All Posts in "Month: September 2021"

26,031 international passport unclaimed in Lagos office

By adnin

 

 

Over 26, 031 already processed international passports are in the Lagos office of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) unclaimed.

Assistant Comptroller General of the Zone, Mrs. Talabi in Lagos affirmed that as of today, there is no shortage of passport booklets in the Zone admitting the infusion of over 20, 000 passport booklets into the system while asking Nigerians to take advantage of the different kinds of passport booklets available that suits their pockets as not all are N70,000.

Talabi who visited the Passport Office in Ikoyi to do an on the spot assessment of the situation on ground revealed to newsmen that she found 16, 211 processed but uncollected passport booklets at the Ikoyi Passport Office; 8,320 at the Alausa Passport Office while Festac Passport Office had 1, 500 unclaimed passport booklets.

She explained to prospective passport applicants to be patient and understand the process of producing a passport stressing that there was nowhere world over that application and collection of passports can be done in one day stressing that in Nigeria, the timeline is three (3) weeks for renewal while for fresh application of passports it takes six (6) weeks to accomplish.

” We implore prospects for their patience as there is nowhere in the world you apply for and get passports on the same day.”

On backlogs and passport booklet costs, she said the Immigration Headquarters have deployed a taskforce at the directive of Acting Comptroller General of the Service Idris Jere to clear the backlog of ready applications and also stressed that Nigerians be aware that there are different kinds of passports issued by the service.

According to her there are standard passports documents with 32 pages valid for five years at N25, 000 while a 64-page standard Passport valid for five years is N35,000. She also said a 64 page passport valid for 10 years goes for N70,000 stressing that there are booklets of different prices,pagination and validity so Nigerians can stop assuming all passports are N70, 000.

On the challenges especially with NIN, Talabi said,” Already there is a column where you have to input the applicant’s NIN without it the procedure will not be possible. How did we get here? People were always trying to beat the security features of the passport and so NIN was introduced as an additional security measure, to make it more difficult for fraudsters and those try to disrupt the process.

“I want to seriously highlight that some applicants’ NIN do not drop and so Immigration cannot proceed in processing their documents, then they go to town saying the NIS has delayed their passports, but if you don’t have NIN there is nothing we can do…Passports aren’t delayed because of administrative incompetence ,it may be because NIN has not dropped. The issue of NIN has to be addressed,” she said.

Patoma Admin by — September 25, 2021 in Business 0
Ethiopian Airlines to commence flights to Enugu on October 1

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Africa’s largest airline, Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will resume flights to Enugu Airport from the 1st of October, two years after the east African giant suspended flights to the southeastern state of Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a statement by its General Manager, Shimeles Arage, in Lagos on Sunday, stating that every week there would be a flight on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with B787 Dreamliner, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

“Oct. 1 is Nigeria’s Independence Day and the flight to Enugu on that day will reinforce Ethiopian Airline’s good relations with Nigeria since the first flight to Nigeria in 1960,” Arage said.

He added that flights were suspended from Enugu due to renovations of the airport done by the FG to improve the runway.

“Before the closure of the airport for runway repairs, Ethiopian was the only international airline flying to Enugu,” he added.

Patoma Admin by — September 23, 2021 in Aviation 0
African insurers set to benefit from AfCFTA

By admin

 

 

The African insurance sector is optimistic about the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) but wants to see regulatory integration, according to a new survey.

According to the Africa Insurance Pulse 1/2021, launched by the Africa Insurance Organisation (AIO), the AfCFTA will create a single market covering more than 1.2 billion people, with a current gross domestic product of more than $2.5trn. The free flow of goods, services, people and capital under the AfCFTA is expected to boost intra-African trade and strengthen the competitiveness of African companies.

Jean Baptiste Ntukamazina, secretary general of the AIO, said: “The African insurance sector is ideally positioned to provide security, economic and financial stability, and enable the development of societies and economies in Africa through its risk knowledge and risk transfer solutions. However, to play this important role, African insurers need integration or even harmonisation of insurance regulations.”

The maturity of the insurance market is low in most African countries. Insurance penetration is expected to increase in African markets where insurance growth has been accompanied by structural reforms, such as market liberalisation, compulsory insurance enforcement, wider distribution, public-private partnerships, and a regulatory system promoting innovation and market access.

The trend towards tighter capital requirements for insurance companies to ensure their solvency will establish stronger companies, promote job creation and build capacity in the industry. These reforms are crucial to increase the security and performance of the continent’s insurers.

(Re)insurance players have much to gain from a continent-wide single market. Once fully implemented, the eight strategic objectives of the AfCFTA will benefit (re)insurance companies in Africa directly or indirectly. As a result, the expectations of the various insurance stakeholders for the AfCFTA are high.

When asked about the top three challenges for a successful implementation of the AfCFTA, respondents most frequently cited increased competitiveness, indicating that not all countries, sectors and economic actors are equally prepared to benefit from the implementation of a common market.

Another top concern of the interviewed market participants was that insurance regulation differs widely across the continent and often poses hurdles to market access. Therefore, almost all respondents, including regulators and policymakers, agreed that the current regulatory differences present a major obstacle to integrating African (re)insurance markets

Patoma Admin by — September 23, 2021 in Insurance 0
African agriculture insurance set for boom

By admin

 

 

Kenya has unveiled a policy paper to boost uptake of agricultural underwriting in a country where the cover accounts for less than 1% of the total insurance premiums, exposing many farmers to losses.

The country unveiled the National Agricultural Insurance Policy – the first policy to guide agricultural underwriting – as the state hopes to deepen public-private partnerships in spurring uptake of livestock and crop insurance among farmers.

The move came as Continental Re published a report on agriculture insurance, in which experts from across the world cited the need for innovation.

The report reveals that, for insurers, some interesting trends have emerged through the Covid-19 pandemic as a split in buying habits between rural and urban policyholders across Africa accelerated.

Capitalising on that surge in interest in insurance among rural communities will not be straightforward, as Evance Rabong’o, agricultural lead at Continental Re, explains in the report.

“There are difficulties in persuading farmers, for example, to buy insurance for longer-term risks, such as crop protection,” he warns, adding: “Now is the time for the insurance sector to be creative and to look at not just designing fit-for-purpose products but also to look at the way in which insurance is sold.”

For example, he says, it is hard to access finance to buy insurance policies but if insurers were prepared to reassess when they collected premiums, the products might become easier to sell.

This could involve, for example, collecting premiums at harvest time, when the farmer has greater spending power. It could also involve working more closely with banks to realign available finance with insurance protections, or working with governments to allow governments and policyholders to share the burden of the cost of insurance.

Richard Leftley, CEO of Micro Insurance, adds: “With Covid-19 we noticed a significant uptick in demand for health insurance, as people become more aware of the costs associated with being hospitalised. As a result, we saw a steady increase in sales for our very basic health cover, including among policyholders from the agricultural sector.”

While he says that was no surprise, he had not expected the trend that then emerged.

“Those working in the agricultural sector were among the best when it came to payments,” he says.

As insurers, Mr Leftley says, there is always recognition that it is one thing to sell insurance but another thing to get paid from the low-income sector.

“What we saw was an urban-sector spike in health insurance purchases but we failed to collect the premiums. In fact, the payment collection success rate was significantly lower than pre-lockdown, because people were losing their jobs and were worried about their finances.

“In contrast, in the rural sector, farmers continued to make payments because they were less affected by lockdowns and they were able to maintain their incomes,” he states.

Patoma Admin by — September 23, 2021 in Insurance 0
Children buried mother, Patience Bisan Oghoghome on September 18, 2021

Mr Blacky Oghoghome lost his wife of over 40years, Late Mrs Patience Bisan Oghoghome to the cold hands of death on June 24, 2021 for which Service of Song was held on Thursday, September 16, 2021 and was laid to rest on Saturday, 18, 2021.

CAPTION

Below are the children during the burial service. L – Betty Oghoghome, the first daughter; Elohor Oghoghome, the 3rd daughter; Endurance Oghoghome, the first son;  Obaro Oghoghome, the 2nd son and the last born  and Efe Oghoghome, 2nd daughter during the burial of their mother, Late Mrs Patience Bisan Oghoghome in Ugbokodo, Okpe local government, Delta State

  • Betty Oghoghome, the first daughter; Endurance Oghoghome, the first son; and Obaro Oghoghome, the 2nd son and the last born during the burial service
The corpse of late Mrs Patience Bisan Oghoghomr lying in state during the event
  • Late Mrs Patience Bisan Oghoghome

Patoma Admin by — September 23, 2021 in Metro 0
Enabling climate resilient Africa with weather intelligence

By admin

 

Many countries in Africa are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather events because of their limited ability to cope and adapt to those events. According to a report published by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters, with almost 91 percent of these deaths occurring in developing countries. Four out of the top ten disasters between 1970 and 2019, based on reported deaths, were in Africa. Africa accounted for 15 per of weather-, climate- and water-related disasters, 35% of associated deaths and 1% of economic losses reported globally.

Although the African continent has contributed the least to global warming, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, several regions are facing the worst effect of climate change.

For instance, earlier this year, an unprecedented famine occurred in Madagascar, the first climate-triggered famine known to our planet, triggered by locusts and severe drought. In Mozambique, over 104,000 people continue to live in resettlement sites and accommodation centres due to the three cyclones (Idai; Kenneth; and Eloise) that have plagued the same area of the country over the past two years.

According to the WMO report, even though the recorded deaths decreased almost threefold during the past 50 years, severe gaps in weather observing networks across Africa highlight the continent’s vulnerabilities.

For Africa to reduce the risk and loss due to extreme weather events, the continent must embrace and invest in technologies that support climate adaptation, which involves accurate and timely weather forecasts to any individual, business, or government. Reducing the physical and financial risks is critical as weather extremes are predicted to occur with both increasing frequency and severity.

While weather forecasting provides predictions in the form of data (temperature, cloud cover, rain, wind speed etc.), weather intelligence helps to understand the true impact of the weather on the daily activities of individuals, businesses and government, making weather forecasting more actionable to make informed decisions towards climate action. However, accurate weather intelligence is far and in between – with 85% of the continent unable to access this data needed for a reliable weather forecast.

Weather Intelligence from Space

Radar sensors are a crucial component for weather forecasting in the short and medium term as they allow the detection of rain and cloud droplets as well as identify the size, shape, orientation, or composition of the droplet. Some radar satellites such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) launched and operated by public institutions such as NOAA, NASA and EUMETSAT, provide data that are used to power real-time [or near real-time] situational awareness, short-term nowcasts, medium-term forecasts, and climate studies.

However, their revisit rates are only every few days, and they cost hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. Further, over 5 billion people worldwide still live outside of radar coverage, and as a result, lack reliable weather forecasts.

To effectively bridge the data gap, terrestrial methods such as radar deployment would not be effective because of the lack of infrastructure required to achieve this, especially in remote regions and vast land areas in Africa, as well as the oceans.

Nevertheless, advancements in the miniaturisation of satellites, along with reduced costs of launching to space mean that a constellation of satellites equipped with radar sensors could play a critical role in improving global weather forecasting. At the forefront of this is Tomorrow.io, a global leader in weather intelligence solutions. Dubbed “Operation Tomorrow Space“, Tomorrow.io is launching a constellation of small satellites (500 kg) equipped with precipitation radars, enabling access to reliable weather information and bringing critical weather radar coverage to the entire world, especially the underserved regions.

According to Kathryn Sullivan, former NOAA Administrator, NASA Astronaut and an advisor to Tomorrow.io,“ A constellation of active precipitation radar satellites will, for the first time, provide radar data, and therefore reliable weather forecasts, to the 5 billion people worldwide who live outside of radar coverage. In particular, this data will enable a dramatic improvement in forecasts of precipitation, flooding and drought, phenomena that are so critical to smallholder farmers and the general population of Africa.”

Leveraging Weather Intelligence for Africa
Ever since Africa’s Agenda 2063 was declared in May 2013, the 50-year development trajectory for Africa has recognised the problem climate change presents to the continent’s development.

According to the FAO, about 54% of the African population is employed in the agricultural sector. Therefore, there is a constant need to stay abreast of the weather in real-time to allow the farmers access to observational data to mitigate climate risks, boost productivity and ultimately build resilience.

TomorrowNow.org, a non-profit spinoff of Tomorrow.io, focuses on ensuring weather intelligence is truly inclusive in reach and empowers communities most in need, leveraging its global weather intelligence capabilities. For instance,

TomorrowNow.org is working together with several partners in Africa to develop a climate action system aimed at delivering community-based, localised insights providing millions of farmers with the ability to be better prepared, make crop-saving decisions and directly benefit from desert locust infestations.

Moreover, weather intelligence tools can lead to reduced losses and increased productivity for industries in Africa. For instance, fleet management companies lose billions annually due to weather-related congestion.

Weather intelligence solutions can improve Estimated Time of Arrivals (ETAs), protect valuable assets, optimise route planning, and streamline communications between vehicles, which is also equally beneficial for the logistics and on-demand delivery sector.

In addition, the insurance industry, which suffers from a very low penetration rate in Africa, can also benefit from weather intelligence tools through which proactive alerts can be sent to mitigate risks for insured losses and manage claims post disasters.

As climate change brings about a potential socioeconomic crisis for Africa, especially for the most vulnerable who are forced to adapt to its consequences, a global weather intelligence solution could help turn this crisis into an opportunity enabling inclusive climate action.

Innovations in space technologies that will allow advancements in weather intelligence for Africa are critical in building climate resilience within the continent and provide ample possibilities to prevent losses and improve efficiency for businesses, thus leading to an overall sustainable development for the continent.

Patoma Admin by — September 16, 2021 in Metro 0
AIB submits interim report on Air Force plane crash in Kaduna

By Favour Nnabugwu
The Nigeria Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, has submitted interim report on the accident involving a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) King Air -350 aircraft at the vicinity of Kaduna Civil Airport on 21 May 2021,  that killed the former  Chief of Army Staff to the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao .
Recall Air Marshal Amao  had directed that a joint investigative body consisting of experienced NAF safety officers and the Accident Investigative Bureau (AIB) be constituted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the air crash.
Speaking while submitting the report at NAF Headquarters in Abuja, the Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of AIB, Engr Akin Olateru said the submission of the report is coming three months after the accident.
Engineer Olateru revealed that the  submitted report is organized into three sections namely; ” the information obtained in the course of the investigation; analysis of data collected in view of the Board’s Terms of Reference; and the conclusion, which covers the initial findings and immediate recommendations”.
” It should be noted that at this interim stage, a total of 27 initial findings and 8 immediate safety recommendations were made for the convening authority as well as other aviation related agencies for immediate implementation”.
” It is expected that the final report will contain the flight data recorder readout, the reviewed operator’s and service provider’s standard operating procedures as well as other detailed analysis”, the Commissioner said.
 While receiving the report, the  Chief of Air Staff, CAS, said the report is the main essence of activating the ‘joint investigative’ clause contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the NAF and the AIB on 1 July, 2020.
 According to him, ” the successful collaboration is a clear indication of the potency of collaboration in aircraft accident investigation, which must be encouraged.”
 Air Marshal Amao also noted that ” such collaborative efforts make accident investigations more transparent and open. The outcome of the investigation is not necessarily aimed at punitive measures but essentially at generally improving safety in the aviation industry. “
The Chief Executive Officer of AIB, Engr Akin Olateru also used the occasion to reveal that the joint investigation with the NAF was its first direct involvement in military air crash investigation in Nigeria and second investigation outside its mandate having also assisted Sao Tome and Principe in the past.
He also stated that copies of the report, with the endorsement of the CAS, will also be submitted to the Hon. Minister of Aviation and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ensure that the recommendations addressed to aviation agencies are implemented.
The Commissioner also stated that although the accident involved a military aircraft and crew, it happened at a civil airport adding that the involvement of AIB in the investigation by the Nigerian Air Force would help in closing the gaps on the civil aviation
Patoma Admin by — September 16, 2021 in Aviation 0
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