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Heritage Bank, Lagos State sponsor one-day seminar for JAMB students

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Heritage Bank Plc, Nigeria’s most innovative banking services provider, has taken another giant step towards being the timeless wealth partners with its stakeholders, as it sponsored a one-day JAMB Seminar for the Ifako-Ijaiye students.

This is part of the bank’s initiative to develop the advancement of education in Nigeria; as the bank in partnership with a House of Representative member in Lagos State organised a one day seminar to educate the audience about the techniques required to scale the JAMB 2017 calendar huddle in aspiration for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.

The seminar, which had no fewer than 20 schools represented with an average of at least 1,500 students from the two local governments comprising of both government schools and private schools in attendance.

The forum, held weekend at Obawole in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government area of Lagos State, commemorated the first 100 days in office of Honourable Nurudeen Olaitan Akinwunmi as a Member of the House of Representatives. Akinwunmi is representing the Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency at the National Assembly.

Addressing the participants at the occasion, Hon. Akinwunmi said just like illiteracy, ignorance is a dangerous circumstance because anybody who is ignorant on any issue is not different from an uneducated person.

He stated that excelling in a higher institution admission qualifying examination like JAMB requires more than being brilliant. “Being sound in the combination of subjects on which questions are to be set may not necessarily translate to being admitted. There are so many issues involved. That is why millions of brilliant candidates who have sat for JAMB up to two, three times have failed to gain admission” he specified.

He therefore charged the students that the ultimate goal of the seminar is to ensure that the majority of the participants pass this year’s JAMB qualifying examination. His words: “My belief is that while most parents can afford the cost of the JAMB Form, most parents cannot afford to teach what you’ll be taught today.”

Corroborating him, Mr. Jide Johnson, one of the facilitators at the forum, advised the audience to ensure they concentrate in their examination. He said concentration is key to success for any student who would pass in JAMB examinations. Again, he said they should always bear it in mind that they are going to the examination for a specific purpose and not for fashion show. Bearing this in mind, Johnson charged them to build on their courage as they prepare for this year’s JAMB examination coming up in May.

He stated that it is difficult for any student to understand all the questions in JAMB examinations; however warned them to attempt only those questions they are sure of. “Answer only those questions you are sure of and leave those you do not understand. You cannot know every question; do the ones you know and leave those you do not understand”, he counselled.

Justifying the Heritage Bank’s support for the seminar, Jake-Biosa Ogechi, team member (Cowry & SME), Heritage Bank, explained that the financial service provider is a bank that loves to work with its partners.

She said the bank decided to stay by the students even before their planned admissions into tertiary institutions with a view to boosting their understanding of the need for saving culture.

Ogechi therefore charged parents, whose children plan to gain admission into higher institutions of learning in Nigeria to embrace the various banking solutions in the stable of Heritage Bank. According to her, parents should ensure they open Heritage Bank Board Account for their wards; as doing that would make financial communication easy between them and their children.

She said there are several other banking solutions like HB Tier 1 Account and YIEDP Intervention Scheme that Heritage Bank has developed for the benefit of its numerous customers and other stakeholders.

Ogechi assured the students and their parents that Heritage Bank is a bank they can always count on as a timeless wealth partner.

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Mike Adenuga-led Conoil rewards shareholders with N1.73 billion dividend

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  • Conoil Plc declares a substantial $2.2 million dividend for fiscal year 2022. 
  • Shareholders to receive N2.5 per share in recognition of Conoil’s outstanding financial performance. 
  • Mike Adenuga’s leadership drives Conoil’s profit before tax up by 60% in 2022.

Leading petroleum marketing firm Conoil Plc, headed by the third-richest man in Nigeria and multibillionaire businessman Mike Adenuga, has declared a sizeable dividend distribution to shareholders of N1.73 billion ($2.2 million).

The $2.2-million payment, which is the last dividend for Conoil’s fiscal year 2022, is equivalent to N2.5 ($0.00319) per share for all 693,952,117 of the company’s outstanding common shares.

At Conoil’s 53rd Annual General Meeting, which took place on September 22, 2023, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, shareholders accepted this choice.

According to the information reaching us, the final dividend, which recognizes Conoil’s outstanding financial performance in its 2022 fiscal year, will be deposited to shareholders’ accounts on September 29, 2023.

Conoil’s profit before tax increased dramatically under Adenuga’s direction, rising from N3.83 billion ($4.9 million) in 2021 to N6.13 billion ($7.84 million) in 2022 while confronting various obstacles and a challenging working environment. During the same period, earnings after tax rose by an equally astounding 60%, from N3.08 billion ($3.94 million) to N4.96 billion ($6.35 million).

The increasing profitability of the petroleum-marketing subsector boosted Conoil’s profits per share to N7.14 ($0.0091), a stunning 60.8 percent rise over the N4.44 ($0.00568) generated in 2021.

The company’s board of directors decided to approve a final dividend of $2.2 million, or N2.5 ($0.00319) per share, as a result of this exceptional achievement.

Conoil has strengthened its position as a major player in Nigeria’s petroleum marketing sector under the shrewd leadership of Adenuga. The business is well known for its proficiency in the marketing of a variety of lubricants sold under the “Quarto” brand, including diesel, kerosene, gasoline, aviation fuel, and other liquids.

Adenuga, a well-known telecom tycoon and one of Africa’s wealthiest billionaires, continues to have majority ownership in the oil marketing firm of 74.4 percent, or 516,298,603 shares, further solidifying his position as a key player in the continent’s oil sector.

Conoil’s dedication to providing value to its shareholders and its tenacity in overcoming obstacles in the Nigerian market are both shown by this dividend payment.

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Popular Lagos Family Battles Wema Bank Over Illegal Use Of Property….

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Bolade, a popular Oshodi-based Lagos family and owners of Bolade House, located in Oshodi, Lagos State have dragged Wema Bank Plc to court for using their property without paying for it.

 

According to a report, the bank continues to occupy the property despite an ejection notice served on it by the family, as the management of the financial institution flagrantly refused to vacate the premises.

 

 

Document spotted by our correspondent revealed that the family leased the property to Wema Bank in 1995 for 25 years, an agreement which expired on April 30, 2020.

 

 

However, when the lease expired, the bank was said to have pleaded for time to relocate, causing the bank a three-year tenancy, which was said to have run from May 1, 2020, and expired on April 30, 2023, at a rate of N6m per annum.

 

Interestingly, when the new short term agreement expired, the family’s lawyer and the bank re-entered another round of negotiation, leading to a five-year tenancy rent of N8m per annum, which was later rejected by the family, who believed the property was worth more than the money the bank intended to pay.

 

 

According to the head of the family, Madam Helen Kupoluyi, they could not accept the offer because the apartment was valued at over N50m by a property valuer the family employed.

 

Kupoluyi said, “When the bank leased out the middle floor and was collecting rent on it without our consent, we never complained. We told them to employ their valuation of the building to get an appropriate rent for the building, but they refused. We charged them in court, but they refused to show up. We want them out of our building premises.”

 

 

On his part, the lawyer for the family, Abraham Adeoye, said, “We wrote a letter to Wema Bank, putting further negotiations on hold until a valuation is conducted. They refused.

 

 

“They insisted the rent be the N8m agreed to with the solicitors when no agreement had been signed. The family further reached out to Wema Bank and proposed that a joint valuation be carried out by a team of valuers from the bank and the family; they refused.

 

“We have not signed any tenancy agreement with Wema Bank, and no money was ever received from Wema Bank. As such, Wema Bank has been occupying the property free of charge since April 30, 2023, when its tenancy expired.”

 

Reacting to the allegation, spokesperson for the bank, Mabel Adeteye, said the feedback from the legal team was that the information provided by the family was incorrect.

 

 

“The information was completely wrong and false. All the information shared with you is wrong. We didn’t receive any letters to that effect. I don’t know what the motive is for the people; I know there is a conversation around the property.

 

 

“We had agreed on a certain amount for renewal, and the next thing they were waiting for from the family was for them to send a bank account number for payment. If they said they had gone to court, why not wait for the court to hear the two parties? Let them put their demands on a document; the bank can then look at it and respond.”

 

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HOW ACCESS BANK STRUGGLES TO ATTRACT FRENCH COMPANIES…

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Nigerian Access Bank has been very outspoken about strengthening ties with France, but has not yet made much progress.

On the 10th floor of the Access Tower on Victoria Island in Lagos, the only sign that Access Bank has what it calls a “French Desk” is a tiny French flag in a corner. It has been nearly four months since the bank’s main shareholder and non-executive director, Herbert Wigwe, opened the Desk, but it has not yet done anything.

The Desk has been set up to help French companies work in Nigeria and vice versa. To this end, a partnership with the Business France office in Lagos is currently being finalised. However, its efforts will first focus on Ghana. Access Bank’s branch in Accra handles accounts for several major French companies, including TotalEnergies and the consultancy Mazars.

Presence in Paris

In May, Minister Delegate for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou attended the inauguration of the new French Desk, intended to mark a new step forward in Access Bank’s French strategy. Two weeks before, on 15 May, Wigwe became chairman of the French-Nigeria Business Council, replacing Abdulsamad Rabiu of BUA and then inaugurated a Paris branch at the Petit Palais with French Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht in attendance

Like the French Desk in Lagos, the Paris office, a branch of Access Bank’s London and run by Justin Maria, cannot do much. It currently cannot open an account for any clients, discussions are still on going with the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority.

 

Westward bound

The Paris branch of Access Bank and the French Desk in Lagos, which will also benefit from an office in Paris in the coming months, indicate its interest in the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The Nigerian bank acquired Standard Chartered Bank’s assets in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, and now intends to break into the markets in Senegal and Ivory Coast.

 

  • The Capital

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