By Babajide Komolafe The need to support youth entrepreneurship as a solution to the increasing challenge of unemployment in Nigeria is reflected in the success story of Paystack, a fintech start-up company founded in 2016 by two Nigerian youths-Ezra Olubi and Shola Akinlade. The company which became part of Stripe, an American technology company through a $200 million acquisition deal, currently employs more than 70 people in Lagos. Like Ezra Olubi and Shola Akinlade, many Nigerian youths, driven by the need to escape the hash realities and unemployment in the country, are embracing entrepreneurship and venturing into different sectors of the economy. READ ALSOBuhari seeks Senate’s confirmation of Gen Yahaya as new COAS While some like the Paystack founders have recorded outstanding success, most are struggling, due to several factors including poor power supply, low capacity and inability to access funding to scale up their businesses.
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Immediate past president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the incumbent Osun State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemode, in this interview by Saturday Tribune’s SAHEED SALAWU, speaks on sundry issues, including the state of the media, 22 years of democracy in Nigeria and the scorecard of her principal, Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
Democracy will be 22 years old in Nigeria next week. How would you assess its impact on the lives of the average Nigerian?
Democracy is where we are at the moment. It’s been a long journey, and considering where we are coming from, I think we have not done too badly. There is plenty of room for improvement but when we look back to the military days, to the freedom we were deprived of, the many issues of people not being able to express themselves, to call the government’s attention to what they want; when we look back to the days when it was just about obeying the last order, the days when the rule
Our hearts grieve, eyes full of tears, but we cannot question the will of Allah. We all belong to him, and to him shall we return.
I have been compelled to write these few lines to honour a sister, mother, wife, counsellor, intellectual and philanthropist, whose noble companionship and biological ties have touched my life in many ways.
It has been a difficult moment for our family, people of Bauchi State and our country. Dr Zuwaira Garkuwa, a former commissioner in the Bauchi State Ministry of Health, consultant physician/associate professor of community medicine in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, died in a ghastly motor accident on November 23, 2020. That day will never be forgotten as long as we still live on this planet. She died on her way to attend an official function, typical of her nature.
Prof Dozie’s appointment is with immediate effect.
According to the Imo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Bernard Thompson O. Ikegwuoha, with the appointment of Prof Dozie, “the former Vice Chancellor, Prof Tola Badejo, has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect.”
“This is sequel to the former Vice Chancellor’s unauthorised announcement, illegally suspending academic activities in the university for the 2020/2021 academic year.
“All students and staff of the University are consequently advised to disregard the unauthorised announcement of the former Vice Chancellor and return to normal academic and administrative life without delay,” Prof. Ikegwuoha added.
Born March 3, 1966, in Umuokazi Amuzi,