University Of Lagos Offers Admission To 9,000 Candidates

The University of Lagos has offered admission to 9,000 candidates to study for various programme at the undergraduate level for the 2019/2020 academic session, officials of the university has disclosed. “At least 9,000 candidates would be given placement into the university for the various undergraduate programmes.“For any candidate to be considered for admission in our institution, he or she must have scored 12 points,’’ the official said.According...

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NCC Warns On Hazardous Phone In Circulations

Nigeria telecoms regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned Nigerians that using sub-standard telecom devices could adversely affect their health.Head of NCC, Umar Danbatta said at a sensitisation workshop for stakeholders that using sub-standard and counterfeit telecom devices was dangerous to human health and safety.The workshop had as theme: “Hazardous Effect of Non Type Approved Handsets and E-Waste: Impact on Quality of Service and E-Waste.”Represented by Mr Clem Omife , NCC’s Assistant Director, Zonal Operation, Danbattta...

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MTN Nigeria Launches Money Transfer Service

Nigeria’s biggest telecoms firm MTN has launched a mobile money transfer service, targeting those without bank accounts, and said on Thursday it plans to become a payment services bank once it obtains approval from the central bank.The success in east Africa of M-Pesa, the mobile money unit of Kenya’s Safaricom, has convinced investors and the industry that financial services are the next growth area for the telecoms sector, where prices for basic services are falling.Nigeria said last year it would allow telecom companies to provide banking services,...

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EFCC begins probe of OBJ’s $16bn power project, arrests 4

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday detained two top officials of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), the company which supervised execution of the $16 billion failed power projects.The officials are Head of Finance Marvel Emefiele and Head of Compensation Eze M. C. Odigbo.They are expected to account for the N850 million earmarked as compensation to communities where components of the power project were sitedOthers in EFCC’s net are Managing Director of Pivot Engineering Mr. Richard Ayibiowu and the Managing...

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Nigeria gets 50 million Euro From EU To Rebuild North east

Nigeria has signed a €50 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the European Union (EU) to help support most vulnerable communities in northeast part of the country.EU Commissioner for International Development, Neven Mimica and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama signed the MOU in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari who is in Japan to take part in the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), holding in Yokohama.The region has been in the throes of a decade-long fight against Boko Haram insurgency,...

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Nigeria Unit Of Oil Firm Eni, Oando Discovers New Oil, Gas Reserves

Italian oil major Eni said Wednesday that Nigerian subsidiary Agip has found lots of gas and oil in an onshore facility in the Niger delta, raising potential output in Africa’s leading oil exporter. The Eni-operated NAOC, which is majority-owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), with minority stakes held by Oando and Eni, made the discovery in the Obiafu-Obrikom fields, a statement said.“The find amounts to about 1 trillion...

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President Buhari Accuses Iran Of Supporting Islamisation Of Nigeria

Nigeria has accused Iran of providing support for the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky to establish an Islamic State in the country.The government also said the cleric had the full support of the Iranian government to achieve this aim.The government made these claims in a counter-affidavit it filed against IMN’s motion challenging the Federal High Court’s order of July 26 proscribing the group.Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court who issued the proscription order, on Wednesday,...

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EFCC arrests three lawyers for alleged N20m property fraud

Nigeria's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has picked up lawyers for allegedly defrauding one Adetunji Adedoyin, a pastor of his property worth 20 million naira. The accused lawyers are Salman Rafiu, Sulyman Abaya and Saka Hammed.Other alleged accomplices of the lawyers on the run include Olarewaju Aluko and Mr. Na’ Allah Suyuti.Adedoyin (petitioner) alleged that the suspects fraudulently obtained a court order...

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Nigeria Approves New Spectrum For 5G Service Deployment

Nigeria has approved dedicated spectrums to test run 5G mobile deployment in the country, the chief executive of the telecommunications industry regulator said on Tuesday.Umar Danbatta head of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), says the commission has approved dedicated spectrums for the trial of Fifth Generation services.Danbatta said this in his opening remarks at the first Digital African Week organised by the International Telecommunications Union in Abuja on Tuesday.He noted that the commission was prepared to jump-start the trial of...

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Nigeria Vows Not To Pay $9 Bln UK Judgment Debt On Failed Gas Project

Nigeria on will not relinquish assets to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands following a court ruling related to a $9 billion gas project dispute, Lai Mohammedinformation minister has said. Mohammed - addressing journalists alongside the finance minister, attorney general and central bank governor in the capital, Abuja, said the country would not relinquish any assets."The federal government is taking all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the UK Court, to seek a stay of execution of the decision, to defend its rights and to...

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Nigeria Oil Production Output Increases To 2.2 Mbpd In Aug Despite Disruptions

Nigeria’s oil output including condensates increased to around 2.2 million barrel per day by the first week of August, compared with 1.92 mbpd a year ago, S&P Global Platts reports shown. The latest monthly data from the NNPC showed that average production for the month of May peaked at 1.94mbpd.The country’s crude and condensate production has risen sharply in the past six months due to the start-up of the 205,000 b/d deepwater Egina field...

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Nigerians To Pay More For United States Visa

Nigerians seeking to obtain travel visa to the United States (US) would have to pay more effective from August 29, 2019. The US government on Tuesday announced a revised visa reciprocity scheduled for Nigeria.Consequently, beside the normal visa fee, Nigerians are expected to pay for each visa issued.The fee is however for those whose visa applications are approved.In a statement, the embassy explained Visa issuance fees are implemented under the...

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Nigeria’s Problem Is Revenue, Not Debt — Finance Minister

Nigeria does not have a debt problem, despite misgivings amongst experts over the country’s rising debt profile, Finance minister Zainab Ahmed has said. Ahmed, who decried what she termed ‘insensitivity’ concerning the country’s debt situation, said what Nigeria had at the moment was a revenue problem rather than debt challenge.She spoke at a meeting with the management staff of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning on Monday.The minister...

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Atiku Says Buhari Plans To Frame Obasanjo

Ex-Vice President and presidential candidate of the main opposition party, Atiku Abubakar on Monday claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was desperately plotting to frame former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a bid to silence him. In a statement by his media office, Atiku alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was feeding members of the media with deliberate falsehoods in an attempt to cause disaffection...

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Kaduna Govt To Start Paying New Minimum Wage By Sept

The Kaduna State government has approved payment of the new national minimum wage and consequential adjustments to civil servants with effect from September 1, 2019, a statement by the media aide to the governor has said.Muyiwa Adekeye, media aide to Nasir el-Rufai, governor of the state said the decision to start paying the new wage was taken at an executive council meeting chaired by Hadiza Balarabe, deputy governor.Balarabe was quoted as saying the development shows the commitment of el-Rufai to strengthen the public service and its capacity...

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CBN sets limits for banks on non-performing loans

Nigeria's central bank has set new limits for banks and other financial institutions on non-performing loans to reflect in their books, the regulator said. The bank disclosed this in its exposure draft on prudential guidelines to microfinance banks, Deposit Money Banks, Mortgage refinance companies, finance companies, and Development Finance Companies.For the Mortgage Refinance Corporation, it stated, “The maximum ratio of non-performing loans to...

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VAT Charges On Online Transactions Kick-Off Jan. 2020

Nigeria will begin to impose Value Added Tax (VAT) on online transactions, both domestic and international, with effective from January 2020, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).Babatunde Fowler, Executive Chairman of FIRS said that a lot of countries in the world had identified Nigeria as a good market and many of them were into online businesses, adding that there was the need to tap the potentials to generate more revenue for the country. “We...

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9Mobile Gets $230 Mln Loans From AFC To Fund Debt, Operations

Nigeria's fourth biggest telecommunications firm 9mobile has obtained a $230 million credit facility from the Africa Finance Corporation )AFC) to refinance debt and improve its operations.According to the telecoms firm, the facility will be used to honour existing debts, finance its costs and invest in growth.9mobile, formerly called Etisalat Nigeria, is the country’s fourth-biggest telecoms operator and was operated by Abu Dhabi-based telecoms firm Etisalat until the local company defaulted on its debt, forcing lenders to step in to find new investors.Competition...

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Court Orders Govt To Renew Shell’s OML 11 For 20 Years

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ordered the Minister of Petroleum Resources to grant the renewal of the Oil Mineral Lease 11 to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria for 20 years. Justice Taiwo Taiwo, in his judgment delivered on Shell’s suit, ruled that renewal would be for 20 years and not 30, as requested by the company. ‎The suit by Shell was instituted against the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Minister of State. President Muhammadu Buhari doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resourc...

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Senator Melaye Eyes Appeal Court To Uphold Mandate

Senator Dino Melaye said on Friday that he will appeal the judgment of the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal which nullified his election as senator representing Kogi West in the Nigerian Senate.“On Tribunal judgment: No cause 4 alarm at all. Even if it went my way they will still go to the Appeal Court. Our mandate cannot be taken.“We will get judgment at the Appeal Court. There will be fresh election in Kogi West bc I will be Governor. For my Senate mandate no shaking,” Melaye said in a tweet.It would be recalled that Melaye was declared...

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Nigerian Stocks Rally To 3-Week High As Investors Eye Reforms

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) major index gained the most on Friday to a three-week high after President Muhammed Buhari’s inauguration of cabinet ministers, boosting hopes for reforms that could lift growth for Africa’s biggest economy, traders said. The stock market rose for the third session on Friday to 27,830 point, up 0.73 percent.Analysts said the rise was a relief rally and that half-year corporate results, particularly from banks, were...

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Nigeria's GTBank Seeks Expansion Into East Africa Market

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc Is mulling expansion into the Eastern African market through acquisition of existing lender, its chief executive officer said. According to Segun Agbaje, CEO of GTBank, the country's biggest lender by market value seeks to expand on the rest of the continent.The company, which already has offices in 10 countries outside Nigeria, is looking to East Africa for growth, Agbaje said.Guaranty Trust Bank, or GTB, already has operations...

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Ipaye, Ojudu, Odion, Ngelale, Others To Work For VP Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the re-appointment of Mr. Ade Ipaye as Deputy Chief of Staff to the President. Mr Ipaye who was former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State works from the Office of the Vice President.The President has also approved the re-appointment of Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, Special Adviser to President on Economic Matters; Mrs Maryam Uwais who retains her position as Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programme as well as Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to the President on...

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Nigerians To Pay More For Electricity Consumption

Electricity consumers are expected to pay more for power supply in Africa's largest economy as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved a new tariff payable by power consumers across the country.From next year, electricity consumers in the country will have to pay an additional sum of between N8 and N14 for every kilowatt-hour of energy provided by their respective distribution companies, according to document from the regulator of the power sector.The document also revealed the actual cost-reflective tariff for each of...

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How Battle For 2023, Cabal Influence Ministerial Allotment

President Mohammadu Buhari on Wednesday swore in his 43-member new cabinet into office as he as assigned portfolio to them with sources claimed that positioning for the presidential election in 2023 influenced the choice of who gets what in the new federal executive.At the swearing-in of the new cabinet, President Buhari directed the newly sworn-in ministers to channel all their meeting requests to him through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.Sources said the Aso-Rock cabal, headed by the chief of staff, Kyari practically dictated the assignment...

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