Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Saraki appoints Galaudu, Olaniyonu as aides


Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Tuesday approved the appointment of Senator Isa Galaudu, who represented Kebbi North Senatorial District in the Seventh Senate as his Chief of Staff.


He also announced the appointment of the immediate past Commissioner for Information in Ogun State, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, as his Special Adviser on Media.


Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Dr. Benedict Effeturi, in a statement in Abuja said the appointments take immediate effect.


Senator Galaudu, according to the statement represented Kebbi North Senatorial Zone in the 7th Senate.


He was elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2011.


On his part, Mr. Yusuph Adesola Olaniyonu, was before his appointment the Chairman, Editorial Board of Thisday Newspapers.


He is a graduate of the University of Lagos.


This is the first appointments made by Saraki after his election as Senate President on June 9.



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Ruling party wins in Ethiopia’s general election


Merga Bekana, Ethiopia Electoral Board Chairman, on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, declared the final electoral results, as the ruling party swept all, but one seat in the election.


He said the final results to the 547-seat parliament held in May, showed that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), won the elections.


Bekana said at a news conference that the opposition secured just one seat in the last parliament, after winning an unprecedented 147 seats in the 2005 election.


He said the opposition did not take up their seats after that vote, saying the poll was rigged.


Merga said the election was coordinated in a free, fair, peaceful, credible and democratic manner.


He said the turnout was 93.2 per cent of the 36.8 million registered voters out of Ethiopia’s 96 million populations.


Meanwhile, opposition groups such as the Medrek coalition and Semayawi party said earlier that they would reject the results, citing harassment and abuse of their candidates.


The opposition complained of various abuses, stating that voting for the last seat, was delayed after clashes between backers of an independent and those supporting the candidate of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).



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Monday, 22 June 2015

Oil Subsidy: Enugu residents call for overhaul of refineries


A cross section of Enugu residents have called for proper overhaul of the refineries before the proposed removal of oil subsidy.


Some of the residents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday, decried the current state of refineries in the country.


A civil servant, Mr Emeka Nebo, advised the government to ensure that the refineries were functional before the removal of subsidy on petroleum products.


“If at all the government is insisting on removing oil subsidy, all our refineries must be put in good shape so as to serve the people effectively.


“I strongly believe that if the Warri, Port-Harcourt, and Kaduna refineries are working as they ought to, we will not be complaining about fuel scarcity,” he said.


Another civil servant, Mr Donald Odenigbo, urged the government to be ready to increase workers’ salaries as soon as it removed the subsidy.


“You cannot remove oil subsidy without increasing salaries of workers to cushion the negative effect.


“There is no palliative measure than that, because prices of everything in this country will definitely increase,” he said.


Mrs. Phina Nwosu, a lawyer, said that the government should not discuss anything on subsidy removal because it would pose a serious threat to the people.


“Government should not discuss removal of oil subsidy now because it will increase the suffering of the people.


“The past administration wanted to do that but it received knocks from labour and the opposition. Why now?” she queried.


Nwosu joined the call on the Federal Government to urgently put the refineries in order for sustainability.


A petroleum dealer, Mr Solomon Amalu, said that he believed that the removal of oil subsidy would make fuel available in every filling station.


Uju Okoye, a student complained that removal of oil subsidy would amount to increase in prices of goods and services.


According to her, if it is done, school fees, prices of books, transportation, food and everything will increase astronomically and people will suffer.


“I am calling on all Nigerians to get ready for hard times,” she said.



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I met empty treasury - Buhari


President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday disclosed that he met virtually an empty national treasury on assumption in office on May 29.


Apart from millions of dollars debts the country is owing, the President said it was a national disgrace that state and federal workers in the country are being owed backlog of salaries.


Buhari spoke at a meeting with State House correspondents.


He said: “I hope we are starting gradually. Treasury is virtually empty and debts running into millions of dollars. The fact that state workers and even federal workers have not been paid their salaries is such a disgrace for Nigeria.


“I think Nigeria should be in a position to even pay its workers, this bad management that we find ourselves in we really need your help to protect us from people before they match on us.”


On his appointment of Femi Adesina, he said: “It is not by accident that I got the best of you to be the special adviser. He is one of the 15 aides I had to get clearance from the Senate to appoint. I brought one of the best of you so that he can consistently defend me against you.


“Whether my job is a difficult one or easy is up to him, but I’m here to thank you in advance for ‎what good and ill you are going to do to me.


“I have to quickly come and see you and welcome you to this place. I hope ‎what happened of recent between the former president and one of you will not happen between me and you.”


The Chairman of the State House Press Corps, Kehinde Amodu, thanked the President for finding it worthy to visit journalists on his first day in the Villa.



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Friday, 19 June 2015

Texting people out poverty - The Nation


A bank account is one step on the road to financial stability. A program called Juntos “talks” to its users to ensure that the newly banked actually put their money aside, writes Laura Shin


 


Carmen Hernandez, 34, lives in Dallas with her husband and five children. Her husband works in construction, earning about $50,000 a year. Hernandez makes party decorations and tailors clothing, making $800 to $1,000 a month.


In February 2014, the family only had $300 in savings. That month, Hernandez began using a program called Juntos that sends text messages to her mobile, a basic cell phone.


The texts would ask her things like, “Do you want to save more?” If the answer was yes, she would respond with an amount, which would be deposited into her savings account.


Or, they might ask if she had an emergency and remind her that she could use her savings. Or, they might just encourage her to continue saving.


A year later, the family savings was closing in on $5,000.


“All the messages they send really help me,” said Hernandez, with her 14­year­old son acting as translator. “If I didn’t use it, I would save less.”


The San Carlos, California­based company behind the program, Juntos Finanzas (which goes by Juntos), promotes financial inclusion and helps first­time bank account holders, or the “newly banked,” to manage their money. “Our hope is to increase active client rates and active balances in accounts,” said Katie Nienow, cofounder and vice­president of business development.


The company got its start in 2009 at the Institute of Design at Stanford, when a student named Ben Knelman (now CEO) created a simple app to help the school janitors.


Initially, a janitor named Karina laughed at the idea that she could save on her $21,000 salary. But a year later, she had saved $2,000 by using the app. Juntos went on to win the innovation award for financial inclusion at the 2012 G20 summit in Mexico City.


In a pilot study in Colombia, participants working with Juntos ended up with 50 percent higher balances than the control group. Many users, who already feel connected to their phones—one referred to hers as her baby—end up feeling such a personal connection to the app that they respond with messages like, “I just want to thank you for your help.


Your motivation has been very useful.”


The company now has 200,000 users, obtained through partner financial institutions, in Colombia, Mexico and Tanzania. A team of writers with backgrounds from psychology to design use behavioral economics and on­the­ground research to customize each version to the dialect and culture of that country. Juntos also has a version for users in the United States, which is targeted at recent immigrants who are new to the banking system.


“In recent years, innovations like branchless banking, mobile banking and mobile money have meant that banking services could be provided to the poor at cheaper cost, so access to financial services was becoming a reality for the poor,” said Nienow. But while banks have an easy time getting people to open accounts, customers often immediately let their accounts fall dormant, or unused. Dormancy rates for the newly banked range from 40 to 90 percent around the world.


People who don’t have active accounts may engage in behaviors that put their money at risk. They may keep cash at home, where it might get stolen. Or they may use risky or difficult­to­liquidate informal savings vehicles, such as asking a family member to hold their cash or buying inventory for their small business.


“When the poor have their money weighing too heavily on their minds, they’re not able to give their mind to other things with their full presence, which has implications for their job performance and their future earning potential,” said Nienow, citing studies that showed that people perform less well on IQ tests when money is scarce.


Dormant accounts also cost the banks, which spend time and money to develop, advertise and maintain them. That makes Juntos and financial institutions natural partners: the banks have customers that Juntos can target for financial inclusion, and Juntos can help banks lower dormancy rates.


After enrollment, which may or may not be automatic, depending upon the institution, a user receives a note from Juntos explaining that the service acts as a free financial coach.


The company will try several different texts to see what gets the person to write back, then refine its algorithms based on the responses it receives. “We’re constantly testing different messages to see what resonates the best,” said Nienow.


Once a customer replies, Juntos will ask her if she’s interested in a particular aspect of the account. For instance, if she gets free health insurance for maintaining a certain balance, the company will send reminders of that.


Antonique Koning, a financial sector specialist at The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, says that Juntos’s use of algorithms to analyze big volumes of customer data and continually update responses is innovative among organizations tackling financial inclusion. She feels that the Juntos platform helps people to believe in their banks.


“Providers need to become much more focused on the customers, better understand the customers’ realities, needs and preferences, and develop solutions that help,” she said.  “People don’t trust the financial system because the system doesn’t speak their language.”


 


For more information


Website: http://juntosglobal.com/


Video: http://www.sparknews.com/fr/video/juntos­finanzas­positive­financial­impact-


sms



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Impact Journalism Day: 45 newspapers unite to bring readers uplifting, solutions-based news  


Reading the news on a daily basis can be a depressing affair. Worldwide, readers and audiences repeatedly report that they are put off by how negative the news seems to be.


Yet the media’s role is to bring major issues and problems to the foreground and to keep us alert. Must the headlines conform to the age‐old adage that “when it bleeds, it leads”?


The idea behind Impact Journalism Day is to show that the media also fulfill their role by reporting on inspiring solutions to the world’s problems.


The alliance of 45 newspapers, united by Sparknews, presents a different vision of journalism: problems AND solutions can make the news together. This view, along with the conviction that quality, solutions‐based news is something readers aspire to have more of, is part of a growing movement in the press to feature stories of hope and change.


Impact Journalism Day is just the beginning. Each edition has seen a steady increase in the number of newspapers and newsrooms onboard, excited to show their commitment to solutions‐based reporting. Some journalists were initially concerned this content might be naïve or simplistic, but are now eager to participate and uphold this philosophy in their day‐to‐day activities. They are fueled by conviction and also by seeing firsthand that this type of reporting has a measurable impact on the ground.


When the public learns of real solutions, the results can be tremendous. Readers gain greater understanding of the problems and are given the means to engage and the hope to believe that they can become changemakers.


Every reader can and does make a difference. Last year’s articles helped contribute to the growth of the projects featured, via an increase in awareness, volunteering, orders, investments, donations or even via replication in new countries.


Now it’s your turn to be part of the movement!


Show the media that this kind of news matters. Tell your friends and family about Impact Journalism Day, buy an extra copy for your children or your colleagues, share the articles you like on the web and be part of the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.


You can take part in our selfie contest by posting a photo of yourself and this newspaper via Twitter (#ImpactJournalism and add the @ thenationnews) or the Facebook page of our founding partner, AXA (facebook.com/AXAPeopleProtectors).


Help the innovators and entrepreneurs featured in these stories to overcome the challenges they face by joining a brainstorming session (beta.makesense.org/ijd).


And suggest projects we might consider for next year’s Impact Journalism Day (www.sparknews.com/ijd).


Enjoy your read!


Christian de Boisredon and the Sparknews Team.


Christian is the founder of Sparknews and an Ashoka Fellow.


For more information: [email protected]



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Photos: So much to be thankful for



Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), his Deputy, Dr. (Mrs.) Oluranti Adebule (2nd left), Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello (left), the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II (left) and the Chief Imam of Lagos, Alhaji Akinola Garuba (2nd right) during a Special Thanksgiving Jumat at the Lagos Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday




Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left) exchanging pleasantries with Alhaji (Engr.) Shakiru Gafar (right), his Deputy, Dr. (Mrs.) Oluranti Adebule (3rd left) and the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II (left) during a Special Thanksgiving Jumat at the Lagos Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday




Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right) addressing Muslim Faithfuls during a Special Thanksgiving Jumat at the Lagos Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday




Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (left) receiving a gift during a Special Thanksgiving Jumat at the Lagos Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday




Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (left) discussing with the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu II (right) and the Chief Imam of Lagos, Alhaji Akinola Garuba (middle) during a Special Thanksgiving Jumat at the Lagos Central Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday



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Test Post from The Nation News Paper

Test Post from The Nation News Paper http://webjeju.com/nationnewspaper