CBN Sells T-Bills, Forex as Interbank Rate Rises to 20%

By Bliss Okperan The exchange rate instability in the country is already giving small business owners sleepless nights and it threatens their investments. This concern was raised recently by the National Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Mr Segun Kuti-George. He emphasised that business owners would have to increase their prices because of the unavoidable consequence of the current exchange rate crisis in Nigeria. According to him, if consumers are unable to meet up with the increase in the cost of goods and services, businesses would be forced to shut down their operations, which would, in turn,

By Adedapo Adesanya Brent crude futures surged by 2.8 per cent or $2.59 on Wednesday to the highest settlement in 2023 at $96.55 per barrel after a steep drop in crude stocks in the United States compounded worries of tighter global supplies. The price of the US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) climbed by 3.6 per cent or $3.29 to $93.68 as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a crude oil inventory draw of 2.2 million barrels for the week to September 22 in the country. In the preceding week, the agency posted an inventory draw of 2.1 million

By Adedapo Adesanya  The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is planning to use oil traders to fund a $3 billion loan to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which is aimed at stabilising the weakening Naira. According to a Reuters report, the Cairo-based bank has made contact with traders to gauge their interest in lending their support to the oil-backed loan to Nigeria’s national oil company. The sources who spoke to the publication also disclosed that Afreximbank has made an attempt to come up with the terms that they will present to trading houses. “There is a lot of interest,

By Adedapo Adesanya As part of its determination to relaunch its operations in the Nigerian space, TStv Africa has announced acquiring the rights to broadcast all English Football League (EFL) Championship live matches to Nigerians in the 2020/21 season commencing on Friday, September 11. This announcement was made via the TStv Africa Facebook page, where it stated: “TStv wishes to thank Nigerians for their patience and understanding over the past months. We apologise once again for all inconveniences and appreciate the steadfastness of all those who have stood by us. “We are now pleased to announce that TStv is preparing

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Last week, 1.3 billion shares worth N18.8 billion were exchanged by investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 19,482 deals, data from the NSE has revealed. This was higher than the 1.2 billion equities valued at N14.1 billion traded the previous week in 17,980 deals. It was learned that the financial services industry led the activity chart with 946.0 million shares valued at N9.7 billion traded in 11,046 deals, contributing 74.38 percent and 51.96 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Equities in the consumer goods sector followed with 82.9 million shares worth

By Dipo Olowookere Flags in Oyo State will be flown at half-mast on Friday (today) to honour the immediate past Governor of the state, Mr Abiola Ajimobi. The death of the former Governor was announced on Thursday night and he was initially reported dead about a week ago. The current Governor of Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde, while reacting to the demise of his predecessor in a statement last night, expressed sadness at the demise of Mr Ajimobi. In a condolence message to the Ajimobi family and the people of Oyo State, Mr Makinde said the former Governor would be

By Nneka Okumazie The ways Africans understand the world is evident in how Africa is. The seriousness, or lack of it, of collective progress expresses much about what matters to Africans. Africans are often cheering when some public figure says obvious problems, but Africa does not lack truth tellers or humble acting public figures. Truth, if it exists in Africa, is even used to gain an advantage, such that when some leader starts saying it, better to watch. Africa is not developed because Africans often apply weak ideas to their problems. There are all kinds of private setups and public

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has appealed to all active Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders and retirees to cooperate with agents that would be visiting their organisations to carry out the Data Recapture Exercise (DRE). This was disclosed by the commission’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mr Peter Aghahowa, via a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday. According to the statement, the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) was directed by the commission to obtain the relevant information required for the DRE from RSA holders and the process is ongoing. “One of the information required for the exercise is the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has praised the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Free Trade Zone Enterprises (DPRP) over its adherence to the local content law in the execution of its projects and declared its intention to further partner with it for effective implementation of the Local Content policy in the country. Director, Monitoring & Evaluation of NCDMB, Mr Akintunde Adelana, who represented the board’s Executive Secretary, Mr Simbi Wabote, made this disclosure weekend during the DPRP Nigerian Content Sensitization/Awareness Creation Programme, titled: “Let’s Walk the Nigerian Content Talk Together,” at Lekki Free

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s power sector lost about N468.4 billion between January and August 21 this year, the latest documents covering the industry’s performance showed. According to the documents, the loss was caused by a shortage of gas, transmission limitations, distribution restrictions and other constraints. In a breakdown of the details, the report showed that in January, the sector lost N56.4 billion in revenue, while in February, its revenues dipped by N54.9 billion and also plunged by N65.6 billion in March this year. Power sector’s constrained revenues for the months of April were N64.6 billion, and in May N61.6 billion,

By Dipo Olowookere Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on a negative note on Wednesday as investors closely watch happenings in the political settings in the country. Yesterday, there were reports that a lawmaker suspended for supporting President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Ovie Omo-Agege, stormed the Senate with some thugs to steal the symbol of authority of the upper parliament, the mace. Hours later, the Senator was arrested by security officials in connection with the unfortunate incident. Also yesterday, it was reported that some Ministers were not at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided