Luanda — A credit for teachers agreement, estimated at 2.5 billion kwanzas, was signed last Tuesday, in Luanda, between the Sol bank and the Teachers Pension Scheme (CPP).

The protocol, which enters into force on Wednesday (Sept. 07), is intended to dignify Angolan teachers and will focus on credit grants in areas like housing, cars and consumption.

According to the agreement, the refunding of the credits is to be done in four years for consumer credit, five years for car credit and thirty years for housing credit.

On the occasion, the CEO of Sol bank, Coutinho Miguel, explained that the construction of a society of equity and inclusion requires development of human capital, as a fundamental element for any change.

He then stressed that the agreement will contribute to the improvement of the lives of those citizens who have a great responsibility to train and educate people.

On his turn, the chairman of the CPP, Miguel Flávio Bongo, said that the agreement will serve to hold frequent dialogue and, at the same time, will gave is expected to have a real and effective impact on the lives of teachers, including their respective families.

Pretoria — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has launched a national campaign aimed at raising public awareness of illegal deposit-taking schemes and advance-fee schemes.

Launched on Tuesday under the theme 'Easy Come. Easy Go', the campaign aims to give South Africans practical tips to check whether they are being scammed.

It also encourages the public to exercise extra caution when choosing potential investment opportunities.

"Easy Come. Easy Go draws on the old adage that if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

"One of the responsibilities of the SARB is the prudential supervision of banks. The Banks Act prescribes that only registered banks can take deposits from the general public and it is an offence for unregistered persons to conduct the business of a bank," said Governor Lesetja Kganyago.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Governor Kganyago said the SARB is empowered to investigate the activities of unregistered persons suspected of taking deposits from the public in contravention of the Banks Act.
 

Last year alone, the bank investigated 41 illegal deposit-taking schemes. Twenty-eight of these are from previous years, while 13 are new schemes. The SARB is investigating 19 suspected illegal deposit-taking schemes. Over 5 000 advance-fee scams have been reported to the SARB in the past five years.

The central bank said illegal deposit-taking schemes take a number of forms and varying degrees of inventiveness, including Ponzi, pyramid, and related schemes.

"Generally speaking, Ponzi and pyramid schemes fall within the jurisdiction of the National Consumer Commission, but the SARB investigates such schemes to the extent that they may have an element of deposit-taking, in contravention of the Banks Act," said the SARB.

Tread with caution

The bank called on the public to make use of the "stop, check and report" mantra.
 

Stop for a moment and ask yourself some basic questions. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Check to see if you are being targeted and avoid becoming a victim

Report the scam and help others stay vigilant.

Eckard Volker, the Managing Director of Integrated Forensic Accounting Services, who has investigated many scams totalling billions of rands over his career, has endorsed the bank's campaign.

"There is no such thing as a risk-free 'get rich quick' scheme," said Volker.

The Easy Come. Easy Go campaign will make use of radio, billboards, community activations, social media, and online platforms to raise public awareness.

The public can also visit www.easycomeeasygo.co.za for more information on illegal deposit-taking schemes and advance-fee schemes.

Werda — Measles is a threat to the beef industry, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ralotsia, has said.

He was addressing a kgotla meeting in Werda in Kgalagadi District on Friday.

Mr Ralotsia said the measles outbreak was growing at an alarming rate and if stringent measures were not taken, the meat industry would be negatively affected.

He said cattle diagnosed with the disease went not suitable for human consumption, let alone the lucrative European Union market, which was the biggest consumer of Botswana beef.

He, however, pointed out that controlling the disease was easy because all farmers had to do was to build pit latrines at cattle posts because the disease was spread by worms from faecal excretions.

The minister said law enforcement officers in the district had told him that stock theft was also a concern in their area and government was still looking into ways in which it could increase penalties of such offences as way of trying to control the unbecoming behaviour.
 

He advised farmers to look after their livestock and make sure that they know their where abouts because stray animals were prone to attracting thieves.

Mr Ralotsia said by doing this, law enforcement officers wwould in turn be able to carry out their duties effectively.

He cautioned the residents that since they were located in the border line, therefore they should know that by allowing their animals to stray over the border was a crime punishable by law.

For his part the farmers committee chairman, Mr Jacob Matebesi, said they were disadvantaged by lack of tractors during ploughing season and as such the season normally came to an end while most of them had not ploughed yet.

He also pointed out that they needed to be helped with cluster fencing because animals always destroyed their crops.

Most of the beneficiaries of LIMID programme told the minister that procuring officers took long to pay them and at times they do not use the full amount intended for each beneficiary.
 

They said the special economic zone idea is disadvantaging them because they are now stuck with small stock and the situation is worsened by the fact that there is no market where they can take their produce and as such they should be allowed to diversify and try other available programmes.

The minister told residents that cluster fencing programme was there and all they need to do is to group themselves and they will be assisted, adding that there are components such as borehole drilling if they need water.

He went on to encourage residents to buy themselves tractors because government is ready to pay them after ploughing for fellow farmers.

He encouraged residents to utilise their agricultural land so that the country can stop importing food.

BOPA

Kasane — Food production and security is expected to increase in Chobe with the latest handover of agricultural machinery and implements worth over P1 million; courtesy of the United Nations Development Programme through their Bio-Chobe project.

Receiving the implements on Monday, Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi challenged Chobe farmers to prove their worth and justify why they had to receive the donation instead of other farmers elsewhere.

"The burden is on you to prove that you deserve this more than anyone else, and since these are communal resources, you must put national interests ahead of individual or political agendas," he cautioned.

He highlighted that this could not have come at a better time as agricultural production in Chobe west had gone down as a result of climate change and high levels of human-wildlife conflict.

"As part of the Bio-Chobe project, farmers will be encouraged to adopt modern farming practices such as minimum tillage, crop cover and rotation to reduce the impact of climate change," he noted.He added that to address human-wildlife conflict, the Ministry of Agriculture through Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) encouraged farmers to cluster fence their fields to reduce crop damage by wildlife.

Nairobi — East African leaders should address issues that impede growth and transformation of agricultural sector to become a key driver of growth and development, a Kenyan Cabinet Secretary, has said.

Mr Willy Bett, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, said here on Monday that East African leaders need to engage the private sector to review the issues which are hampering growth into the sector.

"The biggest question is what we are going to undertake to bring transformation to agriculture to become a key driver of socio-economic development," he told reporters at an inaugural Africa Green Revolution Forum press conference here on Monday.
 

Mr Betty said it was important that African leaders were committed to transform the sector whose growth and contribution to the economy had declined in recent years.

The East African Community is one of bright spots of growth in sub-Saharan African with growth rate of above six per cent driven by fastest growing sectors of communication, finance and banking which are not labour-intensive.

He said industrialization agenda in the EAC region would not succeed much without transformation of agriculture to support the growth of the manufacturing sector.

The President of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, Dr Agnes Kalibata said there was a need for African leaders and the private sector to work together to unleash the great potential of the sector.

She said rapid growing young population and plans for boosting the manufacturing sector were presenting opportunities for meaningful growth in agriculture through transformation of the sector.
 

"We need to step up our actions and take advantage of the moment to bring about transformation of agriculture," she said. "The private sector is engaged and wants to engage more. How do we support them?

How do our leaders seize the moment?" The Managing Director of Africa for Rockefeller Foundation, Mamadou Biteye said it was concerning to see agriculture declining while other sectors were flourishing noting it was something which provides a food for thought. "Since 2005 it is declining.

Is it a result of other sector rising significantly that we don't see its growth of is it just declining because we have not done enough to support its growth," he said.

African leaders, agriculture development partners and other stakeholders are meeting in Nairobi for a week-long conference at the sixth African Green Revolution Forum to discuss various ways of transforming agriculture into a key driver for growth and development.

The conference is hosted by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa.

Stakeholders in the construction industry have welcomed a new system to manage building permits in secondary cities across the country.

The Building Permit Management Information System (BPMIS) was launched by Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) in Musanze District, Northern Province, in collaboration with the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

BPMIS is designed to help fast-track organised housing in the country’s six designated secondary cities of Musanze in Northern Province, Rubavu and Rusizi in Western Province, Muhanga and Huye in Southern Province, and Nyagatare in Eastern Province.

BPMIS is designed to allow applicants to submit online permit requests, shorten the time required for one-stop centres to assess, approve and report on permit applications and efficiently provide feedback on sites and plots inspections.
It is expected to enhance transparency in the issuance of building permits because it will contain clear instructions to follow and it will help keep the data that would otherwise be scattered across district offices in the country.

The Executive Secretary of the Engineers Institute of Rwanda, Bonny Rutembesa, said the new system will reduce the cost of doing business because most submissions for permits will now be made online.

“This is really a good answer; it’s a milestone for us. This is an answer that the Government has just given us in line with easing the cost of doing business. It will tremendously cut costs that engineers and architects were making in the process to submit their applications,” he said.

Jean Damascene Habyarimana, the Musanze vice-mayor for economic affairs, said the new system will further improve the district’s services.

“It is a good step in the development of our country. The system will help many people to easily acquire their building permits,” he said. “I don’t mean we were not giving good services but I admit that we were not doing it fast enough.”

The system has already been rolled out in Musanze and Rubavu and will be taken to the remaining four secondary cities by the end of the year, officials said.

Among other information, it will help to collect and store data about applications for building permits, profiles for licensed engineers and architects, and keep data on cities’ master plans.

It will operate in Kinyarwanda, French, and English while people will be paying for its services online through Irembo portal.

The software is a World Bank Group-owned open source application that was successfully deployed in the City of Kigali and is now being extended to secondary cities in the countryside.

The support in construction permits is part of the Bank’s third phase of Rwanda Investment Climate Reform Programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for a total amount of $7.2 million.

At the launch of the software, acting World Bank country manager Norah Kipwola said Rwanda is globally known for making strong gains in building its economy and that modernising the construction industry in secondary cities will in sustaining that feat.

“The World Bank will continue to work with the Government of Rwanda in making the six secondary cities an investment destination and exemplary for other cities in the country,” she said.

Under the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, the six secondary cities will be developed to achieve sustainable, well-managed and integrated economic growth.

The country also has ambitious targets of moving online most of its services to the people and seeks to achieve at least 95 per cent of the digitisation of the services in the next two years.

The Division Manager of Housing Regulations and Standards at RHA, Harouna Nshimiyimana, urged both the media and leaders to sensitise the public about the new system.

“What we want is for the organised city you see in Kigali to be replicated in other parts of the country. Changing old mindset is not easy but it’s possible. People need to understand that they need to move from the old system and embrace a new thinking,” he said.

Officials also say the system will improve Rwanda’s ranking in annual World Bank Doing Business Report related to dealing with construction permits.

It will also contribute toward the mitigation of environmental impacts through reduction of use of paper by completely eliminating manual processes.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Tuesday said there was no going back on the Federal Government’s plan to concession the four major airports in the country.

Mr. Sirika made the remark while speaking at an interactive session with Aviation correspondents in Lagos.

The Federal Government had indicated interest to concession the Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt international airports, to improve their safety and capacity.

Mr. Sirika noted that the protest by some aviation unions against the government’s plan was due to the misconception that the airports were going to be privatised and sold to private individuals.

According to him, the concessioning of the airports will ensure that they are properly managed, while the government will still retain their ownership.

The minister said that the current condition of airports in the country had made it extremely difficult for Nigeria to attract the desired number of passengers to transform the country into an aviation hub.

“Nigeria has potential to do between 70 to 100 million passengers annually, within the next five years, if the right things are put in place.

“The 15 million annual passengers which is the country’s current capacity can be improved upon if private investors are allowed to participate in the sector.

“Government does not have money to put into these businesses and we don’t want to sell these facilities either; so that is why we are concessioning them because it is the only way to go,” he said.

The minister noted that aviation was a money spinner and could help the government to generate revenue which would be used to revitalize the Nigerian economy.

To this end, he said the government was committed to the establishment of a national carrier, a Repair, Maintenance and Overhaul (MRO) facility and an aviation leasing company which would all be privately funded.

The minister noted that their absence in the country had constituted a huge challenge to the growth of the aviation sector.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman, League of Aviation and Airports Correspondents, Chuks Iwelunmo, pledged that the group would continue to partner with the ministry to take aviation to greater heights.

The Senate yesterday warned proponents of new increment in pump price of fuel, saying they must not take the patience of Nigerians over current economic situation in the country for granted.

This came as it confirmed Vanguard’s earlier exclusive report that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, ordered suspension of treatment of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, following disagreements by senators on the host communities’ funds component of the bill.

The Red Chamber, speaking to journalists, in Abuja, through its spokesman, Senator Abdullahi Aliyu Sabi, asked government not to buy the ideas of ex-NNPC Group Managing Directors, who were reported at the weekend to call for new hike in fuel price given that the current N145 per litre was no longer sustainable.

He insisted that government must be mindful of the activities of the former NNPC bosses,who he noted, were parading themselves as its advisers, saying they may be the agents of enemies of the present federal administration with given tasks to pull government down.

Sabi, who represents Niger North Senatorial District on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said the former NNPC helmsmen lacked the capacity to speak the way they did, blamed them for the current nation’s economic woes, saying their various administrations in NNPC brought the country to its current situation.

Hear him:”First and foremost, let me say that these are my personal opinion. I’m not making this submission as spokesman of the Senate, which means the position of the Senate. But I’m saying this in capacity as Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who represents the good people of Niger North Senatorial District.

“I read the newspaper report and I was disturbed, worried and I think for all intents and purposes, I’m very much disappointed.

“First and foremost, let’s underpin the issue as follows: I saw it clearly: former Group managing Directors – almost all of them numbering close to 10 or so. And what came to my mind is that how did we get here?

“The NNPC as an institution was expectedly the life wire of this nation. As we have all known, refineries that we have in Nigeria have not been functional because if they have been functional and if that institution had been up and doing in tandem with its peers in other countries that have similar resource endowment as us, we would not be where we are today.

“For crying out loud, all of these former GMDs, can they be said to be free of blame on how we got here?

“These refineries have not been working; the corporation itself has not been run transparently to the maximum benefit of Nigerian citizens.

“At least, I knew that it was just in this our change administration that the Minister of State (Petroleum), Ibe Kachikwu was able to tell Nigerians that the corporation had declared profit now because he has brought his wealth of private sector experience to bear on that corporation.

“As it is before now, which mean this is talking about just one year of this present government. But before now, going down the lane through the period of the 16 years misrule of the PDP administration, and even before then the military have all been there. Our refineries have not worked. All the problems we are having are as a result of all these people who are assembled now to be the wise men to tell us what should be done.”

He continued: “As far as I’m concerned, all of them that are speaking do not have the moral standpoint to even advise us on what to do because they had a hand in it.

“And I cannot see how you can solve a problem under the same condition that created it. Are we expecting these people’s advice to change the narrative?

“As far as I’m concerned, maybe they are sent to destroy this government. We will not allow them to do that because right now, Mr. President is grappling with inherited problems. He is trying his best to see that things are changed. And I think within this context, whatever it is we need to do to support him to succeed, we have always been ready as we have always done since we came on board to support him.'”

The senator added:”If you look at the arithmetic, if things had been well, it is now that Nigerians are even supposed to enjoy because the price of petroleum has crashed.

“If we are going to get the pains of not getting enough forex, we should have gotten the joy of having a lower price of petroleum product, which we are not getting right now because the institutional base for it which the NNPC fully represents, has been destroyed over the years by these same people who assembled to advice.

“So, no matter how well intentioned their advice is, it’s unfortunate that it is coming from that particular group of people because they have been part of the mess all along.

“I can’t see how they clean themselves out of the mess that is presently in the oil and gas sector.

“So, to my mind, they should have made their advice underground. But to come out in that strong manner, I see it as a slap on us because they are responsible for what we are getting.

“If they had left a legacy of a solid institutional base for the oil and gas industry, we wouldn’t have been in this situation today. You increase the price and add up to the crisis that Mr. President is handling, is that the way to go about it?

“No matter how well intentioned their aim is, while we trace the historical milestone of this organisation down the line and to see that these people at the individual levels have been responsible for the period of unaccountability, deep leakages that has characterised that industry.

“For them to come out today and tell us that this is what needs to be done, I don’t think they have sat down to think through what they were saying. They don’t have the moral foundation to advise us on what to do because they are responsible for where we are.

“My take is that the current effort that is being made to turn around this sector will continue.”

Speaking on why the PIB has not been taken beyond the first reading in the Senate, Sabi declared that the Senate resolved that its treatment be suspended following controversies arising from host communities’ funds component of the bill.

He, however, refused to state where opposition against the aspect of the bill was from.

Hear him: “The Senate is already primed because most experts have submitted that we need to do something about the PIB.

” And you know the Senate was billed in our own wisdom, rather than take the whole hog of PIB, to turn in to about one or two components, we wanted to take the management framework but because of the sensitivity of the host community relationship and benefit sharing issue, that issue met some brick wall even before it went ahead.

“And so, we thought it wise to keep it down. But I’m convinced beyond reasonable doubt that by the time we come back from recess, that issue will still get a front burner attention because it’s key to whatever changes we want to see done, going forward on a sustainable basis in the oil and gas industry.”

Police in Zimbabwe have claimed that the southern African country is facing an “imminent terror attack”, hence the move by the security forces to ban all demonstrations and political rallies, reports said on Tuesday.

The police, according to reports, said this while responding to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s application to hold its first anniversary celebrations in Bulawayo on Sunday.

The celebrations had been scheduled to take place at the White City Stadium.

Police claimed they feared a full blown war was imminent in the country, as they were threats by pressure groups to attack government infrastructures to force President Robert Mugabe’ to relinquish power, a NewsDay report said.

The police further claimed that the situation in the southern African country was volatile, adding that unnamed pressure groups were planning to attack the country during the demonstrations.

‘Political condoms’

“Serious threats have been received from various pressure groups through social media inciting people to declare a full war in Zimbabwe starting on September 2, to destroy all police properties, to destroy all roadblocks with fire, to blow up all government vehicles and buildings, attack all members of the prison services and release all prisoners in jail, seize Zimbabwe Revenue Authority by force, shut down all major shops until government changes, prevent all airlines from landing and taking off, allow bus operators to operate at their risk and to blow up all Zupco buses and ambulances,” the police wrote in a letter to PDP.

The PDP, however, described as a shame the ban on its rally, with the party’s secretary general Gordon Moyo accusing the police of fighting the ruling Zanu-PFs battles, according to New Zimbabwe.com.

“It is a shame that the police continue to be used as expandable political condoms of a sterile and fading regime of Robert Mugabe. Surely how does a birthday celebration in Bulawayo threaten the Herald?, Moyo was cited as saying.

After its success in Liberia, the African Development Bank is supporting another digital payment project in line with its agriculture transformation agenda. “AGRIPME” (Agri Porte Monnaie Electronique) is a joint project of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Digital Economy in Togo aiming to provide subsidies to farmers through electronic wallets provided by mobile network operators MOOV and TOGOCEL.

To date, 76,522 out of the 150,000 small-scale farmers have been identified and registered, allowing them to benefit from a US $1.3 million subsidy to buy inputs. The Government is essentially aiming to establish a secure database of small-holder farmers, the digitalization of input acquisition and the selection of input suppliers for fertilizers distribution. This innovative input distribution mechanism is based on the fact that Togo is among of the lowest users of fertilizers in the world. Prior to the ongoing reform of the agricultural sector, approximately 6 kilograms of fertilizers per acre were used in Togo, against the recommended 50 kg for good agricultural performance. Key components of the project were related to farmers’ registration, wallet openings, capacity building and sensitization, technical assistance and setting up an agricultural information system.

The Government is targeting 3 million farmers, which represents 70% of its total population. It is important to note the involvement and alignment of mobile network operators in Togo, in supporting the cost of 107,000 SIM cards, prefunding a communication campaign and establishing of call centres for customer support as part of their corporate social responsibility. In a second phase of the project and to speed up results, the Government of Togo will look to leverage on the latest innovative technologies such as geospatial mapping and biometric identification.

The long-term impact of this digital payment innovation resides in an opportunity for more than half the population to be recognized in the financial system and aspire to additional financial services and improved well-being.

The Togo e-registration of small-scale farmers is encouraging as it demonstrates the role and potential of the private sector in catalyzing the agricultural production by digitally empowering a traditionally excluded portion of the population, making them more attractive to financial institutions.