Q4 2020: Airtel Loses 2,988 Subscribers, 9mobile Gains 1,734

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Young Nigerians living in Abuja who intend to deepen their knowledge in digital education now have a place to go, GoMyCode’s hackerspace. The facility would be used to train and transforms participants into skilled professionals, ready to navigate the digital age. It is the fifth hackerspace the company is establishing in Nigeria, solidifying its footprint in the country. Similar facilities are already in Yaba, Ikeja, Festac and Lekki, all in Lagos. The transformative mission of GoMyCode’s is to democratise tech education and empower thousands of students in the country, equipping them with critical digital skills to support

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A 10-week equity-free accelerator for African startups designed to tutor participants on how to use artificial intelligence to solve local challenges has been introduced by Google. The initiative is called Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First. It recognises the transformative role AI is playing across the world, innovating industries and reimagining the realms of possibilities. It also highlights the significant contributions of African startups in addressing some of the region’s most pressing challenges through the use of AI. A statement from Google disclosed that application for the programme has commenced. It is for startups up to series

By Adedapo Adesanya X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced plans to introduce voice and video calls to the platform. This is the latest move by the billionaire owner, Mr Elon Musk, to turn his app into what he calls an “everything app” modelled after China’s super app, WeChat. These features, when introduced, would place X in direct competition with WhatsApp, Telegram, and other social media apps offering the same services. Making its features unique, Mr Musk said users would not need phone numbers to make calls on X. According to the Twitter owner, the features would work on different

By Adedapo Adesanya Social messaging platform, WhatsApp, has introduced a feature that lets users create groups on the instant messaging app without needing to name them. This is a new option open to users, a change from the norm as users are required to name the groups they create on the messaging app. The announcement was made by Meta’s chief executive officer (CEO), Mr Mark Zuckerberg, on his Facebook page and Meta’s Instagram channel on Wednesday. According to him, the feature will help users now be able to create a group, even if they have not decided on a topic

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange set a new record on Friday, April 23 after it appreciated by 2.9 per cent at the close of the session. The NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rose by 22.01 points to end the day at 785.15 points as against 763.14 points it recorded at the previous session. Also, the market capitalisation increased by N15.65 billion to close at N558.09 billion compared with N542.44 billion it finished on Thursday. These gains were buoyed by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc and the Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.

By Adedapo Adesanya One of Africa’s conglomerate, BUA Group, has announced its plans to tap into the energy sector by building a 200,000-barrel per day capacity refinery in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The group, a dominant player in the foods, mining and infrastructure business, has already signed an agreement with Axens of France for the supply of process technologies for what will be a 10 million tonnes per annum mega refinery and petrochemicals facility. Set for a completion date of 2024, the multibillion-dollar integrated refinery and petrochemical plant aims at producing Euro-V fuels and Polypropylene for the domestic and regional

By Dipo Olowookere The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has rubbished the party’s parallel governorship primary held in Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday August 29, 2016, by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction, describing the exercise as “a mere scam.” In a statement signed by the Ondo PDP Publicity Secretary, Banji Okunomo, the party maintained that “the governorship primary election held on August 22, 2016 in Akure, Ondo State that produced Mr Eyitayo Jegede SAN as its flag bearer [remains] the only authentic one.” The statement further stated that, “Apart from the fact that the so called primary election

By Ahmed Rahma The need to uphold integrity and build trust with investors in the capital market has been emphasised by the founder and Group Chief Executive of Interswitch Group, Mr Mitchell Elegbe. The techpreneur was at the graduation ceremony for the 2020 Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) graduate trainees held recently in Lagos as a guest speaker. The NSE graduate trainee scheme is an 11-month intensive programme designed to groom and raise the next generation of people who will lead the growth of the capital market in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa and the African continent as a whole. During his speech,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A teenager accused of committing capital market fraud, Mr Tanko Damilola Balogun, has been directed to spend the next 12 months in jail by Magistrate Ibrahim Mohammed of Senior Magistrate Court Zone 6, Wuse, Abuja. Mr Balogun, 19, admitted that in June 2019, he started a Ponzi scheme, where he promised to double investment of participants in 45 minutes. To make his business work well and lure unsuspecting investors, he had to use the name and image of Afrinvest, a reputable investment company in the capital market registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “What prompted

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday managed to soak the sum of N153.5 billion from the system through the sale of treasury bills via Open Market Operations (OMO). Of the N450 billion worth of T-bills offered to traders yesterday, the apex bank could only manage to get N154 billion from them. This was as the demand for the government instruments of debt weakened yesterday. A breakdown of the exercise showed that from the N100 billion worth of the 91-day bills, the central bank sold N24.68 billion from the paper at 11.05 percent. Also, from the

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerians have received with excitement news of the entry of Kwese TV into the pay TV industry in the country. The firm launched its services in Nigeria on Thursday at a ceremony held in Lagos and was witnessed by members of the media. Speaking at the event, the General Manager of Kwese TV, Mrs Elizabeth Ampka, noted that “Kwesé comes with the ‘pay-as-you-watch’ subscription packages for premium programming which enables consumers to purchase three and seven day subscriptions at N990 and N1,850 respectively, as well as a 30 day subscription option for only N6,275.” She assured subscribers

Did Dean Smith’s Aston Villa overachieve last season? Well, it is arguable that Dean Smith set a bar of expectation too high for himself with the heroics of his Aston Villa team. Jumping up the table as far as Europa League spots, the odds were enticing from the best global bookmakers on liontips.com for Dean Smith to propel Aston Villa into contention for titles in the 2021/2022 season. Dean Smith built shoes too big for himself Of course, this doesn’t look too much of a big ask when the season began. Yes, their homeboy hero, in the person of Jack