COLU @ CONCEPTS

The contrarians: They didn’t vote for Trump, but they would now Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Isaac Brekken/AP David Kord Murray, the owner of a small business-finance company in California, admits he likes to be different — “to take the contrary position.” Yet even he is surprised to have reached his latest conclusion — that while he strongly supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign, and voted for her without reservation, he now wishes he had cast that vote for Donald Trump. “I like what he’s doing, and I wish I had voted for him,” he says. Not having supported Trump sooner, he says, makes him “feel like a coward.” A lot has been written since Election Day about people who didn’t vote at all and wish they had because they were unhappy with the results. And a lot more has been written about those who cast their vote for the winner and came to regret it. (There is even a popular Twitter account called @Trump_Regrets with more than a quart...

      BREAKING: Nnamdi Kanu Granted Bail Leader of the Independent People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu has been granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday on health grounds. He was however bailed by Justice Nyako from granting press interview while on bail. The judge also gave a stern warning to the defendant not to participate in any rally or be found in a crowd of more than 10 persons in the course of the bail. She however refused the separate bail applications filed by the the IPOB leader’s co-defendants. The accused persons charged along with Kanu and who were denied bail by the judge were the National Coordinator of IPOB, Mr. Chidiebere Onwudiwe; an IPOB member, Benjamin Madubugwu, and a former Field Maintenance Engineer seconded to the MTN, David Nwawuisi. The court also in a separate ruling rejected the application by Kanu and two of the co-defendants seeking the setting aside of the court’s earlier order granting protection to prosecution w...

Naira watch: Naira rises to N382 as CBN injects $246m The naira  Monday rose to $382 per dollar in the parallel market even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected another $246.2 million into the foreign exchange market. Vanguard survey of the parallel market revealed that the parallel market exchange rate which closed on Friday at N385 per dollar, dropped to N382 per dollar  due to expectation of dollar sales to Bureaux de change (BDCs) by the CBN. Meanwhile, the apex bank continued with its intervention in the foreign exchange market yesterday by offering $246.2 million to authorized dealers at the forex auction in the interbank wholesale window, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles segments. A breakdown of the total offer indicates that the sum of $150 million was auctioned at the wholesale window while SMEs and invisibles got $52 million and $44.2 million respectively. Confirming this development, Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. ...

Vilified over Meningitis deaths, Gov Yari emerges US Malaria ambassador A few weeks after being chastised for not doing enough to curb the spread of Meningitis in his state, Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, has been named as the United States Malaria Fight Ambassador in Nigeria .              Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari  The recognition, which was bestowed on the governor in Abuja, Monday, was jointly organized by the United States International Development Agency (USAID); the US President’s Malaria Initiative in Nigeria and the United States Mission in Nigeria. Governor Yari was named along with Alhaji Aliko Dangote as the ambassadors of Malaria fight for 2016 in Public and Private Sectors respectively, at this Year’s World Malaria Day in recognition of their contributions to the fight against Malaria in Nigeria. The event took place at the Embassy of the United States of America in Abuja ...

NNPC vows to fully recover $103m, N11bn from Ontario, Aiteo and Televaras The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has vowed to achieve full recovery of the outstanding crude swap under-deliveries from three companies, Aiteo Energy Resources, Televaras Group of Companies and Ontario Oil and Gas Limited. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, said so far, the Corporation has recovered $208 million from Aiteo and Televaras. Baru, who was represented by Mr. Saidu Mohammed, Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, NNPC, said the Corporation is currently working hard to recover $103 million from Ontario.                                                          NNPC  Baru further stated that the NNPC has taken far-reaching? measures to recover N14 billion, being 130 million litres of m...

Nigeria’ll be among 3 world economies by 2050 —Britain LAGOS — Britain has predicted that Nigeria would emerge one of the three biggest economies of the world by 2025, even as it commences same day visa The British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright, disclosed this in Lagos,  while delivering a lecture entitled: “Nigeria-British Relations: The Next 100 Years” as part of activities to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, NBCC. He said: “By 2050, Nigeria will be the third biggest country in the world as it will overtake the USA to join China and India as the three biggest countries. “Second, Lagos, Africa’s fifth largest economy in 2016, will become more important in the coming years as African example of how to break down barriers to doing business and bring in foreign investment.” He also disclosed that the UK was happy with the economic outlook of Nigeria, adding that by virtue of the policies and investment habits of the...

World Bank applauds Fashola’s power plan, offers financial support The World Bank and some multilateral agencies in Washington have applauded the power sector recovery plan of Minister of Works, Power, Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, and offered to render financial support. Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this as head of Nigeria’s delegation to the World Bank-IMF meetings in Washington, USA, also reassured Nigerians that the cash recoveries being made by agencies of government in President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption drive would not be re-looted Fashola She quoted the World Bank and IMF as saying that the power sector recovery plan of Fashola was realistic. In a meeting with the agencies, Fashola was said to have presented the power plan, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, only about a month ago, and secured the support of the financial institutions. According to Adeosun, at a press briefing in Washington, “what the power secto...

   Warriors get a break after drama-filled opening series PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Warriors can breathe for a bit after a first-round series filled with drama. With a sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State now awaits the conclusion of the series between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers — currently tied at 2. The Warriors will also await word on coach Steve Kerr's health — with the short break perhaps providing more clarity about when he can rejoin the team. Kerr missed the last two games after symptoms from his back surgery two years ago suddenly flared up. The 51-year-old coach was in obvious discomfort just before the team left for the two games at Portland's Moda Center. It was announced a few hours before Game 3 that he would stay back at the team hotel. Assistant Mike Brown, who has plenty of head coaching experience, took over. A day later, Warriors GM Bob Myers was scheduled to address the media, but Kerr showed up instead and said he wou...

          O'Reilly surprised by Fox exit, says truth will come out LOS ANGELES (AP) — Five days after being fired from his top-rated Fox News Channel perch, Bill O'Reilly used a podcast to express his dismay and vowed that "the truth will come out." "I am sad that I'm not on television anymore," he said in an episode Monday of his personal website's "No Spin News" podcast, available only to subscribers after this week's free window. "I was very surprised how it all turned out." O'Reilly, who exited Fox News amid sexual harassment allegations that he has denied, said he couldn't add much more "because there's much stuff going on right now." "But I can tell you that I'm very confident the truth will come out and when it does, I don't know if you're going to be surprised, but I think you're going to be shaken, as I am," said O'Reilly, who was Fox's most popular an...

      Wells Fargo to face irritated shareholders at annual meeting JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Wells Fargo's top management and board of directors will face irritated investors Tuesday for the first big shareholder meeting since the scandal over the bank's sales practices led to an executive shake-up, fines and a dented reputation. The bank has changed the way it pays branch employees, reclaimed promised compensation to several executives and apologized to customers after regulators imposed $185 million in fines last September. Authorities said Wells Fargo workers opened up to 2 million accounts without customer permission as employees tried to meet aggressive sales goals. It's likely that Wells Fargo's top management will apologize to shareholders — a new, and arguably more patient, audience — following apologies already given to customers and employees. CEO Tim Sloan, who got that job in October, has repeatedly talked of making things right with customers. Wh...

Ivanka Trump in Berlin to talk women's economic empowerment BERLIN (AP) — Ivanka Trump is in Berlin on her first international outing as a White House adviser, where she will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss ways to encourage women's economic empowerment. Trump and Merkel are on a panel discussion Tuesday as part of the W20 Summit, a women-focused effort within the Group of 20 countries, entitled "Inspiring women: Scaling up women's entrepreneurship." Trump will also visit a technology college run by the Siemens company and go to the German capital's memorial to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. Trump stepped away from running her fashion brand to take a role as an unpaid White House adviser in her father's administration. She has spent time talking about women's empowerment, often at White House forums and roundtables. Source: www.apnews.com

  Overcoming Opioids: Special schools help teens stay clean INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When Logan Snyder got hooked on pills after a prescription to treat pain from a kidney stone, she joined the millions already swept up in the nation's grim wave of addiction to opioid painkillers. She was just 14. Youth is a drawback when it comes to kicking drugs. Only half of U.S. treatment centers accept teenagers and even fewer offer teen-focused groups or programs. After treatment, adolescents find little structured support. They're outnumbered by adults at self-help meetings. Sober youth drop-in centers are rare. Returning to school means resisting offers to get high with old friends. But Snyder is lucky: Her slide ended when her father got her into a residential drug treatment program. Now 17 and clean, she credits her continued success to Hope Academy in Indianapolis, a tuition-free recovery school where she's enrolled as a junior. "I am with people all day who are s...

      Seoul: North Korea holds drill to mark military anniversary PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — South Korea's military said Tuesday that North Korea held major live-fire drills in an area around its eastern coastal town of Wonsan as it marked the anniversary of the founding of its military. The exercise took place as a U.S. guided-missile submarine arrived in South Korea and envoys from the United States, Japan and South Korea met in Tokyo to discuss the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles program. Experts thought North Korea might conduct a nuclear test or a ballistic missile launch to mark the anniversary, but as of Tuesday evening neither had occurred. Crowds in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, laid flowers and paid respects at giant statues of the country's former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, one day after the minister of defense reiterated that the North was ready to use pre-emptive strikes or any measures it...