CBN May Change Monetary Policy Stance—FSDH

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.38 per cent on Friday, September 30, with N4.16 billion added to the value of the bourse, closing at N1.105 trillion compared with Thursday’s value of N1.101 trillion. The market witnessed the improvement a day after the shares of VFD Group were yanked off the trading platform, with the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) closing higher by 3.06 points to settle at 815.65 basis points versus the previous day’s 812.59 basis points. There were three gainers led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which improved by N1.31 to close at

By Dipo Olowookere Profit-taking persisted on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, as investors refused to tone down their profit-taking activities. It was observed that the market is gradually entering panic mode due to macroeconomic instability in the country, especially with the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar going above N1,000 in the parallel market. A stockbroker with one of the leading brokerage firms in the country, who asked not to be named, said the local bourse was witnessing panic selling due to investors liquidating their shares for Dollars. “This trend will continue for a while

By Dipo Olowookere The domestic currency had a breather in the peer-to-peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, with its value strengthening against the Dollar at the two windows. This was supported by the ease in the forex demand pressure during the trading session, which had the official market, the Investors and Exporters (I&E) arm of the market, non-operational yesterday due to the public holiday observed in the country for Eid el Maulud. Many customers who may have needed FX for their transactions stayed back to enjoy the work-free day, easing off

By Adedapo Adesanya The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has cleared the air regarding recent reports on the transfer of funds to the Joint Tax Board (JTB) by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) under the erstwhile chairman, Mr Muhammad Nami, for the tax reform committee. In a statement on Friday, he revealed that N5 billion was paid to the board to fund activities of the team set up by President Bola Tinubu, noting that “The committee’s budget includes provisions for a national Data for Tax project which the JTB had been

By Dipo Olowookere The federal government went to the debt market on Wednesday to raise some funds through the issuance of local bonds to interested investors. The exercise was conducted on behalf of the government by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and two tenors were auctioned to subscribers. According to results of the bond sale released by the DMO, the notes auctioned yesterday were the 15-year bond and the 25-year bond, both reopening. During the exercise, N30.0 billion worth of the 15-year instrument with an actual maturity of 14 years and 3 months was auctioned, while another N30.0 billion was

By Aduragbemi Omiyale In line with its succession planning mechanism, one of the Primary Mortgage Banks in Nigeria, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank, has appointed Mr Sunday Olumorin as its Acting Managing Director. He is taking over from Dr Olabanjo Obaleye, whose tenure as the MD of the company has expired, with effect from January 1, 2022, a statement from the firm stated. Mr Olumorin is not new to Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank as prior to this appointment, he was an executive director in the financial institution, which was why the board chose him for the job. However, his appointment is

By Otori Emmanuel “Every business that wants to create global footprints must have a clear social media strategy” When we have a product or service to offer, we have crossed the first line and the second is to be able to find the channels to ensure that words about what we sell get across to the audience that has the money value. People usually use digital marketing and social media interchangeably; however, digital marketing is the broad variety of activities that are performed on the internet to ensure the promotion of goods to the audience on these platforms. Social media

The Nigerian capital market was euphoric at the close of trading on Tuesday as the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited hit a 15-year high. This saw the All-Share Index (ASI) move up by 0.51 per cent to 66,490.34 points from 66,151.38 points achieved a day earlier, surpassing the highest value of 66,371.20 recorded on March 5, 2008. This performance was in part attributed to a surge in banking stocks as investors strategically positioned themselves, taking advantage of the recent record earnings posted by banks. Consequently, market capitalisation increased by 0.51 per cent to close at N39.69 trillion from N36.21 trillion recorded

By Adedapo Adesanya As part of efforts to support 100,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Ecobank Group have launched the MSME Academy to provides easy access to practical training and resources on financing opportunities in various countries. The academy will also teach MSMEs how to build a digital presence for businesses and how to adapt business operations in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Touted as a Pan-African initiative, MSME Academy offers free access to market intelligence, a host of mentors with a diverse experience while assisting with access to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Yields on the 30-day treasury bills rose on Tuesday by 0.13 percent to settle at 11.16 percent at the close of business. The yield recorded the increase yesterday despite the secondary market for the debt instrument closing bullish. Business Post reports that the average yields of T-bills slightly depreciated on Tuesday by 0.05 percent to 12.42 percent. At the end of transactions yesterday, the 90-day tenor depreciated by 0.05 percent to finish at 11.92 percent, the 180-day maturity went down by 0.23 percent to settle at 12.68 percent, while the 364-day bill declined by 0.05 percent to

By Adedapo Adesanya  Fierce advocate for climate change, Nazanin Alakija, recently published her op-ed titled “Global Conflict is Losing Focus on Humanity’s Biggest Threat, Climate Change.” The piece, which was featured in Forbes Africa Magazine, examines the potential impact of how the fight to get a handle on global conflict is shifting the focus from climate change and its impending threat to humanity. Alakija’s article brings to the fore the still hotly-debated issue of climate change and its role in fuelling global conflict. Climate change has seen inaction and scepticism from prestigious and influential figures is a global issue and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The National Universities Commission (NUC) has cancelled pre-degree and diploma programmes in Nigerian universities. The agency said the programmes should now be handled by polytechnics and not universities. NUC said universities should now focus on producing human capital in the core undergraduate, part-time and post-graduate courses. According to a statement, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, gave this order during the meetings held between October 10 and 12 with Vice Chancellors of the 143 universities in Nigeria. The NUC also directed that the research directorate of the Commission be strengthened to work with those