Wema Bank, Nigeria’s foremost innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, donated a brand-new car to Desoor Bags, the winner of the Outstanding MSME Clinic award—female category, at the National MSME Awards Night 2024. This Award Ceremony was held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday 27th June 2024, to commemorate World MSME Day.

The International MSMEs Day and MSME Awards Night 2024 is a twofold event organised by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Office of the Vice President, to celebrate the successes in the Nigerian MSME Sector and develop sustainable solutions for the continuous growth and development of the sector, to ultimately boost the Nigerian economy. The first part of the event convened top reputable institutions and entities including Wema Bank, to brainstorm and proffer sustainable financial solutions to not only provide affordable loans and funding for MSMEs, but to also ensure that these financial solutions are easily accessible and available to MSMEs. The concluding part of the Event was the National MSME Awards 2024; the sixth edition of the annual celebration.

The Award Ceremony celebrated top performing MSMEs across various categories from different parts of the country, awarding them with gifts and cash prizes in show of support and in advancement of their businesses. Wema Bank, reputed for its positive impact across various areas including MSMEs and Women, not only contributed immensely to the solutions garnered in the daytime event but also sealed its commemoration of World MSME Day 2024 at the National MSME Awards 2024 by gifting a car to Desoor Bags, the winner of the Outstanding MSME Clinic award (female category). This remarkable gesture simultaneously reinforced the Bank’s role as an enabler for MSMEs and its reputation for championing women empowerment and promoting gender inclusion in Nigeria.

Presenting the award and car gift in representation of Moruf Oseni, the MD/CEO of Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku, the Bank’s Executive Director of Retail and Digital Business, highlighted the impact of the World MSME Day 2024 events, emphasising the need to provide tailored support for MSMEs and advocating for a seamless synergy of capacity development, financial and material empowerment, collaboration, as well as leveraging technology and digital, to build a supportive ecosystem for MSMEs to thrive. “First, I would like to congratulate Adesola, the Outstanding MSME Clinic Award winner in the female category of the 6th National MSME Awards. It should come as no surprise that we choose to reward a woman today, as Wema Bank has always demonstrated a strong commitment to empowering women and provided tailored solutions for them to thrive in their personal and professional endeavours. We continue to do it through our women-focused proposition, SARA, and today, we have chosen to support this outstanding woman-owned business with a car to reduce stress and increase efficiency for her as she continues to grow her business”.

“As we commemorate World MSME Day today, it is important that we set our sights forward on the future of MSMEs in Nigeria. This is why the conversations we’ve had today are very important and Wema Bank is more than glad to be part of it. As the Bank that is committed to empowering lives through innovation, we are dedicated to not only providing innovative solutions and resources for customers to thrive but also empowering them to make the most of these solutions we provide. Technology and digital are the future, and intelligence is here to stay so beyond providing financial resources for MSMEs, we are also focusing on empowering them with digital skills to ensure they are not left behind in this digital evolution. The goal is digital empowerment for scale. To maximise our impact, we will continue to innovate and collaborate to drive capacity development, financial and material empowerment, as well as technology and digital empowerment for MSMEs, to build an enabling environment for these MSMEs to thrive”.

Expressing irrepressible gratitude to Wema Bank for the remarkable show of support, Adesola Adedoyin, CEO Desoor Bags and Winner of Outstanding MSME Clinic Award (Female category) at the National MSME Awards 2024, added, “I cannot find the words to express how I feel right now. My business has been recognised on such a huge platform and on top of that, I am going home with N2,000,000 and a brand-new car, it feels so unreal. Thank you, Wema Bank, for supporting me and my business with this car. I can now transport myself and the resources Desoor Bags needs without struggling to ‘jump bus’ multiple times when I can fit it all in the car at once. I am beyond grateful. Thank you to the Federal Government for the opportunity and thank you, Wema Bank for all you do”.

In its authority as Nigeria’s most innovative bank, Wema Bank continues to prove its mettle not just as an enabler for MSMEs but also as the partner of choice for all. With the Bank’s diverse range of tailored solutions and its success in already providing single-digit loans for female MSMEs, among others, Wema Bank continues to push boundaries for the best and redefine standards in the banking and financial services industry.

The Karu market in the federal capital territory (FCT) has been razed by fire.

The incident occurred late Thursday after traders had closed for the day. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

Millions of naira worth of goods and properties have been damaged by the fire.

One of the traders beseeched the government to intervene on their behalf, lamenting about her plight to reporters.

“Everything just got burnt. I don’t know where to start. This is where we feed from, pay rent and where I pay my children’s school fees from. It’s all gone. Over N20 million gone,” she said.

In March, a section of the popular Wuse market in Abuja was gutted by fire.

The fire was said to have been caused by some aggrieved youths.

The youths were protesting the death of a young man during a clash between officials of the FCT task force and some traders.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has ordered the arrest of two officers of the agency for manhandling a female worker at the Regional Hotel in Ojo, Lagos.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson, in a statement on Thursday, said Olukoyede also ordered a detailed investigation of the operations carried out at the hotel.

A viral video shows some EFCC operatives invading the Regional Hotel on June 27 at about 4am while guests were asleep.

The officers were also seen in the video assaulting a female worker at the hotel while they reportedly fired shots and arrested some people.

“The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered the arrest of two officers of the commission allegedly involved in the manhandling of a female staff member of the Regional Hotel, Ojo, Lagos,” the statement reads.

“The officers were sighted in a viral video assaulting the staff of the hotel in an early morning sting operation in Lagos. The operation yielded a sizable number of suspects who are still being profiled.

“The EFCC’s boss has also ordered detailed investigations of the operation carried out at the hotel and assured that appropriate disciplinary measures would be taken against any of the officers found to be culpable.”

Oyewale added that the EFCC chairman assured Nigerians that the agency would continue to carry out its duties “professionally and with profound respect for the rule of law”.