BUSINESS I~
mE GUARDIAN,Monday, February 14,20ll
Govt to intensify oil exploration in North
East zone, says Jonathan TlRESIDENT Goodluck CJonathan on Wednesday in Bauchi said the Federal Government would intensify oil and gas exploration in the North-East zone to harness the resources for economic development. Jonathan, who announced this during the launch of his North-East presidential campaign, said government was of the belief that oil and gas deposit was in the Lake Chad basin. The president also pledged to boost agriculture, power and water supply to ensure wealth creation and revenue generation. He further promised to provide dams and power projects in the North-East to boost irrigation and industrial development of the region. Jonathan said projects such as the Kafin Zaki dam,
Mambilla hydroelectricity project and the Jada irrigation project in Bauchi, Taraba and Adamawa would be pursued to boost agriculture and industrial development. On education, he said his administration established two universities in the region to bridge the gap in the number of federal universities in the six geo-political zones. He said government decided to construct schools with modern facilities to ensure that the 9.5 million Islamic pupils known as _. Almajiris" in the north were provided with education in a decent environment. The president also assured Nigerians that government was on top of the rising symptoms of terrorism in some parts of the country
and had taken steps to curb it. " We are assuring you that we are ready to ensure the security of lives and property, especially with the present challenges of terrorism. It is not terrorism in real terms but symptoms of terrorism from the Niger Delta to the Lake Chad area. "Government is on top of the situation because we know that until government protects lives and property, there will be no development. Anybody that commits crime, we will pursue you until we arrest you," he said. Jonathan said his administration would explore the diversity of the country and use it for national development. Also speaking, Vice PreSident, Namadi Sambo
said the administration would ensure that Nigeria ranked among the most developed countries in the world by 2020. The Acting National Chairman of PDP, Dr Bello Haliru thanked the people of the region for voting en masse for Jonathan during the recent PDP presidential primary elections. He urged them to continue in that spirit by voting massively for the president during the April elections. The FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, governors of Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Adamawa, as well as, gubernatorial candidates from the six states attended the occasion. The party's flags were given to the candidates in the forthcoming general elections.
Oceanic Bank unveils i-Track to boost tax paYIuent --------.---.---... Jonathan
By Moses EboseI. CEANIC Bank International Pic has developed i-Track device designed to facilitate hitch free tax related transactions
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using the platform of the electronic tax remittance solution. The solution offers SMS and E-mail notifications at all stages of the tax remittance
John Aboh, Group Managing Director, Oceanic Bank
cycle to ensure efficient processing and clearance of receipt/cettificates. According to Folorunsho Orimoloye, head, Transaction Banking Products, Oceanic Bank International Pic, i-Track is available to all taxpayers, including those without existing account relationships with Oceanic Bank. Orimoloye explained that iTrack offers a secure and fast option for tax remittance, while improving tax performance impacts on organisation and ensuring goodwill from tax authorities. He said, "i-Track is the first solution of its kind to be introduced in Nigeria by an楼, financial institution, ' adding that it has "indeed revolutionised tax processing, payment and reconciliation of beneficiary organisations. ''The bank has witnessed a very high and adoption solution
Oceanic Bank, as well as, other corporate organizations, who have taken advantage of the stress free tax management service to improve tax processing and effiCiency." Meanwhile, Oceanic Bank has repackaged Corpay, its foremost electronic payment solution specially designed for businesses. Corpay is a self-service web-based solution, deSigned to meet the electronic payment requirements ofcorporate organisations, MDAs, commercial customers or customers who make frequent payments below NlO million or above NJO million to Single or multiple beneficiaries holding accounts in any of the Nigerian banks. Besides transaction processing, a statement issued at the weekend said customers can also check their account balances online, print and reconcile their account statements.
Irrigation farmers urge govt to establish processing firms 'T'HE Chairman, Irrigation J.Farmers Association in Katsina State, Alhaji Salisu Lema-Jikamshi has called on government to facilitate the establishment of tomato processing companies to create jobs. . Lema-Jikamshi made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Funtua, Katsina
State, on Friday, and noted that irrigation farming provided job opportunities to many Nigerians. He said although irrigation farmers had been trying their best to produce onions, tomatoes, fruits and other vegetables, the difficulty in preserving farm harvests had been hampering farmers' activities. He said that when the farm
products were processed, they could be sold locally and internationally to boost farmers' income and government
revenue. Lema-Jikamshi commended the method of fertiliser distribution in Katsina State last year, whereby farmers obtained the products in their farms unlike the situation in the past.
Another farmer, Alhaji Shafi'u Nabinbi, commended the government for dredging Musawa Dam and called for its expansion to accommodate more farmers. Nabinbi explained that irrigation farming encouraged self-reliance and checked the exodus of youths from rural to urban areas in search of jobs.
Fnday, descnbed the ban on trade unionism in Union Bank of Nigeria as scandalous. He told the News Agency of Nigeria, in Umuahia, that the state chapter of the NLC would start picketing the bank from February 14 (today) to 20, as directed by its national headquarters. The management of Union Bank had written the Central Bank of Nigeria and some labour unions that it had stopped according recognition to trade unions in the bank. Akubuike said that the action of the management was scanudlaus because Section 25 of the Trade Union Act forbade any organisation from "derecognising" a registered trade union. ''The action is a mark of ignorance on the part of the Mrs Funke Osibiodun-Ied management of the bank "We will picket the services of the bank to press home our demand from the bad mana~ement.
'The action, which" is taking place on Valentine Day, is our own way of shOwing love to customers of the bank whose funds and investments are being abused," Akubuike said. He decried the punitive transfer of members of the
FdA tasl<s stal<eholders on Fadama III projeCt~ ~E
Federal
Capital
.1 Territory Administration
(FCTA) has urged greater commitment among Fadama stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of the programme in the territory. The Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCIA, Malam Adamu Buwai made the call in Gwagwalada on Wednesday during a stakeholders' forum on the presentation of baseline report for FCT Fadama III project_ He said the forum was aimed at educating FCT Fadama stakeholders on the outcome of the baseline stir-
We have also shown our commitment tfirough prompt approval of all requests in the interest of beneficiaries...! implore all stakeholders to demonstrate keen interest in the perionnance of their roles. vey and subject the findings to objective criticism. Buwai said the survey report would serve as the benchmark for tracking implementation progress and milestone achievements of FCT Fadama III project. According to him, the objectives ofthe project are to sustainably increase the income of Fadama users, reduce rural poverty, increase food security, as well as, contribute to the achievement
of the MDG one on. halving abject poverty by 2015. The secretary, therefore, urged the stakeholders to be more concerned on how to translate the objectives of the project into realities. He said that FCTA Agriculture路路 and Rural Development Secretariat was commItted to ensuring the success of Fadama III and had demonstrated its resolve through the timely release of its counterpart
fund. IIWe have also shown .our commitment through prompt approval of all requests in the interest of beneficiaries. So in the same vein, I implore all stakeholders to demonstrate. keen interest in the performance of their roles," he said. Buwai urged participants to pay special attention to details of the baseline figures and information so as to make路 objective contributions. Earlier, Dr. Adedeji Adejobi, the consultant, who presented the report; called for a policy framework .that would not only enhance
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Labour flays ban on trade unionism in Union Bank of Abia Chapter Association of Senior Staff of Insurance and CHAIRMAN f Nigelia Labour Congress Banks, (NLC), Mr Lucky Akabuike, on Financial Institution
increased productivity but also proVide rural services such as good roads and markets. Adejobi, who is al.o of the Depattment of Agricultural EconomiCS, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, called for full adherence to the results of the findings so as to achieVe the deSired objective of the project. The report was rejected as it contained a lot of errors that were corrected by the stakeholders. Buwai, therefore, ordered the consultant to correct the errors identified before releaSing the repott to the public.
Employees (ASSUBIFE). Akabuike said that the disruption of the service would be total, adding that ''we have mobilised members to ensure that no branch of the bank transacts any business during the penod of picketing. "We will invade the bank before banking operation resumes to ensure that the bank services are disrupted: ''The bank, we learnt, has stationed the Army and Police in all the branches. "We are not afraid of them, neither will they stop us from helping our members and customers to return the bank managers to negotiation table," he said. ~~"'~~-,,=-~,,~'''=.>''''''
Maritime expert tasks NIMASA on effective inspection of ships AMARillME expert, ML Olu J'l.A.kinsoji, on Friday advised Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NlMASA) to work out effective ways of inspecting all ships arriving in Nigerian waters. Akinsoji told the News Agency of Nigeria, in Lagos, that NlMASA needed adequate facilities to do so. He also advised NlMASA to cany out maximum environmental impact assessment on ships to ensure safety of lives. According to fiim, there shouldibe frequent inspection tour of waterways by NlMASA officials to examine their state. Akinsoji, a former sole administrator of Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, also suggested that wrecks should be removed from the nation's waterways for ease of navigation by the ships. He also urged NIMASA to make appropriate laws in line with the international maritime conventions for effective ships inspection. The mantime expett advised NIMASA to employ more qualified surveyors to carry out effective ships inspection, ship evaluation and enforcement of maritime regulations.