GTBank is “Best Bank in Nigeria for 2014” by The Banker

Guaranty Trust Bank plc has won the “Best Bank in Nigeria for 2014” by The Banker Magazine (a publication of The Financial Times) for promoting industry-wide excellence in Global Banking Ethics and adherence to the highest corporate governance standards. The prestigious award ceremony which held on Thursday November 27th, 2014 at Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane, London had in attendance more than 350 senior executives from well over 120 countries.

The Banker is the world’s leading monthly journal of records for the banking Industry, with over 90 years expertise in publishing development in the banking industry both Africa and on the global scale. For over 1000 applications collected, The Banker selects one winning bank for each of the 120 countries shortlisted.

Commenting on the award, Mr. Segun Agbaje, MD/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc said “we are happy to receive this award”. He attributed the bank’s achievements to the hard work and commitment of its employees and loyalty of its customers. According to the MD/CEO “we are committed to building an enduring institution with strong values and sound corporate governance standards which will ensure that we continue to deliver over and above the expectations of all stakeholders.”

GTBank has continued to push the boundaries with the introduction of products and services tailored to meet the needs of its customers. The Bank was also the recipient of other prestigious awards in the global banking space within the last 12 months. These include “2014 African Bank of the Year” award by The African Banker, “2014 Best Bank in Africa” and “2014 Best Bank in Nigeria” awards by Euromoney.

Guaranty Trust Bank plc has introduced several innovations over the last few months in its bid to further consolidate its position as the most service focused bank in Nigeria. These includeThe MarketHub; an e-commerce platform where buying and selling are transacted in a virtual market space hosted on the bank’s platform, One click Top-up; an alternative service that enables GTBank account holders conveniently recharge their mobile phones with airtime from their bank account with ease.

Guaranty Trust Bank plc with over 200 branches within Nigeria, presently has business subsidiaries in Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the United Kingdom. The GTBank brand is regarded as one of the best run financial institutions across its subsidiary countries singularly for its bias for World class customer service ethics, organizational structure, culture and innovation.

The Bank’s 3rd quarter audited results which were released on the floor of the Nigerian and London Stock Exchange show gross earnings of over N199.2billion and a profit after tax of N66.7billion for the nine (9) months period of January to September, 2014.

A Space Odyssey: ESA Rosetta Mission on Twitter

Information about the mission:

Rosetta is the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface.  The robotic space probe, built and launched by ESA, the European Space Agency, already performs a detailed study ofcomet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft arrived at the comet on 6 August 2014 following a 10-year journey through the Solar System. Since then the Rosetta spacecraft orbits the comet and gathers data to characterise the environment and the comet nucleus. On November 12, 2014, Rosetta's Lander Philae will attempt to land on the surface. Philae carries a suite of instruments for imaging and sampling the comet nucleus.

The mission is controlled from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. It is an ESA mission with contributions from its Member States and NASA. Rosetta’s Philae Lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR and MPS (Germany), CNES (France) and ASI (Italy).Scientists claim that this mission is more complex than landing on the moon.

How to follow the news:

1.Hashtags

●     #CometLanding

●     #Rosetta

●     #67p

2.Official accounts

●     @ESA_Rosetta (lead account)

●     @Philae2014 (Rosetta’s comet lander Philae)

●     @ESA (ESA’s main corporate channel)

●     @ESAscience (ESA’s Science and Robotic Exploration channel)

●     @ESAOperations (ESA Spaceflight Operations channel)

●     https://twitter.com/ESA_de/lists/esa-rosetta-on-twitter (official list of around 50 ESA channels)

How to engage with the mission:

●     Tweet or ask questions on Twitter about the mission

●     Send your “good luck tweets” and follow@ESA_Rosetta&@Philae2014 for updates

Why Twitter? Exclusive content about the mission!

●     Highlight: dialogue between@ESA_Rosetta&@Philae2014

●     @ESA_Rosetta live tweeting the event (1st person) - sharing photos, infographics, vines, videos, gifs

●     1st photo of lander descent = Twitter exclusive

●     1st photo of landing/comet surface  = Twitter exclusive

●     Vines of mission

●     Vine statements of ESA chief scientists and discoverer of Rosetta

●     Twitter Q/A with Rosetta Project Scientist Matt Taylor

When is it happening?

Official ESA time schedule for 12 November 2014 (main events only)

Live From ESA ESOC Mission Control Room

●     08:30-09:15 GMT / 09:30-10:15 NIGERIA time: Lander separation scheduled at 09:03 GMT/10:03 NIGERIA time - descent will take seven hours due to very low gravity of the comet

●     11:00-12:15 GMT / 12:00 Noon-1:15pm NIGERIA time: Science updates and first (‘farewell’) pictures showing Lander descent (expected around 12:00 GMT /

1pm NIGERIA time)

●     14:00-15:30 GMT/ 3:00pm  -4:30pm NIGERIA time: Focus on Rosetta science, Orbiter and Lander already gather data during descent, last preparations for landing

●     15:45-16:15 GMT /4:45pm -5:15pm NIGERIA time: Landing expected at 16:00 GMT / 5:00pm   NIGERIA time (+/- 15 min)

●     17:00 GMT / 6:00pm NIGERIA time earliest: Presentation of first panoramic (CIVA) image from comet 

Livestream:

●     ESA TV will be live streaming throughout the mission athttp://new.livestream.com/ESA/Cometlanding

Additional information:

Essential information and channels on ESA's Rosetta mission:

●     http://rosetta.esa.int
Rosetta landing page, this is where the main live stream will be embedded

●     http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/
Rosetta mission blog with in-depth information

●     http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta
Classic web special

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Nollywood Star & Rotary Ambassador Tackles Polio on Twitter

Top Nollywood actress and Rotary's Polio AmbassadorFunke Akindele has stepped up the campaign to end Polio disease in Nigeria, including  an active awareness campaign on Twitter. Her tweets, especially just before and after the World Polio Day, have been calling on Nigerians to rise up and do more to eradicate Polio in the country. 

Working closely with Rotary Nigeria, Funke has kept her voice strong on this cause.  On her twitter handle, she made it known to Nigerians and the world the goal of saving lives and why we all need to  join hands to put an end toPolio. She also restated on various platforms that "every  child has the right to live". To  drive this campaign further, she encouraged more Nigerians to add their photos and sign up for the World's biggest commercial against Polio and the global campaign being spearheaded by  Rotary International. 

Funke Akindele aligned strongly with the sentiments and commitment of Rotary Nigeria. "This is our chance to make history by wiping out the second human disease ever from the world (smallpox is the first)"

Polio is an infantile paralysis. It is an acute, viral and infectious disease spread from person to person. Poliovirus enters the body through the mouth, infecting the first cells with which it comes in contact with. It then hijacks the host cells and begins  to replicate itself. It has been eradicated in many countries, but it is still in existence in some developing countries, especially the 3 countries with the acronym PAN  (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria

In eradicating polio in Nigeria, Rotary International and partners created an initiative center  (NNPPC) with the goal of kicking out polio finally. Rotary International Nigeria, pledged   to eradicate the infectious disease paralyzing children across the globe, especially in developing countries.

In Celebrating 2014 world polio day , the Chairman of the initiative Dr Tunji Funsho pointed out that  “ ONE per cent of Nigerians are still at the risk of contracting polio virus. This might seem a small number but 1% of population of 170 million is far from small. At the end of this year, we want Nigeria to be free of polio so that after three years, WHO can certify Nigeria polio-free.  When we do that, we will be doing two major things.  Firstly, we will be saving our children from having polio and secondly, we will be saving the money that would have been spent on eradication of polio and move to other important national matters.”

To enlighten the masses, educate and create more awareness, Rotary Nigeria NNPPC organised a series of debates for schools on why we all need to fight polio and its socio-economic impact taking for granted.  Expert says “ If we don’t end polio now, the disease could rebound to 10million cases in the next 40 years.

The Rotary "BIKE  A THON ", which  took place last weekend is a key platform used to drum up awareness for Polio eradication in Nigeria. Funke used Twitter to give the wider audience a step by step account of the family bike race and fun event.

The End Polio Now is a Twitter handle in many countries around the world, as well as UNICEF, demonstrating the ability of Twitter to communicate complex messages in a manner that is fun, simple and relatable

  

 Photo tweeted  by Funke Akindele, showing children as part of the Polio action