The Court of Appeal in Lagos on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by the former Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government, Lukman Ajose, asking the appellate court to set aside his conviction. Justice Joseph Oyewole of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja had sentenced the convict to two years imprisonment without option of a fine for fraudulently enriching himself by converting money belonging to the council.

As part of the effort to check the reoccurrence of insider dealing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the new code of corporate governance released yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prohibits directors of public companies and their immediate families from dealing in their securities. The directive

Finance experts have said rising oil prices is good for the nation’s economy, even though it could have serious implications on the global economy. Bismarck Rewane, an economist with Financial Derivative Company, a finance firm, said “$100 per barrel of oil is ‘good’ for Nigeria but bad for the global recovery. Oil at over $100pb is bad for the dollar and could delay the economic recovery.” The political turmoil in Egypt has caused a sharp rise in crude oil prices, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI, a type of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing) closing up 4.3 per cent on 28 January. While Egypt’s share of global oil and gas production is fairly small (about 1 per cent and 2 per cent respectively), experts say the consequences for the markets could be significant.

The energy sector of the Nigerian economy may not be the same again as Nigerian business tycoons – Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, who are among those in stiff contest to clinch 30 per cent stake in some oil blocks offered for sale by Shell Petroleum Development and Production Company (SPDC) and its partners - continue to map out strategies to outwit one another.   It was reported yesterday that Adenuga’s Conoil Producing submitted a bid of $650 million each for two Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 30 and 42, while Dangote Group offered $600 million for Shell’s 30 per cent stake in the OML 30.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has again raised an alarm on the state of education in the country, describing it as a colossal failure.Soyinka who spoke at the opening of a two day Education Summit organized by the Osun State government, noted that the government has failed woefully in the education sector, and thereby, called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector. Although, he appreciated the government for recognizing that there are crises in the educational sector, he urged the three tiers of government in the country to create an enabling environment suitable for learning. Professor Soyinka said “students nowadays learn under very harsh condition which in itself could lead to crisis. There are no sufficient teaching materials in our schools again, there is poor welfare for the students and the library and laboratories are now empty.” He also enjoined the government and…

President Goodluck Jonathan flagged off his campaign yesterday in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital with a vow to give national security  and the economy priority attention, if he returned to office.This was even as the absence of an arrowhead for the campaign, the director-general, almost took the shine off the impressive event that was graced by two former Senate presidents, Senators Anyim Pius Anyim and Ken Nnamani.He gave the assurance that efforts to enhance national security would be intensified using what he described as “superior and  modified security measures to tackle the issue of bomb attacks and other crimes.”

Every employee of Petroleum Product Monitoring Service knows Blaise Orubor as a man who is not afraid of doing extra work. This quality endeared him to the Chairman of the company, Chief Henry Omoridion. So, when Orubor volunteered to drive Omoridion’s vehicle from Benin in Edo State to Lagos State when his driver was not available, most of the staff saw his gesture as a familiar thing. At the end of the day, suspected assassins opened fire on the vehicle at Ijebu Ode end of Benin-Ore Expressway and Orubor escaped death by a whisker. He however lost a finger.

The celebrated polygamist, Pa Abubakar Masaba, is heading for a showdown with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police following allegations that members of his family, numbering over 5,000 were denied registration by suspected thugs in the just concluded voter registration exercise. Our correspondent gathered that suspected thugs allegedly thwarted efforts by members of the Masaba’s family to participate in the voter registration exercise at a registration unit in Bida Local Government Area of the state. Masaba is reported to have 86 wives.

A Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission from suspending some of the former Council members of the NSE from capital market activities over the alleged sharing of N1.36bn bonus in 2010. The ex-council members led by Babatunde Sobamowo and Nduke Nwonye had challenged the propriety of the directives from SEC and NSE asking them to refund part of their past earnings. The plaintiffs had claimed that the said funds were justly earned by them, saying that the funds were utilised to promote the objectives of the NSE during their tenure.

John Obi Mikel may not feature in Wednesday's international friendly against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone owing to the state of the playing surface of the match venue, according to reports. The Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, the venue for the game, has an artificial playing surface, and that could be harmful for Mikel, who only returned to club duties with Chelsea recently after undergoing surgery.