All Posts in "Day: September 15, 2021"

FG increases to N8.5bn TETFund grants to varsities, others

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Federal Government has increased Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) research grants to universities and other tertiary institutions to N8.5 billion, up from the N7.5 billion in 2020.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who announced the increment while declaring open the first National Conference on Research, Training and Development in Zaria, noted that in 2019, the grants totaled N5 billion.

The conference, under the theme: “Research, Training and Development in Nigeria’s educational system in the 21st century: challenges and way forward” was organized by the Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria.

The minister, represented by the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for doing a lot in the area of education.

He added that the Federal Government had decided to raise its budgetary allocation to the education sector by 50 percent in next year’s budget, with a view to addressing the funding shortfall for the sector.

The minister stressed the global importance of research in any academic community, saying that the number of academic publications was not enough, as what mattered most was the amount of research grants one attracted to his or her university as a professor or senior academic officer.

The minister congratulated ABU for winning a total of 12 research grants in 2020 from the TETFund as against the five it won in 2019.

“I am really happy that things are gradually changing in ABU. As one of the first generation universities in Nigeria, ABU should not take the rear seat in the area of research and other academic activities,” he said.

The minister recalled with nostalgia some of vibrant intellectual activities organised by students that attracted many to ABU, citing the examples of the popular Moot Court at the Faculty of Law and the Mock Summit at the Department of Political Science and International Studies.

The minister, however, noted with dismay, that those epoch-making events by students had ceased to exist in recent years, although they were beginning to pick up under the leadership of Prof. Kabiru Bala as the institution’s Vice-Chancellor.

Earlier, Prof. Bala, had stressed the importance of research in national development, saying that this was what promoted the Institute of Education to organise the annual national conference on research, training and development.

Patoma Admin by — September 15, 2021 in Education 0
FG begins immediate repairs of affected flooding in five states

By admin

 

 

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN Tuesday directed the immediate Emergency Repairs on Sections where failure had occurred due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall in five states across the country.

Fashola who gave the directive at a briefing meeting in Abuja named the roads for immediate intervention to include Ibadan – Ife road, Gombe – Bauchi road, Gombe – Darazo; Bauchi – Ningi, Bida – Lambata, and Tsamiya bridge in Jigawa State, also assured of continuous attention to other roads with similar problems.

The Minister said that the Federal government is committed to infrastructure development and will respond promptly to complaints from citizens.

He however, appealed to commuters to be patient with the government as the excessive rains being witnessed has negative effect on road construction and rehabilitation.

He expressed his Ministry’s commitment to do all within its means to ease the hardship of commitment

Patoma Admin by — September 15, 2021 in News 0
Heritage, Zenith, UBA, Union and four other banks bankroll SCOA hand over of trucks to Julius Berger

CAPTION

R – Ralph Brendicke, Representative of the MD of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc; Mother Dan-Egwu, Regional Head, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Mainland Zone of Heritage Bank Plc; Engr. Amresh Shrivastava, Deputy CEO of SCOA Nigeria Plc and Federal Republic of Germany’s Head of Mission in Lagos, H.E Ambassador Dr. Von Munchoe-Pohl, during the Official Handover Ceremony of State-of-the-Art Man Trucks and Wirtgen Equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc with Heritage Bank being one of the lead financiers, weekend in Lagos.

 

 

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Heritage, Zenith, UBA, Union  and four other Banks have provided a total of N15.5billion to assist SCOA Nigeria Plc for the importation and supply of Trucks and equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria for construction of roads across the country.

Specifically, Heritage Bank availed SCOA Motors an Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) N4.64 billion for the project while other banks – Zenith, Wema, UBA, Union, Unity, Coronation and Providus Banks complemented the global total sum.

The sum total covers for 33 trucks and technological equipment. For the first phase during the ceremony, 16 of the trucks were handed over to Julius Berger and the second phase of delivering will be executed next month.

Commenting on the Official Handover Ceremony of State-of-the-Art Man Trucks and Wirtgen Equipment to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the MD/CEO of Heritage Bank Plc, Ifie Sekibo stated that the support efforts through project financing in the various sectors of the economy is one of the platforms that underscores our resolve and readiness to make a mark in the financial sector as a major pivot of socio-economic transformation of the country.

The Regional Head, Lagos Mainland Zone of Heritage Bank, Mother Dan-Egwu, who represented Sekibo, said the bank partnered to support SCOA Nigeria Plc for its long and outstanding presence in the automobile market, by retaining the cutting edge in their line of business.

Dan-Egwu disclosed that the Heritage Bank’s philosophy is to support businesses to grow in their discharge of duties; she was quoted as saying, “For us at Heritage Bank, our core business philosophy as a timeless wealth partner to our customers is captured in our mission to create, transfer and preserve wealth.”

According to her, the bank’s field of engagement of support has so far been diversified, covering economic sectors such as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, agriculture, entertainment and arts, education, oil and gas, aviation and haulage as well as the public sector.

Earlier in his address, the GMD/CEO of SCOA, Dr. Massad Boulos commended Heritage Bank and the other banks’ roles, as the transactions were made possible through their solid partnership.

“I will also thank Heritage bank, their Directors, MD; Unity Bank and other senior bankers official & the entire team of banks, they’ve worked closely together with us on this project, same with Providus Bank, they all have worked together tirelessly for the success of this project,” he said.

According to him, this partnership is like no other considering the parties involved especially SCOA Motors and Julius Berger in the official hand over of state of the art modern trucks for use on the road constructions’ equipment for the execution of the biggest and the most significant project in Nigeria; the Abuja/Kaduna/Kano express way.

SCOA Motors Plc has been operating in the Nigeria Market since 1922. The company has over the years expanded from Automobiles to other lucrative ventures such as importation and assembling of Vehicles and Generating plants, Agriculture /Food processing.

Heritage Bank, 7 others bankroll N15.5bn SCOA handover of trucks, equipment to Julius Berger

Patoma Admin by — September 15, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0