Economy
24,000 MSMEs Register for GEM
By Dipo Olowookere
No fewer than 24,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country have applied for technical and financial support under the Federal Government’s Growth and Employment (GEM) project.
The Coordinator of the project, Mr Yunusa Labaran, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
Mr Labaran stated that the applications were those that had so far been received, adding that they being made through the online registration portal of the project known as Business Innovation and Growth (BIG).
He said that induction workshops had been held for applicants in the South-East, South-South, South-West and North-Central zones of the country.
He explained that the induction exercise was postponed in the North-West and North-East zones due to their low levels of registration at the time.
“As at the time other geopolitical zones were invited for induction, the level of registration from the North-West and North-East was very low.
“This was due to the Boko Haram insurgency, which crippled telecommunication and internet facilities in the North-East, and the low level of education in the North-West.
“So, we have to give MSME operators in those areas additional two or three weeks to register because the portal is still running,’’ he said.
The coordinator explained that the next stage would be the training of inducted applicants, after which they would be asked to submit their business plans for evaluation.
He added that MSMEs that scaled through the business plan evaluation exercise would be assisted with grants in line with the guidelines of the project.
Mr Labaran said that independent monitors would thereafter visit the benefiting firms to ensure that they were using the grants for their purposes.
“These independent monitors will visit them three or six months later to know whether they are using the funds for the purpose they are meant.
“That is why whatever we are giving we are going to tranche it. We don’t just give it to you at once.
“We will first give them certain percentage; thereafter, we will monitor them to see whether they are doing what they claim to do.
“If they are not doing it, then they will not get another tranche,’’ he said.
NAN reports that GEM seeks to provide technical support and grant to participating MSMEs in five identified sectors with high potential for economic growth and employment generation.
The sectors are Information and Communication Technology (ICT), entertainment, hospitality, light manufacturing and construction/real estate.
GEM is being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment with funding support from the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
While the World Bank is supporting the project with a loan of 160 million dollars, DFID is providing a grant of 100 million dollars.
Registration on the BIG platform is restricted to MSMEs operating in the five identified sectors.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock market crashed by 0.37 per cent on Thursday as a result of the decline in the price of shares of McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Holdings, and others.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak after the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended the session with 25 price gainers and 31 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
McNichols lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.74, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N6.20, Eterna shrank by 9.85 per cent to N29.75, Aradel Holdings depreciated by 9.51 per cent to N1,749.90, and NPF Microfinance Bank contracted by 8.45 per cent to N5.20.
On the flip side, International Energy Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to close at N6.60, Omatek improved by 9.73 per cent to N2.03, Abbey Mortgage Bank surged by 9.68 per cent to N8.50, Cutix expanded by 9.66 per cent to N3.18, and John Holt grew by 7.79 per cent to N14.90.
As for the sectorial performance, the industrial goods and banking indices chalked up 0.54 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. But the energy sector depleted by 4.90 per cent, the insurance counter tumbled by 0.58 per cent, and the consumer goods index slumped by 0.03 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 905.30 points to 242,227.31 points from 243,132.61 points, and the market capitalisation stumbled by N581 billion to N155.359 trillion from N155.940 trillion.
During the session, investors traded 588.5 million equities valued at N27.9 billion in 57,352 deals compared with the 923.0 million equities worth N42.3 billion transacted in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, showing a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 36.24 per cent, 34.04 per cent, and 17.28 per cent, respectively.
The most active equity yesterday was Access Holdings with 109.7 million units sold for N2.6 billion, FCMB traded 35.6 million units valued at N384.2 million, NGX Group transacted 28.1 million units worth N3.9 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 26.9 million units for N3.3 billion, and Sterling Holdings recorded a turnover of 22.5 million units worth N176.1 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A 0.1 per cent or N1,49 loss was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, June 4, closing at N1,358.75/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,347.26/$1.
In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market during the session by N5.39 to trade at N1,828.06/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,822.67/£1, but gained N6.75 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.83/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,584.39/€1.
At the black market and GTBank FX desk, the local currency traded flat against the Dollar during the session at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that NFEM interbank FX turnover contracted to $128.117 million in 121 deals on Thursday from $133.731 million the previous day.
On the positive side, Nigeria’s external reserves moved closer to a 2009 high of $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about the local currency outlook in the second half of 2026.
This improvement has been helped by heightened global uncertainty, which has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices extended steep weekly losses as the broader artificial-intelligence trade that has driven global risk assets since 2026 faltered.
The sell-off was led by equity and currency markets, with semiconductor stocks, Asian indexes and several regional currencies sliding in a broad risk-off shift.
Persistent outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and a rare BTC sale by Strategy have removed a key source of support, leaving markets focused on Friday’s US jobs report for clues on Federal Reserve policy and the fate of the AI trade. The most valued coin slipped 3.6 per cent to $61,914.58.
Cardano (ADA) plunged by 17.6 per cent to $0.1630, Solana (SOL) declined by 7.0 per cent to $65.69, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 6.9 per cent to $1,666.13, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 6.5 per cent to $0.8445, and Ripple (XRP) crashed by 6.5 per cent to $1.11.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $581.45, and TRON (TRX) dropped 1.9 per cent to sell at $0.3261, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 per cent each to sell at $0.9990 and $0.9998, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The price of the crude oil benchmarks moderated by about 3 per cent on Thursday on investor hopes for an end to the United States-Israeli war with Iran that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon.
Brent futures lost $2.78 or 2.84 per cent to trade at $95.03 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by $2.98 or 3.1 per cent to close at $93.04 per barrel.
Israel and Lebanon said they have agreed to implement a ceasefire on Wednesday, raising hopes for a deal between the US and Iran. Iran has made any agreement conditional in part on an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned group in Lebanon. However, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continued on Thursday.
Iran signalled that there has been “no tangible progress” in the talks with the Americans on a potential deal, while the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announced by the United States overnight appears shaky.
“No tangible progress has been achieved in the negotiation process,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim.
The US and Iran have been exchanging messages on a framework proposal for a potential agreement for weeks. The oil market has reacted to each signal or hint of a breakthrough with sell-offs that sent Brent Crude prices to below $100 per barrel last week.
Despite the market hopes, the positions of the two sides appear to remain very distant, and a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz is not imminent.
Earlier this week, Iran targeted civilian infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain, and alarms were raised at US military bases in Saudi Arabia, as Iran responded to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
The Republican-led US House of Representatives approved a resolution to block President Donald Trump from continuing the war against Iran. To take effect, the resolution would need Senate approval and a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override an almost certain Trump veto.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) expects robust oil demand growth and is not changing its estimate, according to its Secretary General, Haitham Al Ghais, on Thursday.
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