DMO Begins Sale of FGN Savings Bond for July

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira put up a weak performance against the United States Dollar across the various segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday. November 30, 2023, the last trading session of the month. In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window, which is the official market, the Nigerian currency lost 0.1 per cent or 85 Kobo against the greenback during the session to settle at N832.32/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N831.47/$1. A slight strain in the supply of forex into the spot market was partly responsible for the weakening of the local

By Adedapo Adesanya A hybrid solar power solutions provider, Daystar Power, has signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries to install and operate a 4.2MWp solar plant and 2MWh battery storage system that will help the firm reduce its high energy costs. The installation will be one of the largest solar and battery storage projects for an industrial manufacturer in Nigeria. The hybrid solar solution will generate 5,249 MWh of electricity – 42 per cent of its daytime power consumption – every year at Nigerian Breweries’ Lagos brewery. According to a statement, the integration of solar into the factory’s energy mix

By Adedapo Adesanya  Angola, one of Africa’s top crude oil producers and a key member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has officially rejected the proposed production quota for the year 2024 and may even exit the group. This was signalled by Mr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, confirming the nation’s decision and indicating a divergence from OPEC’s suggested allocations for both member and non-member countries. The announcement was made during the 26th OPEC+ Meeting on Thursday, where the organisation proposed 1.11 million barrels of crude oil per day production quota for

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on Tuesday on a negative note for the second time this week with the all-share index dropping by 0.50 percent or 129.75 basis points to close at 25,857.06 basis points. Also, the market capitalisation recorded a loss like the previous day, shedding N44.7 billion to finish at N8.901 trillion. Lafarge topped the declining stocks at the stock market today, losing N4 to close at N44 per share, while Dangote Cement declined by N2.50k to finish at N161.50k per share. Conoil depreciated by N1.79k to end at N34.11k per share, International Breweries

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Analysts at FBNQuest have said commented on the recent sale of Nigeria’s first diaspora bond on the international capital market by the Debt Management Office (DMO). It was learnt that the $300m issue, has a tenor of five years and pays a coupon of 5.625 percent, was oversubscribed by 130 percent. The bond was approved both by the SEC in the US and the UK Listing Authority, though it has been on the drawing board for a few years. However, the marketing channels have now been opened and the debt office has a formula that can be

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The forthcoming trade expo organised by Fidelity Bank Plc has received the endorsement of the Mayor of Houston Texas, Mr Sylvester Turner. Mr Turner, in a short video, highlighted the several side attractions scheduled for FITCC Houston and encouraged businesses to take advantage of the expo to expand their businesses beyond borders. He described the event as “A catalyst to support bilateral trade between Nigeria and Houston; and an opportunity for the Houston community and the diaspora to explore emerging trends, forge new partnerships and unlock new possibilities.” The Nigerian lender will, on Tuesday, October 24 and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka In order to keep internet users safe online, tech giant, Google, has expanded its two-step verification (2SV) process for log-ins. The 2-step verification process introduces the use of mobile phones to confirm a user’s identity every time one accesses the Google Account from a different device. This new process was necessitated after recording a 50 per cent drop in account breaches for 150 million Gmail and 2 million YouTube creator accounts under the 2SV initiative. “We don’t just plug security holes, we work to eliminate entire classes of threats for people who depend on our services. “Today

By Adedapo Adesanya One of the essential needs of the Nigerian capital market, especially the stock trading at this moment, is access to trading liquidity. This was the submission of the new president of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr Olatunde Amolegbe, at his investiture on Tuesday in Lagos. According to the leader of the stockbrokers’ institute, “It was liquidity that enabled our stock market to grow in quantum leaps during the historic bull market run of 2005 – 2007. ”And that, in turn, galvanised the primary market where several companies and governments at various levels were able to

By Dipo Olowookere A Shea butter processing plant has commenced operations in Kwara State and it is expected to boost the economy of the subnational. Kwara State in the north-central region of Nigeria is blessed with Shea tree and it is ranked second tree populated state in the country with high economic potentials in Shea butter production. The new factory, located in at Wozibe, a community in Kaiama Local Government Area of the state, is expected to use the facility to improve the value chain of the commodity in the state. It was gathered that the project was a tripartite

By Dipo Olowookere For its innovative approach to promoting electrical safety standard among staff, contractors, customers and the general public through the introduction of its proprietary game POWERPLAY©, Nigeria’s leading Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), has won this year’s edition of SERAS Innovation Prize. The electricity firm picked this award at the SERAS Awards held on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Ikeja Electric clinched this honour from a keenly contested category, which had top brands like Union Bank Plc, ISON BPO, Access Bank and Data Jaja, fighting to have a hand in the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr Yemi Kale, has urged all selected respondents to provide information for the ongoing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) survey in the country. In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Head of Corporate and Public Affairs of NBS, Mr Sunday Ichedi, the stats office chief assured “all our respondents that all data collected will be treated with utmost confidentiality.” The MSMEs survey is being carried out by the NBS in collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to boost economic planning and development. According