PEOPLES DAILY, Thursday, april 6, 2017
Page 20
Business Adeosun on Facebook Live, assures continuity of Youwin Programme By Etuka Sunday
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he Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, yesterday held her first-ever Facebook Live session. The 23-minute event, filmed at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja, and broadcast live through her Facebook page (Facebook. com/HMKemiAdeosun),reached an audience of more than 130,000 persons within the first hour. The Minister kicked off the Facebook Live interaction with an overview on developments in the Nigerian economy over the past few months, highlighting the Finance Ministry’s work in supporting SMEs, creating jobs, improving transparency, cutting the cost of governance, and boosting Government revenues. Acknowledging the challenges the
Nigerian economy faced recently due to low oil prices, the Minister said: “the good news is that we are working through the issues one by one, and trying to ensure that as we rebuild the economy, we get away from the boom and bust cycle of the past -- we want to build an economy where, whether oil price is high or low, there’s sustainable growth for Nigeria and for Nigerians.” The Federal Government, she said, is doing this by investing heavily in infrastructure and working to create an enabling environment for businesses. One evidence of this renewed focus is the fact that the Ministry of Finance has so far released a Trillion Naira for infrastructure projects in the 2016 budget; a level of infrastructure investment unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. Responding to a Facebook
question about the YouWiN! Entrepreneurship program, Mrs Adeosun explained that the Buhari administration has no plans to scrap it. According to her, the Federal Government has reviewed the scheme and repositioned it as YouWiN!Connect, which focuses on continuous enterprise education and skills building. In a statement by the Director, Information, Salisu Na’inna Dambatta the Minister noted that as part of the restructuring, YouWiN!Connect now publishes weekly editorials in four national newspapers. She added that the principles of YouWiN!Connect would be incorporated into university curricula across Nigeria. The Minister also revealed that efforts are on-going to improve payroll assurance through continuous
audit and migration of Ministries, Departments and Agencies to the IPPIS Platform. On the Federal Government’s Whistleblowing Policy, the Minister said it was introduced not only to recover stolen funds but to also serve as a deterrent against corrupt practices. “Just last week, a whistleblower made claims of long-term fraud and funds misappropriation in YouWiN!,” she disclosed, adding that the Government was now investigating those claims with a view to taking appropriate action. Speaking on the take-off of the newly-licensed Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), the Minister noted that it was established to provide access to funding, specifically for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). According to her, even though
SMEs account for over 45% of all businesses in Nigeria, less than 10% of them are able to present collateral to access bank loans. “DBN affords young people access to loans for doing business cheaply and conveniently,” she said. While answering a question on the economic recession, she said: “We got into recession because, for the last 10 years, even when the oil price was extremely high, and we were borrowing, our reserves were decreasing. We didn’t have enough of a productive economy. The only real thing that was happening and creating growth was the oil price, and as soon as the oil price went down, growth disappeared. What we are trying to do now is to reset the economy, so that we are not so dependent on oil.” The session ended with Mrs Adeosun expressing appreciation to viewers and participants, assuring them that she would continue to actively engage on social media, through her Facebook and Twitter accounts: Twitter.com/ HMKemiAdeosun, Facebook.com/ HMKemiAdeosun.
FAAN committed to delivering modern airport services, Dunoma assures From Suleiman Idris, Lagos
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Participants at the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, yesterday in Kaduna. Photo: NAN
Air Peace emerges airline of the year, pledges better days ahead From Suleiman Idris, Lagos
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ast growing Nigeria domestic carrier Air Peace, has emerged the City People’s Airline of the Year Award for its outstanding performance despite the huge challenges faced by carriers in the country in 2016. Receiving the award during the 20th edition of City People Awards for Excellence, the airline said it was further raising the
quality of its services to guarantee air travellers the best flight experience in the country and beyond. Speaking at the award ceremony held in Lagos, Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah and Cabin Services Manager/Head of Commercial, Florence Opia, said the carrier had maintained an unbeatable record of ontime performance and safety
of air travellers since it started commercial flight operations in 2014. The City People award, they said, was a confirmation that the airline was providing exceptional flight services in the country. The airline said the launch of its Accra-Ghana route on February 16 was the first step in projecting its capacity to deliver top-notch regional and international flight services.
Air Peace confirmed that it was finalising arrangements to service its planned long-haul routes, including Guangzhou-China, Mumbai, Dubai, Atlanta, London and South Africa, with the Boeing 777 aircraft it was acquiring. The airline pledged not to let its huge customer base down, saying it had distinguished itself as Nigeria’s preferred airline because of the trust and support of the flying public.
he Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has reiterated its determination to deliver modern airport services with safety, security, and improved passengers experience as it bedrock. Managing Director of the agency, Engr. Saleh Dunoma told participants at the 57th ACI Africa Board and Committees Meeting and Regional Conference and Exhibition in Livingston, Zambia, that the airport authority is poised to deliver four new terminal buildings for the four international airports. According to him, the terminals will soon be ready to give the country an increased capacity for passenger processing and facilitation. At the open dialogue session where he made his presentation, Engr. Dunoma told delegates that the ongoing Abuja airport runway rehabilitation is part of the great plan by Nigerian government for improved safer aviation and sustainable aviation system that is attractive to investors. The FAAN helmsman, who is also the current President of ACI Africa seized the platform to praise the Buhari administration for assenting to this very crucial and aviation safety need irrespective of the economic disruption the closure of the airport is going to cause but reassures that the completion date of 19th April 2017 is very feasible as work is intensified to meet with the set deadline.