Konga Plans to Employ 500,000 Nigerians by 2025

By Adedapo Adesanya Music streaming service, Spotify, will cut about 17 per cent of its global workforce in another round of layoffs amid slowing economic growth. According to the CEO of the streamer, Mr Daniel Ek, this figure represents around 1,500 of its 9,000 staff. Earlier in January, Spotify, based in Sweden, said it would cut staff by 6 per cent and announced a hiring slowdown in October, but this move to reduce costs goes much deeper. Most Spotify staff impacted by the cuts will receive approximately five months’ severance pay, including healthcare, and be eligible for two months’ outplacement

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 Precious Olisa The appointment of Mr Akutah Ukeyima as the Executive Secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has been approved by President Bola Tinubu. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, confirmed the appointment of Mr Ukeyima in a statement signed on Wednesday. Mr Ngelale said the new chief executive of the NSC was recommended for the position by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola. He also disclosed that another recommendation was the appointment of Mr Munirudeen Oyebamiji as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Inland

By Dipo Olowookere Nine officials of BGL Group Plc earlier barred from operating in the Nigerian capital market can now consider a career in the sector, if they intend to, after serving their punishments. The affected capital market operators were banned by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after they were found guilty of committing infractions in the course of carrying out their duties. The nine persons, who can now operate in the market, were banned between one and two years and they are; Nkechi Azubuike, Adekunle Wasiu Alli, Andre Ewubare, Mohan Lalchandani, Joshua Sesan Adetiloye, Victor Inyang, Hilary Eledu,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Price gains recorded by most blue chip companies, especially the oil and gas stocks, on Thursday resulted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) maintaining its uptrend, which started yesterday. At the close of transactions today, bulls sustained dominance on the trading floor of the stock market, advancing by 0.77 percent. Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) accelerated by 251.26 points to settle at 32,937.98 points, while the market capitalisation improved by N87 billion to finish at N11.4 trillion. Unlike yesterday when the market breadth closed flat, it ended positive today with 45 gainers compared with

By Adedapo Adesanya The implementation of some policies of the federal government has led to the 50 per cent reduction in the price of data in Nigeria. At the beginning of this year, data consumers were paying N1,000 for 1GB but as of November, the same volume of data was averaging at N487.18. According to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, this huge reduction was lower than what was projected for this year as the cost of data. On December 16, 2019, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, inaugurated a committee that developed the Nigerian

By Ike.S Anison Historically, the formal banking sector’s penetration in Africa has been relatively low. And, while there has been significant improvement in this area in recent years, there is still a significant portion of the population on the continent who are unbanked or lack access to financial services. According to the World Bank, approximately 350 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa are still unbanked, accounting for 17% of the 2 billion global unbanked population. This has largely been due to a struggle to tap into the continent’s low-income segment, the widest proportion of the population. Consumers within this market feel

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerians have been advised to remain calm and supportive of public health authorities as efforts are being made to curtail the spread of monkey pox. In a statement issued by Mrs Boade Akinola, Director, Media and PR on behalf of the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, Federal Government urged Nigerians to avoid self-medication and report to the nearest health facility if feeling unwell. The statement pointed out that it was important to reiterate that supportive care can be provided and full recovery is mostly the case. Health care workers are strongly advised to take

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr Onofiok Luke, has disclosed that the House would be guided by current economic realities in its consideration of the 2017 budget sent to the assembly by the executive. Declaring open a one day public hearing on the 2017 Appropriation Bill titled: A bill for a law to Appropriate monies out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Capital Development fund to the service of Akwa Ibom State Government, the Speaker who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Felicia Bassey, said the 6th assembly which is christened the

By Dipo Olowookere Names of 500 Nigerians with properties and trusts abroad, who have failed to pay taxes to the Federal Government, have been compiled. Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, disclosed yesterday that government was making efforts to determine their tax compliance status in Nigeria. She said letters would soon be going out to these Nigerians, including a number of prominent ones, asking them to take advantage of the tax amnesty in order to avoid prosecution and fines by simply paying up their tax defaults. Mrs Adeosun, while speaking at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on

By Dipo Olowookere It was another four-day trading week as the Monday, April 22, 2019 was announced as public holiday in commemoration of the Easter celebrations. In the week, the All-Share Index depreciated by 1.15% while market capitalisation depreciated by 1.09% to close the week at 29,740.41 points and N11.177 trillion respectively. Similarly, all other indices finished lower with the exception of the NSE Oil/Gas Index that rose by 0.43%. A total of 30 equities appreciated in price during the week, lower than 33 in the previous week, while 40 equities depreciated in price, higher than 33 equities of the