NASD Exchange Extends Rally by 0.01%

By Adedapo Adesanya A hybrid solar power solutions provider, Daystar Power, has signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries to install and operate a 4.2MWp solar plant and 2MWh battery storage system that will help the firm reduce its high energy costs. The installation will be one of the largest solar and battery storage projects for an industrial manufacturer in Nigeria. The hybrid solar solution will generate 5,249 MWh of electricity – 42 per cent of its daytime power consumption – every year at Nigerian Breweries’ Lagos brewery. According to a statement, the integration of solar into the factory’s energy mix

By Adedapo Adesanya The boards of insurance companies operating in the country have been charged by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to embrace the measures put in place to tackle the challenges of unpaid claims. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, expressed worry over the number of outstanding claims in the sector despite efforts by the regulator to address the issue. Mr Thomas, who is also the chief executive of NAICOM, said the organisation, in collaboration with members of the Insurers’ Committee, has taken decisions and incepted measures designed to tame the menace of unpaid claims. Speaking at the

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Aduragbemi Omiyale President Bola Tinubu has said the 2024 budget presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday was designed to achieve macroeconomic stability, a better investment environment, greater access to social security, poverty reduction and enhanced human capital development. According to him, if these goals are achieved, the standard of living of Nigerians will improve and the citizens will enjoy the dividends of democracy. While presenting the 2024 Appropriation Bills to the parliament yesterday, the President said this was why he christened the budget proposal as the Budget of Renewed Hope. Mr Tinubu told the

By Dipo Olowookere The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crossed N21 trillion on Tuesday following demand for shares of Airtel Africa, GTCO, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings and others as a result of news around them, especially Airtel Africa, lately. The market appreciated by 1.18 per cent yesterday and this pushed the total value of equities on the exchange higher by N247 billion to N21.217 trillion from N20.970 trillion. Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved closer to the 41,000 psychological mark yesterday after it went up by 473.61 points to settle at 40,716.66 points compared with 40,243.05 points

By Dipo Olowookere A committee to ensure all Governors of the 36 states of the federation speak with one voice and further stamp their authority in the country has been set up by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). It would be recalled that the forum became a formidable force in the era of former President Goodluck Jonathan when the present Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, headed the group as the then Governor of Kwara State. Also during the late President Musa Yar’Adua administration, the NGF joined forces with the National Assembly to ensure the cabals allow one of their own,

By Dipo Olowookere Britain’s Coventry University has invited potential students to its open days across Nigeria next week to highlight the value a UK university education provides, particularly for those wanting to pursue a career in industries such as energy, or create their own jobs through a focus on innovation and enterprise. Dr Babatunde Anifowose, a senior lecturer in Petroleum and Environmental Technology at Coventry University, will be on hand to meet open day attendees, and said that the future belonged to “forward-looking” graduates with technical and soft skills. Graduates returning to Nigeria having studied undergraduate or postgraduate degrees such

By Angela Simpson and Lydia Shadrach-Razzino The impact of global geopolitical and economic turbulence and the challenges of the pandemic have led private equity (PE) investors to carefully assess which sectors are expected to do well in Africa and where they can find high-quality assets at the right price. Healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), energy, infrastructure and financials have emerged as the most active sectors by value in Africa in the last few years, with PE investment, in general, rising substantially despite economic challenges. Rapid innovative developments in these sectors have attracted the attention of PE investors, and it

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The United States of America (USA) has congratulated people of The Gambia on their peaceful and democratic presidential election held on December 1, 2016. In a statement issued by the Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, in Washington DC on December 3, the American government also commended President Yayha Jammeh for respecting the results and for agreeing to peacefully transfer power to the president-elect. “We are grateful to the Independent Electoral Commission for its transparent and efficient management of the electoral process,” the statement said. The US also congratulated the “President-elect, Mr Adama Barrow, on his historic

By Okperan Bliss The Commissioner of Police for Anambra Police Command, Mr Aderemi Adeoye, has commended his men for arresting some suspected robbers on the Second Niger Bridge. A statement on Monday by the spokesman for the police in the state, Mr Tochukwu Ikenga, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), disclosed that the suspects were apprehended by officers in the Harbour Division of the command. According to him, the security operatives caught them during a surveillance patrol of the facility on Sunday. Recall that recently, the federal government raised an alarm that some thieves were vandalising the newly completed project.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka This morning of Monday, March 16, 2020, shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc with converge on Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja FCT for the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the gathering, participants will discuss the bank’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 and then approved the accounts. They will also vote on the dividend proposed by the company’s board. On February 11, 2020, Zenith Bank declared a dividend of N2.50 for the 2019 fiscal year, with qualification date fixed for March 9 and closure of register on March 10 and payment date on

By Dipo Olowookere Investors in the Nigerian stock market suffered a loss of N17.3 billion on Thursday as a result of the lackluster performance of equities in the banking space. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had on Tuesday directed deposit money banks in the country to effect between 2 to 5 percent charges on deposits and withdrawals from the retail and corporate customers from Wednesday, September 20, 2019, in Abuja, Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Abia and other few states, with the policy, which it called cashless, expected to take effect in all other states of the federation from 2020. This