FRESH 4RM GIM

 The 2013 audit report of the Nigeria oil and gas as well as the solid minerals sectors Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has been published with the non-remittance of N2.23 trillion raising eyebrows. Premium times reports that Kayode Fayemi who is the minister of solid minerals and also the chairman of the NEITI board said the audit focused on all aspects of the extractive industries. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Gov-Kayode-Fayemi-of-Ekiti-state Kayode Fayemi The audit showed that total revenue flows into the federation account from the oil and gas sector in 2013 was about $58.07 billion. This was eight per cent decline when compared to the $62.9 billion realised in 2012.

MTN Group Ltd. shares fell after Nigeria suspended talks about a $3.9 billion fine on the South African mobile-phone company while the country’s House of Representatives completes an investigation into the nature of the penalty. The stock declined as much as 2.9 percent, the most since May 12, and traded 1.5 percent lower at 126.50 rand as of 10:23 a.m. in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 233 billion rand ($15 billion). The shares have plunged almost 35 percent since the fine, originally set at $5.2 billion, was levied in October. “Any delays in finding a resolution for the MTN fine will play into trading and keep MTN’s share price suppressed,” Peter Takaendesa, an analyst at Mergence Investment Managers, said by phone from Cape Town on Monday. “The big event to watch this week will be MTN’s annual general meeting, where the market might also get additional clarity.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will now resume dialogue with the federal government after it suspended the three-day old strike it had embarked upon to protest the hike in the pump price of petrol. The suspension came yesterday in Abuja barely 48 hours after the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) paid a visit to the NLC leadership. The Congress, in a communiqué at the end of an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, said it was now ready to enter into negotiations with the federal government on how to resolve the crisis.

In a run to become a leader in smartphone sales, Apple and Samsung have always been neck-to-neck in India. But, reports now suggest that the Korean smartphone giant, Samsung has overtaken Cupertino’s Apple Inc. to become the market leader in the 30,000 and above premium smartphone segment. The report comes in at a time when Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook is on a trip to India to discuss it declining market-share and the proposed setup of a production plant to produce refurbished iPhones. While, the release and the bombastic sale of the Galaxy S6(Edge) and Note 5 handsets have landed the ball in its competitor Samsung’s court, helping them overtake their arch enemy.

  Edo State governor Adams Oshiomhole has explained why he stands on federal government’s side on the issue of the new price of petrol, saying the fundamentals and economic indices are different from what they were a few years ago, adding that the hike is the difficult pain Nigerians must undergo before reaping the gains. According to him, it does not make economic sense for the government to spend more than half of its earnings just on fuel subsidy to the detriment of other development programmes.

The crisis and recent division in the labour movement took a new dimension at the weekend when the president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Francis Olabode Johnson, warned that his union will stand on its own if the Labour centres, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), did not resolve their differences and come together. Though the PENGASSAN president exonerated the TUC from the initial crisis affecting the ongoing labour’s struggle against the government’s unilateral increase in the price of petroleum, he however, blamed the division in the NLC leadership for the discordant tunes from its camp during the recent labour negotiations with the federal government.

The people of Agatu, Benue state have threatened to defend themselves against the violence of ampaging Fulani herdsmen if nothing is done to help them out. Over 400 people have been killed and properties destroyed in Agatu in March following a large scale attack of Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weapons. Speaking to pressmen in Abuja yesterday, Paul Edeh, the leader of One Idoma Initiative at a peace concert organised to raise funds for displaced Agatu people, the people of the community will not wait for the government to protect them even as they have began to raise funds to rebuild their community.

Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha is dissatisfied with the way his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC is managing its victory. Okorocha who is the chairman of APC Governors Forum said: “Make no mistake about it, APC is a good party, by all standards but my regret is that we are not managing our victory very well. “I have no doubt in my mind that the old man (Buhari) will succeed. All I pleaded with Buhari to capture in the current fiscal year are in the budget. I want to assure Ndigbo that all that are due to us will definitely get to us.