Economy
Drop in Economic Growth Worries FG
By Dipo Olowookere
Federal government has expressed concerns over the slower growth recorded by the nation’s economy in the second quarter of 2018.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.50 percent in Q2 2018, lower than the 1.95 percent in the Q1 2018.
Reacting to this, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udo Udoma, explained that this was mainly due to the contraction in the Crude oil and Gas sectors, which was caused by some production issues already being addressed by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
For instance, average crude oil production was only 1.84 million barrels/day in Q2 2018 as opposed to an average production of 2 mil barrels/ day in Q1 2018, expressing confidence that once these issues are addressed, Nigeria should be able to achieve positive growth in the oil and gas sector.
However, the Minister said government is encouraged by the continuing growth recorded in the non-oil sector, which grew by 2.05 percent in the period under review.
This, he noted, was evidence that the implementation of the targeted policies and programs of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was yielding positive results.
Mr Udoma said that he is happy to see that the Nigerian economy has continued to register positive growth in the first and second quarters of the year in spite of the security and other challenges faced by the country.
He emphasized that the focus of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is on diversifying the economy away from dependence on the oil and gas sector and was encouraged that efforts are yielding fruits by the continuing growth in the non-oil sector..
Mr Udoma noted that the 2.05 percent growth in the non-oil sector represents the strongest growth in the non-oil GDP since the fourth quarter of 2015.
According to the stats office, the non-oil growth was driven by Transportation (road, rail water and air).
Growth in Transportation grew by 21.76 percent, supported by Construction 7.66 percent and Electricity 7.59 percent; the three priority areas of the ERGP.
Other non-oil sectors that drove growth in Q2 2018 included Telecoms which grew by 11.51 percent, Water supply and Sewage 11.98 percent and Broadcasting by 21.92 percent.
However, the Oil and Gas sector contracted by 3.95 percent in Q2 2018 compared with a growth rate of 14.77 percent recorded in Q1 2018 and 3.53 percent in Q1 2017.
The Minister emphasized that the Nigerian economy needs growth from both the oil, as well as the non-oil sectors, to achieve its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) growth targets.
He said another area of concern for government was the slightly weaker growth in the Agriculture sector which slowed to 1.19 percent in the second quarter in 2018 compared with 3 percent in the first quarter of 2018.
This, he said, was partly attributable to security challenges mainly in the north-east and north-central zones of the country.
These security challenge affected activities of farmers with impact on commodity output; but the Minister indicated that the various measures being taken by government to tackle the situation is already reducing incidents of violent conflicts & other disruptions to farming activity.
The Minister said he is happy to see that Industry has continued to maintain a positive growth rate as a result of the performance of Manufacturing and Solid minerals which retained positive growth of 0.68 percent and 5.24 percent respectively in the second quarter of 2018.
Also, the Services sector recorded its best GDP performance in nine quarters, growing by 2.12 percent in the second quarter of 2018 compared to a contraction of 0.47 percent in the first quarter of the year and of -0.85 percent in second quarter of 2017.
Mr Udoma expressed that he was encouraged by these GDP growth results which he said is also consistent with improvements in other indicators including inflation and capital inflows, amongst others.
According to the NBS, headline inflation has consistently declined every month since January 2017 through July 2018 from 18.72 percent to 11.14 percent.
The consecutive disinflation year on year, which is the eighteenth in a row, has resulted in the lowest rate of inflation since June 2016.
He was also happy to note that the Nigerian economy has continued to attract significant capital inflows, which stood at $5.5 billion in the second quarter of 2018, representing a 207.62 percent increase compared to the second quarter of 2017.
While capital importation declined slightly in the second quarter of 2018, the total for the first half of 2018 at $11.8 billion represents the highest half year capital importation since 2014, indicating increasing confidence in the Nigerian economy, he pointed out.
The Minister expressed optimism that as government intensifies its activities in the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the economy will sustain this growth momentum.
He conceded that, whilst the nation still has some ways to go to achieve the target growth rates of the ERGP, these continuing positive results are signs that the country was moving in the right direction.
Mr Udoma reiterated the commitment of the present administration to turn #Nigeria around to become a productive country where citizens “grow what we eat, consume what we make and use what we produce,” thereby providing jobs for our teeming population.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
