Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-biggest gold producer, said on Friday output of the metal rose 4 percent in the fourth quarter while costs fell, but it posted lower earnings due to a stronger rand.South African gold miners sell their gold in dollars, and pay their costs in rand, which gained in the June quarter on increasing global demand for risk and expected capital inflows.

An Advertising and media practitioner, Sir Steve Omojafor, has faulted the recent re-branding exercise by the Minister of Information, Professor (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili, calling on her, to instead, focus on reorientating the country’s leadership, making them responsive to the needs of the citizens.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has suggested that each state of the Federation should be given a sense of ownership of resources in its domain. The President of LCCI, Chief Solomon Onafowokan, said at the LCCI quarterly press briefing on Thursday in Lagos that host communities should be allowed a stake in such resources.

Come December 2009, the reality Television scene will be agog with SoulBase Network, organizer of “Nigeria is Talented,” a multi_talent entertainment series will showcase talents from different fields.

The Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) in collaboration with the Alaba International Market Amalgamated Traders Association (AIMATA) have set up a joint task force to curb the rising profile of counterfeiting and piracy in the market.

National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has advised the federal government to take the re- branding Nigeria project to a more fundamental and reconstructive level that will yield long term outcome of Nigerians that mean much more to Nigeria.

GTBank commenced the issuance and acquiring of MasterCard’s EMV compliant payment cards on the Interswitch transaction switching platform.

Scarcity of funds intensified in the interbank money market last week following outflow of N165 billion through withdrawal by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Cash Reserve debit and funding of foreign exchange bids at the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS).

As an extension of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, Centage Savings and Loans Limited has launched a new promo to give opportunity to young musical artists to discover their talents.

In its drive for world class standards in service efficiency and delivery, First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB) has successfully deployed a highly revolutionary computer based online integrated training portal designed for the training and manpower development of its human capital.