NSA: Nominations close September 26 on September 23, 2015 / in Sports 12:28 am / Comments Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Reddit Print Organizers of the prestigious Nigerian Sports Award, Unmissable Incentives Limited have announced that nominations of sportsmen and women for the different categories of awards for the 2015 edition would close Saturday, September 26, 2015 Kayode Idowu, Executive Director, Unmissable Incentives Limited, disclosed this inLagos on Monday while briefing the media on developments on the 2015 edition of the Nigerian Sports Award. Idowu revealed that the nominations for this year’s edition of the award was deliberately prolonged to close after the just concluded All African Games to accommodate the different major sporting activities for the year. ‘’In the past, we have had instances where some Nigerian Sportsmen and Women recorded some outstanding performances during the course of the award year but couldn’t make it into nominations. This is why we decided to ensure that nominations for this year closes at the end of all the major sporting events” he said. He then used the opportunity to commend and congratulate the Nigerian athletes to the just concluded All African Games for the outstanding performance and medal haul at the tournament. He also commended the Nigerian Basketball Team, D’Tigers for winning the recently concluded FIBA Africa Basketball competition and picking the ticket to compete in the Basketball event at the next Olympic billed to hold in Rio, Brazil. He then restates the call for Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the remaining few days to nominate their favourite Nigerian athletes who have recorded excellence performance in their various sports during the course of the year. He urged Nigerian sports enthusiasts to visit the website of the award using the link – http://nigeriansportsaward.com/nominations/ or nominate on Facebook as well as Twitter. It would be recalled that the nominations phase of the 2015 edition of the award opened on June 4th, 2015. Verification of entries by the Auditors would hold between September 26th and 28th while the announcement of final shortlist would be made public on October 6th.

Olawepo-Hashim advocates single digit interest rate

on November 25, 2015   /   in News 2:18 pm   /   Comments

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Reddit Print

Energy sector investor, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has called for the lowering of interest rate in the  banking sector from its current double digit figure to a single one to enable investors access finance at reasonable lending rate towards the much needed development.

Olawepo-Hashim, who was guest speaker at the 4th Imperial College, London, Nigerian Student Society Summit, weekend, regretted that the Nigerian manufacturer could hardly be competitive in the international market with the unacceptable high interest rate.

He said the prevailing interest rate, which stands at 22 per cent, lowered the competitive chances of the  manufacturer in relation to what obtained in other countries, like in “South Africa, where it is 8.5 per cent, in Egypt 7.8 per cent, in China 3.4 per cent and US 2.33 per cent.”

The Chairman of Bresson AS Energy dismissed excuses on insecurity for the high interest rate, saying, “Egypt has its fair share of crisis like Nigeria, so insecurity cannot be a reason,” adding, “there has to be changes in lending policy to lighten the heavy burden on the manufacturer.”

According to him: “Government should also ensure that licensed Distribution Companies, DISCOs, are able to sign PPA with the Generating Companies, GENCOs, and IPPs for the supply of power without the undue meddlesomeness of the Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission, NERC, amongst others.

He added that Nigeria “is a good destination for investment with a strong middle class, relatively high return on investment,” regretting its infrastructure gap was still a challenge.

At the London event were former Managing Director and Chief Executive of Access Bank, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Managing Director of Sahara Energy, Mr. Tonye Patrick-Cole, Former Minister of Communication, Dr. Omobola Johnson, and Executive Director of Bresson AS Energy, Dr. Funmi Olawepo-Hashim, Educationist, amongst others.

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Reddit Print