Category: Business Day

Aspira Nigeria Limited, makers of Viva Detergent and other household cleaning products, has hosted the maiden edition of the Lifestyle Mini Brunch series.

This maiden edition was themed ‘Come Wash with Hilda’, an experiential mini brunch designed to promote better laundry practices, deepen consumer education and showcase the performance of the Viva detergent range.

Held at Wasche Point Laundromat in Lekki, Lagos, the brunch brought together select lifestyle influencers, digital content creators, social media followers and The Clean Collective community members for an engaging session with Viva brand ambassador, Hilda Baci.

The event featured a fabric care masterclass, product education, live laundry demonstrations and interactive conversations with Hilda, providing participants with practical insights into effective laundry practices and ways to preserve the quality and longevity of their garments.

Participants also received expert insights from Ruth Okunnuga, Founder of Wasche Point Laundromat, who shared professional recommendations on garment maintenance, fabric preservation and effective laundry practices.

She highlighted the suitability of Viva products for machine washing and their ability to deliver effective cleaning while being gentle on fabrics, noting that the partnership reflects a shared commitment to making laundry easier and more convenient for consumers.

Speaking during the event, Barbara Onianwah, Head of Marketing at Aspira Nigeria Limited, said the initiative reflects the company’s commitment to delivering value beyond its products by helping consumers make better fabric care choices.

‘At Aspira Nigeria Limited, we believe laundry is more than just getting clothes clean; it’s about helping people take better care of the things that matter to them.

‘Every garment has a story, and with the right fabric care habits and quality detergents, those clothes can look better and last longer. That’s why we’re creating experiences like ‘Come Wash with Hilda’, to share practical knowledge, answer everyday questions and help consumers get the very best from every wash.’

Guests also experienced demonstrations of Viva Plus, VivaMATIC Detergent and Viva Plus Gold, showcasing their suitability for different fabrics and washing methods, while highlighting key product benefits including stain removal, freshness and ease of use.

The ‘Come Wash with Hilda’ experience is part of Viva’s ongoing consumer engagement efforts to encourage smarter fabric care and create opportunities for consumers to interact with the brand in relatable, practical settings.

Through the initiative, Aspira Nigeria Limited continues to support Nigerian households with quality cleaning solutions while promoting greater awareness of effective fabric care practices.

Spain international and World Cup winner Ferran Torres has completed his move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in a deal reportedly worth around pound 50 million (£42.7m).

The 26-year-old forward has signed a contract with the French champions until 2031, ending his four-and-a-half-year spell at Barcelona.

‘Paris Saint-Germain is delighted to announce it has secured the services of Ferran Torres. The Spanish World Cup-winning forward has signed with the club until 2031,’ PSG said in a statement.

Reunites with Luis Enrique

Torres will reunite with PSG manager Luis Enrique, who handed him his Spain debut in a Nations League match against Germany in 2020.

The forward played a key role in Spain’s recent World Cup triumph, coming off the bench in the final against Argentina before scoring the extra-time winner to secure La Roja’s second men’s World Cup title.

Nicknamed ‘The Shark’, Torres joined Barcelona from Manchester City in January 2022 after beginning his professional career at Valencia.

He scored 65 goals in 207 appearances for Barcelona and won three La Liga titles, while also contributing to the club’s 2025 Copa del Rey triumph over Real Madrid.

Barcelona confirmed his departure in a statement thanking the forward for his contribution to the club.

‘The club would like to express its gratitude to Ferran Torres for his commitment over the last four and a half seasons as a blaugrana and wishes him all the best for the next stage of his professional career,’ the club said.

Strong final season

Torres leaves Barcelona after an impressive campaign in which he scored 21 goals in 49 appearances across all competitions and helped the club secure the La Liga title.

His form, combined with his decisive contribution at the World Cup, strengthened his value in the transfer market and prompted PSG to make a major investment in the forward.

The move also allows Torres to work again with Enrique, who played an important role in his development at the international level.

Barcola transfer implications

Torres’ arrival could also have implications for PSG winger Bradley Barcola, with Premier League giants Liverpool reportedly interested in the 23-year-old France international.

Liverpool and PSG have held discussions over a possible deal, although the French club’s reported pound 150 million asking price remains a major stumbling block.

Barcola impressed at the World Cup and remains one of PSG’s prized attacking assets.

PSG strengthen European champions

Torres becomes the second major forward addition to PSG this summer following the arrival of Maghnes Akliouche from Monaco.

The move further strengthens a squad that has dominated European football after PSG won the Champions League for a second consecutive season under Enrique.

The French champions also added the UEFA Super Cup to their trophy cabinet this week after defeating Aston Villa 2-1.

Last week in Abuja, NGX Group’s Board and Management sat down with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa and walked him through an impressive set of numbers: market capitalisation up from roughly ?30 trillion in 2023 to ?160 trillion today, the All-Share Index up from 52,000 points to over 244,000, and a fresh commitment to bring NNPC to market. The President was pleased, and he should be. But I want to sit with a harder question than the one that the scorecard answers.

Nigeria keeps talking about becoming a $1 trillion economy – industrialisation, infrastructure, housing, manufacturing, and companies built to compete globally. What almost never comes up in the same breath is who’s actually going to pay for it. Not the government alone. Not the banks alone. Not foreign capital alone. It has to run, in large part, through a deep, sophisticated, ambitious Nigerian capital market. Which means the Abuja meeting wasn’t just a good-news briefing – it was an opening bid on a much bigger conversation.

Give NGX its due

None of what follows is an argument that NGX is underperforming. The opposite, actually. What was presented to the President was earned: equity turnover more than doubled in 2025, the All-Share Index gained over 50%, and NGX Group posted ?22.98 billion in revenue. Settlement is tighter, and retail participation is turning into a real trend, not a talking point in strategy decks.

That’s momentum, and momentum should force the next question: what is all this progress supposed to make possible? Nigeria’s nominal GDP sat around $291 billion in 2025, per the World Bank, with the IMF projecting roughly $377 billion for 2026. ‘$200 billion economy’ is already a stale frame. If Nigeria is genuinely heading toward $1 trillion, what does its capital market need to look like to carry that weight?

We’re still treating the exchange as a marketplace.

Here’s where the framing needs to shift. An exchange isn’t simply a venue where shares trade hands. It has financial infrastructure, in the same category as the roads that move goods or the grid that powers a factory floor. A capital market moves money from people who have it toward businesses and projects that need it, and the depth of that market sets the ceiling on how fast a country can develop. New factories, housing stock, African tech companies reaching global scale without relocating, infrastructure that doesn’t keep stacking onto government debt – all of it needs financing. Capital formation isn’t a side conversation to industrial policy; it’s the mechanism industrial policy runs through. NGX sits directly inside that mechanism, which is precisely why last week’s meeting deserves more scrutiny than a courtesy call gets. To its credit, NGX framed its presentation less as a victory lap on index points and more as a pitch for a national capital formation programme. Right instinct, worth pushing further.

Increasing listings, turnover, retail participation, and settlement speed – all worthwhile. But the more interesting question isn’t how NGX gets bigger. It’s how much bigger the Nigerian economy gets because NGX exists. That reframes what should be measured: how much capital was raised for productive businesses, not just traded among existing shareholders; how many companies scaled because public capital became available; how much pension capital moved into productive assets instead of sitting idle; how many Nigerian companies reached global scale without ever leaving Nigeria to get there. Harder numbers to produce. Also the ones that actually matter for a $1 trillion ambition.

Two models worth studying

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq became powerful by growing into global pools of capital, not just marketplaces – companies listed there for liquidity, institutional coverage, and compounding credibility, not just American investors. Closer to home, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange built a comparable ecosystem – pension funds, asset managers, investment banks, debt markets, research – that gives South Africa’s capital market influence well beyond its domestic economy’s size. Nigeria already has most of the raw material: entrepreneurs, banks, pension assets, private equity, venture capital, an engaged diaspora, and companies with continental ambitions. What’s missing is the financial architecture connecting all of it at scale – exactly why Lagos should be asking, deliberately and now, whether it can become Africa’s financial centre.

The exit problem nobody wants to name

This part is personal, given how much time I spend around private capital and entrepreneurship. Nigeria has gotten considerably better at financing startups – angels, VCs, and private equity all step in as companies mature. Then what? When a company grows into a $500 million or $1 billion business, where does it go to raise public capital? Too often the answer is somewhere outside Nigeria, and when that happens, the country does not just lose a listing. It loses the investors, the research coverage, the liquidity, and the chance for ordinary Nigerians and their pension funds to own a piece of something built at home. The pathway ought to run: Founder ? Angel ? VC ? Growth Capital ? Private Equity ? NGX ? Global Capital. Getting that pipeline to actually work would be transformational, not incremental.

A government problem too, and a continental one

NGX cannot fix this alone. A government cannot announce a $1 trillion ambition and leave capital formation to chance. Governments, regulators, pension managers, banks, private capital, and NGX need to operate as one connected system rather than as institutions, each protecting their own mandate – close to the language NGX itself used inside the Villa last week.

The same problem exists at a continental scale. We talk about AfCFTA and African integration, but rarely ask the obvious follow-up: where is the African capital market? Dozens of exchanges, multiple currencies, multiple regulators, all fragmented, while African companies keep looking outside the continent for the deepest pools of capital. Trade, industrialisation, and entrepreneurship all need financing, and eventually investors need real exits. Nigeria, given its size, has a legitimate shot at leading that build-out.

The actual challenge for NGX leadership

Don’t build the next incremental version of the Nigerian Exchange. Build the institution Nigeria will need at $1 trillion, then build past that. Make Lagos the place African companies raise capital, a credible exit for venture-backed African companies, and a gateway into Africa for global investors rather than a frontier-market curiosity. Make it realistic for a company in Nairobi, Kigali, Accra, or Johannesburg to seriously weigh Lagos for its next major raise or listing – a materially bigger ambition than trading volume, and much closer to the economic role NGX is actually positioned to play.

This is bigger than NGX specifically. It’s about how the country designs institutions around its own ambition. We celebrate entrepreneurs when they build billion-dollar companies, then hand them financial infrastructure that struggles to finance the next ten billion. Nigeria doesn’t need another institution merely adequate for where it stands today. It needs institutions built for where it’s trying to go.

So the question for NGX leadership is simple: if Nigeria is serious about a $1 trillion economy, what does NGX need to become to help finance it? Not next year. Not in the next strategic plan. Now. Because when Nigeria eventually crosses that line, the story shouldn’t be that the economy grew enormous while the capital market wasn’t ready for it. NGX helped build it.

On paper, Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State sets the stage for mass citizen participation, boasting a roll of over 2.3 million registered voters. However, the state’s history of apathy, coupled with rising political violence and threats ahead of the poll, is raising fresh concerns that many registered voters may stay away from the ballot box.

Fifteen political parties have been cleared to contest the election, which will be held across 3,763 polling units in 30 local government areas, with incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke seeking a second term.

Yet despite the increase in voter registration, participation has steadily declined across successive governorship elections, raising questions about whether the latest poll can reverse the trend.

In 2022, almost two million voters were registered, but only 42.09 percent turned out to vote, the lowest turnout recorded in Osun’s governorship election history.

Since the state was created in 1991, eight governorship elections, including the court-ordered 2010 rerun, have been conducted. Turnout has crossed the 50 percent threshold only twice.

In 2003, turnout stood at 54.42 percent, while the 2014 election recorded 54.17 percent. Participation subsequently declined to 45.74 percent in 2018 before falling further in 2022.

Although the 2022 election produced the highest number of registered voters and the largest absolute number of ballots cast in the state’s governorship elections, turnout as a proportion of registered voters continued to decline.

Analysts say the pattern reflects deeper problems around public confidence in elections, violence, voter intimidation and limited political awareness, particularly in rural communities.

This year, security concerns have assumed greater prominence as political campaigns have become increasingly hostile.

Reports of attacks involving supporters of rival political parties have raised fears that violence could suppress participation, particularly among voters who may be unwilling to risk their safety for a political contest.

Adeleke has accused the All Progressives Congress of using federal influence to intimidate and arrest members of his Accord Party. His administration has also alleged that security agencies are being used against opposition supporters.

More than 30 people have reportedly been killed in politically related violence across the state, while political actors have continued to issue inflammatory statements despite a peace accord signed by parties contesting the election.

The controversy intensified after a video emerged in which Francis Fadahunsi, a senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, appeared to urge supporters to ‘kill’ members of the rival Accord Party.

The senator has since said his comments were misinterpreted, while the Osun State Police Command invited him for questioning.

The development has reinforced concerns that political rhetoric could translate into violence at a time when authorities are trying to reassure voters that the election will be peaceful.

‘Election is not war’

For some candidates and residents, however, the threats should not become a reason for voters to abandon the electoral process.

Olufemi Adesuyi, the Zenith Labour Party governorship candidate, said security concerns could affect turnout if not properly addressed, but expressed confidence in the capacity of security agencies to protect voters, candidates and electoral officials.

‘My message to the people of Osun State is simple: do not be afraid, but remain vigilant. Come out peacefully, vote according to your conscience, and return home peacefully,’ he said.

‘Election is not war. We must protect the peace of Osun State while exercising our democratic rights.’

Olusegun Olasunkanmi, an Osun Central senatorial aspirant on the Accord Party platform, also said the reports of violence should concern every responsible citizen but should not discourage peaceful participation.

He identified insecurity as the biggest potential threat to turnout, alongside logistical problems, transportation difficulties and delays on election day.

‘Elections will come and go, but Osun State and its people will remain,’ he said, urging political actors to reject violence.

Babatunde Dosu, chairman of the Ijesa South Campaign Council under the Accord Party, told members of the party and the entire people of Ijesaland on Thursday to troop out and overwhelmingly vote for Governor Ademola Adeleke for a second term in office.

He said, ‘It is of paramount importance to the people of Ijesa South Federal Constituency, which comprises llesa East, llesa West, Atakumosa East, and Atakumosa West and indeed, the entire citizenry of Osun, that they exercise their franchise and make their choice known as regards who governs them beyond 2026.’

According to Dosu, who doubles as the commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, ‘The Federal Government has approved the deployment of 10 security personnel per polling unit. This is a substantial measure designed to provide maximum protection for voters, electoral officials, and election materials across the four Local Government Areas of our constituency.

‘The Federal Government has given the security forces a clear mandate to deal decisively with any individual or group attempting to cause mayhem or disrupt the electoral process.’

He urged the public to disregard any threats from any individual, ‘no matter how highly placed.’

Dosu added, ‘The security services are fully prepared to ensure a free, fair, and credible election, and the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on any troublemakers.’

Meanwhile, Kola Olabisi, the director of Media and Information, Osun APC, who spoke on the readiness of the party ahead of the poll, said: ‘The people of the state are fully ready to change the narrative to flush out the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke on Saturday.’

Residents divided

Among residents, however, the security situation has produced mixed reactions.

Olowu Emmanuel, executive director of Socio-Economic and Civil Rights Advocacy, said he would vote despite the threats, arguing that intimidation could be intended to discourage voters.

‘I will vote because I am sure that all the intimidation is just a threat to cause voters to be afraid and invariably cause voter apathy,’ he said.

He said he felt sufficiently safe to visit his polling unit and had not noticed signs of voter apathy in his community.

Babatunde Lawal, another resident, said security concerns would not prevent him from voting for his preferred candidate. He said he felt safe partly because he would not openly display his political affiliation.

But Bola Olayode said the reports of violence and threatening statements had made her reconsider participating in the election.

She identified security as her biggest concern, although she acknowledged that the deployment of security personnel could reassure voters.

The contrasting reactions underline the uncertainty surrounding Saturday’s turnout: while some voters see participation as a civic responsibility that should not be surrendered to intimidation, others view the growing political tension as a reason to stay away.

Pressure on security agencies

A group, the council of the Wise of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, has warned political actors and security agencies against allowing violence to undermine the election.

The council, led by former chief justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to ensure that voters can cast their ballots freely and safely.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Ariwoola, who was represented, said the council was concerned about what it described as disturbing and undemocratic developments in the state.

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the NDC, also appealed for calm, urging residents not to allow political differences to destroy the state.

‘The people of Osun must be allowed to vote freely, safely, and without intimidation. Their votes must be counted transparently, protected faithfully, and announced according to the genuine will of the electorate. Nigeria is bigger than any candidate, and Osun is greater than any political party,’ he said in a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, security preparations have been stepped up ahead of the election.

Olatunji Disu, inspector-general of Police, has deployed Ishyaku Mohammed, deputy inspector-general of Police, to Osun to coordinate the police component of the election security operation and work with other security agencies.

The deployment is aimed at strengthening coordination and ensuring that voters, candidates, electoral officials and election materials are adequately protected.

Yiaga Africa has also expressed concern that the prevailing political tension could discourage voters from exercising their franchise.

At a pre-election press conference in Osogbo on Thursday, Asmau Maikudi, chair of the Osun Election Observation Mission, said preparations for the election were broadly on track but warned that the credibility of the process would ultimately depend on the performance of INEC on election day.

The challenge for the electoral commission and security agencies is therefore twofold: securing the physical integrity of the election while restoring enough confidence for registered voters to turn out.

Bola Oyebamiji, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has taken an early lead as the collation of results from the August 15 Osun State governorship election continues, BusinessDay learnt.

According to figures released by the APC situation room from 508 polling units, Oyebamiji has secured 45,456 votes, while the Accord Party candidate, Governor Ademola Adeleke, has polled 44,136 votes.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate, Najeem Salam, is currently in third position with 1,300 votes based on the results announced so far.

The figures represent results from only a fraction of the polling units in the state, with collation still ongoing across the 30 Local Government Areas.

The APC said the early results were consistent with its expectations and reflected what it described as strong support for Oyebamiji across the state.

The APC situation room expressed confidence that Oyebamiji would maintain the lead as more results are collated.

As at the time of filing this report, the final outcome of the election will, however, be determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the completion of the official collation and declaration of results.

The Imole Campaign Council (TICC) has dismissed allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that political thugs are being accommodated at the Osun State Government House ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.

In a statement signed by Pelumi Olajengbesi, spokesman of the council on Friday, described the allegations as false, irresponsible and reckless, insisting that Governor Ademola Adeleke would not engage in criminality or accommodate thugs anywhere, including the Government House.

He said, ‘Governor Ademola Adeleke is a staunch respecter of the rule of law, a noble man, a promoter of peace and democratic values. Governor Ademola Adeleke will not engage in criminality, directly or by proxy, or accommodate thugs anywhere, not even at the Government House, as criminally alleged by the APC.’

The council further described the APC’s allegations as ‘expired theatrics from the empty playbook of the APC’, a party it described as jittery over its inevitable defeat on Saturday.

The statement partly reads: ‘The good people of Osun State know their true aggressor and thug-sympathiser; they know those importing thugs into the state and shielding them when caught in the act.

‘Just yesterday, the APC House of Assembly candidate for Atakumosa East/West Local Government Area, Babatunde Festus Komolafe, was reportedly caught with a gun. Some two weeks ago, a notorious APC thug, Asiri Eniba, was arrested with pump-action guns.

‘Unfortunately, both men were released immediately by the police. These are just two of a number of instances.’

The campaign council urged members of the public to disregard what it described as ‘reckless disinformation and senseless claims’ by the APC and come out en masse to vote for their preferred candidate in person of Adeleke come Saturday’s election.

Recently, I found myself in Taraba (but that’s not the point yet), in deep thought, reflecting on why women sometimes seem to age considerably faster than the men around them. My curiosity raced: if women generally have a biological survival advantage and live longer than men, what exactly is going on?

Then I came across a term that stopped me: the male-female health-survival paradox, also known as the morbidity-mortality paradox. In simple terms, it describes a fascinating contradiction: women tend to live longer than men, but spend more of their lives living with illness, disability, or poorer health.

And that got me thinking. What if the question is not simply how long women live, but how well they live those additional years?

This is where I want us to take a deeper dive. Because while biology may give women a baseline survival advantage, socioeconomic conditions, health systems, and the way societies structure women’s lives can profoundly shape what happens to those extra years. In other words, women may have the advantage in lifespan, but the real question is whether we are doing enough to protect their healthspan.

Why Women Live Longer but Not Necessarily Healthier

The caregiving penalty is one of the first places where this paradox becomes visible. Women carry a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic and caregiving work, and over time, caring for everyone else can come at the expense of their own health. The physical strain, chronic stress and exhaustion accumulate, while women often defer their own healthcare, postponing medical appointments, screenings or attention to persistent symptoms while caring for children, spouses or ageing parents. There is also an economic cost. Time spent outside the formal workforce to provide care can interrupt career progression and reduce the income, savings and assets women accumulate across their lifetimes.

This connects directly to systemic barriers to healthcare access. Women are more likely to work in lower-paid, informal or part-time employment, often without comprehensive health coverage, making the management of chronic conditions financially difficult over many years. There are also gaps within healthcare itself. Medical research has historically relied heavily on male models, leaving important gaps in understanding how some conditions present in women. As a result, women can experience delayed diagnosis or have their symptoms dismissed, particularly when dealing with chronic pain and complex conditions. And in many low- and middle-income settings, access to healthcare depends on more than whether a health facility exists. It depends on whether a woman has the money, transport, time and decision-making power to actually use it.

Then comes what I think of as the cumulative old-age trap. Living longer does not automatically mean living better or living with greater financial security. If women spend their working years earning less, accumulating fewer assets and taking time out of the workforce to care for others, their additional years of life can also become additional years of financial vulnerability. They are also more likely to outlive their spouses and experience widowhood in later life. After spending much of their lives caring for others, some women eventually reach old age without the same care, financial security or social support they once provided to everyone else.

And that, perhaps, is the uncomfortable side of the longevity story: women may be winning the race for survival, while losing too many of the conditions that make those extra years healthy, productive and dignified.

So, What Would It Take to Close the Healthspan Gap?

Universal childcare: Reliable, affordable childcare is not only a family-support policy; it is a women’s health intervention. When women have predictable support for caring for young children, they have more time for work, rest, healthcare, and self-care. It can reduce the psychological strain associated with constantly balancing caregiving and employment, while also making it easier for women to remain economically active. Over time, this can improve both wellbeing and financial security.

Paid family and sick leave: Women should not have to choose between caring for themselves or an ageing parent and keeping their income. Paid sick and family leave can reduce the physical and psychological wear associated with managing family health crises while working. Paid maternity leave is equally important, particularly in reducing postpartum stress and depression and giving women a healthier physical and emotional foundation from which to return to work.

‘Daddy quotas’ in parental leave: If we want to reduce the lifelong caregiving burden carried by women, we also have to change who provides care. Reserving a portion of parental leave specifically for fathers, on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, encourages men to participate in caregiving from the beginning. This does more than support fathers; it establishes a more balanced distribution of household responsibilities and can reduce the cumulative physical and psychological burden women carry over decades.

Gender-responsive universal health coverage: Universal health coverage must recognise that removing the cost barrier is not enough if women’s specific health needs remain invisible. Health systems should deliberately incorporate preventive and reproductive health services, alongside screening and management of conditions that disproportionately affect women across the life course. When women can access care without having to weigh the cost against competing household needs, they are more likely to seek care early rather than waiting until a condition becomes harder and more expensive to treat.

Design health systems around the whole female life course: Perhaps most importantly, women’s health cannot be treated as a series of isolated moments: menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. Health systems need to follow women across the life course, recognising how experiences in one stage can shape health decades later. The question should not simply be how long women live, but how many of those years they can live in good health, with financial security, independence and dignity.

Final Thoughts

So, I mentioned how I found myself in Taraba, and perhaps now I can explain why it stayed with me. I was in a room filled with decision-makers discussing policy priorities for women and girls. As a non-profit leader, it was a proud moment because it reminded me that the work we do at Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR) matters, particularly because we count on institutions and public policy to create the enabling environment women need to advance.

But sitting there, I also found myself thinking about this article differently. We spend a lot of time talking about getting more women into education, into the workforce, into leadership, and into positions of economic power. All of that matters. But what happens if, after much talk about helping women access opportunities, we do not build societies that enable them to enjoy those gains?

This is why policy matters. As a member of the Women in Leadership Coalition comprising WISCAR, WIMBIZ, WILAN and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, we continue to advocate for policies that can change the conditions under which women live and work, including 35% representation of women in state and federal cabinets, boards and executive management, as well as stronger parental leave protections – minimum 16 weeks maternity and 14 days paternity leave with full pay.

Perhaps the real measure of progress is not simply that women are living longer than men. It is whether those additional years are healthy, productive, and dignified years. Because if women are living longer but spending too many of those years caring for everyone else, struggling to access healthcare, carrying financial insecurity and ageing without adequate support, then longevity alone is not the victory we think it is. The goal should not simply be to add years to women’s lives. It should be to add life to those years.

Do you remember when owning a mobile phone in Nigeria was an exclusive status symbol, sending a ‘missed call’ was a recognised communication strategy, and a single SMS required careful character counting?

MTN Nigeria is bringing those nostalgic moments back to life while charting its next quarter-century of operations.

To mark 25 years of connecting the country, the telecommunications giant has opened ‘Y’ello Street’, a museum-style, interactive exhibition situated at the MTN Plaza car park in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Open to the public through August 17, the immersive installation offers visitors a walk down memory lane-featuring vintage SIM card packages, early phone models, retro memorabilia, and interactive displays that trace how communication in Africa’s largest economy has evolved since MTN made its debut in 2001.

For many visitors, the experience is as much an emotional retrospective as it is a showcase of technology, illustrating how deeply mobile connectivity has woven itself into the social and commercial fabric of everyday Nigerian life.

A N1.6 trillion Infrastructure Bet

While ‘Y’ello Street’ celebrates the cultural history of the feature-phone era, the company behind it is operating at a vastly different scale today.

Speaking at the exhibition opening, Modupe Kadri, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of MTN Nigeria, revealed that the operator has invested over N1.6 trillion in capital expenditure (Capex) over the last 18 months alone. The massive outlay has been directed toward network expansion, capacity upgrades, and service quality improvements to keep pace with surging data consumption.

According to Kadri, MTN’s Capex (excluding leases) grew by 92.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 to relieve network congestion in major metropolitan centers. In addition to capital investment, the operator paid more than N620 billion in taxes and regulatory levies during the same 18-month period.

‘Over the past 25 years, MTN has been leading the way,’ Kadri noted, tracing the transition from traditional voice calls to data-heavy platforms like WhatsApp, video streaming, and mobile financial applications.

The Strategic Pivot: From Connectivity to Platform Economics

With a subscriber base touching 96 million customers, MTN Nigeria is preparing for a future where traditional voice calls and SMS are no longer the core engines of top-line growth. Instead, the operator is shifting its focus toward artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology (FinTech), digital content, and cloud infrastructure.

FinTech and Platform Services

The first 25 years of Nigerian telecommunications were primarily about connecting people. The next era is about monetizing what happens after they connect.

Through MoMo Payment Service Bank and expanded digital channels, MTN aims to transition users from simple airtime buyers into active consumers of financial, entertainment, and enterprise services.

Kadri highlighted that an evolving regulatory landscape has created broader latitude for telco-led financial inclusion and AI-driven consumer products.

Portugal football icon Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez have begun a new chapter in their relationship after reportedly tying the knot in a private civil ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, on August 11, 2026.

The couple, who have been together since 2016, reportedly exchanged vows in the presence of their five children and close family members. Ronaldo, 41, appeared to confirm the marriage on Instagram by sharing a photograph of the couple’s hands displaying their wedding rings.

For Rodríguez, 32, the marriage caps a remarkable journey from working as a Gucci sales assistant in Madrid to becoming a model, entrepreneur, television personality and one of the world’s most recognisable social media figures.

From Gucci employee to global celebrity

Rodríguez’s rise to global prominence began before her relationship with Ronaldo, although meeting the football superstar dramatically changed the trajectory of her career.

She was working as a sales assistant at Gucci in Madrid when she met Ronaldo, who was playing for Real Madrid at the time.

Rodríguez has described their first encounter as an immediate connection, recalling a strong sense of peace and energy when they first held hands.

The relationship developed quickly, with the couple making their red-carpet debut at the Best FIFA Football Awards in Zurich in January 2017 before becoming Instagram official later that year.

Ronaldo has also spoken about their relationship, admitting he did not initially expect it to become serious.

In Rodríguez’s Netflix series I Am Georgina, Ronaldo recalled initially seeing her as an interesting and mature woman before eventually realising she could become ‘the woman of my life.’

Building a brand beyond Ronaldo

While her relationship with Ronaldo accelerated her global profile, Rodríguez has worked to establish an identity beyond being the football star’s partner.

She moved into modelling and developed relationships with major fashion and luxury brands, while appearing in international magazines and building a substantial social media following.

Her public image has become closely associated with luxury fashion, beauty, travel and family life.

She has also turned her visibility into commercial opportunities through brand endorsements, sponsored social media content and fashion ventures.

Her Netflix series, I Am Georgina, has further expanded her profile, offering viewers an insight into her personal life, family and relationship with Ronaldo.

How much is Georgina Rodríguez worth?

There is no publicly verified figure for Rodríguez’s personal net worth, and estimates vary considerably.

Some celebrity-wealth websites have put her fortune at around $2 million, although such estimates should be treated cautiously because they are not based on audited financial statements.

Her income is believed to come from modelling, endorsements, sponsored content and business ventures.

Her substantial social media following also gives her significant commercial value, particularly among luxury, fashion and beauty brands seeking access to a global audience.

Her personal wealth should also be distinguished from Ronaldo’s considerably larger fortune, which has been built through football salaries, endorsements and business investments.

A lifestyle built around luxury

Rodríguez’s social media presence frequently showcases designer fashion, jewellery, luxury travel, high-end vehicles and family holidays.

Her lifestyle reflects Ronaldo’s status as one of the world’s most commercially successful athletes, with business interests and endorsements extending far beyond football.

At the same time, Rodríguez has made motherhood and family life a central part of her public identity, regularly sharing moments with the couple’s children.

From engagement to marriage

The couple publicly announced their engagement on August 11, 2025, when Rodríguez shared a photograph of her hand displaying a large oval-shaped diamond ring.

‘Sí, quiero. En esta y en todas mis vidas,’ she wrote in Spanish, meaning: ‘Yes, I do. In this and in all my lives.’

The announcement ended years of speculation about whether the couple would eventually marry.

A year later, their engagement reportedly culminated in the private ceremony in Cascais.

Nearly a decade with Ronaldo

Rodríguez and Ronaldo have been together since 2016, making their relationship one of football’s most closely followed celebrity partnerships.

During their relationship, Ronaldo continued to build one of the most decorated careers in football, representing Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United and Al Nassr while remaining a key figure for Portugal.

Rodríguez, meanwhile, transformed from a relatively unknown retail employee into a global model, influencer and entrepreneur.

Her journey illustrates how she has converted global exposure into an independent commercial identity.

From a Gucci store in Madrid to international fashion campaigns, television, entrepreneurship and now marriage to one of football’s biggest icons, Rodríguez has built a public profile that extends beyond being Cristiano Ronaldo’s partner.

Her marriage to Ronaldo marks a new chapter in their personal lives, while also representing another stage in the evolution of the personal brand Rodríguez has built over the past decade.

The naira ended the week relatively stable across the foreign exchange (FX) market segments as Nigeria’s external reserves climbed to a 17-year high of $52.25 billion, strengthening the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) capacity to support the local currency and meet the country’s external obligations.

Data published by the CBN showed that the naira appreciated by N8.08 week-on-week, with the dollar quoted at N1,357.61 at the close of trading on Friday, compared with N1,365.69 quoted a week earlier at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).

On a day-on-day basis, the local currency steadied at N1,357.61, representing a marginal N0.04 gain from N1,357.65 quoted on Thursday. Over the five trading days, the naira strengthened by N2.53 from N1,360.14/$ recorded on Monday, the first trading day of the week.

In the parallel market, also known as the black market, the local currency also remained stable at N1,420 per dollar. Consequently, the gap between the official and parallel market rates narrowed slightly to 4.64 percent from 4.71 percent previously.

Total turnover in the interbank segment of the FX market rose by 9.12 percent week-on-week to $1.00 billion on Friday, compared with $919 million recorded on Friday last week. The number of deals also increased by 19.09 percent from 639 on Thursday to 761 deals on Friday.

Although NFEM figures for Friday’s deals and turnover were not available as of the time of reporting, activity moderated during the week, with total turnover declining slightly by 2.23 percent week-on-week to $3.95 billion on Thursday, from $4.04 billion recorded on Thursday last week.

The number of deals, however, increased by 3.17 percent from 1,736 last week to 1,791 deals on Thursday, indicating sustained activity despite the marginal decline in transaction value.

Nigeria’s external reserves, which provide the CBN with the firepower to support the naira and meet external obligations, have maintained a steady growth trajectory, rising to $52.25 billion, their highest level in 17 years. The level represents a 28.32 percent increase from the $40.72 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.

The sustained accretion in reserves comes amid improved conditions in the FX market and growing efforts by the CBN to deepen liquidity and strengthen the transmission of monetary policy.

Within the week, the CBN relaxed restrictions on banks’ access to its discount window, lifted the suspension of tenored repo operations and broadened participation in the Open Market Operations (OMO) market to include non-bank financial institutions, corporates and retail investors.

According to analysts at Quest Merchant Bank Limited, the reforms should improve market liquidity, strengthen monetary policy transmission and deepen participation in the fixed-income market.

‘The reforms are likely to deepen activity across the money market and fixed-income markets while signalling growing confidence in FX market stability, reserve adequacy and overall market conditions,’ the analysts said.

The reforms could also have implications for yields and investment returns. Broader investor participation in OMO securities could accelerate yield compression over time, potentially reducing treasury income opportunities for banks and moderating the carry attractiveness of naira assets.

On Wednesday, the CBN, through a circular to all banks, introduced a series of reforms aimed at improving the functioning of the financial markets. The measures include easing restrictions on Deposit Money Banks’ access to the discount window and Standing Lending Facility (SLF), resuming tenored repo operations across four to 90 days, and broadening eligible participants in the OMO market to include non-bank financial institutions, corporates and retail investors.

However, the regulator retained restrictions on banks’ participation in OMO auctions on the same day they accessed the discount window.

The most impactful of the reforms, according to Quest Merchant Bank, is the broadening of eligible investors in the OMO market. Going forward, individuals, corporates and non-bank financial institutions will be able to participate in OMO securities through Deposit Money Banks.

The measure effectively expands the investor base for OMO instruments, increases demand for short-dated securities and could exert downward pressure on OMO clearing yields over time. However, the CBN retains discretion over the volume, tenor and frequency of OMO issuances in line with prevailing liquidity conditions and monetary policy objectives, meaning it will continue to exercise significant influence over yield outcomes.

The lifting of discount window-related restrictions also reduces funding frictions for banks. By allowing institutions that access the discount window to continue participating in the FX market and government securities auctions, the reforms reduce the opportunity cost of accessing Central Bank liquidity and give banks greater flexibility to manage temporary funding shortfalls without disrupting their participation in key financial markets.

Additionally, the reintroduction of tenored repo operations across four to 90-day maturities will enhance liquidity management for bank treasuries by providing greater flexibility in funding beyond the overnight market.

This reduces the need for banks to rely exclusively on short-term funding sources and allows for more efficient asset-liability management. The availability of term repos also strengthens the CBN’s liquidity-management framework by enabling more targeted liquidity injections, reducing volatility in money-market rates and enhancing monetary policy transmission across money and fixed-income markets.

‘In our view, the circular forms part of the CBN’s broader efforts to deepen domestic financial markets and strengthen the transition towards a more market-based liquidity management framework,’ the analysts said.

They added that the reforms would enhance market liquidity, improve monetary policy transmission and support more efficient price discovery across the money and fixed-income markets.

More importantly, the relaxation of discount window-related restrictions signals growing confidence in the resilience of the FX market, the adequacy of external reserve buffers and the CBN’s capacity to maintain orderly market conditions during periods of elevated demand.

The reforms could also gradually reduce the market’s dependence on offshore participation by broadening the domestic investor base for OMO instruments. However, as increased demand places downward pressure on yields, the CBN may need to balance its market-development objectives against the need to preserve the attractiveness of naira assets to foreign portfolio investors, particularly in an environment where external financing conditions remain competitive.

‘Overall, we view the circular as structurally positive for Nigeria’s financial markets, particularly as it gives the CBN greater flexibility to inject and withdraw liquidity, while improving money-market efficiency and deepening participation across the domestic fixed-income market,’ the analysts at Quest Merchant Bank Limited said.