Economy
Agriculture Can Boost Low IGRs of States—Osinbajo
By Adedapo Adesanya
As the nation grapples with tight fiscal revenue generation, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has noted that agriculture can provide succour to the low internally generated revenues of states.
While interacting with a delegation from the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, the VP said “agriculture can be the solution to a lot of our IGR needs and a lot of our resource needs; it has been proven so many times that it is possible.”
Mr Osinbajo, who spoke after listening to a presentation on the commission’s framework for sustainable agricultural transformation in the states, stated that in the 1950s and 60s, the agricultural sector was the major source of earnings for the country.
The Vice President noted that “the truth of the matter is that the difference between then and now is the political will. There is no question at all that there is far more information today than there was then but someone has to have the will to do it.
“There is no question at all, that any part of Nigeria if there is sufficient dedication and hard work, can feed the entire country. There are smaller countries not up to the size of one State in Nigeria that is producing enough and exporting products to other parts of the world.”
The Vice President also acknowledged the importance of private sector collaboration in transforming agriculture but emphasized the need for stakeholders to focus on research and development, noting that the progress made by some countries of the world, especially in the area of commercial farming has been hinged on research.
According to him, “obviously, what will take us out of the woods and make us relevant in terms of export and even in terms of satisfying local demands is commercial farming.”
Addressing the concern raised about challenges in developing the agriculture value chain, the VP said “there must be a way of perfecting the value chain and ensure that the value chain actually works.
“Of course, it involves logistics, transportation, credit facility, etc. A lot more attention needs to be paid to how that value chain works. No matter how much you are producing, if you don’t work on the value chain, you will just be wasting a lot of the resources.”
“With respect to government policy, he said “we have been doing a lot of work with agro-export in particular. One of the problems that we are faced with is even with the whole process of exporting. We are addressing the problem, we have had several meetings with agro exporters. It is among the issues that we are trying to pay attention to.”
The Vice President then commended the DAWN Commission for its efforts, noting that “the work that the commission is doing is seminal. It is work not just for the present but perhaps for the future of the South-West region and of course of the entire nation.”
On his part, the Director-General of DAWN, Mr Seye Oyeleye, briefed the VP on the efforts made over the years, reporting that the commission has developed blueprints for the development of the health and education sectors in the 6 States of the South-West.
He also cited the revitalization of cocoa production and the framework for sustainable agricultural transformation in the region, among achievements recorded by the commission in the 9 years of its establishment.
In the presentation of the agricultural transformation plan, Mrs Abiodun Oladipo, a member of the delegation said the commission among other things, aims to facilitate the operationalization of the existing Staple Crop Processing Zone (SCPZ) master plans as part of the broad objective of transforming farming in the region.
She said DAWN collaborating with private investors will also facilitate value chain development in the production of cassava, cocoa, maize, oil palm, and cotton.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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