Prestige Assurance Gives Shareholders Bonus Shares

By Adedapo Adesanya  President Bola Tinubu has written to the House of Representatives seeking the approval for an $8.6 billion and €100 million external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. The President also forwarded the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Supplementary Budget to the lower chamber for consideration. Meanwhile, the President will present the 2024 budget to the National Assembly on Wednesday. This was after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion. The approval followed the review of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) earlier passed by the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Naira weakened further by 8.3 per cent or N67.28 on the American Dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, as investors intensified their demand for the greenback ahead of the festive season rush. Amid a squeeze in the supply of the foreign currency to the market, the value of the local currency closed at N881.88/$1 yesterday compared with the preceding session’s N814.60/$1. Though the supply of FX into the official market improved by 17.9 per cent or $18.00 million to $118.06 million from $100.06 million quoted on Monday, it was not

By Adedapo Adesanya The boards of insurance companies operating in the country have been charged by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to embrace the measures put in place to tackle the challenges of unpaid claims. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, expressed worry over the number of outstanding claims in the sector despite efforts by the regulator to address the issue. Mr Thomas, who is also the chief executive of NAICOM, said the organisation, in collaboration with members of the Insurers’ Committee, has taken decisions and incepted measures designed to tame the menace of unpaid claims. Speaking at the

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu is targeting to grow Nigeria’s economy by 3.76 per cent next year and moderate the country’s inflation to 21.4 per cent. Speaking at his first budget speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, President Tinubu also projected higher oil production and tax collection, noting that this will boost government revenues and cut down on reliance on borrowing to finance budget deficits. Nigeria plans on spending N27.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, with priorities on security, infrastructure and easing the high cost-of-living crisis. The country will borrow around N9 trillion and N18.5 billion generated from internally

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Treasury bills worth N809.4 billion would be offered to investors in the third quarter of 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed. In a circular, which shows the Nigeria Treasury Bills Issue programme, the apex bank said the debt instruments would be offered in three maturities; 91-day, 182-day and 364-day. The exercise has been planned to begin from June 13 to August 29, 2019, but the stop rates should be determined by the prevailing market conditions. Business Post reports that as at the last exercise, which took place yesterday, the 91-day bill cleared at 10

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Monday, June 12, 2021, has been declared as a public holiday to mark this year’s democracy day, a statement from the Federal Ministry of Interior said. In the statement signed on Thursday by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Shuaib Belgore, Nigerians were urged to reflect on the efforts of the nation’s founding fathers and ensure that the country remains united and indivisible entity. The Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, who declared the day as a work-free day in the country, also appealed to citizens to work together with the federal government to keep the

**To Hold Forum By Modupe Gbadeyanka Concerned by the high interest rates charged by commercial institutions in Nigeria on loans and how this has negatively affected businesses as well as the economy, which is presently undergoing crisis, the Senate has concluded plans to hold a roundtable talks comprising stakeholders in the financial sector, with a view to addressing and finding a solution to this. The red chambers opined that pre-eminent position of the banking sector as the blood channel for sustaining the economy and the need to ensure that indices operating at all times were good for the survival of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been advised to extend the deadline for the new policy requiring subscribers to update their SIM-card registration with the National Identification Number (NIN). The federal government through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy had directed service providers in the country to disconnect any mobile number without the NIN from December 31, 2020. This directive, which was announced on Tuesday, was greeted with reactions from subscribers, who lambasted the government for giving subscribers only two weeks to update their SIM-card registration, especially at a time the country was recording the second

By Dipo Olowookere The N10 billion commercial paper programme of Fidson Healthcare Plc has been accepted by the board listings, markets and technology committee of FMDQ Securities Exchange. According to the Chief Financial Officer of Fidson, Mr Imokha Ayebae, the debt instrument would be used to meet the short-term working capital requirements of the organisation. He described the registration of the CP programme of the platform as significant because it coincides with the 26th anniversary of the company. “We are glad about the successful registration of Fidson Healthcare Plc’s N10.00 billion CP programme on the FMDQ platform. “This is particularly

By Dipo Olowookere The publisher of Leadership Newspaper, a national print platform in Nigeria, Mr Sam Nda Isaiah, has died. He was said to have died on Friday night after a brief illness. The late 58-year-old Kano State-born columnist and pharmacist established Leadership Newspaper Group in 2001, which later because popular. In 2015 Mr Nda-Isaiah ran for presidency with All Progressives Congress (APC) after suspending his columnist ambition, but he lost in the primaries to President Muhammadu Buhari, who he headed his presidential campaign publicities in 2003. Mr Buhari, who has reacted to the death of his “friend and ally”,

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices climbed on Friday on expectations that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will discuss output cuts at a meeting on September 5. This happened even though concern over China’s COVID-19 curbs and weakness in the global economy continued to limit gains, causing the price of Brent crude futures to rise by $1.73 or 1.9 per cent to $94.09 per barrel, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures advancing by $1.69 or 2 per cent to $88.30 per barrel. Both benchmarks slid 3 per cent to two-week lows in the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of fuel-ethanol processing plant that would produce 84 million litres of bio-fuel per year has been sealed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Kogi State government. Speaking during the signing of the MoU on Tuesday in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Maikanti Baru, said the project would yield a cane mill and a raw and refined Sugar Plant of 126,000 tonnes annually. He stated that the Bagasse co-generation Plant would also generate 64 Megawatts of power, stressing that the plant would include a