Olatunde Amolegbe Becomes New CIS President

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 Senate has officially confirmed Mr Adamu Aliyu as the substantive chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). He was confirmed following a screening session at the plenary on Thursday, a day after President Bola Tinubu pleaded with the upper chamber to speed up his confirmation. The screening commenced at approximately 11:50 am following a request by Mr Bamidele Opeyemi to temporarily suspend specific Senate rules, permitting external individuals to enter the chamber. The Deputy Senate President, Mr Jibirin Barau, led the screening of Mr Aliyu, who was the Attorney General of

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka Mr Olasupo Olusi has been appointed by President Bola Tinubu as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry (BoI). He is to replace the former occupier of the seat, Mr Kayode Pitan, who resigned from the lending institution for small and medium-sized business owners in the country. In a statement issued by his aide on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the President tasked the new BOI chief executive to ensure that Nigerians, who are operating all sizes of enterprises across sectors, are given fair and equitable access to much-needed support

By Dipo Olowookere The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday released the inflation rate in Nigeria for the month of September 2018. According to the stats office, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, increased to 11.28 percent year-on-year in September 2018. This was 0.05 percent higher than the rate recorded in August 2018, which stood at 11.23 percent, making it the second time in a row the rate was climbing. In the data released today, the NBS said increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the headline index. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased

By Dipo Olowookere The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed shock over the tragic death of six Nigerian asylum-seekers, among them three children, who were killed in a blast in the far north of Cameroon. In a statement issued by the agency, it said, “This tragic incident is a disappointing testament of continuing forced returns (refoulements) of refugees and asylum-seekers from Cameroon, despite numerous appeals by UNHCR to the Cameroonian government to respect its obligations.” Speaking on the matter, the Director of UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Africa, Valentin Tapsoba, stated that, “The forced return of refugees and asylum-seekers is in

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has received two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine donated by the European Union (EU). The formal handover of the vaccines was done on Monday at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Strategic Cold Store, Abuja. The EU ambassador, Mr Samuela Isopi, who made the presentation of the vaccines, said the donation is part of the EU’s commitment to jointly combat the pandemic. Receiving the consignment, the Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib said the federal government, also in combating the pandemic, has procured over 39 million doses

By Ahmed Rahma The Regional Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, has disclosed close to 900 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be shipped to Africa in 2021. At an online press briefing, she said the vaccines would be made available by her organisation through the COVAX facility and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). According to her, 600 million doses of the vaccines would be delivered by WHO, while 270 million doses would be delivered by Africa CDC. Speaking in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Dr Moeti said the first doses

By Adedapo Adesanya Google has announced a number of initiatives across Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, bolstering its continued efforts to keep children, young people and families safe online. Aligning with the theme of this year’s global Safer Internet Day, Together for a better Internet, Google has teamed up with several organisations across the continent to boost education efforts and develop programmes around online safety. Speaking on this, Mrs Juliet Ehimuan, Country Director, Google Nigeria, noted that safety was one of the best features internet users need. “With an estimated 346 million internet users that came online for the first

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Young Nigerians, including students and youth corps members on national assignments have been given the opportunity to enjoy exclusive discounts on products and services with over 10,000 merchants’ across the country. This initiative is by UBA Plc in partnership with Bridge Concepts Limited through co-branded discount cards known as the Naija Green Card, the first of its kind discount payment solution. According to both firms, the Naija Green Card is in line with the business objective of enabling young Nigerians and students derive maximum benefits from their limited finances. The Naija Green Card powered by UBA, is

Ambrose Omordion is one of the ubiquitous experts providing deep analyses of market trends in the Nigerian capital market. He is the Chief Research Officer (CRO) of Investdata Consulting Limited, leading a team of other experts in the firm. In this interview with a select media, the capital market guru takes a wide look around the market environment to spot lurking opportunities and risk factors for investors and the economy while hinting the government and market regulators on few tips that can help the market deliver its mandate as an enabler of economic growth. Excerpt: What is your appraisal of

By Alistair Errington Over the years, Snapchat has consistently defied its most ardent critics. The platform has grown from strength to strength rather than fading away as existing social networks mimic its features, and new ones, such as TikTok, target the same audience. This illustrates how people want more options and choices when it comes to social media (something that its critical advertisers understand). As recorded by Statista, Snapchat boasts 347 million daily active users in Q2 2022, up more than 50 million from the same quarter in 2021. Data Reportal also sheds light on Snapchat’s presence, with a total