CSCS Weakens Unlisted Securities Exchange by 0.13%

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira weakened further by 8.3 per cent or N67.28 on the American Dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, as investors intensified their demand for the greenback ahead of the festive season rush. Amid a squeeze in the supply of the foreign currency to the market, the value of the local currency closed at N881.88/$1 yesterday compared with the preceding session’s N814.60/$1. Though the supply of FX into the official market improved by 17.9 per cent or $18.00 million to $118.06 million from $100.06 million quoted on Monday, it was not

By Adedapo Adesanya  The federal government, through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has announced plans to invest $1.1 billion to fully rehabilitate decaying port infrastructure at TinCan, Apapa, Rivers, Delta, Calabar, and Onne ports as part of efforts to improve the efficiency of the nation’s existing ports. Out of the estimated 47,000 kilometres of coastline in Africa, Nigeria makes up about 853 kilometres, creating the perfect opportunity to get access to its much-needed revenue. This coastline and a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone make up Nigeria’s coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. The coastline equals a maritime area of

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Adedapo Adesanya The Supreme Court has ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to co-exist with the new banknotes beyond the earlier December 31, 2023, deadline. The apex court ruled on Wednesday that both old and new notes should continue to remain legal tender until the federal government puts a process in place for its replacement or redesign after due consultation with relevant stakeholders. The seven-man panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro gave the ruling following an application by the central government asking the court to grant an extension of time for old naira notes

By Adedapo Adesanya President Muhammadu Buhari has been given a deadline by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to investigate the spending of Ecological Fund by governments at all levels—federal, state and local- from 2001 to date. In a letter dated October 22, 2022, the group asked Mr Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, and the appropriate anti-corruption agencies to look into how the funds have been spent for the last 21 years within seven days. This became imperative following the ravaging floods in most states of the federation,

By Dipo Olowookere One of the founders of Vetiva Capital, a prominent investment company in Nigeria, Mr Olaolu Mudashiru, has died. Mr Mudashiru, a co-founder of the leading player in the capital market in the country with Mr Chuka Eseka, was said to have died in a freak accident in Lagos. It was reported that the capital market expert was hit by a hit-and-run driver in Ikoyi, a highbrow area of Lagos State. According to reports, the deceased was riding a bicycle on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi with two other persons when the driver of the run-away vehicle hit them,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on Thursday in the green zone, extending the bullish trend to 11 straight days. Gains recorded by Nestle, Lafarge and 28 other stocks pushed the market further northward by 0.54 percent. The market capitalisation improved by N62.4 billion today to settle at N11.61 billion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 180.9 points to finish at 33,695.83 points. Prestige Assurance was the most active stock on Thursday with 26.8 million shares transacted at N13.4 million. It was trailed by GTBank, which traded 18.8 million shares worth N692.4 million, and Transcorp, which

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria has repaid a total of $12.56 billion in external debt as of 2022, data from Intelpoint showed. According to the latest debt figures, Nigeria’s total public debt rose by 75.3 per cent to N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 against N49.85 trillion recorded in the first quarter of the year. The rise came as the country securitised the N22.71 trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the federal government. The overdraft is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the shortfalls in the government’s

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Bankers’ Committee has promised to embark on a continuous effort to promote financial literacy among youths in Nigeria. This decision was reached at the committee’s meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday. According to the Group Managing Director of Skye Bank Plc, Mr Tokunbo Abiru, the committee unanimously agreed that the banking industry should act in unity to ensure that financial education is promoted in schools across the six geopolitical zones. “Part of what we discussed was the need to continuously improve on financial literacy. And one of the resolutions is for the entire industry to act

By Adedapo Adesanya The World Bank Group has discontinued the publishing of its Ease of Doing Business report after 18 years. The report measures regulations directly affecting the ease of doing business in 190 countries. The Bretton Wood institution said it reached the decision to discontinue the report after “internal reports raised ethical matters, including the conduct of former board officials as well as current and/or former bank staff.” It was reported that an independent investigation document found that Ms Kristalina Georgieva, who served as the bank’s chief executive officer from 2017 to 2019 and is now the managing director

By Adedapo Adesanya Pfizer Nigeria won the ‘Great Place to Work Award 2020’ in Nigeria in the ‘Small Sized Organisations’ category. The report from the survey showed Pfizer had a high trust index score and employee engagement score of very high compared to the market. Great Place to Work selects the Best Companies to Work in Nigeria, whose outstanding achievement builds a better society while creating great workplaces. The Pfizer Nigeria report was benchmarked externally with Top 100 Best Pharmaceutical company globally (They had over 23,000 entries). In comparison to the external benchmark, Pfizer Nigeria came out very strong in

Worried by several reports of car snatching in various parts of the country, the Acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, ordered his Special Tactical Squad to tackle the crime and ensure the arrest of those behind these acts. Armed with the IG’s directive and support, the squad set out for operation and this has yielded the expected result. An organized car snatching gang was recently arrested by the team and 12 exotic vehicles recovered from them. During the operations carried out across the country, 29 persons were apprehended by the police. Meanwhile, members of the public have been advised