The Nigerian naira strengthened against the U.S dollar on the interbank market on Monday, helped by increased dollar supply from the Central Bank at its bi-weekly auction, traders said. The naira firmed to 155.60 to the dollar from 155.85 on Friday after the Central Bank met all demands at Monday's bi-weekly auction. The Central Bank sold the $499.89 million demanded…
Kola Jamodu, the former Minister of Commerce and Industry says there is nothing wrong for Nigeria to borrow money to finance its infrastructure. Mr Jamodu made the declaration when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday. He was reacting to comments by the Debt Management Office (DMO) that the country needed to borrow money…
Some finance experts have urged the Federal Government to source for funds internally to reduce the nation's rising external debt stock. They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that persistent good debt management strategies and prudential borrowing would bail the country out of the debt burden in no distant time. Mashudd Fashola, a Senior Lecturer…
17 May 2011 Lille will virtually wrap up the French Ligue 1 title on Wednesday evening if they defeat Sochaux at the Stade Lille-Metropole. Victory for Les Dogues would open up a six-point lead over second-placed Olympique Marseille with just two rounds of the league season left to play, meaning Lille would need just a draw from one of their…
17 May 2011 Following on from last weeks look at the best Africans in England and Spain this season, we turn our attention to the Italian Serie A. 5. Mehdi Benatia (Udinese/ Morocco) Appearances/goals: 33/3 The Moroccan defender is in his first season in Italy following a summer move from French Ligue 2 side Clermont and has been a revelation…
17 May 2011 A record African entry for the 2014 World Cup finals has been announced and the qualification process will begin before the end of this year, the Confederation of African Football said. Only Mauritania has failed to enter from Africas 53-member countries, who will each be attempting to fill one of the five places reserved for the continent…
Students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in the early hours of Monday barricaded Keffi-Abuja road over total blackout and scarcity of water for the past four days in Keffi. A student who spoke under condition of anonymity said: "Even when we had wanted to mount a peaceful demonstration over this issues of light and water, the school management promised that…
Following a tip-off that some armed robbers had invaded a supermarket in the Ilorin metropolis, officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Kwara State command, swung into action. They got a member of the four-man gang involved in the operation, who led them to the others. In a statement issued by the command, the police explained the mode of operation of…
Persons with Disabilities (PWD), a group of Nigerians living with various forms of disabilities, have appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to assent to the Nigeria Disability Bill before the end of his present tenure. Patrick Adie, the South South Coordinator of the group, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.…
Compared to the negative outcome witnessed during last week's opening trading figures, investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday recorded more gains on the value of their equities, as market opened trading on positive note. The NSE market capitalisation of the 194 First-Tier equities closed on Monday at N8.252 trillion from last Friday's figures of N8.248 trillion, reflecting 0.04…
The clamour for a safer and cheaper alternative fuel for cars and domestic appliances is attracting more consumers to compressed natural gas (CNG) as source of fuel for their vehicles. CNG is a fossil fuel comprising mostly of ethane, or natural gas under high pressure with nearly zero emissions and is one of the cleanest burning alternative fuels for vehicles…
South Africa's Vodacom beat expectations with both its full-year profit and dividend, helped by a surge in mobile data usage that showed its diversification beyond voice revenue is paying off. Vodacom, which operates mainly in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, is fighting to defend market share from competitors such as MTN Group and India's Bharti Airtel,…
15 May 2011 Portuguese goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the all-time league record of 38 goals with a brace in Real Madrid's 3-1 victory at Villarreal on Sunday. Ronaldo made it nine goals in his last three games with a 22nd minute free-kick and a last minute strike to stay on course to pick up the Pichichi trophy for the…
The Anambra State government has been rewarded with $750,000 (N120 million) by the European Union and UNICEF in recognition of its performance in EU/UNICEF joint projects. The state commissioner for budget and economic planning, Chinyere Okunna, who is also the authoring officer for EU/UNICEF programme, said yesterday in Awka at a contract signing ceremony, that Anambra was one of two…
The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that four percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost to trauma every year. The minister said this in Abuja on Monday at the inauguration of a course on trauma and fracture management organised for Nigerian orthopaedics by an association which focuses on the study of internal fixation of fractures.…