Fear as Naira Devalues to N765/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya A milk-producing company, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria, helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange return to the green territory by 0.54 per cent on Wednesday, November 29. The firm improved its value by N3.50 in the midweek session to settle at N73.50 per share compared with the previous day’s closing price of N70.00 per share. It suppressed the 10 Kobo decline posted by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which ended lower at N17.00 per unit versus Tuesday’s value of N17.10 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange went up by N6.28 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has pledged to stop international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta from divestment of their offshore assets without being accountable to the environment. The Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Host Communities, Mr Dumnamene Dekor, said this during a technical session on the implementation of the Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDT), organised by Spaces for Change (S4C) with support from Ford Foundation. Mr Dekor raised the alarm that since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, host communities have not experienced any positive change, rather have remained

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Group CEO of Airtel Africa Plc, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, has explained why the company is very deliberate in promoting education and empowering the people. Speaking during a visit to Kitende Secondary School, Entebbe in Uganda, Mr Ogunsanya said the action of the telco was because “Airtel Africa is cognizant of the great value education contributes to our nations across the continent.” Kitende Secondary School is one of the educational facilities Airtel and UNICEF are working with to provide access to quality education to millions of children in Africa through digital learning. The school has been connected

By Adedapo Adesanya Investors gained N5.31 billion at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange in Week 10 on the back of buying pressure, which lifted the unlisted securities market by 0.53 per cent at the close of business. As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse closed at N621.67 billion compared to N618.66 billion of the previous week, while the NASD Securities Index (NSI) increased by 3.55 points to 734.16 points from 730.61 points. Business Post reports that last week’s gains were spurred by two market bellwethers; Friesland Campina Wamco Nigeria Plc and NASD Plc. The milk-producing firm

By Adedapo Adesanya An Abuja-based think-tank, Africa Polling Institute, has disclosed that it will collaborate with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to collect data on people living with disabilities in the country. This was disclosed by Mr Bell Ihua, the Executive Director of the research institute in a statement signed by Head of Corporate Services, Mrs Amarachi Charles, on Friday in Abuja. The executive director, who led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the NBS, said that the collaboration was important in order to achieve the Nigeria Disability Project. According to Mr Ihua, the project is aimed at

By Dipo Olowookere The laboratory centre of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in the Ogba area of Lagos State should begin full operations by March this year. Chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Industry, Mr Abubakar Moriki, made this known when his 8-man team inspected the project, which is 95 percent completed. Touring the four-storey complex, which includes refrigerator testing chamber, food microbiology, food data processing unit, among others, the lawmaker said full operation should begin by March. He commended the spate of construction and equipping, noting that observation of the laboratory complex will form the basis

By Adedapo Adesanya The South African division of Anheuser-Busch InBev has cancelled a further 2.5 billion rand ($165 million) investment after the government banned alcohol sales for the third time to control a resurgence of coronavirus cases. The move brings the amount of spending called off by South African Breweries (SAB) to 5 billion rand since the COVID-19 pandemic began to take off in the country 10 months ago. SAB, the country’s biggest brewer, recently said it would challenge the prohibition in court, describing the government’s action as unconstitutional. Recently, South Africa’s President, Mr Cyril Rampahosa banned alcohol sales as

By Dipo Olowookere A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been sealed between Israel and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which will see Israel’s leading solar developer, Energiya Global, invest about $1 billion over the next four years to advance green energy power projects across the 15 member states of the bloc, including Nigeria. Energiya Global and its associated companies developed the first commercial scale solar field in sub-Sahara Africa in Rwanda, which is supplying 6 percent of the country’s power, and the group broke ground on a similar power plant in Burundi, which will supply 15 percent

By Dipo Olowookere Recently, EXX Africa published a special report on the secret Chinese arms trade in the Horn of Africa. China is actively positioning itself as a major supplier of arms to the African continent and is stepping up its shipments of weapons to conflict zones through Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. Beyond the commercial objective of increasing sales of Chinese manufactured weapons and military equipment, China also seeks to control a greater share of the weapons trade in Africa in order to protect its extensive infrastructure investments on the continent. On the back of the One Belt,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale In order to strengthen its supervisory tools as well as its capacity to achieve its mandate of investor protection and minimising systemic risk, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received financing support from the African Development Bank (AfDB). Though the amount secured from the regional lender was not disclosed, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday that the funds would be used towards the cost of regulatory capacity improvements under the risk-based supervision framework and capacity building project. “The envisaged activities also include capacity building on prudential risk-based supervision approach including the development or update