Forex scarcity: Demand for real estate drops

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun

The lingering scarcity of foreign exchange and economic slowdown hitting the country have created a glut in the Nigerian property market due to a sharp drop in demand, findings have revealed.

Our correspondent gathered that since the last quarter of 2015, the number of real estate transactions in terms of outright sale of properties and new developments had fallen significantly.

It was learnt that the continued drop in demand, exacerbated by weak consumer confidence, had led to consistent drops in property prices in 2015, especially during the third and fourth quarters.

According to players in the real estate sector, the fall in prices has continued into this year.

“All aspects of real estate, from residential to commercial, are affected as about 30,000 square metres of retail mall space across the country billed for delivery in the last quarter of 2015 have been put on hold, primarily due to the restrictive foreign exchange supply and low demand for space by retailers,” a major player in the property market, who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity, said.

No provision for military in Nigerian satellite –Chief of Defence Space

Satellite Communications

No provision was made for the military in the design, construction and launching of the Nigeria’s earth observation satellite known as NigeriaSat-2, Chief of Defence Space, AVM Tommy Udoh, has said.

Udoh said this when he led a team from the Defence Space Agency on a courtesy call to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, in Abuja on Thursday.

He said at the conception of the satellite about five years ago, the military requirement for space operation was not taken care of and urged the minister to ensure that the requirement of the military would be taken care of when the satellite was being replaced.

The military chief said, “We are supposed to leverage on the satellite to give us intelligence from the space but we couldn’t take advantage of all we needed in the satellite. As at the time it was launched five years ago, we are not where we are now. They payloads did not carry all the things required by the military.

Panel indicts 300 military contractors, N7bln recovered

President Buhari

A panel set up by Nigeria’s Federal government to probe military and defence contracts awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) from 2011 to 2015 has indicted more than 300 companies and prominent citizens including serving and retired officers of the armed forces.

Over N7 Billion has been recovered so far from the indicted companies and individuals.

Another N41 Billion is to be refunded by the indicted companies while further investigation by the EFCC has been ordered to determine whether another N75 Billion should be recovered from some of the companies for unexecuted or partially executed contracts.

The committee further established that one of the indicted companies, Societe D’Equipment International was overpaid to the tune of 7.9 Million Euros and $7.09 Million.

The committee which is different from the committee that is investigating the Defence Arms and Equipment Procurement, discovered that there was a total disregard of salient provisions of the Public Procurement Act in the award of contracts by ONSA.

Several contractors were apparently over paid, while others were given full upfront payments contrary to their contract terms and agreements in force.

N500b cash for the poor stays in N6.06tr budget

Lawmakers have retained the N500 billion intervention fund for the poor in this year’s N6,077,680,000,000 budget.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration plans to dole out N5,000 to the poorest in the land and feed school pupils, among its populist programmes.

But the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2016 controversial budget with a reduction of over N17 billion.

President Buhari on December 22, last year presented to the joint session of the National Assembly an Appropriation Bill of N6,077,680,000,000 for consideration and passage into law.

The lawmakers passed N6,060,677,358,227 as the 2016 budget, slicing off N0,017,002,641,773.

National Assembly slashes 2016 budget by N17b

PHOTO: Senator Danjuma Goje

The Senate Wednesday passed the 2016 controversial budget with a reduction of over N17 billion.

President Muhammadu Buhar had on December 22, 2015 presented to the joint session of the National Assembly Appropriation Bill of N6, 077,680,000,000 for consideration and passage into law.

But the Senate passed N6, 060,677,358,227 as the 2016 budget, a reduction of N0, 017,002,641,773.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje who presented the report of his committee noted that in view of the revenue and general economic challenges confronting the country, “the committee, has in a landmark decision, not witnessed since the advent of the present democratic dispensation in 1999, reduced the size of the aggregate expenditure and consequently reduced the total recurrent, deficit and borrowing plan.”

Power situation in Nigeria no longer laughing matter – Buhari

ABUJA – President Mohammadu Buhari on Monday woke up to the realities of epileptic power supply in Nigeria, saying that the situation was no longer funny.

Should the situation persisits, the president said it would seriously affect the change agenda of the present administration.

The president said his administration must do everything necessary to increase power generation and distribution from its present status of about 1,500 to 3,500 megawatts with additional 2000 before the end of the year as a way of halting the ripple effect effects on the economy.

But giving high hopes on the power sector, the president stated that before his government winds up in 2019, he would achieve a historic 10,000 megawatts of electricity.

The promise was contained in a keynote address which he presented at the opening ceremony of a two day summit of the National Economic Council, NEC, in Abuja.

22 modular refineries to produce 1.429mbpd

According to Vanguard Newspaper, Nigeria’s quest for domestic fuel sufficiency may have been given a lift with the award of 22 licences for modular refineries to private individuals. The refineries have combined capacities of 1.429 million barrels per day, mbpd.

Efforts to boost domestic refining capacity through other alternatives like modular refining, follows the inability of the nation’s five refineries, with combined capacity of 446,000bpd to meet daily national requirement of 40 million litres per day.

The development comes as the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, weekend, refuted a national daily report (not Vanguard) that it had withdrawn the licences awarded to some private investors.

A statement from the Oil and gas industry, reiterated that it “has not withdrawn the licence of any private refinery.”

It added, “The Department is in alignment with Government’s aspiration of improving Nigeria’s refining capacity by strengthening its regulatory oversight function of the petroleum sector in Nigeria.”

CPC probes banks for customer rights abuse

The Consumer Protection Council on Thursday said it was investigating cases of consumer rights abuse by the banking and hospitality sectors of the economy.

The Director-General, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, disclosed this at a stakeholders’ workshop held in Abuja as part of activities to commemorate the World Consumer Rights Day.

She said owing to the rising complaints in these sectors of the economy, the council was determined to pursue the protection of consumer rights with vigour.

Atoki said while a lot of success had been recorded in the food and beverage sector of the economy in protecting the rights of consumers, other sectors had yet to feel the regulatory impact of the council.



She said the success recorded under her watch since her assumption of office needed to be replicated in the financial sector owing to the widespread abuse of consumer rights.

Nigeria's ex-defence chief raided staff salary funds

Nigeria's former chief of defence staff Alex Badeh was arrested as part of a large anti-corruption campaign and is on trial in a federal high court (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's former chief of defence staff bought property including a $5.5 million mansion with air force money, passing off his fraudulent withdrawals as staff salaries, a court heard Wednesday.

Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh is on trial at a federal high court in Abuja, accused of diverting 3.97 billion naira ($19.8 million, 18 million euros) for his own use.

The 59-year-old, arrested as part of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari, denies 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

The finance director under Badeh when he was chief of air staff at the time of the alleged offences in 2013 said he exchanged 558.2 million naira for dollars every month on his boss' instructions.

The money was part of some four billion naira set aside for monthly salaries for air force personnel, retired air commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yushau told the court in evidence.

ISIS committing ‘genocide’ against minorities, U.S. declares

Secretary of State John Kerry today formally declared the Islamic State group to be perpetrators of “genocide” against ethnic minorities in Middle East, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims, capping a months-long internal Obama administration debate about how to address the atrocities committed by the terror group.

“We must recognize what Daesh [the Arabic name for ISIS] is doing to its victims,” Kerry said, speaking from the State Department podium. “We must hold the perpetrators accountable.”

As first reported by Yahoo News last November, the State Department has been weighing the extremely rare move of invoking a 1948 international genocide treaty, drafted in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust, as a means of ramping up global pressure against the Islamic State group. The treaty commits signatory nations to take steps to “prevent and to punish” the “odious scourge” of genocide.

Licensing of 2.6 GHz spectrum will boost 4G roll-out in Nigeria – GSMA

The planned auctioning of the 2.6 GHz spectrum by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, is expected to support a successful 4G roll-out in Nigeria, the Director of Africa, GSMA , Mortimer Hope has said.

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors.

It would be recalled that after several postponement for the auction of the 2.6 GHz spectrum by the government, NCC recently had informed parties interested in participating in the auction of frequency spectrum licences in the 2.6GHz band that the process of the auction has resumed.

Stating that the spectrum auction is key to affordable mobile services, Hope in an interview with Vanguard yesterday said that since the first 4G network was launched, the 2.6 GHz band has played a key role in the roll-out of 4G networks around the world.

AMCON is owing 6.6trn – DG

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, Wednesday admitted before an investigative panel of the House of Representatives that its current liabilities stand at N6.6 trillion following purchase of bad loans worth N3.3 trillion at the sum of N1.7 trillion.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru during an investigative hearing Wednesday.

The House Ad-hoc committee headed by Rep Albert Abiodun Adeogun, investigating alleged fraudulent sale of banks by AMCON, had raised eyebrows at the rise in liabilities particularly as AMCON owes the Central Bank of Nigeria N4.5 trillion.

The Committee stated that it heard that the CBN is closely monitoring and supervising AMCON to ensure that its liabilities are cleared by the time the corporation is expected to be wound down in 2024.

Singapore blogger Roy Ngerng gets 17 years to pay off defamation damages to PM Lee

Blogger Roy Ngerng speaks to the media after attending a damages hearing in a defamation case by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Supreme Court in Singapore July 1, 2015.

Singaporean blogger Roy Ngerng sealed a deal with the legal team of Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loog that allows him to pay off the damages in a defamation lawsuit over the next 17 years.

Ngerng's lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said the agreement reached on Monday stipulates that the blogger will pay S$100 a month for five years, followed by S$1,000 a month until he pays the damages in full.

The blogger does not have to pay the interests if he makes each payment on time, the lawyer told TODAY.

"In the event that he breaches the terms of the agreement (i.e fails to make any one of the payments), the full amount outstanding plus Court Judgment interest will be immediately payable," the lawyer told the daily.

Nigerian Army couple who are both generals:How we met, married and coped with war

Brig.-Gen. Clifford Wanda and Brig.-Gen. Cecelia Akagu are arguably the only couple to become generals in the Nigerian Army. 

        When and how did you join the Nigerian Army?

Wanda: I started my military career as a Boy Soldier in the Nigerian Military School in 1974. That was my entrance into the army. After graduating from the military school, I proceeded to the university where I read medicine. After graduation, I was then commissioned into the Nigerian Army in 1986 as a Lieutenant medical doctor.
Akagu: I didn’t know much about the army until 1984 when I went to Makurdi, Benue State. I went out with my uncle and I saw some people running. I asked my uncle what they were doing and he said ‘they are people who want to join the military.’ I picked what my uncle said and went away. During the next intake, I went there. I had a friend called Stella, a Calabar lady. She came to me and said ‘Cecelia, how do you feel being called retired Colonel Cecelia?’ That was how we went for the form and I went for the recruitment (exercise). During the recruitment, they were not too sure of my name. I used to be very skinny and slim but when they assessed me, they knew that I was fit for the job. When they were doing the selection, they picked a lady and said, if she was not picked (shortlisted), I would be the second person to be picked. When I got to the camp, they asked if I was Monica, I said no. They said, ‘Thank God. We didn’t want to make a mistake. We wanted you to be among the girls to be picked.’ That was how I started the journey.

Row in Kaduna as el-Rufai moves to license pastors, Muslim clerics

KADUNA State governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, who, in January 2013, allegedly insulted Christianity in a tweet and received bashing from adherents has, again, stirred the hornet’s nest as Christians, across the state, are voicing their opposition to an executive bill before the state House of Assembly, allegedly designed to restrict all forms of religious preaching in the state.

Gov. Nasir-El-Rufai

In recent weeks, the social media has been awash with reactions from Christians who have kicked against the Religious Regulation Bill, arguing that it is at variance with Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution which presupposes that every Nigerian has a right or freedom of thought, conscience and religion and a right to change religion.

The Religious Regulation Bill, designed to replace the Religious Regulation Edict of 1984, is geared towards regulating Christianity and Islam as it seeks to create an inter-faith Ministerial Committee to be appointed by the governor and exercise control over Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, and the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. 

GE, Bresson’s 500MW power project ready next year

The 500 megawatts power project of Bresson Nigeria Limited, which is being supported by General Electric, will commence operation by the second quarter of next year.

The project, which has already received commendation from the Federal Government, is expected contribute about 10 per cent of electricity to the national grid.

This is expected to reduce the epileptic power supply currently being experienced in the country due to gas shortage, vandalism of critical electricity facilities, including gas pipelines, and sabotage.

Editorial Cartoons on the 2016 Presidential Elections

Steve Breen/Creators Syndicate

US NEWS

Video of the chaos that erupted at Donald Trump rally in Chicago

Video scenes of the violent protest against Donald Trump rally in Chicago. Police had a running battle keeping the anti-Trump campaigners at bay leading to the cancellation of the rally. 

Donald Trump’s Rally in Chicago Canceled After Violent Scuffles

CHICAGO — With thousands of people already packed into stands and music blaring to warm up the crowd, Donald J. Trump’s campaign abruptly canceled his rally here on Friday night over security concerns as protesters clashed with his supporters inside an arena where he was to speak.

Minutes after Mr. Trump was to have taken to a podium on the campus of a large, diverse public university just west of downtown, an announcer suddenly pronounced the event over before it had begun. Hundreds of protesters, who had promised to be a visible presence here and filled several sections of the arena, let out an elated, unstopping cheer. Mr. Trump’s supporters, many of whom had waited hours to see the Republican front-runner, seemed stunned and slowly filed out in anger.

Around the country, protesters have interrupted virtually every Trump rally, but his planned appearance here — in a city run for decades by Democrats and populated by nearly equal thirds of blacks, Latinos and whites — had drawn some particularly incensed responses since it was announced days ago.

Donald Trump wins support of former rival Ben Carson in race for White House

Trump is the favourite for the Republican nomination                                                 Reuters

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has won another high-profile endorsement - from former candidate Ben Carson.

Carson became the second former Republican candidate to back Trump in the race for the White House on Friday.

“We buried the hatchet. That was political stuff,” Carson said during a joint appearance with the billionaire businessman at a news conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

“I have found in talking with him, that there’s a lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually, than I ever thought that there was,” added Carson, warmly praising his former rival and seeking to present him as more thoughtful than his public image often suggests.

The latest endorsement for Trump followed a CNN-hosted Republican debate in Miami on Thursday night at which Trump and the remaining three candidates in the Republican race struck a markedly more civil tone.

FG uncovers fresh 11,000 ghost workers March 10, 2016

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun

The Federal Government is currently working to expose another 11,000 ghost workers on its payroll in its second batch of staff audit.

This is coming shortly after the government deleted 23,000 ghost workers from its payroll and saving the nation N2.29bn per month.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

She was joined at the post-FEC briefing by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal.

The minister said her ministry was using what she called computer techniques to investigate the 11,000 affected cases.

We’ll not forget Nigeria’s sacrifice for S’Africa – Zuma

South African President, Jacob Zuma, on Tuesday acknowledged that Nigeria and Nigerians indeed sacrificed for his countrymen to be freed of the clutches of apartheid.

He said particularly remarkable was a point in the history of the liberation struggles in South Africa when Nigerian civil servants voluntarily contributed part of their monthly salaries to the struggles.

Zuma, who spoke in Abuja as he addressed a joint session of the National Assembly, noted that the price Nigeria paid for the freedom of his country was not lost on his people.

He also recalled how in 1976, Nigeria established the South African Relief Fund to support his country’s students in the biting days of apartheid.

Zuma is on an official visit to Nigeria on the invitation of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Nigerian President had accompanied his guest to the National Assembly where the latter delivered his address.

Dangote plans to generate 12,000MW of electricity

Aliko Dangote

The President, Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, has said his company should be able to generate about 12,000 megawatts of electricity for the country by 2018.

He also said that his business estate would start selling foreign exchange to the Central Bank of Nigeria by 2020.

Dangote, who spoke in Lagos on Monday at the Nigerian Economic Summit organised by Economist Events, an arm of The Economist of London, said, “We are looking at a situation that by 2020, we will be the one selling FX to the CBN. Our projects are mainly import substitution. We are working to be self-sufficient to grow about a million tonnes of rice over the next five years.

“Our gas project would have our gas pipelines on the seabed. The output should be able to provide about 12,000MW of power. We see a lot of transformation when we are done with most of our projects by 2018.

Ben Carson announces campaign is over

Ben Carson signaled his exit from the race on Wednesday following a string of dismal performances. | John Shinkle

'I will still continue to be heavily involved in trying to save our nation,' the retired neurosurgeon said.

Ben Carson is suspending his bid for the presidency, the retired neurosurgeon announced Friday, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

"Even though I might be leaving the campaign trail, you know there’s a lot of people who love me, they just won’t vote for me. But I will still continue to be heavily involved in trying to save our nation," he said.

The outgoing candidate peppered his speech with implicit warnings to the country about its future, both for fellow candidates and for the media, which intensely scrutinized claims about his biography throughout the course of his campaign.

$20bn idle in Nigerians’ domiciliary accounts –CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday raised the alarm that about $20bn (N3.94tn) was lying idle in different domiciliary accounts of the citizens.

The Deputy Governor, Financial System Surveillance, CBN, Dr. Joseph Nnana, stated this during a meeting of the Joint Appropriation Committees of the National Assembly with government officials on the 2016 budget.

Nnana said, “Distinguished chairman sir, we have $20bn lying idle in various domiciliary accounts of many customers at the various banks across the country.

“This is part of the reasons why the naira has continued to slide against the US dollar.”

He alleged that some privileged Nigerians were behind the consistent slide in the value of the naira by embarking on dollar speculation to the detriment of the local currency.

The evidence is clear: Amazon is already after its next $400 billion opportunity

 
(AP Images) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

During Amazon's most recent earnings call, Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian asked two questions to Amazon CFO Brian Olsavky: one about Amazon Web Services' margins, and another about the chances of Amazon expanding its own shipping logistics services to other companies.

The first one got answered promptly, though Olsavsky had to stop mid-sentence because the operator accidentally jumped in early. Still, Olsavsky made it a point to get back and finish his answer.

The second question never got answered.

"If he wanted to talk about it, he would have remembered to answer," Sebastian told Business Insider. "Either way, I think the answer is that Amazon doesn't talk about potential or future services."

Antonin Scalia Spent His Final Hours With Members of Secret Society

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent his final hours with members of a secret society of elite hunters, it has emerged.

Before he was found dead at a lodge in Texas on February 13, he took a hunting trip with members of a secret society known as "The International Order of St. Hubertus," according to the Washington Post.

The men-only hunting club, which dates back to the 1600s, has the motto: "Honoring God by honoring His creatures." Members wear plush dark green velvet robes with cherry lining and some hold titles like "knight" and "grandmaster."

The Cibolo Creek Ranch, where Scalia was found dead, is owned by millionaire John Poindexter, a leader in the International Order of St. Hubertus, according to the Washington Post. It is not clear if Scalia was affiliated with the group.

NERC, CPC to enforce metering of power consumers

The Consumer Protection Council and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Tuesday agreed to enforce the mandatory 60-day order to electricity distribution companies to either meter or stop billing their customers under the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation scheme.

NERC had, in its recent directive to the companies, directed that any customer who elected to procure meters under the CAPMI scheme must be metered within 60 days.

It said any distribution company that failed to achieve this would lose the power to bill or disconnect electricity supply to such customers.

The CPC said in a statement on Tuesday that in order to effectively enforce the directive, it and NERC had signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would ensure conducive environment for consumers and investors in the sector.

Editorial Cartoons on the 2016 Presidential Elections

Chris Britt/Creators Syndicate

US NEWS

Trump triumph leaves Republican party in disarray

Donald Trump's triumphal march toward the Republican presidential nomination left his party in disarray Wednesday, as Democrats coalesced around their White House front runner Hillary Clinton after her slew of Super Tuesday victories.

Both candidates emerged the clear winners on Tuesday after several party nominating contests, piling up delegates on the biggest, most pivotal day of primaries in the race to succeed President Barack Obama.

Trump was victorious in seven of 11 states, weakening but not eliminating his top rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both US senators.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson meanwhile announced after his poor Super Tuesday showing that he did not "see a political path forward" in the race.

Carson's campaign soared last year but steadily lost steam amid questions over his personal narrative and lackluster debate performances.

US bans the use of electronic cigarettes on commercial flights

WASHINGTON - The US Transportation Department announced on Wednesday it has banned the use of electronic cigarettes on commercial flights.

The rule applies to all scheduled flights by U.S. and foreign carriers involving transportation in, to and from the United States, the department said in a statement.

"This final rule is important because it protects airline passengers from unwanted exposure to aerosol fumes that occur when electronic cigarettes are used onboard airplanes," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

The Transportation Department said it took the action to eliminate any confusion over whether its existing ban on smoking on flights includes electronic cigarettes.

World’s costliest train station to open at site of NY’s 9/11 tragedy

REUTERS

New York on Thursday opens the most expensive train station in the world, on the site of the World Trade Center destroyed 14 years ago in the 9/11 attacks.

Twelve years in the making, there will be no official ceremony to mark the 3 pm opening to rail commuters of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub next to the site of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the Al-Qaeda hijackings.

The center connects the PATH commuter rail to New Jersey with New York subway lines, provides indoor pedestrian access to the Trade Center towers and will also house an enormous shopping and restaurant plaza.

Refugees buying one-way tickets home after finding Germany intolerable

With a one-way ticket home to Iraq in his hands and seven months' worth of frustration over intransigent German bureaucracy in his heart, Gazwan Abdulhasen Abdulla gave up on his dreams of a better life in Europe.

Homesick and eager to be back with his wife and four small children in Basra, Abdulla was giving up his refugee status as he boarded a crowded Iraqi Airways flight from Berlin's Tegel Airport to Baghdad that would whisk him and 150 other disillusioned former refugees back home in five hours.

He had scraped together his last $325 for the flight to Iraq — a small fraction of the money he had paid to smugglers last summer to get to Germany by foot, bus and boat through Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Austria.

NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly Returns Safely to Earth after One-Year Mission

NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko enjoy the cold fresh air back on Earth after their historic 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station. Credits: NASA TV

NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth Tuesday after a historic 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station. They landed in Kazakhstan at 11:26 p.m. EST (10:26 a.m. March 2 Kazakhstan time).

Joining their return trip aboard a Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was Sergey Volkov, also of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, who arrived on the station Sept. 4, 2015. The crew touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.

“Scott Kelly’s one-year mission aboard the International Space Station has helped to advance deep space exploration and America’s Journey to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Scott has become the first American astronaut to spend a year in space, and in so doing, helped us take one giant leap toward putting boots on Mars.”

Pentagon invites hackers to attack its websites

Getty/AFP/File | "Hack the Pentagon" will give cash awards and other recognition to vetted participants who can identify weaknesses on the Pentagon's public web pages

WASHINGTON (AFP) -

Ever wanted to hack Uncle Sam?

Provided you are American and can pass a background check, you can go right ahead, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The US Department of Defense is inviting vetted hackers to test its cybersecurity under a pilot program that is the first of its kind in the federal government.

Called "Hack the Pentagon," the so-called bug bounty program will give cash awards and other recognition to participants who can identify weaknesses on the Pentagon's public web pages.

Buhari congratulates Adeboye at 74

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday congratulated the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who turns 74 on Wednesday.

The President said the clergyman epitomises the virtues of honesty, humility and contentment among others which he said are the trademarks of a good believer.

Buhari’s congratulatory message was contained in a statement made available to journalists by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.

He commended what he described as Adeboye’s relentless efforts and sacrifices to nation building over the years.

Abuja residents shun ‘No Banking Day’

Abuja residents had yesterday shunned the ‘No Banking Day’ protest against what other Nigerians termed exorbitant deductions by banks, among other reasons. Some of the banks visited by Vanguard yesterday afternoon, observed the usual queues inside the banking halls, such as UBA, Zenith, Eco, FCMB, Diamond and Union banks who opened and had their normal banking activities.

March 1 was announced a “No Banking Day” to protest against excessive bank charges. In a statement which called on Nigerians to shun banking activities on the appointed day read in part as thus, “Dear Nigerian Banks’ Consumers, for many years now, consumers of banking services have been subjected to series of poor and unsatisfactory transactions and relationship terms.”

Nigerians argued that they had endured excessive charges, illegal fees and unfair contracts that only protect the bank but do not protect the consumers. However, an official of one of the banks told Vanguard that customers have been trooping the bank since they opened for business at around 8am up till when the banks closed to the customers although, Abuja residents did not obey the boycott but were angry about the charges banks debit from their accounts.

We just got another massive sign of how badly Saudi Arabia is suffering from the oil price crash

REUTERS/Mohamed Al HwaityA man with Saudi Arabia's national flag in 2013 riding with a driver performing a stunt known as sidewall skiing as part of early national day celebrations in Tabuk.

Saudi Arabia, whose economy has taken a beating in recent months thanks to the crash in oil prices, just got another terrible piece of news.

On Monday, HSBC economists Simon Williams and Razan Nasser dropped a note on the country's foreign-exchange holdings, and things look pretty dire for the oil-reliant nation.

It shows that FX reserves dropped by more than $14 billion (£10.1 billion) in January, falling to their lowest level in nearly three years.

The amount of reserve assets held by the Saudi government now stands at $602 billion (£434.5 billion), nearly $150 billion (£108.3 billion) down from its recent peak in late 2014, just before oil prices started plummeting.