Day: October 3, 2023

eXp Realty Taps Real Estate Veteran Bryon Ellington To Revolutionize Agent-Driven Learning

Award-winning business development, operations leader to serve as Chief Learning Officer in this newly created role

eXp Realty Taps Real Estate Veteran Bryon Ellington To Revolutionize Agent-Driven Learning

Award-winning business development, operations leader to serve as Chief Learning Officer in this newly created role

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Oct. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — eXp Realty®, “the most agent-centric real estate brokerage on the planet™” and the core subsidiary of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPI), today announced the appointment of Bryon Ellington as Chief Learning Officer, responsible for developing custom, agent-driven training and coaching.

Ellington, a seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience in real estate and coaching, brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to eXp Realty. He will focus on developing agent-driven training at every level, setting a new standard for success in the real estate industry.

“Bryon’s dedication to agent success aligns perfectly with our values, and he excels at driving growth and new revenue streams,” said Glenn Sanford, Founder and CEO of eXp Realty. “Under his leadership, eXp Realty will become the leading brokerage in training, with a focus on delivering the best education and resources to help our agents excel. Throughout his career, Bryon has helped numerous agents achieve incredible accolades, increase productivity metrics and grow their businesses.”

Ellington’s passion is helping entrepreneurs in the real estate space build businesses beyond their dreams. “I am excited to join the eXp Realty team and contribute to its mission of empowering agents to reach their full potential,” he said. “Whether you are a new agent or lead a massive team, with eXp you can continue to grow your business to exceed your goals.”

Ellington’s impressive tenure includes notable executive roles most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Development Officer at Century 21. He also held positions at Keller Williams, as Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the KW Worldwide International Franchising division. Additionally, he served as Chief Learning Officer, where his achievements earned him the distinction of winning the Training magazine T125 Top Training Companies award for four consecutive years and induction into the Hall of Fame.

Earlier in his career, at Anywhere (Realogy), he successfully created and led the training and coaching divisions for all their franchise brands and company-owned operations.

About eXp World Holdings, Inc.
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPI) is the holding company for eXp Realty®, Virbela® and SUCCESS® Enterprises.

eXp Realty is the largest independent real estate company in the world with more than 89,000 agents in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, India, Mexico, Portugal, France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Italy, Hong Kong, Colombia, Spain, Israel, Panama, Germany, Dominican Republic, Greece, New Zealand, Chile, Poland and Dubai and continues to scale internationally. As a publicly traded company, eXp World Holdings provides real estate professionals the unique opportunity to earn equity awards for production goals and contributions to overall company growth. eXp World Holdings and its businesses offer a full suite of brokerage and real estate tech solutions, including its innovative residential and commercial brokerage model, professional services, collaborative tools and personal development. The cloud-based brokerage is powered by Virbela, an immersive 3D platform that is deeply social and collaborative, enabling agents to be more connected and productive. SUCCESS® Enterprises, anchored by SUCCESS® magazine and its related media properties, was established in 1897 and is a leading personal and professional development brand and publication.

For more information, visit https://expworldholdings.com. 

Safe Harbor Statement

The statements contained herein may include statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update them. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in forward-looking statements include changes in business or other market conditions; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks detailed from time to time in the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Media Relations Contact:

eXp World Holdings, Inc.

mediarelations@expworldholdings.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Denise Garcia

investors@expworldholdings.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ba1c70f4-dd70-43ad-b440-7b1197f7200d

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8942516

Zoomtopia 2023: One platform delivering limitless human connection

  • Zoom expands platform with breakthrough product, Zoom Docs, a modular AI-powered workspace for documentation, project and data management, and creating tables, wikis, tasks, and more.
  • Debuts AI Companion in Zoom Whiteboard, and expands Meeting and Team Chat summarization capabilities to Zoom higher education and healthcare customers
  • Enhances employee and customer experiences with new platform innovations and integrations, underpinned by powerful AI capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) kicked off Zoomtopia 2023, the company’s annual event, unveiling new platform innovations underpinned by powerful AI capabilities to help streamline the workday through effective communication and collaboration tools.

Zoom’s breakthrough product, Zoom Docs, is a next-gen way of collaborating, built from the ground up with AI at its core. Zoom Docs is a flexible, modular workspace that tightly integrates with Zoom and third-party apps, making it easy for teams and individuals to create, collaborate, manage projects, and stay organized. Zoom Docs includes traditional document capabilities, as well as wikis and drag-and-drop content blocks for tables, charts, and images. Zoom Docs users can also leverage its AI-powered functionality to populate docs with content from Zoom Meetings to inform and jumpstart creation, generate content with Zoom AI Companion, summarize content quickly, easily search documents, and more. Zoom Docs is scheduled to be generally available in 2024.

“As work continues to evolve and present new challenges, one thing will remain the same: effective collaboration and communication tools are crucial for businesses to succeed,” said Eric S. Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom. “At Zoom, we’re grounded in doing what’s right and caring for our customers, and we understand that business leaders are faced with new obstacles every day — whether it’s navigating hybrid work, improving engagement and collaboration among customers and employees, deciding how to leverage generative AI to empower people, or reducing the complexity of their IT solutions. Our new innovations demonstrate Zoom’s commitment to evolving our platform in ways that empower limitless human connection and solve real business problems.”

Zoom AI Companion drives impact with intelligence
The recently announced Zoom AI Companion, the company’s generative AI digital assistant, debuted a new Whiteboard capability and is expanding to new industry customers with the introduction of Meeting and Team Chat summarization capabilities to Zoom higher education and healthcare customers. And, unlike other similar offerings that cost $30 or more per user per month, AI Companion is included at no additional cost for paid users on eligible accounts.*

Zoom AI Companion helps users catch up on already-in-progress meeting discussions, summarize long chat threads, compose emails in Zoom Mail, and so much more. Now, AI Companion can also help generate ideas on a digital whiteboard and organize them into categories, so teams can get to work faster.

For more information on AI Companion and all of its real-time capabilities in the Zoom platform visit the Zoom newsroom.

Enabling flexible collaboration on a modern platform
Zoom is purpose-built for hybrid, remote, and in-office work. Delivering an exceptional employee experience in the hybrid work era that supports employees across different work styles is critical for companies to succeed. Zoom unveiled the following platform innovations to enhance:

  • Employee engagement: Workvivo, acquired by Zoom earlier this year, is an employee engagement and communications solution that provides new ways to keep employees informed, engaged, and connected in today’s hybrid work model. Having a strong ongoing employee engagement strategy is crucial for today’s distributed workforces, which is why Workvivo users will be able to access Workvivo right in the Zoom desktop client in the coming weeks.
  • Hybrid work:
    • In addition to suggesting where people can sit to be close to key collaborators, Workspace Reservation will be adding a Wayfinding feature next year that provides a map to the reserved seat and allows users to review their path on their mobile device when they’re in an unfamiliar office location, making it easier to find their desk.
    • Huddles are virtual coworking spaces that bring employees together across in-office, hybrid, and remote teams. Now, Zoom has introduced presence indicators and location information with My Office View, so users know when the colleagues they collaborate closely with are in a virtual Huddle or in the physical office. My Office View in Huddles is scheduled to be available in 2024.
  • Collaboration: Zoom has streamlined the pre-meeting process with products like Calendar, Mail, Team Chat, and, most recently, Zoom Scheduler. Now, with the latest features available in Zoom Scheduler, users can incorporate single-use booking links to maintain control of their calendar, add customized booking page logos to offer a consistent brand experience, and add multiple account support so that users can check availability across multiple accounts like their work and personal calendars. Coming soon, users will be able to incorporate unique schedules of availability per host so users do not have to block calendars for different teams or regions, delegate support so that executive assistants or other support members can book for others and integrate Salesforce with Scheduler to seamlessly link meeting records from Zoom Scheduler in Salesforce automatically.

For more information on additional enhancements to Zoom Meetings, Zoom Rooms, and other Zoom One products, visit the Zoom newsroom.

Strengthening customer relationships
Zoom’s AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions help ensure that customer-facing teams, no matter where they are located, have what they need in one place to support and engage customers.

Zoom’s latest innovations can help the following teams strengthen customer relationships:

  • Customer support agents and supervisors:
    • With AI Expert Assist, generative AI listens, adapts, and presents real-time outputs that help streamline contact center workflows. For agents, it leverages natural conversation language to provide contextual, real-time actions and auto-surface useful customer and knowledge base information. For supervisors, it provides actionable suggestions to help them reduce the cost of manual efforts and avoid missed improvement opportunities. The agent features will be available in late Q4 (end of year), and the supervisor features will be available in Q1.
    • Brands strive to meet customers on the channels they already use to allow for personalized connections, speedier resolutions, and increased long-term loyalty. To help facilitate this, Zoom Virtual Agent and Zoom Contact Center will integrate with two popular Meta digital messaging apps, WhatsApp and Messenger, in the coming months.
  • Event managers: Event managers will receive better support around event prep and live event execution with the help of generative AI in Zoom Events through AI-composed event email invitations and lobby chats (available in the coming months), and sessions (available next year).

To learn more about these and additional Zoom innovations built to enable better customer experiences, visit the Zoom newsroom.

Providing an open ecosystem that enables choice
Zoom is an open platform, supported by an ecosystem of key integrations, apps, and partners that offer customers the choice of third-party solutions that work seamlessly with Zoom to drive key business outcomes.

For more information on additional enhancements Zoom unveiled today to make it easier for people to develop and deploy seamless workflows through Zoom, visit the Zoom newsroom.

Tune In LIVE
For the second consecutive year, Zoomtopia is a two-day hybrid experience hosted on Zoom Events, featuring thought-provoking speakers and business leaders, and including many opportunities to network, collaborate, and learn. Tune in live on October 3–4 to catch all the excitement.

About Zoom
Zoom is an all-in-one intelligent collaboration platform that makes connecting easier, more immersive, and more dynamic for businesses and individuals. Zoom technology puts people at the center, enabling meaningful connections, facilitating modern collaboration, and driving human innovation through solutions like team chat, phone, meetings, omnichannel cloud contact center, smart recordings, whiteboard, and more, in one offering. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Get more info at zoom.com.

The statements contained here are for informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract. Any services, products or functionality referenced that are not currently available are subject to change at Zoom’s sole discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase from Zoom should make their purchase decisions based upon currently available pricing, features and functions.

Zoom Public Relations
Candace Dean
press@zoom.us

*Available for customers with the paid services assigned to their Zoom user accounts. AI Companion may not be available for all regions and industry verticals.

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8942850

Pangea Leather Announces Antimicrobial Properties in Standard and Advanced Products

ROCHESTER HILLS, MI, Oct. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pangea, a global supplier of automotive leather, has announced that its standard and advanced products hold antimicrobial properties without the need for chemical additives commonly advertised to improve this performance. The tanned substrate rich in natural components and the leather coating layers act to inhibit the biological functions of contaminating microbes tested, meaning they cannot grow or reproduce on such a surface.

Pangea, a tier-3 supplier to over 25 automotive brands, commissioned testing of its leathers to antimicrobial activity against three clinically relevant pathogens. The conclusion: these leathers have the ability to reduce living bacterial cells by 99.99%. Testing was performed by an ISO certified product test laboratory in North America and replicated in Europe for the PureTan formulated leather products in 2023 by another accredited lab.

Just about every surface that we touch—and even the ones that we don’t—are breeding grounds for potentially damaging and odor-causing bacteria, mold, and mildew. Luckily, leather itself is an easy-to-clean surface material that works against microbial growth. Antibacterial products have been in high demand due to germ awareness resulting from the world pandemic. In fact, over 54% of car buyers are willing to pay more for antimicrobial coatings in their car interiors.

Consumers may wonder if they need to pay more for antimicrobial coatings, but Pangea leathers inherently carry antimicrobial characteristics, without coating additives. Advancements in leather manufacturing and testing applications have made it easier to keep seating surfaces as clean as can be. Antibacterial surface treatments may become CES highlights, but in the world of automotive seating materials, you can stick to natural resources and still be protected.

Pangea’s announcement is a significant development in the automotive industry, as it provides a natural solution to the growing demand for antimicrobial products. With Pangea’s standard and advanced products, car buyers can rest assured that they are getting a high-quality, safe, and clean product.

Attachments

Jacquelyn Smith
Pangea
2484362200
JSmith@PangeaMade.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8941894

Resonance Consultancy Reveals the 2024 World’s Best Cities

The global place branding advisor today announced the world’s 100 top-performing cities in their ninth annual 2024 World’s’s Best Cities Report.

NEW YORK, Oct. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Resonance is a leading advisor in tourism, real estate and economic development, and its World’s Best Cities rankings quantify and benchmark the relative quality of place, reputation and competitive identity for the planet’s urban centers.

The Best Cities data is lauded as the world’s most thorough annual city ranking, based on original methodology that analyzes key statistics, user-generated reviews, social media and online activity.

The ninth annual World’s Best Cities ranking is an important, timely analysis of the urban centers that are leading the planet in post-pandemic economic recovery and a resilient future.

Access the 2024 World’s Best Cities Report and all 100 city profiles at WorldsBestCities.com.

Learn more about how Resonance Consultancy can help your city and community at ResonanceCo.com.

”The 2024 World’s Best Cities rankings benchmark the overall performance of more than 270 principal cities in metropolitan areas with populations of more than one million, based on a wide variety of measures, in order to identify the Top 100 places to live, visit and invest on the planet,” says Resonance President & CEO Chris Fair.

The overall Best Cities rankings are determined by analyzing the performance of each city for a wide range of factors that have historically shown positive correlations with attracting employment, investment and/or visitors to cities. Resonance groups these 24 metrics into a ranking of each city’s Livability, Lovability and Prosperity.

Based on each city’s performance across our methodology, these are the World’s Top 10 Best Cities for 2024:

1. London, United Kingdom
2. Paris, France
3. New York, United States
4. Tokyo, Japan
5. Singapore
6. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
7. San Francisco, United States
8. Barcelona, Spain
9. Amsterdam, Netherlands
10. Seoul, South Korea

The full ranking and extensive profiles of all 100 World’s Best Cities are available at WorldsBestCities.com.

About Resonance Consultancy

Resonance creates transformative strategies, brands and campaigns that empower destinations, cities and communities to realize their full potential. As leading advisors in real estate, tourism and economic development, Resonance combines expertise in research, strategy, branding and communications to make destinations, cities and developments more valuable and more vibrant. ResonanceCo.com

About World’s Best Cities

Best Cities is the home of Resonance’s exclusive ranking of the world’s top urban destinations. The data is used by leading news outlets, trusted by city leaders, and is widely considered to be the world’s most comprehensive annual city ranking. Bloomberg calls it, ”The most comprehensive study of its kind; it identifies cities that are most desirable for locals, visitors, and businesspeople alike, rather than simply looking at livability or tourism appeal.” WorldsBestCities.com | #BestCities

Attachments

Tom Gierasimczuk
Resonance Consultancy
604-649-8664
tom@resonanceco.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8942713

Army dismisses report of impending operations in 4 states as fake

The Nigerian Army on Tuesday dismissed a report of impending operation in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi as fake.

The fake report was purported to have emanated from Defence Headquarters, Abuja.

Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, stated in Abuja that the fake publication was the handiwork of some fifth columnists bent at misleading the public.

Nwachukwu stressed that the information conveyed in the said document was outright falsehood calculated to spread fake news to create undue tension and undermine the Nigerian Army.

According to him, a scrutiny of the fake press statement with a fake army letterhead indicates a non-existent nomenclature in the Armed Forces – “The Nigeria Defence Headquarters Abuja Sector (1) Operation Whirl Stroke.’’

“Additionally, there is no such appointment as `General Operation Commander’ in the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“Furthermore, the fake press statement was riddled with syntax, grammatical and spelling errors which are in dissonance with Nigerian Army’s press statements,’’ he stated.

Nwachukwu added that the Nigerian Army, being a staunch defender of Nigeria’s sovereignty, had over time, maintained robust civil-military relations with the people of Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi.

He stated also that it was untoward that mischief-makers could attempt to ruin the highly-valued relationship with their intent for extra judicial killing in the course of conducting the purported operations.

According to him, the Nigerian Army has always sustained the flow of information to the general public whenever the need arises through appropriate media channels.

“Considering the damage that this misinformation could cause to members of the public, the army wishes to warn unscrupulous persons or groups employing misinformation to aggravate insecurity in the country to desist from the practice.

“They should rather join other well-meaning and law-abiding citizens to support the Nigerian Army in countering terrorism, insurgency, banditry and other forms of criminality in the country,” Nwachukwu stressed.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

British International Investment partners Access Bank on $60m trade finance across Africa

Mr Seyi Kumapayi, Executive Director, African Subsidiaries, Access Bank Plc, and Mr Admir Imami, Director and Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance, British International Investment at the official signing of the $60 million trade finance facility for Access Bank Plc in Nigeria and five of its pan-African subsidiaries in Lagos, recently.

By Rukayat Adeyemi

British International Investment (BII), a UK’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) has announced a 60 million dollars trade finance facility for Access Bank and five of its other Pan-African subsidiaries.

The bank’s Spokesman, Mr Abdul Imoyo, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

Imoyo said BII, also an impact investor partnership with Access Bank, would strengthen import and export capabilities amongst local businesses and plug the foreign currency supply gap.

He explained that the programme supports Access Bank’s strategy to enable continental trade and deepen BII’s commitment to bolstering financing environments in fragile economies.

“BII estimates the loan programme will stimulate African trade volumes by 90 million dollars.

“The agreement reinforces BII’s ongoing relationship with Nigeria’s largest commercial bank by assets.

“It facilitates the provision of systemic liquidity during a period characterised by a challenging macroeconomic environment,” he said.

He said higher inflation and rising cost of capital had placed downward pressure on currency performance, both domestically and in the programme’s target markets.

Imoyo listed the programme target market to include: the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.

According to him, intervention at this critical juncture underlines the key role of BII, and development finance institutions in general, in extending countercyclical support to build economic resilience.

“Between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of world trade is estimated to rely on the availability of trade credit, according to the World Trade Organisation.

“Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, that financing gap stood at 82 billion dollars in Africa, and it is increasing.

“Recognising the positive ripple effects of robust trade flows on economies and livelihoods, Access bank is aiming to provide 15 per cent of trade finance across Africa, by growing the trade books of its subsidiaries,” he said.

According to him, currency instability in Nigeria can hinder the wider proliferation of dollar denominated trade loans across African markets.

Imoyo noted that this also constrains countries’ ability to capitalise on opportunities opening up under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

He said: “by specifically targeting import dependent economies, many of which will mark the first engagement with BII’s Trade programme.

“The improved availability of US dollar denominated trade loans will ensure availability of key commodities and manufacturing inputs for the production and export of goods.

Imoyo stated that the key outcome will be improving livelihoods and preserving jobs for the employees of importers and exporters with limited access to foreign exchange trade loans.

The spokesman said, with the loans channelled into companies in construction, manufacturing and FMCG, the programme would directly contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals eight and nine.

Imoyo stated that the facility would improve inclusion, which qualifies under the ‘2X Challenge’, aimed at strengthening female participation and leadership in business.

Imoyo said the bank would ensure that the allocation of loans was designed deliberately to advance its gender commitments.

“In addition, the facility will contribute to BII’s BOLD programme, dedicated to enhancing the availability of finance at more affordable rates to black, African-owned businesses,” he said.

In his remark, Mr Seyi Kumapayi, Executive Director, African Subsidiaries, Access Bank, said that the bank was on a purposeful mission to scale intra-African trade and position the continent as a viable market for global trade.

Kumapayi expressed delight on the tremendous potential that the trade finance facility with the BII affords the bank across its pan-African subsidiaries.

He noted that the strategic collaboration, not only strengthens the bank’s import and export capabilities but also expands its resources to support local industries, especially women-owned businesses, to drive economic growth.

“By stimulating trade volumes, we will be playing a key role in fostering long-term economic resilience for the continent, while increasing attractiveness for increased foreign investments,” Kumapayi said.

Commenting, Mr Admir Imami, Director/ Head, Trade and Supply Chain Finance at BII, said Access Bank had been a long-standing partner of BII.

Imami stated that the companies new partnership was a significant step closer to narrowing the trade finance gap in Africa, particularly in countries such as the DRC and Rwanda.

He said, “Access to finance in fragile states is hugely constrained. Often these countries are buffeted by macroeconomic events far beyond their control.

“BII and Access Bank share a conviction that building the resilience of these businesses by ensuring affordable access to foreign exchange is vital to keep intra-African trade moving and support the growth of inclusive economies.

Mr Benson Adenuga, BII’s Head of Office and Coverage Director for Nigeria, said BII’s latest commitment to Access Bank reiterated its assurance to the leading multinational institution and to Nigeria.

Adenuga noted that the partneship comes at a time when Nigeria’s fragile economic situation needs additional funding, particularly from counter cyclical investors like development finance institutions.

“Our funding will help bolster the economy and ensure the availability of staple goods, medicines and food across Africa,”he said.

Access Bank plc, is a commercial bank operating through a network of more than 700 branches and service outlets, spanning in three continents, 20 countries and serving over 60 million customers.

British International Investment is an investment partner to businesses in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

It invests to support the UK Government’s Clean Green Initiative and to create productive, sustainable and inclusive economies in our markets.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

24,720 GBV cases reported nationwide in 1 month, says minister

Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs, Tuesday, said 24,720 Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases were reported in the 36 states and the FCT between Sept. to Oct. 3.

Kennedy-Ohanenye, made this known while briefing newsmen on incessant cases of reported GBV, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other harmful traditional practices in the country.

The minister said: “we recorded about 24, 720 cases of various violence cases that were reported across the 36 States and FCT.

” We also had 975 fatal cases, 1,505 cases that have been closed either at the court, community level, family, religious/traditional leaders or by the survivors themselves due to fear and intimidation.

“Also, 8,540 open cases are still pending either at the police station or within the court, while only 306 were convicted and sentenced within the last four years across the country.”

While decrying the increasing figures, she urged stakeholders to urgently contribute towards eliminating the menace, which has become worrisome and affects the lives of citizens, particularly women and children.

The minister said establishing mobile courts especially in rural communities will promote rule of law, access to justice, and enhance the criminal justice pathway to address Violence Against women and Girls.

She said: “If we don’t have rule of law, there is no way we can solve any of these problems.

” And if we have rule of law and it is being delayed and the prosecution is not rightly done by pushing these cases and using the few people as examples to bring an end to all these things, we can never get it right.

” And can we get the rule of law without having mobile courts? If they could have a mobile court for traffic offenders? Why can’t we have a mobile court to protect and preserve the lives of our babies, women, vulnerable?

According to her, the recent case of molestation of a nine-year-old allegedly by her father was under investigation, adding that the government will ensure that justice prevails.

The minister also decried incidences of jungle justice, where by persons were been lynched by mobs, calling for drastric action to forestall such occurrences again, and apprehend perpetrators.

She, therefore, reiterated the commitment of the government to end all forms of violence, ensure justice to victims and survivors, as well as promote women empowerment and girl-child education.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Lagos, FCT, Oyo top Nigeria’s socioeconomic scorecard

Lagos and Oyo states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have emerged as best performing states in Nigeria’s socioeconomic scorecard, according to Analysts Data Services and Resources (ADSR).

Dr Afolabi Olowookere, Managing Director and Chief Economist, ADSR, made the disclosure on Tuesday during a Webinar series with the theme: “The Socioeconomic Scorecard of Nigerian States (2023 Baseline Edition).

Olowookere said that while Nigeria’s average was pegged at 45.79 per cent, the best performing states- Lagos, FCT and Oyo scored 62.5 per cent, 58.9 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

According to him, a total of 57 relevant indicators were used in the construction of the scorecard across 12 key broad socio-economic segments namely Economic Output; Government Finance; Financial Sector; and Capital Importation.

Others were Land, Housing and Sanitation, Transportation, ICT Infrastructure, Energy and Environment, Industrialisation and Business Competitiveness, Education, Health, and Citizens’ Livelihood and Welfare.

He stated that generally across all states, the best performing segments were the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at 58.31 per cent, financial sector at 51.96 per cent.

The Economist revealed that the least performing sectors were transportation 34.24 per cent, citizens’ livelihood and welfare at 37.14 per cent.

He added that the least performing states were Yobe at 34.5 per cent, Gombe State at 35 per cent and Sokoto State at 36.8 per cent.

According to him, after the elections earlier this year, many of the state governors constituted their cabinets and some are already revising or putting together their States’ Economic Development Plan and Strategy Documents.

“The usual promise is to improve the socio-economic status of the citizens of a state in the next four years and beyond.

“To objectively measure the extent of progress a new administration will be making and set measurable and realistic targets, there is a need to provide baseline data, capturing the current level of the socio-economic performance.

“Such data are often not easily made available, and when they are, they may not be in easy to understand, readily usable, and comparable formats and this scorecard, therefore, seeks to fill this gap.

“The aim is to provide baseline data and highlight the relative performance of, and aid effective policy making at, the sub-national level of government in Nigeria,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prof. Bright Eregha, Professor of Economics, Pan-Atlantic University, has emphasised the need to tackle the binding constraints to productivity by and large industrialisation.

Eregha called for a more structured and proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework to finance infrastructural facilities therefore enhancing manufacturing and global competitiveness.

“It is also important for government to be more efficient in delivering an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

“Education, health and human capital development as key drivers of productivity must be refocused while Nigeria takes advantage of its youthful population and train them on skills that are relevant to get the needed competitiveness across states.

“The least performing states in welfare and livelihood show the criticality of education and we need to put more emphasis on programmes that drive education to drive human capital development and to strengthen institutions,” he said.

Similarly, Dr OluwaSeyi Vincent, an economist from the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), urged government to focus better on the health sector due to its ability to shore up productivity.

Vincent, lauding government’s various health schemes so far, also noted the need for a wider coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme, particularly in rural areas to further increase access to healthcare.

Also, Mr Adedotun Seyingbo, Economic Development and Governance Reform Specialist, said industrial policies at sub-national levels needed to be rethought and reviewed.

He noted that efforts by some states to drive industrialisation via provision of lands, subsidies among other measures remained largely uncoordinated.

“States must stop imitating policies but create reforms typical to addressing each state’s perculiar industrialisation needs.

“There should be more focus on domestic businesses and encouraging reforms for new and innovative businesses.

“As such, states must refocus developing entrepreneurship, start-ups, new ideas and businesses and encourage domestic firms till they grow large enough, to begin to attract the needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

FG donates foods, agricultural inputs to IDPs in FCT

The Federal Government on Tuesday donated food and non-food items worth millions of naira to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Presenting the items to the IDPs in Abuja, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, said the donation was to commemorate the 2023 Independence Day celebration.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the beneficiaries of the donations were displaced persons at Durumi, New Karshi and Wassa IDP camps in the FCT.

The displaced persons are predominantly from Gwoza in Borno and Adamawa among others who relocated to Abuja, sequel to their displacement as a result of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.

Addressing the IDPs, Ahmed reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s resolve towards ensuring inclusiveness and assured that the commission would continue to drive innovation and actively seek sustainable solutions for all persons of concern.

“Today, we gather in Durumi, Abuja, on a mission to extend a helping hand to those residing in the Durumi IDPs Camp. Our purpose is to critical support in the form of agricultural inputs, educational supplies and food care packs.

“As our nation celebrates its 63rd Independence Day, we renew our unwavering commitment to addressing the pressing needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Our resolve is clear: no one, regardless of their gender, age, or vulnerabilities, should be left without vital support, echoing the President’s ‘Renewed Hope’ Agenda.

“The importance of providing assistance to IDPs cannot be overstated. Neglecting those in displacement can have profound social and economic consequences for both the displaced and their host communities,” he said.

According to him, in the face of protracted displacement crises that often affect IDPs, ensuring access to assistance during such times is of utmost importance.

“In keeping with the commission’s sustainable solutions strategy and our dedication to the well-being of host communities, we are proud to announce the provision of essential agricultural inputs.

“These initiatives aim to empower our displaced population, many of whom are skilled farmers, to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.

“Furthermore, we are equally committed to providing Educational Supplies to ensure that IDP children and adolescents have access to learning materials, facilitating their educational growth and development.

“Additionally, we are distributing food care packs to alleviate immediate hunger and provide much-needed sustenance to those in need,” he said.

The educational materials donated included 400 dozens of customised exercise books, 180 pieces of school sandals, 10 pieces of white board

and 10 pieces of white board dusters.

Others are 180 pieces of customised school bags, 180 pieces of customised plastic tables and chairs, biros and pencils.

The IDPs were also given agricultural inputs such as 26 pieces of pesticides, 26 pieces of herbicides, 26 pieces of insecticides, 86 sprayers and 25 irrigation pumps.

While the food items were 97 bags of 25kg rice, 97 cartons of spaghetti, 97 bags of 1kg Semovita, 20 cartons of vegetable oil, 26 cartons of seasoning and 22 cartons of salt.

On behalf of the beneficiaries, the Chairman of Durumi Camp, Ibrahim Ahmad, appreciated the Federal Government for the donations. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

SGBV: FG to review 2017 national policy on justice

The Federal Government says it will review the 2017 national policy on justice in order to encapsulate Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) matters.

Justice Minister, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, said this on Tuesday in Abuja in his keynote address at a high-level engagement with states on “Promoting Rule of Law and Enhancing Criminal Justice Pathway to Address Sexual and Gender Based Violence Against Women and Girls.

The three days programme was organised by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF ) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Fagbemi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jeddy-Agba noted that the review will aim at providing a sustainable framework to address SGBV challenges.

“Though the task ahead appears enormous, I call on all various states, stakeholders, state actors and international development partners to commit to the effective implementation of all policy programmes and laws relating to SGBV”.

The Resident Representative of UNDP, Mr Simon Ridley said the interventions under the EU-UN initiatives rooted in victims-centred modality, norms and international standards reflected its shared commitment to creating a safer and more equitable world.

While delivering her own speech, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy disclosed that her ministry is ready to collaborate with relevant stakeholders in building a robust synergy in its drive to closing the existing data gap on SGBV.

She, therefore, enjoined state actors and stakeholders to also amplify their advocacy campaigns about the challenges.

Both the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and Director General National Agency For the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi emphasised on synergy, alignment, collaborations and support from the judiciary to win the war.

They both also agreed that their strengthening of zero tolerance to SGBV, establishing gender desks across the federation and securing of different convictions were all pointers to their readiness.

NAN reports that the policy seeks to promote human rights and access to justice for all, especially the poor, weak and vulnerable.

It also seeks to promote correctional and restorative justice and alternative dispute resolution; Preserve and maintain the plural character of the Nigerian legal system and Promote independence and impartiality of the Judiciary.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria