₦airaland Forum

Guys, Nice reviews going here.

I think it will helpful to have the all these great reviews in one place. Worth checking http://www.naijachops.com. You can also add missing restaurants.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/Film/5450624-147/story.csp

The film's quality is largely a result of the impeccable audio-visuals and attentive performance by the actors. Women are dressed in colourful African creations, showing off the lifestyles of the middle class, upwardly mobile Nigerian female who is educated, entrepreneurial and interested in marriage and family.

The scene with the two friends enjoying a round of golf at a golf course in Osun State added a lot of gloss to this movie. A typical scene that would have been attributed to an international location was achieved locally.

The Figurine successfully fuses traditional folklore with contemporary life whilst maintaining its relevance; it is also, unexpectedly, a thriller with some comedic timing that leaves the viewer in titters.

Check out the trailer at http://www.figurineMovie.com

Essential reading for every Nigerian. A report by Chatham House on "Thirst for African Oil Asian National Oil Companies in Nigeria and Angola"

Oil-for-infrastructure deals have been successful elsewhere in Africa, notably in Angola and Sudan. This suggests that the concept per se is not at fault. But in Nigeria the scheme went wrong because it was not properly conceived and there were no inbuilt guarantees
,
Looking at the oil-for-infrastructure deals as a whole, the projects were vague and lacking in technical or financial detail. Subsequent negotiations were slow. Repeated visits by Nigerian officials to Asian capitals produced little clarity or progress and no timetables for delivery were ever announced. The projects chosen by Nigeria for Asian investment were high-cost and high-value, and offered the opportunity for
high commission payments, but they were not properly considered in the context of wider national economic planning. The political context also exposed the weakness of the arrangements. In retrospect, this was an ill-thought-out, half-baked ad hoc exercise dressed up in fine words

http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/publications/papers/download/-/id/768/file/14524_r0809_africanoil.pdf

Vivendi pulls out of Zain deal

The much talked about $10 billion Zain take over by Vivendi has been halted, with French media giant, saying the deal was inconsistent with its financial criteria.

‘Vivendi has applied its usual criteria of profitability and financial discipline to this potential investment in emerging markets, in the best interest of its shareholders,” the company statement said.

Zain Group, the Kuwaiti based mobile telecommunication company with operations in 22 countries in Middle East and Africa, has been in negotiations with Vivendi for weeks now. The sale would have marked another turning point in Kenya’s second largest and oldest mobile services provider’s colourful history. In Kenya Zain began life as Kenya Cellular Communications Ltd, or Kencell a joint venture between Vivendi of France and Sameer Investments of Kenya. Sameer is controlled by Naushad N. Merali, one of Kenya’s wealthiest investors and former President Daniel Arap Moi.

At the time, the shareholding in Kencell was 40 percent for Vivendi and 60 percent for Sameer, in line with regulations of the Communications Commission of Kenya. Between 2000 and 2003, Kencell grew very fast due to its high quality voice and data network.
But poor revenue and high operational costs saw Kencell post huge losses in the period between 2003 and 2004. After the string of losses and stunted growth of the operator in 2005 Vivendi opted out of the venture selling off her 40 percent stake in Kencell to Celtel International.

The buyout saw the operator rebrand to Celtel Kenya. Vivendi had aimed to boost its presence in Africa, where it already holds a 53% stake in Morocco’s Maroc Telecom. Zain has some 65 million subscribers in all, with 40 million across Africa.

http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=2910

Last month, I put together a list of Nigerian web start-ups to watch out for. Might be useful

10-nigerian-web-start-ups-to-watch

You can also see his new blog at http://www.loyokezie.com/

ABUJA, July 20 (Reuters) - Oceanic Bank (OCBK.LG) reported a 42 billion naira ($287 million) charge for the 15-month period ending Dec. 31, 2008, the Nigerian bourse said on Monday.

The bank's net profit fell 45 percent during the 15 months to the end of 2008 compared with the 12-month period to Sept. 30, 2007. Oceanic reported a 151 percent rise in gross earnings during the 15-month period to the end of 2008 versus the previous 12 months.

The 15-month reporting period was a result of Oceanic's conforming to an industry-wide adoption of common-year end financial reporting by the end of this year.

The central bank, led by new Governor Lamido Sanusi, has ordered Nigerian banks to adopt a common financial year-end accounting standard to restore investor confidence and enable comparisons within the sector.

Weak disclosure requirements in Nigeria have fuelled concerns about the health of its banks, particularly their exposure to falling capital markets after explosive balance sheet growth in recent years saw them take on higher levels of unsecured risk. [ID:nLD725749]

Analysts welcomed the reporting of Oceanic's multi-billion naira charge, saying its transparency could help other Nigerian banks follow suit.

"This is significant. It sets the trail for others to follow without fear," said Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives.

Companies currently issue quarterly and annual reports based on varying financial calendars, making it difficult for analysts to compare one back with another. (Reporting by Randy Fabi; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 146.30 naira)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSLK10526120090720

This is great. Probably best to maintain the list on Wikipedia. Someone has already put the list on the site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Nigeria

My thoughts on the #lightupnigeria and what I think should happen next in phase II.

http://www.agegelabs.com/2009/07/17/lightup-nigeria

There has been a lot of buzz around the Nigerian web community over the last 12 months. This post features 10 Nigerian web start-ups to watch.

10-nigerian-web-start-ups-to-watch

Comments are welcomed. Let me know what companies I missed.

I'm surprised that they decided to go down that route. I have a post on my website on the situation.

Time will tell if the strategy will work. I now use 234next and Allafrica for my news.