Economy
Cellulant Arranges $100m Loan for Nigerian Farmers
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In a bid to make funds available to farmers in the country and ensure food security, a mobile payment services firm, Cellulant, has taken steps to make about $100 million available to farmers.
This initiative is under its Agrikore platform, also known as the e-wallet platform developed by Messer Cellulant for Nigeria in 2012.
The firm, in a report titled ‘Nigeria Report, Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) Dry Season, 2016,’ which was obtained by Business Post, stated that it has “arranged a consortium of financial sector actors who have agreed to deploy a loan book portfolio of $100 million into smallholder farmers’ micro loans.”
“The goal is to achieve 1,736,445 farmers borrowing between June 2017 to July 2018,” the report, released in few weeks ago, said.
The report stated further that in 2017, private sectors and financial partners will begin to test pilot the injection of loans into the system.
Cellulant said it was optimistic that if about 3 million rice farmers were captured in this year wet season GES Scheme, “Nigeria will be able to achieve self-sufficiency in the rice value chain as stated by the Federal Government.”
Rice is one of the major staple food in Nigeria and its importation is a significant contributor to the balance trade and concomitantly to the Naira exchange rate.
“From the 383,636 rice farmers that received inputs during the 2016 dry season programme, enough food will be produced to feed 120 million Nigerians for 2 months,” the report stated.
“We are expecting the food price inflation that started in 2016 when GES didn’t take place in 2015, to begin to drop by mid April 2017,” it added.
Commenting on the report, Co-founder of Cellulant Group as well as the Chief of Party E-wallet for Africa and CEO of Cellulant Nigeria Ltd, Mr Bolaji Akinboro, thanked the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the Enhancing Financial Innovations in Nigeria (EFINA), the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Government of Liberia and the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II for their support since 2011.
He also thanked the Nigerian government for believing since 2011 that it was possible to eliminate corruption, promote transparency and leverage on technology for Agricultural Transformation.
“This exercise which was continued in 2016 by the current administration has proven that a technology that came out of Africa (Nigeria) has the potential to change the world,” Mr Akinboro said.
He stated that, “It is our goal to make Agrikore, the platform that connects everyone in Agriculture to everything, all the time, everywhere across the whole continent and beyond.
“It is a Super Platform that actors can connect to and drive innovation across the agricultural sector in Africa, innovations that stimulate the economy to support job creation and power rural development.”
“Liberia is the first country outside of Nigeria to have adopted and implemented the platform and all its elements fully. Other countries such as Togo and Malawi are in advanced stages of replicating this system.
Governments from the Middle East have also indicated interest in the implementation of the Agrikore platform,” he said further.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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