Economy
NSE Demutualisation Bill Passed to Boost Stock Market—Reps
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has explained why the green chamber of the National Assembly passed the bill demutualising the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week.
Speaking in a statement on Monday, Mr Dogara, through his media aide, Mr Turaki Hassan, explained that it was mainly in the interest of investors, the nation’s economy as well as the stock market.
According to the Speaker, with the local bourse being publicly quoted, it would open up the capital market and as well make it conform to global best practices and more attractive to investors.
Mr Dogara also noted that the change of the ownership structure of the NSE would bring the ordinary Nigerian closer to benefiting from the nation’s commonwealth because more multinational corporations will get their companies listed, thereby contributing to the development of the country’s economy.
Last week, the House adopted the recommendations of a report by its Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Chaired by Mr Yusuf Tajudeen on a Bill for an Act to facilitate the development of Nigeria’s capital market.
The Bill will enable the conversion and re-registration of the NSE from a company limited by guarantee to a public company limited by shares and for related matters.
When concurred to by the Senate and signed into law by the President, the changes made by the House would bring more involvement of investors in governance.
Commenting further, the Speaker said the new arrangement would bring a flexible governance structure in the capital market, making it easy for decision to be made in response to changes in the business environment.
The change in the market structure would also afford investors increased access to resources for capital investment by way of equity offerings or private investment to raise funds.
In June 2016, while performing the closing gong during his visit to the stock exchange in Lagos, Mr Dogara pledge to use legislative tools to reposition the capital market for maximum performance.
He had described as unacceptable a situation where a large portion of the country’s resources or capital was heavily concentrated in the hands of few chief executive officers, CEOs of companies.
This situation, the Speaker pointed out, further widened the inequality gap, eliminates the middle class and plunges more people into abject poverty, thereby posing serious threat to the sustenance and survival of democracy.
Deepening of Nigeria’s capital market, he said, would enhance wealth redistribution and deliberately allow it to trickle down to the ordinary people as against the practice where multinational corporations repatriate their profits 100 percent to their own countries without investing back to the Nigerian economy.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent to a one-month high on Tuesday after the US reportedly reimposed a naval blockade on Iran, which will reduce oil flows from the region through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent futures rose by $1.43 or 1.7 per cent to settle at $84.73 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased by $1.20 or 1.5 per cent to $79.34 a barrel.
Brent closed at its highest since June 12, and WTI at its highest since June 15. The closing price increase kept Brent in technically overbought territory for a second day in a row for the first time since March.
Before the Iran war, about 20 per cent of global oil supplies flowed through the strait.
US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz as part of the conflict with Iran, saying he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.
US forces had carried out waves of attacks for the third night after Iran said it had closed the strait. President Trump on Monday reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping and proposed the fee, but hours before the fee was to take effect, the American President said the strait was open to all shipping traffic except that of Iran.
The renewed attacks have fed doubts that a memorandum of understanding signed last month will lead to a permanent halt in the war that has disrupted global energy supplies and stoked inflation fears.
Data showed that US consumer inflation slowed more than expected in June as energy prices retreated, but financial markets still expect an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh on Tuesday vowed to “do my job” if challenged by President Trump, who has said he wants the US central bank to cut interest rates and boost economic growth.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 564,000 barrels in the week ending July 10. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 399,000 barrels.
Although commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have been falling rapidly for three months now, shedding just over 60 million barrels over the last twelve weeks, US crude inventories are only down 9.2 million barrels so far this year. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its report later on Wednesday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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