Economy
Experts Preach Income Diversification to Employees, Entrepreneurs
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The importance of income diversification has been emphasised to salary earners, individuals, self-employed and small business owners by some experts who spoke at the workshop organised by Ecobank Nigeria to commemorate this year’s Worker’s Day.
At the event themed Maximising Your Income: the Power of Diversification, participants were urged to make deliberate efforts to diversify their income stream in light of the current state of the nation’s economy.
The keynote speaker, Dr Yemi Kale, in his presentation titled State of the Nigerian Macroeconomy: Implications for Consumers and Workers, pointed out that the nation’s economy has potential for growth based on its vast youth population, large market, abundant natural and human resources and significant developments in the tourism, telecommunications, manufacturing, and technology industries.
He regretted that such potentials are being hindered by macroeconomic dysfunctions, which include external contagion, political instability, improper planning and poor plan implementation and outright wrong decisions, policies, and strategies.
“Our GDP growth has been steady, slow, and fragile, with high inflation risks, rising public debt indicative of shrinking fiscal space and declining reserves and a slowdown in capital inflow.
“Households and workers must therefore explore multiple sources of income, invest to hedge inflation, buy food items in bulk to evade immediate upward price adjustment and avoid loan accumulation,” he stated.
He identified Ecobank as one of the financial institutions that parade diversified products and services, noting the bank’s decision to organise the webinar was quite laudable because of the attendant benefits.
Further, the former Statistician-General of the nation noted that “Nigeria has potential for strong economic growth. It is the biggest economy in Africa and the largest African market.
“Nigeria has abundant human resources as Africa’s most populous nation with a growing youthful population and low-cost labour. It is the 6th largest gas deposit in the world, the 8th highest producer of petroleum in the world and oil reserves are estimated to be 36 billion barrels.
“We are blessed with 34 solid minerals, over 44 exportable commodities and significant growth potentials in the tourism, telecommunications, manufacturing, and technology industries.”
Also speaking, Ms Daberechi Effiong, who heads Consumer Products at Ecobank Nigeria, highlighted the benefits of saving with the bank and how to diversify income to maximize returns.
She advised customers to spread their portfolios for multiple sources of income and also imbibe the habit of financial planning.
According to her, “Ecobank has a bouquet of high-yielding products with attractive interest rates which customers can invest in. They can take advantage of our savings and current accounts, local and foreign accounts, super savers, and so many others.
“We also have mortgage financing, either re-financing or outright purchase. They can access our services through our digital channels and Xpress points, our agency banking outlets, which are available all over the country. We also offer financial advice and grant loans with low-interest rates to customers.”
Ms Oluyemisi Ogunmola, Managing Director, EDC Fund Management Limited, stated the need for participants to invest in the money market and mutual funds as part of income diversification.
“You should have goals for diversification, either short, medium, or long term. We are also available for financial advice on where and how to invest. It is also important to know that you can start small with the fund you have,” she stated.
Earlier In her welcome address, the Head of Consumer Banking at Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, said the webinar focuses on practical financial planning insights on maximizing income and how customers and members of the public can key in as they go through their financial lifecycle.
She added that the webinar is further proof of the bank’s commitment to the financial well-being of its customers, and so urged the bank’s customers as well as non-customers, to make Ecobank their bank of choice.
Ecobank Nigeria Ltd is an affiliate of the Ecobank Group, the leading private pan-African banking group. Ecobank Nigeria offers a comprehensive suite of financial services and solutions to its Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking clients at over 200 branches and 50,000 Xpress Point agency locations in Nigeria.
The Ecobank Group was established in 1985 to drive financial integration and socio-economic development in Africa.
With a presence in 35 sub-Saharan African countries and in France, the UK, UAE and China, we have unrivalled expertise and experience across Africa. The Ecobank pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investment across Africa and beyond.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.
Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.
Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.
There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.
According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.
The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.
The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.
On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).
However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.
The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.
The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.
Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
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