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FCT Minister of State, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu to get award in Germany tomorrow

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The  Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, will be honoured in Berlin, Germany tomorrow

The Award/Gala Night, at which the 52-year-old minister will be bestowed with an award for excellence in public service, will take place at the prestigious Sana Hotel in central Berlin. Located about 700m from the highbrow department store KaDeWe.

The event, organised jointly by the African-German Association (AGA) e.V. and ABG Paulas Germany GmbH, is to recognise the minister for being a shining example of successful women in government in Africa.

“This is based on her distinguished leadership style and the innovations she has introduced in the FCT,” AGA and ABG Paulas said in a joint press statement explaining their decision to choose the minister for the award.

L- Ambrose Okojie (right), Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu (2nd from left), and officials of ABG Paulus when a delegation went to Abuja to inform the minister of the decision to honour her/Photo: ABG Paulus

 

Mrs Aliyu will be accompanied on her visit to Berlin by a delegation that includes senior officials of the FCT and the chairpersons of its six Area Councils.

The event, organised jointly by the African-German Association (AGA) e.V. and ABG Paulas Germany GmbH, is to recognise the minister for being a shining example of successful women in government in Africa.

“This is based on her distinguished leadership style and the innovations she has introduced in the FCT,” AGA and ABG Paulas said in a joint press statement explaining their decision to choose the minister for the award.

Mrs Aliyu will be accompanied on her visit to Berlin by a delegation that includes senior officials of the FCT and the chairpersons of its six Area Councils.

The Award/Gala Night is a partnership between AGA, a social, economic and cultural development organisation, and ABG Paulas, a business promotion company, to showcase positive stories out of Africa.

The CEO of ABG Paulas, Ambrose Okojie stated the negative stories about Africa can only be counteracted by showing positive things going on in the continent.

“Despite the often-repeated problems in Africa, people are working tirelessly to change the story of the continent,” Okojie said. “And we have to showcase such persons as emblems of hope for Africa.”

Okojie, whose company has been organising trade missions between Nigeria and Germany for more than twenty years, said the investment opportunities in Africa are many and the award scheme is one of the ways ABG Paulus and AGA want to promote the continent as a place to do business and invest.

The Chairman of AGA, Michael Iyare revealed his organisation is co-staging the event because “it’s important to honour Africans who have shown remarkable leadership qualities in their areas of service”.

The ceremony will be graced by the Ambassador of Nigeria to Germany, HE Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, members of the diplomatic corps in Berlin and directors of German companies doing business in Africa.

Others expected event at the event include the African businessmen and women, leaders of major German-African organisations and members of the African community.

“Our main appeal to those interested in this event is that they should be punctual as we will commence promptly at 6pm because of the many dignitaries who will grace the occasion,” Okojie said. “If you would like to join us, please be there on time!”

 

Patoma Admin by — November 18, 2022 in Foreign 0
AfDB predicts 4.0% economic recovery for East Africa

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The African Development Bank, AfDB, has  predicted a slow recovery in the region in 2022 at 4.0 percent against 5.1 percent in 2021.

AfDB in it’s latest East African Economic Outlook released said slowdown is due to the lingering effects of COVID-19; the adverse impacts of geopolitical tensions (notably the Russia-Ukraine conflict); climate change and devastating locust invasion, together with regional conflicts and tensions.

The report notes that because of these obstacles, countries in the region have experienced heightened inflationary pressures, particularly on food and fuel, leading to rising cost of living. This has resulted in weakening national currencies, floods and drought, contraction in agricultural production; depressed business activity, and falling revenue collection, among others.

However, the continued reopening of economies globally could mitigate these adverse effects in 2023 with a projected growth rate of 4.7%, repositioning East Africa as the top-performer in growth among the regions of the continent, according to the report.

The report, themed “Supporting Climate Resilience and a Just Energy Transition”, was launched on 28 October 2022.

In developing the 2022 East Africa Economic Outlook, the African Development Bank critically studied various factors affecting growth in the 13 countries which constitute the East African region. The vulnerability of the region to the impact of climate change effects such as drought and flooding, could further hold back the region’s fragile recovery.

Speaking at the launch, Tanzania’s Finance Minister, Dr. Mwigulu Lameck Nchemba, said that the report was timely, considering the current cost of living which is of concern to every citizen in the region.

Disruption of the regional supply chains, public debt, and the public discussions on the need for pro-poor spending policies were dominating debate, Mwigulu said. He noted: “despite the ramp up in infrastructure investments, more needs to be done to accelerate the development of sustainable infrastructure, including renewable energy to support industrialization and catalyze inclusive growth.”

He called for mobilization of additional resources to expanded energy access, observing that the Democratic Republic of Congo was endowed with immense renewable energy resources to light up the entire continent.
risks affecting the region’s medium-term economic outlook.

Dr Rose Ngugi, Executive Director of Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) encouraged countries of the region to intensify their efforts to increase their annual growth rate at a least 7%, the minimum rate required to ensure the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To this end, countries should achieve internal and external macroeconomic stability, she said.

Reflecting on the theme of the report – climate resilience- Edward Sennoga, Lead Economist at the Bank, noted that East Africa has the second lowest resilience to climate change in Africa, with most countries in the region also characterized by high vulnerability and low readiness to respond to climate change.

He said there was the urgent need for innovative financing approaches to bridge the huge gap in climate change financing
According to the report, the climate financing gap for East Africa is estimated at an average of about $60 billion per year for the period 2020-2030.

The report cites Public -Private partnerships, Green Bonds, partial risk and partial credit guarantees, carbon offsets, and regional energy trade as some of the measures that can provide alternative financing for climate change. Teddy Mugabo, CEO Rwanda Green Fund echoed this perspective by stressing on need for innovative financing instruments and the effective use of carbon market.

Patoma Admin by — November 17, 2022 in Banking & Finance 0
COP27: Experts explore avenues to mobilize more financing for climate Action

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Global experts meeting during a panel session at the 27th global climate summit (COP27) in Egypt have endorsed a new climate finance roadmap to mobilize $1 trillion in annual external finance required by emerging markets and developing countries—excluding China.

The roadmap draws on the findings of a recently released report, Finance for climate action: Scaling up investment for climate and development(link is external), produced by a panel of experts chaired by Vera Songwe and Lord Nicholas Stern.

The discussions during the panel session underscored the need to boost effectiveness of policies by tailoring them to countries’ needs. The report advocates a rapid and sustained investment push to drive a strong and sustainable economic recovery from overlapping crises and to deliver on shared development and climate targets. concessional lending arm to low-income countries, was launching a climate action window to mobilize up to $13 billion for climate adaptation for vulnerable countries.

Adesina reiterated the call for International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to be channeled to African countries through the African Development Bank. “SDRs will play a big role in helping Africa’s climate action, and the African Development Bank is well-positioned to leverage this reallocation four times to help mobilize financing for countries that need it most,” he said.

Stephanie Pfeifer, Chief Executive of Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change(link is external)—an association representing investors—said strong policies were vital in carbon pricing to phase out fossil fuels.

“The world needs development finance at scale for different types of risks, and data must also be made available to stimulate increased private sector investment into climate finance,” Pfeifer said.” If we get the whole system working together, we can make a lot of progress,” she added.

United Nations Climate Change Champion Mahmoud Mohyedin moderated the session, titled Facilitating finance necessary for delivery of commitments.

Patoma Admin by — November 15, 2022 in Foreign 0
ECOWAS plans four objective for 2023 community budget

By Favour Nnabugwu
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, ECOWAS has objective plans against  terrorim, political stability in the “Our community depends of the outcomes of the outcomes of this deliberation. That is why the honorable members of AFC have to make constructive and concrete contributions. community budget
ECOWAS President, Omar Touray at the opening of 32nd Meeting of the ECOWAS Administrative and Finance Committee (AFC) in Abuja, said that the budget is designed to set the agenda for the next four years, which is aimed at putting the region back on track for regional integration
Touray said that the 2023 Community budget of “Consolidation and Reforms” is prepared to ensure the consolidation of the gains made in the institutional reform process and support the region’s recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia War.
“It is in view of the foregoing issues that we quickly identified four strategic objectives that would be our focus for the next four years which we called the 4 by 4 (4x).
“These four objectives are; Enhanced peace and security, Deeper Regional Integration, Good Governance, Inclusive and Sustained Development.
“In addition to these four strategic objectives, we have identified two enablers namely capable institutions and equitable partnerships, which would facilitate the realization of our objectives.
“Let me quickly add that our four strategic objectives are already aligned with the Community Strategic Framework (CSF), which has been developed for the realization of the ECOWAS Vision 2050.
“We intend to focus on strengthening the ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and achieving results related to;
“The Implementation Plan against Terrorism (on this we would like to invite you to support us with the full realization of the one billion dollars Pool Fund which our Members Pledged).
“The full operationalization of the ECOWAS Maritime security Architecture, the full operationalization of the National Early Warning and Response Centers, Building the mediation and rapid response capacity of ECOWAS,” Touray said.
Touray said that second strategic objective is to deepen Regional Integration through the promotion and enhancement of intra-community trade, free movement of people, and the monetary Union.
“Specific deliverables for the next four years under this pillar will include; Reducing tarrif and non-tariff barriers (through the effective deployment of the ETLS Task Force).
“Full operationalization of the regional payment system, introduction of ECO-Visa, implementation to concrete border projects under the ECOWAS Cross Border Programme, among others,” he added.
On the third strategic objective of Good Governance, Touray said the Community budget will focus on building stronger regimes against anti-constitutional change of government and support Member States to deepen democracy.
“Here, our specific deliverables in the next four years will include; completing the transition to democracy in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea. Enhancing our election support to Member states including observation mission.
“Strengthening ECOWAS Court and the ECOWAS Parliament to play their democratic roles. Instituting a broader mandate for intervention as a strong measure against anti-constitutional change of government.”
The ECOWAS Commission’s President said that the fourth strategic objective is Inclusive and Sustainable Development which covers gender and social programmes, infrastructure and environment.
“In the next four years, we intend to invest in Food security, including further increase in the stock of our Regional Food Security Reserve.
“And the implementation of the ECOWAS rice Offensive Action Plan (2022-2025) to reduce our dependence on imports, as exposed by the Ukraine-Russia war,” Touray said.
Declaring the meeting open, Chair of the AFC, Ms Silva Cristina said that the meeting is aimed at assessing the community budget to ensure that community resources and efficiently used for the betterment of ECOWAS citizens.
“The main objective of this year-end meeting is to consider and validate our budget, it is also to ensure the technical and financial monitoring of the year under review, 2022 budget.
“Our community depends of the outcomes of the outcomes of this deliberation. That is why the honorable members of AFC have to make constructive and concrete contributions.
“And our work will be to ensure that the strategic objectives of the community are being met. We are invited to look at the medium-term expenditure frame-work, 2023 to 2025.
“We are of the view that this exercise will only be easy if we look at it against the background of economic framework which ahs been strongly marred by the pandemic and also persistent non-enforcement of the protocol of the community levy on all product.
Patoma Admin by — November 15, 2022 in Foreign 0
Air Peace suspends flight operations to Dubai over rejection of visas to Nigerians

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Air travellers from Nigeria to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, UAE will be forced to consider alternative means of transportation in the coming days

This came as Nigeria’s indigenous airline, Air Peace suspended flight operations to the country indefinitely over non issuance of visa to Nigerians by the UAE.

UAE immigration authorities last month announced a visa ban to Nigerians without any reason, rejected applications for visa while the fees are Non- refundable

Following the development, the management of Air Peace in a statement stated that, “We hereby inform the public, especially our Dubai passengers, that effective from Tuesday, November 22, 2022, we shall be suspending our Dubai operations till further notice.

“This is consequent upon the persisting non-issuance of visas to Nigerian travellers by the government of the United Arab Emirates and the accompanying inconveniences.

“Air Peace has been operating into UAE even with the country’s recent travel restrictions, but given the heightening hurdles Nigerian travellers are facing in accessing the country, it has become imperative that we halt our operations to that destination.

“We shall provide further updates as the situation progresses. Passengers whose flights are affected by this development can mail our Call Center to attend to their concerns.”

Patoma Admin by — November 14, 2022 in Aviation 0
Munich Re posts €527 m profits in Q3 2022

By Admin

 

Global reinsurer Munich Re has reported profit of €527 million and €1.9 billion for the third quarter of 2022, respectively, despite a rise in major losses within property and casualty (P&C) reinsurance on the back of Hurricane Ian losses of around €1.6 billion.

Profit for the quarter increased year-on-year, although declined slightly for 9M 2022 as the reinsurer notes above-average expenditure for natural catastrophes.

In fact, major losses of more than €10 million each reached over €2.6 billion in Q3 2022, corresponding to 26.9% of net earned premiums, and higher than the long-term average expected value of 13% for both Q3 and 9M 2022.

The costliest nat cat event for the reinsurer was Hurricane Ian at €1.6 billion. All in all, nat cats cost the reinsurer €1.8 billion in Q3 2022, compared with €1.7 billion in Q3 2021.

At the same time, Munich Re booked man-made losses of €489 million in the period, compared with €245 million a year earlier.
contributed €81 million to the overall result for the third quarter, and €1.2 billion for the first nine months of the year. Munich Re attributes the quarter-over-quarter decline to the cost of Hurricane Ian and also a lower investment result.

Within reinsurance, the operating result came in negative for the quarter at -€687 million, while gross written premiums jumped significantly, year-on-year, to €13.7 billion.

Turning to the ERGO business, and profit reached €446 million for the quarter and €702 million for 9M 2022, which is up significantly for both periods, driven by a one-off effect in the ERGO Life and Health Germany segment. In the third quarter, all segments continued to see premium growth, with total premium income rising to €4.7 billion in Q3, and gross written premiums rising to €4.5 billion.

All in all, Munich Re has announced an operating loss of €346 million for the third quarter, compared with a gain of €204 million a year earlier. The other non-operating result was also negative at -€5 million, while the currency result increased significantly to €846 million, in part as a result of exchange gains on account of the US dollar.

Across the group, gross written premiums increased substantially to more than €18.2 billion for the third quarter, and jumped by 14% to more than €50.9 billion in 9M 2022.

On the asset side of the balance sheet, Munich Re has reported that its investment result dropped from more than €2 billion in Q3 2021 to €904 million in Q3 2022. Overall, the third quarter investment result represented a return of 1.6% on the average market value of portfolio.

Looking ahead, Munich Re says that in light of the “very positive” business performance so far in 2022, it has raised its guidance for gross written premiums in reinsurance to €48 billion from the previous €45 billion, and in ERGO to €19 billion from the previous €18.5 billion. Across the group, the target has increased from €64 billion to €67 billion.

Additionally, the reinsurer is still targeting a consolidated result of €3.3 billion for the 2022 full year, but warns that this will be a lot harder to achieve given the claims experience and business environment. The firm anticipates a consolidated result of €2.5 billion in reinsurance for the year, which is down on the previous target of €2.7 billion. However, at ERGO, the company expects a consolidated result of €800 million for the year, which is up on the previous €600 million target.

In P&C reinsurance, Munich Re now expects to produce a combined ratio of roughly 97% of net earned premiums for the full-year, compared with a previous target of 94%.

In L&H reinsurance, the firm says that it now anticipates a much higher technical result of €800 million for 2022.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Christoph Jurecka, commented: “Financial solidity and professional expertise are of fundamental importance to our clients in times of crisis and guide Munich Re in its actions. Hurricane Ian matches the pattern science would expect of a warming world. Therefore the rising probability of such extreme storms is part and parcel of our models and must be reflected in pricing.

“The sustainable and reliable offering our clients expect of us is based on realistic analyses, not only of natural catastrophe risks, but also of cyber and pandemic risks. And although Hurricane Ian and the macroeconomic environment are making it significantly more challenging for us, we are firmly adhering to our annual guidance of €3.3bn. All fields of business are contributing to sustainably positive performance.”

Patoma Admin by — November 8, 2022 in Foreign 0
UK warn citizens against traveling to 22 States in Nigeria

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The United Kingdom has issued a warning to its citizens to avoid traveling to 22 states in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the European country cleared Abuja from the list but still asked its citizens to apply caution as this may still be connected to the country’s security situation.

This was contained in a press release by the British High Commission, Abuja, on Monday titled, “Updated Foreign Commonwealth Development Office Travel Advice to British Nationals Traveling to the FCT.”

The British High commission noted that the travel advisory is to help its nationals to make better-informed decisions about international and business travel plan without any danger.

According to the statement many of the states are in the northern parts, while some are in the South.

The statement read, “FCDO travel advice exists to inform British nationals so they can make decisions about travelling abroad. There continues to be a number of states in Nigeria where we advise British Nationals against all but essential travel. These include: Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Sokoto, Kogi, Abia, Plateau, Taraba, within 20km of the border with Niger in Kebbi State and non-riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.

The UK keeps its travel advice under regular review and in making these assessments, and uses information from a wide range of sources.  The travel advice is constantly reviewed to make sure it reflects the current situation in Abuja and Nigeria.  Although, the FCDO Travel Advice no longer advises against all but essential travel to the Federal Capital Territory, including the city of Abuja, it makes clear that some risks remain.

Patoma Admin by — November 8, 2022 in Foreign 0
Federal Inland Revenues Services collects N7.5trn taxes in 2022

FIRS collects N7.5trn taxes

 

By Favour Nnabugwu

Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Muhammad Nami says it has collected N7.5 trillion taxes in 2022 and also surpassed the Tertiary Education Tax, EDT fund target for the year with N4 billion.

Nami stated this during its 2022 Tertiary Education Fund, TETFUND/FIRS
joint interactive forum in Kano.

The FIRS boss who was represented by the Kano State Coordinator, Hassan Sule
said the Tertiary Education Tax, EDT target for 2022 was N305 billion but as at September 2022, it has collected N309 billion.

According to him, “It is noteworthy that despite the economic headwinds, particularly from the negative consequences of Covid-19, rising insecurity and the spill-over effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global economy, FIRS has continued to make progress in revenue mobilization for the three tiers of government, suffice to say that the FIRS is now funding a significant portion of the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC in the last 2 years.

“Between January to September 2022, FIRS has collected N7.5 trillion which is a significant improvement on the total collection of N6.4 trillion for the entire 2021. Non-oil taxes accounted for N4.3
trillion while petroleum profits tax accounted for N3.1 trillion. It is clear that the reforms undertaken since 2020 have started yielding the desired results.

“Tertiary Education Tax also improved significantly since the beginning of 2022. We have collected N309 billion as of September 2022, which is above the total N305 billion budgeted for the full
year.

“I assure you that we will continue to ensure that no revenue gap is left uncovered in our quest to improve tax administration with particular emphasis on full deployment of technology across our service lines and internal operations,” Nami said.

The FIRS boss also reaffirmed the position of the service noting that
it is not relenting it effort towards achieving the N500 billion Education Tax fund annually target by the TETFUND.

Also, TETFUND Executive Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono said the fund placed a very high premium on attaining and surpassing the target of N500 billion earlier set.

Echono represented by his Director, Human Resources and General
Administration, Bar. Adamu Abubakar applauded the FIRS for surpassing
the 2022 target noting that due to low EDT in 2021, it scaled down project implementation for the year in our beneficiary institutions in 2022.

“In year 2021, the fund received an EDT collection of N189 billion, which was considerably lower than the previous year’s collection. This posed a serious challenge to the intervention activities of the fund for the year 2022. We had to seriously scale down project implementation for the year in our beneficiary institutions and our
internal operations as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the fund has a mandate of general improvement of education
in federal and state tertiary educations specifically for the provision or
maintenance of essential Physical Infrastructure for teaching and
learning, Instructional material and equipment, Research and Publications and Academic Staff Training and Development among others.

 

Patoma Admin by — November 8, 2022 in News 0
U.S. GDP rise by 2.6% in Q3 2022

By Admin
The U.S. economy posted its first period of positive growth for 2022 in the third quarter, at least temporarily easing recession fears, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis
GDP, a sum of all the goods and services produced from July through September, increased at a 2.6 percent annualized pace for the period, according to the advance estimate.
That was above against the Dow Jones forecast for 2.3 percent
That reading follows consecutive negative quarters to start the year, meeting a commonly accepted definition of recession, though the National Bureau of Economic Research is generally considered the arbiter of downturns and expansions.
The growth came in large part due to a narrowing trade deficit, which economists expected and consider to be a one-off occurrence that won’t be repeated in future quarters.
GDP gains also came from increases in consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment and government spending. The report reflected an ongoing shift to services spending over goods, with spending on the former increasing 2.8 percent while goods spending dropped 1.2 percent
Declines in residential fixed investment and private inventories offset the gains, the BEA said.
“Overall, while the 2.6 percent rebound in the third quarter more than reversed the decline in the first half of the year, we don’t expect this strength to be sustained,” wrote Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics.
“Exports will soon fade and domestic demand is getting crushed under the weight of higher interest rates. We expect the economy to enter a mild recession in the first half of next year.”
Patoma Admin by — October 27, 2022 in Foreign 0
Sunak re-appoints Nigeria’s Kemi Badenoch into new cabinet

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

UK’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has re-appointed British-Nigerian, Kemi Badenoch as International Trade Secretary.

Badenoch rose to prominence during this summer’s leadership contest.

Rishi Sunak has also appointed her as women and equalities minister – a post she held previously during Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Badenoch, MP for Saffron Walden, came fourth in the Tory leadership contest this summer.

She has been outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral toilets – which she opposes – and stood on an “anti-woke” platform in the Tory contest.

She also argued that the state needed to be slimmed down.

The former software engineer worked in banking and later as a director of the Spectator magazine before being elected to the London Assembly.

She entered the Commons as MP for Saffron Walden in 2017, and lists her interests as including engineering and technology, social mobility and integration.

Patoma Admin by — October 25, 2022 in News 0