Again, CBN Postpones MPC Meeting

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the total value of the country’s merchandise trade experienced an increase of 1 per cent to $7.8 billion in August 2023 from the $7.72 billion that was quoted in July. This was disclosed by the apex bank in its latest monthly economic publication, where it disclosed that despite the rise month-on-month, Nigeria’s merchandise trade value in the period was almost 20 per cent lower compared to the value in August 2022 due to a significant decrease in import trade value. The total merchandise trade comprised an export trade

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira weakened to a new low on the American Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, December 8, amid speculations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again devalued the local currency. In the previous trading session, there were reports that the exchange rate for clearing cargoes has been raised to N952/$1, sparking rumours that domestic currency would hit N1,000/$1 in the spot market. On the last trading session of the week, the Naira lost N255.98 or 30.4 per cent of its value on the greenback to trade at N1,099.05/$1

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 1.6 per cent appreciation on Friday, December 8, as investors gained about N19.12 billion to push the valuation of the unlisted bourse to N1.202 trillion from the N1.182 trillion it closed in the preceding session. This achievement was influenced by the gains recorded by the trio of Aradel Holdings Plc, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc. Data showed that Aradel Holdings Plc improved its value by N30 to settle at N900.00 per unit compared with the previous day’s N870.00 per unit, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria

By Aduragbemi Omiyale In order to meet the rising travel needs of its customers, Africa’s largest online travel agency, Wakanow, has launched an experience centre in the Lekki area of Lagos State. The outlet is located in Jubilee Mall on Admiralty Way and it will deliver an unparalleled immersive travel experience in a warm and relaxing atmosphere to customers. “Wakanow is an online travel agency also with extensive offline presence with over 30 travel centres across Nigeria, Ghana and Dubai. “We meet our customers’ travel needs across multiple touchpoints, wherever they are. We continue to expand our product portfolio& service

Global climate change affects countries differently. The negative consequences such as flooding are usually more pronounced in developing countries. Poor urban planning, population growth and poor regional cooperation in the use of natural resources such as rivers and lakes are also factors that contribute to incidences of flooding, for instance, in Nigeria. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in 2018 earmarked 12 states as frontline states to be affected by flooding in that year and by September 2018, a national disaster had been declared in the four worst affected states while the others were flagged under red alert. In one

By Adedapo Adesanya The Senate on Wednesday threw out the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to amend section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act he signed into law a few days ago. The clause prevents appointive political office holders from contesting for election from the party’s primary level without resigning. The request was rejected after the Senate Leader, Mr Yahaya Abdullahi made the lead debate for the second reading of the bill on Wednesday. The Senators kicked against it and voted no when put to voice votes by the Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan. President Buhari last week wrote the

By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke Having a budget is very important if you want to properly plan your finance. However, when preparing the budget, there are some items or things that feature in it that you can do without. In line with this, Jumia Travel shares some of the things in your budget you can do without. If you get rid of these items, you will be able to save more. Cable television subscription The homes you visit in Nigeria, you will find pay TV because it is now quite affordable. However, if you are cash strapped or you want to save

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has described the invasion of the Lagos premises of Standard Chartered Bank on September 14, 2018 as illegal, promising to get to the root of the matter. A statement issued by anti-corruption agency said the raid was never authorised by the commission, noting that it would punish any of its officials involved in the illegality. “The raid by operatives purportedly wearing the jackets of the commission might have been the handiwork of errant officers who acted without authorization. “The action is in flagrant violation of the standard operation procedures of

By Dipo Olowookere For the third time, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended deadline for the free electronic dividend (e-dividend) registration. The exercise, earlier slated to close on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, has now been extended till Saturday, March 31, 2018. The shift in the deadline followed low turnout for the exercise by investors. The free e-dividend registration gives investors in the Nigerian capital market the opportunity to get their dividend directly paid into their bank accounts instead of the usual posting of dividends to registered address. The capital market regulator, SEC, which came up with the initiative,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has said when the parliament resumes next year, the presidential decline of assent to the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2021 would be discussed. Mr Gbajabiamila said this on Tuesday when the lower chamber of the National Assembly held its last plenary for 2021. President Muhammadu Buhari had refused to sign the electoral bill into law, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political actors as reasons. After reading a letter from Mr Buhari on why he

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that the country loses an equivalent of 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day to theft and vandalism despite support from security agencies. To address this issue, the Group Managing Director of the agency, Mr Mele Kyari, has called for more support of the security agencies across the country. At a meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Lucky Irabor, in Abuja on Wednesday, Mr Kyari expressed optimism that this menace can be defeated with the full support of the military. “We have two sets of losses,