Afreximbank Floats $1bn African Film Fund

By Bliss Okperan The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has wished Afrobeats singer, Divine Ikubor, popularly known as Rema, a speedy recovery. In a message via his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, the Governor said the people of Edo State, where the singer hails from, are proud of him and remain behind him every step of the way. “We are extremely proud of you and remain behind you every step of the way,” a part of his post read. Mr Obaseki said the remarkable achievements of the artiste “over the years fill us with immense pride and joy.”

Nollywood has numerous actors and actresses who wear different characters to entertain us in movies. The steady rise of Nollywood talents in recent years is remarkable, and this is down to the investment of platforms like Africa Magic in talent discovery and commissioning/licensing of movies and series that cast budding talents. In celebration of Africa Magic at 20, here is a list of renowned Nollywood telnets who rose to stardom on the Africa Magic platform: Tobi Bakre: He’s no doubt one of the hottest talents around at the moment. Tobi rose to stardom on one of Africa Magic’s reality TV

By Adedapo Adesanya  The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is establishing a $1 billion African Film Fund in 2024 to support the continent’s movie industry. This information was disclosed by the Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade Bank at Afreximbank, Mrs Kanayo Awani, in Cairo, Egypt, during her address at the opening of the 2023 Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Summit held as part of the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023). IATF2023 is Africa’s largest trade and investment fair opened yesterday and will run till November 15, 2023. Mrs Awani said that the fund would oversee film financing, co-finance with large studios,

By Ahmed Rahma As part of its micro grant programme, the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) has disbursed the sum of N3.9 billion to 392,490 women and youths in Kano, Jigawa, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Lagos, Niger, Nasarawa, Sokoto and Katsina States. The foundation has also concluded plans to extend the disbursement of the micro grant program to Ogun, Osun, Kwara, Edo, Rivers, Anambra, Ebonyi and Bauchi States as part of the next phase of this programme. Speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Office of ADF, Ms Zouera Youssoufou, stated that the board of the foundation has already approved the next phase

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has revealed plans to review its training structure for more effective and inclusive results. This was disclosed by the Executive Director of Administration of NSITF, Mrs Maureen Allagoa, in Abuja, noting that staff of the agency would be exposed to more impactful courses both offline and online. She said, “Our training structure has been reviewed to make it more effective, ensure that it is all-inclusive, need-based, and cost-effective. Continuous training using online modules on different courses will be introduced for all staff. “We will also engage in train-the-trainer programmes to

By Ebitonye Akpodigha The Police Service Commission (PSC) may have put a hold to the final phase of selecting 10,000 candidates for recruitment into the Nigeria Police. This, according to New Telegraph, is due to pressure from some National Assembly members backing the suspension of the exercise. It would be recalled that several Nigerians applied for the 10,000 jobs advertised by the PSC from across the country. There had been questions as to why the PSC has not given jobs to the qualified candidates. New Telegraph reports that the exercise may have been suspended over alleged demand that the Commission

By Dipo Olowookere The proposed merger between Chemical and Allied Products (CAP) Plc and Portlands Paints and Products Nigeria Plc is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. This was confirmed by the Managing Director of CAP Plc, Mr David Wright, when he was commenting on the financial performance of his firm in the 2020 fiscal year. In a statement issued by the Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications at CAP Plc, Ms Chinwe Okpala, the MD expressed confidence that the final regulatory approval would be secured by that time. “We announced the proposed merger between CAP

By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke There is no easy path to making money. You have to work extremely hard and even engage in additional jobs that can sometimes be stressful to earn a living. However, with the gig economy becoming ever more popular, you can still keep your 9 to 5 job and still earn some extra income without sweating. You only need a good internet connection. In Nigerian parlance, it is often referred to as a side hustle. A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organisations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements.

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated against the Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market and the black market on Tuesday, December 13, but further appreciated at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment. In the I&E window or the spot market, the Naira depreciated by 38 Kobo or 0.09 per cent against the greenback to close at N446.38/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N446.00/$1, according to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange. The local currency suffered this loss despite not coming under FX demand pressure during the trading session, as data showed that

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released its Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) for the month of September. According to the data released by the apex bank, the manufacturing PMI stood at 56.2 index points, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 18th consecutive month, however, at a slower rate when compared to the index in the previous month. It was disclosed that of the 14 subsectors surveyed, 10 reported growth in the review month in the following order: Electrical equipment; Printing & related support activities; Transportation equipment; non-metallic mineral products; Chemical & pharmaceutical products;

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigeria’s Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, has informed owner of AliBaba Group, Mr Jack Ma, that efforts would be made to revolutionise government businesses so as to improve ease of doing business in the country. Speaking at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, Mr Osinbajo said, “We are at a point where we are also looking at how to revolutionize government businesses so that we can do more in terms of business with the ordinary citizens, give more information, do more transactions, get passports and licenses and approvals online and that kind of thing.” He said the creativity