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http://ift.tt/2cojDC0 By Festus Ahon ASABA—A Non- Governmental Organisation, Public and Private Development Centre, PPDC, Abuja, has decried the spate of abandoned and unexecuted primary healthcare centres and other national projects littered Delta State. Senior Programme Officer, PPDC, Gift Omodedia, who stated this at a town hall meeting/interactive session with representatives from Burutu community in Burutu Local Government Area and Oko community in Oshimili South Local Government Area of the state, held in Asaba, called for citizens’ participation in project monitoring. Disclosing their findings of monitored projects in Burutu and Oko- Anala communities, Omodedia said that some projects that were budgeted for were either not completed or nowhere to be found. She lamented the complacency and docile attitude of most communities with regard to monitoring projects being executed in their communities, saying that “Some of the projects awarded only exist on paper with nothing on gr...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Peter Egwuatu FINANCIAL Market Derivative Quote (FMDQ) Over the Counter, OTC, has returned to its bullish volume in the month of May 2017, recording a total transaction value of N9.49 trillion, representing a growth of 7.32 per cent from N8.79 trillion in April. FMDQ had, from the beginning of the year recorded continuous growth, until April, 2017 when it fell to N8.79 trillion from N13.42 trillion in March, 2017. The growth pattern in the first quarter shows January declining by 13.1 per cent, but February grew by 14 per cent and March by 10.5 per cent. The return to the bullish trend in May, however, may not bring second quarter position up to N34.22 trillion recorded in the first quarter as the cumulative so far is less than half of the Q1’17. Data from the FMDQ shows that the Treasury Bills (T.bills) segment continued to dominate, accounting for 40.73 per cent of the turnover in May as against 40.24 per cent in April, while FGN2 bonds recorded 5.23 per ...

http://ift.tt/2eU3yo0 The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria, FTAN, has stepped up preparations for its 2017 Annual General Meeting, AGM, which will also feature the election of a new national executive council for the federation, which is the umbrella body of all tourism associations in the country. Speaking with travel journalists on the meeting billed for June 29,  in Abuja, the President of the federation, Tomi Akingbogun, said it was going to be a milestone event in the annals of the federation and Nigeria’s tourism industry. According to him, all the federating associations, including government officials and private operators in allied industries are expected to attend the meeting with the theme: Financing as a Catalyst to a Sustainable Tourism Development, with key speakers slated to address the issue of funding for tourism, which he said was the bane of developing and marketing the tourism industry. Akingbogun said he will use the occasion to give account of...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A   job seeker, Innocent Okpanachi, who was defrauded by a racketeer, could not hide his excitement when he finally got his money back with the help of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. Okpanachi’s eyes lit up with joy as he received the N325,000, handed back to him by Mr. Tunji Jabaru of the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Unit of ICPC on behalf of the Commission. One Mohammed, posing as a senior officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, had collected the amount from Okpanachi, through a third party, who is now at large, with the promise to secure a job for him with the Service. After receiving the money, Mohammed was said to have issued Okpanachi an employment letter with which he approached Customs authorities for verification only to discover that it was fake. Okpanachi, having found out that the appointment letter was not genuine and that their go-between had disappeared into thin air, petitioned ICPC ...

http://ift.tt/2r4aYuV Yakubu, INEC Boss • EFCC arraigns ex-Rivers REC over alleged graft The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced the registration of five new political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.INEC’s Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Adedeji Soyebi made this known at the end of the commission’s meeting in Kaduna. The new political parties, according to Soyebi, are Young Progressive Party (YPP), Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA), New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP), All Democratic Peoples Movement (ADPM) and Action Democratic Party (ADP). This brings to 45, the number of registered political parties in the country.According to Soyebi, “At present, 95 associations have applied to the commission for registration as political parties. Two of the associations voluntarily withdrew their applications. “The commission today approved the applications of five of the associations w...

http://ift.tt/2r44ko8 Obasolape Abiola is the founder of ProTeach, a platform aimed at redefining education and learning in Nigeria by connecting expert tutors to learners. In this interview with TOBI AWODIPE, he reveals the inspiration behind ProTeach, the country’s poor educational system, challenges of keeping an educational start-up viable and other issues. What inspired the development of ProTeach? The inspiration came from a personal experience. I was teaching in a public secondary school as a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and one of the older teachers in the school approached me to help her daughter in her schoolwork; she had been performing woefully in Mathematics and the school system wasn’t helping her at all. I took up the challenge and started tutoring the young girl twice a week at their home. After about two months , she showed great improvement in answering tough mathematical questions and wasn’t not afraid to ask questions in areas she found difficult t...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Prince Okafor Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria and Total Nigeria Plc, in partnership with Nigeria Business Against AIDS, NIBUCAA, have screened over 10,000 persons on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Onitsha, Anambra State. Speaking during the launch of the programme in Onitsha, Managing Director, Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Jean Phillipe-Torres, and Managing Director of Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, represented by Executive Director (Strategy), Dr. Jeff Nnamani, said the exercise, which commenced since 2006, had gone round 20 states across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Nnamani said: “Total Group in Nigeria with her partners— Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, has over the past 11 years consistently made concerted efforts under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative at responding to the HIV /AIDS pandemic in Nigeria. “The Total Group is c...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J ASABA— Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to continue to provide conducive teaching and learning environment in the state. Governor Okowa stated this at the 2017 National Children’s Day celebration held in Asaba,  the Delta State capital,  which was attended by members of the state House of Assembly, commissioners and top government functionaries. The wife of the state governor, Dame Edith Okowa, was also present with her pet programme, O5 Initiative, to provide food and refreshment for the children. The governor who was represented by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Chiedu Ebie, said children needed to be armed with relevant technical and vocational skills, stressing that good education remained one of the greatest assets that could be bequeathed to them. Speaking on the theme of this year’s celebration “Child Protection and Sustainable Development Goals and Opportunities” Gov...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J   By Abel Kolawole Being among the over 60, 000 Nigerians who invested in  a  scheme whose N12 billion account was allegedly closed by  a  bank, ex-agitators  in  the Niger Delta  and their family members have asked  the bank to release the money. The agitators, who spoke through the National Secretary, Third Phase Amnesty, Tam Odogwu, lamented the pain they had  passed through after the scheme ran into hitches. Tam, who described their situation as painful and tough, said they had, for many months, been faced  with hardship on how to feed, pay rent,  school fees, and hospital bills. He also acknowledged  the efforts  of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, after their initial loss of hope. He further stated that the bank should respect the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja and release the fund to the  promoter of the scheme to enable him refund their money. He sa...

http://ift.tt/2pifG7v The company said in a statement on Monday, that the fields have about 770 million barrel of oil equivalent (mboe) in place, of which 500 million barrels of oil and 270 mboe of non-associated gas (about 40 billion cubic meters). Italian oil company, Eni, has launched production from the Integrated Oil & Gas Development Project, in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block, off Ghana’s western coast, in less than three years ahead of schedule, reaching another record time-to-market. The OCTP integrated oil & gas development is made up of the Sankofa Main, Sankofa East and Gye-Nyame fields, which are located about 60 kilometers off Ghana’s Western Region coast. The company said in a statement on Monday, that the fields have about 770 million barrel of oil equivalent (mboe) in place, of which 500 million barrels of oil and 270 mboe of non-associated gas (about 40 billion cubic meters). According to the statement made available to The Guardian by ...

http://ift.tt/2oe2ISt Bank of Industry, Headquaters, Abuja • Plans to support over 30,000 entrepreneurs by 2019 To further improve access to cheap funds and increase its developmental impact in the country, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has reiterated its resolve to leverage Deposit Money Banks’ (DMBs) network in deploying funds to the real sector. According to the Bank, bridging the funding gap of about N5 trillion will require consolidated efforts of other stakeholders like the commercial banks, considering their capacity and network. The Bank’s acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju, explained that to support the industrial sector in domesticating local production, the bank is working tirelessly to mobilise resources within and outside the country. Olagunju, during Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria (HBSAN)‎ members forum, tagged “Alternative sources of financing in a high interest rate environment”, said: “We try to see how best to finance the industrial se...

http://ift.tt/2qN0NJc In an interview with the Founder and Executive Director of Greenicles Solar, Lanre Okanlawon, he said there is a gradual shift from the previously cynical and doubtful stance evident of about three years ago, to a more receptive and positive outlook, stating that public perception is changing. To sustain the growth profile of alternative energy systems like solar power, experts have stressed the need for the deployment of effective and quality energy storage systems like batteries. In an interview with the Founder and Executive Director of Greenicles Solar, Lanre Okanlawon, he said there is a gradual shift from the previously cynical and doubtful stance evident of about three years ago, to a more receptive and positive outlook, stating that public perception is changing. Okanlawon said: “In 12 months, the Solar Nigeria programme alone installed solar electricity for 170,000 homes across Nigeria. This and many other successful projects carried out by solar po...