Winners Of 2017 Balearica Nigeria Tourism Awards

Winners have emerged at the 2017 Balearica Nigeria Tourism Awards – honouring experience and enterprise excellence in Nigeria’s tourism industry.

The Balearica Nigeria Tourism Awards is designed to register public opinion on the performance of leisure and business tourism service providers and attractions. The Awards celebrates outstanding travel and tourism professionals and trend setters in the Nigerian tourism industry.

Four of the twenty awards are non-voting awards namely: Best Tourism Governor, Lifetime Achievement Award, Tourism Personality of the Year and Royal Support for Tourism. These categories were determined only by the judges.

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Winners Of 2017 PEARL Awards

PEARL Awards for capital market excellence and performance in Nigeria, hosted its 2017 and 22nd edition since inception at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos.

The awards featured 17 sectoral leadership awards, 9 market excellence awards, 3 special recognition awards, 4 honorary awards and the overall highest award (The Pearl).

Winners of the 2017 PEARL awards

United Capital Plc, won five awards, three of which were in the main competitive award category.  The firm emerged the overall 2017 PEARL award winner, with its Group CEO Mrs. Toyin Sanni receiving the 2017 most outstanding CEO award.

‘The PEARL’ award was based on United Capital’s outstanding operational and stock performance in 2016. Other awards won by United Capital Plc included Sectoral Leadership Award, Financial Services – Other Financial Institutions (Main Competitive Award Category), Sectoral Leadership Award, Highest Dividend Yield (Main Competitive Award Category), Good Corporate Governance Award (Special Recognition Award Category) and Outstanding CEO of the Year Award (Honorary Award Category).

Former President, Council of the Nigeria Stock Exchange and Chairman Coronation Capital Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, CON received the special honorary award for capital market development, in recognition of his contribution to capital market growth within and outside Nigeria.

Temple Asaju of Channels Television bagged the 2017 Capital Market Journalist of the year award.

Television Continental (TVC) received the Media award for capital market reporting.

President/CEO of PEARL Awards, Mr. Tayo Orekoya in his opening remarks, said that since 1995 the awards nite has remain focused on honouring and encouraging resounding and outstanding capital market performers, who are contributing immensely to the growth of the market.

Mr. Orekoya noted that the theme for 2017, “Winning with Tenacity” captured quoted companies who performed remarkably despite the challenges of the 2016 financial year, which witnessed the economic recession in the country. He said it was an opportunity to celebrate dogged market winners and leaders, who are creating value in the market.

Giving an overview of the awards, Mr. Orekoya stressed that Pearl Awards was not based on sentiments, but performance and took into consideration 9 performance indices. The visioner was happy to inform stakeholders that apex regulator of the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission endorsed  the awards ceremony since 2003.

Chairman of the occasion Gen Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) former Head of State of Nigeria commended the Pearl Awards for over 2 decades commitment to promoting market excellence in the country. According to him, “Despite challenging economic environment, we must continue to encourage quoted companies and investors that are doing well in the capital market”.

Gowon asserted that stakeholders in the market, must work assiduously to build a country that promotes entrepreneurship. He harped on the need for the driving of activities in the non-oil sector through the public-private partnership approach which he believed could unlock new jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.

Attendees to the event include; Mrs. Lola Akande (Commissioner for Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation, Lagos representing Governor Akinwunmi Ambode), Alhaji U.F Abdullahi (Chairman, PEARL Awards Board), Mr. Wole Adetunji (Former DG, SEC Nigeria), Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed (President/Chairman of Council, IOD Nigeria), Dr. Abiodun Adedipe (Member, Board of Governors, PEARL Awards), Mrs. Toyin Sanni (GCEO, United Capital), Mr. Valentine Ozigbo (CEO, Transcorp Hilton), Mr Valentine Obi (CEO, eTranzact PLC), Mr. Eguarekhide Longe (MD/CEO AIICO Pensions), Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi (CEO, Proshare Nigeria) and Mr. Funso Akere (CEO, Stanbic IBTC Capital) amongst others.

$300 Million Dangote Cement Plant Commissioned In Congo

A new 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) Dangote Cement Plant built at a cost of $300 million has been commissioned in Mfila, in the Republic of the Congo.

The new cement plant has the potential for about 1,000 direct employment and thousands of several other indirect jobs.

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Winners Of The Guardian Manufacturing Excellence Awards [2017]

Winners have emerged in the maiden edition of The Guardian Manufacturing Excellence Awards [2017]. The awards, held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, was designed to recognise distinguished sector-players in the manufacturing industry, who have consistently outperformed in spite of prevailing economic circumstances.

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Precious Adeho & Ngozi Deborah Atalor Win 2017 Shell LiveWIRE Entrepreneurship Prize

Two Nigerian business owners, Mr. Precious Adeho and Mrs. Ngozi Deborah Atalor, have emerged winners in the 2017 Shell LiveWIRE Top Ten Innovators competition, a global contest open to beneficiaries of Shell LiveWIRE, and aimed at rewarding shining cases of innovation in businesses supported by the programme.

The two Nigerians won the Merit prize along with four others in the same category, while businesses from the United Kingdom and Pakistan took the top and runner-up awards. The winners were announced during the Global Entrepreneurship Week holding November 13 – 17 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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Winners of 2017 BusinessDay Banking Awards

Winners have emerged in the 2017 BusinessDay Banking Awards held in Lagos.

The management of BusinessDay newspapers, led by the Publisher, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, said agencies, regulators, microfinance banks, deposit money banks, investment and merchant banks that were recipients this year were rewarded because they made excellence and dedication to quality delivery the core of their operations in 2016 financial year.

The 2017 BusinessDay Award Committee, which was made up of eminent industry analysts as well as the team from BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU), meticulously examined the audited annual reports and investors’ presentations of banks to come up with the nominees and winners.

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NATCA Endorse Air Peace As Best Domestic Airline of the Year 2016/2017

The Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA) have endorsed Air Peace as the Best Domestic Airline of the Year 2016/2017.

The airline had recently emerged the winner of Interswitch’s ‘Payment Innovation Driver, Aviation’ award 2017.

Presenting the Best Domestic Airline of the Year award to Air Peace at the opening session of the 46th Annual General Meeting/Conference of NACTA in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the group stated:

“[Air Peace] is consistently transforming to being the largest domestic airline in Nigeria within the very short period of time it came on board. While other notable airlines and businesses are closing down under the harsh economic conditions, Air Peace keeps emerging and giving hope to other investors that Nigeria is still an investment destination. While others are reducing their workforce, Air Peace keeps opening new destinations and providing more connectivity and employment to Nigerians.”

Receiving the award, Air Peace gave credit to its staff for toiling to sustain the high quality of its flight operations. The airline, which was represented by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, commended NATCA for prioritising merit and guarding the integrity of its awards.

Air Peace described the award from NATCA as special, coming from a critical segment of aviation workers with the capacity to easily appraise the strengths and weaknesses of airlines in the country.

The carrier, which recently acquired two B777, six ERJ145 and a couple of B737 aircraft to bring its fleet size to about 24, assured that its expansion to the West Coast of Africa and international destinations, including Dubai, London, Guangzhou-China, Atlanta, Mumbai and Johannesburg, would ensure Nigeria did not continue to lose out in the open skies regime in the global aviation industry.