Mauritius’ tourism revenues should soar 3.8% to 58 billion rupees or $1.64 billion this year, according to the nation’s statistics office. This forecast is lower than that projected by a report published earlier in the year (59 billion rupees). Tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 6.8% from 1.28 million last year to 1.34 million in 2017. The statistics office also projects a...

Last Feb.27, the European Union (EU) signed with Burkina Faso a financing agreement worth €117 million to back the support programme for food and nutrition security, sustainable agriculture and resiliency (PASANAD). The facility aims to support Burkina Faso’s efforts in implementing the national strategy for food and nutrition security (PNSAN) which aims at achieving sustainable food...

The Telecommunications Industry contributed 8.9% to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria compared to the 8.6% recorded in 2015, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Yesterday, the Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau at the NCC, Ephraim Nwokenneya, said the rise was due to the increasing number of telecoms subscribers. According to Nwokenneya, the...

The Federal Government has signed a multilateral agreement with the Government of Cameroon and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon. There are over 85, 000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon. These refugees fled to the country due to the insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria caused by Boko Haram. According to...

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has revealed that Nigeria earned $43 million from the export of Gum Arabic in 2016. Ogbeh who disclosed this after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), said that, as a result of the performance, the Federal Government has set aside N263 million ($836, 000) to boost the production and export of the commodity. The...

The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has revealed that about three million Nigerians have lost N18 billion (about $58million) to a Ponzi scheme popularly known as Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM). NDIC’s Managing Director, Umaru Ibrahim, who was represented by the NDIC Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Hadi Suleiman, disclosed this at the ongoing 38th Kaduna International...

The Government of Kano has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) valued at about N1.8billion ($5.7 million) with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dangote Foundation to boost healthcare delivery in the state over the next five years. Tagged “Health Basket Fund”, the MoU is aimed at strengthening child health and addressing the issue of maternal mortality in the state. Under...

The Federal Executive Council of Nigeria (FEC) has approved a power guarantee assurance valued at N701 billion ($2.2billion) to electricity generating companies (GenCos) to help solve liquidity challenges faced by the energy sector. This is to be provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). According to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (photo), who disclosed this on...

The Nigerian House of Senate said it will investigate allegations stating that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has illegally inflated funds collected as part of an official subsidy between 2006 and 2016. The sum concerned here amounts to $17 billion. This decision follows a motion filed by Senator Dino Melaye who claims that there were irregularities in subsidies...

The Warri refinery which has an installed capacity of 125,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd), has been shut down due to some technical faults. This was disclosed by Anibor Kragha, the Chief Operating Officer of refineries at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday in Abuja. He said the closure was as a result of power challenges caused by the failure of gas turbine...