Author: straightnewsng.com

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has reduced its Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, from 14.0 per cent to 13.5 per cent. The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated this, in Abuja, Tuesday, while briefing the press at the end of the 226th Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting. He said that the decision to loosen the MPR was borne out of the desire to reduce the cost of funds and to stimulate growth in various sectors of the economy. The MPR had been retained at 14 per cent since July 2016. He said, “Given the current macro-economic indicators and key market…

Tony Elumelu, chairman of Transcorp Nigeria Plc, planned investment of $2.5 billion in power project across the country will boost Nigeria’s national grid by 700 megawatts, MW, according to Bloomerg. Elumelu revealed that investments in the power sector will be made through Transcorp Power Ltd, a subsidiary company. Although he not give a time frame, Elumelu said the company was ready to “spend a lot of money” on the 987MW capacity Afam Power Plant which is up for privatisation. On March 15, the company along with two others, had launched a bid for Afam Power Plant which operates a natural-gas-fired power generation…

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has warned telecom operators to comply 100 percent with regulatory guidelines or face sanctions. The Executive Vice Chairman, EVC of the Commission, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, sounded the warning, Tuesday, in his welcome address at the “Meet The Regulator Forum” on Promoting regulatory Compliance Through Dialogue held in Abuse. Danbatta, who was represented by Mr. Sunday Dare, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, urged the service providers to acquaint themselves with their license documents. He said, “It will be rather elementary for us to begin you lecture you on the need to study your license documents;…

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, will today, commence hearing on the petition the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, filed to challenge the outcome of the February 23 presidential election. The petitioners, are seeking to invalidate the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential contest. It was learned last night that a five-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal will conduct pre-hearing session on the petition Atiku and his party lodged before the tribunal on March 18. It was, however, not clear if…

Super Eagles stand-in captain, Ahmed Musa, has redeemed his promise to the U-23 side following their astonishing 4-0 win over Libya on Monday evening. The Dream Team were trailing the Libyans 2-0 from the first leg last week and needed a resounding win to qualify. To encourage the lads ahead of the daunting task, Musa promised to pay N1million per goal scored. Former Media Officer of the senior Eagles, Colin Udoh, has confirmed that the former Leicester City winger has sent the money. “JUST IN. @NGSuperEagles captain @Ahmedmusa718 has fulfilled his promise of a million naira for every goal scored…

The Super Eagles of Nigeria wrapped up the international break with a 1-0 win over Egypt’s Pharaohs in a friendly match at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, in Delta State on Tuesday. Debutant Paul Onuachu secured victory for the Eagles with an 8-second screamer, a kick-off which undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football. Onuachu’s strike was the second fastest goal in international goal after Lukas Podolski’s, with the German striker netting after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013. However, Onauchu replaced Odion Ighalo in one of three changes Rohr made…

The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mr. Tunde Fowler, has said that the Value Added Tax, VAT, was designed to support poor people, and not to create hardship for them. Reacting to concerns that the proposed increase in VAT would cause more hardship for the poor, Fowler said, “When you don’t consume certain categories of goods and services, you are not liable to pay VAT charges on those items. “VAT is not charged on all medical and pharmaceutical products. It is not charged on basic food items, books and educational materials, baby products, fertilizers, locally produced agricultural and…

Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, in the North East have called on the Federal Government to take necessary steps to ameliorate the sufferings of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country. They made the call, Tuesday, at the end of a symposium facilitated by the Norwegian Refugees Council, NRC, in Abuja. The CSOs stated that the welfare needs of IDPs would be addressed by the government’s domestication of the Kampala Convention, which it signed and ratified in 2016 and renewed in 2019. “The Federal Government has been trying its best. Of course, we know resources are scarce but we are mindful…

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has placed on hold, its earlier decision to present Certificates of Return to Muktar Idris, Governor-elect in Zamfara State as well as state Assembly members-elect. The exercise which would have taken place Tuesday, was suspended following a judgment of the appellate court regarding the sponsoring of candidates by the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state. According to the commission, it has now been served with a copy of the court judgment. “INEC has been served with the judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto concerning the sponsoring of candidates by the…

The Senate, Tuesday, scored the Ministry of Finance F9, which is WAEC (West Africa Examination Council) standard in budget releases to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT in 2018. It, according to the assessment, gave the Ministry 31.9 percent for the releases from the N30.4billion that was approved in the budget. Meanwhile, the Senate, Tuesday, kicked against what it described as yearly drastic reduction in the capital component budgetary allocations to the territory. Speaking in Abuja when Muhammed Bello, the Minister of the FCT, appeared before the Committee on FCT to defend the 2019 budget, Senator Dino Melaye (PDP Kogi West),…