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Polaris Bank pushes gender equity as growth strategy, invests over ₦1bn in women-led businesses

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Polaris Bank executives and speakers at International Women’s Day 2026 event
Photo caption: L-R; Belinda Nkechi Idinmachi, Entrepreneurship Specialist, ALX Founder Academy; Subulade Giwa-Amu, Non- Executive Director, Polaris Bank; Kayode Lawal, Managing Director/CEO, Polaris Bank; Tomi Somefun, Former Managing Director /CEO for Unity Bank Plc, & Abimbola Ozomah, Executive Director, Corporate & Investment Banking during the International Women's Day celebration in Lagos recently.

Polaris Bank has positioned gender equity as a core business strategy, announcing it has disbursed more than ₦1bn to support women-led businesses as part of its 2026 International Women’s Day (IWD) commitments.

The bank made this known at its IWD 2026 event, themed “Gender Equity as a Business Imperative: The Give to Gain Advantage,” where executives and industry leaders called for more deliberate investments in women.

Speaking at the event, the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Kayode Lawal, said empowering women delivers measurable returns for both institutions and the wider economy.

“Investing in women delivers measurable returns for institutions and economies alike,” Mr Lawal said.

He added that supporting women remains central to Polaris Bank’s long-term strategy, citing targeted financing, enterprise advisory services and capacity-building programmes for female entrepreneurs.

Why it matters

Gender equity is increasingly being linked to economic performance, especially in developing economies like Nigeria, where women-owned businesses face limited access to finance and leadership opportunities.

Polaris Bank’s latest figures suggest growing private-sector involvement in closing this gap, with over ₦1bn already channelled into female-led enterprises.

The bank also said it continues to invest in health and social initiatives, including breast cancer awareness, early detection campaigns and girl-child education.

Industry voices: ‘Move beyond rhetoric’

Delivering the keynote address, Tomi Somefun, former Managing Director of Unity Bank, urged organisations to take practical steps toward gender inclusion.

“Gender equity is not just a social obligation but a pathway to better decision-making, innovation, and long-term resilience,” she said.

She warned that many institutions still treat inclusion as a symbolic gesture rather than a structured business priority.

Youth and leadership perspective

Social entrepreneur Belinda Nkechi Indinmachi challenged young professionals, particularly Gen Z, to rethink how they approach career and business growth.

“Purposeful contribution and long-term thinking are essential for sustainable career and business growth,” she said.

“Giving should be seen as an investment that yields tangible returns.”

Polaris Bank’s internal strategy

Polaris Bank executive director, Corporate & Investment Banking, Abimbola Ozomah, said the bank’s initiatives go beyond annual campaigns.

She highlighted programmes such as the Polaris Women Connect platform, which focuses on mentorship, knowledge-sharing and leadership development for women.

“Our focus on women empowerment extends beyond symbolic observance,” she said.

Earlier, Bukola Oluyadi, Group Head of Customer Experience and Value Management, emphasised the role of collaboration and support systems in driving inclusive success.

What’s next

Polaris Bank says it will continue expanding its women-focused initiatives, including its flagship Polaris Pearl programme, which provides tailored financial solutions and growth platforms for female professionals and entrepreneurs.

The bank also called on other organisations to adopt inclusive systems, arguing that gender equity is key to building resilient institutions and sustainable economies.

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Jamara Home Launches August 2026 Rainy-season Appliance Sales Campaign

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Jamara Home has launched a three-week sales campaign offering discounts on household appliances as Nigerian consumers enter a period of continued rainfall and increased demand for some home products.

The retailer says its “Stay Dry, Shop Fly” campaign will run from 4 to 24 August 2026, with televisions, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, gas cookers, fans and other household products included.

Jamara Home says the campaign covers products from more than 30 international brands.

Oluwatomi Faniran, Head of Marketing at Jamara Home, said the campaign was intended to make household appliances more affordable.

“The rainy season changes the way many families live and interact within their homes, making dependable home appliances even more essential. Through our ‘Stay Dry, Shop Fly’ campaign, we’re giving customers access to genuine products from trusted global brands at exceptional prices, helping them create comfortable homes without placing unnecessary pressure on their finances. At Jamara Home, our focus has always been on delivering quality, value, and an enjoyable shopping experience for every customer.”

Who stands to benefit?

For Jamara Home, the campaign provides an opportunity to increase sales during a period when retailers traditionally promote weather-related products.

For consumers, the potential benefit is straightforward: a genuine reduction in the cost of an appliance that a household already needs.

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Nigeria Customs Seizes Rifle Components, ₦373.8m Cannabis Products at Lagos Port

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Nigeria Customs says it has intercepted components for more than 140 pump-action rifles and cannabis-infused products valued at ₦373.8m at Tincan Island Port in Lagos.

The seizures, announced on Thursday, 6 August, involved three containers and have raised fresh questions about how prohibited weapons and psychoactive substances are being concealed within Nigeria’s legitimate import system.

Customs said one container, which arrived aboard the vessel MV VELIKA on 8 July, was subjected to enhanced scrutiny after being flagged by its intelligence-led risk management system.

Officers subsequently found concealed crates containing what Customs described as knocked-down components preliminarily identified as JOJEFF pump-action rifles.

Two people have been arrested, according to the service, while another alleged principal suspect remains at large.

Customs has not publicly identified the suspects or disclosed the declared contents of the container, the country of origin of the components, their intended destination or how the shipment entered the port’s clearance process.

Those details will be important in determining whether the seizure was simply a case of successful interception or also points to weaknesses in the systems designed to prevent prohibited cargo from entering Nigeria.

A familiar name in Nigeria’s arms-trafficking history

The reference to JOJEFF weapons is significant because the brand has appeared in previous Nigerian arms seizures.

In 2017, Customs intercepted 661 pump-action rifles concealed in a 40-foot container in Lagos.

The weapons were identified in reports at the time as JOJEFF-branded and had been concealed among goods declared as steel doors and other merchandise.

A separate Conflict Armament Research investigation later documented JOJEFF and other Turkish-manufactured shotguns in Nigeria.

It found that Nigerian authorities had seized more than 2,000 pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns in four shipments in 2017, with the weapons concealed in containers shipped by sea to Lagos.

That history means the latest seizure is more than an isolated customs announcement.

It potentially forms part of a longer pattern in which firearms are moved through commercial shipping routes and disguised among legitimate cargo.

But the available information does not establish that the latest shipment is connected to any of those earlier cases.

Why rifle components matter

The Customs statement refers to “knocked-down components”, rather than assembled firearms.

That distinction matters. Components can be easier to conceal than complete weapons, while the exact number of complete firearms that could ultimately be assembled from the seized parts has not been independently established.

Customs’ description of the items as components “preliminarily identified” as JOJEFF rifles also indicates that technical identification or further examination may still be required.

Nigeria’s Firearms Act regulates the possession, importation and export of firearms and includes provisions governing prohibited firearms and their components. The law requires authorisation for the importation of prohibited firearms.

The 1966 amendment to the legislation specifically brought pump-action or other mechanically reloaded shotguns within the category of prohibited firearms.

The precise legal classification of the seized components, however, would depend on what exactly was recovered and the applicable licence and import documentation.

Customs’ risk system faces a bigger test

Customs says the shipment was detected through its intelligence-driven risk management system.

That claim is consistent with the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, which requires the service to use organisational and intelligence-driven risk management in its operations, including customs clearance procedures. The law also provides for risk registers and profiles to support those operations.

But a successful interception does not, by itself, show how effective the system is across all cargo entering Nigerian ports.

The unanswered question is how many similar consignments are identified before clearance, how many escape detection, and whether intelligence is being shared quickly enough between Customs and other security agencies.

Those figures were not provided in the announcement.

Cannabis products worth ₦373.8m

In a separate operation, Customs said officers intercepted two 40-foot containers carrying cannabis-infused products hidden alongside used vehicles, generators, batteries and other imported goods.

The agency listed 109 cartons of Delta-8 cannabis-infused pre-roll cookies, 125 cartons of Delta-8 cannabis-infused gummies and 73 cartons of cannabis-infused cookies.

It put their combined street value at ₦373,802,640.

The announcement does not explain how Customs arrived at that valuation, whether laboratory testing has confirmed the stated cannabinoid content, or whether the products have been formally handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, which is responsible for combating drug trafficking in Nigeria.

That distinction is important because a “street value” is an enforcement estimate, not necessarily the amount that the goods would have fetched in a legitimate market.

The NDLEA has separately reported several major seizures of cannabis products entering Nigeria through Lagos. In July, for example, the agency took custody of 6,778.5kg of Canadian Loud, a strain of cannabis, after a joint examination involving Customs and other security agencies at Apapa Port.

In May, the agency also reported the arrest of a foreign national over an attempt to bring 31kg of synthetic cannabis into Nigeria through Lagos airport.

The latest Customs seizure therefore comes against a backdrop of continuing attempts to move cannabis products through Nigeria’s international transport gateways.

Customs links seizure to 2027 election security

Comptroller-General Adewale Adeniyi also connected the latest interception to preparations for Nigeria’s next general election.

“We are about entering a major election cycle and we know that by this period, men of the underworld will want to use our borders, our ports, our airports to bring in items like this. We are going to redouble our efforts to ensure that we do not allow them to do so.”

Adeniyi also warned against internal collusion within the service.

“The Nigeria Customs Service will not harbour any of these people who want to serve as accomplices or use their position to influence the importation of goods that will threaten our peace and security and the peaceful conduct of the next general election.”

What happens next?

Customs says investigations are continuing and that it intends to identify and prosecute everyone connected with the consignments.

The critical test will therefore come after the seizure.

Authorities will need to establish who imported the goods, who financed them, where they came from, their intended destination, how they were declared to Customs and whether anyone within or outside the port system helped them move through the supply chain.

The identities of those arrested, the charges eventually filed and the outcome of any prosecution will provide a clearer measure of the success of the operation than the seizure figures alone.

For now, Customs has demonstrated that prohibited weapons components and cannabis products can still be concealed within commercial cargo entering Lagos.

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Adron Group Chairman Hails Threeco Construction CEO Muraina Banjoko on 65th Birthday

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The Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Adron Group, Aare Adetola Emmanuelking, has congratulated construction entrepreneur Otunba Muraina Olatunji Banjoko on his 65th birthday, describing him as a business leader whose work has influenced Nigeria’s construction sector and community development efforts.

In a goodwill message released on Thursday, Emmanuelking praised the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Threeco Construction Company Limited for what he described as decades of leadership in business and philanthropy.

Why it matters

Nigeria’s construction industry remains a major contributor to infrastructure development and employment, despite challenges such as rising building costs, inflation and financing constraints.

Industry leaders who have sustained businesses over several decades are often recognised for their contributions to economic growth, skills development and corporate social responsibility.

Emmanuelking said Banjoko had built Threeco Construction Company Limited into a company associated with quality, professionalism and reliability.

“As Otunba Muraina Olatunji Banjoko marks this remarkable milestone, we celebrate not only his achievements but also his commitment to excellence, integrity, and service to humanity. His life remains a shining example of purposeful leadership and enduring impact.”

He added that the businessman had distinguished himself not only as an entrepreneur but also through humanitarian initiatives that have benefited communities.

Recognition beyond business

The Adron Group chairman also highlighted several traditional and honorary titles held by Banjoko, including Oluwo of Ibaragunland, Baba Adini of Akuteland, Ifo Local Government Renewed Hope Ambassador, Otunba of Akuteland, Bashorun of Agbado and Dr. Olowore Adini of Egbaland.

According to Emmanuelking, the honours reflect the respect Banjoko commands across business, religious and traditional institutions.

He prayed that the businessman would enjoy good health, wisdom and many more years of service.

Industry perspective

Business analysts say longevity in Nigeria’s construction sector often reflects an ability to navigate economic downturns, changing government policies and fluctuating material costs.

They note that beyond delivering projects, construction firms are increasingly expected to contribute to community development, environmental sustainability and job creation.

Public perspective

For many Nigerians, successful entrepreneurs who invest in community projects are viewed as complementing government efforts in areas such as education, infrastructure and youth empowerment.

However, governance experts also argue that corporate philanthropy should complement—not replace—public investment in essential services.

What we know

While Emmanuelking’s tribute celebrates Banjoko’s achievements, no new corporate initiative or policy announcement accompanied the birthday message.

The statement focuses on recognising the construction executive’s career, philanthropy and leadership within Nigeria’s private sector.

What next?

As Banjoko marks the milestone, attention is likely to remain on how established indigenous construction companies continue adapting to Nigeria’s evolving infrastructure needs and economic realities.

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