Economy
Ngige Tasks NDE, NSITF to Tackle Recession

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Labour and Employment Mr Chris Ngige, has warned that Federal Government would not tolerate incompetence from the parastatals and agencies of government, cautioning that the changing times demand dynamic leadership to meet up with the extant challenges.
Mr Ngige said that all hands must be on deck to push the nation out of recession by 2017.
The Minister stated this during his working visit to headquarters of three parastatals under the Ministry of Labour and Employment recently in Abuja.
Addressing the management and staff of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Ngige insisted that at a time Nigeria has slid into recession, the NDE which has a special mandate for job creation ought to distinguish itself in the joint effort to move the country out of recession through massive job creation in the area of agriculture and mining which were hitherto neglected.
“We must battle recession from all fronts. We must take Nigeria out of recession in 2017 and the National Directorate of Employment shall lead the way. This agency must lead domestic production in agriculture and mining.
“Nigeria must stop the importation of rice and other items we can produce here. Therefore, the NDE must redesign its programmes for the 2017 to align with massive job creation in agriculture, to sufficiently feed the nation and create jobs en mass,” the Minister said.
At the headquarter of the Nigeria Social Industrial Trust Fund (NSITF), the Minister tasked the management of NSITF, to expand the scope of the operation of the funds to capture Nigerians working in the private sector to enable them benefit from the scheme as it is a noble scheme that is aimed at providing insurance cover and compensation for injuries and accident suffered at work places.
He regretted that certain challenges have made it impossible for NSITF to meet up with his mandate. “The bitter truth is that NSITF has not lived up to expectations. It is high time we changed our old ways so that the fund can fulfilled its mandate. We must show more seriousness and face the work more squarely. He said.
During the visit to the National Productivity Centre (NPC), Mr Ngige observed that; “One of the major problems facing the nation is its inability to adequately measure her productivity. No nation has ever made progress without proper attention to productivity measurement, in such a situation the citizenry is not productivity conscious, with serious consequences on National output and remunerations.”
The Minister added that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has productivity as a priority.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director General of the National Productivity Centre, Dr Kashim Yunusa Akor, revealed that the centre is working on development of productivity wage linkage system templat,e aimed at ensuring that wage determination is guided by workers’ productivity amongst other variables.
The Acting Director General of the National Director of Employment, Mr Kunle Obayan in his remark lamented the poor budgetary allocation to his agency, this he said has hampered the ability of the agency to perform optimally
The Acting Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Ismail Agaka assured the Minister that his agency, come 2017 will work assiduously towards enlisting more companies into the scheme and respond promptly to claims.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism10 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
