Toll gates will make a return to Nigeria

The federal government has concluded plans to re-introduce tolls on roads across the country, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.

He said this at an interactive session with the Senate committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, on Thursday.

Mr. Fashola said the new toll regime will be an improved adaptation of the past toll points as the ministry will adopt similar toll regime throughout the country.

“Tolls will come,” Mr. Fashola said. “We have looked at the previous tolling regime, the inefficiencies raised we have tried to review. One of the things we have done is to try and standardise the toll designs for the entire country. We have finished with that. So that we’ll expand its width according to the size of the road but they will be built with the same kind of materials that we can control.”

Mr. Fashola said that the toll points will be managed by private organisations as part of the federal government’s job creation scheme.

He added that the tolls will first be re-introduced at moribund toll points previously used by the government.

“The existing law allows us to toll and we have gone back to pre-existing toll points where the previous tolls were dismantled and those are the places where it is easy to re-introduce them again for a start because they used to be there. So, its sensitisation that is necessary will not be expensive.

“We’ve identified 38 points across the country. What we are waiting to achieve now is completion of the construction work that is going on. We don’t think it is fair to ask people to pay tolls on roads that are not motorable. While that is going on, we are working on the design. We want to standardise it so that when we put out the advert for people to come and bid, we can control what they are going to construct.”

Premium Times

Video - Economists warn Nigeria against heavy reliance on external loans

Nigeria's government is being cautioned not to rely too heavily on external loans to finance its budget deficits. Economists are warning that borrowing from external sources could increase the vulnerability of the economy. The concerns follow the Senate's approval of 5.5 billion dollars in borrowing requests by the government.

Yakubu retires from football

Former Super Eagles forward, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, who played mostly in England and made his name with Portsmouth and Everton FC, has retired from professional football on his 35th birthday.

Aiyegbeni, who also played for Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers, made 250 Premier League appearances and scored 96 goals in a career spanning 20 years.

He however also featured three times for English fourth-tier side, Coventry City this year before being released.

“I will like to officially announce my retirement from professional football today,” Aiyegbeni said on Wednesday.

The powerful striker scored 21 goals in 57 appearances for Nigeria and took part in four Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as well as the 2010 World Cup.

“The Yak… is third-best all-time scorer of the senior national team. Thank you for the memories,” the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) tweeted in a reaction.

Premium Times

Facebook launches tech hub in Nigeria

Facebook is launching a "community hub" and training program in Nigeria, its biggest market in Africa. 

The hub will offer support to tech startups and will also train 50,000 young people and SMEs in digital skills across the country.

Opening in 2018, it will be Facebook's first tech space in Africa as the social media company follows in the footsteps of search giant Google who in July launched an ambitious initiative to train 10 million young people in online skills over five years.

Emeka Afigbo, Head of platform partnerships, Middle East & Africa told CNN: "What we aim to do at the incubator is to provide support for high tech startups that do not ordinarily get investments, until they can develop a proof of concept, which will attract other investors."
With an eye on growing their user base, US technology companies are increasingly turning to Africa's large youth population.
In Nigeria alone, there are 22 million monthly Facebook users; 10 million of them log in daily to the platform, all on mobile devices, Facebook says.

Afigbo added that Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was an important market for Facebook. "Everybody knows about the country's entrepreneurial drive," he says.
"Its creativity, large population, and that a lot of this population is young people, more important is that we think the investment in Nigeria will spread and have impact across the continent," he added.

Facebook has been investing heavily in Africa, recently appointing a regional director based in South Africa.

In August, founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria and Kenya for the first time and visited the Co-Creation (CCHub). He met with developers and entrepreneurs and spent time learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria. 

"The energy here is amazing and I'm excited to learn as much as I can," he said during his visit.
During that visit, Zuckerberg announced an investment of 24 million dollars through his Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in Andela, a tech startup that trains software developers in Africa and gives them full-time roles in international companies.

CNN

Video - Nigerian artists showcase their works in Lagos

The Art in the Park initiative has come to the city of Lagos. It's a concept that's been growing in popularity around the world. Now, Nigerian artists have the opportunity to bring their art to the public.