Economy
NASCON Assures Shareholders Good Returns on Investments
By Dipo Olowookere
Shareholders of NASCON Plc have been assured of good returns on their investments especially with plans to roll out more products before the end of this year.
At the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Thursday, Chairperson of NASCON, Mrs Yemisi Ayeni, disclosed that plans were underway to invest in salt packaging and seasoning cubing lines.
She said further that when introduced, the new products will enhance the company’s turnover, profitability and ultimately rub-off positively on the shareholders.
For the year under review, Mrs Ayeni said while the revenue from the sales of salt increased by 24 percent to N14.82 billion, sales from seasoning increased by 127 per cent to N0.54 billion.
Highlighting on the firm’s last year performance, Mrs Ayeni revealed that the company recorded a turnover of N18.29 billion, representing a 13 percent increase over the N16.18 billion in the previous year.
The profit after tax, according to her, increased by 15 percent from N2.11 billion in 2015 to N2.42 billion, while earnings per share also increased from 79 kobo to 91 kobo. As a sign of stability, the company has N2.45 billion in cash reserves for the year under review.
Unanimously, the shareholders approve the payment of 70 kobo per share dividend, representing a pay-out ratio of 77 percent at N1.85 billion, an improvement from the previous year when it paid N1.46 billion to shareholders.
On her part, Executive Director, Commercial, Ms Fatima Aliko Dangote, also assured the shareholders of good returns on their investments, noting that the company was doing so much to enhance their stakes on a consistent basis.
She said, “We are expanding, we are investing on new refinery for our salt and we are also looking at innovations, we are bringing other products that are going to be launched this year. So, hopefully, 2017 will be a better year for the company and also importantly for the shareholders.
“We placed shareholders interest so high because they have actually trusted us, they have invested in our business and as you can see, regardless of our challenges, we are still able to push really hard and declare profits. We have to take our shareholders very seriously so that they can keep trusting us, and by so doing, more people will keep buying our shares and hold us in high regards.”
Recalled that the company’s management, led by the Managing Director, Mr Paul Ferrer, paid NAFDAC’s Director-General, Mrs Yetunde Oni, a courtesy visit in her office in Lagos.
Mr Ferrer had expressed satisfaction at the efforts of the agency leadership to sanitise the food market by getting rid of fake and substandard products and turning the heat on the perpetrators, adding that the efforts had paid off.
He however explained that he observed an infringement on the directives of the Agency on the packaging of industrial salts by some undesired elements.
According to him, contrary to the directives of the NAFDAC that industrial salt should only be packaged in 50kg, his organization observed the existence of the industrial salt in small sizes as 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, and 20kg.
He reasoned that someone somewhere has been has been repackaging the 50kg size to smaller sizes and supplying to the markets, a development he said is dangerous as people may be misled to be buying the industrial salt in place of the table salt which comes in the smaller sizes.
The Dangote Salt boss therefore enjoined NAFDAC to help see to the development as the unsuspecting consumers might not know the difference between the iodized table salt and the industrial salt.
In her response, Mrs Oni thanked the NASCON management for the confidence reposed in her agency. She said the observation was one of the many infringements her agency has been battling tooth and nail and that the NAFDAC management would not relent in the fight against every infringement to see that the people have access to right quality products always.
She advised companies in the food sector to have a Post-Market Surveillance (PMS) unit in their establishment for self-regulation of their market to make enforcement easier for NAFDAC.
By Adedapo Adesanya
TotalEnergies EP Nigeria has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Vaaris for the divestment of its 10 per cent non-operated interest in the Renaissance JV licences in Nigeria.
The Renaissance JV, formerly known as the SPDC JV, is an unincorporated joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (55 per cent), Renaissance Africa Energy Company Ltd (30 per cent, operator), TotalEnergies EP Nigeria (10 per cent) and Agip Energy and Natural Resources Nigeria (5 per cent), which holds 18 licences in the Niger Delta.
In a statement by TotalEnergies on Wednesday, it was stated that under the agreement signed with Vaaris, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will sell its 10 per cent participating interest and all its rights and obligations in 15 licences of Renaissance JV, which are producing mainly oil.
Production from these licences, it was said, represented approximately 16,000 barrels equivalent per day in company’s share in 2025.
The agreement also stated that TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will also transfer to Vaaris its 10 per cent participating interest in the three other licences of Renaissance JV which are producing mainly gas, namely OML 23, OML 28 and OML 77, while TotalEnergies will retain full economic interest in these licences, which currently account for 50 per cent of Nigeria LNG gas supply.
Business Post reports that the conclusion of the deal is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.
“TotalEnergies EP Nigeria has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Vaaris for the sale of its 10 per cent non-operated interest in the Renaissance JV licences in Nigeria.
“Under the agreement signed with Vaaris, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will sell to Vaaris its 10 per cent participating interest and all its rights and obligations in 15 licences of Renaissance JV, which are producing mainly oil. Production from these licences represented approximately 16,000 barrels equivalent per day in the company’s share in 2025.
“TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will also transfer to Vaaris its 10 per cent participating interest in the 3 other licenses of Renaissance JV, which are producing mainly gas (OML 23, OML 28 and OML 77), while TotalEnergies will retain full economic interest in these licenses, which currently account for 50 per cent of Nigeria LNG gas supply. Closing is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals,” the statement reads in part.
The development is part of TotalEnergies’ strategies to dump more assets to lighten its books and debt.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The trading licence of Monument Securities and Finance Limited has been revoked by the regulatory arm of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.
Known as NGX Regulations Limited (NGX Regco), the regulator said it took back the operating licence of the organisation after it shut down its operations.
The revocation of the licence was approved by Regulation and New Business Committee (RNBC) at its meeting held on September 24, 2025, a notice from the signed by the Head of Market Regulations at the agency, Chinedu Akamaka, said.
“This is to formally notify all trading license holders that the board of NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo) has approved the decision of the Regulation and New Business Committee (RNBC)” in respect of Monument Securities and Finance Limited, a part of the disclosure stated.
Monument Securities and Finance Limited was earlier licensed to assist clients with the trading of stocks in the Nigerian capital market.
However, with the latest development, the firm is no longer authorised to perform this function.
Economy
NEITI Advocates Fiscal Discipline, Transparency as FG, States, LGs Get N6trn in Three Months
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called for fiscal discipline and transparency as data showed that federal government, states, and local governments shared a whopping N6 trillion Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements in the third quarter of last year.
In its analysis of the FAAC Q3 2025 allocation, the body revealed that the federal government received N2.19 trillion, states received N1.97 trillion, and local governments received N1.45 trillion.
According to a statement by the Director of Communication and Stakeholders Management at NEITI, Mrs Obiageli Onuorah, the allocation indicated a historic rise in federation account receipts and distributions, explaining that year-on-year quarterly FAAC allocations in 2025 grew by 55.6 per cent compared with Q3 of 2024 while it more than doubling allocations over two years.
The report contained in the agency’s Quarterly Review noted that the N6 trillion included 13 per cent payments to derivative states. It also showed that statutory revenues accounted for 62 per cent of shared receipts, while Value Added Tax (VAT) was 34 per cent, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) and augmentation from non-oil excess revenue each accounted for 2 per cent, respectively.
The distribution to the 36 states comprised revenues from statutory sources, VAT, EMTL, and ecological funds. States also received additional N100 billion as augmentation from the non-oil excess revenue account.
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mr Sarkin Adar, called on the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) FAAC, the National Economic Council (NEC), the National Assembly, and state governments to act on the recommendations to strengthen transparency, accountability, and long-term fiscal sustainability.
“Though the Quarter 3 2025 FAAC results are encouraging, NEITI reiterates that the data presents an opportunity to the government to institutionalise prudent fiscal practices that will protect the gains that have been recorded so far in growing revenue and reduce vulnerability to commodity shocks.
“The Q3 2025 FAAC results are encouraging, but windfalls must be managed with discipline. Greater transparency, realistic budgeting, and stronger stabilisation mechanisms will ensure these resources deliver durable benefits for all Nigerians,” Mr Adar said.
NEITI urged the government at all levels to ensure the growth of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth and stabilisation capacity, by committing to regular transfers to the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund and other related stabilisation mechanisms in line with the fiscal responsibility frameworks.
It further advised governments at all levels to adopt realistic budget benchmarks by setting more conservative and achievable crude oil production and price assumptions in the budget to reduce implementation gaps, deficit, and debt metrics.
This, it said, is in addition to accelerating revenue diversification by prioritising reforms that would attract investments into the mining sector, expedite legislation to modernise the Mineral and Mining Act, support reforms in the downstream petroleum sector, as well as the full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to expand domestic refining and value addition.
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