Canon Invites Nigerian Photographers to Second Discovery Week

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya A milk-producing company, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria, helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange return to the green territory by 0.54 per cent on Wednesday, November 29. The firm improved its value by N3.50 in the midweek session to settle at N73.50 per share compared with the previous day’s closing price of N70.00 per share. It suppressed the 10 Kobo decline posted by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which ended lower at N17.00 per unit versus Tuesday’s value of N17.10 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange went up by N6.28 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Dipo Olowookere The demand for value stocks led the local market to a marginal 0.11 per cent growth on Wednesday, with a positive sentiment. This was because at the close of transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, there were 32 price gainers as against the 16 price losers. Mobil Oil was the best-performing equity, rising by N21.50 to settle at N249.50 per share, while Flour Mills gained N1.90 to end at N29.30 per unit. BOC Gases rose by N1.13 to sell at N12.52 per share, Seplat grew by 40 kobo to trade at N496.50 per unit, while

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Oyo State government has flagged off an intensive door-to-door waste evacuation exercise aimed to address the menace of indiscriminate waste disposal in the metropolis. To achieve effectiveness, 169 private waste collectors have been accredited and have been tasked to ensure the state is clean at every time. According to the waste management consultant for the state government, Mr Adey Adewuyi, the waste collectors, now known as Mottainai Accredited Franchisees, will be empowered to fast-track the clearing of waste from the streets of Ibadan and restore environmental sustainability. He added that the new system in place does

By Adedapo Adesanya As part of moves to deepen Nigeria’s revenue diversification process, the federal government is targeting sourcing for N5.09 billion to revive the garment and leather industries. The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah, made this known in Abuja. He stated that the amount, N5.089 billion, would be sourced by government from a partnership between the private and public sectors. According to Mr Izuwah, it would be made up of 80 percent debt and 20 percent equity with zero financial contribution by the federal government. He spoke at the presentation of the Full

By Adedapo Adesanya The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has appealed to bandits to drop their arms and embrace the federal government’s initiative, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP). The apex bank chief made the call at the end of a two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, saying embracing the programme will be of help to the terrorists. “I would like to appeal to our brothers, who decide that they want to live in bushes and forests that they should please, begin to retreat, drop their arms and come and embrace

By Dipo Olowookere A few days ago, there were reports in a section of the media that the Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, was allegedly involved in a N41 billion fraud, with respect to the defunct Nigeria Telecommunication Company (NITEL). According to the reports, Mr Elumelu was indicted for the alleged scam alongside some of the principal officers of the financial institution. But in a statement, the lender said the reports were “untrue, misleading, malicious, libellous and should be disregarded in its entirety. In the statement signed by the company secretary, Bili Odum, UBA

By Adedapo Adesanya  The stocks of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc have continued to rise on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited after investors got wind of news reports that the company has been awarded the payment of N72.2 billion from Ecobank Nigeria in damages by a federal high court sitting in Lagos in what is the culmination of an eight-year legal tussle between both organisations. In a judgment delivered on Tuesday by Justice Mohammed Liman, the court granted all the reliefs sought by the flour miller over the freezing of its accounts by the lender in November 2015.

By Dipo Olowookere The price of the Brent crude oil rose sharply on Tuesday by 2.8 percent after news of a pipeline explosion hit the market. Business Post reports that the price of the commodity increased by $1.81 today to close at $67.08 per barrel, hitting more than 2½-year highs. Our correspondent gathered that the Libya explosion occurred at the African country’s biggest terminals located in Sidra. It was learned that the affected pipeline is operated by Waha Oil Company and carries crude to the Es Sider terminal. Waha is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil, Hess Corp., Marathon

By Adedapo Adesanya The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has called on rice millers in the country to adopt the federal government’s backward integration programme to boost the country’s rice security. He made the disclosure on Tuesday when he inaugurated the N15 billion ultra-modern 420 metric tons per day capacity rice milling factory in Kano State. He urged rice mills owners to be involved in paddy production for sustainable supply through a partnership with the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), assuring them that the bank will provide long-term loans to enable them to