By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has launched a locally developed portal to enhance trade transparency, efficiency, and compliance.

The portal, called B-Odogwu, will provide a unified system for stakeholders, including shippers, terminal operators, and traders, to access and manage their information system.

According to a statement, the Comptroller Kano/Jigawa Command, Dalhat Abubakar, unveiled the program in Kano on Tuesday and described it as a safer, faster, and indigenous-owned system designed by the NCS for easy transactions.

He said the introduction of the B-Odogwu system was a significant step towards achieving a single National entry window and promoting transparency in trade facilitation.

According to him, “The new system is designed to ensure reliability, transparency, and compliance in trade facilitation.”

Mr Abubakar, however, stressed that the NCS has demonstrated competence and dedication in transitioning from service providers to the new system.

He added that the key features and benefits of the B-Odogwu system include faster processing and reduced downtime, enhanced reliability, and transparency.

Other benefits are improved compliance and reduced lack of compliance, a single national entry window with a single data movement, and trade facilitation and transparency.

He disclosed that “The NCS has commenced training for terminal operators, shippers, traders, and licensed agents to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.”

He further stated that “Over 16,000 declarations have been made on the B-Odogwu system since its introduction in January 2025.”

By Dipo Olowookere

The much-awaited listing of shares of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited may happen soon as the state-owned oil agency has expressed its readiness to join the nation’s capital market.

At a consultative meeting with partners at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, on Thursday, the Chief Finance and Investor Relations Officer (CFIO) of the NNPC, Mr Olugbenga Oluwaniy, said the process of listing on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited is at the final stage.

The NNPC is required to make its stocks available to members of the public based on the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

The PIA provides for the NNPC Ltd to list its shares in the capital market in line with the provisions of the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990.

This exercise should have happened, but it has been delayed, but with the latest information, the wait may soon be over.

Mr Oluwaniyi, via a statement today by the company’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Mr Olufemi Soneye, disclosed that NNPC was currently engaging with prospective partners in an exercise tagged NNPC Ltd. IPO Beauty Parade in line with capital market regulations before the commencement of the Initial Public Offer (IPO).

According to the CFIO, the aim of the IPO Beauty Parade is to access potential partners and determine in what ways they could be of support to the company.

He listed the areas of partnership required to include Investor Relations, IPO Readiness Advisers, and Investment Bank Partners, noting that the organisation with the best offer in terms of project partnership would be selected for each of the three categories.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The pump price of petrol will likely increase in coming weeks as the landing cost of a litre of imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country increased by N88 from N797 per litre last week to N885 per litre this week.

This informing is according to the latest data from the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) on Wednesday.

The association confirmed the rise in the landing cost in its daily energy bulletin released on Wednesday, arguing that price changes are inevitable in a deregulated market.

The new landing cost is N25 higher than the N860 per litre that end-user customers pay for Dangote petrol from MRS and other partners.

Similarly, the Dangote refinery’s ex-depot petrol price is N815 per litre, N70 lower than the new landing cost..

The landing cost fell from about N927 below Dangote’s ex-depot price, forcing the refinery to react with a price cut.

The development resulted in the loss of billions of Naira by marketers as they were made to sell petrol below their costs.

There are, however, indications that this may lead to increase in petrol prices in the coming weeks as a result of the disagreement between the Dangote refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited over the Naira-for-crude deal and the rise in the landing cost.

While announcing the suspension of the sale of the product in local currency last week, the Dangote Group said, “Dear valued customers, we wish to inform you that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in naira. This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars.

“To date, our sales of petroleum products in naira have exceeded the value of naira-denominated crude we have received. As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency.”

Immediately after the announcement, the cost of loading petrol at private depots in Lagos jumped to about N900/litre.

In a related development, seven vessels carrying imported PMS were expected to berth at seaports along the nation’s borders between March 17 and 23.

These vessels, carrying 115,000 metric tonnes, representing 154.22 million litres of PMS, brought in products through three seaports – Tincan port in Lagos, the Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos, and the Calabar port – to improve fuel supply nationwide.