YouTube Unveils New Generative AI Products as Shorts Hits 70 billion Daily Views

By Adedapo Adesanya The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on National Planning and Economic Affairs, Mr Isiaka Ibrahim, has said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) must be insulated from political interference to perform more effectively. Mr Ibrahim said this at a Public Lecture to mark the 2023 African Statistics Day celebration in Abuja on Wednesday themed Modernising Data Ecosystems to Accelerate the Implementation of the AfCFTA: The Role of Official Statistics and Big Data in the Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development of Africa. He said the reliability of data from the stats office would be questioned if

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Kwara State Government has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IHS Nigeria for the development of a technology innovation facility in the state. In a statement released by the government’s spokesperson, Mr Rafiu Ajakaye, it was said that Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the governor of the state, signed the MoU alongside IHS Nigeria CEO, Mr Mohamad Darwish, at a brief ceremony attended by several officials in Ilorin, Kwara State on Saturday, November 18, 2023. The project tagged Ilorin Innovation Hub is part of the state government’s efforts to stimulate and deepen the alignment

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Programme Coordinator for Media and Policy at the Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Mr Jerome-Mario Utomi, has challenged the Lagos State government to lead the movement against environmental injustice. Mr Utomi, while speaking on Tuesday as a panellist at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, also advised the government to stop being the coach and captain during environmental conversations. At the panel discussion themed “The role of multi-stakeholder engagement in achieving environmental justice, he noted engagement and collaboration have been overused by those in the position of

By Dipo Olowookere The fight against corruption is no doubt a global one and efforts are being made to ensure the menace is defeated or at best curbed to the barest minimum. Since the inception of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, he has devoted much of his time to go after corrupt officials. However, his government has sought the assistance of international community in giving corruption a hard fight. According to the World Bank, over $20 billion is stolen annually by corrupt officials from African, Asian, South American and European countries. As the world marks the International

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Subscribers of Airtel Nigeria have been assured faster internet speed and improved user experience as a result of a recent upgrade of its network. In a statement issued by the firm, it was stated that customers in urban areas and major cities will now start experiencing much faster speed with lower latency when they stream movies, watch live sports, play online games, download heavy files, or engage in other activities on the Internet. It was gathered that the extensive network optimization and modernization of the leading telecommunications services provider’s network was to offer customers unrivalled data speed

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The full implementation of an innovative solar-powered streetlight project of the Kwara State government called Light-Up Kwara (LUK) is set to begin in June this year. This followed the successful pilot of the scheme. It was gathered that the roll-out plan for the Solar Farm Tunnels (SFTs), which will be for the dual arm poles, will be released next week. In February 2017, the state government signed a technical agreement with two firms, Riccofortezza-Asteven Energy Limited and Rubitec Power Limited for the execution of the Light-Up Kwara (LUK) project. The two firms were given the mandate to

By Adedapo Adesanya MTN Nigeria Communications Plc will receive €100 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to speed up its network expansion programme. According to a corporate disclosure by the company, the investment will aid the acceleration of 4G coverage in Nigeria and expand broadband access in line with MTN’s 2025 ambition strategy. The statement further explained that the transaction represents EIB’s largest financing for mobile telecommunications network expansion in Africa. It will help improve network capacity across the country to accommodate rising data traffic and enhance coverage in Lagos and Ogun states. Commenting on the deal,

By Dipo Olowookere Some large-cap stocks led by Dangote Cement lifted the equity market on Wednesday by 1.68 per cent after closing bearish in the first two sessions of this week. A total of 38 shares appreciated in price at the exchange yesterday as against the eight price decliners, increasing the All-Share Index (ASI) by 575.18 points to 34,818.01 points from 34,242.83 points. The performance of these 38 stocks boosted the market capitalisation of the local bourse by N301 billion, closing at N18.194 trillion in contrast to N17.893 trillion it ended on Tuesday. The sum of N7.90 was gained by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The fear and uncertainty surrounding the sale of Keystone Bank Limited has created anxiety among its employees as many of them now look out for new jobs in order not to be caught unawares, investigation by Daily Times has revealed. Earlier in the week, the biggest of the three nationalized lenders after 2009 financial crisis, Keystone Bank Limited, was announced to have been sold by the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to some unknown local investors at undisclosed amount. In a statement made available to newsmen, AMCON referred to the new owners of the bank as

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, has expressed satisfaction with the emergence of the financial institution as the Bank of the Year in Nigeria in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2022. The award, which was announced by The Banker Magazine, Financial Times Group, United Kingdom, during the awards ceremony held in London on December 1, 2022, was in recognition of Zenith Bank’s strong management, sound business model and strategy, support for small businesses and efforts to cut energy consumption. According to the Banker, Nigeria’s Bank of the Year award was

By Adedapo Adesanya Only a single deal was carried out on the trading platform of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday. For the past two weeks, trading activities the exchange have been very low especially as investors continue to monitor events from across the globe. The coronavirus pandemic has made several economic activities to remain standstill and here in Nigeria, government has asked those in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State to remain indoors to stop the spread of the virus. As a result, trading on the NASD OTC market has been done remotely. At the midweek session, the