Nigeria, Others May Lose $500bn Yearly to Climate Change—Report

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices fell on Thursday members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed to voluntary output cuts for the first quarter of next year, falling short of market expectations. As a result, Brent crude futures lost 27 cents or 0.3 per cent to close at $82.83 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures went down by $1.90 or 2.4 per cent to $75.96 a barrel. On a monthly basis, Brent fell by 5.2 per cent while WTI was down by 6.2 per cent. Saudi Arabia, Russia

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 Investors Hub Asian markets rose on Thursday, reflecting investor confidence in the global economic outlook following comments from central bankers around the world. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney indicated on Wednesday that monetary stimulus may need to be withdrawn to some extent in the future if U.K. wages pick up and business investment strengthens. Separately, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz told CNBC that low rates “have done their job.” The dollar wallowed at one-year lows against the euro despite media reports suggesting that markets misinterpreted comments made a day earlier by ECB President Mario Draghi about adjustment

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange further closed in the negative territory at the midweek trading session. A day before, the market had closed 1.11 per cent lower and at the third session for the week, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) further fell by 0.15 per cent or 1.06 points to end at 709.43 points compared to 710.49 points of the previous session. Also contracting was the market capitalisation, which depreciated by 0.15 per cent or N780 million to N521.12 billion as against the previous level of N521.29 billion. This contraction at the market yesterday was

By Adedapo Adesanya The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has forecast that global food import costs are expected to rise 12 per cent in 2021 to a record due to surging commodity prices and robust demand during the COVID-19 crisis. The United Nations food agency in its bi-annual Food Outlook report on Thursday said the world’s food import bill, including shipping costs, is projected to reach $1.715 trillion this year from $1.530 trillion in 2020, The Rome-based agency noted that growth in the agricultural trade during the pandemic showed the inelastic nature of food consumption and the resilience of international

A member of Standard Bank Group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, has been recognized for its robust and exceptional human resource practices, reaffirming its status as a leading employer brand at the HR People Magazine Awards 2019 Awards held recently in Lagos. Stanbic IBTC won the Best Training, Learning & Development Strategy 2018 and the Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy 2018 Awards. This makes it the third consecutive year the organisation will be adjudged best among peers for outstanding employee engagement strategy, having received the award back-to-back for 2016, 2017 and most recently 2018. These awards come on the back of winning

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a joint partnership action plan that is aimed at boosting both public and private sector investment in Africa. The joint action plan enables both institutions to grow a shared pipeline of bankable projects around key complementary themes to which each institution would bring their comparative advantage. The themes include climate action and environmental sustainability; transformative large-scale quality infrastructure investment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and services; financial inclusion with a gender lens aimed at the empowerment of girls and women; education and training;

By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel Venture-capital-backed financial technology (fintech) company, Chipper Cash, has raised a total of $150 million in a Series C extension round to further boost its operations of offering affordable cross-border payments across and beyond Africa. This is coming about six months after the company closed an investment of $100 million in its Series C round, which was led by the corporate venture capital arm of SVB Financial Group, SVB Capital. The recent extension funding round was led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX, and saw the reinvestment of SVB Capital along with other existing investors, including Deciens

Real Madrid continues its winning streak. In the match in La Liga, the champions defeated fellow Madrid club Atletico Madrid. Fede Valverde and Rodrigo were able to lead their team to a 2-1 victory. But not only good news for Real Madrid, before the match Vinicius Junior, the Brazilian winger was exposed to racist remarks outside of the Metropolitano. Match Analysis, Highlights & Score The hosts had a great start to the match. They could already open the scoring after a free kick at the beginning of the game. But Felipe missed the target after a great pass from Paul.

By Dipo Olowookere The one-year old son of popular Nigerian artiste, Dapo Oyebanjo, otherwise known as D’Banj, has died. The boy, Daniel Oyebanjo Jnr, reportedly died on Sunday evening at the entertainer’s residence in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State. According to reports, the toddler drowned at his father’s swimming pool. The unfortunate incident was said to have occurred while the musician was away from home. D’Banj travelled to the United States for the prestigious BET Awards. Confirming the incident, the former Mo’Hits star wrote on his Instagram page on Monday morning that, “Trying Times. But my God is Always