CAC Concludes Registration of NNPC Limited

By Adedapo Adesanya A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, has adjourned an alleged procurement fraud case involving ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to January 18 and 19, 2024, for continuation of trial. Mr Emefiele is standing trial on a six-count amended charge on alleged procurement of vehicles to the tune of N1.6 billion. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was granted bail on November 17, 2023, to the tune of N300 million, and two sureties and remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, pending when he meets his bail conditions. However,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka An initiative aimed to promote the diversity of the African continent and showcase its rich cultural heritage to the rest of the world has been launched by YouTube. The social campaign, The Voices of Africa, will be used to celebrate the continent’s unique and traditional expressions through a select group of African creators. They will create and share videos on their YouTube Channels of their unique cultural heritage stories about their local traditions and practices, conversations with friends and family, and with people in their local communities. Some of the creators who are part of the campaign

By Bliss Okperan A helicopter operated by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Friday crash-landed and exploded at the NAF Base, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the incident in a statement, noting that the NAF-35p had taken off on an operation against oil thieves in Rivers State before the unfortunate incident. He said five persons on board survived the air mishap with minor injuries. “A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) MI-35P helicopter crashed at Port Harcourt today, December 1, 2023. The unfortunate incident occurred at about 7.45 am shortly

By Bliss Okperan The Tincan Island Port (TCIP) Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has created a mobile application to automate its bond and license unit, Transire. At the unveiling of the app on Thursday, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Dera Nnadi, said the need to automate the Bond and License Unit had become imperative for administrative and procedural ease of doing business in the command. Speaking at a sensitization program on the automation process, Mr Nnadi informed participants that the application was developed by Superintendent of Customs Samuel Bello, to reduce the volumes of documents being deployed in

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government of Nigeria has revealed that as at July 2019, it has disbursed a total of N275 billion monthly stipend to beneficiaries of the N-Power Graduate Programme. This is according to the N-Power Impact Report 2019, which indicated that the programme’s objective was to revive the economy by creating 500,000 graduate jobs and deploying them to four key sectors, including education, agriculture, health and finance/tax. The report explained that the N-Power programme was segmented into four streams, which are N-Power Teach; N-Power Agro, N-Power Tax and N-Power Health. In the N-Power Teach volunteers under the

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded its first loss in straight eight sessions on Monday, going down marginally by 0.01 percent. This was majorly caused by activities of profit takers, which brought both the All-Share Index (ASI) down by 1.18 points to 22,920.41 points from 22,921.59 points, and the market capitalisation by N1 billion to N11.945 trillion from N11.946 trillion. Business Post observed that the downtrend recorded on the first trading day of the week was influenced by selloffs in the banking space. The index fell by 4.01 percent, while the oil/gas counter depreciated by 0.45 percent.

By Dipo Olowookere Last Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wielded the big stick on Oando Plc and the issue has remained a talking point since then. At the weekend, a letter addressed to the Chairman of the company, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, by the regulator surfaced. In the letter dated May 31, 2019, SEC said the forensic audit of the firm’s activities showed some infractions allegedly committed by the indigenous energy firm, including insider trading. The regulator, in the letter, said as a result of the alleged wrongdoings, the company must pay the sum of N89.675 million to

By Adedapo Adesanya The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said increased levels of water stress and hazards like withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies, and ecosystems hard. In a report titled The State of the Climate in Africa 2021, the organisation revealed that rainfall patterns are disrupted, glaciers are disappearing, and key lakes are shrinking. This is occasioned by rising water demand, combined with limited and unpredictable supplies, which threatens to aggravate conflict and displacement. The WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said – “The worsening crisis and looming famine in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa shows how

By Dipo Olowookere One Sunday Onani Ogar has been apprehended by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly diverting 15 bundles of mosquito nets each containing 50 pieces. The suspect was nabbed by the Gombe Zonal Office of the anti-graft agency on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, after receiving intelligence report that some nets meant for distribution to 40 Primary Health Care Centres located at Dukku Local Government Area of Gombe State were diverted for sale. The goods were handed over to the suspect by a staff of the National Malaria Control Unit, Gombe. While distributing same,

By Dipo Olowookere High Commissioner Jonathan Drew opened a conference on FinTech on Wednesday 25 January, a joint initiative from the British High Commission in Mauritius, the Financial Services Promotion Agency and the Board of Investment. The conference explored the development of Mauritius as a FinTech hub for the Sub-Saharan Africa region. A panel of experts, led by Nicole Anderson, CEO of FinTech Circle Innovate, shared their insight on how the British FinTech model can be applied in Mauritius to implement innovative solutions in the financial services sector and drive economic growth. In the presence of Her Excellency Dr Ameenah

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The global mentorship program of Nexford University called Global Grid has been launched in Nigeria with the aim to connect learners to promising careers through mentorship. Serving as mentors for the scheme are Dr Ola Brown of Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company, Dr Modupe Adefeso-Olateju of The Education Partnership Centre, Yemi Faseun of YF Talent Partners, and Gbenga Totoyi of Alan & Grant. According to the Washington D.C.-based next-generation university platform, Global Grid enables talents from across the world to prepare for remote jobs as it increases awareness around the millions of jobs that are moving online,

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria, through the Small and Medium Development Agency (SMEDAN) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and Cameroon, via the Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Agency (SMEPA) and the Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR), have agreed to strengthen trade relationship to enhance free flow of goods and services using the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of both countries to achieve these. This followed a working visit of SMEPA representatives to SON Corporate Headquarters led by officials of the SMEDAN as part of a study tour to Nigeria. Dr Friday Okpara, Director, Policy, Partnership and Coordination, SMEDAN,