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Nigeria’s SEC Vows to Eliminate Ponzi, Pyramid Schemes in 2025

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Ponzi Schemes

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has listed mainstreaming the Nigerian capital market into the economy as its top priority in 2025.

Mr Emomotimi Agama, the Director General of SEC, said this in his New Year message to the capital market community on Monday.

He also said the commission would intensify efforts to eliminate Ponzi and pyramid schemes, thereby fostering an environment for genuine investment opportunities to thrive in 2025.

He said that protecting investors remained a cornerstone of the commission’s mission.

Mr Agama also said that the commission would prioritise key initiatives aimed at deepening market integrity, enhancing investor confidence and driving economic growth.

According to him, “SEC is positioned with a dual mandate in regulating and developing the capital market in Nigeria.

“Naturally, our top priority in 2025 will cut across the dual mandate. For us, mainstreaming the Nigerian Capital Market into the economy is very vital.

“Enforcement is the backbone of effective regulation. We are revamping our investigative processes to enhance efficiency and hold bad actors accountable more decisively.

“Insider trading undermines activities and dampens market fairness. By revising our regulatory framework, we aim to strengthen detection, prevention, and accountability mechanisms.

“Transparency is at the heart of investors confidence and capital markets. We will introduce measures to ensure greater visibility and trust in securities transactions,” he stated.

The SEC director-general added that to resolve market disputes efficiently and fairly, the commission was focusing on enhancing the operations of the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST).

He noted that these efforts aim to make the tribunal more effective in delivering timely resolutions, thereby improving overall efficiency in the process.

Mr Agama stated that key focus for the commission in 2025 is strengthening the legal framework of the commodities market to enable it attain its full potential of aiding economic development.

He said the commodities market is a major area of interest for SEC, adding that Nigeria is purely an agrarian nation.

The director-general said that taking that comparative advantage to the next level, is something that the commission is proud to be part of.

Mr Agama said this year, SEC would focus on reinforcing the legal and regulatory structures that support growth to create a solid foundation for the vibrant commodities ecosystem, be it soft or hard commodity.

“More so, when we have a plethora of commodities all over Nigeria. SEC as a partner in development will make sure that we make the difference,” he said.

Mr Agama also said that these initiatives reflect the commission’s vision for a stronger and more inclusive capital market in 2025, adding that SEC is committed to building wealth, instilling confidence and making impacts.

“As we embark on this journey, I invite all stakeholders to work with us in achieving these goals.

“Together, we can unlock the potentials of the Nigerian capital market and make this a defining year for our economy.

“What we intend to do, is to steer the capital market towards a direction that ensures that development gets to the doorstep of every Nigerian.”

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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Economy

Naira Falls to N1,500/$1 at Official Market, Appreciates to N1,570/$1 at Black Market

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paying remittances in Naira

By Adedapo Adesanya

For the fourth consecutive trading session, the value of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo to trade at N1,500.65/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,499.76/$1.

However, the Naira improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N8.19 to sell for N1,859.98/£1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,868.17/£1, but against the Euro, the local currency depreciated by N1.77 to settle at N1,555.18/€1, in contrast to midweek’s value of nN1,553.41/€1.

At the black market, the local currency gained N20 against the greenback during the session to quote at N1,570/$1 versus the N1,590/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was majorly red on Thursday due to profit-taking as the US Securities and Exchange Commission took the first step toward allowing new crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the price of assets like Litecoin and Solana, as well as new ways of redeeming funds from existing crypto ETFs.

Meanwhile, companies took another step toward launching Ripple (XRP) ETFs in a further sign of the new crypto-friendlier administration at the agency.

Data indicated that Cardano (ADA) went down by 5.1 per cent to trade at $0.7169, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.8 per cent to finish at $192.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to sell at $0.2509.

In addition, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 4.3 per cent to close at $2,713.47, Ripple (XRP) weakened by 3.6 per cent to end at $2.36, Litecoin (LTC) retreated by 1.9 per cent to close at $103.95, and Bitcoin (BTC) dipped by 0.5 per cent to sell for $97,344.70.

However, the price of Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.4 per cent to trade at $579.91, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.

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Economy

Buying Pressure Buoys NGX All-Share Index by 0.10%

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All-Share Index NGX

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed continued buying interest from offshore and domestic investors on Thursday, strengthening the market further by 0.10 per cent at the close of transactions.

Data revealed that the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 105.26 points yesterday to 105,430.15 points from the preceding day’s 105,324.89 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N65 billion to close at N65.287 trillion compared with the previous session’s N65.222 trillion.

Business Post observed that the market participants showed interest in equities across the key sectors of the exchange because of their prospects to yield better value later.

The insurance counter gained 0.63 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.18 per cent, the energy index improved by 0.13 per cent, the banking space jumped by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods industry grew by 0.04 per cent.

Eterna chalked up 9.88 per cent to trade at N33.35, Cadbury Nigeria also gained 9.88 per cent to finish at N26.70, Fidson increased its value by 9.77 per cent to N19.10, UPDC rose by 9.77 per cent to N2.36, and Deap Capital soared by 9.38 per cent to N1.05.

On the flip side, Tripple G lost 9.72 per cent to end at N2.23, Golden Breweries receded by 8.91 per cent to N7.87, Veritas Kapital slumped by 7.81 per cent to N1.18, Caverton dipped by 5.53 per cent to N2.05, and Regency Alliance slipped by 4.05 per cent to 71 Kobo.

When the bourse closed for the session, there were 33 price advancers and 23 price decliners, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Yesterday, investors bought and sold 537.2 million shares valued at N23.0 billion in 15,450 deals versus the 1.1 billion shares worth N28.8 billion traded in 15,080 deals on Wednesday, representing a rise in the number of deals by 2.45 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and value by 49.19 per cent and 20.14 per cent, respectively.

Access Holdings led the activity log with 61.6 million stocks valued at N1.7 billion, Sterling Holdings exchanged 50.2 million equities for N296.2 million, Zenith Bank traded 40.5 million shares worth N2.0 billion, FBN Holdings sold 38.8 million equities valued at N1.3 billion, and UPDC transacted 23.6 million stocks worth N54.4 million.

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Economy

Crude Oil Market Dips as Trump Reiterates US Plans to Boost Production

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crude oil market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The crude oil market continued its downward movement on Thursday after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, repeated a pledge to raise his country’s oil production.

Consequently, the price of Brent crude futures fell by 32 cents or 0.4 per cent to $74.29 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by 42 cents or 0.6 per cent to $70.61 per barrel.

President Trump repeated a pledge to boost US production in a bid to lower oil prices and ease consumer inflation. The US is already the biggest crude producer in the world.

This move unnerved traders a day after the country reported a much bigger-than-anticipated jump in crude stockpiles.

Market analysts have questioned whether US oil producers will be willing to pump more barrels in the current market especially with Trump’s tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports looming.

US government data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed domestic crude stockpiles rose by 8.7 million barrels last week on Wednesday.

Prices also drew support from new US sanctions against individuals and entities for facilitating shipments of Iranian oil to China.

This is as President Trump reimposed a maximum pressure campaign against Iran, but also said he was open to a deal with the oil producing country.

The US said the tankers onboarded Iranian crude from storage in China as part of a scheme involving Iran’s military, which stands to profit from the sale of the oil.

The sanctions block access of the individuals and entities to any of their assets in the US and prohibit US foreign assistance.

China is also not sitting on its oars, it responded to the US blanket tariff of 10 per cent on all Chinese imports with several measured retaliatory tariffs, including a 15 per cent levy on LNG and 10 per cent on crude oil imports from the US.

US crude exports could slide to 3.6 million barrels per day this year, especially if the Trump Administration enacts the tariffs on Mexico and Canada – currently on pause until March 4.

Amid these developments, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Aramco has sharply raised prices for buyers in Asia.

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