UBA Foundation raises education grant to N22.5m for 2025 national essay competition - ITREALMS

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The UBA Foundation, corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced that winners of the 2025 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC) will receive educational grants worth over ₦22.5 million to study at any African university of their choice, reports ITREALMS.

According to the Foundation, this year’s first-prize winner will receive a ₦10 million university grant, representing a 33% increase from the ₦7.5 million awarded in 2024. The second and third-place winners will receive ₦7.5 million and ₦5 million respectively, also reflecting increases from the previous ₦5 million and ₦3.5 million.

Odeh advises CSOs on navigating grant landscape in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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The Country Director, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mr. Odeh Friday Odeh has outlined steps to effectively navigate grant landscape by civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

Speaking at the Peer Learning Session organised by the Open Alliance Nigeria, where he dwelt on “Navigating the Grant Landscape in Nigeria: Grant sources, Grant Access & Resource Mobilization.”

$115m grant for oceanic clean up - ITREALMS

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The 64th Council Meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), ended in Brazil with dedicated grant to confront biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health, reports ITREALMS.

Also, FAO and partner agencies tasked with leading $115 million Clean and Healthy Oceans Programme to ensure adequate redeployment, accountability and transparency.

Shell doles out N48m grant on LiveWIRE beneficiaries - ITREALMS

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A total of 117 young entrepreneurs from the Niger Delta have graduated from the Shell Nigeria LiveWIRE programme and have been awarded a N48m grant to either establish or expand their businesses, reports ITREALMS.

This, ITREALMS gathered, brought the number to 7,913 the total of beneficiaries of the youth enterprise development programme since inception in 2003.

ANA secures N3m grant for 2019 ANA/Yusuf Ali Nationwide Literary Awareness Campaign - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Association of Nigerian Authors has secured funding for the 8^th year towards the   ANA/Yusuf Ali nationwide literary awareness campaign, reports ITREALMS.

The Association received the sum of N3,000,000(Three Million Million Naira) on the 7^th  of January,2019 for the 2019 project from the donor,  Yusuf Ali(SAN), an Ilorin-based renowned legal practitioner, author and dedicated  philanthropist, whose son Dr Yusuf Olanrewaju Ali recently  wedded Barrister Hasiya Altine Nagode in a well-attended Nikkah wedding ceremony in Ilorin on the 29^th of December,2018.

The Grant was first secured by the National EXCO of ANA in 2012 and all state chapters of the Association  received sub-grants of N150,000 at various times between 2012-2014 for local literary awareness campaigns involving secondary schools across the country. In 2015, the grant was applied by the then National Executive Council of ANA to host a workshop on fiction writing in Abuja in which about 25 students, drawn from tertiary institutions across the country via a competitive process, participated.  

In 2016, the Denja Abdullahi-led National Executive Council of ANA took the literary awareness campaign a notch further by focusing on innovative literary awareness campaign among tertiary institutions across the country through the States’ chapters. Chapters submitted proposals on envisaged activities based on which they were assessed and sub-grants finally awarded to 16 Chapters that met the provisioned requirements.

The competitive process was introduced to ensure greater compliance to the overall project vision and to improve on the process of monitoring, evaluation and reportage of the implemented activities. The grant was used in 2017 to publish three (3) children’s literature titles under the Nigerian Writers Series(NWS) which have been distributed to chapters of ANA Nationwide to power  ANA ‘s A-Book-A-Child nationwide project that was flagged off at the ANA ‘s 36^th International Convention which held in Makurdi, Benue State in October,2017 and the phase two of it launched by the wife of the Governor of Ekiti State,Erelu Bisi Fayemi, at the 37^th International Convention of the Association held in Ikeja, Lagos in October,2018.

For the year 2018, the Yusuf Ali grant was deployed to facilitate a comprehensive media supplement on the projects executed with the yearly grants over the years since 2012 to date and an intensive workshop for 15 selected chairmen of ANA chapters focusing on ‘innovations in contemporary literary awareness campaigns’ to deepen the execution of the project in the coming years.

This year 2019 grant will be devolved to selected State Chapters of the Association to carry out innovative and cutting edge literary awareness campaigns in their domains as learnt in the capacity building workshop held in Ilorin in 2018  .

Yusuf Ali, who in 2015 promised to sustain the annual grant to ANA for life, is a Nigerian lawyer who received the highest honour available to practicing lawyers in 1997 when he was called to the inner bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He attended the University of Ife [now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife] and is the Principal Partner at the Law Firm of Yusuf O. Ali & Co in Ilorin. His reputation in the Bar has been balanced by a deep interest in literature which has seen him supporting the Kwara State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors as well as serve as an Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Bar Journal. He is also an associate lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ilorin.

Yusuf Ali in 2017 presented a book “ Anatomy of Corruption in Nigeria” to the public in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja . He has also been consistently hosting the National Executive Council members of ANA and chairmen and secretaries of chapters in his office during their annual meeting in Ilorin since 2012.

We thank Yusuf Ali (SAN) for his consistent and yet-to-be matched generosity in supporting literary awareness in the country and we call on other well meaning Nigerians to emulate his gesture of support for the literary arts.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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Nigeria: O-Mobile gets $10m grant to promote digital economy

ITREALMS:

A Nigerian firm that specializes in technology-based financial and agricultural services development, O-Mobile Multimedia Limited, has obtained a grant of $10m, about N3,605,000,000 billion, from So.Sui.Ben Foundation, a Swiss-based non-governmental organization that promotes development in Africa, reports ITRealms.

The grant, ITRealms gathered, is to promote digital economy on African continent, was facilitated by AfriCunia Limited, trading as AfriCunia Bank, an innovative banking technology firm headquartered in United Kingdom.

A press statement made available to ITRealms quoted the Chief Executive Officer, O-Mobile Multimedia Limited, Mr. Benjamin Aduli, as saying, the focus of the pact is to promote and deepen knowledge of the practice of digital-based services among Africans and thereby reduce poverty.  

“We are excited about this ground-breaking pact which involves the creation of awareness about digital banking opportunities, educating governments and the general public about digital banking opportunities. We will be developing applications that will help Africans utilize digital banking technology and reduce poverty on the continent,” he said.

Aduli also said that the company would offer its multimedia business academy and provide free, digital and multimedia training to all interested micro, medium, small and small enterprises in Nigeria through a network of 1,200 O-Mobile academy centres that are currently being set up across the country.

President, AfriCunia Bank, Don Chancellor, was also quoted saying that the time had come to tackle poverty in Africa using every available means adding that technology will help do this.

“Development needs to be fast-tracked in Africa and we are committed to the continent’s growth through digital banking products and services.  We are very elated about this opportunity to develop MSMEs across Nigeria and Africa and make them globally competitive in this era of technology. We have already started the hardwork. Working with O-mobile and So.Sui.Ben affords us the opportunity to quickly reach the unbanked and unconnected and give them access to first-world banking infrastructure and services. We believe that our partnership with a firm that already understands technology and has wide presence in Nigeria will help us quickly accomplish our goal,’’ Chancellor commented.

Aduli stated further that the company had already commenced work and hoped to sign-up at least 500,000 digital banking customers for AFRICUNIA BANK within 90 days globally. 

He said O-mobile had already commenced rolling out the first agency group network in Africa that will take financial, telecoms, insurance, educational, agricultural extension services and data mining services to the unbanked and unconnected in the continent.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Mastercard $1m grant ignites African business growth

ITRealms:

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has confirmed commitment to a grant of up to USD$1 million over three years to support the growth of small business owners in Africa and Rwanda particularly, reports ITRealms.

Ensuring that the first phase of the roll out of the grant is successful, Mastercard has partnered with the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), locally known as Inkomoko. The team develops and grooms entrepreneurs in industries such as technology, agriculture and energy – three of East Africa’s biggest and fastest growing sectors, and priorities in Rwanda.

ITRealms recalls that this was proclaimed during the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF Africa) in Kigali, Rwanda, which saw Mastercard committed to supporting Rwanda’s vision of financially empowering its citizens, with the grant established to support achieving this goal. The commitment is in line with driving poverty out of Rwanda through job creation, ensuring gender equality through equal access to opportunities, and delivering decent work prospects which will enable economic growth.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are key drivers of the local economy – currently making up 97.8 percent of the private sector in the country. Inkomoko’s one-year programme removes the barriers local entrepreneurs face in the areas of skills development, networks, and financing, through providing mentoring, technical support, capacity building, and direct access to affordable capital.

What makes the partnership between Mastercard and Inkomoko unique is the support of both Rwandan nationals as well as some of the 160,000 refugees currently living in Rwanda. In collaboration with the United Nations Agency on Refugees (UNHCR), the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR) and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Inkomoko will roll out a programme aimed at fostering the social and economic independence of refugees in Rwanda.

With a large population of refugees, the role of private and public partnerships remains crucial to the inclusive growth and development of all those displaced. Mastercard, together with the African Entrepreneur Collective, has committed to assisting entrepreneurs in Rwanda regardless of their circumstances, a vision shared and driven by the Rwandan government.

“Connecting entrepreneurs, especially women and refugees, to the networks that power the modern world – like financial services – unlocks their economic potential and accelerates a cycle of equitable and sustainable economic growth,” says Shamina Singh, President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The Inkomoko entrepreneurship programme aims to restore the dignity of refugees living in Rwanda by empowering these small business owners with vital support to grow their businesses. The programme will work with 4,000 refugees in Rwanda over the next three years.

“The intention is to connect refugees with the tools and skills necessary to enable them to become self-sufficient and independent entrepreneurs to improve their own livelihoods, create jobs for others in their communities, and contribute to Rwanda’s larger economic development. Rwanda’s refugee camps and host communities are places of vibrant social and economic activity with bustling markets, shops, restaurants, and industries,” says Julienne Oyler, Executive Director of African Entrepreneur Collective. “Supporting and developing entrepreneurs in these areas will have tremendous impact on the communities themselves and the country at large.”

Rwanda has become a bustling centre of commerce in Africa, and by implementing programmes that broadly target high potential local entrepreneurs, broad-based economic growth can be advanced by equipping the country’s next generation of business owners with the right tools to hone their financial literacy – the foundation of financial inclusion and growth.

In this way, the support provided as part of the grant not only falls in with the country’s Vision 2020 strategy to create a knowledge-based, cashless economy with 90 percent financial inclusion, it also contributes to Rwanda meeting its Sustainable Development Goals, most notably in terms of eradicating poverty and driving gender equality through the empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Facilitating inclusive growth is an important way to build social and economic development, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth remains committed to working with partners in both the public and private spheres to drive that development. “Microentrepreneurs drive the local economy, and through our partnership with African Entrepreneur Collective, we look forward to empowering them with the tools and training to grow their businesses and advance the lives of their families and communities,” concludes Singh.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Why FG cancelled Export Grant - Adeosun

ITRealms:

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has offered some explanation why the Federal Governemnt (FG) under the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, cancelled the Export Grant, saying it was grossly abused, reports ITRealms.

Speaking during a visit by the leadership of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, (NESG) led by the chairman Mr. Kwari Bukar and Chief Executive, Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, said that the government justified the stopped the policy on Export Grant due to serious abuse.

While responding to the explanation sought by NESG on the current status of Export Grant, the Minister stated that although her predecessor in office halted the implementation of the policy, she believed the decision was in order going by harvests of startling revelations on the abuse of export grant.

“On paper, why will you cancel Export Grant? The EG is set up to encourage export business.

However, in a situation, where we do not have control, we open up doors for the kind of abuse, which are only imaginable. We have people exporting stones, describing them as high valued goods, collecting an import credit and using that to import fish.

“We do need to look for how to support export, but we have to be very realistic in the recommendations we are coming up with," Adeosun said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Pix: L-R: Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Kwari Bukar and the group’s Chief Executive, Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola during a courtesy visit of the NESG team to the Minister in Abuja on Thursday.

FG splash N24m on 16 inventors

ITRealms:

Federal Government has presented cheques worth N24 million to 16 beneficiaries of the 2013 Presidential Standing Committee on Inventions and Innovations (PSCII) grant, reports ITRealms.

The cheque presentation to beneficiaries, ITRealms gathered was a continuation of nine years support by the Presidential Standing Committee on Invention and Innovation.

Presenting the cheques, the Supervising Minister of Science and Technology Ministry, Mrs. Omobola Johnson while congratulating the beneficiaries on their achievements, described innovation as the lifeblood of any business, any country regardless of social, demographic or economic standing.

She encouraged them to apply the grant towards the next step to their ultimate goal, which is patenting and writing a business plan.

‘‘While the grants that are given to you today are for cry from what you require to take your innovation forward to the next stage which is commercialization and industrialization, I want to encourage you to apply this grant towards that potentially small but important next step to this ultimate goal-patenting, writing a business plan to present to institute that can make substantial funds available to you, making an application to one of our many Technology Incubation Centres in different parts of the country’s capacity building,’’ she said.

‘‘This is how businesses are created and how they thrive and grow. From one innovation or invention from one bright young mind, a viable business is born, jobs are created, people are employed and wealth for nation and for individuals is created.

‘‘Let me congratulate each and everyone of you on this achievement. By receiving this grant, you have in a sense received both an endorsement and a validation of all your efforts. We look forward to receiving about your transition from an innovation to a business.

‘‘For those of you whose innovations and inventions are still in the preliminary or middle stage, we urge you to put in additional effort towards completion on order to provide opportunities to other Nigerians to commercialize and reap the desired benefits from your products,’’ said the Minister.

According to her, vigorous efforts are ongoing to improve the Federal Government’s funding of the PSCII, but added that  collaborations with relevant stakeholders such as Education Trust Fund, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education, Raw Material Research and Development Council and the National Planning Commission, are underway to facilitate the achievement of the ultimate goal of the PSCII Programme, which is to provide a solid foundation for a technological break-through in Nigeria.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Rabi Jimetta said right from creation, man has always searched for better ways of doing things in order to  ease and improve his standard of living and socio-economic well-being by using things that are available at his disposal.

According to her, the desire to encourage Nigerians, particularly those in the informal sector of the economy that have outstanding indigenous technologies was based on their inventions that could impact positively on Nigerians and the economy.

She listed some of the objectives of the scheme as encouraging invention and innovation in technology; to examine ay research claims and assess what can be done to take such claims to prototype and commercial level and to suggest how funds could be sourced to finance the various stages of development from inception to prototype and commercialization.

On his part, the Secretary, PSCII and Director of Technology Acquisition and Assessment, Dr. Adeyemi Talabi commended the inventors for their relentless ingenuity, tenacity and commitment to industrializing the country through various researches in science and technology.

He urged them to take advantage of the research outcome to advance the country technologically, through commercialization drive, wealth creation and employment generation. 

Speaking on behalf of other beneficiaries, Mr. Momodu Shaka, who invented an auto fire extinguisher expressed gratitude to federal government and promised to use the fund to translate their inventions into commercial scale. 

The 16 beneficiaries had gone through a careful and rigorous screening and selection process that included 399 applicants (innovators and inventors).

So far, 117 innovators and inventors across the six geo-political zones of the country have received grants ranging from N250,000 to N3 million from this initiative, in addition to the sixteen innovators/inventors that benefited from the 2013 edition of the PSCII grant, that scaled through the operational guidance of the PSCII through the selection process.

Most of the inventions were on automobile, health research, climate change, power sector, agro business among others.

The scheme was established by the Federal Government in October, 2005 to encourage and promote inventions and innovations in Science and Technology from the informal sector of the economy, while also stimulating the interest of Nigerians to use Science, Technology and Innovation tools for national development.

Kingsley Opurum
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Pix: Mrs. Johnson, supervising Minister, Science & Tech