In a bid to further create awareness on the need to practice healthy lifestyle particularly among the productive segment of the society, 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Nigeria’s digital payment service bank, focused on financial inclusion, has advocated for a healthy lifestyle among staff members.

This was made known during a webinar session titled My Health, My Right, facilitated by a health expert, Dr Stephen from AXA Mansard Wellness Team. This was to commemorate this year’s Global Public Health Week, themed: Fostering Peace as a Prerequisite for Equitable Health.

The health week, marked with a series of activities, was designed to enlighten, and raise staff consciousness about healthy living and the factors that determine positive wellbeing.

This is expected to ensure quality of life to achieve high productivity through regular exercises, medical checks, eating healthy, attaining quality rest and the avoidance of toxins to attain improved life expectancy.

Commenting on this year’s theme, Branka Mracajac, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of 9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), noted that, “Good health is an important aspect of life that is non-negotiable.

Achieving a worthwhile life-work balance is of utmost importance and cannot be handled lightly. The wellbeing of every individual is determined by the kind of choices made daily and intentional efforts accelerated with a mission, actions, and decisions for desired outcome”.

Branka further added, ‘’There is always a price paid for every good outcome. Self-discipline should be inculcated into our daily lives and right steps taken to avoid poor lifestyle that impact negatively on our health.

As the saying goes ‘’health is wealth”. Therefore, we have no reason not to take our health seriously. “As an organisation, we have made provisions for Health Insurance for all staff as required by law and in partnership with our designated Health Management Organisation to ensure access to healthcare for all staff members. We will continue to thrive and take adequate care of our human capital as they are key to the success of our organization”.

The health week activities came to a climax with a well-organized 42-minute walk by all staff members from the Head Office at Adeola Odeku through Saka Tinubu in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The activities were organised to instill in staff the need to indulge in frequent exercises as it improves mental alertness, cardiovascular functions, weight control, reduce risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Global Public Health Week (GPHW) is an annual event, organised by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) to mark a pivotal moment for the global public health community.

It aims to bring together institutions, communities, and public health actors from around the world to recognise the contributions of public health and its workforce and to engender discussions on the best practices and gaps fundamental to disease prevention and the promotion of health and wellbeing around the world.

Google has fired 28 employees who participated in a 10-hour sit-in at the search giant’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, to protest the company’s business ties with the Israel government.

The pro-Palestinian staff at Google had donned traditional Arab headscarves as they stormed and occupied the office of a top executive in California on Tuesday, April 16.

They were fired late Wednesday, April 17, after an internal investigation, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow said in a companywide memo.

“They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow wrote in the memo.

“Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.”

In New York, protesters had occupied the 10th floor of Google’s offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan as part of a protest that also extended to the company’s offices in Seattle for what it called “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.”

“Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it,” Rackow wrote.

“It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to – including our code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, retaliation, standards of conduct, and workplace concerns.”

Rackow added that the company “takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior – up to and including termination.”

The fired staffers are affiliated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid, which has been critical of Google’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.

The impacted workers blasted Google over the firings in a statement shared by No Tech For Apartheid spokesperson Jane Chung.

“This evening, Google indiscriminately fired 28 workers, including those among us who did not directly participate in yesterday’s historic, bicoastal 10-hour sit-in protests,” the workers said in the statement.

“This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers — the ones who create real value for executives and shareholders.”

“Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian are genocide profiteers,” the statement added, referring to Google’s CEO and the CEO of its cloud unit, respectively.

“We cannot comprehend how these men are able to sleep at night while their tech has enabled 100,000 Palestinians killed, reported missing, or wounded in the last six months of Israel’s genocide — and counting.”

PalmPay has announced the first set of winners in its ongoing Eid campaign tagged PalmPay Eid Bonanza, which kicked off on April 10th and will run until April 30th, 2024.

Since the start of the bonanza on April 10th, 5 lucky winners have been emerging daily simply by performing tasks on the PalmPay App such as transferring funds, airtime and data purchases, bill payments, and savings.

Comfort Udoh from Lagos, one of the proud recipients of an iPhone 15 Pro, expressed her sheer delight. “I simply won by recharging my phone with airtime on the PalmPay app. I received the exciting news via a call from PalmPay Nigeria. I thank them for the generous reward of a brand new iPhone 15 pro”

Also, Mr. Abegurin Patrick Segun’s winning entry came about when he placed a N100 bet using his PalmPay app. It was a delightful surprise for him to receive a call from PalmPay Nigeria, informing him of his victory in the daily raffle draw, and he’s now the proud owner of an Infinix Hot 40i.

To participate in the remaining weeks of the campaign, download the PalmPay App from Google Play or App Store. Sign up for an account and include your BVN or NIN to complete the process and click on the  Eid Bonanza Feature.

There are still numerous phones to be won daily, along with the added bonus of daily free transfers to any bank via the PalmPay App.

Enakeno Umuteme, the Head of Marketing and Communications at PalmPay Nigeria, notes that “Our primary objective is to reward and acknowledge our loyal customers. This campaign stays true to its promise of appreciating Nigerians who are PalmPay users”

PalmPay offers an array of services including money transfers, bill payments, credit services, and savings on its app and via its mobile money agents. Since its inception in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, the platform has amassed over 30 million app users as part of its cashless payment ecosystem.