Author: Prima News

Malaria wasn’t on Masaki Umeda’s mind when his drone startup, SORA Technology, launched in 2020 in Nagoya, Japan.Back then, he and his colleagues were focused on getting medical supplies to hard-to-reach parts of Africa but, after talking to health ministries, they realised their AI-powered solutions would be more useful in the fight against the devastating disease, which kills over half a million people on the continent every year. © SORA Technology Masaki Umeda, co-founder of SORA Technology. “We fly drones in targeted areas and collect raw data,” explains Mr. Umeda. “Then the AI tools identify the location and characteristics of…

For decades, credit risk assessment in Nigeria has rested on an incomplete foundation. Lenders—whether deposit-money banks, microfinance institutions, or digital finance operators—price credit largely based on data they alone have collected about a borrower. This institutional insularity is often deliberate, and it costs the Nigerian borrower dearly. The concept we advance here, Personal Equity, challenges this status quo at its root. Personal equity is the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour, aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted and translated into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness. It is, in essence, a person’s credit identity—not as a…

In February, Beltone Holding, an Egypt-headquartered financial services group with operations in investment banking and asset management, spent $227.13 million (€197.6 million) to acquire Baobab Group. Three months later, the lender generated more revenue than all of Beltone’s other businesses combined. Baobab contributed 53% of Beltone’s EGP6.8 billion ($136.68 million) operating revenue in the first quarter of 2026, making it the group’s single largest business line, according to the company’s financial results.  Its gross lending portfolio grew by 236% year-on-year to EGP101.1 billion ($2.03 billion) in the first quarter. Baobab alone contributed EGP60.9 billion ($1.22 billion), meaning roughly six out…

Three aspirants for the House of Representatives seat in Ojo Federal Constituency, Lagos State, on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress have petitioned the party’s national leadership, alleging that no valid primary election was conducted and that a candidate was imposed on them. The aggrieved aspirants, led by Godwin Ezeoke, called on the party to cancel the outcome of the exercise and conduct a fresh primary. In a petition obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday and addressed to the National Chairman through the National Secretary, Ezeoke alleged that party officials announced a winner despite the absence of a primary…

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has expressed concern over the sharp decline in commercial bank credit to the manufacturing sector. It warned that the trend could undermine industrial growth, job creation, and economic diversification. The Director-General of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, made this known in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos while reacting to credit allocation data for 2025. According to him, “commercial bank credit to manufacturing fell by N1.92 trillion, from N8.53 trillion in December 2024 to N6.61 trillion in December 2025, representing a 22.5 per cent year-on-year contraction.” Ajayi-Kadir described the decline as disturbing, noting that manufacturing recorded…

The Kano State Ministry of Health has closed two private health training institutions operating without approval from the state government and relevant professional and regulatory bodies. The closure was announced in a statement issued by the ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Kofar-Na’isa, on Tuesday in Kano. He said the affected institutions are Ibn Sina College of Health Science and Technology, located at Dakata Kawaji, and Life Line College of Health Science and Technology, situated at Dakata Industrial Area, both in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state. According to him, the closure followed a comprehensive assessment by the ministry, which…

By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo, Kaduna The husband of Ummulkhairi Muhammad, the woman lynched and burnt by a mob in Maraban Jos, Kaduna State, has alleged that a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) removed her hijab and sent her back to the crowd shortly before she was killed. Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa monitored in Kaduna, Aliyu Muhammad recounted the final moments leading to the death of his wife, who was accused by some residents of child theft. He said the couple had been married for 14 years and had four children—two boys and two girls—adding that the day of the…

The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) will introduce a record prize money package from the 2026/27 season, with the league champions set to receive N1 billion. The new reward system was approved by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) during a high-level meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday. Under the new arrangement, the team that finishes second will receive N500 million, while the third-placed team will earn N300 million. The N1 billion prize for the champions is the biggest cash reward ever offered in the history of the NPFL. Football stakeholders believe the new prize…

Grammy-winning Nigerian Afrobeats singer, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has become the African artiste with the highest number of entries on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 chart. He surpassed fellow Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi, known professionally as Tems. Ogulu announced the milestone on his social media platforms on Tuesday, describing it as a significant achievement in his career. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Burna Boy and Tems were previously tied with eight entries each on the prestigious chart. However, Burna Boy secured a ninth entry through his collaboration with Colombian singer Shakira on the official FIFA…

Aid agencies are doing what they can to help, including by identifying dangerously malnourished children in sparsely populated “ghost villages” where those who can leave do so, said Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. But with nearly 22 million people in need across Afghanistan and the UN’s $1.7 billion appeal only 14 per cent funded, life is “becoming impossible” in remote areas, the agency warns.  Survival strategy Water scarcity is the main cause of strife for villagers in Bamyan province who struggle, far from Afghanistan’s major cities.  “This particular village that I went to, they told me that around half of the population had left, actually, because there’s simply no water to irrigate the lands, and so all the crops that they were growing, they dried up,” Ms. Cherevko told UN News. “People who could leave, they left.” Those who have remained often do so because they have no choice; they…