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Onitsha comes Alive Next Week as Globacom Sponsored Ofala Holds

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Arrangements have been concluded for the 2019 Ofala of the Obi of Onitsha, His Majesty, Nnaemeka Achebe, Agbogidi.

Rooted in deep spirituality, the Ofala is the highpoint of the Onitsha ceremonial cycle.  It is primarily a celebration by the monarch and his subjects to mark the monarch’s annual emergence from seclusion, during which period he has successfully negotiated the fortunes of the kingdom. The Ofala also marks the homecoming of Onitsha indigenes.

The digital transformation leader, Globacom, has been the official sponsors of the Ofala since 2011.  Globacom’s partnership with the organisers of the festival over the years has helped enormously in projecting the Ofala.

The actual Ofala which is a  display  of royal dances, tributes, parades and music running  over two days, will take place on  October 11 and 12. The scope of the festival has been widened, with various events now part of the celebrations.

In a joint statement issued by the Ofala Steering Committee and Globacom, the 2019 Ofala will not only display the rich cultural heritage of Onicha Ado NIdu, it will also be ten days of unstoppable fun and entertainment for both visitors and residents.

The statement signed by the Chairman of the Ofala Steering Committee, Chief Ngozi Okafo, the Ogene Onira of Onitsha and Mr. Augustine Mamuro of Globacom, added that, beginning from 2019, the planning and organisation of the Ofala will be undertaken in such a way as to enhance the impact of the festival with a view to ensuring that it attracts considerable national, West African, and international attention.

The statement also stated that both Onicha Ado NIdu and Globacom looked forward to  a continued partnership such that Globacom as major sponsor   “would in its usual manner make contributions towards the growth and development of the festival.

The 2019 Ofala events will kick off on Saturday, October 5 with the maiden edition of the Onitsha City Marathon, organised by the Onitsha Business School. The 21-kilometre road race has been approved by both the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Many renowned international marathoners particularly from countries with road racing records like Kenya, Ethiopia, Ugandan and  Diaspora Nigerian elite athletes have entered for the event.

This will be followed by the Oreze Arts  VII, a group art exhibition promoted by His Majesty’s Chimedie Museum Trust Foundation and supported by the National Gallery of Art . The works of  250 Artists  from various parts of the world are planned to be on display  at the show which will run from October 9 to  October 13.

Frank Ugiomoh, Professor of Art History and Theory, Department of Fine Art and Design, University of Port Harcourt will be the special guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the art exhibition.  A panel discussion  on the Role of Art in Community Enlightenment, Cohesion and Development will form part of the exhibition.

Panelists include such artists like Tayo Adenaike, Obiora Anidi, and Nneka Odoh. Others are art collector Hakeem Adedeji, and art curator Iheanyi Onwuegbucha.

About 2000 persons are expected to participate in the Ofala Youth Carnival, which is scheduled for Thursday, October10. Now in its seventh year, the carnival holds under the auspices of the Onitsha Ado Youth Council and showcases the rich cultural heritage of Onitsha.

The activities will be rounded off with a Royal Banquet, organised by Globacom in honour of the Obi of Onitsha. The banquet will be held at the Dolly Hills Hotel, Onitsha, on Monday, October 14.

The Ofala has recently been endorsed by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, the apex tourism Regulatory Agency in the country as a major Nigerian Festival.


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Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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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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Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

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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.

Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

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.


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