FMBN Seals $2b Deal with REDAN, Shelter Afrique

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira recovered from the previous day’s loss after closing stronger against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 7, by 11.4 per cent or N108.15 to trade at N843.07/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N951.22/$1. This occurred as the value of foreign exchange (FX) transactions slightly increased during the session by $1.67 million or 39.5 per cent to $137.25 million from the $135.58 million achieved in the preceding trading session. Similarly, in the official market, the Nigerian Naira strengthened against the British Pound Sterling on Thursday by

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the total value of the country’s merchandise trade experienced an increase of 1 per cent to $7.8 billion in August 2023 from the $7.72 billion that was quoted in July. This was disclosed by the apex bank in its latest monthly economic publication, where it disclosed that despite the rise month-on-month, Nigeria’s merchandise trade value in the period was almost 20 per cent lower compared to the value in August 2022 due to a significant decrease in import trade value. The total merchandise trade comprised an export trade

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has announced that only 422 of the total 1,411 Nigerian delegates at the ongoing COP28 were funded with taxpayers’ money. This clarification followed the outrage over the size of Nigeria at the conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in a statement on Monday evening amidst concerns by Nigerians about the large number of the country’s delegates at the climate change conference in Dubai. Business Post had reported that Nigeria was joint third with China behind the UAE and Brazil among all the countries

By Adedapo Adesanya The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of $487.5 million to Angola and reiterated its confidence to help it cut public debt to sustainable levels. This brought about the total disbursements under the arrangement with the Bretton Wood institution supported by an extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and have decided to approve an immediate disbursement. The IMF Executive Board also approved the Angolan authorities’ request for waivers of applicability, modification and non-observance of some performance criteria, indicative targets, and structural benchmarks. The second-largest oil producer in Africa has felt the various effects

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Over the weekend, one of the five biggest banks in Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, emerged winner in all four categories at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sustainability Awards. The lender won the Sustainable Bank of the Year, Sustainable Transaction of the Year (Oil and Gas Sector), Sustainable Transaction of the Year (Agriculture), and Excellence in Women Economic Empowerment. These awards come shortly after the financial institution emerged winner in five award categories at the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards (SERAs): Most Responsible Company of the Year Africa (Overall Winner), Best Company in CSR/Sustainability in West Africa,

By Dipo Olowookere Equities in the nation’s stock exchange succumbed to selling pressure on Friday, depreciating by 1.27 percent at the close of transactions. It was the first loss on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 10 consecutive sessions. Selloffs in bellwether stocks contributed to the decline. The bears overpowered the bulls, leaving the market with 17 price losers as against the 15 price gainers during the session. MTN Nigeria was the heaviest price loser yesterday, shedding N8 to sell at N112 per unit, while GTBank followed with a 55 kobo loss to settle at N21.95 per unit. BUA Cement

 By Ahmed Rahma The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has disclosed that his agency and the African Centre for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at the Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State, have detected an additional six UK’s COVID-19 strain known as B.1.1.7 variants in the country. At the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 national briefing on Monday, the DG explained that the additional cases were found on January 30. He said five of the six new cases were from Osun State, while the remaining one was from Kwara State, which is very close

Mr Henry Nkemadu has been appointed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as Director Public Affairs. His appointment as Director Public Affairs was announced to the participants at the annual Workshop for Judges taking place at Enugu where he (Nkemadu) is participating as part of the commission’s delegation. About a fortnight ago, Mr Nkemadu became a full Director at the Commission and until on Friday morning, he was Head, Special Intervention Projects at the Projects Department of the agency. A graduate of veterinary medicine from the University of Nigeria, Mr Nkemadu has traversed the length and breadth of NCC acquiring

TerraPay, a mobile-first international payment network, has announced partnering with UBA Group, a leading pan-African financial services group headquartered in Nigeria, to facilitate real-time money transfer services to its customers in 20 countries across Africa. The service which is currently live in five countries within UBA’s network including Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, will be rolled out to the Bank’s other subsidiaries in Chad, Liberia, Senegal, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Mali, Zambia, Congo DRC, Gabon, Mozambique, Tanzania and Benin Republic soon. Sampson Aneke, Group Head, Transaction and Electronic Banking, UBA Group, while speaking on

By Adedapo Adesanya The Federal High Court In Abuja has ordered the arrest of a British national, Mr James Nolan, for jumping bail. Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order after Mr Nolan, a director in the Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID), failed to appear for trial. Mr Nolan is being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) along with Lurgi Consult Limited and others in a money laundering case to the tune of $9.6 billion. In his ruling, Justice Mohammed said Briton had broken the terms of his bail conditions offered him by the court. He, therefore,