Canada royal tour: Prince William and Kate welcomed

Canada's governor general has welcomed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Ottawa at the start of the royal couple's first official overseas tour.

"Welcome to Canada - honeymoon capital of the Commonwealth," David Johnston said before crowds at Government House.

Prince William, who began his address in French, Canada's official language alongside English, said he and his wife had had a "longing" to visit together.

The duke and duchess earlier visited Canada's National War Memorial.

'Geography unsurpassed'

The couple will be staying at Government House - also known as Rideau Hall - while in Ottawa.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke after the governor general, saying: "Your journey across our fair Dominion marks the beginning of your journey into the hearts of Canadians. We wish you all the best on both counts.

"We are both honoured and delighted that you have chosen us for your first official tour together."

Prince William responded: "Merci beaucoup, Votre Excellence et Monsieur le Premier Ministre, pour votre accueil chaleureux."

This was translated live on Canadian television as: "Thank you very much Your Excellency and Prime Minister for your warm welcome."

The duke continued: "Catherine and I are so delighted to be here in Canada.

Peter Hunt BBC royal correspondent

They are the British and, indeed, the Canadian monarchy's future.
The enthusiastic, large crowds were keen to catch a glimpse of their future king and queen - this in a country where, according to a recent opinion poll, almost half of its citizens think the monarchy "is a relic of a colonial past that has no place in Canada today".
The dissenters weren't in evidence today. The streets were filled by the dedicated and the curious.
They saw a much talked about "fresh and modern" royal couple carry out a tried and tested programme of engagements, including a speech by Prince William in English and French.
He'll be partially bilingual for the next nine days as he tours a country which has had both French and British monarchs.

"Instilled in us by our parents and grandparents, who love this country, we have been looking forward to this moment for a very long time - and before we were married, we both had a longing to come here together.

"The geography of Canada is unsurpassed and is famous for being matched only by the hospitality of its people."

Switching to French again, Prince William joked: "It will improve as we go along."

The royal couple will later attend a barbecue hosted by Mr Johnston, who acts as the Queen's official representative in Canada.

Canada is a member of the Commonwealth and Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William's grandmother, is its head of state.

At the war memorial earlier, Prince William laid a wreath and his wife Kate placed a bouquet of flowers. They split up to greet some 3,000 well-wishers.

Before their walkabout fans could be heard chanting: "We love you Kate", but there were also screams for the duke.

Alexandra Anghel, 18, from Ottawa waited five hours to see the royal couple. She said the duchess seemed "down to earth".

"It was a surreal moment to meet her, someone I never thought I would ever meet and there she was in front of me. William's lineage is amazing, he's literally walking history - I can't believe I saw walking history."

The duke and duchess, who married in April, will visit seven Canadian cities on their nine-day visit, before heading to the US.

On Friday, they will celebrate Canada's national day. The pair will also visit Quebec, Prince Edward Island, where they are to participate in a dragon boat race, and Calgary.-bbc

Minimum wage: Labour gives FG, states 14-day ultimatum

Organised Labour drew the battle line between workers and all strata of governments, on Thursday, as it issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government and the 36 states of the federation to implement

the N18,000 Minimum Wage Act in the country or face a nationwide industrial action

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, and his counterpart in the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, sounded this warning in Abuja, during a joint press conference.

The briefing was to state Labour’s reaction to the delay in the implementation of the new wage regime and the proposal for the removal of fuel subsidy by the Nigerian Governors Forum. The Forum had said that only the removal of the government-funded subsidy on petroleum products could make the funds required for the payment of the minimum wage available to the states.

The joint statement says, “Ultimatum on implementation of National Minimum Wage,” issued at the conference by the two foremost labour organizations stressed that the implementation of the minimum wage was not negotiable.

““Having reviewed the state of respect of the Minimum Wage Law, we have come to the sad realization that no level of Government has implemented the law, be it Federal, State or Local governments, in spite of the law having come into effect since March 2011.

Nine reasons to consider Google+

When people ask “can Google+ beat Facebook?” they’re misstating the question. It’s not about one site versus another site. Google+ is bigger than that. The reason Google calls it the “Google+ Project” is that

Google+ will become a central part of Google’s whole identity. It will reshape the company. So the real question is “can Google beat Facebook?” Put that way, the contest seems a lot more even.

Facebook, of course, has a huge head start, but there are good reasons for people to seriously consider dumping Facebook for Google+.

1. Integration with Google Services

The biggest wedge Google has for driving people toward using Google+ is integration. That is, Google will build Google+ social networking features and tools into almost all of its existing online services from Search to Documents to Video. Google+ is already integrated into the navigation bar at the top right of almost all Google products; this lets you monitor all Google+ events (updates, messages, etc.) as well as share content with friends without ever leaving the Google service you happen to be using. Millions and millions of people use Google's free services (Gmail, Docs, Search, etc.), and with Google+ bound so tightly to them it may start to seem silly to jump out to some other site (Facebook) to do your social networking.

2. Better Friend Management

Google is right that the “Circles” concept is more in line with the way we make friends in real life. We have many different kinds of friends, and we interact with them and communicate with them in very different ways. Facebook’s Groups feature lets you form ad hoc groups of friends, but compared to the way its done in Google+ it seems cumbersome. After all, Facebook’s Groups feature is pretty new; it was “built on”, while friend "circles" are the bedrock of the Google+ platform.

3. Better Mobile App

If you're an Android user, you may find that getting content from your phone to your social platform is easier, cleaner more functional with the Google+ mobile app. The app is already great, but Google will seek more and more ways to make your Android phone a seemless appendage of your Google+ social platform. Google hopes to use its huge Android user base as a wedge against Facebook, whose mobile app, while nice-looking, is a little clunky to use.

4. Easier to Find Stuff to Share

Google+'s Sparks feature is another important differentiator from Facebook. Spark is Google leveraging its search engine to do something Facebook can’t do—give users an instant wellspring of relevant information to share with friends. Because Facebook has no search engine, its users must leave the site to find shareable data or wait for their friends the share it with them. The question "how do I find stuff to share" is immediately answered with Sparks.

5. You Can Get Your Data Back

Facebook is notorious for its poor stewardship of personal data. You are forced to make certain parts of your personal data "public" for example, and It is very hard to permanently delete your Facebook profile. Google, on the other hand, makes it possible for you to pick up all the data you’ve banked at Google+ and walk away. This is done through a Google+ tool called “Data Liberation.” With just a few clicks you can download data from your Picasa Web Albums, Google profile, Google+ stream, Buzz and contacts.

6. Better Photo Tagging

When viewing photos in Google+ you can “tag” the people in them similar to the way you do in Facebook. You draw a little square around a person's face, then type in their name in the box below it (or choose one of the names Google+ guesses). But there’s a big difference in the way Google handles the privacy aspect of photo tagging. When you tag someone, you see this note: “Adding this tag will notify the person you have tagged. They will be able to view the photo and the related album.” Facebook, on the other hand, does not make an effort to warn people the they’ve been tagged (possibly in an unflattering or compromising photo) and give them an immediate chance to remove the tag.

Also, Google has wisely decided to shy away from using facial recognition software, which Facebook now uses to automatically identify people in photos uploaded to user albums.

7. Strong Group Chat Features

Google+ has Facebook beat out of the gate in the area of chat. Forming ad hoc group video chats using the Hangouts feature in Google+ is easy, and forming ad hoc groups for a little chat seems like a natural and fun thing to do in a social networking setting. Similarly, the new Huddle mobile app makes it easy for mobile (Android) users to start up group text chats. Facebook simply doesn't offer these tools.

8. Safer Content Sharing

Privacy advocates have long called for social networking sites to let users assign a privacy level to each piece of content they share, instead of using a pre-set list privacy settings to govern all shares. Google obviously heard those calls, and built the capability into Google+. For instance, when I share an article or upload a camera image, Google+ gives me choices of which friend circles I’d like to share that content with. Advantage Google+.

9. Google Is a Better Steward of Your Personal Data

Running a social network is all about responsible stewardship of users' personal information. Facebook is a young, fast moving company that has proved itself to be cavalier in its movements, lacking in respect for user data privacy, and accident prone. Google on the other hand, is a far more mature company that is, I would argue, seen as more trustworthy than Facebook. For the most part, Google has lived up to its “Don’t Be Evil” slogan. Which company would you rather have as the steward of your personally identifiable information?-pcworld

University of Ibadan Vacancy

APPOINTMENT OF REGISTRAR
The Governing Council of the University of lbadan hereby announces that the position of Registrar will be vacant by 31 December, 2011.  In accordance with the provisions of the University's (Miscellaneous.

Provisions) Decree Noll of 1993 (as amended by Decree No 25,. 1996) and by the University (Miscellaneous) (Amendment) Act 2003 and in exercise of its powers as contained therein the Governing Council wishes to commence the process of filling the impending vacancy.
Applications are hereby invited from suitably qualified candidates for the post. Interested applicants are requested to note the following information about the university
The University of lbadan (Ul), established in 1948, first as a constituent college of the University of London , became a full fledged University in 1962 and has continued to blaze the trail as the foremost Nigerian University and the crucible of human capacity development in Nigeria and indeed sub-Saharan Africa. On the account of its size, the numbers of faculties and institutes, the huge number of courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and competent reach to the larger society through the output and community services, UI remains the flagship of higher education in Nigeria. In the globalized and highly competitive knowledge economy, Ibadan has continued to rise and blossom amongst its peers in the world. The history of higher education in Nigeria will not be complete without prominent mention of the University of Ibadan in areas of medicine (where its Faculty have pioneered research in sickle cell, neurosciences, community and public health medicine, maternal and child health) in humanities and liberal arts where it has produced a Nobel Laureate in Literature and world giants in history and literature. Not in the least are the exploits of staff and students in the natural, applied and social sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, law, education, technology, agriculture and veterinary medicine etc. Many staff and alumni/alumnae are recipients of the Nigerian National Order of Merit, and fellowship of the various National Academies. Indeed, if it is from Ibadan, it must be of outstanding quality.
With a full-time undergraduate population of 12,507 students and 13,803 students under the distance learning mode, UI provides access to education for a large segment of Nigerian youths desirous of obtaining quality certificates from the 'first and the best'. Moreover, the Postgraduate School with 7,280 students enrolled for higher degrees of Master and PhD is easily the largest of its type in Sub Saharan Africa, and remains the pride of the nation.
UI has responded and will continue to respond to national and international challenges and there can be no better proof of this than the success story- of the 171,564 alumni/alumnae that occupy important and pre-eminent positions nationally and internationally.
.
 Job Title: Registrar

METHOD OF APPLICATION
Interested candidates are invited to note and comply with the following conditions:
a) Fifty copies of each application letter should be accompanied by 50 copies of Curriculum Vitae signed and dated by the candidate. The Curriculum Vitae must contain, among others, the candidates full name (surname first), Date of Birth (not age), gender, marital status, current address including e-mail and telephone numbers, nationality/state/local government, full qualifications/schools attended and working experiences and names and addresses of three referees.
b) A vision and mission statement for the registry of no more than 1000 words.
c) Each candidate must request each referee to forward a confidential
report directly to the Vice-Chancellor.

All applications are to be forwarded under confidential cover in a sealed envelope marked at the upper left hand cover . APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF REGISTRAR" University of Ibadan addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, to reach him not later than 8th August 2011.

Only applications of short-listed candidates will be acknowledged.


Signed:
Professor IF Adewole,
 Vice-Chancellor,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan

Four dead in Collapsed building

ON Wednesday, tragedy struck at Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, following the collapse of a two-storey building under construction at the back of a new generation bank.

According to a source, the building came down at 10.20am. The building was alleged to be an extension of the bank.

Two buildings under construction had to be demolished before the machines could be moved in to evacuate the debris in order to rescue those trapped under the collapsed building.

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the FCT Department of Development Control and the Federal Fire Service were on ground to save the situation.

As at press time, about 12 persons were still trapped in the debris, four brought out dead, while two, who were seriously injured, had to be rushed to Nyanya General Hospital.

 Meanwhile, Head, Public Relations of NEMA, Mr. Yushau Shuaib, said, yesterday, that the organisation as well as other agencies had so far rescued 12 victims of the collapsed building, just as it admitted that a woman was among the dead.

Speaking on the development, an eyewitness said: “The artisans on the site resumed work around 9am. It was barely one and half hours after they started work that we heard a loud noise. We thought it was a bomb. Although the area is swampy, there are other buildings on the same plot of land that are still standing. Most of the materials that are being used on the site are of  low quality. The foundation is faulty.

The collapsed building.

“I think the owner of the house was bent on completing the house within a stipulated time. Construction of the house had been too fast.”-Vanguard

Battle of Manchester for Nasri

MANCHESTER CITY are battling Manchester United to sign Arsenal contract rebel Samir Nasri.City boss Roberto Mancini is weighing up a £20million offer for the France midfielder, who has

stalled on signing a new deal with the Gunners.

The 24-year-old has a year left on his contract and has been offered fresh terms of £90,000 a week.

But it is understood City are willing to offer him DOUBLE that figure after pulling out of the race to sign Udinese's £40m-rated winger Alexis Sanchez.

United boss Alex Ferguson is also in the hunt for Nasri, who would provide a much-needed boost to his midfield following Paul Scholes' retirement.

Nasri joined Arsenal in a £15.8m move from Marseille three years ago and has scored 18 goals in 85 league games.

He was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award following a string of impressive displays for the Gunners last season.

And SunSport understands City could launch a second swoop on Arsenal after tabling a £7m bid for Nasri's international team-mate Gael Clichy.

The 25-year-old left-back is also out of contract next summer and is available for a cut-price fee after failing to agree new terms at the Emirates Stadium.

 -thesun

University of Benin job Vacancies

Institute of Public Administration & Extension Services (IPAES).   Vacancies

- Professors
- Associate Professors
- Senior lecturer
- Lecturer I
- Lecturer II
- Assistant Lecturer


Candidates with PhD. Or M.Sc. In any of following areas.
- Economics and Statistics
- Public Administration and Public Policy
- Health Statistics and Demography
- Accounting or Public Financial management
- Industry Psychology
- Hospital Administration and management
- Nursing Sciences and Administration
- Public Health/ Environmental Management

METHOD OF APPLICATION
Interested candidates should submit 15copies of their applications, credentials and Curriculum Vitae (CV). Information in the Curriculum Vitae should be strictly provided in the following order:
(i)      Post Desired
(ii)     Full Names with Surname in bold
(iii)    Date and place of Birth
(iv)     Nationality
(v)      State of Origin
(vi)     Martial Status
(vii)    Number and ages of Children
(VIII)   GSM No.
(ix)     Email address
(X)      Educational Institutions attended with dates  Academic/Professional Qualifications with dates and awarding bodies,
(xi)     List of Scholarly-populations if any
(xii)    Present Position with date
(xiv)    Names and addresses of three (3) Referees, one of whom must be the present Head of Department.


SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION
All applications should be forwarded in properly sealed envelops with the post desired marked on the top left corner and addressed to:
The Registrar
University of Benin
Benin City
to reach her not later than 8th August 2011.

Being Cautious to Avoid Animosity and Dissention

From Jaabir ibn 'Abdullah (radiyallaahu 'anhu) who said that Allaah's Messenger said: Indeed Satan has despaired that those who pray should worship (him) in the Arabian peninsular, however (he seeks) to provoke animosity between them.

So perhaps a word which one does not realise allows to escape from his tongue and it falls upon one of the servants of Allaah, or a mistake he makes, perhaps this will cause a great fire to blaze in the hearts of the brothers.

This is the most Satan desires and it causes him to be joyful and happy. So what we have indicated certainly occurs and is bound to occur and it leads to widespread evil and great danger, so since this is the case, then what is:

Palace denies royal wedding rumor days before nuptials

Just days before the next big royal wedding, a rumor surfaced that the bride to be had called it off. L’Express magazine’s website posted a story about Charlene Wittstock, who’s set to wed Prince Albert of

Monaco this weekend, fleeing to the airport with a one way ticket home to South Africa.

"Charlene Wittstock had learned a few hours earlier that the private life of the man she was about to marry, who publicly acknowledged in 2005 a child from an adulterous relationship, was not as exemplary as she had imagined," reported the French magazine’s website.

The palace has firmly denied the rumor and the Prince's lawyer even initially threatened legal action. “These rumors, spread a few days before the wedding ceremonies of His Serene Highness Prince Albert and Miss Charlene Wittstock, have only one purpose -  to seriously damage the Sovereign's image and by consequence that of Miss  Wittstock and to cause serious prejudice to a happy event,” said a Palace official. 

The couple swiftly posed for photographers arm in arm to quiet the media hailstorm. The message was clear: the royal wedding will go on as planned.

But the speculation about the report hasn’t gone away. The couple’s media advisor, Stephane Bern, made a strange denial to Le Parisien stating:  "A woman could easily pretend that she's pregnant by a prince. You can't do a DNA test to check three days before a wedding!" Now the Prince's lawyer has stopped pursuing legal action against L'Express and several media outlets have raised eyebrows.

Today Vogue's UK website, a branch of the publication which recently profiled the bride-to-be, picked up on the rumors in a piece titled “Royal Runaway Bride?”

The wedding, estimated to cost $65 million and poised to turn Monaco into a temporary tourist attraction, will begin Friday with a small civil ceremony inside the palace. On Saturday, the big religious ceremony will take place outside in the palace courtyard, followed by a multi-course meal for VIP guests prepared by famed chef Alain Ducasse. 

The guest list for the event, released to press today, boasts the biggest names in fashion, including Giorgio Armani (who designed Wittstock's gown), Karl Lagerfeld and Naomi Campbell. Also expected for the main event are Hollywood stars (Gerard Butler, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher), Olympic athletes (gymnast Nadia Comenici) and world leaders (President Sarkozy, King Gustaf of Sweden and Desmond Tutu). The shake-up hasn’t affected their travel itinerary or the country’s weekend plans for a celebration.

But what about the bride? "I just spoke to her assistant and whatever the story is, it's not true. I called her and asked if everything is okay, and they said everything is fine," Ryk Neethling, a friend of Charlene's told the AFP. 

Remember only a few months ago, when the biggest royal wedding controversy was which designer gown Kate Middleton would wear to walk down the aisle? We miss the fairy tale.  -BBC

Women World cup;Germany and France Qualify for Quarter final

Germany and France have become the first two teams confirmed in the last-eight stage of the showpiece event as the tournament enters the business end

Canada 0-4 France

France hit four past Canada to book a spot in the quarter-finals with a brace from Gaetane Thiney, while Camille Abily and Elodie Thomis scored the other goals.

In Bochum, the spectators had to wait just 24 minutes for the first goal, as Thiney rose unchallenged in the middle of the area to head home an Elise Bussaglia shot which had been deflected. Thiney would score her second 15 minutes into the second-half, the striker taking advance of Emily Zurrer's poor judgement by firing a shot from outside the area.

Abily scored France's third goal just six minutes later as she powered a header into the net after a corner from the right, while Thomis wrapped things up seven minutes before full time with a classy finish as she moved past the rushing keeper before slotting the ball into the net.

Germany 1-0 Nigeria

Defending champions Germany advanced to the last eight with a victory over Nigeria following a solitary second-half goal from Simone Laudehr.

Germany were dominant for most of the first-half, but could not capitalise as the two teams went into the break with the scoreline unchanged. The goal came in the 54th minute, when Laudehr steered the ball home from close range after a scramble in the box.

Christy Essien Dies At 51

Lady of Songs and former President of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN, Chief (Mrs.) Christy Essien-Igbokwe is dead.

The late Christy Essien

Igbokwe died this morning after a brief illness, a source close to the family told P.M.NEWS.

She was said to have fallen sick on Monday and was rushed to an undisclosed hospital where she breathe her last.

Yesterday, her musician son, Kaka Chinwuba Igbokwe, had posted on his Facebook wall asking people to pray for the sick, not knowing that he was making a veil request on behalf of his sick mother.

The singer and actress, who was also known as Apeno, her character in the New Masquarade, a now rested 13-week drama episode on the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA Network, put Nigeria’s name on the world music map with her evergreen song Seun Rere.

Born in Onna, Akwa Ibom State on 11 November 1960, Igbokwe, until her demise, was the first female President of PMAN and ran her private enterprise, Soul Train Entertainment Limited as Chairman and Managing Director.

She has been honoured with various awards worldwide including the Nigerian Lady of Songs Award, International Special Achievement Award in Mexico (1983), Africa Music Mother Award (1984), World Song Festival Award in Los Angeles, Queen of Music International Award, Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (1996).

She has also contributed enormously to nation building, peace and tolerance, which, alongside moral uprightness, remain constant themes of her songs.

Admiral Dele Abiodun, immediate past president, PMAN confirmed her death.

More Ministerial nominees screened

The Nigerian Senate today cleared more ministerial nominees. President Goodluck Jonathan sent 34 names to the upper chamber of the National Assembly on Monday. Seven of the nominees were cleared

yesterday.

Those cleared yesterday include: the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Duzani Allison-Madueke from Bayelsa State; former Minister of the Niger Delta, Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe from Delta State and Senator Bala Mohammed who was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja in the last administration. He is from Bauchi State.

The nominees who appeared before the Senate today were: former minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsideen Usman, his counterpart in the ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Sada and the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN.

Answering questions from the senators, Adoke defended his action in stopping some cases he inherited from his predecessor like the case against former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Adoke said he discovered that the government could not make any case against Ribadu because he was being persecuted for his role as the EFCC boss when his job made him to step on powerful toes.

He also said since government could not prove certain allegations against some people despite the high cost of litigation, certain cases like those against Kenny Martins, suspects in Halliburton scandal and similar ones were discontinued.

The former National Planning Minister, Usman blamed the Central Bank of Nigeria for the misconception about introduction Islamic banking in Nigeria.

He disclosed that the first state to borrow from an Islamic bank is Nigeria was Anambra and not any of the Northern states where Sharia law was in operation.

An architect, the former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Sada, identified lack of infrastructure as the bane of provision of massive houses in the country.

He said some houses built by government in the 80s were not occupied because of the absence of necessary infrastructure.

The nominees screened today were former ministers in the last administration. The exercise continues.

Walmart to open stores in Nigeria

WALMART, America’s foremost low-price merchandise retail store, is planning to open two stores in Nigeria soon.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye, told the Empowered Newswire on Wednesday that representatives from the famous retail store had visited him at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC as regards the plan to open the retail store in Nigeria.

“It is an indication of the growing confidence in Nigeria’s economy,” Adefuye stated, adding that he was currently engaging with the leading US store on the conditions and requirements that would have to be met to do business in Nigeria.

WalMart currently employs about 2.1million employees and the CNN ranked it as the biggest global company last year, saying that, despite the global recession, the discount retailer’s bargain prices continued to lure consumers worldwide.

The company’s plan to open stores in Nigeria is part of the strategy of its leadership team, led by its new President/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Duke.

At the company’s AGM last year, Duke was reported as saying that global markets were “becoming an even bigger and more important part of our company.”

Nigeria may issue more Eurobonds by 2012

Nigeria may sell another set of Eurobonds by the end of 2012 to diversify its funding and to provide a liquid yield curve for international debt, Morgan Stanley said.

“If you look at it from a funding perspective, it is clear that they do not really have to tap the international markets, as the local bond market has the capacity to handle their funding needs,” Andrea Masai, a Johannesburg-based economist at Morgan Stanley, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

“The motivation, therefore, appears to be one of diversification, but also the need to provide a liquid curve in offshore debt.”
Nigeria sold $500 million in a debut Eurobond sale in January to give investors a “transparent and internationally observable benchmark,” Olusegun Aganga, the former finance minister, said Jan. 21.  The yield on the 6.75 per cent debt due 2021 has fallen 70 basis points to 6.091 percent since its issue in January.

The notes have “traded exceptionally well” and “there is definitely appetite for Nigerian debt, given its improving macro fundamentals and liquid and tradable, fixed-income markets,” said Masai.

“Its overall debt metrics allow it to issue more paper. One must remember that its external debt ratios are still at very low levels.”
Outstanding Debt

Nigeria’s had 4.5 trillion naira ($29.6 billion) in outstanding debt in 2010, or 15.6 percent of gross domestic product, Morgan Stanley said in its report, citing the Ministry of Finance. This may rise to 16.7 percent of GDP in 2012, a “comfortably low level,” they said. Nigeria’s external debt level is 2.4 per cent of GDP and may rise no more than 3.8 percent by 2012, Morgan Stanley said.

Fitch Ratings may upgrade its “negative” outlook on Nigeria’s BB- assessment, the third-highest non-investment grade ranking, within the next 12 to 18 months, Morgan Stanley wrote in its report. Fitch lowered its outlook on Nigeria from “stable” on Oct. 22 due to concern that the nation was making withdrawals from the excess crude account, a windfall saved when the price of crude goes above the benchmark used for the country’s budget, and foreign-currency reserves dropped.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who was returned to power in April elections, slashed almost 500 billion naira off a budget adopted two months earlier, taking the final spending plan to 4.5 trillion naira. Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill last month creating a sovereign wealth fund to help the country save more of its oil revenue and funnel money into projects.

“With the sovereign wealth fund firmly in place now, the fiscal position outperforming official targets, and the recurrent-capital mix of public expenditures likely to improve going forward, we believe that Fitch’s concerns are being addressed,” said Masai.