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Jyoti Desai, Vivek Gupta emerge Non-Executive Directors at Pan African Towers
Pan African Towers (PAT) Ltd, Nigeria’s leading provider of digital infrastructure has announced the appointment of Jyoti Desai and Vivek Gupta as Non-Executive Directors, with effect from May 21st, 2024.
Jyoti Desai, a former Group Chief Operating Officer of MTN, is a banking and telecoms professional with more than 35 years in the industry. Her achievements in banking (Standard Bank) include driving largescale transformation in the banking industry to streamline operational cost and shifting focus to customer centric,segment-based value propositions.
An experienced Professional with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry as well as fixed and mobile telecoms, she has more than 15 years’ experience in Africa and the Middle East. Jyoti is skilled in startups in emerging markets in the technical, commercial and operational aspects of the telecom business with more than 25 years’ experience in cost and operational transformation which includes digital transformation, large scale project execution, Service Delivery, 3G, LTE, Mobile Communications, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and more recently 5G.
Vivek Gupta is a first-generation entrepreneur, investor and telecoms veteran.
As Founder and Director of iSON Group, Vivek has built a dynamic ecosystem of businesses in IT & ITeS, BPO and Telecom Infrastructure and Services, employing 20,000+ resources, spanning 40 countries across Africa, Asia and Middle East. Vivek became an entrepreneur in 2008 as CEO of Zamil Infra, iSON’s first joint venture with the $8B Saudi conglomerate-Zamil, that specializes in build and managed services for telecom passive infrastructure.
Under his leadership, iSON Group diversified in Renewable energy, Digital infrastructure, Digital Healthcare & Health insurance sector. iSON Group has grown both organically & inorganically in last few years. Vivek spent two decades creating an illustrious career within telecom working for multinationals such as Ericsson and IBM. In 2008, he was recognized by Fortune as “IBM’s All-Star Salesman” for contracting over $5 Billion worth of business and executing high value transformational and ‘out of box’ deals, particularly path-breaking strategic outsourcing deals with Bharti Airtel, Idea & Vodafone that have gone on to become one of the most successful business models for the company.
“As you can see from their profiles, both Desai and Gupta’s extensive global experience, and their contributions to the advancement of telecommunication, technology and infrastructural development in Africa and beyond make them invaluable assets for us at Pan African Towers, especially at this point in time where we are on a continuous improvement drive across our operations within Nigeria, and with a vision to grow our digital infrastructure base,” said Azeez Amida, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Pan African Towers.
It can be recalled that in November last year, Pan African Towers announced a strategic investment from Development Partners International (DPI), a premier investment firm focused on Africa, and Verod Capital (Verod), one of the continent’s leading investment management firms.
DPI and Verod are investing in PAT to fuel its continued growth and will work with management to build on the company’s recent achievements and reaffirm its position as Nigeria’s largest homegrown digital infrastructure provider.
With this appointment, Jyoti Desai and Vivek Gupta joins Adefolarin Ogunsanya, Daniel Adeoye, Marc Stoneham and Azeez Amida on the board of Pan African Towers.
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Air Force Begins Moving Electoral Materials For Edo Guber Election
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has began airlifting the sensitive election materials for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Benin, Edo State, ahead of the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Deputy Director, Public Relations and Information, Group Captain Kabiru Ali.
The operation is part of the NAF’s efforts to ensure the timely and secure delivery of materials necessary for a smooth electoral process.
This development reinforces the collaboration between NAF and INEC to facilitate logistics and ensure a peaceful election in Edo State.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, had previously reiterated NAF’s commitment to providing airlift support for the swift movement of electoral materials during a meeting with INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
This airlift operation is a crucial aspect of NAF’s constitutional responsibility to provide Military Aid to Civil Authority, underscoring the force’s dedication to supporting democratic processes in Nigeria. With the election just days away, the NAF’s timely intervention will help ensure the successful conduct of the governorship elections in Edo State.
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had earlier accused the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, of working with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to hunt the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members and supporters in the state and force them into hiding ahead of September 21 governorship election.
Obaseki, who made the allegation when a delegation led by the former Head of State, Abdusalam Abubakar, met with him to get the governor and his party to sign peace accord, said that the IGP had made nonsense of his (Obaseki’s) role as the chief security officer of the state.
The governor had said that the police chief obtained a warrant to arrest 60 members and supporters of PDP in Edo and that the IGP sent an armed “gang” of policemen who invaded the state, attacked PDP members, shot at a local government chairman and arrested 10 persons who are currently being detained in Abuja without charges.
Asked by the former head of state if his party would sign the peace accord, Obaseki said, “The person who is supposed to enforce the peace accord is now an active participant in creating a destructive environment.
“We are now in a situation where from the Inspector General’s office, there are armed gang policemen who came into Edo State, invaded, arrested and took away PDP members.
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“Dancing gives me abundant joy and peace of mind”-Gov Adeleke
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has given reasons why he loves dancing.
The ‘Dancing Governor’, as he is fondly called, revealed this on Wednesday while responding to a tweet on X.
An X user, @Iwogoke, while praising the governor, stated that Adeleke has been busy fulfilling his electoral promises to the people of Osun State, while his political opponents believe he is only good at dancing.
Iwogoke tweeted, “I’m not flattering you, Your Excellency, your opponents think you can only dance but while they are busy shouting and calling you ‘Dancing Governor’, you are busy fulfilling your electoral promises to the people.”
Responding to the tweet via his verified X account, Adeleke explained that he loves dancing because it brings him joy.
Speaking further on his love for dancing, Adeleke highlighted that while dancing brings him immense happiness, his greater fulfilment comes from delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Osun.
Outlining his administration’s efforts to enhance the state’s infrastructure, he noted that primary health centre rehabilitation is underway in at least 200 out of the 332 wards across Osun State, adding that road construction projects are also progressing in every local government area.
He wrote, “Dancing gives me joy, but delivering on my electoral promises and providing the dividends of democracy to the good people of Osun gives me even greater joy. Rehabilitation of primary health centers is ongoing in at least 200 out of 332 wards, and road construction is progressing in every Local Government!”
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