Investors Panic, Share Price Drop as Market Awaits Outcome of Oando Probe

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira weakened further by 8.3 per cent or N67.28 on the American Dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, as investors intensified their demand for the greenback ahead of the festive season rush. Amid a squeeze in the supply of the foreign currency to the market, the value of the local currency closed at N881.88/$1 yesterday compared with the preceding session’s N814.60/$1. Though the supply of FX into the official market improved by 17.9 per cent or $18.00 million to $118.06 million from $100.06 million quoted on Monday, it was not

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

In furtherance of my sacred duties and obligations as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is my honour to be here today to present my administration’s 2024 Budget Proposal to this Joint Session of the 10th National Assembly. This moment is especially profound and significant to me because it is my first annual budgetary presentation to the National Assembly. Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the National Assembly, I commend your swift consideration and passage of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bills and the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper. Your prompt action underscores your devotion

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr Jide Idris, has confirmed that the two students of Queens College in the state died from water borne diseases. Dr Idris, while addressing newsmen on Thursday, said tests conducted by the state government confirmed that the water in the school was seriously contaminated. He said water samples from six sources in the school premises were collected and analysed, while another set of water samples from 10 sources were collected and analysed at the Microbiology Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at Idi-Araba. According to him, “The results from

By Dipo Olowookere The removal of Mr Jim Obazee as Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) by President Muhammadu Buhari has been commended by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The association described it as “good riddance to bad rubbish,” warming that, “Anybody that wants to fight the church will find himself where he does not want.” Speaking via its General Secretary, Rev. Musa Asake, CAN urged the Federal Government to completely throw away the controversial code “because government should not interfere with the church.” Rev Asake described the church as “a no-go zone for the

By Dipo Olowookere A new association has been launched by past and present Business Editors across the country. The new body is called Association of Business Editors of Nigeria (ABEN) and its Chairman is the former Editor of Vanguard Newspaper, Mr Omo Gabriel. Speaking at the inauguration of ABEN, Mr Gabriel said forming the body was very tough because of different factors including registration of the group with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Commenting on the economy, the ABEN chief said despite all efforts made by the different political dispensation to resuscitate it, the Nigerian economy has continued to defy

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed positive on Tuesday after losing in the last two previous sessions. Gains recorded by large stocks in the Industrial goods and Consumer goods sectors were enough to offset the losses in the other sectors, leaving the market 0.17 percent higher at the close of business with the year-to-date returns expanding slightly to 5.90 percent. The All-Share Index (ASI) rose yesterday by 69.86 points to settle at 40,499.04 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N25.2 billion to finish at N14.629 trillion. It was observed that

By Modupe Gbadeyanka An ultra-modern manufacturing plant for drilling chemicals, water and oil-based production chemicals has been launched in Nigeria by Pacegate Energy and Resources Limited (PEARL). PEARL, an arm of Pacegate Limited with an Integrated Management System (ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 & ISO45001:2018) will provide chemical treatment solutions, laboratory testing and services, and professional field support services to the upstream and downstream sectors, as well as other relevant sectors. This is in a bid to meet the growing needs of the oil and gas and transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy and Africa at large. This has been made

By Dipo Olowookere The Overnight (OVN) lending rate in Nigeria depreciated by 2.50 percent on Monday to 21.00 percent from the 23.50 percent it ended last Friday. The overnight lending rate is the interest rate most commercial banks borrow funds among themselves in the overnight market. Last Friday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) debited some banks excess cash in their reserves as part of efforts to control liquidity in the financial system. This spiked the money market rates to double digits during the session. Also last Friday, the apex bank asked the commercial banks to bid for the Dollar

By Dipo Olowookere The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification earlier obtained in 2015 by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has been resecured by the company. This followed the recent audit of its compliance with information security risks controls by the British Standards Institution (BSI), UK, one of the world’s largest accreditation bodies for ISO certifications. The audit involved a series of process validation and assurance check of controls with respect to company and client data management. Managing Director of CSCS, Mr Haruna Jalo-Waziri, described this development as a significant capital market infrastructure and indeed, the Central Securities Depository for the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has maintained that prices of food items will crash within the next two weeks, especially rice. The Minister disclosed that Nigerians would soon begin to see results of the various steps taken by the government to enhance food security in the country. Mr Ogbeh disclosed that the Ministry of Agric will supply 20 tonnes of rice seedlings to the Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti in the next planting season to boost rice production in the country. According to him, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would stop importation