Economy
Niger Governor Presents N108b Budget for 2017

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has presented the 2017 budget to the state’s House of Assembly.
The appropriation bill tagged ‘Budget of Consolidation’, was presented to the lawmakers on Friday in Minna, the state capital.
Mr Bello told the Assembly that he plans to spend N108 billion for the 2017 fiscal year, pointing out that the budget was designed to give priority attention to youth and women empowerment; completion of on-going projects; enhancement of IGR; re-introduction of teachers’ colleges; transformation of education and development of waterworks.
According to him, the budget proposal of N108,074,298,251 is N22,982,176,118 or 21.27 percent higher than the outgoing fiscal year of N85,092,122,133.
He added that the budget will be financed from Statutory Allocation of N50,695,206,724 and the sum of N22,781,770,370 is expected from Capital receipts made up of expected drawn-downs from development partners projects grants and loans.
Other sources are N12,403,874,117 from internally generated revenue (IGR), the Value Added Tax (VAT) of N8,793,447,040 and N13,400,000,000 from refund of proceeds from Paris Club loan being carried over to the new year.
Like the out-going budget, the capital expenditure of the 2017 appropriation bill is to gulp N60,026,337,973 which is 55.55 percent of the budget size while the recurrent expenditure will consume N48,047,960,278 or 44.45 percent of the budget.
Sectorial allocation showed that the Economic sector has the lion share of the capital expenditure with a proposal of N34,447,707,984 followed by the social sector with an estimate of N17,849,444,257 while administration sector is allocated N6,649,185,732 and law and justice with N1,080,000,000.
A breakdown of the bill further showed that education sub-sector has a proposed capital allocation of N4,155,074,176; health care delivery is expected to gulp N2.05 billion, the sum of N1.3 billion is earmarked for infrastructure and transport while water suply and sanitation is allocated N1.16billion.
Mr Bello also proposed the sum of N1.09 billion for women development while youth and sports development is allocated N2.1 billion.
A retrospect of the 2016 budget by the Governor showed that the national economic crisis affected the efforts of the state government at meeting its projected revenue target for the year.
According to him, the approved revenue between January and October this year stood at N55.98 billion, representing 67 percent which implies that the outgoing budget recorded a 33 percent revenue shortfall.
The Governor then appealed to business organizations and individuals in the state to live up to their civic responsibility by paying up their tax promptly.
In his remarks, the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Mr Ahmed Marafa, promised that the legislators will ensure the passage of the bill in a shortest and record time adding that they will intensify commitment in ensuring Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) comply to the budget provisions.
Economy
MRS Oil, FrieslandCampina Wamco Shrink NASD Index by 0.68%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed 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 ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
Economy
NGX Index Rebounds 0.15% on Renewed Interest in Financial Stocks
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
Economy
Naira Depreciates to N1,362/$1 at Official Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty 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 remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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