Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) installed a record 357,495 electricity meters in the first quarter of 2026, marking the highest quarterly deployment in the past five quarters as efforts to bridge the country’s massive metering gap accelerate. According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) First Quarter 2026 Report, the strong performance was primarily driven by the Federal Government’s Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP), which accounted for more than one-third of all installations during the period. Key Highlights – Total meters installed: 357,495 across all 11 DisCos. – Benin DisCo led with 20.35 per cent of total installations, followed by…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
India and Japan have significantly strengthened their strategic and economic partnership, signing more than 100 business agreements as both nations seek to reduce their dependence on China and bolster regional security. The agreements were concluded during Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s first official visit to India, where she held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi aimed at expanding cooperation in key sectors, including semiconductors, energy security and critical mineral supply chains. The renewed partnership reflects growing concerns in both countries over China’s increasing economic and military influence in the Indo-Pacific. Relations between Asia’s second- and third-largest economies gained momentum under former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo…
Four months after the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the US-Israeli war, the Islamic Republic has launched an elaborate week-long state funeral aimed at projecting resilience, unity and defiance to the world. The funeral, spanning five cities across Iran and Iraq, is expected to draw millions of mourners in one of the largest public events in the country’s history. Iranian authorities say the ceremonies are designed not only to honour the late leader but also to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic remains unbowed despite war, economic hardship and international pressure. The funeral comes as the…
Google has lost its appeal against a €4.1 billion ($4.8 billion) antitrust fine after Europe’s highest court upheld a landmark ruling that found the technology giant used its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition. The decision brings to a close one of the European Union’s biggest competition cases against the company and reinforces regulators’ efforts to curb the market dominance of major technology firms. The fine was originally imposed by the European Commission in 2018 at €4.34 billion, before being reduced to €4.1 billion in 2022. Google’s latest appeal was dismissed, confirming the revised penalty. The Commission accused Google…
By David Oputah Capital markets have an interesting way of separating excitement from excellence. Excitement often accompanies the launch of a new company, a major expansion, or a highly anticipated market debut. It is fueled by projections, media attention and investor optimism. Excellence, however, reveals itself only over time. It is measured not by headlines but by a company’s ability to allocate capital wisely, build productive assets, adapt to changing economic conditions and create sustainable value for shareholders over many years. This raises an important investment question: what distinguishes businesses that merely experience periods of success from those that consistently…
Beta Glass Plc (“Beta Glass” or the “Company”), West and Central Africa’s leading glass packaging manufacturer, has officially concluded its 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Landmark Event Centre in Lagos on Thursday, 25 June, 2026, marking a symbolic milestone under its new ownership structure. The assembly served to bring together institutional investors, shareholders, and regulators to review the company’s recent performance. The meeting highlighted Beta Glass’ expanding footprint and its vital position as a primary GDP multiplier across the sub-region. According to an independent socio-economic impact report by Deloitte, Beta Glass has injected over ₦1 trillion into…
Drones capable of stunning and stopping perpetrators are on the horizon for law enforcement, according to Rick Smith, Axon co-founder and CEO. “The drone that is capable of stopping somebody is in the future,” Smith said in a new episode of the Power Players with Brian Sozzi podcast. While current Axon drones provide real-time aerial awareness of a scene, the company is actively developing technology to deliver a non-lethal “effect” on targets. Axon, originally founded in 1993 as Air Taser Inc. in a Tucson garage, was born from a personal tragedy: two of the Smith brothers’ high school teammates were…
Coffee chains across the U.S. are leaning hard into fruit flavours and fluffy cold foams as customers chase Instagram- and TikTok-worthy drinks that mix bold tastes with eye-catching visuals. Starbucks, the nation’s largest coffee retailer, is leading the charge. More than 60 per cent of its new beverages launched since 2024 have featured fruit flavours, a trend that continues even as CEO Brian Niccol works to simplify the menu as part of the company’s turnaround. “Over time, we’ve seen customers increasingly gravitate toward fruit-forward flavours, particularly in cold beverages,” said Dana Pellicano, who leads global product experience at Starbucks. A…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has conceded that the company’s ambitious AI agent technology is advancing more slowly than anticipated, as the social media giant grapples with the fallout from a major internal restructuring. Speaking at an internal town hall on Thursday, Zuckerberg acknowledged shortcomings in the company’s sweeping changes, according to a recording heard by Reuters. He said AI agents, automated systems designed to perform tasks on behalf of users, “haven’t really accelerated in the way that we expected” over the past four months. Zuckerberg also admitted the reorganisation, which included significant job cuts, “was not as clean” as it…
Spotify has removed streams of the song that rocketed to the top of its U.S. charts after discovering suspicious betting activity tied to the track on the prediction market Kalshi. The song “Earrings” by Malcolm Todd surged 70 per cent overnight on Sunday, propelling it to No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. streaming chart, according to the Financial Times. On Wednesday, Spotify took action, stating the streams did not appear to come from genuine listeners. “All streaming services face ever-changing stream manipulation,” a Spotify spokesperson said. “Spotify has best-in-class detection and mitigation practices for manipulated streams, and we don’t pay out…