Month: August 2017

Nigerian banks start to offer naira quotes on screens, to draw dollars

Admin

Nigerian banks have started showing investors price quotes for the country’s currency, the naira, on screens instead of giving them by phone, traders said. The move is part of an effort to draw dollars back to the ailing Nigerian economy, which has been short of dollars since the price of crude oil, the main source of hard currency, plunged three years ago. The central bank hopes the move will further narrow the spread between the official and black market rates by attracting more investment with higher transparency, traders said. Market…

Read More

Keeping dogs, cats as pets unethical: Scientists

Admin

Do you own dogs or cats as pets? Scientists are urging you to have a rethink as you may be doing something unethical by denying the animals some emotions and their full autonomy. A recent research into animals emotional lives has cast doubts on the ethics of pet-keeping, according to the findings published by the British newspaper,The Guardian. The research revealed that the emotional lives of animals, even relatively “simple” animals such as goldfish, are far more complex and rich than we once thought. “Rats have a sense of empathy…

Read More

Trump backs drastic changes to legal immigration

Admin

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw his weight behind efforts to give English-speakers priority for US residency cards and halving the number of legal migrants admitted to the country. Trump backed proposals that would reform the process of obtaining a US “green card” by introducing a points-based system favouring skilled anglophone workers. Around one million immigrants are granted permanent residency each year, but the draft legislation – presented at the White House by Trump and two senators who crafted it – aims to cut that number by around 50…

Read More

We’re not receiving pensions as ex-govs – ministers

Admin

Three former governors in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet have said that they are not receiving pensions from their state governments. The ministers are Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing); Chris Ngige (Labour and Employment) and Kayode Fayemi (Mines and Steel Development). Fashola, a former governor of Lagos State, said he did not receive any pension from Lagos State. According to his Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Hakeem Bello, the minister recently made it clear that he (Fashola) had no reason to ask the Lagos State Government to stop paying him…

Read More

Arsène Wenger says Neymar transfer is ‘beyond calculation and rationality’

Admin

• Wernger claims £198m deal is result of when ‘a country owns a club’ • Arsenal manager says Alexis Sánchez ‘will stay and he will respect that’ Arsène Wenger has described Neymar’s impending £198m transfer from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain as “beyond calculation and beyond rationality”, as he declared the deal to be the consequence of when “a country owns a club”. PSG have been owned by Qatar since 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments became their majority shareholder, and they have made their clout felt in the transfer market. The move for Neymar, though, has…

Read More

Oil, gas communities assure returning oil companies of adequate security

Admin

Oil and Gas Producing host communities in Nigeria (HOSTCOM) say they will ensure the provision of enabling environment for the resumed operation of international and national oil companies in the Niger-Delta region. The National Chairman of HOSTCOM, Dr Mike Emuh, said this in an interview with NAN in Abuja on Thursday. The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had directed the international Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger-Delta region to relocate their headquarters to their states of operations, based on provision of the Local Content Act. Emuh said that the…

Read More

Charly Boy, AGN eulogize Fela 20 years after

Admin

Entertainment maverick Charly Boy and the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), on Wednesday eulogised late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, exactly two decades after his demise. Charly Boy described the late Fela as “unequalled legend who preached against corruption, injustice and other societal ills. “The truth is Fela never dies; he lives on with his music. “What Fela stood against across Africa, and Nigeria in particular, that made many to call him a mad man, are still very much our problems today. “He talked about suffering and smiling, corruption, and…

Read More

Actress, Christabel Ekeh ‘in police custody’ over nude photos

Admin

Christabel Ekeh has reportedly been arrested by police in Ghana for posting her nude photos online recently. Recall in mid-July, nude photos of the Nigerian-Ghanaian actress surfaced on her Instagram page before it was taken down soon after. Ekeh initially stated she had posted the photos in order to reveal the new Christabel. ‘I noticed the page was taken down but it’s my way of welcoming everyone to the new Christabel,’ she said at the time. ‘It is whoever you can imagine. That’s why I’m not wearing anything. So whatever you want to…

Read More

Chelsea to replace Matic with Drinkwater

Admin

Chelsea are interested in signing Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater, according to Sky Sports. The England international is one of the options manager Antonio Conte, is looking at as a possible replacement for Nemanja Matic, who has joined Manchester United in a £40m deal. Conte has already brought in Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco, but the Italian wants to sign another midfielder. He has already asked Bayern Munich about signing Renato Sanches and Drinkwater is also on his list of targets. However, Leicester are under no pressure to sell Drinkwater and…

Read More

U.S., Russia diplomatic row worsens

Admin

All the vehicles having diplomatic license plates have left the territory of the U.S. Embassy’s former compound, located in the Serebryany Bor area, the outskirts of Moscow, a Sputnik correspondent reported Tuesday. The correspondent specified that the last two U.S. embassy employees locked the gates of the summer house before leaving. Moscow announced on July 28 countermeasures in response to the looming US anti-Russia sanctions bill and expulsion of 35 Russian diplomatic staff from the U.S. and seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds in the United States in late 2016.…

Read More