CNN African Voices Honours Chef Fregz

A Nigerian chef, Gbubemi Fregene, also called Chef Fregz, is being celebrated in the CNN African Voices, sponsored by Nigeria’s foremost telecommunications operator, Globacom.

Chef Fregz has unbridled passion for cooking and believes that to create great tasty meals, one needs a lot of love and passion.

Gbubemi Fregene is competitive, passionate about his job, creative with a world-class training at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Paris, France, a school that produced world’s cuisines’ finest, including Gaston Acurio, Mario Batali, Simone Beck and David Burtka.

He has established a reputation in the industry as a young chef who has something new and different to offer.

Winners Of Nigeria Basketball Federation 2016 Awards

Winners have emerged at the Nigeria Basketball Federation 2016 Awards.

Winners Of Nigeria Basketball Federation 2016 Awards

  • Male Player of the Year – Dele Ademola of Kano Pillars Basketball Club of Kano
  • Female Player of the Year – Upe Atosu of First Bank Basketball Club
  • Female Young Player of the Year – Ifunaya Okoye of First Deepwater of Lagos
  • Male Young Player of the Year – Oriakhi Owen of Hoops and Read Basketball Academy
  • Best Basketball Team in the Year 2016 (Male category) – Kano Pillars Basketball Club of Kano
  • Best Basketball Team in the Year 2016 (Female category) – First Bank Basketball Club
Both teams emerged victorious in the DStv and Zenith leagues respectively last year and went ahead to shine in the African Champions Cup with Pillars coming fourth in the males category and First Bank emerging third in the females category.

Med-View Airline Becomes First NSE-listed Airline In 24 Years

Med-View Airline has become the first airline to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in almost 25 years. The Airline listed 9,750,649,400 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at Naira 1.50 kobo per share on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

NSE Chief Executive, Mr. Oscar Onyema, congratulated and commended the board and management of Med-View Airlines for having the courage to take such an important step. In his words;

“Today’s listing by an introduction of 9.75 billion (9,750,649,400) ordinary shares of Med-View Airlines on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange at a listing price of 1.50 Naira per share is a culmination of several months of hard work by all parties to the transaction, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and The Exchange.

This listing has added 14.65 billion Naira (N14, 625,974,100) to the market capitalization of The Exchange, further deepening the Nigerian capital market. It will also increase the visibility of Med-View Airlines Plc and differentiate it as a professionally run airline with high corporate governance standards, having met The NSE’s listing criteria.”

BFPCL Secures $6 Billion Facility From BP Oil For Methanol Plant

Brass Fertilizer & Petrochemical Company Limited (BFPCL) has secured a $6 billion offshore facility from BP Oil International Limited, London for the take-off of its methanol plant in Bayelsa State.

According to the Company’s Vice Chairman, Chief Ben Okoye,

“Phase one of the project has commenced following the securing of $6 billion from BP Oil International Limited, London. We also secured 25 years 300millions of standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) gas supply from Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC-JV).

The project is designed to be built in two phases and phase one which is expected to come on stream in 2020, will produce 1.66 million metric tonnes (MT) of methanol and 1.3 million metric tonnes of urea per annum. Phase one also includes a dedicated Export Jetty and a 300 mmscf/d gas processing plant. On completion, the project is expected to generate an annual turnover of $1.5 billion. The project is extremely strategic to the country’s agricultural and industrial sectors. It will contribute to the country’s self-sufficiency in fertilizer and methanol based industrial raw materials.”

On jobs creation, the project will employ 15,000 workers indirectly during construction and 5,000 permanent workers after the project is completed.”

2017 AUN #IAmABeliever Campaign

The American University of Nigeria (AUN) with its Team comprising of Zamiyat Abubakar, Abdulmalik Aminu, Exploits Nicholas, Hafiz Michika, and Ahmed Mohammed; Yola, Adamawa State, has won the first Africa Regional Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Challenging Extremism Competition; #IAMABeliever Campaign.

The AUN beat 32 other universities in the continent to clinch the top prize during the competition, which was held in Accra, Ghana and received $5,000 prize money.

The University for Development Studies, Ghana (UDS), emerged first runner-up with $3,000 received, while the Tunis Business School, Tunisia (TBS), was the second runner-up with $1,000 received.

The Accra outing was the first Peer-to-Peer Challenging Extremism competition to be organized in Africa 17-years after the program kicked was initiated.

Facebook, Edventure Partners, and officials of the United States Department, co-sponsors of the competition, commended the AUN’s #IAmABeliever campaign.

Lagos State Pays 597 Million Naira To 148 Retirees

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has continued the payment of retirees’ entitlements by paying the sum of 597 million Naira to another set of 148 retirees drawn from the Mainstream Civil Service, Local Governments and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Teachers Establishments and Pensions Office (TEPO) and other parastatals of Government being accrued pension rights credited into their Retirement Savings Account.

The recent payment increased total payments by the Ambode-administration to 24.426 billion Naira as accrued pension rights to 5,668 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme, since August, 2015.

Speaking at the presentation of Retirement Benefit Bond Certificates to the 35th batch of Contributory Pension Scheme retirees, today at NECA House, CBD, Ikeja, Lagos, the Director-General, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga reiterated the Governor’s desire to see retirees enjoy their lives out of office without stress.

While advising them to be extremely careful so as not to fall victims of scammers with their benefits, she informed them that the option for those that would prefer Life Annuity services is now available as against Programmed Withdrawal benefit that was only obtainable in the last two months.

Global Brands Awards 2016

First Bank of Nigeria Limited has won the “Best Banking Brand, Nigeria 2016” & “Best Banking Performer, Nigeria 2016” in the Global Brands Awards. The awards are instituted to identify and recognise the significance of exceptional service delivery and reward performance with the ultimate global recognition.

According to Global Brands Magazine, the awards reflect the countless hours of time and efforts spent by FirstBank employees in achieving the vision of the company and making its customers happy.

Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, stated that;

“The awards are a testament to FirstBank’s unwavering commitment to put customers first and at the heart of our business in line with our ‘You First’ mantra. We will always deliver the ultimate ‘gold standard’ of value and excellence”. Our financial services knowledge and practices lead the market in ensuring that we understand our customers and surpass their expectations  as we  strive for a better way of delivering first-class service and experience.”

Global Brands award winners were chosen among large nominees evaluated by an external research team based on data collected from different sources including third party data providers and annual reports.