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Nigerian Army holds inaugural ceremony for prospective Army Warrant Officers

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The Nigerian Army on Thursday 13th October held an inaugural ceremony for deserving officers who are set to be promoted from Master Warrant Officers to Army Warrant Officers.

The 2022 Master Warrant Officers promotional training was held at the instance of the 3Div NDLEA Training School Parade ground, Jos Plateau State, with Master Warrant Officers, numbering 401 (four hundred and one) were drawn from various military bases across the country and are officers who have served in Nigerian Army for over 33years.

Speaking on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, the Chief of Admin of the Nigerian Army, O.W Ali welcomed all participants to the 2022 Master Warrant Officers promotion to the Army Warrant Officers promotion board which he noted was well deserved.

He appreciated the Chief of Army Staff for providing the leadership and enabling environment for the event to take place in Jos, Plateau State, and also thanked the General Officer Commanding 3 Division/Operation Safe Heaven the host formation for the logistic and administrative arrangements put in place to ensure a seamless and hitch-free exercise.

In his remark, Major General O.W Ali described the promotion exercise being carried out as part of the requirement for promotion to the enviable rank of Army Warrant Officer.

“Promotion to this rank gives you an opportunity to reach the peak of your career in the Nigerian Army and therefore a reflection of what you have learned and the experience you have acquired over the course of your career. By virtue of your presence here, you have spent a minimum of 32 years in service which is one of the criteria”

He added that the officers who would be promoted would go through several processes and activities such as medical tests, written tests, Weapons tactics tests, and oral interviews amongst others.

While declaring the ceremony open he said all participants were chosen based on integrity, character and commitment as this has seen them come this far over the 30 years they have been in the army.

Ali cautioned the officers not to over-exert themselves during the physical exercise, emphasizing that a high standard of discipline is expected of them and also stated that the Chief Of Army Staff, has also ordered a special token to be delivered to them as part of his appreciation for their diligence.

The officers were seen in high spirits as they carried out various promotional tests which will see them promoted to the rank of Army Warrant Officer.

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Celebrating Sunny Adeda: Alpha Choice Boss and Insurance Icon Hits 70th Milestone

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The sounds of celebrations and thanksgiving will rent the air; anniversary chants will serenade the atmosphere in celebration of a great and charming personality, Mr. Sunny Oberuomor Adeda, today August 12th in Lagos.

Sunny, as he is fondly called by close pals and colleagues is a man of amiable character, despite possessing an intimidating built and gait. Sunny is a man of integrity, mixes freely with everyone, even though he is a man of high societal status.

All roads will lead to the house of Sunny Adeda as he clocks 70 years on earth.

Sunny is a hard working man who has indeed paid his dues. In the corporate world, he is not shy to take up responsibilities. His hard working nature propelled him into the insurance industry, where he became a seasoned insurance executive with a distinguished 30 years career marked by progressive leadership and strategic vision.

He rose through the ranks in the insurance sector, hitting the managerial level, making his management capacity second to none.

As he rose through the ranks, he acquired people’s skills, technical and underwriting prowess, culminating into him being an expert in the corporate world. Despite his rise, he remained a man of accountability.

Sunny is a hands-on insurance professional, his years in the industry have seen him deeply involved in policy evaluation, policy implementation, marketing and strategic policy formulation, product designs and business executions while supervising various technical and marketing directorates.

He possesses a demonstrable record of effectively leading and mentoring high performing teams, consistently delivering results in areas such as Life Assurance, Aviation, Oil and Gas, as well as public sector insurance penetration.

His insurance experience spanned over 30 years and across key areas of risk management practice including underwriting, marketing and brokerage operations.

His Professional Journey

With a distinguished career spanning over three decades, Sunny brings with him a track record defined by technical depth, commercial acumen, and strategic foresight.

He is currently MD/CEO of Alpha Choice Insurance Brokers Limited.

He joined NICON Insurance as a Graduate trainee in October 1980 and worked in various technical departments.

He was appointed Executive Director (Technical) 20th October 1999 to July 2006. He oversaw the transformation of the company into one of Nigeria’s most respected risk management and insurance firms. However, he voluntarily retired from the Corporation at the age of 50 years.

Sunny has led start-ups, pioneered projects, and driven market expansion.

He was Deputy General Manager of NICON Insurance (Lagos Office); Assistant General Manager (Lagos Zonal Office); Assistant General Manager (Aviation); Senior Manager (Aviation); Assistant Manager (General Accident); as well as Assistant Manager (Life).

His governance experience also includes service on the board of NAL Merchant Bank plc, 2000/2001; NICON Hotels Ltd, 1999/2005; College of Insurance and Financial Management, 2008-2009; Aderesa Nigeria Limited (Tega Farms); Alpha Resa Hotels Limited.

He obtained a B.Sc (Hons) Biology, from the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba

His professional qualifications include Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute – London (ACII); Fellowship by Examination of the Chartered Insurance Institute London – FCII; Elected fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria – FIIN.

He was the President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria 2009 – 2011; Elected a Council Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) – 1999; Chairman – Mandatory Continuing Professional Development  Committee (MCPD); Member – Fellowship Assessment Committee; Chairman – Accreditation Committee, Office Representative Committee; Pioneer Chairman College of Insurance and Management studies (Chairman) 2008; Member Nigerian Institute of management; Member institute of Directors (IOD).

A commitment to continuous learning is exemplified by his participation in executive development programs locally and internationally at institutions such as Upstream Energy Insurance Module 2011 at JLT Academy, London; Chief Executive & Directors Course, Management School, London -2005; Executive Management Development Course, South Africa –  April 2000; Life Insurance Course at the Swiss Insurance Training Centre, Zurich – 1988; Munich Reinsurance Course, Munich, Germany – 2001; Computer Appreciation Course; Budgeting and Budgetary Control; Financial Management; Human Resources Management; Action Centered Leadership; Total Quality Management; Chartered Insurance Institute of London Annual Conference; Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria – Seminars and Conferences.

He belongs to Ikoyi club 1938, Country club 1949 Ikeja, IBB international golf club Abuja, Fountain of Hope International, as well as ENI Club.

His hobbies are Table Tennis, Swimming, Reading and Music. He is married with four children and hails from Delta State.

The post Celebrating Sunny Adeda: Alpha Choice Boss and Insurance Icon Hits 70th Milestone appeared first on Business Today NG.

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AI code-testing startup Blacksmith’s valuation jumps almost 10x in less than a year

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As AI makes coding dramatically faster, the next big challenge in software development is testing and validating all that code. Blacksmith has raised a new $45 million round to capitalize on that shift.

The Series B, led by Peak XV Partners, values Blacksmith at $550 million, up from the $60 million valuation it was assigned when it raised a $10 million Series A less than a year ago. Existing investors GV and Y Combinator also participated, bringing the startup’s total funding to $58.5 million.

Founded in 2024, Blacksmith helps companies build, test, and verify software before it reaches production. The startup now serves more than 5,000 customers, including Mercury, Supabase, Clerk, Ashby, and Expensify, up from more than 700 customers less than a year ago, co-founder and CEO Aditya Jayaprakash said in an exclusive interview.

The rise of AI coding tools such as Cursor, OpenAI’s Codex, and Anthropic’s Claude Code has made it significantly easier for software teams to generate code, but the quality of AI-generated code is not a given.

“Validating code is still a bottleneck, and it’s an even bigger bottleneck because people are writing even more,” Jayaprakash said.

Blacksmith started as a cloud provider for continuous integration (CI) workloads, helping companies run the software builds and tests needed to validate code before it reaches production. The startup has since broadened its platform with Codesmith, an AI coding agent that can automatically fix failed code checks.

Jayaprakash said Blacksmith reached a $10 million annualized revenue run rate with just 10 employees and has since grown its workforce to about 30 and grown revenue to “tens of millions of dollars.” He declined to provide a specific updated ARR figure, though did say some of its largest customers now spend more than $1 million a year on the platform.

While that appears to be solid and fast progress, Blacksmith is operating in a crowded market. Its key competitors include GitHub Actions, Cursor Automations, validation capabilities baked into Codex and Claude Code, numerous other startups, and AI code-testing services offered by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Jayaprakash said his startup is competing on the speed of testing code as well as affordability.

Looking ahead, Jayaprakash said that Blacksmith plans to expand into a broader suite of coding tools, aiming to help developers write, validate, and merge software faster.

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