Business
Rhema-Love Abraham, 13, Wins 2025 Heirs Insurance Essay Championship
Heirs Insurance Group, Nigeria’s fastest-growing insurance group, has announced the winners of the 4th edition of the Heirs Insurance Essay Championship, a nationwide competition promoting financial literacy and academic excellence among secondary school students and educators.
The grand finale, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, brought together students, parents, and academic leaders for a celebration of knowledge and creativity. This year’s edition, which attracted over 5,000 entries from junior secondary school students nationwide, was anchored on the topic “The Role of Insurance in Keeping Families Safe and Secure”.
After a rigorous evaluation process by a distinguished panel of academic professionals, independently verified by Deloitte & Touche, 13-year-old Rhema-Love Abraham of Precepts Learning Field, Lagos, emerged as the overall winner, earning a ₦5 million scholarship and a ₦1 million grant for her school.
Bernice Michael of S-TEE High School, Lagos, claimed the second-place position, winning a ₦2 million scholarship, while Afopefoluwa Tofio-Jacobs of D-IVY College, Ogun State, took third place, receiving a ₦1 million scholarship.
This year, Heirs Insurance introduced the inaugural Teachers Prize, to honor teachers promoting insurance awareness within their schools and communities. This initiative was created to democratise access to insurance literacy, working collaboratively with teachers and educators.
Mr. Okpe James Chidi, a teacher at Urban Secondary School, Umuna Orlu, Imo State, emerged as the winner of the Teachers’ Insurance Awareness Prize, with a personal award of ₦1 million cash prize, and a ₦500,000 grant for his school. His project, which deepened students’ understanding of financial literacy and insurance, was praised for its innovation, reach, and measurable impact.
Speaking at the ceremony, Niyi Onifade, Sector Head, Heirs Insurance Group, commended all the participants for their creativity and drive, emphasising the Group’s commitment to nurturing future leaders through education.
He said, “We are proud of every student and teacher who participated in this year’s Essay Championship. Their creativity, curiosity, and dedication reflect the future we envision for our nation; one built on knowledge, innovation, and resilience. At Heirs Insurance Group, we believe financial literacy is a powerful tool for empowerment and transformation”.
The Heirs Insurance Essay Championship is a flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of Heirs Insurance Group, created to build awareness of insurance literacy and critical thinking among young Nigerians. The introduction of the Teachers’ Insurance Awareness Prize further demonstrates the Group’s commitment to advancing insurance education and promoting financial inclusion at every level of society.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has achieved a major operational milestone with the full restoration and optimisation of its Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and Motor Spirit (MS) production block. Both units are now running at optimal performance, further strengthening the steady state operations of Africa’s largest oil refining facility.
Following a scheduled maintenance exercise on the CDU and MS Block, the refinery has commenced an intensive 72 hour series of performance test runs in collaboration with licensor UOP. These tests are designed to validate operational efficiency and confirm that all critical parameters meet global standards.
Chief Executive Officer, David Bird, noted that the seamless integration and strong performance of the units demonstrate the refinery’s advanced engineering and robust operational capabilities.
“Our teams have demonstrated exceptional precision and expertise in stabilising both the CDU and MS Block, and we are pleased to see them functioning at optimal efficiency. This performance testing phase enables us to validate the entire plant under real operating conditions. We are confident that the refinery remains firmly on track to deliver consistent, world class output.
This milestone underscores the strength, reliability, and engineering quality that define our operations. We remain committed to producing high quality refined products that will transform Nigeria’s energy landscape, eliminate import dependence, and position the nation as a net exporter of petroleum products.”
Bird added that the CDU and MS Block, which comprise the naphtha hydrotreater, isomerisation unit, and reformer unit, are now operating steadily at the full nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. He further confirmed that all remaining processing units will begin their respective performance test runs in Phase 2, scheduled to commence next week.
During the recent festive period, the refinery supplied between 45–50 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) daily. With the CDU and MS Block now fully restored, the refinery is positioned to comfortably deliver up to 75 million litres of PMS to the domestic market as required.
Expressing appreciation to customers and Nigerians across the country, Bird reaffirmed the refinery’s unwavering commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s energy security while supporting industrial development, job creation, and economic diversification.
Business
Corpreneurship Challenge: Unity Bank Announces Fresh Graduates of OAU, UNN, Others As Winners
Unity Bank Plc has announced winners in the 27th edition of its flagship Entrepreneurship Development Initiative, also known as Corpreneurship Challenge, following the conclusion of Business Pitch at the Batch C, Stream 2 edition of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation programme held across 10 states of the federation.
Notably, Corps Members who graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), The Polytechnic, Ibadan, amongst several tertiary institutions, emerged from the latest round of the Corpreneurship Challenge business pitch. Participants pitched business ideas across diverse sectors such as fashion, agribusiness, footwear production, and services.
At the Lagos State NYSC Orientation Camp, Awolumate Fawaz Babatunde, a Civil Engineering graduate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, emerged the overall winner after pitching a fashion design business, clinching the N800,000 grand prize. Ugwoke Daniel Ifechukwu, a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, emerged first runner-up to receive N500,000.
In Rivers State, Abdur-Razaq Sayfullah Adebola, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, topped the competition at the Nonwa Gbam Tai NYSC Orientation Camp with a footwear-making business plan. Meanwhile, Olatunde Esther Funmilayo of Olabisi Onabanjo University emerged as the winner at the Kwara State NYSC Orientation Camp after impressing judges with her deodorant production and services pitch.
More winners emerged from Abuja, Niger, Adamawa, Jigawa, Plateau, Kaduna, and Delta States, further expanding the geographical reach and impact of the initiative.
Speaking on the latest edition of the programme, Mrs. Adenike Abimbola, Divisional Head, Retail, SME & E-Business at Unity Bank Plc, said the Corpreneurship Challenge continues to reflect the Bank’s commitment to youth empowerment and enterprise development.
“The Corpreneurship Challenge has been driven by our commitment to boosting entrepreneurship among young people, especially fresh graduates. At Unity Bank, we recognise that many young Nigerians possess viable business ideas but lack the initial capital and support to bring them to life. The Corpreneurship Challenge was designed to bridge that gap by providing financial backing, mentorship, and confidence to fresh graduates at a critical stage of their lives,” she said.
She added that the quality of ideas presented by corps members across states underscores the growing entrepreneurial appetite among Nigerian youths.
“What we see every edition is innovation, resilience, and a strong desire among young graduates to create value and jobs. By supporting them early, we are not only helping individuals, but also contributing to the growth of the SME ecosystem and the broader economy,” Abimbola noted.
Over the years, the Unity Bank Corpreneurship Challenge has become a key feature of the NYSC orientation programme, delivered in partnership with the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) initiative. Since its inception, the programme has produced 638 young entrepreneurs nationwide, offering grants of up to N300 million to help corps members kick-start or scale their businesses.
The initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s drive to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment among graduates, particularly amid the shrinking availability of white-collar jobs.
Unity Bank said it remains committed to expanding the reach of the Corpreneurship Challenge and deepening its support for young entrepreneurs as part of its broader strategy to drive financial inclusion, job creation, and sustainable economic growth.
