El-Zakzaky Eats N3.5m Food Monthly in Detention—FG

By Bliss Okperan The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has announced its election of Danladi Jatau, representing Kokona West Constituency, as the new Speaker. The state parliament also disclosed on Friday that it now has a new Deputy Speaker, who is Mohammed Oyanki, the lawmaker representing Doma North Constituency. The election of the two principal officers of the legislative arm of the state followed the sacking of its former Speaker, Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, by the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday. While the new Speaker is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his deputy is a member

By Bliss Okperan The Tincan Island Port (TCIP) Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has created a mobile application to automate its bond and license unit, Transire. At the unveiling of the app on Thursday, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Dera Nnadi, said the need to automate the Bond and License Unit had become imperative for administrative and procedural ease of doing business in the command. Speaking at a sensitization program on the automation process, Mr Nnadi informed participants that the application was developed by Superintendent of Customs Samuel Bello, to reduce the volumes of documents being deployed in

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Professor Benedict Oramah, has been recognised with the Forbes Africa magazine 2023 Person of The Year award. At a well-attended award ceremony in Cairo, which also included the unveiling of the cover for Forbes Africa’s December 2023/January 2024 edition featuring Mr Oramah as cover personality, Mr Rakesh Wahi, Forbes Africa Founder and Publisher, and Ms Roberta Naicker, Managing Director, said that the award recognised the stellar accomplishments of leading Africans contributing to the development of the continent. “With a career spanning three decades at Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah is

By Adedapo Adesanya Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered illicit substances bound for Europe, the United Arab Emirates and Asia. Disclosing this in a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, said the illicit substances intercepted included various quantities of methamphetamine and opioids concealed in hems of new jeans trousers, dolls, buttons, local soap and tins of milo beverage. He noted that the operation was carried out by operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) at courier houses in Lagos, he said some of the items seized included tramadol 225mg concealed

By Dipo Olowookere The trading indices of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed lower by 0.05 per cent on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, followed by profit-taking by investors. During the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 22.89 points to 43,248.05 points from 43,270.94 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N12 billion to N22.567 trillion from N22.579 trillion. The decline reported by the market yesterday was mainly from the losses posted in three of the five major sectors, with the energy, consumer goods and industrial goods counters going down by 0.40 per cent, 0.21 per cent and 0.04

By Modupe Gbadeyanka HexaTech Inc. announced today the signing of two strategic agreements with OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany. The agreements include a long term supply commitment for HexaTech’s aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates, direct support of HexaTech’s 2” diameter substrate development program, as well as licensing of certain HexaTech intellectual property (IP). HexaTech, the world’s leading commercial supplier of single crystal AlN substrates, has developed a unique and valuable knowledge base for optoelectronic, high power and RF (radio frequency) applications based on its proprietary material, helping to activate and promote a significant market pull for its underlying substrate

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Efforts are being made by Chairman of Forte Oil Plc, Mr Femi Otedola, to acquire more arms of the company. Mr Otedola, who is the majority shareholder of Forte Oil Plc, wants to buy firm’s upstream services and power distribution company. However, before this can be done, shareholders of Forte Oil will have to meet to ratify this and a meeting has been fixed for February 7, 2019 for this purpose. In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Company Secretary of Forte Oil, Mr Akinleye Olagbende, explained that the move followed shareholders’ approval on May

By Adedapo Adesanya There was a marginal fall of 0.02 per cent at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday, with UBN Property Plc influencing the downfall of the bourse. The property investment company extended the bearish run of the unlisted securities exchange after its value went down by 3 Kobo to close at 98 Kobo per unit compared with the previous N1.01 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the bourse fell by N170 million to close the day at N942.59 billion, in contrast to Tuesday’s value of N942.76 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) depreciated

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian paper packaging arm of Nampak, Nampak Cartons Nigeria, has been handed over to a Swedish company, AR Packaging, for an undisclosed fee. The South African company, which is the biggest packaging firm in Africa, explained that it was offloading Nampak Cartons Nigeria as part of plans to reduce its portfolio and improve returns. However, Nampak said it will keep its aluminium and tin canning products and services in Nigeria. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Nampak, Mr André de Ruyter, “Proceeds from this disposal will further strengthen the company’s financial position.” He added that,

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with stocks likely to extend the rally seen over the two previous sessions. Growing optimism about ongoing U.S.-China trade talks is likely to contribute to continued strength on Wall Street as the high-level negotiations move into their second day. President Donald Trump told reporters shortly after the close of trading on Thursday that the talks with China are going ?really well.? ?So, we just completed a negotiation with China. We?re doing very well. We?re having another one tomorrow. I?m meeting with the Vice

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The equities market in Nigeria recovered from its six-day losing streak on Thursday with the major market indices closing in the green zone. The market capitalisation rose by N16.5 billion to close at N9.03 trillion compared to N9.01 it achieved on Wednesday. The all-share index also gained weight at the close of trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today with an appreciation of 0.18 percent or 48.06 basis points to finish at 26,221.75 basis points. Total led the days’ declining stocks at the market with a depreciation of N25.88k to close at N290 per share, while

By Dipo Olowookere The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), an international organisation founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and driven by the mission of a world without malnutrition, is hosting the first-ever Nutrition Africa Investor Forum (NAIF) in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 16-17, to invite and engage private sector investors to play a key role in improving nutrition across Africa. The event is hosted in partnership with Royal DSM, a purpose-led global science-based company in nutrition, health and sustainable living recognized for its global fight against malnutrition, the SUN Business Network and African Business magazine. The Nutrition