Economy
Bill to Amend Finance Act Passes Second Reading at Senate
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A bill to amend the recently signed Finance Act on Wednesday passed second reading at the Senate a day after it was presented to the red chamber of the National Assembly.
On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed a letter to the Senate, seeking its approval to amend a few portions of the Finance Act.
“Pursuant to Sections 58 and 59 of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I formally request that the Finance Act, 2019 (Amendment) Bill be considered by the Senate for passage into law.
“This bill seeks to amend the Finance Act, 2019 recently passed by the National Assembly.
“That the administrative effective date for the increase in Value Added Tax from 5% to 7.5% is the 1st of February 2020;
“(ii) That ‘Animal Feeds’ are included in the list of Basic Food Items that are exempt from Value Added Tax; and
“(iii) Aspects of the tax holiday incentive for agriculture by targeting this incentive to small and medium sized companies that invest in primary crop, livestock, forestry and fishing agricultural production. This incentive is also to be administered by Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission pursuant to the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act.
“While I trust that this Bill will be favourably considered for passage Into law by the National Assembly to as to support the implementation of the 2020 federal budget, please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurance of my highest consideration,” the letter from Mr Buhari, which was read by the Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, yesterday, stated.
At the plenary today, one of the lawmakers, Mr Abdullahi Yahaya, presented the amendment bill to the Senate. It was thereafter, considered immediately for second reading and was put for debate by the parliament.
Mr Yahaya informed his colleagues that the bill aims to provide clarifications regarding the tax incentives for agricultural production, the administrative effective date for the commencement of the increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) to 7.5 percent and certain basic items exempt from VAT and for other connected matters.
Though the Senate Minority Leader, Mr Enyinnaya Abaribe argued that, “We have not seen the clarifications this amendment is seeking,” his other colleague, Mr Solomon Adeola, emphasised that, “This is a very straightforward amendment we are seeking for and I believe it is not controversial.”
While contributing to the debate, Senator James Manager said, “Basically it is all about clarifications and if it is about that, there is nothing new and the Committee will bring the details. The amendment is for the good of all of us and I support it.”
The Senate President, who referred the bill to the Committee on Finance to report within a week, stated that, “We passed this Bill last year November and Mr President signed it in December.
“I think we have something to celebrate here. I believe that this is a very straightforward Bill and our Committee on Finance will do a lot of nitty gritty.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.
Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.
Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.
The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.
At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.
“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.
“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.
Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.
The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.
FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).
On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.
On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.
Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.
During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.
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