• John Ternus / CNBC / Getty Images

Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure as Apple CEO comes to an end on Sept. 1, the company announced on Monday.

John Ternus, Apple’s longtime hardware boss, is taking over as CEO, becoming just the second leader since Steve Jobs departed in 2011, less than two months before he died from cancer.

CNBC reports that as Cook exits, Apple faces numerous challenges, including an intricate supply chain that’s complicated by geopolitical tensions and soaring prices for memory due to unprecedented demand from the AI buildout.

But for Ternus, perhaps the most critical aspect of his new job will be pushing the company deeper into AI, where it’s lagged many of its megacap peers.

It said that so far, Apple’s AI strategy has involved avoiding hefty capital expenditures while Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Metacommit to hundreds of billions of dollars a year in combined capex to fund new data centers and fill them with pricey AI chips.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), have launched a portal that enables financial institutions to track fraudulent and suspicious phone lines across the country.

It is called the Telecoms Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS) portal , aimed at providing financial institutions with real-time visibility into the status of phone numbers used for transactions.

“The portal aggregates data on churned or recycled lines and numbers flagged for suspicious activities.

“This means banks and other financial institutions can determine whether a line is active, swapped, disconnected, or reassigned to another subscriber,” said the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida.

Speaking during the MoU signing event, Maida said that the agreement provides a structured framework for cooperation in critical areas, including payment system integrity, fraud mitigation, digital inclusion, and consumer protection.

On his part, Governor of CBN, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, said the MoU would strengthen coordination on regulatory approvals, technical standards, and innovation initiatives, including sandbox testing.

He noted that the partnership aligns with the apex bank’s commitment to promoting a secure, resilient, and inclusive financial system.

Photo: Director of Strategy and Stakeholder Relations at Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Sadiq Usman (left); Head, Strategy and Performance Management at the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Ms. Edirin Akemu; Group Chief Executive Officer of Golden Sugar Company (GSC), Boye Olusanya; Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh; Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, NSDC, Kamar Bakrin and GSC General Manager, Anlo Du Pisani; during the Minister’s visit to the GSC Complex in Sunti, Niger state.

The Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, has urged the Golden Sugar Company (GSC) to expand its yearly production capacity to 300,000 metric tonnes by 2030.

Golden Sugar Company, a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC, currently cultivates about 6,600 hectares, producing about 20,000 metric tonnes of sugar yearly, according to the Group Chief Executive Officer of GSC, Boye Olusanya.

The Ninister, accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Kamar Bakrin, gave the charge when he visited the GSC Complex in Sunti, Niger state.

The Minister noted that the current local sugar production in the country is a long distance away from the 1.8 million metric tonnes that the country consumes yearly, adding that, the GSC must contribute 300,000 metric tonnes in the year 2030.

He commended the management of the company for the employment of about 4,500 workers, emphasising that the government’s requirement for gainful employment is itself achieved here.