SOMALI WORLD CUP REFEREE DENIED ENTRY TO UNITED STATES. (PHOTO).

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 Somali World Cup Referee Denied Entry to United States Award-winning Somali referee, Omar Artan, has been denied entry into the United States despite holding a valid visa, according to a senior official in Somalia’s sports ministry. Artan, who is set to become the first Somali referee to officiate at the FIFA World Cup finals, was stopped at Miami International Airport and subsequently returned to Istanbul, where he had been residing. The reason for the denial was not immediately disclosed. However, Somalia is among the countries affected by a travel ban introduced by the administration of Donald Trump. Reacting to the development, Ciise Aden Abshir, a senior adviser to Somalia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and a former national team captain, described Artan as one of Africa’s most respected referees. “Omar Artan is among Africa’s most respected referees and deserves the support of the entire football community,” Abshir told AFP on Monday. He added that preventing the referee fro...

NIGERIA HAS SAVED $20BN FROM SUBSIDY REMOVAL, NAIRA FLOATING POLICIES- WALE EDUN. (PHOTO).


 Nigeria Has Saved $20bn From Subsidy Removal, Naira Floating Policies —Wale Edun


Minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Mr Wale Edun, says Nigeria has saved $20 billion from petrol subsidy removal and market-based pricing of the foreign exchange rate.


Edun spoke at a ceremony recently held to mark the first 100 days in office of Esther Walso-Jack, head of civil service of the federation, in Abuja.


“An amount of five per cent of GDP is what those two subsidies were costing when there was a subsidy on PMS; when there was petroleum product generally for a long time and when there was a subsidy of foreign exchange. Between them, they were costing five percent of GDP,” he said.


“If you say GDP was on average, let’s say $400 billion. We all know what five percent of that is – $20 billion of funds that could be going into infrastructure, health, social services, education.”


Edun said these flows now return into the government’s coffers for further deployment to the aforementioned sectors.


“The real change that has happened with the measures of Mr. President is that nobody can wake up and their target for the day or for the week or the month or the year is to get access to cheap funding, cheap funding exchange from central bank, which they can now flip,” Edun said.


“And overnight, they become wealthy from no value added for doing virtually nothing, except you know the right people. Similarly, they can no longer try and be part of a new peak market and very inefficient petrol subsidy regime as a way of making money overnight.”

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