• Tuesday, April 23, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Five things to know to start your Monday

Cart2023JAN09

Standardised digital communication key to effective port, flag administration – NIMASA

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) says international collaboration to attain standardised digitalization is essential for maritime administrations and stakeholders across the world to communicate effectively.

The Director General of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, said this was in line with provisions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA).

Jamoh said this in a statement signed by Osagie Edward, Assistant Director, Public Relations, NIMASA, in Lagos on Sunday.

Jamoh, while speaking at the launch of Denmark’s first commercial satellite, Sternula-1, in Aalborg, Denmark, noted that NIMASA was participating in the testing stage of an international satellite system that would improve communication channels for vessels at sea.

He noted that it was part of the current management’s quest to ensure the adoption of global best practises in the Nigerian maritime sector.

Read also: Severity of Nigeria’s mounting debt in sharp focus as Buhari’s tenure nears end

I look forward to peaceful polls, retirement, says President Buhari

On Monday, the West Texas Intermediate futures contract rose above $74 per barrel on hopes of rising demand recovery in China and the prospect of a less aggressive monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve.

Guo Shuqing, party secretary of the People’s Bank of China, said on Sunday that China’s economic growth will quickly rebound and return to its “normal” path as the government provides more financial support to households and private companies to help them recover from the COVID-induced slump. This is according to Trading Economics.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Pierre Andurand had suggested that oil prices could reach as high as $140 a barrel once Asia fully reopens after the COVID-19-related lockdown.

Demand optimism responsible for oil price recovery

On Monday, the West Texas Intermediate futures contract rose above $74 per barrel on hopes of rising demand recovery in China and the prospect of a less aggressive monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve.

Guo Shuqing, party secretary of the People’s Bank of China, said on Sunday that China’s economic growth will quickly rebound and return to its “normal” path as the government provides more financial support to households and private companies to help them recover from the COVID-induced slump. This is according to Trading Economics.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Pierre Andurand had suggested that oil prices could reach as high as $140 a barrel once Asia fully reopens after the COVID-19-related lockdown.

Peter Obi: ‘I assure you that no universities will be on strike’

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has assured Nigerians that no universities will be on strike if he’s elected as president.

He made this assurance during a town hall meeting organised by Channels TV on Sunday.

His assurance came when a member of the audience quizzed him about his plan for education in the country, taking into account the 8.2 percent allocation education received from the Federal Government’s 2023 budget.

In responding, Obi urged the audience to disassociate their thinking from referring to education as a cost instead of an investment.

“Education is an investment, not an expense, because the more your country is educated, the greater the development,” Obi said. “So, if you look at it as an investment… that’s why I said to fund critical social investment, you’ll get more out of it.”

When redirecting his thought process to funding education, Obi presented a plan that included introducing many strategies to ensure that the universities are well funded and properly function.

“First, it is a combination of a lot of things. Our universities today are poorly funded, and all the tertiary institutions are poorly funded,” he said.

“One is that you need to change the method of funding them. The country has to contribute, while the companies are to continue with the TETFUND contribution, and we will do a combination of loan system that will enable the student to pay what is required. We are not going to burden their parents—every other country I know, including developing countries, has changed.

“So it is going to be a contribution in three ways in order to be able to fund tertiary institutions properly, and I assure you that we are going to do everything to get it.

“One, there will be no strike again. We are not going to close school for any reason because at the tertiary level, where the global average is 38 percent, we are at 9 percent.

“So we are not going to take chances. We are going to do so many other things—so it’s not just people being in universities. In Pakistan, there is a university that has almost 1 million students.

“There’s no reason why we can’t do it with all forms of learning here… I assure you no university will be on strike except his own (Yusuf Datti University) is on strike.”

Goldman Sachs to cut about 3,200 jobs this week after cost review – Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will start its biggest round of job cuts ever, as it locks in on a plan to eliminate about 3,200 positions this week.

The financial services giant is expected to begin the process on Wednesday and the total number of people affected will not exceed 3,200, Bloomberg News cited the source.