Headline

6 Nigerian Startups Attain Billion Dollar Status — Osinbajo

Published

4 years ago

November 20, 2021

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says no fewer than six startups owned by young Nigerians have grown from scratch to billion dollar businesses in recent years.

Osinbajo was the Special Guest of Honour at the Graduation Ceremony of Senior Executive Course 43, 2021 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.

He said that as at 2021, more than six of such companies had been named Unicorns– a company that is worth over a billion dollars.

Osinbajo attributed the feat of the startups to providence and good policies.

“Six of those companies started between 2016 in the middle of two recessions and global health crisis.

“The companies are: Opay, Paystack, Flutterwave, Andela, PiggyVest and Jumia.

“ Paystack and Flutterwave. Paystack was co-founded in 2016 by two graduates of Babcock University, in their twenties.

“ Paystack is a payment processing company; I am sure many have heard that it was eventually bought over by Stripe, the American multinational; it is now estimated to be worth a billion dollars.

“Flutterwave, also a payment processing coy founded in 2016; Flutterwave in Lagos; it is now worth nearly three billion dollars and both companies employ hundreds of young men and women.’’

He said that PiggyVest was co- founded in 2016 by ex students of Covenant University led by 21-year-old lady.

According to him, PiggyVest is a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019, had helped one million users save about 80 million dollars.

“What is responsible for some of these successes? Providence and good policies.

“Providence because COVID-19 was a boom period for online payment systems.

“Policy because the president approved the establishment of a technology and creativity advisory group that helped to formulate new banking policies to accommodate new tech enabled payment systems, such that these tech companies could process payments without being full scale banks.

“ The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was then able to issue new types of licences for payment processing; the Federal Government has established a N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund.

“This provides financial support for small businesses in any field.’’

The vice president said that CBN had also established a Creative Sector Fund for young people in entertainment or technology.

He said there was the new programme called Investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme.

According to Osinbajo, iDICE is an over 600 million dollars programme that will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure.

“Earlier this year, the federal government partnered with the UNDP and the private sector to start a programme called the Jubilee Fellows internship programme.

“ For the next five years every year 20,000 students after youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public agencies.

“The idea will be for the participants to gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into professional, business or public sector careers, while also earning very good pay during the internship.

“These snapshots of possibility are enough to show us that we are not facing an uncertain future without any tools at our disposal.’’

The vice president said, however, that if Nigeria was to inaugurate a new age of accelerated growth, it must adopt a new strategic direction and policy orientation.

Osinbajo said that adoption of a new strategy was what the Federal Government sought to do through the National Development Plan 2021-2025 which was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council.

“ In terms of strategic direction, the cornerstone of our strategy is boosting productivity by focusing on value addition as the guiding principle for all sectors, especially agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, digital services, tourism, hospitality, and entertainment.

“ In agriculture, for example, just as we seek to increase production of rice, we are paying equal attention to other parts of the value chain such as storage, transportation, processing and marketing,’’ he said.

(DAILY POST)

Headline

Iran, Israel Need ‘To Fight It Out’ To Reach Deal – Trump

Published

1 hour ago

June 16, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Iran and Israel — who are locked in an exchange of military strikes — to “make a deal,” but suggested they might need to “fight it out” first.

“I think it’s time for a deal,” Trump told reporters, as Israel and Iran exchanged a fresh barrage of missile strikes and threatened more devastation in a conflict that appeared to be intensifying.

“But sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” Trump said, speaking at the White House before heading to Canada to take part in a G7 summit.

After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war fought through proxies and covert operations, the latest conflict marks the first time arch-enemies Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a lengthy conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East.

It began Friday, when Israel launched attacks that have killed top military commanders and nuclear scientists, and struck military bases, nuclear sites and residential areas across the country.

Trump refused to answer a question about whether he had asked Israel to pause airstrikes on Iran.

Earlier, a senior US official told AFP that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he believed the two sides “should make a deal, and will make a deal.”

There are “many calls and meetings now taking place” on the issue and peace could be achieved “soon” between the longtime adversaries, he said.

Headline

Trump Orders Deportation Drive Targeting Democratic Cities

Published

1 hour ago

June 16, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal authorities to ramp up deportation efforts in Democratic-led cities, doubling down on a politicized anti-immigration drive after major protests in Los Angeles.

“We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center,” he claimed, citing debunked right-wing conspiracy theories that undocumented immigrants are voting in US elections in significant numbers.

Trump has made deporting undocumented immigrants a key priority for his second term, after successfully campaigning against an alleged “invasion” by criminals.

Raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in Los Angeles sparked unruly protests, prompting Trump last week to deploy 4,000 National Guards and 700 Marines, against the wishes of local and state authorities.

California has sued to regain control of the National Guardsmen from Trump, arguing he overstepped his authority. That suit is working its way through federal court.

In a long screed on Truth Social Sunday, the Republican president charged that “every day, the Brave Men and Women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from Radical Democrat Politicians.”

But, he insisted, “nothing will stop us from executing our mission… ICE Officers are herewith ordered … to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Trump insisted that “Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it!”

“There is something wrong with them,” he said, listing a litany of grievances, including charges that Democrats “believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports.”

That, he said, was why he wanted ICE and other law enforcement agencies “to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities.”

Doubling down on his characteristic bluster, Trump seemed to compare migration to the United States with weapons of mass destruction.

He said he had directed his entire administration “to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration that has turned once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia.”

With his typical divisive rhetoric, Trump said he wanted “our Brave Officers to know that REAL Americans are cheering you on every day.”

“To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE!” he wrote.

Headline

Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump

Published

2 days ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel’s air strikes on Iran had the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.

“Our enemy is your enemy… We’re dealing with something that will threaten all of us sooner or later. Our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu said in a video statement addressed to Trump on the US leader’s birthday.

“This is what Israel is doing with the support, the clear support of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the American people and many others in the world.”