UnionPay, Interswitch to Accelerate Payment Digitalisation in Africa

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 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 The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said Nigeria now ranks seventh in terms of mobile phone usage globally while it takes the 11th spot in terms of internet penetration. The NCC Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Umar Danbatta, disclosed this while speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on emerging technology forum for the telecommunications industry in Abuja on Thursday. Mr Danbatta, who was represented by Mr Abraham Osahadami, the NCC’s Head of Spectrum Database Management, said 82 per cent of the country’s 200 million+ population are telecom subscribers while just 29 per cent

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria’s overnight interbank lending rate, Reuters says, reached 16 percent on Friday from about 13 percent it recorded at the end of last week. This comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) debited commercial banks’ accounts for Dollar purchases and also issued Treasury bills to mop up liquidity. Traders told Reuters that the regular foreign exchange auctions and the Treasury bill sales drained liquidity. The money market opened with a cash deficit of about N2.3 billion on Friday, compared with a deficit of N45.64 billion last week. This week, the CBN sold Dollars to clear a

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The sum of $210 million was auctioned to traders in the foreign exchange (forex) market yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This was to ensure those who want to complete their transactions or pay bills and allowances have access to forex. It was also to ensure that the local currency, the Naira, was not under any pressure as a result of scarcity of forex at the market. A total of $100 million was auctioned to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while $55 million was offered to those in the Small and

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The $4 billion Eurobond issued to offshore investors last year by Nigeria has been taken to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for trading at the secondary market. The bond was issued in 2021 by the Debt Management Office (DMO) to raise funds to support the fiscal year’s budget deficit. Last week, the debt office took the debt instrument to the FMDQ Securities Exchange for listing, giving investors, especially those in the domestic end, who missed the opportunity to buy the paper, to buy through the secondary market. Business Post reports that the Dollar-denominated bond was listed on

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerians have been enjoined to channel their intellectual capacity into productive ventures like writing of books, in order to create wealth and for posterity. Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu, made this known in Abuja recently at the presentation of a book “Journalism and Business: My Newspaper Odyssey” written by an economist-turned journalist, Malam Isiaq Ajibola. Adamu noted that if more Nigerians could convert their dreams, visions and experiences into commercial products like books, such intellectual works will further develop the minds of people, just as the sales will generate wealth for the authors. The Minister recalled

By Dipo Olowookere Immediate past Governor of Delta State and 2019 Delta South Senatorial hopeful, Mr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, has once again warned that Delta State must not be in the opposition camp after the 2019 general elections. Mr Uduaghan, who plans to fly the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag at the polls next year, gave the warning at Olomoro, Isoko South, where he paid a condolence visit to Chief Lucy Esigie, a chieftain of the APC in company of the APC state Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue; House of Representative hopeful, Mr Joel Onowhakpo Thomas and other chieftains of the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka All is set for the second edition of the Hollywood and African Prestigious Awards (HAPAwards) taking place on Sunday, September 30, 2018 at the historical Alex Theater in Glendale, California. The event with theme ‘Celebration of African Heritage’ promises to showcase the best of musical performances and talents while recognizing the achievements of dignitaries and community leaders across the globe, the organisers have assured. The HAPAwards is focused on promoting the contributions from different cultures in Africa and around the world to American civilization. The awards strives to enable all of mankind see themselves as one, regardless

**Offers to sanitise industry By Dipo Olowookere If given the needed support by the government and other stakeholders, the Compliance Institute, Nigeria (CIN) will help in the fight against corruption, terrorism, money laundering and other crimes in the financial industry. This was the submission of President of CIN, Mr Pattison Boleigha, during a world press conference in Lagos last week. “The financial sector is a conduit through which illicit finances pass through. The way the institute will assist is to train compliance officers who will be working in the banks and make sure the rules of the Central Bank of

By Tenebe Anthonia A well-functioning financial market is crucial for economic recovery, especially in light of the macroeconomic implications of COVID-19 in the years to come. Players in the money and capital markets must, therefore, rethink product development and service delivery, to reflect the current economic climate and investors’ sentiment. This was further emphasized at a recent workshop organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and X-Academy, a knowledge-platform of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The workshop themed Financial Investment Options in Nigeria: The Synergy Between Money & Capital Markets came on the heels of the announcement