U.S. Secretary of Commerce visits Nigeria to explore business opportunities

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, arrived Lagos on Monday as the head of a fact-finding mission to Nigeria on Doing Business in Africa.

Mrs. Pritzker, who is the chair of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, was accompanied by senior U.S. business executives.

The council was formed to advise President Barack Obama on ways to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and Africa.

A statement from the US Embassy in Abuja said the trip would provide an opportunity for the council members to gather facts about the commercial opportunities and challenges in Nigeria.

At the end of the visit, the council, which would also visit Rwanda, is expected to “report back to President Obama with strong and actionable recommendations, and develop policy ideas that will benefit both countries and raise our commercial relationship to the next level”.

Secretary Pritzker said President Obama was convinced that the US private sector was capable of helping African business community address some of the continent’s most pressing challenges, namely building modern infrastructure, creating jobs and opportunity for young people, and expanding access to education and the Internet, if they work in partnership.

“When we think about the economic potential of countries across Africa—and Nigeria is absolutely at the top of that list—the imperative that we all face is to promote economic growth and opportunity at home, and deepening our mutually beneficial ties of trade and commerce is not just a nice to have, it is a must-have for all of us,” Mrs. Pritzker said on arrival in Lagos.

She said her mission to Nigeria and Rwanda underscored the Obama Administration’s commitment to shifting the U.S. economic relationship with Africa from one based on aid to one based on trade and investment.

With the trip, the Secretary of Commerce said the PAC-DBIA members would develop an actionable set of recommendation for President Obama regarding how U.S. government programmes and policies could better support economic engagement between Africa and the United States.

Africa, she noted presented tremendous long-term growth opportunities, adding that both the U.S. government and the U.S. private sector were committed to deepening their economic and commercial engagement on Africa.

Nigeria was selected for the trip by the council members specifically for her potential to help grow about 50 million Nigerians in the middle class, and to become one of the top-10 global economies by 2050.

Rita Ora’s Breaking the Internet with This Orange Versace Dress

hey guys what you ALL think about her #Versace orange sexy dress?

Khloe Kardashian Rates the 3 Wildest Places She's Had Sex

Image via E!

Khloe Kardashian is out here getting physical. She recently opened up to Andy Cohen about the sex tape she made with ex-husband Lamar Odom, but she's starting this week off strong with a post on her app/website titled "Just the Tip: I Rated the 3 Wildest Places I've Gotten Down." Ha ha get it?

Khloe admits she's not doing it in, like, INSANE places but she does like "chasing a thrill." So what makes her top 3? The kitchen counter, moving car, and a private plane—that last one 'cause you gotta flex your Kardashian status of course. Rating each bone zone out of 5, here's what she's had to say about each spot: 

"Kitchen Counter

MY RATING FOR THE KITCHEN COUNTER IS: 5/5

You're at home, so it's comfortable, but it's still a little different than the norm. A marble kitchen counter is sexy, thrilling ... and cold, LOL!"

"Moving Car

MY RATING FOR THE MOVING CAR IS: 2/5

Don't try this at home! Someone else was driving and I was in the backseat, but I'm a tall girl so it feels cramped and it hurts my fu*king knees. Getting down in a moving car is a waste of time, because nothing happens for me. I just don't get to the finish line! If you're down for a thrill, then by all means, but this one gets a low rating from me!"

"Private Plane

MY RATING FOR THE PRIVATE PLANE IS: 5/5

Doing it on a private plane is great, especially when there are other passengers on board. It's part of the thrill! I walked into the bathroom first and then he followed so it wasn't exactly stealth, haha!!! Everyone obviously knew what was going on in and when I walked out, they asked if we had fun, LOL!!!"

LOL!!! indeed. How many of Khloe's wild spots have you hit? 

REPORT | Governor Ortom Unable to Pay Salaries After Borrowing N60 Billion in 7 Months

In the midst of Benue State government’s inability to pay salaries, several Benue State indigenes who spoke to SIGNAL on Monday on condition of anonymity lamented Ortom’s flagrant wastage of the state’s resources on frivolous projects that have no direct or indirect bearing on the welfare of Benue State workers, the latest being the political campaign of Daniel Onjeh.

“What is the relevance of Daniel Onjeh’s election to Benue State that the governor pulled out N100 million from the state’s treasury for his declaration on Saturday when I am being owed 4 months salary?”, a concerned Benue civil servant who did not want to be named queried in frustration.

A top official of the Benue State government who spoke to this newspaper decried Ortom’s excessive borrowing since he came into office. “The first month he came he borrowed N10 billion. The second month he borrowed N5 billion. Then he got a bailout of N28.1 billion. Just a few days ago, he wrote to the Benue State House of Assembly seeking permission to borrow another N15 billion. What is all this borrowing about? These are debts that Benue State will continue to pay for the next 60 years. What it means is that Ortom has mortgaged the future of Benue State for the next 60 years. Despite all these borrowing, he is seven months in office and owing 4 months salaries. So where is the money going to? Benue State is in a mess”, the source lamented painfully.

Ortom, SIGNAL gathered pulled out the sum of N100 million for Saturday’s declaration ceremony of Daniel Onjeh who is contesting for the Benue South Senatorial district election under Ortom’s All Progressives Congress (APC).

Efforts to reach the governor’s media assistant for a reaction have proved abortive.

But supporters of the governor are quick to argue that the governor is borrowing to start up government and set a base for looking into the critical financial challenges faced by the state workers. They also claim the issue of unpaid salaries was an inheritance from the past administration.

Notwithstanding, Governor Ortom recently collected N28.1 billion bailout funds released by the federal government as interest free loan to the state. The money, Benue State indigenes had expected would be used in settling a backlog of unpaid salaries of workers.

Seven months after Ortom entered office as governor; workers in the state are being owed salaries for the past 4 months. This is even more shocking as the governor is said to have borrowed a gigantic N60 billion so far in just seven months raising critical questions as to where all the funds have vanished into.

Eritrean government asks men to marry at least two wives or face imprisonment

By Ahmed Lotole

Kenyans have received the news of mandatory polygamy by men in Eritrea with a mix of bewilderment and excitement.

Activists have posted a memo allegedly by the Government of Eritrea asking men to marry at least two wives due to acute shortage of men occasioned by casualties during the civil war with Ethiopia.

In the statement written in Arabic assures of government support to the polygamous marriages.

The activists translate it thus, “Based on the law of God in polygamy, and given the circumstances in which the country is experiencing in terms of men shortage, the Eritrean department of Religious Affairs has decided on the following .”

First that every man shall marry at least two women and the man who refuses to do so shall be subjected to life imprisonment with hard labour.

“The woman who tries to prevent her husband from marrying another wife shall be punished to life imprisonment,” alleges the activists in their translation.

The Standard could not immediately authenticate the document nor the translation and it was not clear why the statement was not in the other two national languages, Tigrinya and Tigre.

The May 1998 to June 2000 Eritrean-Ethiopian war saw 150,000 soldiers killed from either sides but having a bigger impact on male population in the tiny Eritrea nation who were then just 4million people in total.

via Standard Kenya