Economy

FG Establishes Milk Collection Centre in Kano

Published

6 years ago

28/10/2019

By Adedapo Adesanya

In its bid to boost local production of milk, the federal government on Saturday inaugurated a mini milk collection centre in Tassa Village in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano state.

The event was supervised by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Sabo Nanono, who said that the center would help alleviate the plight of milk producers and improve their business in the country.

Speaking at the event, the Minister said ‎that this was one of the first batches of the government’s plan and that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration would establish additional centers in other states of the federation in order to further improve the economic well-being of the people.

“Additional collection centers would be establish in Gujungu and Ringim is Jigawa so as to get fresh and hygienic milk,” he said.

He further said that the federal government was still looking into the need establish Fulani settlements in order to settle the herdsmen in one place to eliminate herders/farmers clashes.

This measure, according to Mr Nanono, would also help to improve the business and economic life of the herders in the area.

”I recently visited Bauchi and Gombe states on the issue‎ and the government is committed to the project,” he said.

He, however, said this would not be possible if there were clashes and then called on Fulanis in the state and other parts of the country to leave in peace with farmers and other people in their host communities.

He noted that this was not the only problem posed and identified the lack of Quarantine and Produce Inspectors as some of the major problems facing the export market.

“We have a situation where exportable ‎commodities cannot be exported because of adulteration and misuse of fertiliser. ‎

“We are thinking of having a Quarantine in Dawanau International Grains Market, the biggest grain market in African because about 75 percent of export commodities pass through the market.

“The quarantine will help us to overcome some of the problems and it will help in ensuring that standards are met in the market for export of our commodities ‎so that we avert this kind of problem affecting our operations and export,” he added.

On the shortfall of labour, the Minister said that the inadequate extension workers was one of the challenges faced by the nation’s agricultural sector as there were only 14,000 agricultural extension service workers that attend to the needs of the huge number of farmers across the country.

There was an appeal by the stakeholders to the Federal Government to provide additional warehouses, silos, tractors and machines, among other facilities, in the agric market to enhance their output.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had earlier this year restricted the sale of forex for the importation of milk from the Nigerian foreign exchange market so as to be able to provide the needed finance to enable investors who want to engage in milk production.

Economy

Nipco, 11 Plc Crash OTC Securities Exchange by 4.76%

Published

26 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.

The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.

The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.

During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,450/$1 at Official Forex Market

Published

42 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.

The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.

Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.

As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.

However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.

Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.

As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.

With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.

Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Market Climbs on Federal Reserve Rate-Cut Signals, Supply Concerns

Published

1 hour ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.

Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.

Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.

US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.

Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.

The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.

A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.

Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.

Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.