FEATURES
Popular Barbadian singer, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is expecting third baby with her American rapper, ASAP Rocky.
This follows the arrival of the celebrity couple’s second child, Riot, in August 2023, just nine months after the birth of their first baby, RZA Athelston Mayers.
Rihanna and ASAP Rocky were first romantically linked in 2020 and welcomed RZA in May 2022.
However, the 35-year-old singer confirmed the expectation of their third baby as she was seen stepping out with baby bump.
Nigerians have decried restoration of all outstanding debts cancelled by MTN Nigeria.
Recall that early hours of Saturday, September 11, 2023, the telecom giant experienced a technical glitch that resulted in the temporary removal of debt from the accounts of subscribers who had borrowed airtime from the company.
Many subscribers upon checking their accounts, discovered that the money they had borrowed had vanished, leaving their balances at zero.
MTN later responded to the development saying it was due to a technical glitch, adding that the debts would be restored.
“MTN Nigeria Communications Plc can confirm a system glitch impacting balance enquiries. As a result, some customers may receive error messages showing that their balances have been cleared,” the network provider said
“This is not the case and all balances will reflect accurate figures once the problem is resolved. Our engineers are currently working to ensure this.
“Please accept our apologies. We regret the inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, the telecom giant seems to have cleared the errors and has restored the debts to subscribers as stated.
Several subscribers flooded X, formerly, Twitter, who thought the debt wouldn’t be restored have decried the development.
@Maliqifeoluwa said; “Mtn don restore my N2700 debt o.”
@P_____Cash reacted; “So nah Prank Mtn Dey do ??????? Eno go better for mtn generation ooo??”
@TobzyTruth_ said; “Check your balance now. Your MTN debts are back.”
@Dami4reign wrote; “E come dey pain me sey I no borrow airtime from MTN NG.”
Veteran actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo, popularly known as RMD, has shared compelling insights into the compensation of actors in today’s Nollywood.
He made this known during a panel discussion at the Africa International Film Festival held during the week.
During the panel session moderated by actor, Enyinna Nwigwe, Mofe-Damijo expressed his willingness to support emerging talents.
He said, “If a student approaches me to star in a movie, I will even give the student money to shoot. If Enyinna Nwigwe tells me that he is working on his film, I will work with him based on the father-son relationship that we have.
“If a student comes to me, I will never charge. I have done free films for students, for young producers, and for young actors. What actors want is a structure. There is nothing wrong with you calling my agent.”
Addressing the financial aspect, he asserted, “There is no money that you will pay an actor in today’s Nollywood that we would consider as big money. We love the work so much that we are not able to work according to your budget.”
During the discussion, RMD echoed the sentiments of his fellow panellist, actress Shaffy Bello, where she emphasised the importance of respecting those behind the project.
He highlighted the industry’s collective passion for reeling out compelling narratives, adding, “Actors are all suckers for good stories. Once the story is good, you have got the attention of the actor.”
A performing artiste based in Osogbo, Osun State, popularly known by the stage name, Tola King, has reportedly died after a brief illness that started during a church concert on Saturday.
The Governor of Celestial Performing Artistes Association of Nigeria, in Osun State, Temitope Awosika, who confirmed the incident during an interview with PUNCH on Sunday, said Tola King was performing alongside his other colleagues at a concert organised by a Celestial church located in the Obalende area of Osogbo in the early hours of Saturday, when he suddenly took ill.
Awosika, who said he was contacted when the artiste took ill, further said Tola King was promptly attended to inside the church before he was rushed to an undisclosed hospital in Osogbo, from where he was transferred to another hospital in Ile-Ife at daybreak.
He further said, “Tola King was one of us in the Osun chapter. Saturday morning, I was called around 3 am, but I didn’t pick up the call. Around 5:30 am, I picked up the call. There was a concert at a Celestial Church in Obalende, Osogbo.
“The person that called me is one Evangelist Femi. The deceased and Femi were called to perform at the same time. Tola King performed for a while and dropped the microphone for Femi. After that, Femi said Tola suddenly held him from the back.
“He was immediately attended to as his breathing was at that point becoming heavy. Within 10 minutes, he was rushed to a hospital. From that first hospital, he was referred to another hospital in Ile-Ife. He was promptly attended to in that Ife hospital.
“Around 1:30 pm Saturday, his condition did not improve and by 2 pm, he gave up the ghost. He didn’t slump in the church. He was made to sit down when he took ill in the church. He was given first aid before he was taken to hospital.”
The CPAAN governor, who said the incident had thrown the association into mourning, charged people to lead a righteous life, as death remained a certain end for all creatures.
The Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced cashier, Tunde Abdulramon, to five years’ imprisonment for his employer’s N64,420,900 to marry a new wife and also for opening the same kind of his employer’s business for his new wife.
Justice Raliat Adebiyi who handed down the sentence also ordered the convict to make restitution by returning all the properties he bought while in his employer’s establishment and also the money that he stole.
The convict was arraigned on August 19, 2013, on 11 counts which bordered on stealing and fraudulent false accounting, preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The offences committed contravened Sections 390 and 335 (d) of the criminal laws of Lagos State 2003.
Abdulramon’s duty as the cashier of Prime Grocers International Limited, a company selling wholesale and retail consumer goods located in the Oke Arin area of Lagos State, was to collect payments for invoices raised by sales representatives from customers, document them in his cash register and then lodge monies collected into the company’s designated bank account.
The convict, instead, was accused of deleting the invoices and diverting large sums of money paid by customers and lodgers until the company’s managing director discovered the fraud in 2012 after an audit of the computer software was collected following a tip-off that the convict had been deleting invoices.
Abdulramon committed the offences between January 2009 and 2012, when he was discovered to be defrauding his employer.
During the trial, the prosecution called six witnesses, including the complainant, Constance Obi, who told the court that she met the convict in 2002 when the company started importing goods for distribution.
She told Justice Adebiyi that Abdulramon was one of the casual labourers who discharged goods from the container, but that in 2004, he approached her for assistance and then he was permanently employed at the company.
The witness testified that the convict’s duty in 2004 included picking and packing goods for customers before he was promoted to a cashier.
Obi further testified that she received an anonymous call in November 2012, telling her to check the cashier in her store, Tunde Abdulrahmon, as he is a criminal because of some properties that he recently acquired, vehicles, and a new wife.
She also told the court that three days after she received the call, the convict came to her office to tender a resignation letter, which she refused to collect.
The complainant stated that it was thereafter that she checked the computer’s audit trail that filtered the convict’s identification and printed out a report that showed that he had been deleting invoices.
But the convict in his defence denied the allegations against him.
Delivering her judgment, Justice Adebiyi found the convict guilty.
She held that the evidence was that the complainant was unshaken and the prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the convict altered the company’s record.
The judge held that the convict was the mastermind in the deleting of all the invoices and diverting payments made by customers to both his personal and business accounts.
“Abdulramon took advantage of the level of the trust reposed by the chief executive officer of the company (complainant), the offence was also committed continuously and repeatedly for over a period of four years.
“The court finds the level of culpability of the convict to be high; as regards the harm caused, the court finds that the acts of the convict ought to have caused a degree of significant economic loss to his employer although the employer appeared not to have realised this for four years.
“The amount stolen was of significant value and the convict was also involved in conducting a similar kind of business to that of his employer, whilst still in employment therefore creating a conflict of interest,” the judge held.
“Tunde Abdulramon is hereby sentenced on counts one to nine, to two and half years and counts 10 and 11 two and half years, to run concurrently,
“The court hereby orders the disposal of properties acquired by the convict that was acquired with proceeds of the offence and payment of proceeds to the complainant,” Justice Adebiyi held.
The Edo State Police Command said it arrested the husband of a woman who allegedly committed suicide in Benin in the “Mummy Calm Down” viral video because of some issues that surrounded the alleged suicide.
The victim, Mrs Toluige Olokoobi Babalola, a mother of three, was alleged to have committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope in their apartment in Garick Layout, Ekhuan, Benin City, on November 8.
Speaking with City & Crime, the command’s spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor, said the suicide case was reported at the Evbuotubu Police Station on November 8, by the deceased’s husband, Lawal, that on returning from the market he met his son, Ifeo, crying and that he burst the door open and met his wife on a rope tied to the ceiling.
He further said, “The husband said himself and some neighbours rushed her to the hospital where she was confirmed dead.
“The DPO and the man went to the house and recovered the rope and alleged suicide note written by the deceased wife.
“The DPO moved the suspect to the hospital to check the body of the deceased to see if there was any mark of violence, and with due diligence, there was no mark of violence on her body.
“But there are issues surrounding the alleged suicide. The husband claims that the neighbours came upon his outcry and helped him to bring down the woman from the rope.
“But the neighbours said, ‘No, we didn’t know anything about losing the woman from the rope. When we came we met you lying on her crying’.”
He said based on the report from the DPO that there was no mark of violence on the deceased body, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Muhammed Dankwara, ordered an investigation into the matter.
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has taken over the assets of Stallion Nigeria Limited and its subsidiaries in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano.
The bank’s action followed an order of the Federal High Court in Lagos over an alleged N156,026,032,804.84 debt.
Last Friday, the bank’s receiver-manager, Romeo Michael, and court bailiffs, under police protection in the three cities, executed the interim orders delivered by Justice Akintayo Aluko on October 20.
The judge made the order after hearing Temilolu Adamolekun, who appeared with Mohammed Usman, moving the motion ex parte as counsel for the plaintiff/applicants in the suit.
The order subsists pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The case was adjourned till November 20 for hearing of the Motion on Notice.
The order also affects the defendants’ funds totalling N156 billion in commercial, microfinance and other financial institutions across the country.
The first to fourth plaintiffs/applicants in the suit are: UBA Plc, UBA Cameroon SA, Cote D’Ivoire SA, and Romeo Ese Michael.
The first to 11th defendants/respondents are: Stallion Nigeria Limited (in receivership), Von Automobile Nigeria Limited, Popular Farms and Mills Limited, Havana Nigeria Limited.
The other defendants are: KRBL Food Industries Limited, Qingqi Motorcycle Manufacturing Limited, Stallion Auto Keke Limited, Stallion Motors Limited, The Honda Place Limited, Yokohama Construction Limited, and Mr. Sunil Vaswani.
In granting UBA’s prayers, Justice Aluko also restrained the defendants, their directors, shareholders, employees, officers, and agents, from interfering with or frustrating the receiver/manager from exercising all the powers vested in him or performing his duties as receiver of the mortgaged properties, among others.
According to the affidavit deposed to on October 18 by Mr. Anthony Chilaka, Group Head, Recovery and Remedial Management Department of the first to third plaintiffs’ companies, UBA, in 2014, gave various credit facilities to the first defendant (Stallion Nigeria Limited).
Both parties agreed that the credit facilities could be used and were used by Stallion’s sister companies, that is, the second to 10th defendants, in accordance with the offer letter.
As security for the various loans, the defendants mortgaged their aforementioned assets in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Kano.
Sometime in 2014, Stallion Motors (eighth defendant) was awarded a contract by the Federal Government to supply 700 Ashok Leyland trucks/Stallion troop carrying vehicles and 50 Falcon-seater buses to be used by the military with the understanding of the parties that the receivables from the Federal Government would be paid into Stallion Account with UBA.
But after delivering the vehicles to the Federal Government, Stallion Motors allegedly directed the government to make the initial payment of $50 million into its Dubai account and also received another N8.2 billion into its offshore account, rather than to its UBA account, as agreed.
UBA alleged that the defendants failed to clear their debts totalling N156 billion.
[Nation]
President of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), Matthew Ashimolowo has urged the Federal Government to create short, medium and long term measures to address the chronic poverty in Nigeria.
He advised the Federal Government to adopt ‘Keynesian economics’ to boost production
The clergyman lamented that Nigerian business owners are constantly harassed by federal and state revenue collection agencies.
He urged the government to support business owners instead of empowering few rich men who cannot employ more than 100,000 people.
Ashimolowo shared his view during an interview with newsmen at the end of a six-day long Christ Compassion Crusade 2023 at the Igbogbo Stadium in Ikorodu, Lagos.
Speaking on palliatives, he argued that it is not the answer to the situation in the economy.
Ashimolowo said, “In the short-term, government should apply ‘Keynesian economics’, which argues that government should encourage industries to overproduce and then buy the excess, that way, there will be production, when government buys off the excesses and gives to the poor.
“In the medium term, the government should take away the power of over-empowering few very rich men that we keep celebrating as multi-billionaires meanwhile they cannot employ more than 100,000 people. Government should rather encourage small and medium enterprises, Nigerians are very entrepreneurial by nature, there is no house that does not have a shop in front of it, government calls them a setback but it is not a setback, those small shops should be empowered.
“In the long term, the government must encourage industries to come up. They say it is easy to do business in Nigeria, it is a lie, I have businesses in Nigeria, it is not easy to do business, if you are doing business in Nigeria, you are harassed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the local inland revenue service.
“Palliative is not the answer, I think palliative is short term, we don’t call our own palliative. The dictionary definition of palliative is something you give a man that is sick as temporary reprieve. Ours is not that, ours is to bless, we are here to touch people and show them compassion, we are not government.”
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has finalized the agreement to allocate $618 million to Nigeria through the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprise (i-DICE) initiative.
Mr Lamin Barrow, the Country Director-General for Nigeria at the AfDB, shared with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Sunday that the Nigerian government is currently in the stages of hiring a fund manager for the project.
Nigeria launched a 618 million-dollar technology fund for young investors under the iDICE programme on March 14.
The fund, introduced by ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, sought to assist investors grappling with fundraising challenges in Nigeria’s technology and creative sectors.
The AfDB plans to contribute $170 million, the Agence Francaise de Developpement is set to contribute $116 million, and the Islamic Development Bank will invest $70 million.
Barrow said the implementation of the project was staggered because of Nigeria’s government transition.
- “We were caught up by the transition of government and you have to allow the new government to settle in.
- “The steering committee, chaired by the vice-president with membership from the Ministries of Finance, Trade and Investments, Communication, Science and Technology, Information and Culture, met and received a briefing.
- “We are now at the point of disbursement and the team has assembled the necessary procurement work.
- “This has to do with the recruitment of the transaction adviser and the Expression of Interest for firms that want to manage the DICE funds,’’ he said.
Collaboration with the French Government
In addition, the project also got the French government’s approval, with a financial commitment of millions of dollars.
Recall that the French Minister, Catherine Colonnade, who visited Nigeria last week pledged support to the programme, noting that it can create 65,000 startups in the country.
Barrow, the Country Director-General for Nigeria at the AfDB, also agreed with the minister, saying there is a collaborative effort between the bank and the French government in investing in the project.
- “Last week, the French minister that visited Nigeria signed the agreement for the co-financing as DICE is being co-financed by the French Development Agency and the Islamic Development Bank. All the processes are now virtually completed.
- “The important thing is that the fund and the recruitment processes for a fund manager will soon occur.
- “The fund will be independently managed by the fund manager who will also contribute to the fund by supporting start-ups,’’ Barrow said.
[Nairametrics]
Spiritual Father and Chairman of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide, Prophet Samuel Adefila Abidoye, has died.
Naija News reports that his death was confirmed by the Secretariat of the church headed by the Secretary-General, Special Apostle Ademola Odetundun.
The Secretariat disclosed that the Spiritual Father died Sunday morning at about 10:00 am at the age of 103 in his Ilorin home, the Kwara state capital.
Narrating how he died, Apostle Odetundun said that the late spiritual father had his breakfast, almost dressing up to prepare for service, when he said that he wanted to rest for a while.
“He passed on peacefully, thereafter”, he said, adding that burial arrangements would be announced later.
Baba Aladura, Dr. Prophet Samuel Adefila Abidoye was born on June 26 as a Prince at Omu Aran, Irepodun Local Government of Kwara State. His father was Odetundun Abegunde, who was Oba Olomu of Omu Aran, which was in Ilorin Province at the time. His mother’s name was Tinuade Tinuola, daughter of Niniola, a princess of Oponda in the present Isin Local Government of Kwara State.
He started schooling at N. A. Primary School, Omu Aran in May 1934. He lost his father on the Valentine’s day of 14th February 1938 which made the Lovers’ Day especially memorable to him personally. Around 1938, a Reverend Man of God, Senior Apostle Prophet Peter Oyinloye from Rore near Omu Aran, introduced Baba Samuel Abidoye to the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. Meanwhile, just as other converts in other folds, this new convert and others were made to memorize the catechism, which they had to recite before baptism. Thereafter, he was given the grace of seeing our Lord Jesus Christ in his dreams and in a trance in 1958.
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Johnny Drille, the Nigerian singer, has detailed how he met Rima Tahini, his wife.
Born John Ighodaro, Drille tied the knot with Tahini, Mavin Record director of A&R and a senior associate of Kupanda Capital, on January 5, 2022.
In a recent interview, Drille revealed Tahini was not just his first girlfriend but also the first woman to hear him say ‘”I love you”.
“The first time I saw her was at one of my shows in 2018. She was sitting in the front row next to a white woman. At some point, I thought both of them were white. She is mixed race,” he said.
“So, when I was working on another show in Abuja, we got talking. We met in October and by January, I knew I was going to marry her. And I told her I was going to marry her.
“For me, it was deep conviction. A lot of people will not believe this but she was my first girlfriend. I never had a girlfriend before her. I married the first woman that I said ‘I love you’ to.”
Tahini shared a video earlier in the year to celebrate what appeared to be their first wedding anniversary.
“Exactly a year ago yesterday – the most beautiful day, and it’s been the most beautiful 1st year of marriage. I am filled with gratitude to God everyday and look forward to forever by his grace!” she wrote.
[TheCable]
Experts at the 2023 Africa Retail Congress harped on how retailers across Nigeria and Africa can leverage the rise of data analytics and big data to drive a better understanding of the industry, consumer and market in general.
During the panel discussion featuring industry giants from diverse niches such as e-commerce, banking, fintech, FMCG, etc, not only the importance of data was emphasized but also the kind of data and how to interpret them for better performance.
Bankers need the application of retail knowledge in their business
On his part, Olu Akanmu, the former CEO of Opay said not only retailers in the FMCG or e-commerce need the application of retail knowledge but bankers too.
He compared the retailing of goods and services to banking and its products.
He said bankers should deviate from the conventional approach they judge performance but instead look into individual customer data and how they transact with the bank.
- In his words, “If we take a retail mindset to look at the business of the branch and granulate it and pass it from the foundation. How many customers have we got in this branch? How many of them come in to do transactions every 30 days? …how much are you making per customer? You can begin to form that into the revenue you make on a monthly basis. What will be the incremental value in revenue if the customer uses more products or services of the bank?”
He opined that people who do their retail banking business this way are bound to be better retail bankers than the traditional way people do branch banking and further advised the alignment of data architecture to the retail business model.
Data whether big or small should be contextualised
Bayo Adekanbi, the CEO of Data Science Nigeria, deviated from the emphasis on big data and opined that there are tons of small data retailers can use to better understand their business.
He also said there are a lot of disjointed data that retailers cannot make sense of through contextualisation.
- He said, “There is so much that we have all over the place that we need to have a way of touching the data so that they can speak to themselves because data is only powerful when disparate, disjointed data are aligned together so that we find common patterns in margins and this is critical because people are not statistics, they are bundles of emotions and it is in aggregating data that we begin to segment people and outcomes”
Customers’ online experience should be seamless
On the strategies traditional brick and mortal businesses can use to make a seamless transition into the digital era, Jan Tucker said retailers should design the online store to be similar to the physical in look and feel.
That is the customer experience and journey should be similar to what obtains in the physical store.
The CEO of Konga, Nnamdi Ekeh said financial inclusion goes beyond connecting people to the financial system, but the bigger problem is “financial colonialism” with the prevalence of USD in the economy and payment difficulty being experienced by small businesses when trying to make international payments.
Other speakers at the event spoke on privacy and security of data and why retailers should ensure customers’ data is used for what it is stated for.
[Nairametrics]
Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, shone at this year’s British Photography Awards, BPA, held in London at the weekend.
The Starboy’s performance picture at Glastonbury Festival earlier this year won the Event Category Award at the 2023 British Photography Awards.
The iconic picture was taken by London-based freelance photographer and graphic designer Nick Haill.
Wizkid has now become the first Nigerian celebrity whose image won a British Photography Award.
The Recording Academy, organisers of the Grammy Awards, have postulated that there is no Afrobeats star or African artist who is “bigger” than Nigerian singer Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy.
The Academy made the assertion in a statement published on its website on Saturday, congratulating Burna Boy and other nominees for the newly created Best African Music Performance category at the 2024 Grammys.
The Grammys said Burna Boy is “firmly in his imperial era” havimg collaborated with “global stars such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber,” and also earned his first UK No. 1 album this year with “the classic hip-hop influenced I Told Them…, featuring appearances from 21 Savage, J. Cole, RZA, and GZA.”
The Academy said, “There’s not a bigger star in Afrobeats, or even the whole of Africa itself, than Burna Boy. He nabbed two consecutive Best Global Album GRAMMY nods for his albums Twice as Tall and African Giant, and he’s also collaborated with global stars such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber.”
DAILY POST reported that Burna Boy’s ‘City Boys’ was nominated in the maiden Best African Music Performance category at the 66th Grammys.
‘City Boys’ will contest the award with Davido and Musa Keys’ ‘Unavailable,’ Ayra Starr’s ‘Rush,’ Asake and Olamide’s ‘Amapiano, and Tyla’s ‘Water.’
Burna Boy also bagged nominations in three other categories; ‘Sitting On Top of the World’ featuring 21 Savage – Best Melodic Rap, ‘I Told Them’ – Best Global Music Album, and ‘Alone’ – Best Global Music Performance.