The most striking and relevant news in Nigeria and the world, weekly. By Oyemaja Feeds, a division of The Oyemaja Group
Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma, spotted in China after years-long lingering absence (27th March, 2023)(Politics): Having criticized China’s financial regulators, and amidst a subsequent crackdown on tech tycoons, Jack Ma maintained a low profile for over 3 years and left China for about a year. Offering no explanations for going under the radar, he has recently returned to China (according to the South China Morning Post).
INEC to hold supplementary elections (27th March, 2023)(Politics): The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will hold supplementary elections for outstanding governorship, National and State Assembly supplementary elections on Saturday 15th April 2023.
Elon Musk Values Twitter at 20 billion dollars (27th March, 2023)(Tech): Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, has marked Twitter’s current value at $20 billion, referencing a new stock compensation program and the allocation of shares to employees of X Holdings, Twitter’s umbrella company. This is less than half the amount he bought the company for ($44 billion) about 5 months ago.
Alibaba set to split in 6 companies following restructuring (28th March, 2023)(Tech): Following Jack Ma’s resurfacing into public light, Alibaba has announced that it will be reorganized into 6 business groups across various sectors such as logistics, cloud computing, ecommerce etc. The new groups are Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Service Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics, Global Digital Commerce Group and Digital Media and Entertainment Group; with each having its own CEO and Board of Directors. This was revealed by Daniel Zhang in a letter to Alibaba employees
Angelique Kidjo wins 2023 Polar Music Prize (28th March, 2023)(Entertainment): 5 times Grammy winner from Benin, Angelique Kidjo has won the Polar Music Prize.
Zoom rolls out ‘catching up’ feature for latecomers (28th March, 2023)(Tech): Recently laying off about 15% of its workforce, Zoom has announced the introduction of features that allow those who attend virtual meetings on its platform, to catch up with meetings. These include AI-powered meeting summaries, prompt-based email responses, whiteboard generation, video huddles and a meeting scheduler.
Messi honoured with Baton of ‘Football’ Statue (28th March, 2023)(Sports): Argentinian footballer, Lionel Messi has been honoured by the South America football governing organisation, CONMEBOL, with the ‘Baton of Football’ and a life-sized statue of him holding the world cup.
The Nigerian Stock Market Rebounds as investors gain 261 billion naira: (30th March, 2023)(Business)
China and Brazil, ditch US Dollar, agree to trade their currencies (30th March, 2023)(Business): China and Brazil have entered into an agreement to conduct their trade using their own currencies directly, instead of the US Dollar. This agreement is expected to strengthen the bilateral trade between the two countries, as well as facilitate investment and reduce costs.
Lagos commercial drivers protest extortion by ‘agberos’ (30th March, 2023)(Politics): Bus Drivers in Lagos have come out en masse to protest extortion by transport union workers, generically and popularly called ‘agbero’. Hoards of drivers were seen waving placards with “We are tired of Agberos extortion”, “We can’t continue working for Agberos”, etc written on them.
Davido releases ‘Timeless’ Album (31st March, 2023)(Entertainment): After almost 6 months away from public life to mourn the death of his son — Ifeanyi, Davido has made a major comeback by releasing a 17-track album titled “Timeless”. This is his 4th studio project since he started his music career 11 years ago.
Elon Musk makes Twitter’s algorithm ‘Open Source’ (31st March, 2023)(Tech): Twitter has published the code that selects which tweets appear on your timeline. This was released on github, alongside a blog post which explains the decision to do this.
Nigerian National Assembly proposes 5-year jail term for illegal gun possession (2nd April, 2023)(Politics): The Nigerian National Assembly is proposing a ‘Bill for an Act to Establish the National Centre for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria, and for Related Matters.’ This bill stipulated a jail sentence of five years or a fine of 5 million Naira for any person convicted of being in possession of firearms illegally.
Google restricts over 4 billion ads in 2022 (2nd April, 2023)(Tech): A report from Google has revealed that the company restricted four billion, three hundred million online ads in 2022 for being legally or culturally sensitive. According to Google, while the ads were still allowed to be promoted, it was on a limited basis and not available to all users in every location.
Finland to join NATO on Tuesday (3rd April, 2023)(Politics): Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, has announced that Finland will become its newest member.
Finland Becomes 31st Member Of NATO (4th April, 2023)(Politics)
Australia bans Tiktok on government devices (4th April, 2023)(Tech, Politics): Australia, through its Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, has announced that it would ban the Chinese-owned TikTok on government devices due to national security fears.
Cash App Founder, Bob Lee, Stabbed to death (5th April, 2023)(Tech): The Founder of Cash App and former CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Square, Bob Lee has been stabbed to death near downtown San Francisco in the United States. No arrest has been made in the case and San Francisco police are yet to release any suspect’s details.
Nigerian Israel Adesanya knocks out Pereria. (9th April, 2023)(Sports): Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya has reclaimed the UFC middleweight title from Alex Pereira in the UFC 287 at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida.
South Africa fines Google 32 million dollars for blocking ad on rival platform (11th April, 2023)(Tech): The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined Google for using itsdominant market position to block the sale of computer games on rival platform One Store.
US transgender athlete proposal sparks controversy (11th April, 2023)(Sports): A United States (US) government proposal which would hinder schools from enforcing bans on transgender students participating in sports matching their gender identity has triggered an outrage from trans rights activists and conservative politicians.
Tinubu named in Times’ 100 Most Influential Persons (14th April, 2023)(Politics): APC Presidential Candidate and President-elect of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also referred to as BAT, has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the World by Times Magazine. The former governor of Lagos State was listed amongst the 20 world leaders in the 2023 edition of Times Magazine. This is amidst allegations against him of involvement in drug trafficking in the United States.
Achraf Hakimi Divorce Saga: Wife Gets Nothing as Hakimi registers assets in mother’s name (14th April, 2023)(Entertainment): Hiba Abouk, wife of Moroccan and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) footballer, Achraf Hakimi, has filed for a divorce against the footballer, claiming half of his wealth. However, in a shocking twist of events, it was discovered that Hakimi had all his assets and monies in his mother’s name, and whenever he needed anything, he would ask his mother to buy it for him. 80% of his properties, including all his houses, cars, clothes, jewelry were found to be in his mother’s name; millions in salary were also deposited in accounts bearing his mother’s name.
Apple rolls our savings account with Goldman Sachs (17th April, 2023)(Tech): Apple Inc. has introduced a high-yield savings account with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which allows Apple Card users earn 4.15% annual yield — 10 times more than the national average. The account has no fees, minimum deposit or balance requirements, and users can set up and manage their Savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet.
Jonathan Majors dropped by management and PR agency (17th April, 2023)(Entertainment): Talent Management Company — Entertainment 360 and public relations arm — Lede Company have dropped Creed III and Avengers’ star — Jonathan Majors as a client, after being arrested and charged with several counts of domestic assault and harassment against an unnamed woman.
FG plans to increase tax on tobacco products to 50% (19th April, 2023)(Politics): The Federal Government of Nigeria has made known that it will excise tax on tobacco products from 30 per cent ad-valorem to 50 per cent. The rationale, according to the Federal Government is to control tobacco smoking in Nigeria.
Microsoft drops Twitter from advert platform (20th April, 2023)(Tech): Microsoft has announced that its advertisement platform, Smart Campaigns, will no longer support Twitter by April 25, 2023.
Twitter deletes legacy verified blue ticks (20th April, 2023)(Tech): Following Elon Musk’s introduction of a $8 monthly subscription model to have a verification badge, Twitter has deleted the check mark of users who owned blue ticks before the subscription system and who have refused to pay to retain the tick.
Former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, launches Bluesky app (23rd April, 2023)(Tech): Ex Twitter Boss, Jack Dorsey has launched an app, Bluesky, to compete with Elon Musk’s Twitter. It is currently available to Android devices and is invite-only.
Joe Biden announces re-election bid (25th April, 2023)(Politics): President of the United States (US) Joe Biden, has announced that he will be running for re-election as president of the US in 2024.
Two abducted Chibok girls gain freedom (25th April, 2023)(Politics): Two out of the remaining 98 Chibok school girls identified as Hauwa Mutah and Esther Markus, held captive by Boko Haram 9 years ago, have escaped from their captors in the Sambisa forest, Borno State, Nigeria.
Sudan’s rival action commence 3-day ceasefire (25th April, 2023)(Politics): Warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a three-day ceasefire as many countries being evacuation of their civilians from the country.
WhatsApp now allows users use same account on multiple phones (25th April, 2023)(Tech): Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company to WhatsApp, has announced that WhatsApp will now enable users simultaneously log into up to four smartphones with the same account.
Foreign transactions on NGX drop by 53% (26th April, 2023)(Business): The transactions done by foreign investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited reduced by 53.16% from 19.62 billion Naira (42.51million dollars) to 9.19 billion Naira ($19.94 million) between February 2023 and March 2023.
Google makes profit of 15 billion dollars in first quarter of 2023 (25th April, 2023)(Tech)
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