How Investors Lost $100m To MMM Ponzi Scheme

By Dipo Olowookere Shares of MeCure Industries appreciated by 60.73 per cent last week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as investors began to see value in the company. Business Post reports that in the week, the price of the stock closed at N9.21 per unit compared with the preceding week’s N5.73 per unit, leading the gainers’ chart of 59 members, higher than 54 of the preceding week. On its part, Multiverse rose by 60.06 per cent to N5.81, Unity Bank improved by 57.26 per cent to N1.84, Secure Electronic Technology jumped by 52.78 per cent to

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has set plans in motion to raise $200 million from philanthropic individuals and organisations as part of efforts to create jobs and support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. Nigeria is home to over 36.9 million MSMEs, comprising 96.7 per cent of all businesses in Nigeria. According to data, 67 per cent of these businesses are youth-owned. MSMEs contribute over 45 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with 98.8 per cent of them in the micro cadre. They account for nearly 90 per cent of the jobs in the

By FBS As Black Friday approaches, global broker FBS delves into the relationship between the year’s biggest sales season and its impact on the financial markets. The FBS analysts particularly discover the trends of the world’s largest economy – the American. They analysed reactions across assets and macroeconomic conditions to understand the Black Friday impact better. What influences the Black Friday numbers FBS analysts highlight three critical indicators for gauging Black Friday’s impact on the US economy: the number of buyers, the average amount spent, and the total spending. Over the past 18 years, notably successful in terms of total

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Chairman of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc, Mr Abdulsamad Rabiu, has assured shareholders of the cement firm that they stand to gain a lot from the business combination between CCNN and Obu Cement Company Plc. At a court-ordered meeting held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, majority of the company’s investors voted to stamp the proposed merger between the two companies. At the meeting presided over by Mr Rabiu, 157 out of the 170 accredited shareholders voted in favour of the deal, representing 99.93 percent of the 307,027,755 shares of those at the gathering. Addressing the

By Dipo Olowookere Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Baru, has assured citizens that the perennial fuel scarcity in the country would soon become “a thing of the past.” Mr Baru gave this assurance while delivering a goodwill message during the ‘NNPC Day’ held at the 39th Kaduna International Trade Fair, in Kaduna on Wednesday. He said the state-owned oil firm was committed to providing the necessary assistance for Nigeria to attain competitive edge in non-oil sectors of the economy. “NNPC is suited to providing the enabling environment for the nation to optimise its

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fixed April 3 and 4, for this year’s first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Spokesman of the apex bank, Mr Isaac Okorafor, confirmed these dates to Reuters on Monday in a phone chat with him. The first MPC meeting earlier slated for January 2018 was cancelled when the committee could not form a quorum as a result of the refusal of the nation’s upper parliament to confirm nominees of the MPC sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari last year. However, last week, the Senate agreed to screen

By Adedapo Adesanya The local currency for the first time in five straight trading sessions recorded a movement against the United States currency at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market. On Thursday, the Naira appreciated by 27 kobo or 0.06 per cent after it had maintained stability against the greenback at the I&E segment for four trading sessions to close at N414.80/$1 compared with N415.07/$1 it finished on Wednesday. This occurred as the turnover for the trading session retreated by 37.4 per cent or $83.51 million as trades worth $139.67 million were carried out

By Modupe Gabdeyanka Smart Point of Sales (POS) terminals have been introduced by Quickteller Business, powered by Interswitch, to enable Small and Medium Business Enterprises (SMEs) and merchants in Africa to accept payments seamlessly and better manage their transactions. The Smart PoS device is powered by Android Operating System and equipped with a high-voltage battery for long-lasting performance. The device has been integrated with software that enables users to carry out multiple functions as well as accept a wide range of payments, including cards, electronic transfers, QR codes, Verve Paycode and USSD. With the cutting-edge features on the smart device,

By Dipo Olowookere Capital Hotels shareholders will have to gather at a special event fixed for next month in Abuja to decide whether to sell some stocks of the company to an interested investor. The board wants to allot 1,611,995,510 ordinary shares of 50 kobo to 22 Hospitality Limited through a private placement at a unit price of N7.00. this will amount to N11.3 billion and it will go a long way to boost the capital injection drive of the organisation to boost its operations. Though this sale still requires the approval of the various regulatory agencies involved in the

By Dipo Olowookere Hundreds of shareholders of Oando Plc, who attended the 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company have expressed confidence in the leadership style the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wale Tinubu, and his team. In view of this, the shareholders, at the AGM held on Monday, September 11, 2017 at the Ibom Hall in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, voted unanimously to retain Mr Tinubu and the Board of Directors. Chairman of the board, Oba Michael Gbadebo, noted that the firm was going through a period of restructuring resulting from the prevailing global crisis in the oil

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday amid signs tensions in the Middle East could be easing and uncertainty about US oil inventories, with Brent futures falling by 5 cents to $82.47 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures held steady at $78.26. Analysts warned that the war premium is going away as it is looking more likely that there will not be a disruption in supply in the Middle East. Oil has fallen sharply since mid-October as the Israel-Hamas war risk premium evaporated and doubts set in about the demand outlook, before rising