Below are the headlines found on The Punch Online Newspaper for today, Thursday, 17 August, 2017.

Underage imprisonment, sign of a broken society
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Punch Editorial Board Nigeria is a cruel place to live in, a minefield for both adults and minors. Some minors, who were released from the Badagry Prisons, Lagos, on August 1, have discovered this bitter truth. Many of them were locked up for years on flimsy grounds before they were mercifully set free by Olufunmilayo []
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Anambra lawmaker dies after primary election
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Tony Okafor, Awka A member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr. Francis Mmegbuaneze, is dead. He died barely 12 hours after participating in the primary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance on Tuesday, which produced the incumbent Governor of the state, Willie Obiano, as the party's governorship candidate for the November 18 poll. []
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Otti attacks Ikpeazu over Abia $200m foreign loan
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Oladimeji Ramon and Ogbonnaya Ikokwu A chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has expressed concern about the $200m African Development Bank loan approved by the National Assembly for Abia State. Otti, a former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc, expressed the fear that the foreign loan would []
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2019: INEC swears in nine more RECs
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Fidelis Soriwei The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, on Wednesday swore in nine more Resident Electoral Commissioners ahead of the 2019 general elections. The commission had earlier sworn in 14 RECs on July 8, 2017 thereby bringing the total number of those sworn in by the commission to 23. President []
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PDP to raise caretaker committees for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti The Peoples Democratic Party has agreed to raise caretaker committee in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun states. The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, disclosed this on Wednesday at the opening of the South-West PDP Reconciliation Committee meeting in Ado Ekiti. He said the PDP was pursuing its policy of reconciling []
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Confusion as APC cancels meeting with governors
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja There was confusion at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Wednesday as the party failed to hold its monthly meeting with the governors elected on the platform of the ruling party. Some party members said the meeting could not hold due to the short notice to the []
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Govt officials received N400bn bribes in one year ' NBS
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja A total of N400bn was received in bribes by public officials within a period of one year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. The NBS stated this in its National Corruption Report, adding that 32.3 per cent of Nigerian adults who had contact with public officials between June 2015 and []
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Oil production cost drops by 71 per cent
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday said it had driven down the cost of crude oil production from $78 per barrel as of August 2015 to $23 per barrel, representing a 70.5 per cent fall. The Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a unit of the NNPC, Dafe Sejebor, []
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MTN wants electronic listing, reopens talks with SEC
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Stanley Opara The Securities and Exchange Commission has resumed talks with MTN Nigeria over the telco's planned listing on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Director-General, SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, told journalists in Lagos on Wednesday that the conversation had taken a new turn as the telecoms company was looking at listing on []
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Investors keen on modular refineries despite challenges
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Femi Asu After many years of lack of investment in private refineries in Nigeria, several local and foreign investors are keen to establish modular refineries in a bid to ramp up the nation's crude oil refining capacity. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said last week that 33 refinery licences had been []
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Man, 32, bags six-month jail term for cable theft
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Femi Asu The Eko Electricity Distribution Company on Wednesday said the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos had sentenced a 32-year-old man, Ismaila Mabodu, to six-month imprisonment for theft of 10 metres of armoured copper cable at a substation around the Nigerian Railway Corporation premises, Yaba. The power firm quoted the police prosecutor in charge of []
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Indiscriminate dumping of refuse polluting waterways 'Osoba
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Anna Okon A former Governor of Ogun State and director at the Africa Circle Pollution Management Company Limited, Chief Segun Osoba, has said that refuse dumped indiscriminately in the drainage and canals ultimately find their way into the waterways and cause damage to water life and the environment. Osoba said this while fielding questions from []
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Downstream oil sector needs full deregulation 'Chukwudozie
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
The Chairman, Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited, Dr. Daniel Chukwudozie, in this interview with MUDIAGA AFFE, speaks on the scarcity of kerosene and other challenges in the nation's oil and gas industry Why is kerosene, which is used by many Nigerians for cooking, scarce' The problem is that government is basically telling the people to []
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How to get small business loans
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Nike Popoola Getting a loan is a major hurdle facing small businesses, mainly due to strict lending standards by banks. But obtaining outside financing is often necessary to start or grow a business or cover day-to-day expenses, including payroll and inventory, according to www.nerdwallet.com. Although finding, applying for and getting approval for small business loans []
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Customs generate N1.2bn daily at Tin Can
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Anna Okon The Nigeria Customs Service, Tin Can Island Command has said that it generates an average of N1.2bn daily for the Federal Government. The Controller of the command, Yusuf Bashar, stated this during the launch of an operational vehicle of the Tin Can Island chapter of the International Freight Forwarders Association and swearing in []
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We can fix our economy by diversification 'Anyaoku
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
A former Secretary-General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, says diversifying the economy from oil remains a viable option to get Nigeria out of its current challenges and put the economy on the path of sustainable recovery. According to him, there are other under-developed sectors of the economy including solid minerals, which can be tapped into []
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LADOL says N1.162tn facility nears completion
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Anna Okon Work on $3.8bn (N1.162tn) Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base oil and gas exploration platform, the Egina project, has reached an advanced stage. The Executive Director, LADOL, Mr. Jide Jadesimi, said this when the Acting Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency, Mr. Tom Hardy, led a five-man delegation to the LADOL []
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Nigeria needs policies to drive power sector growth ' Cole
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Femi Asu The Executive Director and Co-Founder, Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, has highlighted the need for policies to drive and sustain productivity in the nation's power sector. Cole stated this during a visit to Egbin Power Plc, an affiliate of Sahara Group, by 20 Harvard Kennedy School graduates. A statement on Wednesday said the graduates []
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Relocate Lagos tank farms now, Haastrup tells FG
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Anna Okon The Chief Executive Officer of ENL Consortium Limited, Mrs. Victoria Haastrup, has called on the government to relocate tank farms from Apapa, Lagos, to a more spacious area that will not constitute any danger to the society. She condemned the location of the tank farms in the middle of the city and residential []
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Ororo field: Sirius Petroleum, BP sign $10m facility
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Femi Asu Sirius Petroleum says it has entered into a $10m revolving pre-payment facility and commercial off-take agreement with BP Oil International, a subsidiary of BP, in respect to the sales of the crude produced from the Ororo field. The company, which is focused on oil and gas exploration and development opportunities in Nigeria, said []
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PwC Nigeria, others seek to boost mining investment
Thu, 17 Aug 2017
Femi Asu PwC Nigeria has expressed optimism that the contribution of the solid minerals sector to the nation's Gross Domestic Product can grow from 0.5 per cent to three per cent by 2025 if the right steps are taken and the current momentum is sustained. The Advisory Partner and Mining Leader at PwC Nigeria, Mr. []
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