Economy
Lagos Prepares 12,000 Students for Labour Market

By Dipo Olowookere
Plans have been concluded by the Lagos State government to train 12,000 undergraduates in tertiary institutions in the state on entrepreneurship and employability skills.
Out of the 12, 000 students, it was gathered that 2,000 final year students would be selected for the training at the three designated centres, while the remaining 10,000 would be selected from students in their penultimate year at the institutions and trained.
The beneficiaries, Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh explained, would been chose from those who register for the 2017 edition of the Ready, Set, Work (RSW) scheme of the state government.
On Thursday, government opened the programme’s website, www.readysetwork.com.ng, for intending applicants to register.
Mr Bank-Olemoh told newsmen that while registration begins from June 16, the training will run from July 1 to September 16, 2017.
He said as an improvement on the initiative which started in 2016, students of six tertiary institutions in the State would benefit, while three centres have been designated to host the training.
The six institutions, according to Bank-Olemoh are Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (ACCOED), Lagos State College of Health Science (LASCOHET), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Lagos State University (LASU), Michael Otedola College of Education (MOCPED) and University of Lagos (UNILAG).
“When the administration of Governor Ambode came on board, one of the issues he was confronted with from the private sector was that there were major gaps in the work readiness of graduates, and his immediate response was to come up with a scheme to equip graduates from our tertiary institutions with the right skills needed to add value to the society.
“And so, the vision of the RSW is that every graduate from a tertiary institution situated in Lagos must have the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to gain meaningful employment or be self-employed and our plan is to train all graduates in tertiary institutions through the RSW,” the Governor’s aide said.
He said beneficiaries of the scheme would be selected to participate only on competence, and would be trained for thirteen weeks on labour market, mindset reorientation, 21st century skills, entrepreneurship, employability skills and teacher track.
He said about 750 of the beneficiaries would be helped to secure internship placement and given skill for life, while there would also be seed funding for winners of the business pitch competition to be held as part of the training.
Responding to questions on sustainability of the scheme and the need to accommodate other tertiary institutions in the state, Mr Bank-Olemoh said plans are afoot to integrate the RSW into the education curriculum of the state, and also expand the modules as well as the benefiting institutions.
Out of the 500 students that were registered for the scheme in 2016, only 422 graduated after the rigorous training with Sarunmi Oluwafemi and Dada Samuel who emerged as the overall winners of the pitch competition walking away with N6 million seed funding and N100,000 monthly working capital for six months.
The second and third place winners also got N500,000 and N250,000 respectively with N100,000 working capital for six months.
Economy
NGX Index Down 0.15% as eTranzact Ends as Worst-Performing Stock

By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day of the new week at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Monday with a 0.15 per cent loss.
This was influenced by a decline in the appetite for Nigerian stocks by investors, as market participants chose to trade cautiously.
The profit-taking put most of the sectors under pressure, with the insurance index crumbling by 1.70 per cent at the close of transactions.
Further, the consumer goods space declined by 0.38 per cent, the banking counter shrank by 0.20 per cent, and the energy industry depreciated by 0.19 per cent, while the industrial goods and commodity sectors closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) gave up 155.96 points to settle at 105,799.17 points compared with last Friday’s 105,955.13 points, and the market capitalisation tumbled by N8 billion to close at N66.344 trillion versus N66.352 trillion.
The worst-performing stock yesterday was eTranzact after it lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N5.85, Sunu Assurances depleted by 9.92 per cent to N4.63, Prestige Assurance fell by 8.26 per cent to N1.00, Sovereign Trust Insurance crashed by 7.77 per cent to 95 Kobo, and Red Star Express stumbled by 7.76 per cent to N5.35.
The best-performing stock for the session was Academy Press as it chalked up 9.92 per cent to sell for N2.88, Neimeth appreciated by 8.43 per cent to N2.70, Tantalizers rose by 6.83 per cent to N3.13, Dangote Sugar jumped by 4.71 per cent to N36.70, and Stanbic IBTC grew by 4.24 per cent to N61.50.
Business Post reports that there were 18 price gainers and 35 price losers on Monday, representing a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
During the trading day, investors traded 477.5 million shares valued at N7.1 billion in 13,520 deals compared with the 750.6 million shares worth N11.1 billion transacted in 10,584 deals in the preceding session, indicating a growth in the number of deals by 27.74 per cent, and a slump in the trading volume and value by 36.38 per cent and 36.04 per cent, respectively.
Jaiz Bank topped the activity chart after selling 197.4 million stocks for N606.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 26.0 million shares for N1.2 billion, Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 19.3 million equities worth N18.5 million, Prestige Assurance exchanged 18.5 million shares valued at N19.0 million, and Fidelity Bank sold 15.9 million equities worth N270.5 million.
Economy
Inflation in Nigeria Cools to 23.18% in February 2025

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In February 2025, inflation in Nigeria moderated to 23.18 per cent from the 24.48 per cent recorded in January 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday revealed.
The agency disclosed in the report yesterday that on a year-on-year basis, the average prices of goods and services eased by 8.52 per cent from the 31.70 per cent achieved in February 2024.
In the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, the NBS said last month, the headline inflation slowed due to decline in the average prices of food items like yam tuber, potatoes, soya beans, flour of maize/cornmeal, cassava, bambara beans (dried), etc compared with the prices in the first month of this year.
It stated that housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels accounted for 1.95 per cent of inflationary concerns, which education services contributed 1.44 per cent, with health accounting for 1.40 per cent.
It added that clothing and footwear accounted for 1.17 per cent, information and communication contributed 0.76 per cent, and personal care, social protection, miscellaneous goods and services accounted for 0.76 per cent.
Further, furnishing, household equipment, and routine household maintenance contributed 0.69 per cent; insurance and financial services accounted for 0.11 per cent; and alcoholic beverages, tobacco, recreation, sport, and culture, sport, and culture contributed 0.07 per cent.
Also, food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 9.28 per cent, restaurants and accommodation services contributed 2.99 per cent; and transport accounted for 2.47 per cent.
The agency also revealed that last month, food inflation went down on a year-on-year basis by 14.41 per cent to 23.51 per cent from 37.92 per cent in the same period of last year.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was 1.67 per cent, with the average annual rate for the 12 months ending February 2025 over the previous 12-month average at 34.74 per cent, in contrast to 30.07 per cent in February 2024.
It stated that core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produces and energy, also declined by 2.12 per cent to 23.01 per cent, year-on-year in February 2025, compared to the 25.13 per cent in February 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, the core index stood at 2.52 per cent in February while the average 12-month annual inflation rate was 25.33 per cent for the 12 months ending February 2025, higher than 21.72 per cent in February 2024.
Economy
SEC Suspends Centurion Registrars for Capital Market Infractions

By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the suspension of Centurion Registrars Limited, including its directors and sponsored individuals from the capital market.
The suspension was announced by the commission in a statement titled Additional Enforcement Measures on Erring Capital Market Operators.
The SEC stated, “All clients of Centurion Registrars are advised to contact Africa Prudential Plc for guidance.”
This is not the first time Centurion Registrars has had issues with the Nigerian government as it was convicted in 2022 by a Special Offences Court in Lagos over fraud involving N206.5 million stocks after it was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The latest action of the SEC on the company is part of the agency’s broader efforts in 2025 to crack down on capital market operators it deems illegal to sanitise the investment environment in Nigeria.
Recall that the regulator revoked the registration of Mainland Trust Limited as a capital market operator, citing regulatory non-compliance and outstanding complaints against the company.
In a related development, the commission also said it would publish the names of Capital Market Operators who violate market regulations in its Name and Shame journal.
The SEC said the decision reflects a zero-tolerance policy for infractions in the capital market and aligns with newly revised enforcement strategies.
According to the notice, “The publication will be in addition to the sanctions and penalties for the respective infractions prescribed in the ISA 2007 and the SEC rules and regulations.”
Business Post had reported that the SEC listed mainstreaming the Nigerian capital market into the economy as its top priority in 2025.
Mr Emomotimi Agama, the Director General of SEC, said this in his New Year 2025 message to the capital market community on Monday.
He also said the commission would intensify efforts to eliminate Ponzi and pyramid schemes, thereby fostering an environment for genuine investment opportunities to thrive in 2025.
He said that protecting investors remained a cornerstone of the commission’s mission.
Mr Agama also said that the commission would prioritise key initiatives aimed at deepening market integrity, enhancing investor confidence and driving economic growth.
-
Feature/OPED5 years ago
Davos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years ago
Estranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years ago
Sort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years ago
Subsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years ago
First Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years ago
Highest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years ago
How To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN