Economy
Reps Commend NEXIM Bank’s Support for Local Firms
By Dipo Olowookere
The relentless contributions being made by NEXIM Bank to the Nigerian non-oil export sector, especially in funding factories have received the recommendation of the House of Representatives.
Chairman, House Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, during a recent visit to Ladgroup Ltd, a foremost indigenous Nigerian conglomerate with a state of the art oil mill extraction factory located in Ikenne, Ogun State, said the bank has contributed to the growth of the country’s economy.
He appealed to the Federal Government to increase funding support to institutions like NEXIM Bank, promising that his committee will continue to do all within its jurisdiction and mandate to ensure that such funds are applied very judiciously.
The lawmaker, who led other members of the committee to the factory on oversight function, noted that, “The current economic recession facing the country has opened our eyes to the immense opportunities and abundant blessings God has heaped on Nigeria, not just in oil and gas, but more especially in agriculture and solid minerals.”
Also speaking during the visit, the Acting MD/CEO of NEXIM Bank, Mr Bashir Wali, revealed that the bank had in March 2015 approved the sum of $5.8 million to Ladgroup Limited to set up a Shea Nut processing factory.
He said the facility was made up of Equipment Finance of $2.8 million and Working Capital Facility of $3 million and has enabled the company to purchase and install a Shea Butter Refining Unit, a step down transformer and augment its working capital base.
According to Mr Wali, “The interest of NEXIM Bank in Shea Nut processing for export was borne out of the very high demand for Shea Butter with the impressive potentials for foreign exchange revenue stream as well as massive job creation at various levels of its value chain.”
Citing available statistics, he said nearly 2 billion Shea trees grow naturally on parklands in 21 African countries stretching from Senegal to South Sudan with more than 16 million women living in rural communities individually collecting the fresh fruits and the kernel which they process to extract a healthy vegetable oil known as “Shea Butter.”
With approximately 600,000 tons collected each year, the industry provides a critical source of jobs and incomes to millions of often poor and underserved communities.
Mr Wali stated that the global demand for Shea Butter is worth about $10 billion and is projected to be more than $30 billion by 2020, hence the interest of NEXIM in providing funding for increased proactive measures to reposition agricultural products such as Shea as part of its non-oil export sector interventions in the agro-processing sub-sector.
According to him, it has been estimated that over 680,000 metric tons of Shea Nuts are produced annually in West Africa, with about 56 percent of the nuts exported, while the remaining is consumed locally.
Available data shows that Nigeria is the world largest producer of Shea with the wildly grown Shea trees predominant in 21 states across the country.
This accounts for over 53 percent (or 370,000 MT) of the production in West Africa as confirmed by the reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Oil Seeds Association of Nigeria (OSAN).
Sadly, nearly N345 million is lost in the smuggling of Shea products out of the country every year.
Chairman of Ladgroup Ltd, Mr B. A. Onafowokan, expressed immense appreciation to NEXIM Bank for the quality of loan given to his company, and also thanked the lawmakers for their ‘oversight function’ stating that more of such activities is required to curtail misapplication of such funds provided by the government to assist local entrepreneurs keen on manufacturing for export.
Ladgroup Ltd is acclaimed to be the largest Shea Nut processing factory in Africa with an intake capacity of 40,000 Metric tons per annum.
The factory is dedicated to sourcing of Shea Nuts and processing them into Shea Butter of the highest quality, for sale to both domestic and export markets, but with a special bias for the export market.
The firm has set its target on major European importing companies in the Confectionary/ Chocolate industry and Cosmetics/ Pharmaceutical industry based in Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the UK that import well over 95,000 MT annually.
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited have continued to show excitement for the full-year earnings of companies on the exchange so far.
On Friday, Customs Street further appreciated by 1.01 per cent as more organization released their financial statements for the 2025 fiscal year.
During the session, traders continued their selective trading strategy, with the energy sector going up by 2.47 per cent at the close of business despite profit-taking in the banking counter, which saw its index down by 0.11 per cent.
Yesterday, the insurance space grew by 2.16 per cent, the industrial goods segment expanded by 1.70 per cent, and the consumer goods industry jumped by 0.42 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,722.13 points to 171,727.49 points from 170,005.36 points, and the market capitalisation soared by N1.106 trillion to N110.235 trillion from the N109.129 trillion it ended on Thursday.
Business Post reports that there were 59 appreciating stocks and 19 depreciating stocks on Friday, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Omatek, Deap Capital, and NAHCO gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.64, N6.82, and N136.40 apiece, as Zichis and Austin Laz appreciated by 9.98 per cent each to close at N6.72 and N5.40, respectively.
Conversely, The Initiates depreciated by 9.74 per cent to N19.45, DAAR Communications slumped by 7.32 per cent to N1.90, United Capital crashed by 6.55 per cent to N18.55, Coronation Insurance lost 5.71 per cent to quote at N3.30, and First Holdco shrank by 5.53 per cent to N47.00.
The activity chart showed an improvement in the activity level, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals up by 33.77 per cent, 93.27 per cent, and 10.63 per cent, respectively.
This was because traders transacted 953.8 million shares worth N43.1 billion in 51,005 deals compared with the 713.0 million shares valued at N22.3 billion traded in 46,104 deals a day earlier.
Fidelity Bank was the most active with 92.4 million units sold for N1.8 billion, Chams transacted 69.2 million units valued at N310.9 million, Deap Capital exchanged 59.1 million units worth N382.7 million, Access Holdings traded 57.2 million units valued at N1.3 billion, and Tantalizers transacted 48.6 million units worth N228.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira contracted against the United States Dollar on Friday by 13 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to N1,366.19/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) from the previous day’s value of N1,366.06/$1.
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian currency also depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday by N2.37 to N1,857.75/£1 from the N1,855.38/£1 it was traded on Thursday, and further depleted against the Euro by 57 Kobo to close at N1,612.52/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,611.95/€1.
In the same vein, the exchange rate for international transactions on the GTBank Naira card showed that the Naira lost N8 on the greenback yesterday to N1,383/$1 from the previous day’s N1,375/$1 and at the black market, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Dollar at N1,450/$1.
FX analysts anticipate this trend to persist, primarily influenced by increasing external reserves, renewed inflows of foreign portfolio investments, and a reduction in speculative demand.
In the short term, stability in the FX market is expected to continue, supported by policy interventions and improving market confidence.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves experienced an upward trajectory, increasing by $632.38 million within the week to $46.91 billion from $46.27 billion in the previous week.
The Dollar appreciation this week appears to be largely technical, serving as a correction to the substantial losses experienced from mid- to late January.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market slightly appreciated, with Bitcoin (BTC) climbing near $68,000, up nearly 5 per cent since hitting $60,000 late on Thursday after investor confidence in crypto’s utility as a store of value, inflation hedge, and digital currency faltered.
The sell-off extended beyond crypto, with silver plunging 15 per cent and gold sliding more than 2 per cent. US stocks also fell.
The latest recoup saw the price of BTC up by 4.7 per cent to $67,978.96, as Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 6.3 per cent to $2,021.10, and Ripple (XRP) surged by 9.5 per cent to $1.42.
In addition, Solana (SOL) grew by 7.3 per cent to $85.22, Cardano (ADA) added 6.1 per cent to trade at $0.2683, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 5.4 per cent to $0.0958, Litecoin (LTC) rose by 5.2 per cent to $53.50, and Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 2.3 per cent to $637.79, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices settled higher on Friday as traders worried that this week’s talks between the US and Iran had failed to reduce the risk of a military conflict between the two countries.
Brent crude futures traded at $68.05 a barrel after going up by 50 cents or 0.74 per cent, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $63.55 a barrel due to the addition of 26 cents or 0.41 per cent.
Iran and the US held negotiations in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Friday to overcome sharp differences over Iran’s nuclear programme.
It was reported that the talks had ended with Iran’s foreign minister saying negotiators will return to their capitals for consultations and the talks will continue.
Regardless, the meeting kept investors anxious about geopolitical risk, as Iran wanted to stick to nuclear issues while the US wanted to discuss Iran’s ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region.
Any escalation of tension between the two nations could disrupt oil flows, since about a fifth of the world’s total consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, as does Iran, which is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
According to Reuters, Iran objected to the presence of any US Central Command (CENTCOM) or other regional military officials, saying that would jeopardise the process.
The current confrontation was sparked by more than two weeks of unrest in Iran that saw authorities launch a deadly crackdown that killed thousands of civilians and shocked the world. As reports of the deaths trickled out of Iran, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran if any of the tens of thousands of protesters arrested were executed.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s planned oil exports could fall by as much as 35 per cent this month via its main route through Russia, as the country’s top oil company, Tengiz oilfield, slowly recovers from fires at power facilities in January.
ING analysts have pointed out Iran’s neighbour, Iraq, and a disagreement with the US as another bullish factor for oil prices. It seems Iraqi politicians favour Mr Nouri al-Maliki as the country’s next Prime Minister, but the US thinks Mr al-Maliki is too close to Iran. President Trump has already threatened the oil producer with consequences if he emerges as PM.
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