Buhari Appoints Two NAICOM Deputy Commissioners

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Four new persons have been appointed to the board of directors of a Nigerian consumer-packaged-goods company, Rite Foods Limited. A statement from the company explained that the appointments were part of a strategic move to position the business for accelerated growth and improve the organisation’s market presence as it takes giant strides into the next phase of its growth strategy. The appointees are Mr Kunle Elebute and Isa Mohammed Inuwa as Independent Non-Executive Directors, Raheem Owodeyi as a Non-Executive Director and Dr Kehinde Onijingin as an Executive Director. The new board members are expected to use their

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 Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, has disclosed that so far, about 550,000 applicants have indicated interest in the first phase of the government’s plan to train three million tech talents in Nigeria within two weeks of initiating the scheme. The Minister recently revealed that the training would be done in three phases, starting with the training of 30,000 persons in the next three months as dictated by the 1-10-100 model. “We are using a 1-10-100-model. We are starting with 1 per cent of our 3 million target, and that will be

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Two new independent non-executive directors have been appointed to the board of a sector-agnostic proprietary investment company, VFD Group Plc. The firm, which publicly trades its stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, confirmed this development in a statement. The appointees joining the board comprising highly respected professionals are Ms Rashida Saleh and Ms Nneka Okekearu. The statement disclosed that the appointments became effective on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, though subject to shareholder approval at the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the organisation. VFD Group, which said the addition of the duo underscores its commitment to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Quickteller has announced the launch of its new platform that allows Nigerians pay with the Naira for goods purchased directly from over 100 international stores like Amazon, Zara, eBay and Macy’s. Called the Quickteller Global Mall, this initiative will afford Quickteller users easy access to shop from leading international sites across the UK and the US. Quickteller Global Mall is a digital payments and commerce platform owned by Pan-African integrated digital payments and commerce company, Interswitch Group. It has been developed in furtherance of the company’s commitment toward solving existing challenges around digital payments and commerce in

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The final batch of winners to attend the Interswitch One Africa Music Fest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), through the Quickteller raffle draw has emerged. Earlier, the company held two raffle draws in August and September at the head office of coming in Lagos. The winners of the raffle draws will be flown to Dubai to enjoy intriguing performances by some of Africa’s biggest talents who will also share the stage with other global acts to thrill the audience at the Emirate city of Dubai in a few weeks. All the draws were conducted under the

By Dipo Olowookere The seven-year bonds worth N10 billion issued by C&I Leasing Plc a few weeks ago have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The notes were admitted on the exchange on Thursday, July 15, 2021, making them tradable by interested investors at the secondary market after they were first purchased at the primary market. The book-building for the sale of the papers opened on April 21, 2021, and ended on May 17, 2021, and they were then issued to investors, who cut across various segments, on June 3, 2021. The bonds, which are expected to mature

By Adedapo Adesanya Visa, in collaboration with payment service, Pesapal, have announced a strategic partnership to drive connected digital payments to consumers and businesses in Africa. With the partnership, Pesapal will become the global digital payment systems’ Principal Member driving small business acquiring and issuing. Pesapal has created Africa’s only payments ecosystem that offers – eCommerce, Point of Sale, and Consumer applications on one platform. It also recruits and supports businesses to be able to digitize payment collection securely while integrating to business internal systems such as POS, ERP, Accounting, and Billing systems. By integrating businesses, Pesapal is then able

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for 2019 has kicked off today in Abuja. The two-day gathering, according to a statement from the apex bank, is taking place at the MPC Meeting Room, 11th Floor, Wing C, of the CBN Corporate Headquarters, Abuja. On Tuesday, Governor of the central bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, will have an interaction with members of the media to update them on outcome of the crucial meeting held every quarter. Going into the MPC meeting today, members of the council will look into two economic

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed in the positive territory, climbing by 0.38 per cent on Wednesday, December 28. Business Post reports that the duo of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc helped the market capitalisation of the OTC exchange rise by N3.53 billion to close at N928.59 billion against the previous value of N925.06 billion. Equally, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) jumped by 2.68 points during the session to wrap up at 706.68 points versus the preceding session’s 704.00 points. In the midst of the growth, the share

By Dipo Olowookere According to a market research report titled ‘Kenya Dairy Products Market Outlook to 2020 – New Product Launches in Kenya to Dairy Product Market’ by Ken Research, Kenya is largely dependent on agriculture for its GDP, has a well-established dairy sector in the nation but being the eighth largest populated country in Africa, the demand for dairy products is also very high. Growing dairy farming in the nation has resulted in increased contribution from Kenya in overall dairy product market of Africa. Effective attractive hygiene packing supported by creative promotion, marketing and advertisement campaigns has helped Unilever

The investment banking and asset management subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, was appointed by the Lagos State Government to act as Joint Financial Advisers to refinance its existing debt and raise additional debt for a combined amount of up to N150 billion (approximately $410 million). The funds are to be applied towards various infrastructure projects for the state. The transaction was significant as it marked the first time the Lagos State government would be refinancing and raising debt from commercial banks on a Club Deal basis with common terms across all participating banks. The transaction was one