Pan-African bank, Ecobank has declared N52.6 billion loss for 2016 and a shares lost of 5 percent to N7.79, the lowest since 2009. The bank posted N21.3 billion profit in 2015.
Ecobank’s huge loss during the 2016 financial year was caused by its impairment provision which hiked by 110 percent to N 221.7 billion against N105.2 billion in 2015.
The bank’s Managing Director, Ade Ayeyemi, and Chief Financial Officer, Greg Davis, explained: “bottom line performance has been impacted by our voluntary adoption of a full impairment charge regarding our legacy loan portfolio, for which a resolution vehicle was set up, the first private sector funded resolution vehicle of its kind in Nigeria.”
Ecobank proposes to use half of a proposed $400 million convertible bond to pay back funding needed for resolution vehicle.
“We are delighted to have very high subscription levels to the issue from existing shareholders, in the region of $300m,” Ayeyemi and Davis said.
Nedbank Africa owns 20 percent stake in Ecobank, while Qatar National Bank holds 17 percent.
According to Bloomberg report, Nedbank is planning to decrease the carrying value of its investment in Ecobank from N92.24 billion in December 2016 to approximately N66.85 in March 2017
Nedbank is currently not part of the group of existing shareholders who have indicated appetite for the $300m of this funding as the commercial terms of this convertible bond do not meet Nedbank’s required internal rate of return. [myad]
President Buhari has approved the appointment of Ambassador Arab Yadam and Dr. Habibat Lawal as acting Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation S(GF) respectively.
The appointments were made to fill the vacuum created by the suspension of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, and the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke,
Ambassadro Arab Yadam, from Plateau State) is said to be the senior Deputy Director General among Oke’s two deputies while Dr. Habibat Lawal, from Bauchi State, is the most senior Permanent Secretary in the Office of the SGF. [myad]
I guess it’s about time I break my silence on this matter. From 1967 to 1970 my youth was scandalized with the horrors of the Nigerian civil war. I was never on the front line as a fighting soldier, but I was in the boys’ brigade transmitting from the naval headquarters then in Oguta. With the daily air raids and the smell of death all around us, we were thankful every day we managed to stay alive. I remember a sight that has never left me till today at the tail end of the civil war. I was walking down the street on my way to the stream to fetch water, lo and behold was the sound of death (air raids). As we all ran in different directions looking for a safe place to take cover, I turned around to figure the direction my friends were running in, all of a sudden I saw the head of one of them yanked off the body, as a result of the fighter jets that killed innocent civilians for fun. What a horrible sight for a 17yr old. The words of plato “only the dead see the end of war” were forever engrained in my thoughts.
I am a proud Igbo man, a homeboy, and a native fowl. No demo. My friends call me Igbotic not because I’m a nerd, or a jewman. But because I represent and symbolize all the characteristics of a typical Igbo man pre-civil war. The Igbos may have short-circuited their political growth, but it doesn’t take away the fact that we are great Nigerians. I have learnt to be more Igbotic than I ever expected. As an Igbo man, I have learnt to be more profitable in the things that I do. I have perfected the art of being tenacious in any dream I chase; to be industrious, consistent and powerfully focused. All the lessons I learnt from my brothers in the tribe have made me dogged, hard-working and exhibiting the ability and capacity to survive in any kind of weather. I am an original Nwa Biafra.
Needless to say, the Igbo man is known to be one of the most entrepreneurial minds in the country. So it is particularly pathetic and unfortunate when some ignorant youths talk about this illusion called Biafra. History should teach us that Nationhood is Bloody, Hard and almost impossible when fantasy is the currency of demand. Even as Nigerians, see how our docility is killing our humanity. Didn’t the fall of Biafra after the genocide and the suffering of my people teach us anything? Haven’t we been marginalized enough? I believe the failure of the Igbo nation is the fault of the elites and decision makers. Why have we not poured our energy, capacity, and ability into making the South East the Dubai of the nation as well as the engine room of the Nigerian economy? Who would be our leaders when the South East is infested with political power grabbers, 419ers, mindless criminals and looters of our commonwealth and resources? Need I mention names?
See how we have migrated to different parts of Nigeria and the world, made it home and developed our immediate environment – which is good, anyway. But why are we neglecting our home base, why are we running away from developing the South East?
Our problem may not, after all, be the man in Aso Rock from Daura or the ordinary Hausa or Yoruba man on the Streets of Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Warri or Ogbomosho. The problem is the lack of men of integrity and a progressive mindset. We lack the right kind of leadership that will fight for the interest of the people. Let it be clear to all that the suffering of the people from the South East is also the suffering of the people from the other geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It is therefore retrospectively insane to begin to think that a people with a problem would suddenly be relieved when they are attached with a tag #BIAFRA; What nonsense and insanity!
Now, how do you begin to imagine that while the agitation for the state of Biafra is being demanded by the gullible Ibo youths, those who have been or are in a position of authority are either not interested or are continuing their expansive investments in other parts of Nigeria? Who dem dey deceive? They divide us daily with Religion, Tribalism, Ethnicity and Petty Bigotry; even among the tribes and ethnic composition in the South East, there is divisiveness.
Why is Namdi Kanu yet to realize that the dreams of nationhood are lost on the altar of deception?
Have we even considered that the population of my people from the South East outside the Region is twice the population of those in the South East? How can we who are supposed to be looking at making the South East the centralised Industrial Hub of the Nigerian nation be the ones who are driving a wedge of unrealistic fantasy between Nigeria and our own people? When President Muhammadu Buhari sings the localization and Nigerianization song; we should be the ones to drive the narrative, because we can. When you have a willing partner, who is interested in the Nigerianization of the Nigerian economy, why are some of my people busy creating or poisoning the environment that are ordinarily designed to favor that which will promote the industrialization of the South East? Why have we become the enemy of our own home? Why hasn’t the “think home mentality” arrested every Igbo billionaire and millionaire? Why are we eliminating the chances of Ibonising the Nigerian Economy by Nationalizing the Ibo Thought for a United and Prosperous Nigeria as well as for the benefits of all?
I cannot STAND here and tell you there are no problems of trust in Nigeria. I will be the last to say that the Ibo nation has not undergone persecution. I will be foolish to ignore the hunger that was used as a tool to starve the Ibo nation during the civil war. I am perfectly in the know about the problems of the Nigerian structure. Abeg make we know our history but use am to work today to perfect tomorrow.
No one can argue the facts, and the facts are clear. The major problem of the Ibo nation is also the major issue with the Nigeria State. ‘The Mindset’. The mind must first be liberated, the thoughts must be harmonized and the people of the South East, my dear brothers and sisters, must know that the development of the region is horrible because the leaders in the region have failed. Politically, Religiously, Societally and Communally. Over the past decades, where is the Accountability from the leadership with regards;
FAAC;
IGR;
LOCAL BONDS;
FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTAL LOANS;
AIDS; GRANTS & BUDGETARY SUPPORT;
THE MANY FEDERAL PROJECTS IN THE REGION, etc.
The Failure of Leadership is evident in our agitation for Fairness, Justice, and Equality for every Nigerian not just for every Ibo man. And so the Mind of the typical Ibo Leader Needs a Revolution to be realigned for the Interest of the People rather than the interest of their pockets. Biafra is not the Solution, I truly don’t think so. So, Igbo ndi Oma, Let’s focus on our homeland and begin to demand accountability and responsibility from many of our Scammers, Riffraffs and Fraudsters in the Ibo Kingdom called leaders. Let’s us pause on the fantasy tagged Biafra for now. Let us dutifully work ourselves back into reckoning by industrializing our home base.
I know we can, and we should. I also urge Mr President to show mercy on our brother Nnamdi Kanu; Him be Pikin.
Biafra, my Igboticness is always on my mind because #OURMUMUDONDO. [myad]
The Commissioner of Police in Kogi, Wilson Inalegwu, has confirmed the arrest of Alhaji Taofiq Isah, Administrator of Ijumu Local Government, over alleged assassination attempt on Senator Dino Melaye.
Speaking to news men in Lokoja today, Wednesday, Inalegwu said that aside the council boss, some unspecified number of persons have also been interrogated in connection with the assassinated atemp.
He gave assurance that the case is being prosecuted with due diligence, adding: “when you are suspected, you will be interrogated. We are treating this matter as a very serious one. We shall be thorough and professional. We shall fear no one,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Isah was arrested at the gate of the state Ministry of Education by security agents, who intercepted the council chairman’s vehicle.
The security officials had quietly flashed their identity cards and asked Isah to alight and board their waiting vehicle, a directive Isah complied with, after hesitating for some minutes.
It would be recalled that Senator Melaye’s country residence in Kogi state was reportedly attacked in the early hours of Saturday, April 15. [myad]
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N449,750,000 found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an abandoned Bureau de Change shop in Victoria Island.
Justice Rilawan Aikawa, today, Wednesday said the anti-graft agency should temporarily take custody of the money following an ex parte application brought before him by the EFCC.
An investigator with the EFCC, Moses Awolusi, said in the affidavit filed before the judge that the shop, number LS64, located at Legico Shopping Plaza, at Victoria island, Lagos had not been opened for two years.
According to him, the money was found on April 7, 2017 in several “Ghana Must Go” sacks, adding that the EFCC recovered the money after investigating intelligence information received on one Mohammed Tauheed.
Awolusi said Tauheed had earlier been brought to the EFCC office by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Legico shopping Plaza, Mr. Sulaiman Daba and Alhaji Ishaq Ayandiran, respectively.
The EFCC said it would be in the interest of justice for the court to order the temporary forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.
After studying the application, Justice Aikawa ordered that the N449,750,000 should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
He ordered the EFCC to advertise the order in a national newspaper and gave 14 days for any interested party to appear in court to give reasons why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
It would be recalled that the Lagos state zonal office of the EFCC, had recovered over 449 million naira in an abandoned bureau the change in Lagos State.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Garba Shehu, has announced the plan by the Presidency to give whistle blowing policy that has so far helped to expose looted funds in their hidden places across the country a strategic and national direction.
According to him: “Government thinks that the whistle blower mechanism is too important to be left without a strategic, national direction.”
Garba Shehu, who spoke to news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, Wednesday, made it clear that Nigerians to the whistle blower policy had boosted the tempo of the anti-corruption crusade of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He stressed that government is considering ways of enhancing the structural capacity of the whistle blower mechanism, saying: “the government is considering empowering the mechanism by either bringing it under the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PCAC or some other body to imbue the process with a strategic national purpose.
“In a word, government thinks that the whistle blower mechanism is too important to be left without a strategic, national direction.”
Garba Shehu insisted that no public policy could succeed or go far enough without public support and participation.
“When the citizens realize they were victims of corruption, they may feel encouraged to join the efforts to expose looted funds.”
The Presidential spokesman said that the huge amounts of looted funds being recovered by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the whistle blower efforts “is a revelation about the mindless, callous and reckless scale on which Nigeria had been robbed by unpatriotic and egregiously selfish public officials.
According to him, the election of President Buhari in 2015 was a divine intervention even as he said that stealing by officials under a democratic government at the expense of people’s welfare “is worst betrayal of voters’ mandate.
“Government is getting suggestions to bring the issue of illegal weapons in the hand of citizens that are being used to fuel intra and inter-communal violence under the purview of whistle blower policy.
“Yes, it is true; the presidency has received suggestions that call for the whistle blower policy to be extended to the possession of illegal weapons by powerful individuals in the country. The government will look at all that and make a pronouncement.
“Nigerians would be encouraged to expose the presence of illegal weapons in the homes of powerful politicians and other public figures, who may use those deadly arms for sinister political agenda.
“Those patriotic Nigerians exposing looted funds deserve all the encouragement and protection to sustain their enthusiasm, with a view to encouraging more citizens to participate in this major aspect of the anti corruption crusade.”
Garba Shehu assured that the Buhari’s administration would ensure judicious use of all recovered funds and commended Nigerians for their support. [myad]
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has concluded plans to continue its sale of $20,000 to Bureax de Change (BDCs) tomorrow, Thursday, for onward sale to small-end users.
According to the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the trend monitored by the apex Bank indicated that deposit money banks are now able to meet the forex demands of their customers within the time frame stipulated by the CBN.
Okorafor said that feedback on the Bank’s forex new window for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country revealed that majority of the small importers were heading for a major boost in their activities.
This he said, was responsible for the current appreciation of the Naira, stressing that the Naira will continue to gain strength with the relentless efforts of the CBN to to supply the market with forex.
He said that the apex bank, today, carried out spot, wholesale interventions in the interbank FOREX market by offering a total sum of $100 million to authorized dealers to meet the 7 to 15-day forwards requests of customers.
According to him that the banks and authorized dealers were only able to pick up $68.51 million even as he attributed the inability of the authorized dealers to fully subscribe to the CBN to a surfeit of forex in the system, which may lead to further appreciation of the naira.
The CBN spokesman reiterated the determination of the apex bank to continue to intervene in the various sectors of the interbank forex market in order to guarantee access to all categories of customers requiring forex for legitimate obligations and ultimately ensure stability in the forex market. [myad]
International tennis superstar, Serena Williams, 35, is now pregnant for her 33 year old boyfriend, Alex Ohiana. The two lovers engaged since December 2016.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion made the announced today, Wednesday that she is already 20 weeks pregnant and Snap-chat where she showed off her pregnant belly in a profile pic of herself holding up her phone to a mirror in a one-piece swimsuit captioned: “20 weeks.”
Excited Serena Williams declared: “it feels good,’ she said of the engagement in January.
“I really haven’t thought about it too much because I wasn’t even really gonna think about it until after the tournament.”
Serena Williams has been romantically linked in the past to Grigor Dimitrov, Patrick Mouratoglou, Amar’e Stoudemire, Hosea Chanchez, Jackie Long, Common, Colin Farrell and Drake, among others. [myad]
The Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, staged what looked like a hide-and-seek drama with members of the Presidential press corps at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja today, Wednesday.
The Director General, whose suspension from office, along with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal by President Muhammadu Buhari, was announced earlier in the day, had arrived at the gate of the Aso Villa to answer to a summon by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
As he was alighting from his Toyoto Landcruiser Jeep with registration no KSF 309 DH, the journalists surged forward to capture him with their cameras but, the Director General quickly turned his face towards the car, dodging the cameras. This was even as his security aides were frantically busy cordoning off the stubborn cameramen away from their boss.
Seeing that they could not stop the cameramen and other journalists from having a feast on the Director General, they led him by the shoulder to a corner of the Villa behind an electric poll where he hid himself for a few seconds, even as the journalists pursued him to the place, making him transparently uncomfortable.
The frightened NIA boss ran again into his car and drove towards the inner presidential parking lot, but was turned back by the Presidential security personnel, even as the journalists intensified the pursuit of him
In that confused state of affair, the embattled Director General was hurriedly driven out of the Aso Rock, with cameramen still pursuing his car, taking shots after shots.
Also, the SGF, Babachir David Lawal, who was attending a meeting with Vice President Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, at the time of the announcement of his suspension, emerged from the meeting looking confused.
When the news men asked him whether he was aware of his suspension, he asked: “by who?
When he was told that he was suspended a while ago by the presidency, he asked again: “who is the Presidency?” [myad]
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has directed that the 135-bed Karu General Hospital should be opened for immediate use by the public.
The minister, who inspected the health facility in Karu, a suburb of Abuja today, Wednesday, gave this order to the FCT Health & Human Services Secretariat.
The minister ordered that the hospital should immediately commence General Out Patent Department (GOPD) services, Antenatal services as well as the mortuary be opened to the public, in addition to the Behavioral Medicine Unit that had since been operational in the Hospital.
He said that the Karu General Hospital would take enormous pressure off the Asokoro District Hospital, Nyanya General Hospital as well as Maitama District Hospital.
The Karu General Hospital was initially a 225-bed facility built by the FCT Administration with 40 percent of the hospital leased to the Primus Super Specialty Hospital (an Indian Hospital) for management.
The Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey-Achu and the Medical Director of the Karu General Hospital, Dr. Marcus Mamman led the Minister and his entourage round the entire secondary health facility.
Meanwhile, the Minister paid an unscheduled visit to the Zuba Hospital where he instructed that the Hospital should commence operation by May 1, 2017.
The Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey-Achu who led the Minister round the Zuba Hospital assured that the Secretariat is ready to commence operation on that appointed date.
She reiterated that everything needed to enable the Hospital commence services is already on ground and that they are ready to hit the ground running. [myad]
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This Illusion Called Biafra, By Charly Boy
I guess it’s about time I break my silence on this matter. From 1967 to 1970 my youth was scandalized with the horrors of the Nigerian civil war. I was never on the front line as a fighting soldier, but I was in the boys’ brigade transmitting from the naval headquarters then in Oguta. With the daily air raids and the smell of death all around us, we were thankful every day we managed to stay alive. I remember a sight that has never left me till today at the tail end of the civil war. I was walking down the street on my way to the stream to fetch water, lo and behold was the sound of death (air raids). As we all ran in different directions looking for a safe place to take cover, I turned around to figure the direction my friends were running in, all of a sudden I saw the head of one of them yanked off the body, as a result of the fighter jets that killed innocent civilians for fun. What a horrible sight for a 17yr old. The words of plato “only the dead see the end of war” were forever engrained in my thoughts.
I am a proud Igbo man, a homeboy, and a native fowl. No demo. My friends call me Igbotic not because I’m a nerd, or a jewman. But because I represent and symbolize all the characteristics of a typical Igbo man pre-civil war. The Igbos may have short-circuited their political growth, but it doesn’t take away the fact that we are great Nigerians. I have learnt to be more Igbotic than I ever expected. As an Igbo man, I have learnt to be more profitable in the things that I do. I have perfected the art of being tenacious in any dream I chase; to be industrious, consistent and powerfully focused. All the lessons I learnt from my brothers in the tribe have made me dogged, hard-working and exhibiting the ability and capacity to survive in any kind of weather. I am an original Nwa Biafra.
Needless to say, the Igbo man is known to be one of the most entrepreneurial minds in the country. So it is particularly pathetic and unfortunate when some ignorant youths talk about this illusion called Biafra. History should teach us that Nationhood is Bloody, Hard and almost impossible when fantasy is the currency of demand. Even as Nigerians, see how our docility is killing our humanity. Didn’t the fall of Biafra after the genocide and the suffering of my people teach us anything? Haven’t we been marginalized enough? I believe the failure of the Igbo nation is the fault of the elites and decision makers. Why have we not poured our energy, capacity, and ability into making the South East the Dubai of the nation as well as the engine room of the Nigerian economy? Who would be our leaders when the South East is infested with political power grabbers, 419ers, mindless criminals and looters of our commonwealth and resources? Need I mention names?
See how we have migrated to different parts of Nigeria and the world, made it home and developed our immediate environment – which is good, anyway. But why are we neglecting our home base, why are we running away from developing the South East?
Our problem may not, after all, be the man in Aso Rock from Daura or the ordinary Hausa or Yoruba man on the Streets of Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Warri or Ogbomosho. The problem is the lack of men of integrity and a progressive mindset. We lack the right kind of leadership that will fight for the interest of the people. Let it be clear to all that the suffering of the people from the South East is also the suffering of the people from the other geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It is therefore retrospectively insane to begin to think that a people with a problem would suddenly be relieved when they are attached with a tag #BIAFRA; What nonsense and insanity!
Now, how do you begin to imagine that while the agitation for the state of Biafra is being demanded by the gullible Ibo youths, those who have been or are in a position of authority are either not interested or are continuing their expansive investments in other parts of Nigeria? Who dem dey deceive? They divide us daily with Religion, Tribalism, Ethnicity and Petty Bigotry; even among the tribes and ethnic composition in the South East, there is divisiveness.
Why is Namdi Kanu yet to realize that the dreams of nationhood are lost on the altar of deception?
Have we even considered that the population of my people from the South East outside the Region is twice the population of those in the South East? How can we who are supposed to be looking at making the South East the centralised Industrial Hub of the Nigerian nation be the ones who are driving a wedge of unrealistic fantasy between Nigeria and our own people? When President Muhammadu Buhari sings the localization and Nigerianization song; we should be the ones to drive the narrative, because we can. When you have a willing partner, who is interested in the Nigerianization of the Nigerian economy, why are some of my people busy creating or poisoning the environment that are ordinarily designed to favor that which will promote the industrialization of the South East? Why have we become the enemy of our own home? Why hasn’t the “think home mentality” arrested every Igbo billionaire and millionaire? Why are we eliminating the chances of Ibonising the Nigerian Economy by Nationalizing the Ibo Thought for a United and Prosperous Nigeria as well as for the benefits of all?
I cannot STAND here and tell you there are no problems of trust in Nigeria. I will be the last to say that the Ibo nation has not undergone persecution. I will be foolish to ignore the hunger that was used as a tool to starve the Ibo nation during the civil war. I am perfectly in the know about the problems of the Nigerian structure. Abeg make we know our history but use am to work today to perfect tomorrow.
No one can argue the facts, and the facts are clear. The major problem of the Ibo nation is also the major issue with the Nigeria State. ‘The Mindset’. The mind must first be liberated, the thoughts must be harmonized and the people of the South East, my dear brothers and sisters, must know that the development of the region is horrible because the leaders in the region have failed. Politically, Religiously, Societally and Communally. Over the past decades, where is the Accountability from the leadership with regards;
The Failure of Leadership is evident in our agitation for Fairness, Justice, and Equality for every Nigerian not just for every Ibo man. And so the Mind of the typical Ibo Leader Needs a Revolution to be realigned for the Interest of the People rather than the interest of their pockets. Biafra is not the Solution, I truly don’t think so. So, Igbo ndi Oma, Let’s focus on our homeland and begin to demand accountability and responsibility from many of our Scammers, Riffraffs and Fraudsters in the Ibo Kingdom called leaders. Let’s us pause on the fantasy tagged Biafra for now. Let us dutifully work ourselves back into reckoning by industrializing our home base.
I know we can, and we should. I also urge Mr President to show mercy on our brother Nnamdi Kanu; Him be Pikin.
Biafra, my Igboticness is always on my mind because #OURMUMUDONDO. [myad]