Court Jails Journalist for Insulting Governor

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh It all began in March 2023 with an ear-deafening applause during the inter-parliamentary conference under the theme ‘Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World’ that was held in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered what was then referred to as ‘no-cost deliveries’ of grains to six African countries. This unique promise was consolidated and renewed during the second Russia-Africa summit held in St. Petersburg. Russian media, with its highest public-oriented reports and propaganda narratives, keeps on informing its public that Russia feeds Africa and its 1.4 population. Under the auspices of the State Duma of the Russian Federal

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Russian language study is hitting magnificent roadblocks in Africa. For several years after the Soviet collapse, Moscow has been stepping up efforts to strengthen Russian language study and its culture across Africa. But there have been few tangible results largely due to low motivation towards the language, its usefulness is blurry compared to other foreign languages including French, English language and now Chinese. In the previous years, there has been an increasing concern about Russia’s extremely low presence in Africa. Russia’s initial interest was to become part of Europe and construct business ties from Lisbon to

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 Amid heightened criticisms and intense debates over several significant global issues including new financial architecture, economic diversification, growing debts and reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, on October 15 wrapped up their week-long annual meetings held under the theme “Global Action, Global Impact” in Marrakesh, Morocco in North Africa. With the rapid geopolitical changes, it featured prominently finance ministers and central bank governors from 190 countries in desperate search of comprehensive mechanisms and suitable approaches to address the prevailing economic crisis across the globe. The coordinated annual meetings also reviewed its scope

By Adedapo Adesanya To further advance African genomics research for improved global health outcomes, Nigerian healthcare startup, 54gene, has announced the launch of its diagnostic arm, 7RiverLabs. This is coming three months after the startup raised a $25 million Series B funding round. The 7RiverLabs is a series of diagnostic hubs fitted with state-of-the-art technology that offer healthcare providers and patients access to world-class, cost-effective, speedy, reliable and advanced molecular diagnostics. Sample collection centres with over 100 employees are already open in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. With that in mind, more centres are due to launch in 10

By Dipo Olowookere The Federal Government has been called upon to consider privatising national refineries to make them fully functional and save money. This appeal was made by President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Frank Jacobs, in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja. Dr Jacobs said privatising the refineries would also help boost the economic situation of the country, if fully functional. According to the NAN President, “Government should consider privatising the four national refineries to make them fully functional to save money for other purposes. “Proper deregulation of the downstream petroleum

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that one of its functions under the law is printing money to support the government whenever there is a crisis. The Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, while speaking on Thursday in Tunga, Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, said one of its key mandates is to print currency. Mr Emefiele was reacting to questions posed to him on the revelation by the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, that the federal government printed N60 billion last month to shore the shortfall in revenue generated in

By Dipo Olowookere For the third consecutive year, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is retaining the ISO 27001:2013 certification for its Information Security Management System (ISMS). The re-certification followed a rigorous independent audit of NSE’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) by the British Standard Institute (BSI), to ensure that the principles of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on ISMS standard are being upheld at the Exchange and controls are working as intended. The British Standards Institute is reputed for providing assessment and certification to management system standards across 150 economies globally. International Organization for Standardization is an independent, standard-setting

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerian medium-sized lender, Fidelity Bank Plc, has had its Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) rating affirmed by Fitch Ratings at ‘B-‘ with the outlook stable. Fitch said in a statement that the bank’s Viability Rating (VR) has been also affirmed at ‘b-‘ and Support Rating at ‘5’, while its National Ratings were also confirmed. Fidelity Bank is a financial institution with a market share of around 4%-5% of domestic loans and deposits. Its small franchise limits the size and scope of business it can undertake and the bank has developed a niche focus on selected corporate business

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A top apartment management company in Nigeria, Eko Shortlets, has expanded its business with the unveiling of Holiday ShortStays, a service aimed to benefit property owners and travellers. A statement from the firm disclosed that in addition to helping travellers get seamless accommodation in strategic locations in the country, Holiday ShortStays will help them locate the best hotels, boat rentals, and car rentals. “Holiday ShortStays is a marketplace where people who have apartments can put it up there to find those who need these services, including property owners, managers, car and boat rentals, and hotels,” the Managing

By Dipo Olowookere Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday embarked on an indefinite industrial action to press home their demands. The outstanding issues with the Federal Government, according to ASUU, include payment of fractions/non-payment of salaries; non-payment of earned academic allowances, non-release of operational license of NUPEMCO; non-implementation of the provisions of the 2014 pension reform act with respect to retired professors and their salaries, removal of universities staff schools from funding by government and funds for the revitalisation of public universities. The lecturers said they were not happy with the way Federal Government has neglected

By Modupe Gbadeyanka About 30 percent stake in NEM Insurance Plc, amounting to 1.6 billion ordinary shares of the Nigerian insurer, has been purchased by unnamed new investors. The shares were sold by a key stakeholder in the company, VFD Group, which conducted the sale in collaboration with others. It was disclosed that the transaction occurred at year end 2018, closing at a significant premium to the closing price on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). According to a statement issued by the firm, “A combined block of one billion, six hundred million (1,600,000,000) ordinary shares of NEM