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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has barred banks from granting credit facilities to a total of 113 companies and 419 directors/shareholders, in a move it says is directed at “strengthening financial stability and entrenching a culture of financial discipline.” Prominent on the list of blacklisted companies are those belonging to renowned businessmen, Mr. Femi Otedola, Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, Dr. Wale Babalakin, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, Mrs Elizabeth Ebi, and former Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji. In a new circular titled Prohibition of New Credit Facilities To Debtors of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), CBN explained that the step had to be taken, as the debtors “failed to repay their loans to banks and had those loans subsequently transferred to AMCON.” Their prohibition from enjoying further credit services will continue until such a time when they full repay all agreed outstandings to AMCON. “In the initial instance, this restrictions shall apply to...

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has closed the Lokoja-Abuja federal highway. The highway had since last week been flooded because of the rise in water level from River Niger. The commission arrived at the decision following the continued rise in the water level at the Banda Village, two kilometres to Lokoja, the Kogi capital, making the movement of vehicles on the road difficult and dangerous. FRSC officials and some youths who had been guiding vehicles through the water for the past three days had been overstressed and could no longer cope with the situation, ” an FRSC statement to NAN stated. The highway will remained shut until the commission could guarantee safe vehicular movement. Meanwhile, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who had been carrying out rescue operations in Idah and Ibaji local governmentstold NAN that the situation in the area was deteriorating. One of the officials, Mr. Ishaya Choloko, who spoke to NAN on telephone from...

One of South Africa's quietest tech success stories is a seven-person business that's gone from startup to profitability in just four years – without ever marketing itself or taking a cent of outside financing. In the process, mobile social network 2go has come to dominate the Nigerian market, where it has over nine million active users – several million more than Facebook. The secret, says director Peter Lockhart, has been balancing a tight focus on what 2go's users really want – a cheap, easy way to chat and socialise using their mobile phones – with the deep technical expertise needed to deliver that experience across thousands of different devices. “Building mobile technology for an African market is tough,” says Lockhart. “Data and SMS are expensive, and our users are price sensitive and savvy. That means we have to deliver an application that uses the absolute minimum of system resources and bandwidth. Our response has been to develop proprietary communications p...

ObafemI Martins struck a dramatic late winner on his debut as Levante came from behind to defeat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Primera Division. Martins only formalised his move to Levante on Friday after being allowed to leave Rubin Kazan, and repaid his new employers’ faith with a goal just 41 minutes after entering the action as a half-time substitute. David Zurutuza had earlier handed visiting Sociedad a first-half lead that they held until the 70th minute when Jose Barkero levelled from the penalty spot. With the clock ticking down Martins pounced inside the area to lift Levante to their second win of the season and a place inside the top 10. The hosts were hugely unlucky not to be in front when Barkero unleashed an effort from inside the area that cannoned back of the post. Sociedad threatened in the 18th minute when Carlos Vela curled an effort over from distance, and five minutes later the visitors were in front when Zurutuza picked up the ball on the edge of the area and pow...

Nigeria international Victor Moses is gradually playing himself into the heart of Chelsea given the post-match review of their last game by the Blues manager Roberto di Matteo. The Italian whose team is leading the English Premier League said that the performance of the attacker in the game against Stoke on Saturday has given him a huge consideration for a starting place on Tuesday in the League Cup match against Wolves. Di Matteo commented via Twitter, “Victor Moses played well again when he came on and has a good chance of starting v Wolves on Tuesday.” The Nigerian has not started for the Stamford Bridge team since his about £10m move from Wigan Athletic and also came up a substitute in their last match against Stoke City which they won by 1-0 courtesy of a late goal scored by defender Ashley Cole. Moses, a surprise by the reigning European champions did not feature in the team’s only Champions League match so far this season which was played at home against Juventus. Di Matteo ...

A suspected thief, Adewunmi Abdullahi, who tried to dispossess a photojournalist of The PUNCH of his belongings on Friday in Lagos, met his waterloo when he was ‘arrested’ by his victim and dragged to a police station. The photojournalist, Olatunji Obasa, said the suspected crook, connived with another young man to rob him on the pedestrian bridge at Oshodi around 8.30am. Obasa said he wanted to take photographs of an accident scene when he noticed two men attempting to snatch his belongings from him. He said, “I looked down from the bridge and saw an accident scene. But as I tried to take a shot, I felt a hand in my pocket. As I tried to check what was happening, I noticed that another hand was unlatching my bag. “Immediately, I gripped the hand in my pocket and shouted ‘thief, thief.’ The other man trying to unlatch my bag quickly fled. But I held on to the other one and hit him. As I did that, passers-by had gathered and helped to hold him.” Obasa said he dragged the young ma...

Does it make you angry? Does it rile you to see your country portrayed as poor and suffering and full of struggle? It burns you, does it not? To have some foreigner- who knows nothing of your history and pain, of the stories that flow within your blood- to have this foreigner come in and tell your story? Is it not the height of disrespect and insensitivity? Does it not chafe against the thick skin you have grown to cover your other wounds? Does it not make you angry? We should wax sanctimonious about national pride being slighted. We should vent our displeasure online. We should occupy something. Because God forbid the truth ever be told about what things really are. God forbid a stranger reminds us about those things we choose to ignore every day. God forbid we ever face the truth about ourselves. God forbid we do not go on the internet and rail about how our country is being cast in bad light. God forbid we do not talk about how there is a small minority which lives better than por...

The popular music talent show Nigerian Idol is back with its third season! The third season was was launched on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at a media event held in Lagos. Also, returning to Idols for another thrilling season are the judges; US singer-dancer, Jeffrey Daniels, veteran singer Yinka Davies, and Charly Boy. On Air Personality, Ill Rhymz also returns as this year’s host. Tiwa Savage, who co-hosted last year, is however, conspicuously missing in action. The Nigerian Idol show has also expanded its search cities from four to five; adding Owerri to the list. Other search cities are Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Benin. Auditions with start on October 13, 2012 in these five cities. The show will begin broadcast on cable and terrestrial TV on December 15, 2012. This year’s prize money is a whooping sum of N20m – a N7.5m recording contract, N7.5m cash prize and an SUV worth N5m. Past winners of the music reality show include Yeka Onka (season 1) and Mercy Chinwo ...

Prolific TV host Andre Blaze has opened up on why he left popular cable TV channel Nigezie where he worked for four years. ‘Expansion! It was time for me to grow‘, the young dark skinned presenter who started working at Nigezie from August 2008 told NET. Andre Blaze says he officially turned in his resignation in May 2012 but left in June. ‘It’s been an incredibly, the most educational experience‘, Andre Blaze reminisces on his stay at Nigezie. Before joining Nigezie, Blaze was head of programming at Rhythm FM 93.7, Port Harcourt. Andre Blaze was recently announced as the host of the first ever edition of ‘Nigeria’s Got Talent‘ show. He is however not new to hosting talent shows. ‘I’ve hosted shows like ‘Zain Nigeize True Search‘, ‘Battle of the Year‘, ‘Peak Talent Show‘, but this one looks even more impressive’, Blaze told NET.

Chelsea on Wednesday denied John Obi Mikel had been hounded from Twitter after the midfielder deleted his account amid claims he had been the victim of a torrent of abuse. Mikel removed his profile from the social networking site less than 24 hours after his mistake helped cost the Blues victory in the opening match of their 2-2 Group E Champions League draw against Juventus. A Chelsea spokesman said that it was entirely coincidental that Mikel, who insisted he was entirely unaware of any abuse, had decided to delete the 'Mikel12Official' account he set up this summer. The spokesman said Mikel felt Twitter was not for him at the present time but had not ruled out joining the site again in the future. Several Chelsea fans on Twitter who assumed Mikel had been hounded off it condemned any abuse of the midfielder, who helped the club end their wait for Champions League glory last season. The 25-year-old Mikel gave the ball away 10 minutes from time before he and his teammat...

AS River Niger overflows its bank in Lokoja, more houses have been submerged in Adakolo, Mpata and Gadumo areas of the town. This was as a result of water released from Kanji and Shiroro and other dams. Affected people were seen moving their belongings from their houses when Nigerian Tribune correspondent visited affected areas on Sunday. One of the victims, Isaac Ochema, said that he had been staying in the area for the past two years, saying the river always overflowed its bank but had never come in such magnitude. He said he had no choice but to move out of the area despite the fact that he had no place to go owing to lack of fund, adding that many other residents were in the same predicament. Another resident who simply gave his name as John called on the government to come to their aid as they had no money to move out. Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Environment, Abdulraham Wuya, told the Nigerian Tribune that most of the people affected were those who built ...

Follow @3rionic Archaic Memories.  Did you really spend this? What were those normal things you spend this for? Share your wonderful experience with 10kobo.

Bow Tie Remix. Is this fashion, style or a replacement of BOW TIE? What do you have to say to this? 

Yesterday @ Ijebu Ode. This is serious.

Microsoft Corp warned a newly discovered bug in its Internet Explorer web browser makes PCs vulnerable to attack by hackers and urged customers to download a piece of security software to mitigate the risk of infection. The security flaw affects hundreds of millions of Internet Explorer browser users. Microsoft said attackers can exploit the bug to infect the PC of somebody who visits a malicious website and then take control of the victim's computer. The software maker advised customers on its website late on Monday to install the security software as an interim measure, buying it time to fix the bug and release a new, more secure version of Internet Explorer. The company did not say how long that will take, but several security researchers said they expect the update within a week. The free security tool, which is known as the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit, or EMET, is available through an advisory on Microsoft's website: blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/  The EMET sof...

Innocent Ujah Idibia , popularly known as Tuface is 37 today. He was born on September 18, 1975 in Jos, Plateau State. He started singing in 1996 and has grown to become a living legend in the Nigerian music industry. The Hypertek entertainment boss is regarded as one of the Nigerian artists who laid the foundation for the growth witnessed in the country’s music industry today. Tuface Idibia has an NGO(2Face Idibia Reach-Out Foundation) through which he gives back to the society. Tuface has served, and is still serving as ambassador for many brands. He is the first non-Liberian to become an honorary member of the Liberian music society in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the growth of music in Africa. As the Nigerian music icon grow a year older today, we wish him life’s very best. He's really made Nigerians proud. Add your comment to send him your wishes.

FIXTURES FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 Time Home Away Stage Venue 18:45 GMT Dinamo Zagreb  v  FC Porto Group A Maksimir Stadium 18:45 GMT Paris Saint-Germain  v  Dynamo Kiev Group A Parc des Princes 18:45 GMT Montpellier  v  Arsenal Group B Stade de la Mosson 18:45 GMT Olympiakos  v  Schalke 04 Group B Karaiskaki Stadium 18:45 GMT AC Milan  v  Anderlecht Group C Stadio Giuseppe Meazza 18:45 GMT Málaga  v  Zenit St Petersburg Group C Estadio La Rosaleda 18:45 GMT Borussia Dortmund  v  Ajax Amsterdam Group D Signal-Iduna-Park 18:45 GMT Real Madrid  v  Manchester City Group D Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Since ending his four year marriage to Stephanie Henshaw in June this year, Pastor Chris Okotie has never really opened up about what led to his decision to end his marriage. Pastor Okotie & Ex-Wife There has been a lot of speculations in the media and he finally decided to react to some of it. He gave an exclusive interview to City People magazine through a minister in his church, Rev Grace Funmi Paul, a member of House Hold of God for the past 25 years. Rev Grace Paul: A blind person knows that my pastor loved his wife, Stephanie, passionately. This year before the separation, he had taken her out of the country at least three times to different places like Dubai, US and so on. He loved her, so did the congregation but the bible says that two cannot walk together except they agree. In the establishment of the kingdom of God, the rules change because the rules are made by God and not by man. So, it didn't have to do with what pastor wanted to do, because left to him, his l...