577 Firms Jostle for NNPC Insurance Renewal Scheme

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu is targeting to grow Nigeria’s economy by 3.76 per cent next year and moderate the country’s inflation to 21.4 per cent. Speaking at his first budget speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, President Tinubu also projected higher oil production and tax collection, noting that this will boost government revenues and cut down on reliance on borrowing to finance budget deficits. Nigeria plans on spending N27.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, with priorities on security, infrastructure and easing the high cost-of-living crisis. The country will borrow around N9 trillion and N18.5 billion generated from internally

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A workshop designed to educate investors, especially those in the retail end of the curve, on how they can improve corporate governance has been organised by the Nigerian Exchange Regulation (NGX RegCo) Limited. The two-day event, which took place on Thursday, November 23, and Friday, November 24, 2023, was themed Rights and Responsibilities of Shareholders in Driving Corporate Governance. According to the NGX RegCo, the seminar was designed to promote a transparent and fair market, with participants agreeing that all hands must be on deck to sanitize the market and bring the boards and management of listed

By Ahmed Rahma The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday explained its inability to create new electoral constituencies. The explanation was given in a statement issued in Abuja by the National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye. The electoral umpire, which said it was responding to recent reports regarding its responsibilities in the division, revision and adjustment of electoral constituency boundaries in Nigeria, noted that while the division of the country into electoral constituencies for Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly was its responsibility, once they are established, subsequent

By Dipo Olowookere Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week stayed upbeat as a total turnover of 3.100 billion shares worth N29.180 billion in 33,677deals were transacted by investors on the floor of the NSE in contrast to a total of 2.319 billion shares valued at N23.813 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 22,310 deals. The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.577 billion shares valued at N16.524 billion traded in 19,831 deals; thus contributing 83.15 percent and 56.63 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value

By Modupe Gbadeyanka MCB Investment Management (MCBIM) has been appointed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as Fund Manager for its first multi-jurisdictional Fixed Income Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in Africa. MCBIM is a subsidiary of MCB Capital Markets. Also, the Board of Directors of the AfDB approved a seed equity capital investment of $25 million for the African Domestic Bond ETF (ADBF). The primary objective of the ADBF is to encourage bond issuance in local currencies by facilitating access to local fixed income markets for investors. The ETF will be invested in both government and corporate bonds, and will

By Ahmed Rahma The federal government has commenced the disbursement of N20,000 special grant each to 8,000 rural women across the 44 local government areas of Kano State. The grant, which was disbursed through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development, under its ‘Grant for Rural Women’ programme, was to sustain the social inclusion agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, according to Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Ms Sadiya Umar-Faruq. Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Bashir Alkali, the minister said the grant was also to reduce their economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 lockdown.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka As part of its efforts to make parents give their children quality education and be able to pay for school fees without stress, RenMoney MFB Limited has entered into a partnership with schools to make access to school fees loans easier and faster for them. In a statement issued by the company, the Chief Executive Officer of RenMoney MFB Limited, Mr Graham Lee, said RenMoney was commitment to providing simple money solutions to Nigerians. He said parents who meet RenMoney’s credit criteria can enjoy lesser interest rates and faster processes on school-related expenses such as tuition, registration,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The mock examination for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examinations (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) will hold as planned on Saturday, April 29, 2017 (today). The exam was earlier slated to hold on April 8, 2017, but was postponed till today due to some technical issues, which JAMB said have been resolved. On Friday night, the agency released a statement to refute reports being circulated that the exercise had been shifted again. Spokesperson of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in the statement, described peddlers of the reports as “mischievous characters,” confusing Nigerians with

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On December 19, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the first review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement for the Central African Republic (CAR). The Executive Board’s decision was taken on a lapse-of-time basis. The completion of the review enables a disbursement of $16.8 million, which will bring total disbursements under the arrangement to $33.6 million. The three-year ECF arrangement for CAR was approved by the Executive Board on July 20, 2016 for $111.9 million, 75 percent of the country’s quota at the IMF. Program implementation through end-August has been satisfactory.

By Telema Wilson Niger Delta region, home to about thirty million people and popularly acknowledged for its rich oil reserves that fetches over 70 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings, is also a rich producer of plantain. Aside plantain being a widespread staple food, it is a unique delicacy that can be prepared by frying, roasting or boiling. For commercial purpose, it can be processed as plantain chips or into flour which has become a preferred substitute for wheat flour given its high quality nutritional content. Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) statistics show that Nigeria is a major plantain-growing nation with