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Nigeria’s power generation improves to 4,823.60MW

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Nigeria’s power generation has improve to  4,823.60 mega watts after weeks of poor performance.

Data from the National System Operator, an independent unit in the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, this weekend showed that it was a 19.32 percent higher than the 4,042.40MW generated on Friday.

NSO data as at 8pm on Sunday showed that Ikeja DisCo was the highest load taker with 694,12MW, followed by Ibadan DisCo with 535.91. Eko DisCo was next with 535.69MW. Abuja DisCo took 455.50MW while Enugu DisCo took 381.48MW.

Others were Kaduna DisCo 254.87MW, Kano DisCo 238.87MW, Port Harcourt DisCo 257.46MW, Jos DisCo 175.85MW and Yola DisCo 103.63MW. The brought the distribution companies’ load taking to 3,989.87MW.

Although, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has commenced an intensive training program for 708 engineers in the company taken from the electrical, maintenance department, Protection, Control, and Metering department and linesmen across the 10 regions of the company, through a World Bank programme.

Ag. Managing Director/CEO of TCN, Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz said the training is to expose TCN maintenance engineers to facility improvement programs under the World Bank’s Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project (NETAP), currently being executed in TCN.

He said, “In all, engineers undergoing this training are those in the Protection, Control and Metering Department, PC&M, Electrical Maintenance Department, and Lines Maintenance Department, totaling 708 engineers from the 10 Transmission Service Provider, TSP, regions nationwide.”

The TCN head noted that the company was prioritizing the training of its staff as it gradually expands the capacity of its transmission network with the execution of several projects to ensure grid efficiency and stability.

“A more robust grid, coupled with the role we must play under the new Service Level Agreement and our part in the West African Power Pool (WAPP), among others, underscore the need for our engineers to be trained and retrained, to ensure that they are relevant and efficient,” he added.

Patoma Admin by — July 18, 2021 in News 0
Cybersecurity budgets by companies to hit $158.8 bn by 2023

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The global cybersecurity market is expected to grow by 20 percent to hit $158.8 billion by 2023, data presented by TradingPlatform has predicted.

This is even as over the years, cyber-attacks and data breaches have become one of the biggest risks in the business sector, compromising sensitive data and causing a massive financial hit to companies and organizations worldwide.

Also, as Companies and organizations worldwide are losing billions due to cybercrime each year, the cybersecurity market will hit $131.8bn in revenue this year, with the United States, China, and the United Kingdom, becoming the top three markets and will generate 55 percent of that value.

The data also revealed that, although most of them significantly increased their cybersecurity budgets over the years, cyber attacks like data breaches, phishing, ransomware attacks, or cyber espionage still represent one of the biggest risks in the business sector.

In 2016, the global cybersecurity market was worth $76.3bn, revealed the Statista data. Three years later, this figure jumped by almost 50% to $112.2bn. The revenues continued growing in 2020 and jumped to $120.2bn, as COVID-19 forced companies and organizations worldwide to speed up the digitalization of their business.

Between 2021 and 2023, global cybersecurity revenues are projected to grow by another $27bn. In the next five years, the entire market is forecast to reach nearly $210bn value.

Statista data also showed the cybersecurity services, like data risk analysis, data masking, and vulnerability discovery, represent the largest and the fastest-growing sector of the entire market set to reach a $61.4bn value in 2021. This figure is expected to increase by 25 percent to $77.2bn in the next two years.

The revenues in the software segment are forecast to grow by 13 percent in this period, rising from $44.3bn in 2021 to $50.6bn in 2023. Hardware ranked as the third-largest segment of the cybersecurity market, with $26bn in revenue this year.

Patoma Admin by — July 17, 2021 in News 0
FG extends NIN-SIM deadline to July 26

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Federal Government has approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to July 26, 2021.

The Director, Public Affairs Nigerian Communications Commission, Ikechukwu Adinde; and the Head, Corporate Communications, Nigeria Identity Management Commission, Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this in a joint statement on Monday titled ‘FG approves July 26 as NIN-SIM verification deadline as enrolment systems increase to 5,410 .’

According to the statement, “The decision to further extend the deadline was made based on a request by stakeholders.

The statement read, “The Federal Government has approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to the 26th of July, 2021.

“The decision to extend the deadline was made after a request by stakeholders on the need to consolidate the enrolment and NIN-SIM verification process following the rapid increase in the number of enrolment systems across the country.

As at June 28, 2021, a total of 5,410 enrolment systems are now available across the country and this would significantly ease the NIN enrolment process and subsequent linkage of NIN to SIM. It is worthy of note that there were only about 800 such enrolment systems as at December 2020.

“The Federal Government has approved the extension as part of its efforts to make it easier for its citizens and residents to obtain the NIN and it is important to take advantage of the extension.

Patoma Admin by — June 29, 2021 in News 0
Stephanie Linus becomes Gree AC Brand Ambassador

By Favour Nnabugwu

Nigerian actress, film director and producer, Stephanie Linus, is the new face of Gree AC on Tuesday, 15th June 2021.
Mrs. Linus was signed as the brand ambassador at an event graced by investors and business partners from Nigeria which took place at the Choice International Group headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos.
While giving her address, she expressed her delight, narrating her personal experience with Gree ACs over the last few years and testifying to the brand’s safety and durability. “My experience with Gree is different,” she said. “It circulates effectively, it is health-friendly, and it cools like winter. I am also thrilled at how much the company pays attention to aesthetics.”
As the United Nations Population Fund Regional Ambassador for West and Central Africa, the newly-signed brand ambassador shared how she is particular about the environmental safety that Gree AC assures its users.
Chief Diana Chen, Chairman of Choice International Group, the sole distributor of Gree AC said that the new ambassador, beyond matching the brand’s standards, will take it to greater heights to compete fairly at the international level. She also commended Nigeria for its great potential and revealed that her brand is focused on augmenting these potentials through capacity-building and massive empowerment projects.

Mrs. Linus remains committed to creating more awareness for the brand and enabling more people to understand the quality of Gree ACs.
Patoma Admin by — June 17, 2021 in Metro 0
Former Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, bounces back with “DASH ME STORE” charity

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Former Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has bounced back to public glare, but this time she is involved in charity, giving help to the indigent through a Dash Me Store (DMS) for meeting their needs.

The store is established to mobilise resources for onward distribution to vulnerable people in the society via grassroot charities.

DMS is an outlet of the Dash Me Foundation (DMF) of Mrs. Adeosun, which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated on Sunday.

At the event, Professor Osinbajo said one factor responsible for the impactful implementation of the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the Buhari administration over the years is the realization that you can’t reach Nigerians if you don’t have a plan for the grassroots

This realisation then influenced the structure designed for the SIP and is largely responsible for the successes of the programme (which is now regarded as one of the biggest social welfare schemes in the continent).

According to the Vice President, “I am excited to be here for several reasons, but most of all because of Mrs Adeosun’s commitment to the notion that all service to man is actually service to God, and she took that very seriously.”

He noted that “this is why, as Minister, she prioritised the Social Investment Programmes, when for the first time, the country voted almost N500B of our annual budget to welfare programmes which are called the Social Investment Programmes, which involved engaging 500,000 young men and women, and also giving microcredit to about 2 million traders and also a home-grown school feeding programme for 9.5 million children daily in public schools across the country.

“I am therefore really not surprised that she has decided to use some of her enormous talent and influence to establish an organisation that raises funds and provides resources for indigenous grassroot charities working with orphaned and vulnerable children, disadvantaged youth, and victims of domestic violence.”

Speaking on the establishment of Nigeria’s first thrift-for-charity online store, Prof. Osinbajo said adding social enterprise to philanthropy with a structure that allows for resource mobilization for charity as well as creates the opportunity for people to earn a living in the process, should be the way to go.

His words: “what I think is happening here is that philanthropy is not like it used to be when all you needed was a good and kind heart and you didn’t need to plan or organize as you would a business for-profit.

“What Kemi and her team have done is to bring the new notion of social enterprise to this project. Philanthropy run with the discipline, attention to detail, and financial prudence of a successful business, and she can do all of that, and I am sure her team is imbibing that, given her background in finance in both private and public sector.”

Continuing, he said “the idea of this thrift-for-charity store is brilliant and the first of its kind in Nigeria. It is a unique model which does not just give to the needy in the conventional way of merely handing out donations.

“It is an innovative and structured way of aggregating donations to earn income to transform the lives of the vulnerable and needy while creating jobs in the process.

“I must say that your focus on funding grassroots charities is so crucial and I know that, having campaigned with you on behalf of our party, the APC all around Ogun and in every part of Nigeria, it is clear that you can’t reach Nigeria and Nigerians if you don’t have a plan for the grassroots.”

Earlier in her remarks, Mrs Adesoun said the idea of the store is to aggregate donations of different kinds for charitable causes, noting that Nigerians from different fields of endeavour and from across the country would be enabled via the online store to contribute to supporting the needy in the society.

She said the organization would work closely with charitable organisations in the grassroots to ensure that funds and other materials donated via the Dash Me Store get to actual beneficiaries.

Patoma Admin by — June 15, 2021 in Metro 0
Nigerian man kills wife, mother-in-law & commit suicide in US

By admin

 

A 34-year-old Nigerian man recently separated from his wife attacked her parents’ home in Douglasville, Georgia, killing her and his 46 year-old mother-in-law before taking his own life.

Udoamaka Nwamu, of East Point, Fulton County, took a handgun to his in-laws’ home in Douglasville on Sunday, June 6, where his estranged wife, Kaliyah Nwamu, 24 year-old was staying, and fired shots into the front and back of the house on Long Lake Drive.

Douglas County Sheriff Tim Pounds said in a news release on Tuesday, June 8, that the gunshots resulted in multiple 911 calls and deputies were dispatched to the house. Before they arrived, Nwamu forced his way inside the home.

Deputies were met with gunfire from the house and were forced to take cover, while an emergency response team and hostage negotiator were sent to the scene.

“During the course of the negotiations with Udoamaka, a single gunshot was heard,” Pounds said.

The response team then entered the house and found Nwamu dead from what Pounds described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound
Deputies also found the bodies of Nwamu’s estranged wife, 24-year-old Kaliyah Nwamu, and her mother, 46-year-old Nikita Green.
The case remains under investigation, Pounds added.

 

Patoma Admin by — June 11, 2021 in Metro 0
South African woman gives birth to 10 babies – 7 boys, 3 girls

By admin

 

 

A South African woman has reportedly given birth to 10 babies at once, breaking a world record set just last month.

37-year-old Gosiame Thamara Sithole, already a mom of six-year-old twins, initially thought she was going to have eight kids. However, when she gave birth on Monday, June 7, she was surprised when 10 babies emerged, her husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, told the Pretoria News.

She gave birth by Caesarean section at a Pretoria hospital.
Husband Tsotetsi told Pretoria News: “It’s seven boys and three girls.

“I am happy. I am emotional. I can’t talk much. Let’s talk again in the morning please.”
Tsotetsi — who is unemployed — said that he “felt like one of God’s chosen children” even when he thought he was about to welcome eight kids.

Sithole, from Ekurhuleni, said that her pregnancy was natural and that she had not received fertility treatment, which has been linked to other multiple-baby births.

Sithole’s delivery of 10 babies at once would make it the first known birth of decuplets.

The previous record was claimed by Halima Cisse, who reportedly gave birth to nine kids — nonuplets — in Malia last month, May 2021.

A spokesperson for Guinness World Records listing told The Post Tuesday, June 8: “Guinness World Records is aware of the news that Gosiame Thamara Sithole has given birth to decuplets, and we send our congratulations and best wishes to the family.

Patoma Admin by — June 9, 2021 in Metro 0
China approves 3 child per couple

By admin

 

Chinese President, Xi Jinping on Monday eased the current two-child policy, “allowing every couple to have three children and implementing related support policies that will help improve the population’s structure.”

The major policy shift is aimed at boosting the birthrate in the world’s most populous nation after a census revealed its population is rapidly declining.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in April said China’s annual births dropped to a record low of 12 million in 2020.

that Xi Jinping at a meeting of China’s elite Politburo leadership committee said: “to actively respond to the ageing of the population … a couple can have three children.”

It is not clear when the new would take effect but the meeting discussed major policy measures to be implemented in the period to 2025.

Close to 40 years ago, China enforced a controversial “one-child policy”, one of the strictest family planning regulations worldwide – which was relaxed in 2016 to a “two-child policy” due to widespread concerns about an ageing workforce and economic stagnation

Patoma Admin by — June 1, 2021 in News 0
African entrepreneurs agree to form alliance for private sector financing

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

African Entrepreneurs have agreed to form an alliance in order to help mobilize all partners to support through financial assistance the private sector as well as the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, MSMEs.

With this, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron is said to be planning to host an African Business Summit later in the year.

This is expected to bring Nigerian and other African businessmen together with their European counterparts to address the issues of partnerships, the problem of African financing needs and supporting vibrant private sector initiatives on the continent.

These, among others were some of the resolutions at the just concluded summit in Paris, France on financing of African POST-COVID-19 economies participated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in what he titled, “The takeaways from President Buhari’s visit to France”, enthused that Nigeria has a lot to benefit from the outing.

According to him, “An important resolution of this summit is the agreement for the formation of an Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa “to help mobilize all partners ready to support, through technical and financial resources, the development of African Private Sector, Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) including women entrepreneurs promoted by the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA).

“To actualize this major aspiration, President Macron plans to host an African Business Summit later in the year. Nigerian and other African Businessmen will sit together with their European counterparts to address the issues of partnerships, the problem of African financing needs and supporting vibrant private sector initiatives on the continent.

“It is hoped that this summit will open the channels to more private financing for Africa, and lead to reduction in poverty levels, boost jobs and employment among youths, and widen the donor base especially for climate change initiatives.

“Climate change is very important to both Nigeria and France. For Nigeria, President Buhari is of the strong view that recharging the Lake Chad, which shrank in size to only 10 percent of its original size, with water from the Central African rivers will be actualized if and when France comes on board the idea.”

Shehu said that President Buhari’s journey to France was the first official visit to Europe since the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the summit was convened by Emmanuel Macron, his counterpart in France, on the financing of African post-COVID economies.

He explained that, “The beginning of the idea of this meeting is traced to a conversation between the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. The conversation started like this: How would Africa come out of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic?

“It is a notorious fact that COVID-19 has led to unprecedented economic and health challenges all over the world. Africa which has recorded continuous growth in the last 25 years suffered its worst recession in 2020.

“The International Monetary Fund, IMF postulates that the continent needed a whopping USD 285 billion between 2021 and 2025 to achieve the growth momentum lost to the pandemic. Where do they start from?”

“That is why President Macron called this important summit, bringing together about 20 African leaders, about a dozen others from Europe and Asia as well as an impressive gathering of all the big players in the global financial system, the AfDB, the World Bank, the IMF and others.

Also present were the G7 and G20 groups of countries, the World Trade Organization, WTO, the Organization for European Cooperation and Development, OECD and very many operators in the Financial Sector as well as investment and manufacturing.

“The meeting ended with a strong resolve to make African states attractive to investment. This should change the existing notion that investment on the continent is risky and something to be avoided”.

“That is one of the reasons why many African countries had turned towards China. From here going forward, Macron is promising that there would be in place, a guarantee scheme to make it less risky to invest in Africa.

“The Macron-Africa summit also scored big on the issue of debt forgiveness. It made a strong case for debt cancellation or a new relationship between Africa and Europe.

“Equally significant is the decision to support the private sector financially to form partnerships between the players in Europe and their counterparts on the African continent.”

Another important issue the summit addressed he said was the inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

He said,” Nigeria and all African countries face the danger of a COVID crisis similar to that of India without the western nations opening the doors to a fairer vaccine access. France, which is believed to hold a surplus of COVID-19 vaccines, says it will help Nigeria.

“In the area of business, France and Nigeria agreed that outside of Morocco, Nigeria is the biggest destination for French Foreign Direct Investment, FDI”.

“There are 120 active French businesses in Nigeria with oil giant, Total leading the pack. Altogether, they have investments worth more than USD 7 billion”

“The two countries agreed to increase trade and investment especially in agriculture, aviation, consumer goods, the creative arts and renewable energy, among others.

” The important issue of security in Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin area and the entire stretch of the Sahel was also enthusiastically discussed. Both countries agreed that security is an important part of our relationship.

” France already participates in the Abuja-based intelligence fusion center which brings the West European nations and the countries bordering Lake Chad Basin together in sharing information.

” President Macron promised a strong solidarity with Nigeria as the country squares up to the security challenges in many parts of the country.

He also expressed support for the emergency meeting of the countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC coming up on Tuesday 25th of May, called to discuss the demise of Idris Deby-Itno and the future that lies ahead for Chad, its new leaders and the ongoing war against terrorism in the sub-region.

“In addition to the summit and the bilateral with the French leader, President Buhari held six meetings including that which he traditionally holds with the Nigerian communities wherever he went.

” He met Total, the largest French investor in Nigeria; the Dassault Systems, a leader in digital communications and software development; and Airbus, makers of airplanes and a prospective-partner in the new national airline starting in 2022.

Airbus is also doing so much with the Nigerian Air Force and other players in the aviation sector. He also met Danaflex, a spare parts manufacturer in France, founded by a proud, inspiring Nigerian from the Southeast.

“On a final note, the trip to France was a highly successful one for Nigeria with concrete promises and agreements.”

Patoma Admin by — May 23, 2021 in News 0