$418m Paris Club Deduction: Court Dismisses Suit by 36 States

By Adedapo Adesanya Though the supply of foreign exchange (FX) in Nigeria has remained low, the Naira closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments on Wednesday, September 20, and maintained stability in the parallel market. According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the Dollar in the midweek session by 0.76 per cent or N5.89 to sell for N770.71/$1 versus the previous rate of N776.60/$1 amid a decline in the value of forex transactions by 9.4 per cent or $6.65 million to $64.36 million

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that Nigeria saw a 65.7 per cent or N76.77 billion increase in earnings from the solid minerals sector in 2021 to N193.59 billion from the N116.82 billion achieved in 2020. This upward trajectory has been on for the past five years, according to a report from the agency. The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, however, lamented that this is still abysmal considering the potential of the sector to the Nigerian economy. He said this while presenting the solid minerals sector report in Abuja, noting that

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the resignation of Mr Godwin Emefiele as its governor and the resumption of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the next head of the apex bank, albeit in an acting capacity. The apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isa AbdulMumin, said Mr Cardoso will act as governor pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate, which is away on recess until Tuesday, September 26. This also confirms the exit of Mr Folashodun Shonubi, who was acting in that position following the ousting of Mr Emefile three months ago. “Dr Olayemi Michael

By Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu In Esan people’s norms, culture and tradition; it stated that the eldest son, in the monogamous family setting especially, inherits every single property belonging to the late father and mother, though same culture/tradition also demands that he must take care of the upkeep of his brothers and sisters but this is not always the case resulting to bitter family conflict and division. Many said it is unfair while conservatives viewed it as tradition that must be obeyed. I mentioned in some of my cultural reviews that under Esan burial rites, the oldest surviving son of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A tax expert, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has slammed the federal government over its decision to demand an annual levy of N1,000 for proof of vehicle ownership. In a post via his Twitter page over the weekend, he described this form of revenue generation as retrogressive, noting that it is illogical to ask motorists to prove the ownership of vehicles every year, calling on the government to stop the move. The federal government introduced a yearly vehicle ownership verification tax, which the Lagos State government said it would implement from this month. “This tax is retrogressive. It is

By Olufisayo Adeoti There are concerns the world over about the health effects of tobacco, which is mostly consumed by smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes. In January 2021, the company, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, donated nicotine patches worth $800,000 to Jordan to help the country in its efforts to lower smoking rates. The donation was received by the country’s ministry of health. This was after the public health groups sounded the alarm on the prevalence of smoking among Jordanian citizens as Jordan became the country with the highest smoking rate in the world. A government study carried out in

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerian stocks rebounded on Tuesday by 0.45 per cent on the back of buy pressure on Champion Breweries, FBN Holdings and 25 other equities. The share price of Champion Breweries rose by 10.00 per cent to N2.53, with Cornerstone Insurance trailing with a growth of 9.80 per cent to settle at 56 kobo. FBN Holdings appreciated by 9.79 per cent to N10.65, Sovereign Trust Insurance grew by 9.09 per cent to 24 kobo, while Livingtrust Mortgage Bank gained 8.96 per cent to settle at 73 kobo. On the reverse side, a total of 13 shares depreciated in

By Adedapo Adesanya Football Clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) have voted to change the summer transfer window to bring it in line with the rest of the European leagues. It means summer’s transfer window will now close on September 1 at 5 p.m. for Premier League clubs. The means that clubs in England will be allowed to stiull sign players in the summer transfer window after the season must have kicked off in August. For the past two seasons (2018/2019; 2019/2020), the transfer window in England closed the day before the top-flight campaigns began. In a statement, the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Over 120,000 families in conflict-hit northeast Nigeria have been reached so-far with food and nutrition support in a $20 million (£16.1m) multi-year joint project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed. UNICEF further disclosed that it was working together with the World Food Programme (WFP) and Action Against Hunger (AAH) to give families in Borno and Yobe States greater access to food and to protect children from malnutrition It estimated that more than 4.4 million people are struggling in crisis and emergency food security levels in the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka There are great expectations of balance in financial system liquidity this week as a result of maturing treasury bills worth N67.65 billion. In addition, analysts and market players anticipate stability in the interbank lending rates during the week. Last week, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned T-Bills worth N229.85 billion via the primary market. A breakdown of the exercise showed that 91-day bills worth N10.25 billion, 182-day bills worth N26.60 billion and 364-day bills worth N193 billion were sold to traders. According to Cowry Asset, the respective stop rates of the above bills fell to 12.10 percent

About 100,000 cotton farmers in Kastina State on Monday received some high-yielding cotton seeds and other farming inputs for the 2019 planting season. The items were disbursed to the beneficiaries by the federal government under the Anchor Borrower’s Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The programme, which was rolled out by the CBN in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is targeted at reviving the nation’s cotton, textiles and garments industry. During the exercise yesterday, the farmers also received fertilizer, pesticides and knapsack sprayers. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, recalled