Blog

Capacity building: Association  trains over 380 Microfinance Institutes in 6 months
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Institute
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, Oct.19, 2016 (NAN) The Association of Non-Bank Microfinance Institutions of Nigeria (ANMFIN) said it trained over 380 microfinance institutes on capacity building in its recently established ANMFIN Training Institute in six months.

The Executive Secretary, ANMFIN, Dr Godbless Safugha, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the training was to capacitate microfinance institution practitioners and position the sub-sector for a quantum leap.

“In six  months of operation in six regions, ANMFIN trained over 380 MFIs in various course modules to increase their ability to access private and public intervention funding for rural outreach.

Safugha said “191 institutions with 233 individual participants have been trained on how to access MSME Development Fund.

“We trained 172 institutes out of which 120 institutions were sponsored by RUFIN, with a total participant of 220 on Rural Business Plan.

“On Savings Mobilization training, six microfinance institutions were trained and 11 institutes were also trained on Warehouse Receipt System.”

A report by Intellectual Capital Advisory Services (Intellcap) shows that microfinance market in Nigeria accounts for 93.79 per cent micro credit demand to the tune of N2.82 trillion.

The report validated the justification of the microfinance policy and regulatory framework introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2005.

“The policy identified weak institutional capacity occasioned by the prolonged sub-optimal performance of many erstwhile community banks, microfinance and development finance institutions.

“This is due to incompetent management, weak internal controls, poor corporate governance and lack of well-defined operations.

“Expert opinions recommend that optimisation of the opportunities in the microfinance market can only be fueled by the right financing and capacity development of the sector operators.

“This expert recommendation has found expression in ANMFINs bold move towards accomplishing its strategic target for 2016, leading to the establishment of the ANMFIN Training Institute.”

Safugha said in order to resolve capacity gap in the sub-sector, ANMFIN’s conducted a training needs assessment which resulted in the development of the Rural Business Plan Formulation modules.

He said that this was done in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Rural Finance Building Institutions Programme (RUFIN).
According to him, other capacity building modules introduced to the microfinance market include Product Development, Corporate Governance and Risk Management, Corporate Management Profile, Savings Mobilization, Warehouse Receipt System and many other modules.

He said they were all geared at enhancing the ability of microfinance institutions to manage liquidity and serve the clients better as well as increase outreach to the unreached. (NAN)
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Emir canvasses unity, peaceful co-existence among Nigerians

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Peace
By Muhammad Baba Busu,

Lafia, Oct 19, 2016 (NAN) The Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State, Alhaji Isa Mustapha-Agwai I, has urged religious leaders to foster unity, harmony and peaceful co-existence in the country.

Mustapha-Agwai, made the appeal when he recieved two newly turbanned traditional title holders, who paid him a courtesy visit at his palace in Lafia on Wednesday.

“The two major religions of the world, Islam and Christianity preach peace, as such the leaders of both religion should join hands to foster unity among Nigerians.

“Both Islam and Christianity abhor violence, as such their adherents should practice this religious teaching at all times.,” the monarch said.

The emir said that the state Council of Chiefs would always strive to promote peace as a veritable tool for national development.

The royal father stressed that traditional institutions always honour those who contribute to the development of the society.

“Those that are given traditional titles are people of proven integrity and those that showed concern for the development and socio-economic wellbeing of people in the emirate.”

He said that the honour was to encourage others, to also support their communities.

The emir assured that the emirate council would continue to recognise men and women in the area, who render selfless service to humanity.

Mustapha-Agwai urged well to do individuals to support the less previlleged, so as to engender brotherliness, peace and harmony in the society.

The News Agency of Nigeria [NAN] reports that those hponoured were Abubakar Hassan-Nalaruba and Aliyu Ahmed, who were turbaned as Sadauki and Dan-Saleri Lafia respectively.

The two had earlier pledged to contribute more meaningfully to the development of the emirate.

They also pledged to live above board and attract social and economic development to the area. (NAN)

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Edited By Adeboye Ajayi and controlled by Maharazu Ahmed

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Dissolution
By Deborah Akpede
Lagos, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) A 40-year-old clearing agent, Andrew Ekpenaslim on Wednesday told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos that he had caught his wife, Saraphina, severally with some of her lovers.

Andrew is seeking a dissolution of the marriage, citing his wife infidelity and threat to life.

“My wife is promiscuous, she dates different men. I have caught her severally with some of her lovers. She is also having affair with our pastor, I got to know when her cell phone rang and she left our room to receive it.

“I trailed her behind without her knowing and l eavesdropped her telling the pastor, `I love you’ when she ended the call. When she returned to the room, I secretly copied the number unknown to her and saved it on my cell phone.

“I dialed the number on my cell phone, it was our pastor’s name that appeared on the screen,’’ Andrew said. adding the his wife was also secretive.

“My wife had two boys from two men, before we got married, but she did not tell me, a reliable source let the cat out of the bag and told me the boys were my wife’s children.

“After our marriage, she brought them to live with us and I was paying their school fees,’’ he said.

But, Saraphina, 42, businesswoman, however, denied all the allegations, saying that she had been faithful to her husband.

“I have been faithful to my husband since we got married. I am not dating our pastor, he is just a spiritual father to me,’’ she said.

Saraphina said that her husband was hot tempered and was always assaulting her physically.

“My husband was always beating me at any slightest provocation; I had suffered injuries in my eyes on three occasions from frequent beatings from him.

“He once stripped me naked in public and beat the hell out of me. There was a day he beat and pushed me down from the staircase and l lost my two-month-old pregnancy,’’ she said.

The respondent said that her husband also had three children from different women.

In his judgment, the President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, held that it appeared that the both parties were tired of the marriage as all efforts made to reconcile them had failed.

“Since both parties consented to the dissolution of the marriage, this court has no choice than to dissolve the marriage.

“The court pronounced the marriage between Andrew Ekpenaslim and Saraphina Ekpenaslim, dissolved today, both parties henceforth ceased to be husband and wife.

“Both parties are no longer husband and wife, they are free to go their separate way without any hindrances and molestation,’’ Omilola held. (NAN)
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Edited by Felix Nwadioha

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Flu

New Delhi, Oct. 19, 2016 (dpa/NAN) The zoo in Delhi has been temporarily shut after death of some birds by cause believed to be avian influenza, officials said on Wednesday.

“Nine pelicans, storks and ducks were found dead at the zoo late last week.

“Samples sent to regional forensic laboratories confirmed that at least two of them died from avian influenza,’’ zoo spokesman, Riaz Khan, said.

Zoo Director, Amitabh Agnihotri, said that the facility had been shut amid efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

“Only masked staff members were being allowed in as the complex has been quarantined.

“Zoo staff members are also being vaccinated and the zoo has been closed for the next four days as a precautionary measure.

“These are not caged birds and our staff do not come in direct contact with them; the risk of infections is low,” he said.

India declared itself free from the highly contagious avian influenza or bird flu, in September.

The last outbreak of the disease was reported from a privately-owned poultry farm in the southern state of Karnataka in May.

Bird flu affects mainly poultry and wild birds, but can infect humans who have close contact with sick fowl. (dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Damilola Oyewole and Olisa Ifeajika

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Film
New York, Oct.19, 2016 (Reuters/NAN) Michael Moore, the left-wing filmmaker known for provocative documentaries that deliver a biting message, released an anti-Donald Trump movie on Tuesday as Hollywood ramps up efforts to support Hillary Clinton.

Moore, the Oscar-winning maker of documentaries about guns, the Iraq war and the U.S. health system, made this known on Twitter.

He said that he would release “Michael Moore in Trumpland” in a free screening in Manhattan on Tuesday night at one movie theatre.

This would be followed by commercial release in theatres in Los Angeles and New York on
Wednesday.

The film’s release came three weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

It is based on a one-man show, “October Surprise,” that Moore, a vocal critic of the Republican presidential contender, recently performed in Ohio.

The film is being released as scores of celebrities rally round Clinton ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

More than 30, including Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Julia Roberts, Helen Mirren and Lena Dunham, staged a fundraising show on Broadway on Monday.

Tickets for the fundraiser went up to 10,000 dollars each and streamed live online.

Meanwhile, Singer Jennifer Lopez and rocker Jon Bon Jovi will play separate Get Out The Vote gigs in Florida next week on behalf of Clinton’s campaign.

“Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. and actors Neil Patrick Harris, Don Cheadle and Julianne Moore are among those asking Americans to “save the day”.

The social media campaign is aimed at getting people to vote against Republican businessman and former reality star Trump.

Clinton counts more and more vocal, celebrity supporters than Trump, whose backers include Clint Eastwood, Jon Voight, country singer Loretta Lynn, Kirstie Alley and rapper Azealia Banks.

But fans of celebrities are not necessarily fans of the candidate they support.

Comedian Amy Schumer was booed at her stand-up show in Florida on Sunday, after she attacked Trump and Republican voters, causing some 200 audience members to walk out, according to the Tampa Bay Times. (Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu)

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Laureate
By Bushrah Yusuf-Badmus
Ilorin, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN ) Professor Femi Osofisan of the Kwara State University (KWASU) has been formally inducted as the winner of the prestigious Thalia Award by the UNESCO global partner in the Performing Arts – the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC).

This is contained in the institution’s bulletin, KWASU Update, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ) in Ilorin on Wednesday.

According to the bulletin, Osofisan was inducted at the event attended by over 150 world authorities in theatre criticism from 66 countries at the German Embassy in Serbia.

”Osofisan has, by the feat, become the first African to be so recognised by the respected Thalia Award committee.

”The Thalia Award is a unique professional honour, next only to the Nobel Prize for literature, which Nigeria also won in 1986.

”En route to receive the award, the African continent had her opportunity to showcase Femi Osofisan as its leading dramatist through an impressive ceremony in Egypt.

”On Sept. 20, Osofisan was honoured as one of the Icons of African Theatre at the 2016 edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre.

”This also came few months after the Pan African Writers Association honoured Osofisan for his contributions to literary development of the African continent,” the bulletin read. (NAN)
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Edited by Remi Koleoso/dele bodunde

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Bags

By Solomon Asowata

Lagos, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) The global deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which tracks passengers’ baggage in real time, can enable the air transport industry to save more than $3 billion over the next seven years.

Global IT provider SITA and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) made the projection in a joint statement released at the World Passenger Symposium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A copy of the statement was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

The statement said the assumptions were based on RFID being deployed in 722 airports globally over a six-year period between 2016 and 2021, while the savings were calculated over seven years.

According to the statement, initial deployments of RFID by airlines such as Delta Air Lines shows a 99 per cent success rate for tracking bags.

It said:”In particular, RFID will address mishandling during transfer from one flight to another; one of the key areas identified by SITA and IATA where the technology could help improve baggage handling rates.

“RFID technology will ensure that airports, airlines and ground handlers are able to keep track of bags at every step of the journey and ensure the right bag is loaded onto the correct flight.

“The technology also supports IATA’s Resolution 753 that requires that by 2018 airlines keep track of every item of baggage from start to finish.

“The deployment of RFID would build on the already significant savings delivered by the smart use of technology for baggage management.”

The statement quoted Mr Jim Peters, Chief Technology Officer at SITA, as saying that the airline industry was at the brink of a revolution in baggage tracking.

“Deploying RFID globally will increase accuracy and reduce mishandling rates. This is a win-win situation – passengers will be happier, operations will run smoother, and airlines will save billions of dollars,” Peters is quoted as saying.

It also quoted Mr Andrew Price, Head of Global Baggage Operations at IATA, as saying that the advances in the technology would bring immense benefits to the airline industry.

The statement said the SITA/IATA business case showed that the improvements in handling rates do not come at a great cost.

It said: “RFID capabilities can be deployed for as little as $0.1 per passenger on average while generating expected savings of more than $0.2 per passenger.

“With some big airlines and airports already introducing RFID technology, combined with the fact that it is compatible with existing barcode technology, adoption of RFID across all airports could provide a positive return for airlines, both in cost savings and passenger satisfaction.” (NAN)

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Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

NAN-H-49
Roads
By Emmanuel Acha
Enugu, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has called on indigenous road contractors to justify the confidence reposed in them by delivering quality jobs.
Inspecting some of the road construction and rehabilitation projects awarded to the contractors on Thursday, Ugwuanyi said his administration was not unmindful of the multiplier effect of patronising indigenous contractors on the state’s economy.

He said that such contractors must adhere to specifications to justify the huge sums they were paid.

He identified the Enugu-Onitsha old road as an important gateway to the South East, noting that his administration chose to rehabilitate the failed sections of the road due to its impact on the economy.

Ugwuanyi said that the deplorable state of the road was a threat to the users, adding that the government was committed to delivering the job on schedule.

Responding, the contractor, Mr Anayo Onwuegbu, said that his company, Anbeez Services Ltd, had been fully mobilised to deliver quality job.

Onwuegbu said that the governor had done much in fixing bad portions of federal roads in the state, adding that his company would comply with the terms of the job.

He extolled the governor’s enthusiasm to transform the state even in the face of limited resources. (NAN)
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(Edited by Remi Koleoso/Mbadiwe Okwor)

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Carnival
By Martha Agas
Jos, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) The Plateau Government, on Wednesday said it would establish a carnival commission to boost tourism and youth employment.

Mr Eric Takon, the Chairman of the state’s Committee on the 2016 Jos Carnival disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Jos Office of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that establishment of the commission would be part of the government’s efforts at reducing dependence on crude oil.

Takon said that the 2016 Jos carnival would be a pilot project for the establishment of the carnival commission, which would be in charge of subsequent carnivals in the state.

The chairman said that the commission would engage a large population of unemployed youths in the state.

“Government is hoping to sustain the festival as an annual event and also establish a carnival commission as the event gains more popularity.’’

He listed the events earmarked for the carnival to include masquerade fiesta, mountaineering, children festival, biking and street procession.

Takon said that the festival would be used to tell the world that peace had been restored to the state, noting that Plateau was known as a haven for tourism because of the weather and its hospitable people.

The committee chairman thanked the state government and the private sector for collaborative efforts for the success of the carnival.

“At the end of the carnival, the state would have been projected as a tourist haven and promoter of cultural diversity of the over 52 ethnic groups in the state.’’

He hoped that the festival would boost the social, economic and educational status of Plateau people.

Takon solicited the support of the media to make the carnival a success.

“We appeal for your support in making the carnival a success, as we solicit for the partnership with  traditional councils and security agencies to make the event a success.

In his remarks, Mr Ephraims Sheyin, the Jos Zonal Manager of NAN, pledged to support the committee before, during and after the event to make it a success.

He said that the event would have multiplier effects on the economy by providing a source of livelihood for the people, exposing indigenous fabrics, arts and artifacts, and strengthening the state’s hospitality industry.

Sheyin urged the committee to propose a date for the event so that families, groups and tourists would start making necessary plans. (NAN)

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(Edited by Remi Koleoso/Ijeoma Popoola)

NAN-H-48

Reorganization

By Sumaila Ogbaje

Abuja, Oct. 19, 2016 (NAN) Mr Benjamin Okewu, National President, Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN), has commended the Federal Government for correcting irregularities in appointments in Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, Okewu said that the current re-organisation in the agency was a welcomed development.

He said that the recent right-sizing in FAAN was a product of long-time agitation by the union to ensure that carrier staff members of the agency were not short-changed by politicians.

According to him, the union was part of the committee set up by the government to look into the complaints of irregularities and to verify the certificates of those involved.

“The agitation for the right placement has been on and we were part of the committee that was set up to look into it and has since submitted the report.

“We have been pushing for the implementation of the recommendations of the committee’s report,’’ he said.

Okewu disclosed that the re-organisation would not stop in FAAN, adding that the committee was waiting for the implementation of the report on FAAN before moving to other agencies.

He added that the exercise would continue in Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to ensure that all members of staff were properly placed.

“Now that FAAN has been achieved, the union will begin to put pressure so that the committee can move to NCAA immediately,’’ he said.

On appointment of two directors in FAAN, Okewu said that the positions were political, stressing that the union was concerned with career positions.

NAN recalls that no fewer than 22 general managers and deputy general managers in the agency have either been demoted or sacked by the government over improper placement.

Similarly, all the directors in the agency, except one, were relieved of their appointments.

The Federal Government on Tuesday announced the appointment Mrs Nike Aboderin as Director of Finance and Accounts (DFA) and Mr Sadiku Rafindadi as Director of Commercial and Business Development (DCBD). (NAN)

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Edited by Olisa Ifeajika