Author: Chronicle Editor

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday created a 12-member Economic Advisory Committee headed by renowned accountant and financial expert, Dr Bode Agusto to spearhead the State Government’s drive to improve the business environment and advance the economic development of the State. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello after the State Executive Council meeting at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja. In his words: “the Economic Advisory Committee is expected to bring an independent perspective to economic and business issues with the primary role of offering advice to the State Government…

Usain Bolt will have to hand back one of his nine Olympic gold medals after Jamaican team-mate Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance. Carter was part of the Jamaican quartet that won the 4x100m in Beijing in 2008. His was one of 454 selected doping samples retested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, and has been found to contain the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine. Bolt, 30, completed an unprecedented ‘triple triple’ in Rio last summer. He won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay to add to his successes in the same events in 2008 and…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday re-arraigned, Mohammed Umar, a former Chief of Air Staff in the federal High Court, Abuja. Umar was re-arraigned on a seven-count charge of Money Laundering before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, which he pleaded not guilty. Dimgba, in his ruling after counsel arguments, held that the defendant should continue to enjoy the bail conditions earlier granted by Justice Binta Nyako. He, however, ordered the defendant to provide two sureties who must be civil servants or top management staff of private companies in the jurisdiction of the court excluding satellite towns within two weeks.…

Africa’s leading engineering firm, Kresta Laurel, has been named among the best three performers on Major Projects in 2016 at the ongoing 2017 KONE Conference holding in Dubai, UAE. The company was also named as one of the seven certified KONE Service Partners while the company was also re-certified as an authorized KONE distributor in Nigeria. Thirty-six KONE distributors covering 57 countries were present at the conference. Kresta Laurel is the brain behind most of the prestigious buildings in Nigeria such as UNION Bank, UBA, First Bank, SHELL Petroleum, Chevron and Bank of Industry Headquarters in Lagos. Other buildings using…

Italian police on Wednesday arrested four men accused of being the leaders of a human trafficking and prostitution ring which smuggled people from Africa to Europe and forced women into the sex trade upon arrival in Italy. Another two men were arrested on suspicion of financially supporting the network and selling illegal drugs. The group, which was headquartered in Padua in northern Italy, had accomplices in Nigeria, Libya and Sicily. Police said the network ran an “extremely lucrative” operation. Telephone conversations between ring members and traffickers in Libya revealed large numbers of people hoping to be taken across the sea,…

President Adama Barrow is set to return to The Gambia on Thursday after his predecessor Yahya Jammeh finally quit power under threat of a military intervention, west African political sources said. A source close to the Senegalese presidency and a diplomatic source in The Gambia’s capital Banjul on Wednesday confirmed the announcement made on a Facebook page linked to the new president that Barrow is due to arrive on Thursday at 4:00 pm (1600 GMT). Barrow won December’s election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to step down, setting off a crisis that saw the new president take his oath of…

Mr Sunday Olaosebikan on Wednesday, approached an Igando Customary Court in Lagos to end his seven-year-old marriage to his wife, Mutiatu, for allegedly demanding for money before sex. He told the court, “My wife always refuses me sex until she collects N500. “This, I am sure, is why she has not conceived after the birth of our only child, who is six-year old now. “I am tired of paying N500 per round before having sex with my wife, please dissolve the union. He further told the court said that Mutiatu always threatens to kill him. “My wife is after my…

At least four people were killed in three suicide attacks by bombers in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, police and witnesses said Wednesday. The first attack late Tuesday involved a male bomber who was shot dead by a military sniper after he was seen moving toward a security checkpoint, said Damian Chukwu, police commissioner of Borno state. Then two teenage female suicide bombers attacked early Wednesday. The first was shot dead by soldiers and the second blew herself up after civilian self-defense fighters stopped her from moving toward a mosque, Chukwu said. The bomber and one of the fighters were…

Liverpool forward Philippe Coutinho has signed a new five-year contract worth about £150,000 a week, making him the highest-paid player at the club. The 24-year-old Brazil international joined the Reds from Inter Milan for £8.5m in January 2013, and his new deal will take him through to 2022. Coutinho has scored 34 goals in 163 appearances for Liverpool. “It is a club that I am very grateful to and this shows my happiness here,” he told the club’s website. There is no release clause in Coutinho’s new contract, the terms of which come into effect from 1 July. Coutinho, who…

Nigerians have taken to social media to express their disgust and anger at the attempt of the State Security Service (DSS) to arrest Apostle Johnson Suleiman in Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State in the early hours of 25 Wednesday 2017. Many took to Twitter to condemn the forceful act of the DSS and the silence of the Federal Government of Nigeria while justifying the statement of Suleiman that Christians to attack herdsmen who try to kill them. Some also praised Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti for standing up for Apostle Suleiman. But of course there were others who condemned…