Author: News Room

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the names of the 46 microfinance banks whose operating licences were revoked for failing to meet the regulatory requirements for continued operation. The apex bank disclosed on Wednesday that the revocation was carried out in accordance with its powers under Sections 12 and 13 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020. According to the CBN, the licences were revoked because the affected microfinance banks had insufficient assets to meet their liabilities, closed operations without regulatory approval, or became inactive and ceased financial intermediation. The revocations were also attributed to…

Five Nigerians rescued from detention at MACA Prison in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, have been received by the Federal Government following months of diplomatic efforts. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, alongside the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Lanre Issa-Onilu, and other government officials, received the returnees at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. According to a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by the minister’s Special Assistant on Communication and New Media, Magnus Eze, the six young men were Malam Nasiru Umar, Shamsu Abubakar, Sa’adu Bello, Lyman Mohammed and Usama Murtala. The statement disclosed that one of…

If you’re not heavily invested in Amazon’s ecosystem, I think the Kobo Libra Colour is a better buy than its closest Amazon rival, the $249.99 Kindle Colorsoft. It offers many of the same core features, including a sharp seven-inch color display that makes book covers, comics, and highlights pop with only slightly less vibrancy than the color Kindle. It’s also waterproof so you can rest easy at the beach, and features adjustable warm lighting for more comfortable nighttime reading.The Kobo also has a few advantages over Amazon’s e-reader. It supports EPUB and a broader range of file formats, making it…

An Ethereum founder and some of its biggest treasury holders are behind a new independent nonprofit launched to coordinate the blockchain’s institutional outreach, underscoring the ecosystem’s push to attract more banks, asset managers and financial institutions as competition from rival blockchains intensifies.The nonprofit, Ethereum Institutional, was introduced on Wednesday with backing from Ether (ETH) treasury companies BitMine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink, as well as blockchain co-founder Joe Lubin and other contributors. It plans to expand beyond New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore into additional financial hubs while offering education, standards development, industry research and institutional events.In a social media…

Prime Video’s Elle debut is bittersweet for the inaugural cast, as they celebrate the start of their new show while mourning the absence of costar James Van Der Beek. The Legally Blonde prequel, streaming now, marks Van Der Beek’s final TV role before his death in February at age 48. While speaking exclusively to Us Weekly, June Diane Raphael said it was “the honor of my professional life” to serve as Van Der Beek’s scene partner in season 1. “I loved acting with James,” she told Us about their characters crossing paths in the show. When fans meet Elle’s (Lexi…

Four civil society organisations have filed legal action against French energy giant TotalEnergies, seeking access to documents relating to the company’s planned divestment from its onshore oil interests in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The organisations, including Friends of the Earth France, Hawkmoth, HEDA Resource Centre and Social Action International, announced the lawsuit on Wednesday in a joint statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES. They said their suit asked a French court to compel TotalEnergies to disclose documents that would clarify the terms of the proposed sale of its stake in the Renaissance joint venture. The organisations, supported by The Corner House and…

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has presented a permanent operating licence to the Lagos State Government, authorising the Lagos State Government to operate the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Red Line under the existing Track Sharing Agreement. The presentation makes Lagos State the first sub-national government licensed to operate a full complement of rail services, serving both goods and passenger traffic. The licence was formally presented on Tuesday by the Managing Director of the NRC, Kayode Opeifa, during a ceremony attended by officials of the Lagos State Government and the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). Speaking at the event,…

The Federal Government on Wednesday urged Nigerians to begin immediate preparations for possible flooding as the rainy season intensifies, warning that climate change has significantly altered the country’s rainfall patterns and heightened flood risks across several states. The call was made by the Special Assistant to the President on Climate Change Matters, Yussuf Kelani, who said recent flooding in Lagos and other parts of the country should serve as a wake-up call for governments, communities and citizens to prioritise disaster preparedness and climate resilience. In a statement issued in Abuja, Kelani said climate change was no longer a future environmental…

A slew of last-minute licenses were issued to cryptocurrency companies in Europe as Wednesday marked the end of the transitional period under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).Four companies were authorized in Italy this week, including asset management platform Hodlie, crypto exchange Young Platform, trading platform CryptoSmart and crypto service provider Hercle, bringing Italy’s total to eight authorized crypto asset service providers (CASPs), according to a Tuesday announcement from the Bank of Italy. The central bank said the country’s financial regulator, Consob, approved the licenses in coordination with it.The French financial markets regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), also added…

Ransom notes sent to various media outlets following Nancy Guthrie’s suspected abduction in February have been determined to be fake by the FBI, according to a new report. Reuters reported on Tuesday, June 30, that authorities found two notes sent in February, one of which included a demand for money, and a more recent note claiming to have information on the suspected kidnappers to be inauthentic, citing an FBI official. “None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” the FBI official told the news agency. According to Reuters, a second law enforcement official familiar with the case corroborated…