Meet Tope Awotona, richest Nigerian and immigrant in the US

Tope Awotona has been named by Forbes as the richest immigrant and Nigerian American residing in the United States.

The 42-year-old, born in Lagos, Nigeria, and relocated to the US during his teenage years, holds a net worth of $1.2 billion.

Awotona is the founder and CEO of Calendly, a scheduling software company.

Forbes notes that he initiated Calendly in response to his own frustration with the time-consuming back-and-forth emails needed for meeting scheduling, having previously worked as a salesman for tech firms like EMC (now Dell EMC).

The Chairman of Ikoyi Obalende Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos State, Fuad Atanda-Lawal, has announced plans to roll out 200 electric mini-cabs as part of the council’s empowerment program for 2024.

This initiative, disclosed during a press briefing at the council secretariat, is slated to unfold in two phases by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

The introduction of seven-seater mini-electric cabs serves a dual purpose — mitigating the impact of fuel subsidy removal and addressing the surge in transportation costs.

Atanda-Lawal outlined the comprehensive plan for the local government in 2024, encompassing education, infrastructure, healthcare, and transportation.

What he said

“We are bringing in our electric vehicles from February. By the first quarter of this year, we will be empowering our people and we are not stopping there. “

We will also establish 10 charging stations. This year, we will be empowering members of our community to drive the vehicles on hired purchase,” he said.

What you should know
Despite the common perception that local governments may not be directly involved in transportation, Atanda-Lawal emphasized their significant role in the economic and business fabric of the nation.

Aligning with the Federal Government’s commitment to cleaner and safer energy, the council identified the need to transition to more efficient and sustainable solutions.

The upcoming fleet of electric vehicles, scheduled for delivery in February, is poised to offer subsidized transportation within Ikoyi-Obalende and its environs.

Furthermore, the council plans to establish ten charging stations within the community to facilitate vehicle maintenance.
Atanda-Lawal, acknowledging the importance of addressing transportation costs, expressed the council’s commitment to empowering the community.

The electric vehicles will be deployed in a hire-purchase arrangement, providing members of the community with an opportunity to earn a livelihood and contribute to the local economy.

The Chairman emphasized the long-term nature of their interventions, moving beyond short-term palliatives to create sustained impact.

In addition to the transportation initiative, Lawal highlighted the council’s commitment to supporting the elderly and retirees through a food bank program.

This comprehensive approach highlights the council’s overarching goal of prioritizing the welfare of the community members.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo broke the news at the end of the meeting of the Board of the Civil Defence, Fire, Correctional and Immigration Services in Abuja on Friday, January 19.

He said the 35 percent allocation of slots to women was in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

Tunji-Ojo, who spoke through the Secretary of the Board, Ja’afaru Ahmed was flanked at the briefing by the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr Ahmed Audi and the Comtroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) Haliru Nababa.

The Commandant General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Abdulgafar Jaji was also in attendance.

According to the minister, the on-going recruitment into the Federal Fire Service would be on the basis of the new guildlines which would focus largely on professionalism, gender mainstreaming and Federal Character principles.

Tunji-Ojo said: “The federal government through the Board has approved the review of the guidelines for recruitment into, and promotion in all the four Services under the Ministry of Interior.

“The development also come with modernisation of the operations of the Nigeria Immigration Service. The modernisation is going to be all encompassing, training, recruitment, promotion, professionalism and capacity building and deployment of cutting-edge technologies “

The minister announced that the Services would in due course release timelines for recruitment into all the services.

He warned Nigerians interested in applying not to patronise scammers, saying that government is already aware of some scammers who are asking for money for recruitment into the Fire Service.

“This is to appeal to Nigerians not to patronise scammers. Anybody asking you to pay money to be recruited into any of the Agencies is a scammer. We are aware of their activities and we will go after them.”

Shedding more lights on the modernisation of the Immigration Service, the Comptroller-General, Mrs Adepoju, said the Service would emphasis on capacity building, specialisation along professional lines to ensure that promotion is not a reward for redundancy

Mutfwang hails Tinubu for resisting pressure to influence s’court verdict on Plateau guber dispute

Mutfwang hails Tinubu for resisting pressure to influence s’court verdict on Plateau guber dispute

Caleb Mutfwang, governor of Plateau, says President Bola Tinubu is a “sound democrat” for not interfering in the gubernatorial election dispute in the state.

The governor spoke on Friday while on a “thank you” visit to Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.

Last week, the apex court affirmed Mutfwang as the duly elected governor of Plateau on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The supreme court faulted the court of appeal for voiding Mutfwang’s election

Speaking with journalists after the visit, Mutfwang said the president’s “non-interference” in the governorship dispute has solidified Nigeria’s democracy.

The governor said the president was under “tremendous pressure” to influence the outcome of the supreme court judgment in the governorship election in the state.

“I came to see the president purposely to say a very big thank you to Mr President for keeping democracy alive in Nigeria,” Mutfwang said.

“As you all know, I went through a very protracted legal battle and I have said it openly and I am repeating that the Nigerian president is a powerful president.

“If he does not exercise restraint in the exercise of his power, he can intrude into the judicial arena and the judiciary will not be allowed to perform its function.

“In my own case and several others, I am sure we can attest to the fact that Mr. President allowed the judiciary to perform its functions as it should thereby guaranteeing its independence.

“I, therefore, must come to thank him for exercising that restraint because those who wanted to pervert justice also brought tremendous pressure on him to see how he could interfere, but I must put it that Mr President choosing not to interfere is a credit to his statesmanship.

“A credit to his credentials as a sound democrat, and this is the only way we can ensure that our institutions mature to the point where they can guarantee not only the survival of democracy but also ensure that institutions should be able to survive, develop and outlive individuals.”

Mutfwang said he also informed the president about the security situation in the state.

“Of course, you know Mr President will not meet me and not ask about the security situation on the Plateau. I also give them an update,” he said.

“Things are relatively calm at the moment. The security agencies are in the pursuit of the perpetrators of this dastardly act that we experienced during the Christmas period and we are doing our best together with the federal government and international donor partners to be able to mitigate the pain of those families who lost their loved ones, and also those who are internally displaced.”

The governor said his administration is doing everything possible to “prevent further occurrence” of “needless bloodshed” in the state