General News
Johnson: Business after the Hype
Her reputation precedes her.
Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology is a distinguished Nigerian and former Country Managing Director of Accenture, Nigeria, the first woman to hold that position.
Armed with Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester and a Masters degree in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London, she joined Accenture, then Andersen Consulting in 1985.
In about two decades she has been at Accenture, she has progressed through various roles and was a Director and the Head of the Financial Services operating group in Nigeria before her appointment as the Managing Director in December 2004.
She came into the ministry of Communications Technology with an intimidating background and cerebral mind.
The Communications Technology Ministry created in July 2011 is a product of many years of agitation by professionals for a ministry that will be backed by enough political will to cheetah-pole-vault Nigeria into the knowledge age.
To many, Johnson is a square peg in a square hole. And the industry welcomed her with open arms.
She came smoking hot and appeared not daunted by the litany of problems facing the Nigerian ICT industry.
Her initial actions and body language drew applause including the famous four-point agenda.
Under the mandate she unfolded her agenda including; facilitating universal, ubiquitous and cost effective access to communications infrastructure that includes a national fibre optic backbone; promoting the utilization of ICT in all spheres of life to optimize the communications infrastructure.
Others are promoting and facilitating the development of the ICT industry and in so doing, increase the contribution of the ICT industry to the country’s GDP; to deploy information and communications technology to drive transparency in governance as well as improve the quality and cost effectiveness of public service delivery.
Then she began the harmonisation of ICT policies with a committee headed by Prof. Raymond Akwule of the Digital Bridge Institute in Abuja.
This move is expected to check the wasteful duplication of functions and form the pillar for ICT development in the country.
Working with Council of works, the minister has also initiated moves to solve the seemingly intractable problems of “right of way” as all new federal highways and those undergoing repairs will have ducts to transport telecom traffic.
She is also enforcing the use of .ng email domains for all governments Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to give emails and correspondences emanating from them authority and security.
These are tangibles.
She has a long list of “to dos” including pursuant of the local content in the industry; development of national internet-based portal that will facilitate easy access to government information through published and informed websites by December 2014; as well as the national call centre initiative.
But her ministry has performed below the hype that heralded it.
One year down the line, her ministry is still talking and behaving like the typical government bureaucracy with too much distractions of merging MDAs under her ministry.
It is thinking of how to achieve domestic value-added and growth in the ICT industry.
Her ministry has not also led by example as most of their software and hardware are still dominated by foreign brands.
To add salt to injury, the recently released draft ICT policy by her ministry will set the country 20 years backwards because it looked like a job done by carpenters instead of ICT professionals.
Her ministry’s website www.commtech.gov.ng, that is supposed to be a gateway of the industry is headless and provides little or no information, not even the splendid profile of the honourable minister.
It is no longer in contention that the economic development of any nation can only be accelerated by improvements in the country’s ICT infrastructure.
Unless she is saving the best for last, her first one year in office is below par.
Justice Ibironke Harrison, Judge of the Lagos State High Court, has ordered the arrest of Bolaji Agbede, acting managing director, Access Bank PLC, and three others, in the case of alleged conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, and fraud totaling N1.356 billion.
Bolaji Agbede, acting managing director, Access Bank PLC
The Judge made the order when the defendants, including the acting managing director of Access Bank, did not show up in court.
The other defendants alongside Agbede were charged in the case of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, and fraud totaling N1.356 billion are Balmoral International Limited, DDSS International Company Limited, and Adejare Adegbenro.
The allegations stem from a 2013 incident where the defendants allegedly used MOB Integrated Services’ property as loan security without consent.
The property, located at Plot 40b, Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, belongs to a firm owned by Gbolahan Obanikoro, son of a former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.
Access Bank has been accused of alleged attempt to steal the same property by granting a N1 billion credit facility to DDSS International Company Limited.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for February 24, 2025.
The charge sheet as signed by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice, Lagos State, reads: Conspiracy to Commit a Felony to wit; Stealing Contrary to Section 411 of the Criminal Law, Ch. C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
ADEJARE ADGBENRO (M), BALMORAL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, ACCESS BANK and BOLAJI AGBEDE (M) on or about the 2nd day of September, 2013 at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State in the Lagos Judicial Division, conspired to commit a felony to wit; Stealing.
STATEMENT OF OFFENCE-COUNT 2
Conspiracy to Commit a Felony to wit; Stealing Contrary to Section 411 of the Criminal Law, Ch. C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
ADEJARE ADGBENRO (M), BALMORAL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, ACCESS BANK, BOLAJI AGBEDE (M) and DDSS INTERNATIONAL COMPANY LIMITED on or about the 2nd day of September, 2013 at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State in the Lagos Judicial Division, conspired to commit a felony to wit; Stealing.
STATEMENT OF OFFENCE-COUNT 3
Stealing Contrary to Section 280 of the Criminal Law, Ch. C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
ADEJARE ADGBENRO (M), BALMORAL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, ACCESS BANK and BOLAJI AGBEDE (M) on or about the 2nd day of September, 2013 at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State in the Lagos Judicial Division, stole the property of MOB Integrated Services at Plot 40b, Bourdillion Road, Ikoyi, Lagos by using it as a security for loan without his consent and subsequently entering into a consent judgment.
STATEMENT OF OFFENCE-COUNT 4
Attempted Stealing Contrary to Section 21 of the Criminal Law, Ch. C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
PARTICULARS OF OFFENCE
ADEJARE ADGBENRO (M), BALMORAL INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, ACCESS BANK, BOLAJI AGBEDE (M) and DDSS INTERNATIONAL COMPANY LIMITED on or about the 26th day of May, 2019 at Plot 1261, Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State in the Lagos Judicial Division, attempted to steal the property of MOB Integrated Services at Plot 40b, Bourdillion Road, Ikoyi, Lagos by offering and granting DDSS International Company Limited a credit facility of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) Only.
Nigerians in the diaspora have petitioned Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minster of Interior, over passport printing in Atlanta and New York Consulates in the United States of America.
To this effect, the minister has approved and directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to immediately deploy new printers to the passport offices in both cities.
These printers, according to him, are ready for installation. This short-term solution, he said, aims to resolve the current challenge promptly.
In a statement, the minister said that there is a new solution being implemented as a long-term plan that will usher in a streamlined passport regime, enabling Nigerians to apply for their passports with more ease.
Part of this plan includes the activation of a Passport Personalisation Centre in Abuja, which is scheduled to start in the next few weeks while also opening up more countries for the already-deployed contactless solution.
According to Tunji-Ojo, they are working round the clock, and none of the agencies is left behind.
“At the Nigeria Immigration Service, there has been an end-to-end automation of the passport application process and the introduction of the contactless application process, which has since been launched in Canada,” he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has approved the release of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Code and will officially launch the same on January 28, 2025.
The FX code serves as a guideline to the banking industry to promote ethical conduct of authorised dealers in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
“The Bank will formally launch the Code at the CBN Head Office Auditorium, Abuja, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025,” the CBN said in a notice published on its website.
In a bid to strengthen the governance and transparency of Nigeria’s FX market, the CBN in November 2024 introduced revised guidelines for the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).
A key feature of these guidelines requires the boards of banks, alongside their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Compliance Officers, to annually attest to the Nigeria FX Code of Ethics and Conduct. This attestation underscores their commitment to uphold market integrity and comply with all CBN-issued circulars and guidelines.
The revised guidelines aim to deepen the foreign exchange market following the consolidation of all official FX market windows. The circular, issued by Omolara Omotunde Duke, director of the CBN’s financial markets department, supersedes prior directives, including the operational changes announced on June 14, 2023, and earlier circulars dating back to 2017.
Under the new framework, authorised dealers must facilitate FX transactions for firms and individuals while ensuring compliance with regulations. These dealers are tasked with conducting due diligence, providing transparent pricing, and offering market access through digital solutions.
Furthermore, all legitimate FX transactions must occur exclusively through authorised dealers, while dealings with unlicensed intermediaries are strictly prohibited.
Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators are also included in the revised guidelines. Licensed BDCs are allowed to purchase FX from authorised dealers to meet customer needs, within the limits set by the CBN. Similarly, all FX transactions conducted by BDCs, International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), and authorised dealers must adhere to the terms of their licenses and the Nigeria FX Code.
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