Naira Value Strengthens Against Dollar On Emefiele Ouster

By Adedapo Adesanya Though the supply of foreign exchange (FX) in Nigeria has remained low, the Naira closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments on Wednesday, September 20, and maintained stability in the parallel market. According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the Dollar in the midweek session by 0.76 per cent or N5.89 to sell for N770.71/$1 versus the previous rate of N776.60/$1 amid a decline in the value of forex transactions by 9.4 per cent or $6.65 million to $64.36 million

By Dipo Olowookere Ellah Lakes Plc can now go ahead with its plans to raise fresh capital through a rights issue to shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared. In 2022, shareholders of the company authorised the board to source about N2.90 billion. The board later filed an application to the SEC to carry out the transaction. In an update on Wednesday, Ellah Lakes informed the investing community that the apex regulatory agency for the country’s capital market had approved its request. The firm, which operates in the agricultural sector, intends to get N2.90 billion from shareholders from

By Adedapo Adesanya Ahead of next week’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for Monday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 26, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pause its interest rate hike. In a statement signed by the Director-General, Mrs Chinyere Almona, the group said this was necessary to relieve Nigerians of the pressure on the supply side following a further surge in the inflation rate. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed last Friday that the average cost of goods and services rose by 25.80 per cent

By Adedapo Adesanya Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira at the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday as it depreciated against the US Dollar at the close of business. The scarcity of forex was responsible for the poor performance of the Naira in the Investors and Exporters (I&E), black market and peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the market during the session. Business Post reports that the domestic currency lost N2.62 or 0.34 per cent on the greenback in the spot market yesterday to close at N776.60/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N773.98/$1, amid a 10.6 per

By Dipo Olowookere The operating profitability of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc is well below the sector average and among the weakest of all rated Nigerian banks, Fitch Ratings has revealed. This information was contained in a statement issued by the rating firm, which announced affirming the lender’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘ with stable outlook. Fitch said however, the bank’s asset quality performance is healthy, particularly given challenging operating conditions in Nigeria, including tight local and foreign currency liquidity. It added that tight liquidity stems from the sharp fall in oil prices, which has adversely impacted

By Adedapo Adesanya The management of Sunu Assurances Plc has revealed that its private placement exercise was fully subscribed at 100 per cent. The firm had offered for sale about 3 billion units of its shares to private investors at a unit price of N1 and from the information contained in a statement, two offers were received and accepted. This has now enabled the organisation to raise not less than N3 billion from the transaction and this capital would be used to expand the services of the company. “The private placement exercise of 3,010,800,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each

By Dipo Olowookere The force majeure declared on Sunday by the management of Aiteo Group, operators of Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), has led to apprehension. This is because the situation has led to the reduction on the volume of crude oil produced by the company. The commodity is the major source of export for Nigeria. It was disclosed that the force majeure was declared as a result of a fire outbreak on the pipeline and efforts are being made to ensure production starts as soon as possible. “We have been informed of a fire outbreak by our surveillance team

By Philip Odiakose Following the current economic recession in the country, businesses, whether big or small have started looking at ways of reducing their expenditure by proper planning and budgeting. A lot of companies have started strategizing and planning their Communications and PR budget ahead of 2017. One key area companies are looking at is the area of Independent PR Measurement budgeting and planning. The days are over when organizations just spend without measuring or getting key insights of their industry from the PR agencies. The awareness of PR Measurement is growing by the day. Some of the key economic

By Dipo Olowookere Many know Mrs Folorunsho Alakija as one of the richest persons in Africa, who boasts of an oil block in Nigeria, but not many know the true story behind her riches. Mrs Alakija told Peace Hyde of Forbes Africa in an interview that she is where she is today because of her decision to give her life to Jesus Christ about 25 years ago. Hear her: “I don’t think I could have got this far if I had not entered into a covenant with God. It was 25 years since I gave my life to Christ. I

By Adedapo Adesanya The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has charged President Bola Tinubu to probe claims of mismanagement of over $800 million in allocated funds to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) for the cleanup of Ogoniland in the last seven years. The group’s president, Mr Fegalo Nsuke, speaking in Ban Ogoi, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State, alleged that the handlers of HYPREP have misused the funds recklessly and tasked the new Nigerian leader to step in. It also called for the dissolution of all governing structures of HYPREP, pending the conclusion of

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi I read with much relief two expositions on the electricity crisis in Nigeria and I must confess that any interested observers of the critical appraisal of the issue will agree that those submissions were factual and patriotically expressed. While the first came from a reader who reacted to my initial intervention Still on Nigeria’s Electricity Crisis, the other and very revealing submission came from the government quarters, the Delta State Commissioner for Energy, Engr. Jonathan Ukodhiko. Beginning with the first, it reads; the manifest failure of the poorly executed power sector privatization by the discredited Jonathan

By Dipo Olowookere A total of $22.58 million has been approved for disbursement for the Republic of Benin by the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also, the board approved the tiny West African nation’s request to set program conditionality for 2018, and to modify the end-December 2017 performance criteria. These approvals followed the completion of the first review of the arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Benin. Benin’s three-year arrangement for $158.1 million or 90 percent of its quota at the time of approval of the arrangement was approved on April 7, 2017 and it