By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil rose marginally on Friday, consolidating recent gains and holding near six-month highs on Friday, supported by tensions between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude futures settled at $70.69 a barrel after it chalked up 2 cents or 0.03 per cent and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $65.21 a barrel after adding 21 cents or 0.32 per cent.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran and repeatedly called on the oil producer to make a deal, which will see it end its nuclear program, limit its ballistic missile capabilities, and sever ties with armed proxies in the Middle East.

If the Islamic Republic does not accept those terms, President Trump has warned that the country will suffer consequences “far worse” than last year, when the United States joined Israel in bombing Iran’s nuclear sites.

The possibility of the American president weighing actions against Iran that included targeted strikes, raised concerns about supply disruptions.

The US, which has strengthened its military position in the Middle East in recent weeks, issued new sanctions targeting seven Iranian nationals and at least one entity.

A rise in the Dollar from four-year put some pressure on oil prices after President Trump announced that he would pick former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to head the US central bank when Mr Jerome Powell’s term ends in May.

A stronger Dollar can limit demand from oil buyers paying in other currencies because it will be more expensive.

More pressure came from rising US crude oil output after shutdowns and Kazakhstan nearing the resumption of production at the Tengiz oilfield.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) is likely to keep its pause on oil output increases for March when it meets on Sunday, February 1.

The eight producers – Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Oman – raised production quotas by about 2.9 million barrels per day from April through December 2025, roughly 3 per cent of global demand. They then froze further planned increases for January through March 2026 because of seasonally weaker consumption.

Also on Sunday, a separate OPEC+ panel called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee is scheduled to meet. The JMMC does not have decision-making authority on production policy.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Senate, through its Committee on Appropriations, has fixed March 17, 2026, as the tentative date for the final consideration and passage of the N58.472 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill.

This was made known after a special session on Friday, where February 2 to 13, 2026, was approved for the consideration of budget estimates at the committee level.

The committee equally fixed Monday, February 9, 2026, for a public hearing on the budget proposal.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, further disclosed that Thursday, March 5, 2026, has been scheduled for an interactive session between members of the committee and key economic managers of the federal government, including the Ministers of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Atiku Bagudu.

According to him, February 16 to 23, 2026, has been earmarked for the submission of reports on budget defence by various standing committee chairmen, ahead of the presentation of the Appropriations Committee’s report to the Senate on March 17.

He disclosed that while the Senate leadership initially preferred the budget to be passed by March 12, 2026, he successfully appealed for an additional week to allow for more thorough scrutiny.

To aid detailed examination of the estimates, Senator Adeola said hard copies of the 2026 budget have been printed and distributed to chairmen and members of the Senate’s standing committees.

On December 19, 2025, President Bola Tinubu presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly.

The budget has a capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at N15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.

Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.

In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

About $4.7 billion was generated by Airtel Africa Plc in nine-month period ended December 31, 2025, details of the company’s financial statements revealed.

The telco disclosed that in the period under review, mobile services revenue grew by 23.3 per cent in constant currency, as data revenues, the largest contributor to group revenues, increased by 36.5 per cent, with voice revenues growing by 13.5 per cent.

In the same vein, EBITDA grew by 35.9 per cent in reported currency to $2.3 billion, with EBITDA margins expanding further to 48.9 per cent from 46.2 per cent in the prior period.

The third quarter of the fiscal year witnessed a further sequential increase in EBITDA margins to 49.6 per cent, driving EBITDA growth of 31.0 per cent in constant currency and 40.8 per cent in reported currency.

The financial results showed that profit after tax of $586 million improved from $248 million in the prior period. Higher profit after tax in the current period was driven by higher operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $99 million versus the $153 million derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period.

Commenting, the chief executive of Airtel Africa, Mr Sunil Taldar, said, “These results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business. During the quarter, we accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while also expanding our fibre network.

“Coupling this investment with innovative partnerships, strengthens our customer proposition and positions us to capture the considerable growth opportunity across our markets.

“Digitisation, technology innovation and embedding AI in our processes will also optimise the customer experience with increased digital offerings and closer integration of GSM and Airtel Money services allowing us to unlock the strong demand across our markets. Smartphone adoption continues to increase with penetration of 48.1 per cent, and we are seeing solid progress in the development of our home broadband business, reflecting the need for reliable, high-speed connectivity across our markets.

“Our push to enhance financial inclusion across the continent continues to gain momentum with our Mobile Money customer base expanding to 52 million, surpassing the 50 million milestone. Annualised total processed value of over $210 billion in Q3’26 underscores the depth of our merchants, agents and partner ecosystem, and remains a key player in driving improved access to financial services across Africa. We remain on track for the listing of Airtel Money in the first half of 2026.

“Disciplined execution on cost efficiency, alongside accelerating revenue growth has enabled another sequential improvement in our quarterly EBITDA margin to 49.6 per cent, – underpinning constant currency EBITDA growth of 31 per cent – and we remain focussed on driving further incremental margin improvements.

“Our strategic priorities remain clear: to keep investing in best in class connectivity, accelerate financial inclusion through our mobile money platform and deliver a great customer experience. These results reinforce our confidence in the long term potential of our markets and our ability to create value for all our stakeholders.”