The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will establish a N100 billion Strategic Health Impact Fund for Transformation (SHIFT) to support the fight against COVID-19 in the country. The Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said this at the first 2021 post-Capital Market Committee virtual news conference in Abuja on Thursday. Yuguda said the fund would be invested in the healthcare assets of the country. He noted that the capital market community would not relent in the support against the pandemic, as the market had earlier contributed to the fight. ”The pandemic and its attendant lockdown had negative effect on the…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, says internet access and broadband penetration will become existential in the nearest future and will determine Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global economy. The vice president said the recognition of the importance of internet access and broadband penetration, among others, was the driving force behind Federal Government’s initiative on broadband connectivity for all. Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said the vice president virtually inaugurated the Ogun State Digital Economy Empowerment Project. “Making digital technology available to all our citizens and businesses is the most farsighted action any government can take today.…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for better understanding and regulation of cryptocurencies in the country. The Director-General, SEC, Lamido Yuguda, said this at the 2021 first post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual news conference. Yuguda said that the commission was in discussion with the CBN for better understanding and regulation of the crytoassets market. He said that the commission had suspended the implementation of crytoassets guidelines due to lack of access to Nigerian bank accounts. “We are in discussion with CBN for both understanding and better regulating of this…
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has threatened to occupy the National Assembly after Ramadan fasting, if the lawmakers fail to pass the Bill for an amendment of the Electoral Act. The CSOs which include Center For Liberty, Concerned Nigeria, The Electoral Hub, and Raising New Voices Initiative, issued the threat at a joint news conference on Thursday in Abuja. The Co-convener, Centre for Liberty, Mr Dare Ariyo-Atoye, who read the joint speech of the CSOs, said they were worried that the 9th National Assembly was yet to pass the bill. According to him the passage of the bill could…
President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja after successful medical check-up in the United Kingdom. The presidential aircraft conveying the president and some presidential aides landed at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 4.45 p.m. Those at the airport to welcome the president included the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammed Bello, and the National Security Adviser to the President, Babagana Monguno. Others were the service chiefs, acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed…
Godwin Obaseki of Edo has insisted that while he is not ready to join issues with the federal government over his revelation that it printed N60 billion to ugument states allocation, he stands by his claim. The governor had claimed over the weekend, while speaking at the transition committee stakeholders engagement, the federal government printed additional money to bridge FAAC allocation gap. “When we got FAAC allocation for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share,” Obaseki had said. However, the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed on Wednesday, faulted Obaseki’s…
Olalekan Akinbo1*, Silas Obukosia2*, Jeremy Ouedraogo3, Woldeyesus Sinebo2, Moussa Savadogo1, Samuel Timpo3, Ruth Mbabazi4, Karim Maredia4, Diran Makinde5 and Aggrey Ambali5 1Centre of Excellence for Rural Resources and Food Systems, Diran Makinde Center, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 2Centre of Excellence for Human Capital Institutions Development, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Nairobi, Kenya 3Centre of Excellence for Rural Resources and Food Systems, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Dakar, Senegal 4College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States 5African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Midrand, South Africa African countries face key challenges in the deployment of GM crops due to incongruities in the processes for effective and…
The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG has frowned at reports that the Department of State Security Services (DSS), has invited the national president of the Nigeria Youth Union (NYU), Chinonso Obasi, alongside other youth leaders, including the CNG in connection with a plan to disrupt official activities at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Categorically repudiating that it has been part of any such plans, the CNG in a statement signed by its spokesperson Abdul-Azeez Suleiman also said none of its officials has been invited by the DSS as reported. A report by the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday said Youth groups,…
Niger has once again demarcated itself in the region by overseeing yet another peaceful and democratic transition of power. This transition, which was unanimously acclaimed globally and largely accepted by all political forces in the country, sets a strong foundation for the long-awaited inflow of investments into Niger’s promising energy sector and overall economic revival. Newly elected President, H. E Mohamed Bazoum who took office on 02 April, has wasted no time in naming a new cabinet which is already at work. The petroleum portfolio, which is expected to become the driving force for growth in the coming decades, has…
By Zainab Oyekan The Project Coordinator of Plateau Potato Value Chain Support Project, Mr Thomas Muopshin says the project has provided training and equipment to 220 farmers to boost potato farming in the state. He disclosed in an interview in Jos on Thursday, that farmers were also linked with financial institutions, to access funds through their cooperatives. Muopshin said that most of the farmers had gone through some training and had accessed financial intervention to aid their production. While disclosing that the farmers were specifically trained in marketing and processing, he added that wash pumps were also provided to help…