Economy
Effective Plan-Budget Link Critical To Development—Mede
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs Nana Fatima Mede, has described effective plan-budget link as critical for attaining inclusive growth.
Mrs Mede stated this in her remarks during a Specialised Training Programme on Strategic Planning and Effective Linkage to Budgeting Process, organized by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in Kano.
She said it was clear that the role of strategic planning and effective linkage to budgeting process was very critical towards the realisation of the aspirations of any nation.
Mrs Mede, represented at the occasion by Alhaji Aminu Yargaya, Assistant Director (Plans), Macroeconomic Analysis Department in the Ministry, further said, “Studies have shown that countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc that have consistently been implementing National Development Plans are successful in attaining inclusive growth and sustainable development.”
She explained that, the training was organised for officers of Federal MDAs, as part of a continuous re-training and development programme to sharpen the skills of officers for improved service delivery.
“This training is one of the key activities designed to be undertaken by the Ministry, with a view to enhance the competence of technical officers in the areas of plan formulation, implementation, policy analysis and forecasting,” she said.
Accordingly, Mrs Mede disclosed also that, the training is also aimed at improving officers’ skills in preparing budgets using the Zero-Based-Budgeting Approach and also putting the officers through the process of linking the budget with the plan, since annual budget is the instrument through which the plan is being implemented as the former takes cue from the later.
While buttressing the fact that, a good budget is a product of good plan, the Permanent Secretary stated that, “As you are aware, the nation is currently facing economic crises as commodity prices, especially oil prices have declined drastically with negative consequences on government revenues.
“This explains the need for effective planning and budget implementation in order to achieve value for money, as expenditures are tied only to the country’s needs for maximum impact on the lives of citizens.
“This is buttressed by the introduction of such economic and fiscal instruments as Zero-based- Budgeting (ZBB), Treasury Single Account (TSA), BVN, restructuring the budget framework in favour of capital expenditure among others.”
She also described the low level of implementation of National Development Plans, as well as Annual Budgets as an issue not unconnected with capacity gaps identified in the Public Service.
The Perm Sec explained that, as a result, in some cases, MDAs are not able to effectively formulate credible Sector Plans or Annual Budgets nor are they able to implement them effectively.
While commending the merger of the former National Planning Commission with the Budget Office of the Federation, Mrs Mede said that in the past, bureaucracy and lack of effective collaboration between government agencies had hindered effective Plan-Budget link, as such emphasised that the merged agencies must work as one to succeed for the good of the country.
Underscoring the imperative of the training exercise, she pointed out that the challenges experienced last year by the Ministry’s Technical Officers in assisting Federal MDAs to prepare their 2016 Budgets necessitated for it, especially now that government is seeking urgent measures to reduce economic waste in the face of the current recession, thereby creating more value for the government.
The Kano training was the second batch in the series of the capacity building for the Budget officers of the MDAs, after Lagos batch that was conducted earlier in October.
Some key recommendations that arose from the first batch of this training in Lagos were; the Budget Division of MDAs should be domiciled in the Planning, Research and Statistics Department; the efforts being made by the Federal Government in improving the budgeting process is commendable, but there is need for better synergy between the Executive and Legislative arms of Government in this regard and the Planning, Research and Statistics should be made a cadre in the Public Service to enhance project planning and implementation
Others were; sustainability should be mainstreamed into project implementation in the country, In addition, measuring performance of budget releases to MDAs should be based on results of the projects as against the current practice of measuring the amount of money spent; and the process of projects selection should be based on the needs.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
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