Nigeria Confirms Second Case of Coronavirus

By Adedapo Adesanya The founder of Nigeria’s Wellahealth Technologies, Mr Ikpeme Neto, has been selected among the top 10 finalists of Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition, the philanthropic programme sponsored by Chinese billionaire, Mr Jack Ma. The foundation, now in its fifth year, announced this year’s finalists after an intense round of semi-finale business pitches and judging held on September 1 and 2 at Norrsken House in Kigali, Rwanda. Mr Neto will be among these 10 entrepreneurs who will compete for their share of the final prize of $1.5 million in grant funding at the competition’s grand finale scheduled for

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A 20-man committee has been inaugurated by the Oyo State government to review its public health law to meet current realities and solve health challenges in the state. In a chat with newsmen last Friday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Olusoji Adeyanju, explained that the move was based on the need to preserve and promote community health continually. The health practitioner, while speaking shortly after the inauguration of the group at the Conference Hall of the Ministry, noted that members were drawn from relevant ministries, agencies, law enforcement agencies, health institutions, and civil

By Ifthakaar Shaik The African healthcare industry faces an immediate challenge: a dire shortage of skilled professionals, leading to alarmingly low doctor and nurse-to-population ratios in many countries. Training medical professionals, especially specialists like pathologists or oncologists, is a multi-year-long process. Moreover, foundational education at the primary and secondary levels is crucial to supply tertiary institutions with a stream of candidates equipped with the necessary aptitude, literacy, and numeracy skills to pursue medicine. Recent technological leaps catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic and expanding telecommunications infrastructure, including ventures like Starlink, have bridged some of the distance between communities in need of

By Adedapo Adesanya HP Incorporated has announced the extension of HP Amplify, a first-of-its-kind global channel programme, to its vast ecosystem of more than 1,350 retail partners. Launched in the fall of 2020 to commercial partners, the new partner programme, built on a single, integrated structure provides the insights, capabilities and collaboration tools needed to drive digital transformation and growth as consumer buying behaviours continue to evolve. HP will begin to transition retail partners to the HP Amplify program beginning August 2, 2021, and continue through the calendar year. Built on a simplified and easy-to-navigate structure with two distinct retail

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has waived registration fee for 200 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Bauchi State. This disclosure was made by the state coordinator of the agency, Mr Mohammed Muazu, on Friday in Bauchi, explaining that the measure was to encourage and promote SMEs amidst the coronavirus pandemic in the state. He said the agency took the measure to provide succour to the SMEs and to promote economic development in the country. “In order to bring succour, the agency provides palliative to the SMEs by slashing

By Ahmed Rahma President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mr Abubakar Fikpo as the acting Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE). The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, confirmed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday. The media aide to the President disclosed that the approval followed Mr Fikpo’s nomination by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo. Mr Buhari had earlier directed Mr Keyamo, who supervises the agency, to nominate an acting DG after the sack of Dr Nasiru Argungu as the

**Says “Rivers Under Siege” By Ebitonye Akpodigha Governor Nyesom Wike has cried out to Nigerians, saying Rivers State is under siege. He made this known while addressing newsmen in the wee hours of Saturday, October 8, 2016, in Port Harcourt, the state capital. Mr Wike, who arrived at the scene of an alleged attempt to abduct a Federal High Court judge at about 1am on Saturday, lamented about the impunity being carried out by federal security agencies. “Not under my watch will I allow this kind of impunity to take place,” Mr Wike declared. It was gathered that some officers

By Dipo Olowookere The board of Unilever Nigeria Plc has declared a dividend of N378 million for the year 2016 after shareholders of the firm approved this at its 92nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos on Thursday. Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr Nnaemeka Achebe, who doubles as the Obi of Onitsha, expressed satisfaction with performance of the firm last year. According to him, Unilever Nigeria Plc has again demonstrated business resilience under very difficult circumstances. “The company’s performance for the year ended December 31, 2016 shows sustained growth and resilience even under depressed economic conditions. “Although

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A student of Top Faith International School, Akwa Ibom State, Miss Orevaoghene Whiskey, has won the fourth edition of the prestigious InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition. She is now the first female winner of the 13-week Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) show, which had over 20,000 applications across the country. With the win, the 16-year-old best STEM student in Nigeria will receive the grand prize of N7.5 million in scholarships, among other exciting prizes. InterswitchSPAK Nigeria is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch. The programme aired on

By Adedapo Adesanya The Ghanaian currency, the Cedi, has been ranked as the best performing currency against the US Dollar in the world so far into the second month of 2020. This followed a survey carried out by Bloomberg, which noted that the cedi beat off competition from 140 other currencies in the world. The statistical data indicated that the Ghanaian currency as at Monday, February 3, 2020, had appreciated by 3.9 percent against the American greenback. “The currency of the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer has strengthened 3.9 percent in 2020, the most among more than 140 currencies tracked by

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude prices closed mixed on Friday, December 3 after erasing earlier big gains on growing worries that rising coronavirus cases and a new variant could reduce global oil demand. Brent crude gained 21 cents or 0.3 per cent to trade at $69.88 per barrel while on the other hand, the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 24 cents or 0.36 per cent to sell at $66.26 per barrel. Both benchmarks declined for a sixth week in a row for the first time since November 2018. Oil prices had witnessed one of the most troubled weeks