Naira Soars Against Major Foreign Currencies at Black Market

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 Oil prices settled lower on Thursday even after Russia announced a ban on fuel exports, with Brent crude down by 23 cents to $93.30 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 3 cents to sell at $89.63 per barrel. Russia temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday. It said the ban did not apply to fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements to Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union members, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia

By Adedapo Adesanya All is not well with the Naira in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria, with its exchange rate against the Dollar nearing N1000. At the black market on Thursday, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N25 to sell at N995/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N970/$1. It was a similar story with the local currency in the P2P wing of the forex market as it lost N22 against the greenback yesterday to quote at N992/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria and other oil-dependent economies are facing a worsening situation as it appears that oil demand won’t see any improvement anytime soon. This is based on a new report from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which downwardly revised global oil demand to an average of 90.2 million barrels per day in 2020. The oil cartel in a report released on Monday said this was caused by a weaker-than-expected recovery in India and other Asian countries, and warned that risks remain “elevated and skewed to the downside” for the first half of next year. The

By Dipo Olowookere The sum of N2 billion has been earmarked by the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Bayelsa State government to support entrepreneurs in the state. According to the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr Seriake Dickson, the initiative is to boost the economic growth of the state. He said the N2 billion funding would be used to help the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the state. The Governor said the partnership comes at a time when his administration is making efforts to create a N10 billion entrepreneurship development fund to be managed by the ministry of industry, trade

By Dipo Olowookere The SpeedUPAfrica Bootcamp is returning to Nigeria with an ambition to produce more success stories from a fresh wave of African start-ups, we can confirm. This followed the success from last year’s edition and the 2017 bootcamp will provide the platform for local start-ups owners to interface with top representatives from tech companies like Google, Singularity, Draper Universities and some 60 potential investors from the around the world. Silicon Valley venture capitalist (VC) firm Draper Dark Flow (DDF), which is putting together the bootcamp, is expected to provide practical solutions to issues that start-ups on the continent

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices continued to trade down on Monday, April 20, but the massive crashing of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) below $0 into the negatives was the screamer. Yesterday, prices of the US oil traded into the negative region for the first time in history, resulting into producers paying buyers for the purchase of their products because their storage facilities have been filled up. As a result, the US benchmark May contract traded as low as -$37.63 per barrel, dropping $-55.9 equivalent to 306 percent. On Monday morning, the commodity had traded at $15 per barrel. The

By Emmanuel Otori There are many reasons why companies fail, and one reason for failure in business is the lack of funds, the exchange of money for the goods or services provided. There is no point in having a great product when its market value is zero, sooner or later, the competition for market share would shift to those who get enough cash flow regardless of whether they make a profit. When a business has cash flow, that is a sign of viability, that it has the capacity to cover its running cost over time, but needs to go through

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil and parts of Asia have been identified as untapped markets for fibre optics investments, according to a report jointly released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and EDHECinfra, a venture of the renowned international EDHEC Business School. In the study entitled Infrastructure Strategy 2022: A Pivot to the Digital Frontier, it was stated that, “Although demand for fibre optic projects is most pronounced in less-wealthy economies—large and diverse regions with significant potentials, such as Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil, and parts of Asia are untapped markets—fibre penetration is also uneven in places where

By Olubori Oduntan A partnership to develop the Nigerian oil and gas industry’s capabilities for research and innovation has been entered into between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and India. The collaboration is aimed at leveraging on India’s advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to achieve the above target. A statement issued by NCDMB explained that the agency would work together with the Indian Government and its relevant institutions. Executive Secretary NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, in company with some senior officials of the agency, held a crucial meeting with the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr

By Dipo Olowookere Poultry farmers in the country have been advised to be very careful of the recent re-emergence of bird flu in Nigeria. This call was made by President of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) at a programme held on Wednesday in Abuja. According to NVMA leader, Dr Godwin Abonyi, stakeholders must tackle the issue of the Avian Influenza virus commonly called bird flu with caution. He said government must treat the menace like a national emergency devoid of bottlenecks or bureaucracies. Dr Abonyi said the havoc the virus can wreck is better imagined than experienced. The veterinary