NaijaWire

Archive for the ‘World News’ Category

Abuja - The World Bank has approved a credit grant totaling $390 million (about N45 billion) to assist in the development of Nigeria’s road transport sector.

World Bank’s financial support came in the wake of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s approval for the take-off of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) next month.

The Country Director of World Bank in Nigeria, Mr. Onno Ruhi, at a stakeholders’ workshop on the road sector reform held in Abuja, said the bank’s offer is a demonstration of its commitment towards the development of the country’s transport sector. “I am happy to announce that as a demonstration of our continued commitment towards Nigeria’s transport sector this quarter, the bank approved a credit totalling $390m (equivalent to over N45bn),” he said.

Abuja - The Super Eagles began their march towards the 2010 World Cup/Africa Nations Cup at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium, with an impressive 2-0 victory over the 2010 World Cup host, Bafana Bafana of South Africa, in the first match of the qualifying series.

Ikechukwu Uche gave the mammoth crowd at the stadium hope of a bright afternoon for the Eagles in the 10th minute when he rose above the static Bafana defense to nod beyond a hapless Rowen Fernandez off John Utaka’s cross from the right flank. The goal, coming so early in the game, gave the Nigerians the impetus to scavenge for more goals against the South Africans, who seemed scared of moving out of their side of the pitch.

London -  The British Airways has finally caved in to pressure from millions of Nigerians worldwide as well as the federal government demand for an explanation for the recent maltreatments of Nigerians on a BA Flight #0075 en route Lagos from London on March 27, 2008.

Less than 24hrs after the President, Musa Yar’Adua mandated the Minister of State for Air Transport, Felix Hyatt, to investigate the bad treatment meted out to some Nigerian travelers aboard the British Airways flight, the British carrier has defended itself on the allegations. A statement from the airline partly read: ”The disturbance on board the BA75 service to Lagos on Thursday, 27th March, was a very serious incident which required the presence of 20 uniformed police officers to regain control of the situation.”

Madrid (Spain) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) working with the Spanish police, have arrested 87 Nigerians suspected of Advanced Fee Fraud aka 419.

The 419 suspects were accused of defrauding at least 1,500 people in a postal and internet lottery scam. The Spanish police said millions of euros were taken from the victims, most of them in the United States and European Union.

Those targeted were wrongly told they had won a lottery and asked to send a payment before prize money could sent.

Thousands of letters and e-mails, most in ungrammatical English, were sent out to prospective victims every day, police said.

Lagos - Dangote Sugar Refinery, the most profitable Nigerian company in the beverage sector, is the second largest sugar refinery in the world – second only to the Al Khaleej Sugar Refinery in Dubai.

The refinery at present, is also the first and only sugar refinery in the whole of West Africa. The company recorded a profit after tax of N21.4bn on a turnover of N80.6bn and has already declared N17bn as dividend for the 2007 financial year.

The Managing Director of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Mr. Abdullahi Sule, said in a statement that the performance was testimony to the quality of its products and wide acceptance by the public.