Two Firms Battle for Lagos-Ibadan Rail e-Ticketing Contract

Travelling far distances by car, bus, plane, or train is not always fun. Did you know it can even have a harmful impact on your health, too? Long-distance travel, especially by car, taxi, or bus, can increase the risk of blood clot formation, a condition known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In many instances, people sit still in cramped and confined conditions for hours when they’re travelling a far way. But warns Dr Helen Okoye, a medical expert and spokesperson for the World Thrombosis Day (WTD) campaign, prolonged periods of inactivity can be dangerous. “When our bodies are in a

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Residents of Delta State will enjoy 2023 Christmas like never before as the management of Leisure Park has decided to take this year’s Christmas extravaganza to the South-South state. Tagged Christmas in Delta, the event will commence on December 1, 2023, and will run through to January 14, 2024, across multiple locations in the 25 local government areas of the state. The Public Relations Officer of Leisure Park, Mr Godday Umukoro, said in a statement that this was part of the company’s determination to ensure Deltans see Christmas in another prism. According to him, Christmas in Delta

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigeria Air project of the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been suspended by the current government of Mr Bola Tinubu. The suspension of the national carrier project was carried out by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, who served in the previous administration as the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity. Speaking during a tour of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, Mr Keyamo also announced the suspension of the concession of the airports. He said both the suspension of the Nigeria Air project and the

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The strong demand for international travel across regions, especially as the airline business recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, has helped Emirates Group, one of the big players in the aviation industry, to generate about $18.3 billion in the first six months of the financial year of the firm. On Thursday, the company released its financial statements for the 2023/24 fiscal year, with earnings rising by 20 per cent from the $15.3 billion achieved a day ago. The organisation, in the period under review, illustrated its strong profitability, as net profit went up by 138 per

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The rally at the stock market was sustained for the 15th consecutive day as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) buoyed by 3.40 percent or 1207.77 points to settle at 36,740.77 points, crossing the 36,000 mark for the first time in several months. Yesterday, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced keeping its MPR at 14 percent, the market reacted positively to it, leaving the market capitalisation to cross the N12 trillion mark for the first time since 2015. Today, investors gained a total of N577.4 billion, the biggest daily gain in years, to

By Dipo Olowookere Treasury bills yields depreciated at the secondary market on Tuesday in the absence of the sale of the debt instrument by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the Open Market Operations (OMO). It was observed that the market was relatively bullish yesterday amid buoyant liquidity in the system as market players await the mopping up of the excess cash through the usual OMO auction. The market also finished in the day as a result of a renewed demand in the secondary treasury bills market. At the close of transactions, the yields fell across the four tenors

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria generated N814.59 billion between 2007 and 2021 from the solid minerals sector, with the 2021 earnings of N193.59 billion being the highest in the period under review. This was disclosed by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in its 2021 Solid Minerals Industry Report, tagged Impact Built on Blocking Leakages to Grow Revenue’ unveiled by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr George Akume, represented by Mr Maurice Mbaeri, Permanent Secretary, General Services Office. The report, the 12th in the series, covers actual payments by 1,214 companies operating in the sector and

In the wake of its early-March ICO, Stepn’s Green Metaverse Token (GMT) has appreciated steadily, punctuated by three significant spikes in April. What can the resilient performance of this new coin tell us about the prospects for other cryptocurrencies looking to launch in the near future? GMT is the governance token in Stepn’s metaverse and complements its move-to-earn Green Satoshi Token (GST). Its value has been supported by a shift by some consumers who have chosen to move away from play-to-earn gaming and toward the nascent move-to-earn model, which rewards physical activity. While GST’s downside risk is mitigated by its

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government, through the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has disclosed plans to unveil six regulations on midstream and downstream operations. The regulations are being put in place to bring clarity to the sector as well as improve business processes and ease of doing business in the sector. According to the Authority Chief Executive (ACE) of NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, in a statement after a meeting with the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), said the regulations are gas pricing, environmental management plan, environmental remediation fund, decommissioning and abandonment, gas infrastructure fund, and natural

More than half of African citizens, around 95 million people, do not have a traditional bank account.  With 57% of the African population currently unbanked, challenges have arisen as to how these citizens can access economic opportunities. Bringing the unbanked into the financial mainstream is one of the principal advantages that a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) offers—particularly to less developed countries with large percentages of unbanked in their population. A key feature of many retail CBDC projects is the ability of individuals to access a digital currency account offline as well as online. “This is important as it effectively

By Dipo Olowookere The National Social Investments Office (NSIO) has highlighted the achievements and critical areas of the economy the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) has positively impacted on, since its launch in 2016. The NSIO explained that the school feeding initiative has been driving financial inclusion and reducing poverty while boosting the prosperity of the cooks by providing them access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs. Special Adviser on Social Investments to the President, Mrs Maryam Uwais has said that in addition to the over nine million pupils in classes 1 to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Three new appointments have been announced by Zenith Bank Plc and are waiting the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The three appointees are Ms Adaora Umeoji, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu and Mr Ahmed Umar Shuaib. While Ms Umeoji and Mr Onyeagwu were appointed as new Deputy Managing Directors (pending CBN’s nod), Mr Shuaib was named an Executive Director of the bank. Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Peter Amangbo, in a statement, said at the “meeting of the board of directors of Bank held on October 19, 2016 2016, Ms Adaora Umeoji (Executive Director)