Economy
Flour Mills to Drive Profitability Across Key Segments
By Adedapo Adesanya
Following a run-of-the-mill performance in the year ended March 31, 2019, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc is looking forward to drive profitability across its key segments in order to emerge stronger and better.
This was disclosed by the company’s Chairman, Mr John Coumantaros, at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 in Lagos.
Mr Coumantaros noted that following the previous period’s performance, the company was committed and determined to focus on strategies that will improve efficiency and synergy, while driving profitability in all key segments of the group.
Flour Mills, in the previous financial year, recorded drops in revenue, profit, and basic per earning shares indices. The poor performance was attributed to constraints caused by poor power and infrastructure, traffic, soaring input costs, and socio-economic circumstances.
However, the Chairman assured that the board recognizes the importance of improving ahead of the new financial year in progress, noting that the initiatives put in place had started yielding desired results.
“Our strategy to further restructure our balance sheet and optimize the financing costs achieved appreciable results with the significant reduction in net debt by N21.2 billion, while financing costs reduced by 30 percent (N9.8 billion) to N22.9 billion as at 31st March, 2019,” he said.
Accordingly, he also mentioned that working across the four main pillars of the company’s operations – Food Division, Sweetener Division, Agro-allied Division, and Support Services Division, the group was positioned to take the essential leap for continued growth and profitability.
In its food division, the key 5 value chains of grains; oils and fats; sweeteners; proteins and starches are to receive the necessary structure and support in bringing about share gain as imperative strategies has continued to strengthen the service delivery and implemented regionally differentiated plans and offerings.
Working on its innovation, Mr Coumantaros said the group has introduced new and exciting product focused on local content.
“These include the introduction of Golden Penny ‘Dawavita’ which is made from 100 percent natural, yellow Sorghum. Our consumers who are based in the northern part of Nigeria can now enjoy ‘Tuwon Dawa,’ a popular local staple.
“We also introduced Mai Kwabo Pasta and two new flour variants – Easy Bake and Classic flour,” he added.
‘In improving growth across its Sweetener Division through the Golden Sugar Company (GSC), Mr Coumantaros explained: “We introduced the GSC Operational excellence programme which is helping us reduce direct costs, raw material waste and chemical usage resulting in significant savings and employee engagement.”
Despite a drawback due to flood that resulted in damage of its cultivations, he assured that the company has recovered the land and fortified the channel effectively.
“I am happy to report that we have been able to recover the areas lost to the flood and a project to further strengthen our dyke by placing 300,000m3 additional material along 13km has also been completed,” he announced to shareholders present at the meeting yesterday.
Within its Agro-allied division, he assured that there had been significant structural changes along core business business functions disclosing that the agro-allied businesses of the company would now operate under a wholly-owned Agro-allied holding company.
“This was achieved through a Scheme of External restructuring between flour mills of Nigeria Plc and Golden Fertilizer Company Limited (GFC) where GFC emerged as the holding company for the agro-allied businesses and value chains,” Mr Coumantaros said.
The Chairman then assured shareholders that the manufacturing company has started exporting its Golden Penny Garri and High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) to the United States of America and Europe.
“We are looking forward to build even further on this during the current financial year by creating more avenues for Nigerians in the diaspora to get access to our Garri, and equally provide a gluten-free flour alternative for those who are gluten intolerant,” he said.
He then assured shareholders that with the expansion, proper alignment and restructuring coupled with optimal operation of its supply chain put in place that the business would remain in a position of strength and continue to generate growth and create value for shareholders in the coming years.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
