Naira Weakens Against Dollar at P2P to N577/$1

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange continued its weekly positive run as it extended its gains by 0.41 per cent in the 38th week of trading in this year. The bullish posture was supported by the improvements in the share prices of six companies admitted to the alternative stock exchange in Nigeria. This increased the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by  2.30 points from 805.65 points in the previous week to 808.95 points, as the market capitalisation of the bourse was relatively unchanged on a week-on-week at N1.140 trillion. Food Concepts Plc led the price gainers’ after

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira closed mixed at the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, depreciating against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments and appreciating in the parallel market amid a new leadership at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). On Friday, the CBN announced the resumption of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the next head of the apex bank, in an acting capacity pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate. He is taking over the role amid a worrying FX market, high inflation, and increased call to halt interest rate hikes which currently

By Precious Olisa This news may not be palatable to developers and Nigerians planning to start a building project, as the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria has warned that the price of a 50kg bag of cement may start selling for N9,000 when the dry season begins in November. At the moment, the product is sold at over N5,000. In a statement jointly signed on Sunday by the National Chairman of the group, Mr David Iweta, and its National Secretary, Mr Ufomba, the manufacturers said the rise in the price of cement would be caused by the decision of the

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, has said the country is unable to clear up to $6.8 billion of overdue forward payments in the foreign exchange market, noting that this is preventing the Naira from gaining stability. Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mr Edun lamented that the country’s FX market is facing a serious liquidity crisis due to low flows. “The issue we have now is that the market is not liquid enough,” he said in an interview in New York, per Bloomberg. The Minister said that resolving the overdue contracts would allow the Naira

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The city of Dubai has added 200 megawatt (MW) of solar energy to its volume, increasing its clean energy share to 4 percent of installed capacity. This followed the launch of the 200MW first stage of the 800MW third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park recently by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) is implementing the third phase using the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model at Levelised Cost of Energy of 2.99 US cents per

By Adedapo Adesanya Indian car maker, Hinduja Group, has disclosed plans to invest in Nigeria’s automotive industry following talks with President Bola Tinubu in New Delhi, India, ahead of the G20 summit. President Tinubu is in the Indian capital meeting with delegates and investors on the sidelines of the event, which will be held between September 9 and 10. He was invited to the country by the Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi. At a meeting with Mr Tinubu, the Chairman of Hinduja Group, Mr Prakash Hinduja, said he is ready to sign a memorandum of understanding with the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian local currency suffered a huge shock on Tuesday after falling to N485 per Dollar at the parallel market. The crash, according to market analysts, is due to the continuous crackdown on traders of foreign exchange at the black market. However, it was observed that the Naira exchanged against the Euro at 510 as it traded on Monday, December 5, 2016. But the Pound went up, trading at N600 at the parallel market against N590 per Pound it was sold at the market yesterday. Also, the local currency crashed by N10 at the official interbank market,

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, has called for a review of the employment policy to make it all inclusive, in view of the current unemployment rate in the country. According to Mr Wabba, the need to review the educational curriculum at the various levels and inject in it a technical component. Speaking on Sunday in Abuja, the NLC president said, “If you look at the challenge in our system now, especially the issue of unemployment, it has assumed a very frightening dimension where a lot of our youths, who are able and well educated, have

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria is one of the countries on the brink of severe levels of food insecurity and could potentially fall into famine within three to six months as the coronavirus pandemic erodes people’s ability to access food, a new United Nations report warned on Friday. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, alongside Burkina Faso, Yemen, and South are the countries mentioned in the Early Warning Analysis of Acute Food Insecurity Hotspots report conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). It was found that millions of people who were already facing hunger are

By Adedapo Adesanya In order to drive food security in Nigeria, an agricultural technology company, Groupfarma, a brand owned by Timesellers Limited, is cultivating a total of 2,500 hectares of premium rice in Ogun State. Due to the ban on importation of rice into the country, the company, which makes local cultivation and production of rice more attractive, has identified arable land for the cultivation of rice in various locations in Ogun State. The journey had been implemented earlier this month when the Ogun State Government, represented by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr Adeola Odedina, visited one of the locations

By Adedapo Adesanya   Starting Thursday, August 20, all operators of e-hailing taxi services such as Uber, Bolt, among others will begin to pay the Lagos State Government 10 per cent service tax on each payment made by the passengers to the operators. This will be in addition to some others contained in a document seen by Business Post titled e-taxi operation guideline, under which ride-hailing services will now be structured in the state. This followed plans by the state to regulate the e-hailing transportation sector, a decision coming six months after it restricted operations of commercial motorcycles like MAX,

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange has announced the registration of Morgan Capital Group and FCSL Asset Management Limited to its NASD Enterprise Portal as Due Diligence Advisers (DDAs). The partnership is a great step that will facilitate funding for the real sector in Nigeria, Business Post gathered. According to the exchange, this development would help to ensure that enterprises on the NASD Enterprise Portal (NASDep) are well represented in their bid to access private equity investments. “NASDeP DDAs play a critical role in providing guidance and packaging these enterprises in an attractive manner for investors,” the