GNI Pledges Support for Ogun Security Trust Fund

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

The federal government has expressed its readiness to intensify efforts toward Nigeria’s 3.14 million hectares of irrigation systems to boost food production in the country. Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation,  Mr Joseph Terlumun Utsev, disclosed this at the ongoing 5-day National Workshop of the Nigerian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (NINCID ) themed The Role of Irrigation and Drainage Practices for Food Security in Nigeria in Kano. The Minister who gave this assurance also reiterated that the government is committed to ensuring adequate water supply to homes,  industries, and for agriculture purposes nationwide. The Minister, who was represented

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has announced that only 422 of the total 1,411 Nigerian delegates at the ongoing COP28 were funded with taxpayers’ money. This clarification followed the outrage over the size of Nigeria at the conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in a statement on Monday evening amidst concerns by Nigerians about the large number of the country’s delegates at the climate change conference in Dubai. Business Post had reported that Nigeria was joint third with China behind the UAE and Brazil among all the countries

By Adedapo Adesanya The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has disclosed that 220 tertiary institutions were given N1.67 trillion between 2010 and 2020. This was made by the Chairman of TETFund, Mr Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, during the 3rd edition of the Taxpayers Forum in Lagos. He explained that the money was handed down to public tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the six geopolitical zones of the country during the period of 10 years. Giving a breakdown, universities received N732.13 billion, representing 50 per cent of the total amount allocated to tertiary institutions during the period, which

By Dipo Olowookere An annual financial support of about N25 billion has been promised by the Bankers Committee to finance agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a bid to back Federal Government’s diversification efforts. Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Director, Banking Support Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Ahmed Abdullahi, explained that the fund will be made available to any firm or entrepreneur who aims to boost export drive or promote import substitution like processing of raw materials locally to reduce importation of finished items. It was gathered that the banks agreed to contribute five

By Lerisha Naidu, Angelo Tzarevski and Sphesihle Nxumalo There has been a general upward trend in competition policy enforcement across the continent over the past few years. African jurisdictions have strengthened their competition and antitrust regimes by way of amendments to existing legislation, the introduction of new laws and regulations, and renewed fervour and political will to enforce existing laws. Most notably, there has been a growing convergence of competition law and social policy on the continent. The central tenet of competition policy is that inclusive economies yield better outcomes for both producers and consumers. Recent trends indicate that governments

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Federal Government, as part of efforts to improve tax compliance levels, has commenced reviewing the tax compliance records of all contractors who received payments from its various agencies in the last seven years. This, we gathered, follows the results of a sampling exercise conducted by the Ministry of Finance which found that less than 20 percent of contractors reviewed accurately stated the income received from the Federal Government in their tax returns, whilst many made no declaration at all. A prominent result of the sampling exercise showed that some tax clearance certificates which were presented at the

By Jerome-Mario Utomi As noted by Peter Drucker in his book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Harper Business 1985), the greatest business breakthroughs take place as the result of “either the unexpected success or the unexpected failure.” He explained that when something unusual or unexpected happens in any field, the average person dismisses it as a random event or as an accident. The superior person, however, studies each unexpected result as if it were a sign of an underlying trend or an indication of a fundamental change in the nature of things. Likewise, Lagosians with critical minds are taking mental notes of

By Dipo Olowookere The first trading session of the week at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note on Tuesday as a result of bargain-hunting in the industrial goods space and the financial services sector. The relatively cheap prices of stocks attracted traders, who still tread cautiously because of the inflationary pressures and the downgrading of the Nigerian economic growth for 2022 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to 3.2 from 3.4 per cent. Some investors felt it was worth the risk to re-enter the market yesterday and at the close of transactions, the equity market appreciated

By Dipo Olowookere Oil giant, Total Nigeria Plc, recorded a loss before tax of N137.0 million in the first quarter of 2020, lower than the pre-tax loss of N418.3 million in the same period of 2019. Also, the energy firm posted a loss after tax of N163.2 million in contrast to N474.1 million recorded in the same time of last year, indicating a 66 percent reduction. In the period under review, the revenue generated by the company decreased to N70.2 billion from N77.4 billion. This was largely impacted by decline in the sale of petroleum products, which dropped to N57.2

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The high voltage of electricity supplied by Ikeja Electric has been blamed for the fire incident that occurred on Sunday at a popular plank market in Ketu, Lagos. According to the Director-General/CEO of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the power surge that day was responsible for the unfortunate incident. The inferno, he said, led to the loss of properties worth tens of millions of Naira. However, he assured the traders that the state government will do everything within its powers to support them. Speaking during a post-disaster assessment on Tuesday, the LASEMA