Nigeria Records N8.4trn Foreign Trades in Q3 2020

By Dipo Olowookere A 0.12 per cent appreciation was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, reversing the previous day’s losses triggered by profit-taking in the banking sector. Business Post reports that it was the same banking space that influenced the growth posted yesterday, rising by 1.60 per cent, supported by the consumer goods indices, which appreciated by 0.15 per cent. However, there were pockets of profit-taking during the last trading session of the week, with the insurance sector shedding 0.78 per cent, the industrial goods sector losing 0.65 per cent, and the energy counter declining by 0.57

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Moody’s outlook on Nigeria has been upgraded from stable to positive after the federal government implemented a few economic reforms. In a statement on Friday, the rating agency said the decisions to remove the costly petrol subsidies, devaluation of the Naira and the unification of the foreign exchange (FX) market were good for the economy. When Mr Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, he announced an end to the payment of subsidies on premium motor spirit (PMS). A month later, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of the forex market, while the Naira

By Adedapo Adesanya The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to disclose Nigeria’s daily oil production and exports as well as the total amounts of revenue generated from oil since the removal of subsidy on petrol in mid-2023. In a letter dated December 9, 2023, the group asked the chief executive of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, “to disclose how much of the revenues generated from oil have been remitted to the public treasury since the removal of subsidy on petrol.” He was also requested “to disclose details of payment of

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned Nigerians to be wary of fake Naira notes currently in circulation, vowing to prosecute those engaged in the illicit acts. The apex bank in a release signed by Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, the acting Director of Corporate Communications, said the counterfeit notes have been spread by some individuals for transactions in food markets and other places where commerce takes place across the country, noting that this is a punishable offence. “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to the circulation of counterfeit banknotes, especially

By Dipo Olowookere The notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an arm of the Nigeria Police, has been dissolved by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu. The special unit of the police was created to tackle to the menace of armed robbery in the country, but officials of SARS have been accused of brutalising innocent citizens, extorting money from them and also subjecting them to torture and something carrying out extrajudicial killings. The excesses of the police group in recently sparked protests across the country and made the hash-tag #EndSARS to trend worldwide, with different personalities joining in

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has appointed Mr Jean-Marc Cordier, a former Vice President of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), to head its oil trading business. This was disclosed in a statement signed by Mr Garbadeen Muhammad, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the organisation, saying Mr Cordier joined as the Head of its oil trading arm, NNPC Trading Limited. He said Mr Cordier’s appointment was in furtherance of the ongoing repositioning drive in the company toward improved growth, better performance and service delivery. According to the company, the renowned

By Dipo Olowookere An expert in the oil and gas industry, Mr Clement Isong, has been appointed as the new Executive Secretary (ES) of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN). Mr Isong had previously worked at Total Nigeria where he held various senior management positions across the company’s Africa operations from Nigeria to South Africa. He replaces the pioneer Executive Secretary of the association, Mr Obafemi Thomas Olawore, who retired after 17 years in office. Mr Isong said his predecessor served MOMAN with zeal, placing it as one of the major forces in the oil industry. According to

By Dipo Olowookere The Head of Tax and Corporate Advisory Services at PwC Nigeria, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has said the aim of the controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA 2020) especially concerning non-profit organisations, including religious bodies, is to regulate their activities and not to control them as it is being pushed. The CAMA 2020, which was signed into law recently but is yet to be gazetted, has generated controversies from different quarters, especially from church leaders, who claimed that the law was aimed at controlling the affairs of churches. Many respected Christian leaders have spoken on the

By Dipo Olowookere For allegedly selling shares belonging to investors without their consents, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has blacklisted a stockbroker, Mr Uduma Arunsi. Mr Arunsi is an executive director of Royal Trust Securities Limited, one of the brokerage companies approved by the exchange to trade shares in Nigeria. He is also a non-executive director on the board of Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc. In a notice sighted by Business Post on Monday, the exchange said Mr Arunsi was also involved in misconduct and was punished for that. He was not the only stockbroker sanctioned and blacklisted from the

By Adedapo Adesanya After closing flat for two straight days, the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange appreciated by 0.81 per cent on Wednesday. The growth witnessed yesterday was driven by the positive price movement in the shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, one of the bellwethers of the exchange. The equity value of the milk maker increased by N5.67 or 4.5 per cent at the midweek session to close at N133 per share in contrast to N127.33 per share it traded at the previous session. The appreciation in the stock price of the firm expanded the market capitalisation of the

By Dipo Olowookere Music acts at Publiseer are currently celebrating following the digital content distribution company’s giant leap in the business of distributing and monetizing their works across Africa. The music aggregator have recently released its subscription streaming numbers in excess of 1.5 million streams, as garnered from the amazing variety of contents on hundreds of digital stores worldwide. This comes barely a year into the business of digital content distribution and monetization, with the mission of promoting the creativity of the African people to the rest of the world. The digital content distributor reported 1,400,376 subscription streaming and 124,762

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government is looking at fresh measures to tackle the high levels of food insecurity as Nigeria is expected to see about 26.5 million people grappling with this issue in 2024. This was disclosed by the government and its partners during the unveiling of the October 2023 Cadre Harmonisé analysis on food insecurity, which showed that approximately 9 million children are at risk of suffering from acute malnutrition or wasting. Of these, an alarming 2.6 million children could face Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and require critical nutrition treatment. The Cadre Harmonisé, an initiative focused on food