In a message addressed to its customers, Fidelity Bank stated that they all have up to Friday, December 31, 2021, to transact with their old £20, and £50 notes, as they would no longer be acceptable going forward.

According to the financial institution, the development was pertinent as Bank of England, which produces the notes, is aiming to conclude its cash evacuation policy.

“The Bank of England has announced the withdrawal of paper £20 and £50 notes after September 30, 2022. A year’s notice has been provided to customers and the global banking community.

“In view of this, Fidelity Bank, alongside other Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria, has issued a deadline of December 31, 2021, for acceptance of the stated denominations from the public to enable proper conclusion of cash evacuation.

“Thus, we advise you to use or deposit your paper GBP notes into your Fidelity Bank domiciliary account by December 31, 2021, to avoid a loss in the value of your money,” Fidelity Bank stated as it alerted its customers.

This is why…

Unmask NG understands that the UK government’s apex bank is aiming at the proper conclusion of its cash evacuation policy, to reduce COVID-19 risks, and that of other related transmittable diseases.

Having conducted a research to understand if cash is still as relevant as it used to be prior to the pandemic, the Bank of England concluded on the following:

• Over the past decade, the fall in transactional use of cash in the UK has been accompanied by an increase in the value of notes in circulation. Covid has intensified this trend.
• Both shopping and payment behaviours have changed in response to the virus, with more online shopping and more contactless transactions.
• Although the bank’s research to understand better how the virus behaves on banknotes, indicates that the risk of transmission via banknotes is low.
• However, the barriers to alternative payment adoption may have been permanently broken by COVID-19.

The post Fidelity Bank, Others To Stop Accepting Old £20, £50 Notes (Here’s Why) appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

The N405.5 billion represents an increment to the N271.96 billion Dangote Cement recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.

Unmask NG understands that the cement company made this profit accomplishment in spite of how the raging COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the manufacturing sector.

For the period under review, while Dangote Cement recorded N1.02 trillion revenue, its group sales hit 22.2 million tonnes as the sales volume in Nigeria was 14.1 million tones.

In a statement in which this development was disclosed, Group Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement Plc, Michel Purchecos admitted that the company’s management is pleased to report its performance for the first nine months of the year.

His words: “Group volumes for the nine months were up 15.4% compared to the first nine months of 2020. Given the strong rebound in Q3 2020 following the impact of COVID-19 in the first half of the year, volumes in Q3 2021 were slightly lower than Q3 2020, as anticipated though worsened by heavier rains.

“However, the overall growth trend continues, supported by our ability to meet the strong market demand across all our countries of operation. The economic performance and efficiency initiatives across the group enabled the offsetting of inflationary pressures on some of our cost lines.

“Our Nigerian business recorded volume growth of 18.7% in the 9M 2021 at 14.1 metric tonnes and despite operating in a complex, challenging, and fast-moving environment, Dangote Cement is consistently delivering superior profitability and returns to the shareholders”

Meanwhile, Unmask NG understands that Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria are the two reigning quoted companies on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).

While the cement company makes up 30% of the total market capitalisation of the bourse with over N4.76 trillion, MTN Nigeria is the second-highest in market value with over N3.542 trillion.

The post Despite COVID-19 Pandemic, Dangote Cement Makes N405.5bn Profit appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

According to him, one of the perspectives is human impact, and the other, economic impact.

His words: “For us here in Nigeria, mostly in Africa, the COVID-19 is really an eye-opener because when you look at it, we have two impacts. One is the human impact, the other one is the economy.

 “One, I think in Africa, most of it is actually the economic impact, because what you have done at the beginning, we shut down all our activities, we shut down the airports. So when you look at the economic impact for us, it is huge. But the human impact, we as at today we have about 65,000 cases, thereabouts in Nigeria, and we have 1,165 deaths.”

While making effort to stemming the spread of the coronavirus, Dangote launched a coalition of private sector organizations to support the country. The initiative involved the set up of fully-equipped medical tents to be used for housing patients as well as serve as training, testing, isolation and treatment centers.

He said: “Because of the economic impact, a lot of people couldn’t really go out to make their livelihood. So what we did, we have this Coalition against COVID-19 of which I actually mobilized the private sector and we raise the sum of $112 million dollars. And what we did was now to go all out and set up 39 isolation centers, of which the smallest one is 100 beds and biggest ones are 200 beds. And they have ventilators which we bought; they have all the equipment.

“And then we also said, what do we do about these isolation centers? Now people were not able to afford money to eat. So what we did, we went out and we bought food for 10 million people, which is five per cent of the population; thus people at the bottom of the pyramid. And what we did, we took 10 million people and we said, this 10 million people, it means that you have minimum of 1.7 million households. And we gave them food and we distributed. So that will actually reduce the effect of the lockdown. So that’s what we did”.

To this effect, he urged all operators in the private sector to commit one per cent of their profits to fund the health sector challenges in Nigeria, to enable the country tackle crisis like the coronavirus pandemic successfully.

The post How COVID-19 Impacted Africa- Dangote appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

The source insisted that the incident happened in the state and also that the CACOVID food palliatives were left unattended in the warehouse.

Recall that the Kogi state governor said his administration did not hoard CACOVID relief packages, and that news reports claiming that the warehouse that stored the items was looted, were completely false.

He also stated that his administration had been distributing palliatives to cushion the effect of the infectious disease, even before CACOVID commenced help to other states.

However, contrary to what the governor said on the national TV, the source insisted that the state government took early delivery of the palliatives and refused to distribute to the people for reasons best known to them. A document, made available to our correspondent, showed that the food items were left unattended when the looters vandalised the warehouse.

Each household is supposed to receive a bundle containing 10kg bag of rice, 5kg bag of garri/semolina, one carton of pasta, two cartons of noodles, 5kg of sugar, and 1kg of salt.

Another document also showed that as of Tuesday, July 21, 2020, CACOVID had completed the delivery of noodles and some other items to the Kogi State government.

It was gathered that 90% of the expected food palliatives totalling 238,000 packages, which include – rice, pasta, noodles, semo/maize, salt, and sugar have all been delivered to the state government, according to the documents. The value of the food palliatives collected by the Kogi State government was put at N531 million.

Though the governor alleged, during the interview that COVID-19 is political, sources within the government however revealed that many isolation centres had been set up in the State as of Friday, May 22, with the full cooperation of the state government.

Commenting on the looted COVID-19 palliatives warehouse in Kogi State, Adeyinka Akagba, a civil servant said: “The Governor was just not fair to the people. He should have distributed the palliatives immediately it was delivered to him, rather than keep them in a very bad warehouse…The most painful part of it was the fact that the palliatives were fed to rodents instead of Kogi people, who were keen on getting the palliatives to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown.”

The post Looted Kogi COVID-19 Palliatives: Many Lies of Yahaya Bello appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

As seen on multiple news reports, miscreants across Nigeria have been discovering and looting the palliatives meant for distribution to cushion the effect of COVID-19 infectious disease.

But reacting to the looting trend, CACOVID expressed deep concern, urging looters and arsonists to immediately desist from their actions in order to allow the state governments to proceed with the peaceful and fair distribution of these palliatives to the neediest and most vulnerable in our society.

Over the past few months, the Private Sector through CACOVID has been working with all State Governors, the FCT Minister, and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to procure, deliver and distribute these food relief items to almost 2 million most vulnerable families (over 10 million Nigerians) across the 774 LGAs in the country, as part of the private sector’s support to the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sheer scale of this nationwide food programme and the timing of the orders and deliveries, which coincided with the lockdowns and reduced movement across the country, complelled CACOVID to roll out distribution in a staggered manner, with States classified in three timed phases, to enable orderly delivery to the needy.

At the time CACOVID embarked on the palliatives effort in April, we decided to procure the food directly from the manufacturers, to avoid a distortion of prices in the market. The food package was designed such that each of the nearly 2 million vulnerable families received: 10kg bag or rice, 5kg bag of garri/maize flour/semolina, 1 carton of pasta, 2 cartons of noodles, 5kg of sugar and 1kg of salt.

Unfortunately, the very large size of the order, and the production cycle required to meet the demand, caused delays in delivering the food items to the States in an expeditious manner; hence the resulting delay in delivery of the food palliatives by the State Governors.

For instance, Rice had to be milled, semolina and maize flour had to be processed, noodles and pasta had to be manufactured, and sugar had to be refined.

As Such, the first deliveries could not start until June. However, as of October 2020, a sizable portion of the items had been delivered but yet to be distributed by the Governors. Although various States and FCT had commenced flag-off of the distribution of the food items since early August. Some could not conclude the distribution as they were yet to receive complete deliveries of the items allotted to them. In the interest of transparency and accountability, CACOVID will, in due course be providing the full delivery schedule and flag-off dates by each state.

Prior to these events, CACOVID had worked with the States through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to determine:
i. the number of households per State;
ii. The States and FCT to provide clean and secure warehousing for the food;
iii. The composition of the State and Local Government Committees (including CSOs, religious organisations, LGA Chairpersons, Ward Leaders, media representatives, security services, CACOVID representatives); and
iv. Clear distribution guildelines to ensure equitable distribution of the food amongst the neediest.

Given that the States and Local Government authorities oversee all relief efforts in their jurisdictions and know their citizens best, we had worked with each Governor and Minister of the FCT, utilizing a combination of our protocols and their existing structures and processes to ensure food items reach the intended beneficiaries. We also appointed an independent monitoring team to ensure that the items would be delivered as intended.

We are aware that official flagging-off and handover of the palliatives has taken place in 28 states and FCT, and State governments have been distributing at various paces. As of today, October 26^th, 202, some States have confirmed completion of their distribution while others were in the process of proceeding with the distribution before these looting took place. By these looting incidents, it there meant that some intended beneficiaries had been deprived the opportunity of benefitting from CACOVID’s good intentions.

In line with our earlier promise, KPMG Professional Services, our external auditors are at the verge of completing the audit of all contributions from our donors; as well as listing of all medical and food items procured with these funds. We will be sharing the external audit reports of our spending, alongside a full report of CACOVID activities, including delivery and planned flag-off dates of our donations to Nigerians.

It is very unfortunate that various States, including States that have concluded the distribution of their allocations, are seeing theier warehouses and other premises being raided. It must also be noted that not every warehouse in Nigeria that contains palliatives is affiliated with the CACOVID donation, given that the States themelves, the Federal Government and other organisations have also made donations.

In light of these unsavoury developments, we would like to appeal for calm, and for States to be allowed to proceed with their palliatives distributions peacefully, even as each State will undoubtedly keep its citizens abreast of the distribution process to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity.

The Coalition disavows, and urges the public to disregard, any unauthorized sources of information regarding the current issue.

CACOVID confirms this platform as the only one authorized to communicate on behalf of the group.

The post CACOVID Sues For Calm Over Looted COVID-19 Palliative Warehouses appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Due to the impressive milestones recorded so far, the talent management and public relations firm, has now expressed its commitment to promote artistes in and beyond the shores of Nigeria, with its virtual media tour programme.

Estol Africa’s concept of virtual media tour however became clearer with the introduction of Fireboy DML’s new sound.

She said, “We have handled quite a number of projects recently. This is despite the pandemic, and I must say I’m proud of the successes recorded so far. Aside from Fireboy Dml, we have been able to introduce new talents, which include Phyno’s Superboy Cheque, and at the same time, worked with Harrysong, Olamide, Bimbo Ademoye, Chy Nwakanma, Ruth Kadiri, Zinny x, and Badman Chorus.”

Speaking of her aspirations, Cute Kimani revealed, “In future climes, I hope to see more strategies rolled out to push the boundaries of creativity and position their clients as the biggest talents in Africa.”

The post How Estol Africa is Thriving Amid COVID-19 appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

In a chat with Unmask NG, the music star admitted that he was one of those who were affected by the infectious disease, but he was able to see another side of his art that he has since been snubbing.

His words; “Everyone is actually affected by COVID-19, and I wasn’t exempted. The virus came like a rude shock to all of us.

“Initially, it really got to me, but I must say the COVID-19 experience presented me with an opportunity to also focus on my digital aspects. Digital is another avenue musicians can make earnings. I have not been paying attention to this aspect of my art prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, but it later dawns on me that I have been missing a lot from snubbing this part. It will surprise you that I made what I made the whole of 2019 on digital, in less than six months on digital during this period. So, it’s also a blessing in disguise and I’m grateful for it.”

Here’s what we know…

Since Nigeria confirmed her index case of COVID-19, which was in late February 2020, gospel artistes like Mike Abdul have seen their revenues nose-dived as a result of the measures put in place to curtail the disease spread.

Hit by the huge blow of COVID-19, the artistes who have seen their earnings significantly declined, have now re-channeled their energy to digital in other to survive this torrid period.

Meanwhile, Abdul who shot himself into fame with no less than three electrifying albums disclosed to Unmask NG that he has a new song, titled Èyan Jésù out there.

He however said he recorded the song during the COVID-19 lockdown, and it’s a song people will be grateful for listening to.

The post What COVID-19 Taught Me -Mike Abdul appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Punch reports that a member of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), who craved for anonymity made this disclosure.

Why the sacking of pilots

According to the management of the airline, the pilots’ disengagement was due to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Describing the sacking of the pilots as rightful decision, Stanley Olise, the Spokesperson of Air Peace, in a statement admitted that the decision was a painful one.

His statement read in part; “The airline cannot afford to toe the path of being unable to continue to fulfill its financial obligations to its staff, external vendors, aviation agencies, maintenance organisations, insurance companies, banks, and other creditors, hence the decision to restructure its entire operations with a view to surviving the times.

“The pandemic has hit every airline worldwide, so badly that it has become very impossible for airlines to remain afloat without carrying out an internal restructuring of their costs.

“Anything short of what we have done may lead to the collapse of an airline as could be seen in some places worldwide during this period. Therefore, we decided to review the salaries being paid to all staff.

“The new salaries reflect a zero per cent-40 per cent cut of the former salary, depending on the salary grades of every staff. Even after the cuts, it was obvious that for us to be able to sustain our operations and survive the times, some jobs must inevitably have to go.

“Air Peace has never, for one day, ever owed salaries to its workers in its almost six years of existence, pilots inclusive. Rather, the management of Air Peace has always been known to be increasing salaries of its employees periodically, without being prompted by staff.

“In fact, in one fell swoop, Air Peace increased the salaries of pilots by over 100 per cent in one day. Our salaries have always been paid even before the end of the month in the last five years.

“The decision is a reflection of the negative impact of the pandemic on airlines and aviation worldwide.

“We are in trying times. Even the biggest airlines in Europe, America, Middle East, Asia, Australia and, indeed, Africa, are all either slashing jobs and cutting salaries in order to remain afloat or are shutting down.

“Air Peace is not immune from these challenges.”

Here’s what we think….

It is an open secrete that this is a challenging time for private companies and business owners at large. As it is in the case of Air Peace, the aviation industry has practically not been operating in its full capacity in a global scale, due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic partial lockdown.

As companies like Air Peace are laying off their staff, it is pertinent for them to ensure fairness and equity.

The post Air Peace Renders Dozens of Pilots Jobless, Here’s Why appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

As global economy is devastatingly hit by the lingering infectious disease, Elumelu advised investors to take advantage of the situation to invest in Nigeria, and other countries in Africa.

In an interview with Time, Elumelu pitched investors to put their bets on Africa’s economy for good returns.

His words; “Africa is a land of opportunity. Challenges exist in Africa, but we also have a huge return on investment. There’s no better time to make that bet than the time we live in.

“Today there’s more market stability than ever before and there’s a willingness and realization by African leaders that capital will come to where it’s welcome. So they’re trying to make an enabling environment in their markets and in their countries to attract foreign investments.”

The billionaire also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has leavened economic opportunities in Africa, particularly in the continent’s banking sector. “In the banking business, there’s a whole transformation of banking heightened by COVID-19. Now you have less than 15% of our over 20 million bank customers across Africa transacting in the bank. Most of them are transacting online, which is about 85% of 20 million customers—that’s significant,” Elumelu explained.

Acknowledging that the odds, at the moment, may not in Africa’s favour, Elumelu insisted that hope is all that is needed to emerge from COVID-19’s economic dredge.

“The difference is having economic hope, the difference is always thinking positive and knowing that tomorrow will be better than today. Don’t let your economic aspirations die with COVID,” he added.

Elumelu is right….

If you are considering a long-term investments that will yield laudable returns, Unmask NG is of the opinion that looking at the current economic condition to put one’s money to work may be regrettable.

As a smart investor, your personal circumstances should dictate your timing of investments, not the current conditions of the economy. Interestingly, financial experts like Elumelu subscribed to this school of thought.

It is however pertinent to note that while investing through a pandemic may be counterintuitive, as far as investment is concerned, it is about time in the market, not timing the market.

Elumelu, a living testimony…

The highly-revered billionaire, in 1997, led a small group of investors to take over a financially-distressed commercial bank in Lagos.

Few years after the acquisition, the acquired bank was renamed Standard Trust Bank (STB). Subsequently, STB became one of the leading financial service firms in the country, after merging with UBA.

The post COVID-19: Elemelu Has A Message For Investors appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Seth Berkley, the CEO of the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, made know that although the facility was yet to conclude on a specific target price; the facility was considering a target price of $40 per COVID-19 dose for wealthy nations.

“There was a large range of numbers, and they (the EU sources) put the highest number out. COVAX officials had given a range of different prices. And $40 was the maximum price in the range for high-income countries, rather than a set price,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

While explaining that GAVI’s COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, has commenced the putting together of estimations based on known information, Berkley maintained that at the moment, the prices are yet to be concluded.

He further made known that it is presently not clear what manufacturers of potential COVID-19 vaccines will propose, but according to him, efforts made from GAVI so far, is putting forward cost estimates based on available information.

“The challenge is trying to come up with a cost. Anybody who tells you they know isn’t being honest,” Berkley added.

Know this…

Drug manufacturers like Moderna, have so far recorded positive results in their COVID-19 trials. And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), no less than 150 vaccines are at development stage across the world.

Wondering how long it will take to develop a vaccine and get it approved for COVID-19 cure? You don’t have to ponder anymore, as Wellcome Trust, a research-charity based in London recently revealed that normally, the research and discovery stage takes between two-to-five years. Corroborating this claim, the UK Charity Commission said a vaccine can take more than 10 years to fully develop.

The post COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Sold For N15,500 Per Dose appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.