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Business News
Friday, December 13, 2013
Collapsed communications masts killed 10 in Lagos –UFRU
...to begin decommissioning of 4,000 masts January KUNLE A ZEEZ
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ore than 10 lives have been lost to cases of collapsed communications masts and towers in Lagos State in the past years, the Urban Furniture Regulator Unit disclosed yesterday. UFRU is the Lagos State agency responsible for monitoring the compliance of telecoms masts and towers built in the state to acceptable environmental standards. Give final warning to owners of old masts which include the banks, Internet Service Providers, Insurance firms, oil companies, hotels, hospitals and others to evacuate such masts by the end of December, this year, Head, UFRU, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, who read the riot act, said the presence of such old communications facilities constituted threats human
safety. “In the past years, more than 10 people have been killed as a result of collapsed masts. We have the data on our systems. At least, in the past five years, the one I witnessed, we have had up to five of such cases. But in total, we would be talking of up to 10 people that have lost their lives. This is the kind of things we want to discontinue,” he said. He said rough estimate taken by UFRU indicated that there are between 3, 000 and 4, 000 old and hollow-pipe communications masts and towers scattered across the state. According to Igbokwe, “For more than two years, we have been urging local users of ordinary masts in Lagos whether they are banks, ISPS, insurance firms, oli companies, hotel, hospitals, construction firms, clearing & forwarding companies, government agencies, local governments, uni-
versities, motot companies and so on to begin the process of decommissioning of their old structures and commission the constructions of new masts.” He said UFRU, having first carried out integrity test on selected sites, found out that the whole lot cannot stand the test of time in Lagos considering it’s coastal nature and the global climate change. “To show that Lagos State government is dead serious on the matter, Governor Raji Fashola decommissioned the old mast in Lagos House, Alausa and commissioned a new one that met the standards set by UFRU. “Now, you would think that this show of leadership by example by the Governor will encourage the mast owners to move into action by gradually removing the old masts and replacing them with new approved ones. No, they are still foot-dragging,” he said.
L-R: Wife of Lagos State Governor, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola; Chief Executive Officer, Chair Centre Group and Board member, Bestman Games, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika; CEO, Bestman Games, Mrs. Nimi Akinkugbe and Head, CSR, First Bank Nigeria Ltd, Ismail Omamegbe at the City of Lagos, Interschool Monopoly Tournament recently.
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NITMA, Nigeria’s highest IT award holds today KUNLE A ZEEZ
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he 2013 edition of the National Information Technology Merit Awards, NITMA, the IT community’s most prestigious and widely recognised award ceremony will hold in Lagos today. The award organised annually by the Nigeria Computer Society provides a platform for the promotion of excellence and innovation by honouring top contributors in the IT profession and industry. Through NITMA, NCS, the nation’s foremost and largest network of Information Technology, IT, Professionals, Interest groups and Stakeholders, recognizes and celebrates the impact of these exceptional achievers and visionaries. According to a statement by the Chairman, Publicity, Events and Trade Services Committee, Mr. Jide Awe, NITMA is the
most important and recognized award ceremony in the sector the awards set the benchmark for excellence throughout the IT industry and community. Awe said NITMA sets a standard that all can strive and work towards for accelerated IT development in Nigeria. NITMA reflects the values of NCS by promoting and developing a culture that values hard work, dedication, merit and outstanding accomplishments. “High profile NITMA Awards are uncommon incentives and goals that serve to inspire and motivate practitioners, organisations and members of Nigeria’s IT community,” he said. He said during the ceremony, deserving members of the society who have excelled and have achieved significantly through their work in the IT profession and industry will be upgraded to the Professional Fellow grade of the NCS.
GTBank bags most innovative bank award JOHNSON OKANLAWON
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uaranty Trust Bank Plc has been adjudged the “Most Innovative Bank” in Africa at the 2013 EMEA Finance Awards and the bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Segun Agbaje was named CEO of the year. A statement from the bank yesterday said the award celebrates Africa’s most innovative bank taking into consideration its market strength, profitability, growth and earnings, potential and quality of management of the financial institutions. The statement quoted the Publisher of EMEA Finance, Mr. Christopher Moore, as saying that the banking sector is developing at a rapid rate and GTBank is at the forefront of many areas of innovation.
He said, “Its work in linking its social-media presence to business performance is particularly impressive, including its social banking’ service, which made it the first Nigerian bank to allow customers transfer money and review their account balances on Facebook.” Receiving both awards, the Managing Director, Mr. Segun Agbaje said that the bank uses technology as a strategic means of consistently improving service quality. According to him, being leaders in innovation allows the bank to provide our customers with the best possible value proposition and further consolidate leading position in the African market. “We are delighted to receive this award for our hard work and dedication to delivering the best value to all our stakeholders.”
Infinite Impact to develop five million CAC assures of three-hour business registration period business ideas by 2015
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he Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, said it would deploy new software in the first quarter of 2014 to further reduce the registration period of companies to a maximum of three hours. The Registrar-General of the commission, Alhaji Bello Mahmud, stated this while receiving a Quality Management System, QMS, certificate from the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, on behalf of the CAC yesterday in Abuja. Mahmud said that the move was part of efforts by the commission to maintain its current status as one of the best company registries in the world as shown by the ISO certification. “We have been able to reduce
the period of registration of companies from five days to 24 hours since the adoption of the International Standard Organisation, ISO, standards. “We intend to reduce it further to a maximum of three hours by the time we deploy new registration software in the first quarter of 2014,” he said. The registrar-general said that Quality Management System had been a veritable tool for the significant improvement recorded by the commission in its service delivery. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the DirectorGeneral of SON, Mr. Joseph Odumodu, presented the QMS certificate to the CAC on behalf of the International Standard Organisa-
tion, ISO. Odumodu said that the certificate was in recognition of the commission’s pursuit of excellence in its service delivery to Nigerians. He said that the QMS adopted by the CAC had helped the commission to understand customer needs and meet their expectations as well as improve on its set processes and documentation, among others. According to him, CAC is the first Federal Government agency among four others to obtain certification on QMS from SON. He identified the other agencies as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC and SON.
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nfinite Impact Limited, an idea portfolio management firm in Nigeria, said it was determined to work with young people in the country to develop their ideas into creating not less than 5 million commercially viable businesses in the country. The Chief Innovation Strategist of Infinite Impact, Mr. David Messan, disclosed this during the presentation of prize to the winner of an ‘Idea Challenge’, Mr. Azode Vincent. Idea Challenge is a programme lunched by the company to urging young people to compose the essence of the business idea in 20 words on
Facebook. The best ideas were selected and consequently, Vincent emerged as the participant with the best business idea that also emphasises using local resources to run such business. Messan said his company comes up with effective strategy that helps develop creative idea from the point of conception to the point of making the idea commercially viable, working with over 1, 300 venture capitalists within and outside Africa. He noted that over the years, Infinite Impact had worked with 100 individuals, 13 of which, he said had made their Initial N1m in their various businesses.