A firm of building experts from Ireland is set to enter into a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the management of Abuja Investment Company Limited to construct mass housing estates and public toilets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Whether we like it or not, we are down with the realities of a cashless society. The unveiling of MoneyBox, a technological money transfer device is a pointer to that fact.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has defended the reversal of prudential guidelines that require banks to disclose executive compensation and bonuses as well as the limit on credit to shareholders.

Though the English language has been proven to be the most complicated language with 26 letters and 42 sounds, children stand a better chance of learning to read and write it using the Jolly Phonics, a system whereby children are taught structured blending of words.

Arik Air has deployed its new Airbus A330-200 aircraft onto its daily Lagos-Johannesburg route. The aircraft replaces the Boeing B737-800 aircraft hitherto flying between the two cities.

THE Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger Delta, yesterday, deployed soldiers with two Armoured Personnel Carriers to quell a clash in Warri between the second batch of ex-militants invited for training at Obubra, Cross River State, and the group that had not yet enrolled for the programme.

THE Delta State Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, weekend, in Warri, Delta State appealed to the Federal Government to maintain the post-amnesty programme to ensure the availability of petroleum products, as derailment will throw the nation into untold hardship.

DELTA State governorship aspirant, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege, has said he would embark on massive infrastructural development in the state if elected into office in 2011, adding that the present government in the state has failed to deliver democratic dividends to Deltans.

A Chieftain of the Action Congress, AC, in Rivers State, Prince Tonye Princewill, in collaboration with other Nollywood top shots, has produced a N130 million movie, soon to hit the market .The movie titled Kajola (Commomwealth) and primiered at the Silverbird Galleria, weekend in Abuja, is rated as the most expensive movie ever produced in Nigeria and by a Nigerian.

THE Centre for Ethics, Democracy and Development, CEDAD, has condemned the purported recent face-off involving the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole at the commissioning of newly constructed bridge in Ota, Ogun State last Thursday, where the Minister of Works, Sen Sanusi Daggash and the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and other Nigerians citizens were present.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan Sunday expressed Nigeria’s appreciation of the exemplary dedication, patriotism, commitment to national service and excellence which Nigeria’s Falconets put on display at the just concluded 2010 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany

As part of the measures to check criminal activities in Anambra State, especially Onitsha, Gov. Peter Obi wants the army barracks at Onitsha fenced. He says it is the only army barracks that he knew that is not fenced in Nigeria.

Myne Whitman is a Nigerian born and United States based writer, poet and blogger. Recently, she came out with her first novel, A Heart To Mend, a fictional narrative, which seeks to revive the fading romance form in nation’s narrative oeuvre. In this e-mail interview, the novelist, Nkem Okotcha, who prefers to write with the Pen name, Myne Whitman, a transliteration of her real names, brilliantly and critically responds to some engaging issues raised from the deep journey around her narrative universe. She spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.

The cavernous hall reverberated with his deep rich voice. In the prevailing silence, you could almost hear a pin drop. Twenty curious faces, full of great expectations, stared back at him as he slowly imposed himself on the scene. His close friend, Mike Jimoh of Sun Newspapers had told me that he had a jazzy voice. Mike was right. Helon Habila’s jazzy voice held us captive with his opening sentence that dewy morning at the serene Grace Point Resort Hotel venue of the 3rd International Creative Writing Workshop organized by Fidelity Bank Plc.

NIGERIAN politicians who had taken advantage of the absence of a viable opposition in the polity since the inception of democratic rule in 1999 to behave like the Lords of the Manor must now realise that the purchase of the numerous bullet-proof jeeps from different international markets can no longer guarantee their continued regime of profligacy. Political office holders had held the Nigerian nation by the jugular since 1999 as though the country was a conquered territory handed to then in trust by some unseen captors.