Oil Closes 2% Higher Ahead Crucial OPEC+ Meeting

By Adedapo Adesanya The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total of N1.1 trillion from the revenue generated by the nation in August 2023 for September to enable the three tiers of government; the federal government, states, and local government councils, to have funds to pay salaries and others. The allocation of the funds was confirmed by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation on Friday following FAAC’s September 2023 meeting. According to a statement by the OAGF’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Bawa Mokwa, there was “N1100.101 billion (N1.1 trillion) total distributable revenue.”

By Adedapo Adesanya The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has cleared the air regarding recent reports on the transfer of funds to the Joint Tax Board (JTB) by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) under the erstwhile chairman, Mr Muhammad Nami, for the tax reform committee. In a statement on Friday, he revealed that N5 billion was paid to the board to fund activities of the team set up by President Bola Tinubu, noting that “The committee’s budget includes provisions for a national Data for Tax project which the JTB had been

By Adedapo Adesanya VFD Group Plc has been officially delisted from the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange months after the proprietary investment company revealed its intention to list its stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The bourse on Thursday confirmed the development in a notice seen by Business Post. “Pursuant to the company’s request to delist from the NASD OTC Exchange, we wish to inform you that VFD Group PLC shares will be delisted with effect from the close of business (COB) today, Thursday, September 28, 2023,” the notice read. Last Friday, after three years of trading on the

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude prices traded on Wednesday below where they were before the September 14, 2019 attacks on Saudi Arabia that temporarily led to the kingdom’s losing half of its production. The Brent Crude on Wednesday night depreciated to $57.54 per barrel after shedding $1.35 or 2.29 percent as the the U.S. benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude, on the other hand, was down by $1.07 or 2 percent to trade at $52.55 per barrel. This means that the US Crude drop has fallen about 17 percent from the peak reached on the first trading day after the

By Simon Kolawolelive At the annual Nigerian jamboree to the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, Dr IbeKachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, told a “world press conference” on May 5, 2017 that Nigeria’s refineries would soon have new investors. He said 26 investors had indicated interest in the epileptic refineries. “By September, we will unveil the investors for the refineries,” the minister said smoothly, typically. “When we came onboard, the refineries were not working but as we speak, we have sizeable investment portfolio for them to an extent that we don’t know who to partner with

By Adedapo Adesanya The rise of artificial intelligence and its revolutionary impact on African business, society, and culture led discussions on the final day (June 2) of GITEX Africa 2023 in Morocco. Experts from across the globe gathered to debate and advance the transformational new tech that’s now the focal point of worldwide debate. Speaking at the event, Mr Mubarak Ayanniyi, the 21-year-old founder and CEO of BetaLife, a Nigerian health startup, noted that AI-powered health-tech solutions are helping to transform African blood donations. BetaLife is a cloud-based AI-powered platform that connects hospitals and blood banks using advanced algorithms, ensuring

By Cowry Asset Having emerged from 2017 on the crest, the Nigerian equities space appears headed for the “goldilocks” state in 2018. This is premised on improving macroeconomic environment with lower inflation expectations coupled with sustained economic output growth trajectory. Also, equities valuations are expected to remain cheap in the short term, occasioned by recent profit taking activities by investors who decided to lock in and realize their profits from the 2017 rally. Furthermore, the monetary authority has intention to ease policy rates this year in anticipation of significant disinflation which should improve the operating performance of businesses and further

By Adedapo Adesanya The Brent crude returned to the $45 per barrel territory on Monday as storms headed for the Gulf of Mexico which shut more than half of the region’s offshore production, with the more dangerous of the two storms expected to strike later in the week. The international benchmark rose 67 cents or 1.51 per cent to trade at $45.02 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 28 cents or 0.66 per cent to trade at $42.62 per barrel. As the market faced rising supply, news of shutting oil production served as a piece

A new plot has been hatched aimed at tarnishing the image of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Prof. Charles Dokubo. The plot, which is already in its advanced stage, is orchestrated by individuals who have failed in their bids to force Dokubo to award contracts to them. This newspaper gathered that Prof. Dokubo has severally turned down overtures by those behind the plot, and now to get at him, they have resorted to blackmailing him. In one of the campaigns of calumny, an online portal had reported award of fictitious

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned telecommunications consumers, whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards were barred from making calls, not to fall victim to a viral weblink claiming to unlock their numbers. In a notice on Monday, the telecommunications regulator firmed that affected SIMs will not be unbarred by the service providers until they are linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of the SIM holders. It warned that this became necessary in view of the viral calls unblocking website, https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng, being circulated on social media and on some websites. It stressed that the link and

By Dipo Olowookere The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it will go ahead with the Edo State governorship elections despite it being warned by security agencies in the country to shift the exercise. INEC said on Thursday that it has no plan to postpone the gubernatorial poll slated for Saturday, September 10, 2016. The Nigeria Police and Department of State Services (DSS) had suggested to the electoral body to postpone the exercise to a later date because of “security concerns.” The security agencies said they had intelligence reports that terrorists were planning to attack some “vulnerable communities”, including in