INDUSTRY
2,700 Akwa Ibom women benefit from federal government’s special grant
The minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has advised Nigerian women not to regard the N20, 000 special grant given to the rural woman by the federal government as the fabled national cake. She has rather charged the beneficiaries to judiciously use the grant to improve their living standard by utilizing it as seed capital do boost their trades and businesses for greater income. Speaking through Bashir Nura Alkali, the permanent secretary of the ministry, at the flag off of the Grant for Rural Women Project and the symbolic disbursement of the grant to 2700 women of Akwa Ibom state, in Uyo, on Thursday, Farouq explained that the Grant for Rural Women Programme was introduced in 2020 to sustain the social inclusion agenda of Presid...
SoundCloud’s New Fan-Powered Royalty Model Could Shake Up Music Streaming Forever
After years of platform reformation and corporate restructuring, audio distribution platform SoundCloud has announced a new fan-powered royalty model, which the company touts as a “game-changing” innovation to empower independent artists. The new model is predicated on fan bases, whose streaming activity will drive and dictate payout rates to the artists they listen to. With the ambitious move, SoundCloud will distribute a portion of its users’ subscription payments and accrued advertising revenue to the musicians they listen to on the platform, with the objective of supporting independent artists with loyal fans. The model could serve as a harbinger for the future of music streaming. “SoundCloud is uniquely positioned to offer this transformativ...
Full-Capacity Concerts, Music Festivals May Return in Texas and Mississippi After Lift of Mask Mandates
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has effectively opened the door for the state’s events sector to reopen, including full-capacity concerts and music festivals. After the passing of Executive Order GA-34, all Texas businesses will be able to reopen with no restrictions—including mask-wearing—starting March 10th. “I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%. EVERYTHING,” Abbott tweeted on Tuesday, March 2nd. “I also ended the statewide mask mandate.” Following Abbott’s executive order, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves announced his own, which reopened the state in similar fashion. “Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules,” he tweet...
Humanity’s First Hotel in Outer Space Will Have a Concert Venue
Because this is 2021 and no headline should shock you at this point, a company is building humanity’s first hotel in outer space. Plans for the structure, which is called Voyager Station, are said to include a concert venue. The company behind the interstellar project, Orbital Assembly, has gone public with their plans to begin construction on Voyager Station in low Earth orbit in 2025. They believe the astronomically ambitious hotel can be fully operational by 2027. Plans for Voyager Station, humanity’s first-ever hotel in outer space, are underway and the structure may be operational in 2027. Voyager Station Vogayer Station’s website claims that the hotel will be the largest man-made structure in space after its completion, and t...
Bayelsa governor: 2.5% revenue for host communities ‘unacceptable’ to Niger Delta
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa on Tuesday proposed that 10 per cent of derived oil revenue be provided in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the host communities. Mr Diri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said this on Tuesday during a townhall meeting on the bill with members of the National Assembly in Yenagoa. The governor said the 2.5 per cent revenue proposed for the host communities in the PIB was grossly inadequate and unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta. He argued that if the National Assembly members saw firsthand the level of environmental degradation and its attendant effects on the people, they would not hesitate to increase it from 10 per cent. Mr Diri stressed that the PIB was critical in addressing issues such as unemployment, lack of tran...
Live Nation CEO on Ambitious Hopes for 2021: “I Have Never Been More Excited About the Opportunities in Front of Us”
Despite the billion dollar loss shouldered by Live Nation Entertainment this last year, the company’s CEO, Michael Rapino, has high hopes for 2021. He cites the imminent influx of demand for post-pandemic live events as a driving force expected to propel the events hub through “the light at the end of the tunnel,” according to IQ Magazine. Given the recent success of Live Nation’s stocks, it appears their predictions may not be unfounded. On February 25th, share prices skyrocketed above the $90 mark for the first time in the company’s history, reaching $91.80. IQ notes that this is nearly $15 higher than the price pre-pandemic. The change may have been spurred by the 48 hour-sellout of Live Nation-produced festival Creamfields, for which Alesso,...
Facing Closure, NYC Clubs Forced to Pivot or Fail
With the landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package now in the hands of the Senate, financial aid for struggling families and businesses is almost within reach. In fact, the embedded Save Our Stages Act earmarks $15 billion in grants to music and arts venues. But for New York City’s nightlife, this eleventh hour support may have missed the boat. Small restaurants and bars have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, and New York Post now reports even the city’s top club owners have also been drastically affected by both closures and brand pivots. Butter Group, which owns the iconic 1Oak brand, recently shuttered its Up & Down venture in West Village. The Tao Group, which owns properties worldwide, has also permanently closed two of its five ...
Nigerian government to launch new pricing framework for gas operations
The chairman of National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), Mohammed Ibrahim, says the federal government will launch a new pricing framework to regulate operations in the gas sector. He was speaking on Friday at the 12th Nigerian Gas Association international conference. Represented by Olasupo Agbaje, a member of NGPE, Ibrahim said Nigeria needs to unlock new frontiers in the gas sector. He said the government is working towards achieving a 40 per cent conversion from petrol to gas for vehicles in the country. “As a nation we are committed to unlocking new frontiers through a combination of policy and technology. In terms of unlocking these frontiers, we find that we need to undertake a pricing framework review that has been concluded and in the next few days, we are going to be having a new...
Nigerian government announces additional economic zones for agric, textile
The federal government has approved the expansion of the existing Free Trade Zones (FTZs), as well as the activation of existing ones to respond to the demands of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Managing Director, Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, who disclosed this Wednesday, further identified the new economic zones to include Funtua FTZ Katsina for textile and cotton, Lagos FTZ for medical, as well as Kwara for agriculture. Speaking while receiving the leadership of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), led by Hajiya Saratu Iya Aliyu in his office, Adesugba said the move seeks to boost the industrialisation agenda of the present admi...
Nigerian bank chief calls for review of educational reforms
The managing director/CEO of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, has called for a review of Nigeria’s educational system so as to make it relevant to current and future human capital requirements in the country. Suleiman made the call while speaking as a panelist in a session on “Roadmap To Shared Prosperity – Ensuring Inclusive Human Capital Development” at the just concluded 8th Lagos Economic Summit, Ehingbeti 2021. He observed that Nigeria’s current educational system will continue to fail in its role of delivering the human resources needed by industry now and in the future unless the federal government redefines its commitment to the system. According to him, “The educational system that is operational in the country today appears to be only suitable for academia and not for inc...
The Concert Business vs. COVID-19: The Road to a 2021 Recovery
The global concert industry has historically been a very healthy business. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, every major indicator showed that touring was on pace to set a record in terms of economic activity. For instance, a 2019 report titled The Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019–2023—commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)—noted that live music ticket sales would increase at a compound annual growth rate of 3.33% from 2018 to 2023, from $21.256 billion in 2018 to $25.036 billion in 2023. These estimated figures became even more realistic after the 2019 touring year closed out with historic ticket movement and gross earnings across a variety of arena tours. According to Billboard’s 2019 Boxscore charts, the best performing tour of 2019 was E...
Ekiti moves to reposition MSMEs for economic growth
Ekiti State Government has expressed its determination to enhance the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost economic prosperity of the state. The government had before now reconstituted a 22-member Council to address the myriad of challenges confronting MSMEs in Ekiti , with intention to upscale industrial growth and development . The Commissioner for Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, stated this during a one-day sensitisation workshop with the theme: “Making Economy A Private Driven Economy” held in Ado Ekiti. He said the state government will partner federal government and corporate agencies to facilitate opportunities for business owners in the state. Olumilua at the event, which brought together medium and small scale business owners from acro...
