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NIPR Recognises GovSanwo-Olu’s Contributions, As Delegates Discuss Healthcare at Annual Conference
The organisers of the annual Lagos Public Relations Stakeholders’ Conference on Thursday recorgnised the contributions Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to healthcare in Lagos State as part of the activities marking the eight edition of conference.
L-R President African Public Relations Association, Mr Yomi Badejo – Okusanya; President and Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo; Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi; Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Lagos Chapter, Mr Comfort Nwankwo and the Conference Convener, CEO Addefort Limited, MrOlabamijiAdeleye at the 8th Lagos Public Relations Stakeholders’ Conference, Promoting Healthcare and Wellness at the MUSON Centre, on Thursday August 26, 2021.
The award was received by Prof Akin Abayomi , Lagos State commissioner for health, on behalf of the governor.
Corporate organisationsrecorgnised at the event include; TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Leadway Health and Silverbird Communication.
Addressing the audience at the MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos, the commissioner assured that the state government is committed to providing the needed infrastructure to achieve sustainable healthcare in Lagos State.
Speaking on healthcare and wellness, he explained that, “You are only as healthy as the food you eat and the environment you live in.” Adding that, Health is not just a matter of well being; health is a matter of national security, a matter of economic.
He added that the government is committed to radical redirection of the health infrastructure in the State. He explained that, “Brain gain will be given attention, by providing facility for medical specialization;the state is providing modern intervention for cancer and kidney diseases among others.
We will attract our medical practitioners from outside the country. We will do more to protect our medical data; we will promote indigenous knowledge system. We must do all to not destroy or ecosystem.
The guest lecturer at the event, Chief Research Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr Aina Oluwagbemiga, explained that one of the core solutions to implementation challenges of healthcare in Nigeria is policy communication.
He spoke on the need to give special attention to the health sector, underlining the need for public and private participation.
According to him, research institutions should be given the needed fund.He highlighted some of the requirements to include “There should be adequate funding for federal / state universities and research institutions; giving incentives to health workers will motivate them to do more; retraining our health workers on human relations; there should be the political will on the side of government to ensure sustainable healthcare in the country.”
On health insurance in the country he noted that, “recent report shows that since the launch of the NHIS, only 5% of Nigerians have health insurance and 70% still finance their healthcare through Out-Of-Pocket expenditure”.
He added that “Policy communication strategies such as public health announcement is critical to addressing health emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic or a natural disaster”.
On his part, the President and Chairman of Council, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Mallam Muktar Sirajo observed that the theme for the conference is timely.
He noted that “As Public Relations professionals, we are expected to lead the debate to reawaken national consciousness.
He added that the Institute is committed to continuous engagements to deepen stakeholders’ appreciation for the practice.
The chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Lagos Chapter, Mrs Comfort Nwankwo praised the progress that has been achieved in the past 8 years of the conference.
She commended the partnership with Addefort Limited over the period and the continuous support of corporate organizations, government and other stakeholders.
“Without our corporate partners we will not be able to put this event together, we appreciate your continuous support over the years” she said.
Speaking on the conference, the convener, CEO Addefort Limited, Mr Olabamiji Adeleye commended all stakeholders and explained the progress that has been in the last eight years of the annual event.
According to him, “The Annual Lagos Public Relations Stakeholders’ Conference, now in its 8th edition has been consistent towards the actualization of its set vision of promoting the social- economic development of the nation; it has evolved over the past eight years to become a bridge-building talker-shop for stakeholders to interact, discuss and proffer solutions to the social, political and economic challenges plaguing our nation.”
“The idea is that Public Relations must set the agenda on the way forward to achieve our collective goals and aspirations.”
“The theme for this year, “Policy Communication for Sustainable Healthcare and Wellness in Nigeria” is not totally an outcome of the pandemic, but a deliberate effort to address the issue of Healthcare in the country, and to fashion a way forward.”
“It is premised on the need to promote sustainable healthcare and wellness; this was given special focus in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Envision2030, due to its strategic importance to human sustainability”.
“You will agree with me that among others obvious challenges, evidence from the recent pandemic has further shown that much still need to be done by government, corporate organizations and individuals to achieve sustainable healthcare and wellness in the country. This is why we are here today.”
Other speakers at the event include; Executive Secretary MTN Nigeria Foundation, Mrs Odunayo Sanya; Country Communication Manager, Total Energies, Dr. Charles Ebereonwu; Founder/CEO, Trinity Healthcare Foundation, Dr. Nseabasi Ekanem; Head of Operation, Leadway Health, Dr. Gideon Anumba.
Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.
The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.
According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.
Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.
Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.
GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.
Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.
The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.
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.
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.
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