Category: Business Day

Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) has called for a more integrated approach to capital formation across Africa, connecting businesses with appropriate sources of financing at every stage of their growth to build globally competitive enterprises.

Temi Popoola, group managing director and chief executive officer of NGX Group made the call at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London on Wednesday, October 21, during a panel session titled ‘Building African Champions – The Investment Case for Scaling SMEs.’

The summit brought together business and financial sector leaders to examine investment opportunities and the conditions required to support Africa’s next generation of business champions.

Popoola noted that capital markets have traditionally focused on large, mature companies ready to list, while promising businesses often require several rounds of financing before they can access public markets.

‘Historically, we have taken a sort of a top-down approach to look for big companies ready to go public,’ he said, explaining that businesses typically progress from founder funding and support from friends and family to venture capital, private investment and, ultimately, public-market financing.

He observed that the growing availability of private capital, alongside fewer new listings and an increase in delistings across several markets, underscores the need for a more connected capital formation ecosystem. Rather than waiting for businesses to mature before engaging with them, capital market institutions must find ways to support promising enterprises earlier in their development.

This requires stronger connections between public markets and the broader investment landscape, including private equity, venture capital and institutional investors. Such linkages can help businesses access financing as they grow while creating potential exit opportunities for private investors through public listings.

Popoola also highlighted family-owned enterprises, describing them as ‘hidden champions’ that could make significant contributions to African capital markets if supported to scale and access appropriate sources of capital.

He identified receivables and invoice financing as another way capital markets can help ease funding constraints facing smaller businesses. By enabling companies to leverage invoices, receivables and purchase orders linked to larger corporate customers, these financing structures can help SMEs unlock working capital and sustain growth.

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Growth Board provides small-cap and growth-oriented companies with a pathway to raise long-term capital through the public market, supported by more flexible listing requirements.

The Exchange is also working with institutions such as the Bank of Industry (BOI) to strengthen SME investment readiness through targeted engagements, capacity building and greater awareness of capital market financing opportunities. These efforts support the development of a stronger pipeline of businesses capable of accessing public markets as they grow.

Popoola’s remarks underscores the importance of a connected financing ecosystem in enabling promising African businesses to transition into established enterprises, attract institutional investment and expand beyond their domestic markets. Achieving this requires collaboration across public and private capital providers, supported by capital markets equipped to facilitate sustainable business growth and broader economic development.

Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has climbed 12 places to rank 108th globally in Brand Finance’s 2026 ranking of academic medical centre brands, while six African institutions made the world’s top 100.

The ranking, which assesses hospitals on patient care, medical research, and education and training, places institutions from South Africa, Egypt and Morocco among Africa’s highest-ranked academic medical centres.

LUTH is among six Nigerian institutions featured in the broader 101-250 range, alongside Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), University College Hospital in Ibadan, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.

However, no Nigerian institution appears in the global top 100, according to the ranking published by Brand Finance.

South Africa’s Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town is Africa’s highest-ranked institution, placing 25th globally with a brand strength score of 74.1 out of 100. It improved from 26th position in 2025.

Egypt’s Qasr El Eyni Hospital ranked 27th, while the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University came 43rd. Morocco’s Mohammed VI University Hospital Center placed 56th globally.

South Africa’s Tygerberg Hospital climbed from 76th position in 2025 to 63rd in 2026. Morocco’s Mohammed VI University Hospital Center, however, dropped from 37th to 56th.

Brand Finance identifies Groote Schuur as the world’s leading academic medical centre for teaching, while Tygerberg received a perfect score for integrating teaching, research and patient care.

The ranking is based on perceptions of hospitals among doctors, surgeons and other healthcare professionals. It examines institutions that combine clinical services with medical research and training, rather than assessing hospitals solely on their size or patient numbers.

LUTH’s improved position comes as the hospital continues to modernise its facilities and expand specialist services. In 2025, it opened a purpose-built dermatology centre, according to the report.

Beyond the African entries, Johns Hopkins Medicine retained its position as the world’s strongest academic medical centre brand for the second consecutive year, followed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Singapore General Hospital also entered the global top 10.

North America accounted for 29 institutions in the top 100.

The financial model ran to forty tabs. It described a refurbished gas-fired plant, a network upgrade and a meter factory, and it listed six separate revenue streams, each with its own margin. Then a credit analyst at a development finance institution asked a question so simple that the room needed a moment to realise it had no answer. ‘Which account does the first naira land in, and who put it there?’

The model had a tariff, but no contract obliged anyone to pay it. It had customers, but no licensed seller entitled to bill them. Only a fraction of the headline price was the price of generating electricity; the rest was network, metering and vending charges and a tax pass-through, stacked onto one bill and counted as the project’s income. The fuel the plant would burn appeared nowhere on the cost side. Everyone had assumed that somewhere, someone would pay.

This is the gap beneath most conversations about financing Africa’s infrastructure. We argue about capital, risk, preparation and structure. Rarely do we ask the analyst’s question. Infrastructure finance is a claim on future cash: a lender advances money today in exchange for payments over twenty years. Guarantees, tranches and covenants exist to make that stream more certain. A project with immaculate preparation and elegant structure but an uncertain stream of payments is a well-designed building on sand.

Four things must hold. The price must cover the full cost of supply, including fuel, maintenance and the cost of capital. A specific party must have a legal obligation to pay. Cash must actually arrive, in full and on time, through a mechanism the lender can see. And the arrangement must survive a change of government. Fail any one, and the project has a revenue gap, whatever its model says. Most project models test the first and simply assume the other three.

The evidence suggests price is the first to fail. A World Bank study of utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa found that fewer than half covered even their operating costs, with several losing more than 25 US cents on every kilowatt-hour sold. A later World Bank review of 15 jurisdictions concluded that tariffs are rarely high enough to cover the full cost of service, even where that cost is low. And a 2025 World Bank working paper covering 67 utilities in 47 countries found that cost recovery from revenue worsened between 2012 and 2018, despite a 16 percent rise in tariffs.

Nigeria shows what this looks like in practice. The World Bank reported that distribution companies’ aggregate technical, commercial and collection losses averaged about 50 percent, against 15 percent regarded as international good practice and 26 percent allowed in the regulator’s tariff order. Between 2015 and 2019, the federal government paid a cumulative N1.68 trillion to cover the gap between the tariff and the cost of supply. The 2019 shortfall alone, N524 billion, exceeded the federal health budget of N428 billion that year. In 2024 the Minister of Power put the wholesale tariff shortfall at N1.6 trillion. The Bank estimates that unreliable power costs Nigeria some $25 billion a year in lost output.

The gap did not vanish; someone carried it. Generators went unpaid, gas suppliers withheld supply, and the minister himself attributed recent grid disruptions to unsettled debts across the industry. The 22 million gasoline generators that, according to the Bank, power about a quarter of Nigerian households and nearly a third of small businesses are what a failed revenue system looks like from the customer’s side. Nigeria has since begun raising tariffs for higher-consuming customers, which is a step in the right direction, and the data above should be read as a diagnosis of the problem rather than a verdict on the reform.

This is why the endless debate over sovereign guarantees often misses the point. A guarantee is a proxy. It stands in for a creditworthy payer with an enforceable obligation to pay a price that covers cost. Political risk insurance can protect an investor against expropriation, but it cannot turn an unpaid bill into cash. Nor can a guarantee manufacture a customer. A lender who accepts a guarantee in place of a payer has not solved the revenue problem; he has deferred it to the day the guarantee is called, which is the worst moment to discover that the guarantor’s own budget is stretched.

A tariff that is politically comfortable but below cost does not remove the cost; it relocates it to the party least able to refuse, usually the private supplier or the lender. The real question is not only whether customers can afford a cost-reflective tariff, which is a serious question deserving honest data and targeted support for poor households. It is who bears the difference if the tariff stays below cost, and under what contract. If nobody can answer, the project has an unbooked subsidy, and the lender is holding it.

Why does this persist? Because no single institution owns the chain. Regulators set prices, ministries sign obligations, distribution companies collect and banks lend, and each can say its own part is complete. Tariff reform is among the hardest political decisions any government makes, so leaders prefer to announce capital rather than adjust prices. And advisers, sponsors and lenders are rewarded at financial close. A fragile revenue assumption does not block it; it simply moves the failure to year three, when everyone responsible has moved on.

Honesty requires a limit, and naming it makes the case stronger, not weaker. Revenue architecture does not explain every failure. A plant whose fuel costs more than any customer can pay needs a different business, not a better collection account, and a community with almost no income may need grants rather than project finance. The argument applies where a viable economic activity exists and the system for turning it into dependable cash is missing.

Where it does apply, the responsibilities are clear. Regulators should treat tariff-setting as part of the financing system, with cost-reflective prices, transparent adjustment rules and any subsidy shown as a funded budget line rather than a hidden receivable. Governments should ensure that whoever signs a payment obligation has the legal authority and fiscal capacity to honour it; a memorandum promising to ‘facilitate’ a power purchase agreement is not one. Development finance institutions should test the revenue chain before the capital structure, and use their instruments to build metering, escrow accounts and distribution-level credit enhancement, rather than to compensate for their absence. Investors should read a model that counts pass-through charges as profit, or omits fuel, as information about the project. Sponsors should resist presenting a stacked tariff as a business model.

The analyst’s question deserves to become routine: where does the first naira land, who put it there, and what happens when they stop? Capital exists and risk can be translated, but none of it holds without a payer who can be named, a price that covers cost, a payment that can be seen and an arrangement that outlasts an election cycle. Even then, one problem remains. The money collected arrives in naira, cedis or shillings, while the money lent must be repaid in dollars. That is a question for another day.

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is launching his own global hotel brand through his real estate firm, ORA Developers, starting with a pound 100 million ($112 million) resort on the Greek island of Mykonos.

The decision bypasses management deals with established luxury hospitality groups such as Four Seasons, Marriott, or Accor. By creating an in-house brand, Sawiris is straying from standard industry practice, where hotel owners typically rely on global chains to leverage existing booking systems and customer loyalty networks.

‘Rather than choosing an international brand, I brought my own vision of hospitality to life,’ Sawiris said in a statement.

The 93-key resort, operated by ORA Hospitality, sits above Kalo Livadi Bay on the island’s southeastern coast. Designed by New York’s Rockwell Group, the property features 60 rooms, 28 suites, and five villas built to resemble a traditional Mykonian village. It is scheduled to open in May 2027, with bookings starting in January.

Sawiris added that the project will create 250 direct jobs and about 1,000 indirect roles.

According to him, the project stems from a personal connection to the island, where he has vacationed with his family for decades, adding that he is directly guiding its design, artwork, and music.

‘My connection to Mykonos is personal, rooted in decades of special memories,’ Sawiris stated. ‘This will not be just another ultra-luxury hotel.’

Expanding footprint on the Greek Island

The Mykonos property expands ORA’s footprint on the Greek island, where Naguib Sawiris previously opened the 41-room YI Mykonos in 2023 before it ceased operations in late 2024. The new resort was earlier referred to as Silversands Mykonos, drawing its title from ORA’s flagship Caribbean hotel brand.

Beyond Greece, the project adds to a global real estate portfolio that has grown rapidly since Sawiris founded ORA Developers in 2016. The group now holds over $2.57 billion in assets and oversees projects across seven countries with an estimated total sales value exceeding $45 billion.

A growing $45 billion global real estate Empire

In the Caribbean, ORA owns the Silversands Beach House alongside Silversands Grand Anse in Grenada, which is currently expanding through a $30 million facility secured from the African Export-Import Bank in 2024.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, the company’s holdings include Bayn, a 4.8 million-square-meter beachfront community at Ghantoot in Abu Dhabi, six major developments in Egypt, and Madinat Al Ward in Iraq.

The group is also advancing its presence in Europe and South Asia through large-scale developments. These include the Ayia Napa Marina in Cyprus, featuring superyacht berths, residential towers, and luxury villas, and Eighteen, a high-end golf and residential community in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) for the 2027 general election and human rights activist, has questioned the Tinubu administration’s handling of Nigeria’s reported Ebola case, demanding greater transparency, stronger disease surveillance and assurances that the outbreak will not be exploited for political purposes.

In a statement published on his X handle, Sowore urged Nigerians not to panic but to demand answers from the government over its preparedness, international coordination and the reported leadership of the country’s Ebola response.

‘Nigerians must not panic, but neither should they surrender their right to question those in power,’ he declared.

Sowore alleged that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could exploit a public health emergency to restrict democratic participation ahead of the 2027 elections, although he provided no evidence in the statement that the government was planning such measures.

‘I firmly believe he knows he cannot win a genuinely free and fair electoral contest,’ Sowore wrote, referring to Tinubu.

He urged Nigerians to remain vigilant against any attempt to manipulate the electoral process, insisting that public health emergencies must never become a pretext for suppressing fundamental freedoms or limiting citizens’ democratic rights.

The AAC presidential candidate also raised questions about reports concerning the infected woman’s travel history and Uganda’s response. He cited accounts that the woman had transited through Uganda after visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, while Ugandan authorities reportedly maintained that they had no confirmed active Ebola cases.

If these accounts are accurate, why has Nigeria not promptly provided the necessary information?’ Sowore asked, questioning the effectiveness of Nigeria’s disease surveillance systems, emergency preparedness and international public health coordination.

He further challenged the reported appointment of Femi Gbajabiamila, a politician who is not a medical doctor, to chair Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on Ebola Preparedness.

‘Why should the political leadership of such a critical public health response take precedence over the expertise of qualified epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, and public health professionals?’ he queried.

Sowore called for full disclosure of the facts, effective contact tracing, appropriate medical intervention, protection for frontline health workers and independent scientific oversight of the response.

He argued that the government must prioritise medical expertise and accountability over political bureaucracy and secrecy.

‘Ebola is a serious disease that requires a coordinated, transparent, science-driven response. It must never be politicized, weaponized, or exploited to undermine civil liberties and democratic participation,’ he said.

The AAC presidential candidate concluded that the government’s handling of the situation must be guided by public safety rather than political interests.

‘Public health must protect lives, not become an instrument of political control,’ Sowore declared.

His comments inject a political dimension into the debate over Nigeria’s reported Ebola case, with the opposition figure calling on authorities to provide credible information and demonstrate that the response is guided by science, transparency and the protection of citizens’ rights.

Earlier this year, a client asked my agency to help amplify a campaign they were proud of. When we reviewed what they were already putting out, we found messaging that, however well-intentioned, carried real regulatory exposure: claims and framing that went beyond what the rules permitted for a company at their stage and in their sector.

They didn’t need amplification; they needed someone to tell them to pull back before a regulator did. We redrew the entire brief, shifted the work from product promotion to corporate reputation building, and set written boundaries around what the campaign could and could not say. The story they wanted to tell was a good one. It just could not be told the way they were telling it.

That, in miniature, is the counsel function. It is the oldest and most consequential thing a strategic communications professional does, and across Africa’s tech sector, it is the discipline most at risk of being designed out of the room.

The corporate storyteller is having a moment, and the moment is earned. In December 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that LinkedIn job postings mentioning ‘storyteller’ had doubled in the previous year, with more than 50,000 marketing listings and 20,000 media and communications listings using the term.

More recently, Communiqué’s Oritsejolomi Otomewo argued that the role is becoming essential as the continent’s biggest tech companies outgrow their challenger status and need a coherent institutional account of themselves. He is right. A company that serves millions and answers to regulators cannot rely on a founder’s candour to carry the narrative. It needs someone to gather the experiences, people and decisions that explain what the business stands for and to tell those stories with discipline across every channel.

The danger is in what gets displaced. When companies invest in storytelling, they tend to treat it as an upgrade from corporate communications, which too many people still describe as custodial and reactive, the business of press releases and crisis clean-up. And in that framing, the counsel function- the strategic intelligence that holds the whole enterprise together under pressure- quietly disappears from the job description.

Look at what happens when a company builds the narrative and leaves the counsel behind. Moniepoint built one of the most formidable storytelling operations in Nigerian fintech: an Informal Economy Report adopted by the federal government as a policy resource, a documentary series, an AI chatbot, and a story of faith in the resilience of ordinary Nigerians that ran through everything the company published.

Yet, on Workers’ Day, its CEO told a roomful of people that the company struggled to find candidates who met its standards, and the entire architecture buckled under the weight of a single unscripted remark. Chowdeck’s case carries the same lesson. Its co-founder’s comments about rider earnings, perfectly serviceable as a recruitment pitch when the company was a challenger, became a liability the moment the company became the category leader and the public expected a different posture toward the people who deliver its food.

Both companies had storytellers. What was absent was the counsel function: someone with the standing, the instinct, and the institutional trust to sit across from a chief executive before a public appearance and say, ‘This is how that statement will land, and here is why you should reconsider.’ Public relations, at its most strategic, is precisely that intervention.

Think of it as the difference between the building and the scaffolding. The storyteller designs the building: the rooms, the facade, and the way light moves through the corridors. Beautiful, essential work. But the scaffolding is what keeps the structure standing while it is being built, what holds it together when a storm comes through, and what allows workers to reach the places where cracks are forming before those cracks become visible from the street.

Reputation audits, stakeholder mapping, media relationships that take years to earn, and message discipline that catches the gap between what a leader means and what the public hears – this is scaffolding work. It is invisible when it works, and its absence is catastrophic when it doesn’t. My experience with that client was a scaffolding moment. The building was fine. The story was sound. But someone needed to inspect the structure before they opened the doors, and the people producing the content were too close to the narrative to see where the regulatory cracks were forming.

The real risk for African tech companies is that they will hire storytellers and believe they have solved the communications problem. The in-house narrative builder and the strategic communications partner are complementary disciplines, and companies that treat them as interchangeable will keep producing the failures we have already seen this year. One designs the building. The other inspects the scaffolding.

The person who tells a CEO what to reconsider before a public appearance, who holds the media relationships that earn the company a fair hearing when a narrative runs ahead of the facts, and who maps the stakeholders and stress-tests the message before it leaves the room: we have been calling that person a communications professional for decades. The corporate storyteller does not replace that work. The corporate storyteller makes it more visible, more necessary, and, if the company is wise, more central to how it governs itself.

African tech needs both the architect and the scaffolder. It needs them in the same room, early enough to matter.

Edward Israel-Ayide is the founder/CEO of Carpe Diem Solutions, a strategic communications agency. One of African PR Week’s Nigeria’s Top 10 Men in Public Relations for 2026, he advises organisations across financial services, technology, consumer goods and the public sector.

Henry Temidayo Bolawale, the North-Central Zonal Coordinator of the Nigeria Mining Cadastral Office, has accused the suspended Niger State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the State Commissioner for Mineral Resources of allegedly conducting unauthorised operations at mining sites, including arresting miners and seizing minerals.

Bolawale made the allegations while testifying before the nine-member Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Justice Mohammed Mohammed, investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of suspected illegal miners in NSCDC custody in Niger State.

He told the Commission that Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, had directed the withdrawal of the NSCDC Mining Marshal from enforcement operations at mining sites nationwide, but alleged that the directive was being disregarded in Niger State.

According to him, Alake had repeatedly directed Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the NSCDC Commandant-General, to withdraw the Mining Marshal from such operations, maintaining that the unit was authorised to operate only under the supervision of the corps’ national headquarters.

Bolawale further explained that upon assuming duty in Niger State, he paid courtesy visits to security agencies, including the state command of the NSCDC, to seek their cooperation in tackling illegal mining and sanitising mining activities.

He, however, alleged that the suspended state commandant and the head of the mining marshal in the state failed to cooperate with his office and continued to conduct operations at mining sites without notifying him.

The coordinator added that he also visited Mohammed Qasim Danjuuma, the State Commissioner for Mineral Resources, to seek the Ministry’s support in regulating mining activities and curbing illegal operations.

He accused the commissioner and the mining marshal of arresting miners and seizing gold and other mineral resources without accounting for the recovered materials to the appropriate authorities.

Bolawale cited the arrest of a Chinese national, whom he said held a valid mining licence, as an example of what he described as unlawful enforcement.

He alleged that officials under the commissioner seized minerals extracted by the Chinese national, adding that the incident subsequently prompted contact from the Minister’s Office in Abuja.

‘I met the commissioner to inform him that the arrest of the Chinese national was illegal, but he refused to listen,’ Bolawale told the Commission.

He further alleged that the commissioner continued to collaborate with the Mining Marshal despite being aware of the regulatory responsibilities of the Mining Cadastral Office.

According to the witness, the alleged operations were conducted at mining locations, including M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto, without the involvement or notification of his Office.

Bolawale described the situation as disturbing, stressing that the Mining Cadastral Office was responsible for regulating mineral titles and related activities within its jurisdiction.

He said his office had received several complaints about the activities of the NSCDC Mining Marshal at mining sites, insisting that the operations were unauthorised under the ministerial directive he cited.

The coordinator further told the commission that, under the arrangement he described, the Mining Marshal was permitted to operate through the NSCDC national headquarters under the supervision of its head, Assistant Commandant-General Onoja.

The allegations are expected to form part of the issues the Commission will consider as it examines the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the suspected illegal miners in NSCDC custody and the conduct of mining enforcement operations in Niger State.

The Enugu State House of Assembly has endorsed the establishment of state police, saying the decentralisation of Nigeria’s policing system would strengthen security and improve the protection of lives and property.

The lawmakers expressed their positions on the proposed constitutional amendment to establish the State Police Service and introduce related changes to the country’s policing structure during plenary held on November 20, 2026

Supporting the proposal, Chima Obieze, member representing Ezeagu Constituency, said that state police would bring security operations closer to the people and make policing more effective.

According to him, the establishment of state police would decentralise the country’s policing architecture and enhance the protection of lives and property across the state.

Similarly, Okey Mbah, member representing Nkanu East Constituency, said the proposed arrangement could help address persistent security challenges, including violence and attacks attributed to herders in different parts of Enugu State.

Mbah argued that allowing states to manage their policing systems would improve responses to security threats and strengthen efforts to protect vulnerable communities.

He further said that state police would help curtail recurring violence and attacks by herders in various parts of the state.

However, Harrison Ogara, member representing Igbo-Eze South Constituency, cautioned that the proposed system could be vulnerable to abuse by political officeholders without adequate safeguards.

Ogara warned that state police formations could be deployed to intimidate political opponents, stressing the need for effective oversight, accountability and professional standards to protect the institution from political interference.

He also called for transparent accountability mechanisms and sustainable funding arrangements to ensure that state police personnel perform their duties in the public interest.

The lawmaker maintained that strong institutional safeguards would be necessary to prevent the proposed security structure from becoming an instrument of political control.

Uche Ugwu, speaker of the House, also commented on the proposed changes to the country’s policing institutions, suggesting that the reorganisation could influence the orientation and attitudes of personnel.

The proposed constitutional amendment includes changing the name of the Nigeria Police Force to the Federal Police Service and establishing a State Police Service.

The debate comes amid growing calls for the decentralisation of Nigeria’s security architecture to enable subnational governments to respond more effectively to security threats within their jurisdictions.

Proponents of state police argue that the arrangement would enhance local intelligence gathering, improve response times and strengthen community-based security operations.

However, concerns remain over the potential for political interference, inadequate funding and the need for robust accountability mechanisms to ensure that state police formations operate professionally and independently.

The proposed amendment seeks to address the question of how policing powers should be distributed between the federal and state governments, with its eventual implementation dependent on the constitutional amendment process.

Sustainable Impact Development (SID) Initiative, together with its Gender Equality Fund (GEF) Champions, engaged the Adolescent and Youth Health Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Health during an advocacy visit held on 17 September 2026 at the Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos state.

The visit gave the SID team an opportunity to share progress, impact, and highlight the experiences and contributions of the Adolescent girls and Young Women (AGYW) involved in the GEF Project.

During the meeting, the GEF Champions shared their experiences from recent advocacy activities, which include social media campaigns and radio sessions addressing HIV, tuberculosis, malaria (HTM) and sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Through these engagements, the Champions have used their voices and lived experiences to communicate relevant health information and raise awareness among young people and wider community audiences.

The SID team also highlighted the ongoing development of a youth-led Communication Toolkit in collaboration with the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA).

The toolkit is being developed to strengthen health communication and support more effective, gender-responsive messaging around HTM and public health issues in the state.

Ayeni O.O., the Head, Gender Adolescent and School Health received the team and engaged with the Champions as they presented their experiences and the various activities undertaken under the GEF Project.

She also expressed the unit’s commitment to continued collaboration with SID and committed to reviewing the draft Communication Toolkit and providing technical feedback to strengthen its content and alignment with state health communication priorities.

Beyond strengthening engagement with the Ministry, the visit gave the GEF Champions practical institutional advocacy experience, particularly in communicating their work to government stakeholders and contributing to conversations on adolescent and young people’s health.

The GEF Project continues to support young women to take active roles in advocacy and health decision-making.

Through capacity building, community engagement, and strategic advocacy, the project equips young women with the knowledge and tools to identify and address structural barriers affecting their health and wellbeing.

The Gender Equality Fund Project is implemented by SID Initiative with support from Y+ Global.

Sustainable Impact Development (SID) Initiative is a youth-focused non-governmental organization committed to empowering young people, advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), promoting gender equality, and fostering sustainable community development through advocacy, capacity building, and youth-led solutions.

The Edo State Government has stepped up pressure on the management of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) to resolve their lingering labour dispute and restore normal electricity supply, as the blackout threatens businesses, healthcare facilities and other essential services across the state.

Paul Usenbo, Edo State Commissioner for Power, made the appeal at a press conference in Benin City, urging both parties to put the public interest first and reach a peaceful settlement over disagreements bordering on staff welfare, salary harmonisation, consequential adjustments, promotions, personal protective equipment and overtime payments.

Usenbo said the prolonged industrial dispute was affecting electricity consumers and could further undermine economic activities if the parties failed to reach an agreement, stressing that businesses, hospitals and other essential service providers should not bear the brunt of the disagreement.

He disclosed that the dispute featured at a conciliation meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in Abuja on Wednesday, October 21, where the parties agreed on the immediate restoration of overtime payments and gave BEDC management three weeks to address other outstanding issues in consultation with the unions.

However, the planned suspension of the industrial action did not extend to Edo State, pending the resolution of issues specific to the state, leaving residents and businesses exposed to continued disruption while further negotiations are pursued.

The commissioner acknowledged the importance of electricity workers to the effective functioning of the power sector, saying their welfare, safety and professional development were essential to industrial harmony and the delivery of reliable electricity services.

He said the state government remained concerned about the impact of the dispute on residents, businesses and the wider economy, adding that the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo was committed to protecting electricity consumers, promoting investment and improving power supply across the state.

Usenbo assured residents that the government would continue to engage BEDC management, labour unions and relevant authorities to facilitate an amicable settlement that addresses workers’ grievances without prolonging the disruption to electricity supply.

He urged both parties to sustain dialogue, exercise restraint, and demonstrate a commitment to resolving their differences, warning against allowing the dispute to further disrupt economic activities and essential services across Edo State.