The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has instructed MultiChoice Nigeria (MCN), to introduce an additional feature that allows subscribers to maintain the same subscription fee for a minimum period of one year. The additional features will also allow subscribers to have better value for money proposition for annual prepayment of subscription with the ability to suspend subscription at least once every quarter of the year. This disclosure is contained in a final order and notice of the FCCPC and signed by its Director, Legal Service, Mr Tam Tamumokonbia, on Saturday, March 19, 2022, and can be seen on…
Author: Temitope N.
Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been elected President of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA). According to a statement on the EFCC’s official Facebook handle, Bawa was elected on Monday at the ongoing Annual General Assembly of the institutions. Mr Bawa succeeds Francis Ben Kaifala of the African Union Advisory Board and Head of Sierra-Leone Anti-Corruption Agency whose three year-year term ends on March 31, 2022. About Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa Mr Bawa assured members of the network that he will do everything within his powers to take…
The Nigerian Police Force Headquarters (NPF) has stopped its officers from demanding customs papers and tinted glass permits from motorists at checkpoints in any part of the country. This follows the suspension of the issuance of tinted glass permits and as such, the police personnel are not expected to disturb Nigerians on this. This was confirmed in a series of tweet posts by the Acting Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Prince Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who asked members of the public to report police officers who delay motorists to ask for these. Adejobi said that the police can stop any vehicle with…
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has established that it had so far registered only 1, 512, 739 candidates as of Saturday, March 19, for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) examination. This is as the board has maintained that the registration exercise for the examination will still close on Saturday, March 26, 2022, as earlier scheduled despite the poor turnout of candidates. This was made known by the examination body in its Weekly Bulletin of the Office of the Registrar on Monday, in Abuja. AMB said that the sale of e-PINs for its…
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said that concerted efforts should be made to persuade and further incentivise the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to remain in the country to benefit from the newly passed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). However, should they decide to exit after all efforts to ask them to remain failed, the union urged the Federal Government that a good investment that has relevant technical experience, good financial standing, and reputation for managing employees must be sorted after. PENGASSAN, in a statement yesterday, said it has been following with keen interest, the…
The Federal Government said it has established plans to conduct more exploration activities in the nation’s mining sector from the sale of its National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP). According to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, at the Nigeria Mining Summit organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), NIMEP would be sold through auction to have a revolving fund to carry out more exploration activities in the country. He added that under the scheme, about $50 million has been spent to explore four solid minerals out of the 44 minerals discovered. He added:…
National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has highlighted a seven-point agenda, which he said would bring back the country’s troubled economy and drastically reduce its dependence on petro-dollars. The APC presidential aspirant said his desire to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari is to further improve the nation’s economy to the benefit of all Nigerians, including generations unborn. The former governor of Lagos noted that lack of electricity was perhaps the single greatest impediment to the country’s economic advancement, adding that the lack of power inflates costs, undercuts productivity, causing havoc to overall economic activity and…
Airline operators have advised that another spike may await domestic airfares in the face of current realities in the fuel supply chain. The carriers, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), said they might be constrained to sell at N120, 000 per one-way economy class with the aviation fuel selling at N500/litre and without the government’s intervention. The airlines that recently bargained N500/litre benchmark with the stakeholders, said another rise in price became imperative to cover the cost of operations. Apparently in agreement with the operators, a former commandant of the Lagos Airport in the 90s, Group Capt.…
Bendall Innovations, collaborates with Fuller Yield Ventures, has partnered with Zenith Bank to make cooking in homes convenient through the invention of the machine, ‘OmniSmart Yampounder plus’. At the unveiling of the machine, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Fuller Yield Ventures, Steve Olayinka, said the invention of the machine was to revolutionalise African cooking experience. He stated that the machine would solve marital issues by restoring peace between spouses. “OmniSmart Yampounder plus has come to make peace between husband and wife, because when a wife arrived late from work, she might be tired and the husband or family might demand for…
Bolt which is the leading mobility platform has brought back Drive for Women in Tech (#Drive4WITech) initiative, to mark the International Women’s Day month. The aim is to provide equal opportunities for women in technology and improve overall gender equality in the mobility sector. The initiative includes an internship programme for young women who choose to start a career in technology regardless of their existing educational background. The Bolt #Drive4WITech internship offers opportunities in operations, public relations, marketing, and engineering with access to excellent learning from top Bolt executives to young women across Africa. The programme first launched in 2021, recorded…
Flourish Africa, a female empowerment Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) created by Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist, Apostle Folorunso Alakija has unveiled a N1 billion women entrepreneurship scheme to empower the gender for the next five years. Disclosing this at a press conference in Lagos, Alakija announced Eloh Consulting Limited, Google, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its training partners for the N1 billion business and life skills training scheme. She said the programme was to support the entrepreneurial activities of female-owned businesses in Africa and helping them achieve their full potentials. Alakija explained that a minimum of 500 female micro-entrepreneurs would be trained yearly…
National Wheat Farmers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NWFPMAN), has flagged off the harvest 2021/2022 dry season wheat farming programme sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. The Federal Government had in 2021 released over N5billion worth of input for about 10,000 wheat farmers in Bauchi and some selected states to boost production. The CBN provided input such as foreign seeds from Mexico, water pump, fertilizer and others for farmers to cultivate a hectare of wheat. While flagging off the harvest in Alkaleri local council of Bauchi yesterday, the National Vice President of the Association, Ahmed…
A recent news by the UNCTAD has estimated that Africa loses $88.6 billion annually due to Illicit Financial Flow (IFF) with Nigeria contributing 30%. This, according to Mboho Eno, Deputy Director, Accountability, Centre for Journalism Innovations and Development (CJID), is a major concern and needs to be addressed by all stakeholders, especially the media. To curb the menace, the experts highlighted several ways and methods that can be used at a one-day training organised by CJID and Torch Light Group for investigative journalists. Illicit financial flows involve money laundering, bribery by international companies, tax evasion, falsification of business transactions, corruption among…
The Nigerian Government has disclosed that it has plans to attract 1.3 million Chinese tourists annually to Nigeria through the signing of two MoUs. This was disclosed in a statement by the Ministry of Information and Culture after the minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Chui Jian Chun, who was on a courtesy visit to the minister’s office. He stated that the FG seeks the activation of the MoUs to tap into the Chinese tourism markets. He also urged China to facilitate a $500 million loan for the digitization of NTA. The statement said Lai Mohammed called…
The Lagos State Government has mandatory issued a stop-work order on a petrol station being constructed illegally at No.1 Robinson Gbagi/Benson Anoruo Street, Ajao Estate, Isolo. This is part of the ongoing enforcement exercise being carried out by the government to rid the state of illegal and non-conforming structures. This was made known by the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, who said the move to stop further construction on the site was important to forestall a disaster. Salako said, ‘’The facility is being erected without any approval or stage-by-stage inspection by the Lagos State…
The newly sworn-in governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has disclosed the suspension of all revenue collections in the state for a period of one month. Soludo, who was a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), also banned the payment of cash to Anambra State Government in motor parks, roads and any other place across the state. This was made known by Soludo, while making his address after he was sworn in with his Deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, by the Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Onochie Anyachebelu, on Thursday, March 17, 2022. The governor during the…
In its bid to encourage and boost digital payments adoption and financial inclusion in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria has granted a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) license to Cellulant Nigeria Limited. With this development, Banks, online merchants, payment processors, retailers, governments agencies and consumers can now connect to Cellulant’s payment infrastructure to meet their electronic payment needs. This approval makes Cellulant Nigeria, one of the PSSP companies that make up the underlying e-Payment infrastructure in Nigeria. Mr. Bolaji Akinboro, Cellulant Corporation’s Co-founder and the CEO of Cellulant Nigeria believes that the future of Africa’s payment landscape is digital.…
Africa’s global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, and leading Pan-African Payments Company Cellulant have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African countries in which UBA operates. These countries include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Senegal. This network represents one of the primary tools in bringing together Africa’s fragmented payments ecosystem, ensuring Cellulant’s Payment Gateway, Tingg, is available to a vast number of merchants and consumers in…
Doubts in Europe have pushed up energy prices, and Nigeria may be forced to deal with high food inflation and inflated prices for diesel and other unsubsidized energy imports for a while. Specifically, Russia is a significant supplier of energy products, thus western sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its onslaught on Ukraine are impacting the availability of supplies. Consequently spreading the adverse effects of the ongoing war to other countries such as Nigeria. From a European perspective, due to low inventory and the relatively high dependence on Russia for energy needs, the sanctions on Russian oil imports (including…
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it is putting structures in place in terms of upgrading and deploying the National Production Monitoring System (NPMS) facility towards curbing crude oil theft in Nigeria. Chief Executive, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, spoke recently in Abuja on efforts by the commission to address the menace of crude oil theft. He said the deployment of NPMS, which is an electronic system that is used to monitor oil and gas production in Nigeria, was being carried out in collaboration with other relevant agencies. According to him, this ensures accurate and reliable reporting of crude oil…