Economy
Fuel Subsidy May Continue Till 2023—NNPC GMD
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed fuel subsidy will likely not go away this year despite the signing into law the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by President Muhammadu Buhari some days ago.
It was initially thought that the PIA will automatically wipe out fuel subsidy from the petroleum sector but the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, said it may remain next year and possibly till 2023 when the new law should have been fully implemented.
A few days ago, President Buhari, who is expected to constitutionally vacate office on May 29, 2023, constituted a steering committee for the implementation of the PIA headed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva. The team was given one year to carry out its assignment.
The Minister had said it would be very difficult to immediately remove petrol subsidy with the new law without putting in place a gradual plan for this, with stakeholders like the labour unions carried along.
Mr Kyari, while speaking on Wednesday at the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) 2022 to 2024 public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, stated that the country may not exit the fuel subsidy regime in 2022, but stressed that this might be done by 2023 when the Act might have been fully activated.
He also informed the lawmakers at the hearing chaired by Mr James Faleke that his agency was working to track fuel consumption by deploying technology to monitor fuel distribution across Nigeria in a bid to check the activities of smugglers.
He stated that with the electronic monitoring, every truck carrying fuel would be visible as they discharged their load and would see all the fuel stations as they discharged.
Mr Kyari said that the national fuel consumption per day may not be above 60 million litres as being speculated, adding however that anytime NNPC supply less than that, there would be a problem.
He also said that President Buhari had personally directed him to take steps that would curtail cross border smuggling, while also admitting the challenges posed by land borders, aiding activities of smugglers.
The GMD said that those who took crude oil across the border would not sell at the official price.
He said that the corporation was already engaging the Republic of Niger to establish a retail NNPC outlet in the country’s neighbour, a move that would curtail the activities of smugglers.
Speaking on the Dangote refinery, Mr Kyari said that the decision of the NNPC to be on the board of the refinery was a calculated attempt, adding that as of today, Nigeria does not have strategic storage.
“We are taking interest in Dangote Refinery and up till now, he does not want us to take 50 per cent equity and it was structured on the fact that he must buy 300,000 barrels of crude oil from us per day,” he stated.
He said that Dangote Refinery had a choice to buy crude oil from anywhere in the works but was charged to buy from the country, stressing that it was a good deal the NNPC was proud to enter into.
Mr Kyari said that contrary to insinuation, the NNPC has not abandoned the country’s refineries and it was not about taking a $500 million loan to repair them as speculated.
He added that none of the country’s refineries had undergone full-scale rehabilitation since 2000.
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.
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