Business

Indian Docked For Issuing N70m Dud Cheque

Published

4 years ago

March 26, 2022

An Indian national, Yuvraj Kumar Mehra, has been arraigned by the Ibadan Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on eight count charges bordering on conspiracy and issuance of a dud cheque in the sum of N70 million.

The defendant was arraigned before Justice Olanrawaju Majekobe of the Ogun State High Court alongside his firm, Dolphin Steels Nigeria Limited.

Yuvraj was docked for failing to pay the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) the said sum for power supplied to his company.

Investigation carried out by the operatives of the Ibadan Command revealed that the defendant issued a total number of thirteen dud cheques for N125 million to IBEDC between October 2, 2018 and December 3, 2018.

IBEDC, the defendant made a part payment but reneged in paying the balance of N70 million while all efforts to get him to pay the outstanding sum were futile.

One of the counts reads: “That you Yuvraj Kumar Mehra, Dolphin Steels Nigeria Limited, Mohit Gupta (at large) and Sushil Kumar (at large), on or about the 5th of December, 2018 at Sango Ota within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired to commit an illegal act to wit: issuance of Dishonoured Cheque, an offence contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 30 Laws of Ogun State.”

Another count reads: “That you Yuvraj Kumar Mehra, Dolphin Steels Nigeria Limited, Mohit Gupta (at large) and Sushil Kumar (at large), on or about the 5th of December, 2018 at Sango Ota within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court knowingly and fraudulently issued Zenith Bank Plc Cheque No. 2493, dated 30th of November, 2018 in the sum of (N10, 000, 000.00) Ten Million Naira only, made payable to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, which when presented for payment was dishonoured on the grounds that no funds or insufficient funds were standing to the credit of the account on which the cheque was drawn.”

The defendant pleaded “not guilty” to the charges preferred against him by the EFCC.

Upon his plea, the prosecution counsel, Sanusi Galadanchi, asked the court for a trial date and the remand of the defendant pending the determination of the case.

Counsel to the defendant, Clifford Anuge, prayed the court to admit his client to bail as he informed that the bail application had been filed and served on the prosecution and the court.

Justice Majekobe, after listening to both parties, granted Yuvraj bail in the sum of N4.1 million and two sureties in the sum of N2,050,000 each.

She further ordered that sureties must provide the court with their “affidavits of means, passport photographs and one of the sureties must be a resident of Ogun State with landed property”.

Furthermore, the defendant must deposit his international passport with the court registrar.

The matter was adjourned till May 18, 2022 for commencement of trial.

In another development, the EFCC on March 23, 2022 secured the conviction and sentencing of one Osinuga Oluwa Adeyemi and Musa Lanre Dauda before Justices Uche Agomoh of the Federal High Court and Sherifat Adeyemi of the State High Court, both sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, on separate one count charge each bordering on cyber crime.

The convicts pleaded “guilty” to the charges preferred against them.

Consequently, Adeyemi was convicted and sentenced to five months imprisonment while Dauda bagged six months community service.

Also, the convicts were ordered to restitute their victims as well as forfeit all items recovered from them by the EFCC.

Business

Okonjo-Iweala Reveals How Nigeria Can Dominate AfCFTA

Published

6 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says Nigeria has what it takes to lead Africa’s new era of trade if it tackles high logistics costs, develops efficient payment systems, and invests in value addition.

Okonjo-Iweala, who was speaking on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, said Nigeria and other African economies must speed up the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, and build stronger infrastructure to unlock billions of dollars in opportunities in manufacturing, services, and digital trade.

“The AfCFTA is a great step, but Africa trades only about 15–20 percent within itself — far below the European Union, EU’s 60 percent. We (Nigeria) need to speed up implementation so Africans trade more with each other.

“Take Lesotho: it exports around $200 million worth of textiles (jeans, etc.) to the U.S. — about 10 percent of its GDP — while Africa imports $7 billion of similar goods. Why not absorb Lesotho’s products within Africa? To unlock intra-African trade, we (Nigeria) need efficient payment systems (Afreximbank and others are working on this), better infrastructure and lower trade costs. It shouldn’t take longer to ship goods from Cape Town to Lagos than from China to Lagos.

“With critical minerals, energy, and new supply chains, plus opportunities in services and digital trade, there’s huge potential — if we invest in connectivity and implementation,” she said.

The former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance also cautioned that negative narratives about global commerce risk overshadowing recent successes achieved through multilateral cooperation.

Business

French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

AFP

Business

BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…