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Warwick Business School, SAS Ready Students for Jobs
Warwick Business School has teamed up with the world’s biggest computer services provider IBM and SAS, a world leader in business intelligence software, to teach students how to mine Big Data.
The digital age has seen an explosion in data with IBM calculating the world is churning out 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day.
What to do with this tsunami of data, how to mine it and aggregate it is how today’s businesses are gaining an advantage over their rivals.
In the US alone consultants at McKinsey calculated companies were crying out for 1.5 million Big Data analysts.
It is the next frontier of innovation for businesses and now students studying MSc Business Analytics at Warwick Business School can learn the latest quantitative consultancy techniques to take advantage of this torrent of data.
Working with Warwick Business School’s Operational Research & Management Science (ORMS) group IBM has helped put together Analytics in Practice, a module that will explore the technology needed for Big Data analytics by using tools such as BigSheets (front end for Apache Hadoop), Cognos and SPSS Modeler.
While with SAS the ORMS group has produced Text Analytics where students will learn predictive modelling techniques using SAS software, model assessment and implementation, report writing and learn to use the SAS Text Miner tool and applications.
Assistant Professor of Operational Research Arne Strauss is delighted to have joined forces with two huge companies in the IT industry who are at the forefront of Big Data technology.
“Data mining skills are something that more and more companies are looking for from graduates and these two modules offer students cutting edge technology to learn the latest techniques,” said Dr Strauss.
“Warwick Business School has a long and fruitful relationship with IBM and we are delighted to have put together the Analytics in Practice module with them. It will expose students to real life analytical applications via case studies in IBM’s focus areas such as smarter cities and improving business performance. As well as focusing on current IBM software offerings, the course will analyse emerging trends in the field and look specifically at the new generation of knowledge and learning systems that are being built from a foundation of unstructured data, predictive technology and analytical capability such as IBM Watson.
“We are equally pleased to be working with SAS in producing the Text Analytics module. SAS skills have never been in greater demand in the UK and are heavily used in the financial, retail and government sectors.
“Businesses store massive amounts of unstructured data in the form of electronic text, social media content, emails, service notes, customer reviews and so on. This module will teach students how to sift through this data by using sophisticated linguistic rules and statistical methods to evaluate text, discover topics and patterns within entire document collections. By the end of the module students will have learned how to uncover underlying themes or concepts contained in large document collections, automatically group documents into topical clusters, classify documents into predefined categories and integrate text data with structured data to enrich predictive modelling endeavours.”
The Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) and the Association of Corporate Communication and Marketing Professionals in Banks (ACAMB) have enjoined banks to further deepen and prioritize financial inclusion, women’s empowerment and sustained growth through strategic mandates and frameworks, aimed at closing the financial gap and empowering more small, and medium enterprise (MSME) owners.
Both organisations made this call during a courtesy visit to the newly invested 24th President and Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Dr. Dele Alabi, Ph.D, FCIB, as part of plans to congratulate him on his investiture as well as seek a stronger alliance between both bodies.
The visit followed Alabi’s investiture where he unveiled his “IMPACT” Vision, themed “Consolidating Our Local Impact, Enhancing Our Global Relevance.”
The vision rests on six pillars: Inclusion across geographic, gender, and generational lines; Membership growth and quality; Professionalism and ethics; Accountability; Competencies and skills development; Technology, automation, and innovation. Other areas of shared interest, include women empowerment, financial inclusion and literacy, as well as MSME clinics, all of which are top on his agenda.
Alabi explained that under him, the institute will be prioritising financial inclusion and women empowerment, because of its realisation that women are often the primary financial managers and caregivers in families. Access to savings, micro-credit, and insurance acts as a safety net during crisis and allows them to significantly improve living conditions.
He added that CIBN would be happy to drive joint knowledge sharing and exchange sessions with CBN and ACAMB across various platforms. “Educating the public through public awareness programmes, with ACAMB as the rallying point, is central to what we do,” he noted.
ACAMB President, Jide Sipe, who led the delegation, spoke in unison with the CIBN president, as he noted that, closing the inbalances in financial access help economies grow faster, reduces inequality, and encourages greater civic participation by all.
Lagos State has become the first sub-national government in Nigeria to establish a comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Registry, a move aimed at strengthening climate governance, improving emissions accountability and accelerating the state’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
The Lagos State Greenhouse Gas Registry (LGHGR) was unveiled at the Central Business District, Alausa, Ikeja, at a ceremony attended by Prof. Akin Abayomi, commissioner for Health, members of the State Executive Council, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Environment, development partners, TPHG Technologies, the diplomatic and business communities, academics, civil society organisations and the media.
Describing the initiative as a landmark achievement in the state’s environmental sustainability drive, Dr. Babatunde Ajayi, general manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), said the Registry marks a defining moment in Lagos’ climate action journey and reflects Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to building a resilient, climate-smart and environmentally sustainable economy.
According to Ajayi, the digital platform will enable the state to accurately measure, monitor, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions across key sectors, providing credible data to guide environmental policies and climate interventions.
He said the Registry would strengthen evidence-based decision-making, improve transparency and accountability, support national and international climate reporting obligations, unlock carbon market opportunities and boost investor confidence in Lagos’ environmental initiatives.
Ajayi also commended TPHG Technologies for providing the technical expertise that made the pioneering project possible.
Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Abayomi described the Registry as a major milestone that positions Lagos at the forefront of climate governance and emissions accountability in both Nigeria and Africa.
He noted that climate change has evolved into a significant public health and governance challenge, stressing that access to reliable emissions data would enable the state to formulate evidence-based policies, attract climate financing, strengthen resilience and accelerate its transition to a low-carbon economy.
Providing insights into the technical framework of the project, Dr. Mofoluso Fagbeja, lead consultant and chief executive officer, TPHG Technologies, explained that the Registry was developed from the greenhouse gas inventory jointly undertaken by LASEPA and TPHG Technologies in 2022, using 2019 as the baseline year for emissions assessment.
He said the platform is designed to close critical emissions data gaps, particularly within the industrial sector, while supporting effective climate policy implementation, emissions management and sustainable development.
Fagbeja also disclosed that the greenhouse gas inventory estimated that poor air quality contributes to about 35,000 premature deaths annually in Lagos, underscoring the urgent need for stronger emissions control measures and cleaner environmental practices.
In a goodwill message, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, minister of Environment, represented by Mrs. Adenaike Olunimpe Oludunni, federal controller of Environment in Lagos, commended Lagos State for pioneering the initiative, describing it as a significant contribution to Nigeria’s climate commitments.
He said the Registry aligns with the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and supports the Federal Government’s Energy Transition Plan, while reaffirming the ministry’s commitment to deeper collaboration with Lagos State on climate governance and environmental sustainability.
A recently released Henley Passport Index 2026, showed that Nigerian citizens can travel to at least 20 destinations outside the African continent where entry is allowed either visa-free, with a visa on arrival (VOA) at no extra cost, or via an e-visa.
This expanded access opens doors for Nigerian travellers to experience countries in the Caribbean, Asia, and beyond with greater ease.
Below is a comprehensive guide to countries outside Africa which Nigerian passport holders can visit without a traditional visa.
Visa-Free Countries outside Africa for Nigerian Passport Holders:
Barbados
Cambodia – Visa on arrival
Comoros Islands – Visa on arrival
Cook Islands
Dominica
Fiji
Haiti
Iran – Visa on arrival
Kiribati
Lebanon
Maldives – Visa on arrival
Micronesia
Montserrat
Niue – Visa on arrival
Palau Islands – Visa on arrival
Samoa – Visa on arrival
St. Kitts and Nevis
Timor-Leste – Visa on arrival
Tuvalu
Vanuatuul
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