Navy Nabs Notorious Militant Leader In Calabar

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Senate and the House of Representatives will on Tuesday resume plenary after weeks of vacation with expectations that they will attend to correspondences from President Bola Tinubu. The upper chamber adjourned for a six-week annual recess on August 17 after confirmating 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Tinubu. The Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, also announced the composition of 74 standing committees on that day. Upon resumption, the Senate will commence its legislative duties by attending to correspondences from the President requesting the confirmation of some appointments he made. The appointments include those

By Adedapo Adesanya The chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr Gbenga Komolafe, has cancelled all activities lined up for his 60th birthday amid increased calls for his sack. Mr Komolafe, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), turned the milestone age on Tuesday, September 26 and there was a planned thanksgiving service to mark the day slated for this Saturday, September 30. However, he said that amid the current economic state in the country, he has decided to cancel all the planned celebrations, according to a report by Premium Times. This development comes

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 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 The proposed nationwide strike to kick against the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government may suffer a setback as the National Industrial Court (NIC) has restrained the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) from going on with the action. In a ruling on an interim order sought by the federal government on Monday in Abuja, Justice O. Y. Anuwe ordered the unions to stop the strike pending the determination of a suit filed by the government. The judge directed the government to serve the NLC and the TUC the interim order

By Modupe Gbadeyanka President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), Mr Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, has advised the continent’s leaders to look inwards for homegrown solutions rather than waiting for foreign aids from the West. Mr Badejo-Okusanya made this passionate call in commemoration of the annual Africa Day celebrated on Monday, May 25, 2020. According to him, “Since inception, the need for Africa to stand together cannot be more acute than the present when the continent faces a global pandemic that has left every part of the world struggling for its own survival, with little room or thought for us.” “But

By Dipo Olowookere Treasury Bills worth N109.7 billion would be offered for sale to investors on Thursday, May 2, 2019 (today) at the primary market. Business Post gathered that the exercise would be conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on behalf of the Nigerian government, which is borrowing through the sale of the debt instrument. During the primary market auction (PMA), the apex bank will offer the maturities of the treasury bills as usual; 91-day, 182-day and 364-day bills. It was further learned that N28.02 billion of the 91-day instrument would be auctioned, N43.52 billion worth of the

By Adedapo Adesanya In her bid to occupy the position of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on the United States not to leave the trade body. Rather, she said the world power should leave room for reforms. The former minister of finance in Nigeria, who is one of the eight candidates vying for the position, said “I would say to the President (of the US) that the WTO delivered for all countries, including the United States in the past.” “It is because of the multilateral rules-based trading system that we have had

By Dipo Olowookere Despite the threats faced by Union Bank Plc in the first half of 2020 as a result of the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, it delivered a near double-digit growth in its gross earnings. In the financial statements of the company for the period ended June 30, 2020, released today, the lender increased its earnings by 7.8 per cent to N81.9 billion from N76.0 billion in the same period of 2019. This growth was influenced by an increase in earning assets as well as the use of Union Bank’s digital channels by customers during the lockdown

By Adedapo Adesanya Acting Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Mary Uduk, has called on market operators to take advantage of securities lending in the Nigerian capital market. Ms Uduk stated this in Abuja on Monday, saying that this would deepen liquidity, as well as offer more returns to investors and all parties involved, adding that the commission has rules in place to encourage market confidence. “We have a framework which has been approved. However, we noticed that it is not being fully explored. What we want to do now is to see what restrictions we can

By Adedapo Adesanya Universal Insurance Plc has secured the approval of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to underwrite agriculture insurance. The ‘no objection’ nod will enable Universal Insurance support farmers and service providers in the agricultural value chain for greater sustainability and economic growth. Among the products approved are fishery agricultural insurance plan and poultry agricultural insurance plan. In a statement, the management of Universal Insurance stated that the agribusiness sector in Nigeria needs insurance to remain sustainable and achieve long term growth expectation. The statement further maintained that stakeholders in the agricultural value chain must embrace insurance if they

By Dipo Olowookere Entrepreneurs across Africa can now start applying for the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) fourth cycle of $100 million entrepreneurship development programme, a statement released by the organisation has revealed. According to the statement released on its website, applicants will have to complete the online registration at www.application.tonyelumelufoundation.org with the deadline fixed for midnight (WAT) of March 1, 2018. The TEF is a brainchild of Nigerian former banker and businessman, Mr Tony Elemelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc. The scheme provides critical tools for business success, including 12 weeks of intensive online training which guides