Rice import policy
The policy of the Federal government is noble and desirable. Any country that is forward looking, will want to pursue that route. The Minister of Agriculture is clear in his vision to grow rice locally, as we have more than 60 percent arable land in Nigeria. Government felt that we should discourage import and encourage our local rice production. The government did not take into consideration, the harm that smugglers will unleash on this noble policy. Now, the importers are put on hold because they cannot compete with the prices of smuggled rice, neither could the farmers and processors.

Zenith Bank PLC has been named bank of the Year Nigeria by the Banker, a publication of Financial Times of London. In a statement on its website the Banker said “Zenith has come a long way since it was founded in 1990. The bank, which had $17bn of assets at the end of 2012, is the largest in Nigeria based on Tier 1 capital, according to The Banker’s latest Top 1000 rankings. By the same measure, it is the sixth biggest lender in the whole of Africa.

With government spending rising, it is important for revenue administrators to devise ingenious means of improving tax collection. One sure way of doing so is automation of the tax collection process.

Out of the 140 million Nigerians who use mobile phones, only an approximately 12.7 million use data connected phones, meaning that over 90 per cent of Nigerians still use feature phones, said Robert Bole, Director of Innovation, Broadcasting Board of Directors, Voice of America.

The Federal Government says it will invest about N10 billion to strengthen various organs that will scale up the supply of cassava flour.

Ogun State government is to devote 12.72 percent of its projected income in 2014 to fund housing development and urban renewal programme in the state.

Chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN) and a cadet pilot, Mr Allen Onyema, speaks on how to make Nigeria’s airspace safe among other issues.

Starting from Friday, November 29, one of the leading cargo shipping giants, American AirSea Cargo, said it had begun to reward its customers around the world, particularly in Nigeria with special holiday shopping and shipping offers that will last through the Yuletide.

Mr Wale Abe, the Executive Secretary of Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA), says the N5.74 trillion facility given banks by the CBN will help to reduce interest rates in the country.

The price of foreign rice may fall ahead of this yuletide as the federal government wants to review downward the 110 percent import duty and levy it slammed on the commodity January this year to boost local production.

THE perennial port congestion seems to have defied all solutions that have been proffered by various government committees that were set up for that purpose.

The private sector in the country is to finance the construction of the 4th mainland bridge with N220 billion.

Infrastructure development and building strong institution to support agriculture in Nigeria, as well as change in present state of land use and right have been identified as some of the factors necessary for sustainable agriculture in the country.

Some financial experts on Wednesday commended the CBN on its plan to change naira notes from polymer to paper notes in second quarter of 2014.

The ECOWAS Commission has decried the “global trade imbalance against Africa” as the continent’s share of the global trade stood at a paltry 3 per cent. The Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Industry, Mines and Free Movement, Ahmed Hamid, made the remarks at the opening of a workshop on “Trade and Environment” in Abuja.