Manufacturers Ask CBN for Forex Rate Band to Ease Bloated Costs

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed a pullback of 0.03 per cent on Wednesday after investors took a second look at their exposure to local equities, though as some were dumping, a few were mopping up. According to data obtained by Business Post, traders bought and sold 566.6 million shares worth N5.4 billion during the trading session in 8,201 deals compared with the 676.7 million shares valued at N5.9 billion traded in 7,659 deals on Tuesday, implying a rise in the number of deals by 7.08 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and value

By Precious Olisa The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited only remitted 57.27 per cent of the revenue it generated in 2021 to the federal government. The agency made this claim in a report released earlier this week, noting that the country generated $23.05 billion from the oil and gas sector in 2021 compared with the $20.43 billion achieved in 2020, with the NNPC and others keeping some funds back. Analysis showed that about $8.67 billion came from the sale of crude oil and gas, $13.37 billion was from taxes and

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange improved by 0.12 per cent on Wednesday, September 20, with the unlisted securities index expanding by 1.00 points to end the day at 806.29 points as against the 805.29 points it recorded at the previous session. During the trading day, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange increased by N1.42 billion to close at N1.139 trillion compared with Tuesday’s closing value of N1.138 trillion. It was observed that the bulls overcame the bears on Wednesday, with the bourse closing with three price gainers and two price losers. Aradel Holdings Plc

By Adedapo Adesanya Brent crude soared closer to $75 per barrel on Monday, June 21 on the back of uncertainty concerning the renewed talks on lifting US sanctions on Iranian crude as the new President-elect of Iran, Mr Ebrahim Raisi. It was observed that yesterday, the price of the global crude benchmark traded at $74.93 per barrel after gaining $1.42 cents or 1.93 per cent, while the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 2.61 per cent or $1.87 to trade at $73.66 per barrel. Both benchmarks have risen for the past four weeks on optimism over the pace of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it will vaccinate almost 30,000 children this week against potentially deadly measles in drought-hit Somalia. The agency said many of the children were displaced by a searing drought and would be vaccinated against measles in an emergency campaign in Baidoa, a town at the heart of one of Somalia’s hardest-hit areas. Many of the children have never been immunized before – they come from remote areas health workers often cannot reach because of a decades-old conflict that has ravaged the impoverished country in the Horn of Africa. So far this

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian local currency appreciated against the Dollar at the parallel segment of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, closing at N374 to the Dollar, Business Post reports. The Naira had opened for the day’s trading at N382 on Thursday morning, but close at the end of transactions in the evening at N374, representing a rise of N8 against the American currency. This is the first major gain the Naira was recording against the Dollar in few weeks. The local currency had been hovering around N380 for sometimes now at the black market despite the various interventions

By Kester Kenn Klomegah As preparations are underway for the second Russia-Africa summit planned for 2022, African leaders, politicians, academic researchers and experts have been discussing several aspects of the current state of Russia-Africa relations. They, most often, compare it with a number of foreign countries notably China, the United States, the European Union, India, France, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea that have held such gatherings in that format with Africa. Some have convincingly argued that Russia has moved away from its low-key strategy to vigorous relations, as shown by the first symbolic Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea city

By Dipo Olowookere As part of concerted efforts to tackle some of the challenges associated with food security at the community and grassroots levels, the Lagos State government held a capacity building workshop themed ‘Aligning Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas Agricultural/Food Security Delivery Services with Lagos State Changing Economic Environment’ for council workers in the state. The seminar, held on Tuesday at the Lagos State Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Alausa, Ikeja, saw participants drawn from agriculture department of the 20 Local Government Councils and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state. Speaking at the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Over the past 10 years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borders, has assisted more than 54,000 deliveries, most of them complicated, in Jahun General Hospital, Jigawa state. To reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, the international medical organisation provides emergency obstetrics and neonatal care in collaboration with the Jigawa State Ministry of Health. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of this collaboration, a Forum on Maternal Health was held on November 13 and 14, 2018 in Dutse and Jahun. Doctors and experts from the field of maternal health and officials from the Ministry of

By Dipo Olowookere Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday released his pay slips for six months after Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir El-Rufai challenged him to make public budget of the National Assembly. On Monday, the Governor published a breakdown of his security vote among other items after the Speaker challenged him to do so. This came after both disagreed on a point raised by Mr El-Rufai at an event, saying the National Assembly was not committed to the anti-corruption fight of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Dogara released his pay slips on

By Adedapo Adesanya The price of the Brent crude rose by 72 cents or 0.86 per cent on Wednesday to trade at $84.44 per barrel as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an inventory decline of 4.6 million barrels for the week to January 7 as against the estimated 2.1-million-barrel decline for the previous week. Also, the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures appreciated during the session by $1.24 or 1.53 per cent to sell for $82.46 per barrel. U.S. crude inventories have dropped for seven consecutive weeks and this was their lowest since October 2018, the