LBS Hires Former Ecobank MD Patrick Akinwuntan as Lecturer

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has increased the school fees of new students into Federal Government Colleges (FGCs), otherwise known as Federal Unity Colleges. The fees, which were increased to N100,000, represent a 122.2 per cent increase when compared to the previous fees of N45,000. This means that parents and guardians will pay the new fees per term for their wards in these schools. This disclosure was contained in a circular from the Office of the Director of Senior Secondary Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, with reference number ADF/120/DSSE/I, dated May 25, 2023, and addressed to

By Aduragbemi Omiyale More than 17,000 students from across the nation have registered for the prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) competition, Interswitch SPAK. The educational contest is organised by Africa’s leading integrated digital payments and e-commerce enabler, Interswitch, to promote STEM subjects in secondary schools. The programme, in its 5th year, is currently operational in Nigeria and Kenya and was conceptualised by the organisers in 2017 to ignite, promote, and reward STEM interest in young Africans. It has since drawn over 9,000 schools and over 60,000 students from senior secondary schools across Nigeria, six of which appear in

By Adedapo Adesanya The World Bank has approved additional financing of $700 million for Nigeria to scale up the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme to improve secondary education opportunities among girls in targeted states. The additional financing, according to the global lender, will improve project activities from the current seven states to 11 additional states and increase the targeted beneficiaries to include out-of-school (OOS) girls, those who are married, and those who have disabilities. Nigeria has over 12 -15 million out-of-school children in the school-age group, reportedly one of the largest, with the majority of them

By Adedapo Adesanya UBN Property Company Plc, one of the subsidiaries of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, has proposed to pay a five kobo dividend to its shareholders despite suffering a 39 percent slump in profit in the 2019 financial year. The property investment arm of the financial institution said the cash reward will be paid to investors whose names appear on the register of members as at the close of business on Thursday, June 11. The company also noted that its closure of register will happen from Monday, June 15, to Friday, June 19, 2020, inclusive of both days.

By Adedapo Adesanya Despite a drop in demand, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday, July 13. Business Post gathered from FMDQ Securities Exchange that the local currency depreciated by 25 kobo or 0.06 per cent to sell for N411.75/$1 yesterday in contrast to N411.50/$1 it traded on Monday. During the session, the market segment recorded a turnover of $116.15 million, 34.1 per cent or $59.98 million lower than the $176.13 million achieved at the preceding session. A look at the unregulated window of the

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), in furtherance of its humanitarian support to victims of the Boko Haram insurgency, has established another field hospital to cater for the healthcare needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Bama. The latest facility makes the second field hospital to be established by the NAF in Borno State to cater for IDP needs, with the first being in the Dalori IDP Camp. The Bama IDP Camp, before now, had been in dire need of additional medical facilities as the only medical outfit established by UNICEF was already overstretched and lacking the requisite

Healthcare leaders from across Africa have highlighted the need to promptly address critical issues such as government regulations, financing, leadership and management strategies in Africa’s healthcare sectors. These issues were brought to the fore at the Leaders in Healthcare Conference held at ongoing Medic West Africa Exhibition and Conferences at Eko Hotels, Lagos. Under the chairmanship of Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire, the conference which had the theme, Laying the foundation for the provision of primary healthcare in West Africa”, explored systematic developments in healthcare, globally and nationally, in a bid to enable the successful development of

By Adedapo Adesanya The market capitalisation of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange increased on Monday, August 17 by N3.65 billion or 0.70 per cent. The leap in the total size of the market yesterday was as a result of the gains in the share price of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc. The company, which was the day’s single price mover, jerked up by N20.12 on the first trading session of the week to N324.79 per share from N304.87 per cent. This rise pushed the market capitalisation of the exchange higher to N527.73 billion from the previous session’s

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On Monday, the Lagos State government directed all its revenue agencies to ensure prompt payment of taxes and also commence enforcement of payment by all tax defaulters with immediate effect. The government said it had concluded plans to go all out to enforce the tax laws so as to bring more Lagosians into the tax net. A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, lamented that many residents were not fulfilling their civic obligation of paying their taxes and that the prevailing situation would adversely affect government’s infrastructural renewal drive currently ongoing

By Modupe Gbadeyanka One of the top lenders in Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc, has expressed its intention to issue about $500 million Eurobond in the second tranche of the $1 billion Global Medium Term Note programme it launched in 2014. In the first tranche of the exercise, the financial institution’s $500 million Eurobond was oversubscribed by investors mainly from Nigeria, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, Zenith Bank explained that it, “Intends to utilize the net proceeds of the Second Tranche Notes for its general

By Dipo Olowookere Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, has disclosed that the Federal Government has raised the supply of fish to 1.1 million metric tonnes from 800 metric tonnes in 2015 to cover for the deficit of 2.1 million metric tonnes. Mr Lokpobiri explained that the increase in fish production was a result of the government’s policy of backward integration of breeding fish locally and reduction in fish importation. He said the Federal Government was “working hard to close the deficit of demand on fish in Nigeria and also to meet the fish demand