Lagarde is being quizzed by a Paris magistrate over a 2007 arbitration payment she made as French finance minister to settle a spat between the state and a businessman was appointed IMF head in June 2011. Christine Lagarde has made her mark as International Monetary Fund chief by taking a firm yet pragmatic stance in the austerity-versus-growth debate raging as Europe struggles to pull itself out of a long ...

The Senate Committee on Privatization and Commercialization has kicked against the proposed guided liquidation of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) saying that the plan is not in the best interest of the country. Speaking in an interview with journalists at the National Assembly Complex, the Chairman Senate Committee on Privatization, Olugbenga Obadara said the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE ...

A Federal lawmaker, Senator Nenadi Usman on Wednesday said Nigeria has no sugar regulation policy and offers no realistic protection to the sugar industry. Senator Usman, while leading a debate on a bill to amend the national sugar development council act, said the few policies enacted by government to develop the sugar industry have so far been poorly implemented and therefore ineffective. He drew the atte ...

As part of proactive strategies aimed at tackling graduate unemployment across the country, the Federal Government has flagged off the University Entrepreneurship Development Programme to promote self-employment among the youth, right from institutions of higher learning. The programme will be implemented by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education ...

South Africa's FirstRand is no longer considering an acquisition of Nigeria's Enterprise Bank, although it is still keen on rivals Keystone and Mainstreet, its chief executive said on Wednesday. FirstRand, South Africa's second-largest bank by value, had said previously it was looking at buying one of Nigeria's three nationalised banks. "Certainly not Enterprise Bank, but Mainstreet and Keystone were the on ...

Financial analyst; Wole Oluwo, has decried the retention of the nation's Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at 12 percent saying that a trade off might soon occur from the failure of the regulatory authorities to balance the achievement in other economic indicators such as the exchange rate and foreign reserve with a high interest rate. Mr Oluwo on Channels Television's Busines ...

The President, Dangote Group of Company, Aliko Dangote, has declared that the sugar arm of his company will invest over $600million in the production of sugar in Kebbi, Kwara and Sokoto states. Dangote made this known during a visit to the Governor of Kwara state, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed, where he expressed satisfaction with the government’s effort at revolutionising agricultural in the state. According to him, ...

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee concluded its two-day meeting Tuesday in Abuja with 7-3 members voting in favour of keeping interest rates at 12 percent as anticipated by many analysts. In a communiqué of the meeting read by the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Committee weighed the options of whether to reduce the rates in view of declining core inflation, stable exchan ...

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has expressed concern over the funding mechanism used to finance power projects. The Minister is calling for a special intervention fund for the power sector, besides budgetary allocations. Prof. Nebo, in an interview with some journalists in Abuja, said unless something serious happens to ensure power projects are not stopped midway, the sector was at the risk of ...

The Ogun State government has introduced the Cashless Policy in all state-owned hospitals, in line with the state government’s effort to ensure financial transparency in the health sector. The Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Finance, Mrs Ajibola Chokor, revealed this at a sensitisation meeting with the stakeholders on the need for the policy in Abeokuta, while reiterating government’s determina ...