Economy

Reps Commend NEXIM Bank’s Support for Local Firms

Published

9 years ago

27/02/2017

By Dipo Olowookere

The relentless contributions being made by NEXIM Bank to the Nigerian non-oil export sector, especially in funding factories have received the recommendation of the House of Representatives.

Chairman, House Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, during a recent visit to Ladgroup Ltd, a foremost indigenous Nigerian conglomerate with a state of the art oil mill extraction factory located in Ikenne, Ogun State, said the bank has contributed to the growth of the country’s economy.

He appealed to the Federal Government to increase funding support to institutions like NEXIM Bank, promising that his committee will continue to do all within its jurisdiction and mandate to ensure that such funds are applied very judiciously.

The lawmaker, who led other members of the committee to the factory on oversight function, noted that, “The current economic recession facing the country has opened our eyes to the immense opportunities and abundant blessings God has heaped on Nigeria, not just in oil and gas, but more especially in agriculture and solid minerals.”

Also speaking during the visit, the Acting MD/CEO of NEXIM Bank, Mr Bashir Wali, revealed that the bank had in March 2015 approved the sum of $5.8 million to Ladgroup Limited to set up a Shea Nut processing factory.

He said the facility was made up of Equipment Finance of $2.8 million and Working Capital Facility of $3 million and has enabled the company to purchase and install a Shea Butter Refining Unit, a step down transformer and augment its working capital base.

According to Mr Wali, “The interest of NEXIM Bank in Shea Nut processing for export was borne out of the very high demand for Shea Butter with the impressive potentials for foreign exchange revenue stream as well as massive job creation at various levels of its value chain.”

Citing available statistics, he said nearly 2 billion Shea trees grow naturally on parklands in 21 African countries stretching from Senegal to South Sudan with more than 16 million women living in rural communities individually collecting the fresh fruits and the kernel which they process to extract a healthy vegetable oil known as “Shea Butter.”

With approximately 600,000 tons collected each year, the industry provides a critical source of jobs and incomes to millions of often poor and underserved communities.

Mr Wali stated that the global demand for Shea Butter is worth about $10 billion and is projected to be more than $30 billion by 2020, hence the interest of NEXIM in providing funding for increased proactive measures to reposition agricultural products such as Shea as part of its non-oil export sector interventions in the agro-processing sub-sector.

According to him, it has been estimated that over 680,000 metric tons of Shea Nuts are produced annually in West Africa, with about 56 percent of the nuts exported, while the remaining is consumed locally.

Available data shows that Nigeria is the world largest producer of Shea with the wildly grown Shea trees predominant in 21 states across the country.

This accounts for over 53 percent (or 370,000 MT) of the production in West Africa as confirmed by the reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Oil Seeds Association of Nigeria (OSAN).

Sadly, nearly N345 million is lost in the smuggling of Shea products out of the country every year.

Chairman of Ladgroup Ltd, Mr B. A. Onafowokan, expressed immense appreciation to NEXIM Bank for the quality of loan given to his company, and also thanked the lawmakers for their ‘oversight function’ stating that more of such activities is required to curtail misapplication of such funds provided by the government to assist local entrepreneurs keen on manufacturing for export.

Ladgroup Ltd is acclaimed to be the largest Shea Nut processing factory in Africa with an intake capacity of 40,000 Metric tons per annum.

The factory is dedicated to sourcing of Shea Nuts and processing them into Shea Butter of the highest quality, for sale to both domestic and export markets, but with a special bias for the export market.

The firm has set its target on major European importing companies in the Confectionary/ Chocolate industry and Cosmetics/ Pharmaceutical industry based in Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the UK that import well over 95,000 MT annually.

Economy

Four Securities Erase N51.17bn from NASD Exchange

Published

21 hours ago

27/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.

The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.

During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

Cautious Trading, Profit-taking Weaken Nigeria’s Stock Exchange by 0.66%

Published

21 hours ago

27/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.

This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.

Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.

Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.

The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.

As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.

Economy

Official FX Market Sees Naira Dip to N1,380.93/$1

Published

21 hours ago

27/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.

At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.

Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.

Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.

Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.

If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.

At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.

On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.