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Zinox, Doing Good with CSR

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l-r: Austin Okere, Founder and CEO, CWG making a point to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of Finance at the Economist conference, Nigeria at Eko Hotels, Lagos
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Zinox, Doing Good with CSRCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is a massive bandwagon; generating both accolades and cynicism.

But when it comes to a local company doing extraordinary things without expectation of recognition, it shows extraordinary determination to push the society a little further on towards the heights of excellence.

And while many organizations and institutions feel deeply frustrated with the government and indeed the country, this company remain convinced that the fundamental structure must be underpinned for generations yet unborn.

It is the story of the exceptional corporate social responsibility initiatives of Zinox Group, the proudly Nigerian IT conglomerate.

It is a story of placing the country first; of sticking with the society through thick and thin; and of giving back to men and women that have helped the company grow.

CSR is an integral part of the Zinox Group’s development policy. It is part of the everyday life of the company.

 Its objective is to allow the Group pursue sustainable yet profitable growth while having a positive impact on the society in which it develops.

For instance, the Group donated items worth over N50 million to the Lagos State Government.

These items include ;  four units of fully equipped Security Vans, 150 units of Digital Radio, 150 units of Digital Solar lamp and 150 units of solar torch meant to enhance the efficiency and digital comfort of the Police and other security organizations in Lagos State while on duty.

Zinox Group also made the same intervention in Imo State that cuts across security, digital equipment, Information and Communication Technology development for school pupils and training for teachers. It is also spending N50 million in the state.

The company’s CSR which is championed by Leo-Stan Ekeh, the chairman of the group and enthusiastically embraced by the board of directors and staff also targets the younger generation.

The company is to use four schools in Lagos state as Digital Content Centres for its new digital Product – the Zinox Whizkid Ver. 11, which has helped many students to achieve excellent result in GCE, WASCE, JAMB and Post UME nationwide.

Ekeh said Zinox will deploy the equipment and content, train the teachers in its digital laboratory in Gbagada, Lagos and certify them ready to challenge the best teachers in the world.

Zinox has a history of a responsible corporate citizenship in Lagos beginning with the equipping of a digital laboratory at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.

It has upgraded and tarred of the Redemption Crescent, Gbagada; aroused competition in mathematics for pupils in Primary 4; donated computers to many schools in Lagos State including Queens College, Yaba, and Archbishop Aggey Memorial Secondary School, Mushin; trained four budding entrepreneurs in the Spirit of the True Nigerian Entrepreneur, SoTNE and  settled medical bills of many patients.

In Imo State, the group is a household name where it has touched many lives.

It recently topped it up with an intervention that  cuts across security, digital equipment, Information and Communication Technology development for school pupils and training for teachers and worth N50 million.

The donation include four security vans, 150 Jonta flash lights, 150 self-charging digital lanterns, and 150 I-Max radio sets that would help support the security monitoring responsibility of the state.

Ekeh said his group of companies primarily concerned with knowledge development and building a new generation of Nigerians would also donate digital knowledge content encapsulated in the Zinox Whizkid Version 2 to four schools in the state.

This content would make kids from public schools better, while enhancing the overall academic performance of the underserved.

Elsewhere, in support of structured overall social development of Imo state, Zinox released some N10milion a few months ago to the Imo Foundation set up by Governor Rochas Okorocha.

The Group  has a tradition of executing major CSR every five years outside its annual commitments in the spirit of Zinox.

The company had built and equipped digital laboratories at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede; Imo State University; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; and some secondary schools in the state.

There is no geo-political zone in the country that has not been touched by Zinox interventions in tertiary, secondary and primary education since the company’s interest is in capacity building has benefitted scores of Imo indigenes in the form of scholarships at all levels of education, including post graduate education in world class European and American universities.

Zinox CSR is intensely focused on the building of capacities for the growth of a knowledge society and equipping Nigeria to host complex events.

From Katsina to Awka and from Markudi to Ikorodu, Zinox is strategic interventions aimed at building capacities.

It has used CSR as a way to motivate all employees – starting at the lowest level of the organization because as part of its internally-focused initiative, the Zinox Group offer  scholarships to the children of all its employees who earn less than N1milion as gross salary per annum.

In simple terms, Zinox is pro-active towards “doing good”.


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EFCC Witness Admits Writing Off Arik Air’s $2.3M Debt Amid N76Bn Fraud Trial

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A former Group Executive Director of Union Bank PLC, Mr. Austine Obigwe, on Wednesday testified before the Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, detailing how he wrote off a $2.3 million debt owed by Arik Air to his private company, Staal. Obigwe is one of the witnesses of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the matter.
Recall that when he was first interrogated before the matter was adjourned, the same Obigwe claimed that Arik was a healthy company that had no financial challenges up to the time he left the service of Union Bank in 2009. But pressed further today, he accepted that Arik was an irresponsible, badly run, immoral company, which also owed him a whopping 2.3 million dollars, which he had to write off because of his business relationship with the promoter of Arik Air Limited.
Obigwe appeared as a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru, and four others, who are standing trial over alleged financial misappropriation amounting to alleged N76 billion and $31.5m., etc.
The EFCC arraigned the defendants on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and abuse of office. The defendants include Kuru, the former Receiver Manager of Arik Air Limited, Mr. Kamilu Omokide; Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu; Union Bank of Nigeria PLC; and Super Bravo Limited.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Justice Mojisola Dada subsequently granted them bail in the sum of N20million each, with one surety in like sum.
Under cross examination, Mr. Obigwe informed the court that, in 2011, two years after he exited Union Bank, Arik Air was indebted to his private company, Staal, in the sum of $2.3 million. He stated that the amount was never repaid but that he had written it off due to the operational difficulties faced by the airline at the time.
“I am not interested in collecting it. I wrote it off when I discovered that Arik Air started having challenges,” Obigwe told the court. The witness also confirmed that following his exit from Union Bank, he formally became a consultant to Arik Air and other companies.
When asked whether the founder of Arik Air, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, was a personal acquaintance, he responded in the affirmative, noting that although he currently has no formal relationship with the airline, he maintains a relationship with Arumemi-Ikhide, who is also his church member.
During cross-examination by defence counsel, including Olasupo Shasore, SAN (for the second defendant); Olalekan Ojo, SAN (for the fourth defendant); and Tayo Oyedepo, SAN (for the fifth defendant), Mr. Obigwe stated that in 2009, he participated in an inspection of 26 aircraft belonging to Arik Air.
According to him, the aircraft were found to be airworthy and in good condition, based on assessments provided by Lufthansa. “I had no reason to doubt Lufthansa’s evaluation,” he said, adding that the purpose of the inspection was to ensure that the airline’s fleet had not been depleted.
When asked about the airline’s compliance with its loan obligations, Obigwe testified that during his tenure at Union Bank, there were no complaints from other financial institutions suggesting that Arik Air was defaulting on its loan obligations. He also confirmed that, to the best of his knowledge, Arik Air was servicing its loan with Union Bank during his tenure.
Responding to a letter dated April 23, 2009, allegedly written by AMCON to Union Bank concerning a N46.11 billion debt owed by Arik Air, the witness denied knowledge of the letter, even though he was still in the service of Union Bank at the time, and was the Group Executive Director whose directorate supervised the Arik transaction.
On the character and management of Arik Air, the witness said: “I can only speak for the period I was there. When I was at Union Bank, Arik Air was one of the best companies.”
When questioned on the options available to lenders when a loan becomes non-performing, Obigwe responded that the lender may choose to transfer the loan to another bank, reassign it, or enforce the security tied to the loan. He also acknowledged that a lender is legally empowered to dispose of the security in the event of default by the borrower in other wards justifying the decision of AMCON to have intervened in Arik to recover the Arik Air debt, which Union Bank sold to AMCON on the directive of Union Bank when AMCON was established by the Federal Government to mop-up all non-performing loans in the banks.
The matter was adjourned till June 4, 2025, for the continuation of the trial. On the last adjourned date, Obigwe, who is the second prosecution witness, and was led in evidence by Dr Wahab Shittu (SAN), told the court that he was a Group Executive Director in Corporate and International Banking at Union Bank.
The court was also able to establish that the witness, while in the service of Union Bank as Group Executive Director, Corporate and International Banking, Union Bank had a business relationship with the promoter of Arik, which was regularised and formalised into a full-fledged consultancy arrangement shortly after he exited Union Bank, which implied that even as ED, Union Bank, he may not have operated in the overall interest of the bank due to his relationship with the Arik owner.

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Anambra Shines in 2025 E-Governance Rankings, Setting National Standards

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Anambra State has once again demonstrated its leadership in digital transformation, emerging as one of Nigeria’s top three states in the 2025 e-Governance Report published by the Panorama CIAPS Governance Performance Index (CGPI).

According to the report — a collaborative effort between Nigerian Panorama and the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced Professional Studies (CIAPS) — Anambra ranks alongside Lagos and Enugu as the leading states in adopting and implementing e-governance practices that foster accountability, transparency, and improved service delivery.

In his remarks, Professor Anthony Kila, Director of CIAPS, emphasized the importance of e-governance in shaping how governments interact with citizens. “The centrality of e-governance allows us to assess the performance of state governments in the country. How the government treats the digital world says a lot about them,” he said.

The report evaluated states based on a comprehensive set of criteria, including website security, up-to-date content, public engagement, availability of online services, policy updates, and user accessibility. Anambra’s performance reflects the state’s deliberate investment in digital infrastructure and its commitment to leveraging technology as a tool for inclusive governance.

Reacting to the recognition, the Managing Director/CEO of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, CFA, described the report as a welcome validation of the efforts being made under the leadership of Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, to reposition Anambra as a liveable and prosperous smart mega-city.

“This is not just about being tech-savvy,” Agbata said. “It’s about using digital tools to create real impact — making the government more accessible, responsive, and transparent. Anambra is building a digital future that works for everyone.”

The CGPI Report recommended that all states intensify efforts to train public servants, maintain digital platforms effectively, and build user-friendly systems that keep citizens informed and empowered. For Anambra, this recognition serves both as a milestone and a motivation to scale new heights.

As the journey continues, Anambra remains focused on setting the pace for e-governance in Nigeria in line with the Governor’s mantra of Everything Technology & Technology Everywhere.


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SERAP Urges National Assembly to Reject Tinubu’s $24Bn Loan Request Over Debt Concerns

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Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the National Assembly to reject the Tinubu administration’s request to borrow $24 billion, warning that the move would significantly deepen Nigeria’s debt crisis.

In a statement posted on its official X account, the advocacy group warned that the proposed borrowing would raise Nigeria’s total debt stock to an estimated ₦183 trillion—an amount it described as “clearly not sustainable and not in the public interest.”

“The National Assembly must immediately refuse to approve the Tinubu administration’s request to borrow $24 billion,” the group said. “The growing national debt is not sustainable and not in the public interest.”

SERAP expressed concern over the heavy burden of debt servicing, which it said is already consuming a substantial portion of government revenue, leaving little room for critical public investment.

Nigeria’s total public debt is projected to surpass ₦180 trillion following the president’s latest loan request. The borrowing plan includes a proposal for over $21.5 billion in external loans, which equates to ₦33.39 trillion at the official exchange rate of ₦1,590 per dollar. The administration is also seeking approval for a domestic bond issuance worth ₦757.9 billion to settle outstanding pension liabilities.

President Tinubu said the 2025–2026 borrowing plan targets key sectors such as infrastructure, healthcare, education, water supply, security, and employment generation. He noted that the plan is also intended to cushion the economic impact of fuel subsidy removal.

The total loan request comprises $21.5 billion, €2.19 billion, and 15 billion Japanese Yen, alongside a €65 million grant. Tinubu assured lawmakers that the funds would be directed toward development projects across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with emphasis on rail networks, healthcare infrastructure, and poverty alleviation programs.

On pension-related borrowing, the president explained that the proposed bond issuance is aimed at clearing backlogs under the Contributory Pension Scheme. The measure, he added, has already received approval from the Federal Executive Council and is expected to improve retirees’ welfare, restore trust in the pension system, and inject liquidity into the economy.

Nigeria’s public debt has surged in recent years, rising by 48.6% in 2024 to ₦144.66 trillion—up from ₦97.34 trillion in 2023. The Federal Government accounts for 95% of that total.


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