News extract for 24th July2017

Ø Nigeria will be out of recession before year end, says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured Nigerians that the current recession they are facing would end before the end of the year, even as it blamed over dependence on importation for the problem.

CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at the weekend while delivering a lecture entitled: “The Dilemma of Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Management in a Recession: Potential Options for Nigeria,” at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), explained that he was optimistic that with all the interventions of the Federal Government, the CBN and other authorities, “the country will be out of recession before the end of 2017.”

Guardian

Ø Nigeria's President Buhari seen in London

Nigeria's president has been pictured in London for the first time since he left his homeland almost 80 days ago.

President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, came to the UK for treatment for an unspecified illness.

On Sunday, he met governors from his party for lunch and was very cheerful, according to a government statement.

His absence has led to some anxiety in Nigeria, with some speculating that he might have died.

BBC

Ø US May Set Its Sights on Alison-Madueke

A former U.S. State Department specialist, Mathew Page, has suggested that the U.S. civil forfeiture case to seize $144 million of assets from two cronies of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, might just be the start of her legal troubles with America.

The U.S. Justice Department last week filed an asset recovery case in Houston against Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko, both directors of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept (AEDC) and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd (AEBD), seeking the seizure of luxury property, including a New York apartment and super-yacht, bought by Aluko.

Thisday

Ø Osinbajo, Gowon, Obasanjo discuss food security

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and one-time Military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon(rtd) are to speak on food security and diversification through agriculture today at the 50th anniversary of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Oyo State.

According to the organizer’s, the event provides the leaders the opportunity to address more than 300 international, regional, and national experts regarding the country’s thinking towards agriculture, especially in the context of economic diversification. The Director General of IITA, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, stated that the world was waiting for Nigeria to take the leadership role in agriculture, expressing the hope that Osinbajo’s message would assist participants in understanding government’s agricultural development agenda.

Guardian

Ø Lagos Gives Property Owners in Ikoyi, Lekki, Others Quit Notice over Blocked Drains

After the devastating floods that wreaked havoc in several parts of the Lagos Island a few weeks ago, the Lagos State Government Sunday ordered owners of buildings and structures erected on drainage alignments and channels in Dolphin Estate, Osborne Foreshore Estate, Lekki and Ikoyi, among others to vacate their properties, adding that failure to comply may compel it to remove them.

Although it did not give a specific time frame for the quit notice it issued to the affected property owners, the state government cited contravention of drainage alignments and subsequent threats such actions posed to lives and properties of other residents as the core reason for the vacation notice.

Thisday