adamusuleiman1: Contrary to several local reports, Microsoft has not shut down its African Development Center (ADC) in Nigeria. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the Lagos facility is still operational.
During a call with Techpoint Africa, the spokesperson clarified that while the engineering team at the African Development Center in Lagos has been let go, the Microsoft office in Nigeria remains operational.
Although the exact reasons for the changes are not specified, the company said, "Organisational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing our business. We will continue to prioritise and invest in strategic growth areas for our future and in support of our customers and partners.”
It's worth noting that Microsoft has been implementing workforce adjustments and organisational changes since 2023 to align with global market conditions and meet customer needs.
In July 2023, the tech giant initiated layoffs, supplementing the 10,000 job reductions announced earlier in January of that year. Microsoft's continuous drive to streamline its operations and concentrate on strategic growth sectors necessitated these workforce changes.
Microsoft set up its African Development Center in Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, in 2019 to expand its engineering talent pool, focus on student and community engagements, and invest in Microsoft programmes.
The company emphasised its commitment to training, equipping, and hiring engineering talent in Nigeria and West Africa. These efforts were aimed at helping to develop Microsoft products that are used by over 1 billion devices, empowering millions of users and organisations globally to achieve more.
However, despite operating for five years, employing at least 120 engineers and more than 200 total staff members, the company has decided to part ways with the engineering team.
Meanwhile, local news reported that affected employees are set to receive salary payments until June 2024 and will still be covered by health insurance.
As Microsoft lays off the engineering team, the future of its African Development Center in Lagos hangs in the balance. With the core team gone, questions arise about the facility's continuation.
Speculation is rife about whether Microsoft will shutter its operations in Nigeria or consider AI-driven alternatives. However, indications point to the former, particularly in light of recent developments. On May 7, 2024, Microsoft’s Xbox announced plans to close several gaming studios, including the renowned Arkane Austin.
While the reasons for this decision remain unclear, it reflects broader economic challenges, such as foreign exchange concerns and unfavourable economic conditions, resulting in the closure of several international businesses across Nigeria.
A lot of global downsizing is going on in the Tech space to maximize returns for investors, so this isn't new.
The relentless propaganda and fake news going on about the complete shutdown of Microsoft operations in Nigeria must be dealt with accordingly by bringing those responsible for manipulating the original story of the layoff of the Microsoft Engineering staff to justice. It has become common for a group of well-known disgruntled people to use half-truths and fabricated news to mislead the public so as to taunt those in government.
Thanks for bringing this up to counter the FAKE propaganda video posted by the OP. It confirms my thinking as well because all the trains and coaches on the PH-Aba route are well painted and look presentable.
tizzle: Are you talking of calabar or Uyo? Most people use bikes from Ikot Ekpene(Akwa Ibom) to Aba... It's that close. Uyo to Ikot Ekpene is like 30mins.... Calabar to Uyo is like 3/4 hrs maybe more because if the bad calabar-itu road... Used to be like an hour... PH to Aba is supposed to be less than an hour.... I used to do PH(Eleme junction) to Umuahia in one hour 2013/2014 and you'd have pass through Aba. I don't how long it would take now. You're the one who seems to be the novice here.
Your summations here are spot on with regards to Uyo being closer to Aba. That highly ill-informed kid you quoted typed a complete load of B.S.
NairaOcean: Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), formerly known as Anambra State University, has been plunged into chaos since Saturday as rival cult factions clashed violently on campus grounds. The clash has resulted in the loss of at least one life and left several individuals wounded.
Video footage has surfaced depicting the alarming reality of the violent clashes that erupted between rival cult factions at the university. The footage, captured by bystanders amid the chaos, offers a stark glimpse into the intensity of the confrontation as armed cultists exchange gunfire on campus grounds.
The harrowing scenes depicted in the footage show individuals brandishing firearms, firing indiscriminately at each other amidst panicked screams and frantic attempts to seek cover. Students and individuals can be seen fleeing in terror as the sounds of gunfire echo across the university premises, shattering the tranquility of the academic environment.
Testiebobo: #i dont understand why a 43yrs old man who is rich and healthy refuses to get married not even single-but searching. Not to talk of having children# I'hv waiting for the day he will call my family to lagos to come and eat jollof and poundo yam. And celebrate with him. What could be the delay is it his #behaviour# #fear# #familybattle# #superEagles#(sarcastly)
Tuesday, May 8th 2024, officers of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) apprehended a road infrastructure vandal who was vandalizing the newly constructed 3rd Mainland Bridge road light indicators.
The suspect was identified as Mr. Friday Nwafor a 46-year-old male resident of Lagos who was immediately taken into our custody and handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command Mr. Adegoke Fayoade
The 46-year-old idiot's face shouldn't have been blurred so the he can EASILY be identified by the public. More information is needed on this creep to deter others. Most crimes of up to 70 percent are committed by repeat offenders, so, it's important to keep a proper tab on these criminals who vandalized public infrastructure.
EXACTLY four and a half years after her rumoured death on November 5, 2019, Madam Elizabeth Evoeme, popularly known as Ovularia in the 80s TV sitcom, ‘The New Masquerade’, has passed on aged 81. Born on December 1, 1942, a family member told Vanguard that she died in Port Harcourt, on Sunday, surrounded by loved ones.
Madam Elizabeth Evoeme... She was iconic in her role as Ovularia in the NTA Network sitcom "New Masquerade" in the early 1980s and a lot of us folks looked forward to watching the program every week.
Alongside "Cock Crow at Dawn", "Village Headmaster", "Second Chance", and "Samanja", to name a few sitcoms on NTA Network back in the early 1980s, "New Masquerade" had a stellar cast of actors that brought smiles and laughter to everyone based on their use of various Nigerian ethnic and regional accents.
My condolences go out to her entire family who I heard where by her bedside when she passed on at 81... But then again, it's indeed a Celebration of Life!
adamusuleiman1: Today, I visited the Lagos-Calabar coastal road construction site with my good friend, the former governor of Cross River State, H.E Donald Duke. The project is truly magnificent and unlike any other. Upon completion, it will undoubtedly be recognized as one of the greatest infrastructure wonders of our time.
Ben Murray Bruce on X.
That's an awesome endorsement from Ben Murray-Bruce and Donald Duke.
Professor Jeffery Sachs (who is one of the greatest American Development Economists and a respected United Nations Adviser) CLEARLY stated in his many videos that infrastructural development in any country is KEY to bringing in investors during economic downturns. Investors would naturally come once you get the infrastructure and other policies right.
Jeffrey Sachs has also spoken at African Union meetings and has bluntly criticized Europe and America for working against African interests while also criticizing the IMF for imposing harsh conditions for granting credits to developing countries.
This is the reason why the Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway is a top PRIORITY to Nigeria at this time instead of the myopic fabricated lies and narcissistic criticisms of the political opposition and a large group of highly TOXIC ethnic bigots from parts of the Ibo South East on online and offline platforms who are filled with the worse form of hate and envy ever seen in recent history, and they do NOT wish for infrastructural development to come to others within the Southern and Niger Delta Regional space. The Calabar end of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will commence soon and this is hoping that a middle section of the highway in Bayelsa OR Delta States will be included simultaneously to speed up the highway construction. Period.
OKAIDUN: You cannot be a Uniben student and a graduate at the same time, you already expose your folly, you are gr.eg.ybo.y the Auchi student or graduate,you write like him, and worse still you directed me to your deadpost. Of all Binis here, gregyboy.
Delauhe means everything idiot, timestamp 09:57 -10-30, the Esogban made it clear where he came from
Some communities are homogeneous, and tend to greet alike. Usen is a family on its own, it is a small community, home and abroad should be about 60- 70 thousand, lesser than some families in Benin. The fact that they migrated together did not tell your 0 byte brain that they are a family
The people of Ehor aside their king also greet Alike. They greet Delaeho to show their homogeinity as a family. The people of Ehor also greet to show their village time stamp 9:45 to 9:55
are you wishing away the story of the Olu awure on Oronmiyan coming to Benin alongside with Oloton and his retinue of people who are the Usen people today, they have it in their history.
Are you wishing away the family salutation of the Usen people who migrated from Ife and today they greet Delauhe. They know where their Uhe is, it is Ife. This Usen story and their family salutation supports the fact that the Oba, the family of Oloton, and people of Usen themselves migrated from Ife. Are you wishing it away.
What about the Evian and Ogie-amien family who were admistrators, who are regarded as the last Ogisos in Benin. I would seem to hold on to this account for now.
The old document did not really talk about where the Oba migrated from. I will hold on to this account for now until further notice there are overwhelming evidences to support this, I don't like to delude myself.
Mraphel: Bini history has no been straight forward in fact USEN accounts of history in Edo state is more factual and accurate. Oranmiyan and Elder brother stopped to found USEN in Edo state before Oramiyan proceeded to Egor to found Benin. Which means USEN palace is senior to the Oba of Benin stool. This Oba of Benin is all out there to steal Yoruba's cultures and history.
There won't be a tribe called Benin tribe if Oranmiyan and Yoruba ancestors people didn't migrated to Benin. All the important chiefs of Ile-ibinu and USEN migrated from Ife. If the Oba- Benin wants to be straight forward he should opened up that Yoruba's is one of the tribes and part of Benin and Edo-state.
WE DONT WANT OBA OF BENIN AGAIN IN YORUBA LANDS FOR LAYING CLAIMS THAT OUR ODUDUWA IS OGISO LINEAGE. HE SHOULD STICK TO HIS PALACE.
Bump.
You're right about the role of Usen though in Benin history.
LocalFARMERS: 1- From your first harvest, the pepper will continue to produce new pepper and others that have produced will be ripe for harvest. So, you might be going for harvest within one or two weeks. Some times you might go twice within a week
2- The quantity of pepper you harvest varies on each harvest. You will harvest more when you give space of about a week, before the next harvest.
This means, the quantity of pepper will not be much if you harvest two times a week. However, it is good to harvest as many times as possible. Cause, when you wait to harvest much, the pepper that is ripe early will get spoiled before your next harvest.
As you can see from the picture below,some of this pepper are over riped before we harvest them. This is not good. Cause, so many will spoil before they get to the destination where it will be sold. That is, if the pepper will be transported to far Southern part of Nigeria.
FreeStuffsNG: It's based on the faith practiced by each of those being sworn in.
It's not new among the Yoruba. Emeritus Prof Wande Abimbola, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) was sworn into office as a Federal Minister in 2003 with Iwo (horn) filled with charm in the Ifa tradition.
Former Federal Minister, 91-year old Emeritus Prof Wande Abimbola is still a practicing Babalawo till date.
May God bless Nigeria for ever! Check my signature for free stuffs!
A Babalawo (is ALSO known as an Ifa priest). Both terms are used interchangeably.
indeed, Professor Wande Abimbola is an internationally-respected Ifa priest and was the two-term Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
I saw a picture years back where Professor Wande Abimbola was invited by the Roman Catholic Pope to an international gathering of the world's biggest religions to foster unity in Rome. This was after the year 2000.
Many educated Professors and intellectuals are Ifa priests (Babalawos) worldwide who understand the importance of cause-and-effect in human existence. They abhor negativity because of their higher state of spiritual consciousness. This is different from the fictitious "human sacrifice" representation in the scripts of some movies by dubious Nigerian movie producers. A group of Ifa priests (Babalawos) had interactions with the media houses to educate journalists and the public on the the differences between an Ifa priest or Babalawo who is the Priest of the Yoruba religion like you have an Imam or a Catholic priest, an Onisegun (a herbalist who uses herbs to treat or cure people) and an Oloogun Ika (those who use negativity to harm others).
Islie: Supervisors and advisers of Ikere-Ekiti LGA in Ekiti state were sworn in with an ‘Ògún’ totem and the Quran.
Ògún is one of the deities in African traditional religion. It is often regarded as the “god of iron”.
The swearing-in ceremony took place on May 2 at the conference hall of the office of Olu Adamolekun, chairman of Ikere-Ekiti LGA.
The oath of office was administered on the appointees by Adamolekun.
In a video making the rounds on social media, the appointees could be seen taking turns to wield a cutlass (a totem for the god of iron) in one hand and a Quran in the other.
While administering the oath of office, Adamolekun asked the appointees to repeat the following in Yoruba: “From today, I will be loyal and truthful to BAO (Ekiti state governor), and Monisade (deputy governor), APC and its leaders.”
“I will take instructions from the leaders. If I refuse to do so, Ogun or Quran should kill me. For this, I will be truthful,” they said.
In Nigeria, public office holders usually swear an oath of office using the Quran or Bible, while pledging allegiance to the constitution.
In this instance, however, the appointees were asked to swear allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leaders in Ekiti — while invoking a deity.
Ogun is the God or deity of "War and Iron" in the Yoruba Religion (or Ifa Religion). "The Yoruba culture does NOT teach you to be weak and turn the other cheek, and this is why Ogun the "God of War and Iron" is venerated amongst the Yorubas for centuries (and also amongst other adherants in Benin Republic, Togo, Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, etc). The iconic 1986 Nobel laureate, Professor Oluwole Soyinka (of Ijebu paternal lineage and Egba Abeokuta Ransome-Kuti maternal lineage) is an adherant of the Ogun deity, and he gets invited annually to Cuba, Brazil, the U.S. and elsewhere in the Diaspora to give talks to enthusiastic folks on the Yoruba Religion.
Ogun is NOT an "idol" but a deity of the internationally-known Yoruba Religion. Some journalists like this Cable reporter are indeed ill-informed right from Journalism School and have to learn to upgrade their knowledge of modern language usage when writing for the general public including learning to respect the faiths of others.
Some don't even realize that it's WRONG to use the word "disabled" to refer to physically challenged folks in their publications. Physically challenged folks are NOT disabled in absolute terms.
The use of the term "half-caste" is also a dated term and WRONG to use as it is derogatory. The appropriate term for journalists and others to use is "biracial man or biracial woman." Even at that, I believe that race is a social construct.
FireUpNow: To be honest I never counted how many floors the building was then but it was a gigantic edifice. One very good thing is that there were some Italians that built their house on drainage too but the master piece of their thing was a top-notch. The way they built it, the water can flow under the building without any obstruction from the building. That house stood firm. Poloni it was known then. Nigerians love cutting corners
@FireUpNow,
Thanks for the insightful feedback here. Indeed, a very good pile foundation would have been enough to withstand that kind of swampland terrain in Mende, Maryland just like it's being done in the State of Florida. Some parts of Florida are below sea level and the top echelon of Lagos State lands and urban planning officials will have to understudy how Florida is trying to overcome the challenges of rising sea levels.
We even have new cement products that can withstand damage from water absorption after being used for building construction. So, everything is about knowledge, due diligence and adhering to global best practices just like the Italians you alluded to in your post.
A careful analysis of the wedding picture doesn't show that it's in tandem with 1931 dress culture. For years now, I've seen and studied a lot of worldwide photographs in the archives from the 1800s to the 1980s and there is a distinct flavor of dressing in each decade (with some hairstyles and dress styles reappearing decades later though)... The mini-skirts and mini-dresses of the 1960s to the 1970s, made a resurgence in the late 1990s to the 2000s for example. The classic "Oleku," a popular Yoruba mini-wrapper or midi-wrapper with the buba top of the 1970s also made a fantastic come back in the 2000s.
I love these kinds of historic stories but MORE information is needed on how Premium Times got that wedding picture to ensure that they do NOT end up spreading FABRICATED news that other wannabe bloggers end up copying.
PressMyButton: Bitter Obi is fond of lashing onto rumours he reads in newspapers without confirming. How does he know the were deported and of Osun origin?. Both Lagos and Osun governors have denied deporting or receiving any deportees. Bitter Obi should try and verify reports before making a fool of himself.
He's indeed an impulsive FOOL because earlier today, I read that the Governor of the State of Osun, said his brother, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State denied knowing about any relocation of Osun indigenes from Lagos to Osun as first reported by a so-called online publication. It definitely might be a false rumor since Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu denied such an event.
It's time for the FG and States to hold online and offline publishers of FAKE news accountable for defamatory posts. The governments have NOT shown seriousness in tackling this huge menace that can easily destabilize democracy and governance in any country. Period.
On 21st of December, 2023, the leadership of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources held ANOTHER stakeholder meeting with Honourable member representing Kosofe 1 State Constituency at @lshaofficial, Hon. Sanni Ganiyu, and the property owners of structures built on the alignment of System 1 midstream (Odo Iyalaro - Mende - Ojota - Ogudu reach) following several other meetings held previously.
Here (video attached), the property owners confirmed that they do not have valid documents and have been served several contravention notices.
The Ministry have always engaged stakeholders and give notices before any action is taken.
This Yemi Alade girl is just trying to be politically correct with her uninformed rants in the video here. I detest it when people like this speak ignorantly without having FACTS and hence mislead their online followers and the public. Everything she said in the video was absolute B.S.
She got an appropriate response, from Jubril Gawat there with all the evidence showing that many people she was defending in that video were warned earlier going to 3 years now for contravening the building codes and building on non-government approved lands.
GloriousGbola: In 2004 my company renovated multiple facilities across lagos. The then hod was pally with people in town planning and did upgrades/renovations without approval. Fast forward to 2012,we wanted to do a fresh set of upgrades. Where are your old approvals. No where to be found. We paid for the approvals and paid penalties.
On one project one of my supervisors wanted to extend beyond our boundary. It was literally taxi drivers who strated threatening him. They said they knew where the boundary was and they would go to local govt
On this same project we extended into the right of way. A year later lasbca came after us and made us take down the structures within right of way.
Contraventions and cutting of corners and trying to be smart all come with a caveat - you are always at risk with no source of legal redress.
You may get away with it if your contravention is not constituting a nuisance. But when you are literally causing floods, deaths, property and environmental damage to others?
These people should be happy lasg is not suing then for gross negligence, environmental pollution, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated property damage.
Maybe that needs to be done so people can understand
Tbh, the last two paragraphs of yours clearly sum up what has to be done. Lagos State has the smallest land area among the states in Nigeria and yet these contraventions have been taking place relentlessly right from the decades of Military rule till this period. People have to start getting punished to serve as a deterant to others.
Business › Re: Microsoft Confirms African Development Center Layoffs But Denies Its Closure by Konquest: 7:29am On May 09, 2024
