T-Bills Market Remains Bearish as CBN Raises N133.8b

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 federal government has set plans in motion to raise $200 million from philanthropic individuals and organisations as part of efforts to create jobs and support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. Nigeria is home to over 36.9 million MSMEs, comprising 96.7 per cent of all businesses in Nigeria. According to data, 67 per cent of these businesses are youth-owned. MSMEs contribute over 45 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with 98.8 per cent of them in the micro cadre. They account for nearly 90 per cent of the jobs in the

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited posted a 0.25 per cent growth at the close of trading activities on Friday, influenced by persistent bargain-hunting. Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive yesterday after 33 stocks closed on the gainers’ chart and 21 equities ended on the losers’ table, indicating a strong investor. Secure Electronic Technology was the best-performing stock for the trading session as its value rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, followed by MeCure, which gained 9.90 per cent to close at N9.21, Neimeth appreciated by 9.85 per cent to N2.23, Multiverse

By Adedapo Adesanya  The federal government, through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has announced plans to invest $1.1 billion to fully rehabilitate decaying port infrastructure at TinCan, Apapa, Rivers, Delta, Calabar, and Onne ports as part of efforts to improve the efficiency of the nation’s existing ports. Out of the estimated 47,000 kilometres of coastline in Africa, Nigeria makes up about 853 kilometres, creating the perfect opportunity to get access to its much-needed revenue. This coastline and a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone make up Nigeria’s coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. The coastline equals a maritime area of

By Dipo Olowookere As part of plans to support the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in its human capital development initiative in the oil and gas sector and in compliance with its Nigerian Content commitments on the project, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has selected 200 youths from the host community to participate in the six-month vocational training. Executive Director, Capital Projects, Dangote Group, Mr Devakumar Edwin, described the initiative as a demonstration of Dangote Refinery’s commitment to building capacities and empowering youths in the country. According to him, the programme was launched with the support of the

By Dipo Olowookere Renowned economist and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane, has expressed worry over the fiscal deficit of Nigeria. Speaking on Monday at a webinar hosted by Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, the member of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) of President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria’s expenditure currently stands at N19.63 trillion while its revenue stands at N10.71 trillion. This means Nigeria’s fiscal deficit stands at N8.92 trillion. He further disclosed at the event themed 2022 Virtual Economic Outlook- Investing and planning in an election cycle that the fiscal

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rebounded on Friday, December 18 after it appreciated by 0.88 per cent. Business Post reports that the unlisted securities market was lifted yesterday by the same stock that brought it down the previous session, Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc. Yesterday, CSCS put up a better performance and it helped the market capitalisation of the bourse to rise by N4.7 billion to close at N537.26 billion in contrast to the N532.57 billion it finished on Thursday. Equally, it boosted the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) of the exchange by 6.32 points

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The race for the share of N12.5 million worth of university scholarships at the InterswitchSPAK 3.0 National Science Competition is gathering momentum. On Sunday, February 6, 2022, three senior secondary school students in Nigeria will slug it out to grab the education grant and other prizes at the grand finale. The contest was put in place to raise interest in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. This year’s edition is the third. The InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition is an Interswitch Group Switch-a-Future initiative. The competition, which is targeted at SS2 (Year 11) students

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A total of 887.024 million shares worth N17.450 billion in 16,955 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Business Post reports. This is in contrast to a total of 998.973 million shares valued at N11.455 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,626 deals. Our correspondent reports that it was another four-day trading week as the Federal Government of Nigeria declared Friday, September 1 and Monday, September 4, 2017 as public holidays in commemoration of the Eid -el- Kabir Sallah celebrations. But when the market resumed on Tuesday,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Five Kenyan bloggers have joined forces to kick start a Kenyan technology podcast called the 24BIT and the aim is to grow the podcast landscape in the country and move it mainstream. The bloggers Nixon Kanali (TechTrendske.co.ke), Emmanuel Chenze (AndroidKenya.com), Kaluka Wanjala (TechArena.co.ke), David Gitonga (E-Labz.info) and Kevin Kimani (MobiTrendske.co.ke) explained that the 24Bit podcast will mainly cover technology trends across Kenya and around the globe. They will also discuss weekly tech happenings as well as conduct interviews with industry leaders to give listeners a deep understanding of the local and global tech ecosystem. “Unlike other countries,

By Adedapo Adesanya The United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $5 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support people affected by unprecedented flooding in Nigeria. This is coming two months after the US government, through the same agency, granted $1 million to help mitigate the flood disaster.  In a Thursday statement, the US government said the new funding would build on USAID’s initial support in life-saving aid provided following the devastating floods. The unusually heavy rainfall and resulting flooding in mid-August affected more than 4.4 million people across the country. The floods displaced at

By Dipo Olowookere National Committee of Yoruba Youth and the coalition of Civil Society Against Terrorism in Nigeria have also slammed a group, known as the Citizens United for Peace and Stability (CUPS) headed by Dr Idris Ahmed, describing the actions of the group and particularly of its leader, Dr Idris Ahmed as unpatriotic and inimical, to the ongoing war against terrorism in the country. Speaking through the Convener and Secretary of the coalition, Odeyemi Oladimeji and Atani John in a statement issued on Sunday in Ibadan against recent report credited to Dr Idris Ahmed, where he accused the leadership