Business
Aero Wins 2011 Airline Award
Aero Contractors has won the West African Airline of the Year 2011 Award at the West African Tourism and Hospitality Awards (WATHAWARDS) held in Accra, Ghana.
The event recognised organisations and individuals in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry, acknowledging and rewarding creativity among all the participants and operators within the West African region.
Aero was unanimously voted the winner of the West African Airline of the Year Award 2011, for her quality services in the region, and her expansion efforts in 2011. The votes came from countries within the West African region and beyond.
Mr. Adedayo Adesugba, the president of the Awards group said, “The West African Tourism and Hospitality (WATH) Awards 2011 is presented to recognise top industry organisations which had shown skill, creativity, ingenuity and success in West Africa’s growing Tourism and Hospitality industry. It serves as a real opportunity to receive meaningful recognition from their guests, customers in the regional, international travel, and the hospitality industry. Hence, it is no self- congratulatory exercise or best advertiser’s award.”
The Platinum honor won by aero is the elite award category. Whilst the judges commended the other players in the industry, they confirmed that Aero had received the highest number of votes for this category.
Capt. Akin George, Managing Director of Aero said the airline is happy and grateful for having obtained this prestigious award. He said: “We are indeed honored to be named the West African Airline of the year. It is a recognition of our company’s worth, our value-added service and our persistent pursuit of innovation.”
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Business
BVN Enrolments Rise 6% To 67.8m In 2025 — NIBSS
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments rose by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 67.8 million as at December 2025, up from 63.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
In a statement published on its website, NIBSS attributed the growth to stronger policy enforcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expansion of diaspora enrolment initiatives.
NIBSS noted that the expansion reinforces the BVN system’s central role in Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive and digital identity framework.
Another major driver, the statement said, was the rollout of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which allows Nigerians in the diaspora to obtain a BVN remotely without physical presence in the country.
A five-year analysis by NIBSS showed consistent growth in BVN enrolments, rising from 51.9 million in 2021 to 56.0 million in 2022, 60.1 million in 2023, 63.5 million in 2024 and 67.8 million by December 2025. The steady increase reflects stronger compliance with biometric identity requirements and improved coverage of the national banking identity system.
However, NIBSS noted that BVN enrolments still lag the total number of active bank accounts, which exceeded 320 million as of March 2025.
The gap, it explained, is largely due to multiple bank accounts linked to single BVNs, as well as customers yet to complete enrolment, despite the progress recorded.
