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Ecobank Picks Ex-Microsoft Staff as Senior Fintech Advisor

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By Dipo Olowookere

A former employee of tech giant, Microsoft, Mrs Aissatou Djiba Diallo, has been appointed by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated as its new Senior Fintech Advisor.

A statement from the lender explained that Mrs Diallo was picked for the position to strategically raise Ecobank’s support for the fintech sector and in her new role, she will lead the group’s fintech initiatives and advise senior management on the banking group’s fintech strategy.

According to the statement, the appointment of Mrs Diallo is an important step in the ongoing implementation of the group’s broader digital strategy and demonstrates Ecobank’s commitment to playing a major and high-profile role in helping Africa’s innovative fintech sector to achieve significant global market share.

Prior to joining the Ecobank Group, Mrs Diallo was the Head of Innovations at Microsoft4Afrika, where she built the strategy to identify, support and attract key African fintech start-ups and partners to the Microsoft Cloud platform and oversaw 50 countries. Before that, she was Marketing Manager and Partner and Strategy Program Lead for West and Central Africa, Microsoft.

Speaking on the appointment, the Group Executive in charge of Operations and Technology at Ecobank, Eddy Ogbogu, stated that, “Djiba’s appointment represents an important step in the overall Ecobank Group’s fintech and digital agenda. The expertise, passion and innovation she brings to the role will allow us take the next crucial steps on our path to further cementing our position as Africa’s leading digital bank.”

Commenting on her appointment, Mrs Diallo, who holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France, and is an aeronautics enthusiast, stated that, “I am delighted to become a part of the vision of the Ecobank Group in supporting the development of African fintechs and further drive the continent’s economic development.

“Fintech is an important part of the Bank’s goal to vastly increase its customer numbers across its pan-African footprint of 33 countries and open up market access and integration for Africa’s fintech ecosystem.”

“In the past three years, the bank has significantly strengthened its partnerships with start-ups and I am excited that our Group CEO and senior management have prioritised new waves of initiatives to expand our work with fintechs and deliver a whole new level of win-win collaborations that will positively impact African lives and grow African fintech businesses,” she further said.

Business Post learned that a large part of Mrs Diallo’s role will focus on growing the bank’s flagship annual fintech initiative known as the Ecobank Fintech Challenge and Ecobank Fintech Fellowship, through which the Ecobank group has promoted Africa’s most promising fintech start-ups.

The programme provides selected fintechs with the opportunity to fast-track their growth by gaining a commercial partnership and product integration with Ecobank’s pan-African platform and unified ecosystem.

The Challenge and Fellowship has been run for two years (2017 and 2018) and is poised for an enhanced third edition in 2020. The new Senior Fintech Advisor has served as a judge of the two previous editions of The Challenge and Fellowship.

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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Tinubu Appoints Aliyu as New PTDF Scribe, Renews Abdulaziz as TCN MD

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By Adedapo Adesanya

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr Shu’aibu Shehu Aliyu as the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).

Mr Aliyu, a professor, is to replace Mr Ahmed Galadima Aminu, who recently resigned to participate in the 2027 governorship election in Adamawa State.

In a statement by a spokesperson to the President, Mr Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday, it was disclosed that the appointment of Mr Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz as the chief executive of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has been renewed for a second and final term.

These appointments are said to take effect immediately.

Professor Aliyu, the new PTDF helmsman, is a distinguished academic and seasoned administrator with extensive experience in research, education, and institutional leadership. His appointment underscores the President’s commitment to strengthening key institutions in the petroleum sector and advancing capacity development for Nigeria’s energy industry.

“The President expects him to leverage his wealth of experience to reposition the PTDF for greater impact in human capital development, innovation, and strategic support for the oil and gas sector in line with national priorities.

“President Tinubu renewed Engineer Abdulaziz’s appointment following a comprehensive assessment of his performance and leadership of the nation’s transmission network.

“Under his stewardship, TCN has recorded notable improvements in grid stability, transmission capacity expansion, and system modernisation, reinforcing its critical role in Nigeria’s electricity value chain.

“Engr. Abdulaziz brings over three decades of experience in the power sector and has also strengthened regional electricity integration through his leadership in the West African Power Pool (WAPP).

“President Tinubu urges both appointees to discharge their responsibilities with diligence, integrity, and a strong sense of national service,” the statement said.

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NNPC Grows Workforce by 12% to 6,247 in Q4 2025

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By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited saw its workforce rise by 12.2 per cent to 6,247 at the end of 2025 from 5,566 in the corresponding period of 2024, according to its latest employee data.

The state oil firm stated that its employees increased by 14.3 per cent from 5,495  recorded at the end of the first quarter of 2025 to 6,280 at the end of the second quarter of 2025.

Its staff strength, however, dropped by 0.11 per cent to 6,273 workers in the third quarter of 2025 and further shrank by 0.41 per cent to 6,247 in the last quarter of the year under review.

Giving a breakdown of its workforce in terms of gender, the NNPC disclosed that at the end of the fourth quarter, 5,044 employees, representing 80.7 per cent of its workforce, were males, while 1,203 employees, representing 19.3 per cent of its total workforce, were females.

Further breakdown revealed that Junior Staff 2 (JS 2) and Junior Staff 1 (JS1) cadres had one staff member and 175 staff members, respectively, at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, as against one staff and 187 staff members, respectively, recorded in the third quarter of 2025.

In addition, the Senior Staff Seven (SS7) cadre had 31 employees, remaining the same as in the previous quarter, while the SS6 cadre dropped to 1,010 staff, from 1,012 staff recorded at the end of the third quarter of 2025.

The SS5, SS4, SS3, SS2 and SS1 staff cadre recorded 1,076 staff, 164 staff, 389 staff, 471 staff and 1,829 staff, respectively, in the quarter under review, compared with 1,076 staff, 164 staff, 391 staff, 478 staff and 1,835 staff, respectively, recorded in the third quarter of 2025.

Management Six (M6) cadre had 695 staff in the second quarter of 2025, compared with 699 staff in the same category in the previous quarter, while M5, M4, M3, M2 and M1 cadres had 237 staff, 117 staff, 47 staff, seven staff and one staff respectively, compared with 243 staff, 116 staff, 44 staff, seven staff and one staff in the corresponding cadres in the third quarter of 2025.

Further analysis of the NNPC workforce across different cadres showed that JS2 and JS1 accounted for 0.02 per cent and 2.75 per cent of its total workforce, respectively, while SS7, SS6, SS5, SS4, SS3, SS2 and SS1 cadres accounted for 0.50 per cent, 16.17 per cent, 17.22 per cent, 2.63 per cent, 6.23 per cent, 7.54 per cent and 29.28 per cent of the state oil company’s total workforce, respectively.

In addition, NNPC’s M6, M5, M4, M3, M2 and M1 cadres accounted for 11.13 per cent, 3.79 per cent, 1.87 per cent, 0.75 per cent, 0.11 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.

In general, the NNPC Limited noted that it had 173 employees in its junior staff category; 4,970 employees in its senior staff category, and 1,104 employees in its management category.

It also reported that in its middle management cadre, it has 932 employees, accounting for 14.92 per cent of its total workforce, while the top management cadre had 172 employees, accounting for 2.75 per cent of its total workforce.

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Tinubu Names Ibrahim Ida Chairman of Corporate Affairs Commission

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By Adedapo Adesanya

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Mr Ibrahim Ida as Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Mr Ida holds an MSc in Banking and Finance from the University of Ibadan (1983) and an LLB from the University of Abuja (2003). Before being elected to the Senate in 2017 to represent Katsina Central, he served as the Commissioner of Finance for Katsina State and as the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Civil Service.

His appointment comes as the CAC faces legislative scrutiny over its books. The commission is part of a group of agencies that the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended zero allocation for the year 2026, for allegedly failing to account for public funds appropriated to them.

The committee, at an investigative hearing held in February, accused CAC and some other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of shunning invitations to respond to audit queries contained in the Auditor-General for the Federation’s annual reports for 2020, 2021 and 2022.

It asked the National Assembly not to continue to appropriate public funds to institutions that disregard accountability mechanisms.

President Tinubu also nominated seven people to fill vacant commissioner positions at the National Population Commission (NPC) as Federal Commissioners to represent their respective states in the National Population Commission. The nominees are;

1. Kolawole Oladipupo Alabi – Ekiti State

2. Nasiru Mu’azu – Zamfara State

3. Usman Abubakar Tuggar – Bauchi State

4. Dr Isaka Alada Yahaya – Kwara State

5. Prof. Sadiq Isah Radda – Katsina State

6. Suleiman Umar – Jigawa State

7. Hon. Chiso Abdullahi Dattijo – Sokoto State

The appointments, which complement other Federal Commissioners already sworn in, are subject to confirmation by the National Assembly.

The President also appointed Mr Yusuf Mohammed of Kano State as Chairman of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaltungo, and confirmed the appointment of Mr Bala Mohammed Bello as his Special Adviser on Political Economy.

Mr Bello, from Kebbi State, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and an MBA from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Before this appointment, he was a Deputy Governor at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He also served as Executive Director (Corporate Services) at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) from 2017 to 2022.

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