Big Brother starts in May M-Net Africa has announced that the sixth season of its reality show, ‘Big Brother Africa', would commence on Sunday, May 1, 2011. Tagged ‘Big Brother Amplified', the show will run for 91 days and attracts a grand prize of $200, 000. M-Net's Director, Biola Alabi, attempted an explanation of the theme this way on its…
Tunisia has ordered its brokerages to suspend securities trading by 123 firms, sources said, including Dubai’s Shuaa Capital and the parent companies of at least two publicly listed Tunisian firms. The firms were named in a confidential list issued at the end of February by Tunisia’s financial authorities. They are trying to pry loose the grip of overthrown President Zine…
Tanzania has invited bids for construction of emergency power plants to supply a total of 260 megawatts (MW) to ease its chronic energy shortages, its president said. Rainfall has an outsized influence on the agrarian economies of East Africa, which depend on hydro-dams for electricity generation. “A tender has already been announced to seek a contractor that will meet the…
The political uncertainties, arising from pending policies and issues affecting major industries in Nigeria, including the oil and gas sector, coupled with the postponement of the long awaited elections last week prospective investors will watch from a distance while existing foreign investors would be on their toes. On Saturday, the nation’s parliamentary elections were postponed until Saturday after voting materials…
3 April 2011 Club World Cup runners-up TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo cleared the first hurdle without much exertion in pursuit of a record third consecutive African Champions League title. The 'Crows' from southern mining city Lubumbashi took a two-goal advantage over Simba of Tanzania to Dar es Salaam where leading scorer Dioko Kaluyituka bagged a brace…
4 April 2011 The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals get underway on Tuesday evening with two fascinating ties involving Spanish giants Real Madrid and title holders Internazionale of Italy. In Madrid, at the Santiago Bernabeu, Real will host surprise package Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their quarterfinal. Amazingly, it will be the Spanish sides first appearance in the last…
4 April 2011 Third division Baroka FC produced the shock of the Nedbank Cup this season, and in many a year, as they defeated Premiership Moroka Swallows 2-1 in their Last 16 clash at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday. The Limpopo Vodacom League side stunned The Birds with second-half strikes from skipper Katlego Mashego and Khunadi Nkoana, either side…
Ten corps members were held hostage in a village in Nassarawa Eggon local government of Nasarawa State Saturday where they were deployed by INEC to go and conduct elections, after the villagers heard that the election has been shifted till Monday. The villagers insisted on seeing the electoral officer of the local government, Jacob Ajuh, to confirm the postponement before…
The police should arrest and prosecute, in an open and transparent manner, all those involved in violence before, during, and after the April election, executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Roland Ewubare, has said. Mr. Ewubare, who also said the commission is deploying 370 monitors to evaluate the election, said it would not rely on the police to…
Although the Presidential election is barely five-days away, some northern politicians are lobbying the main opposition parties to produce a consensus candidate. To achieve this, they recently initiated fresh talks among Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Ibrahim Shekarau of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to…
Award winning singer, TY Bello has released the music video of her latest single, ‘The Future’. The erstwhile Kush singer premiered the Kemi Adetiba directed video across different entertainment blogs, yesterday Sunday 3, April 2011. The music video of the track that preaches hope for a better future for Nigerians is depicted in a manner that sees the songstress going…
Striking oil workers in Gabon stopped the African country’s estimated 240,000 barrels of daily crude oil production, a union official told Reuters on Saturday. “We can confirm tonight that all production has been halted,” said Arnaud Engandji, spokesman for the ONEP oil workers’ union, which wants more local workers in the sector. Gabon is Africa’s seventh largest oil producer. Gabon’s…
Anyone wanting to understand the interest generated by the harmonised version of the 2011 appropriation bill recently passed by both houses of the National Assembly will do well not to look too hard at the numbers. Until we comprehensively reform the framework for managing public expenditure in the country, budget numbers would not be worth the fancy paper on which…
Chidinma Okoro has been unemployed since she got laid off in September last year. Her husband's previously thriving business has struggled for a few years. This made Mrs Okoro's contribution all the more critical for the family. With school fees due, things had become quite desperate. She then heard about a friend who had sold some of her gold and…
Nigeria's expansive budget We run an economy today that is based on budgeting. But, to a large extent, our culture does not encourage budgeting. In advanced economies that we are copying, if one lives on a monthly salary, it is difficult to expect one to share with members of one's family, outside those in one's nuclear family. In some instances,…