BusinessDay 21 Sep 2017

Thursday 21 September 2017 C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY 15
COMPANIES & MARKETS
LAPO boosts farmers’ capacity
with N3.2bn in seven months
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin
The management of
Lift Above Poverty
Organization (LAPO)
has said that a total
of 98,202 subsistence
farmers were between January
and July, 2017 empowered with
the sum of N3.233 billion.
The organization had disbursed
close to N2.2 billion to 92,
156 subsistence farmers across
the country between January
and May, 2017.
Sabina Idowu-Osehobo,
executive director of LAPO, gave
the hint in Benin-City while reviewing
the performance of the
LAPO Agricultural and Rural
Development Initiative (LARDI).
Osehobo said the programme
was part of the organization’s
policy to improve food
security as well as enhanced
the production capacity of rural
farmers in the country.
While attributing LAPO’s
outstanding performance over
the years to strong institutional
strength, staff commitment to
excellence and hardwork, she
added that the organization was
ready to maintain its superior
performance trajectory.
Idowu-Osehobo enjoined
low-income farmers to take
advantage of the affordable loan
opportunity offered by LAPO to
enhance the growth and development
of their farm enterprises.
Illegal dollar evacuation to Dubai
threatens naira stability – Gwadabe
She also restated the organization’s
commitment to agricultural
development in the
country.
She posited that the LAPO
organization equally builds the
capacity of rural farmers through
on-farm demonstration and
training as well as developed
recently a 5-year growth strategy
with People, Technology,
Products and Performance as
strategic pillars.
Osehobo noted that the organization
has over the years
evolved robust, viable, well
equipped institutions with systems
and structures that are
capable of delivering sound economic,
social and health services
in the fight against poverty.
Business Event
L-R: D.J. Binitie, president, GCUOBA, Lagos Branch ; Charles Majoroh, acting president-general
Worldwide, GCUOBA, and Alfred Okoigun, chairman, national dinner organizing committee, at a
press conference to sensitize the press and the public on the forthcoming annual national dinner of the
Government College Ughelli Old Boys Association (GCUOBA),scheduled for October 7, 2017 in Lagos.
Aminu Gwadabe, the
President of Association
of Bureaux De
Change Operators of
Nigeria (ABCON), says consistent
evacuation of dollars
illegally from Nigeria to Dubai is
a threat to stability of the naira.
Gwadabe made the observation
in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
in Lagos on Monday.
He said that currency speculators
would stop at nothing to
make nonsense of the gains
the naira had made against the
dollar at the foreign exchange
market in Nigeria.
According to him, huge
sums of dollars go through
the nation’s boarders illegally,
creating artificial dollar scarcity
in Nigeria.
The ABCON chief said that:
“Hawala activities, where the
naira is traded abroad and create
frivolous demand for the dollar
is still a threat to naira stability.”
The financial expert, however,
said that the naira had
remained stable in the local
market exchanging between
N360 and N365 to the dollar in
the past five months.
He said that the depreciation
in the value in the naira was only
being witnessed abroad.
Gwadabe dismissed reports
that the naira was traded for as
low as as N369 to the dollar at the
parallel market, describing it as
the handiwork of speculators.
He said that currency speculators
were bent on distorting
the market to mitigate the effects
of their losses arising from the
appreciation of the naira against
the dollar.
NAN reports that since February
when the CBN started
aggressive interventions at the
foreign exchange market, it has
injected more than 3.6 billion
dollars into the market.
These series of interventions
resulted in the stability of the
naira at the parallel market and
narrowed the gap between the
interbank and parallel market
exchange rates.
Some experts have advised
the CBN to give more attention
to the manufacturing sector
in the allocation of foreign
exchange to boost activities in
the sector.
L-R: Bunmi Balogun, operations director, Banksome Global Renewable Energy Limited; Babajide
Somefun, executive chairman, Banksome Group; Yemi Osinbajo, vice president of Nigeria; Kenneth Ife,
Consultant to Banksome, and Bayo Fisher, managing director, Banksome Global Renewable Energy
Limited during a courtesy visit to the Vice President on Renewable Energy for Nigeria in Abuja.
Halogen launches professional MBA
programme in security management
Halogen School of Security
Management
and Technology has
signed a memorandum
of understanding with
Babcock Centre for Executive
Development of the Babcock
University, on Tuesday 29th
August, 2017. The collaboration
seeks to provide a specialized
post-graduate program titled
“Professional MBA in Security
Management” (PMBA). This
programme will start week commencing
30th October 2017 at
the Ilisan Campus.
The aim of this initiative
is to broaden the knowledge
base and develop the next generation
of industry leaders with
advanced security and technology
skills required to tackle the
security and risk challenges
facing our nation. Security has
become an important aspect
of human nature as the world
has become smaller, open and
exposed without boundaries,
noting the rapid influence of the
internet and cyber space.
The signing ceremony was
witnessed by Wale Olaoye, managing
director and chief CEO
of Halogen Security Ltd; the
MoU was signed by Ademola
Tayo, president and vice chancellor
of Babcock University,
and Adebowale Adeagbo, chief
operating officer at the Halogen
School of Security Management
and Technology.
Speaking on the partnership,
Adeagbo said, “the future of every
nation depends on how you
nurture and grow the capacity of
your next generation. Hence we
need new skills that will manage
the varied facets of our security.
We believe that this programme
- which will be 70% online so as
to enable flexible learning - will
change the equation and ensure
new competencies and capabilities
are developed whilst we disrupt
the way we learn and tackle
security in a strategic way.”
Olaoye noted that the program
is set to release the next
generation of risk managers who
are no longer looking at security
the way we do today.
He said: “these will be experts
who are able to lead our
national security space in a more
strategic way, as they tackle head
on, the challenges of our current
and the future exposure in an
open world.”
“National security today
is not limited to the statutory
and private forces, but must be
looked at from broader perspectives,
in terms of food, technology,
medicine, ethics, human relations,
electronics, physical and
the entire component of what
makes life a living for people.
These perspectives thus take security
to a different dimension,
noting the realities of the world
today,” he added, concluding
that the new generation of risk
managers the program will
breed will ensure the safety and
security of the entire existential
space.
In his address Ademola Tayo
said: “We are excited about this
partnership, understanding that
Halogen is a household name
when it comes to providing security
and the training needed
in our challenging environment.
It is also important to note that
Babcock University is known for
excellence.
L –R: Tunde Akindele, director and former board chairman, Institute for National Transformation (INT)
Vincent Anigbogu, director general, international, Institute for National Transformation; Peggy Anigbogu
, chief of admin, Institute for National Transformation (INT), international and Philip Igbinijesu, executive
director, Institute for National Transformation (INT), West Africa, at the 10th year anniversary briefing of
Institute for National Transformation in Lagos .
Pic by Pius Okeosisi
L-R: Buniface Ortese, the executive secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, BESEMA;
Terlumun Utsev, commissioner for water resources and environment; Blessing Amanze, regional trade
marketing manager, MTN Nigeria, and Lolo Antonia Agbasi, MTN Nigeria trade partner, Benue State,
during the honourable commissioner presenting the gift items to the executive secretary of the Benue
State Emergency Management Agency.