Economy
Importation of Adulterated Adire Fabric Worries Ogun Govt
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Ogun State government has expressed worry over the inflow of adulterated Adire fabric into the country, especially from China.
The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Ogun State, Mr Fagbayi Oluwasesan, speaking during the annual Ecobank Adire Lagos Experience in Lagos, said the government has taken steps to address the issue.
According to him, the fake fabric poses a major threat to the local Adire industry, noting that, “The Ogun State House of Assembly has commenced steps, through our ministry, to curb the excesses or inflow of Chinese adulterated fabric.”
“The fabric is synonymous with Ogun state. We are the custodians of Adire. It is an indigenous textile from Ogun State and we have to protect it. That’s why we are happy with Ecobank for what they’re doing today, assisting us to showcase what God has given to us, protecting it, and also telling the world that this is what is good for us to be using as fabric,” he stated.
“First and foremost, we don’t need to address it as Adire Chinese. It is never Adire because it is a print on its own that doesn’t pass through the process of how the fabric is made. The original fabric is made manually, and it passes through nine stages before it is made,” the Commissioner added.
On his part, Ecobank Nigeria restated its commitment to ensuring that Nigeria’s Adire industry leverages the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The Executive Director for Commercial Banking at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Kola Adeleke, said the bank was committed to helping businesses exhibiting at the fair to explore opportunities available through the Africa trade pact.
“After the program, these 100 merchants, we are going to continue partnering with them. We are going to support them to build capacity. We are going to even use the opportunity for them to improve the quality of whatever they are producing for export purposes. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that Adire becomes like an African brand with global acclaim.
“This is very unique for us as an organization because it will help to grow our nation’s economy as we see the export potential there.
“We are going to profile all these merchants on the Ecobank single market trade hub and then position them so that they will be able to export their products to other countries in Africa and beyond,” he said.
Mr Adeleke noted that the Adire Lagos exhibition was part of the efforts of the bank to support and project the creative industry in the country, adding that as part of a Pan African bank which operates in 33 countries of Africa, Ecobank Nigeria will always look out to support various productive initiatives and the Adire exhibition fits into this goal.
“We are working on that and a committee has been set up with the approval of the Governor that they should go to the market, you know, look at what we can do and come up with a law, probably, though we may not have the capacity to ban it outrightly.
“We’re also taking it up with the National Assembly; the Representative Abeokuta South Federal Constituency has also raised a Bill at the National Assembly that has passed its second reading now.
“By the time that is done probably we will have the backing of the federal government in banning this adulterated fabric out rightly,” the banker said.
Economy
OPEC Crude Output Falls to 37-Year Low Amid Iran Disruptions
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
Economy
Debt Repayments: FG Overshoots Budget Allocation by 18%
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
Economy
Unlisted Stock Investors’ Wealth Shrinks N30bn
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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