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Restore Licences Of 47 Microfinance Banks Nationwide — Reps Urge CBN

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The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to reinstate the functioning licenses of 47 microfinance institutions nationwide.

The call was made in response to the plenary’s acceptance of James Barka’s resolution, “Call to Investigate the Closure of Some Microfinance Banks Across the Nation.”

When introducing the motion, Barka, who represents Adamawa State’s Hong Federal Constituency, mentioned that the CBN had cancelled the operating licences of 47 microfinance institutions nationwide on May 22, 2023, including Biyama Microfinance Bank Ltd. in Adamawa State’s Hong Local Government Area.

He said: “The reasons cited in the communication include that the banks were either inactive, insolvent, failed to render returns, closed shop, or ceased to carry on the type of banking business for which they were licensed for more than six months in contravention of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020.

“The closure of Biyama Microfinance Bank, which is the only community bank in the Hong Local Government Area, has caused undue hardship to the people who depended on the banking and financial services offered by the bank for their small and medium enterprises.

“Closing down the only financial institution in a place where the people go through so much hardship to earn stipends to deposit, or to get small loans to run small businesses for survival would only frustrate them further and may push them into crime in order to survive.

“Hong is one of the Local Government Areas that was ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents, which left thousands of people without any means of livelihood, thus a deliberate bias of economic stimulating activities in favour of such communities would go a long way in helping to resuscitate their local economy”.

Barka said after the recapitalisation of the Biyama Microfinance Bank to the required N50 million share capital, the bank had been in operation, making all required reports and returns.

“The board of the bank and other stakeholders have reviewed the incident and written a formal complaint to the CBN, objecting to the revocation of their licence as, since regular visits from the CBN, the bank has never been accused of defaulting, neither has any examiner’s report been issued to show that the bank has offended any law, rules or regulations of any of the regulatory authorities.

“If the situation is not urgently resolved, the people will resort to keeping their money at home, which makes them easy prey for armed robbery and burglary.

“The people of Hong Local Government Area are predominantly farmers, and the rainy season is their most active season, thus the matter requires urgent attention”, he said.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency (when constituted) to investigate the recent revocation of the operational licences of microfinance banks across the country and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

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My Wife Invited Her Friends To Our Home To Beat Me During Our Crisis — Oritsefemi

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Famous Nigerian singer, Oritsefemi has alleged that his wife, Nabila Fash, invited her friends to their home to beat him up during their marital crisis.

He said the ladies, numbering about 20, overpowered and physically assaulted him.

The ‘Double Wahala’ hitmaker disclosed this in a candid chat with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.

Oritsefemi stated that he has been unlucky with marriages, claiming that his first wife also dumped him after sponsoring her to Dubai.

“My wife [Nabila Fash] asked her friends to come and beat me up in my house. I said, ‘Look at me o; a whole me, lion na he women dey pursue.’ They were about 20. They dealt with me. I’m not lying,” he said.

Oritsefemi’s marriage to Nabila Fash hit the rocks in 2022, with Fash accusing the singer of incessant cheating.

In October 2022, Fash officially filed for divorce from Oritsefemi over infidelity and domestic violence.

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Chain Reactions In 7 Star Performance At 2024 SABRE Awards

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It was a seven-star performance for Chain Reactions Africa (CRA), one of Africa’s leading Public Relations and Integrated Communications Consultancy as it took home seven African SABRE trophies, more than any other public relations firm in Africa in the 2024 competition.

The awards which were held at the end of the annual African Public Relations Association (APRA) Conference, were presented by Provoke Media, organizers of the awards in Basam, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivore on May 16th 2024.

The work covered campaigns for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), and its Lagos Blue Rail, 9mobile’s The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, ‘Taming the Bull’ for the Presidency, ‘Next Era of Happiness’ for leading biscuit company, Pladis Foods Nigeria Limited.

Receiving the awards on behalf of Chain Reactions and its clients, was its Managing Director/Chief Strategist, Israel Opayemi, who noted that this is a seven-star performance by Chain Reactions Africa at the 2024 SABRE Awards.

In his comments Opayemi said “to emerge as the highest winner at the 2024 edition of the award with seven SABRE Awards is humbling as well as exciting for us at Chain Reactions Africa. We are immensely proud to be honoured on such a global platform like the SABRE awards which is the holy grail of Public Relations globally as the awards programme is dedicated to benchmarking the best PR works across the globe.”

He continued, “I am making a three-fold dedication of these multiple trophies to our clients who believe in us, my team members who do the brave works relentlessly and our dear country Nigeria. Ten years ago, we were at the SABRE Awards in Miami, Florida in the United States watching and applauding as winners took turn on stage. Ten years ago, we were asking for a seat at the table. Today, we are sitting in creative resplendence at the head of the table. Today, we are flying the Nigerian flag on the global stage. We are now a territory of reckon and relevance in the global PR space.”

It seems winning awards is just a Chain Reactions thing, chuckled Arun Sudhaman CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Provoke Media, organizers of the SABRE Awards as Opayemi rose up seven times to receive the awards. The PR consultancy also picked up four Certificates of Excellence in recognition of its work launching the Nigerian Youth Trend Report 2024 known as ‘ARAMANDA’, ‘Next Era of Happiness’, ‘Lagos Blue Rail’, ‘The Hack – Expand Your Hustle’, and ‘Taming the Bull’.

In his reaction, President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) described the awards by Chain Reactions Africa as “a harvest of honours for Nigeria”. He thanked the Chain Reactions Africa team for their outstanding works saying, “thank you for making us proud.”

Chain Reactions Africa has over the years won several prestigious SABRE awards and has been awarded more than 15 Certificates of Excellence. At last year’s award, the company won CEO of the Year category for the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for use of public relations to tell the story of his administration’s achievements and scooped two Certificates of Excellence in the Corporate Image category for the ‘Momentum Campaign’ for Cellulant, a flagship payment solution provider; and ‘Marketing to Consumers’ category for ‘The #NaijaHighlandah Campaign’ for William Lawson’s, Scotch Whiskey brand.

The 2024 Africa SABRE Awards shortlist included more than 120 campaigns, selected from over 500 entries in this year’s competition, which recognizes Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation and Engagement. The campaigns were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders.

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BREAKING: Court Denies Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan Bail

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Tigran Gambaryan, Binance executive, had his bail plea dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.

In his verdict, Justice Emeka Nwite stated that the bail application is denied because, after carefully reviewing the application, he concluded that, should bail be granted, the defendant will violate it.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed charges against Gambaryan, his business Binance Holdings Limited, and another high-ranking executive who is presently fugitive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, for money laundering and supporting terrorism.

 

More to come…

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