CBN Seeks Partnership With Statisticians

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed that Nigeria saw a 65.7 per cent or N76.77 billion increase in earnings from the solid minerals sector in 2021 to N193.59 billion from the N116.82 billion achieved in 2020. This upward trajectory has been on for the past five years, according to a report from the agency. The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, however, lamented that this is still abysmal considering the potential of the sector to the Nigerian economy. He said this while presenting the solid minerals sector report in Abuja, noting that

By Adedapo Adesanya Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira at the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday as it depreciated against the US Dollar at the close of business. The scarcity of forex was responsible for the poor performance of the Naira in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), black market and peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the market during the session. Business Post reports that the domestic currency lost N2.62 or 0.34 per cent on the greenback in the spot market yesterday to close at N776.60/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N773.98/$1, amid a 10.6 per

By Benita Ayo A while ago, it was announced that certain companies would be struck off the corporate register of the Corporate Affairs Commission. The major reason for this is the failure of defaulting companies to file their Annual Returns with the commission. I have always reiterated the fact that approval of an application to register a company does not signify that its officers can fold their hands and go to sleep. There are bundles of requirements to be fulfilled by such companies one of which is the filing of its Annual Returns. The Annual Return is a yearly account

By Adedapo Adesanya After three sessions of gains that followed extended production cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia, oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors took profits, leaving the Brent crude futures down by 9 cents to $94.34 a barrel after it hit a session peak of $95.96, as the US West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 28 cents to close at $91.20 per barrel after earlier reaching $93.74 a barrel, also the highest since November. Despite the profit-taking, expectations remain that Brent will trade in a range of $90-100 per barrel over the coming months, with a year-end target

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has approved the deployment of 40 short-term observers to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ghana scheduled for December 7, 2016. The short-term observers will complement the work of 4 core team of election analysts and 10 long-term observers who have been deployed in the country since late October 2016, and have been following and reporting on the pre-election preparations and overall political environment. The deployment of the AU Mission to the Ghana is in line with paragraph VI (d) of OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Africa needs to build its statistical capacity to produce accurate, high quality and timely data to inform policies that will support the full implementation of the sustainable development goals and the continent’s Agenda 2063, says Economic Commission for Africa’s Tinfissi Joseph Ilboudo. In a presentation on the role of data and statistics in SDG financing at the on-going high-level policy dialogue on development planning in Africa, Mr. Ilboudo, Chief of the Statistical Development Section in the ECA’s African Centre for Statistics (ACS), said investing in data for the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development

By Dipo Olowookere All may not be too well with RT Briscoe Plc as the company’s auditors, PKF Professional Services, have said if urgent steps are not taken; the automobile firm may be forced to wind down. On Monday, September 21, 2020, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) made the financial statements of RT Briscoe for the year ended December 31, 2019, available to the investing public. An analysis of the results done by Business Post showed that the organisation is struggling to remain in business. This is because the firm is not generating enough funds to meet its normal obligations.

By Dipo Olowookere Managing Director of NASD Plc, Mr Bola Ajomale, has been appointed as the president of Nigerian Advisory Council of the Chartered Institute for Investments and Securities UK (CISI). Mr Ajomale was formally put on the position Sunday, March 10, 2019, at a ceremony which took place in Lagos. Some of the important persons present on the occasion included the CISI UK Senior International Manager, Mr Prannet Shivaprasad, and members of the Nigerian Advisory Council CISI. In his inaugural speech, Mr Ajomale welcomed the opportunity to contribute positively to the Nigerian capital market via his role as president

By Dipo Olowookere NEC Corporation (NEC) has confirmed the acquisition of KMD Holding ApS, the holding company of KMD A/S (KMD), the largest Danish IT company. NEC is acquiring KMD for approximately 8 billion Danish Kroner (DKK) from Advent International, one of the world’s largest and most experienced private equity investors. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of February 2019. NEC is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. This acquisition will accelerate NEC’s global safety business, which it has positioned as a growth engine

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The lifting to a Nigerian grade of crude oil, Qua Iboe, to the global market seems to have commenced after ExxonMobil lifted a force majeure it declared about six weeks ago. Last month, fire gutted the facility of the company, causing a halt in production, but after things were put together, production and loading of the product have resumed. Qua Iboe is one of the two major crude oil grades from Nigeria. The second is the Bonny Light. The key buyers of the Qua Iboe are the United States, India, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and Indonesia. Crude

By Dipo Olowookere The foreign exchange market was Monday received a new boost when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected $210 million into it. The amount was released into the currency market to sustain the supply of Dollars at the market and as well take off pressure on the local currency. A breakdown of the intervention showed that the authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market were given $100million, while both the invisibles and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segments received $55 million each. According to the CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Isaac Okorafor,

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s lending arm, are directing €300 million to finance the flexibility and recovery support of African countries in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. This was disclosed in a statement issued by Afreximbank on Wednesday, explaining that the money will guarantee companies across the continent the working capital to maintain jobs and maintain vital imports. The support package is the first expedited COVID-19 response to the entire sub-Saharan region under the European Investment Bank’s European Team Initiative – a € 6.7 billion package, to help