Ecobank Emerges Best Retail Bank in Nigeria

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on Friday after data from the world’s largest oil producer, the United States, supported expectations of demand growth. Brent crude futures settled at $75.84 a barrel after chalking up $1.79 or 2.4 per cent, as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $71.23 after gaining $1.89 or 2.7 per cent. Despite the gain at the final session of the week, both benchmarks fell for a seventh straight week, their longest streak of weekly declines in half a decade, on lingering oversupply concerns. For the week,

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the total value of the country’s merchandise trade experienced an increase of 1 per cent to $7.8 billion in August 2023 from the $7.72 billion that was quoted in July. This was disclosed by the apex bank in its latest monthly economic publication, where it disclosed that despite the rise month-on-month, Nigeria’s merchandise trade value in the period was almost 20 per cent lower compared to the value in August 2022 due to a significant decrease in import trade value. The total merchandise trade comprised an export trade

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 1.6 per cent appreciation on Friday, December 8, as investors gained about N19.12 billion to push the valuation of the unlisted bourse to N1.202 trillion from the N1.182 trillion it closed in the preceding session. This achievement was influenced by the gains recorded by the trio of Aradel Holdings Plc, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc. Data showed that Aradel Holdings Plc improved its value by N30 to settle at N900.00 per unit compared with the previous day’s N870.00 per unit, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria

By Peter Albert Following the landslide victory of Mr Abubakar Atiku as the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday, information available to us reveal that the jostling for who will be his running mate has reached fever-pitch. According to sources close to Mr Atiku, he has referred the question of who will be his running mate to the party elders to decide. This, many believe, would serve to heal any wounds that may have arisen from his landslide victory over Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who had been enjoying the unhinged support of Governor Nyesom

By Modupe Gbadeyanka For supporting and empowering Nigerian women through its Queen Riders Program, Simba TVS has won the African Brand of the Year 2023 at the Future Women Conference held in Lagos. The mobility solutions provider in Nigeria put in place the Queen Riders program to empower underrepresented women in the nation’s burgeoning commercial transportation industry. While receiving the award, the Business Head of Simba TVS, Mr Mahendra Pratap, highlighted the importance of women’s empowerment in the growth and development of every society. According to him, the Queen Riders Program is built on four pillars of Opportunity, Development, Empowerment,

By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel The Ikeja Electric (IE) Plc has denied suspending prepaid meter installations, noting that the process was still ongoing, contrary to insinuations in some quarters. This clarification was made by the Head of Corporate Communication of the organisation, Mr Felix Ofulue, who added that customers yet to be metered would be reached soon. He explained that over 99 per cent of its 106,701 customers under its network in Lagos scheduled for metering through the federal government’s National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), amounting to 105,000, have had the gadgets installed in their premises. “We have so far metered 105,000

By Olukayode Kolawole The Nigerian hospitality report 2017 officially launched by Jumia Travel has shown that the country generated 97 percent of  its tourism revenue from domestic travel in 2016 while foreign travel accounted for 3 percent. Mr Kushal Dutta, MD of Jumia Travel Nigeria stated this while overviewing the content of this year’s report at a press conference held at Four Points by Sheraton in Lagos. Mr Dutta mentioned that despite the security challenges in the country and the fall in dollar exchange rate, a lot of Nigerians preferred to travel within the country to spend their holidays at

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Convener of the yearly Arise Walk For Life, Mrs Siju Iluyomade, has assured participants and Nigerians that the 2020 edition of the event will further help to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Addressing newsmen in Lagos on Sunday, October 11, 2020, she encouraged Nigerians to partake in the walk, assuring them of safety. The 2020 edition of Arise Walk For Life is themed #StayingAlive and will take place on Saturday, October 17 across the globe. “You can just walk in a cluster of 25 but you must maintain social distance in the process,” the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Federal Government on Monday explained why President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to act on the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun. It is about a month ago Mrs Adeosun was accused of using a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate to get her present job, an offence that attracts jail term. But despite calls for her resignation, neither the President nor the Minister has spoken on the issue. Speaking on the matter yesterday in Abuja, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, said it would be inappropriate for

By Dipo Olowookere ENGIE has signed an agreement with CDC, the Gabonese financial institution Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, to deploy eight hybrid solar power plants in Gabon, representing a combined capacity of 2.2 MW. The implemented solution was developed by ENGIE’s subsidiary, Ausar Energy in collaboration with CDC, the Gabonese Ministry of Energy, and the Gabonese energy and water company Société d’Énergie et d’Eau du Gabon (SEEG) and means that solar energy can be used in eight locations that are currently supplied by oil-fired thermal power stations. With construction set to begin in a few weeks, this project will

By Adedapo Adesanya The key performance indicators of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained unchanged at the close of transactions on Tuesday amid a mixed activity level chart. Business Post reports that the stalemate occurred after the NASD OTC exchange recorded no price gainer or loser, as the prices of stocks on the platform closed flat. Also, the total value of the alternative equity market, measured by the market capitalisation, remained unchanged at N1.138 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) closed flat at 805.29 points. During the trading session, investors traded a total of 501,437 units of