Business
Senegal To Name New Coach In March
Ex-Burkina Faso coach
Paul Put is among the names to be the coach of Senegal, who will announce their decision on 5 March, according to Tidesports source.
The post has been vacant since Alain Giresse quit after a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations.
Senegal Football Federation president Augustin Senghor said several coaches, mostly Europeans, had applied.
“We are not restricting ourselves, so the new coach could be Senegalese or foreign,” he said.
Belgian Put had three years in charge of Burkina Faso and led them to the final of the 2013 Nations Cup, but suffered a disastrous tournament in Equatorial Guinea this year as the team finished bottom of their group.
Another ex-Burkina Faso coach Paulo Duarte is believed to have made known his interest in the Senegal post, along with former Guinea coaches Michel Dussuyer and Patrice Neveu.
Other names linked to the post include French quartet Jose Anigo, Frederic Antonetti, Luiz Fernandez and Jean-Pierre Papin, as well as Michel Pont from Switzerland.
Amara Traore, who was in charge of the Teranga Lions between 2009 and 2012, leads and interested local cast, including former national team captain and current U-23 coach Aliou Cisse, Lamine Dieng and Oumar Diop.
Aliou Cisse, who played for English clubs Birmingham City and Portsmouth between 2002 and 2006, has openly expressed his desire to lead the 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists.
Senegal failed to qualify from their group in Equatorial Guinea.
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Agency Gives Insight Into Its Inspection, Monitoring Operations
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.
