Anne Hathaway welcomes a son with husband Adam Shulman

It's a boy! Anne Hathaway has welcomed a healthy baby boy. The Hollywood Actress gave birth to her first child on March 24 in Los Angeles and according to an exclusive by E! News, he has been named 'Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman'.

Anne's rep also confirmed the news. "The baby is extremely healthy and is surrounded by friends and family in L.A. Anne and Adam are ecstatic to be parents.

Football legend Kanu Nwankwo visits hospital in Tanzania (photos)

Kanu Nwankwo visited patients at Muhimbili national hospital in Tanzania. More photos after the cut

Exposed Panama Papers: Names of Big Nigerians on The List

The likes of former Bayelsa State governor, Senator President Bukola Saraki, his wife Toyin Saraki, former NPA director Bello Gwandu, T.Y. Danjuma, Dangote, Dantata,  Folorunsho Coker, David Mark have all been exposed as some of the big Nigerians on the list of the trending Panama Papers.

Saraki, who is currently facing allegations that he failed to declare his assets, owns a property in Belgravia in his own name. The Panama Papers reveal the £5.7m property next door to be owned by companies incorporated in the Seychelles and BVI, shareholders are Saraki’s wife and his former special assistant. 

In another instance, a £1.65m townhouse in Kensington and Chelsea is shown as belonging to 

a BVI company whose sole shareholder is Folorunsho Coker, the former head of the number plate production authority in Lagos and currently business adviser to the governor. On his part, Coker’s lawyer said he had multiple sources of income and had always declared his interest in Satori Holdings to the Nigerian authorities.

But the leaked files reveal their property interests extend far beyond this.

A BVI company owned by former Nigerian Ports Authority director Mallam Bello Gwandu holds a Maida Vale flat. And bought a flat in St George Wharf for £450,000 more than 10 years ago

The Presidency in Abuja has disclosed that they would look into the document and take necessary action.

Wife Runs Out Nak*d; Husband and 2 Daughters Die as Stored Fuel Explodes (Sad Details)

A tragic incident has left three persons dead after petrol stored in a house exploded killing members of the family. The man of the house and his two daughters have lost their lives in the sad incident in Lagos.

According to the Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe the outbreak of fire was recorded at 5 Adebiyi Street, Somolu Oja. The three persons were confirmed dead. He said the fire was caused by the storage of Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS, in their home.

According to eyewitnesses, it was gathered that that the family was cooking very close to where the fuel keg was kept when it exploded and burnt the house.

The mother of the house managed to escape the inferno without any clothes on her body. The names of the deceased were given as Shabi (father), Adura (daughter 16 years) and Mistura (daughter 18 years).

The wife is receiving treatment. Sources say she's traumatized. May the souls of the dead RIP!

APC Senators Considers Moves To Force Out Bukola Saraki

Members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate rose from a marathon meeting on Wednesday, and got sharply divided over the move to force Senate President Bukola Saraki to resign, based on some of the revelations from his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

It was learnt that while a section of the senators who attended a meeting held at the Asokoro residence of Senator Magartarkada Wammako, were insisting that a resolution for Saraki’s resignation be passed across to him, others said to be his loyalists opposed the action.

A member of the Senate Unity Forum said most of them were of the view that Saraki should save the image of the Senate by resigning, based on the embarrassing revelations made against him.

He told Punch that, “The image of the Senate is definitely being dragged in the mud as its presiding officer is put in the dock while revelations of how he allegedly mismanaged the funds of his state were being exposed in public glare.

“That is why we asked him to step aside so that he would be able to face his trial and if he is vindicated, he could return to his seat. We believe that is better, compared to a situation where he would be sitting in the dock as the Senate President.”

But some Saraki's loyal senators, after the meeting, declared that they would protect the seat of the Senate President, currently occupied by Saraki, with the last blood in their veins.

They said they would stand firmly behind Saraki and ensure his Senate presidency seat is protected.

The senator representing Kwara South senatorial district, Rafiu Ibrahim, told journalists after the meeting that the believe Saraki’s trial was a “mere persecution” and an attempt to tarnish his image.

But some APC wondered if they were the ones who told Saraki to hide some of his assets as revealed.

Female Singer Uses Snake During Performances, Gets Bitten and Died On Stage

Why risk your life so cheaply with a poisonous snake? Beautiful pop star, Irma Bule, kept singing for about 45 minutes after she was bitten mid-performance by a cobra, but eventually collapsed and died onstage.

Irma Bule was known for wearing snakes during her acts. But sadly the king cobra which she danced with in her last performance on Sunday had not been defanged.

After her first song, she accidentally stood on the cobra, called Rianti. The reptile got mad and bit her on the leg, injecting venom into her bloodstream. She fell to the ground live on stage.

The 29yrs old lady was performing in a village in her native Indonesia when the incident happened. RIP!

Read this Piece by Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun: Financing Our Future

            

Writing this, my third article on the economy, I’m keenly aware that the question Nigerians want answered is: what is government doing to address our economic challenges? The first thing to state is that there are no quick fixes, but our strategy is clear and the expected outcomes are pretty compelling. Our immediate economic imperative is to provide a Keynesian stimulus to reflate the economy.

The 2016 focus is underpinned by a desire to radically reposition Nigeria’s economy. This administration believes very strongly that the previous direction was far from optimal. We are pursuing a fresh direction consistent with our belief in building a resilient economy.

The strategy itself is worth reiterating.

The 2016 Budget is being debt funded and the borrowings are targeted at the financing of capital projects to address the infrastructure deficit, create jobs and build the platform for optimisation of the non-oil economy that will see Nigeria prosper. To this end, we have commenced an aggressive programme of fiscal housekeeping: increasing revenues and reducing recurrent expenses. This will ensure that we move towards our objective of financing recurrent expenditure from revenue, rather than borrowing as obtained before now.

In addition, we have signalled through our financial decisions that we are moving away from oil. Government investment in oil will be limited. We are inviting private sector participation in the funding of cash calls for our Joint Ventures rather than tapping the Federation Account. This is guaranteed to improve our cash flow. As I have stated previously, oil is important but oil is not enough. Therefore, if faced with an option to invest borrowed funds in our railways or power or fund oil cash calls, we will strategically fund non-oil. This is in the knowledge that there are private sector solutions to the funding needed for oil, but few sources other than government for investment in physical infrastructure.

The debate about whether Nigeria should borrow is well intentioned and cannot be dismissed without careful analysis, given our antecedents as a nation. I am in agreement with those who argue that Nigeria should not borrow simply because its debt to GDP level is low enough to accommodate such borrowing. There must be a clear business case backed by justifiable benefits. I believe that Nigeria has such a case at the present time. Simply put, we need capital investment to grow our economy. At 13% debt to GDP, we compare favourably with the threshold of 30% for developing economies. Our low debt to GDP ratio is not exactly a positive attainment because it is accompanied by critically low level of infrastructure investment. It is actually a false economy. Low capital formation is a risk which, if uncorrected, hinders future economic growth and this is already evident.

Borrowing, as we propose, will increase debt to GDP to 16% and still leave us significantly lower than our peer group including Ghana at 70%, South Africa at 50% (2015) and Angola at 31% (2014). Appropriate levels of fiscal deficit have been used to grow many of the most successful global economies. As ours develops, our sources of revenue will grow, diversify, and become less susceptible to external shocks. Our need to borrow will reduce accordingly. It’s important to note that capital spending creates an asset, and this gives a return over time in the form of growth. Infrastructural projects such as rail and roads create jobs, generate taxes and stimulate further spending. 

This is the economic multiplier effect that capital spending brings. Therefore, while an increase in public spending may create a deficit in the short term, the resultant increase in productivity will lead to a higher rate of economic growth and greater tax revenues. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), for every one billion US dollars invested in infrastructure in developing economies, between 49,000 and 110,000 jobs are created.

Our borrowing policy will remain conservative and will see us access the lowest available funds, hence our decision to approach multilateral agencies in the first instance, for budget support at concessional rates as low as 1.5% per annum. We have also secured commitments from Export Credit Agencies that are tied to specific capital projects including key initiatives in power, transport and other infrastructure, and at semi-concessional rates. The balance will be sourced commercially to create a blended cost of capital that’s as low as possible. We are addressing the relatively high debt service to revenue ratio which saw 28.1% of our 2015 revenues devoted to debt. This will be done through a systematic restructuring of inherited debt portfolio into a profile that is aligned with our medium term outlook as well as an increase in our revenues.

Borrowing is not our primary focus. Increasing our Internally Generated Revenue is critical because it is sustainable; and because much of the funds collected went unremitted to Government – something we are tackling now. Our Revenue Team holds daily revenue sessions with MDAs during which clear targets are set and agreed; monitoring and evaluation are continuous. We are deploying cash-less revenue collection processes in our high earning agencies to ensure maximisation of our receipts. We are working through Treasury Single Account balances with a view to identifying monies that can potentially be used to fund the budget and reduce borrowing.

Other costly leakages are being blocked. We have completed a detailed review of tax and duty waivers and discovered that in some cases, Nigeria lost significant revenues and with limited benefits. We are set to begin consultations with stakeholders on a revised policy aligned with the best interests of Nigeria. Furthermore, we are identifying funds that can be released from hitherto untapped sources, including idle and underutilised government assets that have commercial potential including real estate. To this end, Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) is to become a professionally operated Asset Manager, rather than a passive holder of government assets. It will be actively managed to ‘sweat’ Nigeria’s very valuable global asset portfolio. This will generate earnings and constitute additional budget funding.

Gradually and with the requisite safeguards, we will authorise the investment of part of the estimated N6Tn currently held in pension funds into key infrastructure that will provide workers with higher returns on their pension funds while enhancing capital formation and economic growth. Nigeria’s first ever Project Tied Infrastructure Bonds are being designed. These are novel structures that will see borrowings tied to specific revenue generating projects, bringing private sector financial discipline to the project structuring and delivery process, thereby improving value.

Our first quarter-planned release of N350Bn is ready and is sure to have significant impact, in addition to exploring opportunities to reduce contract prices. Our conditions for release of funds are clear and the mandate is a simple one: to define and agree the number of Nigerians to be engaged as a result of this funding. Priority will be given, without apology, to those creating jobs and opportunity for Nigerians. This level of investment, predominantly capital, exceeds the total capital spend for the whole of 2015 and the tempo will be sustained until the green shoots of recovery begin to appear.

John Maynard Keynes’ famous quote on fiscal stimulus - that when economies are depressed,“Government should pay one man to dig a hole and pay another to fill it back” - is an extreme example and suggests an economic benefit in seemingly pointless activity. In Nigeria’s case, the activity to be triggered will be a fully productive one. We will pay men and women to meet our critical needs in power, transport, housing, agriculture, solid minerals, health and education - and lay the foundation for a collective future that is more positive than our current situation may suggest.

One of Nigeria’s greatest strengths is the resilience of her people. Even beyond our shores it is widely acknowledged that if you can survive in Nigeria, you can thrive anywhere. Our ability to overcome obstacles and our ingenuity in exploiting opportunities, are legendary; our economic policy will ensure more of us succeed in creating wealth. There is sufficient diversity of opportunity which our capital investment can unlock. We will always celebrate the emergence of billionaires, of course, but we recognise that a thousand millionaires have greater fiscal impact. Therefore, where the number of private jets was touted in the past as a measure of success, we will take pride in the number of people lifted out of poverty, and the number of new jobs created.

The idea that Nigeria can succeed this time is, for some, unthinkable. But for those of us privileged to be part of this determinedly patriotic team led by President Muhammadu Buhari, it is and will be possible.

- Mrs. Kemi Adeosun is the Honourable Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

EFCC Arrests Goodluck Jonathan’s Cousin [Details of Fraud]

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the Managing Director of Katakar Civil Engineering Company, Mr. Azibaola Robert, and an Executive Director of the company, Mr. Dakoru Atukpa, over a "fraudulent" $40m pipeline contract.

The contract, it was learnt, was awarded by the Office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of the embattled Sambo Dasuki.

Mr. Robert, who is a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has, however, described his arrest as a witch-hunt, insisting that the contract was transparent. But EFCC have their facts.

The arrest of Mr Robert and Mr Atukpa was sequel to a list sent to the EFCC by a committee set up by the Federal Government to probe contracts awarded by the ONSA from 2011 to 2015, which indicted more than 300 companies and prominent citizens, including serving and retired military officers.

According to Punch, EFCC arrested Robert and Atukpa on March 23, on the allegation of diversion of $40m public funds through Oneplus Holdings, a sister company of Kakatar Construction and Engineering.

Oneplus Holdings is among the 300 firms under investigation by the Federal Government.

The spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, told Punch that the arrest was not a witch-hunt, but that the suspects received $40m from the ONSA for a dubious contract to supply “tactical equipment”.

Uwujaren said, “This is not a witch-hunt. He (Robert) is not Jonathan’s only cousin. The truth of the matter is that they are being held for a $40m contract he received from the ONSA. The mandate for the payment read, ‘Purchase of Tactical Equipment for Special Forces’.

“Two days after their arrest, they were offered bail. The condition was that the sureties must be on the level of civil service directors and a N250m bank guarantee. They must also have landed properties in Abuja and provide tax evidence of two years. But they could not meet up.

“So, the EFCC went to court for a remand order. They are being held pending the conclusion of investigation.”

Their lawyer, Gordy Uche (SAN), is crying foul, alleging that the Presidency is trying to get Jonathan.

Imagine What This Policeman Is Doing

What moral right will this officer have to arrest misguided youths who also risk their lives like this..;-)

Soldiers Are Winning: 800 Boko Haram Members Surrender

The Defence authorities have revealed that not less than 800 members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect had surrendered to the military in the last three weeks.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, confirmed on Wednesday that 800 of the insurgents surrendered to the troops of the Nigerian Army within the said period.

“I can confirm that about 800 of the Boko Haram members have surrendered to the military.”

Abubakar spoke with Punch barely 24 hours after the Defence Headquarters announced the establishment of a rehabilitation camp for repentant Boko Haram members.

He had said in a statement on Tuesday that the rehabilitation camp was being established under Operation Safe Corridor which was created as a platform to rehabilitate and integrate repentant terrorists.

He had said that the insurgents would be made to go through vocational training under the programme and empowered for reintegration into the society.

Also, gallant soldiers have rescued 11,595 captives of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East in the last one month