Nigeria’s Inability to Meet Gas Export to Affect Portugal  

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira recovered from the previous day’s loss after closing stronger against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 7, by 11.4 per cent or N108.15 to trade at N843.07/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N951.22/$1. This occurred as the value of foreign exchange (FX) transactions slightly increased during the session by $1.67 million or 39.5 per cent to $137.25 million from the $135.58 million achieved in the preceding trading session. Similarly, in the official market, the Nigerian Naira strengthened against the British Pound Sterling on Thursday by

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian crude output fell by 30,000 barrels per day to 1.43 million barrels per day in November, according to data from an S&P Global Commodity Insight. This was lower than the 1.46 million barrels produced in October by Africa’s largest oil producer and 312,000 barrels per day short of its 1.742 million barrels per day target in 2023. Angola, Africa’s second-largest oil producer, saw output drop 20,000 barrels per day to 1.13 million barrels per day, according to the survey, compared with its quota of 1.46 million barrels per day. The drops impacted the wider output of

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 Precious Olisa The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have expressed their disappointment over the increasing exit of multinationals from the Nigerian market. The two organisations reacted to the planned exit of Procter & Gamble (P&G) from the country over economic headwinds. P&G announced its intention to close down its manufacturing operations in Nigeria and adopt an import-only business model due to the foreign exchange (FX) crisis in the country. This is coming some weeks after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Unilever Nigeria, Equinor and others have also indicated their interest in quitting

Says, Unity Bank, Skye Bank “Close to Being Insolvent” By Modupe Gbadeyanka A report by Bloomberg on Monday has raised an alarm that some Nigerian banks may be fighting undercapitalisation crisis at the moment. Seven banks were said to be in this mess. Two of the banks, Skye Bank and Unity Bank, are close to being insolvent, Bloomberg quoted Arqaam Capital as saying in the report. It was said that the credit crunch is being caused by failed fiscal and monetary policies. FBN Holdings Plc and Sterling Bank Plc “will need a dilutive capital hike,” Jaap Meijer and Tarek Sleiman,

By Bliss Okperan Nigerian goal-poacher, who plies his football trade in Italy, Victor Osimhen, has expressed his frustration over the way his club, Napoli, treated his penalty miss over the weekend. The Italian club won a penalty in a match with Bologna on Sunday, but the striker could not put the ball in the back of the net, leaving his team with a goalless draw. On Tuesday, Napoli posted a video on its verified TikTok page. It was believed that the post was to mock the miss, sparking outrage from some fans, especially from Nigeria, the footballer’s home country. On

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices for major benchmarks welcomed the month of September to the positive territory on Tuesday with support from some economic data which indicate signs of recovery. For the Brent crude, it gained 51 cents or 1.13 per cent to trade at $45.79 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures improved by 15 cents or 0.35 per cent to quote at $42.76 per barrel at the market. The oil market had performed bearish on Monday but WTI logged its fourth straight monthly rise, while Brent rose for a fifth straight month after

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chief executive of Flutterwave, Mr Olugbenga Agboola, has highlighted three pillars for the achievement of an inclusive digital transformation in Africa. Speaking at the recently-concluded US-Africa Leaders Summit 2022, the tech entrepreneur said these ingredients are payment, commerce and logistics. “The three major pillars that can help Africans effectively leverage digital transformation for inclusive and sustainable development are payment, commerce and logistics. These pillars support the cross-border movement of money, people, goods and services without barriers,” he submitted. Mr Agboola was one of the panellists at a discussion titled How Can the US Support an Inclusive

By Adedapo Adesanya There is a trope that isn’t true that many music listeners peddle: they say Nigerian new generation artists don’t make socially conscious music but the reality is that they don’t listen to these songs. New school leader, Rema, might change this narrative with his anger-laced street bop, Are You There?  The track, which is one of the singles from his 2022 album, Raves and Roses, had Rema singing about youthful frustrations, inequality, hedonism, and corruption rife in the Nigerian state. “People dey talk say na only woman I sabi talk about so leave me make I talk

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Some persons involved in the sale of the newly redesigned Naira notes have been arrested by officials of the Department of State Services (DSS). A statement issued on Monday by the spokesman of the country’s secret police, Mr Peter Afunanya, disclosed that some commercial bank officials were also involved in the crime described as economic sabotage. Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) redesigned the N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations and gave January 31, 2023, as the deadline for the use of the old currency notes in Nigeria before extending the deadline yesterday to February 10,

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday following the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report. The futures held on to earlier gains after the Labor Department released a report showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of November. Positive sentiment may also be generated by news that both the House and the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The legislation extends government funding until December 22nd, giving lawmakers time to negotiate a longer-term spending bill. Stocks saw moderate strength during trading on

By Modupe Gbadeyanka There are strong indications that in 2023, the global business services (GBS) market in Africa will worth $19.8 billion, higher than the current value, $15.1 billion. According to the 2021 Africa GBS Benchmarking and Market Report by Knowledge Executive, the African continent will play a major part in the sector in the future because of its vast labour. In the report, it was stated that business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) are at the forefront of Africa’s rapid growth rates. This growth, it said, is bolstered by multiple factors, including improved economic governance, relative