By Modupe Gbadeyanka

About 40 tons of plastic waste has been removed by Rite Foods Limited in Lagos through the award-winning Riteonthebeach project.

The campaign was carried out in partnership with Pop Beach Club, a renowned Lagos eco-resort, with support from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The clearing of the Lagos environment of the waste items is a bold demonstration of the commitment of the market leader in the food and beverage sector in Nigeria to environmental stewardship and a cleaner, healthier society.

The campaign featured vibrant community activations at the Ikeja City Mall and distributed over 30,000 recovery bags to residents, empowering them to collect and recycle plastics. This large-scale mobilisation builds on the company’s consistent beach clean-up exercises, designed to curb plastic pollution and promote a thriving circular economy.

The Managing Director of Rite Foods, Mr Seleem Adegunwa, revealed that the company employees also played a hands-on role in the campaign by actively sorting and returning plastics, recovering 288kg of post-consumer PET bottles and saving the environment 293.76kg CO₂ equivalent emissions in July alone.

“This result reinforces our belief that collective and consistent actions yield lasting impact. Riteonthebeach is a lifestyle change that supports Lagos State’s vision for a sustainable, clean, and healthy environment,” Mr Adegunwa stated.

Echoing this, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability of Rite Foods, Mr Ekuma Eze, said the firm takes responsibility for its product life cycle—from use to proper recycling.

“Our Plastic Free July campaign showed that sustainable solutions to plastic waste are possible when communities, companies, and governments work together.

“Every bottle recovered is one less hazard to our waterways, biodiversity, and climate. Plastic is not the problem, improper disposal is and we are leading the charge for a sustainable solution through our Riteonthebeach initiative” Mr Eze noted, adding, “By keeping plastics out of our waters, we protect ecosystems and open doors for recycling innovations that transform waste into valuable products.”

The convener of Popbeach Club, Mr Akin Disu, said beyond clean-ups, the collaboration is creating jobs and educational opportunities, allowing shoreline communities to exchange collected waste plastics for recycling, while the proceeds from sale of plastic waste is deployed to back-to-school program for children in underserved communities.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

About 247 companies have been removed from the database of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a statement from the agency said on Friday.

The affected firms were yanked off by the commission’s records because they were not duly registered, the notice said.

The CAC described the registered certificate (RC) numbers ascribed to the companies, including Equity Concept, Honeywell Oil and Gas, JB Investment Limited, and the Nigerian-American Bank Limited, among others as illegal.

“The general public is hereby informed that the 247 names listed here below have not been duly registered as limited liability companies.

“The Registered Certificate (RC) numbers allegedly ascribed to them have not been assigned to anyone of them. Consequently, the names and the RC numbers have been removed from the Database.

“Members of the general public are enjoined to disregard any claim to their existence as legal persons or claims to rights and obligations founded on their existence as legal persons,” the notice stated.

Below are the affected organisations;

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria has rolled out a blueprint to reposition its long-stalled steel industry as the backbone of the country’s industrialisation drive, with new investments exceeding $1.3 billion and a production target of 10 million tonnes of liquid steel by 2030.

Speaking in Abuja at the Inaugural Stakeholders Summit on the Development of the Steel Sector, the Vice President,  Mr Kashim Shettima, said the Bola Tinubu-led administration is determined to turn decades of missed opportunities into “a future where Nigeria becomes a regional steel powerhouse.”

“For nearly fifty years, we have nurtured the dream of becoming a regional steel powerhouse. We are now ready to make that dream a reality. We are not here to mourn missed opportunities. We are here to make the future,” he said.

At the centre of the plan is the revival of legacy assets including the Ajaokuta Steel Company, the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, the National Iron Ore Mining Company, and Delta Steel Company (now Premium Steel and Mines).

Tinubu revealed that the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tyazhpromexport and its consortium to rehabilitate and operate both Ajaokuta and the Itakpe iron ore mines.

Other proposals from Chinese and international partners are under review, with a technical and financial audit of Ajaokuta already underway.

In a diversification push, the administration has launched the construction of five mini-LNG plants worth over $500 million in Ajaokuta, in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and private sector players.

The government is also concluding an agreement with the Ministry of Defence to produce military hardware at the Ajaokuta Engineering Workshop, and is developing an Industrial Park and Free Trade Zone in the area.

On aluminium, he disclosed that a $465 million investment proposal has been submitted to revive the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria in Ikot-Abasi, with a six-year restoration plan under review.

He also revealed that private capital is also flowing into the country referencing Stellar Steel, part of the Inner Galaxy Group, investing $400 million in a new plant in Ewekoro, Ogun State, to produce hot-rolled coils and plates.

The President underscored the employment and industrial ripple effect of the initiative, “We aim to create over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs. We have already developed a ten-year roadmap for the sector. We have outlined a three-year plan for the operationalisation of Ajaokuta.”

He called on the private sector, academia, and skilled workers to partner with government in delivering the vision:

“Government can lead. But the private sector must invest. Academia must innovate. Skilled workers must emerge.”

Industry leaders at the summit, including the Ministers of Steel Development, Industry, Trade and Investment, Solid Minerals Development, and Transportation, all hailed the plan as a turning point, pledging regulatory reforms, streamlined approvals, and targeted incentives to attract investors.

If executed as planned, the strategy could place Nigeria at the heart of West Africa’s steel supply chain, drastically cut imports, and lay the foundation for broad-based industrial growth.