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The Federal Ministry of Works has been dragged before an Abuja Federal High Court over the propriety of the N209.7m contract for advanced integrity test on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. The ministry contracted an engineering consulting company, Icecon Nigeria Limited, to execute the project but two under-water engineering firms – the Nigerian Submarine Divers Limited and TGP Projects Limited – have jointly asked the court to set aside the contract on the grounds that it did not comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. The Nigerian Submarine Divers Limited and TPG Projects Limited sued the Federal Ministry of Works alongside the contractor, Icecon Nigeria Limited, and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. The plaintiffs urged the court to declare that the award of the contract without compliance with the provisions of the PPA was unlawful, invalid, void and unconstitutional. They also asked the court for a perpetual injunctio...

The Federal Housing Authority has said work will soon commence on the Abuja New Town project in Bwari as part of efforts to provide affordable houses for low and medium income earners. The Managing Director, FHA, Mr. Terver Gemade, said houses in the town would be affordable and would consist of minimum of 25, 000 units. According to him, experiences in the past few years have underscored the urgent need to relieve the Abuja city centre of the pressure on its infrastructure. He added that the project was aimed at providing decent and affordable accommodation for the growing population of the nation’s capital. Gemade said enumeration had commenced and that compensation would be paid to those who would be affected by the development in good time so that work would start on the estate by the middle of the year. He said the estate, which will be delivered through direct construction and public-private partnership, would on completion have its own independent power and ...

There are more than 700,000 vacant homes in the UK, something housing campaigners say is a 'shocking waste'. More than 11m homes lie empty across Europe – enough to house all of the continent's homeless twice over – according to figures collated by the Guardian from across the EU. In Spain more than 3.4m homes lie vacant, in excess of 2m homes are empty in each of France and Italy, 1.8m in Germany and more than 700,000 in the UK. There are also a large numbers of vacant homes in Ireland, Greece, Portugal and several other countries, according to information released on sunday by the Guardian(Uk) on its website. Many of the homes are in vast holiday resorts built in the feverish housing boom in the run up to the 2007-08 financial crisis – and have never been occupied. On top of the 11m empty homes – many of which were bought as investments by people who never intended to live in them – hundreds of thousands of half-built homes have been bulldozed in an a...

Godwin Emefiele President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated Godwin Emefiele, who is the Managing Director of Zenith Bank, as the new governor of Central Bank.  Mr. Jonathan submitted Mr. Emefiele’s name to the Senate for confirmation on Thursday, a few hours after he suspended Sanusi Lamido as the CBN governor and announced t he CBN’s Deputy Governor, Dr. Sarah Alade as acting governor of the bank.   Until his appointment, Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele serves as Chief Executive officer and Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc. He served as Deputy Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc. since 2001 and has also served as Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning of Zenith Bank Plc. He had been in Management team since inception. Mr. Emefiele has over eighteen years of banking experience. Mr. Emefiele serves as Director at Zenith Bank If confirmed by the senate, Mr. Emefiele will take over fully as...

President Jonathan Below is the text of Mr. Reuben Abati's Press Release Announcing President Jonathan's Action. Having taken special notice of reports of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and other investigating bodies, which indicate clearly that Mallam Sanusi Lamido  Sanusi’s tenure has been characterized by various acts of financial recklessness and misconduct which are inconsistent with the administration’s vision of a Central Bank propelled by the core values of focused economic management, prudence, transparency and financial discipline; Being also deeply concerned about far-reaching irregularities  under Mallam Sanusi’s watch which have distracted the Central Bank away from the pursuit and achievement of its statutory mandate; and   Mallam Sanusi Being determined to urgently re-position the Central Bank of Nigeria for greater efficiency, respect for due process and accountability, President Goodluc...

There are great opportunities in the heart of Lagos… With these opportunities come an intense congestion; causing pressures that threaten to paralyze the city’s circulation, its growth and its people. To reduce this pressure,  the 4th Mainland Bridge was proposed. The operation will be the insertion of a bypass; a bridge within the body of Lagos. In addition to this bridge, A new heart to support the bridge was also proposed. This ‘new bridge and new heart’ in the body of Lagos will not be typical infrastructure; they will connect people in large numbers and improve their natural flow through a reorganization of vehicular, waterways, and pedestrian modes of transportation. The 2 level bridge will not only function as a means for vehicular traffic on its upper level, it will stimulate and accommodate pedestrian, social, commercial and cultural interactions on it’s lower level – ‘Lagos Life’ – with its tropical enviro...

Grand plan for the construction of a mega shopping mall in the prime area of Lekki in Lagos may have begun in earnest, with conclusion of preliminary works by the promoters who are set for the actual turning of sod activities early next month.    The project being midwife by Messrs Richards Infrastructures Limited has already received massive support of investors and Lagos State Government in a bid to decongest the ever busy Computer Village in Ikeja.  It is located along the newly constructed Lekki-Epe Expressway, and directly in front of Abraham Adesanya Estate, in Ajah. It has proximity to the Lekki free trade zone and newly proposed Lekki International Airport. Designed by the architectural firm of Gab A Associates, the complex is estimated to gulp N300 million. The proposed complex christened Lekki Technological Complex is projected to have 167 shops for show rooms, business offices, phone repairers and retailers. For out right purchase...

An expert in the property market has described the real estate market as an investors’ haven, adding that the industry holds great potential for operators in the country. Speaking on the theme: ‘Growing a diversified group of businesses’ at the Fidelity SME Forum, a weekly radio programme being packaged by Fidelity Bank Plc, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Genesis Group of Companies, Chief Nnaeto Orazulike, said the property business was one area where investors could expect to recoup their investment within a short period of time because of the high return on investment. He advised Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs desirous of growing their businesses to make conscious efforts to tap into the huge property market in the country even as they ploughed back the excess funds into their businesses. “Naturally, as you grow your business and develop it, the best thing to do with the excess, which the business doesn’t absorb is to invest it in real estate,” he said. ...

Ni inu ikoko dudu ni eko funfun ti n jade (it is from the blackened pot that the white pap is made).  This proverb from the Yoruba culture, when translated, means that beauty is mostly derived from ugly places. This seems to be the story of the three-storied school that floats on water in the Lagos Lagoon around Makoko – an area that is stereotypical of what constitutes a slum. In spite of this, the three-storied structure buoyed by recycled barrels in the fishing village has earned nomination, for the  Design of the Year Award 2014,  which is overseen by the London Design Museum Seventy-five other designs were nominated for the same award.   The floating school accommodates about 100 children who commute to and from the school in wooden canoes. After class hours, the lower platform of the structure serves as a shade for fishermen while they take naps or mend their nets in readiness for the next fishing trip. Makoko is a community on the...

Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation President Goodluck Jonathan this afternoon dropped embattled Stella Oduah, minister of Aviation and three others from his cabinet. Others are; Caleb Olubolade, minister of Police Affairs; Godsday Orubebe, minister of Niger Delta Affairs; and Yerima Ngama, minister of State for Finance. They were asked to resign to save them the humiliation of being sacked. It is not immediately clear why the ministers were asked to leave the cabinet. Oduah had since October being enmeshed in a N255million armoured cars scandal in which she was accused of compelling an agency under her supervision, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to buy her two exotic bullet cars at clearly inflated prices.  She was fighting the battle of her life trying to pull all the connections within her reach to force her way back into President Goodluck  before the boot from the cabinet. President Goodluck Jonathan this...