Nigerian Wins Swiss Govt’s Migration Entrepreneurship Prize

By Precious Olisa A Cameroon-based company, Koree, has emerged as the winner of the 2023 edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, going home with a prize of $50,000. The firm was announced as the winner of the contest by the panel of judges during the competition’s grand finale at the bank’s headquarters at the Pan African Centre in Lomé, Togo. The organisations made it to the final from an initial pool of over 1,400 fintechs from 64 countries, underscoring the significant growth in popularity of the competition since its inception six years ago, as well as the wealth of innovation

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria plans to increase the net contribution of the telecommunications sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) by 22 per cent by the end of 2027. This is part of efforts announced by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, in the ministry’s 31-page Strategic Blueprint document titled Accelerating our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency, seen by Business Post. In the document, the ministry noted that “As telecommunications continues to evolve in line with new technology and associated opportunities, it is critical to revamp our national approach to account for changing imperatives and

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian wireless internet service provider, Tizeti, has announced the securing of an unnamed senior debt facility from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund that will be used to finance the rollout of its state-of-the art broadband network across 15 states in Nigeria. In a statement seen by Business Post, the company said it has been granted long-term financing by the investment company’s fund and will deploy the debt to build new internet infrastructure and purchase additional equipment to expand its services to Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna. Tizeti

On Wednesday, Google rolled out its Search Generative Experience (SGE) in the SSA region as an opt-in experiment in Search Labs. This AI-powered experience is available in English. With new breakthroughs in generative AI, Google is reimagining what a search engine can do and is bringing these powerful new capabilities to Search in a bold and responsible way. This powerful new technology can unlock entirely new types of questions that Search could not previously answer and transforms the way information is organized in Search to help people sort through and make sense of what’s out there. Improving Search with generative

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Kaspersky Lab has launched updated versions of its Kaspersky Internet Security in a bid to ensure better protection against ransomware. The upgraded version is able to protect Mac computers while using public Wi-Fi networks and also offers an extra layer of protection with a secret code for Android users to prevent specific apps like instant messaging services, social media and email from being seen by others if they are accessing a user’s phone. In addition, the consumer line-up is extended by a free solution aimed at protecting Windows home users from cyber threats. The release of Kaspersky

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi, Benue State, has been sealed off by the Benue State Internal Revenue Service (BIRS). The higher institution of learning was shut by the Benue State tax office over non-remittance of Personal Income Tax running into N2.3 billion. The action, we gathered, followed reported failure of the school to respond to several letters written to it by the tax office to pay up the outstanding Personal Income Tax from 2007 to 2011. Chairman of BIRS, Mrs Mimi Adzape-Orubibi, who led the enforcement team to seal off the university, noted that her

By Dipo Olowookere Med-View Airline has apologised to its passengers over the delay in arrival of some of their baggage from London to Lagos. The firm, in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos by its media consultant, Mr Oyibhota Obuke, explained that the embarrassment was caused by the inability of Gatwick Airport to “screen the baggage” because it was short-staffed as a result of the holiday. Med-View noted that it had dispatched a special flight to London on Saturday to airlift the left over baggage, but unfortunately returned without the affected baggage following the inability of Gatwick Airport authorities

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The planned issuance of $2.5 billion by the Nigerian government would be used to refinance some maturing treasury bills worth N762.5 billion. This disclosure was made by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja. Briefing newsmen on outcome of the meeting presided over by Mr President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister said government plans to use proceeds from the exercise to lower its borrowing costs. Recall that government had used proceeds of its bond issuance in November 2017 to redeem N198 billion worth of treasury bills

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A renowned author, Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, has joined others to call for the inclusion of women in the scheme of things, noting that their contributions would also be helpful in the success of the country and organisations. Ms Adiche said this at the 2022 edition of the Annual Leadership and Mentoring Conference of Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), a leading not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on women empowerment and strategic mentoring for professional women. The prolific writer was the keynote speaker of the confab themed For the Nation; The Power of Inclusion. The WISCAR woman is

By Omaga Elachi Daniel So much has been said about mis-governance in this part of the world, corruption, miscarriage of justice, financial malfeasance, government’s ineptitude, non-accountability in government, looting with impunity, gagging of the press, etc. but not much has been done to change the status quo. This is simply because the conscience of government has gone to sleep a long time ago, and no one has the courage to awaken it. This isn’t peculiar to Nigeria or Africa alone. Even western nations that now practice ideal democracy had issues like this until there was a concerted effort by civil

By Adedapo Adesanya Transactions at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed in the bullish zone on Thursday, November 18 with a 0.3 per cent growth driven by the positive price movement in the shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. The milk producer appreciated by N1.90 or 1.6 per cent during the trading session to settle at N121 per unit compared with N119.10 per unit it closed on Wednesday. This lifted the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 2.25 points to wrap the session at 746.83 points in contrast to 743.58 points of the previous session. In the same vein,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil and gas export increased by 94.3 percent month-on-month in January 2020. The national oil company, in its first Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) for the year released in Abuja, on Wednesday, stated further that the total revenue from oil and gas within the period amounted to $434.85 million It also said that during the month under review, crude oil export sales contributed $336.65 million (77.42 percent) of the dollar transactions for the period, compared with the $136.36 million in the previous month, December 2019.