Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr Samuel Ortom, has said the Federal Government will soon release N5.6m counterpart funding to boost cocoa production in the country. Ortom gave the assurance when a delegation from the International Cocoa Coordination Organisation (ICCO), led by Dr Koname Lucien, its Regional Director, paid him a visit in Abuja on Tuesday.

Labour leaders have questioned the rationale behind the Federal Government’s plan to borrow $7. 9 billion when its key officials maintained that Nigeria was not broke. In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the labour leaders urged government to block all leakages to ensure that the loan was judiciously used.

AFTER five years of waiting game, federal government has finally given the management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, consent to commence the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF.

The Federal Government says it has spent about one billion dollars in the last one year on the development of gas infrastructure meant to fast-track the economic development of the country. Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2012 Ministerial Platform organised by the Ministry of Information.

FINANCE Minister and Economic Coordinator of the economy,Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has said that the Federal Government has decided to provide facilities and infrastructure at the nation’s sea ports with a view to maximizing the economic gains from port operations.