March 19, 2024

By Steve Oko, Umuahia

The West African Examination Council, WAEC, had delisted a number of secondary schools in Abia State from participating in the regional body’s exams over involvement in examination malpractice.

Commissioner for Education Professor Uche Eme Uche, who disclosed this during a press briefing in Umuahia, said the state had just been informed by the exam body about the development.

Although she failed to disclose the affected schools, the commissioner said they were mostly private schools.

The commissioner, who frowned at any act capable of tarnishing the image of the state, said the operational licences of the affected schools would be withdrawn as a deterrent to others.

She explained that the state supported the action by WAEC as it would help halt the bastardization and lowering of academic standards in schools by some dubious operators.

Professor Uche said that the state had previously shut down some of the affected schools due to their unwholesome practices, regretting that instead of heeding the warnings, they continued to cut corners.

Speaking earlier, Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said that Governor Otti had approved the immediate renovation of 170 primary and 51 public secondary schools across the state.

He said 10 primary and three secondary schools would be selected from each of the 17 Local Government Areas in the state.

The renovation, according to him, is to give a facelift to public schools in the state and make them conducive and attractive for learning.

He explained that this was in addition to the six model schools currently being established in the three senatorial districts.

The government spokesman further disclosed that the governor had also approved the disbursement of N62 million in bursaries to Abia law undergraduates in different tertiary institutions across the country.

This, he said, was to assist them following the increase in their fees and cost of training amid the biting economic hardship.

On the schools’ renovation, the Commissioner for Education said each of the benefiting schools would have staff quarters, a Head teacher’ house, and a caretaker’s house to ensure water-tight security of the school property.

The gesture, according to her, is a demonstration of the high premium that the Otti-led administration attaches to education as the cornerstone of any society.

She said that the state government had resolved to revive and promote education in the state, adding that the renovation will be done in phases until all public schools in the state have received a facelift.

The Ogun State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a woman, Chioma Okafor, and 19-year-old Nweke Joshua, for allegedly robbing traders with toy guns in the state.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the suspects were arrested last week Friday during an operation at Adesan, Mowe, in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state.

Oyeyemi said “Upon receiving the distress call, the Divisional Police Officer, Mowe Division, SP Folake Afeniforo, quickly mobilised the division’s patrol team and men of the So Safe Corps to the scene where the two suspects were arrested.

“On searching them, it was discovered that they came to rob the shop with toy guns which looked perfectly like original pistols. On interrogation, 19-year-old Nweke Joshua informed the police that it was Chioma Okafor who came with the idea of carrying out the robbery operation in order for them to have some money.”

Oyeyemi said the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, directed that the suspects be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation.

The Ondo State Government has made it compulsory for all pupils and students in the state to recite the Oodua Anthem in their schools .

The order reportedly affects all the private and public institutions from primary to tertiary level in the state.

This was contained in a circular sent to all stakeholders from the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The circular was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Akin Asaniyan.

The circular, titled ‘Recitation of Oodua Anthem in all schools’, was made available to our correspondent on Thursday in Akure.

It read in part,“Please note that, at the just concluded inter-schools debate and award ceremony organised by Ondo State Ministry of Education Science and Technology, held on Thursday February 25, 2021, at the International Culture and Event Center (The Dome) , Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, announced that the state has adopted the Oodua Anthem and it is to be recited by the residents of the state.

“In the light of this development, Mr Governor has directed that the anthem is now compulsory in all public and private schools ( primary and secondary), as well as tertiary institutions in the state, to be recited by all students and teachers henceforth.”

The Director General of DAWN Commission, Mr. Seye Oyeleye, attended an emergency virtual meeting of Southwest Agric Commissioners and Southwest Agricultural Company (SWAGCO) convened by the Commission to address food security for Southwest Nigeria.

MAY 17, 2020 6:43

The sterling qualities of Nigerian graduates and professionals serving under the Technical Aids Corps programme has once again been brought to the fore with the appointment of a Nigerian, Dr. Laoluwa Adejayan, as the head of the Covid-19 Task Force in Sierra Leone.

Announcing Adejayan’s appointment, the Sierra Leonean authorities said he had been adjudged as the best foreign medical practitioner in the country in recent years.

Following the appointment, the Serial Leonean government increased his salary to $20,000 per month, a 100 per cent increase.

Adejayan, a graduate of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, had reportedly served in Bayelsa State after his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) before transferring his services to the West African country under the Technical Aids Corps scheme in 2012.

The scheme is currently headed by a seasoned administrator from Ile-Oluji, Ondo State, Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi

In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Bihari intimating him with the development, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio described Adeyanjua as a good ambassador of Nigeria in the country.

According to Bio, Adeyanju had, over the years, proved to be a well-trained, brilliant and hard working doctor.

Vanguard

A Nigerian doctor named Babafemi Taiwo is leading a major study on an antiviral drug named Remdesivir that appears to be effective in treating COVID-19.

CNN interviewed Dr Babafemi Taiwo to discuss the result of Remdesivir in treating Coronavirus.

Preliminary results of Remdesivir show it can help hospitalized COVID-19 patients recover faster.

Though Remdesivir, an antiviral drug made by Gilead Sciences, appears to help patients with Coronavirus recover faster, it does not significantly reduce death, according to preliminary data from the National Institutes of Health.

"The data shows that Remdesivir has a clear cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time of recovery," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci said during a meeting between president Trump and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.

Below is a video of Dr Babafemi Taiwo speaking to CNN about the promising results of Remdesivir in treating COVID-19.

Nigerian startup airline, Green Africa Airways, has ordered 50 A220s jets from Airbus. This has been described as the largest aircraft purchase by an African airline.

Recall that Nairametrics earlier reported that the deal was close to being finalised. Green Africa Airline hopes to begin commercial operations in Nigeria soon. It will compete with the likes of Medview and Air Peace which have dominated the Nigerian aviation market in the last few years.

The BBC quoted the company’s Founder, Babawande Afolabi, to have expressed excitement following the deal. He said:

“Together with Airbus, we are incredibly proud to announce the largest order ever for the A220 from the African continent.”

Green Africa Airways initially planned to acquire Boeing’s controversial 737 Max. The company announced the impending deal with Boeing in December 2018, months before a second deadly air mishap involving the Max model resulted in it being grounded.

The deal with Boeing was expected to cost about $11.7 billion. It was also supposed to be the largest aircraft agreement from Africa.

It has long been Afolabi’s long-held dream to build a “world-class airline” that will serve the Nigerian market, helping to “unlock a new realm of positive possibilities for millions of customers.”

Green Africa Airways received its Air Transport License from the Nigerian government some years ago. The startup is anchored by a group of senior industry leaders led by Tom Horton, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines; William Shaw, Founder and former CEO of VivaColombia, and Virasb Vahidi, former CCO of American Airlines. According to reports, the airline’s strategy is to first develop the Nigerian market and then ‘build a strong Pan African network.’

In the meantime, Boeing’s 737 Max airplanes continue to be grounded.

San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave has raised a $35 million Series B round and announced a partnership with Worldpay FIS for payments in Africa.

With the funding, Flutterwave will invest in technology and business development to grow market share in existing operating countries, CEO Olugbenga Agboola — aka GB — told TechCrunch.

The company will also expand capabilities to offer more services around its payment products.

More than payments
“We don’t just want to be a payment technology company, we have sector expertise around education, travel, gaming, e-commerce, fintech companies. They all use our expertise,” said GB.

That means Flutterwave will provide more solutions around the broader needs of its clients.

The Nigerian-founded startup’s main business is providing B2B payments services for companies operating in Africa to pay other companies on the continent and abroad.

Launched in 2016, Flutterwave allows clients to tap its APIs and work with Flutterwave developers to customize payments applications. Existing customers include Uber, Booking.com and e-commerce company Jumia.

In 2019, Flutterwave processed 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion, according to company data.

Flutterwave did the payment integration for U.S. pop-star Cardi B’s 2019 performances in Nigeria and Ghana. Those are two of the countries in which the startup operates, in addition to South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, the U.K. and Rwanda.

“We want to scale in all those markets and be the payment processor of choice,” GB said.

The company will hire more business development staff and expand its developer team to create more sector expertise, according to GB.

“Our business goes beyond payments. People don’t want to just make payments, they want to do something,” he said. And Fluterwave aims to offer more capabilities toward what those clients want to do in Africa.

“If you are a charity that wants to raise money for cancer research in Ghana, or you want to sell online, or you’re Cardi B…who wants to do concerts in Africa…we want to be able to set up payments, write the code and create the platform for those needs,” GB explained.

That also means Flutterwave, which built its early client base across global companies, aims to serve smaller African businesses, including startups. Current customers include African-founded tech companies, such as moto ride-hail venture Max.ng.

Worldpay partnership
The new round makes Flutterwave the payment provider for Worldpay in Africa.

“With this partnership, any Worldpay merchant in Europe or the U.S. can accept any African payment. If someone goes to pay Netflix with an African card, it just works,” GB said.

In 2019, Worldpay was acquired for a reported $35 billion by FIS, a U.S. financial services provider. At the time of the purchase, it was projected the two companies would generate revenues of $12 billion annually, yet neither has notable presence in Africa.

Therein lies the benefit of collaborating with Flutterwave.

FIS’s Head of Ventures Joon Cho confirmed the partnership with TechCrunch. FIS also backed Flutterwave’s $35 million Series B. US VC firms Greycroft and eVentures led the round, with participation of Visa, Green Visor and African fund CRE Venture Capital.

Flutterwave’s latest funding brings the company’s total investment to $55 million and follows a year in which the fintech venture announced a series of weighty partnerships.

In July 2019, the startup joined forces with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s Alipay to offer digital payments between Africa and China.

The Alipay collaboration followed one between Flutterwave and Visa to launch a consumer payment product for Africa, called GetBarter.

Flutterwave and African fintech
Flutterwave’s $35 million round and latest partnership are among the reasons the startup has become a standout in Africa’s digital-finance landscape.

As a sector, fintech gains the bulk of dealflow and the majority of startup capital flowing to African startups annually. VC to Africa totaled $1.35 billion in 2019, according to WeeTracker’s latest stats.

While a number of payment startups and products have scaled — see Paga in Nigeria and M-Pesa in Kenya — the majority of the continent’s fintech companies are P2P in focus and segregated to one or two markets.

Flutterwave’s platform has served the increased B2B business payment needs spurred by the decade of growth and reform that has occurred in Africa’s core economies.

The value the startup has created is underscored not just by transactional volume the company generates, but the partnerships it has attracted.

A growing list of the masters of the payment universe — Visa, Alipay, Worldpay — have shown they need Flutterwave to do finance in Africa.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Lagos State recorded the highest number of subscribers in terms of active telephone voice call in the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the third quarter of 2019.

The NBS made this known in a telecoms data report for the third quarter of 2019 released on Tuesday.

It explained that Lagos state was closely followed by Ogun and Kano States respectively.

The bureau said Bayelsa and Ebonyi had the least number of subscribers.

Similarly, the NBS disclosed that Lagos State also had the highest number of subscribers in terms of active internet per state within the period under review.

It stated that Lagos was trailed by Ogun and Kano States respectively, while Bayelsa and Ebonyi had the least number of subscribers.

Meanwhile, NBS said a total of 179,176,930 subscribers were active on voice in the third quarter of 2019 across the country.

It explained that the telecoms data of the third quarter was higher than 174,024,116 in the second quarter 2019 and 162,032,481 in the third quarter 2018.

The bureau said what was recorded in the third quarter represented 2.96 per cent increase in voice subscriptions Quarter on Quarter and 10.58 per cent Year on Year.

“Similarly, a total of 123,163,027 subscribers were active on internet as against 122,673,623 in the second quarter 2019 and 103,514,997 in the third quarter 2018.

“This represented 0.40 per cent growth in internet subscriptions Quarter on Quarter and 18.98 per cent Year on Year,” it said.

The NBS, however, said that the MTN had the highest share of voice subscription, followed by GLO, AIRTEL, EMTS and others respectively.

According to NBS, MTN equally has the highest share of internet subscription, followed by AIRTEL, GLO, EMTS and others.

(NAN)

By Tage Kene-Okafor

Yesterday, Y Combinator (YC), released a detailed list of the top 102 most valuable companies that have graduated from the accelerator.

Each company is valued at $150m at least, with all companies having a combined valuation of $155b while creating more than 50,000 jobs, according to YC.

The US-based accelerator invests $120,000 twice every year in startups that participate in its programme. The founders of these startups then move to Silicon Valley where they work with YC for three months and participate in the Demo Day to access support, mentoring, and more funding. All these, in exchange for 7% equity.

Since launching in 2005, YC has made over 2,000 investments and, for the first time last year, published a list of its most valuable companies. While most of the companies from the 2018 list made this year’s list, this is the first time an African startup has made the cut.

Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech startup founded by Olugbenga Agboola and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, ranked 97 among the 102 startups on the list. The startup has raised a total of $20.1m to date, with the latest known round made in October 2018.

The startup is Africa’s only representative, making 1% of the list. South America, Europe, and Asia make up 2.9%, 3.9%, and 4.9% respectively. As expected, North America has the most valuable YC companies accounting for 87.3%.

Since PetaSales, a defunct Nigerian online advertising startup, joined YC in 2009, 34 other African startups have been accepted into the accelerator throughout the decade. While only a handful have gone to raise significant follow-up rounds like Kobo360 and Paystack, this feat achieved by Flutterwave will be the first of many from Africa.

livebyday:
This report had been made already and it was more professional

Why duplicate it ?

Monday, June 17, 2019



Recently, Nigerians made a record at Howard University, with 46 of them among the 96 graduating medical students.Out of the 27 awards, Nigerians also won 16.

Undeniably, the star of the graduating Nigerians was Olumide Olulade, who graduated first in his class in the College of Medicine.

As profiled by newsroom.howard.edu, Olulade followed the path to Howard through the example of family members. His brother graduated with a Howard medical degree in 2008. His mother graduated from the Howard University College of Pharmacy in the class of 1977.

He plans to pursue a career in interventional radiology.

“My mother is the reason I went to medical school. When I finished my Ph.D. and was working as a researcher, she got sick. I realized in that moment that I couldn’t help her at all. It was a turning point. I decided that I wanted to be able to be at the bedside helping people who get sick. I think research is amazing but I realized I wanted to be directly engaged in care.”

Urbanintellectuals.com reported that: “Never before at Howard University or any University in the United States has this happened. These Nigerian students completely dominated the ceremony and made history”.

By TITILOLA OLUDIMU

According to Terragon’s Digital Trends for Nigeria in 2018 report (PDF), about 6 million Nigerians use Twitter actively every month. Over the years, the social media platform has changed the way Nigerians interact with one another online and with other users all over the world.

It has also bridged the gap between citizens and the Nigerian government as many government officials and agencies have active Twitter accounts.

In Silicon Valley, San Francisco, California, the tech giant’s headquarters, various teams of diverse specialities, educational backgrounds and race work together to ensure that users of the platform all over the world are able to use it seamlessly.

You can bet that a few of them of them are from Nigeria — some Native Nigerians while others are Nigerians by heritage. We recently contacted the social media giant to find out who they are and we got 11 names. Here they are:

Tayo Olukoya – Senior Software Engineer



Tayo Olukoya began his career at Twitter in 2015 as a software engineer intern. Four years down the line, he’s now a senior engineer at the company.

He’s a member of the Health Reporting and Remediation team at the company’s headquarters where he builds and maintains systems and products that power transparency and effective enforcement of Twitter rules. Tayo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley College of Engineering.


Boluwatife Aiki-Raji – Software Engineer



Boluwatife Aiki-Raji is a computer science graduate of Howard University. Before enrolling at Howard University, Bolu had his secondary school education at Olashore International School, Osun state in Nigeria.

He’s currently a quality assurance engineer on the measurement team at Twitter.


Babatunde Fashola – Software Engineer



Babatunde Fashola is a software engineer on the Data Insights team at Twitter. He attended had his primary and secondary school education in Nigeria and got his first degree in Physiology from the University of Ibadan. Then he proceeded to get his master’s degree in Bioinformatics from Morgan State University.

Babatunde’s role at Twitter entails building APIs at scale for the delivery of data to third party partners for consequent analyses to gaining insights.


Omose Ogala – Software Engineer



Omose is a software engineer in test on the Quality Assurance team at Twitter. He is responsible for building mobile (iOS and Android) and web framework for company-wide automation testing.

Omose is also the founder and iOS engineer at Ogala Apps, a startup that develops iOS apps and games. He worked as an intern at the New York Presbytarian Hospital, Moody’s Analytics and Dell Technologies.


Ikechi Obiajunwa – Software Engineer



Ikechi is an alumnus of Syracuse University. Prior to joining Twitter, he worked at a couple of other notable tech companies including Samsung Electronics, Google and Intel Corporation.

As a software engineer at Twitter, Ikechi is on the Data Products API teams where he is responsible for building API endpoints that are intuitive for developers and allow internal teams to iterate and build features faster.


Emiola Banwo – Product Designer



Emiola Banwo is a product designer at Twitter. As a member of the company’s Revenue Productivity team, Emiola designs digital tools for the company’s global sales force. According to Emiola, he has a deep passion for personal, organisational, and global development.

He is a graduate of the University of Dallas, Texas where he majored in Computer Engineering, and minored in Cognitive Science and Human-Computer interaction.


TJ Adeshola – Director, Sports Partnerships



TJ Adeshola leads all U.S Sports Partnership at Twitter. He joined Twitter in 2012 as a Senior Account Officer. Before being appointed at the Head of US Sports Partnerships, he spent the previous few years managing Twitter’s partnerships with major U.S. sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB).

He is also the executive sponsor of Blackbirds, Twitter’s business resource group that celebrates and encourages diverse perspectives. Prior to joining Twitter, TJ had a short stint at ESPN.


Oladotun Idowu – Events Coordinator



Oladotun joined Twitter as an Events Coordinator in February 2019. Alongside other members of Twitter’s Real Estate and Workplace Events team, she works on curating and producing internal facing events at Twitter.

She is also the founder of Sisters in Media, a U.S-based organisation for minority women in the media profession. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.


Tomide Awe – Revenue Strategy and Operations Manager



Tomide Awe has been the Revenue Strategy Operations Manager at Twitter since March, 2018. Her role involves advising on strategy and creating processes and tools to help teams achieve revenue goals.

Prior to Twitter, Tomide worked at ExxonMobil and Accenture in Nigeria and Credit Suisse International in the United Kingdom. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics, and master’s degrees in finance and economics as well as an MBA in Strategic Management/Entrepreneurial Management.


Ebony Turner – Communications Associate



Ebony began her career at Vanity Fair as an Editorial and Fashion Closet Intern and then as an Editorial Intern at ELLE Magazine. She has also worked in other notable American organisations including the New York Jets and Lyft.

Ebony joined Twitter in December 2018 as a Product Communications specialist. She works with the company’s external communications team supporting its Global Reach, Design and Consumer Products teams. Alongside her team members, Ebony Turner works with reporters and journalists to amplify the work various teams at Twitter are doing every day.


Tiffany Oche – Product Manager



As a project Manager on Twitter’s Conversations Team, Tiffany’s role is focused on finding ways to reduce barriers to public conversations on Twitter.

She speaks English, Mandarin and Portugese and holds a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from Yale University.

Lagos and Ogun state are the major commercial hubs in the country and this might be the reason why these states recorded the highest number of active voice and internet subscription in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018, according to analysts.

Based on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Q2 2018 telecommunication report, Lagos State had the highest number of subscribers in terms of active voice and internet per State closely followed by Ogun state.

Lagos state recorded 21.3 million and 14.3 million for voice and internet subscription respectively. Ogun state had 9.9 million and 6.6 million for voice and internet subscription.

Ayo Akinwunmi, Head of Research, FSDH Merchant Bank said, “Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria and a lot of business activities take place in this country. In Ogun state, a lot of manufacturing activities take place there. And with the large market size in Lagos, people rely heavily on internet to carry out their businesses.”

However, Lagos and Ogun state continued to maintain their position as the highest in voice and internet subscription from Q1 till date.
“I think it is more of enlightenment and also in terms of business activities. Lagos and Ogun state are commercial hubs. Such that a lot of people who cannot set up factories or businesses in Lagos end up starting them up in the neighbouring state which is Ogun state,” Ayodeji Ebo, MD, Afrinvest Securities Limited said on phone.

Bayelsa and Ebonyi states have the least number of subscribers for both voice and internet. For active voice subscription, Bayelsa state and Ebonyi recorded 1.1 million and 1.4 million respectively. For internet subscription, 743,643 and 842,099 was recorded in Bayelsa and Ebonyi respectively.

Akinwunmi further said, “The only thing that is going on there is oil exploration and most people are not living there so this may also be the reason why they are the lowest.”

Also the report reflected that a total of 162.5 million subscribers were active on voice as against 149.3 million in Q1 2018 which represented 0.09 percent increase in subscribers’ base.

Similarly, a total of 103.5 million subscribers were active on internet as against 100.9 million in Q1 2018 which represented 2.6 percent growth in subscribers’ base.

MTN has the highest share of voice subscription and followed by GLO, AIRTEL, EMTS and Others respectively. Similarly, MTN has the highest share of internet subscription and followed by GLO, AIRTEL, EMTS and others.

(The full Report can be found here: http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/download/818 )

August 25, 2018 Kingsley Alumona

The three years you have spent in Ibadan, you have not been to any of the Ibadan mega malls before. On a weekly basis, you see these malls and pretend they do not exist. But they do. Ventura, Heritage, Cocoa and Palms malls are unmistakable landmarks that have shaped the face of the city and its socio-economic landscape. Yet, you have not been inside one of them before? Well, there is always a first time.

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You are from the Niger Delta, and there is a popular saying there that: Who no go, no see. This first Saturday morning of August, you woke feeling bored, longing for new things, new places and new stories. Today, you decided to tour the four malls and see what the experience would look like. You put some money in your pocket and hit the road for a tour in the liveliest places in Ibadan with bright lights, colourful things and beautiful smiles.



You started with Ventura Mall in Samonda because it is close to where you live in Agbowo. At the gate, few metres from your right, were children outdoor game facilities like Train Ride, Bouncing Castle, Slides, Basket Ball, and Bowling, among others, which cost 1000 naira per child per forty-five minutes to play with any of them. As you approached the automated glass doors of the mall, the water fountain greeted you with its pristine waters. You could not wait to enter inside and begin the fun of the day.

Ventura, which opened for business four years ago, is a three-storeyed, grey-and-red, 14-store complex owned by Stella Vera and managed by Globe Williams. As you entered, the bright lights graced your eyes. At the basement floor were two UBA ATMs, Airtel, and Latitude, an exotic lounge and café, whose aromatic cuisines satiated your nose.

You took the stairs to the ground floor that houses Vanguard Pharmacy, Strands, Luxe and Elan, Polished, Europa, Morning Star, Lily Textile, Pixels, and Chrysalis. There is also Wakanow, a travel agency that made you thought of leaving the country. Many of the stores on this floor are boutiques and beauty salons. They made you thought of your mother, sisters and girlfriends, and how the designer wears and Jewellery would look on them. Unfortunately, you could not afford them. But, there is nothing wrong in window-shopping.


The first floor houses only Cube Arcade, an indoor game house. You stood, shock and awe,mopping at the cutting-edge game facilities you have not seen before. You were amazed how children were manoeuvring these futuristic toys with ease. What made Arcade more interesting was the disco music and its café loaded with candies, chocolates and drinks that made you salivate. The prominent games here are PS 4, Dirty Driving, Fast and Furious, Super Bike, Dancing Game, Virtual Reality, Terminator, Genesis, Table Tennis, Snooker, Falgas Car, and Carousel Bee.

After contemplating the one to play among the sea of games, you settled for Fast and Furious. Due to certain reasons, you could not operate the game because it was your first time of play it, one of the staff chose a red sport Chrysler for you. You started playing, bumping the car into obstacles and falling from terrible heights. You did not know what you were doing, but you were happy playing the game. Some minutes later, your game time elapsed.

You took another stairs to the second floor that houses Filmhouse Cinema. The movie on the screen was Teen Titans Go, which did not sound interesting to you. So, you left for your next destination.





From Ventura to Cocoa Mall in Dugbe was 80 naira away in a taxi ride. You arrived at Cocoa beside the ubiquitous Cocoa House skyscraper by 1:20 p.m. The music and dance display by two clowns in green-and-white costumes in front of the mall made you laugh. Children and their parents were dancing to the beat. But you had to move on. The fun inside would be greater than the one outside.

Commissioned on October 2013, the two-storeyed Cocoa Mall, which houses up to sixty stores, of which forty are currently occupied, is owned and managed by Top Services Limited.

Now on the ground floor, you could not help but absorb the grandeur of colourful things and smiling shoppers. The major stores on this floor are Shoprite, Foodco, Wema Bank, Pep, Apple World, Essenza, Montaigne Place, and Paddy Art Gallery. The wonderful paintings and artworks in the art gallery made you thought of having a portrait of yourself. Perhaps, you would give that thought some consideration on your next visit.

You took the spiral stairs to the first floor. Here, the lights were empowering and the stores were irresistible. Had it been you had all the money in the world, you would have expended it on everything here. Again, you resumed your window-shopping. The major stores here are Health Plus, Sweet Scent, Sweet City, Office Everything, Podarock, The wotch, Solat Telecom, Casa Bella, Richie, Da Viva, Ynorth, Eternal Gems and Forever Young. There is an indoor game house with car, train and airplane electronic toys. Also on this floor, is Exodus Travels, a travel agency that made you fantasise about Dubai.


Prior to this moment, you thought everything in mega malls is not free, but Health Plus proved you wrong. Just as you were about to leave, you heard that Health Plus was offering free basic medical tests and advice. You were amazed by this munificence. Out of the many tests, you did blood pressure, blood glucose, blood cholesterol and body mass index tests, and your test results were within the normal ranges. You thanked Health Plus and promised to visit next time. Who does not like free things?

You were surprised that Cocoa Mall and Heritage Mall share the same building and corridors. Had it been you did not observe properly, would not have seen the roller shutter, which when closed, separates them. Heritage is arguably the only mall in Ibadan with a basement car park. Since you did not have a car, you took the stairs, two steps at a time, to where the fun was bubbling.




Opened for business in 2013, Heritage Mall, Dugbe, a two-storeyed, 40-store complex, of which 23 stores are currently occupied, is owned by Odua Investments and managed by Global Property and Facilities International Limited.

Out of the many stores on the ground floor, the only two that are occupied are Cash ‘N’ Carry and Busen. On the first floor, you could see Mark-Dyna Party Plus, 9Mobile, Gif, Airtel, Mefosi Lingeue, and Fresh2go, an indoor game house for both children and adults. You briefly watched the children as they played the games while their parents ate takeaway junk food. Children of these days are lucky, you thought. In your childhood days, luxuries like these were yet to be conceived.

You rode the escalator, for the first time, to the second floor. The major stores here include Smile, Nadabi, Ada Bella, Prank Fabrics, Idea Konsult, Phurlash Liquid Zone, Champ House Restaurant, The Hub, Blossom Delight Fast Food, Figures Studio, and Film house Cinema.

You checked the movie synopses on Film house’s box office and learnt the next movie on queue was Antman and the Wasp. The movie seemed like an animated science fiction. You do not like animated movie. So, you left.

Hunger caught up with you. You walked into Blossom Delight and bought a soft drink and sausage, and savoured them in front of a flat-screen television displaying an action movie that featured Will Smith. Around you were people chatting, laughing, eating and drinking. It was a good feeling, even therapeutic. You watched the Will Smith movie for five more minutes while your lunch lasted. The time was 3:10 p.m. when you left Heritage and walked into the sunny streets of Dugbe.


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From Heritage to Palms Mall at Ring Road was 60 naira away in a taxi ride that a Good Samaritan you sat in the front seat with paid for your fare because the driver did not have enough change for him. It was good to know that generous people still exist. From a distance of hundred metres, the most spacious and biggest mall in Ibadan loomed in a blue-white horizon.

Outside the hall was a hive of activities. Posh cars loitered everywhere. Music was blasting. Shoppers were rolling trolleys here and there. Children were all over the outdoor game sections playing and shouting in delirium. At a point, you wished you were a child. But, again, there was no time for reminiscence or nostalgia.

Opened for business on July 2014, Palms Mall, a ground-floor and basement edifice, which houses 72 stores, of which 52 are currently occupied, is owned by the Piesianas Group and managed by Aria.

You walked into the ground floor/upper level of the mall and it seemed as if you were in a different world. Given the gigantic size of Palms, many stores in other malls are found here. On the upper level are Shoprite, Grandex Stores, Gold Stone, Vava Furniture, Sport World, Kid Me Not, House of Tara, Pep, Hair Sense, Max, Invivo, Pandora, among others.

Also on this level is Ride for Fun, a children indoor game section that owns six animal scooters that take children around the mall. These scooters include lion, tiger, elephant, chimpanzee, leopard and kangaroo. It cost 500 naira per child per 10 minutes to ride on any of them. You rode on the chimpanzee with a 7-year-old David for some minutes and took a photograph with him and the chimpanzee to remember this august moment.

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After the ride, you descended into the lower level that houses KFC, China House, Neptune, Mozaya Classic, Ultima, Apollo, Anis Dego, Viva Cinema, among others. Apart from Viva, virtually all the stores on this level are restaurants. You could not help but, with your nose, relish all the food in these restaurants. They tasted good.

You walked into the ticket and refreshment section of Viva and paid 1200 naira for Mission Impossible Fallout scheduled for 5:50 p.m. This would be the first time you are watching a movie in a modern cinema. Some minutes later, you sat in front of a wall-to-ceiling IMAX screen, in the second row of the stadium-like seat, watching Tom Cruise and his IMF team hunt down terrorists. The cinema was a world of its own, a small community of movie-lovers, whose reactions and comments on the movie made the experience worthwhile.

By the time you stepped out of the bright lights of Palms to the darkness of Ring Road, the time was 8:20 p.m. You doubted if you had enough money on you to take you home. On your way home, in a taxi, you passed Cocoa, Heritage and Ventura malls, and wished the night did not engulf you and the city. However, the experience was memorable.

You have gone out there, and you have seen things. You have seen new things in new places, and you have told new stories from new experiences. Above all, you have learnt that you do not have to be the richest person to enjoy the best things of life. All you need is an adventurous mind, little money in your pocket and someone to share the story with.

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* Kingsley Alumona is a writer and a reporter with the Nigerian Tribune

JULY 16, 2018 BY VICTOR EKWEALOR


TaxiTV, a Lagos based advertising-technology startup has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round led by Beta.Ventures.

TaxiTV is an in-ride entertainment system startup founded in October 2017 by Akinbola Asalu, CEO, and Dami Osiyale, COO.

The startup provides advertising channels for corporate brands and SMEs through screens inside Taxify, Uber and other ride-hailing services.

These advertorial video contents are displayed to passengers during a ride.

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Most of the ads are fixed inbetween entertaining content. TaxiTV says it pays content creators a share of the revenue, and drivers also get a cut.

According to its website, it has a screen in over 100 cars in Nigeria. It intends to use the seed funds for product development, to scale and also improve sales execution

Other backers in the round include Collins Onuegbu of SASWARE, Sam Senbanjo of Neon Ventures and several prominent individual investors.

In Q2 2018, Nigerian startups collectively raised $73.6 million.

Suggested read: “Nigerian startups raised $73.6 million in Q2 2018, 700% more than Q1”- Report

Though undisclosed, the TaxiTV seed funding is the first announced round for Nigerian startups in Q3.

Lidya, a financial services platform focused on improving access to credit for small businesses, has just announced raising $6.9m in Series A funding. This is coming only 14 months after it raised a $1.25m seed round in March, 2017.

This latest funding round was led by Omidyar Network, with support from early Paga investor, Alitheia Capital (via the uMunthu inclusive growth fund), Bamboo Capital Partners, and Tekton Ventures. Existing investors, Accion Venture Lab and Newid Capital also participated.

Lidya was founded in 2016 by Africa Courier Express (ACE) duo, Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, both of whom previously worked for Jumia before leaving in 2013/2014 to start ACE and, eventually, Lidya in 2016.

Wonderful Adenekan is a 17 year old Univelcity alumni who is a Front-end developer at G-Pay. He joined Univelcity in 2017 as a student in the Front-end Engineering and Back-end (NodeJS) Classes. After 8 weeks of intensive training, Wonderful was well equipped with the necessary coding skills he needed to develop applications as a freelancer and land himself an exciting job with G-Pay even without having a BSc. His portfolio can be found here: https://github.com/adenekan41?tab=repositories

With the sudden surge of tech start-ups all over the world, the need for tech skills has become a necessity and in light of Nigeria’s growing youth unemployment population, Univelcity seeks to contribute to the reduction of unemployment by equipping youths with tech skills to compete favourably for tech jobs not only in Nigeria but also in diaspora.

Speaking about Univelcity’s alumni, CEO and Co-founder Joseph Agunbiade said:

“We’ve had many students like Wonderful in the past who came in with a passion and zeal to learn and at the end of 8 weeks, they came out tops and were able to embark on so many amazing projects.”

Univelcity is a tech academy designed to accelerate the growth of tech talent in Africa by offering courses that develop world class, industry relevant skills. Using a social and project-based approach to learning, Univelcity offers a practical edge in an ultra-modern and tech friendly learning environment that enhances student assimilation and retention.

Airtel Nigeria has finally launched its first 4G LTE mobile network service, albeit 18 months late. Interestingly, the telco has chosen Ibadan, and not the usual suspects — Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt — for this launch.

The announcement was made yesterday at an event in Ibadan, where Airtel CEO, Segun Ogunsanya confirmed that the telco will be rolling out to other cities across the country “in the coming months”.

Launching new services in less (densely) populated and demanding cities appears to be a trend, especially among mobile networks. Ibadan was the city of choice for Smile to launch its pioneering 4G service.

Before Glo spread its 4G LTE service nationwide, it did a test-run in six smaller cities. MTN launched 4G LTE nationwide almost at once, but not before trying it out in Rwanda and Ghana. Even 9mobile (then Etisalat), which appears to be the only one to have launched in Lagos first, did so in a tightly controlled approach.

To access 4G LTE on Airtel, existing subscribers are required to do a SIM swap at any of Airtel’s retail outlets in Ibadan. New subscribers can just purchase a SIM card. In both cases, Airtel has promised to gift 4GB of data plus an additional 25% data bonus, for the next three months, for plans above ₦500.

Do you reside in Ibadan and have access to Airtel 4G LTE? Kindly share your experience in the comments section below.

The Honourable Minister of State for Industry, Trade &; Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar,(middle) flanked by Group Managing Director, Sona Group of Industries, Ajai Musaddi ( right) and Group Chief Operating Officer, Sona Group of Industries, Ashok Manghnani (left) during the Food, Agro & Allied industries ltd inspection at km 40, Lagos-abeokuta Expressway, Sango Otta, Ogun State.

The minister of state for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar has commended Sona Group of Industries for its sterling contributions towards the steady industrialization of the Nigerian economy and manufacturing of international quality proudly made-in-Nigeria brands.

The minister made the remarks during her visit to the factories of Food, Agro and Allied Industries Limited, in Ota, Ogun state, (a member of Sona Group) on Friday, November 17, 2017 when she commissioned the ultra-modern Sorghum Malt Extract Plant with a current production capacity of 18,000 metric tons per annum and expansion going on to 25,000 metric tons, capable of producing various products like: brewing extract, high-maltose syrup, high-glucose syrup etc with local raw materials including Sorghum, Cassava starch. The factory is a fully automated state-of-the-art technology plant from Germany.




The Minister, who was visibly delighted, was told that the factory also has a malting plant production capacity (for production of malted Sorghum) of 35,000 metric ton/annum with new additional plants for further expansion to 135,000 metric ton/annum.

Mr. Ashok Manghnani. The Chief Operating Officer of Sona Group affirmed that Food, Agro & Allied Industries Limited has the largest and most modern malt extract and malting plant in Africa. Manghnani informed the minister that Sona Group’s investment is fast approaching the 1 billion USD mark with over $650m invested so far, He said that Nigeria has what it takes to produce what it needs and assured that in every industry any of its member companies is involved in, they could supply the full needs of the Nigerian market if the right policies to support local production are strictly enunciated and enforced.




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Minister Commends Sona Group, Commissions State-Of-The-Art Malt Extract Plant

Minister Commends Sona Group, Commissions State-Of-The-Art Malt Extract Plant
By BrandPower Magazine on 20/11/2017
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The Honourable Minister of State for Industry, Trade &; Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar,(middle) flanked by Group Managing Director, Sona Group of Industries, Ajai Musaddi ( right) and Group Chief Operating Officer, Sona Group of Industries, Ashok Manghnani (left) during the Food, Agro & Allied industries ltd inspection at km 40, Lagos-abeokuta Expressway, S ango Otta , Ogun State.
The minister of state for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar has commended Sona Group of Industries for its sterling contributions towards the steady industrialization of the Nigerian economy and manufacturing of international quality proudly made-in-Nigeria brands.

The minister made the remarks during her visit to the factories of Food, Agro and Allied Industries Limited, in Ota, Ogun state, (a member of Sona Group) on Friday, November 17, 2017 when she commissioned the ultra-modern Sorghum Malt Extract Plant with a current production capacity of 18,000 metric tons per annum and expansion going on to 25,000 metric tons, capable of producing various products like: brewing extract, high-maltose syrup, high-glucose syrup etc with local raw materials including Sorghum, Cassava starch. The factory is a fully automated state-of-the-art technology plant from Germany.

The Minister, who was visibly delighted, was told that the factory also has a malting plant production capacity (for production of malted Sorghum) of 35,000 metric ton/annum with new additional plants for further expansion to 135,000 metric ton/annum.

Mr. Ashok Manghnani. The Chief Operating Officer of Sona Group affirmed that Food, Agro & Allied Industries Limited has the largest and most modern malt extract and malting plant in Africa. Manghnani informed the minister that Sona Group’s investment is fast approaching the 1 billion USD mark with over $650m invested so far, He said that Nigeria has what it takes to produce what it needs and assured that in every industry any of its member companies is involved in, they could supply the full needs of the Nigerian market if the right policies to support local production are strictly enunciated and enforced.


Production Manager, Food, Agro & Allied industries ltd, Obah Orji; Group Managing Director, Sona Group of Industries, Ajai Musaddi; Director Industrial Development, Adewale Bakare; The Honourable Minister of State for Industry, Trade & Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar and Group Chief Operating Officer, Sona Group of Industries, Ashok Manghnani, during the inspection of her excellency to Food, Agro & Allied industries ltd at km 40, Lagos-abeokuta Expressway, Sango Otta , Ogun State.

Despite the challenging operating environment, Manghnani disclosed that its member companies are already exporting its proudly made-in-Nigeria brands to countries across West Africa. He decried the unrestrained importation and dumping of goods in Nigeria due to very low import tariff and duty, noting that unless this was urgently reviewed to promote local production, the desired boost in local production of goods by the Buhari-administration may be frustrated. He concluded that allowing importation of products that the nation clearly has competitive advantage to produce is injurious and even dangerous to local manufacturing and will ultimately harm the Nigerian economy.

The Food, Agro and Allied Industries plant produces a vast range of quality products including quality malted sorghum, malt extract, maltose syrup, glucose syrup a substitute for imported sugar. The products are key inputs in breweries, biscuits manufacturing, confectionery& pharmaceutical companies as well as other food and beverage industries. Our fully automated plant can produce 25,000 tons of malt extract, high maltose syrup and raw sorghum.




Manghnani therefore called on the government to upwardly review the tariff from the current 5 percent to discourage unbridled importation of malted Barley as Nigeria is sufficiently self-sufficient in these (Sorghum) raw materials while companies like Food and Agro are well placed to process them as vital input to industries that need them. He noted that the products are also healthier for Nigerians.

The Group Managing Director of Sona Group, Mr. Ajai Musaddi informed the minister that Sona Group of Industries among other things are into the manufacturing of industrial, medical and specialty gases, manufacturing and recycling of plastic containers and products, manufacturing and marketing of various alcoholic blended drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, carbonated soft drinks, wines and RTDs, production and marketing of biscuits, wafers, chocolates and other confectionery products. Electricity generation and distribution. It is also involved in the manufacturing of 360-degree packaging solutions to Nigeria’s manufacturing industry. Real Estate development, with a focus on low-cost housing and industrial warehousing.

Mr. Musaddi also said “All our Companies are ISO, HACCP and member of SEDEX and comply with SEDEX international practices and assure and guarantee our quality. We strive in using 100% local raw material where-ever maximum possible. We use local sorghum, local plastic raw material etc.”

Companies within Sona Group are: Food, Agro and Allied Industries Ltd., Euro Global Foods and Distilleries Ltd., Coronation Power and Gas Ltd., Shongai Technologies Ltd. Shongai Packaging Industry Ltd., Coronation Real Estate Development Ltd., Sona Agro Allied Foods Ltd., Sona Industrial Gases Ltd., Techblow Nigeria Ltd and Jaykay Investment Ltd.

Mr. Musaddi called on the government to support local industries by reducing to the barest minimum unhealthy competition from foreign goods who, first of all, enjoy lower production costs in their home countries and still enjoy incredibly low tariffs in importing their products into Nigeria. He observed that Nigerian companies such as Sona Group can stand tall if the government provides a level playing so that importers do not have unfair advantage over Nigerian manufacturers.

In her response, the minister commended Sona Group for its sustained commitment to the economic growth of the nation through their huge investments in diverse industries and especially its backward integration programmes. Noting that its huge staff strength of almost 3,000 direct employees and 8, 000 indirect employees was a boost to the Nigerian economy.

Hajiya Abubakar also said that the current administration has set up special committees to study the special needs of industries with a view to encouraging local enterprise and foreign direct investment through the government’s programme on raising Ease-of–doing-Business index of Nigeria, concluding that with the support of companies like Food, Agro and Allied Industries Limited and Groups like Sona Group of Industries, the Nigerian economy will soon witness sustained boom and development sooner rather than later.

The nation’s non-oil sector has the potential to generate a minimum of N8rillion revenue annually.

This is the outcome of a study conducted last year by a cross-section of experts drawn from different walks of life.

According to the experts led by Omooba Olumuyiwa Sosanya, founding president, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) the only way the country can reduce it’s overdependence on oil revenue is to develop other streams of revenue generation that is not subject to the vagaries of the oil sector, which has had a run of misfortune as a result of the crash in crude oil prices in recent times.

Speaking on the outcome of the study, made available to our correspondent, Sosanya noted that one better way to do this is to look inwards and see how the country can improve it’s economic fortunes.


The group also expressed concerns over the loopholes and leakages in the non-oil sector, which if plugged would lead to effective collection and prompt remittance to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, especially if the proposed amendments to the offending provisions of the law are adopted.

A minimum of N8trillion can be realisable annually from this sector.

Pressed further, he said the team of experts discovered that one way to address the challenge of revenue depletion is through tax reforms.

In the opinion of the group, value added tax (VAT) has brought fortunes to most developed and some developing African countries such as South Africa and Ghana.

Lamentably, the group however argued that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) appears overwhelmed and struggling to find its bearing to turn the administration of VAT into a goldmine for Nigerians.

While doing a comparative analysis of best practices, the researchers noted that “South Africa Revenue Services ( SARS) VAT collected in the fiscal year 2012/13 was R813.8bn ($65.5bn or N125.5trillion) from 40million population, our FIRS budgetted a miserable N861bn for the year 2014 from a population of 170million since the administration of VAT from 1993.

Besides, the group noted with dismay that the seeming revenue leakages in key sectors has had adverse effects on the nation’s economic fortunes thus far.

Citing best practices in other climes, the group noted that revenue generation of the Customs Service is under the administration of Tax offices, the UK, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is in charge of taxes and custom duty.

Regrettably, the group noted that “Nigeria experience is that most revenue is generated into the private pockets of the relevant officials than government coffers.”

They however admitted that when the administration of customs duties are ceded to the FIRS, the expected revenue per annum will be over N3trillion.

As persistent power outages continue to haunt industrial zones, causing production shortfalls and raising cost, Nigerian manufacturers are increasingly generating power on their own, with annual self-generating capacity in the industry put at 13,223 megawatts.

The figure emerged from a survey undertaken by Adeola Adenikinju, professor of economics at the University of Ibadan, which was funded by the European Union and the government of Germany.

The 2015 survey, which is the latest in the series, shows that the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sub-sector is the biggest self-generator of power (3,153MW) followed by the food, beverages and tobacco sub-sector (2,098MW) and the industrial plastics and rubber (2,051MW).

Manufacturers generate power through the use of generators, inverters, USPs and coal-fired plants, fueled by gas, low-pour fuel oil (LPFO) and coal.

“The importance of power to manufacturers cannot be overemphasised. For you to do any production, you need to run your plant and those plants need energy, which takes about 40 percent of our production cost and that is not good for our business, especially when you have to compete with imported products.

“Therefore, everything we can, we must do to ensure we bring our costs down,” Reginald Odia, chairman of Economic Policy Committee of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and CEO of Bennett Industries Limited, said in an interview with journalists.

Manufacturers spent N213.77 billion on alternative power sources between 2014 and 2016, spending N25 billion in 2014, N58.82 billion in 2015 and N129.95 billion in 2016, according to data from MAN.

Manufacturers have formed their power development company to negotiate with private energy suppliers for the provision of electricity at industrial clusters. This is because they are not getting enough power from power distribution companies called DisCos, as the power sector privatisation of 2013 appears to worsen electricity supply.

“Power takes up much of our expenditure and we are determined to get more of it to power industries. Thirty to 40 percent of our expenditure goes to power,” Ibrahim Usman, chairman of MAN Power Development Company Limited, said.

Manufacturers have signed an agreement with Tower Energy Solution & Systems Limited, for the supply of six to 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Henry Carr Industrial Cluster in Ikeja, Lagos.

They have also agreed with Negris Group for the supply of up to 80 MW of electricity to Odogunyan in Ikorodu industrial cluster.

They are also talking with solar power supply firms in northern Nigeria, where there is limited gas supply to enable clusters in Kaduna, Kano and other parts, to have incremental power at cheaper rates. Similarly, a negotiation is in the pipeline with Sahara Energy, Geogrid LighTec Limited and other companies, for the supply of power to industrial clusters, according to Ibrahim Usman, chairman of MAN Power Development Company Limited.

“The idea is to be able to put manufacturers together in clusters and arrange for power which can be supplied through providers that will engage in power supply through hydro, solar, gas and will remove the cost of manufacturers getting involved in producing their own power, “ Odia said.

Manufacturers struggled to get gas in the third quarter of 2016 due to scarcity. They contended that the price of gas at $7 to $8 dollar per standard cubic feet was high, while gas suppliers are seeking a market-driven price.

The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched earlier in the year, plans to restore lost gas supply through the Gas Flare Commercialization Program and review the gas pricing structure to recover all prudent costs, as services to give willing developers access to under-developed gas resources.

“Power supply remains at the heart of doing business in Nigeria. Getting Electricity is one of the indicators for the ranking and we wish to reiterate our call on government to sustain the current reforms towards resolving the lingering issues in the power sector,” said Nike Akande, president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) at a recent power sector dialogue in Lagos.

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Riby founder, Abolore Salami receiving his prize

Fintech startup, Riby (owned by Finance Life Technologies), has made it to the world finals of 1776 Challenge Cup. The event to select Nigeria’s candidate for the 1776 Challenge was hosted by Passion incubator-owned Leadspace, a co-working space in Ojodu-Berger, Lagos, on Friday August 25. Fourteen startups across Nigeria pitched at the event.

The 1776 Challenge Cup is a global competition for the world’s most promising startups tackling complex, regulated challenges. The competition started four years ago, to discover the most promising and highly scalable startups poised to solve complex challenges across borders, regulated industries and emerging technologies. Competing startups are expected to share their vision on a global stage, engage with industry leaders and win grand prizes.



Riby was picked for its impressive finance solution, which is highly scalable and solves the challenge of savings for small-scale merchants, while availing savers with credit facilities from a wide range of lenders, where possible. It also provides various medium to long-term investment options. Picking up Lagos’ winning ticket guarantees the team of Salami Abolore, Founder/CEO an all-expense paid trip to New York, to partake in the world finals.

Delivery Bros, a delivery app came second place. Delivery Bros’ Animashaun Abiodun, Co-founder revealed their next step to eliminate returned and missed deliveries through their IoT innovation, Lockerbros. The app is set to expand to 5 African cities in the next 12 years. For its efforts, Deliverybros got three months of flexible workspace in all Leadspace facilities across Nigeria. Third place went edtech startup, DavtonLearn (Founder/CEO, Tobi Obasa). This startup provides online video learning for professionals and corporate institutions. As third-place winner, DavtonLearn earned 2 months of flexible workspace in all Leadspace facilities across Nigeria.

Other startups which pitched included Comestibles Nigeria, a food and fresh grocery website based in Ibadan and delivering food from restaurants around Ibadan to users; ArtshopNG which connects makers of art products to interested buyers; Doctorshub Nigeria which connects Nigerians with offline hospitals and offers free consultation services; Hubrif, a short film distribution platform which is fostering a community of young African filmmakers; Ecofuture Nigeria, a waste recycling company which deploys IoT to collect waste with its smart bins.

The following startups also made it to the pitch: FLOWES, an early-warning flood detection system to forecast flood imminence and disseminate data to inhabitants of flood-prone areas; Suvenia.com which allows users to create, sell and buy promotional and personalized products and merchandise; Voucher Pay Limited, a digital currency platform where users use codes to execute transactions; Legit Car, which combats car theft by helping with stolen vehicle tracking and recovery and Freshmarte Global Limited, a platform which connects small holder farmers to organizations which might be looking for raw materials and also provides support services for the execution of sourcing contracts. According to organizers, one startup did not show up at the pitch.

In a chat with Outrepreneurs, Riby’s Salami Abolore said he was excited his startup won, since it was a good validation that he and his team were working on something important.

“We are encouraged to continue to intensify our efforts. This needs to be done. Our people need better access to finance (including everyone I know) and we all need to know and apply better ways to manage our finance and build lasting wealth”, he said.

When asked to cite his startup’s challenges, Abolore (whose experience over the last twelve years has been across tech, business automation, revenue collection/payment processing, management consulting and media) mentioned the following: getting the best skills at the right pay grade; raising the right capital at the right time; scaling adoption across various user groups; so much training required and a lot of offline work still needed, to get tech products to the right amount of user-base who needed them.

All Participants had just two minutes to pitch their startup to a team of judges which included Uche Okafor, Operations Manager at leading e-hailing platform, Taxify and Oluyomi Ojo, CEO of Nigeria’s first online printing company, Printivo.

At a side-chat (which was part of the event), Printivo’s Ojo gave insights on finding the right team. He likened the co-founder relationship to a marriage, where each co-founder must have distinct qualities essential for the business to thrive, that the other does not have. According to Ojo, a co-founder should be able to execute relevant tasks, without a reminder from the founder. This shows a passion for the business.

The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority said on Tuesday that Right of Way recovery and the relocation of services were responsible for the slow pace of work on the Light Rail Project on the ongoing Lagos-Badagry Expressway project.

The LAMATA’s Head of Media and Communications, Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, said in Lagos that the project was stopped for almost three years because of various problems of obstruction on the RoW.

“We have given different completion dates for the project but one of the challenges that we had was that the train was originally to go to the Iddo Railway Terminus but the Railway Act did not allow us to do such.

“Since we could not take the train station to Iddo, we had to change the alignment, and in changing that, there were a lot of obstructions on the way.

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“For instance, there is a fertiliser plant around Ijora belonging to the Federal Government; we had to negotiate to use their compound so that we could take away their warehouse. We had to build another warehouse for them.

“Around Ijora too, there was a mosque that we had to demolish and build another one.

“Then moving into the lagoon, there were two major challenges: there was the relocation of gas link, a gas pipe underneath the lagoon, which also took some time.



“We also discovered that there was the wreckage of a ship that was at the bottom of the lagoon, that also had to be removed. These delayed the time line for the delivery of the project.

“From the initial plan of the Lagos State Government, this train ought to have been delivered in 2012 or 2013,’’ he said.

Ojelabi explained that LAMATA lost about three years to the recovery of RoW, adding that the state government had to bear the additional costs, which were not in the initial budget.

This, according to him was to ensure that the structures were solid because rail infrastructure is expected to last a minimum of 100 years.

He said that the blue rail line project was a 27-kilometre project which runs from Okokomaiko to the Marina and is expected to have 13 train stations and the trains are targeted to lift a minimum of 400,000 passengers daily when completed.

Ojelabi explained that the project was divided into three phases, with each phase further divided into three segments.

“The first phase of the project is 95 per cent completed, that is from Mile 2 to the National Theatre.

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“The second phase which is from National Theatre to Marina is about 45 per cent completed and massive work is going on there now.

“By the time all the piers are built, particularly those in the lagoon, that is, the superstructure, the project would no longer take time to complete,’’ he said.



Ojelabi said that the scope of work done in phase one included the station buildings and rail tracks, adding that, installation of electricity and communication gadgets were being expected, to make the section functional.

He explained that there were supposed be a total of 13 train stations out of which four have been completed and two others are under construction.

Ojelabi said that there was a design in the project for the National Theatre to be a major terminus under the Bus Reform Programme of the government where vehicles would take passengers disembarking from the train to various parts of the state.

He commended late Mrs Oluremi Oyo for the role she played in speeding up the completion of the train station at the National Theatre in Iganmu, some years back.

The media head explained that Oyo gave up a portion of land that led to the shifting of the fence of NAN to allow construction of a major pier.

“I need to commend the late MD of NAN, Mrs Oluremi Oyo, because when we were going to build the piers in NAN, she was very supportive and if not because of her support, we would probably not have been able to achieve that, so I need to really commend her, even in death,’’ he said.

He said that more than 13 bus stations were being constructed alongside the expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, as well as the Bus Rapid Transit lane on the highway.

“The whole idea is to make Lagos a 24-hour economy,’’ he said.

The Lagos/Badagry Expressway is the local name for the Nigerian section of the Trans West African Coastal Highway. The expressway is to connect Lagos, Nigeria with Dakar, Senegal.

Extensive reconstruction of the Lagos portion of the expressway began in 2009. When those renovations are completed, the Lagos portion of the expressway will be widened from four lanes to ten lanes for road vehicles and a new mass transit line will operate in the median.

Two of the expressway’s lanes are intended to be exclusively used by the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit System.

Lagos State Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode announced recently that the entire project would now be completed in 2019.

(NAN)