Businessman Patrice Talon won the second round of Benin’s presidential election on Sunday, his adversary and incumbent Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou told AFP before the release of official results.

ONE of the major societal problems in Nigeria today is Youth unemployment. Thousands of graduates of our universities including those who studied abroad are roaming the streets in search of none existent jobs. With the dwindling revenue profile of the Federal government, the situation becomes more critical and worrisome, as the various skills acquisition programmes of the Federal and State governments cannot be adequately funded.

CORRUPTION no doubt has been seen by all Nigerians, as the nation’s major enemy that must be destroyed and wiped out from the surface of our beloved nation. We have strongly condemned corruption and continue to do so yet almost on daily basis Nigerians are inundated with media reports of allegations of high level acts of corruption.

FRANCIS Ottah Agbo is the Special Adviser, Media Relations to Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State. So what, you might ask. After all he is qualified and has consistently demonstrated his capabilities as a frontline journalist, image maker and reliable friend of the Countryman Governor over the years and had stood by the governor through thick and thin.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has issued a statement on why it suspended the re-run elections in Rivers. The statement was issued by Oluwole Osaze- Uzzi, Director, Voter Education and Publicity.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh made this call during a meeting with a delegation from the World Bank led by the Vice President Africa Region, Mr. Mukhtar Diop in Abuja recently.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said journalists in Nigeria have nothing to fear from the Nigerian government in the performance of their duties.

The Chinese government has expressed readiness to partner with the Kwara State Government in its efforts to develop a textile industrial park in the state.

Wife of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and Director of Radio, Mrs. Uchechi Okwu-Kanu has said that the arrest and continued incarceration of her husband is a catalyst for new Biafra agitation.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed angst against those asking him to account for recovered Abacha loot, describing them as illiterates and stupid people.

As the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, meets today and tomorrow to review economic and monetary developments since its last meeting in January, and take some measures, some financial institutions and economic analysts have indicated hard choices in the face of worsened macroeconomic headwinds.

Fresh facts are now emerging on why the Federal Government last week withdrew the charges against Elder Godson Orubebe, a former minister in charge of the Ministry of Niger Delta in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan who was arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on allegations of false declaration of assets.

Indications have emerged that the ban on exportation of beans produce to the European Union countries, EU, imposed on Nigeria by the European Food Safety Authority, will be lifted by June this year.

IRKED by the level of work on the 16 kilometre Otuoke Road project in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Projects, has ordered the contractor handling the project to stop work and vacate site immediately.

Operatives of the Gender Department of Lagos State Police Command are currently investigating a 26-year-old man for allegedly kidnapping a seven months old baby.