…As CSCS bags ISO Certification
Stories by Omodele Adigun
FIDELITY Bank stock was up by 6.67 per cent Thursday on the Lagos floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) to lead other 24 stocks on the gainers’ table.
At the close of business, the bank gained seven kobo to wrap up its share price for the day at N1.12 .It was followed by May &Baker, Forte Oil, Conoil and Air Service with five per cent, 4.99 per cent, 4.98 per cent and 4.97 per cent in that order to close their respective share prices at four kobo,N9.48, 82 kobo and 8 kobo.
On the gainers’ side, Trans Express was down by 8.85 per cent to close at N1.03. Following it were CCNN and Nigeria Breweries(NB), which fell by 6.17 per cent and 5.48 per cent to close at N6.99 and N115.32 respectively. Portland Paints and Union Dicon lost 5 per cent apiece to drop to N2.28 and N11.21 respectively.
The twin market indicators, the All Share Index(ASI) and market capitalization, closed on a negative note, as the ASI lost 0.59 per cent to close at 25,563.78 points, as against its opening level of 25, 715.42. The equities’ capitalization declined to N8.79trillion from Wednesday’s figure of N8.85 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has been awarded ISO 2007:2013 Certification by the British Standard Institute (BSI), a leading organisation in audit management systems and processes. The certification is the world’s highest accreditation for Information Security Management System (ISMS).
The company was awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification after undergoing series of intense audit processes which began in September 2015 last year.
The certificate was presented to Mr Kyari Bukar, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CSCS, by Mr Ahmed Bashir, Director, UK Trade and Investment who represented the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Ray Kyles.
Commenting on this landmark achievement, Bukar said he was delighted to receive the award having worked so tirelessly for it.
NCC to license 38GHz, 42GHz spectrums for internet access
By Olabisi Olaleye
THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said in Lagos that there is fresh plans to license new spectrums on the 38GHz and 42GHz bands, in order to address the growing demand for broadband services.
The Commission also announced the re-planning of the existing 23GHz spectrum band by expanding its available capacity from 7MHz to 28MHz.
NCC made the disclosure yesterday at a stakeholders’ consultative forum, where the stakeholders were allowed to make their inputs on the proposed plans.
The additional spectrum licenses, according to NCC, would provide the much needed spectrum that operators would need to address the increasing demand for broadband services in the country.
Speaking on the importance of licensing additional spectrums in the country, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Director, of Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said: “The emerging trend in the telecoms sector in Nigeria today, is broadband, which will certainly require massive deployments in terms of critical infrastructure, if the country is to achieve the set target of government of 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018. The growth of broadband traffic is on the increase and therefore, additional spectrum resources would be required to avoid network challenges.”
It is for this reason that the NCC decided to take proactive measures in opening up of the 38GHz and 42GHz bands for use in Nigeria as well as the re-planning of the 23GHz microwave spectrum band, Danbatta said.
He said the radio spectrum in the 38 GHz and 42GHz spectrum bands were yet to be opened in Nigeria, and that the channelling plan for the 23GHz needs to be reviewed in line with international best practices to meet requirement for higher output, since it would also enable operators of the telecoms industry to effectively meet their spectrum needs for rollout of broadband services.
Osinbajo to present lead paper at CITN conference
THE imperative of boosting the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the states is one of the focal points of this year’s tax conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria(CITN) where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected as the keynote speaker.
Disclosing this Wednesday in Lagos, the President of the Institute, Dr. Olateju Somorin,said that the theme of this year’s conference- Fiscal Challenges and Opportunities of the Nigerian Economy- is part of CITN’s statutorily obligations to initiate programmes and discussions that would proffer solutions to the numerous problems bedeviling the economy.
She observed that “Nigeria’s economic crisis has become an issue of deep concern.The uncertainties about the oil price that has been looming very large on the global scene is translating to a daunting fiscal challenge which the present administration is addressing. Twenty six , out of the 36 ,states have been reported to be owing their workers six to eight months salaries. This had forced most of these state governments to devise ways of generating revenue to meet their overheads and developmental needs.”
Mrs Somorin added that the 2016 Tax Conference is one in the series of initiatives aimed at finding solutions to the economic challenges. ”This is why one of our topics is specifically slated to address the imperative of boosting states’ IGR. We believe that our Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibajo who shall be presenting the lead paper, will address some of the issues on fiscal challenges”, she said.
The conference, which comes up next Wednesday, May 11-14, is expected to attract over 1,500 participants from within and outside the country, including more than 10 eminent paper presenters .The CITN boss said that issues to be discussed would , among others, look at how Nigeria’s fiscal policies could easily be stabilized by another round of revenue reforms that would provide the fiscal space required for growth and stability.
She added:” We are also convinced that the technical and professional competences of all the paper presenters and the topicality of the subjects slated for discussion would significantly give additional value and impetus to the practice and administration of taxation Furthermore, the tax authorities at the federal, state and local government levels have continued to use the knowledge gained from the yearly conference to develop policy blueprints for effective tax administration towards improved revenue yield”.