Start-ups: $62.3m investment puts bike hailing in spotlight

    Recent successful fund raising by three major bike hailing companies, Gokada, Max.ng and Oride, has put the business in the spotlight as a source of revenue for government.   The three start-up companies that are leveraging technology for transportation cumulatively raised $62.3 million in the last two months to expand their business.   Gokada in May announced that it had raised a $5.3 million Series A round to grow its business. The company said it would use the financing to increase its fleet and ride volume, while developing…

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NCC: New base stations in Nigeria must be 4G

  In its efforts to deepen broadband penetration in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it is focusing on ensuring that all new base stations to be built by the mobile network operators (MNOs) are 4G-compatible.   The commission said this became imperative to accelerate the spread of 4G service to 100 per cent of the country’s population with a minimum broadband speed of 1.5 megabit  per second (Mbps).   President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, recently disclosed that mobile network operators…

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FGN, Sterling Bank, others partner on renewable energy

  The Federal Government, Sterling Bank, one of Nigeria’s foremost lenders, and Virtus Energy Solutions Limited are partnering to enhance power production for small businesses in Nigeria. The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Rural Electrification Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi, said the project would provide electricity access to over 80,000 shops across 16 economic clusters, empower over 340,000 micro, small and medium size enterprises, create over 2,500 jobs while serving over 18 million Nigerians. “This is a significant milestone in the financing of the Energizing Economies Initiative. Since the deployment of off grid…

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UBA’s REDTV to thrill participants at UBAmarketplace

  Youths and adults alike are in for a great time at the #UBAMarketplace2019 as UBA’s award winning online network, REDTV, has lined up a number of exciting acts to keep visitors and participants entertained during the two-day event which will take place on July 26th and 27th 2019.   The UBAMarketplace2019 will be held on the sidelines of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum – the largest gathering of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa.   The over 20,000 expected guests will be treated to a lot of  entertainment, panel sessions, fashion,…

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Nigeria eyes partnership with Indonesia on crude exports

      Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC plans to renew its contract for crude sales with Indonesia which expired last year, part of moves to boost exports, it said on Tuesday.   The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it was interested in working with Indonesia’s national oil company Pertamina to improve its volume of crude exports, NNPC’s new group managing director Mele Kyari told Indonesia’s ambassador.   The corporation said in a statement that the partnership with Pertamina could open up opportunities for Nigeria’s crude oil in the…

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NSITF: ILO has impacted positively on humanity

The General Manager, Administration, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Segun Basorun has described the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as one agency that has impacted positively on the world. Commending the organisation for the institutionalisation of social security initiatives that have impacted positively on the working class, the NSITF boss, who made the declaration on the sideline of the just-concluded International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, explained that conventions and standards of the ILO had helped in ensuring social cohesion in the world of work globally. According to him, “in…

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Labour tackles oil firms over debts to contractors

Workers under the auspices of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) have fallen out with some international oil companies over the latter’s failure to pay stevedoring service charges. In a petition to the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General, Department of State Services on their behalf, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) referred to a complaint by MWUN vide letters dated June 11, 2019. The official memo referenced MWUN/PS/FMT/TWN/2019 and another dated June 27, 2019 and referenced MWUN/PS/FMT/R/TWN/2019, gave hints into the development. Intimating the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of…

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NOMRA: Skill gaps, profiteering fuelling migration

    Skills, technology gaps, profiteering, poor implementation of some aspects of the nation’s laws among others have been identified as some of the factors responsible for the influx of migrants into Nigeria and, by extension, other African countries.   Stakeholders, who graced a workshop in Lagos to launch the Research Phase of the four-country Migration for Inclusive African Growth (MIAG) project in Nigeria, identified the factors as ultimately responsible for migrants trooping into the country in droves. The primary contribution of the MIAG network is to gather evidence based information…

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RAPE: How our mentors molested us… Nigerian celebrities tell their stories

 In the last three weeks or more, the story of celebrity photographer, Busola Dakolo, accusing Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) of raping her in her parents’ house at the age of 16 has been trending endlessly. While a section of the society are calling for the head of the pastor over the allegation, some others agree that although the rape allegation appears credible, Busola should not be completely exonerated as her story of the encounter has not revealed all that transpired. Although they blamed the self…

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Minimum wage: Disquiet over salary readjustment

Federal Government’s plan to readjust salaries of those earning above the new minimum wage appears to be dragging it back to the trenches against organised labour, Sunday Ojeme reports The dust raised by the long battle between Federal Government and organized labour over minimum wage may be far from being settled months after the wage increase had been signed into law. The latest swirl is unfolding over the planned salary readjustment of those currently earning above minimum wage based on the approved N30,000. Initial conflicts Although President Muhammadu Buhari, while…

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