Economy
Financial Literacy can Lift Africa out of Poverty—Onyema, Ezekwesili
By Dipo Olowookere
Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr Oscar Onyema, and former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, have reiterated the importance of financial literacy in lifting Nigeria and indeed Africa out of poverty.
Their positions were articulated at the awards ceremony of the 2017 NSE Essay Competition for Senior Secondary Schools Students in Nigeria, held on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at the Civic Center in Lagos.
At the awards ceremony, Miss Gbenjo Olasubomi of Good Shepherd Comprehensive High School, Lagos State, emerged winner of the 2017 edition of the NSE Essay Competition after coming third in the 2016 edition.
She clinched the first position ahead of over 10,100 participants across the country, winning N500,000 scholarship fund for university education, N250,000 equity investment and a laptop. Her school was also rewarded with a trophy, three desktop computers and a printer.
Olanipekun Opeyeoluwa of Oritamefa Baptist Model School, Ibadan, Oyo State and Chukwuemeka Oluchi of Notre Dame Girls College, Ilorin, Kwara State, emerged first and second runners up respectively.
Each of them also got a laptop, equity investment and cash rewards. Their schools got varying number of computers and trophy. Seven laptops were given as consolation prizes to seven other winners.
In his welcome remarks, Mr Onyema noted that financial literacy is very important because of the positive direct impact it can have on promoting livelihoods, economic growth, sound financial systems, and poverty reduction.
“Contemporary society requires everyone to understand the principles of money management and to develop personal financial management skills that will enable them manage their finances effectively to achieve financial freedom,” he said.
“Realizing this, we have implemented and continue to support a number of programmes to promote financial literacy among young Nigerians, by encouraging them to learn how good financial decisions can better their lives now and in the future and ultimately grow the economy,” Mr Onyema added.
He further stated, through the NSE Essay Competition, the NSE has, since inception, inspired over 60,000 young people in more than 7,000 schools across Nigeria to showcase what they have learnt about the financial market.
In her keynote address, Mrs Ezekwesili observed that we must eradicate the dynasty of poverty in our country through education.
“Every country that has climbed out of poverty has done it on the back of improvement in the quality of education and the human capital”. She called on teachers, parents and other stakeholders to be inclusive in inculcating financial literacy to the younger children, so as to raise a generation that will participate more in private sector and trades that will create wealth,” she said.
According to Mrs Ezekwesili, private sector must be more interested in the state of the schools in our nation. “The private sector does not need anybody begging it to be interested in education. You need the top talent hence the need to get involved. So get involved”.
She also charged the students to think differently as they are the generation that will participate in the disruptive revolution.
The NSE Essay Competition initiative, sponsored by Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank, Prime Atlantic Ltd and Cordros Capital Ltd, is aimed at bridging the gap between classroom learning and practical knowledge required for long-term personal financial planning.
It serves as an essential platform to get the perspectives of our young ones on key challenges relating to financial literacy and inclusion in Nigeria. The competition’s overall goal is to develop a culture of wealth creation amongst our youth towards “Building a Financially Savvy Generation”.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
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