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Channel your energy on entrepreneurship, NCDMB boss, tells Nigerian youths
From Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) came a sound advice to youths across the country – channel your energy into entrepreneurship, and you cannot go wrong.
Ogbe, at the inauguration of Yikodeen Company Limited, in Lagos on Tuesday the NCDMB boss, represented by Abayomi Bamidele, Director of Capacity Building, was full of encomiums for the company, describing its journey in Nigeria as one that inspires national pride.
Pledging the agency’s full support for the company, he said NCDMB would ensure its “world-class” products would be utilised in-country, expressing delight at its expanded manufacturing plant, located in Ejigbo, Lagos State – a 120,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility capable of producing 5,000 pairs of safety boots per day.
Ogbe, who also described the inauguration as a landmark event that aligned with the Board’s core mandate to promote local content across Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain and beyond, added: “Enterprises like Yikodeen are at the heart of what we stand for at NCDMB. The ‘D’ in our name stands for Development, and the ‘M’ means Monitoring, which describes our dedicated effort to ensure Nigerian-made products are not just produced but utilized.”
Stressing NCDMB’s full and continued support the company, especially as its products met global standards and were already being adopted in the oil and gas industry, cited the Federal Government’s ‘Nigeria First’ policy, stressing its implications across all sectors.
“The President, through the Bureau of Public Procurement, has directed that all safety footwear procured with public funds must be made in Nigeria. Yikodeen stands to benefit immensely from this directive if strategically positioned.”
Showering profuse praises on the company’s owners, he said: “If indeed he started in 2016, and you take away nine years from his age, you can imagine what he looked like when he started this dream. That ‘shoemaker’ is now a billionaire shoemaker.”
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, represented by Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, lauded the company’s achievement, describing it as symbolic of Lagos’ industrial vision.
His words: “From a modest workshop in 2016, Yikodeen has emerged as the largest footwear manufacturing company in West Africa. This is not just a factory; it is a movement, a demonstration that Lagos can produce, compete, and export globally.”
Sanwo-Olu, who affirmed that the factory directly aligned with the Lagos State Industrial Policy (2025–2030), which seeks to double manufacturing’s contribution to the state’s Gross Domestic Product from 7.5 per cent to at least 15 per cent by 2030, reduce dependence on imports for basic consumer goods, and foster an ecosystem where local industries can thrive through forward and backward value chain integration, added: “Yikodeen is not only producing shoes; it is producing livelihoods, opportunities, and dignity.”
Atunde Shamsideen, founder and CEO, while recounting his entrepreneurial journey, described the venture as a stubborn dream born in 2015, adding: “This vision started in a room, with just 20 pairs of shoes. Today, we produce over 2,000 pairs daily to ISO, ASTM, and Nigerian industrial standards.”
He commended the NCDMB for its pivotal role in his company’s growth, noting how the Board helped facilitate years of product testing and eventual adoption by oil and gas companies like Saipem and Daewoo.
“Their enforcement ensured our products got through. Today, those same companies are our biggest customers. Just two percent of safety boots used in Nigeria is locally manufactured. If we enforce local purchase in the oil and gas and public sectors, we can create over 35,000 jobs.”
Yikodeen’s production ecosystem already engages women in raw material recycling and trains over 1,000 people yearly, according to the CEO. “Buying Made-in-Nigeria goes far beyond commerce; it is about creating value chains, livelihoods, and national dignity,” he added.
The Director for Lagos Operations, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mrs Teresa Ojomo, who represented the Director General, Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, praised Yikodeen’s adherence to national and international safety standards.
“This is not just a facility; it’s a declaration that Nigerian manufacturing can lead globally. SON will continue to support companies like Yikodeen who take quality seriously,” he said.
Okeke underscored SON’s partnership with Yikodeen since 2006, culminating in the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme certification, which assures consumers of quality and safety.
He also cited Yikodeen’s certification under critical standards such as NIS ISO 20346:2004 and ISO 20345:2022, adding, “Standards are not obstacles — they are enablers. They are the bridge between ambition and market access.”
The Ogwa-Olusan of Warri, Chief Brown Mene, representing HRM, Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR, the Olu of Warri, described Yikodeen as a beacon of hope for Nigeria.
He likened the company to a stubborn vision that refused to be beaten by headwinds, proving that “Nigeria is on an upward trend.”
He also urged the team to remain visionary and expand globally, assuring that “the name of Yikodeen will blaze bright and proud.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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