Investors Trade N3.3m Stocks on NASD Exchange at Midweek Session

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Adedapo Adesanya A hybrid solar power solutions provider, Daystar Power, has signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries to install and operate a 4.2MWp solar plant and 2MWh battery storage system that will help the firm reduce its high energy costs. The installation will be one of the largest solar and battery storage projects for an industrial manufacturer in Nigeria. The hybrid solar solution will generate 5,249 MWh of electricity – 42 per cent of its daytime power consumption – every year at Nigerian Breweries’ Lagos brewery. According to a statement, the integration of solar into the factory’s energy mix

By Adedapo Adesanya  Angola, one of Africa’s top crude oil producers and a key member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has officially rejected the proposed production quota for the year 2024 and may even exit the group. This was signalled by Mr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, confirming the nation’s decision and indicating a divergence from OPEC’s suggested allocations for both member and non-member countries. The announcement was made during the 26th OPEC+ Meeting on Thursday, where the organisation proposed 1.11 million barrels of crude oil per day production quota for

By Dipo Olowookere On the eve of the London Somalia Conference, United Nations Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, has called for further scale-up of the humanitarian response in Somalia and strengthening of the partnership between the international community, the Federal Government of Somalia and humanitarian partners to avert famine. Somalia is facing prolonged drought which has left 6.7 million people — more than half the population of the country – in need of humanitarian assistance. The situation continues to deteriorate and the possibility of famine in 2017 remains very real, despite an already massive scale-up of assistance since the beginning of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A new report has shown that despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, global financial wealth reached an all-time high of $250 trillion. In the new report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), it was revealed that last year, household savings rose and markets showed unexpected resilience in the face of the health crisis. It was observed that in the period under consideration, many wealth management clients embraced alternative investments in their quest for higher returns, shifting away from low-yield debt securities. As part of this trend, real assets led primarily by real estate

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, has emphasised that for small and medium-sized enterprises in the country to survive, the present tax policy concerning the sector must be reviewed to favour them. Mr Dangote, who is the Chairman of Dangote Groups, said the sector should be considered for tax holidays. He explained that during the tax exemption period, they would be able to grow the business to survive. He pointed out that the multiple taxes placed on SMEs in Nigeria were threatening their survival. “With the way the economy is going now, we are in a time

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The World Bank Group announced the debarment of Zarcus Construction Nigeria Ltd. for two years, following the company’s acknowledgment and cooperation with the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency’s (INT) investigation of misconduct relating to two World Bank-financed projects in Nigeria. The company acknowledged its submission of false audited financial statements in its bids for contracts under the Erosion and Watershed Management Project, and Second Rural Access and Mobility Project. The World Bank also announced the debarment of Geoambiente Sensoramiento Remoto Ltd for a period of 13 months following the company’s involvement in sanctionable practices while bidding for

By The Nation The 12 banks involved in the $1.2 billion 9Mobile loan are setting aside a large part of the debt from their books ahead of the December 31 end-date for the fiscal year. The mobile company took the loan four years ago from a consortium of banks. It failed to repay the loan due to a currency crisis and the economic recession. In the deal are: Zenith Bank, GTBank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Ecobank, First City Monument Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Union Bank. Zenith Bank yesterday announced that it had made a

By Adedapo Adesanya Binance Labs has closed a new $500 million investment fund with support from leading global institutional investors to boost blockchain, Web3, and value-building technologies. The new fund will be invested in projects that can expand cryptocurrency use cases and drive the adoption of Web3 and blockchain technologies. The funds would be pumped in three different stages: incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth. Those who supported the financing were DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, and Whampoa Group, with backing from other major private equity funds, family offices, and corporations. Mr Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance,

By Dipo Olowookere Public and private schools in Lagos State have been directed to resume on Monday, February 18, 2019 as against Tuesday, February 19, 2019 contained in the earlier reviewed calendar. This followed the postponing of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 16, 2019 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). As a result of the postponement of the polls, the Lagos State Government effected a change in the school calendar. Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who supervises the Ministry of Education in the state, announced the new change in the calendar

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The president of the Association of Bureau de Change of Nigeria (ABCON), Mr Aminu Gwadabe, has charged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable the supply of foreign exchange (FX) to his members to strengthen the value of the Naira against the United States Dollar. Speaking on the new guidelines issued for Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators recently by the apex bank, he said his group could not be pushed aside in the forex market because of the critical role it plays. In an effort to reduce the premium between the official exchange rate and the