Naira Appreciates to N385/$1 at Investors’ Segment

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A Nigerian startup, Pivo, which raised about $2 million in November 2022, is shutting down its operations, TechCabal is reporting. The platform quoted the co-founder and chief executive of the firm, Ms Nkiru Amadi-Emina, as confirming the intention of the company to fold up. However, no specific reason was given for the decision, though some organisations have been closing shops in Nigeria lately due to the harsh operating environment. One of the biggest pharmaceutical firms in the country, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), announced a few months ago that it would no longer operate its business from Nigeria, opting to

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has projected that its Industry Sustainability Initiative (NISI) will create over $575 billion in capital investment opportunities for Nigeria through the decarbonisation of operations. According to a statement, NMDPRA, while hosting a session on Nigeria’s Pathway to Energy Sustainability and NMDPRA’s Role at the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 (COP28) in Dubai, UAE, x-rayed Nigeria’s journey towards reducing carbon emission and achieving Net Zero by 2060. Speaking at the event, Mr Mustapha Lamorde, the authority’s Executive Director on Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC), said the investment would be

By Dipo Olowookere Profit-taking activities brought back the bears to the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday as investors rebalanced their portfolios. It was observed that traders at Customs Street booked profits in shares mostly in the industrial goods sectors like BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa. This resultantly brought down the local stock market by 0.66 per cent at the close of transactions, with the industrial goods space losing 4.21 per cent, the insurance counter declining by 0.28 per cent, and the energy sector falling by 0.01 per cent. However, the consumer goods index improved yesterday by

By Adedapo Adesanya  The prices of the crude oil benchmarks, Brent and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to a near five-month low on Tuesday on a stronger US Dollar and demand concerns. According to data obtained by Business Post, Brent futures went down by 83 cents or 1.1 per cent to $77.20 a barrel and WTI weakened by 72 cents or 1.0 per cent to $72.32 per barrel. The prices were the lowest for both crude benchmarks since July 6. This put the market down for a fourth day in a row on doubts over voluntary supply cuts announced by

By Adedapo Adesanya  Brent Crude, the global benchmark, traded close to $63 per barrel on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 as the US and China hammer out details of an initial trade agreement which has affected oil demand globally. The deal which was described by US President Donald Trump as the “phase one”, would put in motion settlements to the long lasting trade war. Brent, riding this wave was close to the $63 mark as it was trading up at $62. 95 per barrel, gaining 82 cents, or 1.32 percent. The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude, on the other

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week said the nation’s balance of payments depreciated to deficit of $4.5 billion in the third quarter of 2018, indicating that import exceeded export by $4.5 billion. In a report, the apex bank said this was different from the $503 million surplus recorded in the second quarter of this year. In the report titled Brief on Balance of Payments Statistics Q3’18, the apex bank said, “The provisional Balance of Payments (BOP) estimates for Q3 2018 showed a significant turnaround in the country’s position as the overall balance of payments swung

By Investors Hub European stocks have turned mixed on the day following the Bank of England’s announcement to raise interest rates for the first time in over a decade. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has advanced by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are down by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. The BoE voted by a majority of 7 to 2 to increase the bank rate by 0.25 percentage points to 0.5 percent, as was widely anticipated. The rate increase largely reflected concerns about the outlook for inflation, which soared to a

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria was ranked 66th out of the 117 countries in terms of electronic security, as Africa emerged as the worst among all continents as a new study found that this infrastructural deficit led to the loss of $11 million. The country recorded 0.38 per cent and fell 20 places compared to 46th position in 2021 on the back of a weak cybersecurity structure and low data protection laws. The e-security index includes an evaluation of a country’s cybersecurity (how well a country can counter cybercrime) and the quality of data protection laws. Surfshark’s fourth annual edition of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka In furtherance of its capacity building mandate, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has concluded the first phase of the career counselling sessions for science students from selected secondary schools across the nine oil producing states. The sessions were organised with the goal of influencing the students to pursue careers in strategic sectors of the economy, particularly in engineering related courses which is the core for national development. The students were also advised on the subject combinations they should select while applying for courses in higher institutions as well as the professions they needed to

Kids’ savings accounts normally give parents joint ownership. That means mummy and daddy can manage the finances until the children are ready to do so on their own. Before opening an account, take some time to find the best bank, or an online-only bank for parent and their child. Keep an eye on the following: No minimum balance requirement or monthly maintenance fees: Children should see saving as a good thing. A good interest rate: parents should look for an account that can attract interest rates. Online or in-person access: Walking into a branch office is a good way to

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The decision of the federal government to ban the operations of a social media platform, Twitter, in Nigeria last Friday has continued to generate reactions. The latest to comment on the issue is the conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), which heaped the blame on the National Assembly. In a statement, the opposition political parties said if the parliament had played its constitutional role, the executive would not have been taking actions similar to the last Friday’s. It, however, warned the federal government to “tread carefully on its clandestine effort gag the social media voices in Nigeria.”

By Dipo Olowookere In 2020, one of the mid-level financial institutions in Nigeria, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), witnessed a surge in the number of complaints it received from its customers. The analysis of a document released by the lender by Business Post showed that some of the outstanding complaints were from failed bill payments, dispensing errors on other bank terminals, excess charges, amongst others. Last year, many organisations, including banks, were forced to operate remotely and this made many residents of the country to carry out financial transactions with the use of technology, especially mobile phones. The use of