General
Experts Advocate Women Empowerment in Leadership
Some experts representing both international and local firms have joined forces to lend a voice to the empowerment of women and gender equality in leadership, especially as regards the workplace.
Chairman of Inclusion@Lloyd’s, who equally doubles as Global Chair of Aon Benfield Reinsurance, Dominic Christian; Executive Director, Navigate Consulting Africa Ltd., Egbe Oyegun-Adeoye; Managing Director, CMC Connect, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya and member Board of Directors, Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, Bekeme Masade-Olowola, were the panelists at the ‘Dive In Festival for Diversity & Inclusion In Insurance’, with the theme: ‘Empowering Women in Leadership’, which held recently in Lagos.
The event, which was a gathering of key players in the Insurance sector, basically talked to the issue of inclusion, especially of the women folk; stressing that by enabling and empowering women to lead in the workplace, an atmosphere of belonging with outstanding results is created.
According to Dominic Christian, Global Chairman, Aon, five years ago, when the first Dive In festival was launched in London, they wondered back then whether it would be popular enough to warrant an annual event.
“We had no idea how much support and enthusiasm was out there around the insurance industry for an initiative like this whose focus is on levelling the playing field for talent and supporting people to reach their true potential at work.
“Inclusion@lloyds created The Dive In Festival as an opportunity to enable open conversations around topics such as gender equality, social mobility and cultural differences, physical and mental health and well-being.
“We know that in order to unlock the business power of diversity, we need to build workplace cultures where people feel they can be themselves. We need to practice inclusive leadership – role modelling the behaviour we want to see in the business, respecting differences and creating space for everyone based on talent and equality.
“Our festival message, then as now, was that diversity and inclusion are good for business. Our industry must be one step ahead of the complex global challenges that are affecting business and the public sector – from globalisation, to climate change and cyber crime- and to do that, we need the brightest minds and the boldest innovation. That doesn’t come from groups of people who all think the same way. We need different perspectives, life experiences and cultures in our teams to see opportunities from different angles,” he said.
He added that since its launch in 2015, the festival message has spread across four continents. Christian also alluded to the fact that women represented 50 per cent of the global population, hence the importance of inclusion.
“Gender is one of the most apparent signs of diversity. Walk into any workplace and it is immediately apparent that there is a problem if the room is almost exclusively male”, he said.
Quoting from ‘The Business case for Change’, a global research published by the International Labour Organisation earlier this year which cited Nigerian companies among its respondents in Africa, he said: ‘Our findings indicate that enterprises with equal employment opportunity policies and gender-inclusive cultures are over 60 per cent more likely to have improved profits and productivity, and they are almost 60 per cent more likely to experience enhanced reputation, greater ease in attracting and retaining talent, and greater creativity and innovation. The business case for gender diversity, particularly for increasing the proportion of women in the management and board pipelines, is compelling.’
On their part, Bekeme Masade-Olowola and Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, were united in stressing the need for attitudinal change and a change of the mindset and thinking of the African woman, especially as it relates to cultural and traditional beliefs.
They were both of the opinion that the African cultural system of/and beliefs had done a lot in stifling the growth mindset of the African woman, and this, they say, had affected her performance in the work place. They also alluded to religious beliefs which had great influence on most African societies, as being a factor which had limited the Nigerian cum African woman’s ability to express herself in critical situations, rather seeing herself as being subject to the menfolk.
They unanimously posited a changed mindset and reorientation in order to get out of the mental rot affecting women.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The socialite declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ms Aisha Achimugu, has been taken into custody after arriving at the airport in Abuja, the country’s capital city.
Ms Achimugu, who is believed to be an ally of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, was declared wanted by the EFCC for an alleged money laundering.
“The public is hereby notified that Aisha Sulaiman Achimugu is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of criminal conspiracy and money laundering,” a statement from the agency last month said.
However, she has returned to Nigeria to honour the invitation of the anti-money laundering agency and to also clear her name.
According to reports, Ms Achimugu was picked up by operatives of the EFCC in the early hours of Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
It is not certain if she will be arraigned in court anytime soon as the EFCC has yet to issue a public statement on the latest development.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the chief executive of Meta Platforms Incorporated (Facebook), Mr Mark Zuckerberg, to pay the $220 million fine imposed on the firm by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
Last Friday, the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal upheld the $220 million fine slammed on the company for the grave violations of Nigerian consumer, data protection and privacy laws and international human rights standards.
In a statement over the weekend, SERAP advised Mr Zuckerberg and Meta “to provide (in addition to the fine) justice and effective remedies, including adequate compensation and guarantees of non-repetition for the victims of the grave violations of Nigerian consumer, data protection and privacy laws and international human rights standards.”
It also told him and his organisation to “immediately” pay the $35,000 awarded by the tribunal to the FCCPC as cost of investigation, adding that they must “immediately halt the violations found by the tribunal and prevent their re-occurrence, as well as ensure the accountability of any person(s) responsible for the violations.”
In the letter dated April 26, 2025, and signed by its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, the group said, “As Chairman and CEO, you ought to ensure enhanced transparency, human rights due diligence, accountability and remediation by Meta to ensure that Nigerians’ human rights are not threatened or violated.”
Giving more context, SERAP noted that, “The tribunal’s judgment followed the administrative penalty imposed on Meta on July 19, 2024 by the FCCPC after concluding that the companies engaged in discriminatory and exploitative practices against Nigerians.”
“The tribunal’s judgment followed a 38-month joint investigation initiated by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) into the conduct, privacy practices, and consumer data policies of Meta Platforms and WhatsApp.
“We would be grateful if these measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions at the national, regional or international levels to compel you and Meta to comply with our requests in the public interest,” SERAP said.
By Dipo Olowookere
Eight persons, comprising four Nigerians and four foreigners, believed to have promoted the failed Ponzi scheme, Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), in Nigeria have been declared wanted by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Recall that a few weeks ago, several investors lost their hard-earned funds in the investment scheme, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it did not authorise.
The platform crashed and went away with investors’ money after it made it impossible for them to withdraw their funds. It later asked them to pay an activation fee of $100 and $200, depending on what was in their wallets.
The crashing of CBEX triggered attacks on its offices, especially in Ibadan, Oyo State, by aggrieved investors, whose funds’ were trapped in CBEX.
Already, the EFCC has swung into action, arraigning the promoters of the investment scheme in court, though four of them are at large.
In a notice on Friday night, the agency said it was looking for the fugitive, asking members of the public with information about their whereabouts to come forward to aid their arrest.
The anti-money laundering organisation listed the wanted persons as Seyi Oloyede, Emmanuel Uko, Adefowowa Oluwanisola, and Adefowora Abiodun Olaonipekun, and listed Johnson Okiroh Otieno, Israel Mbaluka, Joseph Michiro Kabera, and Serah Michiro as the foreign accomplices.
“The public is hereby notified that the persons whose photographs appear above are suspected foreign accomplices wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for fraud allegedly perpetrated on an online trading platform called Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX)
“Anybody with useful information as to their whereabouts should please contact the Commission in its Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, llorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja offices or through 08093322644; its e-mail address: info@efcc.gov.ng or the nearest Police Station and other security agencies,” the notice signed by its spokesman, Mr Dele Oyewale, stated.
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