Kwara State Government has commended Sterling Bank Plc for partnering the state government to actualise the Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme (KSHIS), which was moribund despite its inauguration three years ago. Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State stated this in Ilorin, the state capital on Friday at the official re-launch of the scheme. He said the resuscitation of the scheme represents a direct response by the state government to ensure that Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is achieved in the state by 2030, which is access to good health and well-being. He said the scheme will start as a test-run with at least 10,000 indigent citizens from across the 16 local government areas of the state. The governor noted that the health insurance scheme would boost life expectancy of the people, promote good health and ultimately strengthen the economy, saying the scheme has the potential to prevent a sudden fall into poverty among indigent people as a result of any unforeseen health crisis. Speaking on the partnership, Mr. Emmanuel Emefienim, Executive Director of Institutional Banking, Sterling Bank, said the bank decided to partner with Kwara State Government as part of its commitment to the development of the health sector, which is one of its focus areas. According to Emefienim, the bank is focusing investments on five sectors of the economy, including Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation (HEART) to make impact on the Nigerian economy. He said, “Sterling Bank is working with Kwara State Government to pioneer a truly inclusive healthcare delivery model. There is no better time to do that than now.” He explained that the state government approached Sterling Bank to support the administrative set-up cost for the development and acquisition of the scheme’s ICT software and hardware as well as registration and biometric data capture of all residents across 193 wards and the 16 local governments in the state. He said the bank’s support would enable the health insurance scheme to be efficient, structured and administered in a way that is devoid of bureaucratic bottlenecks. Also speaking, Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Olubunmi Jetawo-Winter, lauded Sterling Bank for providing the financial support that enabled the agency to engage consultants, including Exaro Solutions and CarePay, to develop automated registration module that will be used to capture the needed health data of residents in the state for the purpose of enrolling them into the scheme. She observed that the interface between Exaro and CarePay platforms provided a state-of-the-art registration, enrolment and administration platform that is transparent and seamless, thus providing an eased customer experience. She added that through the support of Sterling Bank, the agency now owns adequate hardware for administering enumeration across the state.She also commended the World Bank and USAID for their tremendous support and implored public spirited individuals and corporate bodies to rally round the government in its efforts to provide a robust health care delivery service to the citizenry, saying the government alone cannot do this. The scheme is structured to cover three sectors: the indigent people who are the poor of the poorest in various communities in the state who will not pay any premium because of their financial predicament, the informal sector comprising people with daily income, but no structured salary who will pay N6,000 per annum and the formal sector which covers structured salary workers in both the public and private sectors that will pay N9,000 per annum.
Category: Business and Economy
Fidelity Bank Posts Impressive Half Year Results.
· Profits up by 22% as Gross Earnings hit N105.8bn.
Despite the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fidelity Bank has sustained the financial performance trajectory of recent years, with another set of impressive financial results. Details of the Audited Half Year results ending June 30, 2020 for the top Nigerian lender, released on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday September 3, 2020, show strong growth in profits and other indices.
The bank recorded a surge in Profit Before Tax of N12.0bn from N9.8bn in 2019, which translated to a 22% growth. Net profits for Fidelity Bank grew by 33% from N8.5bn to N11.3bn in the reporting period. In other indices Total Assets rose by 13.7% from N2.1trillion in 2019 to N2.4trillion this year whilst Total Deposits rose by 14.8% from N1.2trillion to N1.4trillion during the same period.
Commenting on the results, Fidelity Bank CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo said the performance for the period, reflects the resilience of the bank’s business model. “Due to the global and domestic headwinds witnessed in H1 2020, we proactively increased our cost of risk as the impact of the pandemic slowed down economic activities whilst adapting our business model to the new risks and opportunities of the new normal” he stated.
According to him, Fidelity Bank, re-stated its H1 2019 figures from N15.1bn to N9.8bn to reflect the impact of IFRIC 21- Levies, which was adopted for the first time on the H1 2020 financials. “The key impact of IFRIC 21 was that our 2020FY AMCON Cost was recognized 100% in our H1 2020 Accounts rather than been amortized over 12 months as was done previously on our financials” said the Fidelity CEO”. He further revealed that, without implementing IFRIC 21, profit for the period would have been N17.9bn compared to the N15.1bn reported in H1 2019.
Fidelity Bank has been implementing a digital-led retail strategy and digital banking gained further traction during the period with 87.3% of the bank’s customers now transacting on digital platforms. The figures are up from 82.0% in 2019FY while 51.2% of the bank’s customers are now enrolled on the bank’s mobile/internet banking products.
“Though digital banking income dropped by 29.1% due to the downward fee revisions for electronic transactions in line with the new bankers’ tariff, we have continued to receive positive reviews on our digital channels. IVY, the bank’s chat box is rated as the clear leader, among virtual assistants in the industry, just as our flagship instant banking product (*770#) was also rated in the top tier category in the recently released 2020 KPMG Digital Channels Scorecard” he explained.
Retail Banking in Fidelity Bank has continued to also deliver impressive results. Savings Deposits in H1 2020 increased by 32.2% to N363.9bn with the bank on course to achieving the 7th consecutive year of double-digit growth in savings. Savings Deposits accounted for 49.1% of the total growth in customer deposits and now represents 25.9% of total deposits compared to 22.5% in 2019FY.
In reflection of the bank’s early conservative assessment of the sectors that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank’s Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio increased to 4.8% from 3.3% in 2019FY. Regulatory Ratios however remained above the required thresholds with Capital Adequacy Ratio increasing to 18.8% from 18.3% due to the capitalization of H1 2020 Audited Profits while Liquidity Ratio stood at 32.1%.
Buoyed by the H1 performance, the bank is optimistic about the remaining part of the year. “We believe the new phase of normalcy will unveil some growth opportunities. We will continue to monitor and pro-actively manage any evolving risks as the Nigerian economy gradually reopens and economic activities pick-up in key sectors” Okonkwo stated.
Eurafic Power Limited sues FG over sale of Sapele Power Plant
By Samuel Itsede
Eurafic Power Limited through its legal counsel, Chief Godwin Obla,SAN has dragged the federal government to court over the sale of Sapele Power Plant.
He is claim that Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, acting on behalf of government was expropriating its assets shortly after its handover by severing a substantial portion in favour of Ogorode Power Generation Company.
He said that the federal government through the National council of privatization had issued share certificate to it approving the sale of the power plant.
The power firm said it entered into a share sale agreement, SSA, with the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Federal Ministry of Finance both acting on behalf of the Federal Government to purchase the plant in 2013 at the sum of $201 million.
It said that after several fruitless attempts to get to the federal government and Bureau of Public Enterprise to honour the terms of the SSA, it was constrained to invoke the provisions of clause 15 of the agreement against federal government.
It said that the SSA envisaged the transfer of all property and asset of Sapele Power Plant including Sapele II and that the actions were of federal government in severing a portion of its asset were unlawful.
It also said that several months after exchanging written submission/ oral and evidentiary hearings, the arbitral tribunal had rendered its award dated 28 0f September 2017 in favour of Eurafic Power Limited.
Eurafic Power Limited through its legal counsel also asked the federal government for the prompt settlement of its judgment debts.
Probe All Transactions Made By Kano State Microfinance Banks- Economic Analyst.
By Jabiru Hassan, Kano.
An economic analyst and current affairs commentator Malam Magaji Aminu has called on the Kano state government to investigate all monetary transactions that were carried out by the state owned Microfinance banks in order to ensure that they are making impacts in the economic progress of the citizens.
He made the call in an interview with our correspondent in Kano, adding that MFB’s were established to improve the economic progress of the people and to bring financial institution close to the residents at both rural and urban areas.
Malam Magaji noted that Kano state government has done a commendable work in the establishment of additional banks in the state to ensure that Kano citizens benefits from soft loans in order to boost their small and medium scale trades but some of such MFB’s are not doing what is expected from them.
” if you ask people about the services of Kano Microfinance banks, many people would surprise you by giving you comments about their activities, and from what we observe, the banks have politicised their services to please the politicians that are around the bank’s catchment areas, but it is good for Kano government to constitute a high powered committee in order to investigate all MFB’S so as to ensure that they are put on the right way”. He added.
Daybreak news in a chat with a senior staff of a government’s owned microfinance bank on the condition of anonymity can report that some MFB’S in Kano are working outside of their regulations. The respondent said that many of the banks were not working in line with regulations as “majority of those who benefit from the loans are not those who were recommended to collect, so there is a great challenge in this regard”.
Our correspondent who interviewed some people that have applied for loans told Daybreak news that ” we applied for little amount but there is no sign that the loan would be given to us despite that we are making petty bussines in our communities, but we always see top politicians collecting the money and using them for personal programmes which is a slap to MFB’S recommendations,so we are calling on the Kano state government to prove and investigate all monetary transactions that were carried out by all MFB’S to ascertain their performance”.
FCTA moves against illegal mining
By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Minister of FCT, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello has disclosed that his administration will soon put an end to all illegal mining activities, within the FCT, particularly the Kutasa Gold mining operations because of water contamination and danger to the health of residents in affected communities.
Bello made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in Abuja.
The minister condemned the way mining companies without proper permission from relevant authorities began gold mining operations in Kutasa community in AMAC, adding that such mining activities cause water pollution in affected community.
The minister lamented that without an inkling to such operations in that community, the mining company concerned had entered into agreement with local authorities who granted them a mining lease to prospect for gold in an area in the FCT.
All these are obviously wrong and totally against existing mining policy, he said.
The Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Sulaiman Adamu commended the FCTA for its action regarding the mining activities at Kutasa community.
He said that issues of water pollution emanating from mining activities was of great concern to his Ministry considering the issue of lead poisoning in Niger State as a result of mining activities in 2016.
End
Nigeria bans airlines from European Union
By Joyce Babayeju
As international flight resumes, the Federal Government has said that it would invoke the principle of reprocity. Consequently, only airlines from countries that allow flights from Nigeria will be allowed to fly into and out of Nigeria.
The implication is that airlines from the European Union would not be allowed into Nigeria as the EU had recently banned flights and visitors from Nigeria.
Speaking at Thursday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said Nigeria’s position was informed by the ban placed by some countries on flights from Nigeria.
The minister, who was represented by the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Musa Nuhu, argued that the decision was taken in the interest of Nigerians.
He said, “On the list of countries (that are banned), we are working on the comprehensive list, but the main one that came up is when the EU opened their borders effective 1st July, Nigeria was among the list of 54 countries that were not allowed to enter the EU.
“To my understanding, as the situation changes, they are going to look at the list and change it. But so far, we don’t have any contrary information to that first one that Nigeria is banned from going to the EU.
“So, as we open our airspace, we are going to apply the issue of reciprocity to those (EU) countries.”
Sirika also stated that airlines would be informed on arrangements that had been put in place to ensure that the resumption of flights were hitch-free.
He stated that for now, only a few flights per day would be permitted, adding that they would operate as test runs of the protocols put in place to ensure the safe return to international operations.
The protocols, according to him, would be made public in due course.
Sirika also stated that inbound international passengers would be limited to 1,280.
He said only this number would be allowed to fly into the Lagos and Abuja airports once international flights resume on August 29, 2020.
Lagos govt shortlist ccecc 5 others for fourth mainland bridge
By Dino Amadin
The Lagos State Government has shortlisted six companies for the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of the Fourth Mainland Bridge, with five Chinese construction companies dominating the list.
This followed the issuance of a Request for Qualification (RFQ) in February this year by the government.
According to a statement by the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, yesterday, the six firms picked were said to have completed the technical and financial capacity requirements.
The shortlisted firms include Mota-Engil and CCCC Consortium, Power Construction Corporation of China, CGGC-CGC Joint Venture, CCECC Nigeria Limited, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Nigeria Limited and IC ICTAS Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. Of these six companies, only the last has no Chinese affiliation.
The state government promised to announce those picked for the next stage in due course, even as the Request for Proposals (RFP) would be given to the pre-qualified bidders.
In April, 10 companies were shortlisted after the RFP was issued earlier in the year. The 10 firms include CCECC Nigeria Limited; CGGC-CGC Joint Venture; China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Nigeria Limited and IC ICTAS Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Others are Julius Berger Nigeria Plc; Mota-Engil and CCCC Consortium; Mutual Commitment Company Limited; Power Construction Corporation of China and Ingenieros Consultores, S.A., through Makais Energy.
Nigeria to fully repay N1.224trn IMF loan in 5 years
IMF Senior Country Director, Mr Amine Mati, on Wednesday in Abuja explained that the “$3.4 billion is a loan”
“It is a loan of five years, with one percent interest rate which is one twelfth of what international capital market charges right now and the repayment starts in three and a quarter year and to be completed after five years in eight quarterly disbursements,” he said.
Mati said the loan approved by IMF executive board on Tuesday will be disbursed within the week.
Reacting to the development, Uwaleke who is a professor of finance who hailed “an additional soft credit line of $3.5 billion which the government hopes to get from the World Bank and African Development Bank to wage COVID-19 war stands to reason, the same cannot be said of another $3.4 billion loan from the IMF for obvious reasons.
“First, it is a non-concessional loan with commercial terms being disbursed under the IMFs Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) which, in addition to a basic interest rate charge, attracts a commitment fee, service charge and a surcharge on outstanding credit.
“The facility is for a short period due within three and one quarter to 5 years which means repayment will be done in eight quarterly instalments starting Q3 2023 assuming disbursement is made before end of Q2 2020.
“Secondly, except the relevant section is amended by the National Assembly, the IMF loan, unlike the long tenored concessional facilities from the World Bank and African Dev Bank, contravenes Section 41 of the 2007 Fiscal Responsibility Act which requires that the government can only go for long term concessional loans for capital expenditure.
“The RFI of the IMF, under which we are taking the loan, is not designed to finance capital projects but only to address BOP challenges which must be why the condition also states that any country receiving RFI loan is required to cooperate with the IMF in solving its BOP difficulties.
“Against this backdrop and bearing in mind the country’s painful experience with the Fund during the SAP era, the government is expected to make public the full cost implications beyond disclosing that a full-fledged program with the Fund won’t be necessary.
“It will also be interesting to know why Nigeria is not going through the IMF Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) window, just like Ghana that accessed $1 billion, considering that financing under RCF carries zero interest rate, has a grace period of 5 and half years and a maturity of 10 years.
“While the government is encouraged to muster every resource in the fight against the pandemic, entering into a debt trap will clearly jeopardize economic recovery effort post COVID’19.
Although Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said the loan was without normal IMF conditions, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa said on Tuesday mentioned some conditions attached.
According to him, Nigeria must take steps toward a more unified and flexible exchange rate while unification of the exchange rate should be expedited.
“Once the COVID-19 crisis passes, the focus should remain on medium-term macroeconomic stability, with revenue-based fiscal consolidation essential to keep Nigeria’s debt sustainable and create fiscal space for priority spending.
“Implementation of the reform priorities under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, particularly on power and governance, remains crucial to boost growth over the medium term.
“The emergency financing under the RFI will provide much needed liquidity support to respond to the urgent BOP needs. Additional assistance from development partners will be required to support the government’s efforts and close the large financing gap.
“The implementation of proper governance arrangements—including through the publication and independent audit of crisis-mitigating spending and procurement processes—is crucial to ensure emergency funds are used for their intended purposes.”
Chinese Loan: Group Threatens To Recall Hon. Ossai
By Lawrence Ekwonu
A group under the aegis of Progressive Grassroots Forum(PGF) in the Niger Delta region has said it would not hesitate to initiate a recall of Hon. Nicholas Ossai, member representing Ndokwa/Ukwani federal constituency in Delta State and Chairman, Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, should he continue to probe the loan facility from China which would be used to construct the Lagos-Calabar railway project.
The group also condemned in totality the move by Hon. Ossai and some leaders in the region serving in the National Assembly to deny the region developmental strides of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration.
In a release made available to the press Tuesday in Abuja the Progressive Grassroots Forum (PGF) berated Hon.Nicholas Ossai for acting in a manner capable of depriving the region of the coastal rail project which connects Lagos to Calabar and other parts of the South-south region.
It also described as uncharitable the way in which Hon. Nicolas Ossai was handling the investigation, noting that any attempt to truncate the realization of the railway project meant for the people of the area would be vehemently rejected.
The group wondered why a lawmaker from the region who ought to have used his position to cooperate with the Minister of Transportation to bring about the success of the railway project to the people would now become a hindrance to the project.
The statement which reads in parts said ” We must join hands to condemn the move by some Niger Delta Leaders to deny us our share of the developmental strides of the current administration as deserved. We are not happy that our own son , Hon. Nicholas Ossai is the one questioning the rationality of the loans for the proposed rail project coming to the South-south.
” We are particularly disturbed by the development. How on earth would our own brother elected to bring about developments in the region turn against his own people by probing the loan which would bring about overall developments to our people, even when he knows that probing the loan can scare the Chinese from granting Nigeria the loan thereby denying us the project.
” For the avoidance of doubt, let it be made clear that we are not in any way stopping the committee on Treaties , Protocols and Agreements from performing it’s job, what we are saying is that the committee chaired by Hon. Ossai should suspend the probe until the loan facility is granted by China.
” The Minister of Transportation Rt.Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said it countlessly that should the committee continue with the probe , it may scare the Chinese from granting Nigeria the loan meant for the coastal rail line.
“So it is in this regard that we are calling on the committee Chairman and his members to suspend forthwith, the probe until the loan is granted, to enable the South -south region benefit from the railway project”, it said.
While calling on prominent leaders of the region to call Hon. Ossai to order, the Progressive Grassroots Forum (PGF) warned that any further attempt by Hon. Ossai and his co-travelers to deny the region developments meant for them under the present administration would not be tolerated.
Recall that the Minister of Transportation Rt.Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi had in a public hearing of the committee, said the country stand the chance of loosing the loan should the National Assembly continue it’s probe on the project.
The PGF further commended the Transportation Minister for his commitment to job delivery and advised him to continue to push for developments in the South-south region.
” We are particularly happy to have someone like the Minister of Transportation Rt.Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as our son, he has been championing developments in the region right from his days as governor and we know that he is fearless and would not allow anyone to deprive us from having the rail project. We commend his drive in project delivery particularly the Lagos-Ibadan railway where over 20,000 workers were employed, we pray that he continues to push for the realization of the coastal rail without fear nor intimidation by any person or group of persons that does not mean well for our people”, the statement said.
Signed:
Hon. Henry Halliday ( Coordinator)
Hon. Collins Ordu ( Deputy Coordinator)
Hon. Reginald Ukwuoma ( Secretary)
August 18,2020
Workers protest inhuman treatment at Atiku’s factory in Yola
By Musa Ahmed
The busy Yola Gombe highway experienced heavy gridlock Tuesday as over 500 workers of former Vice president Atiku Abubakar’s Adama beverages factory blocked the road in protest.
The workers were protesting alleged inhuman treatment by the Indian managers of the factory, sexual molestation of female staff, casualisation, massive sacking of Nigerians and replacing them with Indians among others.
The workers accused the Chief Operating Officer ( COO) of the company Mr, Francis Vazheparambbil, of dehumanizing Nigerians, demanding that he must be prosecuted inline with relevant Nigerian laws.
The workers carrying placards with inscription “Indians must go” ” we don’t want Indians” “we say no to causalization” ” we are not slaves” and many other inscriptions,lamented that Nigerian workers are treated in the company like slaves.
The spokesman of the protesting workers Abdullah Maigida Bello who spoke on behalf of others said since the Indians came to manage the company they have turned the local staff to slaves with no comessurate payment
“Some of us have been on causal list of the company for 12 years, what they do is disengaging and reengaging without paying, most of the permanent staff including some senior staff appointments were terminated without payment but were converted to contract staff by the Indians. The COO is now bringing Indians into the country even during the pandemic his countrymen to replace Nigerians.
“The Group Chief Operating Officer Of Priam Companies that manages Adama Beverages Limited, Mr. Francis Vazheparambbil,has succeeded in bringing Indians from his village to take over the management of the company as permanent staff while we Nigerians who are more educated and qualified were terminated and re-engaged as contract staff,” he stated.
He also said that even some of the jobs meant for junior staff and causals have been taken over by these unqualified Indians.
Also speaking, the chairman of Senior Staff Union of Food and Beverages Staff Union of Nigeria, Adama Beverages Limited Yola Branch, Comrade Puke Jackson, told journalists that some staff were giving query for holding meeting.
“We came in as a union to intervene but the management seems to have taken a stand, this has been the problem since Indians took over the company, he has brought a lot of Indians to displaced us Nigerians who are better qualified.”
When journalists contacted, the Group Chief Operating Officer of the company Mr Francis, he declined comment saying” I don’t have any business with Nigerian journalists ,”i will not talk to you people “.
