Economy
Court Remands Fund Managers Over N891m Capital Market Investment
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Two fund managers, Mr Solomon Edet Solomon and Mr Zakari Haruna, have been remanded in Suleija Correctional Centre after they were arraigned for collecting about N891 million from members of the public through an unregistered investment company, Vektr Capital Global Group, contrary to the laws of Nigeria.
They were brought before Justice Zainab Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Court 4, Abuja, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sealed up the Wuse Zone 5 office of Vektr Capital in March 2022 on suspicions of illegally collecting money from the investing public.
At the court, after the four-count charge was read to the suspects, Justice Abubakar fixed March 16, 2023, for the commencement of the trial.
In the charges, the defendants were alleged to have, on or between the years 2021 and 2022 within the jurisdiction of the court with intent to defraud, conspired amongst themselves together with one Kayode Sal Viktor and other staff to obtain the sum of over N891,729,000 from investing public, including Cordelia Ukomaka Ducke Eze and others under the false pretence that they were fund managers which you are not and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.
“That you, M/s Vektr Capital Global Nigeria Ltd, on or between the year 2021 and 2022 within the jurisdiction of this court, did commit a felony to wit. Conspired among yourselves together with Kayode Sal Viktor and your other staff to do an illegal act- to lure and offer a subscription to an unregistered collective investment scheme valued over N891,000,000 to investing public, including Cordelia Ukomaka Ducke Eze and others and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
“That you, M/s Vektr Capital Global Nigeria Ltd, on or between the year 2021 and 2022 within the jurisdiction of this court, did commit a felony to wit. Conspired among yourselves together with Kayode Sal Viktor and your other staff to do an illegal act- to lure and offer a subscription to an unregistered collective investment scheme valued over N891,000,000 to investing public, including Cordelia Ukomaka Ducke Eze and others and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 54 of the Investments and Securities Act, 2007,” the charge stated.
When the bail application came up for determination, the Justice said she had not been convinced, going by the affidavit that the accused will attend court to attend the trial and not jump bail.
Earlier, counsel to Mr Solomon urged the court to grant the defendant bail, stating that the defendant is only an employee of the company and not the owner.
However, Justice Abubakar declined to say that being an employee of the company is not enough for her to grant him bail but told the counsel that she needs to be convinced that if the defendant is granted bail, he will be available to attend the hearing and not jump bail.
“You know the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice on bail applications. He must meet those considerations. Show me in your affidavit of support where all these conditions have been listed as met to give me the assurance that the second defendant will at all times attend this trial in person. If I grant him bail based on what you have submitted, will I not be seen to be reckless as a judge?
“Granting bail is a discretionary power, and you must earn it; you must convince me. So many people jump bail cases will come up, and it cannot go on because the person has jumped bail. If you convince me because your conviction is on oath, I believe you. My concern is what you depose in your affidavit. I cannot, on the basis of this deposition, grant this person bail, and I cannot.
“According to Section 160, paragraph 8F, the applicant must have these facts in his affidavit to convince the court to grant him bail. If I grant bail and he decides to jump bail tomorrow, anyone that sees this application will say he did not commit himself,” she said.
Justice Abubakar stated that there are no vital assurances to convince the court to grant the defendant bail as contained in Section 160 of the Criminal Administrative Justice Act 2013 and enumerated in Paragraph 8f of the said Act, emphasising that It is important that the deposition must contain that vital information to convince and assure the court to grant the second defendant bail.
She subsequently ruled saying, “In the absence of this, this court cannot grant the second defendant bail. Accordingly, bail is refused”.
On the third defendant Mr Haruna, the judge stated that based on the propositions contained in the application submitted to the court for bail, particularly paragraphs 12-17, the court is inclined to grant bail to him.
“Accordingly, bail is granted to the third applicant in the sum of N100 million and one surety in the like sum. The surety must be a responsible, reputable person in the society as deposed to in the affidavit; the surety must own a landed property within the jurisdiction of this court whose title documents must be deposited with the Deputy Chief Registrar Litigation of this court after due verification.
“Both the third defendant and the surety must deposit two copies of their recent passport photographs with the Deputy Chief Registrar Litigation of this honourable court. The defendant must also deposit his international Passport with the Deputy Chief Registrar Litigation of this court. Bail is granted; those are the only conditions imposed”.
“Both the Second and Third defendants are to be remanded in Suleija Correctional Centre. A remand of the third defendant at the Suleija Correctional Centre is pending when he fulfils his bail conditions. Anytime he fulfils his bail conditions, he is free to go and enjoy his day,” Justice Abubakar stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s petrol import bill crashed further as the latest foreign trade statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that about N87.401 billion was spent on the importation of fuel between January and March 2026.
A comparative analysis showed the figure plunged by 96.2 per cent or N2.184 trillion compared with the N2.271 trillion spent on fuel imports between January and March 2025.
The NBS data revealed that fuel did not feature among the top 19 traded products with the rest of the world, Africa, or West Africa during the review period.
The biggest factor is the ramp-up of production at Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has significantly reduced Nigeria’s dependence on imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). As local supplies increasingly meet domestic demand, marketers have had less need to source petrol from overseas.
According to the data, the leading traded products included crude petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, gas oil, durum wheat, machines for reception, conversion and transmission of data, used vehicles, motorcycles, agricultural seeders, medicaments, aircraft parts, butanes, petroleum bitumen, sugar cane, herbicides and fuel additives.
The report read, “The value of total imports stood at N13,619.33bn in the first quarter of 2026, representing an 18.17 per cent decrease from the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025 (N16,644.42bn) and a 21.05 per cent decrease compared to the value recorded in Q4 2025 (N17,250.93bn).
“Analysis of Nigeria’s import trade reveals that China remained the leading source of imports in the first quarter of 2026, followed by the United States of America, India, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.
The most imported commodities during the quarter were petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (crude), gas oil, durum wheat, machines for the reception, conversion, and transmission of voice, images, or data, and used vehicles with diesel or semi-diesel engines.
“The value of other oil products imported in Q1 2026 stood at N748.10bn, reflecting an 85.05 per cent decrease from N5,005.22bn in Q1 2025 and an 81.38 per cent decrease from N4,018.31bn recorded in Q4 2025.
“Nigeria spent N2.694tn on petrol imports in the first quarter of 2022. The import bill declined by N661bn, or 24.5 per cent, to N2.033tn in the corresponding period of 2023.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions, Ripple, has participated in Flutterwave’s Series E fundraising, which values the company at $3.2 billion.
Ripple’s strategic investment marks the definitive next phase of Flutterwave’s long-term stablecoin strategy, seamlessly connecting its existing cross-border settlement capabilities with enterprise-grade digital liquidity.
This will enable African businesses to bypass legacy frictions, ultimately bolstering Nigeria’s role as the primary hub for global digital asset trade and driving sustained economic resilience across the African continent.
This is because it will accelerate the adoption of digital asset infrastructure, bringing unprecedented speed, liquidity, and cost-efficiency to cross-border commerce throughout Africa.
The partnership is built on three core pillars: embedding RLUSD into Flutterwave’s payment rails and Send App remittance corridors as a primary settlement asset for high-volume channels; leveraging the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for faster transaction clearing; and deploying a unified API to seamlessly bridge Flutterwave’s domestic network with Ripple Payments, Ripple’s global payments network.
By merging traditional fiat payment methods, including local cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers, with Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology, the partnership eliminates the historical friction points of African cross-border payments, such as multi-day delays and inflated FX margins. Instead, businesses will experience guaranteed liquidity, predictable pricing, and real-time settlement.
By embedding RLUSD into its core ecosystem, the company is finalising a ‘stablecoin-first’ payment architecture that eliminates traditional bottlenecks. This unified approach delivers a consistent, scalable, and compliant liquidity stack that transforms how African enterprises interact with global markets, effectively cementing a new way for digital money acceptance that is both borderless and locally grounded.
Commenting on the development, the Managing Director of MEA at Ripple, Reece Merrick, said, “Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story.
“Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent.
“Together we also plan to bring Ripple Payments’ speed and efficiency to cross-border transactions in the region, opening up faster, lower-cost financial services to businesses and consumers at scale.”
On his part, the chief executive of Flutterwave, Mr Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, said, “This investment marks a pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to significantly scale our infrastructure and expand our stablecoin-enabled payments roadmap. By unlocking faster settlement and lower-cost cross-border payments, we are building a payment superhighway that connects African commerce directly to the global economy.
“This partnership is a catalyst for Nigerian and African sovereignty in the digital financial age, ensuring our markets are primary participants in the global digital asset revolution.”
With this capital and a deepened product alliance, Flutterwave will accelerate its goal to bridge traditional financial systems with next-generation digital asset infrastructure.
Building on its established scale – having raised over $500 million and processed over a billion transactions worth over $50 billion – Flutterwave is positioned to unlock massive economic potential for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and global enterprises operating across Africa.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has blamed the rising prices of cooking gas, also known as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), on market pressures from foreign exchange volatility and rising logistics costs.
In a statement, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, expressed the government’s concerns about the pain caused by rising cooking gas prices, announcing moves to ensure adequate, reliable and affordable gas for households, industry and power generation.
To remedy the situation, the FG said it has ordered the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to engage with cooking gas producers, marketers and other stakeholders to sustain supply and enhance market stability of the product.
“The recent price adjustments are driven largely by prevailing market realities such as foreign exchange volatility, rising logistics costs, infrastructure constraints and fluctuations in international LPG prices. These factors should not be misinterpreted as evidence of policy failure,” he stated.
According to him, the government’s commitment is reflected in the interventions designed to stabilise the domestic LPG market, including the directive that all LPG produced in Nigeria be prioritised for local consumption.
“This policy has already strengthened domestic supply, reduced dependence on imports and improved market resilience,” the statement said.
Business Post reports that residents in Lagos and Ogun States continue to face scarcity and high cost of LPG. For a few vendors with the product, the price ranged between N2,000 and N2,400. In early May, it was sold at N1,200.
Mr Ekpo said the commencement of LPG deliveries from the new Seplat gas facility in July will significantly boost national supply.
“The minister also confirms that no producer is exporting LPG volumes designated for the domestic market, as regulatory measures remain firmly in place to prioritise local needs.
“The outlook for LPG supply remains positive, and the Federal Government will continue to pursue measures that enhance availability, affordability and long-term energy security for Nigerian consumers,” the statement.
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