Monday Okpebholo, governor of Edo, has suspended the free bus initiative for residents of the state.

The directive comes barely 24 hours after the governor announced the initiative, which he described as one of the cornerstones of his administration.

On Wednesday, Okpebholo approved complimentary transportation services for residents through the Edo city transport service.

Fred Itua, his spokesperson, said in a statement that the service would cover Benin metropolis and the three senatorial districts.

However, in a subsequent statement late Wednesday, Itua said the earlier announcement should be “disregarded”.

“The governor is being briefed on issues surrounding the operation of the state-owned Edo City Transport Service, operators of the free bus services,” the statement reads.

“For now, the free bus services have been placed on hold. A new decision by the Governor will be communicated to the general public.”

VFS Global has announced the opening of Africa’s biggest UK visa application centre (VAC) in Lagos.

The centre commenced operations on November 19 according to a statement.

VFS said Nigerians travelling to the UK can now book appointments to submit their visa applications through VACs located in Abuja and Lagos (Ikeja and Victoria Island).

Marc Owen, director of visa, status and information services at UKVI, said “the opening of our new VAC in Ikeja marks an exciting milestone for UKVI and VFS Global in the provision of a world-class UK visa service here in Nigeria across Africa”.

“In the year to June 2024, we processed more than 225k UK visas for Nigerian nationals across all categories and this new partnership demonstrates our continued commitment to ensuring our visa services are accessible, efficient and meet the needs of all applicants,” Owen added.

“I’m delighted to be here in person as we celebrate this important moment together with our customers and partners.”

Jonny Baxter, British deputy high commissioner, said: “I am delighted to witness the opening of this, the largest visa application centre in Africa. Nigeria remains one of the UK’s most important partners, and we hope that VFS deliver ever improving services for those applying for visas to the UK.”

Alok Singhal, head sub-saharan Africa, VFS Global, said the company is excited to embark “on this new journey”.

“We have enjoyed a long-standing partnership with UK Visas and Immigration since 2003 and look forward to now bringing travellers from Nigeria our best in-class services,” Singhal said.

VFS Global will also provide VAS for the UK in 31 countries across Africa.

The company said customers can now choose from an array of convenient options.

“These include document upload assistance, prime time for application submission outside of business hours, SMS notifications, document checking service, and courier return of the passport once a decision has been made,” VFS Global said.

“VFS Global’s Keep My Passport While Applying service allows customers to keep their passports once their application is submitted and biometrics have been enrolled.

“Customers will only need to re-submit their passport when a decision is reached.

“Customers in Abuja can also submit their UK visa applications from the comfort and safety of their home, office, or any other preferred location with our ‘On Demand Mobile Visa’ service.

“In addition, our Premium Lounge service offers personalised submission experience with dedicated staff members.”

Interested customers can make bookings in advance at https://visa.vfsglobal.com/nga/en/gbr or at the visa application centre. 

VFS Global also said the services are completely optional and have no bearing on the processing timeline and visa application outcome.

Access Bank Plc says it has completed the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank in Angola and Sierra Leone.

In April 2022, Standard Chartered said it would fully exit operations in seven countries in Africa and the Middle East (AME) as part of plans to upscale its businesses.

Standard Chartered, on July 23, 2023, reached an agreement to sell its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa to Access Bank.

Updating investors in a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday, Access Holdings announced the completion of the acquisition of two Standard Chartered Banks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Further to our July 14, 2023 announcement regarding the above subject, Access Holdings Plc (‘Access Holdings’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to announce that its flagship subsidiary, Access Bank Plc (‘Access Bank’ or ‘the Bank’) has completed the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank Angola S.A and Standard Chartered Bank (Sierra Leone] Limited (‘the Acquisitions’),” the company said.

Commenting on the milestone, Roosevelt Ogbonna, managing director and chief executive officer (MD/CEO) of Access Bank Plc and CEO of the Banking Group said the development will expand the company’s earnings.

“We are pleased to have successfully concluded 2 important acquisitions in Angola and Sierra Leone, affording us synergies to strengthen the quality of our earnings from both countries by significantly growing our share of the Corporate and SME banking in the two markets,” Ogbonna said.

“The combinations represent another significant step towards our broader vision of becoming the World’s Most Respected African Bank.”

The statement further said both parties “are working on the completion of transactions that would see Access Bank acquire Standard Chartered Bank’s subsidiaries in Cameroon, the Gambia and its Consumer, Private and Business Banking business in Tanzania”.

Two weeks ago, Access Holdings announced that Access Bank United Kingdom (UK) had signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Afrasia Bank Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Mauritius by assets.