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WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY IN YOUR ABSENCE What people say in your absence is more valid than what they say in your presence. What speaks for you in your absence is your character. Your character will never betray you. It will present you perfectly well anywhere anytime. Your character will represent you accurately and perfectly. Your character is your most credible credential. As far as testimony is concerned, what they say behind you is far more authentic than what they say before you. Beware of your reputation. Rather focus on your character which will keep speaking for you anytime anywhere.         See You At The TOP!               Good morning.

SPECIAL: Republicans introduce $1tn pandemic recovery plan US Senate Republicans have proposed spending an additional $1tn (£776bn) to address the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The plan includes $100bn for schools and issuing stimulus payments of up to $1,200 to most Americans. But it would reduce a $600 boost to unemployment benefits introduced during the pandemic. The proposal sets the stage for negotiations with Democrats who have called it "totally inadequate". The US has already spent more than $2.4tn on virus relief measures, sending billions of dollars in aid to businesses and individual households. But economists have warned since the spring that more would be necessary. Senator Mitch McConnell said Republicans wanted to see how existing programmes were working, but had now produced a "tailored and targeted draft" to address the economic fallout of the pandemic. The proposal would reduce the $600 weekly unemployment benefit su...

N651.77bn generated from VAT in six months – NBS A total of N651.77bn was generated from Value Added Tax in the first half of 2020, according to latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. The NBS disclosed this on Monday in its report on, “Sectoral distribution on Value Added Tax,” for the half year period of 2020. Part of the report reads, “Sectoral distribution of Value Added Tax data for H1 2020 reflected that the sum of N651.77bn was generated as VAT in H1 2020 as against N600.98bn generated in H1 2019.

Eid-el-Kabir: FG declares Thursday, Friday public holidays The Federal Government has declared Thursday 30th and Friday 31st July 2020 as Public Holidays to mark this year’s Eid-el-Kabir Celebration, the Islamic festival of sacrifice.  Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola announced this in a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja and signed on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Georgina Ehuriah. The minister while making the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated Muslim faithful and all Nigerians both at home and abroad on the occasion. He called on Muslims to continue to imbibe the spirit of love, peace, kindness and sacrifice, as exemplified by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) and to also use the period to pray for peace, unity, prosperity and the stability of the country especially as the world is witnessing global health challenges caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Aregbesola who “assured that the Administration of...

Nearly 4,000 Federal Workers Seek Disability For Contracting Covid-19 Nearly 4,000 workers are seeking disability compensation for contracting Covid-19 on the job, while the survivors of 60 deceased employees are requesting death benefits, according to a new Labor Department report that, along with a class-action  lawsuit  launched last week against the Trump administration, illustrates the toll of the pandemic on the federal workforce. Workers in designated high-risk occupations, such as law enforcement, first responders and front-line medical personnel, can simply show a positive diagnosis to receive compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act, while other occupations will need to prove their contraction of Covid-19 was employment-related. The majority of the 4,000 existing claims source from three departments: Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and Veterans Affairs. This report, shedding light on how the pandemic has impacted the federal...

Irenosen Okojie, Nigerian-British author, bags 2020 AKO Caine Prize Irenosen Okojie, a Nigerian-British author, has bagged the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African writing after her story on an impersonator of Grace Jones, Jamaican model. Founded in the UK in 2000, the Caine Prize is an annual £10,000 award that has been reserved for the best original short story published in the English language by any African writer. Announced the winning entry for 2020, Okojie’s short story ‘Grace Jones’ received all-round praise from the judges just after the shortlist of five writers for the prize had been released in May. The London-based novelist’s short story follows the story of Sidra, a young Martinican woman in London, who is wracked with guilt after her whole family dies in a fire that destroys their flat. The aggrieved lady, in her later life, finds relief working as a celebrity impersonator, which sees her hide under the mask of Jones while committing “dreadfull Beyond delighted ...

FG lifts ban on Executive Jets for flying Naira Marley to Abuja The federal government has lifted the ban placed on Executive Jets Services for flouting COVID-19 guidelines by flying Naira Marley to Abuja for a concert. Speaking during the briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Monday, Sirika said the company has complied substantially with the sanctions imposed on them. “Today, we lifted the ban on Executive Air Services Limited. They have complied substantially with all of our imposed sanctions,” the minister said. “They have paid part of the fine and they have brought out a payment plan. So we have lifted the ban today so they continue to do their business. These kind of things are not punitive, they are to make our industry work better and keep all of us safe.” Sirika, on June 15, had announced that the charter jet company was  suspended indefinitely  for flying the artiste to Abuja for a concert when the minister approved the flight for a diffe...

REVEALED: How Nigeria signed itself into $1.2bn trouble with Azura Power ON August 21, 2015, the federal government signed partial risk guarantees (PRGs) with the World Bank to provide backing for the privately-owned Azura-Edo Power. PRGs are a suite of agreements — including the indemnity agreement that could trigger a sovereign default, support agreement and corporation agreement. The senate has called for the cancellation of the contract. TheCable has now decided to publish some of the key government memos on the highly controversial Azura deal. As reported by TheCable, the Goodluck Jonathan signed a series of agreements with Azura — namely the power purchase agreement (PPA) on April 22, 2013, the put/call option agreement (PCOA) on October 22, 2014 and the PCOA “direct agreement” on December 18, 2014. However, Jonathan’s administration did not sign the contentious PRGs because of the failure to indemnify Nigeria in the event of default by Azura in repaying its banks loa...

FG extends phase two of eased lockdown by one week The federal government has extended the second phase of the eased lockdown in the country by one week. Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, disclosed this on Monday during a media briefing in Abuja. According to Mustapha, the level of compliance with the guidelines issued by the PTF has not been impressive, but the extension was to accommodate the Sallah festivities, after which the lockdown would be reviewed. “You will recall that we briefed the nation on the 29th of June, 2020 sequel to the approval of Mr. President for the extension of phase two of the eased lockdown by another four weeks. That extension is due to expire on Wednesday 29th July 2020 having commenced on June 30th, 2020,” he said. ​”The PTF has continued to evaluate the developments as well as the level of compliance nationwide and has regrettably come to the inevitable conclusion that majority of Nigerians irrespective ...

Here’s A Look Into The Near Future, Post-Pandemic World The post-pandemic world is going to be different. How different? We are getting a glimpse of it now. Markets and business leaders are watching this closely. Over the weekend, I received the results of my youngest child’s school survey of parents and teachers and what they thought about going back to school in the fall. A decent majority of 60.5% of the 2,455 parents surveyed said they wanted their kids in school, face-to-face. About a third wanted a hybrid model. The rest don’t want in-school learning in the fall. But what was the most stark of all was the fact that her school’s teacher survey showed that they were pretty much light years apart from parents: only 35.4% indicated they were quite comfortable or extremely comfortable returning to in-person teaching. At-distance learning, and at distance work is here to stay. This got me revisiting some of the casual conversations I have every day with boutique investment ...

BREAKING: Obasanjo missing as Buhari names railway stations after ‘deserving Nigerians’ Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is not among the “deserving Nigerians” whom President Muhammadu Buhari has named some train stations after. On Monday, Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, announced that the president had given approval that stations along the Lagos-Ibadan and the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri corridors should be named in honour of some of the nation’s leaders. Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo are among those that stations were named after. More to follow…

Under pressure from the pandemic, staid bureaucracies are becoming rapid responders. Digital transformation is tough. And it’s especially tough for governments, large universities, and other public organizations. They serve millions of people and face a gauntlet of bureaucratic, regulatory, and cultural obstacles. Not only do they need to envision how the world will be in a decade or more, they must also prove they’re on track every year to keep their programs funded. Lately, more public sector organizations in the U.S. and abroad are  rising to the challenge . One striking example is Arizona State University, the largest university in the U.S. Cl osed campus, connected classrooms During the COVID-19 outbreak, ASU was able to shift its 60,000 students to remote learning setups in a matter of days, thanks to a forced march to the cloud over the past two years. ASU made 5,000 courses, from public speaking to nuclear engineering, available online. Between March 14 and 21, ...

FIRS: Stamp duty will apply to new agreements NOT rent renewal The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says the stamp duty charge on rents and leases would only apply to new agreements and not renewals. In a statement on Monday by Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, director of FIRS communications and liaison department, quoted Femi Oluwaniyi, coordinating director of the tax operations group at FIRS, as saying: “The FIRS stamp duty on rent or lease only applies to new agreements and not to renewals. If a new agreement is drawn up at renewal, that document should be stamped, just like initial agreement. “If, however, the renewal terms are already in the initial agreement such that no new document is prepared but just payment of the rent for renewal, then no stamping is required.” Muhammad Nami, the FIRS executive chairman, who appeared on ‘Your View’, a breakfast show on TV Continental, also said the service is planning stamp duty palliative package for Nigerians. Nami said stamp du...

COVID-19 exposed Nigeria’s failed leadership – Peter Obi A former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, says the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the long years of leadership failure in Nigeria. He said this on Saturday during a webinar organised by the Bridge Leadership Foundation. Obi, who was the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 general elections, said it was about time Nigeria elected competent leaders to move the nation forward. He said, “This COVID-19 offers us an opportunity to see the cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years in our health infrastructure, in our education, in our economy, in everything. It is time to have people who are competent, who have capacity across the political space. “Nigeria has time to realise that we now have to change the process of selecting our leaders because it is weak. If you look at what has been happening in Nigeria in recent times, we are now in a situation where the lunatics ha...

Akpabio names lawmakers on NDDC contracts’ list The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has linked some members of the National Assembly to some contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, The PUNCH has learnt. Akpabio, however, did not state if the lawmakers were directly awarded the contracts or they nominated the projects under their Zonal Intervention Projects, also known as constituency projects. The former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, Mr Nicholas Mutu, who represents the Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency of Delta State, is among those linked by the minister with contracts. The minister listed Mutu’s name against 74 projects, including various emergency road projects in Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Rivers states. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had on February 3, 2020, arraigned Mutu before Justice Folashade Giwa-Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged abuse of office and ...

FG extends Batch C N-Power enrollment to August 8 Add caption The Federal Government says the enrolment for Batch C scheme of the N-Power Programme which started on June 26 will now close on August 8. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, who disclosed this via  Twitter on Sunday night, said over 5 million applications have been received for the scheme. The Federal Government plans to enrol 400,000 applicants in the Batch C scheme. Batches A and B of the programme who are about to exit the programme held a rally at the National Assembly Complex last week, requesting FG to employ them as well as pay them a grant of N600,000 each. Providing an update on the development, the minister said on Sunday, “I received the news of a protest at the National Assembly by N-Power Batch A and B beneficiaries who presented a list of demands which we are reviewing and will address as practically possible. “Let me reiterate that th...

Money Costs Money Because there’s a cost to using it on one thing instead of another. And because the person who invests money has choices, and often chooses the choice that works best for them. Most people would be happy with a hotel that generates a profit of a thousand dollars a day. But if the hotel cost $50,000,000 to build, you’re bust. Time costs money too. That’s not the same as saying “time is money,” which it isn’t. Time is magnificent, hard to stockpile and impossible to recover. But it still costs. Which means that it’s worth considering whether something worthwhile comes back for your investment and your effort.

MAW ENTREPRENEUR OF THE WEEK Fahim Saleh, Founder, GOKADA This week on our entrepreneur of the week, we shall be paying tribute to Fahim Saleh, founder, Gokada. Born in Saudi Arabia to Bangladeshi parents, Fahim lived with his family in the Middle East for a while before they started moving around. They eventually settled in New York as immigrants. It was there, in New York, that he had his education. As a child, Fahim would spend hours in hiding playing video games which later became his motivation in his interest in technology.   Fahim built his first website Salehfamily.com  before he turned 15, and it was hosted on AOL Hometown. When his parents threw family parties, his father would encourage relatives to visit the website. This ‘marketing strategy’ helped the young boy to garner an average of five unique visitors to his website every month.  Quite naughty as a youngster,...