UNION BANK pensioners endorse recapitalisation

Union Bank pensioners have unanimously endorsed and approved of the plans and strategies evolved by the management and Board of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc to recapitalise in line with the regulatory requirements.

This endorsement was adopted at an interactive forum with the bank`s management under the aegis of Union Bank Pensioners Association and Union Bank General Management Pensioners` Club led by Prince Justus Osokoya and Mr. Jerome Ezegbu held in Lagos.

After reviewing all the options available to the bank, the pensioners recognised that without the core investor as recommended by the board, union bank would loose its identify and make their investments and sacrifices as its workers over the years wasteful.

“We have reviewed and recognised that it is not in the best interest of the pensioners to nationaliseunion bank. Therefore, we resolved in our various consultative meetings to support every step taken by the management and board to recapitalise the bank" they said.

The pensioners advised the bank to ensure that the bank`s core values are retained and restored through the adoption of the best banking practices which was the hallmark of union bank in the past. They also appealed to the management to continue to take care of their welfare especially in the areas of medical, monthly pension, concessionary loans, etc.

While congratulating the management for taking a scrupulous look at the books of the bank in order to restore its accounting principles to the best standard of transparency and accountability, the retirees were saddened with the revelations that showed how the bank derailed in its operations and activities before the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In her remarks, the Group managing Director/Chief Executive, Mrs. Funke Osibodu thanked the pensioners for turning out in large number to understand the recapitalisation issues and other matters that have been disturbing them over the years. She felt humbled by the turnout of the former members of general management especially executive directors who were fully involved in disseminating relevant information on the benefits of a core investor to members.

Mrs. Osibodu enjoined them to attend the Extra-Ordinary and General meetings at Abuja where the resolutions on recapitalisation would be tabled for approval; emphasising on the importance of submitting their signed proxy forms, if unable to attend.

Ebonyi Deputy Governor commissions Abakiliki Gloworld

Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer Dave Umahi, last Thursday commissioned the latest Gloworld shop located in the state capital, Abakiliki. The shop is the first such outlet to be opened by any telecommunications company in the state.

Gloworld is Globacom’s one-stop sales and service outlet designed to give subscribers easy access to the company’s products and services. The new Gloworld is located at No 4 Ogoja Road, Abakiliki.

With the opening of the new Gloworld, residents of Abakiliki and neighbouring towns in Ebonyi State now have a convenient avenue for easy, unrestricted access to Globacom offerings in a world class environment, Engineer Umahi stated.

He thanked Globacom for extending telecommunication services to the state and creating employment for its indigenes and residents. He also commended the company for the giant steps taken to compete favourably with other multinational corporations in the sector. Engineer Umahi charged the company to assist the law enforcement agencies in combating crime by providing data and Value Added Services that will assist the Agencies in tracking down criminals.

The Deputy Governor, who represented Governor Elechi Amadi, also performed the first official transaction in the outlet by registering his Glo SIM as a subscriber. This was also undertaken by other special guests including the state Police Commissioner, Chairman Ebonyi State Traditional Rulers Council, HRH Eze Agom Eze, and the State Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr. J.E. Otaru.

Head of Glo East 1 Territory, Dr Prince Dimkpa, in his speech restated Globacom’s commitment to offering innovative products and solutions and developing various channels for delivery of world class customer services to subscribers.

He noted that Gloworld outlets, located in strategic cities and towns across the country, are generally acknowledged as delivering world class telecommunications solutions. They are manned by well trained and motivated sales and customer care professionals.

Robbers steal MTN recharge cards in Aba

Leading telecommunications company in Nigeria, MTN has announced that a large quantity of its recharge cards have been stolen from the company’s premises in Aba, Abia State.

Mr. Goodluck said as a result of the incident, the company had immediately de-activated the affected recharge cards from the network in line with standard operating procedure. As a result of this, any of the stolen recharge cards will no longer be accepted by the network, he said.

“We wish to advise our numerous customers in Abia State and its environs to exercise caution when purchasing recharge cards. We urge our customers to seek out authorised MTN vendors so as to guide against picking up stolen and voided recharge cards,” he said. “Alternatively, our esteemed customers may consider recharging their phones through our Virtual Top-up (VTU) platform, which even provides customers with five percent discount for any amount of airtime purchased,” said Goodluck.

The Corporate Services Executive said all the company’s Trade Partners in Aba and its environs had been duly notified so that they would be prepared should anyone attempt to sell any of the voided recharge cards to them.

Mr. Goodluck said the incident had been reported to relevant security agencies and apologized to MTN customers for any inconveniences the development might cause them.

According to a statement issued by the Corporate Services Executive, MTN, Mr Akinwale Goodluck, armed robbers last week broke into the company’s premises in Aba, and made away with large quantity of recharge cards of various denominations.

"SIM Reg 'll enhance national security"

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said the ongoing SIM card registration in the country will enhance national security and protect the telecom consumers across the country, hence the need for stakeholder support for its success.

The Commission which spoke about the benefits and challenges of the exercise at the 44^th Edition of its Consumer Outreach Programme in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the weekend, said in spite of the challenges presented by this project, it has a wider benefit for the country and its citizens.

Director of Consumer Affairs of the Commission, Mrs Mary Uduma, who stood in for the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, appealed to all stakeholders in the state to embrace the SIM Card registration exercise as the Commission is doing all in its powers to ensure that every person living in this Country is adequately protected.

“We have a mandate to ensure that all users of telephones in Nigeria are registered to ensure that there is an indentify behind every telephone that is in the Nigerian network and the Commission has done proper sensitization across the country to ensure that no subscriber will have any excuse not to register his or her SIM cards within the period announced by the Commission”, she said.

She said that the Commission is not unaware of the challenges being faced by the Service Providers as well as the Commission such as illegal charges for registration by unscrupulous and corrupt SIM registration agents, interruptible power supply for equipment, mis-recording or improper capturing of data as well as limited number of SIM registration centres but said subscribers had adequate opportunity to register their SIM cards over the period.
She listed some other benefits of the registration to include quick recovery of lost SIM cards and possibility of implementing Number Portability for the subscribers which will allow them to retain their choice numbers while migrating to another network that may offer them better quality at reduced tariffs.

L-R: Mr. Efosa Idehen, Heand Enforcement at NCC, engaging the officials of the company Mr. Jamil Chaptini, Operations Manager, Mr. Mr. Joe Minas, engineer, and Mr.Marcel Bajjani, Quality Control Manager, Cobranet, during the sealing of Cobranet premises in Lekki,Lagos.

NCC SHOTS DOWN ILLEGAL SPECTRUM OCCUPANT IN LAGOS, CONFISTICATES EQUIPMENT

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, yesterday, sealed the offices of Cobranet, a telecom company based in Lekki, Lagos, for illegally occupying frequencies in some bands mapped out for broadband services in the country, and disrupting the services of other service providers.

However, the Commission after final warning on the issue in June, 2011, discovered that Cobranet, was transmitting signals on the affected frequencies, hence an enforcement action against the company, resulting its being shot down by the Commission, and its equipment disconnected and confiscated all its transmission equipment.

Head of Compliance Monitoring of the Commission, Mr. Efosa Idehen, who led the enforcement action, spoke to journalists at the company’s premises in Lagos, and said Cobranet will also pay some yet to be determined amount of money to be calculated by the frequency department of the Commission with reference to the space and time the company has illegally occupied the band.

He also said the action of the company is also detrimental to the service quality of other providers as illegal occupations of frequencies degrade the quality of service of the other operators who may be legally operating on such frequencies.

Head of Media and Public Relations of the NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, who addressed the press on the issue, said the clampdown on Cobranet is a signal to other operators who may be operating without proper authorization or without recourse to all the rules of the game in the telecommunications industry.

Mr. Muoka said the current leadership at the Commission is focused on compliance to the rules, hence the need for all operators to adhere to all the rules and conditions in service provisioning for the benefit of the subscribers and the nation. He said that the frequency spectrum is a finite resource whose use must be in accordance with the set guidelines and conditions.

The Commission has in 2009, developed guidelines for the deployment of frequency services on the 5.2 – 5.9GHz bands. In April 2011, the Commission declared the 5.470 – 5.725 portion of this spectrum as licensed, licensable and not license exempt in Nigeria. Consequently, it warned all companies without a license of the Commission to avoid transmitting signals, or using equipment on this frequency band.