Trump Mulls Restricting Nigerians into US with Planned Travel Ban

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has called on African countries to prioritise the development of public and private export trading companies (ETCs) in order to position the continent’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate effectively in global trade. This was a core message in an address to the Africa International Exhibition on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York by Mrs Kanayo Awani, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank, speaking on behalf of Bank President Mr Benedict Oramah. She said that SMEs participating directly in global trade face stiff competition from

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 Adedapo Adesanya Former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Mr David Cameron, has returned to government as Foreign Secretary amid a fresh cabinet shake-up by Prime Minister, Mr Rishi Sunak, on Monday. Downing Street announced on Monday that Mr Cameron would join the government, accepting a peerage in order to do so, as part of a wider reshuffle in which Ms Suella Braverman was sacked as Home Secretary and replaced by the Foreign Secretary, Mr James Cleverly. Business Post also confirmed that Mr Jeremy Hunt would remain as chancellor. Mr Cameron stood down in 2016 after losing the Brexit

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, has held talks with the Equatorial Guinean President, Mr Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who was in Moscow on an official working visit. The visit could be characterized as historic and interpreted as one major step to broadly review the political situation in the Central African region, and specifically assess the prospects for deepening bilateral cooperation between Russia and Equatorial Guinea. As the current rotating Chairman of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the regional economic bloc uniting Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea,

By Dipo Olowookere Last week, the new President/GCEO of Transcorp Plc, Mrs Owen Omogiafo, presided over her first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the new position. The AGM, which was held virtually, offered Mrs Omogiafo, whose appointment took effect from March 25, 2020, after succeeding Mr Valentine Ozigbo, the opportunity to let shareholders and other stakeholders know her plans for the company. The respected boardroom guru set out her strategic ambitions, whilst also committing to safeguard shareholder interests by ensuring improved dividends. Business Post reports that for the 2019 financial year, the board recommended the payment of one kobo to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, QNB Group, has announced its results for the three months ended March 31, 2018. During the period, the lender’s net profit reached QAR3.4 billion ($0.9 billion), up by 7 percent compared to previous year, while the total assets increased by 12 percent from March 2017 to reach QAR834 billion ($229 billion), the highest ever achieved by the group. It was learnt that the key driver of growth in total assets was from loans and advances which grew by 12 percent to reach QAR598 billion ($164 billion).

By Adedapo Adesanya The Chief Executive Officer and founder of Kenyon International West Africa Ltd, Mr Victor Ekpenyong, says the indigenous oil servicing firm has developed a homegrown solution to oil theft and vandalism that is affecting the nation. This is as the oil firm has urged the federal government and oil operators to leverage the expertise of Nigerian firms to check oil theft and increase oil production. Mr Ekpenyong announced that the solution, which the company refers to as Idle Well Management Solution, was currently being deployed in some oil fields and has proved to be cost effective and

By Dipo Olowookere A group of investors led by OGCI Climate Investments has provided the sum of $5.5 million to Clarke Valve via the sale of its Series B Preferred Stock. Along with funding from Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures, Clarke has now raised $15.5 million of Series B funding. Clarke’s patented Shutter Valves are typically 1/5th the weight, 1/5th the size and 1/5th the cost of equivalent legacy valves, providing substantial benefits to users of industrial control valves in many industries. In addition, Clarke valves are currently the only control valves in the world to achieve

By Dipo Olowookere The Naira came under pressure this week as selloffs by foreign portfolio investors created a huge demand of foreign exchange at the market during the week. At the close of business on Friday, the local currency lost 0.14 percent week-on-week against the Dollar at the investors and exporters (I&E) forex window. However, the Nigerian legal tender remained unchanged against the US Dollar at the Bureau De Change segment and the parallel market to close at N357/$ and N360/$ respectively as CBN sustained its special intervention. Also, the Naira/Dollar rate closed flat at the interbank foreign exchange market

By Dipo Olowookere Global payments technology company, Visa, has announced a suite of sensory branding that will support the Visa brand in an expanded universe of connected, payment-enabled devices. These new sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues will help signify completed transactions in digital and physical retail environments when you pay with Visa. The sound of Visa will debut in Visa’s global advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. According to the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Visa, Lynne Biggar, “For 60 years, the Visa brand has been a global symbol of innovation, speed, trust and

By Adeniyi Ogunfowke Since the entry of eCommerce in Nigeria, it has grown in leaps and bounds. Of course, it has been robustly and economically pioneered by Jumia, Nigeria’s no 1 shopping destination. These have been boosted in no small measure by increased mobile penetration where there is a sudden shift from PC to Mobile. Today, e-Commerce platforms have disrupted traditional ways of doing business in Nigeria and will continue to thrive. Here are the reasons why. Convenience This is the ultimate reason why eCommerce will continue to survive in Nigeria. Nobody wants to return to the days of running

By Dipo Olowookere Kwara State Governor, Mr Abdulfatah Ahmed, on Tuesday, January 10, 2017, directed the immediate release of first and second quarter allocation to tertiary institutions in the state, with a charge that any institution head that fails to meet revenue targets resulting in salary arrears will be changed. Governor Ahmed, who gave the directive during a meeting with heads of government owned- tertiary institutions, explained that the revenue projection for the schools has been included in the 2017 budget proposal, and formed the basis of agreed subventions. He noted that the heads of schools in the state must