Investors Oversubscribe N100bn FGN Bond Sale for March

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Adedapo Adesanya A milk-producing company, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria, helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange return to the green territory by 0.54 per cent on Wednesday, November 29. The firm improved its value by N3.50 in the midweek session to settle at N73.50 per share compared with the previous day’s closing price of N70.00 per share. It suppressed the 10 Kobo decline posted by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which ended lower at N17.00 per unit versus Tuesday’s value of N17.10 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange went up by N6.28 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya The Supreme Court has ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to co-exist with the new banknotes beyond the earlier December 31, 2023, deadline. The apex court ruled on Wednesday that both old and new notes should continue to remain legal tender until the federal government puts a process in place for its replacement or redesign after due consultation with relevant stakeholders. The seven-man panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro gave the ruling following an application by the central government asking the court to grant an extension of time for old naira notes

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, has asked his counterpart in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, to support his agency to achieve the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, who appointed both of them. Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the anti-money laundering firm, Mr Adedeji said the EFCC has a role in ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are “judiciously utilised in line with the social contract with the people.” He assured that the FIRS would continue to strive to raise the revenue

By Dipo Olowookere The annual Senior Experts Dialogue on Science, Technology and the African Transformation Agenda continued in South Africa Thursday with participants agreeing on the need for local government leaders across the continent to ramp up investment in technology and innovation to drive growth in cities, particularly at municipal level. African innovators attending the SED 2016 believe that innovation needs to start at municipal level where governments engage directly with communities. “It is good to talk about hubs of innovation in cities but hubs of innovation in dysfunctional cities will not work,” said Stellenbosch University’s Professor Mark Swilling. He

By Modupe Gbadeyanka More teachers would be employed this week by the Edo State government, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has assured. He made this known in Benin City, the state capital, on Friday, November 4, 2016 during an interactive session with female students of different schools at the Second Edo State Festival of the Girl Child organized by ‘We Care Trust Foundation’, a pet project of his wife, Mrs Iara. Mr Oshiomhole revealed that interviews have already been conducted to select the new teachers, noting that they would be posted to schools this week. According to the Governor, his administration is

Moya Messenger is the world’s first data-free mobile messaging app that is rapidly becoming a rival to WhatsApp in South Africa. Developed by biNu, an Australian company that launched its services in South Africa in 2014, Moya Messenger was released in South Africa in July and instantly attracted lots of users, enabling them to communicate without excessive data costs. South Africa has 18 million active social media users, almost half of whom spend most of their time on WhatsApp. WhatsApp has almost taken Mxit, Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and WeChat out of the picture in South Africa, as it is the

By Dipo Olowookere A Chartered Financial Analyst, Mrs ‘Tokunbo Ishmael, has been appointed to the board of directors of FCMB Group Plc. A statement from the company said Mrs Ishmael is expected to bring on board wealth of experience which would be of great impact at the group level. “With this appointment, the board is assured that her laudable contributions at the bank would be replicated across the FCMB Group entities,” the statement signed by the Company Secretary, Mrs Olufunmilayo Adedibu, stated. It was disclosed that the new appointee is joining the board as a non-executive director following the approval

By Dipo Olowookere A Nigerian cocoa processing company, OH Ecosystems Limited, has received $12 million in investments from Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries. The funding package will allow OH Ecosystems to expand its operations and create more jobs in Nigeria while contributing to addressing some of the challenges in the cocoa value chain. Business Post gathered that the funds would be specifically used to resuscitate the underutilised FTN Cocoa Processors Plc, a company listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. OH Ecosystems recently acquired a majority stake in FTN Cocoa, adding to its chain of cocoa processing

By Adedapo Adesanya The bears remained on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Tuesday after the alternative bourse closed lower by 0.46 per cent. The unlisted securities market was dragged down yesterday by Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc. NDEP Plc recorded a N20 or 11.1 per cent loss to close at N180.00 per unit as against N200.00 per unit, while CSCS Plc recorded a 5 kobo or 0.3 per cent decline to close at N17.50 per share versus N17.55 per share of the preceding day. However, the

By Edwin Obune I read the poorly written article by one Mr Odo Ugochukwu where he expressed his animosity, myopic and jaundiced sense of judgements against the government of Enugu State led by Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu). Ordinarily, I would have maintained my calm knowing full well that the hatchet writer is one of the ungrateful elements in the state who have sworn never to see or admit any good thing coming out of the state for reasons best known to them. But because the writer is on a catastrophic mission of demarketing the state with his shallow and uninformed views

By Ahmed Rahma Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State have signed their states’ 2021 budget of N281.9 billion and N169.8 billion respectively into law. The Cross River’s budget, which was signed on Wednesday, has N192.5 billion, representing 67 per cent, earmarked for recurrent expenditure, while the sum of N88.196 billion, representing 33 per cent, was for capital spending. Mr Ayade, speaking at the signing ceremony held at the Governor’s Office in Calabar, stated that there was provision for the establishment of a state polytechnic in the budget. He also mentioned that the