FOLLOWING the signing into law of the 2017 Appropriation bill by Governor Godwin Obaseki on Tuesday, Edo State House of Assembly, yesterday, expressed optimism that the governor will surpass the 200,000 jobs he promised in his first four years in office, just as it said the N3 billion earmarked for the payment of pensions and gratuity in the budget will help bring to an end the problem of pensioners in the state.

As part of its fiscal funding plans, the Federal Government, through the Debt Management Office, DMO, is set to raise another bond amounting to N110 billion for budgetary deficit funding next week.

In the near future, it is going to be more competitive between men and women holding top executive positions. Men may still be holding forth at top, but in the long run, from the look of things in Nigeria, women are poised to overtake the trend.

Some influential Niger Delta militants who allegedly diverted up to N3 billion meant for the payment of stipends to no fewer than 1,500 ex-militants in the Niger Delta, have had their property confiscated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Contrary to a relatively stable pump price of fuel in Lagos and a few states across the country, there were indications that some petrol marketers are over-shooting the prescribed price ceiling of N145 per litre.

FGM is inextricably linked with other forms of gender inequality, such as violence against women and girls, and other harmful practices such as early and forced marriages

THE global unemployment rate is expected to rise modestly from 5.7 to 5.8 per cent in 2017 representing an increase of 3.4 million in the number of jobless persons, a new International Labour Organisation, ILO, report has shown.

Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors’ Forum, Mr Ayodele Fayose has thrown his weight behind the agitation for local government autonomy, saying; he will continue to support whatever that will bring development and good governance.

Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, yesterday pledged to ensure he ends the challenges facing farmers through the activities of herdsmen and smugglers.

THE Senate Joint Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas, yesterday, set conditions for the sack of oil workers after the passage and implementation of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, popularly known as Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.

STUDENTS of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State, have donated a unit of four public toilets to Agbara market in a bid to improve the sanitation and economy of Agbara market.

The principal organs which control and regulate the legal profession are the Council of Legal Education, the Nigerian Bar Association, the General Council of the Bar, the Body of benchers, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee and the Legal practitioners Disciplinary Committee.

The riverside town of Korokrosei in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was, yesterday, thrown into confusion as suspected pipeline vandals and oil thieves launched an attack on the community, following the arrest of three of their members by security operatives.

ABUJA—SOLDIERS of the Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, Abuja, manning security in the Federal Capital Territory and environs, have arrested four suspected human traffickers and rescued 69 children.

THE involvement of the name of Innocent Idibia (Tu Face or 2Baba) in the mobilisation towards the just-concluded #OneVoiceNigeria protests against bad governance and its painful offshoots on the people the country helped hype the event.