Divide Among Banks Widens as Small Lenders Face Cash Crunch

• Transactions in I&E FX window hit $2.2bn

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku and Obinna Chima with agency report

The divide between the haves and the have-nots among Nigerian banks is widening, a report by Bloomberg has indicated.
The country’s biggest lender by market capitalisation, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, is so flush with cash it plans to repay its $400 million of bonds when they become due in November 2018 rather than issuing additional debt, while the Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – the next largest banks by market capitalisation – sold international bonds for the first time since 2014.

At the other end of the scale, smaller lenders are scrapping plans to raise dollar loans and struggling to find investors to raise capital.
Tier 1 banks in Africa’s most-populous nation and biggest oil producer are rallying after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in April opened a foreign exchange trading window for investors and exporters, easing a crippling currency shortage that contributed to the worst economic contraction in 25 years.

Smaller banks are lagging behind as they battle rising levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) and capital buffers near regulatory minimums.

“The gap between the Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks has been widening in profitability and balance-sheet size,” said Omotola Abimbola, an analyst at Afrinvest West Africa Ltd.

“In the next one or two years we will probably see the trend extending further.”
UBA, the third-biggest lender by market value, raised $500 million in its first Eurobond sale on June 1 at yields below initial guidance.
This followed an equivalent issue a week earlier by Zenith Bank in a deal that was four times oversubscribed.

GTBank said this month it has no plans to sell Eurobonds because it’s setting aside funds to repay existing debt.
By contrast, small- and mid-sized lenders like Wema Bank Plc dropped plans last month to raise dollar loans to rather sell naira debt locally in smaller tranches.

Unity Bank Plc, which missed a February 28 central bank deadline to recapitalise, has been in talks with investors since October, while Diamond Bank Plc started negotiations to sell businesses and issue debt over a year ago.
“We view the Tier 2 banks as potentially challenged,” Exotix Partners LLP analysts Jumai Mohammed and Ronak Gadhia said in a note last month. The lenders seem unable “to weather asset-quality deterioration storms”.

The central bank had to step in last year when it replaced the top management of Skye Bank Plc for breaching liquidity thresholds.
That’s still a far cry from the full-scale takeovers in 2009, when former central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi rescued 10 lenders and spent N1.8 trillion ($5.5 billion) to rescue banks that had been brought to their knees by souring loans and corrupt managers.
Still, the five-year dollar bonds didn’t come cheap. UBA settled on a coupon, or interest paid twice annually, of 7.75 per cent.

That’s the highest of at least 10 sales of $500 million by emerging-market banks this year from Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain, South Korea and China. Zenith will pay 7.375 per cent, compared with 6.25 per cent on five-year notes sold in April 2014.

Even so, more lenders will issue Eurobonds because they need dollars to offer loans in the U.S. currency or to repay debt, said Lekan Olabode, an analyst at Vetiva Capital Management Ltd. in Lagos.
Ecobank Transnational Inc., based in Lome, Togo, plans to sell a $400 million, five-year convertible bond this month to refinance debt and provide short-term bridge funding for non-performing loans at its Nigerian unit.

Fidelity Bank Plc will decide in the third quarter whether to refinance $300 million of bonds due in May next year or issue new debt after seeing yields on the securities drop and strong demand from investors for Zenith and UBA’s notes, Chief Operations Officer Gbolahan Joshua said Tuesday. Access Bank Plc has $350 million of bonds due in July.
Some banks may use share-price gains to sell equity, although most trade at less than book value, making a rights offering expensive, Olabode said.

Local debt also comes at a price, with yields on five-year government bonds at 16.3 per cent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange Banking (NSE) Index has advanced 44 per cent this year, with UBA soaring 99 per cent to its highest since January 2014, while Access Bank has climbed more than 80 per cent to a four-year high.

Wema has gained less than 2 per cent and Skye Bank and Union Bank of Nigeria Plc are up about 10 per cent in 2017.
Union Bank, in which former Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Diamond’s Atlas Mara Ltd. owns 31 per cent, said in November it will sell as much as N50 billion in a rights issue scheduled to take place by the end of this quarter.

Sterling Bank, which announced plans to raise N65 billion in Tier 2 capital last July, managed to raise N7.9 billion in 2016 at 16.5 per cent, and is waiting for market conditions to improve before another issuance, according to Chief Financial Officer Abubakar Suleiman.

Without capital to back new business and write loans, small lenders risk falling further behind as Nigeria’s economy recovers from last year’s 1.6 per cent contraction.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast Nigeria will expand 0.8 per cent in 2017 as oil price improves.

“Big banks have a pricing advantage,” said Vetiva’s Olabode. “That makes a big difference in size and capacity to do business,” he stated.
But even with the disparity between Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks in the country widening, there were indications Tuesday that confidence in the Nigerian FX market has been restored, with the cumulative transactions on the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) segment of the market rising to $2.2 billion, from about $1 billion last month.
Confirming this Tuesday, CBN spokesman, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, also disclosed that trading on the I&E window, has helped in boosting liquidity and ensured timely execution and settlement of eligible transactions.

The spokesman expressed confidence that interventions by the central bank would continue to guarantee stability in the market and ensure availability to individuals and business concerns.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in an exclusive interview with THISDAY at the weekend said the introduction of the I & E window had eliminated sharp practices in the market.

“Now, everything is done in the open and in a very transparent manner. If you want to sell your dollars, you offer the banks and the bank knowing that he has a buyer, matches you with the buyer and the bank makes only N1 spread.

“With the transparency that has been brought into that market, we have seen a lot of inflows into that market and rates began to converge…
“As much as possible, the central bank does not want to be seen to be having excessive control over the market. We can only come in based on our reading of the market, based on our understanding of what the exchange rate is, to come in to intervene as a player in the market,” Emefiele said.

Analysts believe that the increase in volume of transactions on the I&E segment is a positive sign of return of confidence in the financial markets as clearly demonstrated by the bull run on the stock market.

According to them, the investor sentiment has strengthened since the CBN introduced the I&E FX window, which they agreed has ensured greater flexibility in exchange rate determination.
They, however, advised the CBN to continue its march towards the convergence of rates.
Meanwhile, the CBN said it injected another $418 million into various segments of the inter-bank Tuesday.

Figures obtained from the CBN indicated that the retail segment of the market received the highest intervention with $226 million, followed by the wholesale window that got $100 million.
The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received a boost of $50 million, while the retail invisibles segment was allocated $42 million to meet the demands of customers.
The CBN on Monday injected $413.5 million into the interbank market in its unrelenting bid to guarantee liquidity in the market and shore up the value of the naira.
The naira remained stable at N363/$1 on the parallel market Tuesday.

Culled from Thisday

Boko Haram: US senators oppose sale of fighter jets to Nigeria

Adetutu Folasade-Koyi

United States of America Senators, Cory Booker and Rand Paul, have opposed sale of American fighter jets, to aid Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram.

The senators said Nigeria must first investigate cases of alleged human rights abuses in the North East before sealing a deal to buy the fighter jets from the US.

In February, Amnesty International accused the Nigerian Army of violating human rights and committing war crimes in its fight against Boko Haram.

In its 2015 annual report, AI highlighted several cases of torture by security agencies, excessive use of force, non-abolition of death penalty, gagging of freedom of expression, violation of court orders. The organisation also noted what the government has done to protect citizens’ rights from abuse, in a report presented by AI Country Director, Mohammed Kaura Ibrahim, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Regardless, in a June 8, 2017 letter, addressed to the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson,  Booker and Paul expressed concern that Nigeria’s acquisition of these aircraft would “spur unrest and violence, particularly in the North Eastern part of the country.”

They also added that if the aircraft are sold without any indication of Nigeria’s commitment to the protection of human rights, it would go contrary to the US security objectives.

While citing the Shi’ites “massacre” allegedly carried out by the Nigerian army and the accidental Rann bombing by the Nigerian airforce, they said there were allegations of corruption, abuse, and misconduct in the military.

Booker was part of a bipartisan group of senators that voted to block a weapons sale to Saudi Arabia “because of concerns over the country’s targeting of Yemen civilians.”

“We request that before you approve this sale, you brief us on the steps Nigeria has taken to investigate and hold accountable those that have committed human rights abuses. We believe the security threats Nigeria is facing are very real, but that a sale of this nature, and at this time, is ill-advised,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

“Boko Haram – a 5,000 to 10,000 strong insurgent force with ties to the Islamic State – will not be defeated through expanded air power alone.

“At the same time, there continues to be additional allegations of corruption, abuse, and misconduct throughout the Nigerian military. While some soldiers have been released or retired, there has yet to be any real or meaningful accountability for the systemic challenges that have plagued Nigeria’s security forces for decades.

“Without addressing these problems at an institutional level, reform is merely cosmetic and will only perpetuate long-standing patterns of abuse, which could serve as propaganda for Boko Haram and other insurgent groups seeking to discredit the Nigerian government.

“We are concerned that the decision to proceed with this sale will empower the government to backtrack even further on its commitments to human rights, accountability, and upholding international humanitarian law, which in turn could spur greater unrest and violence, particularly in the north-eastern part of the country.

“Accordingly, we strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to sell A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria without any meaningful reform or any clear safeguards in place. Instead, we recommend you make clear to Abuja that the sale of these aircraft can proceed only if there is positive and measurable progress on reforming the security institutions.”

Two months ago, Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump’s administration had agreed to sell 12 fighter jets to Nigeria at $600 million.

Quoting some officials, the newspaper said congress was expected to receive formal notification of the deal within weeks.

Culled from Sun

Apapa, Nation’s Economic Hub, Grinds to a Halt

Apapa… Hellhole on earth where ease of doing business has been put in abeyance

Solomon Elusoji

The roads leading to Apapa, Nigeria’s busiest port city, are in a mess and should be declared a national emergency. It is a mystery how goods continue to flow in and out of its docks, how trucks and trailers defy its dilapidated state to bring profit to their taskmasters, how workers, who earn their living from offices domiciled on its streets, brave the daily assault to put bread on their tables and milk in the fridge.

To understand the gravity of the Apapa situation, one needs to walk on its cratered streets and inhale the sharp smell of smoke that wafts from the bottom of the trucks, trailers and motorcycles that are omnipotent on its roads; one needs to make the sign of the cross and attempt to access the port through one of its two main thoroughfares, via the Marine Bridge or Tin-Can Island axis; one needs to get his or her senses assaulted by the solid waste, urine, faeces and sludge that have overrun the port city and its surrounding creeks and turned it into a hellhole on earth.
Coming through the Ijora and approaching Marine Bridge, the average commuter, usually has to queue up behind rows of trailers that stretch for distances as long as five kilometres and longer.

When the trucks and trailers manage not to breakdown, tip over, or offload their contents on other commuters, they are expected to only occupy either the left or right lane of the road, but the policemen who are expected to enforce the rule collect bribes from impatient truck drivers and allow chaos to reign.

Descending from Marine Bridge into Apapa, a signboard screams “Welcome to Apapa Premier Port”, but what reveals itself beyond the windscreen is a road dotted with innumerable holes and craters huge enough to swallow whole cities. The tar on the “welcome road” is whitewashed and has undergone metastasis to turn to dust; smooth surfaces have become broken things and vehicles wobble from side to side as they navigate the death trap.

It is a curious phenomenon to watch trucks, loaded with heavy goods, navigate these death traps. It is no longer surprising when a truck fails to hit the right momentum in crossing a crater and capsizes, spilling to the ground the content of its trailer. There are numerous tales of how people have been killed under such circumstances, crushed and buried for the sins of those who could have sanctioned the road’s repair. But the tragedy is like the steam that oozes out of a kettle; it soon disappears and business, as usual, continues.

There have been comic attempts to fill some of the potholes and gaping holes, especially those along Airways bus stop, by filling them with sawdust, sometimes a poor mixture of cement-sand. But, of course, when the rain comes, the hypocrisy is exposed and vehicles swim in pools of water.

However, compared to the Tin-Can axis, coming into Apapa via Marine Bridge is like skating through smooth ice. The Tin-Can axis, which is at the end of the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, has been turned into a ghost town. Most commercial vehicles don’t even bother making the trip; they turn around at Coconut bus stop, more than six kilometres from the port. Their reasons are not far-fetched. From Coconut, the road has collapsed; it is a series of gallops and huge holes, and there are trucks that have turned it into a permanent garage.

In Apapa, motorcycles are made for kings. Their drivers, hair caked with dust and sporting dark glasses, are superheroes without capes. They are a commuter’s best chance of beating the constant gridlock, as they flout traffic laws, crossing road dividers to escape a stalemate, braving a sharp bend to avoid an onrushing vehicle and, sometimes, running straight under trucks to come to unfortunate ends, both driver and commuter.

It is not uncommon to find piles of garbage and grime, like goods on display, lying along the sidewalk on Apapa streets. On Creek Road, the stench from these dumps is mixed with the nauseating aroma of caked human excreta and urine, deposited by truck drivers, while they queue for their turn to load up.

In 2014, statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Apapa Port (excluding the Tin-Can port) was 37,041,879, from 1,503 vessels. In 2015, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) recorded revenue of $1.8 billion. Although the numbers have since slightly declined due to the recession, it demonstrates the amount of revenue that flows into the country from Apapa. This, of course, begs the question of why its roads and essence have been left to wither away, like a leaf cut from its source. What Demon haunts Apapa?
The Demon is said to have been created by the federal government during the early 2000s, when the NPA and Ministry of Transport doled out some real estate from the Lagos Port Complex to some oil firms to use as fuel tank farms. This raised, significantly, the number of trucks and tankers streaming into Apapa. Meanwhile, the government made no parking provisions for the new influx of tankers, prompting their drivers to start parking on the highway and inner roads.

Expectedly, companies whose businesses were affected protested against the new nuisances in town, but the tanker drivers resorted to violence and strikes when the state government, in collaboration with some federal government agencies tried to establish some order. And so the Demon grew from strength to strength and has, today, become a monster that cannot be tamed.

It is on record that successive governments have tried to outwit this Demon, but it appears to be a slithery, cunning creature that slips from the grasp even when caught. Take for example the story of the current Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola. As governor of Lagos State, Fashola blamed the federal government, then controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for creating the mess and obstructing the state government from taking charge. He cried and wheezed, spouting lamentations upon lamentations. However, as fate would have it, Fashola was appointed as the head of the very ministry under which the duty of reconstructing Apapa’s roads falls under; but after almost two years on the job without results, Fashola has changed the melody of his dirges.

The tragedy of Apapa is its transition from a palatial neighbourhood to a vulgar zone. Once, it was a quiet, serene part of Lagos, home to fine buildings and elite occupants.

“By the time I went to Apapa, it was probably the most peaceful area in Lagos,” accomplished businessman, Chief Alex Duduyemi, told THISDAY in 2015. “I was forced to go there, after the Tafawa Balewa coup. I used to live in Ikoyi, in the government quarters. Since then, I’ve never lived anywhere other than Apapa. But today, it is horrendous. It’s a different story. It takes me over two hours to get from my house to the office, because of the gridlock on the road. Normally, it should take me between 20 to 30 minutes.”

Today, people like Duduyemi would rather move east, to Victoria Island and Ikoyi and Lekki, rather than stay in Apapa. The port city has lost its former lustre and its decline might just have been sealed if Fashola and his people do not put some action behind their words and squarely confront the Demon that tramples on the commonwealth of all Nigerians.

Thisday

After Recovering N11.6bn, FG Pays N375.8m to 20 Whistleblowers

Ndubuisi Francis

The federal government wednesday confirmed that it had released N375,875,000 to the first batch of 20 providers of information under the Whistleblower Policy, culminating in the recovery of N11,635,000,000.

Of the N375.8 million, the 20 whistleblowers were paid various amounts, the government stated.

Under the Whistleblower Policy, anyone who provides information leading to the recovery of public funds is entitled to between three and five per cent of the recovered amount.

The Ministry of Finance, in a statement quoted the minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun as saying: “This payment, which is the first under the Whistleblower Policy, underscores the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in meeting obligations to information providers. The policy is an essential tool in the fight against corruption.”

The statement issued by the Director (Information) in the ministry, Mr. Salisu Na ‘Inna Dambatta, said Adeosun further disclosed the recent amendments to the Whistleblower Policy, including the introduction of a formal legal agreement between information providers and the federal government, which is executed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

Procedures have also been introduced to ensure the protection of the identity of information providers during the payment process, she added.

The minister explained that all payments are taxable and are only made upon confirmation of the final recovery of the assets and confirmed by the AGF as being free of legal disputes or litigation.

The minister also provided details of the Whistleblower Unit (WBU), a multi-agency team, which is resident in the Ministry of Finance.

Adeosun added that the unit is staffed by people seconded from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Police Force and Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), among others.

“The WBU is the first line of response to whistleblower information, where the initial review is undertaken before cases are forwarded to the relevant investigative agencies,” Adeosun added.

The finance ministry recently reported that the WBU had received 2,150 communications and 337 tips through its dedicated channels from many patriotic Nigerians, leading to the recovery of substantial assets that were illegally acquired by various individuals.

The primary purpose of the policy is to support the fight against financial crimes and corruption, promote accountability and enhance transparency in the management of public finances.

Adeosun said the federal government would continue to encourage all Nigerians with information on misconduct, violation or improper activity that can impact negatively on the country to report same to the appropriate authorities.

Culled from Thisday

Nigeria’s Total Debt Hits N19tn

Obinna Chima

The Debt Management Office (DMO) Monday revealed that Nigeria’s total debt stock increased to N19.15 trillion at the end of first quarter 2017, from the N17.36 trillion at the end of last year.
According to the DMO, the external component of the country’s debt stood at $13.80 billion at the end of March 2017, as against $11.40 billion at the end of December.

But the domestic component of the debt fell to N11.97 trillion, as against N13.88 trillion last year.
A breakdown of the domestic debt component showed that while FGN Bonds was N8.178 trillion, Nigerian Treasury Bills N3.6 trillion, Nigerian Treasury Bond was N191 billion and the FGN Savings Bond N2.068 billion.

The federal government raised a total of $1.5 billion through Eurobond sales in two tranches in the first quarter of this year.
Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun recently said Nigeria’s debt is not too high. However, she pointed out that the country’s revenue was too low.

She had said the country’s debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio remained low.
“The problem is not that our debt is too high, but that our revenue is too low. It is revenue you use to pay debt and our revenue in Nigeria right now is very low.

“Most of our debt matures between two years. That means that the actual amount of interest we are paying is significant. What we are doing right now is refinancing most of that debt, especially those maturing within the next two years.

“We are also working on improving government revenue through tax. Our tax to GDP is six per cent; we are one of the lowest in the world. Ghana is 15 per cent, South Africa, 24 per cent.

“So what we are doing is working very hard to see how we can get more people into the tax net and how to get those who are already in the tax net to pay the right taxes,” she had explained.

Adeosun further said government was devising a means to ensure that all streams of income of an individual were taxed.

Culled from Thisday

Al-Mustapha: I was Detained for 15 years Because of Secret Tape on MKO Abiola’s Death

Al-Mustapha

Ademola Babalola

Former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), saturday raised another dust on the mystery surrounding death of the acclaimed June 12 1993 election winner, Chief MKO Abiola. Mustapha attributed his incarceration for 15 years to a secret tape on Abiola’s death and not because of the allegation that he was involved in the death of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late politician, as widely believed.

Al-Mustapha made this claim while fielding questions from journalists shortly after he delivered the third South-west Annual Lecture entitled: ‘Developing Leadership Abilities in Youths’, organised by the Asorodayo Youth Heritage Organisation at Lafia Hotel, Ibadan.

He said: “On October 21, 1998, I was arrested because of a video cassette, not because of the late Kudirat Abiola. The family of the late Abiola was, as it is, a very close family to me. But something happened, which a particular camera in the villa captured.

“So, they wanted to take the video tape and burn it so that Nigerians will not know what happened. That was the beginning of my travails.”

Speaking further, he said: “Many people, particularly lawyers, took money from those who were looking for the cassette, who ruled Nigeria. They would go to radio and television station to rain abuses on me, rather than coming to court because they were paid to do so. But they did not know what was going on in the court of law.

“I appeared before 14 judges in Lagos. As soon as the matter is about to finish, they would stop it and take us to another court. For 15 years, I was in that state. Out of the 15 years, five years and two months I served in detention with torture. The remaining was between Ikoyi Prisons, Kirikiri Prisons and Jos Prisons.”

According to him, Sergeant Barnabas Jabila Mshiela, also known as Sergeant Rogers, an alleged member of the killer squad of Abacha, confessed that he was paid to do what he did. He added that he appeared before 14 judges before he was released in 2013.

Al-Mustapha, who noted that one of those that purportedly persecuted him was currently incapacitated, saying he is the one sponsoring his (the fellow) child.

“On the late Kudirat Abiola, Rogers himself got to confess in a court of law along with other witness of how much money they were given, who among the big men in Nigeria told them what to say against me. Then, they were busy writing in newspapers. In Nigeria, it is what the newspapers write that radio and television will talk. All other things are buried, and that is what people in the town will talk.

“For 15 years, I hadn’t the chance to defend myself in newspaper, radio and television. So, the belief was Al-Mustapha has committed an offence, even before my arrest. But the actual thing is what happened to the late MKO Abiola that is in that cassette, that they want to see, that is why Mustapha was subjected to punishment and I was called names.”

“They want to know the whereabouts of that tape in the last 17 years. Rogers confessed he was told to do so. He was given money. He was given a house. He was given car every six month, and he was promised to be taken outside Nigeria,” he narrated.

Al-Mustapha added that, “The plan was as soon as Lagos court pronounced me guilty and to be hanged, they would rush me to prison and hang me without giving me the option to go for appeal. That was what happened. Then, they revealed exactly what happened and many people got to know.

“Unfortunately, there are lawyers who used to collect money and go to television houses and call me names. But they didn’t know what happened in the court of law.”

Thanking God that, everything that happened in Lagos State Court was compiled and signed by all the 14 judges, Al-Mustapha argued that, “We are putting it together.”
“My father has already put the book together in three volumes. You will see them soon and know that ‘mumu of this country don do.”

“If I am guilty, there is no way I can talk, there is no way I can get the confidence to look into their eyes because they are the bigger ones above the law in Nigeria”, Al-Mustapha claimed, saying ,“I am doing so. I have done it yesterday, I am doing it now and I will do it tomorrow. If I am dishonest, I can’t do that.”

The former Chief Security Officer to Late Gen. Sani Abacha, said: “So, let us get to know the story right and understand the game. The game is for people to pronounce Al-Mustapha guilty. I thank God, those that entered the contract with inducement not to say what they should say in the court of law; later on when the game was exposed, they came to the court, crying and exposing what happened.

“That is why the matter is before the Supreme Court now for appeal. We are begging them since 2013 for the matter to be heard so that everybody can hear what happened. Up till now, Lagos State Government ran away from it. We are begging them to come to the matter. We have nothing to hide. My teaching is that if I am wrong, I will tell you. If I am right, I will tell you”.

Thisday

American Embassy honours Nigerian TechWomen

Two of the Tech Women fellows, Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Adepose with CPAO Aruna Amirthanayagam, Ambassador W Stuart Symington and his wife, Susan. PHOTO: OLA AWORINDE

Nigerian women are highly talented like the American women in the movie, Hidden Figures,” Ambassador W. Stuart Symington said, prior to screening of the movie at Genesis Cinemas, in Abuja on Tuesday, in honour of Nigerian TechWomen. Hidden Figures details the story of three female African-American mathematicians employed by NASA in the 1960s. Working as human computers but denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space programme.
“It is an amazing story of women who found something that they love, and before there were computers and the Internet, these women made it possible to put the human race in outer space. You too, can reach for the skies,” the U.S. Ambassador said, introducing Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Ade, two of five Nigerian women selected to participate in the 2017 TechWomen exchange programme.
Seaman is using technology to empower girls through her Girls Voices Initiative, while Damilola Anwo-Ade is mentoring the next generation of coders, including young women, through her initiative CodeIT. Olamide Ayeni-Babjide, Ijeoma Vincent-Akpu, and Petra Nnamani, though not present at the event, will also participate in the programme.
“We are committed to building the capacity of women to innovate and make positive contributions to their communities through science, technology, and mathematics,” Ambassador Symington remarked.
TechWomen is a U.S. initiative empowering and connecting the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The program will bring together 100 women leaders in technology fields for a five-week professional mentorship and exchange program at leading technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
In March this year, the U.S. Embassy screened the movie CodeGirl, an American documentary film that featured the story of five Nigerian girls who won the Technovation Challenge in 2015.
Guardian