NPA, Customs Partner to Free Up Nigerian Ports

In furtherance of my sacred duties and obligations as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is my honour to be here today to present my administration’s 2024 Budget Proposal to this Joint Session of the 10th National Assembly. This moment is especially profound and significant to me because it is my first annual budgetary presentation to the National Assembly. Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the National Assembly, I commend your swift consideration and passage of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bills and the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper. Your prompt action underscores your devotion

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited retreated by 0.44 per cent on Tuesday due to selling pressure on some bellwether equities during the session. Shares of Dangote Cement, GTCO, Zenith Bank, Access Holdings, Oando, Lafarge Africa and others experienced a pullback yesterday as a result of profit-taking activities by traders. As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) receded by 312.76 points to 71,041.05 points from 71,353.81 points and the market capitalisation moderated by N165 billion to N38.875 trillion from N39.040 trillion. The level of activity at the market waned on the second trading session of the week, as

By Adedapo Adesanya A hybrid solar power solutions provider, Daystar Power, has signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries to install and operate a 4.2MWp solar plant and 2MWh battery storage system that will help the firm reduce its high energy costs. The installation will be one of the largest solar and battery storage projects for an industrial manufacturer in Nigeria. The hybrid solar solution will generate 5,249 MWh of electricity – 42 per cent of its daytime power consumption – every year at Nigerian Breweries’ Lagos brewery. According to a statement, the integration of solar into the factory’s energy mix

By Adedapo Adesanya The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, has assured foreign investors of low production costs as they consider investing in the country’s mining sector. Speaking at the Mines and Money Conference in London, Mr Alake said President Bola Tinubu has embarked on reforms to boost investment by streamlining procedures and reducing hurdles to attract foreign investors. “The country’s geological bounty encompasses over 44 distinct mineral types, found in exploitable quantities across more than 500 locations,” the Minister said, according to a statement by his aide, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan. “Recently, recognizing the evolving global landscape and

By Ebitonye Akpodigha A relative of the immediate Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Godswill Akpabio, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The anti-graft agency confirmed this on its official Facebook page (official efcc) on Wednesday afternoon. It said the suspect, one Mr Ibanga Ime Akpabio, is a cousin to the former Governor. He was apprehended in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for his alleged involvement in a N10 million oil scam. He is presently undergoing interrogation in the Port Harcourt’s Zonal office of the EFCC. “Mr Akpabio’s arrest was occasioned by an allegation that he

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed positive for the third straight day on Thursday with the market recording a growth of 0.64 percent. Business Post correspondent reports that the major market indicators inched northward at the close of transactions at the market, increasing the confidence investors have in the market lately. The stock market reacted positively to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIG Bill) by the Senate today, leaving the All-Share Index (ASI) to improve by 181.18 points to close at 28,467.61 points, while the market capitalisation advanced by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Lagos State government on Tuesday debunked viral report on the social media suggesting that it was planning to commence paying salary to religious leaders in the State, saying the claim was totally untrue and misleading. Commissioner for Home Affairs, Mr Abdulateef Abdulhakeem, who made the clarification while speaking on a television programme monitored in Lagos, said there was no iota of truth in the said report, and urged members of the public to disregard it in its entirety. “The clear position is that the Lagos State Government is not intending to employ Imams and Pastors. There

By Adedapo Adesanya United Bank for Africa (UBA) has introduced amazing plans for this summer to its numerous customers. The pan-African bank has said that with its Mastercard debit card, customers can enjoy up to 25 percent off stay at Atlantis, the Palm in Dubai, capital city of the United Arab Emirates. UBA also said it has a number of other benefits available to customers who subscribe to the Mastercard debit card, including a 25 percent discount on Imperial Club rooms and Suites and a 20 percent off Ocean and Palm rooms. Within the stay in the city, customers are

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold $17.81 billion in its interventions at the interbank foreign exchange market in a bid to ease demand pressure and promote exchange rate stability in the country in the year 2022. This is according to figures in its Financial Markets Department Annual Activity for 2022, which showed that the CBN’s intervention at the interbank comprised spot sales of $7.11 billion and forward sales of $10.69 billion. Within the spot sales, the apex bank facilitated $2.46 billion at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) window, $1.42 billion at the inter-bank market, $1.59

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Financial institutions operating in Nigeria have been warned and directed not to “use, hold, trade and/ or transact in anyway in virtual currencies.” This order was given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a circular titled ‘Circular to Banks and Other Financial Institutions on Virtual Currency Operations in Nigeria’ and signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Mr Kevin Amugo. In the circular, the apex bank admitted that the emergence of Virtual Currencies (VCs) has attracted investments in payments infrastructure that provides new methods for transmitting value over the internet, but emphasised that

By Modupe Gbadeyanka One of the payments and data security experts in the world, Mr Glenn Kusik, has joined comforte as Chief Architect for Enterprise Data Protection in a period of rapid growth in the data protection market. Mr Kusik is in charge of the continuous innovation and optimization of comforte’s Enterprise Data Protection Suite, SecurDPS, which provides organizations with comprehensive data-centric security that easily integrates with core business applications and complex IT infrastructures. He is one of many new faces at comforte as the company is rapidly expanding its pool of talent to keep up with growing demand for

By Dipo Olowookere Fitch Ratings says Nigerian banks will continue to face challenges this year, following an extremely difficult 2016. Banks faced multiple threats from the operating environment in 2016, including Nigeria sliding into recession, the economy continuing to suffer from low oil prices and severe shortages of foreign currency (FC). Consequently banks struggled with declining operating profitability (excluding translation gains), sluggish credit growth, fast asset quality deterioration, tight FC liquidity and weakening capitalisation, putting increasing pressure on their credit profiles. Fitch, in its latest report, stated that outlook for the rest of 2017 is not much brighter, stressing that