Business
Russian shares fall rapidly after U.S. sanction
MOSCOW – On Friday, Russian shares fell sharply as investors took fright at tougher than expected U.S. sanctions against President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle over Moscow’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
The United States added 20 names to its sanctions blacklist, including Kremlin banker Yuri Kovalchuk and his Bank Rossiya, oil and commodities trader Gennady Timchenko and the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who are linked to big contracts on gas pipelines and the Sochi Olympics, as well as Putin’s chief of staff and his deputy, the head of military intelligence and a railways chief.
In one immediate consequence, U.S. credit card companies Visa and MasterCard stopped providing services for payment transactions with Russia’s SMP bank, owned by the Rotenberg brothers, the bank said.
President Barack Obama said Washington was also considering sanctions against key economic sectors including financial services, oil and gas, metals and mining and the defense industry, if Russia made military moves into eastern and southern Ukraine.
Diplomats said the mere mention of such a possibility would chill investment in Russia, charging an immediate price for Moscow’s action in Crimea and serving as a potential deterrent to going further.
The EU also extended its personal sanctions to another 12 middle-ranking Russian and Crimean officials.
Though the MICEX share index lurched about 3 percent lower when trade opened, Putin mocked Obama’s announcement of the visa bans and asset freezes on the money men and security officials who accompanied his rise from the mayor’s office in Saint Petersburg in the 1990s.
But he said Moscow should refrain from further retaliation against the United States for now.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, however, made clear that Russia would step up financial pressure on Ukraine.
He said the former Soviet republic should repay Moscow $11 billion under a gas supply contact that should be scrapped because it no longer applied.
Medvedev said the Kharkiv agreements under which Russia was to provide cheap gas in return for the lease of the Sevastopol naval base in Crimea were “subject to denunciation”, giving Russia a legal right to sue for money back from Ukraine.
Altogether, Kiev owed Moscow $16 billion, he added.
EU LEADERS MEETING
Russia’s parliament rushed to complete ratification of the annexation of the Black Sea region while European Union leaders met in Brussels to discuss steps to reduce their long-term dependence on Russian energy.
The Federation Council upper house approved a treaty on Friday incorporating Crimea into Russia after the State Duma lower house did so a day earlier.
The 28 EU leaders underlined their support for Ukraine’s new leadership, rejected as illegitimate by Moscow, by signing a political agreement with interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk and promising financial aid as soon as Kiev reaches a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The signing “recognizes the aspirations of the people of Ukraine to live in a country governed by values, by democracy and the rule of law, where all citizens have a stake in national prosperity,” European Council President Van Rompuy said at the ceremony. The accord contained no offer of EU membership.
The IMF is to report next Tuesday on advanced talks with Ukraine on a major loan program that would be linked to far-reaching reforms of the former Soviet republic’s shattered economy.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the EU leaders were discussing using their collective bargaining power to stop Russia playing off European countries against each other in gas contacts. Up to now, each EU state has negotiated its own deal with Moscow, and some refuse even to share contract details with the European Commission or EU partners.
“We are working hard to make at least one step forward in the area of making community purchases of energy,” Tusk told reporters on arrival for the second day of an EU summit.
“In fact it is all about making the EU stronger as a whole versus energy exporters, so that we have a bigger bargaining power, so that we can act more as a community. In simple terms, it is about common purchases of energy.”
TUG OF WAR
An East-West tug-of-war has mounted since Russia occupied Crimea, home to its Black Sea fleet and a majority of ethnic Russians, following the overthrow of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich by street protests last month.
Three months of protests were triggered by Yanukovich’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU, the political part of which was signed on Friday.
The EU leaders agreed to impose asset freezes and visa bans on 12 more mid-ranking Russian and Crimean officials and to consider wider economic sanctions if Russia further destabilizes the situation in Ukraine.
But they said Europe did not have a legal basis to extend the personal sanctions against Putin associates without proof of their direct involvement in the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
“Small measures in the EU are worth more than big measures in the United States,” a senior European official said, noting that EU trade with Moscow was 10 times the U.S. volume.
“It’s about cutting off Russia politically and diplomatically,” the official said, dismissing criticism that EU sanctions looked weaker than the U.S. measures.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said he expected no big immediate impact from western sanctions on Russia’s financial sector.
He also criticized the downgrading of Russia’s credit outlook by leading ratings agencies, saying there was no basis for the move. On Thursday, S&P and Fitch revised to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ their long-term outlooks on Russia’s debt.
“Our creditworthiness has not changed, of course. We’re going to have a budget this year that will be better than expected,” Moiseev said.
In one glimmer of diplomatic progress, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said an agreement was near on sending a monitoring mission by the pan-European OSCE security watchdog. The EU had threatened to send its own monitors if Moscow continued to block a mandate at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
– REUTERS
Nigerian comedian and popular skit maker, Chibuike Josh Alfred, known by his stage name Josh2Funny, has shed light on the profitability of the content-creating industry.
In a recent interview with Echo Room, Josh2Funny highlighted the impressive financial potential that content creators can achieve, noting that it is possible for them to comfortably afford multiple luxury cars, including up to four Lamborghini vehicles.
Speaking candidly, Josh2Funny emphasised that content creation has become an extremely lucrative field due to the constant demand for fresh and engaging material. “If you want to buy four Lamborghini from content creation, you can buy it,” he said.
His remarks underscore the significant revenue opportunities available in the digital content landscape.
Josh2Funny explained that the continuous consumption of online content is what drives its profitability. “What do you think we are doing in the content-creating industry? Are we joking? You all are with your phones, when you’re in the bathroom, when you’re [using the restroom], you’re consuming our stuff. It’s like pure water,” he stated.
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The comedian further elaborated that businesses or industries that deliver products consumed on a daily basis often see the most substantial financial returns. Content creation, with its high rate of daily consumption by audiences worldwide, aligns perfectly with this model.
“People are out there, consuming our content every time,” he said, reinforcing the idea that the reach and influence of content creators have never been more extensive.
Josh2Funny’s insights reveal why the content-creating industry has become a lucrative career path for many in Nigeria and around the world. With the continuous growth of social media platforms and the public’s insatiable appetite for entertainment and relatable content, creators are finding new and innovative ways to monetize their craft.
This shift not only highlights the potential for significant financial gain but also showcases the evolving landscape of digital media, where influencers, comedians, and skit makers can turn creativity into a sustainable and highly rewarding business.
A safety alert notification by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in Nigeria issued on October 31, 2024, regarding NIVEA BLACK & WHITE Invisible Roll-on deodorant (50 ml) batch number 93529610, in relation to the general European Union (EU) Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Non-Food Products (RAPEX), has come to our attention.
The batch is said to contain 2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl propionaldehyde (BMHCA).
In a statement on Saturday, in Lagos, Beiersdorf, the owner of NIVEA brand, assured that the “the Batch No. 93529610 in question has not been marketed in Nigeria and thus never recalled”.
According to the statement, Beiersdorf was well informed that “Based on current European legislation, the use of ingredient 2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl propionaldehyde (LilialTM) in cosmetic products has been banned from the European markets as of March 1, 2022.”
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It acknowledged that “The batch in question, in fact, expired in January 2022 and was hence at the time fully compliant with the then valid European cosmetic regulation.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, Beiersdorf is working collaboratively with NAFDAC to safeguard the interest of the Nigerian consumers by ensuring that our locally manufactured product meets the global quality standards.”
It maintained that “The safety of our consumers remains our highest priority, consistent with our ethical philosophy as a business.”
In pursuit of this commitment, Beiersdorf’s entire NIVEA product portfolio formulations have been reformulated to be Lilial-free formulas in full compliance with the EU Regulation on cosmetic products well ahead of its Lilial ban coming into effect as far back as March 1, 2022. For instance, the formulation of NIVEA BLACK & WHITE Invisible Roll-on deodorant has been Lilial-free since at least 2020 across the globe, including Nigeria.
“Our trade partners were informed ahead of time and reminded of their responsibility to remove the outdated Lilial-containing products within the legal timeframe to fulfill their obligations with the European Cosmetic Product Regulation,” it added.
The Shell companies in Nigeria teamed up with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and other stakeholders to build Information Communication Technology (ICT) centres and a digital library in Nigerian universities in 2024.
Biztellers reports that it initiative is part of their continuing support for education.
Some of the corporate bodies that executed the projects include the Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) and NNPC Ltd, and the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB).
The benefiting institutions were, the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, which got a digital library in April, the Sa’adu Zungur University (formerly Bauchi State University), Gadau in Bauchi State, where an ICT Centre was commissioned in July, by The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) as part of the Joint Venture with NNPC, TotalEnergies and NAOC.
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In what would sound like singing-off on the educational intervention initiative for 2024, the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), overflew with joy at the unveil of a world-class engineering design studios and ICT hub, courtesy of the SPDC, NNPC Ltd and other Joint Venture partners collaborated with NCDMB.
Reflecting on the three facilities, Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, and Managing Director, SPDC, Osagie Okunbor, said, “This is Shell working to power lives in Nigeria. The projects have changed the academic and physical landscapes in the three universities and linked the students and lecturers to the global learning arena.”
The facilities at FUTO include two state-of-the-art engineering design studios and a fully furnished 100-seater ICT lecture hall, equipped with computers and smartboards with dedicated power and water supplies. FUTO was selected for the project as part of the “institutional strengthening” in the catchment area of SPDC’s Assa North Ohaji South Gas Development Project. They were launched at a colourful ceremony attended by representatives of the Imo State Government and principal officers of the university.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, represented by the Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Chimezie Amadi, said, “We deeply appreciate the efforts of our partners in NNPC, SPDC, Total Energies, and NAOC JV, who have invested in the future of Imo State by supporting this critical project. Your commitment to human capacity building aligns perfectly with our goals, and together, we will continue to drive innovation, skills development, and sustainable economic growth for our people.”
Okunbor’s address at the commissioning was read by General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, in which he expressed happiness “that the collaboration of SPDC, Joint venture partners, NCDMB, and FUTO has resulted in this successful social investment project that demonstrates our commitment to improving access to quality education for every Nigerian.”
On his part, the Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, called on Nigerian institutions to domesticate the advancements in AI and other technologies.
“Our AI must understand Igbo, Hausa, Efik, Yoruba, and other local languages,” he said, speaking through Dr. Ama Ikuru, the Director in charge of Capacity Building.
“We must leapfrog the innovations of other nations and become a net exporter of advanced technology to achieve the lofty ideals of Nigerian content development,” he added.
The Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, said in his address which was read by the Senior Advisor Stakeholders Relations, Halimat Wilson, “Innovation thrives in an environment where ideas can be freely exchanged and developed. The Engineering Studio and ICT Hub is designed to be such a place where students, researchers, and faculty can collaborate on projects, share knowledge, and push the boundaries of what is possible.
Welcoming guests earlier, FUTO Vice Chancellor, Prof Nnenna Oti, thanked the sponsors of the project “for a landmark donation” to the university.
The Shell Companies in Nigeria have been education since the 1950s through scholarships and other initiatives. These efforts have resulted in the award of thousands of secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship awards, provision of educational infrastructure and establishment of sabbatical and internship programmes as well as centres of excellence in several universities.
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