden associated with accessing both local and international fertility treatments and natal support, was accessed by one of Access Bank’s customers last year—the result of which is a twin birth following a successful In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedure in Port Harcourt.
Abiodun Olubitan, Group Head, W Initiative Access Bank, said fertility treatments and natal supports are generally expensive, making them inaccessible to many families who need them.
He added: “More so, many of these treatments require multiple cycles completed to increase the success probability. Each cycle and each treatment increases the financial burden families have to face to bear the children they desire
“Unfortunately, these treatments do not guarantee the desired results. Many families have had to go through them repeatedly, which makes the financial requirements crushing. We launched the Maternal Health Service Support to help families shoulder that burden. We are ecstatic over the news of our customer’s set of twins, and we look forward to hearing more positive news in the near future,” she added.
Since its launch, Access Bank has disbursed over N211 Million in loans through the MHSS, positively impacting hundreds of women with low-cost health financing that has thus far resulted in 78 births.
The MHSS serves as the ‘W’ Initiative’s vehicle to finance various health procedures, including fibroid treatments, bone marrow transplants, child delivery, weight loss, surrogacy amongst others.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in Health 0
Ogun Commences Road Repairs

Ogun  State Public Works Agency has commenced the next phase of road repairs in its bid to fix bad portions of road networks and improve the road infrastructure in the state.
The OGPWA General Manager, Gbenga Akintola, who conveyed this  while speaking during an inspection visit to some of the sites, said the roads had been given a major facelift.
The agency said the roads include, NEPA road, Imo; Oke-Mosan road; OGTV road; Totoro junction, linking Ogbe; and Methodist Cathedral road network, all in Abeokuta.
He noted that the repair was strategic as well as important and that the agency took advantage of the dry spell to navigate into areas that needed attention.
According to him,the agency would not relent in ensuring that road repairs and rehabilitation remained a continuous exercise.
He said, “In the last few months, OGPWA has completed a full re-asphalting of the Kings Court Estate Road, Oke-Mosan, the access road to the House of Assembly Legislative quarters, Opic round-about, Oke-Ilewo, Central Bank Junction-Bureau of Lands /OGSIEC access road, Oke-Ilewo-Omida-Igbore road junction, Iwe-Iroyin – GTBank- Kuto road junction, all in Abeokuta.”
Akintola stated that in the Ogun-West Senatorial District, road network marked for repair with the commencement of work include Mefun road, Ota, in the Ado–Odo/Ota Local Government Area; Ibese- Igbogila road network, in the Yewa North Local Government Area; Adetona, Orita Pahayi, Sabo Junction Road, Ilaro; as well as Idiroko- Ipokia road in the Ipokia Local Government Area.
He said repair works had continued on the Orile-Ifo road network.
He said at Ogun-East Senatorial District, the OGPWA team had moved to market road, Isara Remo; Ajegunle, Sagamu in the Sagamu Local Government Area; Erunwon-Ogidi road, Ijebu-North East Local Government Area; and Imososi street, Ago-Iwoye in the Ijebu North Local Government Area.
He urged the general public to always protect the roads, and desist from habits that could damage the road.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in News 0
N1.8m Candidates To Sit For 2022 UTME/DE 

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) said it registered a total of 1,837,011 candidates registered for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (JAMB) and Direct Entry (DE).
Its registration  ended on Saturday 26th March, 2022, according to the examination body.
This year’s application for admission to tertiary institutions in Nigeria for the 2022/2023 academic session commenced  from Saturday, 19 February, 2022.
A total of 1,338,687 candidates registered for the 2021 UTME
The Board registered  more than 2.1 million candidates for the 2020 UTME.
For the 2019 examination, it recorded over 1.8 million candidates, while the total number of applications received in 2018 was 1,653,127 as against 1,722,269 applications received in 2017.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in Education 0
Yuguda Laments Huge Unclaimed Dividends In Capital Market

The Securities and Exchange Commission  has lamented the high level of unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market.
Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda,who expressed  this when the Vice Chancellor of ABU Prof Kabiru Bala led other top management of the University to the commission,enjoined investors to mandate their accounts for e-dividend in a bid to reduce the quantum.
He said, “So many investors have shares in the capital market and have abandoned them. People have not come forward to claim their dividends and this has led to huge unclaimed dividends and has increased the unclaimed dividends profile.
“The commission has over time been educating and enlightening the public on how they can get their dividends. Now they do not need to wait for the broker to send the dividend warrants through the registrars. The dividends can actually come to them directly into their bank accounts through e-dividend payments. We will arrange investor clinics to ABU to talk about issues in the capital market and encourage the staff and students to key in. ABU is reputed for giving the very best in tertiary education and some of us are proud graduates of the university”.
He informed that the Securities and Exchange Commission  has concluded plans to partner  with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in a bid to further deepen the Nigerian capital market.
According to him,the commission is currently carrying out a number of initiatives which he stated would appeal to younger generation and attract them to the capital market.
He added:“Today, people like things they can do on their phones/tablets and that is why we are embracing technology in the capital market. Fintechs are attracting young people to do investments with their phones meanwhile the market still relies on paper documentation. This is really something of the past as we are committed to ensuring that our markets are technology driven. Technology is the way to go and it is the way to really engage people. Once the youths buy an idea, it goes far and wide”.
Speaking,Vice Chancellor of ABU Prof Kabiru Bala described the visit as part of the advancement of the university to keep in contact with their alumni as is done in most global universities.
He implored alumni to collaborate with their universities and institutions to assist such institutions where necessary adding that many universities are currently grappling with issues of funding.
“We know many institutions are grappling with issues of funding and these alumni can come in to assist. This will drastically reduce the incidences of industrial action by the staff” He stated.
He also requested for collaboration with the SEC that would enable undergraduates of the institution intern with the Commission for specified period in a bid to understand in details the workings of the capital market adding that, this will increase their employability chances.
He added:“We are putting a lot of premium on these kind of relationship to ensure that students can conduct research that would also be useful to the capital market. We are working towards reviving our endowment fund in a bid to bringing sustainable development to the university and enhance revenue generation”.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in Regulators 0
Russia-Ukraine War: Nigeria Ready To Feed Europe With Gas 

The Federal Government has urged the European Union (EU) to step up investments in gas and hydrocarbon in Nigeria to be able to assist meet the EU energy needs.
 Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Slyva was quoted in a statement,that the development came  on the heels of the lingering war been Ukraine and Russia, which threatens gas supply to European countries.
Speaking during a courtesy call by EU ambassadors to Nigeria led by the Ambassador Samuela Isopi, Minister of State Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva,said Nigeria was ready to step in as alternative gas supplier to Europe.
He appealed  to the EU to encourage its oil and gas companies such as Shell, Eni, Total Energies among others to scale up investments in the gas sector in Nigeria.
He said :“One of the things we warned against earlier was the speed with which EU was taking away investments in fossil fuels. We warned that the speed was faster than they were developing renewable energy. You can see now that what we were warning against is what is happening now”.
He  said what has lowered  the growth in the development of gas in Nigeria has been that of fresh investments.
He emphasized the need   for a change of attitude if the requests by the EU to increase supplies to Europe is to be realized.
He said :“One of the biggest problem we have in the sector has been investments. In the last 10 years over $70 billion worth of investments came to Africa but sadly less than $4 billion came to Nigeria and surprisingly we are the biggest in Africa. If we can not attract investments in Nigeria, you know where we are heading”.
“You have been our long time friend. As at today, our gas reserve is one of the biggest in the world. We have a proven gas reserve of 206 tcf and if we really focus on gas exploitation we can get up to 600 tcf. Nigeria is arguably  the best territory to invest. We are already building gas infrastructure such as the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline project which is expected to take gas to Algeria and the West Africa Gas Pipeline project designed to take gas to Morroco. As you can see we are already building infrastructure that will take gas to Europe. All we need is investments. We acknowledge that there are challenges in the sector but we should partner to help solve the problem.
“After the Russia-Ukrainian war is over, you must now have a buffer or an alternative source of gas and we can work with you to create that buffer. We can work with the EU to bridge the gap in terms of gas. From what is happening with Russia, gas has been weaponized and unless you create an alternative, gas will continue to be weaponized”.
He promised  the EU diplomats that “Nigeria will work with you and we are ready to be an alternative supplier of gas to the EU but you should tell your companies here in Nigeria to plan more investments here. If your companies investments more in Nigeria  it will also help us to to increase our gas supplies to Europe”
“We would like to be reliable partners to solve the energy problem in Europe and we can only achieve this by working together. It is only when investment in these areas is increased that Nigeria can meet that obligation,” Sylva said.
Emphasizing the need for transfer of technology in gas and renewable energy he said Africa must be allowed to continue to exploit its hydrocarbon deposits to develop the continent.
In her remarks,  Ambassador Isopi urged Nigeria to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the present crisis in Europe to shore up gas supplies to Europe.
She Nigeria  Nigeria to step into that gap supply chain as an alternative to Russia adding that the country must not allow the opportunity to pass it by.
She spoke on the security situation in the Niger Delta that drastically impacted on gas supply in the last few years,and  urged the Nigerian government to step up security in the region to guarantee gas supply to EU member states.
She particularly expressed concern over the spate of attacks on Shell, Eno and Total Energies’s gas infrastructure that led to the declaration of force majure by the companies and noted that the development was of great concern to Europe.
“The recent developments in the Niger Delta is of great concern to us,” she said adding that the EU was however reassured by the recent visit by Sylva and other top government officials to the site of the vandalized infrastructure in the region.
The French ambassador to Nigeria Ambassador Emmaunelle Blatmann,noted that despite the present challenges in the sector in the country, “our companies are ready to commence new investments in Nigeria”.
admin by — March 28, 2022 in Oil&Gas 0