Economy

Ambode Urges FG, States to Copy Lagos’ Economic Policies

Published

9 years ago

20/03/2017

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has stressed the need for the Federal Government to emulate the template working for Lagos, which has made it to flourish despite the harsh economic situation in the country.

Mr Ambode, while receiving members of the National Economic Council (NEC) Implementation Monitoring Committee on Retreat on the Economy at the Lagos House in Ikeja on Monday, urged the committee to “observe it and document it also and use it to encourage other states to create that concentric cycle of growth and development in the country.”

According to the Governor, it is very important for states to learn from each other and explore their various areas of strength and strategic partnership to engender economic development.

Mr Ambode urged leader of the team, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, “urged the Federal Government to create a framework that would allow states to benefit from each other with the view to fostering concentric cycle of growth in the country.”

He thanked the committee for choosing Lagos as the first state to visit, saying that it was a confirmation of the success of the partnership between Lagos and Kebbi State on commodities production.

“The essence of this is that beyond the things that we say in NEC in terms of project, we should be able to find a common platform and a framework that allows every other State to benefit from the comparative advantage that each state is bringing to the table and the choice of Lagos as the first state to visit by the committee in terms of the project signified how serious we have been able to carry out most of the things we have been doing and what underscores that is what we have been able to achieve in our little time on the partnership with Kebbi State on commodities production in the country.

“We believe strongly that the way to go forward is for us to bring out our comparative advantages in our various States and be able to learn from each other.

“So, I want to recommend to this Committee that beyond the fact that you are doing visitation, let it end up to be part of the framework to work around peer-review mechanism amongst States and then for us to take advantage of what we are doing,” Mr Ambode said.

He noted that beyond partnership with Kebbi State, his administration has also significantly improved on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Lagos in terms of improving on the productivity of citizens and making life more comfortable for them.

“We have improved so much on security to create that platform to allow people to do their business more comfortably and in doing that, the end result is that when more people are doing their trade and distributing goods and services, it is likely to touch on our IGR and that means more people will pay taxes which at the end of the day we would use to provide more infrastructures.

“So, I want to recommend this template to this Committee that you should observe it and document it also and use it to encourage other States to create that concentric cycle of growth and development in the country,” Governor Ambode said.

He also commended the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, who also doubled as NEC Chairman for taking strong steps to actualize deliberations and conclusions reached at NEC meetings for the greater benefit of the people.

Earlier, Mrs Ahmed said her team was at Lagos House as part of the flag-off of the Implementation Monitoring Visit in line with NEC resolution and the retreat which the Vice President had with Governors in 2016.

She recalled that at the retreat, participants agreed to address 71 key items, noting that Lagos State, out of others, had already presented a good plan to the Committee.

The Minister also commended the partnership between Lagos and Kebbi States, especially the new Rice Milling Plant being developed, saying that the partnership was a sterling example of cooperation to expand growth.

Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Falls 1.31% as Key Stocks Decline

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three bellwether stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.31 per cent on Monday, May 18.

This brought the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 54.71 points to 4,133.70 points from 4,188.41 points, and shrank the market capitalisation by N32.73 billion to N2.473 trillion from N2.506 trillion.

Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc contracted by N12.45 to sell at N146.55 per share compared with last Friday’s closing price of N159.00 per share, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc declined by N2.34 to N70.00 per unit from N72.34 per unit, and NASD Plc lost 50 Kobo to trade at N34.50 per share versus N35.00 per share.

The trio overpowered the N5.56 gained Newrest Asl Plc. This stock ended the trading session at N61.15 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N55.59 per unit.

During the trading day, the volume of securities traded by investors slid by 56.1 per cent to 514,142 units from 1.2 million units, and the value of securities dropped 29.8 per cent to close at N17.4 million versus N29.8 million, while the number of deals jumped 12.5 per cent to 27 deals from 24 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 60.8 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.9 million units traded for N1.9 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units transacted for N1.2 billion.

Economy

FX Pressure Pushes Naira Lower to N1,373/$1 at Official Market

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a horrible day for the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, May 15, as its value further weakened against the United States Dollar.

In the black market window, the Naira lost N5 against the Dollar yesterday to sell for N1,390/$1 compared with the previous value of N1,385/$1, but at the GTBank forex counter, it remained unchanged at N1,383/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback by N2.66 or 0.19 per cent to sell for N1,373.70/$1 compared to last Friday’s rate of N1,371.04/$1.

Equally, it fell against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment by N9.05 to trade at N1,839.66/£1 versus N1,830.61/£1, and lost N5.42 on the Euro to close at N1,600.49/€1 versus N1,595.07/€1.

The performance of the local currency during the session indicates early worries despite all signals pointing to stability, amid improved Dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with steady, higher oil receipts to bolster the nation’s reserves.

Activity at the market showed that turnover rose 57.3 per cent to $76.29 million on Monday from $48.49 million posted on Friday.

Over the weekend, S&P raised Nigeria’s credit ratings for the first time since 2012 and highlighted improved FX market liquidity and $10 billion turnover recorded in April 2026 as one of the major gains of the CBN-led FX reforms.

The agency said the liberalisation of the exchange rate has bolstered access to foreign currency and enabled a market-driven exchange-rate environment while supporting investor and consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Monday as investors monitored developments in the Iran conflict and weighed the impact of surging oil prices on inflation and US interest-rate expectations.

Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $2,134.10, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.6 per cent to $0.2515, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $85.11, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.2 per cent to $643.29, TRON (TRX) increased by 0.03 per cent to $0.3565, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.02 per cent to $76,912.12.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 1.5 per cent to $0.1044, and Ripple (XRP) decreased by 0.5 per cent to $1.38, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.

Economy

Customs Street Opens Week Bearish With 0.05% Loss

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A marginal 0.05 per cent loss was recorded by Customs Street on Monday, as sell-offs by market participants remained.

This was driven by the desire of investors to book profits, having witnessed a significant price appreciation on the stocks in their portfolios.

Yesterday, bargain-hunting in the banking space, which resulted in the sector closing 0.17 per cent higher, could not prevent the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited from going down.

Data showed that the consumer goods segment lost 0.26 per cent, the insurance counter depreciated by 0.20 per cent, the industrial goods index shed 0.09 per cent, and the energy industry retreated by 0.03 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) eased by 126.09 points to 250,204.83 points from 250,330.92 points, and the market capitalisation contracted by N81 billion to N160.363 trillion from N160.444 trillion.

NCR Nigeria and Zichis declined by 9.99 per cent each to sell for N161.20 and N26.49, respectively, Industrial and Medical Gases shrank by 9.93 per cent to N38.10, Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 9.86 per cent to N2.65, and DAAR Communications slipped by 9.78 per cent to N2.03.

On the flip side, Oando gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N51.70, University Press also rose by 10.00 per cent to N5.50, Deap Capital soared by 9.96 per cent to N5.96, May and Baker expanded by 9.94 per cent to N52.00, and Trans-Nationwide Express grew by 9.92 per cent to N7.76.

Yesterday, 800.5 million equities worth N37.1 billion exchanged hands in 87,096 deals compared with the 1.1 billion equities valued at N44.3 billion traded in 65,744 deals last Friday. This showed that the number of deals went up by 32.48 per cent, while the trading volume and value went down by 27.23 per cent and 16.25 per cent, respectively.

The most active stock on the first trading session of this week was UBA with a turnover of 65.0 million units worth N2.8 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 57.3 million units for N1.3 billion, Access Holdings sold 42.3 million units valued at N1.1 billion, DAAR Communications exchanged 36.7 million units for N81.8 million, and Secure Electronic Technology transacted 36.6 million units worth N33.0 million.