Some major events in the next coming days in Nigeria. I take you back to this post and the Dec 2020 one. Politics is a permanent interest game, no enemy and no friend.

In December 2020, I wrote, thus: “It seems some politically sagacious northern states’ governors in Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, want former President Goodluck Jonathan to be APC presidential flagbearer in 2023, if Jonathan agrees to decamp from PDP to APC. Lol. That is really unfair as Ndubuisi Ekekwe has not even tasted any water in Aso Rock, and they are focusing on making more presidents out of former presidents. Haba Nigeria….Obasanjo, Buhari…and Jonathan.

It does not sound really crazy if you look at the permutation: Jonathan can only serve a single term. Period. And if that is the case, he is the only Southern Nigeria politician that would make it possible for many governors from the north to have a chance in 2027.”

As a school teacher, do I have a chance in a nation whose mission is to make more presidents out of the former presidents? Lol.

Here are the new products Apple announced today, plus their prices and launch dates:

Dear Co-learner,

Greetings and welcome. We are writing from Tekedia Mini-MBA support. We want to pass across the following updates: 

The first Zoom or live session of our program will begin on Saturday at 7pm WAT (Sept 18). Zoom in the Board.

Every Monday, the weekly courses are posted; Week 2 will be posted before 12 noon WAT on Monday, Sept 20. On the same Monday, we will publish the Zoom links with Faculty names and topics for Tue (Sept 21), Thur (Sept 23) and Sat (Sept 25). The same repeats until the end of the program. 

If for any reason you cannot figure out yet how to access your account, email us. We will do it manually here. But note this, there are really three things in our instruction manual https://school.tekedia.com/support/support/

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is taking another bold step to ensure that Nigerian banks continue on the existing trajectory of growth and resilience, and improve their operations to meet global best standards.

On Tuesday, the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele announced during the 14th Annual Banking & Finance Conference, organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), that the apex bank will establish the Nigerian International Financial Centre (NIFC) in the next 12 months, ThisDay reports.

During the conference which was entitled: “Recovery, Inclusion and Transformation: The role of Banking and Finance”, Emefiele said the NIFC will act as an international gateway for capital and investments, driven by technology and payment system infrastructure.

He said the NIFC will curate local and international banks to make them global champions, and will be a 24/7 financial centre that will complement London, New York and Singapore financial centers and enable an acceleration of home grown initiatives such as the Infracorp plc, the N15 Trillion infrastructure fund which would be launched in October.

In addition, the governor said the new financial hub would also complement initiatives on the Nigerian Commodity exchange and the National Theatre creative hubs for Nigerian youths as well as the E-naira project which will also debut in October.

Emefiele explained that the NIFC would take advantage of existing laws such as the BOFIA 2020, NEPZA and other CBN regulations to create a fully global investment and financial hub where monies, ideas, and technology will move freely without hindrance.

The apex bank head used the opportunity to reflect on the initiatives taken so far to ensure growth and stability in Nigeria’s banking industry. He said the CBN worked to protect the interest of depositors by ensuring that banks made adequate capital provisions to cover for unexpected losses.

“We also enabled banks to restructure loans granted to individuals and businesses significantly affected by the pandemic. Our banks also demonstrated exceptional resilience by putting in place business continuity plans, along with the deployment of digital channels, which ensured that the provision of financial services to customers was not disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are delighted that these measures have paid off. Indeed, key indicators in the banking sector continue to reflect that our banking sector remains strong, resilient, and healthy. Capital Adequacy Ratio and Liquidity Ratio in the banking sector have remained above the prudential limits at 15.5 and 41.3 percent, respectively.

“The Non-Performing Loan Ratio of the Banking Industry in July 2021 stood at 5.4 percent reflecting continued improvements from 6 percent in September 2020. Our banking sector remains well positioned to support the recovery efforts of the fiscal and monetary authorities,” he said, adding that Nigerian banks have become not only strong and resilient, but have also carved a good niche in the world.

Over the past 10 years, the Nigerian banking industry has undergone a series of policy changes geared toward consolidation. The result has been impressive with ills such as liquidation, which used to be a constant feature in the sector, fully eliminated.

However, while the industry has shown growth and resilience over the years, adapting to technology advancement remains a struggle. In the age of cryptocurrency and fintech boom, which is increasingly posing a threat to traditional banking, the central bank is working to bridge the technology gap with initiatives such as the NIFC.

Two weeks after South Korea’s parliament enacted a law to checkmate monopolistic practices of Apple and Google, the country’s competition watchdog has fined Google 207.4 billion won ($176.8 million) for abuse of its market dominance.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Tuesday it handed Google the fine for abusing its dominant position in the smartphone market and forcing smartphone makers to use its Android operating system on their devices.

It is the latest in a number of antitrust actions taken against the tech giant in recent weeks, amidst growing calls to keep the big players in the tech industry in check.

Google was accused of using its dominant position to block smartphone makers like Samsung from using operating systems developed by rivals.

“We expect the latest measures will help set the stage for competition to revive in the mobile OS and app markets. This is also expected to help the launch of innovative goods and services in smart device market,” the KFTC said in a statement.

Investigation into Google’s anticompetitive activities started in 2016. The KFTC said the web search giant’s action stifled competition by demanding that smartphone makers accept an “anti-fragmentation agreement” (AFA) when they sign key contracts with Google over app store licenses and early access to OS, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The AFA prohibits device makers from installing Android forks, modified versions of Android OS, and also from developing their own Android forks.

The KFTC said the practice has helped Google to dominate the mobile market and undermine innovation in the development of new OS for smart devices, it thus ordered Google to take corrective measures.

AP reported KFTC official Kim Min-jeong saying the fine is provisional and currently based on Google’s revenue in South Korea from 2011 to April 2021. The final fine, due to be announced later this year, could be higher on account of the revenue generated between April and then.

The regulator is still investigating separately three more cases related to Google’s alleged anti-competitive activity, according to Yonhap.

The three cases being investigated is whether Google forced mobile game applications to be released only on its Play Store. The watchdog is also probing Google’s alleged unfair practice over the sale of digital rights, and whether Google’s new billing policy has harmed market competition, according Yonhap.

In addition to the fine, the KFTC ordered Google to stop implementing the anti-competitive contracts under AFA in the future and make corrections to the existing ones.

The fine is believed to be the largest in South Korea’s history. But a Google spokesperson told Forbes the company intends to appeal the decision and believes “Android’s compatibility program has spurred incredible hardware and software innovation.”

Last month, South Korea’s national assembly approved a legislation that will limit the monopolistic practices of Apple and Google in their app stores, making the Asian country the first nation in the world to take such a regulatory step.

The new law, which is an amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act, bars app market operators from abusing their market positions by forcing certain payment systems on mobile content businesses.