The Zambian government said on Friday that it will next month hold a virtual meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to negotiate an extended credit facility. The virtual meeting will be held from Feb. 1, to March 3, 2021. Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said the meeting comes in the wake of a request by the government last November for a formal programme and a visit by an IMF team in December. The meeting will be held under the Extended Credit Facility window which provides financial assistance to countries with protracted balance of payments challenges, a situation which…
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The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) on Friday in Abuja, said that it would intensify its surveillance and compliance activities in 2021 to ensure that only improved certified seeds are sold to farmers. The Director-General of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, said this while briefing newsmen on the achievements of the council in 2020 and the expectations in 2021. Ojo said that the withdrawal of operational licenses of 103 seed entrepreneurs in 2020 was a demonstration of the council’s determination to rid the markets of unscrupulous dealers. According to him, following the recertification of companies accredited by NASC in 2020, the…
The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has lauded the N1.5 billion investment brought into the Kano Free Trade Zone (FTZ) by Sunbelt Free Zone Enterprise (FZE). Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, NEPZA’s Managing Director made the remark in Abuja when he played host to the Executive Director and one of the promoters of the enterprise, Alhaji Murtala Jega. Adesugba, in a statement by Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, described the investment as an offshoot of sustained intervention by the Federal Government to maintain the zone as an investors’ attractive anchorage. Sunbelt, which specialises in the manufacturing of fabrics and textiles,…
Troops of Operation Tura Takaibango have eliminated five Boko Haram/Islamic States West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in their attempt to overrun Abbagajiri and Dusula towns in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno. Brig.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, in a statement on Friday, said the troops had sustained an onslaught against the terrorists in the North-East. Onyeuko said the troops of the 402 Special Forces Task Force Brigade had on Wednesday, identified and encircled some terrorists’ enclaves at Abbagajiri and inflicted heavy casualty on them. According to him, in the aftermath of the decisive encounter, five Boko Haram…
Nigeria’s minister of finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed says the federal government’s plan to sale its public assets, will benefit citizens as well as help boost the economy. She said this when she appeared on ChannelsTV’s Sunrise Daily programme monitored by ASHENEWS on Friday. According to Mrs Ahmed, some government assets were currently moribund and provide no value to Nigerians. “There are some government assets that are dead that can be sold to the private sector to be reactivated and put to use for the benefit of Nigerians. “So we are looking at different – and I am a member of…
The Kano State House of Assembly has announced the postponement of its resumption until further notice, in compliance with the stay-at-home directive by the state government. The Speaker, Hamisu Ibrahim-Chidari, made the announcement in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday in Kano by the Director Press of the assembly, Uba Abdullahi. The house of assembly had earlier scheduled to resume on January 25. According to Ibrahim-Chidari, the lawmakers will comply with the directive in support of the state government in its efforts towards preventing the spread of the virus. “I have to commend the state government under the leadership…
The Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister, Svitlana Shatalova, says the World Bank will loan Ukraine about $88.6 million (₴2.5 billion hryvnia) to buy COVID-19 vaccines, according to Interfax Ukraine news agency. “The funds will be used for an emergency response to COVID-19 and vaccination in Ukraine” project. “The negotiations on this matter have been held between the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors and the Ukrainian Government since December 2020,” the official said. Ukrainian Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said Ukraine would receive vaccines in two ways. Stepanov said at least eight million doses would be donated to the country under the…
The Kaduna state government, along with some stakeholders in the agricultural subsector, on Thursday concluded a two-day on-the-spot assessment visits to some wheat farms in the state aimed at evaluating their yields. During the visits the team evaluated the level of yield of the ‘Norman Block’ wheat variety in selected farms at Galma, Alhaza and Magada villages in Zaria and Makarfi local government areas. Other farms visited were in Bizara, Gangara, Mashigin Kaya, Maraban Rido, Kangimi and Kaduna Garden. The Kaduna State Commissioner for Agriculture, Hajiya Halima Lawal, said the visits were to evaluate the level of performance and yields…
The Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Friday confirmed the sack of 65 primary school teachers. They were allegedly recruited illegally in Sanga Local Government Area of the state. SUBEB’s Auditor, Mr Tandat Katuma, who served as the secretary of the investigation committee confirmed the development in Kaduna. The council Chairman, Mr Charles Danladi, had on Wednesday announced the sack of the teachers to journalists in Gwantu, the Council headquarters. Danladi alleged that the anomaly was detected through the over-bloated wage bill of the teachers, which kept increasing every month without new employment. To this effect, an alarm…
Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger, has sought for the support of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) towards increasing farmers productivity in the state. The governor, who was received by the Executive Director of the Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo in Abuja on Wednesday, said the state desired to partner with the council in various aspect, especially in agriculture to help boost farmers productivity. He enumerated some of the areas to include provision of improved seedlings, equipment and other agro-allied inputs to the farmers, suggesting that an institutional framework should be designed where the state government takes control, purchases the farmers produce…