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NEITI Unveils Roadmap on Use of Open Data

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By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Two documents designed to push the boundaries of implementation of transparency and accountability in the extractive industries in Nigeria have been launched by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

It was gathered that the first document is the Roadmap on Beneficial Ownership disclosure, which seeks to outline Nigeria’s strategy towards the implementation and fulfilment of Requirement 2.5 of the EITI standard which among other things demands public disclosures of the real owners of oil, gas and mining companies that operate in Nigeria.

The roadmap provides comprehensive plans and actions designed to guide Nigeria in its implementation of beneficial ownership disclosure in the extractive industries.

The strategy document also identified the institutional frameworks that are required for effective implementation of ownership transparency, clarity on definition of beneficial owners and explanation on thresholds for public disclosure required in the process.

It also defined those who fall into the category of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and the reporting obligations expected of them as well as the challenges  that may be encountered during the process of  data collection, data quality assurance, accessibility and timeliness.

The plan also identified the need for capacity building for all stakeholders expected to be involved in the implementation given the complexity of the extractive industries in Nigeria and highlighted the need for public education and enlightenment on the principles and benefits of Beneficial Ownership disclosures.

The roadmap, apart from fulfilling the EITI requirement, is also in line with the commitment made by President Muhammadu Buhari at the London anti-corruption summit where he pledged to establish a publicly accessible register of all companies operating in Nigeria.

In the President’s words, “We welcome the new 2016 EITI Standard, in particular, the requirements on beneficial ownership and the sale of the government’s share of production”.

The President also declared that “Nigeria will establish a transparent central register of foreign companies bidding on public contracts and buying property. We welcome the proposal by developed countries to work together to improve the access of developing countries to beneficial ownership information for use in public contracting.”

The EITI standards require all implementing countries to publish their Beneficial Ownership Roadmap by January 2017 and commence full implementation by January 2020.

The process adopted in the development of the roadmap was consultative, robust and consistent with the multi-stakeholders approach of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which involves civil society, media, extractive companies, relevant government agencies and development partners.

In a similar development, NEITI has unveiled an open data policy in keeping with the realization that the world is currently witnessing a global shift towards making data open and accessible. This is also in compliance with the EITI Standards and the global shift towards open data availability which is largely attributed to technological advancement and increasing demand for transparency and accountability by citizens.

Under the open data policy released by NEITI, information and data contained in its industry audits would be made publicly available and accessible in a reusable format.

The policy defined Open data as data that is in the public domain or ought to be in the public domain. The definition also provides that such data should be accessible, freely used at no cost and can be shared and built upon by anyone.

The open data policy also requires that the data be used anywhere and for any purpose without restrictions from copyright, patent or other control mechanism and must also be expressly excluded by the provisions of the laws of Nigeria.

This requires making the data convenient, modifiable in open format, easily retrievable, indexed, and well organized. The open data policy also represents the framework for the implementation of the global drive for use of open data to pursue reforms, enthrone transparency and accountability especially in the extractive sector of the Nigerian economy.

The open data policy is expected not only to create a solid foundation for open data disclosures in the extractive sector, but has the potential for implementation in other sectors of the economy.

NEITI therefore appeals to the media, civil society, parliamentarians and citizens to avail themselves of the two policy documents and use them as tools for public education, information dissemination and enlightenment on governance issues in the extractive industry in Nigeria.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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Economy

Unlisted Stock Investors’ Wealth Shrinks N30bn

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unlisted stock investors

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.

Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.

The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.

For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.

There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.

GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

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Economy

McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Crash Stock Market by 0.37%

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McNichols

By Dipo Olowookere

The domestic stock market crashed by 0.37 per cent on Thursday as a result of the decline in the price of shares of McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Holdings, and others.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak after the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended the session with 25 price gainers and 31 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.

McNichols lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.74, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N6.20, Eterna shrank by 9.85 per cent to N29.75, Aradel Holdings depreciated by 9.51 per cent to N1,749.90, and NPF Microfinance Bank contracted by 8.45 per cent to N5.20.

On the flip side, International Energy Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to close at N6.60, Omatek improved by 9.73 per cent to N2.03, Abbey Mortgage Bank surged by 9.68 per cent to N8.50, Cutix expanded by 9.66 per cent to N3.18, and John Holt grew by 7.79 per cent to N14.90.

As for the sectorial performance, the industrial goods and banking indices chalked up 0.54 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. But the energy sector depleted by 4.90 per cent, the insurance counter tumbled by 0.58 per cent, and the consumer goods index slumped by 0.03 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 905.30 points to 242,227.31 points from 243,132.61 points, and the market capitalisation stumbled by N581 billion to N155.359 trillion from N155.940 trillion.

During the session, investors traded 588.5 million equities valued at N27.9 billion in 57,352 deals compared with the 923.0 million equities worth N42.3 billion transacted in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, showing a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 36.24 per cent, 34.04 per cent, and 17.28 per cent, respectively.

The most active equity yesterday was Access Holdings with 109.7 million units sold for N2.6 billion, FCMB traded 35.6 million units valued at N384.2 million, NGX Group transacted 28.1 million units worth N3.9 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 26.9 million units for N3.3 billion, and Sterling Holdings recorded a turnover of 22.5 million units worth N176.1 million.

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Economy

Naira Slips 0.1% to N1,358/$1 at Official FX Market

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Naira-Yuan Currency Swap Deal

By Adedapo Adesanya

A 0.1 per cent or N1,49 loss was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, June 4, closing at N1,358.75/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,347.26/$1.

In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market during the session by N5.39 to trade at N1,828.06/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,822.67/£1, but gained N6.75 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.83/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,584.39/€1.

At the black market and GTBank FX desk, the local currency traded flat against the Dollar during the session at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that NFEM interbank FX turnover contracted to $128.117 million in 121 deals on Thursday from $133.731 million the previous day.

On the positive side, Nigeria’s external reserves moved closer to a 2009 high of $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about the local currency outlook in the second half of 2026.

This improvement has been helped by heightened global uncertainty, which has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.

As for the cryptocurrency market, prices extended steep weekly losses as the broader artificial-intelligence trade that has driven global risk assets since 2026 faltered.

The sell-off was led by equity and currency markets, with semiconductor stocks, Asian indexes and several regional currencies sliding in a broad risk-off shift.

Persistent outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and a rare BTC sale by Strategy have removed a key source of support, leaving markets focused on Friday’s US jobs report for clues on Federal Reserve policy and the fate of the AI trade. The most valued coin slipped 3.6 per cent to $61,914.58.

Cardano (ADA) plunged by 17.6 per cent to $0.1630, Solana (SOL) declined by 7.0 per cent to $65.69, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 6.9 per cent to $1,666.13, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 6.5 per cent to $0.8445, and Ripple (XRP) crashed by 6.5 per cent to $1.11.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $581.45, and TRON (TRX) dropped 1.9 per cent to sell at $0.3261, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 per cent each to sell at $0.9990 and $0.9998, respectively.

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