General News
SAHCOL Reaffirms Commitment to Safety
The management of Skyway Aviation handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) has reaffirmed the Company’s commitment to ensure safety of staff and clients’ items in discharging their duties.
Mr. Olu Owolabi, managing director, SAHCOL declared the Management’s recommitment while declaring open a-week long Safety Week organised by the Company in Lagos.
He said that SAHCOL is committed to be becoming an example in aviation handing safety in the country and Africa in general, adding that several steps have been taken by the management to ensure staff welfare are not treated with levity.
He maintained that safety goals of the Company have been showcased in several aspects of its operations which informed the unalloyed allegiance shown by several airlines it handles.
“We want to reassure our clients that safety is enshrined in our procedure and we follow them to the later. Some issues like pilfering cannot be found among our staff whose welfare is paramount to the management of SAHCOL”.
The MD said that the SAHCOL has succeeded in inculcating on the minds of the workers that they are ‘Change Agents’ in aviation handling sub-sector.
“It is when the workers are safe that we can say the Company is progressive. It is an all-team expectation that safety is maintained in discharging our duties. That is why we mapped out this week to remind ourselves the need to keep to safety tips. We will never relent in proving to the industry that we can become the safest aviation handling company in West Africa,” he added.
In a paper titled: “Security Threats in Aviation Industry and the Role of Ground Handling Agents,” Mr Salau Waheed, Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, admonished the Company not to relent in ensuring adequate protection of its customers’ cargo from pilfering and to raise alarm when traitors are detected.
“They are also required not to be party to insiders collusion whereby some light/sensitive goods develop ‘wings’ and disappear. In other words, the Police and other security agencies are supposed to synergize with SAHCOL for effective handling and efficient delivery of cargo through clearing agents to the owners of the goods and security of these goods. This will ultimately impact positively on the National economy in its revenue earnings,” he emphasized.
The Commissioner who was represented by Mr. Chuks Enwonwu, assistant commissioner of Police (Operations), Area “B”, Lagos, added that due to the sensitivity of the airports, viz-a-viz the general security situation in the country, the challenges are quite high for all the security agencies working in the Airport. “They are stretched to the limits by influx of travelers utilizing the limited facilities at the airports.
“It will be recalled that the MMIA, Ikeja, for instance, was built in 1977 and only benefited forst expansion between 2012 and 2013 due to the on-going airport transformation. Yet the travelling public would have increased by over 100% over the years,” the CP said.
He noted that naturally the airports are expected to have increase in miscreants, touts, pickpockets and milling grounds in pretence to be service providers.
“Worst case scenario is the recent Boko Haram attacks ravaging operatives that have so far saved the airports. Therefore, all hands must be on deck, both SAHCOL and security agencies, to be extra vigilant as stakeholders in the airport, to checkmate criminality, touting, miscreants, etc., from SAHCOL warehouses,” he advised.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is reportedly nearing completion of a $2.5 billion private placement that values the company at about $40 billion ahead of its planned public listing.
Private placement is the direct sale of company shares or bonds to pre-selected investors instead of the general public and it is used to raise money quickly while avoiding strict public reporting rules.
People familiar with the transaction said investors acquired as much as 6 per cent of the refinery, according to a BusinessDay report.
The reported terms would value the business at approximately $40 billion.
Neither Dangote Group nor the refinery has publicly announced the final amount raised, the identities of most subscribers or the precise percentage sold.
The figures should therefore be treated as transaction details supplied by unnamed sources rather than confirmed company disclosures.
The reported $2.5 billion total is nevertheless significant as it indicates strong demand for exposure to a privately controlled refinery that has rapidly become central to Nigeria’s fuel supply and an increasingly important exporter of petroleum products.
The placement was said to have attracted more demand than the available shares, allowing the company to secure substantially more than the amount initially associated with the fundraising exercise.
Femi Otedola, chairman, First HoldCo, is the only major participant publicly identified in the report.
He reportedly committed $100 million to the transaction and sold his investment in Geregu Power Plc to finance the acquisition.
Nigeria’s pension industry was also reportedly cleared to participate.
Access to more than $17 billion in retirement assets would broaden the refinery’s potential investor base beyond wealthy individuals and conventional institutional buyers.
Participation by Pension Fund Administrators would, however, require careful attention to valuation, liquidity and portfolio-concentration limits.
Retirement funds must balance the attraction of a large Nigerian industrial asset against their responsibility to protect contributors’ savings.
The implied $40 billion valuation represents investor expectations about the refinery’s future earnings rather than only the physical cost of constructing the facility.
Its ability to process 650,000 barrels of crude daily gives it a central role in supplying Nigeria and other markets, but its commercial performance remains connected to crude availability, product prices, exchange rates and regulation.
The refinery has struggled to obtain all the Nigerian crude it requires under the government’s naira-for-crude arrangement.
It has consequently purchased some feedstock internationally and recently moved local petroleum-product pricing into dollars to align sales revenue more closely with its foreign-currency expenses.
Those constraints will be important during any public offering.
Prospective shareholders will want greater clarity on crude-supply contracts, debt, operating margins, export revenue and the company’s relationship with Nigerian regulators.
It is also unclear whether the private placement involved newly issued shares, a sale by existing owners or a combination of both.
That distinction determines whether the reported $2.5 billion becomes fresh capital for the refinery or proceeds received by selling shareholders.
The transaction could provide a useful price reference for the planned initial public offering.
Federal government will next month launch Nigeria’s first national organized crime strategy to strengthen the country’s response to terrorism, cybercrime, human and drug trafficking, kidnapping, illicit financial flows, and other forms of organized crime.
Major General Adamu Laka, national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser, disclosed this in Abuja during the validation of the strategy document.
He said the strategy provides a coordinated national framework for tackling organized crime through improved intelligence sharing, stronger collaboration among security agencies, and closer cooperation with the criminal justice system, civil society organizations, and international partners.
Major General Laka explained that the document was developed through a partnership involving the Federal Government, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States Government, and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the event, Cheikh Toure, UNODC representative, said the strategy would strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to combat transnational crimes, including drug trafficking, cybercrime, human trafficking, kidnapping, and illicit financial flows.
Also speaking, Douglas Grane, acting director of the United States Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, reaffirmed the U.S. government’s support for Nigeria’s efforts to tackle organized crime through stronger inter-agency and international cooperation.
Representatives of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, and the National Cyber Security Centre also endorsed the initiative, describing it as a major step towards improving Nigeria’s fight against organized crime.
FATE Foundation, with funding from the Citi Foundation, has launched the Youth Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme to equip young people in Nigeria with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills.
Delivered through free, safe, and accessible platforms, the programme supports the incubation and scaling of youth-led enterprises, enabling income generation and job creation.
In October 2025, FATE Foundation was selected as a recipient of Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge to Accelerate Youth Employability. Joining the cohort of 50 organisations globally, the Foundation will receive $500,000 over two years to advance its youth employability initiative.
“We are excited to be selected for Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge,” said Ayomide Akindolie-Igwe, Executive Director of FATE Foundation.
“This support enables us to equip young entrepreneurs in Nigeria with the financial literacy and skills needed to build and scale sustainable businesses.”
The programme addresses youth employability by tackling Africa’s growing jobs crisis. By 2030, the African continent will be home to 40% of the world’s youth, and with one in three under 35 already unemployed, this initiative will support Nigerian youth with a two-phase approach. It begins with financial literacy training before progressing to entrepreneurship development, incubation support, and access to tools needed to build viable, job-creating businesses.
“Through this innovative initiative, FATE Foundation is supporting low-income Nigerian youth to develop essential financial and entrepreneurial skills using accessible platforms.
“This support is not just helping individuals to succeed; it is building a solid foundation for sustainable enterprises that will drive job creation and contribute significantly to our nation’s economic vitality. This initiative is empowering and investing in the future of Nigeria, one youth at a time,” said Nneka Enwereji, MD/CEO Citibank Nigeria Limited.
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