The federal government is working to create at least five million jobs within the next two years, Dr Olusegun Aganga, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, said on Thursday at the opening of the 6th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI-06) in Ibadan. The move, according to Aganga, will help the FG achieve its planned industrialisation of the country. The Minister said the nation had in recent times became the number one investment destination in Africa, saying the country had grown by seven per cent in the last 14 years.
Updated 6 Years ago

National telecommunications operator, Globacom, has signed a $750 million (N116.25 billion) agreement with Huawei Technologies, a leading global ICT solutions provider, to expand the capacity of the Glo network. Speaking at the signing of the partnership agreement in Lagos, Globacom’s Group Chief Operating Officer, Mohamed Jameel, explained that the network enhancement project was part of the 10th anniversary plan to enhance the experience of the millions of subscribers on the Globacom network.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area 1 Command, generated N59.4 billion as revenue in the first quarter of the year, a statement by Mr Emmanuel Ekpa, the command’s Public Relations Officer, said in a statement on Thursday. The statement gave the monthly breakdown of the figure as N20.8 billion in January, N19.8 billion in February and N18.8 billion in March.
Updated 6 Years ago

One of the terminal operators in the nation’s seaports, ENL Consortium Limited said it handled a total of 245 ships that called at its terminal between January and December 2012. General Manager of ENL Consortium Limited, Mr. Mark Walsh, disclosed this in a chat with reporters in Lagos. He noted that despite the ship volume, the firm which, is a wholly indigenous firm recorded, a shortfall of 12 per cent in its cargo volume.
Updated 6 Years ago

Nigeria’s failure to invest in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry has caused her to lose $100billion between 2008 and 2012 according to BusinessDay investigations. This has made the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) more expedient than ever. Similarly, the country’s crude oil production target for the end of 2012, was given as 2.5 million barrels per day, but she could only reaslise about 2.1 million barrels per day, leaving a shortfall of about 0.5 million barrels per day, which is equivalent to about $10 billion, and to worsen the situation the daily production nose-dived to 1.9 million barrels per day in March this year.
Updated 6 Years ago

Amazon.com Inc's revenue growth slowed in the first quarter as the world's largest Internet retail struggled overseas, but margins jumped on lower shipping expenses and the expansion of more profitable new businesses. Amazon shares fell 1.9 percent to $269.43 in after-hours trading on Thursday following the results. "The message there is North America was better than expected but international was softer. The question is ... 'Is this a reflection of macro trends in Europe, or is there something else going on there?'" said Telsey Advisory Group analyst Tom Forte.
Updated 6 Years ago

North Korea rejected on Friday a South Korean proposal for talks aimed at restarting a joint factory zone saying the South has acted in an "unpardonable" manner to jeopardize a "precious" legacy of the rivals' bid to seek peace. The North's National Defense Commission, its supreme leadership body, repeated that what it saw as the reckless behavior of the South had thrown into question the safety of the zone's operation and had forced it to stop access there.
Updated 6 Years ago

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has described as a “media creation” the purported rift between him and President Goodluck Jonathan. “I am not aware that Mr. President and I are quarrelling. As far as I am concerned, we are not quarrelling”, Amaechi told reporters on Thursday in Kano State. The governor stated this even as he said the planned election into the Nigerian Governors’ Forum was not a do-or-die.
Updated 6 Years ago

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has identified attitudinal problem, lack of continuity and delegation of human responsibility for the spiritual as the banes of Nigeria’s quest for rapid economic growth and development. He stated this while declaring open the ministerial session of the sixth National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment held in Ibadan, on Thursday.
Updated 6 Years ago

The White House said on Thursday the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country's civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action. The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad must not cross. It triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted.
Updated 6 Years ago