The Federal Government plans to support the Federal Mortgage Bank with N500 billion ($1.6 billion) to meet the housing needs of Nigerians, the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, revealed on Monday. Baba who disclosed this while launching the ministerial pilot housing scheme project financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank in Jalingo, commended the bank’s...

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris (photo), has revealed that more than 20,000 accounts with Deposit Money Banks owned by Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies have been closed and moved to a Treasury Single Account (TSA). According to Idris, the initiative had helped the government block leakages and abuses and had also helped overcome the problem of...

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent $250 million on health, education and improving the lives of the poor in Nigeria in 2016, according to Mairo Mandara, its foundation Country Representative. Mandara, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja, said that “five years ago, we spent about $35million; but last year alone, we spent $250 million because the needs were high...

The 18th Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty will be held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. from March 20 to 24, 2017. This is the global forum for all world’s land practitioners to present the latest research and practice on the diversity of reforms, interventions, and innovations in the land sector around the world. The 2017 conference theme will be: Responsible...

Foreign direct investment in Tunisia stood at 2.14 billion dinar ($914 million) in 2016, down 9.4% as compared to 2015. This was revealed by a review released on February 16 by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA). The power sector grabbed the largest part of the FDIs, knowingly 960.3 million dinars. Next come the industry (794.5 million dinar), services (281.7 million dinar) and...

In Senegal’s rural zones, women have the smallest portion of farming lands, according to a study entitled “Diagnosis of Women’s role in the pastoral industry” and carried out by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in pastoral areas of Louga, Saint-Louis, Matam and Tambacounda. “Women’s have a really low access to lands. More than 80% of the lands are controlled...

In Cote d’Ivoire, minimum price to cashew producers is FCFA 440/kg (0.71$) for the ongoing season, which started on Feb 16. This was disclosed by the government at the end of council of ministers held last Wednesday. The new rate is FCFA90 more than FCFA350 in place during the previous season. It will be applied to all “well dried nuts with no foreign material hampering its quality”. By...

Brazil and Congo will reinforce their cooperation in regards to land. This is what came out from a meeting held last Feb 14 between Brazil’s ambassador to Congo, Raul de Taunay, and Congo’s land affairs minister, Parfait Aimé Coussoud-Mavoungou. Through this partnership, Congo will learn a lot from the Southern American country as many of there are many Brazilian companies are operating in...

India has shown interest in importing $100 million worth of pigeon pea from Nigeria, according to the National Coordinating Director of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Vincent Isegbe. Isegbe who disclosed this in Abuja said the Federal Government got the offer from the Asian country after conducting its Pest Crop Survey (PCS) for some agricultural commodities in...

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday revealed that foreign exchange reserves as of February 15th, 2017 reached $29 billion, the highest level in 19 months. Nigeria's reserves have increased by 11.2% from the beginning of this year but still remains below the peak of $64 billion reached in August 2008. This rise, according to Reuters, is as a result of the recent increase in...