General News
Samsung Unveils Ultra-Modern Customer Service Plaza
Samsung Electronics West Africa has unveiled the first of its kind Customer Service Plaza (CSP) in Abuja. The new center boasts of a waiting lounge, experiential points, kiddie’s zone and dedicated service slot.
The Samsung Customer Service Plaza, occupying a storey building, fulfils the company’s strategic commitment to provide state-of-the-art infrastructures and ambience for bespoke customer service delivery under one roof.
The plaza provides consumers with instant access to service, repairs and enquiries on the full range of Samsung’s mobile devices, audio-visual products and IT solutions.
This initiative once again reinforces Samsung technology leadership and recognition of its avowed belief that the customer is king.
The plaza, located at the Valley Mall, was commissioned by Mrs. Dupe Atoki, director deneral, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Samsung system leadership led by Brovo Kim, managing director, and Partners during a launch that featured pressmen from reputable media houses and bloggers in northern Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch, Atoki, said she has always admired Samsung’s leadership qualities, stressing that the company has once again demonstrated that it cares for its consumers.
According to her, “Samsung has been doing a lot to improve the quality of its service delivery, bringing it nearer to consumers nationwide and should be encouraged and emulated. We are ready to partner any organisation who is committed to improving its service delivery to consumers. As you are aware, CPC have intensified awareness campaign to educate consumers on this aspect,” she said.
Also speaking at the event, Kim said Samsung is committed to providing total quality service at the highest pedestal to its customers, stressing that plans are on to increase the numbers of Samsung Service Plazas across the country in order to reach as many consumers as possible.
He said Samsung has enjoyed overwhelming support from its consumers over the years and is always looking forward to any opportunity to improve on their experience of their products and brand touch-points.
“Today, we are happy to deliver the first custom built Samsung Customer Service Plaza in Abuja, which has been equipped with the latest infrastructures and software to meet the need of our discerning customers. We have always prided ourselves as a customer-centric organisation; the customer always comes first with Samsung. Our consumers in Abuja and its environs can now be rest assured that the service plaza, now in their neighborhood, is more than capable to respond to their needs. And we have embarked on a plan to roll out more customer service plazas in strategic locations across Nigeria.” Kim said.
Raymond Olatokun, service manager, Samsung Electronics West Africa, said, “The plaza is manned by highly-trained engineers drawn from Samsung Engineering Academy who are constantly refreshed during strategic quarterly trainings for all the Samsung Service Centre Engineers across West Africa. The plaza stocks genuine Samsung spare parts for a range of mobile handsets, television sets, microwave ovens, air conditioning units, refrigerators, audio visuals among other high technology appliances.
He said Samsung is always looking for the best ways to serve its customers wherever possible adding that the newly inaugurated Samsung Service Plaza is a demonstration of his organisation’s commitment to widen its service delivery pan Nigeria while ensuring utmost customer satisfaction.
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.
Dangote Refinery’s Private Placement Reportedly Hits $2.5Bn
FG, UNODC Plan National Strategy against Organized Crime
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
CBN to Monitor Every Dollar with FXBT, Forex Tracker
NCC, NDLEA Partner to Fight Piracy and Drug Trafficking
NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira
NASENI Moves to Digitize CCB’s 5m Assets Declaration and Operations
Lebara Nigeria Launches Lebara Play, Africa’s First Telecom-Owned Micro-Drama Platform
CANAL+ Partners Samsung to Pre-Load DStv Stream on New Samsung TVs In Nigeria, Other African Countries
Tokenization, Blockchain Technology will Transform Financial Institutions – IMF
News2 days agoEFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
News3 days agoFAAN to Replace Physical ID Check with V-Pass Biometric Verification
News3 days agoCBN Introduces Digital Tracker to Monitor BDC Forex Transactions
Telecom3 days agontel Plays Down Calls and Data Services, Moves to BET Agenda
Telecom3 days agoAirtel Delivers Free Employability Training to Young Nigerians @ World Youth Skills Day
General News3 days agoNigeria Facing Rising Cybercrime Losses – Report
News2 days agoNCC, NDLEA Partner to Fight Piracy and Drug Trafficking
News3 days agoCAC Begins Removing 100,000 Companies from Register Over Regulatory Non-Compliance