Google search is about to get way more personal, and in a very big way. They certainly want to pick more market share from Microsoft Bing and crush that empire. Google has a vision to dominate and rule as a monopolist, simply by having the best technology – this is not a bad way of becoming one, though.

In a change that’s been called the “most radical transformation ever” to Google’s search engine, the Mountain View, California, company on Tuesday announced an update called “Search, plus Your World,” which causes Google’s robots to incorporate data from its social network as well as the public Internet when delivering search results to people.

“Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of Web pages, images, videos, news and much more,” Google said in a blog post on Tuesday morning.

“But clearly, that isn’t enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the Web, the people you know and things they’ve shared with you, as well as the people you don’t know but might want to … all from one search box.”

The company added: “Search is simply better with your world in it.” And it is getting better, daily, with that G+ robot moving around!

Nigerians’ access to internet as at November ending is 3.6 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The NBS in its 2011 Annual Socio-Economic Report Access to ICT said Lagos state is leading with 27 percent, while Rivers state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded 10 percent respectively.

“While less than half of the population (44.7%) had access to TV, more than 95% of the population does not have access to either the PC or the internet”.

It said that the states with least access to personal computers (PCs) are Sokoto with 0.3 percent access to internet access rates, while Kebbi, Kano, Bauchi, and Ebonyi states recorded one percent access rates each.

The survey also revealed that the urban dwellers have more access and ownership of internet service at 11.6 percent when compare with rural dwellers at 1.5 percent.

It said that access to radio and mobile phones has dominance over other devices such as television, PCs and internet.

The statistical body said access to mobile phones ranked second highest with nearly half of the population claiming access as it recording 63.9 percent while access to radio was put at 82.9 percent and TV access was put at 44.7 percent

Following the recent shareholders’ approval of the merger of Ecobank Nigeria and Oceanic Bank, the requisite legal and regulatory approvals have now been obtained and the full merger of the two institutions has now been concluded. Oceanic Bank has been merged with Ecobank Nigeria with effect from 30 December 2011.

The merger of the two banks creates one of the strongest financial institutions in Nigeria, in terms of branch network, asset size, customer base and revenues, with significant operational synergies.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Jibril Aku, Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, said:

“We have a track record of success in merging banks to drive value for shareholders and deliver excellent service for our customers. We will move expeditiously to establish a single, integrated organisation.”

Mr. John Aboh, out-going Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, stated that:

“This merger with Ecobank marks a successful outcome to the rescue of Oceanic Bank. The combined entity provides shareholders and employees access to a stronger banking group. I leave with the satisfaction of having delivered value for our shareholders and opportunities for our employees. I thank the regulatory authorities for their support in the successful conclusion of this process”.

The exponential growth rate of Chinese economic links with Africa has reached a new height as report by Oxford Business Group (OBG) has revealed that China accounts for roughly 25 per cent of Nigeria’s inbound Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), equivalent to roughly $6.1billion (N988.2 billion).
Oxford Business Group is a global publishing and consultancy company producing annual investment and economic reports on more than 30 countries.

Also, recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that China was the country’s second largest source of imports for the first six months of 2011.

“About N737 billion ($4.57 billion) of goods entered Nigeria from the Asian giant during the first two quarters of the year, equivalent to about 11 per cent of total imports. Exports to China for the same period were smaller, at N390 billion ($2.42 billion), or about 6 per cent of the total. Nonetheless, China was overall the second-largest trade partner for Nigeria during the first two quarters of 2011, second only to the United States,” NBS reported.

Though the NBS did not report individual categories of imports by country, then Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Jubril Martins Kuye, had last year told newsmen that Nigeria primarily imports mechanical, electronic, textile and light industrial products from China, while goods flowing in the opposite direction include agricultural products, minerals and textile raw materials.