Curator

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Emeka Mamah ENUGU——THE Ohanaeze Ndigbo has frowned at the exclusion of the South East in the Federal Government’s modernisation policy of railway projects in the country, describing the action as the height of injustice against Ndigbo. Nwodo spoke against the backdrop of the recent exclusion of the Eastern Rail line in President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly, seeking its approval to borrow about $5. 185 billion (about N2.074 trillion) from China’s Exim Bank. Stressing that the Buhari- led government was unfair to Ndigbo, Nwodo said, “The letter to the National Assembly is a reminder and extension of the political marginalisation and even exclusion of the South East. The major railway projects by the Federal Government are the Lagos-Ibadan-Kano modernisation (standard gauge) rail line and the Lagos- Ibadan segment is already ongoing at the cost of $1.231 billion. “ The Lagos- Kano modernisation rail project, has the Kano-Kaduna segme...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Babajide Komolafe & Elizabeth Adegbesan VICE Chairman of First Guaranty Pensions Limited, FGPL, Nze Chidi Duru, yesterday, said the company should have achieved an asset base of more than N400 billion based on the strategic plan developed for the company in 2010. Nze Chidi Duru, in an exclusive interview with Vanguard, however, noted that the asset base of the FGPL was currently at N130 billion, stressing this was a far cry from the strategic plan formulated for the company by the Orlando-led board in 2010. Duru who was the Vice chairman in the Olaiya Orlando-led board of the FGPL, which was sacked by the Pension Commission of Nigeria, PENCOM, but recently recognised as the legitimate board, by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, expressed optimism that the new management of PENCOM would address the challenges confronting the company by implementing the various court judgements which affirmed the legitimacy of the Orlando led board of directors. ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J CBN injects $81.2m for SMEs, PTA, BTA, others The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday injected N81.2 million into the foreign exchange market, while the naira was stable at N385 per dollar in the parallel market. CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications disclosed the apex bank’s intervention in a statement yesterday. He said: “A breakdown of the interventions indicates that the bank provided the sum of $44 million to meet customers’ requests for invisibles such as Basic Travel Allowances (BTA), Personal Travel Allowances (PTA), medical bills and tuition fees while the SMEs segment also received a boost of $37.2 million. Okoroafor said: “The Bank remains committed to ensuring that there is enough supply of forex to genuine customers to achieve the goal of forex rates convergence”. Expressing satisfaction with the current stability in the forex market, Okorafor reiterated confidence in the ability of the CBN to sustain its interventions in the mar...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Olasunkanmi Akoni Lagos —There was uncertainty in government quarters yesterday as reports quoted Governor  Akinwunmi Ambode as ordering the temporary suspension of the state’s Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIOs from road operation in the state with immediate effect. The governor, it was gathered, ordered the officers to stay off Lagos roads until further instructions. Vanguard gathered that since last week, the VIOs, under the Vehicle Inspection Service, VIS, had left all Lagos roads on the order of the governor. But sources close to the governors office said since the order was not backed by an official statement it could be a ruse. The governor was said to have hinged the directive on the administration’s policy of compulsory training and retraining of all public workers in the state irrespective of cadres. It was also gathered that the order became necessary in order to reposition and improve the services of the agency in conformity with the global...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Monsur Olowoopejo Lagos —Following the arrest of four suspects in connection with alleged mass rape at Falomo Senior High School and Ireti Grammar School both in Ikoyi, Lagos State Government has vowed to deal with culprits responsible for the act, decisively. It would be recalled that male students from the schools went on rampage and molested some female  students after the completion of their West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), last Wednesday. A top government official from the Education ministry  told Vanguard yesterday, that: “The police are investigating the criminal aspect of the issue and other related matters. This is towards dealing with the issue holistically.” Speaking on the Issue, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, added; “The situation is being dealt with. We are looking at the issue holistically. It is not about whether it is mere molestation, clearly, it was a big deal. We are th...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Lari Williams It’s exactly 30 years this month since the artistic expression “Overview on Nigerian Arts” was established in the Vanguard Newspaper, under the umbrella “STAGE AND SCREEN”. I hasten to thank my publisher, Mr. Sam Amuka (Uncle Sam) for the wonderful opportunity of this expression which has afforded me a platform to reach my numerous readers, satisfy my quest as a journalist and keep my writing prowess exercised. I recall when Stage and Screen turned 21 years. I received a 21-inch colour television set from Uncle Sam. Now, Stage and Screen is 30 years, and I wonder what to expect. My first article on this column in April 1987 was 10 years after FESTAC 77′ in which I said “the bubbling of Nigerian arts form since FESTAC 77′ has simmered down like the effervescence of frying pan soup”. This statement is still true in quality today. FESTAC 77′ was a big time Jamboree of the arts, especially the performing arts, which promised the establishment of ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J ‘By Henry Boyo AS I speak to you, our    external reserves stand above $31bn and that provides us with enough fire power to be able to defend the Naira” Godwin Emefiele (CBN Governor, April 25, 2017).  However, the question is: Is the CBN actually defending the Naira? This question is examined in the above title, which was first published in Punch and Vanguard Newspapers on January 12, 2015. Please read on: “Evidently, the serial devaluation of the Naira from stronger than N1=$1 to an abysmal low of about N70=$1 at that time, was probably, the most significant instigator of the oppressive economic challenges induced by the IMF imposed Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP).   Nigeria’s once pulsating industrial base soon became almost silent, with increasing idle capacity, which threw many Nigerians into a famished job market. Worse still, those lucky Nigerians who were still employed, regrettably earned wages which were reduced to ‘peanuts...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J As investors’ sentiment pushes GTB to 60% YtD GTB, Zenith in neck-to-neck industry lead by Emeka Anaeto, AS companies continue to turn in the first quarter 2017 (Q1’17) results to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, bullish trading is expected to trend this week in line with last week’s performance. The local bourse rebounded 2.3% in the last trading week of the month, with gains recorded on four out of five trading sessions on account of renewed interest in bellwethers and reactions to positive earnings surprises. The week had its fair share of positive Q1 earnings, including WAPCO (Gross Earnings up 55.1 per cent to N81.3bn, PAT at N5.2bn), STANBIC (Gross Earnings up 35.2 per cent to N47.0bn, PAT up 100.6 per cent to N16.1bn), GTB (Gross Earnings up 38.8 pe cent to N104.7bn, PAT up 61.9 per cent to N41.5bn), Ecobank (Gross Earnings up 35.8 per cent to N178.4bn, PAT up 34.0 per cent to N18.7bn),  Fidelity Bank (Gross Earnings up 18.8 pe...