Nigeria Should Computerize Crude Oil Production—Senate

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, November 27 as expectations of renewed confidence that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would offer stability to the market. Before the market closed, there were indications that the CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, would share his plans for the Nigerian economy at a dinner for bankers in Lagos and this boosted a fresh hope, considering he had not offered a direction prior then. In the official market, the domestic currency gained N161.44 or 16.9 per cent against the Dollar

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Dipo Olowookere Shares of MeCure Industries appreciated by 60.73 per cent last week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as investors began to see value in the company. Business Post reports that in the week, the price of the stock closed at N9.21 per unit compared with the preceding week’s N5.73 per unit, leading the gainers’ chart of 59 members, higher than 54 of the preceding week. On its part, Multiverse rose by 60.06 per cent to N5.81, Unity Bank improved by 57.26 per cent to N1.84, Secure Electronic Technology jumped by 52.78 per cent to

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded yet another positive week-on-week performance after stretching its gains by 1.44 per cent in Week 47. This expanded the portfolios of NASD investors by N17 billion in the week to N1.162 trillion from the N1.145 trillion recorded in Week 46, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 12.16 points to 857.29 points from 845.13 points in the previous week. The trading week was with three price gainers and three losers, with Aradel Holdings Plc on top of the advancers’ chart after it grew by 10 per cent to finish

By Dipo Olowookere One of the leading energy firms in Nigeria, Forte Oil, is planning to divest from Ghana and focus more on its core fuel distribution operations in Nigeria. In addition, the company is looking at selling its upstream services and power businesses in Nigeria. The company, majority owned by billionaire Femi Otedola, had also been in talks with a major refinery to form a strategic partnership for local refining of petroleum products. According to Reuters, this move comes as a surprise about-turn for a company whose Chief Executive Akin Akinfemiwa told investors in Lagos in August that he

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By Dipo Olowookere Plans are underway by the management of Dangote Cement Plc to issue commercial papers worth N150 billion. The papers would be listed on the trading platform of FMDQ, the cement manufacturer disclosed in a statement. According to the statement, proceeds of the exercise would be deployed towards capital expenditure, working capital and general corporate purposes. Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Cement, Mr Joe Makoju, said in the statement he personally signed that the capital raising will either be as a stand-alone transaction or be executed in tranches. Dangote Cement is one of the most capitalised

By Dipo Olowookere The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated by N56 billion on Tuesday to N20.434 trillion from N20.490 trillion. One of the reasons for this was the profit-taking by investors as they took stock of transactions for the month of August and prepare for a fresh trading session for the month of September. It was observed by Business Post that there were selloffs across the key sectors of the market yesterday with the consumer goods space falling by 1.94 per cent. The energy counter depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the banking space lost 0.39 per

By Adedapo Adesanya A letter of intent to improve the health sector and share knowledge and expertise has been signed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China. Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun, and Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, signed the document on behalf of both countries on Friday in Abuja. The idea is to ensure best medical practices. Mr Cui said that the project was one of the nine programmes initiated by the Chinese President, Mr Xi Jinping, during the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian government was at the local debt market on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, to seek for funds through the sale of some treasury bills. Business Post reports that the exercise, conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the Debt Management Office (DMO), was largely successful. This was because the local authorities, which intended to borrow about N266 billion yesterday, had lenders willing to put down N468 billion for the instrument. The bills were auctioned in three different maturities with N49.8 billion worth of 91-day instrument, N54.6 billion worth of 182-day instrument and N161.5 billion

By Dipo Olowookere Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted €325,640 and $30,000 being smuggled into Nigeria from Greece and Austria. The currencies were seized from two suspects at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos during the inward screening of passengers on a Turkish Airline flight. The anti-narcotics agency, in a statement issued on Wednesday, explained that the alleged smugglers concealed the money inside envelopes and shoes, failing to declare the foreign currencies as required by law. In the press release issued by the NDLEA spokesman, Mr Mitchell Ofoyeju, the NDLEA Commander at the Lagos