News
4 Winners Emerge in ValuCard Hopes & Dreams Promo
With less than 150 days to the kick off of 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, ValuCard Nigeria Plc, courtesy of Visa International, has taken the first round of draws for the ValuCard Hopes & Dreams promo. The draws held under the watchful eyes of Consumer Protection Council team led by Aminu Alhaji Kawu produced 2 winners in the Cardholder category and 2 winners in the Merchant category. The winners in the Cardholder category are Ikenna Victor Odigbo and Alata Akeem while the Mega Investments Nigeria Limited (MEGA PLAZA) and Cybercafé Restaurant won in the Merchant category.
In the Cardholder category, a total of 5 Visa cardholders and their partners are expected to emerge at the end of the promo exercise and go on an all expense paid trip to the rainbow country to see the World Cup billed to start from June 11, 2010 while in the Merchant category, a total of 5 Merchants will win N1m each.
The draw, the first in the series, took place on Thursday, 28th January at the Head Office of ValuCard Nigeria Plc.
The activation which runs from December 2009 until March 2010 seeks to reward merchants who accept payments via Visa cards through (PoS) Point of Sale terminals at their outlets and locations. The ValuCard promo for the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa also aims at seeing Visa cardholders achieve their hopes and dreams of being part of the World Cup taking place on the African continent for the first time.
The draw was witnessed by representatives of Consumer Protection Council, heads of e-business of Nigeria Banks that issue Visa cards and members of the press.
For cardholders, the full package of the ValuCard “Hopes & Dreams” promo include air tickets, match tickets, hotel accommodation and guided tour for both the winner and a chosen partner. In addition to the reward for five Visa cardholders and their partners, 5 merchants who accept payments with Visa cards stand a chance to win N1m each in the ValuCard promo. In the final analysis, everybody wins; both buyers and sellers that use visa card for payments. Bank accountholders who do not yet have the Visa/VPAY cards are implored to go to their banks and request for a Visa/VPAY card; merchants are also encouraged to grow their customer base by accepting Visa cards as a means of payment at their outlets, in addition to standing a chance to win the N1m prize money.
The ValuCard “Hopes & Dreams” promo was made possible by Visa International, one of the major sponsors of the FIFA 2010 tournament.
News
Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk
Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.
The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.
SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.
The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.
The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.
Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.
The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.
The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.
Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.
Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.
Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”
“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.
SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.
Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.
The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.
Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.
Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.
The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.
Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.
News
Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.
The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.
Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.
Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”
He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.
Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.
According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.
The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.
Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.
News
Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed 39‑year‑old Professor Segun Aina as the new Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), succeeding Professor Is‑haq Oloyede whose two‑term tenure expires on July 31, 2026.

Professor Segun Aina
Aina, who will turn 40 in July, will become the youngest registrar in JAMB’s history, marking a generational shift in the leadership of Nigeria’s premier tertiary‑admissions body.
In a statement issued in Abuja by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the new registrar was described as a distinguished academic and systems expert with extensive experience in national examination systems, digital infrastructure and public‑sector institutional reform.
A professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‑Ife, Aina holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Kent, an MSc in Internet Computing and Network Security and a PhD in Digital Signal Processing, both from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. He also completed the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School.
His early career with JAMB began during his National Youth Service Corps scheme, where he gained foundational experience in national admissions and data‑driven institutional processes; those insights have since shaped his contributions to examination reform and systems optimisation.
At 39, Aina became one of Nigeria’s youngest professors of Computer Engineering and has advised federal and state governments on system design, digital transition and operational reform, while also consulting major examination bodies such as NECO and NABTEB on ICT systems and examination integrity.
He is a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
President Tinubu expects Aina to leverage his experience, knowledge and practical insight to further strengthen JAMB’s operations and to build on the achievements recorded under Professor Oloyede’s leadership.
General News3 days agoUS to Deploy Wireless Technology in Nigeria, Others
General News3 days agoUAE’s Exit from OPEC: Eroding Pricing Power, Saudi Arabia’s Response, and the Implications for Nigeria
E-Financial3 days agoCourt Orders Globus Bank to Pay Firm N256m for Breach of Contract
Telecom3 days agoLagos Warns against Fake Emergency Calls, Says Rising Misuse Put Lives at Risk
E-Financial3 days agoAFC Invests $100m in Africa-focused Technology Fund Managers
News2 days agoSystems, Not Skin Colour, Hold the Key to Africa’s Development, Says Evans Woherem
General News3 days agoPantami, Ex Minister of Communication Withdraws from Gombe APC Governorship Primaries over Alleged Electoral Violations
Telecom2 days agoGoogle unveils Gemini-powered advertising, commerce tools at Marketing Live 2026













