Month: March 2018

German parliament meets to elect Angela Merkel for 4th term

Admin

Germany’s parliament is meeting to elect Angela Merkel for a fourth term as chancellor, ending nearly six months of political drift in Europe’s biggest economy. Merkel needs the support of a majority of all lawmakers to be re-elected on Wednesday, meaning that she has to win at least 355 votes. The coalition of her conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union and the center-left Social Democrats has 399 seats. The same parties have governed for the past four years but Wednesday’s parliamentary vote comes 171…

Read More

United’s exit ‘nothing new’ for Mou

Admin

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has risked angering the club’s supporters by saying that Tuesday’s tame Champions League exit was “nothing new” for the club as he pointed to his past success against them. United suffered a shock exit in the last 16 with a 2-1 defeat by Sevilla after substitute Wissam Ben Yedder struck twice at Old Trafford. The Spaniards sealed a 2-1 aggregate victory having drawn the first leg 0-0 in Spain. Speaking after the match, Mourinho said United had failed to progress despite giving their best then…

Read More

Lagos state and the politics of taxation

Admin

The government of Lagos state seems to be currently in the eye of the storm over its introduction of a law, a property tax as it were, known as the Land Use Charge Act of 2018, which repeals a similar law of 2001, and consolidates ground rent, tenement rate, and neigbourhood development levy. The Land Use Charge is payable in respect of all real estate in the state. But it is probably the most controversial move that has been made by the Akinwunmi Ambode administration in Lagos state, an administration…

Read More

President Buhari summons, queries IGP Ibrahim Idris for ‘flouting orders’

Admin

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday morning summoned and met with the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris over his reported failure to relocate to Benue after the killings as directed. The meeting, coming a day after Benue leaders told Buhari that the IGP did not comply with his directive to relocate to Benue over the killings by suspected herdsmen, was said to have held in the morning. The IGP was said to be the first caller to the Presidential Villa Tuesday morning, meeting in private with the President for about 30…

Read More

Trump replaces Tillerson with Hawkish Spy Chief Pompeo

Admin

US President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday after a series of public rifts over policy on North Korea, Russia and Iran, replacing his chief diplomat with loyalist CIA Director Mike Pompeo. The biggest shakeup of Trump’s Cabinet since he took office in January 2017 was announced by the president on Twitter as his administration works toward a potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after months of harsh rhetoric and rising tensions on Pyongyang’s nuclear program. The rare firing of the United States’…

Read More

Seplat refinances US$300m revolving credit facility

Admin

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, a Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company, listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange, has announced that it has successfully refinanced its existing US$300 million revolving credit facility due December 2018 with a new four year US$300 million revolving credit facility due June 2022. The RCF carries initial interest of Libor +6 percent payable semi-annually. In conjunction with the issuance of the US$350 million 9.25 percent senior notes due 2023, the pricing of which was announced separately on Tuesday, the Company…

Read More

Ramsey Nouah: Taxation frustrating Nollywood

Admin

Ramsey Nouah, Nollywood star, says despite the massive contribution of the film industry to the nation, taxation is frustrating the sector’s growth. Speaking as a panelist at the tax forum for start-ups and SMEs in Abuja, the actor said the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) should come up with a viable taxation structure to keep the industry from collapse. He said: “Taxation is inevitable. I support it, but right now Nollywood is heavily taxed. The equipment we use, whether old or new are heavily taxed. “The industry is not yet self-sustaining.…

Read More

Think of me as your daughter – 16-year-old dreamer tells Donald Trump

Admin

Nicolle Uria was 15 when her parents told her a shocking secret: she was an undocumented immigrant in the only country she has even known. The teen, who was born in Bolivia, recalls that as her parents braced her two years ago for that gut-wrenching conversation, she expected something else to come out of their mouths. “I immediately thought, ‘I’m adopted’, even though I look just like my sisters and my mom,” Uria told AFP. “The last thing on my mind was finding out that I was undocumented,” said Uria,…

Read More

Apple Music hits 38 million paid subscribers

Admin

Apple Inc’s streaming music service now has 38 million paid subscribers, up from 36 million in February, the company said on Monday. Apple is locked in race for subscribers with Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and others as streaming music becomes the dominant form of paid music consumption. Apple Inc’s streaming music service now has 38 million paid subscribers, up from 36 million in February, the company said on Monday. Apple is locked in race for subscribers with Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and others as streaming music becomes the…

Read More

Kemi Adeosun seeks more technical, institutional support for West African economy

Admin

For quicker economic development, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Tuesday called for more technical and institutional support from the Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center West 2 (AFRITAC West 2) for West African countries. Adeosun made the call while declaring open the sixth Steering Committee meeting of the IMF–AFRITAC West 2 in Abuja, which was attended by the Senior Resident Representative of the IMF in Nigeria, Mr. Amine Mati; AFRITAC West 2 Coordinator, Mr. Oral Williams; Director-General of Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, and Executive Chairman of the…

Read More