Businesses
Police recruit 503 special constables in Nasarawa
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has engaged 503 Special Constables (SCP) for community policing in Nasarawa State, to enhance intelligence gathering in tackling insecurity and crime. Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 4, Mr. Jonah John, made the disclosure on Monday in Lafia, at a one-day sensitisation campaign on community policing in Nasarawa. According to him, 49 of the 503 recruited SCP have successfully undergone training and posted to their various communities in the state to serve. The AIG added that 454 of the recruited SCP were currently undergoing training at the police Zone 4 Headquarters in Makurdi, Benue State. Speaking at the event, Peter Yisa-Gana, Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) Special Rapporteur on Community Policing for Nasarawa, Benue and P...
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
AfDB chief urges Nigerian government to deepen investment in youth
The President, African Development Bank (AFDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has appealed to the Federal Government to deepen investment in youth, to enable them put their entrepreneurial ingenuity to good use. Adesina, who spoke virtually at the 2020 Nigerian Prize for Leadership at the weekend in Abuja, noted that Nigerian youth are plagued by plethora of challenges like unemployment, limited technical and vocational skills, limited inclusion in the socio-political space and lack of finances to develop their businesses. “No nation is perfect. But those who learn from history become greater. Events repeat itself twice when people do not learn. As a nation, Nigeria should do everything possible to invest and reinvest itself by focusing on the youth. “Today, we have 206 million people, 70 per cent ...
Akwa Ibom Assembly passes N456.25 billion Appropriation Bill
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Tuesday passed into Law the state appropriation bill of N456.25billion for the 2021 fiscal year. The 2021 appropriation bill is broken down to of N164.52billion Recurrent expenditure, N241.45billion Capital Expenditure and N50.3billion for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges. This is against the N435.65billion proposed by the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel to the House of Assembly in the month of October. The bill was passed after the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation Committee, presented by the Chairman, Mr Uduak Odudoh, during Tuesday plenary. Odudoh explained that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Non-Governmental Organisations and other relevant publics participated in the budget process before its passa...
Rising crime in Lagos due to damage to police assets – LSSTF chief
The Executive Secretary/CEO Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Mr Abdurrazaq Balogun, has blamed the rising crime across Lagos in the past weeks to the damage done to police assets and the number of lethal weapons in the possession of non-state actors. Balogun disclosed this during the 14th Town Hall Meeting on security, organised by the LSSTF, with the theme, “Lagos security: Resilience in the face of adversity,” held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island. Balogun noted that an estimated 80 per cent of the operational vehicles used by the police in the last 13 years were donations from the LSSTF. Balogun observed that there was a decline in donations to the fund, which has been dismal compared to what it had received in the previous years, a challenge he attributed to the outbreak of...
CIBN urges banks to strengthen cyber-security
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has urged the banks to strengthen their cyber-security architecture in order to prevent attacks by fraudsters. President/Chairman of Council of the institute, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi, made the call while delivering his remarks at the 2020 CIBN Fellowship Investiture in Lagos, at the weekend. The CIBN at its investiture formally conferred its honorary fellowship awards on 19 distinguished bankers in recognition of their contributions to the banking industry and the economy; 77 associates as elected Fellows while 105 senior management staff of banks and the academia became Honorary Senior Members of the institute at the event with the theme: ‘Financial Services in a post COVID 19 Environment: Strategic Imperative’. Some that were conferred with ...
Maritime workers to begin warning strike Monday
File Photo The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) is to embark on a three-day warning strike from Dec. 7, to protest the deplorable state of access roads to seaports in Lagos State. In a communique it issued on Saturday in Lagos, MWUN said that the situation was no longer tolerable. The communique was signed by the President-General of the union, Mr Adewale Adeyanju, and the Secretary General, Mr Felix Akingboye. It was issued after MWUN’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos. According to the communique, the union had at various occasions drawn the attention of the relevant authorities to the bad roads. It said that the poor state of the access roads had made articulated vehicles to block them, putting other road users through pains of losing man-hours and facing risks ...
AU welcomes Nigeria ahead of AfCFTA kick-off
The African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga, said in Addis Ababa on Friday that instruments signifying Nigeria’s entry into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be received at the commission’s headquarters shortly ahead of next year’s kick-off of trading. Speaking during the AfCFTA Business Forum 2020 to discuss the status of preparations to launch the continental trading, Muchanga said the launch of trading will facilitate the growth of African enterprise and enhance the capacity of industries producing goods to a wider population. Nigeria, which signed the AfCFTA agreement in 2019, officially ratified the agreement on 12 November. The instruments of ratification are expected to be received at the AU on Saturday, 5 December, the deadline for the...
US braces for continued surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalisations
As newly reported cases of the coronavirus continued to spike across much of the United States, breaking records for hospitalisations, some local leaders are moving to enact more stringent restrictions. US officials had pleaded with Americans to avoid travel and limit social gatherings as the nation entered its winter holiday season. But many appear to have disregarded those pleas over the long Thanksgiving weekend as the Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 1.2 million airline passengers on Sunday, the highest since mid-March. That number is still about 60 percent lower than the comparable day last year when 2.88 million passengers were screened, the highest ever recorded by the agency. Health officials say they are now preparing for a wave of cases over the next two or ...
Joe Biden picks diverse team of top economic advisers
President-elect Joe Biden named former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his Treasury secretary nominee on Monday, and named three women to other top economic posts, setting the stage for a more diverse White House. While Biden’s transition to the presidency on Jan. 20 appeared to be hitting its stride, he himself was hobbling after fracturing his foot while playing with his dog on Saturday and will wear a protective boot for several weeks, his doctors said. The incoming administration has been hampered for weeks by Republican President Donald Trump, who has refused to concede to Biden, a Democrat. Trump has said without providing evidence that the Nov. 3 vote was fraudulent, claims that state and federal election officials have dismissed. Biden named leading members of an economic tea...
Nigerian government seeks new Eurobond
The federal government yesterday disclosed that it would approach the Eurobond market next year in its effort to shore up the economy, amidst cocktails of measures being put in place to douse the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. On the same day, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while speaking at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos, predicted a two per cent growth in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021. Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed the Eurobond plan while speaking on Bloomberg TV, explained that the decision would depend on the prevailing interest rates. She, however, did not specify the amount to be accessed from the Eurobond. The Eurobond option is ...
Senator Lawan urges South Africa to secure business interests of Nigerians
President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan has urged the South African authorities to reciprocate Nigerian Government’s gesture by ensuring that business interests of Nigerians in South Africa are secured. Mr Ezrel Tabiowo, his Special Assistant on press, in a statement said lawan made the call in Abuja on Thursday when he received a delegation led by High Commissioner of South Africa to Nigeria, Mr Thamsanga Mseleku. Other members on the delegation include: Mr Bobby Moroe, Minister Plenipotentiary; and Ms Boipelo Lefatshe, First Secretary, Political. According lawan efforts by both countries to secure the business interests of their nationals would create better chances of employment for their citizens and guarantee stronger economic prospects for Nigeria and South Africa. “For quite some time n...
