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      *Nigeria climbs two steps in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index As part of the Buhari administration’s medium term Economic Growth & Recovery Plan (EGRP) to build a globally competitive economy, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on Tuesday kicked off the National Action Plan (NAP) 2.0. The new action plan, which will run from 3rd October to 1st December 2017, is expected to further reduce the challenges faced by SMEs when getting credit, paying taxes, or moving goods across the country, amongst others, by removing critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria. It will be recalled that PEBEC, which is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, had, on 26th September, 2017, approved a second 60-day National Action Plan (NAP 2.0) to drive reforms aimed at making Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business. The NAP 2.0 marks the beginning of another reform cycle 2017/2018 whic

       Following Presidential approval, five (5) Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs and eight (8) Assistant Comptrollers-General of Customs who were in acting capacities have been decorated with their new ranks. The five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs are: DCG Aminu Dangaladima DCG Augustine Chidi DCG Sule Robert Alu DCG Patience Iferi (Ph.D) DCG Ronke Olubiyi While the Assistant Comptrollers-General are: ACG Talatu Mairo Isa ACG Benjamin Abeh ACG Ladan Hamza ACG Kaycee Ekekezie ACG Aminu Dahiru ACG Francies Enwereuzor ACG Fatade Olakunle Aderinle ACG Mahmud Haruna Speaking after decorating the officers, Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) congratulated the elevated officers and charged them to see the new ranks as a call to higher services. He said all hands must be on deck to cripple smugglers and raise needed revenue for the the nation. Responding on behalf of the newly decorated, DCG Ronke Olubiyi thanked the Pr

       During the visit, His Royal Highness officially opened the new premises of the mental health charity Inspire, and met a number of its service users and counsellors.   The Duke then travelled to the Titanic Quarter to see the work of two emergency services organisations – the Lagan Search and Rescue and the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service.  His Royal Highness watched a live demonstration of a rescue mission in the harbour, before meeting volunteers and officially naming the new Lagan Search and Rescue lifeboat 'Ray of Hope.' .More photos below.

       The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, says Nigeria has no immediate plan to bring back home former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Deziani Allison-Madueke, to face trial. Allison-Madueke, who is being investigated in the UK, had earlier urged the Federal Government to bring her back to the country to face corruption charges against her. Malami, however, told State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday that bringing her back to the country would jeopardize the investigation being carried on her in the UK. “Steps have been taken by the United Kingdom authorities on issues bothering on corrupt practices involving Nigerians. “If Nigeria feels strongly that there is need to bring Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke here to face charges of corruption, government will not hesitate to do that. “As things stand now, there is no need for that since the UK Government is already investigating her. “Government will not take any decision that will jeopardiz

      The first was on the need for Nigeria to begin the process of constructing Captive Dams in Communities across the country. This will allow us to increase the amount of fresh water that is available in many of our communities, as well as reduce the drilling of boreholes, which have long-term environmental problem; The second was on the urgent need to control the indiscriminate erection of speed bumps on Nigeria’s federal roads.  Speed bumps are effective with regulating traffic, however, the indiscriminate construction of these bumps often leads to the accelerated wear and tear of vehicles. This is why the Senate resolved to direct the Federal Government to remove all indiscriminate speed bumps on federal highways; The third Motion was on the boundary crisis, which arises from the non-delimitation of Nigeria’s internal boundaries. This often leads to boundary disputes between neighboring communities. This is why today, we resolved to urge the National Boundary Commission to

       Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu returns from Abuja after a successful meeting with President Mohammadu Buhari on plan to establish a deep Mining Sea Port in the State.More photos below.

       The Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, and officials of the Malaysian East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) are currently reviewing the progress report on the proposed institutional framework that will support the planned Edo Industrial Park in Malaysia. The choice of the ECERDC according to Obaseki, “was informed by the excellent way the Malaysian statutory body is spearheading the rapid socio-economic development of Malaysia’s East Cost Economic Region.” He explained that the Malaysian council deployed its expertise in the successful completion of ten industrial parks in four states across the Eastern part of the Asian country. “We have made significant progress in our consultations and the Malaysian industrial park model is very inspiring. We are sharing experience and we are interested in their institutional framework because we want to build an Edo industrial park that will stand the test of time,” Obaseki said. The governor further

       China has opened a new visa application centre in Victoria Island, Lagos to make visa procurement easy for Nigerians. The centre, located at Church Gate Building, became fully commenced operations from Thursday, September 21, 2017. According to the Console General of the People’s Republic of China, Chao Xiaoliang, the visa application centre was opened to improve the service standard for applicants. Speaking  to newsmen at the unveiling, Xiaoliang  said : ''from henceforth,all ordinary passport holders wishing to visit the People's Republic of China are requested to apply for visa at Lagos ,China Visa Application Centre. “I completely believe that the centre in cooperation with VFS will surely increase the efficiency and quality of Chinese Visa processing and provide better service to applicants.” He however added diplomats and official passport holders or applicants applying for Hong Kong/Macao Special Administrative Region visa/entry permits are to submit their ap

    The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said that it has stepped up efforts to clampdown on illegal jetty and boat operators in the State in a renewed effort to stem the tide of boat mishaps often caused by illegal operations on the inland waterways. Managing Director of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Mr. Oluwadamilola Emmanuel in an interview with journalists, said that strict enforcement which would be meticulously carried out across the State, adding that the Government would stop at nothing to ensure that operators adhere to the safety standards. “Being a developing sector, one of the things that LASWA has had to do is to be very strict on enforcement. Enforcement is going to be an ongoing thing because you would constantly have those people who are going to default. In terms of clamping down on jetties that are substandard is something that LASWA has been looking to go round the state to clamp down on illegal jetties,” he said. Emmanuel explained that

       The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Tertiary Education and Services to investigate the circumstances surrounding the reduction of cut-off mark for admitting candidates into tertiary institutions. This followed a motion by Rep. Hassan Saleh (Benue-APC) on the  “Need to Investigate the Reduction in the Cut-off Marks for Admissions into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria’’   at plenary on Tuesday. The committee which is expected to report back findings within four weeks, was directed to determine whether the cut-off mark reduction would lower the standard of education in the country. Moving the motion, Saleh expressed concern that the new policy was bound to lower the standard and quality of education from the tertiary institutions. According to him, many candidates who perform poorly in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) can secure admission through nepotism, bribery and corruption while many other candidates who perform excellen

        The Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Kpotun- Idris, has once again solicited the cooperation of Nigerians in order to tackle the insecurity challenge in the country. Idris made the call in his address of welcome during the public lecture on security with the theme “Insecurity: Socio-Economic Impacts and Conflict Resolution Perspectives” on Tuesday in Uyo. He said that the police and all security agencies would need the support of the South-South people and all Nigerians to curb the menace of insecurity and bring development to the country. He said that the lecture, organised for stakeholders in the South-South, was the second in the series to be held across the six geopolitical zones, to find solutions to security challenges confronting the nation. “I want to assure you that the Police, under my watch, is committed to defeating all security challenges confronting our dear country; but we cannot do it alone. “We need the support of the South-South