Business
Marriage scandal: FCMB under pressure to sack MD, 1,500 sign petition
- Bank dismisses allegation as baseless
First City Monument Bank has come under intense pressure to sack its Managing Director, Adam Nuhu, accused of twice impregnating his subordinate in the office, Moyo Thomas, a wife of another FCMB worker, Tunde Thomas.
The discovery by Tunde Thomas that he is not the father of his two children was said to have led to depression and his eventual death. Some are accusing the FCMB MD of being responsible for his death.
Although about 1,500 people have signed a petition sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) calling for the sack of Nuru for alleged unethical behavior, the bank’s authorities currently investigating the matter may find him blameless under its rules.
The bank in its latest reaction dismissed the allegation as baseless and cooked up by some people.
The petition, initiated last week Wednesday, alleged that Nuru was responsible for the demise of Tunde Thomas on December 16.
According to the petition, the FCMB MD allegedly had an affair with Moyo Thomas, the deceased’s wife, resulting in two children.
It alleged that Moyo had informed her husband that she was leaving Nigeria for the United States with the kids only to call him upon arrival there that the children were not his.
The petition claimed the news initially caused Thomas to be down with a stroke but later recovered and thereafter met another lady whom he planned to marry.
Thomas was, however, said to have suffered a cardiac arrest after returning from work — about two days before his introduction to his already pregnant girlfriend.
The petition, addressed to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the FCMB’s board, described the case as “an unjustifiable economic oppression by the elite” against the underprivileged.
It called for a holistic investigation into the matter, alleging that the MD had been trying to sweep the issue under the carpet.
The petition read in part, “This is a case of gross misconduct based on ethical grounds and an unjustifiable economic oppression by the elites (Adam Nuru) against the less privileged in the society.
“The MD has been doing everything possible to sweep this case under the carpet. We implore the Central Bank of Nigeria as the apex regulator and the board of FCMB to investigate this for the integrity of the bank and Nigerian banking industry.”
But reacting on Thursday, an employee of the bank, Rafiu Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of the FCMB’s spokesman, Diran Olojo, dismissed the petition as a “mere allegation”.
Mohammed told TheCable that it was unfortunate that people would come up with unsubstantiated claims which the deceased never raised when he was alive.
He also said the fact that Thomas had impregnated another lady and was on the verge of remarrying before his death showed that he had already moved on from what transpired during his marriage to Moyo.
“Assuming there was a DNA report that said there was indeed an affair between them and the children belong to the MD, that’s an evidence. But so far, there’s none. Also, has any evidence established his (Thomas’s) death was caused by our MD? Anyone can suffer cardiac arrest,” he said.
Olojo had earlier said the bank was aware of the allegations against its MD and that bank’s board of directors had already commenced a review into the matter, adding that its findings would be disclosed in due course.
He had said, “We are aware of several stories circulating across several media platforms about our bank’s Managing Director, Adam Nuru, a former employee Ms Moyo Thomas and her deceased ex-husband, Mr Tunde Thomas.”
“While this is a personal matter, the tragedy of the death of Mr Tunde Thomas and the allegations of unethical conduct require the bank’s board to conduct a review of what transpired, any violations of our code of ethics and the adequacy of this code of conduct ethics.
“We enjoin all our stakeholders to bear with us as we conduct this review and to please respect the various families involved. Our Board of Directors is reviewing all aspects of this report and once they are done with their review, we will revert to you.”
Aviation
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.
The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.
All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.
A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.
Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.
The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.
“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.
“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.
“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”
Business
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).
The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.
Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.
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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.
He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.
On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
Business
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.
The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.
He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.
Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.
He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.
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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.
He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.
Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.
He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.
“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.
“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.
“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
(NAN)
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