As members of the National Assembly prepare to deliberate on the N4.2 trillion budget for 2011 submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan, virtually all the ministries, parastatals are doing everything in the books to convince the committees of both chambers to approve their appropriation for the 2011 fiscal year.

“Accordingly, there is a deliberate reduction in budget expenditure from the N5,159.66billion approved in the 2010 Amendment and Supplementary Budgets. Aggregate expenditure for 2011 is projected at N4,226.19billion…This represents a 18.1% contraction”

Except for the fact that the meeting was a little earlier before night, that interesting encounter with Prince Tunde Ponnle, Chairman, MicCom Cables and MicCom Golf Centre and Resorts and his wife, Olufunke, was more like a moonlight meeting.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Prof Sheikh Abdullah has said that federal government has provided the sum of N22.30 billion as 25% subsidy for the procurement and distribution of 900,000 metric tons of fertilizers to farmers in the 36 states and the FCT.

THE regulatory authorities in Nigeria have been criticized of not doing enough research before coming out with legislation that affect the economy.

Driven by profit taking activities, the value of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dipped, Thursday, by N23.08 billion.

Shareholders of Fidelity Bank Plc have given approval to the bank’s decision to divest from its two subsidiaries and also for it to obtain an international commercial banking licence.

Skye Bank Plc has won the African Export Import Bank’s (Afrexim) financial institutions’ award as a promoter and financier of African trade for year 2010.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and fourteen states governments have entered into a strategic partnership with the World Bank Group/the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)and and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to boost investment in the Nigeria through the improvement of the quality and availability of information to foreign and local investors.

Diamond Bank has announced that it has lend over N8billion to support the small business in the country despite the global economic lull . As a supporter of SMEs in the country, Diamond Bank is a lender to small operators and has promised to even boost their operations more next year.