Union Bank Introduces Robotics Competition for Teenagers

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian e-book distribution startup, OkadaBooks, which allows users to bypass traditional publishers and publish their stories, will shut down by the end of this month. In a message seen by Business Post on Monday, the platform, which was established by Mr Okechukwu Ofili, said, “After much consideration and reflection, we have come to a difficult decision, OkadaBooks will be closing its virtual doors on November 30, 2023.” The statement added that, “This has not been an easy choice. We’ve explored various avenues to keep our virtual bookshelves alive, but, unfortunately, the challenges we face are insurmountable.” Mr

By Adedapo Adesanya Mr Obari Gomba, a playwright, has been announced as the winner of the $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature for the 2023 cycle on Drama for his work titled Grit. The prize, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), was announced on Friday by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, the Chairperson of the Advisory Board, at the Grand Award Night ceremony in Lagos, themed Redefinition. She also announced Eyoh Asuquo Etim’s entry Herstory versus ‘History’: A Motherist Rememory in Akachi Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong Ones and Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun as the 2023 winner of The

By Adedapo Adesanya The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, has congratulated teachers in Nigeria and all over the world on the occasion of this year’s World Teachers’ Day, noting their immeasurable contributions to society and promising better welfare. According to a statement released by his media aide, Mr Musa Abdullahi Krishi, the Speaker described teachers as destiny moulders and life changers. He also hailed teachers for their critical roles in the mental and behavioural development of their pupils and students. Mr Abbas noted that teachers or lecturers not only educate but also serve as guardians and

By Adedapo Adesanya Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction for his novel Prophet Song, a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny. The 46-year-old beat five other shortlisted novelists to the prestigious award at a ceremony in London. He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel. “This was not an easy book to write,” Mr Lynch said after collecting his award, which comes with £50,000 (around $63,000) and a huge boost

By Nneka Okumazie Should this be called life or should it be called hardship? The attainment of struggles constancy – makes life, for many, of rough difficulty. Usually, it is assumed that rejection is an event, but there are those in rejection permanence – exempted from peace, health, love, luck, etc. What kind of disadvantage is it, having no business with certain situations, but becoming its casualty? What sense does it make, that misunderstanding or assumptive philosophy causes certain individuals to insist recklessly on the wrong, heedless of its cataclysmic ink? The last few centuries were, for humans, of accelerated

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange jumped by 1.26 per cent on Thursday, November 9, with Aradel Holdings Plc growing by N65 to settle at N715.00 per unit versus the previous day’s value of N650.00 per unit. As a result, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 10.42 points to wrap the session at 837.66 points compared with the preceding day’s 827.24 points, and the market capitalisation of the exchange expanded by N7.06 billion to N1.136 trillion from the N1.121 trillion achieved a day earlier. Yesterday, the volume of transacted stocks decreased by 95.3 per

By Modupe Gbadeyanka National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 0.52 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2017. This was disclosed in its latest report released on Tuesday. The decline in the country’s GDP is the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since the first quarter of 2016. In addition, this is 0.15 percent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (revised to –0.67 percent from –0.36 percent) higher by 1.21 percent points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter, (revised to –1.73 percent from

By Dipo Olowookere The equity prices of Zenith Bank Plc and Honeywell Flour Mill Plc were on Thursday adjusted by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The prices of shares of the two companies were cut following the dividends proposed for payment to shareholders of the organisations. The qualification dates for the cash reward was Wednesday, September 16, 2020, and today, their prices were marked down and the exact amount recommended for the dividend deducted from their previous day’s closing prices. The board of Zenith Bank proposed to pay an interim dividend of 30 kobo to shareholders of the financial institution

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Wednesday following the lackluster performance seen over the past few sessions. Renewed uncertainty about a potential U.S.-China trade deal may weigh on the markets after President Donald Trump failed to offer many details about the trade talks in a speech on Tuesday. Early trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders wait for congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Traders are likely to keep a close eye on Powell?s testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee for clues about the outlook for

By Dipo Olowookere Mr Tony Agenmonmen has been elected the new president and chairman of council of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN). Mr Agenmonmen clinched the coveted position after his opponent for the same seat, Dr Rotimi Olaniyan, announced his withdrawal from the race shortly before the commencement of voting. The new NIMN president left Nigerian Breweries this year and was the Senior Strategy Manager of the company while he was there. In his acceptance speech, Mr Agenmonmen promised to fulfil his campaign promises and take the body to enviable heights. According to him, one of his

An international forensic expert has waded into the widespread debate that the recent United States allegations against Mr Allen Onyema has generated. In a published article titled Allen Onyema and Air Peace V. US Department of Justice, Professor Emmanuel Emenyonu, a professor of Fraud and Forensic Accounting at the Southern Connecticut State University, USA, dismissed public commentary that the case is related to the recent indictment of Nigerians engaged in cybercrimes stating that “nothing could be furthest from the truth as there are hardly any facts in the November 19, 209 Grand Jury indictment.” He made it clear that the

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that it injected a sum totalling $325.5million in the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY14million in the spot and short tenored forwards segment of the interbank foreign market. This issuance was made known by the apex bank’s Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, in a statement from the nation’s capital, Abuja on Friday. Mr Okoroafor explained that the forex intervention was for agricultural machineries and industrial raw materials,adding that the Chinese Yuan, on the other hand, was for Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit. He further stated his