China Construction Firm To Build Railway Assembly Plants In Nigeria

The China Civil Engineering Corporation (CCEC) is to build a railway wagon assembly plants that will produce around 500 wagons for train across the continent, the foundation for the project was laid by Nigeria Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday. The plant located in Kajola, Ogun State is expected to generate about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs and would emerge as the largest private investment by CCECC in sub-Saharan Africa when completed....

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Nigeria Has 2nd Largest Number Of Child Brides —UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s (UNICEF) Fund says Nigeria has the second-largest number of child brides in the world, with 23 million girls and women married out as children in the country, thereby ending their educational strive. Bhanu Pathak, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Nigeria, Bauchi Field Office, stated this in Bauchi State on Saturday at a Youth Talk organised in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the...

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Lagos State Budgets N1.2 Trn For 2020

Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday presented a total budget of N1.16 trillion for 2020 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly. The budget, according to the governor will be funded from a projected internally generated revenue (IGR) of N1.071 trillion, while the deficit component stood at A breakdown of the budget titled, ‘Budget of Awakening’ shared by the Lagos State Government reveals that it will be funded by a projected total revenue...

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Attempt To Amend EFCC Law Meant To Undermine Its Effectiveness

Nigeria's anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused some powerful people plotting to whittle down the power of the commission by sponsoring an amendment to its enabling law. According to the acting chairman of the commission Ibrahim Magu there was a plot to amend the agency’s enabling Act to reduce its powers. He said although some corrupt elements were behind the plot to whittle down the powers of EFCC as...

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Nigeria Senate Excited Over $10 Bln Train 7 NLNG Project

Nigeria plans to increase gas production capacity by 35 percent and invest $10 billion on train seven of the Liquefied natural gas project is being backed by the country's Senate. The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) chief executive Tony Attah was at the Senate to make presentation on the proposed expansion of gas production in the country on Thursday.The Senate Committee on Local Content, headed by Teslim Folarin has urged Nigerians to actively...

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How President Buhari Weakens Osinbajo’s Powers Amid Succession Talk

The relationship between Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is in the spotlight after the president embarked on a private overseas trip without handing over temporary authority to his deputy. While Buhari, 76, transferred power to Osinbajo, 62, during his first term when he traveled abroad for medical reasons, it’s the second time he’s opted not to since being re-elected in February. His chief-of-staff, Abba Kyari,...

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Man With 5 wives, 23 kids offers 3-Year-Old Son For N5 Mln After Selling Daughter

Nasarawa Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested a 42-year-old polygamous suspect for attempting to sell his three-year-old son in Lafia, the state capital. Mohammed Mahmoud-Fari, State Commandant of the NSCDC told newsmen on Thursday in Lafia that the man was arrested on Tuesday following a sting operation by the officers of the command.According to Mahmoud-Fari, the man, who hailed from Obi Local Government Area, had...

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Price Of Cooking Gas May Rise 75%, Marketers Warn

Marketers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), have warned that prices of cooking gas may rise ahead of festive season due to the indiscriminate hike in the price of the product by 75 percent in the last two weeks. Executive Secretary of the association, Bassey Essien, raised the alarm on the arbitrary increase in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.He said within...

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Total Divesting Stake In Nigeria Deepwater Oilfield At $750 Million

French oil giant, Total is seeking to sell its 12.5 percent stake in a major deepwater oilfield off the coast of Nigeria, industry and banking sources said, in an effort to adjust the energy company’s Africa portfolio amid a broad expansion. The stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, which is located some 120 kilometres (75 miles) off the Niger Delta, is valued at up to $750 million, according to two of the sources.Investment bank Rothschild is running...

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President Buhari May Drop Magu, Fowler From EFCC, FIRS~Sources

There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari may not renew the appointment of both the Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and his counterpart at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler. According to a report by Thisday, the President is weighing his options on the two appointees and could replace them as soon as possible.Magu, who has been rejected twice at the point...

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UBA Teams BA To Reward Loyal Customers

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) and British Airways on Wednesday announced a partnership that will create incentives and reward their loyal customers who are cardholders of the lender. According to a statement by the two organisations, the incentives based promotion, which will last for six months from November 2019, will ensure that UBA customers will get discounts when they purchase their British Airways tickets using their UBA cards. The promotion,...

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Nigeria Loses $41.9bn To Crude oil Theft On 10 Years – NEITI

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said that the country lost $41.9 billion to stolen and refined crude oil products in ten years. NEITI disclosed this in its policy brief titled, “Stemming the Increasing Cost of Oil Theft to Nigeria” released in Abuja on Wednesday.A breakdown shows that the nation lost $38.5 billion on crude theft alone, $1.56 billion on domestic crude and another $1.8 billion on refined petroleum...

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Coca-Cola Chooses Recycling Plastic Bottle To Reduce Pollution

Coca-Cola is committed to collecting and recycling plastic bottles rather than switching to aluminum cans as the world’s largest soft drinks maker seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, its chief executive officer has said. Along with multinational rivals including PepsiCo and Nestle, Coca-Cola has started offering recyclable aluminum cans as well as plastic bottles for some water brands as the industry reacts to public outrage over the world’s oceans...

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Don't Call Me 'Your Excellency' Again, Sanwo-Olu says

Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared that he does not want to be addressed as 'His excellency' any longer, rather he would prefer the prefix 'Mr. Governor' hence. In a statement on Wednesday, Sanwo-Olu said he will sign an executive order on Thursday to give official effect to the new title."I wish to be addressed simply as Mr. Governor, a title that will constantly remind me that I have been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to...

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Sexual Predators Liable To 14-Year Jail Term, New Law Before Senate

A new law to criminalise sexual harassment and rape in the tertiary institutions in the country has passed the second reading on the floor of the Senate and has prescribed a 14-year jail term for offenders. The bill, being sponsored by the Senate deputy president Ovie Omo-Agege, is entitled "A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith...

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ICAN Delists, Suspends 25,000 Members Over Financial Issues

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria has delisted 14,337 non-financial members who are owing the association dues for more than three years effective from November 1, 2019. The professional accountancy body, in a statement signed by its registrar John I. Evbodaghe, said it has also suspended 11,240 members who are owing dues covering between six months to three years.“Council has directed that members should be given two weeks grace...

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Huawei’s Founder Says No Buyer Yet For Its 5G Technology

Huawei Technologies Co.’s billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei said there have been no direct talks between the firm and any U.S. company since his offer to license the Chinese giant’s full portfolio of fifth-generation network technology. His comment contradicts earlier reports that the Chinese telecom gear giant is in talks with potential buyers on a sale.“There are no American companies talking to us,” Ren told a panel in Shenzhen moderated by Bloomberg...

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PDP Senator Olujimi Floors APC Adeyeye At Appeal Court

The Court of Appeal has sacked Adedayo Adeyeye as the lawmaker representing Ekiti South senatorial district and asked the electoral body to issue the certificate of returns to Biodun Olujimi, who is the main opposition candidate as the winner. Adeyeye, until the court ruling was the spokesperson for the upper chamber and the senator representing the ruling All Progressive Party (APC).The Court of Appeal declared Senator Biodun Olujimi of the main...

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NCC, Telecoms Firms Get 1-Week Deadline To Crash Data Rate

Nigeria has directed its telecoms regulatory body and industry operators to work out modalities to crash the cost of mobile data for consumers, and they both have one week to carry out the assignment. According to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami on Tuesday, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) must get to work in concert with telecom operators within one week to achieve the reduction plan. Pantami, who...

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Girls As Young As 12 Were Strip-Searched By Australian Police

Girls as young as 12 have been strip-searched by the police in Australia’s most populous state in recent years, according to data released on Wednesday, a revelation that spurred new criticism of a tactic frequently used to hunt for drugs at places like music festivals. The police minister for the state of New South Wales, David Elliott, acknowledged that officers had not always abided by standard procedures in conducting strip searches of children,...

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How Abba Kyari Manipulated Buhari To Act Against Osinbajo's interest

PREMIUM TIMES EXCLUSIVEWhen Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari seeking approval for funds to continue his role in resolving the deadly farmers-herdsmen conflict earlier this year, he did so with little awareness that a middleman would intercept it, moderate it and ultimately discard his role altogether. Yet, that was exactly what transpired after Mr Osinbajo pushed a memo to Mr Buhari earlier this year that was subsequently...

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Ex-NCC Boss Ndukwe Quits Access Bank Board

A former executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Ernest Ndukwe has resigned his position as a director of Nigerian biggest bank by assets Access Bank Plc, the lender announced on Tuesday. Ndukwe joined the board of Access Bank as an Independent Non-Executive Director in January 2013. In a regulatory filing by the bank to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Access Bank Company Secretary Sunday Ekwochi said Ndukwe exit...

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How Nigeria Is Diversifying Economy To Reduce Dependence On Oil

Nigeria is currently making efforts to diversify its economy, focusing mainly on the agriculture, mining, solid minerals and manufacturing sectors, West Africa's country's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said. Osinbajo stated this on Tuesday when he received the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denis Moncada Colindres, and the Nicaraguan Minister for Special Delegation of the President for Africa, Middle East and Arab, Mohamed Farrara Lashtar.“We...

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NDDC Gets New Board, Management As Senate Confirms Buhari Nominees

Nigeria Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of 15 persons to the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), out of 16 names submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari for the parliament's confirmation. The Senate, however, rejected the nomination of Joy Nunieh, nominee for Rivers, following her absence at the screening conducted by Senate Committee on Niger DeltaNunieh ,who currently serves on the interim committee overseeing activities...

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Will Wage Increment Spur Nigeria’s GDP Growth In 2020?, Asks United Capital

Recently, the FGN approved wage increment for civil servants following stand-offs with the Labour Union. By 2020 budget estimates, this will be funded by tax increments and related revenues. One argument for the wage adjustment, despite the funding burden, is the likely net positive impact on output growth. By expenditure approach, Consumption accounts for 60 percent of Nigeria’s GDP, while Government (5.6 percent), Investment (16 percent) and...

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Fire Outbreak At Lagos Balogun Market

A Fire outbreak has been reported at a shopping complex on Martin Street, popularly called Balogun Market on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State. It was learnt that men of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and Lagos State Fire Service have been deployed to put out the inferno.Many traders, our correspondent learnt, had been struggling to salvage some of their goods from the burning building.The cause of the fire and the extent of damage...

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