The banking crisis which gripped Nigeria should not be seen from an isolated perspective. Now more than ever the Central Bank of the Gambia should do a comprehensive study of what happened in Nigeria with a view to developing its supervisory role.

The Indian Government has expressed willingness to partner with Nigeria to promote trade relations between the two countries.

The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has assured all stakeholders that there is no need for a bail out fund for the insurance sector.

For detection of fake drugs at the point of entry, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has employed the use of a cutting-edge technology a handle device called Truscan to fight counterfeiting in Nigeria.

Golden Eaglets, last night at the Abuja National Stadium, exposed the poor defensive record of New Zealand with a 5-0 thrashing to book an easy passage to the quarter-final of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The Nigerians meet North Korea on Monday at the U.J. Esuene Stadium Calabar.

Knights of the Anglican Church in Anambra State have hailed Governor Peter Obi for what they described as his massive developmental strides since assuming office, describing his administration as the best in the history of the state.

The governments of the Republic of Liberia and the State of Qatar formally established diplomatic relations at the Ambassadorial level.

Some volunteers attached to the Abuja National Stadium for the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup yesterday sentationally downed tools and refused to work by accusing the Local Organising Committee of being insensitive to their plight. A source from the LOC confirmed this development except that he pleaded not to be quoted.

Nigeria's Golden Eaglets last night regaled with flourish at the Abuja National Stadium where they ripped apart New Zealand 5-0 to set up a quarter final fixture against South Korea on Monday in Calabar.

New Zealand Coach, Stephen Cain confessed last night that his boys were up against world-class team who outclassed them in style of play, pace and ball possession. Speaking at a post match conference after Nigeria whitewash his team 5-0 Cain admitted that his game-plan of frustrating the Nigerian side in the first half did not work and the early goals he conceded totally demoralized his boys. "There is no way we could have match-up tonight."

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua said yesterday that there was no going back on the planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

A majority of sixty-eight members of the Pan- African Parliament (PAP) have adopted the motion to exert pressure on the government of the Kingdom of Morocco to release the seven human rights activists that were "abducted upon their return from visiting their families in the Saharawi refugee camps."

Decorum was thrown to the wind yesterday as a debate on the "State of the Nation" gave way to chaos, pitting honourable members of the House of Representatives against one another.

Anambra state Police Command yesterday said some people had been arrested in connection with the kidnap of Pa Simeon Soludo, the 78-year-old father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 6, 2010 governorship elections in Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who was released Wednesday night by those who abducted him from his family house about 10 days ago.

Following the confirmation of the first case of Swine Flu (HINI) in Nigeria in which a nine-year-old female student in Lagos was said to have tested positive on Wednesday, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday said it had commenced talks with key stakeholders in the health sector on the implementation of mitigation measures against possible spread of the epidemic in the country.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has assured that the position of its leader, Mr. Henry Okah on the amnesty programme of the federal government while reflecting the truth of the situation will not lead to resumption of attacks by its commanders.

I wrote in this column last week why the world football governing body, FIFA, cannot publicly condemn the shortcomings at the on-going Under 17 World Cup.

The federal government yesterday said Nigeria has not closed its borders with Niger Republic.

With seven weeks left in the Federal Government's promised 6,000megawatts power generation target by year's end, the country currently generates 2,900mw of power even though all the $5.09 billion [about N762.93 billion] special intervention funds for the sector this year have been spent. This much became clear yesterday from the speech by Minister of Power Mr. Remi Babalola at his Ministerial Press Briefing.

Nigeria's Golden Eaglets were always in the driving seat in their round-of-16 clash against hopeful New Zealand in Abuja's National Stadium.