THE Federal Government has pleaded with the United States to lift its ban on the importation of Nigeria’s crude, describing the action as antithetical to the flourish of trade and economic cooperation upon which Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, was founded.

IN a recent ‘chat’ with members of the Newspaper Proprietors Association, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, spoke extensively on efforts to resolve the current challenges to best practice monetary and fiscal management; particularly salient in his narrative, was the alarming revelation that “in 11 years CBN allocated $66bn to BDCs!!”

THE crisis over the choice of the All Progressive Congress, APC governorship candidate in Ondo State, weekend, deepened with the runner-up in the primaries, Dr Olusegun Abraham, weighing the option of seeking redress in court.

PIQUED by allegation that the ‘Change Begins With Me’ concept was not his, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has given two men seven days to retract the claim and apologise or they would be sued for libel.

AS the federal government mulls its new war strategy code named ‘Crocodile Smile’, a member of Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria COREN, Misbau Opeyemi Aminu, an engineer, has stated that lack of meaningful development/dearth of infrastructure in the Niger Delta Region has remained a major issue to be tackled by the federal government.

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba’s frustrations boiled over as he got involved in a verbal confrontation with fans after his Montreal Impact side’s 1-0 defeat in NewYork.

THE Federal Government is targeting the provision of mortgages at single digit interest rates and long tenor as it plans to unveil a new housing finance initiative.

THE Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD, has discovered and removed no fewer than 800 ghost accounts from its register. The ghost names were reportedly smuggled into the register of the fund by public officials saddled with the management of senior citizens’ retirement benefits to defraud the Federal Government.

Agwu Samuel, the 31-year-old man that was arrested, weekend, by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, with 10 pellets of cocaine weighing 110 grammes, has said that he went into drug trafficking to raise money to set up a new business.

Policemen attached to Meiran Division, Lagos, have arrested a woman who allegedly assaulted her 13-year-old maid, identified as Esther, with a saw blade for burning her pot of beans.

Rivers State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, has said that the painful general hardship flowing from the country’s economic crisis affects all Nigerians, hence all hands must be on deck to resolve the challenges.

HE House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Rail Contracts has unearthed how an unregistered company was awarded a N19 billion contract in 2011.

IN an apparent bid to enhance supply of foreign exchange to the bureau de change, BDC, segment of the foreign exchange market, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last month directed that banks should sell $50,000 from proceeds of international money transfers ( IMT) to the 3000 BDCs in the country.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has dragged the Federal Government to the Federal High Court in Lagos, asking the court to compel the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, to institute criminal proceedings against former first lady, Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan, over $15 million unexplained wealth frozen in four companies’ accounts.

IN its quest to provide Nigerians with investment options to enhance their incomes, Eagle Global Markets, EGM has come up with Naira used global trading platform that put off pressure on Foreign Exchange, FX and gives more value to the local currency.