JAMB Finally Speaks On Reduction In Cost Of UTME Form

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has said it is not going to reduce the cost of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for 2019 exercise.

In the past few years, the cost has remained at N5,000. But there have been calls for a downward review following a constant remittance of over N7 billion realized from the sale of forms and other miscellaneous services by the Board.

JAMB Registrar, Mr. Ishaq Oloyede told journalists on Thursday in Abuja, that it is yet to give it a thought. He added that the call for the reduction of the registration fee of its candidates is baseless.

Oloyede questioned why the agitators are not asking other boards like WAEC, NECO, NABTEB to reduce the cost of their exams.

“The secret was that we have means of managing the resources properly to the point that we now have what could be called surplus.

“That was largely because we are open enough to return the surplus to government. That might be the reason for the intense call for downward review of the cost,” Oloyede said.

However, he said the exam body would only follow directive from the appropriate authorities on issues that concern cost of the UTME forms.

“If the government feels we should adjust, we will adjust and not as a result of unqualified, baseless request in some quarters,” he said.

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Lagos Transport: 4,000 bus conductors register

More than 4,000 members of the Bus Conductor Association of Nigeria (BCAN) have registered with Lagos State Drivers Institute (LASDRI) for training and accreditation.

Mr Isreal Adeshola, President of the association, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to him, the development will enable them function as stipulated in the rules and regulations of the state government in line with the transportation reform.

“Over 4,000 members are fully ready to operate along with the new Lagos State transportation reform.

“We have attended LASDRI for accreditation and also to the Directorate of Transport Commuters Service to get various identification badges including our uniforms.

“We want to assure the people and the government that our members are fully for the state transformation on transport system.

“All these we have done to get prepared for the state development plan in the transport system,’’ he said.

The official said that there were over 270, 000 bus conductors in the state, adding that over 4,000 of them had registered as members officially.

According to him, the association has been telling members that very soon conductor work will no longer be business as usual.

“The association had trained and ensured that registered members get accredited by the concern authority to ensure accountability and effectiveness on duty.

“BCAN wants to ensure no more jumping and hanging on the buses anyhow.

“We are in line with the state government’s plan on the new transport reform and we enjoin others in the system to key into the system and get registered,’’ he said.

Adeshola appealed to the state government to carry members of the association along with the ongoing reform.

“We need government to assist us along with the ongoing reform in the transport sector.

“If the government is building the country or a state without carrying the youths along or involving them in the system the development may not be sustainable,’’ he added.

Lagos state government is set to roll out buses to service routes on the Oshodi-Abule Egba axis, with the arrival of 250 buses in line with the transport reform.

Mr Ladi Lawanson, the State Commissioner for Transport, had told NAN that the routes for deployment of the buses had been identified.

“In the last couple of months, we did the commissioning of the Ikeja Terminal, which was meant to be the flagship.

“The Ikeja Terminal was signaling the beginning of what was going to be the entire project, consisting of 13 terminals including Oyingbo, Yaba.

“The first set of buses have come and we are using the Ikeja axis as a laboratory where we are going to roll out from,” he said.

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Customs generates N140.4 billion in August

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it recorded its highest ever monthly revenue of N140.4 billion in August 2018.

The Customs Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah revealed this on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to Attah, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) said the improvement was as a result of dogged pursuit of several reform programmes.

Ali highlighted some of the reforms to include strategic deployment of manpower and upgrade on the electronic systems from Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS I) to NICIS II which had succeeded in blocking leakages.

He also said the increase in revenue was as a result of strict enforcement of extant guidelines by the NCS Tariff and Trade Department and robust stakeholder engagements resulting in higher compliance.

The NCS boss said the increased disposition of Officers and Men to change their way of doing things for the better had impacted positively on the organisation’s productivity.

“The implementation of three pronged Presidential mandate of ‘Restructure, Reform and Raise revenue’ in NCS has continued to strengthen the Service as a crucial contributor to National economy and Security.

“The Service has effectively seized 156,090 bags of smuggled rice, 15,632 sets of military wears, 489,000 ammunitions and other items.

“This is in addition to the highest monthly revenue collection of over N140 billion in August 2018.

“This positive harvest in the areas of anti-smuggling and revenue generation is a clear testimony of what can be achieved under a selflessly focused leadership,” Ali said in a statement.

The NCS boss called on Nigerians to support the Service by providing credible information that would help nip smuggling in the bud and generate the needed revenue for national development.

In the month of July, the NCS declared N556.7 billion as revenue generated from January to June, 2018.

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Winners At 2018 AMVCA

The 6th annual African Magic Viewers Choice Award which broadcast LIVE on Africa Magic chanTnels has come to an end. The event saw some of the industry finest walk the red carpets and winners emerge from all categories.

See Winners below:

Best Overall Movie – 18 Hours (Pheobe Ruguru)

Best Actress – Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde (Alter Ego)

Best Actor – Adjetey Anang (Keteke)

Best Actress in a Comedy – Nyce Wanjeri (Auntie Boss)

Best Actor in a Comedy – Odunlade Adekola (A Million Baby)

Best Writer – Patrick Nnamani/ Koye O/ Moses Inwang (Alter Ego)

Best Supporting Actress – Lydia Forson (Isoken)

Best Supporting Actor – Falz (New Money)

Industry Merit Award – Tunde Kelani

Trail Blazer Award – Bisola Aiyeola

Best Movie Southern Africa – A Road to Sunrise by Shemu Joyah

Best Movie West Africa – Isoken by Jade Osiberu

Best Movie East Africa – 18 Hours by Phoebe Ruguru

Best TV/Comedy Series – This is It by Dolapo Adeleke (Lowla Dee)

Best Sound Editor – Kolade Morakinyo and Pius Fatoke for TATU

Best Picture Editor – Mark Maina for 18 HOURS

Best Lighting – Akpe Ododoru and Tunde Akinniyi

Best Cinematographer – Yinka Edward for Okafor’s Law

Best Costume Designer – Ngozi Obasi and James Bessinone for The Bridge

Best Film & Online Video – Penance by Michael ‘Ama Psalmist’ Akinrogunde

Best Documentary – The Flesh Business by Denis Wanjihi Maina

Best Makeup Artiste – Thelma Ozy Smith/Hakeem Effects Onilogbo for TATU

Best Art Director – Tunji Afolayan for Lotanna

Best Soundtrack – Evelle for TATU

Best Indigenous Language (Swahili) – Supa Modo by Sarika Hemi Lakhani

Best Indigenous Language (Hausa) – Mansoor by Ali Nuhu

Best Indigenous Language(Yoruba) – Etiko Onigedu by Femi Adebayo

Best Indigenous Language (Igbo)- Bound by Lilian Afegbai

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Dangote Now Most Valuable Brand in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Dangote has emerged the most valuable brand among the top 50 brands in Nigeria for 2018 which were unveiled at the weekend in Lagos.

This is coming barely three months after the brand was adjudged the most admired brand of African origin by Consumers in a brand rating coordinated by South Africa based Brand Leadership in conjunction with Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

Brand Nigeria, the Agency that coordinated the survey in Nigeria, in its report lauded the efforts of the handlers of the Dangote Brand because this is the first time a Nigerian brand would be achieving the feat since 2013.

Unveiling the list of the top 50 brands at an event attended by top executives of leading corporate organizations in the country as well as stakeholders in Marketing and Advertising Industry, Mr. Taiwo Oluboyede, the Head of Brand Nigeria explained that 46 percent of the top brands amounting to 23 are Nigerian brands.

Giving the highlights of the brands rating, he stated that Promasidor Nigeria Limited emerged the highest gainer jumping 15 points from last year, followed by the trio of BUA, Nine Mobile and Olam all of which moved 12 points from last year position, while seven brands, Conoil, Channels TV, Union Bank, Access Bank, Chi, Toyota, and GTBank maintained their positions.

He stated further that Fidelity Bank came as a first entrant this year and Stallion Group making a fresh return to the top 50 brands this having exited before.

The top 50 brands in Nigeria, Soboyede maintained are the brands that have succeeded in delivering their promises to the consumers. “They are fast growing in value and they are the drivers of our economy. The top brands this year are those that have been able to analyse needs, see opportunities by creating solutions to them and communicating same to the consumers.

“They have also become so good at it that the consumers often refer to them with the name of the need they meet that is their products or services. These brands have found how to deliver something special often times.”

Giving insights into how the evaluation of the top 50 brands was carried out, Soboyede said: “we used the Brand Strength Model (BSM index). It is model that measures a brand’s ability to deliver on its promise to the consumers from the consumer’s point of view. The model uses basic qualitative elements and there are seven variables that goes into the BSM model”.

According to him, the variables start with a test of people’s knowledge and affinity with the brands operational in Nigeria. We had a top on the mind survey where people tell us brads that easily come to their mind or brand they can recall.

“Other variables in the model are innovation-this is a test how innovative a brand service delivery is; Quality-this checks some factors that enhance consumer’s confidence in product delivery; Category Leadership-this is a classification of brands within their industry; Online engagements-this checks how active the brand’s online platforms are and how engaging it has been from last evaluation; National Spread-this checks operational presence of a brand across the country.”

Chief Corporate Communication Officer of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina said the management was not surprised at the ranking because the company has continuously deepened and delivered on its core values is to be a world-class enterprise that is passionate about the quality of life of the people and giving high returns to stakeholders.

“And this philosophy is driven by values, which include customer service, entrepreneurship, excellence and leadership. In any of our subsidiaries, the focus is to provide local, value-added products and services that meet the ‘basic needs’ of the populace. Through the construction and operation of large scale manufacturing facilities in Nigeria and across Africa, the Group is focused on building local manufacturing capacity to generate employment, prevent capital flight and provide locally produced goods for the people.

“The expansion of our business especially the Cement which has operations in 14 African countries including Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, among others has added to popularity of our company and the products, Mr. Chiejina stated.

It would be recalled that back in July, the Dangote brand came atop in the ranking of 100 best brands in Africa themed “Brand Africa:100”, the sixth edition announced in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Brand leadership in the ranking list said of Dangote brand: “Nigerian industrial brand Dangote is the number one African brand recalled when consumers are prompted about the continent (Africa) of origin while the South African tele-communications brand MTN is the number one African brand spontaneously recalled irrespective of continent of origin.

The United States sports and fitness brand, Nike, is the overall brand in Africa spontaneously recalled by consumers.

The Brand Africa 100 ranking is based on a survey among consumers 18 years and older, conducted in 23 countries across Africa. The countries, representing all African economic regions, collectively account for 75% of the population and the 74% of the GDP of Africa.

African brands rose slightly to account for 17% of the Top 100 brands in Africa, non-African brands retained their firm position in Africa with 83% share of the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa. Brands from Europe leads the table with 40%, North America at 24% and Asia 19%. West Africa 6% with only Nigerian brands and Southern Africa 6%.

The Top 100 is dominated by technology and electronic brands (29%), consumer (non-cyclical) (19%), apparel (15%), automobile (8%), food (7%) and sports & fitness (5%) categories are the top categories.

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I’m not afraid of free, fair elections in 2019 – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says as a beneficiary of free and fair elections, he is not afraid of a credible process in 2019.

To this effect, the president reaffirmed his commitment to making sure that the 2019 polls would be free, fair and credible.

The president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday that Buhari gave the assurance at an interactive session with the Nigerian community in China.

Buhari pledged that Nigerians eligible to vote in the general elections would be allowed to freely elect candidates of their choice.

He said: ‘‘I have no fear about free and fair elections because that is what brought me to the present position.

“I know what I went through and very few Nigerians could boast of trying four time.

‘‘Those interested in participating in the elections must get their PVCs and register in their constituencies and elect anybody of their choice across ethnicity and religion.

‘‘The Nigerian police, law enforcement agencies and INEC must respect the wishes of the people.’’

Citing recent elections in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi, the president said that the country had made progress relative to elections conducted in previous years.

On security issues, he reaffirmed that his government had succeeded in curtailing Boko Haram insurgents in the country, adding that “the terrorist group no longer controls any part of the country.’’

He attributed the success to operations of security agencies deployed to counter insurgency in the North-eastern part of the country.

‘‘You will all recall that we contested the last election basically on three issues, which includes security, especially in the North-East.

‘‘Boko Haram used to occupy quite a number of local governments in Borno but they are not in any one now.

“They have resorted to a very dangerous way of terrorism by indoctrinating young people, mostly girls and attacking soft targets, churches, mosques and marketplaces,’’ he said.

On herders and farmers clashes, the president told Nigerians in the Diaspora that while security agencies were doing their best to curtail the clashes, the Nigerian media needed to complement the efforts through objective and informed reportage.

He appealed to the media to make attempt at understanding the cultural and historical implications of some of the misunderstanding between herders and farmers.

‘‘To my disappointment, the members of the press in Nigeria do not make enough efforts to study the historical antecedents of issues that are creating national problems for us,’’ he said.

According to the president, due to the effects of climate change, a farm that used to belong to five people now belongs to 50 people, the weather condition, particularly the rainy season, is now unpredictable.

He partly blamed the farmers/herders controversy on the shrinking of the Lake Chad, which had forced many cattle nomads to seek greener pastures for their herds in other parts of the country.

On Nigeria-China relations, Buhari lauded China’s generosity and contribution to the development of Nigeria, citing the successful completion of Abuja-Kaduna railway line, built by the Chinese, and ongoing works on Lagos-Ibadan-Ilorin-Abuja-Kano railway route.

According to him, Nigeria and China are also negotiating on the Mambilla project.

The president advised Nigerians planning to travel abroad for ‘‘greener pastures’’ to do so legitimately and not to expect too much from their countries of destination.

‘‘You cannot seek greener pastures in a place where you are not respected because of the colour of your skin or your lack of education or other things.

“Personally, I think you will earn more respect when you remain at home and get a job,’’ he added.

He acknowledged the material and intellectual support of Nigerians in the Diaspora to the development of the country, and assured that his administration would remain focused and committed in providing needed infrastructure for Nigeria’s prosperity.

Earlier in his remarks, the Nigerian Ambassador to China, Baba Ahmed-Jidda, had thanked the President for his support to the Embassy, including the completion of the Ambassador’s official residence.

He praised Nigerians resident in the various provinces of China for being law-abiding, with the exception of few.On consular matters, the envoy told the president that Nigerians were facing difficulties in obtaining Chinese visas, and urged the president to take it up with the Chinese authorities.

On his part, President of China Chapter of Nigerians in the Diaspora Organisation, Mr Brian Akiti, wished the country successful elections in 2019 and pledged the support of the organisation to the present administration’s development agenda.

In another event, Buhari charged Nigerian students on scholarship in China to ensure that they made the best use of the opportunity, and said that Nigeria was grateful to China for extending “this generosity to us”.

‘‘The Chinese are helping Nigeria greatly with building infrastructure; it is very much appreciated. We are pleased with the training they are providing for Nigerian students.”

The president also met with the executives of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), during which he lauded the construction group for their immense contributions to infrastructure development in Nigeria.

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Lagos Govt to engage 10 bakeries in mass production of coconut bread

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Sunday said that the state would engage 10 major bakeries to ensure the mass production of coconut bread.

The governor made the disclosure during the World Coconut Day and 7th Lagos Heritage Festival, tagged “AGUNKFEST 2018″ in Badagry, Lagos.

The theme of the festival is “Harnessing Coconut Production for Economic Empowerment and Tourism Development in Lagos State”.

Ambode, represented by Mr Babatunde Hunpe, his Special Adviser on Environment, said that this was to ensure more market avenue for coconut utilisation.

According to him, Coconut tree has been identified as the most useful single tree in the world in terms of versatility, product utilisation and longevity.

“Therefore, taking coconut to another level with this type of programme is long overdue.

“Nigeria is ranked 18 in the world as a coconut producing country and Lagos State is contributing 70 per cent of the total production.

“Our government places high premium on sustainable food production which is the impetus driving the various activities in the agricultural sector with a renewed commitment.

“A major step taken towards achieving this goal is the establishment of the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority (LASCODA) to uphold the state’s comparative advantage in coconut production,” he said.

The governor said that the state had distributed coconut processing equipment in 12 local governments and local council development areas.

“We have also embarked on the rehabilitation of the coconut belt, massive production of improved coconut seedlings, capacity building and empowerment of coconut value chain actors.

“We have channeled a lot of resources into creating an enduring infrastructural architecture that would ensure that the state’s tourism potential are fully harness for all round economic growth and development.

“We will continue to create the enabling environment for investment in coconut production, commercialisation and utilisation,” he said.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Mr Toyin Suarau, said the state knew the importance of coconut to it’s economy, adding that it was called miracle crop.

Suarau said that the crop had generated job opportunity for the youths.

He said the occasion had presented a unique opportunity to create awareness on the array of invaluable economic, health and environmental benefits that coconut offers as well as draw global attention to Badagry division.

The commissioner was represented at the event by the Pernament Secretary of the ministry, Mr Olayiwola Onasanya.

Also, Mr Tojinu Seton, the Coordinator, AGUNKFEST 2018, said the festival started in 2009, adding that it was the first of its kind in Nigeria.

Seton said that the festival was geared towards creating awareness among the governments and people of Nigeria, especially Lagos State toward the invaluable economic import, health and environmental benefits that coconut offers.

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