NNPC Wins Nigeria’s Best Parastatal Award

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu is targeting to grow Nigeria’s economy by 3.76 per cent next year and moderate the country’s inflation to 21.4 per cent. Speaking at his first budget speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, President Tinubu also projected higher oil production and tax collection, noting that this will boost government revenues and cut down on reliance on borrowing to finance budget deficits. Nigeria plans on spending N27.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, with priorities on security, infrastructure and easing the high cost-of-living crisis. The country will borrow around N9 trillion and N18.5 billion generated from internally

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira weakened further by 8.3 per cent or N67.28 on the American Dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, as investors intensified their demand for the greenback ahead of the festive season rush. Amid a squeeze in the supply of the foreign currency to the market, the value of the local currency closed at N881.88/$1 yesterday compared with the preceding session’s N814.60/$1. Though the supply of FX into the official market improved by 17.9 per cent or $18.00 million to $118.06 million from $100.06 million quoted on Monday, it was not

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A long-term agreement has been sealed between Obat Oil and Petroleum Ltd and Vital Allied Energy Supply & Services Ltd, (VAE) for the supply of 100,000mt of refined product quarterly, with a delivery of 30,000mt monthly. The first tranche of AGO cargo arrived at Obat terminal in Apapa within the week and loading activities commenced immediately and then discharged into tanks. In view of the high demand for the use of the product in the market, plans are already in progress by VAE to further increase the monthly volume to meet up with the market demand. The

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has urged members of the public to inform it of any person or restaurant using paracetamol tablets to prepare food or soften meat during cooking. The agency, in a public alert issued on Tuesday, said the use of paracetamol for cooking was not only dangerous and toxic, but unfit for human consumption, warning those involved in such act to desist immediately. In the statement, NAFDAC said it was “seriously concerned” by what it described as not only “dangerous”, but also “illegal,” emphasising that members of the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) has disclosed that Nigeria earned the sum of $21 billion from the oil and gas sector in 2017. This disclosure came from NEITI at the 2017 Oil and Gas Industry Report released in the nation’s capital, Abuja on Wednesday. It said the figure showed a 23 percent increase from the 2016 figures of 17.05 percent and 15 percent lower than $24.79 billion inflow recorded in 2015. A breakdown of the financial flows by revenue streams showed that crude oil and gas sales topped the table with about $10.19 billion, while

By Adedapo Adesanya The 2019/2020 season of the Netherlands top flight football league, the Eredivisie, has been scrapped due to disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis. The announcement to scrap the season was reached by the Dutch Football Association, the KNVB, after the pronouncement by the Dutch prime minister, Mr Mark Rutte, that professional footballing activities are banned in the country till September 2020 in the face of the current health emergency. Clubs were afforded a vote to decide the outcome of the campaign, with 16 choosing to enable promotion and relegation for the Eredivisie. However, nine clubs voted against

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices rose about one per cent on Tuesday as traders worried about tight supplies and a weaker US Dollar, resulting in the price of the Brent crude rising by $1.08 or 1.0 per cent to $107.35 a barrel and the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude growing by $1.62 or 1.6 per cent to $104.22. Prices were supported by supply fears due to Western sanctions on Russia, which could see more than three million barrels per day wiped off the supply market just as producers continue to underperform. The US Dollar slid to a two-week

By Adedapo Adesanya The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the blue and red line rail projects across the state would be supervised every quarter until it is completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. The governor gave this assurance during an inspection tour of the projects at Ikeja, Yaba, Ebute Metta, and Marina Stations yesterday. Mr Sanwo-Olu expressed satisfaction with the pace of work at the stations, noting that the contractors were on course and hoped that they would round up this year, promising to intensify supervision and monitoring of the projects quarterly to facilitate speedy

By Dipo Olowookere President Muhammadu Buhari has explained why his administration has been borrowing from various sources since assuming office on May 29, 2015. According to the former military head of state, the sourcing for loans to finance infrastructure by his government is mainly to attract investors to Nigeria. A statement on Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, stated that if Mr Buhari had not taken these loans, Nigeria may have been in dire shortfall of infrastructure. “We have so many challenges with infrastructure. We just have to take loans

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the resignation of Mr Godwin Emefiele as its governor and the resumption of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the next head of the apex bank, albeit in an acting capacity. The apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isa AbdulMumin, said Mr Cardoso will act as governor pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate, which is away on recess until Tuesday, September 26. This also confirms the exit of Mr Folashodun Shonubi, who was acting in that position following the ousting of Mr Emefile three months ago. “Dr Olayemi Michael