Nigeria’s GDP Could Contract 8.94% in 2020—FG

By Adedapo Adesanya A foreign oil company, Equinor ASA, has chosen a little-known Nigerian company, Chappal Energy, as the preferred buyer of its stake in one of the country’s largest deep-water oil fields, Agbami. According to a report by Bloomberg on Monday, the Norwegian energy giant is trying to sell its 20.2 per cent interest in the Agbami field – joining other international producers such as Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Eni SpA in looking to offload assets in Africa’s biggest crude producer, Nigeria. In January, Equinor launched the sale of its stake in an offshore Nigerian oilfield, joining

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) kicked off the first trading session in the last week of the third quarter of the year on a negative note, with the key performance indices going down by 0.66 per cent on Monday. This was partly caused by the reaction of investors to the 30 Kobo interim dividend declaration of the board of Access Holdings Plc. A few days ago, its peer, UBA Plc, raised its interim dividend payment by 150 per cent to 50 Kobo and it was expected that Access Holdings would follow the same path. However, the company disappointed

By Bliss Okperan The exchange rate instability in the country is already giving small business owners sleepless nights and it threatens their investments. This concern was raised recently by the National Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Mr Segun Kuti-George. He emphasised that business owners would have to increase their prices because of the unavoidable consequence of the current exchange rate crisis in Nigeria. According to him, if consumers are unable to meet up with the increase in the cost of goods and services, businesses would be forced to shut down their operations, which would, in turn,

By Precious Olisa This news may not be palatable to developers and Nigerians planning to start a building project, as the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria has warned that the price of a 50kg bag of cement may start selling for N9,000 when the dry season begins in November. At the moment, the product is sold at over N5,000. In a statement jointly signed on Sunday by the National Chairman of the group, Mr David Iweta, and its National Secretary, Mr Ufomba, the manufacturers said the rise in the price of cement would be caused by the decision of the

In order to enable customers order food up until midnight, Jumia’s marketplace for restaurants has launched a late-night delivery service. Managing Director of the company, Mr Guy Futi disclosed this at a press conference held at Krispy Kreme, Victoria Island, Lagos. “We introduced the late-night delivery service to accommodate customers who order food at night. The late night delivery combined with initiatives like greater customer accessibility, more payment options, more locations, lunchtime deals, seasonal deals and new related products (Jumia Party) has led to over 120% increase in the volume of orders,” Mr Fitu explained. Speaking on efforts to ensure

By Dipo Olowookere Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mr Raja Rajamannar, has been elected as President of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Mr Rajamannar will serve a two-year term as WFA President, with the option to extend for a further two years. He replaces Mr David Wheldon, CMO at RBS, who has been president since 2015. Mr Wheldon will continue to serve on WFA’s Executive Committee as Regional Vice-President for Western Europe. The new WFA chief has worked for Mastercard since 2013, and in particular has led the company’s marketing transformation, including the integration of the Marketing and

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The winner of the 2022 Hi-Life Fest will smile home with N50 million worth of prizes, the organisers of the music competition, Life Continental Lager Beer, have disclosed. The theme of this edition is Celebrating Life, Celebrating Culture. Already, entries for the contest commenced on Monday, September 5 and will run through September 25, with auditions to be held in Enugu, Onitsha, Awka, and Owerri. Winners from these regions will camp in Enugu for a week of mentoring by some of the leading acts in the Nigerian music scene before the grand finale. The Hi-Life Fest will

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices shed most of their recent gains on Thursday as a new round of coronavirus restrictions in Europe revived demand worries, overlooking efforts to move a stranded container ship blocking crude oil carriers in the Suez Canal. As a result, the Brent crude fell by 4.01 per cent or $2.58 to trade at $61.83 per barrel while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slid by 4.28 per cent or $2.62 to sell at $58.56 per barrel. Both contracts jumped about 5 per cent on Wednesday after a large ship called the EverGreen ran aground in the Suez

By Adedapo Adesanya Billionaire and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu has urged the Japanese government to invest 5 percent of its $50 billion commitment to Africa in entrepreneurs saying it is a clear-cut model for ensuring sustainable development in Africa. The banker and Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) noted this at the just-concluded Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan. “If we invested just 5 percent in Africa’s new generation of entrepreneurs, following my Foundation’s robust, proven model of getting capital directly to those best placed to catalyse growth and create

By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke You have dreamt about it. You can feel it and you are already making money from the enterprise you established, all in dreams. Reality dawns on you and you wish it your dream will become reality instantly. But that is not how it works. You have to work towards achieving your dreams especially if you hope to become an entrepreneur. But you are still lounging and dreaming. This may be due to some habits that you have imbibed over time and this can stop from bring your entrepreneurial dream to fruition. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel

By Dipo Olowookere The renewed huge demand for treasury bills is expected to cause a marginal decline in stop rates of the government debt instrument at the primary market this week. On Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), will on behalf of the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the federal government auction T-bills worth N125 billion to investors. These bills would be offered in the usual three maturities; 91-day bill worth N4.38 billion, 182-day bill worth N12.92 billion and 364-day bill worth N107.94 billion. With the barring of individuals, local firms and non-bank financial institutions from participating in open

By Dipo Olowookere Activities on the trading floor of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Plc closed this week on a positive note with the major market indices settling in the green territory. Specifically, the NASD USI and market capitalisation finished higher by 3.11 percent in contrast to last Friday, when the market closed in red. The NASD USI added 18.65 points this week to end at 618.64 points compared with 599.99 points last Friday. Also, the market capitalisation increased by 12.62 billion to close at N418.65 billion against N406.03 billion last week. During the week, out of the