Nigeria’s December 2021 Inflation Jumps to 15.63%

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian government is targeting an estimated $55.2 billion in oil and gas investments by 2030, according to the Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Mrs Olu Verheijen. She said the government has wrapped up a series of strategic engagements with 15 leading international and independent oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria. The President’s aide recently organised sessions in Lagos and Abuja in partnership with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to review ways to improve the sector and address the nation’s revenue emergency whilst contributing to stabilising Nigeria’s economy. Involved in

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has been charged by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to investigate the allegations that over $15 billion of oil revenues and N200 billion budgeted to repair the refineries are missing and unaccounted for between 2020 and 2021, as documented by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). In the letter dated September 23 and signed by SERAP deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation urged him to “name and shame anyone suspected to be responsible for the missing and unaccounted for public funds and to ensure their effective prosecution as well as

By Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, has called for collective efforts to shape the energy sector in Nigeria, noting that no meaningful economic growth can be achieved without it. Mr Adelabu said this at the Nigeria Energy 2023 leadership summit recently held in Lagos, with the theme Unlocking new value with reforms, investments, and technology which saw in attendance industry leaders. The Minister said, “Energy is the lifeblood of any modern economy of which Nigeria is no exception. No meaningful economic growth or industrial development can be achieved without energy. “We can be talking of potential

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria has repaid a total of $12.56 billion in external debt as of 2022, data from Intelpoint showed. According to the latest debt figures, Nigeria’s total public debt rose by 75.3 per cent to N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 against N49.85 trillion recorded in the first quarter of the year. The rise came as the country securitised the N22.71 trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the federal government. The overdraft is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the shortfalls in the government’s

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has said that it was targeting to cut the price of mobile data to less than N400 per gigabyte by 2025. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, said this while delivering a keynote address at a conference and exhibition of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Abuja on Monday. The programme was tagged National Strategic Mobilisation for the Actualisation of National Broadband Target of 70 per cent Conference and Exhibition themed, Realising the New Set Target of 70 per cent of Broadband Penetration. Mr Pantami, who was

By Dipo Olowookere Nigeria’s Acting President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, held a closed meeting with the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara and other top government officials. According to our correspondent, the meeting took place at the Vice President’s Wing of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja. Also in attendance were the Attorney-General of the Federation; Ministers of Information; Trade and Investment and Power, Works and Housing. It was further gathered that at the meeting were the Comptroller-Generals of the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Immigration Service. However, what

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A popular messaging platform, WhatsApp, has fortified its mobile application with three new security features to protect the personal messages of its users. In a statement made available to Business Post on Friday by Meta, its parent company, WhatsApp said the updates were made because it believes that “your messages should be as private and secure as an in-person conversation” as an “end-to-end encryption is the foundation of that security, and we’ll never stop building new features to give you extra layers of privacy, and more control over your messages.” It was disclosed that the new features

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The immediate past chairman of Seplat Energy Plc, Mr Ambrosie Bryant Chukwueloka (ABC) Orjiako, has assured that the company will continue to sustain a high level of corporate governance. Speaking last Thursday at the closing gong ceremony to honour him and introduce his successor, Mr Basil Omiyi, to the market, the energy expert applauded the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for insisting on transparent and accountable corporate governance for issuers on its platform. According to him, this has been critical to the company’s growth, assuring that this trend would be maintained in the interest of the firm’s stakeholders.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A partnership aimed to give access to mobility entrepreneurs access to working capital has been entered into between OnePipe and Motor Africa, the trade name of envio Logistics Incorporated. It was gathered that the funds, under lending as a service (LaaS) proposition, would be provided to vehicle owners in the form of an overdraft to finance car repairs, purchase genuine spare parts, vehicle and personal insurance, smartphones, and cash for personal and family welfare support needs. This LaaS format utilizes hybrid telemetry IOT systems and allows lending partners to create loan products with interest rates and repayment

By Dipo Olowookere Nigerians have been urged to trust the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to deliver its promised of improving the nation’s economy. Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, made this passionate appeal on Thursday during a meeting with the World Bank delegation to Nigeria. The team from the global financial institution was in the country to get updates of some projects it was financing in some states of the federation. During the meeting held in Abuja yesterday afternoon, Mrs Adeosun briefed the World Bank Mission comprising 10 Executive Directors on the progress made so far by the current government.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A top financial institution in Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, has reassured stakeholders that it would continue to explore ways to expand its footprint in Kenya despite its inability to complete the merger with Sidian Bank in Kenya. Last week, Business Post reported that the largest lender in sub-Saharan Africa pulled out of the deal after both parties could not iron out some issues regarding the acquisition. Access Bank was planning to acquire the entire 83.4 per cent shareholding held by an investment company, Centum, in Sidian Bank Limited. “Although regulators have all been supportive in engagements around

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The ongoing search for commercial hydrocarbon in the inland sedimentary basins by the Research and Development Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has received a boost with a recent partnership with US-based Halliburton Corporation. Both organisations will step up efforts to achieve the exact location of viable crude oil deposits in the inland. Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Group General Manager in charge of the R&D Division, Dr Bola Afolabi, disclosed that the collaboration with Halliburton would help fast-track the inland basin exploration efforts through the use of the innovative Neftex solution designed