News

College Staff, JUPTI, Protest Provost Re-Appointment In Plateau

Published

4 years ago

February 21, 2023

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Provost re-appointment inflames protest in Plateau College of Health Technology, Pankshin.

Protesting workers of the Plateau State College of Health Technology, Pankshin, under the auspices of the Joint Union of Plateau State Owned Tertiary Institutions (JUPTI), have kicked against the re-appointment of Dr. Prince Francis Isah Fwangje as Provost of the College to serve for another four-year term.

Making their position known in an interview with newsmen shortly after their meeting with the State Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Bernard Matur, which also had in attendance all union members, at the College Multi-purpose Hall, the Chairman of the joint union, Comrade Gokir Fwenshinen Ayuba said their decision was based on the several complaints against the Provost whose first tenure has just expired.

According to him, some of the complaints against Dr. Fwangje include lack of judicious use of the funds, as there are not enough lecture halls while facilities in the College are not also encouraging, despite the increase in school fees and other sources of revenue, pointing out also that he hardly comes to the office.

Comrade Gokir Fwenshinen averred that they were also against the appointment of a Provost from outside the College as it was not in conformity with the guidelines for making such appointments which is a case of depriving members of the academia within the system who are not only qualified but capable of occupying such positions.

The joint union Chairman maintained that the Governing Council of the College was not also in support of the re-appointment of the Provost, adding that even though the Hon Commissioner pleaded with the unions to accept the decision of the state government in good faith as the appointment had already been made, but they rejected his plea, which subsequently resulted into some members chanting, ‘ Fwangje must go’ Fwangje must go’ Fwanje must go’, after the meeting.

He, therefore assured that they will still repeat their submission to the Plateau State government with the necessary documents to substantiate the allegations against the Provost, with a view to defending their position on the matter.

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Business

EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos

Published

1 hour ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Okotie-Eboh, Ikoyi, Lagos, have handed over the sum of N140million to an investment and money-lending company, B4 Sail Limited.

The recovery of the funds, handed over in bank drafts by the Acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE I Bawa Usman Kaltungo, followed investigations into an alleged case of obtaining money by false pretence and diversion of funds involving one Jacob Oyebola Esan and companies linked to him.

In a petition submitted on April 20, 2026, B4 Sail Limited alleged that Esan, on behalf of his company, Geo Fields Plc, had approached the company in August 2025 for a N500 Million Naira loan facility to boost his business.

The loan facility, according to the petitioner, attracted an interest rate of 15 per cent per month and had a tenor of one month.
Investigation revealed that Esan, who is the first suspect, had previously obtained other loan facilities from the company, bringing his total loan exposure to N1,065,000,000.00 (One Billion, Sixty-Five Million Naira).
It was also revealed that Esan pledged shares held by him as collateral for the facilities through Calyx Securities Limited, the clearing house for the stocks, with the understanding that the shares would be subject to a lien in favour of B4 Sail Limited and that the company would have the first right of payment upon the sale of the shares.

The lien, investigation revealed, was communicated to B4 Sail Limited through a letter signed by the second suspect, Gbolahan Azeez Bello, Managing Director, Calyx Securities Limited.

Further investigation, however, revealed that the shares pledged as collateral had been sold without the knowledge of the petitioner, resulting in the suspect’s alleged default in repaying the facilities.
Consequently, the outstanding loan and accrued interest had risen to N2,250,500,000.00 (Two Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira).

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Kaltungo stated that the recovery “represents a further step in the Commission’s efforts to ensure that funds and assets recovered in the course of its investigations are appropriately returned to legitimate owners and victims in accordance with due process.

The post EFCC Hands Over Recovered N140m to Loan Firm in Lagos appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M, and is all-in on physical AI

Published

2 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Preport

Four years ago, a startup lab launched that wasn’t quite an incubator, accelerator program, or venture firm. UP.Labs, as it was called then, built startups designed to solve problems for corporate customers such as Alaska Airlines and Porsche, as well as for the outside world.

The firm still has the same mission — albeit with a critical addition to its approach, a new name, and a $100 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners. Vantora, as the firm is now called, continues to work with its corporate customers, including some new ones in industrial manufacturing that it declined to name, and in the oil and gas sector.

But now, it’s more focused on building startups solely for its corporate customers, and not for the broader market.

Founder and CEO John Kuolt told TechCrunch that Vantora is moving toward a “proprietary M&A pipeline.” This means Vantora will still build startups for its corporate partners, which invest in the ventures and serve as their first customers. But those corporate partners now have the option to fold the startups into their core businesses — and essentially keep them to themselves.

That shift has influenced Vantora’s increased focus on physical AI startups, according to Kuolt.

In the past, Vantora would end up spiking ideas that were strategic to its corporate partners, but too sensitive to bring to the outside world.

“We were missing on the biggest value problems, which had the biggest upside because of that,” Kuolt said in a recent interview. “Imagine you’re a Fortune 100 industrial company and you need to retrofit all of your hardware and machines for autonomy. You need to own that, it needs to be sovereign, and you can’t rely on a third party to go do that for you. You need to own that intelligence layer. They’re never going to let us go sell that to their competitors.”

This change has allowed Vantora to “unlock big physical AI use cases,” according to Kuolt, including with its existing customers.

For example, the firm came up with an idea to use AI to advance the business of its partner J.B. Hunt. “They said there is no way you can take this out to the world, and so we passed on it,” he said, adding that this proprietary model now allows Vantora to pursue it.

The firm launched in 2022 with Porsche as its first corporate partner. Since then, Vantora has launched several startups for Porsche and struck deals with Alaska Airlines, J.B. Hunt, Wabash, and TDG, the parent of Ashley Furniture.

In its early days, UP.Labs was tied — although never financially — to venture firm Up.Partners. While Vantora still shares office space with the California-based VC, it is its own entity, Kuolt explained, noting that the $100 million from Silversmith is the company’s first outside investment.

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