Naira Remains Flat Across FX Market Segments Wednesday

By Dipo Olowookere Shares of MeCure Industries appreciated by 60.73 per cent last week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as investors began to see value in the company. Business Post reports that in the week, the price of the stock closed at N9.21 per unit compared with the preceding week’s N5.73 per unit, leading the gainers’ chart of 59 members, higher than 54 of the preceding week. On its part, Multiverse rose by 60.06 per cent to N5.81, Unity Bank improved by 57.26 per cent to N1.84, Secure Electronic Technology jumped by 52.78 per cent to

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The sum of N75 million has been disbursed to 15 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Nigeria to support their expansion drive. The funding package was given by Google’s Hustle Academy, with beneficiaries drawn from various industries, including agriculture, and fashion, among others. The 15 Nigerian small business owners were among the 5,300 entrepreneurs who graduated from the academy, designed by the tech giant to provide an avenue for participants to enhance their business skills and knowledge, and contribute to the growth of the continent’s economy. The recipients of the funding support are Ifeoma Augusta Anselem of

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices fell on Friday as the release of some hostages in Gaza reduced the geopolitical risk premium and indicated that the Israel-Hamas tensions may not have much effect on the oil market. Brent crude futures depreciated by 84 cents or 1 per cent at $80.58 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped $1.56 or 2 per cent to close at $75.54. There was no settlement for WTI on Thursday owing to the US Thanksgiving holiday. Prices notched their first week of gains in over a month ahead of next week’s meeting of

By Adedapo Adesanya The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has increased its outlook for global oil demand in the medium and longer terms. The group said in its 2022 World Oil Outlook released on Monday that the demand for the commodity would increase to 103 million barrels per day next year—an increase of 2.7 million barrels per day from 2022 and an increase of 1.4 million barrels per day from what the group predicted for 2023 last year. OPEC raised its oil demand outlook for the medium term as well, through 2027, increasing the outlook by 2 million

By Dipo Olowookere The official ICO launch of mCoin has been fixed for April 16, 2018 at the World Blockchain Forum to be held in Dubai. The World BlockChain Forum is the biggest blockchain event at the ongoing pre-ICO sale of mCoin has already attracted participants from more than 30 countries. mCoin reaches 5.8 billion people on mobiles of whom 3 billion people don’t have internet access and it works with ONEm services making blockchain technology available on any mobile. ONEm was founded in 2012 and developed and deployed a revolutionary mobile platform. The platform allowed mobiles without the internet

By Bliss Okperan No fewer than two persons have died in an accident involving a Mazda bus and a Mazda car at Ayedere, along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. The spokesperson for the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, who confirmed the incident to newsmen in Abeokuta, the state capital, said one person, a motor boy, sustained injuries. According to him, the dead victims were the drivers of the two vehicles involved in the fatal road mishap, with the corpses deposited at the Ifo General Hospital morgue. “The motor boy of the white Mazda bus sustained varying degrees

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A development expert, Mr Hafez Ghanem, has been appointed as the new Vice President of the World Bank for Africa. Mr Ghanem succeeds Mr Makhtar Diop, who has been appointed as the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure. A statement issued by the global lender disclosed that Mr Ghanem’s appointment takes effect from July 1, 2018. The new Vice President is armed with over 30 years of experience and he is expected to lead an active regional portfolio consisting of over 600 projects totalling more than $71 billion. Under his leadership, the World Bank will continue to

By Adedapo Adesanya The management of the Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL) on Monday announced the postponement of Week-5 fixtures, citing the inability of all 14 clubs to meet the COVID-19 test requirements for players and team officials. The NWFL Media Officer, Mr Dapo Sotiminu, on Monday said that the Secretariat had given effect to the NWFL directives. “The board of the Nigeria Women Football League headed by Ms Aisha Falode has declared the postponement of Week 5 matches in order to accommodate collation and validation of the COVID-19 test being conducted by the Premiership clubs,” Mr Sotiminu said. In

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chief executive of Ecobank Group, Mr Jeremy Awori, has disclosed that the organisation was making progress in formulating its strategic roadmap, attributing this to the financial performance in the first six months of 2023. In the second quarter of this year, the lender improved its pre-tax profits by 63 per cent to N92.52 billion, as its half-year profit before tax jumped by 38 per cent to N150.31 billion from N108.96 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, interest income for the quarter was N238.67 billion compared to N161.09 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2022,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The federal government is proposing to spend about N26 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Atiku Bagudu, has disclosed. The immediate past Governor of Kebbi State made this disclosure at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu on Monday. He further revealed that the proposed 2024 appropriation bill would be presented to the National Assembly with the Fiscal Responsibility Bill before the end of December 2023 for both to be passed and signed into law. Addressing journalists at the end of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The reported sacking of about 35 aides attached to Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, has been confirmed by the presidency on Friday. A statement issued this afternoon by Mr Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari explained that the action was taken to reduce cost of governance, which has been an issue since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999. Mr Shehu said the aides were asked to vacant their offices as part of an “on-going, an unprecedented overhaul of the nation’s seat of government.” According to him, this exercise