Soludo, El-Rufai to speak on Nigeria’s economic future at CEIP, Agora Policy event
Charles Soludo and Nasir El-Rufai, governors of Anambra and Kaduna States, will speak on Nigeria’s economic future at a policy conversation event, which is jointly organised by the Africa Programme of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Abuja-based Agora Policy. Both governors are expected to deliberate on pathways for creating a robust and resilient economic future for Nigeria.
- Soludo, El-Rufai to speak on Nigeria’s economic future at CEIP, Agora Policy event
- Gov’ship polls: Kogi Govt cautions against ethnicity, divisive tendencies
- Nigerian emerges chair of West Africa insurance body
- Oil prices inch up as recession fears begin to fade
- Trump will not testify in New York rape, defamation trial
The event, which will take place on Tuesday, May 9, at 10 a.m. in the main auditorium of the Yar Adua Centre, Abuja, is expected to attract the crème de la crème of Nigeria’s economic, political, academic, and policy elite. The event will focus on “How Nigeria Can Build a Post-Oil Economic Future.”
Other confirmed panellists at the event are: Aigboje Imoukhuede, former CEO of Access Bank; Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria; and Zainab Usman, Director of the Carnegie Africa Programme.
Soludo and El-Rufai will be expected to share their experiences and other useful insights from their diverse backgrounds in the economic and governance policy arena in Nigeria—Soludo, as a professor of economics, former Chief Economic Adviser to the President, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and El-Rufai, as a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), a member of the Economic Management Team (EMT), and a member of the Policy Implementation Committee under General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Gov’ship polls: Kogi Govt cautions against ethnicity, divisive tendencies
Ahead of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State, the state government has warned politicians in the state against fanning the embers of ethnic sentiments and other divisive tendencies.
Kingsley Fanwo, information and communication commissioner, in a statement in Lokoja on Sunday, urged residents not to succumb to the “antics of mischief makers and ethnic bigots.
“Such bigots are out to stoke the flames of ethnic resentment, division, and hate. They are agents of political desperadoes.
“Kogi government is so concerned over the activities of those desperate individuals bent on destroying the unity and peace being enjoyed by the state.
“Their unintelligent approach has been to push ethnically divisive words and attribute same to Gov. Yahaya Bello in order to incite certain ethnic groups against his person and his administration.
“By God’s grace, we, the people of Kogi, will not fall to their antics. Clearly, those inciting statements are false and are dragging our state back to the conquered era of ethnic chauvinism.
“What binds us together is stronger than the desperate wishes of the enemies of the state,” he declared.
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Nigerian emerges chair of West Africa insurance body
Bola Odukale, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee and Deputy Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association, announced on Sunday that the Group Managing Director of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Eddie Efekoha, will become the next president of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) for the next one year.
As the NIA kicked off an elaborate ceremony on Sunday to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the organisation said that the ceremony would feature awards to past presidents and others who had contributed to the growth of the body over the years.
Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, is expected to declare the conference open, as the programme of the conference released by the LOC chairman stated.
Corneille Karekezi, the Group Managing Director of Africa Reinsurance Corporation, would chair the first session, which would feature the paper on “International rating agencies and their impact on the operations of insurance companies”.
Oil prices inch up as recession fears begin to fade
Oil prices went up in early Asian trade on Monday following fears of a recession in the U.S., which drove prices down for three straight weeks for the first time since November.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures went up 8 cents to trade at $71.42 per barrel, while Brent crude futures traded at $75.36 per barrel, increasing by 6 cents from Friday’s close.
Analysts had attributed the rise in price to fears that the U.S. banking crisis would slow the economy and reduce fuel imports from the U.S.
Reuters reported that a healthy U.S. jobs report for April, a weaker dollar, and expectations of supply cuts at the next meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, in June have helped stop the slide in prices.
Trump will not testify in New York rape, defamation trial
Former U.S. President Donald Trump will not testify at a civil trial to challenge claims made by writer E. Jean Carroll that he raped her in the 1990s and later defamed her, after letting a Sunday deadline pass without asking the court to appear.
Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina told the judge on Thursday that Trump had waived his right to testify in the trial in Manhattan federal court and opted not to present a defense in the case, gambling that jurors will find that Carroll had failed to make a persuasive case.
In response to a Reuters request for comment, Tacopina said in a statement what Trump’s legal team had already told the court on Thursday, that the former president would not testify in the case.
After the jury left for the day on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan asked Tacopina to inform Trump that he had until Sunday at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) to tell the court whether he intended to testify. (Reuters)
