Adeleke: We remain resolute, committed to good governance - ITREALMS

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The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has reiterated his commitment to delivering good governance and infrastructure development, despite baseless criticisms from some politicians, reports ITREALMS.

According to a statement by Mallam Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to the State Governor, Adeleke is set to flag off the dualization of Ila Orangun township road and the second phase of Osogbo-Ikirun-Ila Odo Kwara State Boundary road.

Okunbor: Shell committed to energy security in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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Shell will continue to power progress in the drive for energy security in Nigeria through its businesses in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream and Renewables sectors, Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC,) Osagie Okunbor said yesterday in Lagos.

In remarks delivered on his behalf by Exploration Manager Gogo Eneyok at the opening of the 42nd Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE,) Okunbor said the range of the Shell businesses were integrated across the energy value chain and working hard to address the challenges as captured in the theme of the event: “Resolving the Nigeria Energy Trilemma: Energy Security, Sustainable Growth & Affordability.”

NNPC committed to building huge oil, gas infrastructure - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd) will continue to invest in the development of huge oil and gas infrastructure to make it easy for operators and prospective investors to carry out their business in Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

The Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), on Tuesday in Houston, Texas, United States of America.

Adeduntan: FirstBank is future-proof, remains committed to gold standard in banking excellence - ITREALMS

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With over 4.6 trillion-naira loans to customers in Q3 2023, FirstBank is committed to economic growth and transformation says the Group Managing Director of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, the premier bank in Africa, Dr. Sola Adeduntan, in this interview with Festus Akanbi in readiness for the 2024 journey.

 The global community is yet to recover from the hostilities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and the wars do not look as if they will end soon. How can Nigeria, a leading  producer of oil, take advantage of the attendant disruptions to world order to reposition its economy instead of continuing to count the losses of the wars?

Ajegunle youths advised to remain focused, committed to studies - ITREALMS

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The youths have been charged to remain focused and committed in their studies so as to achieve their set goals cum aspirations not minding their immediate environment to be an obstacles in their educational pursuits, reports ITREALMS.

The Convener of a non-governmental organisattion (NGO), Uplifting the Youngsters Foundation (UYF), Ms Chioma Ejere gave this charge in her opening speech at a One-Day seminar organised for Secondary Schools Students in Ajegunle-Apapa at Ajeromi Central Nursery & Primary School with the theme "Excelling in the midst of distractions, health consequences of drug and alcohol addiction."

Danbatta: NCC committed to digital job creation for youths - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated its commitment to digital job creation for Nigerian youths, reports ITREALMS.

Disclosing ths, the Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar garba Danbatta, said this is In line with one of the pillars of the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy, (NDEPS 2020-2030), which is to further accelerate economic growth in digital literacy and skills.

NLNG: We're committed to Nigerian Content - ITREALMS

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Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has stated that it is committed to ensuring Nigerians benefit maximally from all its operations by going beyond mere compliance with Nigerian Content targets as set out in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICD) 2010.

NLNG’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, made the statement on Wednesday 24th August while leading a delegation on a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary (ES) of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, at the regulator’s head office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Igbalajobi: Intelligent, committed workforce key to overcoming corporate challenges – ITREALMS

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As technology continues to play an increasingly important role in transforming Human Resource Management (HRM) operations across the world, Africa’s human capital solutions giant, SystemSpecs Technology, a subsidiary of renowned tech giant, SystemSpecs, has underscored the importance of an intelligent and committed workforce for corporate organisations in overcoming challenges.

During a recent visit by students and staff from the Industrial Relations & HRM Unit of Covenant University to the SystemSpecs office in Victoria Island, Lagos, the Managing Director of SystemSpecs Technology, Demola Igbalajobi, said intelligent, committed employees of good character have played a huge role in helping the company overcome various challenges in its 30 years of existence.

Danbatta: NCC committed to promoting organizational efficiency, capacity building - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has once again reiterated its stance on professionalizing its workforce and strengthening collaborations with strategic partners such as the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) in order to enhance operational efficiency.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this while receiving a delegation led by the Acting Registrar and CEO of NIM, Jude Iheanacho, who paid a courtesy visit to the NCC Head Office recently.

NCC reaffirms commitment to last-mile connectivity - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has reaffirmed commitment to ensure that the provision of broadband infrastructure across the country achieves last-mile connectivity, reports ITREALMS.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this at the 4th Quarter Seminar/Induction Ceremony of the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) held in Lagos at weekend.

With the theme: ‘Achieving Last-Mile Connectivity through Affordable Broadband’, Danbatta, who was represented by Dr. Henry Nkemadu, Deputy Director/ Head, Special Intervention Projects, NCC stated that Commission will ensure the provision of broadband infrastructure across the country to achieve last-mile connectivity.

According to him, “The communications sector is a catalyst that would provide the needed infrastructure that will enable other sectors of Business, Education, Health, Agriculture, Governance and Finance to thrive. The sector provides the infrastructure to enable other infrastructures in the different sectors of Business, Education, Health, Agriculture, Governance, Finance and so on.

“The importance of this sector has continued to enhance human capabilities such as healthy life, knowledge, creativity, collaboration, innovation, self-organisation and participation in the social, economic and political life of the country as well as impact on economic growth through productivity gains.”

He also revealed that the commission’s activities have impacted on efficient improvements in service delivery that enable national development.

Danbatta explained that telecommunication acts as an enabler to drive socio-economic growth, developments and modernisation across all sectors of the economy.

He added that robust and reliable telecoms service lies on adequate broadband infrastructure which will provide the needed impetus to achieve last mile connectivity.

Fielding questions at the event, the agency’s EVC hinted that the regulatory agency has made plans for massive deployment of 5G infrastructure in the country.

“At the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on 5G Readiness and High Altitude Platform Station Technologies in Abuja recently, the NCC announced its plans for massive deployment of infrastructure for the new technology.

“5G has the potential to be transformational for communities in Nigeria because of the set high requirements for 5G networks: fast, ubiquitously available services provided by infrastructure deployed across all regions.

“The 5G technology has significantly faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices.”

He commended the 15-member committee inaugurated by former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to draw up national broadband strategy for a work well done.

He further commended NCC for achieving the 30 percent broadband penetration target that was set from 2013 to 2018.

Also speaking at the event, Emma Okonji, NITRA Chairman, commended the NCC leadership for the passion for broadband development in the country, adding that it has further deepened broadband penetration and grew it to the 30.9 percent that we currently achieved.

On his part, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) who was represented by Engr. Aremu Olajide, Technical Committee Chairman, ALTON, decried the hostile business environment in the country, noting that it’s the reason why CDMA Company’s died.

He therefore called on the media to help in sustaining the environment for the existing and prospective operators by ensuring accurate reportage of the sector.

He appealed to the media to always research on some of the laws being implemented by the state governments and ask questions on the areas of irregularities, citing the tax disputes between the Kogi state government and mobile network operators as an example.

Adebayo condemned the multiple taxation and other regulatory and environmental challenges telecom operators are being subjected to in the industry.

Also speaking at the event, Stan Ekeh, Chairman, Zinox Group, said the future of Nigeria rests on technology.

Ekeh who was represented by Gideon Ayogu, Head of Corporate Communications, Zinox, stressed the need for the Federal Government to give more attention to technology and innovations, as these are what define the world today.

“There is no better time than now for the country to support technological innovations because that is what the world is using to make significant relevance. If you check the leading five companies in the world today, you will discover that technology companies to the list.”

During his goodwill message, Dr. Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director of Rack Centre, said that cloud technology will transform Nigeria and Africa if we deploy it in sachet format.

He described Nigeria to be running what he called a sachet economy, where the citizens buy things in sachet form, stressing that deploying cloud in sachet format will ensure that it gets to the citizenry easy and faster.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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US committed to inclusive women @workplace - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

The United States Consul General F. John Bray has reiterated the commitment of the US government to inclusive women at the work place, reports ITRealms.

Speaking in Lagos on “Transforming the Future:  Women Mentoring Women in the Workplace” Tuesday, Mr. John Bray said they are committed to advocating for and including women in the workplace both in the United States and abroad.

He pointed out that the first female diplomat was hired in the 1920s but she had to resign when she married.

“The ‘marriage rule’ was not abolished until the late 1970s,” he said.

John Bray recalled that when he joined the Department, the State Department workforce was 27 per cent, were most of these people doing clerical work. 

“It is now 40 percent, but still not the 50 percent we are committed to achieving,” he said, stressing that the number of female diplomats has remained steady at 30 per cent for the past decade. 

“The percentage of senior positions held by women at the State Department is at an all-time high – 30 per cent,” he declared.

Pointing for instance, that through structured mentoring programmes run by Executive Women at State and our Human Resources bureau, the United States has been working to increase the number of women in line with our goal of having a workforce that reflects the makeup of U.S. society.

“To support women internationally, we established the office of Global Women’s affairs in 1995.  We have identified assisting women to achieve senior positions in both the private and public sector as a priority. One of the many programs that we have includes the Global Women’s Mentoring programme,” he said..

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Shell says ‘we’re strongly committed to Nigeria’ voted $29bn in 4 years

ITRealms:

The country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has declared the company’s commitment to development of the country, even as the firm under its joint venture contributed the sum of $29 billion in the last four years to boost investment in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Disclosing this in Lagos, Okunbor said that the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) operated Joint Venture alone contributed the sum of $29 billion to the Nigerian purse between 2012 and 2016.

He also said that in 2016 alone, the royalties and corporate taxes paid by Shell Companies in Nigeria to the Federal Government amounted to $1.4 billion (SPDC $1.0 billion and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) $0.4 billion).

“This is besides the energy which Shell Companies contribute to the Nigerian economy, with Shell-operated ventures in Nigeria recording an output of some 572,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2016,” he said.

Okunbor, who doubles as the Managing Director of SPDC, gave the statistics in a review of Shell operations in Nigeria for 2016 while sharing the 2017 Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes with ITRealms.

“Shell has been operating in Nigeria for more than 50 years. “And it is not by chance that we have remained deeply committed to the development of Nigeria, her people and her economy by efficiently and responsibly producing oil and gas in onshore and offshore as well as distributing gas to industries and producing liquefied natural gas for export,” he said.

The determination of Shell to support the monetisation of the nation’s huge gas resources, Okubor revealed, led it to establishment of Shell Nigeria Gas in 1998, which now supplies gas to about 90 industrial customers in Ogun, Rivers and Abia states. The gas is used for power generation and processing by industries for the manufacture of domestic products ranging from household consumables, to household utensils and hardware.

Further, he said, Shell Companies in Nigeria paid special attention to the welfare of host communities, making Nigeria the second largest recipient of social investment spending in the Shell Group after the United States. Areas of focus include community and enterprise development, education, health, access-to-energy and since 2016, road safety. 

This, he said was in addition to community-driven development programmes and initiatives delivered through the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), which target themes as determined by benefiting communities.

In a bid to involve more Nigerian contractors in their operations, the Shell Contractor Funding initiative was expanded with eight participating banks committing about $2.2 billion to fund contract execution by Nigerian companies working for Shell Companies in Nigeria. Since the programme’s creation in 2011, loans worth approximately $1 billion have been awarded to 220 small and medium-sized Nigerian enterprises with no recorded defaults on repayment. The Shell Contractor Fund was approved by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at its plenary session on “Shared Value creation and local content” in December 2016 and included in the compendium of global best practices.

SNEPCo added to its efforts to improve the capability of Nigerian vendors and service providers in deep water operations by assigning significant portion of work to this category of contractors in its recently-concluded turnaround maintenance at Bonga field.

Mr. Okunbor also commented on crude theft and other security issues in Shell operations. Crude oil theft on SPDC’s pipeline network resulted in a loss of about 5,660 barrels of oil a day (bbl/d) in 2016, which is less than the 25,000 bbl/d in 2015. The number of sabotage-related spills declined to 45 compared with 93 in 2015. He explained: “The reduction in oil theft and sabotage-related spills from the previous year can be attributed to continued improvements in air and ground surveillance and response by government security forces, lower production levels at SPDC JV operations in the Western part of the Niger Delta due to acts of sabotage and our divestment from key pipelines in 2015.”

“We continue to work with the government and other key stakeholders on the security challenges in our operating environment and look towards sustained and fruitful operations for the benefit of the Nigerian state and all other shareholders,” he said.

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Pix: L-R: Campaign Implementation Advisor, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mrs. Darbuni Maikori; Communications Manager, Shell Nigeria, Mrs. Sola Abulu and Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Precious Okolobo.

PayU committed to simplify payment systems in Nigeria -Nwanguma

ITRealms:

The country manager of a global online payment service provider, PayU Payments Nigeria Limited, Juliet Nwaanguma, has reiterated the commitment of the company to simplify payment systems in the country, reports ITRealms.

She also said that PayU is coming to Nigeria with innovations capable of making the market more competitive, as the company is fully approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in line with its initiative to promote cashless economy.

Speaking in Abuja at the end of Committee of e-Banking Heads (CeBIH) meeting, she told ITRealms, PayU is part of the leading and trusted PayU group of companies owned by Naspers.

Noting that globally, PayU group of companies, provides payment processing and related services to merchants and consumers, even as the group’s strength lies in its local approach to payments, anchored on valuing local language and culture.

Nwanguma pointed out that by establishing a local presence in Nigeria, this further underscores the group's values.

"PayU" offers simple and secure online payment services to merchants enabling them to accept payments of goods and services using debit and credit cards from their customers and other alternative payment methods as well,” she said.

The country manager further said PayU is a leading online payment service provider in 16 global markets with the objective to provide simple and secure online payment solutions to merchants and consumers.

“This objective is in response to the growing market and regulatory needs to take cash payments online and digitise the economy, whilst at the same time ensuring financial inclusion for all,” she said.

PayU, she said, commenced operations last year in Nigeria, with the aim of looking at the needs of merchants in the country and developing innovative payment solutions that will solve their problems and grow their revenue in the online space.

“And for consumers, offer them a simple and secure means of payments to merchants and businesses,” she declared.

The value proposition of the company, she said, is based on technology which enables provision of superior product offerings and develops innovative payment solutions.

“We offer various services and solutions to enable different sizes of merchants and businesses to receive online payments with or without a website and also provide automated collections of regular payments from their customers,” she said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Breaking News: Enugu herdsmen mayhem: Presidency denied Ugwuanyi access to Buhari for 3hrs, calls put on-hold

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Revelations have emerged as to why the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi busted into tears on seeing the mayhem allegedly committed by Fulani terrorists cum herdsmen on Ukpabi-Nimbo community in Uzouwani Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, reports ITRealms.

According to reports that filtered into ITRealms newsroom late Tuesday, the governor was denied access to the Presidency for close to four hours on two attempts.

Sources close to the Enugu State government confirmed to ITRealms that Gov. Ugwuanyi had on getting information on intending attack summoned security meeting which included all the parties as well as the Hausa-Fulani Community in Enugu State, security agents and community leaders and effort to alert the President Muhammadu Buhari proved abortive with his calls initially placed on hold for over 75 minutes by an aide, that is an hour 15 minutes.

Also, it was revealed that second effort to reach Mr. President was when after contacting the Police authorities and they failed to send a contingent to Uzouwani LGA, the Governor reportedly reached out to the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu, who referred him to the Presidency for directives, and his call was equally alleged to have been put on-hold for about 2 hours.

Surprisingly, our source who claimed his relative was among those who witnessed the calls, said, immediately it was evident that the attack has taken place, both the Police and Army (82) division deployed forces to the Nimbo community for fear of reprisal, thus leaving much to be desired.

As said by our source, the first call made by Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to the president, was put on hold for over an hour 15 minutes, in the presence of some 13 men and 4 women, but a presidential aide told the governor that the president will revert.

While reverting after four hours, it was gathered that the presidential aide told Gov. Ugwuanyi that the president will do something about his complains.

“My relative was among the people who witness this call,” our source insisted, stressing that while waiting to speak to the president for the second time, the news came in that the attack he was planning to avert has actually taken place.

Our source further expressed concern that the same way Lagos and Agatu, Benue state attacks respectively was executed and retaliation prevented was the same way Nimbo attack was prevented too.

He further urged Gov. Ugwuanyi and all the good people of Enugu State to demand probe on this massacre, while working on plan B, wondering why the State Police Commissioner and GOC needed presidential orders to protect the innocent citizens? And why they sent their men to Uzouwani after the attack to prevent reprisal?

In addition, our source said there is need for Nigeria and Enugu indigenes and the Igbos at large to know “why a sitting Governor cannot use the support of police and military to protect his people?”

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Intel prepares NYSC members on tech entrepreneurship

L-R: Mr. Toni Oviosun,Project Manager NYSC; Mrs. Angela Okoh,

Business Development Manager NYSC; Mr. Osagie Ogunbor,

Corporate Affairs Manager Intel Corporation at the Intel-sponsored

 free Technology & Entrepreneurship Training in Lagos recently.

Committed to the development of the youth in the country, Intel West Africa has partnered the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) to train the members of the corp as its part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The session tagged Technology and Entrepreneurship, according to the Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel, Mr. Osagie Ogunbor, said that as part of its commitment to national building.

He also disclosed that the one-week free training is the first of several that will stretch across other states of the Federation with Lagos being the initial state in the pilot phase.

“The Training of Youth Corp Members is part of Intel’s Corporate Social Responsiveness to the educational needs of our society. The week long free training strives to equip youth corps members with necessary skills to cope in the 21^st Century workplace taking them through an intense technology-entrepreneurship scheme.” Said the Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel West Africa, Osagie Ogunbor in his opening address that flagged off training activities, last Tuesday.

Ogunbor noted that the initiative more than anything, was birthed out of the necessity to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship towards establishing businesses and ultimately reducing the increasing unemployment problem in Nigeria.

“The changing trends in the global economy are increasingly becoming knowledge-based being driven by advances in Information and Communication Technology and this has significantly raised the stakes in the labour market.” Ogunbor said.

Additionally, he noted that as graduates prepare to enter the labour market, the possession of technical knowledge on its own, would not suffice, but ownership of complementary life skills to deliver the highest possible value in any field of endeavor was the ultimate task.

Ogunbor informed ITRealms that Intel is working closely with the Youth Enterprise With Innovation In Nigeria (YOUWIN) to further encourage the growth of individual businesses as part of a solution to unemployment. Courtesy of YOUWIN,  the youth corpers being trained are entered into a business plan competition where they stand a chance of getting seed capital for businesses they may want to set up.

Mr. Ogunbor, this initiative is just one of several other technology/education based initiatives championed by Intel towards improving the quality of life of people around the world. 

Remmy Nweke
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