Facebook Extends Undersea Internet Connectivity to S’East Nigeria

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange continued its weekly positive run as it extended its gains by 0.41 per cent in the 38th week of trading in this year. The bullish posture was supported by the improvements in the share prices of six companies admitted to the alternative stock exchange in Nigeria. This increased the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by  2.30 points from 805.65 points in the previous week to 808.95 points, as the market capitalisation of the bourse was relatively unchanged on a week-on-week at N1.140 trillion. Food Concepts Plc led the price gainers’ after

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, has said the country is unable to clear up to $6.8 billion of overdue forward payments in the foreign exchange market, noting that this is preventing the Naira from gaining stability. Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mr Edun lamented that the country’s FX market is facing a serious liquidity crisis due to low flows. “The issue we have now is that the market is not liquid enough,” he said in an interview in New York, per Bloomberg. The Minister said that resolving the overdue contracts would allow the Naira

By Bliss Okperan Nigeria’s internet speed averages 25 megabits per second (Mbps), according to data from Surf Shark, a cybersecurity company focused on developing humanised privacy and security solutions. The ranking, contained in the 5th annual (Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL), showed that the country dropped two places to 7th from 9th within the last two years. A quick average analysis shows that at an average of 25 Mbps, Nigeria is far from the world’s fastest fixed internet Singapore, which is 300 Mbps and is ahead compared to the slowest fixed internet in the world, Yemen, which is 11

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The federal government has expressed its readiness to work closely with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited to attract startups to the stock exchange. The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, said the government would use the newly created NGX Technology Board to achieve this goal. Speaking at a tech event themed Invest in Africa’s Future- Let’s Talk About Exits on Thursday in the United States, he noted that Nigeria had been grappling with its over-dependence on oil in the last few years, adding that diversifying from heavy reliance on a single sector like

By Dipo Olowookere The board of Airtel Africa Plc has disclosed that it is not certain how the latest directive of the federal government to telcos in Nigeria will impact its operations. Airtel Africa operates in the country through its subsidiary, Airtel Nigeria Limited and yesterday, the government directed operators not to allow subscribers yet to link their SIM cards to the National Identification Number (NIN) to make calls. In a statement on Tuesday, the service provider said it study how this call blockage policy will affect its business in Nigeria, which contributes majorly to its total revenue. In its

By Ahmed Rahma The 2021 appropriation bill of N120 billion passed by the Gombe State House of Assembly has been signed into law by the state governor, Mr Muhammadu Yahaya. The budget, signed on Wednesday, has a total of N120,346,536,626.00, which reflected an increase of N682,680,000.00 over the initial sum of N119,663,856,626.00 proposed by the executive. According to Mr Yahaya, while signing the budget titled Budget of Resilience into law, his administration will improve the lots of Gombe state people next year. “Around this time last year, we assented 2020 budget, around 27th, we signed the appropriation budget. This year,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said it will disburse $200,000 in financial aid to each of its 54 member associations as part of COVID-19 pandemic reliefs. This was disclosed at its meeting on Thursday, May 28 via video-conference, where it was revealed that the CAF Emergency Committee has approved the immediate distribution of financial grants to member associations. The fund is to support the management of football at the domestic levels hugely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of  $10.8 million is expected to be distributed to the 54 member associations of the continental

If you live in Nigeria, you’ve probably heard some stories about how difficult it is to get anything done at a government agency. Those stories are so popular that they have made their way into popular culture through oga is not on seat jokes. When you’re going to a government agency, you brace yourself for the reality that no matter how small the task you want to accomplish, it could take all day. It’s not unusual for simple processes to be complicated by ridiculous demands. It’s the sort of thing we’ve come to expect from Nigeria’s public sector. Yet, in

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to auction foreign exchange worth $48 million to operators of Bureau De Change in the country on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. According to a report by BusinessDay, “About 80 percent of over 3,000 BDCs is expected to participate in Wednesday’s auction where each operator will access a total of $20,000 each.” Recall that recently, the apex bank had directed BDCs operators in the country to participate in the exercise three times in a week. These days, according to the central bank are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In a circular

After buying the 14.1 percent stake in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, Arise B.V. (Arise) has nominated Mr Deepak Malik to the board of the financial institution. In June 2019, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced that it was divesting its 14.1 percent equity stake in Ecobank managed by its subsidiary, its wholly-owned subsidiary, IFC Asset Management Company (AMC). Two months later, Arise was announced as the new owners of the divested equity stake in the bank. Last week, Ecobank said Arise has nominated Mr Malik to

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira opened the first trading session of the week on a negative note at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) category of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Monday, February. At the last trading session of the second month of 2022, the value of the Naira to the United States Dollar depreciated by 67 kobo or 0.16 per cent to settle at N416.67/$1 versus N416.00/$1 it was traded last Friday. This happened amid a decline in the value of FX transactions at the special foreign currency exchange market, according to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange. The

By Dipo Olowookere The need for government to put in place stable economic policies and create a reliable regulatory environment has been emphasised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). When these are done, they would catalyse the growth of Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. President of the LCCI, Mrs Nike Akande, while speaking on Wednesday in Lagos, advised the Federal Government to consider formulating policies that will facilitate trade, attract foreign investment and protect businesses from avoidable regulatory pressures. She said that with the right policy environment and provision of needed infrastructures, Nigerian