Comviva, Cassava Fintech win GSMA GLOMO Award

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The 17th Toronto Global Forum was held under the theme Fostering Economic Resilience from October 11-13, 2023, in Toronto Canada. According to reports, the forum gathered over 170 speakers and more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The central themes at the Toronto Global Forum revolved around the global economy, infrastructure, finance, innovation, energy and sustainable development. Through its ability to foster connections and collaboration, the Toronto Global Forum stands as an exceptional and distinctive platform bringing together decision-makers from all spheres of society to tackle the most pressing issues of the changing times.

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) have signed an agreement for a dual currency line of credit comprising $50 million and €50 million to support local agricultural businesses in West Africa. The credit lines are expected to strengthen food security, economic growth, and employment generation. The President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, Mr George Agyekum Donkor and Mr Solomon Quaynor, AfDB Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure, and industrialisation, formalised the agreement during a signing ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

By Professor Maurice Okoli As stipulated by the guidelines, Russia will take over BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] from January 2024.  With the heightening of geopolitical tensions, Russia’s priority focus is on the group’s possible enlargement to counter U.S. hegemony. It plans to push seriously for critical reforms in the international financial architecture and create a solidified platform for building an equitable multipolar world order. In the past few years, the BRICS group has taken a number of broad initiatives that aim at countering hegemonic policies and against the collective West for imposing the ‘rules of the

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The African continent is one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world. This is due to the growing economic and demographic potential of African countries, as well as the efforts of many of them to combat climate change. Despite having passed through a long period of tumultuous post-colonial era, Africa’s efforts to ensure effective energy cooperation with leading global powers has not been an easy journey down the years. Until today, more than half of the estimated 1.4 billion still have no access to electric power for domestic utilization while industries continue suffering from frequent

By Dipo Olowookere The treasury bills market remained bullish on Monday, with the corresponding yields closing lower by 0.20 percent at the close the trading session. According to analysts at Zedcrest Research, demand interests at the market yesterday were bolstered by the surplus system liquidity levels. Also having a significant impact on the outcome of the Monday’s trading day was the continued lack of OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It was disclosed that demand interests remained focused around the mid to long end of the curve at the session. “We expect yields to remain slightly bullish

By Aduragbemi Omiyale An Indian banker, Mr Manish Singhal, has been appointed to the board of directors of a Nigerian lender, Sterling Bank Plc, with the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A statement from the bank, signed by its company secretary, Temitayo Adegoke, disclosed that Mr Singhal would serve on the board as a non-executive director. The new board member is currently the General Manager (Operations), International Banking Group (IBG), State Bank of India (SBI), where he oversees the Operations and Information Systems, Human Relations & Expansion Planning, and Strategy. He also oversees the implementation of IT-related

By Adedapo Adesanya The Rivers State Government has disclosed that it will not allow any act of economic sabotage such as crude oil theft to continue taking place in the state. This warning was given by the state governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, who noted that the war against illegal refining of crude oil is not about political parties but about Nigeria and its survival. He stated that it is also about ensuring that the health of Rivers people is not endangered. Speaking during a security meeting he had with heads of security agencies in the state and five Local Government

**Urges Investors to Set up Refinery in A/Ibom By Dipo Olowookere Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Kacalla Baru, has engaged investors on the need to establish a refinery in Akwa Ibom State. Speaking at a two-day PENGASSAN Triennial Retreat/Synergy workshop held in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, Mr Baru said the state was well-positioned geographically to have a refinery. According to him, “Investors have been coming to us and I have seen one that is quite promising. It is in this light that I encouraged these investors to come and see the state government

By Ebitonye Akpodigha During the campaigns ahead of the 2015 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) reportedly promised to pay N5,000 monthly to poor Nigerians. This was hailed by many and caused the party to be massively voted for by the electorates. However, nearly two years after gaining power, Nigerians have continued to ask when that campaign promise would be fulfilled. Almost a year ago, November 2015 to be precise, the Deputy Senate President, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, reminded President Muhammadu Buhari of his campaign promises to Nigerians, including the N5000 monthly pay to unemployed youths in the country. “The

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions will on Monday embark on a five-day warning strike over the recent sack of civil servants by the Kaduna State Government. The planned move followed Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s announcement in April that he was disengaging some civil servants in the state because of waning revenue to pay the workers. Mr El-Rufai said a significant amount of the statutory federal allocations to the state was being spent on the wages of public servants. But the NLC has vowed to resist the action of the state government, accusing the Governor

By Adedapo Adesanya The Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) has said that post-paid customers across its franchise states are indebted to the company to the tune of N115 billion. This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the company, Mr Hashim Bakori, who explained that the debt owed was different from the cost of energy losses as a result of energy theft. He said this was discovered after 16 months of hard work after resuming office with his team as the new management of JED. Mr Bakori disclosed this in Jos during the launch of the company’s 5-years Corporate Strategic

By Dipo Olowookere The big boys of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reduced the value of the market on Friday as investors booked profit on them because of the price appreciation they have recorded in the past days. Business Post reports that when activities were brought to an end yesterday, the market was down by 1.46 per cent as a result of the sell-off in the blue-chip stocks. Consequently, the All Share Index (ASI) shrank by 506.83 points to 34,136.82 points from 34,643.65 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N264 billion to close at N17.838 trillion as against