OPay Partners DevFest Lagos 2020 for 48-hour Hackathon

By Adedapo Adesanya After a three-year hiatus, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has moved to restart the Delta-2 project, a technology transfer programme between Nigeria and the Czech Republic. The Nigerian agency and its Czech equivalent, the Technology Agency of Czech Republic (TA-CR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2014 in Prague on critical areas of technology transfer and innovations, which resulted in the co-funding of the Czech-Nigeria Bilateral R&D project on the Delta-2 Programme. The programme started in 2020 but got stalled. Now, NASENI, in a statement, said the project may soon continue as the

The pinnacle of technological innovation and thought leadership, Art of Technology Lagos (AOT), returns for its fifth edition, AOT 5.0. With an unwavering commitment to progress, this year’s conference dives into two crucial pillars that are shaping Lagos’s future: “The Creative Economy” and “A Digital Lagos.“ Curated by the Eko Innovation Centre in collaboration with the Lagos State Government, AOT 5.0 promises to be an unparalleled gathering of visionaries, industry leaders, and changemakers. Lagos’s creative economy sector is a dynamic force that fuels the state’s economic growth, encompassing diverse industries such as film, music, fashion, design, and advertising. This ecosystem

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Three leading makers of 5G-enabled smartphones, Samsung, Tecno, and Infinix, will work with Airtel Nigeria to drive the adoption of the latest technology in the telecommunications industry. The GSM network provider has partnered with the companies as part of its commitment to enhance innovation, improve customer experience, and drive the adoption of 5G technology to transform various aspects of customers’ daily activities. According to the Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Mr Femi Oshinlaja, the strategic partnership is not only to increase access to the latest technological advancements but also to encourage consumers to take advantage of

By Dipo Olowookere There are strong indications that one of the major shareholders in Diamond Bank Plc, a financial institution on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), may eventually lose up to N20.6 billion or $67.2 million of its investment in the local lender. Diamond Bank has been struggling lately and there are fears that it could go the way of defunct Skye Bank Plc, which had its operating licence revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September 2018 for low capital base. Four years ago, an American firm believed to be the world’s largest private equity group, Carlyle

By Adedapo Adesanya The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has decided halt trade relations with Mali after its President, Mr Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, announced his resignation following a military mutiny. The 15-member bloc on Wednesday, in a statement, also said they will shut down all their land and air borders with the French-speaking country. “ECOWAS has noted with great concern the seizure of power by Malian military putschists,” said the statement. The Malian President and the Prime Minister, Mr Boubou Cisse, were detained by mutinying soldiers yesterday, sparking fears of a coup. Underscoring the call for sanctions against

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated again at the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market but remained flat at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window on Monday, June 5. Some analysts attributed the downfall of the Naira value in the P2P and the black market to the reaction of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to talks of the devaluation of the local currency last week. In the P2P market, buyers and sellers exchanged the Nigerian currency with the Dollar at an average of N770/$1 compared with the last Friday’s closing value of

**Says GDP Still Below 3% Population Growth By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has described the growth path of the Nigerian economy as still weak, vulnerable and fragile. This was made known in reaction to the release of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures of the Africa’s largest economy for the fourth quarter of 2018 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) earlier this week. The stats office said in Q4 of last year, the nation’s economy grew by 2.4 percent in contrast to the 1.8 percent recorded in the third quarter of the year.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The race for the share of N12.5 million worth of university scholarships at the InterswitchSPAK 3.0 National Science Competition is gathering momentum. On Sunday, February 6, 2022, three senior secondary school students in Nigeria will slug it out to grab the education grant and other prizes at the grand finale. The contest was put in place to raise interest in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. This year’s edition is the third. The InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition is an Interswitch Group Switch-a-Future initiative. The competition, which is targeted at SS2 (Year 11) students

By Dipo Olowookere Over a year ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it was coming up with an initiative designed to attract $200 billion inflow from non-oil exports over the next three to five years. The initiative, the RT200 FX programme, was to ensure exporters channel their inflow through the official window and sell it through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market. While speaking in November 2022 at the second edition of the RT200 Export Summit in Lagos, the governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, informed the audience that about

By Adedapo Adesanya Mr Aliko Dangote has disclosed that the first batch of products of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals should be expected latest August as the country moves toward self-sufficiency in refined fuels. Speaking on Monday, the billionaire said the first product from the mega-complex structure “will be in the market before the end of July, beginning of August this year”. The President of Dangote Industries Limited stated this while giving the welcome address at the inauguration of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery in Lagos State today. “Beyond today’s ceremony, our first goal is to ramp up

By Adedapo Adesanya The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted bail to the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum. Justice Nicholas Oweibo granted bail to Mr Emefiele after listening to the submissions of his counsel, Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN). Business Post had reported that the embattled Mr Emefiele was arraigned at the Ikoyi court on two counts of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition on Tuesday following a suit brought by the Department of State Services (DSS). After more than