The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says total pension fund assets have grown to N8.63 trillion as at December 2018. Ms Aisha Dahir-Umar, its Acting Director-General, disclosed this at the public hearing of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee in Abuja on Thursday. The committee is mandated to investigate activities of PenCom and alleged violation of…
At 144th position out of 180 countries surveyed, Nigeria has moved four places up on 2018 Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. The country was ranked 148th in 2017. However, the 27 points out of a possible 100 garnered by Nigeria in 2018 shows no real improvement as it remained static from last year. The Corruption…
Read the full text of the state of the nation statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo I am concerned as a democrat who believes that with faithful and diligent practice of democracy, we can get over most of our political problems and move steadfastly and surefootedly on the course of stability, unity of purpose,…
The National Bureau of Statistics has stated that the number of unemployed people in Nigeria increased from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018. In this periodic report titled ‘Labour Force Statistics – Volume 1: Summary’, NBS explained that this means they did nothing at all or worked too few hours…
Super Falcons of Nigeria have won the 2018 African Women Cup of Nations after beating the Bayana Bayana of South Africa 4-3. The game was decided on penalty kicks after a barren 120 minutes of play. Goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi’s heroics on Saturday in Accra helped the Super Falcons of Nigeria to victory at the…
A couple of weeks back this govt announced the release of N22bn for the payment of pensions and entitlements of workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways. As usual, I adopted a wait and see approach. With this govt, that’s simple wisdom. And then today I’m hearing that pension verification for those workers will be between…
Nigeria has dropped a spot on the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking report released on Wednesday. Titled ‘Doing Business 2019: A Year of Record Reforms, Rising’, the World Bank said a total of 107 reforms were carried out in sub-Saharan Africa, a record for the region. Nigeria had moved 24 places from…
The Nigerian government has dismissed any threat from the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, reassuring Nigerians of the ability of the country to defend itself. In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Federal Government said there was…
The Federal Government on Monday announced that it had issued the first gold refining licence to a firm known as Kian Smith Limited. Revealing this at the ongoing 24th National Economic Summit in Abuja, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma said the Federal Government will also commence the purchase of gold from…
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday endorsed the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, candidate Alh. Atiku Abubakar for the Presidency in the 2019 polls. Atiku was Obasanjo’s Vice President but fell out with his erstwhile boss. Receiving Atiku at his Ota home, Obasanjo pronounced forgiveness for the candidate and described him as having the widest and…
Nigeria’s female basketball team, D’Tigresses yesterday beat their Argentinian counterparts 75-70 in the ongoing FIBA Women World Cup to move a step closer to finding a berth at the quarter-finals of the competition. D’Tigresses who had earlier vowed to avenge Nigeria’s defeat to Argentina in the Russia 2018 World Cup in July had beaten Turkey…
Muhammadu Buhari arrived the political scene in 2003 as something of an irony no-one took very seriously. Transition from strict military dictatorship to flexible, negotiated democratic norms seemed a huge leap for someone who was renowned for strait-jacketed, iron-fisted rule and many wondered how he would cope with the compromises characteristic of democracy. Today however,…
Nigeria has been called upon to reconsider its reluctance to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, some economic analysts said in separate interviews in Addis Ababa. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the analysts argued that AfCFTA is in the national interest of Nigeria and wondered why Nigeria suddenly decided to…
SDH Research has forecast a further drop in inflation rate to 12.43% in April 2018, with a further drop to a single digit in July 2018 if there is no food shortage in the country on account of the current rising crisis in the food producing areas of the country. SDHR’s Head of Research, Ayodele…
Nigeria’s Super Eagles will play Spanish La Liga side Athletico Madrid in a friendly game at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium Uyo on May 22. The game which is part of the 2018 World Cup preparation for the former African champions is made possible by Multichoice, owners of digital terrestrial Gotv and DSTV. “We are…