Kofo Akinkugbe is a Nigerian technology entrepreneur. She is founder and CEO of SecureID, "Africa's leading manufacturer of smart cards and other identity documents". [1]
Kofo Akinkugbe studied mathematics at the University of Lagos, [2] and following it, got her MBA degree from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. [3] After serving in the Nigerian Youth Service Corps, she worked in the banking industry for twelve years, starting with International Merchant Bank, a Nigerian affiliate of the First National Bank of Chicago, and later working for Chartered Bank. [4] She then took up a Chevening Scholarship to study for an MBA at Strathclyde Business School. [5]
Kofo Akinkugbe founded Interface Technologies Limited, a security management and biometrics company, in 1998, SecureID Limited in 2005 and SecureCard Manufacturing in 2012. [5] Her group of companies owns Nigeria's first SIM card production plant, in operation since December 2016. [4] Certified by Visa, Verve and Mastercard, the company exports SIM cards to 21 other African countries. [6]
In 2012, Kofo Akinkugbe won the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship Mature Business Award. [7] In May 2017 acting president Yemi Osinbajo appointed her to the board of the Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council. [8] [9]
In 2022, Akinkugbe was conferred with National award of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by President Muhammadu Buhari. [10]
A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card, is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a pattern of metal contacts to electrically connect to the internal chip. Others are contactless, and some are both. Smart cards can provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing. Applications include identification, financial, public transit, computer security, schools, and healthcare. Smart cards may provide strong security authentication for single sign-on (SSO) within organizations. Numerous nations have deployed smart cards throughout their populations.
Muhammadu Buhari is a Nigerian statesman who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian Army major general, he served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power from the Shehu Shagari civilian government in a military coup d'état. The term Buharism is used to describe the authoritarian policies of his military regime.
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Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo is a Nigerian lawyer, professor, and politician who served as the 14th vice president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he previously served as Attorney General of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and holds the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
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The first inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as the 15th president of Nigeria, and 4th president in the fourth Nigerian Republic took place on Friday, 29 May 2015, marking the start of the first four-year term of Muhammadu Buhari as president and Yemi Osinbajo as vice president. It was the 7th presidential inauguration in Nigeria, and 5th in the fourth republic.
General elections were held in Nigeria on 23 February 2019 to elect the President, Vice President, House of Representatives and the Senate. The elections had initially been scheduled for 16 February, but the Electoral Commission postponed the vote by a week at 03:00 on the original polling day, citing logistical challenges in getting electoral materials to polling stations on time. In some places, the vote was delayed until 24 February due to electoral violence. Polling in some areas was subsequently delayed until 9 March, when voting was carried out alongside gubernatorial and state assembly elections.
ChiefInnocent Ifediaso Chukwuma CON is a Nigerian business magnate and investor. He is the founder and CEO of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Nigeria's first indigenous automobile manufacturing company.
Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed ; born 16 June 1960) is a Nigerian accountant and politician who served as the minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning of Nigeria from 2019 to 2023. She previously served as the minister of finance from 2018 to 2019, and as the minister of State for Budget and National Planning from 2015 to 2018. In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari brought the two ministries under her as one, making her the minister of the Economy.
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Isa Ali Ibrahim popularly known as Isa Ali Pantami, is a Nigerian politician and Islamic cleric, who was minister of Communications and Digital Economy from 2019 to 2023. He also was director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of Nigeria from 26 September 2016 to 20 August 2019, before he was nominated as minister and sworn into office on 21 August 2019.
Muhammadu Buhari's tenure as the 15th president of Nigeria began with his first inauguration on 29 May 2015, and ended on 29 May 2023. A retired general and member of the All Progressives Congress from Katsina State, he previously served as military head-of-state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, when he was deposed in a military coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida. Buhari took office following a decisive victory over incumbent Peoples Democratic Party president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2019 presidential election, he defeated PDP candidate former vice president Atiku Abubakar to win re-election. Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in Nigerian history.
Iba Akosin Habeeb Okunola OFR, MON, FICA is a Nigerian entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who is the chief executive officer of TILT Group, a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Nigeria with diversified investments spanning key business sectors of the African economy, including energy, construction, engineering, agriculture, and technology.
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