Eden Hazard outwits Manchester City to strengthen Chelsea’s title grip The Guardian - 11 hours ago

  Eden Hazard scored twice as leaders Chelsea beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 2-1 on Wednesday to reassert their control of the Premier League title race.

Chelsea had given the chasing pack hope after crashing to a shock 2-1 loss at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, but they bounced back to preserve their seven-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur.

Hazard’s early opener was cancelled out by Sergio Aguero, who punished an error by home goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, but the Belgian winger scored the rebound from his own penalty to get Chelsea back to winning ways.

Having won 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium in December, Chelsea became the first team to do a league double over a team managed by Guardiola, whose side had been unbeaten in eight league games.

No plan to scrap YouWin programme – Adeosun

   The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday said the Federal Government had no intention to scrap the Youth With Innovation Entrepreneurship programme, adding that the scheme was being reviewed in line with the economic agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Adeosun stated this during her first Facebook live session filmed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, which had over 130,000 viewers.

The Federal Government had on Friday begun investigation into the alleged fraud in the YouWin Programme to uncover alleged massive fraud in the scheme.

The PUNCH had reported exclusively that investigators had already discovered that some senior civil servants gave out or facilitated slots worth between N7m and N10m to their spouses, children and friends.

#BBNaija: TBoss cries over inability to recite national anthem as Bisola expresses desire for threesome

   TBoss broke down in tears on Wednesday after she was dared to sing Nigeria’s National Anthem and she couldn’t.

It all started when housemates got sent outside to the yard to play Truth or Dare till lights out.

This time around, there was no alcohol involved and instead they’d have to drink a whole bottle of water if they couldn’t go through with what they’d been asked to do.

The dares ranged from splits to cartwheels and the housemates also made some interesting revelations.

Efe said he’d hooked up with two sisters once while Bisola said she’d be keen to have a threesome provided it was with a guy she liked and a “babe” she didn’t know.

US Consulate, firm to train 102 entrepreneurs

   The United States of America Consulate General and the Field of Skills and Dreams Academy have partnered to train and mentor about 102 budding Nigerian entrepreneurs.

At the Conference for Emerging Entrepreneurs in Lagos on Tuesday, the Consul General, John Bray, said that the young business people would be equipped with skills to grow and expand their businesses.

According to him, it is an opportunity for the entrepreneurs to change their society by proffering solutions to economic challenges through resilience.

The Chief Executive Officer, FSD, Mrs. OmowaleOgunrinde, said the programme aimed to encourage participants to execute their business vision and achieve success in their endeavours.

Billionaire Warren Buffet becomes face of Coke in China

  The likeness of billionaire Warren Buffett is gracing Cherry Coke cans in China, where the company’s largest investor enjoys a legendary reputation.

Coca-Cola announced over the weekend that a grinning cartoon portrait of the American business magnate would adorn cans and bottles of his favourite flavour after it was introduced in the country on March 10.

Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s investment firm, is Coca-Cola’s biggest shareholder with a 9.3 percent stake valued at about $17 billion.

“Incidentally, there is no compensation involved,” Buffett told Yahoo Finance of the use of his image for “a limited promotional period.”

Ibrahimovic rescues Man Utd with late penalty

  Manchester United’s forward, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, scored from the penalty spot with just a few seconds left on the clock to rescue a late 1-1 draw against Everton at the Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

President Buhari to launch Economic recovery and growth plan tomorrow

                            
President Buhari will launch the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020 tomorrow April 5th.

A statement released by Special Adviser to President Buhari on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, states that the launch of the Economic recovery plan would help in the furtherance of the current administration's drive to sustain and build on the successes so far recorded in tackling corruption, improving security and re-revamping the economy.


The ceremony will take place in the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at 11 am.

The Medium-Term ERGP, which had earlier been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), has amongst its broad strategic objectives, restoring sustainable, accelerated inclusive growth and development; investing in the people; and building a globally competitive econom

NYSC Adjusts Batch A Timetable | See New TimeTable

  The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has adjusted the 2017 Batch A mobilization timetable for prospective corps members.

NYSC made this announcement on Monday in a tweet on its official twitter handle. @nysc_ng.

“NYSC 2017 Batch A timetable has been updated. Online registration to NOW commence: 20th April, 2017”.

Champions and Europa League finals set for same week

  European club football’s showcase finals of the Champions League and the Europa League are to be scheduled in the same week as of 2019, UEFA’s executive committee decided on Tuesday.

This season the Europa League final will be contested at Stockholm’s Friends Arena on Wednesday May 24, while the Champions League final is at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff 10 days later on Saturday June 3.

The current schedule has been in place since UEFA’s well-received decision to switch the Champions League final from a Wednesday to Saturday night as of 2010.

“You make all these plans and then, when the money comes it’s different…I spent $1 Million in a month!” – Davido to the #BBNaija Housemates

  Yesterday, HKN Boss Davido was the special guest for the day in the Big Brother Naija house.

During his visit, he asked the Housemates what they planned to do with the 25 Million Naira after winning which elicited some very varied and interesting responses.

The OBO listened to all they had to say before telling them that no matter what their dreams were, it is important that they make careful choices and not get overwhelmed otherwise they’d wake up and not realise where the money has gone.

He said: “You make all these plans and then, when the money comes it’s different. I spent $1 Million in a month!”

COREN to publish engineering universities’ status annually

  The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria has declared that it will start publishing the status of engineering universities across the country annually from this year.

According to COREN, the approval for this initiative was given by council members during its first quarter meeting for 2017.

The President, COREN, Mr. Kashim Ali, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, stated that the idea behind publishing the status of engineering universities every year was for Nigerians to be able to ascertain the institutions that were viable.

He said, “The council approved the annual publication of the status of universities running accredited engineering programmes. The council also approved that letters of reminders be issued to all concerned vice chancellors on the implication of running unaccredited/expired programmes.

CBN moves to boost naira, injects more dollars

   Barely three days after the naira weakened against the United States dollar, the Central Bank of Nigeria is set to boost the local unit with the injection of more dollars into the foreign exchange market this week.

The CBN, it was learnt, was planning to increase dollar supply with a view to ensuring liquidity in the interbank market.

This came barely one week after the apex bank promised to increase the sale of dollars to Bureaux de Change operators from $8,000 per week to $10,0000 twice a week.

The CBN has been engaged in aggressive supply of forex into the market as it steps up efforts to save the naira from currency speculators.

MultiChoice hikes DStv, GOtv subscription rates

                              
MultiChoice on Sunday announced that it would effect a price adjustment of five per cent on all its DStv and GOtv packages from May 1, 2017.

As a result, subscribers on the DStv premium bouquet will pay N14,700 as against N13,980 currently being charged. While GOtv Plus subscribers will have to pay N1,900 instead of the current rate of N1,800.

According to the company, the increment in subscription rates will also affect other bouquets, as Compact Plus DStv subscribers will pay N9,900 instead of the current N9,420, while Compact subscribers will no longer pay N6,000 but N6,300.

It said that the new rate for the Family bouquet would be N3,800 against the running rate of N3,600, while that of the Access bouquet would be N1,900 and not N1,800.

The current rate for the Commercial bouquet is N1,720, but with the adjustment in rates, subscribers will have to cough out N1,850 monthly.

Illegal Sale of UTME Materials: JAMB Arrests 25 Suspects Nationwide

  The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has arrested 25 persons over illegal registration and sale of 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) materials.

JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede said the individuals arrested were selling registration materials for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to candidates.

The suspects, he said, were arrested by a combined team of Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU); members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Oloyede said the e-Brochure and e-Syllabus, which were meant to be free were being sold by the culprits as high as N800 each nationwide.

Exquisite Tewa

  When Tewa Onasanya couldn’t find a single fashion magazine aimed at black women on the shelves of a shop in Essex, England, she decided to start one herself.

The pharmacologist, who had no previous experience in journalism or publishing, rallied her friends for advice, and before long they were putting together the first issue of Exquisite – a publication aimed at style conscious black women.

Read the full story on CNN’s

Samsung Galaxy S8 hides home button and gains Bixby AI

  Samsung's latest flagship phones have ditched the physical home button found in their predecessors and introduced a new virtual assistant.
The screens of the Galaxy S8 and bigger S8+ are also larger despite the devices being about the same size as last year's S7 and S7 Edge.
This time, both models feature displays that curve round the phones' sides.
The launch follows Samsung's botched release of the Note 7, which was recalled twice after fires.
The South Korean firm blamed the problem on battery faults and said it had since put in additional safety measures, including X-ray scans of batteries.
The company has also become mired in a corruption scandal in its home country.

"The Galaxy S8 is arguably the most important launch of the last 10 years for Samsung and every aspect will be under the microscope following the Note 7 recall," commented Ben Wood from the CCS tech consultancy.

Title race now more interesting - Conte

  Chelsea's surprise defeat by Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge makes the title race "more interesting", says Blues boss Antonio Conte.

The Premier League leaders suffered only their second home defeat of the season as Palace boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 win.

Tottenham's win at Burnley means they are seven points behind Chelsea.

"For (the media) it's a good result, because it makes this more interesting in the championship," Conte said.

"But I always said the league finishes when you have the mathematical certainty that you won. Otherwise you must fight, you must play every game to try to win."

Snap Is Losing More than Tesla and Twitter—Combined

    Startups and young companies often talk about the importance of "failing fast." Here's one way to do that: Lose $2 billion a year—the amount Snap is projected to lose in 2017.
Snap (SNAP, +1.35%), the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, went public in a much-hyped IPO at the beginning of March, and this week, the company's Wall Street backers kicked off their coverage of the stock. That has established what's known as the Street consensus, or the aggregate estimates from more than two dozen stock analysts, for where Snap's finances are headed.
While the analysts' reviews have shifted from bearish to more bullish, some of their forecasts are likely to make your eyes, er, snap.
For starters, Wall Street thinks the owner of Snapchat will ring up about $1 billion in sales this year, but it doesn't expect Snap to turn a profit until 2021. And this year, the social media company's balance sheet is projected to look especially gruesome: The consensus currently calls for Snap to lose more than $2 billion in 2017, and some analysts are predicting it will lose $3 billion or more. (Those are bottom-line estimates using generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP.)

Nigerians Are Not Having it as DSTV Increases Subscription Rates

  DSTV subscribers received a text announcing a price increase for all its satellite pay TV bouquets in Nigeria as from 1st May, 2017.

Nigerians took to social media to express dissatisfaction on the new development. They are particularly angry at Multichoice over exploitation of the monopoly in the market. It is also alleged the company said that for one to lock in his/her old rates, the subscriber has to pay for one year.


Twitter people went on “rampage” after DSTV announces their increase in subscription rates. See the tweets below...

Public Advisory on Meningitis outbreak in Nigeria: Reduce kissing, hand shaking, avoid overcrowding, self-medication

  Nigeria's Ministry of Health has issued a public advisory following the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) that has spread across the country and mostly affecting States in the upper parts of the country which fall within the African Meningitis Belt.

Other Countries that are facing similar outbreaks at the moment include our West-African Neighbours like Niger, Chad, Cameroun, Togo, and Burkina Faso. The larger African Meningitis Belt consists of 26 Countries that stretch from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Bissau in the west coast to eastern countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Ninety (90) Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Sixteen (16) States of the Federation are so far affected including Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Nassarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Gombe, Taraba , Yobe, Kano, Osun, Cross Rivers, Lagos and Plateau. The total number of people affected across these States is 2524 with 328 Deaths. So far, a total 131 samples have been confirmed in the Laboratory, out of which a majority are Neisseria Meningitides type C. This current outbreak started in Zamfara State in the 50th week of 2016 (i.e. November 2016)

Information to the Public:
Prevention:
· Avoidance of overcrowding
· Sleep in well ventilated places
· Avoidance of close and prolonged contact with a case/s
· Proper disposal of respiratory and throat secretions
· Strict observance of hand hygiene and sneezing into Elbow joint/sleeves
· Reduce hand shaking, kissing, sharing utensils or medical interventions such as mouth resuscitation