Category: West Africa
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Nigeria’s Senate deals blow to President Muhammadu Buhari’s borrowing plan
Nigeria’s Senate dealt an unexpected blow to President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday by rejecting his plan to borrow $30 billion abroad for infrastructure projects and budget support until 2018. Senators threw out the plan, introduced last week, without debate. When a surprised Senate President Bukola Saraki held a second vote, most senators shouted again “Nay”.…
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Nigeria: Niger to Produce One Million Metric Tonnes of Rice
Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has said that adequate provision has been made to enable rice farmers in the state produce one million metric tonnes of rice this dry season. Also, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has disclosed federal government’s plan to provide irrigation equipment to rice farmers…
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Nigeria: Breaking – Senate Rejects Buhari’s Request to Borrow $30 Billion
The Senate has rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for authorisation to borrow about $30 billion. The president, last Tuesday, forwarded a request to the National Assembly to approve external borrowing plan of $29.960 billion to execute key infrastructural projects across the country between 2016 and 2018. He made the requests in two separate letters to…
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Nigerian communities threaten to block crude pipeline
Nigerian communities affected by an oil spill in the Niger Delta hub have threatened to block access to a pipeline unless state oil producer NNPC provides a cleanup and compensation within one week, a statement said. Spills from blown-up or faulty pipelines have triggered an insurgency in the Delta, where militants fight for a greater…
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Nigeria: Govt Lifts Embargo On Registration of New Businesses
As part of efforts to encourage entrepreneurs, facilitate investments and move the nation’s economy out of recession , the federal government has said it is prepared to remove bureaucratic and other impediments to registering new businesses. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the assurance at the 2016 Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF)…
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Nigeria: Emirates Ends Abuja Operation
Emirates Airlines yesterday officially shut down its operations in Abuja, the nation’s capital though temporarily. The airline had announced that it would suspend its four flights per week from Abuja to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with effect from yesterday. “The decision was made after a review of the airline’s operations to ensure the best…
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Nigeria: World Bank, IMF Put Pressure On Buhari to Come Up With Economic Blueprint
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, IMF, have piled pressure on the Federal Government to come up with an economic blueprint, if its drive for foreign loans was not to be stalled. Vanguard gathered that officials of both financial institutions have questioned the Minister of Finance and her team over the absence of a…
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Nigeria: Govt Hands Over 79 Trucks of Grains to Borno for IDPs
Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday received a federal government delegation led by the Minister of state for Works, Power and Housing, Hon Mustapha Baba Shehuri, who is in the state to handover grains to the state government for onward distribution to IDPs and also inspect road construction projects in the state and beyond. Speaking…
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Nigeria’s $10bn infrastructure programme to tackle insurgency in oil delta
Nigeria launched a $10 billion infrastructure programme on Thursday in its restive Delta region as part of a plan to end an insurgency that has hobbled oil production. President Muhammadu Buhari will meet representatives of militant groups and community leaders from the Niger Delta in Abuja next week in a bid to end the attacks,…
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Security first goal in Nigeria’s oil roadmap
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will meet leaders of the restive Niger Delta in Abuja next week in an attempt to end an insurgency in the oil-producing region, the oil minister said. Ending unrest in the region that accounts for most of Nigeria’s oil production was the first goal of an energy industry roadmap unveiled on…