Economy
FG Confirms Significant Shortfall in H1 2025 Oil Revenue
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has confirmed suffering a significant shortfall in Nigeria’s oil revenue in the first half of the year despite surpassing the gross receipts recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, made the disclosure in Abuja at a press briefing on Thursday.
Mr Edun stated that while oil price benchmark in the 2025 budget was $75 per barrel, average sales for the half year was $67 per barrel, revealing that average oil production per day was $1.67 million barrels against the budget projection of 2.06 million barrels per day.
Giving some updates on major sectors, the Minister said, “In the oil and gas sector, average production in the first half of 2025 was 1.67 million barrels per day.
“Significantly, that is below the 2.06 million barrels budgeted, and that is of note.
“The average crude price also in the budget was put at $75 per barrel; we’ve had an average price of $67 per barrel. We have maintained compliance with the OPEC quota, and as you can see from the figures I’ve given, there has been a revenue.”
He stated that in response to the shortfall, the federal government prioritised spending on sectors that directly impacted citizens and supported growth ambitions.
Mr Edun disclosed that despite the shortfall in oil revenue, gross revenue stood at 37.4 per cent in the first half of 2025, surpassing the performance recorded in the same period of 2024.
According to him, this signalled improved fiscal discipline and prudent resource management.
The finance minister explained that the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) now operated in a more robust fiscal space due to increased allocations from the Federation Account and other releases due to them.
Mr Edun said the states and FCT combined fiscal balance grew from N2.8 trillion in 2023 to N7.1 trillion in 2025, helping them to support capital projects in education, health, and other infrastructure.
Giving further insight into what states had been receiving, he said, “I would call it a build-up of funds that were due that hadn’t been paid to them, and under the law, under the regulations, have been made available to the states. And this, as we have said, has increased their surpluses such that the states in the first half of this year enjoyed budget surpluses of 3.1 per cent of GDP, which was way up, almost double previously the situation that they had with about 1.8 per cent of GDP surplus.
“So, in a nutshell, the funding to the states from the Federation Account has increased, which is what you would expect from the major measures that were taken to restore fiscal viability by removing a range of subsidies that were costing five per cent of GDP.
“That now flows through to the Federation Account and is reflected into higher payments to the states. Not just that, but adhering to the rule of law and the sanctity of contracts, previously owed funds were now being systematically made available.”
Providing further details on the activities of government, Mr Edun stated that the macroeconomic ecosystem had been stable, attributing the improved fiscal outlook to bold reforms, including the standing out of the Ways and Means overdraft funding by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“There have been no debits to ways and means since early in this administration,” he said. “Following GDP rebasing, Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio now stands at 38.8 per cent, down from 52.1 per cent, providing greater fiscal headroom,” he added.
Stating that the government was not in default of any obligation, he stated that over N2 trillion was recently paid to contractors to clear outstanding capital budget obligations from 2024, with no pending liabilities outside the formal payment process.
He said the focus was on the timely release of funds for 2025 capital projects, adding that part of the government’s inclusive growth strategy was to strengthen state finances.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Shares of First Holdco Plc worth N45.0 billion issued through a private placement have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
A circular issued by the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of the NGX Regulation Limited, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, disclosed that the equities were admitted for trading at the stock market on Monday.
According to the notice, the additional shares brought for listing to rank pari passu with existing shares of the organisation were 1,021,334,544 units.
These stocks were sold to one of the company’s major shareholders at a unit price of N44.06, amounting to N45.0 billion.
The total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco, as a result of this listing, are now 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of First Holdco Plc were on Monday, June 22, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s private placement of 1,021,334,544 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N44.06 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of First Holdco Plc have now increased to 45,475,027,677 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 44,453,693,133 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the disclosure stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has approved fresh import licences for petrol and diesel for the third quarter of 2026 (July – September) to prevent potential supply shortages in the domestic market.
According to a report by global energy intelligence firm, Argus Media, the latest approvals were issued to major downstream operators amid declining fuel stock levels and concerns over reduced petrol production at the 700,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
The move comes as Nigeria continues to balance increasing local refining capacity with the need to guarantee adequate supplies of petroleum products across the country.
According to the Argus report, domestic firms, including AA Rano, AYM Shafa, Bono Energy, Nipco, Matrix Energy and Pinnacle Oil, received permits to import Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, during the July-September period.
The publication further reported that the same companies, with the exception of Nipco, were granted approvals to import Automotive Gas Oil, commonly known as diesel. The fresh approvals follow an earlier batch of petrol import permits issued by the regulator in May, covering about 720,000 metric tonnes.
Quoting a regulatory source, Argus noted that many of the companies granted the latest approvals were among those that had received permits in previous rounds. “These are some of the same ones that previously received the PMS permits,” the source was quoted as saying.
It was also claimed that AA Rano and Matrix Energy each received approvals to import 180,000 metric tonnes of petrol. AYM Shafa received approval for 120,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle Oil received a permit covering 150,000 metric tonnes.
For diesel imports, Argus reported that AYM Shafa obtained a permit for 60,000 metric tonnes, while Pinnacle secured approval for 45,000 metric tonnes. The report stated that the import approvals were issued only recently, after being delayed from an initial target date of June 15.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.01 per cent on Tuesday, June 23, dragging the market capitalisation down by N25.91 billion to N2.544 trillion from Monday’s N2.570 trillion. Also, the NASD Security Index (NSI) decreased by 43.17 points to 4,239.34 points from 4,282.51 points.
The triplet price losers were Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gave up N4.82 to trade at N75.00 per unit versus Monday’s closing price of N79.82 per unit. NASD Plc depreciated by N3.70 to close at N33.30 per share compared with the preceding day’s N37.00 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc marginally lost 1 Kobo to sell at N21.41 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N21.42 per unit.
Tuesday’s trading data showed that the volume of securities traded by investors retreated by 35.9 per cent to 211,671 units from 330,034 units, and the value of securities fell by 82.9 per cent to N5.6 million from N32.7 million, while the number of deals doubled to 38 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.1 million units transacted for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
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