Author: Our Reporter

PARIS (AP) Edinson Cavani passed 100 league goals for Paris Saint-Germain as the unbeaten leader romped over Angers 5-0 in the French league on Saturday. PSG’s other goals came from teen star Kylian Mbappe, with two, and Germany winger Julian Draxler in a contest that showed PSG’s attacking might – even without Neymar. Neymar’s countryman, Dani Alves, set up Mbappe in the fifth minute and Draxler in the 14th. Mbappe’s clever back heel allowed Cavani to sweep in his 100th league goal for the club in the 30th. Draxler set up Cavani for the fourth goal and his 101st in…

The Senate Wednesday vowed to carry out a holistic investigation to uncover $1.035billion fraud in the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing. Also, the Senate vowed to probe allegations leveled against the Ministry that it spent $35 million on a project without appropriation by the National Assembly. The alarm followed a motion by the Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi West, who spoke under Order 42 of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 as Amended. Senator Melaye, who told senators during plenary that the ministry ‎got about $1 billion from Euro bond…

Federal government has devised a new debt strategy to mitigate the country’s debt service risk, fast-track her development and save about N91.6 billion annually on the $3 billion re-financing loan. Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, making this known, said government’s decision to refinance its inherited debt portfolio would lead to a reduction in costs of funds, among several other benefits. A statement issued Wednesday in Abuja by Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde, her media adviser, the minister said  “The proposed refinancing of US$3Bn worth of short terms Treasury Bills into longer tenured international debt is expected to save N91.65 billion per…

A total average of 82,266 Megawatts per hour, MWh of energy was generated daily by power stations during the third quarter of 2017, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated. In its quarterly ‘Power Generation’ report released this week, the bureau said in all the power stations, the highest power generated in Q3’17 stood at 93,118MWh on September 1, while the lowest energy generated was 56,486MWh on September 4. “The daily energy generation attained a peak of 3,880 megawatts, MW, on September 1, 2017; and the daily energy sent out on same date was 3,825 MW. “Meanwhile, the highest daily…

More than two million Nigerian graduates are driven into the overcrowded labour market annually, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Trade and Investment has stated. Enelamah, speaking at the High-Level Policy Private Sector Trade and Investment Facilitation Partnership Forum in Abuja, Wednesday, said the federal government was committed to taking actions required to increase Nigeria’s share of global trade and Direct Foreign Investments to address the high unemployment rate. He identified trade and investment as key to development, and stressed the need for    African nations to stick together and jointly work to improve intra-African trade and investment, if the region must…

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has said there was no alternative to a robust intra-African trade in the quest to grow the continent on a sustainable basis. Osinbajo, who spoke at the High-Level Policy Private Sector Trade and Investment Facilitation Partnership Forum in Abuja, Wednesday, said there has been a steady Direct Foreign Investments, DFI, into the region with the 2016 figure standing at $56.2 billion and prospects of rising to $57.5 at the end of this year. He, however, said that though the world was demonstrating a growing interest in Africa, not much would be achieved unless trade among countries…

Proceedings of the House of Representatives temporarily came to a halt for 60 seconds following the news that President Muhammadu Buhari would address a joint session of the National Assembly to present the 2018 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Hardly had Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives finished reading the letter from the President on Wednesday than the members spontaneously went loud in their dissenting voices. Thunderous shouts of “no, no, no.” filled the legislative chamber. It was learnt that the action of the lawmakers was informed by the fact that they were not happy about the poor…

The excitement that greeted the suggestion of Pope Francis to allow Roman Catholic priests the right to get married may enrage the conservative faction of the church, Yahoo News UK reports. However, the request applies to priests in Brazil, and is on the agenda for an upcoming synod (church council) in the Amazon region. The controversial move would address the critical shortage of men joining the priesthood – but is likely to drive divisions through the church by enraging conservative factions. A small number of married Roman Catholic priests already exist, including previously married Anglican vicars who have joined the…

If you’re a fan of sodas, fruit juices and sugary sports drinks, you’re probably not doing your heart any favors. A new review suggests that regularly quenching your thirst with sugar-sweetened beverages not only contributes to your risk of gaining weight, it also ups your chances of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that raises your risk of heart disease. “Some studies found that consuming as few as two servings of sugar-sweetened beverages a week was linked to [an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes and heart disease and stroke],” said study senior author Faadiel…

The concession and privatisation of N2.7 billion government’s property in Federal Capital City, Abuja to individuals by some past administrations would soon undergo public scrutiny of Nigeria’s Senate. Announcing this Wednesday, Senate described the entire process of concession and privatization of government’s property by the past administrations as national disaster and leadership failure, vowing to begin a holistic investigation into issues relating to the matter. Consequently, the Senate said it would summon all the key players in the past governments that were responsible for the concession and privatization of the property to private individuals in the nation’s capital city. At…