The Federal Government will this week disburse $350m cabotage funds with the inauguration of the special committee by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, as 11 banks have already been shortlisted for the purpose. Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh gave the indication during a Presidential Media chat anchored by the Presidential Communications team at the State House, Abuja. The Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) is an intervention fund specifically created to help develop indigenous shipping capacity in Nigeria. Jamoh disclosed that 11 banks have so far been listed to disburse…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
A Professor of Microbiology at the College of Medicine, Folasade Ogunsola has broken the glass ceiling by emerging as the first female Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos in its 60-year history. Chosen on Friday night, Prof. Ogunsola becomes the 13th substantive Vice Chancellor of the university after being picked by the selection committee of the institution. Prof. Ogunsola, daughter of the late eminent geographer, Prof. Akin Mabogunje, is expected to take over next month from the outgoing VC, Prof. Toyin Ogundipe. She has served the university in various capacities. She was at a time the Provost of the…
Nigeria spent a total of N3.09 trillion on debt service obligations in the first seven months of 2022, according to the latest figure provided by President Mohammadu Buhari on Friday. The president, who spoke at the National Assembly while presenting the 2023 budget estimate stated that total non-debt recurrent expenditure from January to July 2002 was N3.24 trillion, of which N2.87 trillion was for Salaries, Pensions and Overheads. Furthermore, about N1.48 trillion had been released to MDAs for capital expenditure as of the end of July 2022. “I am pleased to inform you that we expect to fund MDAs’ capital…
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof Isa Ali Pantami has stressed the need to brainstorm on the provision of reliable access to and use of print/electronic information as well as artificial intelligence within government at the international, national, state, municipal, and local level governments, citizens, and businesses for sustainable national development. Prof. Pantami said this at the commemoration of 2022 Universal Access to Information Day organised by the National Committee on Information for all Programme in Nigeria (IFAP) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. “On the 28 of September 2022, the event took…
Multinational technology company, Google has disclosed it will start the disbursement of the $1B investment commitment in Africa by building a new Google Cloud region in South Africa that will help users, developers, businesses and educational institutions across Africa to move more information and tools online, improve access options for customers and in turn, create jobs. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai made the $1bn investment commitment last year. The Director of Google Cloud Africa, Niral Patel, who disclosed this yesterday at the second Google for Africa event in Lagos, noted that research by AlphaBeta Economics commissioned by Google Cloud revealed that…
Google’s Subsea cable, Equiano launched earlier this year is set to raise Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is present $440.1 billion to USD10.1 billion in 2025, the Multinational technology company announced yesterday at the second Google for Africa event in Lagos. Apart from boosting the GDP, the subsea cable running through Togo, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa is expected to deliver faster, lower-cost internet to the continent by connecting St. Helena, Togo, Nigeria, Namibia and South Africa with Europe. “A recent economic impact assessment conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics found that by 2025, the cable is set…
By Olutayo IRANTIOLA “An injustice to one is an injustice to all” The struggle for the soul of the Nigerian University system between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continues into the eighth month. It has come with a series of fireworks ranging from taking ASUU to the Industrial Court; to the threat of proscribing ASUU. Unfortunately, some members of the union have lost their lives while some students have also been lost to the imbroglio. In the last seven and a half years that President Muhammadu Buhari had been leading this country, he has…
By Azu Ishiekwene There is fire in Ouagadougou. And who’s to say where it’s catching next? For the second time in eight months, the military in Burkina Faso struck in a palace coup that removed military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. The coup leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, cited the same excuses Damiba gave for seizing power in January as reasons for his removal; namely, that the government has proved incompetent in containing the spread of Islamic insurgency, leading to increasing loss of lives among military and civilian populations. Things couldn’t get worse for the land-locked country (pop 22m) where 45 percent…
The total number of active mobile subscribers reached 210 million in August 2022 from 208.6 million in July, with a teledensity of 109.99 per cent. Internet subscribers also exceeded 152.2 million, with broadband penetration standing at 44.65 per cent. The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Director of, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen disclosed this at the NCC Day during the 17th Abuja International Trade Fair. According to Danbatta, in this new environment, the competitiveness of Nigeria’s SMEs depended on the ability to leverage new technologies by acquiring…
Monday, October 10, 2022, has been declared a public holiday by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It commemorates this year’s Eid-el-Maulud, the celebration of the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who made the declaration on Thursday, congratulated all Muslims at home and in the Diaspora for witnessing this year’s occasion. In a statement signed by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Shuaib Belgore, Aregbesola admonished all “Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of love, patience, tolerance and perseverance which are deep spiritual virtues and which the Holy Prophet Muhammad exemplified, adding that doing so would guarantee peace,…