Author: Akintayo Adams

Telecommunications giant, MTN, has accepted an undisclosed offer from Telecel, an Africa-focused telecommunications service provider, to acquire MTN’s equity stakes in MTN Guinea-Bissau and MTN Guinea-Conakry. The MTN group has its sights set on exiting smaller markets in the West and Central Africa (WECA) region and concentrating on the ones with higher growth promise. MTN revealed this development in its 2023 financials where it hinted at its potential exit from Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Liberia where it controls a huge chunk of the market share. In the report, MTN disclosed that its Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry businesses have been designated as held…

Kaduna-based Islamic cleric Ahmad Gumi has confirmed his invitation by security agencies due to some comments credited to him on the activities of bandits. The Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris, had on Monday confirmed that Sheikh Gumi had been invited for questioning while stressing that no one is above the law. Gumi made the revelation via a social media post titled,  ‘Only one person is above the law: the innocent’. He wrote, “Last night I got many frantic calls from well-wishers and journalists about a news item that I was interviewed by security. There is absolutely no cause…

An explosion at a small food kiosk located near a police station in northeastern Kenya had killed four people and wounded several others on Monday. The blast was said to have been caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that had been planted at the hotel and was detonated as a crowd of people sat down to have a meal, police said. “I condemn in the strongest terms, today’s cowardly and heinous terrorist attack at a hotel in Mandera town,” Mohamed Adan Khalif, the governor of Mandera County who confirmed the deaths, said in a statement. “My heartfelt condolences and…

A Kano High Court has sentenced Geng Quandong, a Chinese man standing trial for the murder of his Nigerian girlfriend, Ummukulsum Buhari to death by hanging. He was found guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death under Section 221 of the Penal Code Law of Kano State and convicted accordingly. Mr Quangrong had stabbed his 23-year-old girlfriend to death at her family residence in Janbulo quarters, Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano on September 16 2022. Justice Sanusi Ado-Ma’aji held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond the reasonable doubt while delivering his judgment. “The defendant’s testimony is inconsistent.…

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the benchmark interest rate to 24.75 percent. It increased by 200 basis points. This was announced in a communique by the CBN governor Yemi Cardoso after the second MPC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. The is an increase from the 22.75 percent announced by the MPC about a month ago and the second rate hike by the current committee that was inaugurated some weeks ago. Cardoso also announced the retention of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of deposit money banks at 45 percent. However, the MPC adjusted…

Strong reactions and comments have followed the act of bandits seen in viral videos displaying cash supposedly collected from victims. They were attached to a series of post on X by Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst. He noted that the user of the social network account has over 3000 followers and that some of them are bandits who openly show off their rifles while dressed in military or police uniforms. “Audacity: Bandit on Tiktok flaunting and showing off ransom money he collected from his victims”, he wrote. “The user of the account has 3000 followers, some of…

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the construction of 28 roads and bridges across the country for the total sum of over ₦1.2 trillion. This was disclosed by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, after the FEC meeting held on Monday. The projects were approved by FEC having gone through the Bureau of Public Procurement and Certificates of No Objection secured, according to him. Approval was given for construction of 91.432km road at Saki in Oyo State at the sum of ₦144 billion, and the construction of Buruku bridge across Katsina Ala River in Benue State at a little…

The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a circular to Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) across the country informing them that it has sold $10,000 to each BDC at a rate of ₦1,251/$1. It is estimated that over $15 million might have been sold into the retail end of the market as there are about 1500 BDCs licenses left. The bank earlier resumed the sales of dollar to BDC operators after a prolonged period of suspension, dating back to 2021. The ban was lifted following the revocation of licences of over 4173 BDC operators in February out of an estimated…

Governor of Borno State, Prof Babagana Zulum has approved the release of the sum of ₦1billion to train teachers across the 27 Local Government Areas in the state. This was revealed at the inauguration of the newly appointed 27 educational secretaries for the local government education authorities in the state on Tuesday (Today). The Governor said the training will include one thousand teachers identified to have ‘O’ level certificates, and those without certificates but have the requisite experiences. According to him, the secretaries were selected following the 2019 review of the state government’s compulsory education law 2005. The law doesn’t…

The Federal Government says it will establish a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) park at the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi. This was made known by the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Audu through a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Lizzy Okoji, on Monday in Abuja. President Bola Tinubu had approved the establishment of the Presidential CNG Initiative (Pi-CNG) on Aug.18, 2023, as part of his palliative intervention targeted at cushioning the difficulties faced by Nigerians due to the removal of fuel subsidy. The CNG is mainly composed of methane and primarily used as a substitute fuel for…