The U.S. government, through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), donated five million bed nets to Nigeria’s Oyo State as part of a national campaign to provide enough nets for every Nigerian to be protected from the deadly disease every night.
The life-saving nets will reach all 33 local government areas in Oyo State. The bed net distribution is a critical component of the ongoing effort to end malaria in Nigeria, which results in nearly 96,000 deaths per year.
“Malaria is a leading cause of illness and death in Nigeria, particularly now at the peak of the rainy season when mosquito populations increase dramatically,” Ms. Celeste Carr, USAID’s Acting PMI Resident Advisor, said at the handover ceremony. “Conquering malaria will not happen overnight and it will only happen if we all work together.”
In addition to the nets, PMI also provided funding for logistics, including transportation and community mobilization carried out in partnership with the Oyo State government, which led the planning, coordination, and distribution effort. The total value of the contribution is near $18 million (₦7.4 billion).
The distribution will benefit more than eight million residents of Oyo State, providing at a minimum one net for every two people within each household.
“Malaria infection still poses a great threat to the social and economic wellbeing of the population of Oyo State,” Executive Governor His Excellency Engr. Seyi Makinde said at the ceremony. “We must therefore do everything possible to safeguard our people, particularly the vulnerable group of women and children with the help of stakeholders [including] the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative.”
The PMI program in Nigeria is jointly implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in coordination with the Government of Nigeria.
Since 2011, PMI has procured more than 61 million insecticide-treated nets as part of a $712 million overall contribution to malaria control in Nigeria. PMI also supports advocacy and mobilization to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, and trains health workers to test for malaria before treatment.
Nigeria today received 699,760 doses of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca donated by the United Kingdom (UK) through the COVAX initiative.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca doses delivered to Nigeria through COVAX or government agreements to over 4.6 million.
COVAX is a global initiative co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi (the Vaccines Alliance) and the World Health Organization, which works with governments and manufacturers to accelerate the development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, a parastatal or Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria “This vaccine will be administered as a second dose for those who have received their first dose of the vaccine during the first phase of the vaccine roll-out.
I, therefore, enjoin all those who have received Astrazeneca as the first dose to visit the nearest vaccination site to receive the second dose to be assured of full protection. We assure Nigerians that the vaccines are safe, effective and can protect against Covid-19.”
Dr. Shuaib empahisasied that “The WHO does not approve the mixing of different brands of Covid-19 vaccines, except for the guidance that has been provided recently that one can mix the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine. In Nigeria, we have not started that process because we do not have the Pfizer vaccines yet. Right now the guidance is that if you take Moderna as your first dose, you should take it as your second dose, and if you take Astrazeneca as your first dose, you should also take it as your second dose.”
“I, therefore, want to urge all persons from 18 years above, who are due for the second dose of the Astrazeneca to visit the vaccination sites, and encourage friends, families, and neighbors to do the same to ensure full protection from the virus.”
Barbara Nel, Country President for the African Region, AstraZeneca, said: “I was delighted to see the arrival of a further 699,760 doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, today. This donation from the UK will bolster Nigeria’s vaccination programme and is wonderful news for its people.”
“Today’s arrival demonstrates the value of governments, industry and others working together to address our continent’s urgent needs to access vaccines. In this regard, AstraZeneca’s commitment to Africa remains steadfast.”
AstraZeneca is committed to supplying the vaccine broadly and equitably around the world at no profit during the pandemic period. The supply of the vaccine is estimated to have helped save tens of thousands of lives and to have significantly reduced hospitalisations.1,2
AstraZeneca and its partners have released for supply one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to more than 170 countries, including more than 100 million doses which have been delivered to 129 countries through COVAX.
COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
The COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, (ChAdOx1-S [Recombinant]), formerly AZD1222, was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the
SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.
This change in the ownership of BOC Gases Nigeria Plc is effective today 13th day of August 2021.
BOC Gases Nigeria Plc assures its esteemed shareholders and the public that the company will make certain that it sustains the reputation and standing it has built for over the last 62 years.
Unsplash, the preeminent image platform for global creators, has hit 3 MILLION contributions in its library. This means 3 million images, by over 250K creatives, downloaded over 3 billion times, and used to inspire further creations all around the world.
Started in 2013 as a Tumblr blog, Unsplash now offers over 3 million free high-resolution images, providing an easily searchable online platform for a community of millions of users.
Unsplash
To celebrate this major milestone, Unsplash reached out to 10 all-star contributors from all over the globe to share one piece of advice for new photographers and show their journey from their first upload to their favourite image.
Early this year, the company announced it entered into a definitive agreement under which Getty Images will acquire Unsplash. Getty Images will fund the transaction from existing cash balances and the transaction is expected to close at the close of the month.
The company works with some of the world’s leading brands to curate, amplify and syndicate their content to the platform’s broad audiences. As of 2021, Unsplash has over two billion image downloads across the globe, allowing brands in Unsplash’s unrivalled ecosystem to syndicate targeted images that are seen 22 billion times, and by 300 million people, each month.
The Bureau said Tuesday that the prices of goods and services, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose by 17.38 per cent. That is lower than 17.75 per cent recorded in June.
This is the year-on-year change, which means that while prices continued to rise in July 2021 over July 2020, the pace of the increase was slower when compared to June 2021 versus June 2020. The fall between both months was 0.37 per cent or 37 basis points.
“This implies that prices continued to rise in July 2021 but at a slower rate than it did in June 2021,” NBS said.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased 0.93 per cent in July, 0.13 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in June.
It said the composite food index rose by 21.03 per cent in July 2021 compared to 21.83 per cent in June 2021. This implies that food prices continued to rise in July 2021 but at a slower speed than they did in June 2021.
According to the NBS, this rise in the food index in June was caused by increases in the prices of milk, cheese and eggs, coffee, tea and cocoa, vegetables, bread and cereals, soft drinks and meat.
It added that month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 0.86 per cent in July 2021, down by 0.25 per cent points from 1.11 per cent recorded in June 2021.
“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve months ending July 2021 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.16 per cent, 0.44 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in June 2021 (19.72 per cent),” it said.
Chief amongst the goals of the law are distinct lines between the operational and regulatory functions of the government, improved welfare of host communities and a revision of fiscal terms for the industry. In our view, there are certain key developments to watch out for.
Photo by Grant Dur
The reorganisation of the national oil company, from NNPC to NNPC Limited. The corporation is to be equally owned by the ministry of petroleum incorporated and the ministry of finance incorporated. This process could take between 18 and 24 months. According to the law, shares held by the government, are not transferable unless approved by the government and endorsed by the National Economic Council on behalf of the federation.
In our view, the listing of the NNPC on the local stock exchange is unlikely to happen within two years.
NNPC Limited will be vested as of the concessionaire of all Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) as the national oil company on behalf of the federation, in line with its strengths.
The reorganisation of the petroleum sector’s administrative functions. Firstly, the petroleum products pricing regulatory authority (PPPRA) and petroleum equalization fund (PEF) will be merged with the current Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) downstream oversight to form a midstream and downstream authority; and, secondly, the DPR and Petroleum Inspectorate will be merged to form a national upstream regulatory commission.
The NNPC will lift and sell royalty oil and tax oil on behalf of the commission and the federal inland revenue service respectively, for an agreed commercial fee. In the case of profit oil and profit gas payable to the concessionaire, NNPC Limited will remit the proceeds of the sales of the profit oil and profit gas to the federation, excluding its 10% for management fee and 30% for the Frontier Exploration Fund.
Gas utilisation is right at the top of PIB’s ambitions. The PIB, by design, is moving resources via the midstream gas infrastructure fund, to boost gas consumption in the country. On-going IOC divestment of onshore and shallow water assets could accelerate the government’s agenda.
We see the possibility of an end to petrol subsidies as the NNPC is expected to be fully commercialised and profitable, declare dividends to its shareholders and retain 20% of profits to grow its business.
A gold rush for local asset managers, following the formation of host community trusts. Annual fund management inflow from these trusts is estimated to be more than USD100m/year.
New licences issued by the government for oil prospecting/exploration/production/expliotation will be done under a new hydrocarbon tax regime. Old licences are permitted to continue with prior tax regime up until the expiration of the leases.
The national assembly settled on a 3% charge on opex for host community trust funding. The gap between the expectations of the host communities (10%) and the PIB could be problematic.
Sterling Bank has been enmeshed with a multi-billion naira fraud scandal under Abubakar Suleiman leadership.
According to a report filed by THE WITNESS monitored by Brand Spur Nigeria, the fraud is said to have rattled the lender’s financial position and it has landed one of the bank’s staff and a businessman in court.
“The case which is currently before an Ikeja High Court, Lagos, details how an official of the bank, Ifeanyichukwu Shallom Isituah and a businessman, Ighodaro Austin Osaretin allegedly stole the sum of N1,790,558,000. 00 belonging to a customer of the bank”, the report added.
According to a charge sheet seen by the online newspaper, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Adamu Mohammed, told the court that the agency received a petition with reference No: SB/IAG/12/EFCC/011 duly signed by the Head IT and Head Intelligence and Investigation on behalf of Sterling Bank.
Mohammed, who works with the Team C Cybercrime department of the EFCC, while testifying on oath, said that the petitioner alleged that a customer’s bank account was profiled via internet banking and the sum of N1,790,558,0 00.00 was transferred to various individuals and companies.
While led in evidence by the prosecutor, N. M. Anana, the witness testified that preliminary investigation by the bank revealed that the second defendant’s profile, Isituah, a female, was used to initiate the account on internet banking and more than 24 accounts got the same amount of money.
“Investigation letters were sent to FCMB, Zenith, First Bank, Fidelity Bank and Access Bank. Responses were received from the banks and the statement of accounts were analysed. The analysis revealed that most of the company’s accounts the money was transferred to were BDC (Bureau de Change).
“Some of them reside in Abuja, Kaduna and there was one address that we suspected to live in Lagos, Ndifreke Roberts. But all efforts to trace the address of Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja suspects did not yield any information to help the commission get them.
“On March 10, 2020, the DSS handed over the two defendants to the commission under the instruction of the AGF (attorney-general of the Federation) for further investigation. The two defendants’ statements were voluntarily taken under caution.
“The first defendant revealed that he has a company called Universal Agriculture Empowerment Initiative as an NGO which received the sum of N60 million as part of the transfer from that Sterling Bank customer’s account. He further stated that the money was received from one Osaretin (second defendant) and transferred to his account as a donation.
“That he introduced one of his friends who is the owner of Villavon International School who also received N100m from the said fraud.
“He further stated that he called a BDC in the name of Damo who owns Damoo Ten Ventures. Damo was invited to the commission and he volunteered a statement that the first defendant contacted him and he transferred N60 million to various accounts and further instructed the owner of the International School to transfer N95 million.
“The dollar equivalent was received in cash by the first defendant. The first defendant further stated that the money was used at IDP camps around the country. I cannot remember the specific location but he mentioned a place in Borno and Adamawa, the witness said.
However, during cross-examination by the defence lawyer, A. Okenile, the EFCC operative said that Sterling Bank gave the commission the information that the second defendant profiled the account for the alleged fraud.
When asked what links the second defendant to the alleged fraud, Mohammed said, “The offence was committed at Sterling Bank and it was reported. The offence took place during a public holiday and the bank realized it on December 28. The accounts of the customer we are talking about has never been profiled for internet banking. So we had to understand how it was transferred, which was through internet banking.
“The bank said the account doesn’t have internet banking access and it was a staff that did it and the second defendant’s profile was used to connect the account to internet banking. Without that profiling, money cannot be transferred from that account.
“Even when the bank tried to contact her, she ran away. She was nowhere to be found. Not until the Department of State Services (DSS) traced, arrested her and handed her over to the commission”.
The matter was further adjourned till October 19 for the continuation of trial.
Credit rating agency, Agusto & Co has said the Nigerian pension industry’s net assets will hit the N20 trillion mark by 2023, recording an average growth rate of 18 per cent.
The rating firm which disclosed this in its latest report added that it equally expects an improvement in the performance of the industry as operators compete for a higher return on investments, improved customer service, and use of technology for operational efficiency.
The Nigerian Pension Industry has evolved from one with predominantly public sector participants running a defined benefit scheme to a mandatory defined contribution system for all government and private sector employees. The 2004 pension reform redefined retirement planning in Nigeria and drove significant growth in the number of enrolees and the size of managed assets in the Industry.
As at 31 December 2020, the Nigerian Pension Industry’s assets under management (AuM) stood at ₦12.3 trillion (or $32.3 billion. This represented a 20.6% growth over the ₦10.2 trillion reported at the end of 2019 and an 18.3% compound annual growth rate over the last five years. According to Agusto & Co.’s newly released 2021 Pension Industry report, the growth in the Industry’s managed assets has been largely driven by investment returns and additional contributions, to a lesser extent.
In particular, over the last five years, the Industry’s annual contributions have averaged ₦699 billion while withdrawals have averaged about ₦341 billion, translating to a net annual contribution of ₦347 billion and accounting for 26.6% of the Industry’s AuM growth over the period. The remaining 73.4% of average growth was attributable to investment returns earned on the portfolios.
The pension transfer window opened on 16 November 2020 to allow pension retirement saving account (RSA) holders switch Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) once a year at most and at no cost. As at the end of the second quarter of 2021 (less than nine months after the transfer window was opened), over 25,600 RSA holders with pension assets over ₦102.5 billion were reported to have changed PFAs.
We expect that in the subsequent quarters of 2021, the number of transfers will rise further as more enrolees become aware of the transfer process. In addition, we expect competition to intensify in the pension Industry as PFAs seek to attract new enrollees while retaining existing ones. Nonetheless, we expect the Industry’s structure to remain relatively unchanged in the short-to-medium term with the top five players leading on the back of good market presence and strong brand recognition.
Going forward, Agusto & Co. envisages continuous growth in pension assets supported by increased participation on the back of the country’s favourable demography of young adults and rising yields in money market instruments. In addition, we expect an improvement in the performance of the Industry as operators compete for higher return on investments, improved customer service and use of technology for operational efficiency.
Therefore, Agusto & Co. projects that the Industry’s net assets will hit the ₦20 trillion mark by 2023, recording an average growth rate of 18% (in line with the five year average growth rate of 18%) in the next three years leading to 2023.
A suspected fraudster has stated that Access Bank has one of the worst banking security in Nigeria.
Zachary Yahaya popularly known as ‘His Excellency’ was paraded before the press on Monday were he admitted to his numerous crimes.
When being interrogated by FORCE PRO, Frank Mba, Yahaya revealed that it was very easy to reset the details of Access bank customers.
Responding to the PRO’s question on banks in Nigeria with the worst security, Yahaya identified Access Bank as one of his ‘favorites’ because it was very easy to maneuver.
Brand Spur Nigeriagathered that Yahaya operates majorly in Plateau, Kano and Abuja. He disclosed that the largest he ever stole from an account is N800,000.
Meanwhile, recall another fraudster identified as Salau Abdulmalik Femi has been arrested by detectives from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for allegedly hacking into the server of a Nigerian bank to steal N1.87 billion.
The suspect, police said, is the kingpin of a syndicate that specializes in hacking into the servers of banks and corporate agencies.
He was arrested after he hacked the Flex-Cube Universal Banking System (FCUBS) of a first-generation bank.
SFU spokesman in Ikoyi, Lagos State, DSP Eyitayo Johnson, in a statement, said the suspect created fictitious credits totaling N1.87bn on the accounts of three of the bank’s customers.
DSP Johnson said the suspect successfully consummated debits (outflows) amounting to N417.5m through internet banking transfers to other banks.
He said the unit while acting swiftly on a petition from the bank; contacted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the deposit money banks which customers were beneficiaries of the fraudulent funds and that in the process was able to salvage a substantial amount.
“Items recovered from the suspect include an Apple laptop and an iPhone, and he and operators of some Bureau De Change (BDC) used to launder the monies will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded,” Johnson said.
“Consequently, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Unit, CP. Anderson A. Bankole has scheduled a meeting with Chief Compliance Officers/and Head of Technology/Information Security Department of Banks with a view to brainstorm on the loophole exploited by this suspect and how to counter similar hacks; for the benefit of both the Police and the Banking Sector of our economy.”
A Nigerian man identified as Salau Abdulmalik Femi has been arrested by detectives from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for allegedly hacking into the server of a Nigerian bank to steal N1.87 billion.
The suspect, police said, is the kingpin of a syndicate that specializes in hacking into the servers of banks and corporate agencies.
He was arrested after he hacked the Flex-Cube Universal Banking System (FCUBS) of a first-generation bank.
SFU spokesman in Ikoyi, Lagos State, DSP Eyitayo Johnson, in a statement, said the suspect created fictitious credits totaling N1.87bn on the accounts of three of the bank’s customers.
DSP Johnson said the suspect successfully consummated debits (outflows) amounting to N417.5m through internet banking transfers to other banks.
He said the unit while acting swiftly on a petition from the bank; contacted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the deposit money banks which customers were beneficiaries of the fraudulent funds and that in the process was able to salvage a substantial amount.
“Items recovered from the suspect include an Apple laptop and an iPhone, and he and operators of some Bureau De Change (BDC) used to launder the monies will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded,” Johnson said.
“Consequently, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Unit, CP. Anderson A. Bankole has scheduled a meeting with Chief Compliance Officers/and Head of Technology/Information Security Department of Banks with a view to brainstorm on the loophole exploited by this suspect and how to counter similar hacks; for the benefit of both the Police and the Banking Sector of our economy.”
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