BUA Cement Pulls Down Stock Exchange by 0.70%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, has asked his counterpart in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, to support his agency to achieve the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, who appointed both of them. Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the anti-money laundering firm, Mr Adedeji said the EFCC has a role in ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are “judiciously utilised in line with the social contract with the people.” He assured that the FIRS would continue to strive to raise the revenue

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Strong inflationary pressures in November further negatively impacted companies in Nigeria, with new orders and output both falling as customers were either reluctant or unable to pay higher charges. Purchase prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years amid exchange rate weakness and higher costs for fuel and materials. According to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from Stanbic IBTC, business conditions remained under pressure, scoring 48.0 points last month compared with the 49.1 points it garnered in October 2023. Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira started the first trading session in the last month of 2023 on a negative note after it depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official FX window, by 11.4 per cent or N94.87 on Friday, December 1, closing at N927.19/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N832.32/$1. The December rush for forex contributed to the weakening of the domestic currency in the spot market yesterday, as the supply of foreign currency could not meet what customers needed. Data showed that the value of FX transactions recorded

By Adedapo Adesanya  Angola, one of Africa’s top crude oil producers and a key member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has officially rejected the proposed production quota for the year 2024 and may even exit the group. This was signalled by Mr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, confirming the nation’s decision and indicating a divergence from OPEC’s suggested allocations for both member and non-member countries. The announcement was made during the 26th OPEC+ Meeting on Thursday, where the organisation proposed 1.11 million barrels of crude oil per day production quota for

By Dipo Olowookere After being in the den of the bears for the past seven trading sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has heaved a sigh of relief again. At Friday’s trading session, the local stock market finished in the green territory, appreciating by 0.20 percent at the close of transactions. This shrank the year-to-date loss to 11.17 percent from 11.35 percent on Thursday. Business Post reports that the gains achieved today were influenced by the huge purchase of stocks in the oil and gas, banking and consumer goods sectors. While the banking index rose by 0.60 percent, the consumer

By Jerome-Mario Utomi There was a report by ONE Campaign, an international organisation that keeps track of progress on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and development financing in Africa, submitted May 29, 2013, to the African Development Bank (AfDB), during the bank’s annual general meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. The report, among other concerns, accused Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of dragging the continent backwards, as a result of the two countries inability to spend 15 per cent of their budget as agreed by the African Union, for the health and education sectors, unlike countries which have made progress.

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Thursday launched an online register for the verification of beneficial owners oil assets and mines in the country. The initiative is part of government’s efforts to ensure transparency in the extractive sector in Nigeria. In some cases, public officials use the position to award contracts to firms they have huge interest in. They register such companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) using fronts. These legal owners are used to run the organisations. Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Waziri Adio, speaking at the unveiling of the register today, stated

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s positive economic policy developments in the last couple of months have attracted the attention of one of the world’s leading ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s, stylised as S&P. One of S&P Global’s top sovereign rating analysts, Mr Gill, said that Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy as well as Kenya were seeing positive responses but added that South Africa was a slow-moving story of steadily rising debt to GDP. Nigeria is a country that S&P is now “watching closely,” Mr Gill said at the firm’s emerging market conference in London, the United Kingdom, on Tuesday. “It’s on a

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, has promised to give more support to improve police security at banks and other financial institutions across the country. Mr Idris made this known when he received the committee of Heads of Security of Banks and Financial Institutions led by its chairman, Mr Chuks Maha, during a courtesy visit to his office last Wednesday at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. The IGP appreciated the committee for the visit and expressed deep gratitude on the cordial and good working relationship existing between the Nigeria Police Force and the committee. He

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Directors General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Moji Adeyeye, and her counterpart in the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr Osita Aboloma have affirmed the commitment of the two organisations to the welfare and health of Nigerians through improved collaboration. This affirmation was made during a courtesy visit of the NAFDAC DG and some members of her management to the SON office in Abuja recently. Welcoming Professor Adeyeye and her team, the SON Chief Executive stated that the two sister regulatory agencies have the collective responsibility of working for

By Adedapo Adesanya The international benchmark, Brent crude, reached the $25 per barrel region on Wednesday, recording its biggest-ever quarterly and monthly losses in history. The oil market, impacted heavily by COVID-19, has led governments to restrict movements, causing drop in demand for the commodity to crash prices. Yesterday, the Brent crude traded down by 2..54 percent or 67 cents to $25.68, while the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude appreciated by 4.20 percent or 86 cent to $21.34 per barrel. Both benchmarks lost roughly two-thirds of their value in the first quarter of the year with March accounting

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, has lauded plans by telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, to invest $1.6 billion in the Nigerian market within the next three years. He expressed this when the MTN Nigeria delegation led by Mr Rob Shuter, the MTN Group CEO, paid a courtesy visit to the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday. “I am glad to hear that you have a budget of $1.6 billion you plan to invest in Nigeria in the next three years. “Please, try to get your priorities right. Look at the areas that are