22032019- INEC holds make-up polls in 17 states, FCT tomorrow

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2019
COMMISSIONING: From left- Governor, State of Osun, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, former National
Chairman, All Progressive Congress, APC, Chief Bisi Akende and the Orangun of Ila, Oba Wahab
Kayode Oyedotun, during the official commissioning of the new Secretariat Complex of Ila Central
Local Council Development Area,Ila Orangun, Osun State, yesterday.
Nigeria's broadband penetration hits 33%
—NCC
By Emmanuel
Elebeke
ABUJA—THE Executive
Vice Chairman of the
Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, Prof.
Umar Danbatta says that
Nigeria's broadband
penetration is now 33%.
The EVC disclosed this
while receiving a team of
Bharti Airtel Group in his
office in Abuja.
Prof. Danbatta said there
has been a steady increase
in broadband penetration
across the country which he
attributed to what he called
the ambitious 4G network
expansion by the telecom
operators like Airtel.
Recall that the National
Environmentalists, experts task FG on
renewable energy
By Alemma Aliu
BENIN
CITY—
ENERGY experts
across the country yesterday
tasked the federal
government on the need to
Polls: I couldn't have manipulated
election results —Adjogbe
By Festus Ahon
ASABA—THE Acting
Executive Director,
Projects, EDP on the Niger
Delta Development
Commission, NDDC,
Samuel Adjogbe has
denied allegation of
manipulation of election
results in Evwreni Ward 8
during the March 9 State
Houses of Assembly
election being levelled
against him by the House
of Assembly candidate of
Accord Party in Ughelli
North constituency I, Chief
Ominimini Obuiwevbi.
Adjogbe in a statement
issued by his Special
Assistant on Media and
Broadband Plan in 2012, set
a 30% target to be achieved
by December 2018 but the
country achieved 31.6% as
at December 2018,
surpassing the 30% target.
The NCC boss
commended Airtel for its
commitment in assisting the
country in its efforts to
deepen broadband
penetration and expressed
optimism that the country
will record remarkable
improvement in the current
year.
Danbatta said though, the
stakeholders had set a new
70% broadband target for
the next five years, he
assured that the
government would soon
come up with a new
do more in terms of policies
to change to renewable
energy to reduce
environmental pollution and
global warming.
They also want the country
to lipfrog the developed
Publicity, Mr Ogheneovo
Itefue described the allegation
as "baseless, bearing in
mind that in this day of politicking,
people who sit in
otherwise noble and responsible
positions remain
victims of political blackmails
targeted at pulling
them down.
"I was not even a
candidate in the said
election talkless of nursing
a motive to manipulate the
votes of the Evwreni people.
I therefore have no reason
whatsoever to manipulate
election results.
"For all it's worth, the
Evwreni people recognize
development and progress
when they see one. A choice
National Broadband Plan
target, Phase 2.
He said: ‘‘It is good to see
Airtel responding to
services, especially 4G
services. It is good to hear
the level of expansion
because we are seeing
remarkable improvement
in broadband penetration.
‘‘The figures are
increasingly going up. We
are at about 33% now. This
we can attribute to very
ambitious expansion of
network operators like
Airtel in places like Lagos,
Kano, Rivers, Ibadan and
Abuja. This lends
credence to figures we are
seeing from broadband
penetration.
‘‘We are seeing increase
countries of the world by
focusing on using energies
that are environmentally
friendly instead of still relying
on fossil fuel which
is injurious to the
environment and humans.
The experts made the
call at the opening session
which remains exclusive to
them to make".
According to him, "rather
than resort to the
appropriate forum to
address his grievances,
Chief Ominimini
Obuiwevbi has taken to a
failed blame game in the
media, against me, an icon
of due process and
integrity.
"The totality of
Ominimini Obiuvwevbi's
claims therefore tallies with
the frustration normally
expected of a sore loser and
while it remains important
to set these facts straight,
he must be mindful that
baseless attacks on the
reputation of a person is
actionable in court."
in broadband subscription,
especially to services
provided by Airtel. It is
good for Nigerians to hear
this that Airtel is helping us
to hit the broadband
penetration target."
‘‘ We were supposed to
achieve 30% as at
December 2018 but we
have exceeded that target
courtesy of national
Broadband Plan. We are
steadily seeing increase in
broadband penetration. As
at February, there is a new
target of 70% in the next
five years. We will come
up with new. So far, no official
announcement has
been made on that by the
minister."
of a three day National
Stakeholders Training and
Awareness Workshop on
Renewable Energy
Technologies and
Environmental
Sustainability organised by
the National Centre for
Energy and Environment
(NCEE).
While declaring open the
works, Director General/
Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of Energy
Commission of Nigeria
(ECN) Professor Eli Bala
said Nigeria should begin
to think about utilisation of
natural resources in the
country to reduce emission
of toxic carbon and
“enhance security of future
generations”
Represented by the Chief
Scientific Officer ECN, Mr
Samuel Abraham-Aku,
said: “Renewable energy
technology has been one of
the most neglected options
in our national energy
development. As a result,
Energy Commission of Nigeria
has been giving preference to
research development programs
in renewable energy systems that
offer energy solutions suited to
our national needs."
World Bank grants $66m to Gambia
to help fix electricity
THE World Bank yesterday approved a $66
million grant to the Gambia government to
support the access grid and electricity transmissions
in the rural setting of the country under the
ECOWAS Regional Electricity Access Project.
The signing ceremony was held at the ministry
of Finance and Economic Affairs complex in Banjul
and signed by Mamburay Njie on behalf of
Government and Mrs. Louise Cord, the World
Bank country Director.
The project will increase power capacity and
transmission network of the National Water and
Electricity Company to scale up its transmission
and distribution networks.
Finance Minister Njie said the project is in line
with the government's national development plan
and expected to change the lives of the rural
household and reduce rural-urban migration.
He said the Barrow government is committed
to harness the growth of the country's energy sector
to impact on the socio economic lives of the
people in the rural communities.
Kenya: Economy to lose Sh500bn over
earmarked buildings set for demolition
T
HE Nairobi Regeneration team has said the
demolition of buildings on riparian land if allowed
to continue, will impact the economy adversely to the
tune of Sh500 billion.
Appearing before the Senate Lands Committee, the
team's Chairman Najib Balala said already 5,000
buildings have been earmarked for demolition.
Balala who is also the Tourism Cabinet Secretary
however said engagements with resident associations
are currently undergoing.
"The value of demolition of those buildings will be
Sh500 billion; that would be a major destruction on
the economy; so, before the multi-agency proceeds, I
will caution that a serious discussion on policy,
compensation, litigation and action should be taken
as a priority," Balala cautioned.
The Committee members led by their Chair Senator
Paul Githiomi (Nyandarua) had asked the team to be
fair to the innocent Kenyans who have invested their
resources and had legal documents to construct the
buildings.
Investment banking enduring worst
quarter 'in recent history' — UBS
THE chief executive of UBS has called the last
three months one of the worst quarters in
investment banking's recent history.
Addressing an investment conference in London,
Sergio Ermotti said UBS was planning on cutting
an extra $300m of costs in the current year,
primarily through a slowdown in hiring, after its
investment banking arm endured a torrid three
months.
According to reports, Ermotti said revenues at
the division were down by around a third
compared to the first quarter of 2018. "We've seen
some improvement lately but it remains patchy,
and not enough to offset the challenging start to
the year," he said.
Switzerland's biggest bank now expects to
achieve mid-single digit adjusted returns on
attributed equity for the first quarter, compared
to 12.6% in the same period a year ago.