Victory, Precious Mac Emerge Nigerian Idol Season 8 Finalists

By Badr Jafar Over 70,000 individuals from around the world are about to converge on Dubai to participate in COP28. In the lead-up, the UAE’s COP28 Presidency has made no secret of its ambition to make this the most inclusive and consequential COP ever. While much of that effort has elevated historically underrepresented communities, and rightly so, a lesser-known determination of the COP28 Presidency is about transforming how the COP process engages with the private sector. From 1-2 December this year, COP28 will feature the biggest gathering of business and philanthropy devoted to solving climate change in history, at the

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Customers of Emirates Airlines have been advised to plan their travel carefully this December, as departure numbers peak throughout the festive month, including over the UAE National Day and Christmas period. In a statement, the airline operator urged passengers to arrive at the airport up to 3 hours before a flight and take note of their boarding time to ensure they reach the departure gate on time. It noted that travellers could take advantage of a wide array of check-in and baggage drop options from Emirates City Check-In & Travel Store, to newly refurbished First and Business

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Managing Director of Payment Processing & Switching at Interswitch Purepay, Mr Akeem Lawal, has said the company will always throw its full weight behind conversations aimed at improving the payments industry. Mr Lawal said this ahead of the 2023 annual conference of the Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) scheduled to take place from Tuesday, December 5, 2023, to Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in Lagos. He is one of the speakers slated to attend the event with the Managing Director of Verve International, Vincent Ogbunude; and the Managing Director of Digital Infrastructure and Managed Services at

By Jerome-Mario Utomi Recently, precisely on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, I participated as a panellist at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands, a panel discussion on The role of multi-stakeholder engagement in achieving environmental justice. The gathering, which was held in Victoria Island, Lagos, formed part of training on Environmental Justice: Reducing Ecological and Social Inequalities through Effective and Participatory Land Governance. Essentially, in my private study/preparation for the programme, the need to domesticate the subject became paramount to me. To achieve this objective; the following questions came flooding; what is environmental justice?

By Adedapo Adesanya The boards of insurance companies operating in the country have been charged by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to embrace the measures put in place to tackle the challenges of unpaid claims. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, expressed worry over the number of outstanding claims in the sector despite efforts by the regulator to address the issue. Mr Thomas, who is also the chief executive of NAICOM, said the organisation, in collaboration with members of the Insurers’ Committee, has taken decisions and incepted measures designed to tame the menace of unpaid claims. Speaking at the

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has pledged to stop international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta from divestment of their offshore assets without being accountable to the environment. The Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Host Communities, Mr Dumnamene Dekor, said this during a technical session on the implementation of the Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDT), organised by Spaces for Change (S4C) with support from Ford Foundation. Mr Dekor raised the alarm that since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, host communities have not experienced any positive change, rather have remained

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A Nigerian lender, Fidelity Bank Plc, has agreed to adopt the single framework for a sustainable banking industry developed through collaboration between banks worldwide and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Called the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), the initiative is a structure for ensuring that banks’ strategy and practices align with the vision society has set out for its future in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Banks which have signed the principles commit to being ambitious in their sustainability strategies, working to mainstream and embed sustainability into

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A popular talk show host, Mrs Morayo Afolabi-Brown, has been appointed as the Managing Director of TVC Entertainment (TVCe). The channel is the entertainment subsidiary of the Lagos-based broadcast media platform, TVC Communications. Mrs Afolabi-Brown is the co-anchor of the famous morning show on TVC, Your View, which has won several awards. Confirming her appointment on Thursday, she said, “I am excitingly pleased to announce my recent appointment as the Managing Director of TVCe, the Entertainment Channel of TVC Communications. “This is a new chapter in my career. I am exceedingly grateful to the board for entrusting

By Aduragbemi Omiyale President Bola Tinubu has said the 2024 budget presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday was designed to achieve macroeconomic stability, a better investment environment, greater access to social security, poverty reduction and enhanced human capital development. According to him, if these goals are achieved, the standard of living of Nigerians will improve and the citizens will enjoy the dividends of democracy. While presenting the 2024 Appropriation Bills to the parliament yesterday, the President said this was why he christened the budget proposal as the Budget of Renewed Hope. Mr Tinubu told the