Author: Opalim Lifted

A missed loan payment is rarely the first sign that a borrower is in financial trouble. For lenders, the real warning signs often emerge weeks or months before an SME defaults, hidden in everyday cash-flow movements that traditional credit systems may fail to capture. According to Winston Osuchukwu, Founder and CEO of Mathesis Analytics Inc., most legacy credit decisioning systems are designed around fixed rules and point-in-time assessments. While effective for loan origination, such systems can struggle to analyse continuous transactional data and identify subtle changes in a borrower’s financial behaviour. As a result, financial institutions may only take meaningful…

The United States has announced new visa restrictions targeting certain South African nationals involved in what it described as “race-based discrimination and incitement of imminent violence”. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the US was “gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against the Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa”. Rubio said the concerns included race-based discriminatory legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation, and the incitement of racial violence through dehumanising chants and slogans. President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly criticised South Africa over alleged racial…

Nollywood actress Toyin Abraham has rejected her inclusion in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State Campaign Council ahead of the 2027 elections. Abraham clarified her position in an Instagram post on Thursday, saying she was not a member of any campaign council and had decided to stay away from politics. She wrote, “I’m not a member of any campaign council. I have said it recently, I am staying out of politics. Please disregard the supposed inclusion of my name in any campaign committee.” Her statement came after her name appeared on the list of members of the APC Lagos…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has no statutory power to regulate professional fees charged by lawyers, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gwagwalada Branch, FCT, Nurudeen Abdulsalam, has said. Abdulsalam was reacting to an EFCC warning against lawyers charging professional fees in foreign currencies, with the commission saying practitioners found culpable could face prosecution. However, the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, later clarified that comments attributed to the Lagos Zonal Directorate should not be treated as a general policy statement of the commission. He said the comments had been taken out of context and did not accurately…

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has disowned a viral message notifying motorists of road traffic violations and directing them to a website to pay fines. In a statement on Wednesday, the FRSC described the message as fraudulent and warned members of the public against clicking on the link attached to it. The alert followed concerns raised by a social media user over a text message he received notifying him of a road safety violation. “I don’t know who to blame, whether it was my service provider or the road safety officials,” the social media user said. “Yesterday, I received…

Nigerian entertainer Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has celebrated his daughter Adaeze’s engagement to a woman, publicly describing the couple as his “beautiful Princess and her Husband”. Charly Boy, also known as Area Fada, shared a video from the engagement on Instagram on Thursday, asking his followers to celebrate the couple with him. “My beautiful Princess and her Husband. Folks, wish dem well for me,” he wrote. The engagement was also announced by Adaeze, who shared a photograph with her partner and revealed that they had taken the next step in their relationship. In another part of the…

Nigerian actor and social commentator Adebowale Adedayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, has explained why he stopped speaking publicly against the government as often as he used to. He said he became tired of repeating the same concerns without seeing the change he wanted, while also facing backlash from Nigerians and threats over his activism. Mr Macaroni spoke after Wazobia FM shared a video on Tuesday in which he discussed the threats he received during the #EndSARS protests. However, in a series of posts on X on Wednesday, the skit maker clarified that the interview was recorded more than two…

Dozens of people have been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following protests against proposed constitutional changes that critics say could allow President Felix Tshisekedi to seek a third term. The protests broke out on Tuesday in Kinshasa, the capital, and several other major cities across the country but were met with a police crackdown. According to Reuters, police fired tear gas and warning shots in Kinshasa to disperse hundreds of protesters who took part in the demonstrations. Videos shared on social media showed hundreds of protesters waving flags belonging to various political parties during demonstrations organised by…

Facebook and TikTok have been inaccessible in Equatorial Guinea for more than two weeks following the circulation of a video accusing the country’s vice-president of corruption. An AFP journalist in the country reported on Wednesday that internet speeds have been restricted since September 2, while access to Facebook and TikTok, the country’s most popular social media platforms, has been blocked without the use of a virtual private network (VPN). Other Meta-owned platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, remain available but with restrictions. The apparent shutdown followed the publication of an online video in which a young woman accused Vice President Teodoro…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned lawyers against charging clients in foreign currencies, describing the practice as “illegal and unethical”. Bawa Kaltungo, acting director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC, issued the warning on Saturday, September 11, when he received a delegation from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos Task Force on Illegal Practice of Law. The delegation was led by Moshood Abiola, head of the task force. Kaltungo said the commission was concerned about lawyers allegedly engaging in illegal and unethical practices, warning that those found culpable would be prosecuted. He disclosed that…