Lekky Metro Mart Opens In Lagos Tuesday

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would likely direct banks to increase their capital base in the coming months as part of a new policy push towards a $1 trillion Nigerian economy. The Governor of the apex bank, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said this while delivering his keynote address at the 58th Annual Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) dinner in Lagos on Friday. The new CBN chief used the event to unveil the bank’s monetary policy thrust and economic outlook for 2024, following the cancellation of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the quarter. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has thrown his full weight behind the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the capital base of banks in the country. The President expressed his views on this move, which last occurred in 2005, through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, in his message at the 40th anniversary of The Guardian Newspapers in Lagos on Tuesday. He said bank recapitalisation was crucial to Nigeria achieving a $1 trillion economy. “Amidst the general lull in a global economy, our ambition to attain a $1 trillion economy appears

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks across the country to continue issuing and accepting old as well as the redesigned Naira banknotes following the order of the Supreme Court. Business Post reported on Wednesday morning that the apex court granted the prayer of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to extend the use of old Naira banknotes ad infinitum, scrapping a previous deadline of December 31. In a statement after the judgement, the central bank “directed all its branches to continue to issue and accept all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, old

By Modupe Gbadeyanka One of Nigeria’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, Evans Medical Plc, has lost its assets to its bankers. In a statement issued last week, the firm, established in 1954, explained that it lost its assets after it failed to meet up with the loans it took from Skye Bank and First Bank. As a result of this development, the two banks obtained a court order to take over the company’s assets. However, the pharmaceutical manufacturing company did not state the exact amount of loan it took from the lenders. “Evans Medical Plc (Evans Medical) would like to announce

By Adedapo Adesanya Stakeholders in the leather industry have advocated a strategic partnership between Lagos and Kano States to harness the potentials of the sector and improve its contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This call was made by stakeholders at a virtual summit themed Towards a Sustainable Leather Processing Industry in Nigeria: Kano Tannery, the Powerhouse on Thursday, October 29. The summit was organised by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Kano State Governor on Lagos Affairs, Mr Anthony Oneya, in partnership with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and supported by

By Adedapo Adesanya The United States government and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have announced a project to strengthen the forensic and chemical analysis capacity of the drug enforcement agency as well as its intelligence gathering and prosecution capabilities. This was disclosed by NDLEA’s spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, who noted that the support was from the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. It came on the heels of an award of N500 million grant received by the agency from the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative to fund selected projects. He explained that the

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday resumed the sale of treasury bills through the Open Market Operations (OMO), mopping up N67.7 billion from the system. The occurred after it failed to carry out the exercise for four days and also on a day N57 billion worth of OMO bills matured at the market. A result of today’s OMO sales showed that the N67.7 billion was made from the 182-day bill sold at 14.40 percent as investors snubbed the 98-day bills offered by the nation’s chief lender. Business Post reports that generally, the treasury bills market

By Adedapo Adesanya The gradual increase in the demand for foreign exchange (forex) at the currency exchange market on Wednesday weakened the local currency against the Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment. During the trading session, the Nigerian currency depreciated by 54 kobo or 0.14 percent against the US Dollar to sell at N387.17/$1 in contrast to N386.63/$1 it traded on Tuesday. It was observed that trades worth $90.88 million were executed at the I&E window at the midweek session, compared with the $90.09 million achieved on Tuesday, indicating a marginal rise of $790,000 or 0.9 percent. However,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka As Nigeria exits the recession of 2017, investor sentiment across West Africa is likely to experience uplift in 2018. Still, political uncertainty ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential elections and on-going security concerns are among the key risks for businesses operating in the region, says specialist global risk consultancy Control Risks in their annual political and security risk forecast ‘RiskMap’. Control Risks’ Senior Partner for West Africa Tom Griffin stated that, “2017 has been a tough and turbulent year for businesses in the region, however with Nigeria exiting recession, and foreign exchange shortages easing, we see a strong

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of securities on the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange increased by 2.78 per cent last week as a result of the growth recorded by four companies on the trading platform. These firms were Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Nipco Plc, and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc. On the part of NIPCO, it gained 10.00 per cent to close the week at N73.70 per unit compared with the previous N67 per unit. Friesland appreciated by 5.90 per cent to finish the week at N128.50 per unit in contrast to

By Adedapo Adesanya Unlisted securities worth N3.3 million were transacted on Thursday, June 11 at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by investors. The trading value of the day was 64.6 percent lower than the N9.2 million shares transacted at the market on Wednesday. Also, the volume of trades went down by 87.6 percent yesterday to 10,950 units from the 88,100 units transacted at the previous day. These stocks were executed in one single deal on Thursday compared with the two deals of the midweek week session, indicating a decline by 50 percent. The single deal of yesterday was from