Lagos Charges N1.37m for 2021 Umrah

By Aduragbemi Omiyale An artificial intelligence-powered feature, Dream Screen for Shorts, designed to redefine how creators use YouTube, has been unveiled by the video streaming platform. The feature was introduced by the tech giant on Thursday alongside others at the Made On YouTube event. It was created to allow YouTube creators to reach more viewers. According to the firm, Dream Screen allows creators to add AI-generated video or image backgrounds to their Shorts simply by typing an idea into a prompt. With Dream Screen, creators will be able to generate new, fantastic settings for their Shorts that are only limited

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria faces a crippling fertiliser shortage as 34,000 metric tonnes of Russian Fertiliser meant for Nigeria is stuck at ports in the European Union (EU) as a result of continued war in Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov, confirmed this development on Saturday at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, noting that 260,000 metric tonnes of Russian fertilisers have been stranded in EU ports since 2022. According to Russian News Agency, TASS, Mr Lavrov informed reporters that, “We are ready to give these fertilisers to African countries for free. It took six

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On October 1, 2023, food enthusiasts and stakeholders will gather at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos to have a taste of Nigerian cuisine at an event organised by 3X4 Foods, a subsidiary of 3 BY 4 Gourmet. The founder of 3X4 Foods, Ms Banke Makinde, said the programme, Street Food Celebration, would be used to showcase the Nigerian culture, through food, to the world. She said the event would provide an opportunity to celebrate Nigeria’s culture, history, and people through street food, and promote cultural entertainment, and delicious gourmet street food. According to her, Street Food Celebration

By Precious Olisa Three persons have been confirmed dead due to the heavy downpour that happened in Genere, Rikkos, Bauchi Road and Eto-Baba communities of Jos North Local Government. It was said that the rain lasted for two days. The Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Eugene Nyenlong, who confirmed the incident, said his agency got a distress call that three persons had died as a result of the flood that occurred. “As I speak to you, we are moving to the scene with other stakeholders to have an on-the-spot assessment of the disaster and also

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A total turnover of 988.5 million shares worth N13.8 billion were traded in 16,414 deals last week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). This was in contrast to a total of 1.025 billion shares valued at N9.9 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 19,375 deals. During the week, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 2.41 percent while the market capitalisation appreciated by 7.91 percent to close the week at 28,566.79 points and N13.922 trillion respectively. All other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE banking index that rose

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given a one-year moratorium on all principal repayments for COVID-19 intervention loans through its participating Other Financial Institutions (OFIs). This took effect from March 1, 2020, a circular signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Mr Kevin Amugo, on Wednesday, stated. It also stated that as part of its continued efforts to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on households, businesses and regulated institutions, interest rate on its facilities through the participating OFIs has been reduced from nine percent to five percent per annum for one year effective March

By Dipo Olowookere Renewed buying interest in financial stocks by investors marginally increased the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.01 per cent on Monday. However, the banking sub-sector of the financial services sector of the market witnessed a mixture of sell-offs and bargain hunting but in the end, the selling pressure conquered, causing the index to decline by 0.37 per cent. But the other counters closed positive with insurance rising by 1.18 per cent, energy growing by 0.29 per cent, consumer goods rising by 0.10 per cent and industrial goods appreciating by 0.01 per cent. When trading activities were halted

By Adedapo Adesanya MultiChoice Group, the owners of DStv, has announced a joint venture with Rapyd and General Catalyst to develop an integrated payment platform for Africa called Moment. In a statement, the company said Moment would offer expanded payment infrastructure for businesses across Africa to help them collect and make payments easier, quicker, and more affordable in any manner that their buyers or suppliers prefer. Moment, according to Multichoice, will also offer additional options for consumers to spend and save money more wisely. “The aim is to transform the African payments landscape by making digital payments more accessible and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The management of Aero Contractors has disengaged around 900 of its about 1,500 workers on its payroll as at September 2016. A statement by the company’s spokesman, Mr Simon Tumba, disclosed that the airline had been grappling with huge and unrealistic personnel cost as well as other operational challenges, worsened by lack of enough aircraft to keep all the workers meaningfully engaged. The total number of workers sacked by Aero Contractors represents about 60 percent of its workforce. It was gathered that letters of redundancy were issued to the affected employees during the week. The airline, which

By Adedapo Adesanya President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sum of N8.5 billion for the conduct of ground-breaking research in medicine and other areas in 2021 under the National Research Fund (NRF) scheme funded by the Tertiary Education Trust (TETFund). This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Mr Suleiman Bogoro, on Wednesday at a 3-day workshop for Directors of Research and Development of public universities in Nigeria held at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Training Institute, Maitama, Abuja. Mr Bogoro said: “With your support, I made a case to the board of trustees to increase the NRF

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) threw another bombshell on Tuesday as a federal high court in Abuja granted its request to freeze bank accounts of a few financial technology (fintech) companies for 180 days. The affected companies were Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses and Trove Technologies Limited. The apex bank accused the listed companies of “illegal foreign exchange transactions” and sought the court’s injunction to freeze their bank accounts for six months pending the completion of investigations. In the motion ex parte marked FCH/ABJ/CS/822/2021 and filed on

By Dipo Olowookere Government of Uganda under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, has said it will launch the Social Protection Investment Case Report, calling for sustained investments in social protection, in order to reduce poverty levels and improve livelihoods of vulnerable groups such as children, women, youth, older persons, and persons with disabilities, in the short, medium and long run. This is expected to take place on Tuesday, November 22, 2016 from 8:30am to 1pm at the Golf Course Hotel, Kampala. According to a statement obtained by Business Post, the guest of honour for the launch is