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By Modupe Gbadeyanka The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, has asked his counterpart in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, to support his agency to achieve the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, who appointed both of them. Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the anti-money laundering firm, Mr Adedeji said the EFCC has a role in ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are “judiciously utilised in line with the social contract with the people.” He assured that the FIRS would continue to strive to raise the revenue

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has pledged to stop international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta from divestment of their offshore assets without being accountable to the environment. The Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Host Communities, Mr Dumnamene Dekor, said this during a technical session on the implementation of the Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDT), organised by Spaces for Change (S4C) with support from Ford Foundation. Mr Dekor raised the alarm that since the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, host communities have not experienced any positive change, rather have remained

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices fell on Thursday members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed to voluntary output cuts for the first quarter of next year, falling short of market expectations. As a result, Brent crude futures lost 27 cents or 0.3 per cent to close at $82.83 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures went down by $1.90 or 2.4 per cent to $75.96 a barrel. On a monthly basis, Brent fell by 5.2 per cent while WTI was down by 6.2 per cent. Saudi Arabia, Russia

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has set its sight on the country’s crude oil production to reach 1.6 million barrels per day by the first quarter of 2023. This is according to the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the recent World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update and Country Economic Memorandum in Abuja. Mrs Ahmed also stated that the level of importation of petroleum products into the country would significantly drop next year when rehabilitation work on the Port Harcourt Refinery is completed. She said this facility would complement the much-expected commencement of operations of

By Adedapo Adesanya The United States-China relations took another downturn on Wednesday as the American government ordered China to cease all operations and events at its consulate in Houston, Texas. This worsened the already strained relationship between both world powers who are caught in an ongoing trade war, the coronavirus pandemic, and US criticism of China’s human rights abuses. According to the US State Department spokeswoman, Ms Morgan Ortagus, the consulate was directed to close in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information. The US government has always accused China of engaging in massive illegal spying for

By Dipo Olowookere Last week, which had only four trading sessions, shares of FTN Cocoa Processors and Japual Gold & Ventures Plc appreciated by over 40 per cent on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). In the previous week, the companies’ stocks grew by double-digits at the market, causing some investors to begin to probe the rationale behind the sudden rise in the equities of the firms. Business Post reports that a few days ago, the NSE lifted the suspension placed on FTN Cocoa after it filed its outstanding financial statements, while Japual changed its trading symbol to

By Adedapo Adesanya The Bank of England, alongside Her Majesty’s Treasury, has announced the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to coordinate the exploration of a potential UK digital currency. A CBDC would be a new form of digital money issued by the Bank of England and for use by households and businesses. It would exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them. For now, the UK is simply doing its research and has made no commitment to feasibly start offering the currency. It noted in a statement, “The Government and the Bank of

By Ahmed Rahma The government of South Africa has suspended the use of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on its citizens over an issue concerning the protection of users. About a million doses of the vaccine from the United Kingdom have already been delivered to the former Apartheid country by the manufacturer. However, South Africa claimed test results showed that the vaccine did not protect clinical-trial participants from mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious COVID-19 virus variant ( B.1.351) that was first seen there. It was not clear from the studies whether the vaccine protected against severe disease from the

By Nneka Okumazie There’s a new peak smartness some people have attained that conclusively made them understand that genuine Christians in Nigeria are brainwashed. Why? Because they pray too much, they go to church; they give and seem disciplined. The commitment to faith of many true believers in true churches is so ridiculous to this smart class, they think Nigeria’s underdevelopment is a result of church. Maybe these smart people do not exactly understand that a church, going as often as you choose, giving if you want, coming or leaving at any point in the service is nowhere near something

By Dipo Olowookere The successive losses at the domestic stock exchange were temporarily halted on Wednesday after the key performance barometers ended in a stalemate when the closing gong was struck by 2:30 pm. This occurred as the level of activity waned in the midweek session, as the trading volume, value and the number of deals finished lower by 85.19 per cent, 62.50 per cent, and 9.24 per cent, respectively. This was because investors transacted 255.2 million shares valued at N1.8 billion in 3,890 deals compared with the 1.7 billion shares valued at N4.8 billion traded in 4,286 deals on

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The 326-kilometre Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail has commenced commercial operations after President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned it on Tuesday. The rail passes through the Itakpe and Ajaokuta towns of Kogi State to Edo State and ends in Warri, Delta State. At the event, which was done virtually, Mr Buhari said the facility will improve the economy of the country because it would ease the movement of goods and services. He commended Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, and his team for the completion of the project, applauding the host communities on the rail corridor for their patience during the long