Business
Tony Elumelu Foundation, UAE sign $6m pact to empower entrepreneurs
A $6 million strategic partnership pact has been signed with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Office of Development Affairs and Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (an affiliate of Erth Zayed) to empower additional 1000 young African entrepreneurs by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF).
The benefiting entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries will receive business training, mentorship, access to networks, and non-refundable $5,000 seed capital from TEF and its partners.
The agreement, signed at the World Governments Summit, by TEF Founder, Tony Elumelu, and the Director General of the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, Mohamed Haji Al Khoori, showed both organisations’ shared commitment to fostering economic empowerment and entrepreneurship across Africa.
Through this partnership, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation will leverage the TEF’s expertise and execution ability in catalysing entrepreneurship through the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, which has pioneered business management training, mentorship, and capital funding for African entrepreneurs.
The Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, a distinguished philanthropic organisation, affiliated with Erth Zayed, has a long-standing commitment to humanitarian and developmental projects, focusing on education, healthcare, economic empowerment and enterprise development.
According to Elumelu, empowering entrepreneurs is not just a moral imperative, but also a strategic investment in Africa’s future.
He said that by providing the necessary access to capital, mentorship, and resources, the partners will be are unlocking the potential of Africa’s entrepreneurial talent, eradicating poverty, driving self-reliance, and paving the way for inclusive growth and prosperity on the continent.
“This partnership between the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation not only reflects our shared vision of empowering Africa’s next generation of business leaders, but will also create a ripple effect of economic transformation across the continent”, Elumelu stated.
According to the statement from TEF, since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has provided up to 2.5 million young Africans with access to trainings on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed over $100 million in direct funding to more than 21,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs.
“Through its initiatives, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has brought two million Africans out of poverty.
In addition to its self-funded programmes, TEF works with international partners including the EU, the UNDP, the ICRC and the Ikea Foundation.
“The partnership with the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, is the first with a Gulf based philanthropy and represents a further example of the strong investment, diplomatic and cultural ties between the GCC and Africa.
“The TEF is currently accepting applications from young entrepreneurs across Africa with innovative business ideas or existing businesses not older than five years on TEFConnect.
“African entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply to initiatives to receive training, mentorship, access to networks, and funding. Application deadline is March 1, 2025.”
Business
Nigeria, UAE scrap tariffs on over 13,000 goods
Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.
•Dr Jumoke Oduwole
Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to eliminate tariffs on 13,000 manufactured products.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment disclosed this, saying that while the Federal Government has eliminated tariffs on 6,243 products imported from the UAE , they have removed tariffs on 7,315 products imported from Nigeria.
Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.
Under the agreement, Nigeria will immediately remove tariffs on 3,949 products, representing 63.3 per cent of the total, while phasing out tariffs on 2,294 products over five years. Nigeria excluded 123 products from tariff liberalisation.
On its part, the UAE will immediately eliminate tariffs on 2,805 products, representing 38.3 per cent of the total, remove tariffs on 1,468 products within three years, and on 3,042 products within five years.
The UAE excluded or prohibited 593 products.
Business
CBN: 60 newly recruits staff laments three years of waiting without engagement
The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.
• CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso
A group of newly recruited staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have cried out over delayed posting and onboarding into various positions since August 28, 2023.
The Guardian reported that according to the employees, the Apex Bank issued the offer, which was followed by an acceptance copy and instructions to resign from their previous places of work, where applicable, as part of documentation.
“We all tendered resignation letters to our former employers at that time to enable us to proceed with the CBN process,” one of the affected employees, Emmanuel Linus Dabo, who spoke on behalf of others,, told newsmen on Monday.
According to him, the application process started in April 2023, where their resumé were submitted to the Headquarters of CBN, and after some time, they received emails from the Human Resources Department for interview and aptitude tests.
“We did a medical examination at the bank’s medical clinic, where a code was given to individual applicants before we could access the hospital.
After the interview and medical and aptitude tests, the successful applicants were contacted by the HR manager to come to CBN Headquarters in Abuja to pick up their offer letter. We filled the acceptance letter without delay,” he said.
He further stated that there was a series of e-mails from the Human Resources office requesting that they forward their credentials for the online documentation, including their acknowledged resignation letters from their previous employers…
The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.
Business
KPMG, NRS settle rifts over new tax laws
In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives.
KPMG executives and Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), held a meeting on Monday following the disagreement over the new tax laws.
In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives
However, on January 10, the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee pushed back against KPMG’s critique, noting that KPMG does not understand the laws.
The committee said a significant proportion of the issues described as “errors,” “gaps,” or “omissions” by KPMG are either the firm’s own errors and invalid conclusions, or matters not properly understood by the firm.
In a statement on Monday, the NRS said that Adedeji hosted a courtesy visit from the delegation of the tax advisory firm.
” During the visit, the KPMG team clarified that their earlier opinion on the new tax laws “had been misconstrued and expressed regret over the misunderstanding.
“They sought further clarity on the provisions of the laws and highlighted areas where recommendations could be made.”
The source said that the meeting ended with the delegation commended the NRS chairman for efficiently and promptly implementing the reforms.
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