Northern leaders under the aegis of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) have condemned the introduction of national conference as proposed by Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the conference will not address the problems of the country as it is a strategy devised for the actualisation of the president’s 2015 ambition. Speaking to selected journalists yesterday in Bauchi, the spokesman of the forum, Prof Ango Abdullahi, stated that several conferences held in the country in the past years to surmount the political problems had failed woefully. He added that, for the nation to correct its numerous mistakes and lapses, it should revive the parliamentary system of government as practised in the defunct First Republic
Updated 6 Years ago

Less than three weeks after suspending the operations of Dana Air to pave the way for a safety audit of the carrier’s operations, the aviation industry regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, has grounded the operations of IRS Airlines and Chanchangi Airlines, according to investigations by our correspondent. It was gathered that the suspension followed a memo signed by the Director-General of the NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, ordering all scheduled airline operators whose fleet size had been reduced to only one operational aircraft to immediately stop flight operations. The memo, which was addressed to all scheduled airline operators and dated October 14, 2013, has as its reference number, NCAA/DG/GEN/Vol.II/2013/80.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has fined 21 listed companies a total of N28.6m for default filings made between January and this month, investigations by our correspondent have revealed. According to the NSE, the sanctions were imposed on the companies because they filed their financial statements for 2011 and 2012 this year after the regulatory due date. It added in the NSE’s latest X-Compliance report that the sanctions were in accordance with the provisions of its listing rules.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dr. Paul Orhii, has said that Nigerians consume bottled and sachet water worth N8bn daily. According to him, this accounts for the high number of people getting into the business of packaged water production, and underline the need for the agency to regulate activities within the sector. Orhii spoke at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lagos on Wednesday.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Federal Government has invested $870m in airport infrastructure upgrade as part of efforts to improve services in all the nation’s airports. The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. George Uriesi, made this known on Tuesday while presenting a paper entitled: ‘Airport regulation from the Africa perspective’, at the Airport Council International Conference and Exhibition in Lome, Togo. A statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday by the agency stated that Uriesi said Nigeria was one of the six nations in Africa currently infusing funds into infrastructure development and improving the lot of airports in order to make them to be at par with their counterparts worldwide.
Updated 6 Years ago

An ambitious health check announced Wednesday by the European Central Bank is the first serious attempt to tackle the problem, but it won't produce results for at least a year, and could perversely make things worse before they get better. European leaders agreed in 2012 to give the ECB responsibility for supervising the eurozone's biggest lenders, the first step towards creating a banking union they hope will reduce the risk of future bank failures triggering sovereign debt crises.
Updated 6 Years ago

Newcross Petroleum Limited, the Operator of Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 283 (formerly OML56) under a Production Sharing Contract with NNPC (as the concessionaire), has announced the Efe discovery with the support of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). According to the Strategic Team Lead, New Cross Petroleum, Mr Bashiru Idowu, “the success of Efe-1ST is a confirmation of the support NNPC and DPR have expressed in newly emerging companies willing to significantly add to the national hydrocarbon reserves.”
Updated 6 Years ago

A Nigerian company director has bought the former Irish Naval Service OPV L.E. Emer (P21) ship at an auction for €320,000, reports RTE News. The new owner has yet to decide whether to convert it for pleasure use or use it as a commercial security ship off West Africa. There were two other bidders, one from Cork and the other based in the UK. Afloat.ie adds that the public auction was organised by auctioneer Dominic J. Daly at the Carrigaline Court Hotel outside Cork City.
Updated 6 Years ago

The future of the Nigerian oil and gas industry is closely tied to the emergence and continuing growth of Nigerian independents. This assertion was made by ABC Orjiako, chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company. Orjiako made the declaration at the PWC Oil and Gas leadership conference held in Accra, Ghana on October 18, 2013. Orjiako, who spoke alongside other prominent Nigerian speakers like Mutiu Sunmonu of Shell, Chima Ibeneche, former managing director of Nigeria NLNG as well as Ernest Nwapa of the Nigerian Local Content Monitoring Board, said that at current levels, “25 indigenous oil companies contribute about 10 percent of Nigeria’s total production of 2.5 million bpd.”
Updated 6 Years ago

The Nigerian government is working on plans to reduce wheat import by 20 percent, Minister of Agriculture Akinwumi Adesina said on Tuesday. The minister said the plan, using cassava flour as substitute in bread production, will save more than 796 million U.S. dollars a year, with other benefits such as developing local cassava industry, and improving employment.
Updated 6 Years ago