The new interest rate pricing model announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is yet to take off four months after it was announced. The apex bank has also reversed itself on the requirement that banks should publish risk criteria for determining their interest rates as earlier announced.

Insurance companies’ chief executives are crying out for a long lasting solution to the menace of outstanding premium in the sector against the massive abuse of Section 41 of Insurance Act 2003.

FORMER Vice Chancellor of Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka, Professor John Okpako Enaohwo, who was abducted last Wednesday by gunmen that demanded N10 million ransom, has been released, but he has opted to keep sealed lip on his ordeal.

Chief Harry Akande is a founding member of All Nigeria’s Peoples Party, (ANPP). He was also former Chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT of the party. A one time presidential aspirant, Chief Akande who is seeking to become the party’s national chairman believes that ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP has over the years not only poached on ANPP but polarised the party, hence his desire to restore it to its past glory.

Olusegun Aganga, the Minister of Finance, has appealed to stakeholders in the construction, entertainment and ICT industries in the country to make meaningful contributions toward enhancing the growth of the nation’s economy.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Thursday said local demand for natural gas was expected to reach 1,140 million cu metres per day by December.

There are indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has rejected the request that the capital base of primary mortgage institutions (PMIs) be pegged at N3 billion.

MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest mobile-phone operator, said it will increase dividend payouts because there are few takeover opportunities that will add to earnings.

Funding African Media in an Age of Uncertain Business Models will be the main theme of the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF) when it meets in Yaoundé, Cameroon in November.

South Africa’s economy will need to grow by 7 per cent annually for years if it is to create jobs and reduce poverty, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday. Gordhan said risks for global growth had risen sharply and reiterated that domestic growth was expected to average around 3 per cent this year. We want a sustainable economy that will create jobs and reduce poverty.

About 86.4 million Nigerians are either having difficulty accessing land and/or finance for housing development in the country, while 56 million are living in urban slums, according to UN-HABITAT. UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements, mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) announced a joint conference to be hosted by the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, on September 13, 2010, in Oslo, to explore new ways of forging a sustainable, job-rich recovery from the global economic crisis.

Ask any Nigerian what he would want government to do for him and the answer will invariably be uninterrupted power supply. Many people have relocated their businesses to other countries where power supply is not an issue because cost of production is very high in Nigeria, and as a result, goods manufactured in Nigeria are not competitive.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been reminded that the planned recruitment of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members as ad-hoc staff for the 2011 general elections, though attractive, was not exactly the answer to electoral malpractices in the country.

ENVIRONMENTAL Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has frowned at British America Tobacco Nigeria, BAT’s ‘Bursting with Flavour’ promotion , saying it’s offensive to public taste.