The Senate Committee on Power, has condemned plans by the Rural Electrification Agency, a parastatal in the Ministry of Power to spend N10 billion on solar power projects in nine universities in the six geo-political zone of the country.

Committee members raised concerns over the project at a 2018 budget defense session on Thursday with the Managing Director of the agency, Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi.

Global rating agency, Fitch, has cut its 2017 economic growth forecast for Nigeria to one per cent from 1.5 per cent.

The Nigerian economy had returned to growth in the second quarter of 2017 after shrinking by 1.5 per cent in 2016, but the recovery has been fragile because oil revenues remain depressed and hard currency is short.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says that the Federal Government has realised the sum of N17 billion from the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) inaugurated in July.

Mr Babatunde Fowler, the FIRS Executive Chairman, said this in Lagos on Wednesday, at a media workshop on VAIDS.

Flower said that the N17 billion was voluntarily paid by some companies through VAIDS, an amnesty programme inaugurated by the government for taxpayers to regularise their tax status relating to previous tax periods.

The Federal Civil Service Commission of Nigeria (FCSC) on Thursday announced nationwide recruitment into various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

All qualified Nigerians who currently hold OND, HND, BA/BSc are advised to apply on the commission’s website.

According to the FCSC in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja, forms are available in all Geo-political zones.

According to news and research firm, Disrupt Africa, Nigeria has emerged as a leader in e-commerce and is home to 40% of Africa's e-commerce ventures.

Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa says the extent of Nigeria's dominance of the African e-commerce landscape is one of the most exciting findings from its recently published report Afri-Shopping: Exploring the African E-commerce Start-up Ecosystem Report 2017.

"For the first time, we have clear evidence of the outstanding trajectory of the country's e-commerce space as being driven by entrepreneurs," said Mulligan.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opened the foreign exchange market with the injection of another 210 million dollars to sustain liquidity. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor in a statement, said 100 million dollars was offered to the wholesale segment, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment got an allocation of 55 million dollars.

Oando Plc has headed for the Court of Appeal in its bid to lift the technical suspension imposed on its shares on the floor of the Nigerian stock market by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The oil company had earlier approached the Federal High Court in Lagos to challenge SEC’s suspension of its shares and an audit of its business activities by forensic experts hired by SEC.

A Federal High Court Sitting in Lagos, has ordered the temporary forfeiture of two penthouses valued at $4.760million and linked to former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Seven Systematically Important Banks (SIBs) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have paid N499 billion in income tax expenses between 2011 and 2016.

Financial institutions under the category of SIB include Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), parent company of FBN Limited, FBN Holdings, United Bank For Africa Plc (UBA), Ecobank Nigeria (Ecobank Transnational Incorporated) and Diamond Bank Plc.

According to report, the above financial institutions in six years under consideration have reported an estimated N2.6 trillion profit before tax as a result of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) acquisition of their non-performing loans (NPLs) and prudent management of customers’ deposit.

The Senate has passed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2018 to 2020.  In passing the MTEF earlier today, the Senate, however, increased the benchmark price of crude proposed by the Federal Government from 45 to 47 dollars per barrel. The upper house did not, however, give reasons for the increase.