Airtel Africa Picks Ian Ferrao as Regional Director East Africa Region

By Adedapo Adesanya The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Mr Zacch Adedeji as the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Mr Adedeji, who appeared at the upper chamber for his screening today, revealed his plans to improve the nation’s revenue, referring to the dearth of information in the oil and gas sector. The FIRS boss promised that most of the leakages would be halted. According to him, the core problem in the country is that of proper data, adding that developing data upon which decisions will be made is fundamental. He explained that this would enable

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A veteran journalist, Mr Bayo Onanuga, has been appointed as the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy. A statement issued on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, said Mr Tinubu also appointed Ms Delu Bulus Yakubu as his Senior Special Assistant on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. In the statement, the President wished his new aides “well in the discharge of their duties,” noting that their appointments were “part of efforts to prioritize effective and efficient working synergy between the Presidency and Federal Ministries.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Members of the Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN) have elected the founder of DLM Capital Group, Dr Sonnie Babatunde Ayere, as their president. FHAN is the umbrella and self-regulatory body of all finance companies licenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate in the country. The group was formed on April 11, 1989, as a professional trade group to advance the business interests of its members, currently at 102, institute sound and ethical corporate governance practices, maintain a standard of conduct for operators, and ensure members’ compliance with statutory regulatory requirements. At the election

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira finished the week stronger by 87 kobo 0.21 per cent against the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, August 13. At the specialised window, the local currency was sold at N410.80/$1 compared to N411.67/$1 it was traded at the previous session. Even on the trading day, some investors bid the domestic currency at N400.00/$1 at a point, while others pushed for N412.50/$1 before closing at N410.80/$1. At the close of business, according to data obtained by Business Post from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, transactions

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Access Bank Plc on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, released its financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2018. In the highlights of the financial scorecard, the lender posted a 11.92 percent decline in its profit before tax, closing at N45.8 billion in the period under review against N52.1 billion in the same period of last year. However, the profit after tax was almost flat, slightly increasing by 0.00004 percent to close at N39.6 billion versus N39.5 billion. In the first half of this year, Access Bank recorded a gross earnings of N253 billion compared with N246.6

The 2023/24 club football season promises to produce another ten months of thrilling football action around Europe. The top football players and coaches will entertain the fans with their techniques, skills, and tactical acumen in their pursuit of silverware across different competitions. The new season rave will see football fans eager to watch all the action and share in the joy of victory of their favourite clubs. As we usher in the new football season, here are some interesting facts to know before the action starts: Full-blown football fest on DStv and GOtv: MultiChoice is making the season a special

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian startup, CrowdForce, a Y Combinator-backed agency banking platform, has raised a $3.6 million pre-Series A funding round to increase its PayForce agent network three-fold this year to deepen its financial service offerings to underserved Nigerian communities. The $3.6 million pre-Series A round, which is split between equity and debt, was led by Aruwa Capital Management with participation from HAVAÍC and AAIC. CrowdForce will use the capital to expand its team, geographical operations and marketing to increase its agent network. The startup aims to grow its 7,000 active agents three-fold this year. With the new funding, it

By Dipo Olowookere The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Thursday finally listed the $3 billion Eurobonds and $300 million FGN Diaspora bonds on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Director General of the DMO, Ms Pat Oniha, during the listing yesterday, disclosed that the bonds would be used by the Federal Government to finance infrastructure projects across the country. According to her, these projects are expected to transform the socio-economic landscape of the Africa’s largest economy. Ms Oniha, while engaging stakeholders on the ‘Facts Behind the Listing,’ explained that from the $3 billion Eurobond, government plans to use $2.5 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian government has pledged to prioritise the private sector for the Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) scheme aimed at developing priority value chains through developing infrastructure in rural areas, focused on finishing and transforming raw materials and commodities. The Nigeria SAPZ programme consists of four mutually reinforcing components – infrastructure development and agro-industrial hubs management; agriculture productivity and production; policy and institutional development; and programme coordination and management. Earlier in the week, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to put in place enabling policies and incentives

By Dipo Olowookere Trading activities at the Nigerian bourse finished bullish on the last session of the week with a 0.13 per cent appreciation influenced by renewed bargain hunting in consumer goods stocks and others. During the session, investors cherry-picked equities with good fundamentals but have traded at lower prices lately due to profit-taking and this action drove the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited higher to 52,908.24 points and boosted the market capitalisation to N28.523 trillion. Apart from the industrial goods sector, which marginally fell by 0.01 per cent, every other counter closed higher with

By Dipo Olowookere On Tuesday, UPDC Plc, a member of Custodian Investment Plc, released its financial results for the first six months of 2021 but the numbers were not impressive. Both the top line and the bottom line witnessed declines, though the firm showed prospects of bouncing back to profitability. In the period under review, the company said its revenue depreciated to N316.1 million from N346.5 million in the same period of last year. The revenue was solely from its core business, property development, sales and management, with revenue from contracts with customers accounting for N287.5 million versus N291.9 million