By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Worried by influx of substandard goods into the country and its attendant consequencies to the Nigeria’s fragile economy, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is considering new measure to end the scourge. The agency is proposing stiffer penalties on nations exporting such goods into the country. The Director General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said the countries involved are enemies of Nigeria’s economy and therefore do not mean well for the development of the nation. The D-G therefore proposed stricter punishment to be deployed to curb the influx of substandard goods into the country. Odumodu while speaking…
Author: orientalnewsng
By Yemisi Izuora-Katsina The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the country’s mobile financial transactions had exceeded US$2 billion and that a total of 15 million transactions have been made since the inception of the mobile banking scheme in 2012 with 58 million subscribers while the total value of the transactions till date is N430 billion (over US$2 billion). CBN Head of Payment System Policy and Oversight Division of Banking and Payments Department, Musa Itopa-Jimoh who made this disclosure while speaking at the 2014 workshop organised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for finance correspondents and Business…
Boko Haram suffered another major defeat on Tuesday, this time in Konduga, Borno, as Nigerian troops inflicted a heavy toll on the militia, killing over 50 of the assailants. Another 10 of their members were captured. Konduga, in the central part of the state, is about 22 miles away from Maiduguri, the capital. Local residents said the militants stormed the area by the hundreds during the night, but met a fierce resistance and were overpowered. Buba Abdul, a local who fled to Maiduguri, told SaharaReporters, “The military were prepared for them so it didn’t take them by surprise at all…
Source Bloomberg A group of former militants form the backbone of support for President Goodluck Jonathan, seen here, in the area as he seeks re-election in February, and have vowed to resist attempts by some opposition lawmakers to impeach him. As the Islamist group Boko Haram intensifies attacks in northern Nigeria, former militants in the Niger River delta who once cut oil production by almost a third have become some of the government’s biggest supporters. Militant commanders like Government Ekpemupolo have gone from targeting Nigeria’s oil industry, riding around in speed boats with automatic weapons and explosives, to protecting it.…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Minister of Aviation Chief Osita Chidoka has given a clear indication of faiulure of reforms in the aviation sector. He told journalists in Lagos tuesday that the Federal Government is now coming up with a 10 – year Aviation Master Plan that would set a template on the allocation of airport concessions , aeronautical agreements and the use of land around the nation’s 24 airports . According to him the master plan became imperative because years back government had many mistakes that gave rise to controversial airport concessions and uncoordinated use of airport land that contravened rules…
Tension has heightened in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, North-East Nigeria, following reports that at least 52 female suicide bombers have been let loose in the city. THISDAY quoted a member of the youth vigilante group as revealing that they have been commissioned to attack crowded locations. It could be recalled that two suicide bombers were unleashed on Maiduguri last week causing the death of over 35 people. Two others were unleashed on the town this Monday causing six deaths and 36 injured people. The source said the youth vigilante group had made it difficult for the insurgents to…
By Yemisi Izuora- Katsina The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Alh. Umaru Ibrahim has said that the banking sector is the engine room for economic growth and development through the process of financial intermediation. This pivotal role he said, has made it imperative for all stakeholders in the sector to continuously strategise with a view to tailoring it towards responding to global developments and the transformation agenda of the present administration. He made this known at the on going workshop for Business Editors and Finance Correspondents of Nigeria (FICAN) in Katsina. The MD noted…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos The Executive Secretary (ES) of the , Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Ernest Nwapa, has hinted that government has decided to ban vessels without local content effective January 2015. Nwapa said Nigeria’s vessel operators had turned to India and China to import vessels to the detriment of local ship builders and the economy in general. He therefore warned that foreign vessels purchased outside the country without local content input from local ship builders would be barred from operating in Nigeria’s territorial waters, The new policy, according to Nwapa, is aimed at developing local capacity in…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Nigeria’s Petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, said an industry wide collaboration is required to address oil theft and pipeline vandalism which not only threatens the economy but also the environment. The minister also charged the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to further compel oil and gas companies to provide Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for their staff. Alison-Madueke who spoke in Lagos at the opening of the 16th International Health Safety and Environment Biennial Conference with theme “Innovative Approach Towards Emerging Safety Challenges” said that absence of adequate literature such as SoP in respect of complex facilities being operated…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Schneider Electric a global specialist in energy management has extended capacity building in energy training to Nigerians. The company under the training initiative, has completed the training of thirty Nigerian students from its Isaac Boro Energy Training College (IBETC) Grenoble, France. The graduating students were the first batch of beneficiaries of the training programme which is a multilateral partnership between the Nigerian government, the French Education Ministry and Schneider Electric, designed to address the dearth of trained engineers in electrical and energy fields, especially in emerging economies like Nigeria. The thirty trainees flew to France in November…