General
AXA Mansard Sweeps Prestigious Awards at 2024 CIPM HR Oscars
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The 2024 Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) HR Oscars held in Abuja recently saw AXA Mansard as one of the biggest winners.
The leading insurance firm was recognised for Best HR Practice (Insurance Category), Employee Engagement, and Internal Communications Initiative.
Also, the member of the AXA Group was the second runner-up overall in Nigeria for the 2024 HR Best Practice Award.
According to the Chief Client Officer of AXA Mansard, Ms Rashidat Adebisi, the awards underscore AXA Mansard’s unwavering commitment to fostering an engaging, stimulating, and progressive workplace for its people.
She remarked further that the company believes that living out its customer-first value should begin with a positive employee experience. AXA’s HR policies and practices are thus deliberately tailored to be people-oriented.
“We are convinced that when we care for our employees, they will care for our customers, and everybody wins. The customers win, the employees are fulfilled, the society is better, and the marketplace prospers”, she said.
“So, to be awarded three awards by a prestigious human capital institution such as CIPM is something we take seriously. It is a confirmation that our people philosophy is in tune with the realities of today’s workforce requirements.
“I congratulate our HR team for consistently embodying our Employee Value Proposition. I understand the dedication and precision involved in achieving each of these awards, so winning three in a single year is a clear testament to the great work we are doing for our employees.
“This achievement not only solidifies our position as an industry leader but also reaffirms our commitment to being a people-oriented, role-model organization,” she added.
Also, the General Counsel and Human Resources Director of AXA Mansard, Ms Omowunmi Mabel Adewusi, noted that the awards are another testament to the organization’s HR best practices and their real impact on the employee’s total well-being.
“These awards underscore that our Dare and Care philosophy is a driving force within our organisation. Being recognized as the company with the Best HR Practice within the insurance sector—and across multiple industries in Nigeria—is a significant accomplishment.
“This recognition reflects the bold, forward-thinking policies and initiatives we have put in place to ensure our employees are engaged, productive, and find purpose in their work each day.
“For example, our AXA We Care program offers employees benefits such as menstrual leave, paternity leave, psychological assistance, caregiver leave, maternity leave, teleconsultation services, free medical check-ups, minimum financial coverage in the case of cancer, and many more.
“We understand, for example, that women’s menstrual cycle is not what we are culturally tuned to discussing, especially with managers of the opposite sex. But it’s a key part of the women’s wellbeing, so what we have done is to ensure that women can take leave days if they need to during their monthly cycle.”
The CIPM promotes excellence in people management through value creation, optimisation of human potential, and standardization, as well as regulation of Human Resource Management.
The HR Oscars aims to identify best practices and recognize achievements. Its assessment for recognition is based on the demonstrated proof of positive business impact based on the change, initiative, program, or process improvement described in the submissions.
The AXA We Care programme is deployed under four main policy pillars;
Caregiver policy: This policy provides employees caring for immediate family members who require elder care or care due to a serious health condition and disability with up to five days of fully paid leave.
Domestic and sexual violence policy: AXA stands against domestic and sexual violence. For any employee impacted by such a situation, AXA commits to providing access to psychological support, specialist support services, flexible working arrangements, and five days of fully paid leave.
Parental policy: Besides the existing fully paid maternity leave for female employees, the We Care program provides an extended fully paid paternity leave for male employees for up to 10 working days. Additional leave and flexible working arrangements will be offered to support employees receiving and recovering from in-vitro fertilization or in the case of pregnancy loss.
Healthy You program: Launched in 2020, this health and wellbeing program provides AXA employees with benefits such as psychological assistance, teleconsultation services, medical check-ups, minimum financial coverage for cancer, and more. The program will expand further to include a supportive working environment for employees experiencing menstrual health conditions, menopause, or andropause.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The United States government gave some terrorists in Nigeria a Christmas gift that sent many of them to the great beyond.
On Thursday, December 25, 2025, the United States President, Mr Donald Trump, directed his country’s military to launch air strikes on camps of members of the dreaded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sokoto State.
According to Mr Trump, the military action, which he threatened to carry out a few weeks ago if the Nigerian government does not stop the killing of Christians in the country, occurred on Thursday night.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.
“The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.
“Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical islamic terrorism to prosper. May God bless our military, and Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Department of War of the United States posted the below video of the air strikes;
https://twitter.com/DeptofWar/status/2004351717131903272
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The presidency has reacted to speculations that Mr Femi Gbajabiamila has been removed as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
It was alleged that Mr Gbajabiamila has been replaced with the President’s Principal Private Secretary, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola.
Mr Muri-Okunola went to Abuja to take up this role after leaving as the Head of Service of the Lagos State Civil Service.
Reacting to the reports on social media on the purported removal of Mr Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, the presidency said no such change has been made.
In a statement signed on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, members of the public were advised to disregard the report as “there is absolutely no truth to this story.”
“The Chief of Staff remains in his position. The Principal Private Secretary likewise remains in his role. Hakeem Muri-Okunola has not replaced Femi Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff.
“The viral claim is a fabrication by mischievous purveyors of fake news whose sole aim is to create disharmony within the government.
“We reiterate that news media should always verify their information before publishing or sharing on social media,” the statement said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The new chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has assumed office with a clear message to advance the country’s upstream oil and gas sector in line with the mandate of the commission as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
According to a statement signed by Mr Eniola Akinkuotu, the Head of Media & Strategic Communications at the upstream regulator, the NUPRC boss made this assertation during her first town hall meeting with management and staff on Tuesday December 23, 2025.
She further disclosed plans to make the commission a business enabler and re-ignite investments in the upstream sector.
Recall that President Tinubu nominated Mrs Eyesan to take over the NUPRC after the abrupt resignation of her predecessor, Mr Gbenga Komolafe as well as his counterpart in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Farouk Ahmed.
In her new capacity, Mrs Eyesan also set a firm production ambition of growing Nigeria’s output and increasing gas production.
“The goal is that we must enable the industry, we are regulators. We must enable the industry from our interactions with the stakeholders, from our interactions with everybody.
“My main objective is to ensure that we make a difference. I believe the NUPRC is at the Center of the industry,” she said.
The commission boss who has served for over three decades in the oil and gas sector, promised to entrench digitisation, transparency and efficiency in operations.
The NUPRC head said with the support of staff and management, the NUPRC will become the gold-standard regulator in Africa. She also promised capacity development, stronger technical depth and sustained engagement with stakeholders, unions and professional teams.
On leadership style, Mrs Eyesan promised an open-door policy and frequent staff engagement, while also soliciting for support and cooperation as the industry embarks on the next phase of transformation.
“If we work together we can unleash opportunities, I don’t see impediments only opportunities,” she added.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn