CALABAR—Cross River State Government, yesterday, inaugurated a centre that will help women and underage girls address all gender-based violence in the state.

WHEN General Sani Abacha (1943-1998) took over from Chief Ernest Oladeinde Adegunle Shonekan on November 17, 1993, he pegged the official rate at N21 to US$1. In the black market it was running close to N50 per US$1,that is if you can get it to buy. The official rate of N22 per dollar stayed throughout the tenure of General Sanni Abacha.

WARRI—Ugbajo Itsekiri has given scholarship to students of Itsekiri origin in higher institutions across the country.

Excravos zone of the Federated Niger Delta Communities has alleged hijack of the pipeline surveillance contract of the Warri to Excravos Evacuation Line by few individuals, who reside outside communities in the Excravos zone.

THE Port Consultative Council, PCC, has said that without inter-ministerial and inter-agency collaboration amongst institutions in the Nigerian maritime industry, the industry will remain stagnant for a long time.

Irked by what he described as unpleasant situation of Nigeria’s health sector, a former President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr Osahon Enabulele, has urged the Federal Government,  various elected state and local governments to stop paying lip service to the health sector.

MASS defection has hit the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State  as over 20,000 of its members defected to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  yesterday led by the chapter and ward chairmen from 16 local government areas of the state.

Following the infrastructural gap in the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has stated that infrastructure deficit is expected to grow to $878 billion by 2040 if nothing is done.

Despite the persisting electioneering tension in Nigeria, the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth will be sustained going into fourth quarter 2018 (Q4’18) and first quarter 2019 (Q1’19).

THE supply of petroleum products, previously threatened as a result of the proposed strike by Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, DAPPMA, has stabilised nationwide, following the suspension of the action.

ASABA —NIGERIA Union of Journalists, NUJ, Delta State Council has appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to expedite action on the litigation surrounding the ownership of the land given to it by the state government on which its state secretariat is being built.

THE National Pension Commission, PenCom, turned down application for clearance certificates from 207 organisations in the second quarter of 2018.

THE nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.81 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) in real terms in the third quarter, 2018 (Q3’18), driven by growth in the non-oil sector as the oil sector contracted by 2.8 percent YoY.

National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, has described the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as lacking in internal democracy, alleging that the former ruling party printed only one nomination form in states where the sitting PDP governors are seeking re-election.

BENIN—EDO State chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, has called on Nigerians to defend their votes and ensure that it counts during the 2019 general election.