Business

SEEDC Accuses Govs Of Shunning CBN Programme

Published

5 years ago

December 4, 2017

The Programme Director of South East Entrepreneurship Development Centre (SEEDC), Dr Osita Aniemeka has accused the South East governors of distancing their administration from entrepreneurship programme initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Aniemeka said this at the weekend when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iwuanyanwu Foundation at Owerri.
He noted that the governors had refused to see the importance of the CBN initiative, adding that the development and sustenance of small medium scale enterprises remains the only way out of unemployment.
He commended the facilitator of Iwuanyanwu Foundation, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, for giving employment over the years, to several Nigerians. “You are again making history today, because we are not just going to reach other areas through your office, but succour will come the way of the unemployed soonest”, Aniemeka said.
Welcoming the CBN team earlier, Chief Iwuanyanwu expressed sadness at the way some nationals held in Libya, were reportedly sold like goats or mindlessly killed like rams. But reacting to claims by CBN, the Imo State Government said it was very prepared to partner with anybody, group of persons or establishments towards the reduction of youth unemployment in the state.
The Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to Imo State Governor, Mr. Samuel Onwuemeodo, disclosed government’s position on the allegation levelled by CBN.
When reminded that the CBN could not have been playing politics with such a serious matter, the CPS said “it depends on where they are coming from”. Continuing, the CPS affirmed that government would unarguably jump at any such move by CBN.
In a related development, Enugu State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mr. Joseph Udedi, has carpeted the CBN for including the state as one lacking in youths empowerment programmes.
Abia State Government said it keyed maximally into all the youth empowerment programme initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, saying that it has at present enrolled over 30,000 youths in the various programmes when others are enrolling 3000.
The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku said the state was doing well in the CBN youth empowerment programmes and other Federal Government initiated empowerment programmes. “We are up there when it comes to embracing CBN’s youth empowerment programmes”, Oriaku said.
Also reacting to the allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to Ebonyi State Governor, Sir Emmanuel Uzor stated that the State had already keyed into the agricultural policies of the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, by participating in the Anchor Borrowers programme of the Bank. That was why former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Zero Hunger Team visited the state. “We have made request for dams and irrigation which is part of the South East Entrepreneurship Development Centre programme to create 10,000 jobs through agriculture.”
“Again, the ITF is training 300 youths in Enugu State on three months vocation after which the state government will give them starter packs to take off such as in wielding and other skills, just to mention a few of the programes”

Business

Don Advocates Diversity for Economic Growth

Published

3 hours ago

August 10, 2022

The Tide

A university Don, Professor Anthony U. Nnodim, has called on companies to diversify in other to be economically relevant to society.

Prof Nnodim, who made the call, Thursday, at the first National Conference of the Association for Encouraging Qualitative Functional Education in Nigeria, in collaboration with Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Women Association, Port Harcourt, said any company that does not diversify will easily ‘die’.

According to him, the phrase, “diversify of die”, amounts to a warning to corporate organisations of the danger of staying the same place for too long.

He said it is “a reminder that to avoid stagnation, companies must innovate. In today’s global environment, diversity is the bedrock of innovation.

“Diverse and inclusive team is the engine room within which innovations develop through the combination of desperate ideas and desciplines in ways that look weird in the first instance, but culminate into emergence of real innovation”, he said.

Nnodim, who made the call in his Keynote address tittled, “Innovation and Diversification: Issues and Prospects in a Global Environment “, said diversification has numerous prospects.

One of the key prospects, he said, is that diversification improves critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

This, he explained, “would provoke critical thinking that provides alternative approaches to finding solutions to identified problems”.

Other prospects, he continued, include enhanced employees growth and development, unification of diversified strength, and encouragement of innovations.

In her Keynote address, Prof. Margaret E. Akpomi harped on the need for Nigeria to emulate what she called “the Australian Model of Education” christened “Technical And Functional Education (TAFE).

“What it (TAFE) does is that they first of all identify the needs of the society, and then they build-in the needs of the society into the curriculum, and it is with that they bring up their citizens to fill in various manpower positions in the society. We can borrow a leaf from here”, she said.

In her welcome address, the President, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Women Association (CEAPOWA), Dr. Victoria O. Sam-Kalagbo, explained that the conference, with the theme, “Innovation and Diversities: Issues and Prospects in a Global Environment “, is in line with the CEAPOWA’s objective of contributing to societal growth.

“The aims and objectives of CEAPOWA are, among others, to organize conferences, workshops, seminars and symposia aimed at impacting positively on Members of the association, the entire polytechnic community, and society at large.

“This conference provides a rare platform for scholars in various disciplines to examine and prescribe practical innovative and diversified strategies, approaches, and mechanisms to contain the multifarious global threats and challenges in education, economy, politics, business, technology, Entrepreneurship, etc.”, She said.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo

Business

NECA Wants Forex Allocation Prioritisation To Manufacturers

Published

10 hours ago

August 10, 2022

The Tide

The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has urged the Federal Government to give priority of allocation of available forex to manufacturing and other productive sectors of the economy as forex scarcity persists.
Director-General, NECA, Mr Wale Oyerinde, while speaking on the state of the economy in Lagos, called for a holistic and multi-pronged approach towards resolving the challenges faced by the nation.
He urged the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, to encourage the development of modular refineries as a precursor to total subsidy removal.
Oyerinde said, “In the medium term, the Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, fix the four national refineries and encourage the development of modular ones as a precursor to total removal of fuel subsidy.
“With over N5tn budgeted for subsidy payment in 2022, an amount larger than the budget for education and agriculture, this is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“Economic interventions aimed at improving living standards (to stimulate consumption) and enterprise sustainability (to promote job creation) should be implemented.
“While forex scarcity persists, allocation of the available forex to manufacturing and other productive sectors of the economy should be given priority.”
According to him, this was better time for the government to deepen its engagement with the Organised Private Sector, adding that the government’s efforts to salvage the economy was commendable.
He said “the nation is currently faced with multiple challenges, with dire combination of spiraling inflation, rising energy cost (aviation fuel, diesel, etc.), scarcity of forex, dwindling value of the naira, an almost comatose aviation sector, stuttering education system, rising debt, depleting foreign reserve and rising fuel subsidy expenses among others, which threatens to lay bare the country’s economy.
“There is no better time for government to reappraise current economic policies and deepen its engagement with the Organized Private Sector. While Government’s effort to salvage the economy is commendable, there is, however, need for a More holistic approach to resuscitate the stuttering economy”, he said.

Business

Agency Puts Nigeria’s Gas Flaring Losses At N891bn

Published

10 hours ago

August 10, 2022

The Tide

The Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor, a sub of the Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), has put the losses in gas flaring in Nigerian at N891 billion.
The oil spill agency in a release on Sunday said Nigeria lost N891 billion to gas flaring in 18 months.
It revealed that the country lost a total of N707 billion in 2021 and N184 billion in the first half of 2022, totaling N891 billion.
According to the NOSDRA report, oil and gas companies operating in the country flared a total of 126 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas in the first half of 2022, leading to a loss of $441.2million (about N183.54 bn) in the six-month period.
On the other hand, in 2021, about 23,862.271 barrels of oil (3,770,238.864 litres/119 tanker trucks) were spilled.
Brent International was sold for an average of $71 per barrel in 2021, bringing total revenue loss in that year to $1.7million
The estimation put the equivalent of the volume of gas flared in the first half of 2022 to carbon dioxide, CO2 emission of 6.7 million tonnes in the oil producing areas, which was 4.56 per cent higher than the 120.5 billion SCF of gas flared in the second half of 2021, and capable of generating 12,600 gigawatts hours of electricity.
Also, the quantity of gas flared in the first six months of 2021 was capable of generating 14,000 gigawatt-hour of electricity, and an equivalent of 7.4 million tonnes of CO2 emission.
Giving a breakdown of the gas flared in the country in the first six months of 2022, the agency disclosed that while companies operating in the offshore oilfields flared 62.2 billion SCF of gas, companies operating onshore flared 63.9 billion SCF of gas, valued at $223.6 million.
In 2021, there were around 382 publicly available oil spill records. Out of the 382 occurrences, a total of 33 of these oil spill sites were not visited by a joint investigation team, and 122 of these had no estimated quantity of oil spilled provided by the companies involved.
Two major oil spills were recorded in 2021, with over 250 barrels spilled into inland waters, or over 2,500 barrels spilled on land, swamp, shoreline and open sea, the report said.

By: Corlins Walter