NDIC tasks Northern governors on micro financing devt Tou A KINMlffiMI
1JlITS<"'-_ _ _ _ __ ed by the dearth of micro flnanclng lnstl· mUons in the North-
W5
ern part of the country and
the
negative impllcations for poverty reduction and access to financial services, the Nigeria Deposit Insw-ance CorporaUon has charged governors in the region to facilitate the establishment of such fn. stitutions in thelT domains. Giving the charge to the politica1 leaders in the region yesterday in his welcome address at the 2012 Workshop for Business Editors and Finance Con'espondents in Dutse, Jigawa State, the Chief
ExeclItive of the corporation. Mr Umaru ibrahim, noted thai the curnmt Uberalised licensing regime had removed obstacles that hitherto made it difficult to establish such institutions. He therefore advised the Governo~ 10 tackle the worrisome challenge of financial exclusion.. Umaru, who 5110ke elaborately on the ongoing financial inclusion drive in the country; pointed out creating more financial institutions in the North would change the existing imbalance in micro finance insUtutions between the region and the South· ern region. Specifically; the NDIC boss said out of the 1169 micro flnarK:e
banks in existence, 346 or 39.81 per rem are located in the South West geographical zone, 162 or 18.&1 per cent in the South East, 158 or 18.8 per cent in the North Central while only 63 or 7,Z per cent and 32 or 3..68 per cent are located in the North West North East respectively. Areording to hIm, Lagos, Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory topped the list of MFBs in the country: Ibrahim noted that the uneven distribution had exposed the untapped potenlials in the federal government's policy on financla1lncluslon. He said.: ''The Central Bank of Nigeria and the NDIC as Nlge-
ria's financial sector regulators have an uphill task in improving financial fnduslon given the relatively low level of penetration of financial services in the country. "Out of the total number provisional and final M.FD llcences issued by the CBN, Northern Nigeria including the FCT had only 24_75 per cenL "To enhance financial Lnclusion especially in Northern Nigeria, It is imperative for the governors of states in northern Nigeria to encourage and promote the establishment of micro finance instiiuUons in their l1!:SpectIve states", the insurance expert added
He said only 36 per cent of adult population make formal use of financial services add.lnt wt soon, a micro finance framework that will adttres the anom· aly would be unveiled by the CBN While canvassing an expedited action for the release 0{ regU' latory frame ....,orlI: for the introduction of Agent banking in the countr;( the NDIC chief said the corporation was working closely with the CBN to design an appropriate insurance to protect furid.s used for transaction in the new mobile payment system. Agent banking is a retail outlet contracted by a I1nancial institution or mobile network operator to process clients' transactions.
'Cassava to generate more revenue than oil' S TANlEY IHEDIGBO
National President of igeria Cassava Growers
TI
Assoclation.l\1r.. Segun Ad-
ewumi, has said that cassava can
L-R; COIIItnIIndant, Pob CoIlegl, 1Ufa. Mt. lomlya Yerima; EreevtJlle Dlreetor, OpeflitioM, S .. nblc IBTC Plnslon MI/I'gerl, Mr. Slen Elu50pe Ind Deputy Command..,1 01 Pollel, Mr. Jonah M.lla, during thl lOI'TIIal h,nd-oYer 01200 ehaln 10 !hi PolIce College b, Sr.nblc: IBTC PenskIn M~rlin UgOI, ,umdly.
Osibodu failed to resolve workers crisis Union Bank, says rue MESHACK IDEHEN
he Trade Union Congress said that the wt of the immediate past Group Managing Director of Union Bank Pte, hits Funke Osibodu has not in any way resolved the protructed crisis between the workers and management of the
T bank
ACCOrding to the congress, about 200l past and present workers of the bank are demanding for the swn or NI03 billion allegedly approved by the Cen· tral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for payment of severance allowance to them, and that Ore matter bas been reo presented to the Minis· ter of Labour and Productivity by the National President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance andf'inancial lnstimtions (ASSBlFi), Mt: Sun· day Salako. TUC Secretary General. Chief John Kol.nwole,
toJd NatioMI
Mirror on Wednesday, that the ~'ederal Ministry of Labour and ProductivitY. and the Central Bank of NIgeria had intervened In the dispute last year, with the former managing dinrlor of the
bank, Mrs Funke Oslbodu. who represented ihe management of Union bank: at the meeting promising U13t the bank would compute and pa.y calculated beDefits of the ex· workers of the bank. Kolawole said further that Osibodu had explained then that some of the workers who had reUn!d in 2008 and 2009 were not qunUfied to be paid. but that the bank ,",'QuId compute the allow· ances of those who were quall· fied and pay them. According to the TOC general secret.ar)t the fornler Union Bank managing director has not fulfilled her promise since the meeting, and that she (l\ID) and the investors 1.11 the bank headed instead for the law court Instead of paying the workers. Kolawole said, "The unJoo bank worKers Issue is before the MInister of Labour and Produc· tivity. Oslbodu is anti-workers. She left withoui resolving the issue of the aggrieved workers. Some of the workers who served the bank for several years have dJed from the suffering they went through because of inability to pay their house rent, feed
. . their families and educate mell' chUdren. Oslbodu left behind, lIt.1gation death debt as well as misery," he said: On his part, the Unli Presl·
generate more n!'o'mue than oil, and urged the Federal Go\'t!rn· ment to support the growers. Adewwnl, who spoke at the Raw Materials Research and Development Councll event held yesterday; at Lagos, insisted that cassava can really take the place of 0:.1 as foreign exchange earner If adequate attention is paId to both ItsproductionandvaJueaddition. According to him. cassava is also capable cI: trlggertng Indusaial revolution in Nigeria to the extent that every village will have a cassava processing factO[1[ He added that the three comind trial den tlves from
mon us va cassava namely starch, Dour and ethanol are raw materials for other essential utility productS
that have tmllmlted market p0tential Adewwni explained that cassava is one of the easiest crops to grow in that It grows with raIn but wUl survive with dew and Is the only positive thing that the whole world concedes lemiet'ship in terms of production volumes to Nigeria. He noted that the Minister of Agriculture Dr Aklnwwnl Adesina was making arrangement for farmers tn Nigeria to produce additional four millIon metrIc tonnes of cassava yearly that will be milled into chips and kept in sUos as a reserve for ' the take off of lndustriaJ cassava program "We are ready as Nigerian cas. sava Growers Association to take gan-i to the v.'Ortd as a major baIe food to Ii nI rice and bread.
s v We only need the support of the Federa1 Gowrnment to do it", he stated..
~~t ~:"lh~~a~~::UB":n~:k; Oshiomhole commissions Shell,
prl~ NNPC ICT Centre
satd Osibodu remaved all lieges for peru!loners of the bank. Including medIcal care, 13th month pay, and domesric loans among others.. "She pushed ourcase to coun and len, even after she budgeted for and got approval for NlOObUton for paymenl of Ute benefits. In dispute," Nnabuchi added. However; whUe respondlng 10 the allegations by the TOC, the Spokesman of the bank, Mr: Francis Barde, told NOlional Mirror that the bank is a going concern that cannot be beld back by the completion of tenUTe of Ute former managing director. He explained that the aUega, tlons by the congress and some I)ast workers of the bank were shallow and does Ilothold water, considering that Osibodu before leaving the bank ensured thaf issues pertaining to present and past workers welfare were adequately taken care of_
......
;:) t:.HA51INt:.
~8HUOMHAN
overnor Adams Oshlom· ole of Edo State has tasked muitinaUonaJ companies to do more than giving handouts to the socierx especlally oil producing areas. The governor spoke on Wednesday at the commissioning an 1C1' Centre donated by the Shell Exploration and Pro. duction Company (SNEPCo) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to Edo College in Senin CIt)!: The Centre conslsts of an ICT block, ro units of Desktop Computers with Interconnectivity facilities; 27 KVA power Generator. C Band Internet of 512/256 Kbps along with three years subscription. Expressing appreciation to
G a
Shell and NNPC for putting the centre together to lmprove the student's knowledge of comput· er; Oshlomhole said, '1 wUl like to appreciate NNPC and Shell for appreciating that they have a dury as beneficiaries of public funded capital development 10 also share their the profit for the baking of human capital The human capital that drives technol· ogy is b3ked by institutions such as this... Oshiomhole emphasised, "I am satistled with what I ha\oe seen and I am happy that some of the students are already taking full advantage and I have no doubt that it would be of immense benefit not only to Edo College Students but to the entire state. As an oll producing state, Edo State should get a higher share d your handout. It can't be the same.