Oil Minister Lauds Tantita on Pipeline Protection Efforts

By Adedapo Adesanya The cryptocurrency market witnessed an uptick on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) managing to stay above the $26,000 level even as the US Dollar index rose to a new year-to-date high. Data obtained by Business Post showed that the most valued crypto, BTC, posted a 0.7 per cent appreciation during the midweek session to trade at $26,408.37 in the last 24 hours. On the part of the second-most valued digital coin, Ethereum (ETH), it remained in the $1,600 mark and it improved its value yesterday by 1.6 per cent to sell at $1,610.94. At the trading session, the US

By Adedapo Adesanya The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said he would adopt an evidence-based monetary policy as he assumed office upon confirmation by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday. He said the new leadership of CBN would “adopt an evidence-based monetary policy and shall not be making decisions based on a whim.” The Godswill Akpabio-led Senate confirmed the nomination of Mr Cardoso’s nomination as well as that of the four Deputy Governors of CBN nominated by President Bola Tinubu. The four deputy governors whose appointments were confirmed by the Senate are Mrs

By Adedapo Adesanya The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reaffirmed its support for the removal of fuel subsidy and the exchange rate unification of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, insisting that the policies are good for Nigeria’s economy. A representative of the global lender, Mr Ari Aisen, while featuring on Channels TV on Tuesday, maintained that the two policies must remain for Nigeria to reach macroeconomic stability. “After the position that needs to be well managed to avoid potential reversal, policies of subsidizing fuel, and controlling exchange rate will lead to a much better outlook for the Nigerian economy,”

By Bliss Okperan The exchange rate instability in the country is already giving small business owners sleepless nights and it threatens their investments. This concern was raised recently by the National Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Mr Segun Kuti-George. He emphasised that business owners would have to increase their prices because of the unavoidable consequence of the current exchange rate crisis in Nigeria. According to him, if consumers are unable to meet up with the increase in the cost of goods and services, businesses would be forced to shut down their operations, which would, in turn,

By Dipo Olowookere Heritage Bank Plc has partnered with the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs and the Lagos State Government (LASG) to organise the 2017 edition of Diaspora Festival Badagry with the theme Door of Return Ceremony Badagry. The festival, which held recently in the ancient town of Badagry, was hinged on ‘The Door of Return Ceremony’ and cultural displays. The Door of Return Ceremony forms the ideological basis of the festival, symbolises the emancipation of the black race as well as an expression of the Diaspora string and affiliation to

By Dipo Olowookere The trio of Universal Insurance Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc topped the activity chart of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week, selling 865.658 million shares worth N12.138 billion in 4,786 deals. They accounted for 25.70 per cent and 28.91 per cent of the 3.369 billion shares worth N41.986 billion traded in the week in 39,764 deals. The total trading turnover for the week under consideration was lower than the 4.276 billion shares valued at N62.176 billion transacted in the preceding week in 44,344 deals. Further analysis showed that

ADVFN has joined forces with TradeIt to allow ADVFN and iHub users to send trades directly to major US brokerages from within iHub and ADVFN iOS apps. ADVFN, known in the investing community for its cutting edge data products and the most popular stock forum in the world, has already seen a rise in the popularity of its mobile offering; in-app execution is expected to accelerate this. “Our user base relies on our aggregated newsfeeds, forums and live market data to generate trade ideas,” said Matthew Collom, Director of ADVFN, “This partnership gives them the ability to trade quickly on

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced its intention to quickly provide a lifeline for the nation’s economy by injecting N1 trillion into the system. On Monday, the apex bank had rolled out ways to support the economy, disclosing that it was providing the sum of N50 billion to mitigate against the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) ravaging the global economy. It had then announced the reduction in the interest rates for its intervention loans from 9 percent to 5 percent, saying it would provide support for the pharmaceutical sector. On Wednesday, the central bank came

By United Capital Research Last week, President Buhari reappointed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for another 5-year term in office. The reappointment, which was confirmed by a letter sent to the Senate for legislative confirmation, marks the first key strategic economic decision made by President Buhari since his re-election in February 2019. Analysing market reactions to the news, the fixed income market responded somewhat positive as yields on fixed income instruments on Friday (a day after the announcement) trended lower across board, owing to increased demand by foreign investors evident in the high influx of FX

By Ayomide Oriade “Every health professional in Nigeria is concerned about the second wave and the rate at which the virus is spreading in the country. It showed that people didn’t keep to required protocols despite the warnings. Our health system can’t handle an exponential increase, and the majority of Nigerians can’t afford the cost of private treatment. So, the sensible thing to do is wear your mask at all times. Wash and sanitize your hands. Avoid crowded places. The peculiarity of the virus is such that your own hygiene is not enough. You have to make sure your family

By Dipo Olowookere The Executive Chairman of Atlas Petroleum International and Oranto Petroleum, Mr Arthur Eze, has denied having any dealings with Oilbank International. Mr Eze accused Oilbank International of using his name and reputation to discuss business with people and companies, especially for the ongoing marginal oilfields bidding round in Nigeria. For the first time in several years, Nigeria is auctioning 57 marginal fields to energy investors and the exercise is expected to attract a lot of international partnerships to inject necessary capital and technology into the country’s marginal acreages. On August 3, 2020, ADM Energy announced its successful

By Dipo Olowookere Worried by the spate of abuse and commercialisation of the Christian faith in the country, the government of South Africa is considering regulate activities of churches. Already, the Portfolio Committee on Women in the Presidency has suggested that legislation is needed to regulate those churches operating outside the law. The committee was briefed by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) on the commercialisation of religion and the abuse and exploitation of people’s belief systems. The committee said regulations and peer review mechanism as proposed