Curator

http://ift.tt/2s80OWM By Obadiah Mailafia I AM writing this piece from the quiet ambience of Brussels whilst on the conference circuit. I arrived last week almost the same day  as did President Donald J. Trump who detoured to Europe from the Middle East in a diplomatic offensive to mend fences with his NATO and EU allies. Trump seems to be rewriting the classic rulebook of diplomacy and statecraft as some of us have known it since we learned to read the first treatise on government. I lived in Brussels for five years; a city I have come to love for its quiet sophistication and laid-back, old-world charm. Belgium is a relatively small European country of 10 million people. But it has a GDP of US$454 billion, about the same as Nigeria’s, with a population of almost 200 million people. Belgium has a per capita GDP of 40,000 compared to our miserable US$2,600. Most things work in Brussels – power, public utilities, transportation, trains and what have you. You can enjoy an eve...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J THE recent rally seen in the  equities market may be sustained this week as the market is set to benefit from some positive developments in the macro-economic environment, even as investors are expected to ride on the back of the recent rally to take profits. Some of the positive development expected to impact the market, according to market watchers, include the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, last week, further slowdown in GDP contraction to 0.52 per cent in the first quarter with reality of exiting recession in the current quarter and the passage of the budget penultimate week by the National Assembly, NASS. “Owing to the recent positive developments witnessed in the economy, we expect the bullish sentiment to be sustained in the week ahead,” said analysts at Afrinvest. They, however, opined that the possibility of investors taking profit in the early trading days of the week may not be ruled out as market is currently around the overbought ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Adaeze Okechukwu H OW to place  a fixed deposit Even if the process of placing a fixed deposit varies slightly from one bank to another, opening a fixed deposit account is still very simple. First, determine how much you want to place in your   deposit plan. If you do not have a regular savings account in the bank,   y ou will have to fill-in a deposit mandate form. In some banks, you would also need to fill-in reference forms so you can deposit cheques issued by third parties. The bank will require;  passport photograph, proof of identification, a copy recent receipt from any public utilities and a copy of a residence or work permit for foreign account holders is required. If you have existing account(s) in the bank, you need to just fill-in a form stating the following: account name, account number, deposit amount, duration of deposit. Advantages The most important advantage of investing in Fixed Deposit is that, it offers guarante...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Stories by Favour Nnabugwu, Reporting from Kampala THE 44th session African Insurance Organization (AIO) in Kampala, Uganda just ended recorded participation of about 200 insurance chief executive officers from Nigeria and 650 other participants from around the world. The session was opened by the Vice-President of Uganda, Mr. Edward  Ssekandi, who represented the President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The 200 Nigerian insurance industry delegates were drawn from the underwriting arms,  insurance brokers, loss adjusters with past and serving CEOs in attendance led by the Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari and the ex-Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel. The AIO Secretary-General, Nigeria’s Prisca Gbemisola Soares, had said at the 43rd general assembly and conference in Marrakech,  Morocco, last year, “The Africa Insurance Barometer offers a succinct summary of the key regional insurance market data and highlights the relevant trend...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Nkiruka Nnorom AYISIRE Consulting Limited, an indigenous technology service provider, has launched a multi-bank Customer Address Verification, CAV, solution to help CAV vendors automate, simplify and reduce cost associated with customer address verification process. The software, the first of its kind in Nigeria, is designed to track field agents’ turnaround time, perform quality control checks and monitor the login attributes of the field agents, all targeted at improving the capacity of the vendor to deliver quality service to its customers at reduced cost. Speaking at the media launch in Lagos, Mr. Wilfred Ayisere, Managing Director, Ayisere Consulting, said the creation of the software became necessary to help banks fulfil their Know Your Customer, KYC, protocol as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. He said that having deployed and successfully utilised the software for the past three years, the company has decided to commercialise it due to ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Dele Sobowale “One, the lingering doubts about his health, while the other was a very pervasive allegation that he had a manipulative wife who had too much influence on him.” Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Segun Adeniyi’s book, AGAINST THE RUN OF PLAY, pp 133-134. Last month, in my column advising former President Jonathan and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, not to write any rejoinder to the statements credited to them, the confession was made that the book had not been fully read. I also vowed to obtain a copy – “beg, borrow or steal” – and to read the entire book. I did not have to beg, borrow or steal. Segun Adeniyi came to the rescue by sending me a free copy. This is my open appreciation for the generosity – even if undeserved. It took me exactly two days to finish it and there was red ink on virtually every page – right from the Acknowledgements. I start reading every book with a red biro in my hand for underlining and question marks. Any book is discard...

http://ift.tt/2r7NCRW By Henry Umoru ACTING President Yemi Osinbajo has vowed that the Federal Government will end violence against children just as he said children would be protected. Against this backdrop, the Federal Government, yesterday, launched the ‘End Violence Against Children’ campaign at the Eagle Square Abuja, venue of this year’s Children’s Day celebration. Osinbajo explained that the campaign was launched to signal a nation where all children were  free from all forms of violence. Represented by the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, the acting President said the objective of the plan to end violence against children was to adopt policies and laws that prevent and respond to violence and to enhance and scale up efforts towards attaining the objectives. In his remarks at the event, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, promised that the    FCT Administration was going to ensure that whoever perpetrates vio...