Naira Adjusted to N386/$1 at Bureaux De Change Window

By Dipo Olowookere The bears tightened their grip on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, chopping off 0.34 per cent from the local bourse despite assurances from Mr Yemi Cardoso he would endeavour to ensure the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restores its independence. Mr Cardoso was confirmed as the new CBN Governor by the Senate yesterday and he promised to formulate evidence-based monetary policies, a departure from his predecessor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of romancing the President and coming up with trial-and-error policies. Business Post reports that investors were more interested in trimming their exposure to

By Adedapo Adesanya  Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has secured a $300 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) to drive increased trade finance and investment across the African continent, fostering economic growth and development. The infrastructure solutions provider on the continent announced the successful signing of the landmark agreement on the sidelines of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Annual meetings in Egypt. The 3-year credit facility is a significant development in AFC’s long-standing relationship with CEXIM. The two institutions have collaborated since 2018, with AFC receiving $400 million in bilateral loans from CEXIM to date. According to

By Adedapo Adesanya The cryptocurrency market witnessed an uptick on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) managing to stay above the $26,000 level even as the US Dollar index rose to a new year-to-date high. Data obtained by Business Post showed that the most valued crypto, BTC, posted a 0.7 per cent appreciation during the midweek session to trade at $26,408.37 in the last 24 hours. On the part of the second-most valued digital coin, Ethereum (ETH), it remained in the $1,600 mark and it improved its value yesterday by 1.6 per cent to sell at $1,610.94. At the trading session, the US

By Adedapo Adesanya The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said he would adopt an evidence-based monetary policy as he assumed office upon confirmation by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday. He said the new leadership of CBN would “adopt an evidence-based monetary policy and shall not be making decisions based on a whim.” The Godswill Akpabio-led Senate confirmed the nomination of Mr Cardoso’s nomination as well as that of the four Deputy Governors of CBN nominated by President Bola Tinubu. The four deputy governors whose appointments were confirmed by the Senate are Mrs

By Adedapo Adesanya The Kwara State Government has won $16.9 million in the 2019/2020 World Bank-supported State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme, the highest ever achieved by the state since the initiative began in 2018. The awards came after the state satisfied the disbursements linked indicators (DLIs) as contained in the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) final report submitted by the independent verification agents (IVA) that had earlier visited Kwara State. The DLIs include improved financial reporting and budget reliability; increased citizens engagement in the budget process; strengthened internally generated revenues (IGR); biometric and BVN used to reduce payroll

By Modupe Gbadeyanka With just two weeks left to the first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting this year, it is not certain if the meeting will hold. This is because the committee lacks the quorum to seat and the Senate, which is to screen and confirm nominees to fill the vacant positions, has refused to carry out this duty because of a face-0ff with the executive arm of government. The MPC meeting is organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and it uses it to formulate monetary policies and set interest rates. The committee comprises the

By Gbenga Ogunleye There have been interesting events in the political terrain in the past few weeks, but the one that has gained unnecessary attention was this allegation by Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, presidential flag-bearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) that the president, Mohammadu Buhari and his family own shares in Etisalat and Keystone Bank. He also called for probe into the substantial shares in Etisalat now known as 9mobile which has an estimated $2b (about N727b at 360 per dollar) of its estimated $20b global net worth. No doubt, all that have transpired in the political circles do

By Dipo Olowookere An agricultural development programme tagged Green Imperative was launched on Thursday in Abuja. The scheme is a partnership between Nigeria and Brazil. The key objective of the scheme is to up-scale the country’s agriculture to boost food production, improve food security, expand job growth and ultimately boost household income in Nigeria. The project also aims to develop deep collaboration between Nigerian and Brazilian industries to deliver and use appropriate technologies to improve productivity in crops such as rice, cassava, cocoa, wheat, soya beans, and maize, sugar cane, tomatoes etc. It was gathered that the bilateral development programme

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been urged to relocate the tank farms in Apapa so as to decongest traffic in the area. A member of the Assembly representing Apapa Constituency 1, Mrs Mojisola Miranda, lamented that the traffic congestion in the area has made live unbearable for residents, business owners as well as school children. She noted that urgent steps must be made to restore sanity to Apapa. Speaking on Thursday during plenary, the lawmaker said the activities of the trailer drivers in Apapa are not only affecting traffic in the area, but that it

By Modupe Gbadeyanka One of the top investment firms in Nigeria, Vetiva Capital Management Limited, has released its top recommendations for the new week, August 14, 2017. The firm explained that, “Primarily, our recommendations are based on expected upsides relative to our target price: Buy, >15.00%; Hold, +5.00 to +14.99%; Sell, <5.00%. Above are the recommendations. Source: Vetiva Research

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed the payment of $547.2 million by the duo of MTN Communications Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited for a 5G spectrum licence. Recently, the industry regulator auctioned the 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum licence, which was won by MTN and Mafab, with Airtel Nigeria Limited bowing out. They were given some weeks to make payment for the licence. In a statement issued on Friday, the Director of Public Affairs of the NCC, Mr Ikechukwu Adinde, it was disclosed that the two companies paid the full fee of $273.6 million each. “I

Governor of Imo State, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, has explained why his administration embarked on the ongoing Pensions Verification Exercise. Mr Ihedioha, while delivering his goodwill message at the Third Quarter Consultative Forum for States and the Federal Capital Territory held in Owerri, the state capital, noted that the exercise was mainly to obtain an accurate database of pensioners in Imo State. Represented by his deputy, Mr Gerald Irona, the Governor reiterated the commitment of his administration to payment of pensions in the state, pledging to entrench transparency and accountability in governance. He commended the National Pensions Commission for organizing the