Economy
Price of Foreign Rice Drops as Beans, Garri, Tomatoes Rise
By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
The average price of a kilogram (Kg) of rice (imported high quality sold loose) reduced from N557.98 in June to N552.80 in July 2021, indicating a 0.9 per cent drop.
Data on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Selected Food Prices Watch Report (July 2021), however, revealed that the average cost of the staple grain in the market increased year-on-year by 12.7 per cent as it went from N490.44 a year ago to N552.80 in the period under review.
The food crop similarly witnessed an average price increase in other variations of which it is largely produced across the country.
In the report, the average price of 1kg broken rice, popularly known as Ofada, increased by 1.1 per cent to N477.08 from N472.07 in June, while on a year-on-year basis, it rose by 11.9 per cent from N426.36.
It was disclosed that Lagos State recorded the highest increase in the average cost of 1kg Ofada rice at N844.13, while the lowest was in Nassarawa State at N270.46.
The stats office further said that Nigerians paid N456 to purchase 1kg of medium-grained rice, 1.9 per cent higher than N441.49 it was sold in June and 11.0 per cent higher than the price a year ago.
In Bayelsa State, residents bought the medium-grained rice at N602.57 per kg, the highest in the country, while the lowest price was paid by those living in Adamawa State at N288.67 per kg.
A look at the average price of brown beans in the period under consideration, it stood at N485.44/kg, 3.01 per cent more than N439.22 in June.
The grain recorded the highest average price in Enugu State at N896.32 per kg, while residents of Bauchi State bought it at an average price of N211.4 per kg, the lowest in the country.
Similarly, its alternative, white black-eyed Beans was sold for N444.21/kg, 2.9 per cent higher than N431.79 it was sold a month earlier, while people in Enugu bought the food item at N782.04/kg with residents of Bauchi paying N214.07 for the same measurement.
As for Nigeria’s most popular carbohydrate staple, Garri, the average price of its white variant went up by 1.5 per cent in July to N329.20 per kg from N324.26 per kg in June, with the lowest and highest average cost of the product recorded in Taraba (N208.4) and Ebonyi (N500.96) respectively.
The yellow Garri was relatively sold on average for N347.70 per kg, 2.6 per cent higher than the price a month earlier, while the highest average price stood at N540.47 in Ebonyi and the lowest at N216.28) in Kwara state.
NBS said in the report that the average price of 1kg of yam tuber increased month-on-month by 7.4 per cent to N308.72 in July from N287.54 in June 2021 as Ekiti recorded the highest average price of N532.47 and the lowest in Taraba at N111.98.
As for its alternative, Irish potatoes, the average cost increased to N380.21 from N356.44 within the period as consumers bought it at the highest average price in Bayelsa at N837.24 and lowest in Plateau State at N154.76.
The food price report further said there was a 5.9 per cent rise in the average price of beef (boneless) to N1,660.76 per kg in July from N1,567.26 per kg in the previous month.
The highest average price was in Ebonyi at N2,416.8, while the lowest average cost was in Gombe State at N1,232.95.
According to the report, a litre of groundnut oil was sold on average for N768.81 in July, 5.5 per cent higher than the N728.43 it was sold in the preceding month. However, Kogi State recorded the lowest price at N495.8, while the highest was in Delta State at N1,222.96.
Similarly, the average price for palm oil rose by 4.3 per cent within the reference period from N609.21 per litre to N635.31 per litre in June 2021, while the highest price was in Lagos at N810 and the lowest price in Kwara at N406.67.
In the period under review, the price of 1kg of tomatoes significantly increased by 23.7 per cent to N414.83 from N335.46 in June. Given that tomato farming is predominantly done in the northern part of the country, Adamawa recorded the lowest average price of N102.41, while the highest was in Edo at N836.68.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
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