Innoson Motors Agree To Export 400 IVM Vehicles To Mali

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM) – Innoson Motors has metamorphosed into a continental business venture, with the Mayor of Bamako leading a delegation from Mali to the automobile manufacturing plant in Nnewi, Anambra State, to purchase about 400 IVM vehicles.

According to the information released by the company, the chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co Ltd, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, received a delegation from Mali led by the Mayor of Bamako, Mr. Harimakan Keita, for a factory tour of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Plant in Nnewi.

The visit, which was facilitated by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council led by Segun Awolowo, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing on purchasing about 400 Innoson IVM vehicles that will be exported to Mali.

The Malian delegation also included The Charge D’ affaires, Nigeria Embassy, Mali, Zayyad Abdusalami, Minister of Employment and Professional Training Mali, Director of Regulation Urban Transport of Bamako, CEO of TAXI Plus Mali, CEO GINCO Group Mali.

BPP Wins Government Innovation Award [2017]

According to the Head, Public Relations, Thomas Odemwingie of Nigeria’s procurement oversight agency, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Bureau has won a Government Innovation Award for pioneering project to ensure openness in government business transactions. The award was announced in London following the Open Contracting Innovation Challenge.

BPP won the award for its initiative to collaborate with civil society and business to use open data sources and make information about the country’s public procurement system more accessible, transparent and accountable to the public.

The competition was run by the Washington DC-based Open Contracting Partnership and the London-based Open Data Institute and was funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

According to Mr. Odemwingie:

“The innovation challenge honours original ideas for managing, analysing, and monitoring how the government procures goods and services as well as cutting-edge approaches to publishing what is procured, when, from whom, and for how much.

As winners of the Government Innovation Award, BPP will receive mentoring and expert support to accelerate the progress and execution of its innovation, which is the first-ever unified public procurement approach, the Nigerian Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO).

It will also improve transparency to prevent corruption, enhance active citizen participation and feedback towards achieving better service delivery and increase ease of doing business in Nigeria.”

He further said an international panel of seven experts used potential for impact, use of open data, sustainability and the team as criteria to evaluate entries.

88 teams from 40 countries and every continent responded to a series of questions on how to use data to strengthen the integrity and effectiveness of public procurement.

Mr. Odemwingie said the portal would publish open data from over 750 government agencies to the Open Contracting Data Standard.

He said finalists from the non-government sector each received 5,000 dollars in prize money to further develop their projects, while the final pitch for the grand prize of 30,000 dollars would be in September 2017.

He said winners in the various categories of competition and the grand prize winner would be honoured at Open Contracting 2017, a global meeting for open contracting innovators from around the world in Amsterdam in November 2017.

Mr. Odemwingie said as part of its commitment to e-Government Procurement, Nigeria’s involvement in the open contracting initiative began in May 2016 at the London Anti-Corruption Summit.

He said there, President Muhammadu Buhari committed the country to actions to deepen the administration’s anti-corruption reform.

He quoted the Director-General of BPP, Mamman Ahmadu, as saying that:

“The award indicates global appreciation of the country’s commitment to transparency and accountability in its anti-corruption drive.

Given that public procurement is a tool for good governance, Nigerians should expect an improved public procurement system to have a huge impact on the nation’s recovery from economic recession in quick time”.

Gavin Hayman, Executive Director, Open Contracting Partnership, said the organisation was impressed with what the innovators did to make contracting better.

Segun Ogunsanya Emerge Best Telecoms CEO in Africa [AITTA 2017]

Segun Ogunsanya, the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, has been named Best Telecoms CEO in Africa by the Africa Information Technology & Telecom Awards 2017, a pan African platform that recognizes customer service, innovation and excellence in Africa Telecom and Information Technology Industry.

Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, who is currently leading Airtel’s operations in Nigeria and Ghana, with responsibility for accelerated growth and overall profitability across the two West Africa cluster countries, was honoured in Accra, Ghana.

Continue reading Segun Ogunsanya Emerge Best Telecoms CEO in Africa [AITTA 2017]

2017 Crans Montana Forum Of New Leaders Of Tomorrow Award

Esther Agbarakwe, Aminu Waziri Mohammed and Usman Muhammad have been honoured with Crans Montana Forum of New Leaders of Tomorrow award [2017] for their outstanding professional achievement.

The Forum, which is domiciled in Switzerland consists of a unique community of young leaders from Africa, the Arab World, far Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South-America and far East that were selected for their exceptional professional achievement and leadership experience in businesses and governments.

Continue reading 2017 Crans Montana Forum Of New Leaders Of Tomorrow Award

GTBank Wins Double Honours At Euromoney Awards [2017]

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) has been awarded Nigeria’s Best Bank & Africa’s Best Bank for SMEs during the 2017 Euromoney Awards held in London.

According to Mr. Clive Horwood, Euromoney Magazine’s Editor:

“Nigeria went through a difficult year as low oil prices and capital flight continued to hurt the country’s economy. Many banks struggled as a result of this but GTBank remained strong, recording significant and enviable financial and non-financial performance. The bank’s digital transformation drive has been very successful, as it has enabled the bank to deepen financial inclusion across Africa with its array of tailor-made digital solutions that has made banking simpler and more accessible.”

On the award, Managing Director (MD)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje, said:

“We are honoured to win the Best Bank in Nigeria award a record eight times and to be recognised as Africa’s Best Bank for SMEs. These awards reflect our progress in building strong, value-adding relationships with our customers whilst positioning the bank as the financial institution for Small and Medium Enterprises through our creation of free business platforms that are geared towards promoting enterprise in key economic sectors.We remain committed to maximising shareholders’ value and delivering superior and sustainable return, guided by our founding values of hardwork, discipline and integrity. GTBank has consistently played a leading role in Africa’s banking industry. The GTBank brand is regarded by industry watchers as one of the best-run financial institutions across its subsidiary countries and serves as a role model within the financial service industry due to its bias for world class corporate governance standards, excellent service quality and innovation.”

Now in its 26th year, the Euromoney Awards for Excellence covers more than 20 global product categories, best-in-class awards and the best banks in over 100 countries around the world by recognising institutions that have demonstrated leadership, innovation and momentum in the markets they operate.

In selecting its recipients, Euromoney combines quantitative and qualitative data to honour institutions that have brought the highest levels of service, innovation and expertise to their customers.

ABU (IAR) & IITA Develop 3 New Maize Varieties [2017]

The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has secured approval to release three new high-yielding nutrient maize varieties for planting in Nigeria granted by the National Varietal Release Committee at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology in Ibadan.

The maize varieties were developed by IAR in collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.

The maize varieties tagged: SAMMAZ 52, SAMMAZ 53 and SAMMAZ 54 were offshoots of extensive “on-station, multi-locational and on-farm’’ evaluations with strong farmer participation.

According to IAR:

“SAMMAZ 52 is an improvement over previously released varieties as a result of bio- fortification with pro Vitamin A.

This Vitamin A bio-fortified maize variety has yield potential of 6.0 ton/ha, about 24 per cent higher than earlier release varieties in the same category.

It has medium maturing of between 110 and 120 days, tolerant to maize streak virus, rust, leaf blight and curvularia leaf spot.

The SAMMAZ 53 and SAMMAZ 54 varieties are bred for high grain yields up to 7.6 t/ha and 7.2 t/ha. Both varieties are extra early maturity (80-85 days) and resistant to maize streak virus, rust, leaf blight and curvularia leaf spot.

They perform very well in northern Guinea and Sudan savannah environments where climate changes are manifesting in the form of droughts, dry spells and in ecologies where parasitic Striga hermonthica attacks are severe owing to declining soil nitrogen.”

The varieties were produced to strengthen farmers’ resilience in coping with the changing production environments in which irrigation water and rainfall had become increasingly scarce.

The commercialisation and adoption of the varieties is expected to significantly improve food and nutrition security as well as the livelihood of actors along the maize value chain.

Sandra Musujusu Develops Treatment for Breast Cancer [2017]

Sandra Musujusu, a student of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, has developed an alternative treatment for breast cancer.

AUST is hosting one of the Centres of Excellence, known as Pan African Material Institute (PAMI), with research focus: electrical power, disease detection and treatment.

Sandra Musujusu’s research, using macromolecular science is aimed at developing bio-degradable polymer material which could be used as alternative for the treatment of breast cancer in the near future.

Musujusu, a Sierra-Leonean national is conducting the research under the sponsorship of the Pan African Materials Institute (PAMI).

According to Sandra Musujusu:

“My research is actually centred on the development of bio-degradable polymers for treatment of breast cancer.

I will be focusing on triple negative breast cancer which is actually the aggressive sub-type of breast cancer that is common with women from African ancestry.

I believe there is a bright future for Africa, and as a woman there is much more we can do if we are empowered. This award given to me by PAMI has empowered me to face my studies with more confidence and actually contribute to the frontier of knowledge and move Africa forward.”

The World Bank Education Director, Dr. Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi with his team visited the University (AUST) as part of his assessment tour of the 10 African Centres of Excellence (ACE) centres.

The World Bank has committed about $10 billion for the ACE project in Nigeria, as part of efforts to encourage conduct of cutting-edge research and specialisation of the beneficiaries institutions in specific development problems faced in Nigeria and indeed the African continent.

Out of 19 African Centres of Excellence, 10 Nigerian tertiary institutions won slots to churn out special research works that could compete effectively with global standards.

The ACE universities include Redeemers University, Mowe; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Jos, Jos; University of Benin and African University of Science and Technology, Abuja; University of Port-Harcourt; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife; Bayero University, Kano; Benue State University, Makurdi; and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

The impact of ACE is evident with Redeemers University, which served as the testing site during the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria in the year 2014, before it was brought under control.