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The federal government is planning to borrow $750 million on behalf of states to stimulate local economies in Nigeria. The m inister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, made this disclosure in Abuja on Friday at the inauguration ceremony of the Federal Steering Committees of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES). The Finance Minister said, the Nigerian Government “is in the process of accessing a World Bank loan of $750 million on behalf of the states to stimulate the local economy and support vulnerable household consumption”. I n going to borrow the money, the federal government is considering the causes and consequences of civil unrest and COVID-19 in the country. Mrs Zainab Ahmed further stated that: “the consequences will be too high if we ignore the root cause of rising civil unrest in our country. We must, therefore, fashion out ways of ensuring that post Covid-19 is not injurious to the Nigerian people and the economy.” T...

The federal government will consider “options” to stop the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from continuing its industrial action. Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, spoke on a Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday. “There are so many options left. We have the labour laws and I have options left to me in the labour laws. I have other channels,” he said. Ngige complained that the union was not considering the challenges their demands would create. The minister said even if countries go to war, they eventually meet at the negotiation table. “I’m inviting them (ASUU) next week, we are doing side meetings on our part. I’m collating responses from the Accountant General of the Federation’s Office and everybody who has something to do with this matter.” On the return of students to classes, Ngige said he was hopeful that it would not take long. Ngige expressed optimism that talks will be concluded next week. Ngige confirmed that government had agreed to try o...

The National Assembly has revealed in a thread on their twitter handle that some bills has finally been passed into bill while some were amended. Among the bills passed are controversial CAMA act. Others are Police Act, Finance Act and Police Act. The Finance bill was passed into law after amendment from the usual one being used since 1991.  The new law on Finance will ensure, banks and financial institutions will now be able to offer productive services to many sectors of the economy, offer quality banking and financial services as well as ensure recovery of non performing loans. The media Committee Chairman of the Senate Dr Ajibola Basiru, said the assent has effectively repealed the 1991 edition and it is expected to rejuvenate the financial system and enhance the development of the Nigeria economy. The Senate also said that some of the other passed bills by Senate are of direct relevance to the resuscitation of the national economy. Some of the Bill's are the Petroleum P...

  Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on Friday announced plans to revoke the payment of pension to former governors and their deputies in the state'' The Governor made the announcement in a tweet on Friday. Rasaq tweeted, “In line with our campaign mantra and the yearnings of our people, next week I will be sending a bill to the State House of Assembly to revoke the law awarding pension packages to former governors and former deputy governors in Kwara State. Remember we reported that Governor Sanwo-olu of Lagos started and we are closely monitoring other Governors that will either toe the same path or not. 

French telecoms giant, Orange, announced it has launched a high-speed fiber-optics network across West Africa. The network named Dioloba will pass through Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia, and Mali, with the aim of delivering high-speed internet broadband in the region. This was disclosed in a report by Reuters on Wednesday evening. Orange said the network is part of a 10,000 km cross-border terrestrial fibre optic network with 10,000 km of undersea cables, which would be used to transmit high-speed internet services to West Africa. “Orange is actively contributing to the development of undersea and terrestrial infrastructure, which enables the African continent’s digital transformation, by investing 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) each year,”Alioune Ndiaye, Orange CEO for the Middle East and Africa said on Wednesday. The fact remains that Nigeria ranks 7th in terms of countries with the highest number of internet users in the world. As at the end of ...

  Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, UN, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, on Monday, said that everyone has a right to demonstrate peacefully and make some demands from their government. Mrs. Mohammed, who was a former Minister of Environment in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration before her appointment also said that the recent protest against Police brutality embarked upon by youths was a lesson for the future, especially on how the young ones should be engaged in such issues. Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mohammed said there was a launch of the UN Plus Offer which was aimed at supporting the Economic Sustainability Plan. Asked the position of the UN on the #EndSARS protest, she said, “The UN stance is clear like the UN Secretary-General had said in his speech, we believe everyone has a right to demonstrate peacefully for those issues they want to raise with their government. “...