Author: Chronicle Editor

Nigeria’s total national debt grew to 21.7 trillion naira ($70.92 billion) at the end of December 2017, the director-general of Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha told a news briefing on Wednesday. It was 17.36 trillion naira at the end of 2016. Nigeria’s first Eurobond will be repaid when it matures in July, Oniha added. The national debt mix is about 30 percent foreign and 70 percent local after a $2.5 billion Eurobond sale in February, she said. Earlier this month, Nigeria paid off about 130 billion naira worth of treasury bills maturing this week instead of rolling over the…

Former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher has been suspended by Sky until the end of the football season after he spat at a car. Carragher was filmed spitting from his car towards a girl in another vehicle after Liverpool’s 2-1 Premier League loss at Manchester United on Saturday. He has apologised over the incident. The broadcaster says the 40-year-old, a Sky Sports pundit, will “get the help he needs to guarantee something like this never happens again”. Sky says the decision was made following an internal review, adding: “Before the start of the next season we will sit down…

A professor of law, Osita Ogbu says President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to withhold assent to the Electoral Act as amended by the National Assembly is in order. Both chambers of the NASS had amended sections of the Electoral Act, prominent among which was the alteration of election sequence as fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The president had after receiving the amended act declined to assent and also communicated his position and reasons to the NASS. Ogbu, who is the Dean, Faculty of Law, Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli told NAN in Enugu on Wednesday that the prevailing circumstance…

The Buhari Youth Organisation (BYO), Lagos State chapter, on Wednesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sanction the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for defying his order. The group made the call in a statement jointly signed by its Coordinator and General Secretary in the state, Mr AbdulWaheed Odunuga and Mr Adekunle Aderibigbe. Buhari had in Benue on Monday said he was unaware that Idris disregarded his directive to relocate to the state after the killing of 73 people on New Year Day. The president was reacting to Benue stakeholders’ allegation that the IGP didn’t spend a day in the…

Sometimes, a change of clothes can make all the difference. For young women who have survived kidnappings and rapes by Boko Haram in Nigeria, fresh clothing is critical to helping shed their status as victims and resume normal lives, survivors said on Tuesday. Hauwa and Ya Kaka – identified for their protection only by their first names – were abducted four years ago in northeast Nigeria by militants who have waged an insurgency since 2009 to carve out an Islamic state. They now act as advocates for Boko Haram captives and survivors. The conflict has left at least 20,000 people…

Annual inflation in Nigeria stood at 14.33 percent in February, slowing for the 13th month in a row and driven by a decline in the pace of food price increases, the statistics office said on Wednesday. The food price index showed inflation at 17.59 percent in February, compared with 18.92 percent in January. Core inflation was 15.13 percent last month. Statistician General of the Federation/CEO Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Yemi Kale said in January he expects inflation to fall faster this year compared with 2017, but that spending ahead of 2019 presidential elections could stoke prices. Food price…

Fast growing financial institution in Nigeria, Keystone Bank Limited, is set to hold a seminar tagged ‘Keystone Bank Career Insight Day’ for young Nigerian undergraduates with a future career in banking. The programme is part of the lender’s commitment to continually build skills and expand knowledge base of persons with keen interest in pursuing a career in the financial sector. The one-day conference which is the maiden edition is billed to hold on Wednesday 28th March, 2018 at the Keystone Bank Learning Academy located at Plot 1397, Tiamiyu Savage street, Victoria Island, Lagos. At the event, banking professionals will take…

Sacked US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned of Russia’s “troubling behaviour and actions” in a parting statement after being fired by President Donald Trump. He pointedly failed to thank Mr Trump or praise his policies. The former ExxonMobil chief had a series of public rifts with the White House after being appointed last year. Mr Trump officially fired Mr Tillerson via Twitter, naming CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his replacement. Mr Trump also named Gina Haspel to become the CIA’s first female director. How did Tillerson react? Speaking to reporters at the Department of State, Mr Tillerson said…

World renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76. He died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday, his family said. The Briton was known for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including A Brief History of Time. At the age of 22, Prof Hawking was given only a few years to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease. The illness left him in a wheelchair and largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesiser. In a statement his…

The president’s long-time personal aide John McEntee has been fired by the White House, according to US media. Mr McEntee, who served as an aide since early in the campaign, was reportedly escorted by security and was not permitted to collect his belongings. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign announced on Tuesday Mr McEntee would join as a “senior adviser for campaign operations”. The announcement came on the same day Mr Trump fired his secretary of state. Mr McEntee was fired amid a US Department of Homeland Security investigation against him for financial crimes, CBS News reports. READ: BBOG to sue…