Speaking at the opening session of the 9th Annual Bankers’ Committee Retreat of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held at Renaissance Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, Governor Ambode said it was time for the government to review such policies that inhibit growth, and as well come up with a well-functioning low cost financial system that will work for all Nigerians.

While describing the theme of the retreat – “Improving Financial Access, Enabling Job Creation and Driving Inclusive Growth in Nigeria,” as apt, the Governor said same was at the heart of the nation’s economy and are important determinants of the country’s future prosperity, but that all hands must be on deck to create more jobs for the people and ensure 6.7 per cent annual growth rate.

He said: “To meet our growth ambitions we need jobs. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in employment terms, from a labour force population of about 81million people, we currently have 11.5million people unemployed in Nigeria and 17million people under-employed with the total employment is around 52.6million while the working age population grows by 3.7 per cent every year. So, to make a meaningful dent on un-employment and underemployment, and to reduce poverty (which is at over 60 per cent), we need to be creating at least four million jobs per year.

“Where do banks fit into all of this? Well, the reality is if we do not have a well-functioning banking sector, all of this is not possible. Both investment and day-to-day commerce requires the intermediation of banks. And while someone outside of the formal financial sector can in some cases make a living, the reality is that incomes of the bottom of the pyramid are increased when we have better financial inclusion but we are not there yet.”

The governor, who particularly alluded to the strategy adopted in Kenya to deepen financial inclusion, said efforts must be made to ensure low cost access to banking services especially through mobile money.

He said it was painful that mobile money had been so slow to take off in Nigeria despite huge population, saying it remained very low, increasing from just 0.7million adults in 2014 to 0.9million in 2016, despite the fact that there were about 58.2million people who actually had mobile phones in 2016.

Besides, Ambode challenged the CBN, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), commercial banks and other players in the financial system to decide the type of financial system that will really impact on employment and bring more people into the formal financial system.

According to him, “This is where we should focus as a nation not the type of directives or decisions that actually try to stifle growth and commerce. One clear example is this; as a State Government, I want to take a commercial loan from the bank and they tell me I should go and get a letter from Debt Management Office (DMO); I should get approval from the Federal Ministry of Finance; I should go to CBN and so on. Who does that?

“You want to accelerate growth and everything that I am doing even when I take loan from the bank; when I do bond and so on, I am only trying to reflate the economy. Each construction site that you see in Lagos, I am trying to create employment at the lower level so that the artisans, the bricklayers and so on can go home with N5,000. I need to do something in Badagry to make the people stay there and not come to the central Lagos and when you take the extra money outside the IGR, you are actually trying to help the economy to reflate itself and that is why you are able to excite yourself with the growth that you have seen in the third quarter that we say is 1.5 but that is not the number that we want.

“So sometimes, government seems to shoot itself in the leg. Why should Lagos State go and be meeting DMO to say I want to take a commercial loan when 80 per cent of my IGR can pay the loan itself back? So, you see that there is some sense of homogeneity in the policies that we make but sometimes they are not really flexible and you end up coming back to say we want to create jobs but the things that create jobs are the things that we are actually working against and you create unnecessary competition in the system.”

Responding to earlier comment by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele on the inability of the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to access the N200 billion fund earmarked for them, Ambode said the easiest way to achieve same was to reduce the lending rate to about five per cent or lower.

He said at the State level, his administration created the Employment Trust Fund through which about N10billion had been disbursed to the MSMEs at five per cent with over 6,000 benefiting so far, saying the CBN could replicate such at the federal level for the overall benefit of the people and the system.

“Nearly 10 million people develop dementia each year, 6 million of them in low- and middle-income countries,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.

“The suffering that results is enormous. This is an alarm call: we must pay greater attention to this growing challenge and ensure that all people living with dementia, wherever they live, get the care that they need.”

The estimated annual global cost of dementia is US$ 818 billion, equivalent to more than 1% of global gross domestic product. The total cost includes direct medical costs, social care and informal care (loss of income of carers). By 2030, the cost is expected to have more than doubled, to US$ 2 trillion, a cost that could undermine social and economic development and overwhelm health and social services, including long-term care systems.

First global monitoring system launched

The Global Dementia Observatory, a web-based platform launched by WHO, will track progress on the provision of services for people with dementia and for those who care for them, both within countries and globally. It will monitor the presence of national policy and plans, risk reduction measures and infrastructure for providing care and treatment. Information on surveillance systems and disease burden data is also included.

“This is the first global monitoring system for dementia that includes such a comprehensive range of data,” said Dr Tarun Dua, of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. “The system will not only enable us to track progress, but just as importantly, to identify areas where future efforts are most needed.”

Encouraging results in planning for dementia and support for carers

To date, WHO has collected data from 21 countries (1) of all income levels. By the end of 2018, it is expected that 50 countries will be contributing data.

Initial results indicate that a high proportion of countries submitting data are already taking action in areas such as planning, dementia awareness and dementia-friendliness (such as facilitating participation in community activities and tackling the stigmatization of people living with dementia) and provision of support and training for carers, who are very often family members.

Of the countries reporting data so far:

81% have carried out a dementia awareness or risk reduction campaign
71% have a plan for dementia
71% provide support and training for carers
66% have a dementia-friendly initiative.

All of these activities are recommended by WHO in the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025. The Plan provides a comprehensive blueprint for action, in areas including: dementia awareness and dementia-friendliness; reducing the risk of dementia; diagnosis, treatment and care; research and innovation; and support for dementia carers. It suggests concrete actions that can be taken by policy-makers, health- and social-care providers, civil society organizations and people with dementia and their careers. The Plan has been developed with attention to the importance of respecting the human rights of people with dementia and engaging them in planning for their care. Targets against which progress can be measured are included.

Diagnosis and research require significant effort

Just 14% of countries reporting data could indicate the number of people being diagnosed with dementia. Previous studies suggest that as many as 90% of people with dementia in low- and middle-income countries are unaware of their status.

The data also highlight the need for rapid scale-up of research. There have been some encouraging signs in funding available for investment in research for a cure for dementia in recent years, but much more needs to be done. The number of articles in peer-reviewed journals on dementia in 2016 was close to 7000. This compares with more than 15 000 for diabetes, and more than 99 000 for cancer during the same year. Research is needed not only to find a cure for dementia, but also in the areas of prevention, risk reduction, diagnosis, treatment and care.

The Observatory will provide a knowledge bank where health and social care authorities, medical professionals, researchers and civil society organizations will be able to find country and regional dementia profiles, global reports, policy guidance, guidelines and toolkits on dementia prevention and care.

Dementia

Dementia is an umbrella term for several diseases that are mostly progressive, affecting memory, other cognitive abilities and behaviour and interfering significantly with a person’s ability to maintain the activities of daily living. Women are more often affected than men. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 60–70% of cases. The other common types are vascular dementia and mixed forms.

PM NEWS NIGERIA

Akpabio stated this at the National Convention of PDP in Abuja on Saturday, and said that the party was committed to sustaining democracy in the country.

“We believe strongly that any government in power that does well will promote Nigeria’s unity. We believe that if the government in power does well, it will bequeath a better Nigeria to future generation.”

Akpabio, who is Chairman, PDP Senate Caucus in the National Assembly, said that PDP would always work for the betterment of the common man.

He assured Nigerians that the party would not let the people down.

“We are prepared to work with any group that emerges as the national executive of the party. We want a free contest because better days lie ahead,’’ he said.

The caucus chairman urged members who left the party to return, adding that the party also had room for new members.

Ugwuanyi made the call in Enugu on Saturday at an enlightenment workshop on “making oil palm produce value chain a strategic tool for sustainable economic recovery’’.

The workshop was organised by the State’s Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC).

The governor, represented by his deputy, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, said that Nigeria had over the years continued to pursue the diversification of the nation’s economy in the light of dwindling earnings from petroleum.

Ugwuanyi, however, regretted the adverse effects resulting from dwindling earnings from nation’s crude oil sector.

“We are indeed at pains to recall that Nigeria once led the world in palm oil production and that the produce and its derivatives actually powered the economy of the defunct Eastern Region.

“The questions that naturally arise from these facts are: what really went wrong, and how do we get back to where we were with regards to palm oil production,’’ the governor queried.

Earlier, the state’s Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr Patrick Ikpenwa, explained that the workshop was aimed at enlightening farmers including other stakeholders on the potential of palm oil.

Ikpenwa said it was ironical that some countries commonly referred to as Asian Tigers, which got oil palm seedlings from Nigeria’s old South East Region, had made substantial earnings through the sale of the crop’s by-products.

According to him, the reverse is the case for Nigeria.

He added that palm oil was a crop with very high economic value and there should be a revolution on the value chain so that there would be ways of exploring more on its benefits.

In his remarks, the Director-General of RMRDC, Dr Hassan Ibrahim, similarly recalled the important role played by palm oil in the country prior to the discovery of petroleum.

Ibrahim, who was represented by a Deputy Director, Mrs Chibuzo Abiaeye, said that West Africa used to be the centre of global palm oil industry.

“The export of palm kernels began in 1832, and by 1911, West Africa alone exported 157,000 tonnes of which about 75 per cent came from Nigeria,’’ he said.

The director-general, therefore, enjoined the country’s leaders to take concrete steps to correct the imbalance to further diversify the economy.

Traders such as food and drink vendors, clothing, shoes and other items took over both the middle and walk ways of Tafawa Balewa way.

According to reports from News Agency of Nigeria, Vehicular movement was restricted along the street as well as Shehu Shagari way making it easier for the traders to set up their tents.

The areas from around the Ministry of Finance down to Federal Secretariat phase one was fully occupied by the traders.

Some traders who spoke to NAN expressed optimism that the convention would help them make pumper sales.

Mrs Agnes Bala, a food vendor said that she had been selling since Friday night since many of the party supporters slept inside their vehicles around the venue.

Bala added that even though there were competitions because of the number people that sell food within the area, patronage had been good.

She commended PDP for the opportunity to make some money, saying that such kind of event was an avenue for business opportunities.

“I thank God for today because, we are selling very well because of the large number people that are here.

“Even though we are many here market is still moving well. So I believe that we will make enough sales before the end of the convention.

“We are not selling it too expensive because we sell a plate for between N300 and N500 depending on what you eat.”

Another trader, Mallam Aliu Adamu, who sells clothing materials and shoes said that he expected to make good sales during the event.

Adamu said that the event would afford him opportunity to sell especially as a lot of party supporters could have need to change their clothes or shoes.

He also said that since Christmas was already approaching, a lot of the party supporters would like to shop for their loved ones.

According to him, you know that they are going to make money from here and we are here to get part of it by selling our goods to them.

A vendor of PDP caps, tags and hand bands, Mr Innocent Akuriene, said he had sold over 30 units of cap, more than 55 tags and other items.

According to him, many party members would want to carry some things that have PDP symbol and that is why he decided to produce the items.

A party supporter, Ahmed Sanusi, said he came from Bauchi State to support his party and expressed confidence that the convention would bring about stability in the party.

Sanusi said he had been eating from the food vendors since on Friday,adding that the food were not too expensive contrary to what he expected.

He said that he believed in PDP to take over power from the ruling party in 2019.

The tense scuffles and more violent confrontations took place following the first Friday afternoon Islamic prayers since U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, angering Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims around the world.

Medics in both the West Bank city of Hebron and in Gaza reported uses of live ammunition by Israeli forces. Dozens of Palestinians were reported injured in the clashes, most due to rubber bullets and gas inhalation.

Israeli security forces repeatedly broke up attempts by Palestinians to stage demonstrations against Trump, some using placards with his image, near the Old City of Jerusalem.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said several hundred police officers had reinforced the Jerusalem area, with an emphasis on the Old City.

There are no age restrictions on Muslims wishing to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque.

Trump’s announcement Wednesday marked a major shift in U.S. policy which observers said would inflame regional tensions.

Israel risked further escalating the crisis with an announcement Friday on settlements.

“Following the historic declaration by Trump, I plan to strengthen construction in Jerusalem in additional neighbourhoods,” Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant was quoted by Maariv newspaper as saying.

He proposed a plan to build 14,000 new housing units, including 6,000 in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.

No fewer than 80 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with the Israeli army Thursday in the West Bank and Gaza.

Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Islamist militant movement Hamas based in Gaza, issued a call for a renewed Palestinian uprising to start Friday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ secular Fatah party was also sharply critical of Trump’s decision.

Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official, warned in an interview with al-Arabiya television that the leadership would refuse to meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence later this month.

The BBC reported that the US warned the Palestinians against such a move.

Israel captured the eastern half of Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed the territory in a move that was not internationally recognized.

Palestinians hope for East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.

The city, especially the Old City, is home to sites holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Protests against Trump’s decision have also taken place around the world.

Hundreds of protesters took part in a government-organized demonstration in the Iranian capital Tehran while similar numbers of Palestinians and Lebanese demonstrated in Beirut and at refugee camps across Lebanon.

Protesters in Cairo chanted “Jerusalem is Arab” and called for “Arab unity against the Zionist attack.”

The Spaniard believes that when it comes to the desire to win trophies they are identical.

“Definitely. In that, we are twins,” said Guardiola when asked, ahead of Sunday’s derby clash, if he was as obsessed with winning as his United and former Real Madrid counterpart.

“They want to win trophies, we want to win trophies.

“I think Antonio Conte is the same as well, and Juergen (Klopp) and Mauricio (Pochettino), and in all the leagues around the world, the managers are (like that),” the former FC Barcelona manager added.

“I never criticise my colleagues for the way they play. I never did in the past, I will never do it.

“Football is magnificent for that, because every manager plays in the way they play. There are different ways to enjoy football. It’s simple like that,” he said.

Keeping it simple is Guardiola’s mantra ahead of the highly anticipated derby.

Although City head to Old Trafford with an eight-point lead over their local rivals, the Spaniard is determined that his team keep their focus.

Their focus, he said, will be on doing what they have done so well this season — playing their style of possession football.

“The big challenge is to play good, to try to control the start point. It’s hard, because it’s United at Old Trafford. We want to try to play our game.

“The focus is going there relaxed and knowing that if we don’t win the individual duels, it will be almost impossible to beat them,” Guardiola said.

“We will try to play well, to play good football, what we have done, to be what we are. So I would like to finish the game and go to the locker room and feel we were what we have been for the season.

“As for the result, nobody knows what is going to happen. We will try to find the best way to play well and to win the game,” he said.

While a victory would send City 11 points clear ahead of the festive season, Guardiola has little time for the notion that the game could be a title decider.

“Winning, drawing or losing on Sunday, we are not going to win or lose the English Premier League. It’s December,” he said.

“It’s an important game, because it’s United. You can get points and deny your opponent points. But it’s the same for them.

“I am not going into the game thinking: OK, we have an eight-point lead. What do I have to do because we have an eight-point lead? The Premier League is a marathon. We haven’t even arrived at the halfway stage yet.

“There are a lot of points to play for, more than 70. We just focus on the game, and the result, and then after, recovery and then thinking about Swansea three days later.

“It’s simple like that. It’s about going there and doing our game. That is what I want to see from my players.”

The aggrieved staff is reacting to the congress held yesterday by ASUU where it was resolved that the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka should order the bursar to pay the Earned Academic Allowance which the Federal Government disbursed to the institution and failure to effect the payment should earn him query.

The protesting staff who were armed with canes, sticks and other items marched round the campus from one faculty to the other to disrupt academic activities. As they were protesting, they were singing abusive songs against the academic staff, calling them robbers.

As the aggrieved staff stormed the faculties, both students and lecturers scampered for safety.

Earlier, the non-teaching staff, who started assembling in front of the office of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka sfrom around 7am blocked the road leading to the VC’s office and the road leading to the Arts Theatre with cars and other things.

At about 8am, they started the protest with prayers to God to wipe out all the academic staff from the surface of the earth demanding from God to destroy all that is standing in their way from getting fair share of the Earned Allowance. “God, drain their blood alive”, “God, visit our enemies with different problems”, were among the prayer points they offered to God. Leading the prayer points were “pastors”.

Addressing his colleagues, the Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Wale Akinremi, noted, “They think that we are playing with them but by the time we are through with them, they will know that we are not of the same level”.

Pointing out that they were battle ready to fight the academic staff, Akinremi said, “The Earned Allowance the academic staff are happy about will not be shared until our case is resolved. The academic staff are mad. You think you can ridicule our bursar, you are wrong. The most important office in this university is bursar. War will start now. You are bastards if you do not compel the VC to give query to bursar.

“You are dignifying yourselves by calling yourself lecturers but you are teachers. Whether a tutor, a lecturer, or an instructor, all of them are teachers. The brain of academic staff is under their feet. A battle line is drawn now between us and the academic staff. They are academic illiterates who are intellectually insane. If they are sane as they claim, how can they write a letter to the VC to compel the bursar to share the Earned Academic Allowance or get query? VC does not have the power to query the bursar. Because the VC, the bursar and the registrar are all principal officers, the VC lacks the power to query any of them”.

According to Akinremi, the letter forwarded to the VC asking him to query the bursar should be immediately withdrawn and the academic staff should tender apology to the bursar, otherwise, “We will declare war against ASUU. Let me say this, both VC and bursar are only accountable and answerable to the council that employed them.”

Reacting, the Vice Chancellor, who was away to the National Assembly in Abuja for official assignment said, “Report reaching me from Ibadan is to the effect that leaders and members of the University of Ibadan Branch of Joint Action Congress (SSANU, NAAT and NASU) who are on a national strike have been going round the Campus threatening to kill members of the academic staff. They have been extremely busy disrupting academic and social activities on the Campus.

“The law enforcement agencies in Oyo State have been put on notice concerning the unsavoury activities of the past nine days. They have promised to take urgent action to prevent a complete breakdown of law and order in a supposed civilised community. Staff and students are enjoined to go about their normal activities and not to yield to all manners of intimidation and harassment”.

As at the time of filing this report, there is an uneasy calm on the campus, as students and other members of staff are unsure of what the next few days hold for the institution.

Justice Mike Chibita, Director of Public Prosecutions, said that the Tuesday election of Bossa had elevated Uganda’s status in international law and confidence on its judiciary.

Bossa was elected at the 16th ongoing session of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Chibita said, “it is a vote of confidence in the Ugandan judiciary and a recognition of the professionalism and role in ICC and international law in general.”

Bossa would join other five new judges from Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Western Europe elected on Tuesday to fill vacancies on the 18-member ICC.

They were required to have “established competence’’ in criminal law and procedures or in areas of international law, such as human rights law and humanitarian law.

Uganda in February nominated Justice Bossa, whose judicial and legal work spanned almost three decades of being a highly accomplished judge at the national, regional and international level.

The ICC was established by the 2002 Rome Statute as an independent and permanent court to try persons accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on CBD, Mr. Agboola Dabiri at a public display and launching of the electronic business directory, said the present administration was exploring the advantage of technology to ease the process of doing business in the ever populated Lagos Island markets.

He said with the launch of the electronic business guide, shoppers did not have to drive from one shop to another searching for their goods or services on the Island any longer as they could easily log on to the website and contact dealers of their desired goods from their phones, laptops or desktops.

The Special Adviser disclosed that the launch of the electronic business guide was one of the requirements of being a member of the International Downtown Association which Lagos Central Business District belong to.

“The Lagos CBD is a member of the International Downtown Association and as a member, you are required to develop an electronic business guide to ease doing business in the Districts,” he said.

Dabiri said that Lagos Electronic business guide was expected to reduce the large number of people coming to search for products on Lagos Island markets daily as people could now search for products and service from their comfort zones by logging on to www.Lagoscbdguide.com.ng.

He said the use of the product was free, convenient and easy to use by everybody who could use a phone.

“Coming to do business on Lagos Island markets sometimes could be frustrating because of the large volume of crowd we face daily. Most people are discouraged to come to Lagos Island markets just because of this singular frustrating crowd and the traffic issues associated with it. But today, with the launching of this business guide, shoppers and consumers with a click on the buttons of their laptops, phones and desktops can search for their desired goods and services at the comfort of their homes,” Dabiri said.