Economy
Nigeria’s Content Board Shares $21m NCI Fund to Vendors
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Kacalla Baru, led other industry leaders to commend the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for the numerous achievements recorded in the implementation of Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry.
They spoke Tuesday at the 8th Practical Nigerian Content Workshop, organised by the NCDMB and CWC, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and pledged support to deepen the implementation of policies and initiatives that would increase in country value addition in the oil and gas sector.
According to Mr Kachikwu, the impact of Nigerian Content in the oil industry has stimulated other sectors like Information & Communication, Automobile, Construction and Power to adopt some of the templates in their policy formulations.
“We are also proud that some African countries like Kenya, Congo Brazzaville and Uganda as well as Gabon and Angola have come to Nigeria in the past for mentorship on Local Content initiatives,” he added.
The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Folashade Yemi, promised the commitment of the Federal Government to promoting robust private sector participation in the oil and gas sector and ensuring ease of doing business in the economy in general.
Also speaking, Mr Baru said NNPC was pleased to see the achievements of Local Content in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
He noted that in “in 2010, the available in-country capacity for line pipes was 100,000 metric tonnes, just 10 percent of the annual industry demand of one million MT/annum.
“However, today, through the robust collaboration of NCDMB with NNPC and other stakeholders, the capacity of line pipes has been ramped up to 420,000MT/annum, representing 40 percent of industry demand.”
The GMD reaffirmed “NNPC’s commitment to compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, to increase in-country value addition and support job creation. We will also continue to encourage our partners to do the same.
“NNPC is fully committed to NCDMB’s agenda for the next ten years, to increase Nigerian Content in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry to 70 percent by 2017.”
Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, presented a scorecard of the Board’s performance in 2018, dwelling particularly on the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap.
On the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) launched to provide funding support to local service companies, Mr Wabote stated that $21 million has been given out as loan to beneficiaries as at the end of October.
“In 2019, we intend to develop and launch our investment policy to further provide flexibility to our funding and investment interventions,” he said.
He also hinted that in 2019 the Board “plans to support the establishment of at least one more modular refinery and participate in the LPG value chain if the condition precedent are in place”
NCDMB had in 2018 taken 30 percent equity in the 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State and commenced the construction of oil and gas parks at Bayelsa and Cross River States.
On the provision of constant power to the parks, Mr Wabote said a thermal power plant was being constructed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), which would also serve the oil and gas park in Bayelsa state while discussions are ongoing to source electricity from the NIPP station in Odukpani, Cross River State to supply the park situated close-by.
Other plans for 2019 include the finalization of the review of Offshore Rig Acquisition Strategy and posting of 20 trained marine personnel being trained by the Board, for their 1 year international sea time in fulfilment of the requirement for the Certificate of Competency (CoC).
The Executive Secretary also reported that the Board has commenced the forensic audit of remittances to the Nigerian Content Development Fund and fulfilled its promise to put in place 3rd party monitors to enhance compliance monitoring in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry.
He added that, “By 2019, we intend to deepen and widen the roll-out of third party monitoring service providers for effective monitoring of the 51 operating companies and close to 8,000 oil and gas service providers registered on our NOGIC-JQS. In addition, we will further expand our compliance and enforcement framework to cover marginal field operators, midstream and downstream sectors.”
He said the Board have established collaborative efforts with the Nigeria Customs Service, EFCC, NNPC, NAPIMS, Nigeria Immigration Service, FAAN, OGFZA, National Judicial Council and NIMASA and would sharpen those inter-agency collaborations going forward.
In his remarks, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, commended the NCDMB for being a good corporate citizen in the state and expressed hope that the completion of the Board’s 17-storey headquarters would lead to more oil and gas deals being sealed in the state, so the citizenry would derive maximum benefits.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
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