Brent Nears $49 Despite Surge in US Crude Stockpiles

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The sum of N75 million has been disbursed to 15 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Nigeria to support their expansion drive. The funding package was given by Google’s Hustle Academy, with beneficiaries drawn from various industries, including agriculture, and fashion, among others. The 15 Nigerian small business owners were among the 5,300 entrepreneurs who graduated from the academy, designed by the tech giant to provide an avenue for participants to enhance their business skills and knowledge, and contribute to the growth of the continent’s economy. The recipients of the funding support are Ifeoma Augusta Anselem of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is planning to grow its revenue to N4.5 trillion as it plans to end the importation of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, by December 2024. The chief executive of the company, Mr Mele Kyari, while speaking on Thursday, said the nation would not need to rely on fuel from outside the country because its refineries would have been fully operational. Nigeria is currently revamping its four refineries to make the product available to residents of the country as it officially stopped the payment of subsidy on petrol

By Dipo Olowookere Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Limited will be listed on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the future, the Chairman of the company, Mr Aliko Dangote, has revealed. Mr Dangote, who is the richest man in Africa, confirmed this in an interview with the Financial Times published on Saturday. The refinery will join other businesses of Mr Dangote currently trading their equities on the NGX, Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, and NASCON. The oil facility, believed to be worth about $20 billion, was launched in May 2023 by the immediate past president of Nigeria, Mr Muhammadu

Centurion CEO and Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, Mr NJ Ayuk, has called for more industry collaboration on key issues pertaining to Nigeria’s oil & gas industry, including local content development, the signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the promotion of a better enabling environment for start-ups and SMEs, monetizing gas for domestic use, investing massively in energy infrastructure and building a robust petrochemical industry whilst ensuring that energy security is placed as a high priority agenda by both the Nigerian government and the country’s oil industry. Mr Ayuk made this call when he led an industry delegation

By Modupe Gbadeyanka General Overseer of Freedom For All Nations (FANO), South Africa, Prophet Samuel Akinbodunse, has said the 2019 presidential election holding next month in Nigeria will not be won by either President Muhammadu Buhari or his main opposition, Mr Atiku Abubaker. In his prophesies for 2019, the Nigerian cleric said the February 19 poll would be surprisingly won by a candidate having an ‘S’ in his name. The FANO TV chief said God revealed to him that a youth has been chosen to become President of the most populous black nation in the world. “I am a bit

By Adedapo Adesanya Germany has signed an agreement to return the Benin artefacts currently in its possession to Nigeria. The Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (known in German as Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz; SPK) and Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) signed the agreement on Thursday. In a statement, SPK explained that the Benin bronzes, which number about 512, now officially belong to Nigeria following the transfer agreement. The statement, however, noted that not all of the artefacts will be returned to Nigeria this year. “About a third of the transferred objects will remain on loan in Berlin for

By Adedapo Adesanya The negative run at the NASD Over the Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange could not run into the fourth straight day on Thursday, March 4. At the trading session, the NASD Security Index (NSI) and the market capitalisation recorded almost traded flat as there were marginal gains. The market capitalization had closed Wednesday’s trading session at N498.99 billion, but yesterday, it slightly moved higher by 0.004 per cent or N20 million on Thursday to close at N499.01 billion. In the same vein, the NSI rose by 0.003 per cent or 0.02 points to close at 695.47 points as

By Dipo Olowookere An integrated oil & gas offshore support vessel services company, Global Spectrum Energy Services Plc, has decided to call it quits with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. In November 2017, the firm joined the local stock exchange by listing 800 million ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N5 per share on the NGX’s trading platform, boosting the value of the market by N4 billion. But after five years of being in the kitchen, it could no longer withstand the heat and has opted to leave the scene for others. In a regulatory document, it was observed

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed lower by 0.58 per cent on Friday following renewed profit-taking by investors at the exchange. This scrapped off 4.26 points from the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI), which finished the last trading session of the week at 732.15 points compared with 736.41 points of the previous session. Similarly, the market capitalisation, which closed at the preceding day at N608.41 billion, ended the session at N604.88 billion after losing N3.53 billion. It was observed that the decline posted at the market yesterday was mainly influenced by the duo of FrieslandCampina WAMCO

By Dipo Olowookere The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has reacted to a recent press statement released by the SPLA I/O and other social media comments accusing UNMISS of facilitating government operations against the SPLA in Opposition in South Sudan. In a statement issued today, the UNMISS said it unconditionally denies the accusation it described as “false and misleading assertions” made both in the statement and associated with misrepresentative photographs that have been shared through social media. “These photos depict a CTSAMM monitoring and verification team meeting with SPLA liaison officers in the context of their mandated work

By Dipo Olowookere A new report by Agusto & Co. Limited has shown that in the 2020 fiscal year, the banking industry in Nigeria recorded a decline in electronic banking income. In the report by the nation’s foremost research house and rating institution, it was stated that the drop was by 27.3 per cent despite a spike in digital transactions in the pandemic year. The flagship 2021 Banking Industry Report revealed that last year, some banks recorded as much as a 50 per cent increase in digital banking transaction volumes, but the gains were shortened by the reduction in bank