General

PenCom Targets 20 Million Pension Contributors by 2027

Published

7 months ago

13/05/2025

By Adedapo Adesanya

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said it hopes to achieve about 20 million pension contributors by the end of year 2027, as against the over 10.65 million it currently counts.

The Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, said this over the weekend at the Pension Industry Leaders’ Retreat in Lagos.

According to her, the target would be achieved through the expansion of Personal Pension Plan (PPP) formerly known as Micro Pension Plan (MPP); constant engagements with stakeholders; enforcement of pension compliance certificates, especially by state governments amongst other initiatives.

She noted that the retreat has provided opportunities for the industry to adopt new strategies, stating that the resolutions reached will be fully implemented before the end of first quarter 2026.

On pension contributions, she said the industry expects a 50 per cent growth, stating that pension growth is essential for economic growth and development.

As of February 28, 2025 the pension fund assets was N23.27 trillion and Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders 10.65 million.

Recall that recently, the pension regulator announced the recovery of N1.58 billion from defaulting employers through enhanced enforcement efforts as total pension assets under management (AuM) surpassed N23 trillion as of February.

The DG also announced state remittances had also improved, reflecting a greater adoption of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Ms Oloworaran noted that in spite of these advancements, challenges remain, as only 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had enacted laws to implement the CPS.

“Six states operate hybrid schemes, while another six have bills at advanced legislative stages.

“Notable progress has been made in Katsina, Yobe, Bauchi, and Abia states. However, full implementation of the CPS is currently limited to eight states,” she explained at the First Run 2025 Consultative Forum for States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) held in Kano in late April.

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Adedapo Adesanya

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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General

Sahel Insurgency Pushes Toward Nigeria as Extremist Groups Gain Footholds

Published

6 hours ago

12/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

A new report released by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a Washington-based crisis-tracking consultancy, has warned that extremist groups are jostling for control across West Africa stretching from Mali to Nigeria.

It warned that militant organizations, once contained largely within Mali and parts of Burkina Faso, are now converging along a dangerous belt extending all the way to Nigeria. Over the last decade, tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced, making West Africa the world’s deadliest hotspot for jihadist activity.

The southward spread of militant violence from the Sahel has made the past year in Benin Republic, which foiled an attempted coup on Sunday, its deadliest on record, with nearly 70 per cent more fatalities as al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) stepped up attacks from eastern Burkina Faso.

JNIM crossed a new threshold in October when it staged its first documented attack inside Nigeria after a decade of bloodshed in Mali and major incursions into Burkina Faso and Niger. ACLED reports that the group is now embedding itself in the northwest and parts of the north-central region.

ACLED warns that if current trends persist, 2026 may bring deeper instability and fragmentation in the central Sahel and along its southern borders. Nigeria’s northmost part lies within the southern fringe of the Sahel ecological zone.

Nigeria is already fighting a war against terrorism in the North East, where Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) operate across the Lake Chad basin.

This development presents a fresh security dilemma for President Bola Tinubu, who is already contending with mass abductions, banditry, and long-running insurgencies.

He already faces additional pressure from US President Donald Trump, whose claims of systematic killings of Christians in Nigeria have been widely debunked but continue to fuel diplomatic tension.

ACLED noted that Russia’s military partnerships with juntas in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, which seized power in recent years riding a wave of anti-French sentiment are weak, evidenced by Mali currently witnessing its highest monthly levels of recorded violence since 1997.

It also noted that the region’s wave of coups has only worsened long-standing drivers of extremism: deepening poverty, environmental stress, corruption, broken governance, and humanitarian collapse. Just recently, a coup occurred in Guinea Bissau and one was almost successful in neighbouring Benin Republic.

“In the coming year, this subregion is likely to become a key arena of competition among militant groups,” Mr Heni Nsaibia, West Africa senior analyst at ACLED, said in the report. “One of the key developments shaping the outlook for 2026 is the consolidation of a new frontline in the Benin, Niger and Nigerian borderlands.”

General

The Poster That Breathes: Designing Visuals That Feel Alive Even When Still

Published

13 hours ago

11/12/2025

Dipo Olowookere

Have you ever noticed a poster that seemed to move, not actually, but emotionally? Perhaps its colors seemed to pulse or the composition changed with your eyes. That’s the magic of visual rhythm, when static design seems cinematic, living, and breathing.

With Dreamina, making that illusion happen is a breeze. You can create your posters to appear as if they’re breathing in color and breathing out mood, fueled by creativity and the magic of an AI photo generator that transforms rich descriptions into expressive designs.An actually great poster moves the eye, even statically. It directs attention as choreography, each color and shape is part of a silent dance.

Here’s how designers create static images that seem alive:

Directional flow: Diagonal or curved lines imply movement.
Circular composition: Reeks of energy captured during spin.
Gradient play: Gradual color transitions mimic emotional movement.

Emotional pacing: imparting stillness with a heartbeat

Emotion in a piece of design isn’t about faces or movement; it exists in pacing, the way contrast, tone, and texture work together. Much like film, where tension builds and then abates, posters can convey rhythm in visual contrast and silence.

Designers build this heartbeat by:

Blending light and dark areas to replicate pulses of energy and serenity.
Employing color temperature changes — to cool, warm — to convey mood shift.
Creating layered depth, so that observers feel air and space even on a two-dimensional surface.

Creating a poster that feels cinematic

To create something cinematic, start thinking like a storyteller. What moment are you stopping in time? What feeling should resonate beyond the edge of the frame?

Cinematic posters tend to feature:

Thoughtful framing — all that leads the viewer in one emotional direction.
Atmospheric lighting — the shadows are as full of feeling as highlights.
Anticipation — the feeling that the next frame is about to be cut in.

When silence speaks louder

Action doesn’t always arise out of noise. Sometimes, sparse design shouts louder than a dense one.

For example:

One feather drifting across black space can feel like time standing still.
A whispery ripple over calm water evokes emotional tension.
A texture dissolving into nothing feels like wind blowing through light.

Bringing identity to logos

Even little things like logos can have rhythm. A new logo isn’t necessarily stiff; it can be fluid, as if it’s part of an organism. Designers can create marks that “breathe” by tweaking form, gradient, or weight.

This is where an AI logo generator proves useful. It allows one to try out infinite combinations of shape and mood until the symbol begins to feel at home, not stiff but alive. Such a logo not only represents a brand but moves in tandem with its narrative.

Giving your poster life with Dreamina

Now that you’ve learned about how emotion and rhythm inform design, it’s time to create your own living visual with Dreamina. Its workflow is creative, quick, and unexpectedly intuitive.

Step 1: Write a text prompt

Navigate to Dreamina and start off by articulating your vision, and be as colorful and passionate as you can. Think of your words like paint strokes. The more descriptive you can be with your words, the more life your image will possess.

Example prompt:

A surreal poster of a glowing dancer made of particles of sunlight caught mid-twirl in nebulous mist, with cinematic lighting and soft contrast, dreamy and atmospheric.

The detail is Dreamina’s way of knowing the rhythm and feeling you are looking for, this is how stillness begins to move.

Step 2: Adjust parameters and generate

The next stage is setting the details of your prompt. After interpreting, select the aspect ratio of the model based on your final posters layout, either vertical or landscape. Next, select a resolution and size, choose 1K for early drafts and 2K for fully requested post-production.

When ready, simply select Dreamina’s icon and the purely automated generation process will begin. In a moment’s time, you will experience concept materialize as a visual pulse full of depth and atmospheric feeling.

Step 3: Customize and download

People often talk about polishing up images with tools like those in Dreamina. You can try inpaint feature to sort out small details. Or expand the whole thing to make the composition broader. Remove those annoying distractions too. Retouch helps refine the overall tone.

When the image starts to feel balanced. It breathes softly with its light and colors. That is the time to hit download. You end up with a static design. Yet it carries emotional movement.

Editing: the art of breathing room

After the initial generation, editing makes the poster come alive. Subtle tweaks matter a lot. Think of a soft edge here. A shadowed spot in the corner there. Even shifting the color temperature. All that sets the pacing right. The AI image editor shines in this phase. It lets you adjust finely without losing any emotion.

Editing feels like handling breath itself. You add elements. Hold them in place. Then release until the rhythm flows properly.

The final exhale

Creating a poster that breathes means adding feeling to the quiet parts. It stays away from adding actual movement. Instead, it reveals a rhythm. The kind hidden between colors and calm. Dreamina makes it possible. You turn words into images that live and breathe. Start however you want. From a simple prompt. A flowing logo. Or a careful edit. The result is an image pulsing with life. Open Dreamina now. Take a deep breath. Let your next design release a story. It remains still. But clearly full of life.

General

FCCPC Seals Ikeja Electric Headquarters Over Alleged Consumer Rights Violation

Published

18 hours ago

11/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Thursday sealed the premises of the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) in the Alausa area of Lagos for alleged violation of consumer rights.

Leading FCCPC official to carry out to closure, the Director of Surveillance and Investigation, Mr Bola Adeyinka, said the move was in line with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018 after repeated attempts to resolve the matter.

“Sealing this facility is a proportionate enforcement measure taken only after repeated engagement and several opportunities for voluntary compliance,” Mr Adeyinka said in a statement.

“The seal will remain in place until Ikeja Electric complies fully with the directives issued by both NERC and the FCCPC and provides written evidence of that compliance,” he added.

According to the FCCPC, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) issued a binding decision directing Ikeja Electric to unbundle a Maximum Demand account into 20 non-Maximum Demand accounts, to recognise each of the 19 residential units and a service point owned by the complainant as separate customer units, and to provide the required metering and connection.

“Ikeja Electric did not carry out that decision,” the statement read in part. “Because of this failure, the complainant has been without electricity supply for more than two and a half years.

“This was despite paying all charges requested by Ikeja Electric and meeting every obligation. The lack of electricity has prevented the complainant from putting the 19 residential units to use.”

It said the move followed unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issues through warnings and dialogue.

FCCPC listed one of such attempts to include a directive to the company in April 2025 on the steps required and the timelines for compliance.

However, “No action was taken. On 2nd October 2025, the Commission issued a Compliance Notice requiring full compliance within seven business days.

“The company still did not comply,” the commission explained.

As of press time, Ikeja Electric, which supplies electricity to several areas in Lagos, has not yet commented on the matter.