The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in August 2022, extended N22 trillion in loans to the federal government under its Ways and Means provision as included in the CBN Act. The Ways and Means clause permits the government to borrow money from the Apex Bank in an emergency or for a short period of time to cover fiscal imbalances caused by the delayed government-expected financial receipts. The statute has provisions that limit monetary financing of fiscal deficits to 5 per cent of revenues from the previous year. With the country’s revenue collection dwindling and oil theft preventing the country from…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
Back in the day, weather forecasts were a joke. And I mean literally. The weather forecast segment which used to come at the end of the news bulletin on Nigeria’s national broadcaster, NTA, was the butt of cruel jokes amongst folks. Often when the forecasters said it would rain, we said they meant the opposite. Seven out of 10 times, we were right; and the other three times, it drizzled on one side of the street and was stone dry on the other. That was in the early 1970s and 1980s when either as a result of poor predictive tools,…
The Kebbi State Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has intercepted skins of 2,820 donkeys slaughtered and packed in 94 jumbo sacks with each containing 30 pieces of donkey skins awaiting transportation to countries outside Nigeria. The Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali (Rtd), Strike Force, Team ‘A’, said it has intercepted and seized smuggled goods worth N390.198 million. The team also revealed that it intercepted and seized one pump action rifle, one locally made pistol and 14 live cartridges from suspected criminals. Mohammed Sani Yusuf, Commander of the team, disclosed in Lagos on Wednesday, during…
Adequate security would remain the centre point of Nigeria’s economic recovery and development, while the North would be the vortex of the nation’s buoyant economy, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), maintained on Tuesday. Obi, in a BBC interview ahead of the unveiling of the LP campaign council on Wednesday, said Nigeria’s top priority today, which his administration would address immediately ahead of other priorities remained the maintenance of adequate security, adding solving other problems such as the present high food inflation, would rely on how much the government succeeded in tackling the security question. His words:…
Not more than 95 million Nigerians will vote in next year’s general elections, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for 25th February, while the governorship and state assembly polls hold a fortnight after. At an event organised by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems at the NED headquarters in Washington DC, United States, the INEC Chairman, Prof, Mahmood Yakubu said: “There are 18 political parties in the race to produce the next President to be elected by 95 million voters. We had over…
The Federal Government has announced that at least 30 per cent of Nigerians are illiterates. Adamu addressed the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) 2022 Summit with the theme ‘Toward Safe Schools in Nigeria’. The minister was represented by Vivian Wategre, Director of Education Service in the ministry. He noted that actions and policies toward safe schools show the Federal Government’s commitment to Nigeria’s present and future times. The minister said 31 per cent of citizens were illiterate as of 2021, as against 38 per cent in 2015. Adamu expressed the ministry’s commitment to increasing the country’s literacy level. He…
The Nigerian federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the global tech giant, Microsoft Corporation, to train five million citizens on high-demand technological skills that are needed to advance their respective careers. The deal was signed this week in Dubai, UAE inside GITEX GLOBAL, the world’s largest startup and tech event that started October 10 and ends tomorrow October 14. While signing the agreement on behalf of Nigeria, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, commended Microsoft for the offer. He said that the process and the implementation of the MOU would…
Mohamed Salah came off the bench to score an incredible six-minute hat-trick as Liverpool obliterated Rangers in the Champions League. The striker netted three times in his sensational first 13 minutes on the pitch to silence a once-euphoric Ibrox crowd. Scott Arfield had given Rangers an early lead with their first group goal, but a Roberto Firmino double and a Darwin Nunez strike set Liverpool on their way, with Harvey Elliott getting a seventh after a VAR check. It was a mesmeric second-half performance from the Premier League club, who now just need a draw against Ajax in Amsterdam in…
Nigeria’s Interior Minister, Rauf Aregbesola, says 30 per cent of inmates in custodial centres across the country should be released. The minister said he will meet with state governors to decide on the mass release of the inmates, adding that 90 per cent of them are being held for contravening various states’ laws. Speaking over the weekend in a NAN forum in Abuja, Aregbesola said over 70 per cent of the 75,635 inmates across the country are awaiting trial. The minister added that the decongestion of the 253 custodial centres nationwide was necessary as some of the inmates have no…
The Federal Government has officially granted the Lagos State Government approval to build the Lekki International Airport. Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika personally and officially handed the approval document to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the ongoing Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit 2022. Sirika had commended the decision and vision of the Lagos State Government to build another airport. He said the quickest way to connect Lagos to the rest of the world was by infrastructure and civil aviation. The Lekki International Airport is expected to be both passenger and cargo airport.