Connect with us

General

AfDB Approves $760,000 for Small-Scale Renewable Energy

Published

on

Renewable Energy

By Adedapo Adesanya

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $760,000 grant to Empower New Energy AS (EmNEW) to develop at least eight small-scale renewable energy projects in Africa.

The project, which will be executed through the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), will have a capacity ranging from 1-10 Megawatts.

The grant will support a broad range of project preparation and development activities, including technical feasibility studies, legal due diligence, environmental and social impact assessment, quality assurance and risk management.

According to the bank’s Acting Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, Mr Wale Shonibare, the project will not only boost accessibility to energy for the continent but will be environmentally friendly.

“Accelerated deployment of distributed solar power and small hydropower is one of the fastest and most cost-efficient ways to bridge the energy access gap, fight climate change and promote sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Reechoing Mr Shonibare’s sentiment, the bank’s acting Director for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency, Mr Daniel Schroth, explained that AfDB’s support to EmNEW through SEFA was fully aligned with SEFA’s strategy to tackle challenges faced by smaller renewable energy projects in many African countries in accessing financing to cover their initial development costs.

EmNEW’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Terje Osmundse, welcomed the approval and said it would help in taking a faster approach towards the projects.

“We are very excited to be entering into a partnership with the African Development Bank and SEFA. There is a large number of strong small or medium scale projects across Africa that remain unrealised because they can’t access competitive financing.

“Our approach allows us to bridge this gap and working with SEFA will help us to accelerate this process and support more high-quality projects.

“Together, we can bring impactful investment to Africa, while helping the continent to meet its electrification, carbon-reduction, and sustainable development targets,” he said.

Drawing on high-quality local partnerships in Africa, EmNEW invests in renewable energy projects through competitive equity to small and medium scale projects which helps to reduce the time and resources required to finance projects while delivering environmental and social impact.

Through its Empower Invest fund, EmNEW invests in small and medium-scale renewable energy projects in Africa, with a focus on solar power, hybrid, and hydro technologies.

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

General

IFMA Nigeria Gets Branch in Oyo, Picks Adejumo Olusola Babatunde as Coordinator

Published

on

IFMA Nigeria Oyo branch

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A new branch of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Nigeria Chapter has been established in Oyo State, with Mr Adejumo Olusola Babatunde chosen as Coordinator.

The organisation set up an arm in the South-West state in a bid to expand its footprint in the country. Mr Babatunde will be assisted by other executive committee members, including Mr Ajiboye Olusola Akeem as Secretary, and Mrs Adeniran Olaide as Treasurer.

At the inauguration of the branch at the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Secretariat in the Akobo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the president of IFMA Nigeria, Mr Sheriff Daramola, expressed delight at the successful inauguration of the branch and commended members for their commitment to the growth of facility management in Nigeria.

He highlighted IFMA’s global heritage, noting that the association is supporting over 25,000 members in more than 140 countries worldwide. Mr Daramola emphasised IFMA’s strong global network, the world’s largest and most widely recognised association for facility management professionals, headquartered in the United States and its growing influence in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

“IFMA members have taken positions of authority across federal, state, and private institutions; IFMA Nigeria is positioned to ensure our professionals are the first choice for global investors entering the Nigerian market,” he stated.

The Legal Adviser of IFMA, Nigeria, Mr Sola Fatoki, who shared this sentiment, said, “Since 1997, when IFMA Nigeria was established, the association has equipped facility management professionals with integrated knowledge spanning human behaviour, infrastructure, and the built environment.”

He encouraged engineers, architects, surveyors, ITC, Technology innovators, data analysts and allied professionals to see IFMA as their professional home and outlined the functions and responsibilities of branch executive committees.

In his remarks, Mr Babatunde expressed gratitude to the national council for the opportunity to serve and pledged to ensure the success of the branch, focusing on unity and the professional advancement of stakeholders in the region.

Continue Reading

General

We Didn’t Recommend Ceding Disputed Oil Wells to States—RMAFC

Published

on

RMAFC

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has denied reports that some disputed crude oil and gas wells have been recommended for ceding to specific oil-producing states.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the chairman of the commission, Mr Mohammed Shehu, said the attention of RMAFC had been drawn to a “purported report allegedly issued by the Inter-Agency Committee on the Verification of Coordinates of Disputed Crude Oil and Gas Wells between States,” which was circulating in sections of the national media (excluding Business Post).

The agency described the report as “misleading, premature, and does not represent the position or conclusions of the Commission.”

“At this stage, there is no finalised recommendation or decision regarding the ceding or reallocation of any oil wells, as due institutional processes are still ongoing,” the statement read.

The organisation explained that it operates a clearly defined and transparent procedure in handling assignments of national significance, stressing that the process on the disputed oil wells had not been concluded.

It disclosed that it only received a draft report from the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on Nigeria’s Oil-Producing States on Friday, February 13, 2026, which reportedly projected Cross River State as an oil-producing state.

The report, covering the nationwide 2017–2025 verification of crude oil and gas coordinates, was presented to the Chairman of RMAFC by 10 of the 14 members of the committee.

The exercise, which ran from August 2025 to February 2026, involved extensive field verification, technical reconciliation of state submissions, and a final plenary plotting of coordinates at RMAFC headquarters between January 24 and 31, 2026.

“Consistent with established protocol, the draft document has been transmitted to relevant technical and statutory stakeholders, namely the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the National Boundary Commission, and the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, for detailed review, observations, and technical input,” the commission stated.

According to the statement, after the observations and recommendations of the agencies are received, the matter will be subjected to further scrutiny by the commission’s internal tripartite committees, comprising the Committee on Crude Oil, Gas and Investment and the Legal Matters Committee.

“These committees will undertake comprehensive technical and legal reviews before presenting their findings to the Plenary Session of RMAFC for deliberation and final recommendations,” it added.

The commission further explained that upon completion of the institutional processes, its final report would be formally transmitted to the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation for necessary consideration and further action in line with applicable laws and constitutional provisions.

Continue Reading

General

Social Media Platform X Suffers Outages Globally

Published

on

X Twitter

By Adedapo Adesanya

Social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, suffered an outage globally on Monday as millions of users could not use the service.

The widespread outages have been reported by thousands of users across several countries, including Nigeria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and India, among others.

According to data from Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions based on user reports, complaints about access to X started to pick up around 1:00 p.m. local time in Nigeria.

The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, and X has not put out any comment, but users told Business Post that the platform is not loading or cannot be reached, and the pattern of complaints suggests the issue is not limited to a single region.

Its developer platform status page stated “all systems are operational” all morning despite the reports.

The outage is the latest to hit internet services. X suffered a similar outage in March 2025, while a Cloudflare service outage caused access problems and downtime for various websites, including X, last November.

Microsoft’s Azure had also faced an issue last year, while disruption at Amazon AWS caused global turmoil among thousands of websites and some of the most popular apps, such as Snapchat and Reddit in October

Continue Reading

Trending