PwC absorbs 10 Lagos’ entrepreneurship initiative graduates

PwC Nigeria, a leading professional services company, has announced that it would absorb 10 graduating students of Ready Set Work Initiative of the Lagos State Government, as interns for a period of six months with a possibility of employing them at the end of their internship.

Uyi Akpata, Country Senior Partner for PwC Nigeria and Regional Senior Partner for the West Market Area disclosed this at the graduation ceremony of the pioneer class of the initiative consisting of 422 students. PwC is a major sponsor of the initiative.

“PwC is taking 10 of the graduating students as interns to run over a six-month period and I can say here from what I am seeing that those 10 people would have almost a foot in the door to get professional careers in PwC,” he said while calling on the other organisations sponsoring the initiative to follow the example saying that if at the end of the day 10 per cent of the graduating students gain employment within the sponsors, it would go a long way in not only further supporting the initiative but also help to address the unemployment issue in the country.

The Ready Set Work is an entrepreneurship and employability initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Education for final year students of the state-owned tertiary institutions consisting of Lagos State University, Lagos State Polytechnic, and Lagos State College of Health Technology.

Akpata commended the initiative saying it aligned with PwC’s objectives as equips students with the critical skills and know-how necessary to either become employable or become employers of labour.

He said PwC did not only invest money in the initiative as sponsors, but also invested time, effort, commitment, dedication over a 14-week timeframe that the training lasted.

“It was a no-brainer and we wanted to align with the initiative that has been established and headed by the Executive Governor of Lagos State and of course driven down the line by members of the Ministry of Education. It sure aligned with the PwC’s objectives and about 16 partners from PwC joined in training the participating students.

“At every step of the way, we were emboldened as we continued to drive and take one step ahead. At one of my sessions in which I participated at the main campus of the Lagos State University, Ojo, after visiting the university for the first time in over 30 years, I could see the good work that was already happening at the university in terms of actual physical structures but then all these softer developmental issues, in terms of quality trainings and impartation are totally invaluable. We are indeed very proud to be part of this,” he said.

He pledged PwC’s continued support for the initiative as long as the Lagos State Government and members of the executive and key stakeholders continue to show strong interest in it.

Earlier on, Obafela Bank-Olemoh, theSpecial Adviser on Education to the Lagos State Government, said the initiative was a sharp response to the submission by notable corporate organisations across the country on the need to fully equip students of tertiary institutions across the state in order to make them employable.

He said about 3,000 students from the state-owned tertiary institutions appliedfor the programme out  of which 500 were shortlisted, adding that of the 500 students that came into the programme only 422 fulfilled the set criteria graduated.

“We set three basic criteria: one was punctuality. Every student had to be seated in class at least 5 minutes before 9am and remain in class till 5pm when we finished the programme. Two, we had 24 classes and every student had to go for at least 21 classes. And finally you have to ensure that you completed all the courses and the entire programme that you were given. I am happy to tell you that 422 students here today achieved that,” Bank-Olemoh said.

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Firm commences youth recruitment drive in Nigeria

In its commitment to the Nigerian market, customer experience management services provider, iSON BPO, has embarked on an intensive recruitment of Nigerian youths to fill its new call centers and skill development facilities in some states in Nigeria.

The new calls centres located in Oyo, Ogun and Kwara States will increase the company’s staff strength pan-Nigeria to over 4,000, thereby making it one of the highest employment generating establishments in the country.

The iSON Group Chief Executive Officer, Pravin Kumar, said as part of their core strategy, they have invested in developing state-of-the-art infrastructure and empowering local talents to foster a better future for the African continent.

“Through our centers, we are creating large scale employment directly in Nigeria and engendering indirect local employment opportunities as well. We believe so much in promoting local expertise that we do not outsource work outside of Africa.”

He said the high- tech call centers will serve the growing clientele that iSON has in Nigeria, with the twin benefits of up skilling talents in the best and contemporary methods available in customer service delivery globally, through its skills development centers.

“It is noteworthy that while many organizations are downsizing in Nigeria, iSON BPO is actively engaged in up skilling and creating additional capacity thereby boosting the economy in many ways. ISON BPO is a subsidiary of the iSON Group, providing analytics, customer experience management, voice process solutions and CRM process solutions. The BPO services infrastructure is built on global delivery framework to deliver voice, non-voice and other Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) services through local presence to grow customers’ businesses.

The services are offered to all business sectors including Telecoms, Retail, Aviation, Government, Oil & Gas, Media, Banking, Financial and Insurance Services. Throughout the countries in which they operate, iSON focuses on employee training and capacity development, which in turn enables them to maintain leadership in their customer service offerings.

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Stocks shed 0.07% as consumer goods’ profit-booking halts gains

Trading in stocks closed on a negative note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, halting three consecutive days of bullish runs.

The All Share Index lost 18.55 points or 0.07 per cent to close at27,839.93 points, while the market capitalization declined by N7 billion to close at N9.563 trillion.

Despite the decline, market breadth and volume traded were on a high side. Stock market analysts said that irrespective of the marginal dip, equities outlook looks bullish considering the positive market
breadth and baring any unforeseen circumstances. Analysts at United Capital attributed the marginal decline to profit-booking in the consumer goods, as other key sectors saw higher demand.

“ We expect on-going sentiment to extend into tomorrow’s trading session, as investors remain cautious while awaiting the outcome of MPC meeting which will likely offer a firm direction to equities,” the research firm said.

Another stock analysts notedthat market performance for rest of the week to be broadly  determined by the outcome of the ongoing MPC meeting, saying “This week, we expect a quiet start to proceedings, with investors likely to be cautious as they await MPC outcomes, which will likely offer a firm direction to equities.”

Market breadth closed positive with 27 gainers and 18 losers. Conoil led the gainers table by 10.24 per cent to close at N35.10 per share. Total followed with a gain of 5 per cent each to close at N262.50, while MRS gained 4.99 per cent to close at N38.48 per share.

Also, Transcorp went up by 4.81 per cent to close at N1.09 and Skye Bank rose by 4.76 per cent to close at 66 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Seven Up led the laggards’ table by 4.98 per cent to close at N139.15per share. Fidson trailed with a loss of 4.97 per cent to close at N1.53, while PZ Industries declined by 4.89 per cent to close at N18.07 per share.

Also, Avon Crown declined by 4.35 per cent to close atN1.32, while African Prudential shed by 4.26 per cent to close at N2.70 per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume traded appreciated by 43.36 per cent to 328.20 million shares, valued at N2.89 billion, and traded in 3,215 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Bank topped the activity chart with 84.09 million shares valued at N468.62 million. FBN Holdings followed with 54.15 million shares worth N166.4 million, while UBA traded 38.86 million shares valued at N163.44 million.

Skye Bank traded 38.54 million shares worth N24.98 and Zenith Bank transacted 21 million shares valued at N303.34 million.

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Girding Anambra’s loin against flood

Since July 2016, devastating floods have affected many of the states in the country, causing property damage and loss of lives. The states that are worst hit include Kaduna, Ebonyi and Adamawa. It could be recalled that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) in collaboration with the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) warned of potential flooding in 11 states across the country between August and October this year.

It was against this background that the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in conjunction with trainers from the Southeast Zonal National Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) held a capacity building workshop on ‘Basic Skills in Search and Rescue,’ where at least 170 persons received training in search and rescue operations, as part of the contingency plans for the predicted 2016 flooding.

According to SEMA director, Chukwudi Onyejekwe, who coordinated the workshop on behalf of the Executive Secretary of SEMA, the directive to build community resilience for disaster risk reduction was from the state governor, Willie Obiano.

He said that it was to ensure that volunteer workers from the 21 local government areas of the state got needed training, to ensure there would be enough hands to tackle any unforeseen situation.

The volunteer workers in Otuocha, Anambra East Local Government Area, are also expected to gain knowledge needed to assist the floodprone rural dwellers ahead of the speculated flooding in order that no life will be lost.

In a simulated training at Otuocha, an emergency situation-like mood was activated, with sound of the
ambulance rattling the atmosphere, while emergency management officials rallied around to assist the supposed victims.

From the outdoor-dramatised emergency response display to the indoor actual workshop, the crux of the matter was to train the 170 volunteer workers from the 21 local government areas of the state on community resilience and disaster risk reduction with the use of modern equipment.

The director of SEMA, Mr. Chukwudi Onyejekwe, said that the training was a paradigm shift in disaster management which had moved from emergency response to disaster risk reduction.

The NEMA trainer, Ifeyinwa Onyia, who also represented the South- East zonal coordinator, urged the
participants to follow instructions and learn every skill taught them. The technical session was handled by other NEMA trainers who explained the function of each of the modern equipment used for search and rescue operation.

The technicalities in the use of the state-of-the-art ambulance were also explained to the participants, as a mobile clinic that sustains a victim before being taken to the hospital. For one of the participants Eucharia Attah, the training was a good development, as the use of advanced equipment in disaster risk reduction produce best results in rescue operations.

The idea of bringing rescue operation training to the rural communities is one that will not only help in the event of flooding, but one that will also assist in reducing disaster rate in different emergency situations.

Following the prediction by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency that some states in Nigeria would be devastated by flood, the identified states, apart from Anambra, are taking precautions to guard against the disaster. Flood has already displaced some people from their homes in Kaduna and some other states in the northern part of the country.

According to report from the Republic of Niger, the rise in the water level of its river has shown that any time from now Nigeria may suffer severe floods comparable to what was experienced in many states in 2012. The 2012 floods in Nigeria began in early July. According to NEMA, the flood killed 363 people and displaced over 2.1 million others as of November 5, 2012. The agency also stated that 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states were affected by the floods.

It described the floods as the worst in 40 years, adding that it affected an estimated total of seven million people. The estimated damage and losses caused by the floods were put at N2.6 trillion.

To avert a reoccurrence, NEMA recently advised communitiesalong the River Niger to evacuate immediately to safer grounds over the likelihood of floods that may occur at any moment from now, as it noted that there had been intense rainfall as well as rises in water levels across the country.

The Director-General, NEMA, Mr. Sani Sidi, who gave the advice said the agency had received alerts of the flood from information given by the authorities in the Republic of Niger that the present water level in the river had reached a point that might result in the flood that could be compared with the unfortunate experience of 2012.

He said, “Niger Basin Authority notified Nigeria that rainy season,which started in the Middle Niger (Burkina Faso and Niger Republic) in June, 2016, has led to a gradual rise of the level of River Niger in Niamey, Niger Republic. This high level of water in Niger Republic is already spreading to Benin Republic, and invariably, to Nigeria.”

Sidi further said the level of water in all the hydrological monitoring stations across the country, as alarming situation that requires the prompt and coordinated action of all governments and stakeholders.

“If the heavy rainfall continues in intensity and duration within these regions of the River Niger, it is imminent that flood situation similar to that of the year 2012 may occur,” he said.

The NEMA boss called on stakeholders to take necessary actions in line with their various mandates, adding that states and local governments were to ensure observance with the threat in order to avert imminent loss of lives and properties that might certainly arise in the event of severe floods. Sidi identified the states along the River Niger belts as being the most vulnerable as well as those along its major tributaries that includes Benue River belts, the confluence states and downstream to the Atlantic Coast.

The agency’s zonal and operation offices, he said, had been instructed to continue with advocacy visit to the state governments and also urged the state to utilise the flood vulnerability maps given to them earlier by NEMAto identify safer grounds for temporary shelters in time of evacuation as well as reviewing all their contingency plans.

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Police rescue 14 abducted oil workers in Rivers

Rivers Police Command said it has rescued 14 oil workers abducted by unknown gunmen on September 2 along Elele-Omoku Road.

The command`s spokesman, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, a DSP, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that the workers were freed in the early hours of Sunday. Omoni said the Command`s Tactical Units, engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle, which lasted one and half hours, to rescue the victims.

“The oil workers were rescued unhurt due largely to the efforts of the Command’s Tactical Units, which, at the early hours of September 18, engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun battle which lasted one and half hours, leading to the rescue of the victims.

“The hoodlums fled abandoning their hostages. Efforts are on to arrest and bring them to justice,” he said.

Omoni said no ransom was paid to rescue the workers.

“They have been debriefed and are receiving medical attention in the hospital. “Investigation is on-going at the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit,” he said.

Omoni said that the police was determined to fight all forms of criminality and crimein the state. He appealed to residents to give the police useful information that would assist it achieve set objectives.

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A’Ibom First Lady vows to eliminate thuggery

Wife of Akwa Ibom State governor, Mrs Martha Udom, has vowed to eliminate thuggery in the state by empowering youths through her pet project, Family Empowerment and Youths Re-Orientation Programme (FeyRep).

Mrs. Martha Udom made the pledge over the weekend while addressing youths of Akwa Ibom who turned out en-masse for the Youths Seminar organised under the auspices of her pet project, (FeyRep).

According to her, the futureof some Akwa Ibom youths has been frustrated by desperate politicians who use them for political violence and later abandon them without doing anything to better their lives.

Mrs. Udom said she was committed to ensuring that through her project, FeyRep, youths of the state would be empowered with various kinds of skills that would make them self-employed and employable such that they would be too busy to be used by politicians for evil purposes.

She mentioned that the seminar was intended to reshape the lives and future of Akwa Ibom youths, warning that nobody should use youths of the state to commit any crime.

She disclosed that FeyRep had designed an elaborate programme of action to engage youths in the areas of agriculture, entrepreneurship, information and communication technology and other useful ventures.

“Through my project FeyRep, I will ensure that youths go intoagriculture, entrepreneurship  and other useful ventures, especially as the country is experiencing economic recession due to falling oil prices.

“The state government is trying to empower the youths with skills through mentoring and training. We don’t want our youths to be beggarly. We expect them to be self-reliant”, she maintained.

Mrs. Udom reiterated the resolve of the state government to massively industrialise the state as a way of providing employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths of the state.

She urged youths of the state not to compromise the valuesby engaging in crime, assuring  that government was doing everything possible to provide the enabling environment for them to succeed in life.

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