The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan Zonal Office on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, arraigned an ex-banker, Akinwole Oluwaseun Dosunmu, alongside his wife, Motunrayo Olanike Dosunmu before Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan for alleged financial fraud to the tune of N2,740,300.92 (Two Million, Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand, Three Hundred Naira, Ninety-Two kobo).

The couple was accused of stealing the sum from the Sterling Bank Plc. Akinwole was an employee of the bank, while his wife was a customer and a beneficiary in the bank’s Third Party Acquirer Scheme (TPAS).

The bank had initiated the scheme as a marketing strategy through which relatives and friends of their marketing agents were awarded commission for bringing new customers to open and operate new accounts with the bank. Akinwole, also a marketer with the bank, was appointed to coordinate the scheme.

Apart from the commission on account opening, the referral also enjoys certain percentage on the savings made through the accounts every month.

It was, however, alleged that while reviewing activities under the scheme in 2016, the bank discovered that most of the accounts appropriated to Motunrayo as a third-party acquirer were fraudulently tagged to her by her husband.

Officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have intercepted 1, 393 bags of rice concealed in gas cylinders within Ogun State.

Parading the smugglers before newsmen on Wednesday February 19, the Acting Controller of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A in Ikeja, Usman Yahaya said 625 cartons of frozen chicken, 187 jars and 66 drums of vegetable oil were also seized when the suspects were arrested between 5th and 17th February, 2020.

The items conveyed in 12 different vehicles, had a cumulative duty paid value (DPV) of N40.14 million.

Yahaya said;  “Barely two weeks after the Comptroller-General of Customs’ working visit to Lagos where he showcased various seizures made by FOU A worth over N10 billion, we have again intercepted 1,393 bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice, 187 jerrycans/66 drums of foreign vegetable oil and 625 cartons of poultry products from unapproved routes within Ogun State between 5th -17th February 2020 based on surveillance and routine patrol.

“This desperate act by these dare-devil smugglers concealing edible items in a gas cylinder further justifies the hard chase by operatives of Customs. DPV of each type of seized items include rice, N27.86 million; vegetable oil, N6.28 million, and frozen poultry N6 million.”

He also urged members of the public to support the service’s fight against smuggling activities by providing intelligence that could assist the unit achieve more monumental seizures.

Keystone Bank Limited, Nigeria’s most innovative banking services provider, has restated its commitment to environmental sustainability as it recently embarked on tree planting campaign.

According to the lender, the event which saw staff of the bank plant trees at the Nigeria Conservation Foundation in Lagos, is in line with its bid to further align with the Sustainable Development Goal 15, which stresses the call by the United Nations to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss and ultimately for environmental sustainability.

Commenting on the initiative, Keystone Bank executive director, Adeyemi Odusanya said: “As a bank, our goal is to lead the movement promoting environmental sustainability in Nigeria and we are clearly going to sustain that.

“One of the ways to sustain this initiative is by planting trees to preserve the environment. Tree planting remains a strong tool to tackle the effect of climate change. Climate change is the most significant material risk to the future because it poses most devastating threat to human survival.

“Keystone Bank fully aligns itself with the UN ideology.

“We cannot live a healthy life, conduct business and create wealth amidst a sick environment. Hence, this gesture is our commitment towards a sustainable future that will benefit all,” Odusanya noted.

Keystone Bank is a technology and service-driven commercial bank offering convenient and reliable solutions to its customers.

The Senate on Tuesday mediated in the dispute between the Rite Foods Limited, makers of Bigi soft drinks and the Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc in Abuja.

The management of the Rites Food Limited had petitioned the Senate over alleged threat to the security and existence of Rites Foods Ltd, Ososa, Ogun State by the Seven-Up Plc.

The matter was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions by the Senate for investigation and further legislative action.

The two companies were expected to appear before a Public Hearing organised by the committee to hear submissions from both parties.

However, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Patrick Akinyelure (Ondo Central) told reporters that the committee decided to mediate between the parties behind closed doors to ensure amicable resolutions.

He said the Committee gave the parties two weeks to come up with resolutions that they adopt upon which the committee will make its report to the Senate.

Akinyelure said: “Essentially we are stakeholders in this country and as democratically elected representatives of this country in the red chamber, our position in issues like this is to find a middle ground to ensure that these big players, none of them goes under.

“We looked at it from submissions from both sides, we found out that there are some misconceptions.

“There are three dominant players in the soft drink industry. We have the Coca-Cola, Seven Up and Rites Foods Nigeria Limited, makers of Bigi soft drink.

“We appreciate as senior citizens of this country that Rites Foods Limited is a wholly owned indigenous company that should be encouraged in all ramifications.’’

“They have only one plant and they have been able to do the magic through the dedicated team of management staff.

“Within four years, they were able to compete favourably with Coca-Cola and Seven Up and by market rating they have the market rating.

“When we heard from the Seven UP management, they appreciated the competitiveness of Rites Foods Nigeria Limited the makers of Bigi drinks and also they are developing strategies on how to compete favourably in the market.

“We have been able to sit the two management together because we believe it is an issue that can be resolved through Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism that will bring more result to this country than damaging a wholly owned indigenous company that is competing favourably and we encouraged them to ensure that the issue is resolved amicably.

“At the end of the meeting we had this morning, I decided to hold a closed door meeting in my office attended by senior members of the Senate, and we mediated.

“We told them that we don’t want this issue to cause any harm because if a company that is engaging over 2000 Nigerians at a time and the other one about 5000 Nigerians, it is our wish in the Senate to see them progressing and adding more value to this country than for issues to destroy them.

“So we resolved in the Committee that we give them about two weeks to go and come back with resolutions that would be adopted by both parties and then we will make our report to the Senate to ensure that they go out to go and compete and also develop strategies that would employ more Nigerians.”

Richard Austin Quest is a respected English journalist and a CNN International Anchor. He is also CNN Business Editor at Large, based in New York City.

He anchors “Quest Means Business”, the five-times-weekly business programme and fronts the CNN shows “Business Traveller”, “The Express” and “Quest’s World of Wonder”.

The CNN Anchor, Richard Quest, yesterday paid a courtesy visit on the Management of Fidelity Bank Plc and engaged the team on several issues including SME lending and leveraging digital channels to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria. Here are some of the pictures of the visit……..

CNN Anchor, Richard Quest (left) engaging with Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo on SME lending and leveraging digital channels to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria… Monday

CNN Anchor, Richard Quest (left) engaging with Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo on SME lending and leveraging digital channels to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria… Monday

Love is in the air, but even if heart-shaped chocolates and fluffy teddy bears aren’t your thing, get cosy with DStv this month, because we’ve got plenty of entertainment that’ll get your pulse racing.

Next Sunday, heartbreak turns into brutal revenge on X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Our hero, the gruff Logan (Hugh Jackman) has found love, settling down with schoolteacher Kayla Silverfox. Their peaceful existence is shattered when his vicious brother brutally murders Kayla. Logan’s thirst for revenge sees him take on some formidable foes, including Deadpool! Check it out on 23 February at 18:00 WAT on M-Net Smile (DStv Channel 105).

On the sweeter side, there’s October Kiss on Lifetime (DStv Channel 131), also on 23 February at 18:30 WAT. This Hallmark movie stars the free-spirited Poppy, a nanny who’s hired by a career-driven single dad. With Halloween around the corner, she shows the family that life can be joyful.

If you love laughing out loud, don’t miss the 12^th season of Impractical Jokers, Monday to Thursday at 20:00 WAT on Comedy Central (DStv Channel 122). Q, Sal, Joe and Murr have quite the odd bromance going on – always challenging each other to complete the most awkward and outrageous dares. The results are nothing short of hilarious!

Finally, a relationship that very much deserves the ‘it’s complicated’ label. Prodigal Son features Malcolm Bright, a brilliant criminal psychologist whose father just happens to be a notorious serial killer. When a copycat killer starts using his father’s methods, the dad and son duo must team up to stop him. Catch this highly anticipated series every Wednesday from 19 February at 20:00 WAT on M-Net (DStv Channel 102).

No matter what you’re in the mood for this month, DStv has got you covered! Download the DStv Now App to stream shows anytime, anywhere. You can also manage your account easily with the self-service My DStv App.

Don’t forget to take advantage of our Step Up Promo. Pay your account on time between now and 29 February and get a boost to a higher package within 48 hours!

There is no reprieve yet for the Wema Bank Plc and its seven officials cited for contempt, as a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria reinforced its order compelling the said official to appear before the court on Tuesday to explain why committal to prison order should not be made against them.

When the matter was mentioned on Monday, only the Secretary of the bank, Johnson Lebile was present.

Other officials of the bank charged for contempt are Ademola Adebise, managing director; Moruf Oseni, deputy managing director; Wole Akinleye, executive director and Folake Sanu, executive director.

Lebile told the court that the chairman of the bank, Babatunde Kasali travelled abroad, why other Directors ordered to appear before the court today are not available.

He explained to the court that the bank refused to obey the order of the court to pay the judgement sum because the bank had filed an appeal against the ruling of the court and also filed stay of execution of the judgement of the court.

However, the lawyer to the bank officials cited for contempt, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde, suggested to the court that he could advise Wema Bank to pay the judgement sum into the account of the Chief Registrar of the court, since there was appeal against the judgement of the court and application for stay of execution of the said judgement and other pending application so that the outcome of the appeal would not be made nugatory.

However, the counsel to Heritage Bank, Chief Ajibola Aribisala SAN, in a counter argument told the court that the business of the day was for the parties cited for contempt to appear before the court to explain why they should not be sent to prison for flagrant disobedience of order of the court.

He urged the court to issue bench warrant against those officials that were not in court, while the Company’s Secretary present in court should be sent to prison to show that the court was not a toothless bulldog.

In his reaction, Ogunde, while citing certain rules of the court said last Friday, the court issued order compelling the officers of Wema Bank cited for contempt to appear before the court and that by virtue of the rule of the court Sundays and public holidays were not to be counted, saying that in view of this provision, the time for them to appear would expire tomorrow.

New participants coming on board the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme later this year will join over 9,000 current beneficiaries, from 54 African countries, for business training, mentoring, a non-refundable $5,000 of seed capital and global networking opportunities.

Six years on, the entrepreneurship development programme for the whole of Africa has not only attracted more partners but also lived with the times to bolster its sustainability and impact.

Only last week, the foundation disbursed the first tranche of a $5m partnership commitment from African Development Bank.

The foundation had congratulated the bank and its president, Akinwumi Adesina, on their commitment to African entrepreneurship with the disbursement of $2.5 million seed capital to the AfDB-sponsored beneficiaries of the 2019 TEF Entrepreneurship programme.

The AfDB commitment follows the recent $8.5 million disbursement from the United Nations Development Programme to 2,648 entrepreneurs in the Sahel region and Africa more broadly, to accelerate economic empowerment generated by the Foundation.

In 2019, the foundation increased the scale and reach of it impact, with the number of beneficiaries of its flagship entrepreneurship programme increasing from its annual commitment of 1,000, to 5,150, in collaboration with global and African partners.

Other partners of the foundation in the drive to train African youths for their contribution to the development of a continent, which slow growth in the face of its enormous resources have made it a paradox of some sorts are the ICRC, the US consulate, Anambra state government and Indorama.

Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO of the foundation, said of the enhanced programme: “We are excited to announce that the Tony Elumelu Foundation has made strategic improvements to the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme Cycle.

“These improvements will provide more value across the continent and achieve our mandate to transform the African continent through entrepreneurship.

“These enhancements, which took effect from January 1, 2020—the launch of the 6th cycle of the programme—will achieve the Foundation’s mandate to transform the African continent through entrepreneurship.”

Most prominent among the enhancements are the new dates in the programme cycle, its emphasis on providing thousands of entrepreneurs with business training, and its focus on leveraging technology to optimise the application and selection process as well as personalise the journey of each applicant in the programme tailored to their knowledge and business stage.

Also, the programme cycle has been updated to place more emphasis on getting more entrepreneurs through the business training.

Hence, she said, the announcement of the finalists, who will ultimately be inducted into the TEF Alumni network, will no longer be on March 22 but will be made at the TEF Forum – the largest entrepreneurship conference in Africa.

Maximising the value derived from the programme, applicants will now receive instant feedback on their progress to the next stage of the programme, following their applications.

Shortlisted applicants will receive business training tailored to their business stage and for those who move to the next stage mentorship; and finally the top performing entrepreneurs from each country will proceed to the business pitching competition, which will determine the finalists to receive seed capital and an induction into the foundation’s fast-growing alumni network across 54 African countries.

The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme is the $100 million commitment by investor and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu, through his investment company, Heirs Holdings.

Established in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is Africa’s private-sector-led philanthropy championing entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs across the African continent.

According to Elumelu: “What we do at the Tony Elumelu Foundation is to create a platform for African youths, give them the opportunity to interact with our leaders and give them seed capital to help them prove their ideas so that our young ones don’t go to the grave with their ideas. We want to see them succeed and I am happy that everyone is on board about prioritising them, about supporting them, about providing extra capacity to enable them to become our true future leaders.

“To us, this is the changing narrative, and this is the changing mindset we would like international development institutions should have; that the way to intervene and support Africa.”

Chukwujekwu Aneke, presiding Judge of a Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos south west Nigeria has ordered that Wema Bank Plc and its six officials cited for contempt or disobeying the order of the court should appear before it on Monday, February 17, 2020.

They are to explain why they should not be sent to prison for flagrant disobedience of the extant positive orders of the court.

The affected officials of the bank are: Ademola Adebise, managing director; and Babatunde Kasali, chairman.

Other are Moruf Oseni, deputy managing director; Wole Akinleye, executive director; Folake Sanu, executive director; and Johnson Lebile, company secretary.

The order of the court was sequel to two different similar garnishee suits filed before the court by Chief Ajibola Aribisala, SAN Lagos lawyer, on behalf of Heritage Bank.

The first one against Ondo State Government and the Attorney General of the state, and the second one against Idanre Local Government Universal Basic Education Authority, Ondo State Government and Attorney General of Ondo State.

Heritage Bank having obtained judgement against the two parties at an Ondo state high court in the sum of N1billion out of which N600million has been paid, leaving a balance of about N400million, while the judgement against Idanre Local Government Universal Basic Education Authority is in the sum of N405.4 million.

Heritage Bank then initiated garnishee proceedings against the parties in the two suits.

On 6th of December 2019, the court made the order nisi against Wema bank Plc absolute, attaching the principal judgement sum of N134 million.

Wema Bank Plc, thereafter, deposed to an affidavit that Ondo State Government has N745 million standing to its credit and same has been attached in compliance with the order of the court.

However, the bank refused to comply with the order of the court to pay the money despite the demand made by Chief Aribisala on behalf of Heritage Bank.

However, Wema Bank, in its response letter claimed not to comply with the order of the court based on the Noticed of Appeal and Motion for Stay of Execution filed by the Ondo state Government at the Court of Appeal.

Thereafter, Heritage Bank caused the Registrar to issue form 48, notice of consequence of disobedience of order of the court against the officers of the bank. Still, the order of the court was not obeyed,hence the need for the issuance of form 49 asking the parties cited for contempt to show cause why order of committal should not be made against them.

On the 5th day of February, 2020 when the matter came up for hearing, Chief Ajibola Aribisala, SAN, in his argument and submission before the court contended that it is obvious that parties cited for contempt are not in court and that the court must compel their presence. He then urged the court to issue bench warrant against officials of Wema Bank Plc, cited for contempt to compel them to appear.

However, the counsel for the officials of Wema Bank cited for contempt, Mr Wemimo Ogunde, SAN, contended that the form 49 was filed and served on the parties and before then Wema Bank had already filed an application for stay of execution pending appeal and that the record of appeal had already been entered at the Court of Appeal.
Consequently, after listening to the two parties the court adjourned till 14th February 2020, for ruling.
Justice Aneke in his ruling relating to the two suits said: “The said appeal lodge by the parties cited for contempt has nothing to do with the form 49 served on them for their failure to comply with the order of the court in respect to the order made absolute against Wema Bank Plc .

Accordingly, the parties cited for contempt are hereby given 72hours from today till Monday 17th of February, 2020 to appear before the court to explain why committal order would not be made against them for flagrant disobedience of the extant positive orders of the court.”

 DStv BoxOffice is a movie lifesaver. This is Lagos and the thought of getting into some traffic just to catch a newly released movie can be mentally draining. This February, the biggest award event in the world for film and television took place and DStv BoxOffice has currently on rent some of the big wins. Did we mention it is way cheaper than taking a trip to cinemas? Not only do we have Oscar award-winning movies but there are many more movies for your pure entertainment.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie lend their talent to Quentin Tarantino’s Golden Globe-winning ode to Hollywood’s golden age. The movie follows the stories of a faded television actor, his stunt double and actor Sharon Tate. A big contender for the Oscars this year with ten nominations including Best Actor and Best Picture,

THE JOKER

Joaquin Phoenix gives an amazing performance in this bleak and powerful thriller about the origins of the famous batman villain, The Joker. Arthur Fleck tries his hand as a stand-up comic in this award-winning film. Longing for any light to shine on him, but finds the joke always seems to be on him. The movie is gunning for Best Actor, Best Picture and nine more nominations.

BoxOffice Online, the online version of the movie rental service is available to anyone with a DStv Connect ID and a BoxOffice Account. You can sign up at www.dstv.com/boxoffice or www.boxoffice.dstv.com. Here, you’ll have instant access to a larger catalogue of movies, including new releases and classics.