The claim by the Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, the parent company of FBNBank Ghana, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, that banking remains a game-changer for countries like Ghana and Nigeria, for the facilitation of socio-economic development and bringing people together is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, the parent company of FBNBank Ghana, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, has stated that banking remains a game-changer for countries like Ghana and Nigeria, for the facilitation of socio-economic development and bringing people together.
Delivering his address at the FBNBank@25 gala night Dr Adeduntan indicated that “banking has remained a game changer for West Africa since the 1890s when it was introduced into the sub-region. Through the introduction of banking we have enjoyed benefits like the monetisation of our economies, improved trade, socio-economic development and the bridging of the gap between people and cultures.
“We are told of the support thriving businesses like Elder Dempster, A. G. Leventis, U.A.C. and others enjoyed from the banks of those days and how the introduction of formal businesses generated momentum in the socio-economic development of the then colonial territories which have become our countries now.”
Dr Adeduntan mentioned that the late 1890s also witnessed the birth of the First Bank of Nigeria, adding that “for over 127 years, the First Bank of Nigeria has remained committed to this role, ensuring responsible support through generations to the growth of economies and businesses.”
He explained that in line with the same enterprising spirit with which First Bank committed itself over generations to support the growth of economies and businesses, the Bank migrated its business to Ghana to set up FBNBank Ghana.
According to Dr Adeduntan, “working together with our stakeholders like the government, regulators and people of Ghana, we aim to leverage our experience and capabilities to become a major player in this country (Ghana). I am happy to say, our team in Ghana is capable and passionate about seeing this through and we from the parent company are ready to support.”
He revealed that since taking over from the erstwhile International Commercial Bank in Ghana, FBNBank Ghana with the full support of First Bank of Nigeria had focused on delivering sustainable support to key sectors of Ghana’s economy with a dedicated focus on SMEs.
He noted that FBNBank’s support continued throughout the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that critical supply lines remained open.
The newspaper says that the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) has stated that the removal of the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levies (PSRL) will not lead to any reduction in fuel prices at the pumps.
Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah, in an interview with JoyNews urged fuel consumers to minimise their expectations of an anticipated reduction in fuel prices at the pumps beginning Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
It would be recalled that the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) earlier said it anticipates a slight reduction in fuel prices from November 1, 2021 due to the removal of the PSRL.
Contrary to the projection by the Association of OMCs, Mr Amoah explained that an increase in the prices of Brent Crude and the depreciation of the cedi, will rather increase fuel prices despite the removal of the levies.
“If the public wakes up with an expectation of going to the pumps to see a reduction of 15 pesewas, I’m not sure that is happening tomorrow. On the contrary, there is more likely to be an upward adjustment due to the variant of some 20 pesewas that have been increased. That is a function of international market prices, it’s gone up. Again, the cedi is also still depreciating within the same period. As I speak with you, some importers are actually buying the dollar at six cedis 35 pesewas,” he explained.
According to him, the international market prices would prevent reduction in fuel prices.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Government of Japan in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has presented 30 ultra-low freezers to the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Services (GHS) for the storage of vaccines.
The ultra-low freezers are designed to preserve coronavirus COVID-19 and other vaccines of other illness.
The 30 ultra-low freezers would benefit 12 regional health directorate, five teaching hospitals, 10 regional hospitals, two quasi-government hospitals and one private hospital.
Speaking at the presentation, the UNICEF representative in Ghana, Ms Anne-Claire Dufay, commended the government of Ghana for its unrelenting efforts to ensure that at least 20 million persons are fully vaccinated against the novel pandemic.
“As more people in Ghana are vaccinated, there is greater opportunity for everyday live to return to normal, for children to learn and play more easily and for health systems to no longer be overwhelmed,” she added.
The Japanese Ambassador, Mr Tsutomu Himeno expressed his delight on behalf of the people and government of Japan for the presentation of the ultra-low temperature freezers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The reason why these freezers have been donated to the government and people of Ghana is for health reasons, it is important we prevent the citizens from contracting the virus any further and we have to prevent this at all cost,” he said.
He further mentioned another reason this presentation was made possible was because of the strong bond that exist between the people of Ghana and the people of Japan.
The Chief Director of Ministry of Health, MrKwabenaBoadu Oku-Afari, noted that, the ministry recently launched the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Roadmap which defines all people in Ghana having timely access to high quality services, irrespective of the ability to pay at the point of use.
He further mentioned that “We see the presentation of these ultra-low temperature freezers as critical in ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines to Ghanaians and indeed, all people in Ghana.”
The newspaper also says that Ms Katja Lasseur, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, says Ghana needs to increase productivity, storage, value addition and competitiveness of the fruit and vegetable sector.
She said the measures would help to address the production-consumption gap to enable the country to serve both the domestic and export markets.
Ms Lasseur, who was speaking at the HortiFresh Fruit and Vegetable Fair in Accra, said the fair served as a perfect platform for creating linkages and sharing innovative ideas for the sector.
This year’s event organised in collaboration with the Chamber of Agribusiness was on the theme: “Enhancing horticulture trade patterns in COVID-19 Era.”
The Fruit and Vegetable Fair is an annual event that provides a platform for trade promotion within the horticulture sector. This helps create market opportunities for businesses and generate partnerships as well as sensitise the public about horticulture sector activities.
About 70 horticulture value chain actors such as input dealers, processors, producers, service providers, seed producers, agro-chemical dealers, farmers, buyers and government agencies.
The fair also creates an avenue for sector-related discussions during seminars and meetings to bring sector actors together to deliberate on sector-related bottlenecks and ways of solving them.
GIK/APA