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Aishah Ahmad, Dr Dere Awosika, Others Billed To Speak At Access Bank’s IWD Fireside Chat On Workplace Stereotypes, Gender Balance

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In commemoration of International Women’s Day, the W Initiative of Access Bank Plc has announced that its International Women’s Day Fireside Chat will hold on Thursday, March 11th, 2021.

The Fireside chat is themed: ‘Take the Center Stage: Speak Up!’. Through the event, the Bank seeks to analyze and offer solutions to how women can maintain assertiveness in the workplace, own their voice as well as identify and handle imposter syndrome. Other conversation areas include the importance of flexible work environments in encouraging engagement and retention for women in the workplace and leveraging intersectionality in the workplace.

Speaking on the event, the Group Head, W Initiative at Access Bank, Ayona Trimnell, stressed the need for “increased discussions about real challenges that affect women in the workplace.”

“The peculiarities of the global community today mean that we are awakened to the successes women can achieve given the right systems and platforms for expression. We are also aware of the gaps and stereotypes that need to be challenged if we are to achieve the ultimate goal of this month’s commemoration – gender balance and equality.

Women daily are seen through the lens of stereotypes that exist in the society, marketplace, in the government, corporate organizations, to name a few. Hence to achieve our objectives as women, we need to champion conversations that will cause changes in the various spheres of society. At Access Bank, we do not only support women but also promote safe spaces for conversations that will further improve lives and the forthcoming Fireside chat is a testament to this fact. We look forward to hosting remarkable women across all walks of life to discuss the best way to chart a course for change”, she concluded.

Amongst the confirmed speakers and panelists for the event are Aisha Ahmad, CFA, Deputy Governor, FSS, CBN; Dr Dere Awosika, Chairman, Access Bank Plc.; Pearl Uzokwe, Director for Governance & Sustainability, Sahara Group Limited; Adenike Adebola, Marketing Director, Guinness; Rabi Adetoro, Senior Manager, Talent, and Career Management, MTN Nigeria, and Folake Adeniyi Adeleye, Int’l HR Leader, Certified Executive Coach, Founder, Coachivate.

Interested participants can join the virtual conversation at 11 am on March 11, 2021, using the link: https://thewcommunity.com/international-womens-day-2021/

BIG STORY

JUST IN: CBN Directs Banks To Open On Saturday, Sunday

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations.

The CBN has also directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Isa AbdulMumin, disclosed this in Abuja, on Friday, stating that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers.

According to him, the CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.

“Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs,” he noted, adding that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, would personally lead teams to monitor the level of compliance by the banks in various locations across the country.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to be patient as the current situation would ease soon with the injection of more banknotes into circulation.

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BIG STORY

Petrol Subsidy Fueling Vicious Cycle Of Poverty In Nigeria — NNPC

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says the country’s petrol subsidy regime has been “fuelling the vicious cycle of poverty” in the nation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 133 million citizens in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, are multidimensionally poor.

According to Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, multidimensional poverty encompasses deprivations experienced by poor people, such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, and living in environmentally hazardous areas.

Speaking at a joint National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)/Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) event on Thursday, Lawal Musa, senior business advisor to Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC, said the federal government spends as much as N4.8 trillion annually on petrol subsidy, at the expense of the wellbeing of Nigerians.

In a presentation titled, “petroleum industry act (PIA) and the Nigerian economy’’, he said the amount spent on petrol subsidy payments could deliver infrastructural projects to the citizens.

Further analysing the opportunity cost of the subsidy spending, Musa said deregulation of petrol prices could deliver 500,000 new houses and skill up of 2 million Nigerian students, among others.

According to Musa, the amount spent on subsidy could provide 7,500 kilometers of road network at N400 million per kilometre and 37 well-equipped 120-bed tertiary health centres at N32 billion per hospital annually.

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He added that the subsidy spend could deliver N12 trillion in four years to Nigeria, adding that the cost of petrol subsidy surpasses the direct benefits to the masses.

In addition, the NNPC GCEO adviser said deregulation of PMS prices could also provide additional 27,000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians as well as build and equip 2,400 hospitals in 774 local government areas.

“Nigeria is the largest producer of crude oil in Africa, possessing 28 percent of Africa’s reserve, with petroleum contributing significantly to the country’s economy,” he said.

“The benefits derived have over the years been eroded due to the amount paid on subsidy, a regime [that] has been fuelling the vicious circle (sic) of poverty in the country.”

Musa explained that petrol was sold at the lowest price in Nigeria, among most West African countries, in spite of the average cost of $2.7 per litre globally, which amounted to about N570 per litre.

He noted that verifiable petrol demand data is critical to national planning and energy security.

On his part, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, said the organisation was engaging with students as critical stakeholders in the new organisation, which he said belonged to over 200 million Nigerians — including the students.

Muhammad said the engagement, which would be done annually, was aimed at enlightening the students and CSOs on NNPC as a new entity, registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), under the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

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BIG STORY

Failed Transactions: Order Banks To Overhaul Their Electronic Platforms — Reps To CBN

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The house of representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to direct commercial banks to overhaul their existing electronic banking platforms.

The legislators said an overhaul would make it easier and convenient for Nigerians to conduct electronic banking operations.

NAN reports that the resolution followed a motion moved by Sergius Ogun, a lawmaker from Edo, at plenary on Thursday.

Since the implementation of the naira redesign policy and subsequent cash shortage, Nigerians have had a terrible time experiencing successful banking transactions made through their mobile apps, USSD platforms and debit cards.

Speaking on the matter, Ogun said the electronic platforms have not been able to cope with the surge in transactions.

He said that failed electronic banking transactions has caused hardship and suffering for citizens.

“In the wake of the recent naira redesign and cash withdrawal limit policy of the CBN, there has been an increase in the use of online and electronic banking services to carry out monetary transactions across the country,” Ogun said.

“The use of online or internet banking services by Nigerians in the past three months or thereabout has been characterised by varying degrees of hitches ranging from unsuccessful electronic bank transfers, Point of Sale (PoS) service failure and a host of others.

“Disturbed that the ineffectiveness or difficulty in using internet banking services across the online banking platforms of most commercial banks in Nigeria has brought untold hardship, suffering and difficulties on Nigerians in the past three months.

“Worried that if nothing is done by the CBN to address these difficulties or ineffectiveness, Nigerians will continue to suffer untold hardships and loss of monies to unsuccessful electronic bank transactions.”

In his ruling, Ahmed Wase, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, mandated the committee on banking and currency to ensure compliance and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

Recently, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, apologised to Nigerians for the rise in failed electronic banking transactions.

“I must apologise. Yes, online channels fail. But no doubt it is as a result of the deluge of online transactions that hit the banking industry. But it is being resolved,” Emefiele had said.

“On a daily basis, our payments system management department monitor the online payment platforms so as to make sure that when there is a downtime, they are quickly resolved so that transactions can go on smoothly.”

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