Author: damazah@gmail.com

By Ekeoma Ezeibe Section 15(1) of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025, which was signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 31st July 2025, provides for the recapitalisation of insurance and reinsurance companies. It prescribes the minimum capital or risk-based capital requirements, as determined by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), whichever is higher, depending on whether the company is engaged in Life, General Business or Reinsurance. Sub-section 6 of that section requires existing companies to comply with the provision within one year of the Act coming into effect. Sub-section 7(a) further provides…

Oyin Jolayemi Foundation (OJF), and UTL Trust Management Services Limited has honoured Adeniyi Israel Adekunle, the overall best graduating student of the Nigerian Law School for the 2026 Call to Bar and a long-time beneficiary of the foundation’s scholarship programme. OJF is a private philanthropic organisation committed toimproving access to educational opportunities for Nigerians, while UTL is a leading corporate trustee in Nigeria and trustee to the foundation. Adeniyi, who also won several other awards, thanked the OJF for its financial and moral support. He noted that he became a beneficiary while in Senior Secondary School 1 (SS1) and that…

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has suspended a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies, Prof. Ifeanyi Sunny Odinye, for three months with half salary over alleged contravention of the university’s General and Academic Regulations. Odinye was, a week ago, stripped by suspected students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, for allegedly attempting to take advantage of a female student who she had previously caught for involving in examination malpractice. The professor’s suspension followed the submission of an interim report of a six-man panel set up by the university to investigate allegations arising from the incident…

Leopold AschenbrennerPhoto: Josh EdelsonThe Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly subpoenaed several major Wall Street lenders to glean more information about their role in the near-collapse of AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness.Regulators are seeking insights into Situational Awareness’s trades, use of leverage and communications with the investment banks, which include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Bank of America, according to Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter. Situational Awareness plunged from about $45 billion to around $10 billion in late July after it was hammered in last month’s tech sell-off.The hedge fund, led by former OpenAI researcher Leopold…

Amazon is facing a lawsuit, external over its move to train its AI models on videos people broadcast on the popular streaming platform Twitch.The move faced backlash from users when it was announced in August – with people having the option to opt-out if they do not want their data used this way.The class action lawsuit has been brought on behalf of millions of streamers who use Twitch, alleging its parent company Amazon used their videos to train AI without their permission or proper compensation.Twitch and Amazon have not commented on the lawsuit.Streamers on the platform reportedly produced, external more…

Russia says the UK’s decision to share missile blueprints with Ukraine is evidence of its direct military involvement in the war.Published On 25 Aug 202625 Aug 2026Factories manufacturing drones in the United Kingdom for export to Ukraine could come under attack from “unknown sources”, a Kremlin adviser has said, after Britain agreed to share long-range missile blueprints with Kyiv.Andrei Fedorov, an adviser to the Kremlin and a former deputy foreign minister, told British broadcaster BBC on Tuesday that he could not “exclude 100 percent” that there might be some “semi-military” action against Britain, as UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited…

Terrorist financiers are opening bank accounts in women’s names and secretly using them to move illicit funds, according to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). NFIU, in its recently released 2025 Annual Report, stated that the tactic was among the emerging terrorist-financing methods identified in its analysis of financial crime trends for 2025. It said terrorists’ male commanders and logistics managers secretly control accounts opened in the names of wives, sisters and female associates. “Terrorist financiers are opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders and logistics managers secretly control them. “They exploit cultural norms that make women less…

The 2026 NFL regular season gets underway in less than three weeks with the kickoff game on Wednesday, Sept. 9. With Week 2 of the NFL preseason wrapping up, the time has come for Fantasy football owners to lock in on preparations for another big Fantasy football draft weekend. Veterans like Josh Allen, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and Ja’Marr Chase all headline the 2026 Fantasy football rankings, with Brock Bowers the top tight end, and all will likely be among the top players on most Fantasy football draft boards. The key to Fantasy success remains finding sleepers and rookies who…

The Russian stadium that was scheduled to host two shows by Ye, the rapper also known as Kanye West, has said the events will no longer take place.In a social media post, external, St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena said no rental agreement had been signed with the concert promoters. “Accordingly, the concert cannot take place on our site.”West would have been the first major Western performer to play Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The rapper is trying to rehabilitate his image after years of antisemitic remarks, for which he recently apologised.Gazprom Arena acknowledged it had received complaints about West’s…

Last November, Lloyds Bank informed me, in my role as treasurer of my parish church, that the church account was to be closed and that I should open a new business account instead. This can only be done online, but a fault with their system prevented me – and local branch staff – from doing so.At the branch staff’s suggestion, I opened the new account with a different bank in early March. Since then, I’ve been trying in vain to get Lloyds to transfer the balance from the closed account.I’ve been repeatedly told to visit my local branch and repeatedly…