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AXA Mansard Empowers 100 Female Entrepreneurs With Digital Marketing Skills
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In order to increase opportunities for women, accelerate their participation in economic activities and encourage digital equity, Axa Mansard has empowered over 100 young female entrepreneurs with digital marketing skills in Lagos.
Axa Mansard, a member of a global leader in insurance and asset management known as AXA, held a two-day digital marketing training for the participants.
It was part of the company’s activities lined up to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, designed “to empower female SMEs owners with skills to improve their digital output and position them for the immense opportunities available in the digital space,” according to the Chief Customer and Marketing Officer of AXA Mansard, Ms Jumoke Odunlami.
Ms Odunlami explained that the underwriter was convinced that support for women, through its inclusive protection programmes, was important to AXA’s purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters.
She noted that the focus on digital equity as a sub-theme of this year’s IWD was because the firm realizes the importance of digital to the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria and wants to ensure that women are empowered enough to be a consequential part of that growth.
“It’s almost trite to say that SMEs are the engine for economic growth, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. What needs to be continually discussed is how Nigeria is going to unlock that potential for economic development and how much of those potentials will be unlocked by women and for women.
“For us at AXA Mansard, we are aware that digital will play a major role in Nigeria’s economic future. So, to ensure that women are equally represented in unlocking these future potentials, we have collaborated with SME 100 Africa to support them in developing the required skills,” Ms Odunlami said.
“Our choice of digital marketing as the skill to leverage is also deliberate. We understand the power of marketing. We understand that helping these SMEs with the skill to attract more customers will be a faster means to empower them. We see that they have amazing products and services, but they need to understand how to attract value for themselves by attracting the right customers, and you will agree with me that virtually all customer segments are online in one way or the other today.
“So, if we can empower them with digital marketing skills, we would have been helping them with the heavy lifting of trying to find and attract customers,” she further explained.
Commenting on the programme, the Chief Executive Officer of SME 100 Africa, Mr Charles Odii, explained that the company was happy to partner with AXA Mansard again to empower women within the SME space.
“We believe that for the world to truly experience progress, there must be an equitable distribution in the creation and access to opportunities for men and women,” he said.
Mr Odii noted that this quest for balance informed the digital marketing training, saying further that, “This training is part of the group of initiatives we have designed for the Nigerian woman.
“Our goal is to see them grow, add value to their lives and help them mitigate risks every step along the way. What we found through our research is that regardless of the economic segment, access to digital skills is one of the most important things to present-day Nigerian women, and they desire to be financially independent, secure, and to be respected in the community”.
Concluding, he submitted that, “Women entrepreneurs play a vital role in unlocking economic growth as they provide the majority of the labour with little resources. As an organization, we will therefore continue to create opportunities for these women to grow and achieve their dreams. We wish every Nigerian woman a happy Women’s Month.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde, has approved the extension of the curfew imposed on 10 local government areas bordering the Old Oyo National Park by an additional 24 hours.
The development was announced in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Musibau Babatunde, and signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr Suleiman Olanrewaju.
The state government had, on June 23, 2026, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew from 4:00 pm to 8:00 am on the affected local government areas as part of measures to address the prevailing security situation.
With the extension, the curfew, which was initially scheduled to last 48 hours, will now remain in force until Saturday, June 27, 2026.
The affected local government areas are Oriire, Orelope, Irepo, Saki West, Saki East, Atisbo, Itesiwaju, Iseyin, Olorunsogo and Atiba.
The government urged residents of the affected areas to continue cooperating with security agencies and to comply fully with the directive as efforts continue to safeguard lives and property.
This development follows the abduction of 39 students and seven teachers in an attack targeting several schools in Nigeria’s southwestern Oyo State in May.
The attack took place in Ahoro Esinele community in Oriire district, targeting a secondary school and two primary schools, according to officials. With over 40 days in captivity, all rescue efforts have so far not yielded results.
Mass kidnappings by armed groups have become a serious security challenge in Nigeria in recent years, with criminal gangs exploiting weak security to target travellers, students, and rural communities for cash payments. Schools are often targeted, although such attacks used to be rare in the southwest of the country.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In order to aid alternative and sustainable means of livelihood amid rising food prices and growing concerns over food security in Nigeria, the Ibese Plant of Dangote Cement Plc has handed over a state-of-the-art garri and fufu processing plant to the Kajola host community in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The facility is expected to support cassava farmers and processors by improving efficiency and expanding income-generating opportunities.
According to the organisation, the project, delivered under the Community Development Agreement (CDA) with its host communities signed in 2022, is a strategic intervention aimed at boosting agricultural value addition, reducing post-harvest losses and strengthening livelihoods for rural farmers and women.
The Ibese Plant Director, Mr Ayyagari Subbaraidu, at the commissioning, said, “This project is aimed at improving cassava processing, reducing losses and creating sustainable employment for women and farmers in the community.”
He disclosed that the facility features separate garri and fufu processing units equipped with modern machinery, including a five-tonne-per-day peeling machine, hydraulic presses, frying systems, fermentation basins, solar-powered boreholes and sanitation infrastructure, adding that it will serve as a catalyst for local economic growth by enhancing productivity and supporting small-scale agribusinesses across Kajola and neighbouring communities.
The Plant Director also urged the community and the Project Governance Committee to maintain transparency in the management of the facility to ensure long-term sustainability.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Bolu Owotomo, who was at the unveiling of the project, said it aligns with Governor Dapo Abiodun’s vision of making agriculture a key driver of economic growth through value addition and enterprise development.
The Commissioner disclosed that “over 166,000 farmers, including more than 90,000 cassava farmers, have been registered under the Ogun State Farmers Information Management System (OGFIMS) to benefit from government interventions.”
He urged the community to safeguard the facility and assured residents of the continued support of the state government towards agricultural development and food security.
“This processing plant will strengthen the cassava value chain, improve product quality, create jobs and enhance food security while boosting farmers’ incomes,” the Commissioner stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has hailed the recent sanctioning of three Nigerian bureau de change (BDC) operators by the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged terrorism financing.
“The Nigeria Sanctions Committee welcomes the recent inclusion of Mukthar Muhammad Adamu, Nine to Nine BDC, and Generation BDC Limited by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
“These designations follow the inclusion of Adamu and his companies as part of a broader update to the Nigeria Sanctions List approved and published on 18th June 2026,” it disclosed in a statement.
It said that the naming of the three companies and six people followed extensive intelligence gathering, financial investigations, and inter-agency assessments, which established reasonable grounds to believe that the affected individuals and entities facilitated, financed, supported, or otherwise contributed to the activities of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and associated terrorist networks.
“The individuals and entities added to the Nigeria Sanctions List on 18th June 2026 are Ibrahim Yakubu Ogirima (NLISWi.19), Muktar Muhammad Adamu (NLISWi.20), Adamu Chiroma (NLISWi.21), Ibrahim Abubakar (NLISWi.22), Abdullahi Umar Usman (NLISWi.23), Babangida Muhammed Adamu Hammajam (NLISWi.24), Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change Limited (NLISWe.25), Generation Currency BDC Limited (NLISWe.26), Nine to Nine BDC Limited (NLISWe.27),” the statement read in part.
The federal government reiterated its directive to all financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions to continue to comply with all sanctions obligations, including asset-freezing requirements, the filing of suspicious transaction reports, and the reporting of all relevant matches to the appropriate authorities.
The sanctions committee commended the work of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Department of State Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for their actions to ensure that terrorist groups are denied the resources that sustain their activities.
It stated that Nigeria remains resolute in its commitment to ensuring that terrorists and their financiers find no safe haven within the country’s financial system.
The committee also said that the Federal Government would continue to work closely with domestic stakeholders and international partners to protect national security, strengthen financial integrity, and contribute to global efforts to combat terrorism and its financing.
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