Economy
Heritage Bank, RIMAN Partner on Risk Management
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In a bid to achieve and promote global best practices in the implementation of risk management for safer and stronger financial institution, Heritage Bank Plc has entered into strategic partnership with the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN).
Speaking recently with newsmen at the first Chief Risk Officer’s time-out/dinner organised by RIMAN, President of the association, Mr Jude Monye, noted that effective risk management implementation requires the combined efforts of institutions to tailor and implement key risk management methods and practices in the economy.
He, however, explained that Heritage Bank chose to support the first Chief Risk Officer’s time-out/dinner because the bank believes in best practices in every aspect of corporate organisation.
According to him, Heritage Bank believes that the process of economic development will remain an illusion without appropriate attention given to risk management and best practices in all spheres of life.
Based on this, Mr Monye commended the risk managers present at event for their commitment to best practices in their respective sectors.
However, he advised the new and young members of the professional body to always ensure they do not jettison standards in their respective offices.
“Whilst thanking you for the kind honour that you have done us by honouring our invitation tonight, I ask you to join us as we expand the frontiers of our activities to instil global best practice in risk management to you. We seek your support and input as we take RIMAN to the next level and by so doing, add value to you and to your organizational ideals, activities and operations,” he said.
Mr Monye pointed out that over the years, RIMAN has accomplished much, ranging from advocacy, capacity building to professional risk management certification – CRM.
In his goodwill address at the forum, the President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Professor Olusegun Ajibola, commended the risk managers for taking the initiative to organise the event, which he said would be used by members to share ideas on how to grow the profession.
Mr Ajibola asserted that risk management is very important to growing any organisation and even aggregate economy; adding that failure to attach importance to it would do the entity more harm than benefit.
He said the Nigerian economy got to the present stage because people failed to acknowledge the importance of risk management to the private and public sectors.
According to him, as long as we fail to accord due importance to risk management, the nation stands to face the consequences.
The CIBN boss therefore advised the risk managers in the country not to play with their integrity for them to succeed in their vanguard of risk management in the country.
Again, he charged the board of each corporate organisation to be actively involved in the campaign for risk management in the country. With them taking the lead, Mr Ajibola assured that crusade would go a long way.
On why risk managers need to do more in Nigeria, the Chairman of Citibank Nigeria, Mr ‘Yemi Cardoso, noted that Nigeria’s economy is currently experiencing difficulties because risk management was not placed at its right place.
“If the risk managers do not get it right, the value of every restructuring effort made would be destroyed”, he stated.
Cardoso declared that money is kept in trust with banks; thus banks have a critical role to play if the nation’s economy would grow.
RIMAN is the foremost, non-profit professional Association of risk management professionals in Nigeria founded in 2000 in response to the gaps that existed in risk management capacity resulting in the banking crisis at the time.
Over time, the focus of RIMAN had shifted from just financial risk to the fact that risks exist in virtually all human endeavours and across all sectors. RIMAN at inception began with institutional membership and as at 2003, individual membership categories were added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the removal of petrol subsidy saved Nigeria N15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
Mr Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference, where he provided a breakdown of the financial impact of the federal government’s economic reforms under President Bola Tinubu, the same day that the campaign for the 2027 presidential elections commenced.
He said the subsidy savings were reflected in the resources available to the federation, although they did not appear as a separate credit to the federation account under the description “subsidy savings”.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation.
“Many people will say, where is the subsidy savings? As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any alert to the Federation Account with the description ‘subsidy savings’,” Mr Oyedele said.
According to the minister, the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments through the Federation Account.
Mr Oyedele said the government’s overall financial position during the period also reflected increased independent revenue and borrowing to fund its expenditure.
He said the federal government generated N3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, largely from remittances by government-owned entities and increased surpluses from government agencies.
The government also borrowed an additional N11.9 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
“People will say, you said you have exceeded your revenue, why are you still borrowing?” Mr Oyedele said, “The additional borrowing that the federal government took for that period of time, June 2023 to December 2025, amounted to N11.9 trillion.”
According to him, the combination of incremental independent revenue and additional borrowing brought the Federal Government’s incremental resources during the period to N20.4 trillion.
However, he said total incremental expenditure stood at N30.64 trillion.
Mr Oyedele said the figures demonstrated the fiscal implications of the reforms, which were introduced to address long-standing economic distortions and reduce pressure on government finances.
“The administration of President Bola Tinubu has embarked on major reforms to address age-long economic challenges,” he said.
He identified the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market as key measures undertaken by the administration.
“The removal of fuel subsidy, which was quietly bankrupting the country, and the unification of an exchange rate system that had become a source of distortion and corruption rather than stability.
“Those decisions came at a cost, and we are not here to implement otherwise. What does reform cost?” Mr Oyedele questioned.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened further by 1.75 per cent on Tuesday, August 18, triggered by losses recorded by the duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Food Concepts Plc.
CSCS Plc, the Nigerian securities depository company, lost N8.48 to settle at N90.02 per share compared with the previous value of N98.50 per share, while Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of fast food franchise, Chicken Republic, dropped 15 Kobo to end at N2.35 per unit versus N2.50 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Security Index (NSI) further declined by 77.26 points to 4,348.76 points from Monday’s 4,426.02 points, while the market capitalisation dipped by N46.37 billion to N2.610 trillion from N2.656 trillion.
During the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors slumped by 82.6 per cent to 113,728 units from the previous session’s 652,081 units, and the value of securities slid by 12.4 per cent to N9.4 million from the preceding day’s N10.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 47.6 per cent to 31 deals from 21 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.7 million units transacted for N5.8 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Nigerian Naira further appreciated against the US Dollar by N6.22 or 0.46 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, August 18, to N1,343.32/$1 from the previous rate of N1,349.54/$1.
This occurred amid steady growth in Nigeria’s external reserves, rising to $52.32 billion as of August 17, 2026, giving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) enough arsenal to defend the local currency when the need arises in the FX market.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N10.85 to close at N1,819.26/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,830.11/£1, and gained N8.55 on the Euro to sell at N1,556.24/€1 versus Monday’s N1,564.79/€1.
In the same vein, the Naira appreciated against the Dollar in the black market during the trading session by N5 to quote at N1,390/$1, in contrast to the N1,395/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and strengthened at the GTBank forex desk by N7 to N1,357/$1 from N1,364/$1.
NAFEM interbank FX turnover declined as financial institutions’ activities moderated. Interbank FX turnover dropped by 16.6 per cent to $364.709 million from $437.529 million, with the number of deals down by 39.3 per cent to 108 deals from 178 deals.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $64,120.36, as most other major cryptocurrencies closed in the green amid a global selloff in chip stocks.
An Asian semiconductor gauge dropped more than 3 per cent, following a 5 per cent slide in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Tuesday, its worst session since late July, while investors await US Federal Reserve minutes and are widely expecting no rate change in September.
Solana (SOL) gained 1.4 per cent to sell at $76.66, Cardano (ADA) added 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.1748, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.6 per cent to $1,905.54, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to sell at $0.9986, TRON (TRX) improved by 0.3 per cent to $0.3327, and Dogecoin (DOGE) soared by 0.2 per cent to $0.0698.
However, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.4 per cent to $600.88, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
