FG Summons US Envoy to Explain Trump’s ‘Shithole’ Remarks

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 Adedapo Adesanya  The Kwara State Government has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IHS Nigeria for the development of a technology innovation facility in the state. In a statement released by the government’s spokesperson, Mr Rafiu Ajakaye, it was said that Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the governor of the state, signed the MoU alongside IHS Nigeria CEO, Mr Mohamad Darwish, at a brief ceremony attended by several officials in Ilorin, Kwara State on Saturday, November 18, 2023. The project tagged Ilorin Innovation Hub is part of the state government’s efforts to stimulate and deepen the alignment

By Dipo Olowookere President Bola Tinubu has arrived at the National Assembly to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the federal lawmakers. The President got to the parliament at about a few minutes past 11 am on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, and was accompanied by the Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima; his Chief of Staff, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila; the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Abdullahi Gandoje; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr George Akume; among others. He is expected to present the 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion to a joint

By Bliss Okperan The Minister of FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, has been advised to extend an olive branch to the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminialayi Fubara. The Minister, who handed over the reins of Rivers State to Mr Fubara, has been at loggerheads with his successor. A few weeks ago, some lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Mr Wike attempted to impeach the Governor, but President Bola Tinubu quickly intervened and doused the tension. However, all is still not well with both parties, with the Minister granting an interview last week to accuse his ‘political

By Dipo Olowookere Acting Managing Director of 9mobile, Mr Stephane Beuvelet, has reaffirmed the company’s support for young entrepreneurs and technology start-ups in Nigeria. Speaking recently at the launch of the Vatebra Tech Hub, Ajah, Lagos, Mr Beuvelet said 9mobile, known as an innovative and youth-focused telecommunications firm, will continue to assist entrepreneurs in the country to achieve their growth and development plans in a competitive global economy. He said 9mobile remains committed to young entrepreneurs, start-ups and MSMEs, and will not relent in supporting their dreams and aspirations. The Vatebra Tech Hub was created by Vatebra Limited, with funding

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange suffered a 0.51 per cent loss in Week 5, with the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) going down to 742 points from 745.82 points of the preceding week. The negative outcome occurred as two stocks weighed down the bourse through the five days of trade with NASD Plc and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc shouldering the responsibility. NASD Plc lost 26.4 per cent to trade at N10.96 per share compared with N14.90 per share of the earlier week, while CSCS Plc depleted by 1.5 per cent to N19.70 per unit

By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu Late fiery human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi, aptly captured how selective dispensation of justice, especially those involving corruption is. “When the poor, the lowly and the weak transgress the law of the land, the fullest weight of the law through its punitive mechanism is crushingly brought to bear on them; but when the powerful, the mighty and the rich offend the laws of the nation, they do so without the wildest punitive reaction of the enforcers and dispensers of the law.” What we have succeeded in raising are super personalities. Whether super cops, super politicians, or

By Dipo Olowookere A Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) would be dispatched to Nigeria by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Announcing this on Thursday, November 10, 2016, the USAID explained that the team would support government’s efforts to reduce food insecurity in the Boko Haram-affected regions of the country’s northeast. “The U.S. Government is deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria and the surrounding region. Approximately 9.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Administrator Smith. “With the announcement of the DART, we are acting swiftly to accelerate and expand our humanitarian response in

Governors from the 36 states have again failed in their bid to stop the implementation of guidelines issued by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), directing banks not to allow transactions in States/Local Government Joint Accounts but that such accounts should only be used to distribute allocations to accounts of local governments directly. The governors, under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), sued the NFIU challenging the legality of the guidelines. When the matter came up on Monday at the Federal High Court 2, Abuja presided over by Justice Tsoho in suit No. FHC/Abj/CS/563/19, the judge declined a

By Quantitative Financial Analytics NIFEX Spot The FMDQ NIFEX Spot increased by N0.63 or 0.2% ending the day at a rate of N318.125 against the previous day’s rate of N317.5 Source: Quantitative Financial Analytics Open Interest and Volume Analysis Open interest in currency futures increased by 0.39%, (13.31) from 3,426.95 to 3,440.26 arising from additional notional purchases of  $12.6 and $0.7 million contracts of NGUS SEP 20 2017 and NGUS NOV 23 2016 respectively. Mark to Market Analysis and Attribution The estimated Mark to Market (MTM) of open interest now stands at N200.36 billion, an increase of 1.49%, (N2.9 billion)

By Dipo Olowookere Winners of Isedowo empowerment initiative of Goldberg lager beer have affirmed that the scheme has indeed provided them huge relief from financial challenges hitherto faced in expanding their businesses. So far, 32 artisans and small scale business operators have been supported with N300,000 each by Isedowo in Osun and Ekiti States, while the project continues in other Southwest states. In all, Goldberg will support 100 entrepreneurs through Isedowo across the Yoruba speaking states. Ojo Adeosun, a fashion designer, who was overjoyed after receiving the grant, said the N300,000 was a huge upliftment from financial challenges as it

By Dipo Olowookere Scheduled flight operations by First Nation Airways have been suspended by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). At the moment, the company is only permitted to carry out charter services. The reason for the development is because of a reduction in the fleet size of First Nation Airways, but normal operations would resume as soon as the airline operator meets the requirements for scheduled services. Speaking on Monday at the commencement of the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s audit of the NCAA in Lagos, the Director-General of the Nigerian aviation agency, Captain Muhtar Usman, stated that company