I'm Not Happy, Nigerians Need Cash Now – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has expressed his concern over difficulty experienced by Nigerians in getting the new naira notes.

The Vice President, on Friday, in Abuja met with some players in the FinTech space to explore possible ways of mitigating the hardship.

VP Osinbajo urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and banks to deploy more FinTechs and money agents to the hinterlands to address the worrying situation. The Vice President stated that Nigerians need cash to pay for transport, food, and other needs.

“In Abuja how do you take ‘drop or along’ or use a Keke NAPEP without cash, or buy foodstuff on the road or in canteens, or even buy recharge cards?

“Parents with kids in public schools give money daily to their children for lunch, most commerce is informal, so you need cash for most things”, he said.

Osinbajo said it was disturbing that after depositing old notes, there are no new notes: “People everywhere in the urban areas and rural areas simply have no money.”

The nation’s second-in-command observed some FinTechs have mobile money licenses and should be engaged immediately.

He said many of them have micro-finance bank licenses and already have a network of mobile money agents or human banks or human ATMs, as they are sometimes.

“They can supervise by themselves. They can do currency swaps and open bank accounts.”

Buhari Asks Nigerians To Give Him 7 Days To Resolve Naira Notes Scarcity

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to give him seven days to resolve the crisis caused by the scarcity of new naira notes.

The president said he has seen reports about cash shortages and the effect on local businesses and ordinary people.

He added that the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension will be used to crack down on the encumbrances mitigating the successful implementation of the currency redesign policy.

“I will revert to the CBN and the Minting Company. There will be a decision one way or the other in the remaining seven days of the 10-day extension,” the president said on Friday.

His position was made known after meeting with governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Scarcity: Protesters Attack Banks In Ibadan Amid lingering Cash Scarcity

WEMA Bank ATM

Banks in Ibadan, the Oyo capital, have been attacked following protests over lingering scarcity of cash. Our correspondent had earlier reported that protesters in Ibadan took to the streets to protest the scarcity of petrol and naira notes. 

The unrest was said to have started at Agodi gate, at the intersection that leads to the state secretariat and the government house, before it spread to other parts including Iwo road, Gate bus-stop, and Idi Ape.

Access Bank and Wema Bank branches located in the Dugbe and Queen Cinema areas of the town were attacked.

Adewale Osifeso, the spokesperson of the state police command, confirmed the attacks on the financial institutions to our correspondent.  “Some persons tried to vandalise the ATM of Wema bank but were repelled by the police,” he added. Osifeso had earlier told our correspondent that intelligence showed that some unspecified persons have plans to attack banks, prisons, and facilities belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

"Worthy of note is that available intelligence reveals that certain unscrupulous elements have perfected plans to hijack the process, escalating the situation into full-scale chaos by shutting down and attacking places of interest which include but are not limited to INEC facilities, banks, media houses, schools, correctional centres and other critical infrastructure inclusive of looting major malls and business centres within the state,” he said.

“Members of the public are hereby advised especially with reference to the youth segment to avoid being used by agents of violence who want to capitalise on the situation to criminally enrich themselves especially as we navigate towards the 2023 General Elections as the Command is fully prepared to mobilise fully to prevent these criminal elements from turning Oyo State into their playground.”

Video: Watch As Angry Protesters Attacked WEMA Bank Amid Scarcity Of Money 

Since the rollout of the new Naira Notes and monetary Policy, Nigerians are faced with lots of hardship ranging from:  Scarcity of Cash for daily transactions, Large Queue at ATM stands, even as Online Apps of some commercial Banks begin to malfunction. 

Daily News Report gathered that Point Of Sale (POS) Terminal Owners charge as low as 100 per Thousand note for withdrawal.

Opinion: Today, Everyone is an Influencer

A PR is a person involved in public relations. Being a PR (also known as an influencer of recent) has suddenly become a highly sought after job by the youths. A PR publicizes events and businesses. A PR also knows a lot of people and has high networking skills.

There are different categories of fake influencers. While I was in Lagos, awaiting UI admission, I used instagram a lot. I viewed a lot of my friends’ profiles and almost all accounts I saw that had over a thousand followers had the word “influencer” in the bio section. I concluded it was a phase, as we had just finished secondary school and being idle was the only thing we did then. You finally have more than a thousand followers on instagram or twitter but no engagements and you claim the title of “influencer” just because…

Just as the secondary school graduates gradually moved into different universities this PR effect has followed them to their various institutions.
Everybody seems to be a PR these days. There are a lot of influencers’ pages; ui_students,  ui_crib, uiparrot etc. pages like these keep springing up. The people behind these pages give no thought to its continuality. The only thing on their mind is the moment popularity. PR jobs have gone beyond daily posting pictures of people who have taken a photo with a good camera and giving such photos vain captions. I do this and the only thing stopping me from claiming to be an influencer is my followers are far from a thousand. Now this is one category of fake PRs.
The second category is the whatsapp story influencers (WSI). As an influencer, yes you should be able to reach a lot of people in a short time; you should also be able to actually influence these people’s decisions. WSI go around exchanging numbers with people, posting links to their direct messages everywhere just to increase views on their status. Quality will forever be better than quantity. So you, as an influencer have a maximum of more than a thousand views on a post that is on your status daily but only five people are in your dm showing really slight interest on what you posted. Why? It doesn’t just end at the collection of numbers, you have to establish a relationship with the person and this requires sending more than broadcasts to the person’s dm.

The last category, Twitter influencers. These are actually the funniest. Imagine someone winning a giveaway that he also planned. Twitter influencers do anything to get retweets or likes including winning their own giveaways. The most recent practice is impersonating people and using their pictures for display pictures. There has been a lot of calling out and exposing of such people, but this hasn’t stopped the impersonators as it gives them the avenue to gain more followers.

Some influencers have even said farewell to their home training and personal morals, just to post raunchy photos to get engagements. It is a digital world and the world was made for man and not man for the world. Not everybody is a PR and PR jobs are not for everybody.

Dictargh.

Opinion: You and Your Self Worth

“My mates are already in their final year in most schools, see what UI has done to me now, then you wonder why Chris and I barely talk again. Tola just got married last month and she's my mate. Did you just see that Mercedes Benz outside? Kolade is the owner and I have not even gotten the bearing of my life not to talk of getting a car. Is it not my mate that is always in a relationship with make sense guys and me I am here like this, meeting the wrong set of people always. Kate is just the TDB major how I wish to be like her.”

 Calm down and take it easy on you. Who is your mate really? Who is your competitor? With what standard do you measure you?

One of the religious books, the bible says that they are fools who compare themselves with themselves. One way out of comparing yourself with someone else is to know yourself. The search to know yourself is not what others can do for you. It is a process of introspection that is continuous. You never stop knowing and discovering new things about yourself. You lessen the degree at which you make comparison to others in regards to yourself because you've built in you the understanding of you. Do you know that the world sees you the way you see yourself? Come to think of it those your friends that you see as classy are like that because they call themselves classy. You are what you potray to the world. This comes out of the understanding of you. It is known as your self worth.

Self-worth is an internal state of being that comes from self-understanding, self-love, and self-acceptance. It is a state that is somewhat timeless and unchanging because it is a direct measure of how you value and regard yourself in spite of what others may say or do. It therefore doesn’t quickly or easily change when external factors or circumstances change. Self-worth is steady and unflinching, and therefore, holds power to radically transform your life for the better. To have a high level of self-worth means accepting yourself wholeheartedly at all times despite your flaws, weaknesses, and limitations. It’s about recognizing the real value of who you are — right here, right now, at this present moment.

To have a high level of self-worth means never allowing yourself to be defined by outside forces, including people’s opinions. It means never allowing outcomes to shake your confidence, faith or resolve. All this means that no matter what happens you are steadfast. Nothing outside of your “being” influences how you feel about yourself.Your influence alone is the only thing that matters. You alone are the most significant factor in how you feel about yourself, about your life, and about your circumstances. And that is essentially where your personal power comes from.

For you to build self worth or create enough self-worth to empower our daily decisions and actions in a way that will help us achieve our desired outcomes you must see this as a long-term process that you need to work on consistently over time. Lay down a new stone each day. Eventually, the fortress will grow more prominent and more substantial until it becomes almost unbreakable. A strong wind might blow, hail and rain might bucket down, and thunder might shake the ground. And yet, despite all this, your fortress will remain intact. It stands its ground because you put in place a solid foundation that you consistently built over time. And that’s where the strength of the fortress comes from. And that’s precisely where the power of your self worth comes from. You should follow the stages of growing your self worth building a high level of self-worth will also take time.

Your first step involves getting to know yourself at a deeper and more profound level; the self understanding stage. Who you are and how you see yourself are keys to understanding your true value.How others see you and how they speak about you, is also, of course, important. But this isn’t so much about them but rather about how you feel about yourself as a result of how others see or speak about you. That is, of course, another measure of your self-worth. The next step is the Self-Acceptance Stage. You must be real and authentic with yourself here. This requires wholeheartedly acknowledging your true nature including the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Then, the Self-Love Stage where you fully accept yourself, it’s now time to acknowledge your true value. To do this, it’s important to begin practicing a little self-love. Which basically means treating yourself with kindness, tolerance, generosity, and compassion. Yes, you have flaws. Yes, you have so many limitations and weaknesses, but we all do. That’s part of being human. It’s time to let all that go and instead practice being compassionate with yourself.
 
The Recognition stage is when you have self-understanding. When you have fully accepted yourself. And when you reach a stage where you practice self-love and self-compassion, that’s when people, events, and circumstances no longer define you. You instead begin to define yourself.
The final step in this process is the responsibility stage which involves taking full responsibility for your life, for your circumstances, and for your problems. This is to take full responsibility for everything that happens to you without giving away your personal power. Here, you acknowledge that you have the personal power to change and influence the events and circumstances of your life.

HealthWise: What Should We Look Forward to as WHO Celebrates World Immunization Week?

In this article ,we look forward to WHO creating a week awareness  for   more people and their communities to know the importance and value of vaccines and immunization and  to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.  This article aims to highlight the collective action needed  to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease and to ensure that governments obtain the necessary guidance and technical support to implement high-quality immunization programmes. 

Immunization: This is a process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.

COVID & Omicron: How to Protect Yourself against New Virus Variants

Covid  and Omicron are both viruses but one spread faster than the other. Omicron is a virant of the virus that causes Covid- 19. Even with vaccines, the spread of Omicron is still higher. Despite its high transmission, researchers  still  don't know its origin, its symptoms and its causes.  The virus has been detected in many countries and cases had been recorded. The spread of the virus is alarming hence, the aim of this article is to educate you on how to get yourself protected from this deadly virus.

Both Covid-19 and omicron has almost same symptoms hence,their prevention is same. 
Below are few ways you could get yourself protected;

1. Get yourself vaccinated: This is the best way to get yourself protected from the virus. Even people with weak immune system get themselves protected with the use of vaccines.  The use of vaccines will protect you  from the illness and also save you from any form of symptoms. 

2.  Avoid crowded areas: The rate at which the virus spread is really very high. A mere body contact with an infected person can can get you infected hence,you have to keep yourself safe by avoiding areas where people are much and where there aren't enough breathing space (i.e poor ventilated area).

3. Wash hands and surfaces often: This is another way to get yourself prevented from this deadly virus. Make sure you wash your hands before and after every little thing  you do such as eating, using the toilet, the use of the nose mask, touching of any part of your body, after leaving a public place, after taking care of the sick etc. You can either wash with soap and  water or a sanitizer with 60% alcohol. All surfaces should be disinfect and cleaned. Surfaces such as  tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks etc. 

4. Always go for regular check-up: You should always watch for any form of symptoms and go for treatment immediately if  any of the symptoms are noticed. This  will help you to detect easily if affected and hence there will be immediate  treatment for such person.