CBN Insists Naira Not Devalued, Only Readjusted

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Nigerian Naira weakened by 17.9 per cent or N144.49 against the American Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, December 6 as confidence waned in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) ability to boost the market with enough foreign exchange (FX). Yesterday, the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar closed at N951.22/$1 in the official market compared with the preceding session’s rate of N806.73/$1. This happened as the forex turnover slightly went down by 4.9 per cent or $7.05 million to $135.58 million from the $142.63 million reported in the

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a further rise of 0.55 per cent, extending its stay in the green territory to a fourth straight session on Thursday, November 7. This increased the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 4.81 points to wrap the session at 872.54 points compared with 867.73 points in the previous session, as the market capitalisation of the OTC exchange jumped by N6.52 billion to settle at N1.182 trillion, in contrast to the preceding trading day’s N1.176 trillion. The unlisted securities market ended the trading session with two price gainers, 11 Plc and

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices fell further on Thursday touching a six-month low, as investors worried about sluggish energy demand in the United States and China. Brent crude futures dropped 48 cents to $73.82 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 33 cents to $69.05 per barrel, with both benchmarks posting their lowest prices since late June. Analysts noted that the largest global importer of oil, China, is shuttering its interests in crude and this has created pressure on prices. Chinese customs data showed that crude oil imports in November fell 9 per cent

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerians were downtrodden on Sunday as favourites Anthony Joshua and Kamaru Usman lost their respective bouts in the boxing and kickboxing categories respectively. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk was Joshua’s nemesis as he won their rematch again by a split decision to retain his world heavyweight titles in just his fourth fight in the division in Saudi Arabia. Usyk, 35, who dismantled the defending champion in London last year, faced an improved Joshua but outboxed him once again to set up a potential unification bout with Britain’s Tyson Fury. An angered Joshua peppered his post-match speech with expletives despite

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Arrangements have been completed to build the second largest refinery in sub-Saharan Africa in Ogun State, which will also be the largest petroleum product depot in Nigeria and Wema Bank is providing the financial backing for this project. Business Post learnt that the refinery and tank farm, when fully completed, will generate over 2,000 jobs. Wema Bank is partnering with the Ogun State Government and three other companies to carry out this laudable project. The other firms, apart from Wema Bank Plc, are Petrolex Oil and Gas, Hyundai and Ajayi Legal Partner. They recently signed a deal

By Adedapo Adesanya  Relatively unhinged is the perfect word that describes the situation of things at the Investors and Exporters segment of the foreign exchange market on Friday as the Naira marginally appreciated by 4 kobo or 0.01 percent to trade at N363.42 against the dollar from N363. 46 recorded. Business Post reports that this was as the pressure on the local currency from the huge demand for forex by investors eased on Friday as evident in the daily market turnover. At the close of transactions yesterday at the investors window, the turnover stood at $477 million compared with the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The creative artistes, who participated in this year’s edition of Lagos Comic Con, got a booster from Heritage Bank Plc as the financial powerhouse allayed their fears over inaccessibility of funds for operators in the industry. At the 6th edition of Lagos Comic 2017, held at NECA House, Ikeja, Lagos recently, a member of the Corporate Communications Department of Heritage Bank, Mr Chubike Agu, commended the audience at the annual event for their perseverance despite all hurdles against them. Mr Agu disclosed that at Heritage Bank, its quest to create wealth across the nation was sacrosanct, emphasising

It is the biggest fear for a professional footballer – suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury, which typically heralds an extended period on the sidelines if not, in the worst of cases, the end of their career. For Virgil van Dijk, the injured knee he suffered in a game for Liverpool against Everton back in October ended his 2020/21 season – surgery was necessary to repair the damage. Today, the Dutchman has returned to light training, and there was joy unbounded among Netherlands supporters when Van Dijk was pictured kicking a ball at Liverpool’s Melwood facility. Would the defender make a

By Michael Owhoko In the midst of sustained challenge for restructuring and other sundry agitations in Nigeria, there is iota of hope, if only the ruling class is prepared to do the needful, writes Michael Owhoko Nigeria has been through quite a lot in recent times than at any other time in its political history, but at this very moment, aside the almost resolved security challenges facing Nigeria, issues relating to self-determination and restructuring are some of the burning issues that the government of the day is grappling to manage. As it is, close observer will easily say the incumbent

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Two suspected collaborators of terrorists have been arrested at a branch of Access Bank in Kaduna State by personnel of the Nigerian military. The spokesman of the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, Major-General Musa Danmadami, confirmed this in a chat with reporters on Thursday. According to him, the arrest was made on September 15, 2022, at the PZ branch of Access Bank in Zaria while attempting to withdraw N14 million deposited into the “account of one Alhaji Abubakar, a suspected terrorist financier.” He informed newsmen that the arrest was made possible as troops of Operation HADARIN DAJI continued

By Atedo Peterside The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is doing some things right, such as the effort to curb overhead expenditures and to be more frugal than past administrations, but then they are also doing many things wrong. There is a reluctance to completely break from the past and embrace significant economic reforms, even when our present predicament clearly warrants same. We are now facing an economic crisis. A crisis is an inflection point. It is that point when multiple outcomes become possible. 2017 represents the last full calendar year that this administration has within which it must embrace