Economy
Osinbajo Advocates Market-Driven Approach to Boost FX Flows
By Adedapo Adesanya
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that a more market-driven approach would be best for the country’s exchange rate management as it would boost confidence and inwards flows.
Mr Osinbajo made this submission in his presentation at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat for Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, and top Government Functionaries at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, which started on Monday.
The VP, while giving his presentation, The President Muhammadu Buhari Administration: Reflections on the Journey So Far, said that there must be a synergy between fiscal and monetary policy.
“The failure of that synergy has led to unnecessary drawbacks in our economic performance and planning.
“What imports are eligible for foreign exchange must agree with the fiscal ambitions for manufacturing and industry.
“The second is that our exchange rate management continues to be an issue; the exchange rate of the naira to convertible currencies continues to face significant downward pressure because demand substantially outstrips supply.
“On one hand, we have tried demand management and rationing, which has not really worked because fixing the price while the parallel market reveals a massive arbitrage merely creates the opportunity for massive rents,” Mr Osinbajo said.
He noted hat such demand management and rationing would also compound the backlog of remittances for foreign businesses who wanted to repatriate their legitimate earnings.
According to the vice president, the imperative discussion is how best to manage the situation by finding a mechanism for increasing supply and moderating demand which will be transparent and boost confidence.
“I think a more market-driven approach will be best; some price discovery within the context of a managed float is certainly required.
“Some efforts at controlled price discovery that had been made in the past include the Foreign Exchange Market (FEM), interbank Foreign Exchange Market (IFEM), various iterations of the Dutch Auction System(DAS), Wholesale Dutch Auction System (W-DAS), Retail Dutch Auction System (R-DAS).
“While they may not have been perfect, it would appear as if the rules were clear and there was relative stability.
“When people know how to access foreign exchange competitively, this will boost confidence and inward flows will increase,” he submitted.
The vice president said the focus must be on value addition and productivity in our economy, adding that the ideas were well articulated in the Medium Term Economic Plan 2021-2025–the importance of loosening generalised restrictions on trade.
Mr Osinbajo said that blanket import restrictions dampened economic activity because many items that might be needed in the manufacturing process might be affected with a consequent negative impact on value addition in the economy.
“Importation itself is not the problem; it is what you import and what you do with it; it is a value-added that matters.
“This is how jobs and wealth are created; many countries of the world that manufacture are huge importers, and they import far more than Nigeria.
“Let us take the example of garment manufacturing; Bangladesh, the world’s leading garment manufacturer, does not produce most of the cotton it uses.
“It only grows two per cent of its annual cotton requirement; in 2019, Bangladesh imported $11.8 billion worth of textiles and apparel while it exported $37.94 billion worth of garments in the same year,” he said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The duo of Presco Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc has listed additional shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The extra equities of these two publicly-listed organisations were admitted to the local stock exchange last Friday, increasing their respective total issued and fully paid-up shares.
For Presco, it listed fresh 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each on the daily official list of the NGX on Friday, January 30, 2026, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up stocks from 1,000,000,000 units to 1,166,666,667 units.
The additional equities were from the rights issue of the firm allotted to shareholders on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.
In a circular issued over the weekend, the NGX said, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Presco Plc were on Friday, January 30, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited (NGX).
“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1,420.00 per share on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.
“With the listing of the additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Presco Plc has now increased from 1,000,000,000 to 1,166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”
As for GTCO, it listed additional125,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N80.00 per unit offered through private placement.
The fresh equities taken to Customs Street have raised the total issued and fully paid-up shares of GTCO from 36,425,229,514 to 36,550,229,514 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A total of N1.969 trillion was shared to the federal government, the 36 state governments and the 774 local government councils from the gross revenue of N2.585 trillion generated by the nation in December 2025.
The money was disbursed to the three tiers of government at the January 2026 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in Abuja.
In a statement issued on Monday by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr Bawa Mokwa, it was stated that the FAAC allocation comprised statutory revenue of N1.084 trillion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N846.507 billion, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N38.110 billion.
“Total deduction for cost of collection was N104.697 billion, while total transfers, refunds, and savings were N511.585 billion,” the statement partly read.
It was also revealed that from the N1.969 trillion total distributable revenue, the federal Government received the sum of N653.500 billion, and the state governments received N706.469 billion, the local government councils received N513.272 billion, and the sum of N96.083 billion was shared with the benefiting state as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
He said of the N1.084 trillion distributable statutory revenue, the central government received N520.807 billion, the state governments got N264.160 billion, the local councils were given N203.656 billion, and N96.083 billion was shared to the benefiting states as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
FAAC noted that from the N846.507 billion distributable VAT earnings, the federal government got N126.976 billion, the state governments received N423.254 billion, and the local government councils got N296.277 billion.
From the revenue from EMTL, Mr Mokwa explained that the national government was given N5.717 billion, the state governments got N19.055 billion, and the councils collected N13.338 billion.
He added that the companies’ Income Tax (CIT)/CGT and STD, Import Duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) increased significantly in December, while oil and gas royalty, CET levies and fees increase marginally, with excise duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT)/Hydrocarbon Tax (HT), and EMTL considerably down.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s oil exports will drop in February following the shutdown of the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel scheduled for turnaround maintenance.
Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) Limited confirmed the development in a statement issued, adding that gas output will also decline during the maintenance period.
This comes as SNEPCo begun turnaround maintenance on the Bonga FPSO, the statement signed by its Communications Manager, Mrs Gladys Afam-Anadu, said, describing the exercise as a statutory integrity assurance programme designed to extend the facility’s operational lifespan.
SNEPCo Managing Director, Mr Ronald Adams, said the maintenance would ensure safe, efficient operations for another 15 years.
“The scheduled maintenance is designed to reduce unplanned deferments and strengthen the asset’s overall resilience.
“We expect to resume operations in March following completion of the turnaround,” he said.
Mr Adams said the scope included inspections, certification, regulatory checks, integrity upgrades, engineering modifications and subsea assurance activities.
“The FPSO, about 120 kilometres offshore in over 1,000 metres of water, can produce 225,000 barrels of oil daily.
“It also produces 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day,” he said.
He said maintaining the facility was critical to Nigeria’s production stability, energy security and revenue objectives.
Mr Adams noted that the 2024 Final Investment Decision on Bonga North increased the importance of the FPSO’s reliability. He said the turnaround would prepare the facility for additional volumes from the Bonga North subsea tie-back project.
According to him, the last turnaround maintenance was conducted in October 2022.
“On February 1, 2023, the asset produced its one billionth barrel since operations began in 2005,” Mr Adams said.
SNEPCo operates the Bonga field in partnership with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The last turnaround maintenance activity on the FPSO took place in October 2022. On February 1, the following year, the asset delivered its 1 billionth barrel of oil since production commenced in 2005.
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