BAT drives post-consumer waste recycling initiative
British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria has announced the pilot scheme of its post-consumer waste recycling initiative to reduce the impacts of its business operations on the environment.
Yarub Al-Bahrani, Managing Director, BAT Nigeria, said in a statement on Sunday in Lagos that the initiative was part of the company’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme.
Al-Bahrani said that the EPR mandated by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) aligned with the company’s A Better Tomorrow™ initiative.
He said the EPR was also in collaboration with the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA).
The BAT Nigeria Managing Director added that the recycling initiative represented an upgrade of the company’s ongoing efforts to further promote its dedication and commitment to a clean and green environment.
Read also: Unity Bank projects N20.86bn gross earnings in Q1 2023
Unity Bank posts N1.04bn PAT
Unity Bank Plc recorded a Profit After Tax of N1.04 billion, a 21 percent growth from the N869.2 million it earned in the corresponding period of 2022. This is according to its unaudited financial report for the first quarter of 2023.
Its gross earnings for the quarter were put at N15.9 billion, a 17 percent growth from N13.6 billion generated in the corresponding period of 2022.
Tomi Somefun, Managing Director, Unity Bank Plc, said that the bank would remain focused on its key deliverables and areas of growth to help push its growth and all parameters of assessment into double-digit territory.
“The performance posted for Q1’23 in terms of the PBT, gross earnings, and other key indicators are strong reinforcement of adequate measures being adopted and a testament of our resolve to sustain and equally improve upon the fundamental initiatives adopted to strengthen growth throughout the course of the financial year.
“Since late 2022, the bank has begun significant investment in technology and innovation in line with its strategic pursuits to win in the retail space with our focus on digital and lifestyle banking, dynamic product development, and accelerated onboarding.
“As part of our transformation journey, we will double down on these investments in the coming months in order to achieve our aspirations of significantly reducing customer pain points and simplifying the customer experience.
“We will increase the rate of customer acquisition, expand the frontiers of partnerships; and ultimately develop new and sustainable income lines for the bank,” she said.
Fuel Subsidy: Labour institute’s D-G tasks FG, Labour on dialogue
Issa Aremu, the Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), has called for continuous dialogue between organised labour and the Federal Government on the current petroleum subsidy impasse.
Speaking to journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday, he said it has become important for dialogue to exist between labour, government, and other relevant stakeholders on this issue of deregulation.
He expressed a strong belief that through the exchange of facts, compromises, and negotiations, both parties would find a common ground for the inevitable reform of the petroleum downstream sector.
He noted that the sector unions, including PENGASSAN and NUPENG, have been pushing for this common ground for years.
Mastercard foundation, group plan $45m for vaccine production
Mastercard Foundation and the Institute Pasteur de Dakar have agreed to invest $45 million towards achieving vaccine manufacturing autonomy in Africa.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by both organisations, named “Manufacturing in Africa for Disease Immunisation and Building Autonomy,” aimed at building competence and capacity and establishing a world-class workforce that will support vaccine manufacturing on the continent.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Director-General of the Africa CDC, said that “between 9,000 and 14,000 full-time employees will be needed across vaccine manufacturing and research roles across Africa by 2040.”
Both organisations said the training will enable them to equip talented young people, particularly young women, with specialised skills in vaccine research, manufacturing, production, and distribution.
Oil jumps 2% on Saudi plan to cut more output from July
Oil prices spiked by more than $1 or 2 percent on brands of crude on Monday after the biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, promised to cut production by another 1 million barrels per day starting in July.
This cut is expected to bring the country’s total production to around 9 million barrels per day as of next month.
As a result of this announcement, Brent crude futures traded at $77.64 a barrel, up $1.51, or 2 percent, at 0014 GMT after earlier hitting a session high of $78.73 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $1.41, or 2 percent, to $73.15 a barrel after touching an intraday high of $75.06 a barrel.
The gains came after the Saudi energy ministry said on Sunday its output would drop to 9 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from around 10 million bpd in May, the kingdom’s biggest reduction in years.
