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Sunday, 23 February 2020

Financial Empowerment: UBA Launches ‘Click Credit’ To Ease Access To Cash For Customers

Financial Empowerment: UBA Launches ‘Click Credit’ To Ease Access To Cash For Customers

Published: February 23, 2020


Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has launched ‘Click Credit’, a time loan designed to address the urgent needs of customers whose salary accounts are domiciled with the bank.

As a bank backed by a strong retail franchise with over 1,000 business offices serving 19 million customers, UBA has introduced this product in line with the bank’s mission of creating value for its customers while assisting them to meet up with their urgent needs. The loan product, already being enjoyed by millions of customers in  Nigeria will be extended to the Bank’s other franchises in Africa. 

Click Credit, which has been carefully crafted to improve the lives of the UBA customers, is a superfast loan product which will allow qualified customers to apply for up to N5 million loan and pay back over 12 months at an interest rate of 1.58% per month, with no hidden fees.

Specifically, salary earners from N25,000 per month who fall between the ages of 18 and 59 can benefit from this facility with no extra fees; no need for collaterals, no paper-work or other difficult issues when it comes to this facility; as customers can even apply via LEO, UBA Mobile Banking and UBA internet banking.

UBA’s Group Head of Retail Banking, Mr. Jude Anele, who revealed that qualified customers have begun to enjoy the service, explained that the loan provides immediate access to funds once eligibility is confirmed in less than a meeting

He said, “As Africa’s most innovative and technology-driven financial institution with an array of novel products and services tailored to the needs of its millions of customers, we have launched Click Credit, which is straightforward and more affordable than many other loan products in the market.  Its unique feature is that it meets a critical credit need for our customers”.

Anele while emphasising the critical role that credit plays in any developing and developed society, said that it is part of the customers’ financial power where they can be assisted to get the things they need, when they need them without hassles.

While explaining that this product is being rolled out first in Nigeria and subsequently in the rest of UBA’s countries of operations; he explained that UBA is committed to ensuring that Click Credit helps the bank’s customers to cover critical needs and set them up for success, having moved past that moment of need.

On her part, UBA’s Group Head, Marketing, Dupe Olusola, reiterated that UBA remains focused on empowering its customers to fund their urgent needs.

“At UBA, we work hard to be there in the moments that matter to our customers, hence, our huge investment in technology and other facilities to make banking easier and seamless,” Olusola explained, adding that the bank has deepened its focus on the most important aspect of its business which are its the customers.

To ensure ease of access, customers can apply for Click Credit by simply dialling *919*28# or via UBA’s chat bank ‘Leo’, UBA Mobile Banking app and UBA Internet Banking.

 Customers can also speak to the Bank’s  Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) about Click Credit. The terms of the loan are available at
www.ubagroup.com/clickcredit
Armed Security Stops Protesters From Harassing Oshiomhole At Benin Airport

Armed Security Stops Protesters From Harassing Oshiomhole At Benin Airport

Published: February 23, 2020
There was heavy security as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, arrived Benin, the Edo State capital on Saturday for the burial ceremony of Madam Cecilia Agbonyinma, the mother of a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Ehiozuwa Agbonyinma.
A smiling Oshiomhole who was received by former deputy governor, Dr Pius Odubu; former secretary to Edo State government, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu; Gen. Charles Airhiavbere and other top leaders of APC  as they brushed aside protests by some thugs who attempted to disrupt the airport ceremony where thousands of the ruling party supporters came to welcome him.

Heavily armed security personnel were mobilised to the airport following reports that the youth in droves were at the airport to cause mayhem.

Armed soldiers were stationed at the airport entrance gate as well as two police vehicles while operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) manned the various points of the airport and check the noisy hoodlums.


Some APC chieftains who refused to disclose their names, however, accused some top government officials of being in league with the political thugs, insisting that it was wrong for them to always mobilise thugs to harass the party’s national chairman.

A top Edo government official who pleaded anonymity countered, denying the government’s involvement in the airport incident which has since become a routine.

It would be recalled that some political thugs were shot near the Benin Airport last December.

The protesting hoodlums set fire on old vehicle tires along the Airport road in an attempt to block the motorcade of the party’s national chairman on his way to his Benin City residence.
Why Buhari Pardoned Repentant Boko Haram Members...Sadiya Umar-Farouq

Why Buhari Pardoned Repentant Boko Haram Members...Sadiya Umar-Farouq

Published: February 23, 2020
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari granted amnesty to repentant Boko Haram insurgents.

According to her, the reason for the pardons was for the ex insurgents to have a re-think and denounce terrorism so that they could be assisted in different areas of human development.

Umar-Farouq stated this when she received in audience the representatives of the Chief of Defence staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishaki, led by the Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Maj.-Gen Bamidele Shaffa, in Abuja.

In a statement signed by the Assistant Director, Information, Rhoda Ishaku Iliya, Minister Umar-Farouq said: “In ensuring that the Buhari-led government achieve its vision in addressing the insecurity and insurgency challenges facing this nation, the Federal Government have given a welcoming hand or an opportunity to repentant Boko Haram members to have a re-think and denounce terrorism so that they could be assisted in different areas of human development.

“It is a very important programme for the ministry, one of the mandates of the ministry is to focus on the early recovery aspect of the North-East region and one of such components of early recovery is re-integration, rehabilitation of these affected communities and the repentant Boko Haram insurgents.”

She commended the efforts and initiatives of Operation Safe Corridor, noting that it would address the challenges of insecurity and “to a very large approached in the de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of these insurgents adding that this strategy is very important especially in the North-East today.”

Shaffa said the meeting was to brief the Minister on the activities of Operation Safe Corridor which is believed to have fallen on the scope of humanitarian functions of the ministry.

According to him, OPSC, since its establishment in 2016, has graduated 280 repentant members of the insurgency including two Chadians and had been transferred to their states and country for re-integration back to the society.

“I wish to state that the group are doing well in their various communities with no report of hostility against them or any case of misdemeanour against anyone of them in the communities where they have been integrated.”

He encouraged family visitation to the camp to reunite the repentant members with their families, provide room for reconciliation and sense of belonging. He also urged prominent personalities to visit the camp to interact with the boys and reassure them of acceptance.

Shaffa disclosed that there were no plans to recruit the boys into the Nigerian Army as being speculated by fake news advocates.

“No member of the repentant insurgents is qualified to be recruited in the Army,” he added.
NAF Kills ISWAP Leaders In Borno Air Raids

NAF Kills ISWAP Leaders In Borno Air Raids

Published: February 23, 2020
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) yesterday said it killed some key leaders of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) at Jubillaram and Alinwa in the northern part of Borno State. This came as troops of the Operation Hadarin Daji in Zamfara State killed 13 bandits and arrested eight others in Zamfara State. NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said yesterday in Abuja that the Air Force Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole, under the auspices of Operation Rattle Snake III, struck the ISWAP leaders as they assembled for meetings, after intelligence reports.

The statement however, did not give the number of those killed, their names or ranks in the group, but it added: “The mission was executed on the heels of credible intelligence reports indicating that some key ISWAP leaders had assembled for meetings, which were being held simultaneously at two separate venues, at Jubillaram and Alinwa in Marte Local Government Area.

Accordingly, the ATF scrambled its attack aircraft to engage both locations, damaging the meeting venues and neutralising the terrorists,’’ Daramola said. He said they were neutralised in operations conducted on Thursday. Daramola said NAF, operating in concert with surface forces, would sustain its air campaign to shape the battlespace in the North East for the effective conduct of further ground and air operations.

According to him, Operation Rattle Snake III which commenced on February 4, was aimed at targeting selected locations within the North East in order to shape the battlespace for more effective onslaught against the insurgents. The multinational joint task force (MNJTF) also recently announced that it killed a high ranking ISWAP commander named Khalifa Umar.

A statement from the Task Force said the influential commander of the terror group was “eliminated” during an airborne attack on one of the insurgents’ hideout on a Lake Chad community known as Tunbums Sabo. The statement signed by Timothy Antigha, the spokesman of the MNJTF, indicated that Khalifa Umar was killed during an “ongoing offensive operations against ISWAP and other purveyors of violence and instability in the Lake Chad Basin.”

Although ISWAP’s main area of operations is further east in the Lake Chad area, the group has attacked a number of military locations in the Maiduguri-Biu-Damuturu triangle in recent months. In late July, ISIS claimed ISWAP fighters killed 25 Nigerian troops in Benisheikh and earlier that month claimed ISWAP fighters fought off a Nigerian military assault in the Damboa area. In a related development, troops of the Operation Hadarin Daji in Zamfara State killed 13 bandits and arrested eight others in Zamfara State, the Acting Force Information Officer, Captain Ayobami Oni-Orisan said in a statement yesterday.

He said between February 10 and 20 2020, troops conducted clearance operations, ambushes and fighting patrols in several locations across the theatre including: Tungar Mata, Tuduki, Kawaye and Mararaban Kawaye villages in Anka Local Government Area, Moriki town in Shinkafi Local Government Area, Belhi, Ruwar Kura, Kyaram, Gallai and Shirkai villages of Bukkuyum Local Government area. Other communities are Tsauwa, Dankar and Yan Gayya villages of Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State and Gallai, Shirkai and ‘Yarkuka villages in Kebbi state.

The operations resulted in the interception of a large ammunitions, neutralization of 13 bandits with several others fatally wounded, arrest of 8 suspected bandits ( including a female) and the recovery of several items. Captain Oni-Orisan said OPHD troops also intercepted suspected drug counterfeiters and drug dealers with 350 cartons of fake “PECOL” drugs and a sizeable consignment of suspected Indian hemp in Zurmi and Shinkafi Local Government Areas of Zamfara State.

We Won't Handover $100m Abacha Loot To Kebbi State Governor...FG

We Won't Handover $100m Abacha Loot To Kebbi State Governor...FG

Published: February 23, 2020
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said on Saturday the repatriated money  looted by the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, would be used for the development of critical infrastructure.

Malami said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Gwandu,  there was no form of agreement to hand over $100m out of the latest tranche of the recovered $300m Abacha loot to Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu or any third party interest.

He said  Bagudu was pursuing separate cases in court in the United States and the United Kingdom to assert his right in connection with the Abacha loot.

He also  said  Nigeria was also cooperating with the US in the recovery of  other assets “including corruption proceeds linked to ex-Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and her associates, and former Delta State Governor James Ibori as well as several others.”

The United States Department of Justice had alleged that the President, Major General  Muhammadu Buhari, was planning to hand over about $100m out of the Abacha loot to Bagudu.

The Department of Justice made the claim in court  documents  filed before the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, according to Bloomberg’s reports.

Bagudu, who is a close ally of Buhari, was indicted by the US Government for helping Abacha to transfer billions of dollars in the mid-90s.

According to documents from the Department of Justice, Bagudu spent six months in detention in Texas while awaiting extradition to the Island of Jersey.

However, before he was handed over for criminal trial in Jersey, he was said to have quickly agreed to return $163m to Nigeria and was released on bond to Nigeria where he was meant to be prosecuted for money laundering.

In his second reaction within 24 hours to the widely reported plans by the Buhari regime to hand over $100m to Bagudu, Malami said the money would be used for infrastructural projects as agreed with the countries it was recovered.

The AGF restated the money would be used for the  Abuja-Kano Road,  2nd Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

He described as “mischievous and pedestrian for anyone to seek to turn the law and the facts on its head on the matter of repatriation whose terms are clearly spelt out and agreed among the parties.”

He stated, “This long-standing cooperation recently culminated in the successful signing of memorandum of understanding for the repatriation of over $300m looted assets associated with General Sani Abacha.

“It is pertinent to recall at this juncture that prior to the 2020 agreement with the United States and Island of Jersey, the Federal Government has signed an agreement for the return  of  over $300m in 2017 which was effectively deployed for the purpose for which it was agreed to be applied without any issue of reputation

“The FG is also negotiating the recovery of assets from several countries and the agreements for the recovery and the procedure for recovery are always presented to Federal Executive Council for approval and duly made public once the processes have been concluded.

“No third-party interest was captured in the memo that was approved by the council.

“The 2017 repatriated funds were deployed to the implementation of the Social Investment program and it  is being monitored by civil society organisations across the country.”

He  said  the FG “remains fully committed to continued cooperation with the US and other countries in a reciprocal manner.”

On the Bagudu’s link to the money, Malami said, “It is well known that the US and the Bagudu family have been in court since 2014 over assets already rescinded under the 2003 Agreement.

“The matters are to be determined in  UK and  US courts.

“The Bagudu family assets in contention, which constitute a distinct and separate cause of action, do not have anything to do with the assets already recovered and being recovered under the Abacha 2014 non-prosecution agreement.”