Emirates set to resume flights to Nigeria after a two-year hiatus

Emirates is set to resume its services to Nigeria this October, after having suspended them back in October 2022. The airline will be operating a daily service between Lagos and Dubai from 1 October 2024, operated using a Boeing 777-300ER. Each day, flight EK783, will depart from Dubai 0945 and arrive in Lagos at 1520 local time, while flight EK784 will depart from Lagos at 1730 and arrive in Dubai at 0510 local time the next day. Each flight will have eight First class suites, 42 Business class seats, and 304 Economy class seats available, and among its in-flight dining and entertainment offerings, passengers will be able to enjoy at least 23 Nigerian movies on offer. Tickets are already available for booking now.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ deputy president and chief commercial officer, said, “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria, and we hope to reconnect leisure and business travellers to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations. We thank the Nigerian government for their partnership and support in re-establishing this route and we look forward to welcoming passengers back onboard.”

Including the resumption of this flight route, Emirates will now serve 19 gateways in Africa, encompassing a total of 157 per week from Dubai plus an additional 130 through its codeshare and interline partnerships with South African Airways, Airlink, Royal Air Maroc, Tunis Air, among others.

As a major economic hub in Africa, Nigeria and the UAE have built strong bilateral trade relations over the years, headlined by Lagos as the nation’s commercial centre. With the resumption of daily passenger flights, the airline’s cargo arm, Emirates SkyCargo, will further bolster the trade relationship by offering more than 300 tonnes of bellyhold cargo capacity, in and out of Lagos every week. The latter will support Nigerian businesses by exporting their goods via its state-of-the-art hub in Dubai, into key markets such as the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Bahrain, among others with key anticipated commodities such as Kola Nuts, food and beverages, and urgent courier material. Meanwhile, Emirates SkyCargo will also import vital goods such as pharmaceuticals and electronics as well as general cargo from key markets such as the UAE, India and Hong Kong, with the aim of keeping trade flowing seamlessly.

By Yi-Hwa Hanna, Business Traveller

Related story: Ban lifted on Nigerian Travelers to UAE After president Tinubu’s Visit

 

Warner Music to Expand Into Lagos, Nigeria

Warner Music Africa (WMA) is planning to establish a new creative hub in Lagos, Nigeria.

The move will mark the opening of Warner’s first fully-owned office in the market. WMA says that its expansion into Lagos will enable it “to provide more of its A&R, Operations and Marketing expertise to Nigeria’s creative ecosystem”.

WMA’s plans to expand in Nigeria arrive at a time of significant recorded music industry growth in the wider Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region.

According to IFPI, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was the fastest-growing music region in 2023. It was also the fastest-growing music region globally in 2022.

Recorded music revenues in Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 24.7% in 2023, fuelled, according to IFPI, by a 24.5% rise in paid streaming revenues.

Ahead of the opening of its new office in Lagos, Warner Music Africa’s management team, including Alfonso Perez-Soto, President of Emerging Markets, Warner Music; Laverne Thomas, Operations Lead, WMA; Temi Adeniji, Managing Director, WMA, and Yoel Kenan, CEO, Africori, met with government officials in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja last week.

According to Warner Music Group, this “pivotal journey” saw the executives engage in meetings with key government officials to “establish crucial relationships and to bolster WMA’s mission of empowering Nigeria’s vibrant creative sector”.

During the Warner executive team’s visit last week, they met two senior ministers and the Special Advisor to the President of Nigeria.

Amongst them were: Minister Ayodele Olawande, Nigeria’s Minister of State For Youth Development, who provides insights into youth empowerment initiatives and holds a crucial role in the creative sector for national development. They also met with Minister Hannatu Musawa, the country’s Minister for Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy, and a prominent Nigerian lawyer and politician.

The WMG team also met with Adeagbo (Oluwadunsin) Ayomide, the Special Advisor to the President on Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.

WMG says that its meetings in Nigeria underscore its “longstanding commitment” to the market.

In 2019, Warner Music Group invested in independent Nigeria-based music company Chocolate City in a deal that WMG said at the time will “dramatically grow the reach of African artists around the world, and will create new opportunities for global superstars in the region”.

In 2022, Warner Music Group acquired a majority stake in Africori, a prominent African music distribution, music rights management and artist development company which has offices in Johannesburg, London and Lagos.

WMG first invested in Africori in early 2020. The original deal gave WMG access to what it called “Africa’s largest catalog and A&R network”, as well as enabling WMG to establish a presence in many African markets for the first time. WMG’s publishing division, Warner Chappell Music, also inked a global deal with Africori in 2020.

In addition, the Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund (WMG/BFF SJF) has contributed more than USD $400,000 to Nigeria’s creative sector via its Repertoire and Core Funds.

For example, it contributed $200,000 in 2022 to the West African Vocational Education and $150,000 in 2023 to The Sarz Academy which nurtures emerging talent in music production.

Meanwhile, WMG noted on Wednesday (May 22) that Temi Adeniji and Alfonso Perez-Soto’s leadership “has been instrumental in driving the success of Warner Music’s global artists in Africa and their local repertoire across the globe”.

According to WMG, they have played “a pivotal role” in signing and promoting superstar Nigerian artist CKay, whose viral single Love Nwantiti has achieved significant success, recently being certified 8x platinum in the US.

Additionally, WMA recently signed 26-year-old Nigerian singer-songwriter Joeboy, who has amassed 2 billion streams over the past five years.

As part of the deal, Joeboy has created his own record label, Young Legend which will partner with Warner Music Africa for global distribution of its artists’ music.

Earlier this week, Temi Adeniji, Managing Director at Warner Music Africa and Warner’s SVP of Sub-Saharan Africa, joined the MBW podcast to discuss the rise of music from Africa and more.

By Murray Stassen, MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE

Video - Nigeria’s Lookman the hero as Atalanta stun Leverkusen

Ademola Lookman scored a stunning hat-trick as Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the Europa League final to win just the second major trophy in their 117-year history and end the German champions’ remarkable unbeaten streak.

Lookman, who struggled to establish himself in the English Premier League with Everton, Fulham and Leicester City before reviving his career in Italy under Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini, struck twice inside the first 26 minutes before sealing the win 15 minutes from full-time on Wednesday night.

The victory ended Gasperini’s own two-decade-long pursuit of major silverware as his side totally outplayed Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen – or ‘Neverlusen’ as they had been dubbed after going an incredible 51 games unbeaten.

But just as they did against Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and three-time finalists Olympique de Marseille in the previous two rounds, Atalanta didn’t give their opponents a sniff and marked their first European final with a famous victory.

“We needed to be attacking. It was not enough just to defend. We know these teams are great at attacking. Everyone was extraordinary,” Gasperini told Sky Sports Italia, referring to the teams his side beat to become the first Italian winners of the competition since Parma 25 years ago.

“The way we did it was the most important thing. We deserved it without a shadow of a doubt against such a strong team. Winning the Europa League is an extraordinary achievement.”

Leverkusen started the game looking decidedly unsure of themselves and some uncharacteristically sloppy play handed the first chance of the game to Gianluca Scamacca, who didn’t get enough on his header from a fine Matteo Ruggeri cross.

It was an early warning shot, and the purposeful Italians struck within minutes when Davide Zappacosta was allowed far too much space down the right before Lookman beat a flatfooted Exequiel Palacios to the cutback to stroke home the opener.

Lookman was mobbed by his teammates and substitutes who were in dreamland 14 minutes later.

Another Leverkusen error gifted possession to the Nigerian forward, who skipped past one defender and curled a beautiful right-footed shot into the bottom-right corner from just outside the box.
‘One of the best nights of my life’

The stunned Germans showed brief flashes of how quickly they could turn it on in attack, but little came of it – and it was Charles De Ketelaere who came closest on the break as Atalanta did not show a shred of debut final nerves nor any effects from the absence of injured captain Marten de Roon.

Leverkusen swapped defender Josip Stanisic for top scorer Victor Boniface at halftime, but it changed little as both sets of travelling fans continued to create the kind of Aviva Stadium noise matched only by some of the Irish rugby teams’ famous wins or memorable international football nights of years gone by.

Leverkusen had only failed to score once during the run that featured 42 wins in all competitions and 17 goals scored in or after the 90th minute, but there was no such comeback on Wednesday against the resolute Atalanta backline.

“The normality is not to get defeated in the 52nd game. Normally it happens much earlier in the season. It’s been quite exceptional what we have achieved, and we have to be really proud,” Alonso told a news conference.

“We were missing many things for sure. It’s very demanding to play against Atalanta, a lot of dual situations, very physical … It happens, it’s football, today wasn’t our day. They were better.”

Lookman, who completed his hat-trick with another stunning strike into the top corner, this time with his left foot, became the sixth person to score three goals in a major European final and first since Jupp Heynckes’ for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1975 UEFA Cup.

He was flung into the air by his teammates when the final whistle blew, and the Bergamo club ended the 61-year wait since their 1963 Italian Cup triumph.

“It’s one of the best nights of my life,” Lookman, who cradled the match ball as he collected his winners’ medal, told TNT Sports.

“It was an amazing performance from the team. We did it … We made history tonight.”

Al Jazeera

Related story: Nigeria appoint Finidi George to succeed Peseiro

Court in Nigeria adjourns Binance, executives' tax evasion trial to June 14

A Nigerian court has adjourned a tax evasion case against Binance to next month for possible arraignment of the cryptocurrency exchange and two of its executives after a trial stalled on Wednesday, the judge said.

The matter stalled because authorities failed to bring Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance, to court. No reason was given for Gambaryan's absence in court.

On Friday, an Abuja court ruled that Gambaryan could stand trial in the tax evasion case on behalf of Binance.

The CEO of Binance Richard Teng in May accused Nigeria of setting a dangerous precedent after its executives were invited to the country and then detained as part of a crackdown on crypto. The company is challenging the trials on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

Binance and its executives Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is Binance's regional manager for Africa, face four counts of tax evasion, including failure to register with Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service for tax purposes.

Anjarwalla escaped custody in March but is still listed on the case, without indicating he was 'at large' - a factor that could stall trial given that Nigerian law requires that parties must be served before the case can proceed, Gambaryan's lawyer Chukwuka Ikwuazom said.

The revenue service lawyer Moses Ideho said Gambaryan was supposed to have been produced in court by Nigeria's prison service and that he did not know why he was not in court.

Judge Emeka Nwite adjourned the possible arraignment of Binance and Gambaryan to June 14.

In addition to the tax evasion trial, Binance and the executives have also been charged with laundering more than $35 million by Nigeria's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). A money laundering trial will be heard on Thursday.

Binance has said it is working closely with Nigerian authorities following the detention of Gambaryan. 

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters 

Related stories: Nigeria rejects Binance CEO's bribery claim

Generator fumes choke students to death in Nigeria

At least seven university students have died after apparently inhaling fumes from a generator in a music studio in Nigeria's oil-rich Bayelsa state.

The young men are said to have worked late into Monday night and fell asleep in the locked studio with the generator still running.

They are suspected to have suffocated from carbon monoxide emissions but police say investigations are ongoing.

Many businesses and households in Nigeria rely on diesel- or petrol-powered generators because of inadequate power supply.

Six bodies were discovered on Tuesday morning, while one of them, who was found unconscious, was rushed to a nearby hospital but later died, local media reported.

Residents of the area raised the alarm when they peeped through the window of the studio and saw the bodies sprawled on the floor.

Police arrived and cordoned off the area after moving out the bodies in the Amarata area of Yenagoa - the Bayelsa state capital.

“Investigations are being carried out but based on what we have seen, carbon monoxide poisoning due to generator fumes is a possible cause,” police spokesperson Musa Mohammed told the BBC.

The victims were undergraduates from the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) in Amassoma, who were involved in the music recording business to support their education.

This is not the first time generator fumes have killed people in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer.

In 2009, at least 13 family members, including four children, died after inhaling noxious fumes from their power generator while they slept in a remote village in south-eastern Imo state.

Nigerians rely on backup generators to cover about 40% of their electricity needs, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Grid power supplies are often erratic in Nigeria, despite its role as a major oil and gas producer.

President Bola Tinubu recently ordered all government agencies to purchase only vehicles and generators powered by natural gas as part of the country's efforts to transition to cleaner energy and cut high fuel costs.

By Mansur Abubakar & Wycliffe Muia, BBC