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Showing posts from July, 2015

CBN’s SLF to banks closes at N509.66bn in April

Total Standing Lending Facility (SLF) granted by the Central Bank of NIGERIA (CBN) in the month of April 2015 stood at N509.66 billion, compared with a total request of N544.95 billion in March 2015. The apex bank’s economic report for April released recently showed that transactions at the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) window amounted to N518.57 billion. This, according to CBN, represented a daily average of N37.04 billion for the 14 working days in the month, reflecting a decline of 93.76 per cent below the level in the preceding month. Meanwhile, available data indicated that at N6,017.1 billion, foreign assets (net) of the banking system on-month-on-month basis, increased by 0.5 per cent at end of the period under review, compared with the increase of 2.5 and 1.9 per cent at the end of the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively. “The development was attributed, largely, to the 17.2 per cent increase in the foreign asset (net) holdings of the de...

I’ll appoint ministers in September – Buhari

Seeks Obama’s help to recover $150bn loots BY Emma Emeozor The long wait for new ministers will end in September, as President Muhammadu Buhari has given indication that he will constitute his cabinet in about ONE and half months. Revealing this in an opinion published yesterday in Washington Post, ahead of his meeting within United States President Barack Obama, Buhari also sought the US help in recovering about $150 billion stolen money. Buhari’s article reads: “This month, the world moved a step closer to the defeat of Boko Haram, the jihadist group that has terrorised hundreds of thousands in the northern states of NIGERIA. In ONE of my first acts since taking office as President six weeks ago, I have replaced the heads of NIGERIA’s Army, Navy and Air Force. Our new military leadership has not been chosen because of their familiarity with those in government, as was too often the case in the past, but on their track records and qualifications alone. “These new military l...

We’ll help Nigeria overcome challenges –Obama

• US pressure ensured free, fair elections – NIGERIA’s President From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja with Agency Report  President Barrack Obama of the United States of America has promised to help NIGERIA overcome terrorist group, Boko Haram and other challenges. He also commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda for NIGERIA, expressing confidence in his ability to tackle the multiple challenges facing the country. Speaking in Washington DC yesterday, when he met Buhari, as part of activities marking Nigeria’s President’s four-day official visit to the United States, Obama said Buhari has come with a clear agenda to tackle the problems of corruption, insecurity occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram sect as well as other violence criminal activities. He assured that the United States will continue to assist Nigeria in overcoming its challenges. Said Obama; “It is a great pleasure to welcome President Buhari and his delegation HERE in the White House for his first ...

Texas prosecutor says too soon to say how woman died in cell

  By MICHAEL GRACZYK HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — The prosecutor in a Texas county where authorities say a woman hanged herself in a jail cell said Monday that it is too soon to determine exactly how she died and that the ongoing case is being treated as thoroughly "as it would be in a murder investigation." Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said at a news conference that a Texas Rangers investigation into the death of Sandra Bland, whose family and friends dispute that she killed herself, is being supervised by the FBI. Authorities have said Bland, a 28-year-old black woman from Naperville, Illinois, hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag July 13, three days after her arrest during a confrontational traffic stop. Her death at the Waller County jail, about 60 miles northwest of Houston, comes amid increased national scrutiny of police after a series of high-profile cases in which blacks have been killed by officers. "It is very much too early...

Kerry says Iran vow to defy U.S. is 'very disturbing'

  DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday vowing to defy American policies in the region despite a deal with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program was "very disturbing". "I don't know how to interpret it at this point in time, except to take it at face value, that that's his policy," he said in the interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, parts of which the network quoted on Tuesday. "But I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it's very disturbing, it's very troubling," he added. Ayatollah Khamenei told supporters on Saturday that U.S. policies in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's, at a speech in a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". "Even after this deal our policy tow...

Toshiba CEO quits over accounting scandal

By Ritsuko Ando TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's <6502.T> chief executive Hisao Tanaka and a string of other senior officials resigned on Tuesday for their roles in the country's biggest accounting scandal in years. Tanaka will be temporarily replaced by Chairman Masashi Muromachi after an independent inquiry found the CEO had been aware the company had inflated its profits by $1.2 billion over a period of several years. "I see this as the most damaging event for our brand in the company's 140-year history," Tanaka told a news conference after making a ritual deep bow of contrition to a flurry of camera shutters and flashes. "I don't think these problems can be overcome overnight." Muromachi is considered a safe pair of hands to lead Toshiba through its current turmoil before handing the reins to a successor. The company plans to announce next month the delayed business results for the financial year ended in March. Tanaka's p...

North Korea says no interest in Iran-style nuclear deal

Seoul (AFP) - North Korea said Tuesday it had no interest in following Iran down the path of nuclear dialogue, insisting it was already a nuclear weapons state and therefore beyond any logical comparison with Tehran. One week after the historic deal that cleared a path to lift sanctions crippling Iran's economy in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme, Pyongyang rejected any suggestion that it might follow suit. North Korea "is not interested at all in the dialogue to discuss the issue of making it freeze or dismantle its nukes unilaterally," a foreign ministry spokesman said. "It is illogical to compare Iran's nuclear agreement with the situation of (North Korea) which is exposed to constant provocative military hostile acts and the biggest nuclear threat of the US," the spokesman told the North's official KCNA news agency. Both Tehran and Pyongyang, allies since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, have been subjected to tough economi...