NASD Exchange Sheds Weight by 1.66% in Week 16

By Adedapo Adesanya The prices of oil benchmarks jumped by 2 per cent on Tuesday on the fresh possibility that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) will extend or deepen supply cuts. Data showed that Brent crude futures gained $1.70 or 2.1 per cent to close at $81.68 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased by $1.55 or 2.1 per cent to $76.41 per barrel after a drop in Kazakh oil output and a weaker US Dollar. OPEC+ is due to hold an online ministerial meeting on Thursday to discuss 2024

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has pledged to stop international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta from divestment of their offshore assets without being accountable to the environment. The Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Host Communities, Mr Dumnamene Dekor, said this during a technical session on the implementation of the Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDT), organised by Spaces for Change (S4C) with support from Ford Foundation. Mr Dekor raised the alarm that since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, host communities have not experienced any positive change, rather have remained

By Adedapo Adesanya The Supreme Court has ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to co-exist with the new banknotes beyond the earlier December 31, 2023, deadline. The apex court ruled on Wednesday that both old and new notes should continue to remain legal tender until the federal government puts a process in place for its replacement or redesign after due consultation with relevant stakeholders. The seven-man panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro gave the ruling following an application by the central government asking the court to grant an extension of time for old naira notes

By Nneka Okumazie If capitalism doesn’t end the world or cause a major ruinous world war, it would be in the adjusted form from its current machinated march. The purity of capitalism – in how it should run states is already adrift, with most of what capitalism is, far different from what it should be. There are places in the world where the price is for the sake of pricey-ness, not quality, not scarcity, but price as an agent. There are other places where consumption is everything, no production, low regulations, but total consumption. There are all kinds of shifts

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi It is no longer news that the management of the University of Calabar has suspended the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Cyril Ndifon, over allegations of sexual harassment of female students. Ndifon’s suspension, which took immediate effect, followed a probe into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by some female students of the faculty who were recently seen in a viral video storming the office of the school’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Florence Obi, wielding placards with inscriptions such as, “Ndifon must go for our sanity,” “We are tired of buying law journals,” “We

By Aduragbemi Omiyale About 2,000 primary school teachers initially seconded to the post-primary Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) of Oyo State during the administration of late Abiola Ajimobi have now been absorbed by Governor Seyi Makinde. The chairman of TESCOM, Mr Akinade Alamu, during the celebration of 2022 World Teachers’ Day in Ibadan on Wednesday, also stated that the state government has approved the promotion of civil servants in the state. Recall that teachers, who teach in secondary schools across the state, had appealed to the Oyo State Government to either regularise their appointments as TESCOM teachers or revert their appointment

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Some entrepreneurs in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria have been equipped with the basic skills they could use to explore the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The small business owners were trained recently by Keystone Bank Limited at a 3-day MSME Masterclass Webinar series themed Taking Your SME Business Across Borders held from June 15 to 17, 2021. The programme was part of Keystone Bank’s unflinching efforts to continue to support the sector of the economy and empower start-ups with the requisite knowledge about the AfCFTA window and the opportunities it presents

By Dipo Olowookere The adoption of ECO currency by eight French speaking countries in West Africa has been kicked against by six English speaking nations in the region; Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon. Countries under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had in July 2019 agreed to adopt a single currency with a flexible currency regime by January 2020. But in December 2019, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, with the backing of France, announced that they were changing their common currency, the CFA Franc, to ECO, through

By Adedapo Adesanya The wavy movement of the Naira at the foreign exchange market, especially at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window this continued on Thursday. Yesterday, the value of the local currency paired with the United States Dollar appreciated just a day after it depreciated. During the trading session, the Nigerian currency was strengthened by 0.03 per cent or 13 kobo to trade at N408.67/$1 compared to N408/80/$1 it traded the previous day. One of the major factors that supported this was the decline in the pressure on the domestic currency as FX traders had enough supply to meet

By Adedapo Adesanya The tag team of NASD Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc ensured that the bull remained on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Thursday, March 10. According to data obtained by Business Post, the NASD OTC market appreciated by 0.05 per cent yesterday as a result of the gains posted by the duo. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the exchange grew by N310 million to N621.25 billion from N620.94 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) increased by 0.36 basis points to end the day at 733.66  points as against 733.30