Author: Ifetayo Adeniyi

File: Davido Nigerian Afrobeats superstar, Adeleke Davido, popularly known as Davido, has made public his first-ever festival, “Davido & Friends,” set to take place at the Crystal Palace Bowl on Friday, August 14, 2026. In a post on his X handle on Monday, the artist, also known as OBO, declared, “For the first time ever, I present to you… Davido & Friends Festival. “It’s going down at Crystal Palace Bowl on August 14th.” The event forms part of the “Palace Bowl Presents” series, an eclectic summer festival lineup at the outdoor venue in South London. It is scheduled to run…

(Middle) National Union of Road Transport Workers President, Tajudeen Baruwa, addressing newsmen after taking control of the NURTW national secretariat in Abuja on Monday. Credit: Abdulrahman Zakariyau The decision upholds an earlier judgment of the lower court, which was delivered on March 11, 2024, where Baruwa was recognised as the union’s president. The leadership crisis rocking the National Union of Road Transport Workers took a dramatic turn as Tajudeen Baruwa assumed control of the union’s national secretariat in Abuja, dislodging Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, following a series of court rulings that reshaped the union’s power structure. Speaking…

Manny Ita  – The Nigeria Football Federation has formally commenced its 2026 electoral process with an Extraordinary General Assembly convened in Yenagoa, where key decisions are expected to shape the leadership structure of Nigerian football for the next cycle. Delegates drawn from across the federation’s congress arrived in Bayelsa State for the high-stakes meeting, which is primarily focused on the constitution of electoral and appeals committees that will oversee the forthcoming elections. The process is being closely observed by representatives of both FIFA and Confederation of African Football, a move widely seen as an effort to reinforce transparency and credibility.…

James Woods is a global strategic communications consultant and co-founder of GQI. Oil can be stored, rerouted, and replaced. Water cannot. That asymmetry is the strategic fact this conflict has forced into the open. Somewhere in the archives of the US State Department, there is a diplomatic cable that rewrites the entire geopolitical risk framework for the Middle East. Sent from the US Embassy in Riyadh in 2008 and later released by WikiLeaks and widely cited since the current conflict began, it states, without qualification, that “Riyadh would have to evacuate within a week” if the Jubail desalination plant, or…

Unity Bank clarified that recent media reports suggesting that the bank had not met the recapitalisation requirement of the Central Bank of Nigeria were inaccurate. The bank explained that the apex bank had earlier supported the proposed merger between Unity Bank and Providus Bank as part of efforts to meet the required capital threshold. The bank stated that the approval granted by the regulator included a key financial accommodation meant to support the merger transaction. According to the clarification, the financial accommodation had already been converted into Tier-1 capital, raising the combined capital base of the two banks above the…

Elegbede Abiodun “… The financial flexibility allowed the telco to double its capital expenditure from N443.5 billion in 2024 to a staggering N1 trillion over the last twelve months.” Following a year of financial recovery and massive infrastructure spending, Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria, Modupe Kadri, has addressed the growing disconnect between the company’s record N1 trillion investment and the persistent ‘no coverage’ zones across the country. Speaking recently in an interview, Kadri provided a candid assessment of the telecommunications landscape, explaining that while the capital injection is unprecedented, the physical reality of network deployment requires a ‘gestation period’ that…

Elegbede Abiodun Finance Act 2020 requires public limited liability companies quoted on the Exchange to transfer any unclaimed dividend that has remained unclaimed for a period of not less than six years to the Unclaimed Dividend Trust Fund. Nestle Nigeria Plc and nine other companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) have declared N24.3 billion unclaimed dividend for the year ended December 31, 2025, about 26 per cent drop from N32.65 billion reported in 2024.  The other companies include: Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Communication Plc, UAC of Nigeria, BUA Cement Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, AXA Mansard Plc, Unilever…

Dangote Cement Dangote Cement Plc, Obajana, has graduated no fewer than 40 participants from its host communities following a comprehensive training programme in fish farming and entrepreneurship. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Federal Government, the Kogi State Government, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), as well as traditional rulers and other key stakeholders. The beneficiaries, mostly women, were drawn from the host communities of Iwaa, Oyo, Obajana and Apata. This scheme builds on a series of previous community empowerment programmes, including training in poultry production, solar entrepreneurship, and fashion design. The plant director, Azad Nawabuddin, described the skills-acquisition programme…

Leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, is set to host a high-level virtual webinar focused on helping public institutions to strengthen revenue systems, improve fiscal transparency, and build smarter digital structures for collections, oversight, and accountability. Scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, 2026, the session, themed Digital Fiscal Transparency: Unlocking Sub-national Opportunities for International Partners, will bring together a cross-section of public sector leaders, development institutions, heads of parastatals and agencies, as well as financial experts to explore practical solutions for stronger public finance management. “As public institutions seek ways to improve internally generated revenue and strengthen public trust, there has…

Manny Ita  – Rising Afrobeats star Asake has opened up about the personal struggles behind his rise to fame, revealing how he navigated early resistance from his father while pursuing a career in music. Speaking in a recent interview, the singer recounted how his decision to follow his passion for music was initially met with disapproval at home, particularly during his teenage years when expectations around education and stability took precedence. He described the experience as challenging but formative, noting that it strengthened his resolve to succeed on his own terms. “My dad didn’t really support it at first,” he…