Unity Bank sacks 215 workers

Unity Bank Plc has sacked 215 members of staff. The bank has over 2,000 workforce.
The exercise, it was leant, was to enable the lender realign its operation and pursue a long term growth strategy.
Some of the downsized staff members were said to have opted to resign while management approved severance package for them in line with the bank’s policy.
The lender last May, forged a strategic alliance with Black Trituium, equity and investment fund manager.
Investigation revealed that the affected members of staff were those that achieved less than 40 per cent of their performance target, which affected the lender’s overall profitability in recent years.

‘Forex scarcity stifling insurance operations’

Even as insurance practitioners are complaining about the prevailing apathy by the public towards its services, operators have lamented the negative effects of the foreign exchange crisis confronting the nation on their businesses.
The operators under the aegis of the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), and the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), noted that the devaluation of the Naira has wiped off the value of their capital base and insurance stock price.
Currently, the official exchange of the Naira per dollar is N305.00 while that of the parallel market (black market) hovers between N400 and N420 per dollar.
The Chairman of NIA, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, and the Deputy President of the CIIN, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, spoke at different fora on the plight of the insurance sector in the face of the protracted foreign exchange crisis.
Speaking on the challenges of the sector at a recent Insurance Professionals Forum, held in

Nigeria records $2bn revenue deficit monthly due to falling oil revenue – NECA

Larry Ettah

The Nigerian Employers Consultative Association of Nigeria (NECA) has disclosed that falling oil price has resulted in a loss of about $2billion in federal government’s revenue. This is even as the nation’s economy continues to struggles under recession.
NECA president, Mr Larry Ettah, said the government required about $3billion monthly to function, but its receivable was about $1 billion per month, reflecting a drop of $2 billion.
Consequently, the NECA boss called on the government to direct more effort to address the economic challenges, saying that government should look beyond oil because the price of crude would remain low.
According to him, gone were the days the price of oil was $100 dollar per barrel in the international market.
“The oil price will not go up to $100 per barrel as we used to enjoy. Gone are the days when we used to buy it for $80, $90 or $100 per barrel. We have to be living in a restructured environment in which case we have to be looking into how to diversify the economy. And I think this is a painful opportunity for us which we have to take,” he stated.
He pointed out that for the country to exit the recession, the government should work on the

AfDB harps on agric processing to end $35bn yearly import

Akinwumi Adesina

Beside low food production that hallmarked the continent’s agrarian economy, post-harvest losses have become the major challenge besetting the quest for food security.
But the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has reiterated the importance of policy regulations to end the losses in the continent that spends $35 billion on food imports each year.
“Massive quantities of food crops, fresh fruits and vegetables and dairy products go to waste in rural areas, while Africa depends on food imports,” President Adesina said.
Adesina underlined the importance of policies to support the establishment of private sector-driven food processing and manufacturing companies in rural areas to deal with the immense food waste, enough to feed at least 300 million people a year.
“That is more than the 250 million people that go hungry each year in Africa,” he told a session on the “Role of Policy in Enabling Public-Private Partnerships to Achieve African Agricultural Transformation,” he said.
He noted that, despite accounting for some 32% of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product, the

MSMEs fund hits N220 billion – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend in Enugu disclosed that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) fund has hit N220 billion.
The bank which announced this at a three-day sensitisation fair it embarked upon to create awareness, said the apex bank was also in Enugu to explain its activities to the people, as well as acquaint them with the opportunities available in the bank.
The CBN’s acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, who stated this also, said that 60 per cent of the MSMEs fund was designed for women and enterprises owned by them.
According to him, some states in the federation have already accessed the fund to the tune of N1 billion and N2 billion which they have also retailed to the registered cooperative members in their states.
“Some states elected to pay the interest which is not more than nine per cent on behalf of the

Nigeria’s ethanol production to hit 75m litres by 2020

Allied Atlantic Distilleries Limited, the only ethanol manufacturing company in Nigeria, says the company will improve ethanol production in Nigeria from nine million to 75 million litres annually by 2020.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Rajavelu Rajasekar, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Rajasekar, who explained that Nigeria was currently importing about 260 million litres of ethanol, said the plan for the improvement in local production was to enable Nigeria save its foreign exchange.
He said the company, situated in Ogun State, began operation in 2014 and was currently producing nine million litres of ethanol from fresh cassava sourced locally from farmers.
The director told NAN that the company also had the plan of setting up ethanol companies in

Siemens supports local content with service centre workshop

Determined to reduce the cost of operation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector without compromising quality, Siemens Nigeria has invested over €3 million in the facility Service Workshop in Port Harcourt.
Regarded as the first facility of its kind for Siemens in West, East and Central Africa, the workshop, according the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Onyeche Tifase, will reduce capital flight in the country and will also facilitate the implementation of Nigeria’s Content policy.
Speaking at the commissioning of the facility, Tifase said the workshop is equipped to repair and overhaul highly sophisticated equipment that would previously have been sent overseas.
She said that this will ensure that the company remained even closer to its customers and can provide greater responsiveness, reduce turnaround time and optimise costs for undertaking maintenance programs.

Nigeria’s biggest airline, Arik Air, resumes operations

Nigeria’s biggest airline, Arik Air, will resume normal flights Wednesday morning, 24 hours after it suspended operations over problems with insurance.
In a statement on its website, Arik Air said it will resume flights at 11 am on Wednesday, having resolved its insurance issues.
The company also said that it is in the process of changing its ‘airline Liability Insurance providers’.
“Arik Air, West and Central Africa’s largest airline, is pleased to announce that scheduled flights will resume from 11 am tomorrow, Wednesday, September 14, 2016.
“Members of the public and our customers are advised to discountenance the disparaging