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T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016
PROPERTY NEWS
Raumplus Expands Operations in Nigeria Fadekemi Ajakaiye Raumplus, a leading global interior and furniture design company, has underscored its commitment to accelerate the development of the property industry in Nigeria through transfer of skills and the establishment of factories to produce its products locally. Mr. Adeyanju Adelakun, Managing Director, Raumplus Nigeria made the assertion at the opening of the Ultra-modern office complex and showroom of the company in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja.The occasion was graced by Professor Amos Utuama, former Delta State Deputy Governor and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, represented by his Special Adviser, Mr Obafela Bank Olemoh. Adelakun said the company has in no small measure engendered growth in the nations’ property market by creating and adding value through quality furnishing products to complement the structural developments in the nation’s property industry. He said it is the vision of the company to commence building factories in Nigeria to promote local content development and provide employment opportunities for Nigerians. According to him, raumplus, has brought innovations into the Nigerian interior design sector, the company with it cutting edge technology has introduce products that helps in achieving home design
dreams. The company’s products provide solutions for living rooms and workplaces with modern day technology used in producing products like sliding doors, room dividers and cabinet systems. Adelakun reiterated his company’s commitment to further tap into the enormous potentials the economy offers to expand business operations. He said the global brand is deepening its brand equity in Nigeria in order to provide high value interior furnishing and quality home appliances for Nigerians. In his speech at the occasion, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode stated that Nigeria’s economy offers huge potentials and opportunities for investors to leverage on and establish their businesses. He commended Raumplus for retaining a strong pedigree in the nation’s furniture industry and the Nigeria’s property market in general. Ambode asserted that the economy is big enough for every key player to participate and showcase their business acumen and produce products that meet the taste of the people. He was represented by his Special Adviser, Education, Mr Obafela Bank Olemoh stated that the economy offers a level playing ground for every organization and as a result, urged more business to take advantage of the potentials that abound in the economy. He commended the foresight of the franchisee,
AfDB Approves a Partial Credit Guarantee to Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company The African Development Bank Group’s (AfDB) Board of Directors, on May 5, 2016 approved a Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) of up to US $4 million in local currency to Tanzania Mortgage Refinance Company (TMRC). The Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) will support TMRC’s proposed Medium Term Note Program to raise long-term funding from the Tanzanian local currency bond markets on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) for on-lending to local banks for mortgage finance operations. The Bank’s PCG will enable TMRC’s bond to meet minimum requirements for listing on the DSE thereby enhancing TMRC’s capacity to mobilize critical long-term funding required for the growth of Tanzania’s housing finance markets, and catalyzing the construction of affordable housing. The Bank intervention is in line with the High 5s agenda for the Bank Group, building on its existing 2013-2022 Strategy, and specifically on the 5th agenda of Improving the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The five focus areas are essential in transforming the lives of the African people and therefore consistent with
the United Nations agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Bank’s intervention will also result in multiplier effects on industries related to the real estate sector and creation of jobs in the construction industry. It will also assist in deepening of Tanzania’s capital markets by increasing the number of listed corporate bonds in the local bond market as well as match assets and liabilities of the institution. The PCG will complement the Tanzanian Government’s efforts to develop a self-sustaining long-term mortgage market in Tanzania. Stella Kilonzo, Division Chief, Financial Markets Division, of the Bank Group stated, “By extending this partial credit guarantee, the AfDB adds on its existing initiatives to support the development of local currency financial markets on the continent and the private sector.” As one of its priority objectives, the AfDB supports investments that contribute to the widening and deepening of financial markets in Africa, and enabling the private sector capacity to mobilize long-term funding from local financial markets.
Mr Adeyanju Adelakun in maintaining a sustainable business partnership with the world’s renowned brand. He further urged both global organizations to ensure the opening of local factories
in Nigeria to further expand their operations. Professor Amos Utuama, former deputy Governor of Delta State lauded the emergence of Raumplus in Abuja which is a strategic move to
expand business operations in Nigeria. He said it is laudable vision for the global brands to introduce new innovative products into the Nigerian market. Professor Utuama said the
business model of Raumplus to meet the desired needs of customers in Nigeria is commendable as the new office complex in Abuja is part of strategic business growth and expansion.
R-L: Former Deputy Governor of Delta State, Professor Amos Utuama and Managing Director, Raumplus Nigeria, Mr. Adeyanju Adelakun, at the opening of Raumplus Nigeria ultra-modern office complex/showroom in Abuja… recently
National Climate Action National Bio-Safety Seeks IntentionsisBecomingConcrete Collaboration with EHORECON under Paris Agreement on Pollution Control The UN climate change secretariat has launched a new interim public registry to capture countries’ formal climate action plans under the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), they set out publicly what each country plans to do as part of the Paris Agreement to contribute to the international effort to secure a sustainable future for all by keeping the global temperature rise since pre-industrial times well below two degrees Celsius, with a preference to limit it to 1.5 degrees. The NDCs showcase countries’ climate policies and actions to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change across many sectors, for example such as decarbonizing energy supply through shifts to renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, better land management, urban planning and transport. The launch of the registry heralds a key step towards implementing the Paris Agreement that has now been signed by 177 countries. “The Paris Agreement marked the start of a new era in international climate change cooperation,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “The launch of the interim public registry for NDCs underpins the collective trust and goodwill that led to the
historic agreement and is a new milestone on the road to its implementation. The new interim registry for NDCs is the principal instrument to formally record action taken by countries under the Agreement. It is a fully transparent channel of communication where anyone can browse and search for information on what countries are doing to tackle climate change. Ahead of Paris, as part of the negotiating process, countries had submitted their climate action plans based on their national circumstances and interests, which were called ‘intended nationally determined contributions’, or INDCs. The Paris Agreement included a change in legal status of these climate action plans, turning what were intentions, or INDCs, into concrete plans for action known as NDCs. If an INDC has been submitted by a Party under the UNFCCC – and there are now 189 INDCs already submitted - and that Party ratifies the Agreement, then that INDC will be considered their first NDC, unless the Party decides otherwise. Parties can also make changes to a communicated INDC by submitting a new NDC. Countries have also been invited to communicate their first NDC before their instrument of ratification of the Agreement has been submitted.
Fadekemi Ajakaiye Concerned by the growing food poisoning and diseases in the country, the Registrar of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), Dominic Abonyi has revealed that Environmental Health Officers will always ensure the pursuit of food safety through non-contamination or pollution. The Registrar stated this when the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bio-safety Agency paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, recently. According to Abonyi, the Council has great interest in bio-technological approach to disease prevention and control, adding that in as much as National Bio-safety could help people in food production and help people in vaccine production also in health, then, “the Council can derive benefit in rolling back all the diseases that are scourging man through environmental insults.” He opined that the primary mandate of the Council is to determine who could be called an environmental health practitioner and that the Council keeps a register of practitioners and facilitate training and certification of such individuals and also monitors the practice and regulates it for the betterment
of man. Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, National Bio-safety Agency, Mr. Rufus Ebegba said theirs was to ensure that the practice of modern bio-technology does not have adverse impact on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. According to the Bio-safety boss, when looking at the issue of environment “it is to ensure that genetically modified organisms do not become super organism and are not created to distract the environment by applying the ecosystem.” He explained that the role of the Agency was to regulate and ensure that the law was complied with, to this regard, and by extension, the law and the Act has created an enabling environment for Nigerian scientist to use bio-technology to improve the agricultural sector and also to produce raw materials for industrial purposes. It also enables the medical field to also get novel materials that can be used to enhance the medical field to produce drugs like the insulin, being used for diabetes. Ebegba, however, revealed that the same process could also be used to develop plants that could be kept to ameliorate the impact of climate change and to also produce plants that could survive in drought-prone areas.