Okonjo-Iweala Warns Against Heavy Dependence on FAAC Allocation

By Dipo Olowookere The board of Capital Hotels Plc has announced the creation of an escrow account for the payment of about N1.6 billion to minority shareholders of the company. The hospitality firm is leaving the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited after years on the nation’s main stock exchange. In a notice signed by Alex Ugwuanyi, the organisation said the account was created with CardinalStone Registrars Limited and has been sufficiently funded for payment “to shareholders” who “have accepted to exit” the firm by selling their holdings. Recall that in March 2023, shareholders of Capital Hotels approved the request of the

By Dipo Olowookere Profit-taking persisted at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday, with Customs Street going down by 0.31 per cent on its return from a midweek break. The market closed its doors to traders on Wednesday due to the public holiday declared by the federal government to mark Eid-el Maulud, the birthday of Prophet Mohammed. Business Post reports that market participants did not take their minds off the pressing issues affecting the Nigerian economy, especially rising inflation, energy costs and the foreign exchange (FX) crisis. As a result, they liquidated their shares, leading to a negative market breadth

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 The oil market retreated on Thursday, as traders took profits after prices soared recently while the space worried that high interest rates may weigh on demand. During the trading session, Brent futures fell by $1.17 or 1.2 per cent to settle at $95.38 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) declined by $1.97 or 2.1 per cent to close at $91.71 per barrel. The market had reached a 10-month high as some traders worried high oil prices would stoke inflation, encouraging the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to persist with rate hikes.

By Dipo Olowookere A Naira-dominated loan of N200 billion has secured by MTN from a consortium of 12 Nigerian banks to enable it expand its operations in the country. The 12 Nigerian lenders are Citibank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, FCMB, Standard Chartered, Stanbic IBTC Bank, UBA, Union Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and FSDH Merchant Bank. According to a statement issued by the telecommunications company, the loan is to fund capital expenditure and working capital. The seven-year facility will enable MTN expand its voice network and data service, the company said in a statement. It said the naira-denominated

By Dipo Olowookere The sum of N655.17 billion generated in December 2017 as revenue has been shared by the three tiers of government. The money was given to the Federal, States and Local Governments. Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday after the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) said that the N655.17 billion was distributed under four distributable sub-heads. “The total statutory revenue for the month is N540.44 billion. “It was made up as follows: NNPC contributed N104.3 billion, DPR, N77.61 billion, FIRS collection from the oil sector is N88.37 billion and N116.9 billion

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated on Thursday by 1.77 per cent on the back of profit-taking in the shares of UPDC, Dangote Cement and 13 others. The duo lost 10.00 per cent each yesterday to close at N9.00 and N252.00 respectively, while Neimeth went down by 6.86 per cent to N1.63, May & Baker dropped 6.46 per cent to N4.20 and Pharma Deko fell by 5.21 per cent to finish at N2.00. It was observed that the market breadth closed positive during the session with 22 price gainers led by Skyway Aviation, which grew by 9.66

By Adedapo Adesanya The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is looking at deeper cuts in oil supplies for its allies in December as the cartel’s forecasts pointed to slower global growth and lower demand next year. This was revealed by the producer group’s secretary general, Mohammad Barkindo in London on Thursday. “The conference will take appropriate, strong, positive decisions that will set us on the path of heightened and sustained stability for 2020,” Barkindo said. An Alliance of OPEC, Russia, and other producers known as OPEC+ have since January implemented a deal that will cut oil output by 1.2

By Dipo Olowookere It was a memorable day on Sunday, May 27, 2018 as some kids were hosted by Nigeria’s number one malt drink, Maltina, in commemoration of the Children’s Day celebrations. Maltina is the first locally produced malt drink in Nigeria and is fortified with vitamins and calcium for healthy families. On Children’s Day, Maltina, hosted hundreds of children and their parents in Lagos and Ibadan to a party, in line with the brand’s mission to nourish precious family moments and spread happiness. The families got to enjoy fun activities like face-painting, sack races, carousel rides, Tug of War,

By Adedapo Adesanya African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat have announced the commencement of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) to facilitate trade across the continent. A brainchild of the African Union (AU), the PAPSS is a financial market infrastructure to enable instant, cross-border payments in local currencies among African markets launched two years ago which was conceived as a necessary option for accelerating regional trade as envisaged by AfCFTA. According to the Cairo-based Afrieximbank in a statement, by simplifying cross-border transactions and reducing the dependency on hard currencies for these transactions,

By Adedapo Adesanya It was a negative outcome for unlisted securities on the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Monday, May 18. At the session, both the market capitalisation and NASD unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped most of the gains recorded at the previous session. Last Friday, the market rose by 0.79 percent, but yesterday, the market went down by as it shed 0.78 percent, causing the index to shrink by 5.43 points to end the day at 688.51 points from 693.94 points. Also, the situation weakened the market capitalisation by N3.9 billion to close at N505.76 billion in contrast

Ecobank Nigeria has announced the appointment of key Management Officers across various levels, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approving the development. Amongst those appointed are Kenneth Okere, who is now the Company Secretary/Chief Legal Counsel; Ibukunoluwa Oyedeji, Chief Financial Officer (CFO); Abiola Aderinola, Financial Controller; Adetokunbo Uko, Treasurer and Akintunde Dawodu, Chief Compliance Officer and Head, Compliance & Control. According to the Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, the appointments are in line with the bank’s Roadmap to Leadership Transformation Programme. He also noted that Ecobank, which also promoted over 950 staff early this year, was