June 12: NUPENG, PENGASSAN Urge Buhari to Honour Past Leaders

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has declared Monday, October 2, 2023, a public holiday to celebrate Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Day, which falls on Sunday, October 1. The Minister of Interior, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this known in a statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs Oluwatoyin Akinlade, in Abuja on Thursday. Mr Olubunmi acknowledged the global socio-economic hardship, noting that Nigeria is not excluded. He, however, reasserted the government’s commitment to tackling the issues facing the country to reassure Nigerians. “It is today a known fact that difficult Socio-Economic and Security challenges are global, and Nigeria is not

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has charged the National Assembly to continue to cooperate with the executive arm of government, noting that governance is a collective responsibility and not a personal endeavour. He said this at the retreat for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly last Friday at the Four Points by Sheraton, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Mr Shettima said the administration of President Ahmed Tinubu was committed to safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy and maintaining the fraternal bond between the two arms of government. He described the composition of the federal government as well as

By Bliss Okperan The Sokoto State Election Petition Tribunal will on Saturday, September 30, 2023, deliver a judgement on the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship election in the state, Mr Sa’idu Umar. Mr Umar challenged the victory of the Governor of Sokoto State, Mr Ahmed Aliyu, who contested the poll under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He said Mr Aliyu was not qualified to partake in the poll and also alleged electoral fraud during the March 18 governorship election. In a press release, the court stated that, “Take

By Precious Olisa Three Nigerian women entrepreneurs have been selected among 24 finalists for the 2023 African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) awards. The Nigerians are the CEO of Bridge Merchant Enterprise (Agri Entrepreneur Award), Ms Chinwendu Nweke; the CEO of Clean Technology Hub (Energy Entrepreneur Award), Ms Ifeoma Malo; and the co-founder/CEO of D-Olivette Global Enterprise, (Social Entrepreneur Award), Ms Damilola Aminat Adeyemi. Launched in 2017, the annual AWIEF Awards is an initiative to recognise, honour, and celebrate women entrepreneurs and business owners in Africa across various industry sectors for their achievements and contribution to the continent’s inclusive

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr Adams Dabutorudima, has tendered his resignation letter. However, Mr Dabutorudima did not give reason for his action. The Speaker made known his decision to vacate the post on Friday afternoon shortly after the swearing-in of newly elected members of the Assembly. His action resulted into the re-election of a former Speaker of the Rivers Assembly, Mr Ikuinyi Ibani-Awaji, to the position. This followed his return to the Assembly after winning his rerun election. Mr Ibani-Awaji was among the new lawmakers sworn-in on Friday by the Assembly.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The declaration of Africa as ‘wild poliovirus free’ has been welcomed by the world’s single largest producers of vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur. In a statement, the company described the ambition to eradicate polio from Africa and the world as a “long journey”, noting that certification by the independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC),\ was “a watershed for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and all partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). “ The ARCC, the body responsible for certifying the eradication of wild poliovirus in the WHO Africa Region (WHO-Afro), granted the region ‘wild poliovirus free’ status

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian startup, Owoafara, has announced plans to help small businesses grow and scale sustainability by connecting them with finance and business services. The firm, which was founded in January 2019, was launched to solve the access to finance and business support problem of over 50 million underserved small businesses. Mrs ‘Tale Alimi, who co-founded Owoafara alongside Ms Sally-Ann Ezekiel, said the startup’s first MVP, launched in November 2019, was a credit scoring and fund-matching platform to give small businesses a credit score and match them with financial institutions that would fund them. “We have over 15 financial

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira gained a whopping N15.95 or 3.89 per cent against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, January 4, coming back from the rush around the New Year holidays that saw the Naira dip by more than 4 per cent. At the first trading session of the year, the local currency strengthened to N394.30/$1 from N410.25/$1 it was exchanged at the last session on Thursday, December 31, 2020. The appreciation came from the drop in the demand for the greenback yesterday as the daily market turnover

By Dipo Olowookere One of the new financial institutions in the country, Titan Trust Bank, has taken over one of the old generation banks, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. Titan Trust Bank, which has veteran banker, Mr Tunde Lemo, as its Chairman, is now in control of Union Bank after acquiring an 89.39 per cent stake in the lender. The new bank bought the shareholding from Union Global Partners Limited, though the deal is subject to obtaining applicable regulatory approvals and the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent. “The board of Titan Trust Bank and our key stakeholders are delighted as

By Dipo Olowookere The management of BUA Group has reacted to a statement released on Monday by Dangote Group alleging that the former was stealing and illegally mining limestone at mining sites in Obu, Okpella, Edo State. In the statement released later on Monday, BUA Group described Dangote Group’s statement as one which “stinks of desperation in its continued attempt to disregard the judicial process and scheme a viable competitor out of business as has been their legendary antecedent.” It said Dangote Group was scheming plans to ensure BUA Group was out of business like it allegedly did to Ibeto,

By Dipo Olowookere List of the best 100 companies to work for in Africa has been released and the top four include the World Bank Group, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The ranking was conducted through the 2018 Careers in Africa Employer of Choice Survey, where over 20,000 African professionals answered questions about employee engagement and employment conditions. They also answered questions on opportunities to learn new skills, quality of healthcare provisions, leadership and opportunities for advancement emerged as key indicators of great employers. Commenting on the AfDB ranking, Alex Mugan, Managing Director of the Global

By Adedapo Adesanya  Finery Markets, a leading provider of Over-the-Counter (OTC) trading solutions for institutions and crypto businesses, has announced the launch of FM Liquidity Match, the first-ever electronic OTC-as-a-service for digital assets. In a press release sent to Business Post, the company also announced that Floating Point Group would become its first user. FM Liquidity Match is a ready-to-deploy trading solution with a proprietary matching engine that enables market players to launch a fully electronic OTC trading business and manage client relations throughout the entire trade cycle. According to Mr Konstantin Shulga, CEO and co-founder of Finery Markets, “We