Worried by the continuous rise in the unemployment rate in
Nigeria, a group of concerned Nigerians has come up with an idea of bridging
the gap between the industry and the classroom saying this will further open
many to gainful employment and other opportunities.
Speaking at a media briefing on Education, Nexus, Industry, Project,
(ENIPRO), the Convener, Jesse Ogabu stated that the essence of the initiative
is to transform the lives of young people through recruitment opportunities as
well as creating a foundation through the newly designed academy which will
help reposition our youth and make them industry friendly.
“Today, information Technology has taken over the industry
creating opportunities for only those who are ready to add value to the
industry which gave birth to the theme of discussion for the proposed 2.0
Enipro Summit which is Workplace/classroom: The future of work, local content, an
inclusive strategy scheduled to hold on the 11th of April at the
University of Lagos Main Auditorium”,Ogabu noted.
The summit will have in Attendance Prof. Pat Utomi, Fatai
Folarin, Tope Fasua and a host of other captains of industry while Jobber-man and
Poise Nigeria had also shown interest by creating opportunities for recruitment
as well as polishing institute for graduates who still needs to learn the
industry language.
The head of Enipro Academy, Afolakemi Ogunnusi stated that
job place is a translation of what is learnt in the classroom which many youths
today finds it difficult to effectively replicate explaining that enipro
Academy has come up with solutions to effectively tackle that by putting our
young graduates back on the right track.
She also advise Students, Graduates, Corps members and
Unemployed youths to take advantage of the initiatives and launch into a world
of opportunities
HIV Epidemic is a deadly
disease if not treated, might lead to loss of life. Nigeria has the second
largest number of people living with HIV.
This epidemic varies widely and is common among young people between the
ages of 15-45 and more predominate among sex workers. Youth and young adults in
Nigeria are particularly vulnerable to HIV, with young women at higher risk
than young men. There are many risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV
which includes prostitution, sharing of blades, high related sexually
transmitted diseases and a host of others.
Many years back, the federal
ministry of health stood its ground to fight the menace by establishing a
special department called national Action Committee on HIV/AIDS which also
mandated all the State Ministry of health to have state action committee on
HIV/AIDS to launch various advocacy on how to curb the spread. Late 2016, there
was vigorous campaign on use of condom to prevent HIV/AIDS and many non-governmental
organisation also joined in the advocacy.
Since then, activities on
HIV advocacy had been at its lowest ebb while departments saddled with the
responsibility have been idle for quite sometimes due to the government uncaring
attitude to curbing the menace.
In most countries of the
word, PrEP drug had been introduced as a pre and post drug in order to avoid
contracting HIV from sexual partners. In Nigeria, Prep is visible but with
small presence while there is still need for an operation scale up prep has
proposed by Tosin Adesile, founder of Africa Youth Circle and Current
Secretary, National Youth network on HIV/AIDS, Ogun State branch.
It is my opinion that
governments at all level will awake from its slumber and link up with
international partners to get Nigeria away from the second positions of countries
with the highest number of people with HIV and advance to safe health regions.
The strike by the Petroleum and
Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria continues which had reduced
loading activities at depots in Apapa, Lagos, raising fear as to another round of scarcity.
It is the hope of many Nigeria that despite the exorbitant new fuel price,Federal Government will not try anything funny which can lead to a total shutdown.
PENGASSAN, which embarked on the
nationwide strike on Thursday, had said it would begin a gradual
withdrawal of its members from oil and gas fields and platforms by next
week.
A statement by the association’s
National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojugbana, on Friday
noted that there was total compliance by their members to the directive
to embark on an indefinite strike. He said the strike was not only about
the members of the association but also about the survival of the
nation’s oil and gas industry.
But the new Group Managing Director,
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Maikanti Baru, assured that
the corporation would ensure that the country does not face another
round of petrol scarcity.
Baru and the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, told journalists in Abuja that
they met with members of the oil union on Friday in a bid to end the
strike, expressing hopes that the strike would be called off and would
not cause scarcity.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said it has
set aside N2.5bn for members of the National Youth Service Corps with
good business ideas to actualise their dreams.
The N2.5bn, which was set from the
N220bn Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, the bank
said, would be disbursed to the corps members under the Youth
Entrepreneurship Development Programme.
The CBN is targeting to create one million jobs through the YEDP, which is an initiative of the apex bank launched on March 15 this year by the governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
The purpose of the programme is to address the challenges of youth unemployment in the country.
Under the YEDP, the apex bank, in
collaboration with Heritage Bank Plc, will develop the entrepreneurial
capacity of the youth as well as provide each of them with a maximum of
N3m to operate a business.
The activities to be covered under the
programme are start-ups and expansion projects in the agricultural value
chain (fish farming, poultry and snail farming), cottage industry,
mining and solid minerals.
Others are tourism, arts and crafts,
Information and Communications Technology and any other activity that
may be determined by the CBN.
Speaking during the event at the NYSC
camp in Abuja on Thursday, Emefiele said the initiative would enable the
CBN to conserve the huge foreign exchange, which was currently being
spent to import food items.
He said each corps member was entitled
to N3m, adding that their discharge certificates as well their degree
certificates would be used as collateral to secure the loan.
The governor stated, “It is not a grant
and it is a loan that must be repaid. We are determined to give support
to the youth and I truly must thank the National Youth Service Corps,
which has helped us to put together the first set of NYSC beneficiaries
so that we can nurture them as young entrepreneurs, not as people who go
into the world looking for jobs.
“We want to nurture them as people who
are developing the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial skills;
not only for their good, but also for the good of the country.
Emefiele expressed optimism that the
corps members would not default in repaying the loan owing to the fact
that they would not want to lose their certificates for N3m.
He added, “We do not anticipate that any
of them fails. However, we have as collateral their NYSC certificates
as well as their degree certificates. We know that our youths know the
importance of their degree certificates as well as their NYSC
certificates as collateral for this loan.
“I don’t think that somebody who has a
degree certificate or HND certificate to get gainful employment or a
gainful life will abandon his certificate or his NYSC discharge
certificate just because he wants to take a loan and not pay back.”
The Director-General, NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Sule Kazaure, commended the CBN for initiating the programme for the corps members.
The
Co-CEO of Supermart.ng, Gbolahan Fagbure has said that Nigeria is one of the
safest place in the world to shop online.
Fagbure who spoke recently with journalists in an interview said that it
is only in Nigeria that online transactions are secured with three step
authentication. Most nations of the
world according to him are gradually moving towards touchless payment system
where people don’t have to put in any authentication in the course of their
online transactions but Nigeria still secures transaction with three step
authentication system. 
Leading video entertainment service
provider in Africa, MultiChoice, has unfolded plans to expand its
content and improve on its services to millions of subscribers across
the continent.
The Chief Executive Officer of
MultiChoice Africa, Tim Jacobs, made this known in a recent meeting with
journalists. He said the company would continue to evaluate its pricing
structures as part of its plan to fulfill the yearning of customers for
a good set of quality content.
Jacobs said, “We are constantly
evaluating our cost structures. As part of our business model, we need
to take into account the cost of content, relative to our different
audiences. There have been massive increases in the cost of content such
as the English Premier League football rights, which we have been
factored into our pricing.
“We
are looking at alternatives, too. There is a strong consumer behaviour
(especially in Nigeria) where many consumers are self-employed and
therefore, not monthly salary earners. So, we are looking at whether it
is viable to address a different type of model or not.”
Explaining why MultiChoice Africa had to
move the popular English Premier Football League to premium bouquet,
Jacobs said it was due to the failure of a strategy devised by the
service provider to cover the cost of the rights for the package.
Since it failed to achieve the subscriber
scale required to make that possible at a cheaper price point, he
added, the company decided to shift the EPL back to premium bouquet.
Jacobs said the decision was necessary to
avoid a situation where price-sensitive Compact Plus subscribers, for
example, would have had to take a disproportionately high increase in
bouquet pricing to continue to watch the EPL.
He said, “In the latest round of rights
negotiations, the EPL rights went up by 70 per cent and we needed to
make tough decisions. It was a tough impact on consumers, but looking at
consumer affordability, we felt it was better to offer them a sports
package at a more affordable price, so we had to re-balance things.”
Also, while assessing the impact of pirates on the operations of MultiChoice Africa, Jacobs described piracy as a massive threat to broadcasters and rights holders, worldwide.
He said, “Pirates are only about
enriching themselves. We work with rights holders and broadcasters to
stop it, but it’s a moving target because their infrastructure means
they can open new portals as we shut others down.
“It is not easy to evaluate how big the
impact is, since by definition, a lot of it is underground and spread
through social media. Sometimes the challenge is broader – certain
competitors broadcast a beam that comes down into Africa. If you have
that decoder and smart card that can pick up a service that is not
designed to be broadcast in African territories, that’s also piracy
because the rights for that territory either haven’t been assigned or
they are owned by a mainstream service.”
Aware of complaints coming from
subscribers across Africa about its repeat patterns for television,
especially for DSTv, the Chief Content Officer of MultiChoice Africa,
David Booth, said the underlying goal was to give audiences another
opportunity to view missed programmes.
Noting that the viewing market in Africa
had become increasingly fragmented, he said, “The challenge for us is
balancing fresh hours of content and archive programming. The key is
that a repeat is not a repeat if you haven’t seen it.”
Booth said the company had concluded
plans to offer four additional pop-up and events channels to its
subscribers in 2016. Part of the strategy includes bringing in a kids’
channel from Turner Broadcasting.
From October, Africa Magic
viewers can expect to catch exclusive, primetime Ghanaian entertainment
content on Africa Magic World. This was revealed by the Regional
Director, M-Net West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, who was also at the
press conference.
According to Mba-Uzoukwu, the ‘Ghana
block’ will be run as a four-hour primetime content block. Other new
developments with the Africa Magic channels include the Africa Magic Original Blockbuster festival, which builds on the original movies project which Africa Magic started in 2013.
The Original Blockbusters initiative aims to create local films that are fit for theatrical release, as well as for broadcast on DStv. The project is expected to allow for more job creation in the content delivery value chain.
Also, the launch of new M-Net channels for East Africa was announced at the meeting. The new channels, Maisha Magic Bongo and Jango Luxo, exclusively created for Tanzania and Angola, respectively, will be launched on 1 October and Ocotober 11, 2015.
The Regional Director, East and Southern Africa and Lusophone countries, Theo Erasmus, said that M-Net’s vision was to create channels for each homogenous target market for Southern and Eastern Africa.
“We will also be producing a local
version of the international smash hit reality show, The Voice, there,”
he said, promising more local content in the near future, from
territories including Zambia and Zimbabwe.
From MTV Base, comes new prank show titled You Got Got and the fourth season of MTV Shuga – outside of the hugely-respected MTV MAMA, which has put Africa’s top entertainers on the global stage.
Announcing this, the Channel Director MTV Base,
Tim Horwood, said, “We are constantly trying to grow and push new
talent and celebrate the continent’s big artists. We have a show called Rate or Hate coming
soon, which will give artists who don’t make it onto the playlist, the
chance to get some exposure online and, in promo, on-air. People will be
able to vote for them, and if the audience demands it, they’ll get
their shot on the channel.”
Horwood also said an East African Chart Show would be launched in 2016 to showcase the amazing things happening in the East African music scene.
He said the newest member of the Viacom
International Media Network family on DStv – BET – would be growing and
incorporating more local content. Since ‘Top Actor SA’ produced
excellent talent, the show would be expanded to ‘Top Actor Africa’ to
broaden the search for African acting and presenting talent.
A continental version of the prestigious
‘Black Girls Rock’ event is also on the cards and will form part of
BET’s impressive music awards events, which include the BET Hip Hop
Awards, the Soul Train Awards, the BET Awards and the international
version of ‘Black Girls Rock’. The 4th season of ‘Real Husbands of
Hollywood’, starring Kevin Hart, is coming soon, as ‘’Being Mary Jane.
Source: The Punch
Mobile Telecommunication for Nigeria,(MTN),a telecommunications firm, has acquired a N34bn licence to provide digital pay television broadcasting services in Nigeria.
The National Broadcasting Commission
confirmed this on Wednesday, saying that it approved for MTN Nigeria
part of the country’s 700MHz broadcasting spectrum solely for the
purpose.
The NBC spoke against the backdrop of
allegations that it had sold the spectrum to MTN without recourse to
transparency or the Nigerian Communications Commission, the
telecommunications industry regulator that is empowered to sell such
spectrum through a transparent auction.
The
companies, which made the allegations, had insisted that the spectrum
in question must be returned to the NCC as the rightful custodian.
The NBC, however, dismissed the allegations, saying it was not a telecoms spectrum, but a broadcasting spectrum.
The Director-General, NBC, Mr. Emeka
Mba, said, “I am pleased to inform you that we have successfully
licensed MTN Nigeria to use a part of the 700MHz to provide digital
pay-TV broadcasting services. We have thus raised N34bn, slightly less
than 50 per cent of our budget.
“I am pleased to inform you, also, that
through this singular move, Nigeria has once again pointed the way to
other African countries struggling with the effort of finding financing
for their own digital switchover programmes.
“It may be necessary to clarify that the
use of the band, 470 – 862MHz, solely for UHF television broadcasting
service on a primary basis in Nigeria predates both the NBC and NCC.
“As a matter of fact, most
administrations in the International Telecommunications Union region 1
use the entire 470 – 862 MHz for UHF television broadcasting prior to
ITU WRC-2007 conference.”
Mba said that in 2006, the ITU planned
the entire 470 – 862MHz frequency band for digital UHF television
broadcasting for the region 1, to which the Nigerian administration
belonged.
He stated that the planning of the 470 –
862MHz frequency band for digital UHF television was referred to in the
ITU circle as GE-06 plan, saying, “And after the signing of the
agreements resulting from this plan, it is now referred to as the GE-06
agreement.”
The NBC director-general said the
spectrum was sold to enable Nigeria to meet the June 17, 2015 deadline
set by the ITU of transiting to digital terrestrial broadcasting.
He said despite that the announcement
was in 2006 by ITU, it was not until June 17, 2012 that the White Paper
giving direction to the process came out.
Lot of preparation had begun before the 14th
September resumption date for schools. Shopping had commenced by parents, stocking
of homes for petty foods like snack biscuit, books as well as preparation for payment
of school fees. Another major but minor thing not included above is cutting of
hair. Virtually all barber shops had been busy since 7th of
September as many parent wanted their wards to appear in school with new haircut,
new socks, shirt and shorts.
It was indeed a bumper harvest; a barber who spoke to Tosin
Adesile blog said he is presently having back pain due to the number of customers
that had been playing host to his shop for over one week. The Barber who preferred
surname anonymity is kazeem by name said he had made so much money to
offset his over three months shop rent he is owing the landlord who had been
coming to foment trouble. In Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State, the same story
was recorded except for a few with negligent manner as far as customers base is
concerned while in Alimosho area of Lagos State, Barbers around are also seen smiling
to the bank.
Following
the recent down turn in the international price of
crude oil and its effect on oil dependent economy like Nigeria, the Nigeria
president, Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to
foster development of non-oil sectors and the speedy diversification of the
country’s economy. Reacting to the president’s plan, experts have continued to
urge the president to focus on Trade and Commerce and how technology can be used to drive it.
Trade and Commerce is fast becoming an indispensable
component of the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy. The Wholesale and
Retail space for instance currently accounts for about $100 billion. This
according to a McKinsey report has a potential of increasing to $300 billion by
2030.
By Tosin Adesile
Enterprise and ethics reporting refers to the notion that business
and ethics are not separate - that business knowledge and ethical understanding
are critical components of good decisions made at all levels of organisations.
An enterprise/ethics reporting approach views individuals working
in all areas of a company - for example , investor relations, marketing,
operations or sales - as being responsible for ethics, and not just the people
who have jobs related to ethics and compliance.
Every worker can take actions that embody the purpose, vision,
values and ethical ideals of an organisation and its stakeholders. Enterprise
ethics are most often initiated by ethical leadership which connect the goals
of the organisation with those of the internal employees and external
stakeholders.
By taking cognisance of the following facts, such writing can
really go a long way in helping the human capital development of the country by
receiving a boost. For example, to a good reporter, many stories are obviously
important to cover – a house fire, a homicide, an election, a new state budget.
But what about those slow news days when breaking news is sparse and there
aren’t any interesting press releases worth checking out? Those are the days
when good reporters are working on what they call “enterprise stories.” They’re
the kind of stories that many reporters find the most rewarding to do.
Enterprise reporting involves stories not based on
press releases or news conferences. Instead, enterprise reporting is all about
the stories a reporter digs up on his or her own, what many people call
“scoops.” Enterprise reporting goes beyond merely covering events. It explores
the forces shaping those events.
For instance, we’ve all heard stories about recalls of faulty and
possibly dangerous products related to children like cribs, toys and car seats.
Sometimes, a reporter could write
about they discovered a pattern of inadequate
governmental regulation as well as other stories.
In developing an enterprise stories, it is good to
think outside the box. Most reporters will tell you that uncovering such
stories involves two key journalistic skills: observation and investigation. Ethical
journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate,
fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.
The Society declares these four principles as the
foundation of ethical journalism and encourages their use in its practice by
all people in all media. Seek Truth and Report It.
Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Journalists should take responsibility for the accuracy of your work when necessary and verify such information. It is very important to also note that gathering, updating and correcting information throughout the life of a news story. Sources should be identified clearly without any misrepresentation.
Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Journalists should take responsibility for the accuracy of your work when necessary and verify such information. It is very important to also note that gathering, updating and correcting information throughout the life of a news story. Sources should be identified clearly without any misrepresentation.
The
focus of writing ethics/enterprising story on human capital is to drive home
the economic growth for developing countries. The concept
of human capital refers to the abilities and skills of human resources of a
country, while human capital development refers to the process of acquiring and
increasing the number of persons who have the skills, education and experience
that are critical for economic growth and development of a country’s economy. Developing countries have made considerable
progress in closing the gap with developed countries in terms of school
attainment, but recent research has underscored the importance of cognitive
skills for economic growth. This result shifts attention to issues of school
quality, and there developing countries have been much less successful in
closing the gaps with developed countries. Without improving school quality as
well as other important areas, developing countries will find it difficult to
improve their long run economic performance. The significance
and relevance of human capital development in the achievement of meaningful and
sustainable economic growth and development have been widely acknowledged in
various studies. In the absence of substantial investment in the development of
human capital in any country, sustained economic growth and development would
only be a mere wish, never a reality. Therefore, the place of human capital
development in economic growth cannot be overemphasized. Human capital
development is a key prerequisite for a country’s socio-economic and political
transformation. Among the generally agreed causal factors responsible for the
impressive performance of the economy of most of the developed and the newly
industrializing countries is an impressive commitment to human capital
formation.
Nigeria’s major objective has been to attain
stability, material prosperity, peace and social progress. However, this has
been hampered as a result of internal problems. These include inadequate human
development, primitive agricultural practices, weak infrastructure, and
uninspiring growth of the manufacturing sector, a poor policy and regulatory
environment and mismanagement and misuse of resources. In order to ensure the
economy delivers on its potentials, the country experimented with two
development philosophies-a private sector-led growth in which the private
sector served as the “engine house” of the economy and a public sector –driven
growth in which the government assumed the “commanding heights” of the economy.
The initial low level of private sector development, however, led to public
sector dominance of the economy, encouraged by growth in the oil sector
according UNDP 2009 report.
The onus therefore
lies in the hand of the press particularly journalist to write changing story
on enterprising as well as ethical story in order to create necessary change as
far human capital development is concerned.
The naira rose on the back of weak demand for the dollar at the foreign exchange markets.
Forex traders linked this to an improved
dollar liquidity occasioned by the sustained sales of the greenback by
the Central Bank of Nigeria.
As fuel scarcity continues to ground movement, fewer cars are noticed on the road at most area in Ogun,Lagos,Ibadan,Kwara,Abuja and other environs. few stations with fuel now sells between 150 to 200.
Operations of black market sellers have further blossomed. Innocent Citizen now bears the brunt of Government in-efficiency.
As many look forward to swearing of Alh.Muhammadu Buhari on the 29th as next elected president,it is majority hope that fuel scarcity will be a thing of the past in our nation.
Mba disclosed that the regulatory agency has proposed an extension of the country’s switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting by 18 months.
He also disclosed that 11 companies have been licensed for the local manufacture of set-top-boxes after the payment of N550m (N50m each).
Set-top-boxes are antennas that enable analogue television sets to receive signals from digital transmitters.
Mba said the President approved two community stations for each of the six geopolitical zones in the country, thereby bringing the number to 12.
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