Author: Opalim Lifted

Zito Luvumbo scored late in added time to salvage a 1-1 draw for Cagliari at home to Napoli on Sunday, after Victor Osimhen had given the visitors the lead. After a scoreless first half with little in the way of chances, Osimhen found the net with a header in the 65th minute, which looked enough to take all three points before Luvumbo struck at the death. Francesco Calzona, who took over as Napoli manager on Monday, has now drawn his opening two games after the midweek Champions League tie with Barcelona also finished 1-1. Napoli remain ninth in the standings…

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 polls, Peter Obi, has described as ill-advised and wrongly directed the reported clampdown on Bureau De Change (BDC) operators by government agencies. In a post on X, the former Anambra State governor said the action would worsen the country’s exchange rate situation and not alleviate the issue, stressing that BDCs are not the primary suppliers of forex. “The recent reported attacks and disruption of the business activities of Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators in different urban centres across the country by government agencies are ill-advised and wrongly directed,” Obi said.…

The Federal Government plans to generate 1,268 megawatts of electricity from the concession and development of eight brown and green field hydropower projects constructed through public-private partnerships. It was gathered that three of the electricity projects were already given to concessionaires, while the Federal Executive Council had approved the concession of another  power projects. In February 2024, document obtained from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation in Abuja on Friday by our correspondent, it was observed that while three of the hydropower projects had been completed, the remaining five were in various stages of completion. The document was…

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress to shelve their proposed nationwide protest. The NLC on February 16 announced a nationwide protest scheduled for February 27 and 28, in response to the economic challenges facing the country. This decision followed the conclusion of a 14-day ultimatum issued to the federal government regarding the widespread hardship. However, in a letter addressed to the counsel for the NLC, Femi Falana (SAN), dated February 23, 2024, Fagbemi reminded the NLC of a subsisting order restraining the union from embarking on any industrial action. The letter…

Arsenal underlined their Premier League title credentials as they recorded their sixth consecutive win with a dominant display against Newcastle. The result sees Mikel Arteta’s side sit two points behind leaders Liverpool and a point behind second-placed Manchester City at the top of the table. The outcome of this contest appeared inevitable from the moment visiting defender Sven Botman turned the ball in after Gabriel’s header from a corner had been well saved by Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius. While there was an element of bad luck to that for the Dutch defender, who simply could not get out of the…

Manchester City moved a point behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with a hard-fought victory over Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium. City started slowly but took the lead midway through the first half when Phil Foden steered home after Erling Haaland’s shot was saved by Neto. The visitors dominated the rest of the half but were fortunate not to be pegged back early in the second, Marcus Tavernier scuffing a shot into the ground from Antoine Semenyo’s cross before shooting wide after fine work from Dominic Solanke. Man City beat Brentford to close gap at top Solanke had a header punched off…

Alex Iwobi struck a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Fulham snatched a rare 2-1 win at Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday. The former Everton and Arsenal midfielder finished off a counter-attack in the seventh minute of time added on moments after Harry Maguire looked to have salvaged a point for United. Maguire had pounced on a rebound in the 89th minute, cancelling out a 65th-minute strike from Fulham’s Calvin Bassey. United looked to be finishing the stronger as they pushed for a late winner but they were caught out by Iwobi, who secured his side’s first victory at…

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced that parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, will experience a seven-hour power interruption on Saturday and Sunday. This was contained in a statement by the TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, on Saturday. “The Transmission Company of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that its maintenance crew will carry out planned preventive maintenance on its 132/33kV 2X100MVA power transformers in Apo Transmission Substation,” she said. The maintenance is slated for Saturday and Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. “Consequently, there will be power interruption through both transformers,…

The Central Bank of Nigeria has increased the share capital of Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) to N2 billion and N500 million for Tier 1 and Tier 2 licences. The currency operators were previously charged N35 million for a general licence. This was contained in the draft paper of “Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau De Change Operations in Nigeria,” published by the apex bank on Friday. The new guidelines contain several new changes to the guidelines for BDC operations in the country. If approved, it will go into effect on a date that the CBN chooses. Recently, the…

The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has declared that they lack enough paddy in Nigeria for the production of rice in commercial quantities, as they attributed this to the withdrawal of services at the farms by farmers due to insecurity. Recall that on February 8, 2024, the Federal Government stated that RIMAN had committed to releasing about 60,000 metric tonnes of rice to the market. But when contacted on Thursday and asked when members of RIMAN would start releasing the grain, the association’s president, Peter Dama, stated that though the government did not meet with his group, there was…