Nigerian Exporters Fail Due to Poor Training, Exposure—NEPC

By Aduragbemi Omiyale One of the players in the personal healthcare and consumer goods sectors, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, has published a list of its shareholders with unclaimed dividends. Unclaimed dividends are cash rewards given to investors, mainly from the profits from the company’s operations, but are yet to be collected by the beneficiaries. This has been a major source of sleepless nights for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is working to bring down the number of unclaimed dividends. It has been reported that the value of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s stock market is over N185 billion.

By Dipo Olowookere The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Nigeria’s revenue–to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of about 9 per cent was too low to trigger the economic growth projected by President Bola Tinubu in his Renewed Hope Agenda. Addressing journalists at its last press briefing for 2023 on Thursday, the global lender said the administration of Mr Tinubu must boost the government’s revenue to have funds to achieve his goals. On May 29, 2023, Mr Tinubu took over from Mr Muhammadu Buhari, promising to jump-start the economy and work tirelessly to address food security, end hunger, eradicate poverty, create

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Some retiring Nigerian military personnel have been educated on how they can unlock opportunities in the capital market after active service to the nation. At a seminar held on Thursday, December 7, 2023, at the Nigeria Armed Forces Resettlement Centre in Lagos, the participants were informed of the benefits of diversifying their investments for more earnings. They were also exposed to ways to invest and assess the market with technology, including via the recently launched NGX USSD Code. The Divisional Head of Business Support Services and General Counsel of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, Ms Irene Robinson-Ayanwale,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Doris Uzoka-Anite, has assured Nigerians that doing business with India is the best thing to do because it would lead to prosperity. She said this at the G 20 Summit concluding today, Sunday, September 10, 2023, in New Delhi, the Indian capital. The Minister travelled to the South Asian nation alongside President Bola Tinubu and others to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country. In a statement issued at the weekend by her media aide, Mr Oladapo Sofowora, the Minister described India as Nigeria’s old friend, noting

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi Going by information in the public domain, World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5 every year by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to raise awareness about degrading environmental conditions and to encourage people globally to take positive environmental actions, to help create a better future. This year’s celebration, which is hosted by Sweden, had “Only One Earth” as its campaign slogan, with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature”. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment aka the Stockholm conference held in 1972 became the first world conference with the environment

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Over 30 percent of farmland in the Niger Delta region has been lost to this year’s ravaging floods, the immediate past governor of Delta State, Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan, has disclosed, warning that this development poses a great threat to the nation’s food sufficiency drive. Mr Uduaghan, in a statement to commemorate the 2018 World Food Day, lamented that this year’s flooding had led to premature harvesting and destruction of farmland including fish ponds in the country, particularly in the oil-rich region. He said the situation would not only result in great losses to farmers but also negatively

By Modupe Gbadeyanka In barely a month since the beginning of December, WFP has delivered food or cash to more than a million Nigerians in conflict-affected zones in the Northeast. This means that over half of those in need of urgent humanitarian assistance have now been reached. The milestone came as WFP ramped up its response in Borno and Yobe States, where as many as four million people are food insecure. The region has been devastated by years of violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency: in some areas, more than half of all children under five suffer from acute

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Nigerians and the investing public have been warned not to stake their funds in unregistered crowdfunding platforms as they could lose their investments. In a circular last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it was aware of some companies seeking funds from the public to use to finance a project or business, warning that actions would be taken on firms not authorised by the Nigerian government to carry out such transaction. Recall that in January 2021, the agency, in recognition of the potential and importance of crowdfunding platforms and the need to protect investors through

By Dipo Olowookere GE Oil & Gas has opened a new facility in Takoradi Port, Ghana, expanding its global footprint and supporting local investment. The company committed to deliver more than 45,000 training hours for Ghanaian personnel over the next five years, as it seeks to build a world-class team locally. The facility, which will be the primary service center for deep-water offshore projects in Ghana, has a 1,600 square meters indoor test area with capability for testing three subsea trees (XTs) simultaneously, and 4,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor storage. This new infrastructure is already playing a critical

By Adedapo Adesanya The price of crude oil skyrocketed by more than 7 per cent as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) agreed on Wednesday to stick to their plans of small output rise in April, defying calls for an increase in supply to the market even as prices rally to multi-year highs on Russia supply disruption fears. As of the time of filing this report, Brent was up 7.7 per cent or $4.50 to $115.9 per barrel while the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up by 7.2 per cent or $4.42 to $113 per

By Adedapo Adesanya As part of plans to expand seaport operations in Nigeria, the Lekki deep seaport is now halfway near completion. The project is expected to be completed in 2021, while commercial operations are scheduled to start in 2022. Technical Director of the port, Mr Steven Heukelom, said in Lagos that when completed, the facility will conveniently berth larger vessels of 18,000 TEUs  (twenty-foot equivalent unit) with its three container-berth of 680 metre long and 16.5 metre depth, as well as one liquid and one dry bulk terminals. He said the project was 50 percent actualised in the breakwater