EFCC Releases Suspended Accountant-General on Bail

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Power and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to urgently provide funds for the completion of the Okpai–Kwale Transmission Line Project in Delta State. At the plenary on Tuesday, the lower chamber of the parliament mandated its Committee on Power to ensure that bottlenecks mitigating against the completion of the project are effectively addressed and the project is completed in due time. This followed a motion moved by Mr Nnamdi Ezechi, the lawmaker representing Ndokwa/UKwuani Federal Constituency in the National Assembly on the floor of the green

By Bliss Okperan The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has announced the immediate closure of the popular spare parts market, Ladipo Market, over an “unhygienic environment.” In a statement on Friday, the waste management agency said it shut down the market due to the unwholesome environmental practices by traders who refused to pay for waste services alongside the poor waste management. The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources in Lagos, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, said the market would remain closed until the mandatory conditions of redress have been met by traders and market stakeholders. “It is imperative that markets in

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The proposed nationwide indefinite strike threatened by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) scheduled for Tuesday, October 3, 2023, has been suspended. The organised labour unions put industrial action on hold for 30 days to allow the federal government to implement some of the agreements reached at a last-minute meeting on Monday. While addressing newsmen in Abuja after the meeting on Monday night, the President of the NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero, said the government has agreed to suspend the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel for six months from this

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Senate and the House of Representatives will on Tuesday resume plenary after weeks of vacation with expectations that they will attend to correspondences from President Bola Tinubu. The upper chamber adjourned for a six-week annual recess on August 17 after confirmating 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Tinubu. The Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, also announced the composition of 74 standing committees on that day. Upon resumption, the Senate will commence its legislative duties by attending to correspondences from the President requesting the confirmation of some appointments he made. The appointments include those

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its bad start to the new month on Tuesday with a loss of 1.73 per cent. This decline was propelled by the trio of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc. The NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) depreciated by 12.26 points to a new-year low of 696.13 points from 708.39 points its closed on Monday. Also, the market capitalisation depreciated by N8.78 billion to close at N499.48 billion compared to N508.26 billion it settled the preceding session. Business Post

By Ebitonye Akpodigha President Muhammadu Buhari has applauded Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, for coming up with ideas to transform the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. Mr Buhari, in his address at the launch of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Roadmap tagged ‘The 7 Big Wins’ yesterday in Abuja, said the Minister has shown to be a round peg in a round hole. During his speech, the President noted that “Petroleum industry remains critical to the Nigerian economy of today and the future, despite our current challenges.” “The golden era of high oil prices

Ecobank Nigeria has announced the appointment of key Management Officers across various levels, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approving the development. Amongst those appointed are Kenneth Okere, who is now the Company Secretary/Chief Legal Counsel; Ibukunoluwa Oyedeji, Chief Financial Officer (CFO); Abiola Aderinola, Financial Controller; Adetokunbo Uko, Treasurer and Akintunde Dawodu, Chief Compliance Officer and Head, Compliance & Control. According to the Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, the appointments are in line with the bank’s Roadmap to Leadership Transformation Programme. He also noted that Ecobank, which also promoted over 950 staff early this year, was

By Dipo Olowookere Pan-African telecommunications group with operations in Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Smile Telecoms, has announced the appointments of Mr Ahmad Farroukh as its Group Chief Executive Officer and Ms Irene Charnley as Deputy Chairman, respectively, effective June 1, 2019. Mr Farroukh, who currently serves as Smile’s Group Executive Director Operations, is a seasoned and experienced telecoms executive with a distinguished record of commercial and operational success. His vast experience extends to executive management positions at Investcom Holdings and the MTN Group (where he served as CEO of MTN Nigeria, MTN South Africa

By Adedapo Adesanya One of the earliest cryptocurrencies in the world, Bitfinex, has said amid a global shift, it will be focusing on emerging markets and exploring new ways to bring financial services to those who need them most. This was made known by the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Bitfinex, Mr Paolo Ardoino, in a chat with Business Post. “We believe this year will be focused on greater innovation, more transparency, freedom for everyone not served by traditional technologies and financial systems, and an end to practices that have tarnished our industry and obscured the promise that it holds.

By Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi At the inception of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, one thing was clear to all, here was a soldier’s soldier coming to tackle a most difficult and daunting task of winning the war against terrorism. Before the Buhari administration came into the office, the previous administration for the most part of its six years of existence had battled, albeit unsuccessfully the Boko Haram terror group,  adjudged as one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest in the world. Such was the enormity of this task. Although the reins of governance fell into Buhari’s way through a

By Dipo Olowookere A meeting between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers is scheduled for Sunday, February 10, 2019. The interactive forum will take place at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, by 5:30pm, information from the institute revealed The theme of the session is Strategies to Achieve Double Digit Growth for Nigeria: The Capital Market Option. During the gathering, the stockbrokers will use the occasion to discuss how government can tap into the capital market to boost the economy. Mr Osinbajo heads the federal government’s economic team and he will be hoping to get valuable

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crashed by 1.81 per cent on Wednesday after sell-offs in shares of MTN Nigeria, UPDC and others brought the All-Share Index (ASI) below the 43,000 points threshold. Data from the exchange indicated that the benchmark index depreciated by 784.89 points to settle at 42,463.16 points compared with 43,248.05 points of the preceding day. In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the trading platform decreased by N410 billion as it closed at N22.157 trillion compared with the previous day’s N22.567 trillion. The poor outing of the market yesterday was caused by MTN