Dangote Cement Moves To Boost Capacity To 62 MT, Eyes Africa Expansion

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote is looking to expand cement capacity on the continent by 29 percent to 62 million tons, entrenching his flagship company’s position as the the continent’s biggest producer of the construction material. The billionaire plans to add six million tons in Nigeria next year, taking volume in Dangote Cement Plc’s home market to 35 million tons, he said in interview on Bloomberg Television. The rest of the expansion is...

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Court Sends Sowore Back To State Secret Police Custody After Arraignment

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the remand of the publisher of Sahara Reporters and convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, and his co-defendant, Olawale Bakare, in the custody of the Department of State Security Service (DSS), pending the hearing of their bail application. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu fixed Friday for the hearing of their bail application.Sowore was arraigned on seven counts of treasonable felony and other...

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14 Banks Yet To Account For Nigeria's $7 Bln Forex Reserves

Thirteen years after ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo handed over $7 billion, a portion of the country's external reserves to 14 banks to manage, the money is yet to return to the nation's coffer. The regulatory bank had in 2006 under the leadership of Soludo allocated a portion of the country's external reserves to the banks and their global asset managers to manage in his bid to diversify the nation forex buffer...

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Pastor Bakare, Southern, Middle Belt Leaders, Seek Update On Osinbajo New Status

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) are demanding that the Federal Government should brief Nigerians on the reasons for stripping Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of some of his statutory responsibilities. The forum said it was following with keen interest developments in the presidency in the past few days.In a statement on Sunday, leaders of the forum, Chief Edwin Clark (South South); Chief Ayo Adebanjo (South West); Chief John Nwodo...

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Atiku Says All Is Not Well With Nigeria

Atiku Abubakar, ex-Nigeria Vice President and candidate of the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23, 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday said all is not well with Nigeria. In his message on Nigeria’s 59th Independence Anniversary, he said the nation’s founding fathers could never have fathomed that 59 years after birthing the largest black nation on earth, Nigerian would be facing a situation where free press is...

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Massive Outbreak Of Infections Hit Queens College Lagos, Parents Withdraw Children From School

Just two years after three pupils of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos, died from water-borne infections, another related disease has broken out in the school. Our Correspondent gathered from some parents on Monday that no fewer than 700 pupils had taken permission to go home on health grounds.The school’s sickbay was said to be overcrowded with pupils, as many were also laid on benches to create extensions.The PUNCH learnt that more and more parents...

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More Than 300 People, Mostly Children, Found In Chains In Nigeria's Kaduna

More than 300 captives, most of them children and many in chains, have been rescued from a building in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, a police spokesman said on Friday. All the children seen by a Reuters reporter at the scene were boys aged from around five to their late teens. Some had their ankles manacled together and others were chained by their legs to large metal hubcaps.Police said the building housed an Islamic school and that seven...

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Nigeria Secret Police Blocks Court Bailiff From Serving Sowore Court Release Order

Nigeria secret police, the Department of State Service (DSS) twice on Friday blocked a bailiff of the Federal High Court in Abuja from effecting a fresh service of the court order for the release of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest Omowole Sowore. It was learnt that the bailiff first arrived the DSS headquarters in Abuja, where he (Sowore) had been held since August 3, 2019, around 9.30 a.m. on Friday, but was asked to return by 12 noon when...

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No Cold War In The Presidency -APC, Govs.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governors have dismissed recent allegations of a cold war within the Presidency as mere rumour and another scheme of opposition mischief makers. There have been media reports and allegations in the political space of a festering sour relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the last few days, indicating that handlers of the president had demanded the resignation...

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Nigerian Govt. Spent 1.5 Trn Naira On Power Sector In Two Years

Nigeria has spent about 1.5 trillion naira in intervention fund to stabilise the power sector in the last two year, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said, leaving Nigerians wondering on the impact such investment has produced on the sector. Osinbanjo said this at a power sector roundtable hosted by Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) at its Kainji Hydropower Plant in Niger State on Tuesday, The Vice President who was represented by the...

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Senate Finance Committee Gets A Week To Consider 2020-2022 MTEF, FSP

Nigeria's upper legislative chamber has sent the government 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) documents to its Committee on Finance and give it one week to conclude work on the paper. The committee headed by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Lagos West) was given one week to come up with a report.The Senate had on Wednesday received an executive communication from President Muhammadu Buhari...

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UK Judge Grants Nigeria Right Of Appeal On $9 Bln P&ID Case

A United Kingdom judge has granted Nigeria request for a stay of execution on the judgment that would have allowed a private firm to try to seize more than $9 billion in assets from the country. The Judgment, which came with a condition will enable Nigeria to seek to overturn the early judgment which allows Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) access to Nigeria assets worth $9 billion.The court, however, ordered Nigeria to pay $200...

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Economic Advisory Council: Nigeria’s Buhari Courts Market Advice He May Not Heed

A new Economic Advisory Council established by President Muhammadu Buhari could usher the reforms needed to breathe life into Nigeria’s economy during his second term.That is if the 76-year-old former military ruler listens to them. Buhari named an eight-member Economic Advisory Council last week to replace a broader team of bureaucrats led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who under the constitution is the government’s economic policy coordinator.Business...

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AfDB Plans $500 Mln Green Energy Support Scheme By 2020

The continent major development lender, African Development Bank (AfDB) said it plans to roll out $500 million green baseload scheme by next year aimed at scraping coal power stations across Africa and switch to renewable energy. President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina said the scheme is set to yield five billion dollars of investments that would help African countries’ transition from coal and fossil fuel to renewable energy. Adesina also pointed...

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African Free Trade Stumbles With Nigerian Blockade Of Benin

Nigeria and Benin are embroiled in a trade dispute two months after signing an agreement to free up the movement of goods and services in Africa. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the partial closing of its boundary with Benin last month to curb smuggling of rice and other commodities.  The blockade has had a ripple effect across West Africa, with factories and traders struggling to import key raw materials and having to use alternative...

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Nigeria To Propose 8.7 Trln Naira Budget For 2020 Fiscal Year

Nigeria may propose a total of 8.7 trillion naira budget for its 2020 fiscal year compared with 8.9 trillion naira approved for the current year. According to the content of the 2020-2022 MTEF/FSP documents present to the National Assembly by the federal government on Wednesday, the 2020 budget would be pegged on $55 per barrel benchmark, while the country is expected to produce 2.1 million barrels of oil per day in the course of the fiscal year. The...

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PZ Cussions Sees Weak Consumer Confidence Impacting Bottom Line

PZ Cussons Plc said on Wednesday it expects conditions in its key markets to remain challenging for the rest of the first half, as the cosmetics and soap maker reported declining first-quarter revenue in Asia-Pacific and Africa. The maker of Imperial Leather soap and Carex handwash said its key markets continue to be affected by weak consumer confidence, with the Nigerian economy remaining depressed, uncertainty in the UK, and highly competitive...

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BREAKINVIEWS: Nigeria Is Right To Fight $9 Bln Arbitration Claim

As ironies go, it’s up there. Nigeria, spiritual home to the wealthy African prince internet scam, has been relieved of $9 billion by a dead Irishman.  Yet the case is no laughing matter for Africa’s most populous nation – which faces a crippling economic bill – or the UK-based arbitrators whose ruling looks legally sound but practically ridiculous. Reopening the case to hear the government’s credible but belated claims of fraud is the common-sense...

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Stop Fixing Federal Roads Again, President Buhari Warns State Governors

State governments which hitherto fix federal roads and thereafter seek refund will no longer enjoy such as President Mohammadu Buhari has said he would no longer refund to states such expenditures. According to the minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, the president has asked state governors not to fix federal roads if they will eventually demand refund for the rehabilitation.The Minister made this clarification in Abuja when he appeared...

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Mothers Who Have Baby Through C-section 'Should Not Give Birth Naturally Next Time To Avoid Risky Complications'

Mothers who try to give birth naturally after having a C-section are more at risk of serious complications, scientists have warned. Researchers say mothers are safer choosing another Caesarean to avoid harming herself and the baby.Oxford University academics tracked more than 74,000 births of mothers who had previously had a C-section. Results showed those who planned a vaginal birth for their next child had higher odds of needing a blood transfusion...

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President Buhari Reshuffles Cabinet, Redeploys Keyamo, Alasoadura

President Mohammadu Buhari has effected a minor cabinet reshuffle, a month after he inaugurated his ministerial team with the redeployment of his former campaign spokesperson, Festus Keyamo to the ministry of Labour and Employment. The announcement made by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation noted that Keyamo was moved from the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs to replace Tayo Alasoadura as the Minister of State...

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Nigeria’s Central Bank Wants To See Inflation At 9% Before Mulling Rate Cut

* Central bank governor says lower rates may only come in 2020The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is targeting inflation at 9 percent or below before considering cutting its key rate, and that will likely only happen next next year, its governor Godwin Emefiele has said. “How soon do I see interest rates coming down? I’m not seeing that coming this year,” Emefiele said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in London on Tuesday. “During the course of 2020...

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Why TraderMoni Won AfDB Prize For Financial Inclusion~ Osinbajo

Nigeria's government microcredit scheme to low-income traders is aimed at promoting financial inclusion remain key to the actualization of the promise by President Muhammadu Buhari to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday. Osinbajo told bankers at the opening session of the 2019 Annual Conference of Chartered Institute of Bankers that “we are working to lift Nigerians out of poverty and set them...

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South Africa Raises $5 Billion In Its Biggest-Ever Eurobond Sale

South Africa raised $5 billion in its biggest Eurobond sale to date, offering returns that compensated investors for increasing fiscal problems. The deal on Monday was split between a $2 billion 10-year tranche and $3 billion of 30-year notes, yielding 4.85% and 5.75% respectively. The government had planned a $4 billion deal, but issued more after the transaction was 2.7 times oversubscribed, it said in a statement.Average yields on South Africa’s...

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Court Orders Secret Police To Release Sowore

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, and publisher of Sahara Reporters Omoyele Sowore, from the custody of the Department of State Service, DSS. Justice Taiwo Taiwo said the activist should be released to his lawyer, Femi Falana, who is to produce him for arraignment whenever he is required.Falana had told the court that since the detention order has expired and application...

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Nigeria Investigates Truecaller Over Violation Of Users' Privacy Rights

Nigeria has commenced investigations into the activities of Truecaller App over alleged violation of the privacy rights of Nigerians. According to the National Information Technology Development Agency, said members of the public are being informed of the investigation, in line with section 6(f) of the NITDA Act, which empowered the agency to render advisory services on all information technology matters.The agnecy Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa...

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Atiku Goes To Supreme Court Over Tribunal Judgement On Presidential Election

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the February 23 election has approached the Supreme Court over the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal judgment of September 11. Both Atiku and PDP are seeking the nullification of the Tribunal's judgment which declared that President Muhammadu Buhari was valid. On September 11, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) had refused to grant Atiku and his...

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Why UN Appoints Dangote, Adesina To Battle Global Malnutrition

Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, and the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwunmi Adesina have been appointed by the United Nations (UN) as part of 27 global leaders to combat malnutrition across the world. The appointment was made by António Guterres, the secertary-general of the United Nations, as part of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement committed to fighting malnutrition in all its forms.According to a statement...

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Supreme Court Rules Against Boris Johnson, Says Suspending Parliament Illegal

The United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson was humiliated in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as judges ruled unanimously he illegally prorogued Parliament in an 'extreme' move to 'frustrate' debate on Brexit with John Bercow grabbing power and pledging to recall MPs with the PM still away in New York. In an eviscerating judgment President Lady Hale said the Prime Minister's decision to ask the Queen to shut down the Commons for five weeks...

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