Cross River Gov appoints actress Kate Henshaw & Sen. Ita Giwa

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has appointed Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw as his Special Adviser, Liaison, Lagos. He also approved the appointment of Senator Florence Ita Giwa as the Chairman of the Cross River Ports Authority. Congrats to them.

Obama appoints 34yr old Nigerian, Adewale Adeyemo as his new deputy adviser for International Economic affairs

United States President, Barack Obama has appointed a Nigerian national Adewale Adeyemo, to succeed Caroline Atkinson as his deputy national security adviser for international economic affair, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo,34, joined the White House's National Economic Council as deputy director this fall from the Treasury, where he served most recently as the deputy chief of staff to Secretary Jacob Lew.

Ms. Atkinson has served in her current post since June 2013, a position that includes coordinating U.S. participation in the annual summits of the Group of 20 and Group of Seven countries. Ms. Atkinson also played key roles in the recently concluded climate negotiations in Paris.

Mr. Adeyemo was the Treasury’s lead negotiator on the currency agreement that was part of the Pacific trade deal. He also worked on Treasury’s response to crises in Ukraine and Greece and in 2010 was one of the first officials charged with standing up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In a statement, Mr. Obama thanked Ms. Atkinson for her service and said he was grateful that Mr. Adeyemo would carry on her work. Mr. Adeyemo had been nominated by Mr. Obama to serve as assistant Treasury secretary for international markets and development, but a White House official said Mr. Adeyemo had asked the president to withdraw the nomination given his new role.

The statement from Obama reads:

"For the past four years, I have relied on Caroline Atkinson, most recently as my Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, as we’ve navigated pressing challenges to the global economy.

"As my representative at the G-7 and G-20, she played a key role in coordinating our response to international financial crises, worked with our allies to devise and implement targeted economic sanctions to advance our national security goals, played a vital role in our economic engagements with China, and helped to achieve breakthrough agreements on climate that will strengthen our economy and our security.

"I’ve relied on, and benefited from, Caroline’s knowledge and judgment and, as she concludes her tenure on my national security team, I am deeply appreciative of her service.

"I am grateful that Caroline’s work will be carried on by Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, who has served in my administration since 2009. At the Treasury Department, he was part of the team that helped coordinate our response to the global recession, laying the foundation for renewed growth at home and abroad.

“He helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and he’s been our point person on a range of international economic issues, including negotiations on strong currency agreements around the Trans Pacific Partnership. I will be calling on Wally’s intellect, judgment and dedication as we sustain America’s global economic leadership, which reinforces our national security, and as we work with allies and partners around the world to create jobs and opportunity for all our people."

On his part, Mr. Lew said that Mr. Adeyemo had "developed a network of international relationships in economic offices around the world to promote U.S. interests effectively."

Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geihner said Mr. Adeyemo, who joined the administration in 2009, was a “natural diplomat with a great feel for policy."

The position has served as a springboard to even higher profile international finance posts.Mochael Froman, who is currently the U.S. trade representative, held the post under both Mr. Obama and President Bill Clinton.Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard , who previously served as a senior Treasury official in the Obama administration, held the post in the Clinton administration.

Dollar hits N249 at parallel market

Naira-Dollar

The Naira on Wednesday continued to depreciate at the parallel market as it exchanged for N249 to the dollar. The naira lost N1 on Wednesday afternoon to close at N249, as against its previous value of N248.

 
It, however, appreciated at the official interbank window as it gained N0.03 to close at N196.97. Traders at the parallel market affirmed that the challenges at the Bureaux de Change continued to have its toll on the parallel market.

 
The inability of some BDCs to render proper accounts of forex transactions earned about 1600 of them some sanction from the apex bank. Meanwhile, the high cost of dollar had been having multiplier effects on most import-based businesses, leading to unhealthy price increases.

Fashola addresses the press, reveals his plans to revitalize Power, Housing and Roads projects

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, today addressed a press conference in Abuja where he reeled out his plans for the revitalization of Power, Works and Housing projects in Nigeria. He said the focus on roads is to complete those already at some level of completion.

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Dad kills Cobra with with bare hands after the snake killed his son (Photos)

In a video shared online this week, a man was seen avenging the death of his son by killing a King Cobra with his bare hands. The man, in shorts, angrily grabbed the long snake from a tree in the bush and smashed it's head on the floor severally times, killing it. The snake reportedly bit his son, who later died. Animal rights lawyers have since spoken out and accused the man of animal cruelty since the video went viral. See shocking photos after the jump;

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No Chibok Girls among freed Boko Haram hostages- Cameroonian govt

Cameroonian government says non of the recently rescued 900 hostages held captive by Boko Haram are the abducted Chibok girls. On December 2nd, a "special clean-up operation" by Cameroon's security force rescued 900 Boko Haram hostages in some villages in Cameroon. However the Cameroonian Minister of Information, Issa Bakari told Reuters that non of the released hostages were the missing Chibok girls

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Drake makes Grammy history...with his Meek Mill Diss track

Yesterday Grammy announced its nominees for next year's award ..and one nomination stood out. Drake's infamous Meek Mill diss track 'Back to Back' was nominated for Best Rap Performance, marking the the first time ever, a diss track will be nominated for a Grammy...and Meek Mill wasn't impressed..Lol. See what he posted on instagram not along after the nominations were announced.

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