Author: Ifetayo Adeniyi

Firstbank Bags Prestigious Corporate Bank Award at 2023 Euromoney Awards for Excellence FirstBank, Nigeria’s premier financial institution and financial inclusion services provider, was announced as the Best Corporate Bank at the recent prestigious Euromoney Awards for Excellence, Nigeria 2023. The Bank clinched the coveted award based on its 130-year commitment to enabling its corporate customers achieve success through relevant and tailored financial solutions. FirstBank’s continuous investment in technology has been crucial to its leading industry role in optimally meeting the needs of its corporate customers. Recent investments in technology include the development of its smart and interactive Transaction Banking Platform…

Google Rebrands AI Chatbot, Bard, To Gemini Google announced on Thursday that Bard, it’s AI chatbot, has been renamed Gemini, adopting the name of the text, voice, and image-capable AI model that began powering the Bard chatbot in December. Google has revealed that Gemini, which is receiving more prominent positioning among Google’s services, will have its dedicated app on Android phones. On Apple mobile devices, Gemini will be integrated into the primary Google app. “Bard has been the best way for people to directly experience our most capable models. To reflect the advanced tech at its core, Bard will now…

Nwoko pays visit to Ned/GKE, expresses concern on fate of Nigerian youths The senator representing Delta North senatorial district at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Ned Nwoko, has expressed deep concern about the future of Nigerian youths. Nwoko expressed his concern when he paid an unscheduled visit to Ned/GKE Skills Acquisition Center during his assessment tour in Asaba, the Delta State capital. He said, “I have gone round the skill acquisition center and I’m satisfied with what I saw on ground and the management of the center. “Apart from the fact that the management of Ned/GKE Skills…

BOI: Ready to disburse three categories of funding, N200bn to manufacturers, SMEs The Bank of Industry has said that it will be disbursing three categories of funding totaling N200bn to support manufacturers and businesses across the country. The development bank, in a statement, noted that funds included the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, the FGN MSME Intervention Fund and the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund. The Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme is a N50bn grant scheme to support eligible nano business owners. The grant will be disbursed to a minimum of 1,000 beneficiaries (especially women and youths) across the 774 local government areas…

Tinubu directs compulsory recitation of National pledge at public engagements President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the National Pledge be recited after the singing of the National anthem at official and public engagements. The President announced this while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the 3,112 housing-unit Renewed Hope City at Karsana, Abuja, on Thursday. He said: “Before I left home this morning, I asked for a printout of the National Pledge, and we have to relaunch it again at this event. The relaunch is about being committed to the values, greatness, and hope of our country. “It is…

Davido says he’s proud of himself, though he didn’t win Grammy There is nothing as painful as losing, especially when one is very close to winning something as important as the Grammy Awards. Nigerian Afrobeats star, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has revealed to everyone that cares to know that he is very proud of himself even though he didn’t win the Grammy after coming very close to winning the award following his nomination. The singer, disclosed this in an interview recently. He said; “Being nominated alone is enough to make me proud of myself. I just want my…

World Bank Awards N4.5bn Grant to 150 Schools in Katsina The World Bank, in collaboration with the Katsina State Government, has commenced the disbursement of N4.5 billion School Improvement Grant (SIG) to 150 selected primary schools in various communities across the state. The disbursement of the funds was flagged off on Thursday by Governor Dikko Umaru Radda at Shagumba Primary School in Batagarawa Local Government Area of the state. Radda, during the flag-off, said the School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) were responsible for the utilisation and management of the funds on behalf of the benefiting schools and communities. He said the…

Tinubu orders release of 100,000 metric tons of grains L-R: Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Minister of Defence, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and Chief of Staff to the President Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila during an Emergency meeting of Presidential Committee on Food Intervention convene by the Chief of Staff to the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. As a temporary response to the nation’s growing food crisis and…

Headies Awards: “We are coming home” returns to Nigeria Organisers of the popular award show, Headies Awards have announced that the 17th edition of the show will hold in Nigeria, after two successful editions in the United States. The 16th Headies held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, which also served as the venue for the award ceremony two years ago. However, the organisers made a ‘come back’ announcement on Wednesday, declaring through a post on their Instagram page that they are bringing the show “back home.” The announcement reads: “Over the past few years, Afrobeats…

Shallipopi: How I coin my stage name from a movie Crown Uzama, a popular Nigerian musician, Crown Uzama, known by his stage name Shallipopi, has revealed the origins of his nickname, citing inspiration from the 1994 Chinese kung fu comedy flick, Shaolin Popey. During a recent conversation with British media personality Madame Joyce, the artiste shared that he initially experimented with his birth name, Crown, as well as other name like Drip Face, before ultimately settling on Shallipopi. He recounted how he stumbled upon the movie during his childhood, explaining that his mother intended to purchase a Tom And Jerry…