Nigerian Stocks Start New Month on High Note, Gain 0.19%

By Adedapo Adesanya Bitmama Incorporated, a crypto exchange company, has confirmed the acquisition of Payday, a virtual card service provider. According to reports, the chief executive of Bitmama, Mrs Ruth Iselema, has offered PayDay investors $1 million worth of equity in the crypto company at a $30 million valuation. The news comes barely nine months after Payday announced its $3 million seed round and three months after its exploration of sale options was confirmed. Facilitated through Bitmama’s cross-border payments product, Changera, the acquisition marks a pivotal shift from earlier speculations, including a potential acquisition by lead investor, Moniepoint. Changera is

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil fell on Monday as traders approached the market with caution over plans by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) to cut production in the first quarter of 2024. Brent crude futures lost 85 cents or 1.08 per cent to finish at $78.03 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures depreciated by $1.03 or 1.39 per cent to sell at $73.04 per barrel. OPEC+ announced voluntary production cuts at its meeting last week and this has raised doubts about whether or not producers would fully implement them. Investors

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira opened the week stronger on the American Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, December 4 as pressure eased amid continued foreign exchange (FX) liquidity squeeze in the market. In the official market, the Naira appreciated against the greenback by 9.6 per cent or N89.42 to settle at N837.77/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing price of N927.19/$1. Also, the Naira gained N172.53 against the Pound Sterling in the NAFEM segment of the market during the session to close at N1,031.57/£1 versus last Friday’s rate of N1,204.10/£1 and against the Euro,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Seven SIM card registration offenders have been convicted by courts in Abuja and Kano State after they were found guilty. They were convicted at the Grade 1 Area Court Nyanya, Abuja and the Senior Magistrate Court, Kano for offences bordering on violation of SIM registration laws in the country on September 4, 2020, and September 24, 2020, respectively. The offenders, Bako Joseph Boy, Umar Kabiru Abdullahi, Lawal Sani, Shamsuddin Aliyu, George Eze, Ayuba Ishak, and Kabiru Ali were convicted for various SIM card related offences. Specifically, the first convict, Bako Joseph Boy, was charged with the sale

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has disclosed that Nigeria’s livestock sector has a huge economic potential worth over N33 trillion yearly if properly harnessed. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Mr Ernest Umakhihe, disclosed this in Benin City, Edo State, during the inauguration of the Edo chapter of the Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN). Mr Umakhihe noted that the sub-sector was estimated to contribute about 17 per cent of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 5.0 per cent of the national GDP. “As we all know, the livestock sector is

  An appeal has been made to rich countries in the world to do something urgent to save the Lake Chad from extinction, arising from effects of climate change. President Muhammadu Buhari made this plea when he received the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, in Abuja on Thursday. The President warned that failure to regenerate the Lake Chad will lead to another round of migration by people living in the areas. Mr Buhari, who led seven ministers to an interactive meeting with the UNESCO chief, said Nigeria and the other countries of the Lake Chad Basin lacked the billions

By Dipo Olowookere Federal government has been advised to talk to the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to look for a way to make pension fund administrators in the country invest most of their portfolios in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the economy. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which made this call, said exposure to government securities should be minimised by the fund administrators. Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, while addressing newsmen last week in Abuja, said the PFAs can also look into investment in the real estate industry, which provides

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that a total of 2.3 billion Nigerian coins worth N1.60 billion were in circulation in the first six months of 2018. In its Economic Report for the first half of 2018 released last week and obtained by Business Post, the apex bank said the coins comprise 1 kobo, 10 kobo, 25 kobo, 50 kobo, N1 and N2 denominations. An analysis of the report by Business Post indicated that during the period under review, a total of 31.4 million pieces of the 1 kobo coin worth N3 million were in

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria plans to generate as much as $16.4 billion through asset sales in the next four years to reduce the burden on the public budget, a Budget Ministry document showed. The sales, according to Bloomberg, will help to tackle inefficiencies and stem “corruption in public enterprises,” which outlines the West African nation’s plans for economic recovery from 2017 to 2020. President Muhammadu Buhari will introduce the proposal on an unspecified date this month. It didn’t name the assets it may sell. Nigeria estimates its economy contracted 1.5 percent in 2016, partly because of a decline in the

By Adedapo Adesanya As observers await a possible policy action from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday just like it happened on July 27, 2021, the Naira sustained its free fall at the unofficial segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday. At the unregulated forex market segment yesterday, the local currency depreciated against the US Dollar by N8 to sell at N570/$1 compared with N562/$1 it was traded on Wednesday. The fall occurred as more Nigerians are panicking over the fast rate the Naira is losing its value and to hedge their funds, some are buying

President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Mr Richard Nii Dadey, has called for the passing of legislation in the West African country to make green buildings compulsory. According to him, in the face of limited resources, the West African nation needs to enact such a law to save resources and costs. The proposition, if accepted by the government, will make it required to design and construct sustainable buildings, that will be both more economical in the long run and have lower operational costs. Better jobs will be created if green buildings are required because more Ghanaians would acquire