FG Mulls Policy to Attract Private Sector to Agric Extension Services

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), the Peer-to-Peer (P2P), and the black market arms of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Friday, September 29, as a turbulent third quarter ended. In the official segment, the local currency improved its value against the greenback by 2.6 per cent or N20.04 to close at N755.27/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N775.31/$1 amid a drop in the supply of FX into the system by 11.6 per cent or $16.73 million to $127.82 million from the $144.55 million published on Thursday. In the

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has said Nigeria is in dire need of foreign direct investment (FDI) more than ever before, tasking domestic and foreign investors to make Nigeria their investment hub because efforts are being made to formulate business-friendly policies. Mr Shettima, while speaking when he hosted the management of First Surat Group, as well as top management of MTN Nigeria at the presidential villa in Abuja, charged MTN Nigeria to facilitate and spearhead digital mobile money and digital education. He assured that President Bola Tinubu was willing to partner with various stakeholders in the

By Adedapo Adesanya VFD Group Plc has been officially delisted from the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange months after the proprietary investment company revealed its intention to list its stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The bourse on Thursday confirmed the development in a notice seen by Business Post. “Pursuant to the company’s request to delist from the NASD OTC Exchange, we wish to inform you that VFD Group PLC shares will be delisted with effect from the close of business (COB) today, Thursday, September 28, 2023,” the notice read. Last Friday, after three years of trading on the

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange sharply declined by 3.86 per cent on Thursday, September 28, after the shares of VFD Group Plc were taken out of the platform. VFD Group, according to reports, is planning to trade its stocks on a larger platform, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). The delisting of the company’s equities brought down the market capitalisation of the NASD OTC exchange by N44 billion to settle at N1.102 trillion compared with the N1.146 trillion it finished on Tuesday, the last trading session. The market was closed on Wednesday as a

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has approved the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, through his spokesperson, Mrs Uwa Suleiman, on Monday in Abuja. The spokesperson said that the approval was based on President Buhari administration’s consideration for the critical role of NIMC towards the realisation of the objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (NDEPS). Mrs Suleiman explained that it was an effort

By Adedapo Adesanya   President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination for the position of Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) caused a ruckus at the upper chamber of the National Assembly on Tuesday. The President nominated Mrs Oluremi Oyindasola Oni as the Chairman of the pension regulatory agency while Mrs Aisha Umar, who was in an acting capacity, for the Director-General position. For the Executive Commissioners seats were Mrs Hannatu Musa (North-West), Mr Clement Akintola (South-West), Mr Ayim Nyerere (South-East) and Mr Charles Emukowhale (South-South). After the Senate President, Mr Ahmed Lawan, read the President’s letter, some senators opposed the nomination

The race to rebuild the global economy after the lockdowns is gathering pace. The spike in inflationary trends, disturbing food insecurity levels, failing channel management systems, the sharp increase in the number of businesses going bust, and alarming infrastructure deficit form the recent consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. Hence, development agencies and state economic managers on global and regional scales have sprung into action to revive the hailing economies. Recovery aids, financing instruments are being sourced to balance up the intervention policies developed across markets to stimulate quick recovery from the various shocks of the viral outbreak. Africa, home to

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange, after four straight weeks of upward movement, landed in the negative territory in Week 28 of 2023, after it lost 0.75 per cent on a week-on-week basis. This depleted the market capitalisation of the NASD OTC exchange by N4 billion in the week to N1.070 trillion from the N1.074 trillion it closed in the preceding week (Week 27). In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) went down at the close of the trading week by 5.81 points to settle at 770.89 points compared with the 776.70 points recorded

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) finished strong again on Thursday after the market reversed Tuesday’s bearish trend on Wednesday. This comes a day after the Dow broke above 20,000 as US stocks hit all-time highs. The all-share index close at 26,289.95 points after rising by 49.50 points or 0.19 percent, while the market capitalisation ended at N9.05 trillion after improving by N17 billion. A total of 24 stocks appreciated on the floor of the NSE today compared with the 19 equities that went down. Forte Oil topped the gainers’ chart with a

By Dipo Olowookere An investigative report by Premium Times has shown how the Lagos State government led by Mr Akinwunmi Ambode gave the contract of waste management to Visionscape despite not having the necessary experience for the job as earlier insinuated by the Governor. Lagos has recently become very dirty with heaps of refuse seen across the city, which used to be very clean until the present administration cancelled the existing system to introduce its own. Residents of the metropolis have had to deal with daily exposure to severe odour oozing from the refuse dumps in the ‘mega city’. There

By Dipo Olowookere A total of N1.2 trillion has been released by the Federal Government to finance capital projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has confirmed. In a statement issued yesterday, the debt office noted that the release has demonstrated the present administration’s a strong commitment to prioritise improvement in infrastructure in order to stimulate economic growth and development. According to the DMO, the development is huge given that the 2017 Budget was only finalised in July 2017. “Since the 2017 Budget is still being implemented, more releases to capital are expected,” the statement said.

By United Capital Research Considering our base case return which suggests a rather muted uptick in stock prices, we advise investors to consider the following as they make equity investment decisions in H2-18: Buy the dip! Rather than out rightly avoiding equities in H2-18, discerning investors can buy low in H2-18 and wait for a rebound to sell higher. To do this, investors must see beyond the temporary market volatility and critically assess the best-in-class stocks affected by panic sales in H2 -18 to benefit from market repricing after the election. Dividend play: Choose stocks with consistent dividend profile Notwithstanding