Tony Elumelu has been appointed as a non-executive director of Seplat Energy Plc, effective 22 January 2026. The appointment comes weeks after his energy firm, Heirs Energies, acquired 20.07 percent stake in Seplat in deal valued at nearly $500 million. Seplat, in a filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday said the development follows the resignation of its former non-executive director, Olivier Cleret De Langavant, after six years of service. Elumelu, founder and chairman of Heirs Holdings, a diversified investment group with interests across energy, power, banking, insurance, technology, real estate, hospitality, and healthcare, is expected to assume the position immediately.…
Author: Newsdesk
TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, said on Thursday it has finalised a deal to create a new American version of the app that establishes a majority American-owned joint venture that will secure US data, in order to avoid a US ban. The short video app company signed agreements with major investors including cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX – which will each hold 15 per cent – to form the new TikTok US joint venture. American and global investors will hold 801 per cent of the venture while ByteDance will own 19.9…
The United States has officially terminated its membership of the World Health Organisation (WHO), citing inefficiencies, mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and “failures” inflicted upon the American people. America’s withdrawal from the global health body comes exactly a year after US President Donald Trump announced that he was ending the country’s 78-year commitment to the agency, and initiated the process by signing an executive order on his first day in office on January 20, 2025. In a joint statement issued by US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, on Thursday, it was stated that…
Canada’s immigration system is under renewed strain as 1.8 million temporary resident permits are set to expire this year. This is according data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The development is heightening uncertainty for international students, foreign workers, and visitors who had hoped to transition to permanent residency. IRCC data indicates that over 1.8 million temporary resident permits will expire by the end of 2026, down from nearly 2.1 million in 2025. Temporary residents are individuals legally allowed to stay in Canada for a fixed period for study, employment, or short-term visits, making them a key part of Canada’s labour and education ecosystem. Immigration lawyer Mario…
The UK government is looking to expand British education overseas, with a new goal of growing education exports to £40 billion annually by 2030. The policy shift was unveiled over a 2019 target that aimed to attract 600,000 foreign students each year to UK campuses. The change signals a recalibration of the UK’s international education strategy as ministers balance migration pressures with the economic value of the education sector. Under the new strategy, universities and education providers will be encouraged to open overseas hubs and form partnerships abroad, allowing students to access UK education closer to home. The Department for…
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) on Thursday visited the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, to monitor and ensure full compliance with the ongoing nationwide strike. Members of the unions, carrying placards and led by their leadership, went to various offices, urging staff on duty to join the strike. The JOHESU team included members of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and the National Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), who insisted the industrial action would continue until their demands were met. The Federal Ministry of Health had issued a ‘no work, no pay’ directive to all…
The Federal Government says it is intensifying efforts to commercialize research outputs and strengthen local innovation as part of measures to diversify the economy and reduce reliance on foreign technologies. The disclosure was made by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, Mr Kingsley Udeh, on Thursday at a Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) Joint Academy Town Hall meeting, held at the close of the maiden three-day National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Communication in Abuja. Udeh, represented by Dr Ibiam Oguejiofo, National Coordinator of the Strategy Implementation Task Office for Presidential Executive Order No. 5, said Nigeria…
The Teach Girls Tech Foundation (TGTF) has trained over 40 secondary and primary school teachers through its i-MathElevate project to improve mathematics performance in Rivers State. The disclosure was made by TGTF Founder, Engr Ejiroghene John, during a workshop organized by the foundation in partnership with Elsevier MSSF and with the approval of the Rivers Ministry of Education in Port Harcourt on Thursday. John said the i-MathElevate teachers’ training programme is a two-month virtual learning initiative aimed at addressing declining mathematics performance among students and teachers in Nigeria. “We are introducing technical games like coding, AR and VR, Rubik’s Cube,…
The MTN Foundation has trained over 2,000 young Nigerians in digital and business skills under its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Skills and Training Programme. Speaking on the initiative, the Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, Mrs Odunayo Sanya, said the programme was designed to equip young entrepreneurs with skills relevant to their business needs. “Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and supporting young entrepreneurs with simple digital tools can improve productivity and long-term growth,” she said. Sanya explained that the seventh cohort of the programme focuses on helping Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) adopt digital tools to…
The Federal Government has urged financial institutions to develop tailored products that help farmers adopt low-emission, climate-smart practices to ensure cleaner air, healthier communities, resilient food systems, and a more climate-secure Nigeria. Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), made the call on Thursday at the Close-Out Workshop of the Abatement of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (ASLCP) in the Nigerian Agricultural Sector held in Abuja. The meeting also served as the Final Project Dissemination of ASLCP. The ASLCP project in the Nigerian agricultural sector focused on reducing open-field burning and was convened under…