Mr. Volker Treichel, World Bank lead economist, Development Economics Operations & Strategy, will speak at a conference organised for local government councils in the Niger Delta region.

NIGERIA is a nation with many abstract pundits. By that I mean those who analyze Nigeria’s problems without any historical or concrete evidence to prove that their analysis is correct. Mention Nigeria’s problems and you will be confronted by these pundits. They all claim to have a good grasp of what ails Nigeria.

A video showing former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner telling Caribbean officials how to deal with cash gifts from Mohamed Bin Hammam was published by a British newspaper on Wednesday.

Students in the five state owned tertiary institutions in Osun State have appealed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, and their Non Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, NASUP, counterparts, to call off their ongoing strike for their sake.

WORRIED by the carnage on the Benin-Okene-Lokoja-Abuja highway, Oba Erediauwa of Benin Kingdom has appealed to the former Army Chief of Staff, General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), to use his position to prevail on the relevant authorities to urgently fix the road.

The Senate is to take a decision on approving or rejecting President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for the removal of oil subsidy in November, it emerged yesterday.

OVER 200 Patani women, Tuesday, stormed the Ughelli Business District office of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in protest over epileptic power supply in Patani, headquarters of Patani Local Government Area, Delta State and its environs.

THE Lagos State Government has developed a new mental health policy that would guarantee free treatment of mental disorders at all levels of care.

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians that the present security challenges facing the country, occasioned by the terrorists attacks and bombing by Boko Haram and other groups, was a passing phase that will be overcome very soon.

The Minister of Sports and Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC) Yusuf Suleiman has cautioned Nigerians over the attempt in some quarters to heap the entire blame for the nation’s failure to qualify for the 2012 edition of the African Cup of Nations on the Chief Coach of Super Eagles Samson Siasia.

GODFREY Gaya is Chairman of the committee on sports in the House of Representatives. He says Eagles have shamed themselves and disappointed the country and need to be overhauled to move forward.

Barely 24 hours after the Federal Government panel on the 2011 Elections Violence and Civil Disturbances submitted its report and a section of the media alleged that former head of state and Presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), was indicted for making provocative utterances that instigated the violence, Chairman of the panel, Dr. Sheikh Ahmed Lemu, has said Buhari was never indicted in the panel’s report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan.

STRONG indications emerged yesterday that after a meeting of well over five hours, the thirty-six state governors under the aegis, Nigeria Governors’ Forum may dump the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF by the Federal government.

Port Harcourt- No fewer than 45 political parties in Rivers State have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the state’s Independent Election Commission, RSIEC, over the N4.7 billion grant by the state government for political parties for the conduct of the 2011 council elections.

FOUR senior editors with Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation were yesterday arrested by security operatives from Force CID, Alagbon, Lagos.