Less than 50 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria and other emerging economies own a smartphone and women are significantly less likely than men to own a smartphone and use the mobile internet within low and middle-income countries, experts have expressed following the submission of a United Nations (UN) working group: the Broadband Commission Working Group on Smartphone Access. The implication is that “a third of the global population still cannot or do not access the internet” or leverage the vast social and economic opportunities in intelligent devices including smartphones, the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development has…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
The Federal Government has declared Monday, October 3, 2022, as a public holiday to mark the nation’s 62nd Independence Anniversary Celebration. The last national holiday in Nigeria was Eid-el-Kabir on 11th and 12 July, while the next one after that of the Independence Day is due Eid-el-Maulud on 10th October. In announcing the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola congratulated all Nigerians on the celebration and assured them of the government’s commitment to tackling all the challenges facing the nation and bringing smiles to their faces. “The world is going through dire economic and…
Mikel Obi has announced his retirement from professional football on Tuesday following a 20 years glittering career. Tributes have since continued to pour in for the former Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder. Mikel, 35, last featured in the squad of any club on 4th November 2021 when his contract with Kuwait SC was terminated after only four months. He did not play for the Kuwait Premier League champions during the short spell. He opted to hang his boots having been without a club for 10 months. Mikel announced on Tuesday, through his official social media account, that he has retired…
In the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which ended in New York recently, high-level representatives from governments, civil society, the private sector, philanthropy and international organisations agreed to scale up efforts to build safe, trusted and inclusive digital public infrastructure (DPI) to achieve a more sustainable and equitable world. In furtherance of these efforts, they committed to sharing digital public goods, knowledge, and learnings, while providing an initial $295 million in funding to support the development and adoption of inclusive DPI, scaling technical assistance and deeper capacity building. The event with the theme, ‘the future of digital…
The Lagos State Government through the State Employment Trust Fund has supported 3,673 businesses with the sum of N1.56 Billion as grants and provided mentorship and business advisory to young people to start and grow their businesses. The Governor disclosed this today at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)/Lagos Economic Summit Group (LESG) Private-Public Partnership Pre-Ehingbeti Stakeholders Engagement, with the theme: “Building a Sustainable Future for a Greater Lagos”, held at the Commerce House, Victoria Island Lagos. The Governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat added that the State Government has also supported…
…€7.5 million earmarked for Nigeria The European Commission has allocated €600 million from the European Development Fund to finance immediate humanitarian food aid, food production and resilience of food systems in the most vulnerable countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). This will help partner countries and vulnerable people to cope with the unjust consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, notably the current food security crisis and related economic shock. Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen stated: “The EU’s swift and comprehensive response to the current food insecurity in several vulnerable partner countries of the African,…
Over 50 winners have emerged as instant Millionaires of Dangote Cement Plc. in the Northeast Region, according to the company in a statement on Monday. The statement said a Winner’s event attended by a large number of people from seven states of the Northeast, to celebrate the lucky winners was held in Jos, Plateau state last Thursday. It would be recalled that, on Wednesday, a similar event was organized in Sagamu, Ogun State, and while two people won N5 million each, a total of five people won N1 million each, and hundreds of other customers won different prizes, including television…
Nigeria’s tax collection agency has attributed the low level of tax compliance in the country and others developing countries to the failure of the social contract between taxpayers and the government. According to the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami. it is expected that if the citizens are committed to paying taxes, the government should be committed to using the taxes for the common good of all citizens. Nami, who spoke at the launch of the Public Finance Database by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in Abuja, noted that when governments deploy tax revenues for the…
As part of efforts to foster a safer, more inclusive payments ecosystem, Interswitch, Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, in collaboration with Providus Bank, has emphasized the need for heightened focus on security in the payments ecosystem. This submission was made at the official unveiling of the tokenization solution jointly developed by Interswitch, Providus Bank, Mastercard, and Thales, where industry experts also gathered to discuss current and future trends in the payments space. One of the key trends highlighted at the event was the demand for more convenient, accessible, and secure means of conducting everyday financial transactions by…
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has revealed that N673.137 billion was shared among the three tiers of government as federation allocation for August. This was contained in a statement issued by the Director of Information and Press, Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete, on Friday. The statement revealed that the Federal Government received the larger share of N259.641 billion, the states received N222.949 billion, and the Local Government Councils received N164.247 billion. Adding that the N673.137 billion was inclusive of Gross Statutory Revenue, Value Added Tax, and augmentation of Non-Oil Excess Revenue. The statement indicated that the Gross Revenue available from the VAT…