By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices settled lower on Thursday even after Russia announced a ban on fuel exports, with Brent crude down by 23 cents to $93.30 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 3 cents to sell at $89.63 per barrel. Russia temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday. It said the ban did not apply to fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements to Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union members, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia

By Dipo Olowookere Ellah Lakes Plc can now go ahead with its plans to raise fresh capital through a rights issue to shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared. In 2022, shareholders of the company authorised the board to source about N2.90 billion. The board later filed an application to the SEC to carry out the transaction. In an update on Wednesday, Ellah Lakes informed the investing community that the apex regulatory agency for the country’s capital market had approved its request. The firm, which operates in the agricultural sector, intends to get N2.90 billion from shareholders from

By Adedapo Adesanya All is not well with the Naira in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria, with its exchange rate against the Dollar nearing N1000. At the black market on Thursday, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N25 to sell at N995/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N970/$1. It was a similar story with the local currency in the P2P wing of the forex market as it lost N22 against the greenback yesterday to quote at N992/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The federal government has expressed its readiness to work closely with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited to attract startups to the stock exchange. The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, said the government would use the newly created NGX Technology Board to achieve this goal. Speaking at a tech event themed Invest in Africa’s Future- Let’s Talk About Exits on Thursday in the United States, he noted that Nigeria had been grappling with its over-dependence on oil in the last few years, adding that diversifying from heavy reliance on a single sector like

By Dipo Olowookere No fewer than 321 indigent residents of Lagos State have been given the sum of N52.7 million to assist them in handling health challenges, multiple births and other unforeseen situations including road accidents and fire disasters. The money was released by the Lagos State government, through the Office of Civic Engagement. Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Mr Benjamin Adeyemi Olabinjo announced this during the week at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja during the Year 2018 Ministerial Press Briefing of the Lagos State government in commemoration of the third anniversary of Governor Akinwunmi

By Dipo Olowookere As part of its commitment to push for gender equality, foremost consumer finance company, Zedvance Ltd, held an advocacy campaign in commemoration of the 2019 International Women’s Day. At a mentorship session for female staff on Friday, March 8, 2019, the firm anchored the programme on the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, Balance for Better. The event, which is part of Zedvance Ltd’s sustainability initiatives, took place at the company’s Marina office and had in attendance over 100 female staff, with renowned Marketing Communications expert, Mrs Oluwayemisi Mafe, facilitating it. Speaking at the event, Managing

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that Nigerians deserve good, safe and quality agro products for consumption. Speaking recently during his keynote address at the south west nationwide advocacy on agricultural quality control and standardisation in Lagos, the Minister charged farmers and agro-processors dealers to mainstream the issue of food safety in its agricultural production and as well endeavour to meet world standards and international best practices. He noted that, “There is no time than now to mainstream food safety into agricultural production if we want to really diversify our economy using

By Dipo Olowookere The hunger for treasury bills in Nigeria seems to be waning as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is offering the investment tool at an unattractive rate of 4.90 per cent, significantly below the country’s inflation rate of 15.40 per cent. It is common knowledge that investing in any financial asset not yielding a return on investment of more than the inflation rate is a bad investment. While some investment tools in the fixed income market like bonds and commercial papers are witnessing a rise in yields lately, the T-bills space is expressing the opposite and this

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) returned to the positive zone as a bullish price movement from FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc on Monday, November 29 lifted the bourse by 0.17 per cent. The milk-producing company closed the first session of the week with a 1.3 per cent or N1.58 gain to quote at N121.00 per unit compared with the previous closing rate of N119.42 per unit. This jerked up the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N1.02 billion to N616.44 billion from N615.42 billion and pushed the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) higher by 1.23 points to wrap

By Dipo Olowookere The 19 exchange students, who have recently returned from their exchange programme, have expressed their enthusiastic about their stay in Germany. The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Christian Schlaga, and representatives of the Association of German School Societies in Namibia (AGDS), invited the learners on 16 February 2017 to relate their experiences. For several years now, the AGDS, in partnership with the German Cultural Relations Abroad (VDA), has made the ten-to-twelve week stay for Namibian youth in Germany possible. The 19 students, all of them ambitious learners of the German language, were hosted by German

By Investors Hub The major US index futures are currently pointing to a lower open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to give back ground following the strong upward move seen in the previous session. Traders may cash in on gains by US stocks yesterday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement this afternoon. While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for further rate hikes. After a slightly cautious start, stocks climbed higher on Tuesday thanks to sustained buying across the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to expand its domestic gas footprint with the delivery of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) II to double capacity from 1.1 billion standard cubic feet of gas (BSCF) to 2.2 BSCF. The national oil company, according to its Group Managing Director, Mr Mele Kyari, this would be done through the OB3 gas pipeline that will connect east and west. At the ongoing 4th Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) in Lagos, Mr Kyari stated that the NNPC would commence the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline in