As aircrafts in its fleet depletes, FirstNation Airways has switched temporarily from offering scheduled flights to charter services. The Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Muhtar Usman, who made the disclosure said the airline’s current non-scheduled status would remain so until it improved its aircraft fleet to at least two and met the requirements for scheduled services. The airline, which had been operating with one aircraft, was recently fined N33.5m for safety violations. Usman, who spoke about the airline’s suspension of its scheduled services at the commencement of the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s audit of the NCAA in Lagos,…
Author: Orientalnews Staff
The Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the premier Chamber of Commerce and a leading voice in the organized private sector (OPS) in Nigeria, is set to hold its annual seminar. The theme of this year’s seminar is “EASE OF DOING BUSINESS: ECONOMIC REALITIES FOR SMEs.” The annual SME seminar, according to the Group’s Chairman, Mr. Jon Kachikwu, is scheduled to hold on Wednesday, 23rd August, 2017 at the LCCI Conference and Exhibition Centre, 1, Nurudeen Olowopopo Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos by10am and would be used to highlight the opportunities and challenges in the SME sector; and evaluate the extent to which the Federal Government’s policy…
Nigeria’s local Content is set to witness a significant leap as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB has obtained all necessary approval to relaunch the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund), the Boards executive secretary Simbi Wabote has said. Funds in the pool which is available for lending to qualified oil and gas players had been increased from $100m to $200m to ensure that more deserving companies benefit at the same time and the money will be disbursed directly by the Bank of Industry (BOI) at eight percent interest rate and repaid within five years. Wabote’s confirmation of this is coming as the management of Dangote petroleum refinery has agreed to select competent Nigerian vendors that will participate in the construction of the plant from the Nigerian Oil and…
NIGERIA’s external reserve is set to hit a 30-month high of $32 billion by the end of this month.Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the external reserve rose to $31.55 billion on August 16, from $30.84 billion on July 31, representing increase of $710 million in 16 days. This trend is expected to persist in the second half of August driving up the reserve to the $32 billion mark. The external reserve had been below $32 billion since February 2015, 30 months ago, from where it declined steadily to $23.89 billion on October 19, 2016. Financial Vanguard analysis…
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has expressed concern that the continued illegal occupation of Belema flow station and gas plant in Rivers State since August 11, 2017, has safety implications both for the people at the facilities and nearby communities. According to a statement by SPDC spokesman, Mr. Bamidele Odugbesan, the company said it was “deeply concerned that unauthorised persons, including women and children, have been observed in close proximity to equipment that process crude oil and gas without the protection of safety clothing that is mandatory for people working in or accessing such restricted areas.” Shell said it had…
The Federal Road Safety Corps has chosen the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) as one of its partners for its forthcoming 7th Annual Lecture series scheduled to hold in Abuja. The GOCOP is an association of professional journalists who rose to the top of their profession in the print media before taking their practice online. Corps Public Education Officer of the FRSC, Bisi Kazeem, said the lecture series will hold on August 24, 2017. The event will take place at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.The lecture has a theme: “Achieving the goals of the UN Decade of…
Air Peace Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Allen Onyema has advised the public to the existence of several fake Facebook accounts created by fraudsters in his name to defraud unsuspecting members of the public. A statement issued by the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said Onyema had no Facebook or any other social media account. The existing social media accounts with the name and pictures of the airline’s boss, the statement warned, were the creation of criminal elements seeking to swindle members of the public out of their hard-earned money. “Our attention has been drawn to several social…
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will today commence an assessment visit to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). A four-member team from the FAA have already arrived Nigeria to conduct the audit which will take place from 21st – 25th August, 2017. The members of the team are Louis A. Alvarez, Team leader, L.P.Vanstory, Operations Specialist, Benjamin Garrido, Airworthiness Specialist and Jeffrey Klang, Attorney. The FAA officials will assess the State’s aviation law, regulations and oversight capability in accordance with the eight critical elements as defined in ICAO document 9734. In addition, during the assessment, the team will need to visit the facilities of an Airline Operators Certificate (AOC) holder.…
Heritage Bank Plc is set to become the headline sponsor for the fourth season of “The Next Titans,” a Nigerian entrepreneurial Reality TV Show. The move by the bank is a consistent commitment to build the next generation of sustainable Nigerian businesses; young and budding entrepreneurs who will end up becoming ‘titans’ in their own disciplines whether in Technology, Inventions, Media, Real Estate, Fashion, Agriculture, or Productions, and so on. Speaking at a press conference to flag off the season 4 of the project in Lagos, the Group Head of Corporate Communication of the Bank, Mr. Fela Ibidapo explained the reasons for…
Former minister of power, Prof. Barth Nnaji is considering various options against the Senior Special Assistant to his former boss, Goodluck Jonathan over what he described as unguarded statement linking his exit from the administration of president Jonathan on account of corruption. Mr. Reno Omokri an aid to the former president said Nnaji and his aviation counterpart Mrs. Stella Odua were relieved of their appointments following allegations of corruption leveled against them. Omokri was reported to have made the comment while reacting to a statement credited to the director general of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu that former…