Lagos floats fresh initiative to tackle youth unemployment

The Lagos State government has commenced the empowerment of 500 youths under its Ready Set Work (RSW) scheme as part of its efforts at curbing youth unemployment in the state.
The scheme is executed in collaboration with the First City Monument Bank plc, (FCMB) among others stakeholders in job creation initiatives.
RSW is an entrepreneurship and employability initiatives of the Lagos state Ministry of Eduaction that is focused on final year students in high institutions.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of RSW students in Lagos recently, the Special adviser for Education in Lagos state, Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said the objective of RSW is to equip student with the critical skills and the know-how necessary to either become employable or employers of labour.
He added: “The need for this programme was underlined by the apparent gap between the

BOI earmarks N10bn for Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programme

The Bank of Industry, said on Tuesday it had set aside N10bn this year for the Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Programme of the Federal Government.
Malam Aliyu Umaru, North East Regional Head of the bank, made the disclosure in Maiduguri at the opening of a five-day capacity building workshop for participants under the programme.
Umaru said the bank would engage 25,000 youths quarterly for the programme nationwide.
“We had about 71,788 applications based on the two online registration batches that we did.
“Based on this, we are envisaging that we will be getting 25, 000 participants every quarter and that makes it about 100,000 participants in a year,” he said.
He said the participants were selected based on their business proposals and how workable their plans are.

Nokia returns to Nigeria, opens office in Lagos

Nokia, the Swedish telecoms, which hitherto left the country some months ago has returned and opened its office in Lagos for business.
In a statement issued on its re-opening of business office in the country, the company restated its constructive and collaborative engagement with the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Nokia disclosed that its business operations and support to its customers in the country were not negatively affected by the brief office closure.
“Nokia has operated in Nigeria for over a decade, and as in all other markets where we have a

MAN back Adeosun’s call for interest rate cut

Frank Jacobs

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to lower interest rate so that the government can borrow domestically to boost the economy without increasing debt servicing costs.
While reacting to the minister’s call, the President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank Jacobs, said that a cut in interest rate would be the best thing to happen to the economy.
“He said, “It will be the best thing that has ever happened to the economy, particularly the manufacturing sector.
“It is what we have been agitating for since and if the interest rate is brought down, it will be the best decision in the current economic dispensation.”
The government is also planning an “immediate large injection of funds” through asset sales, advance payments for licence renewals and infrastructure concessions, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, said.

Sell national assets to stimulate economy – Abuja Chamber tells FG

Tony Ejinkeonye

Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ACCI, yesterday expressed support for the call on the Federal Government to sell some national assets and use the proceed to get the country out of its current recession.
The Chamber’s President, Mr Tony Ejinkeonye, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Ejinkeonye said Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote’s recent advice to the Federal Government to sell some national assets, instead of borrowing to get the country out of the recession, was apt.
He said the advice was a veritable option which would be able to stimulate the economy. The chamber’s boss said for countries that had experienced economic recession, some fiscal measures were taken to drag them out during the period.
“The fiscal tools can be in form of tax cut for low income earners, business incentives, federal spending cuts, provision of market exchanges or support for faster movement of goods.
“Increase in trade, selling-off of national assets, increasing government spending to absorb

Swiss traders blame governments for dirty fuel in Africa

Swiss commodity traders accused of deliberately blending toxic fuel and dumping it in West Africa say African governments are to blame for failing to invest in refineries and newer vehicles to lower exhaust emissions that cause respiratory and other diseases.
“What is very clear is that the role of improving fuel quality in Africa clearly rests with African governments, not with the fuel suppliers,” the Geneva-based African Refiners Association representing many traders said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.
It was responding to allegations from Swiss watchdog Public Eye accusing traders of deliberately adding toxic products that lower fuel quality to increase profits at the expense of Africans’ health.
Public Eye said traders including Vitol and Trafigura provide Europe with fuel meeting European Union standards of 10 parts per million of sulfur while creating what’s called “African Quality” fuel that has 2,000 ppm or more of sulfur. Nigeria, for example, allows up to 3,000 ppm of sulfur in petrol.
Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources called the Public Eye report “grossly exaggerated.”

Empowerment: BoI trains 2,500 young entrepreneurs

A nationwide capacity building for 2,500 successful applicants under the Bank of Industry (BoI) N10 billion Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme has taken off, the bank said on Monday in Lagos.
YES is a federal government initiative aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the country through capacity building and funding of their business ideas.
Mr Waheed Olagunju, the Acting Managing Director of BoI, said at the flag-off of the programme at the Pan Atlantic University, Enterprise Development Centre, Lagos, that it would help to boost industrialisation and job creation in the country.
He said: “We are trying to derisk the applicants and that is why we are linking them with 12 of the best enterprise business development providers in the country to train them and help them develop bankable business proposals.
“If they succeed, the sustainability of the programme will have multiplier effects on the economy

Aviation expert advises domestic airlines to form alliances

Mr Gbenga Olowo, the President, Aviation Round Table (ART) has advised domestic airlines to form alliances to enable them surmount their current challenges.
Olowo gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.
He noted that most of the airlines were faced with multiple taxation, scarcity of aviation fuel, and difficulty in sourcing foreign exchange for their operations.
According to him, the problem is compounded by unhealthy competition among the airlines which makes them unable to earn enough revenue to cover cost.
“The competition in the place is suicidal. There are about seven or eight airlines doing Lagos-Abuja and Lagos-Port Harcourt routes.
“So, most of the time, they fly their aeroplanes half-filled or empty. Thus they are not earning enough because of the unhealthy competition.
“We don’t need more than two or three airlines in this economy. If you have two or three, that is