Total Nigeria, 32 Others Lift Equities Market by 0.58%

By Adedapo Adesanya  Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has secured a $300 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) to drive increased trade finance and investment across the African continent, fostering economic growth and development. The infrastructure solutions provider on the continent announced the successful signing of the landmark agreement on the sidelines of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Annual meetings in Egypt. The 3-year credit facility is a significant development in AFC’s long-standing relationship with CEXIM. The two institutions have collaborated since 2018, with AFC receiving $400 million in bilateral loans from CEXIM to date. According to

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has said Nigeria is in dire need of foreign direct investment (FDI) more than ever before, tasking domestic and foreign investors to make Nigeria their investment hub because efforts are being made to formulate business-friendly policies. Mr Shettima, while speaking when he hosted the management of First Surat Group, as well as top management of MTN Nigeria at the presidential villa in Abuja, charged MTN Nigeria to facilitate and spearhead digital mobile money and digital education. He assured that President Bola Tinubu was willing to partner with various stakeholders in the

By Adedapo Adesanya Ultrasonic sensing technology company, Fluenta, has completed work on the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil refinery, installing 18 ultrasonic flare gas meters on large pipelines around the plant. This company is using its technology to aid Nigeria’s flare gas reduction efforts and with Dangote Refinery set to begin operations soon, according to its management recently, this could be a step to fix inaccurate measurements of gas flaring. Nigeria currently imports refined petroleum products for its use, even though it is Africa’s biggest oil producer and with Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery capable of

By Adedapo Adesanya The confirmation of the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, and four deputies, generated mixed reactions in the foreign exchange (forex) market on Tuesday. Business Post reports that while it did magic in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, it could not replicate this in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the black market segments. After his confirmation on Tuesday, the new CBN governor said the immediate plan to stabilise the Naira would be for the apex bank to settle some financial obligations and make “transparent rules”. “Number one is what I will term an operational

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has debunked media reports that it plans to citizens and residents of the country to submit the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of their phones from July 2021. The agency, in a statement issued on Friday by its Director of Public Affairs, Mr Ikechukwu Adinde, stated that at no time did it announce such plans. There had been reports in the media that the federal government was planning to mandate Nigerians to register their IMEI as part of efforts to track their activities. In December 2020, the federal government through the NCC

By Dipo Olowookere Not less than N367.7 billion has been generated as revenue in the first nine months of this year by the Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). When compared with the first nine months of last year, the collected and remitted to the federation account from the unit rose by 17 per cent from N313.5 billion. According to a statement issued by the customs, a total of N140.3 billion was made in the third quarter of the year; that is from July to September, higher than the N110.3 billion raked in the same period of

By Philani Mzila The past 12 months have seen a significant decline in venture capital (VC) funding in Africa. The total amount raised declined by almost 40% between July 2022 and June 2023 compared to the same period between 2021 and 2022. This sharp decline is particularly evident in the “Big Four” markets of Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya, with funding contracting by as much as 77% in some. Due to these challenging market conditions, numerous startups are nearing the end of their financial runway and are struggling to secure further investment. Founders in this situation usually face three

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Though the global freelancer economy industry is estimated to worth $1.5 trillion, Africa only controls 1.4 per cent and according to data, North America accounts for over half of the total freelancers in the world, about 78 million, with $486 million going to tech freelancers. But this is about to change as a pan-African source for freelance professional talent, Gebeya, is target a fair chunk of the pie. In 2020, the company raised a $2 million seed investment co-led by Partech and Orange Ventures and followed by Consonance Investment Managers, to set up the machine for scale,

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and French Total Energies CEO Patrick Pouyanné witnessed, in late January, the signing and exchange of fresh additional agreements that permit prompt resumption of the natural gas exploration projects in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique. The construction of the gas liquefaction plant, extracted from the seabed (about 40 kilometres offshore) is the largest currently financed private investment in Africa. But, the natural gas project was suspended in March 2021 after an armed attack that left the province devastated, with about 3,100 deaths and more than 817,000 residents displaced. At the modest ceremony, President

By Dipo Olowookere The board of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI Plc) is proposing to give shareholders of the company some bonus shares. This decision was reached at the meeting of the board of directors of the firm on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE), it was disclosed that the gathering was conveyed virtually via a Microsoft Teams App, with a quorum present. During the meeting, it was agreed that these bonus shares would be issued only after securing the approval of the company’s investors at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On Monday, July 30, 2018, Seplat Petroleum Development Company released its financial results for the period ended June 30, 2018 to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). During the period, the company grew its revenue to N104.8 billion from N40.3 billion. It was revealed that the finance income increased by 393 percent to N1.3 billion from N270 million, while the other income was N8.5 billion. Seplat said its cost of sales in the first half of this year went up to N51.5 billion from N23.9 billion, while the administrative expenses rose by 6 percent to N11.8 billion from

By Adedapo Adesanya Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug dealer behind the 2000.6kg Cannabis Sativa seized in a concrete mixer truck in Adamawa State on December 2, 2021, Mr Henry Chukwuneku Okamaru (a.k.a. Lawrence Ik Okamaru). He was arrested in Ondo State after five months of search. Two suspects, Mr Matthew Donuwe and Mr Friday Nmborgwu were earlier arrested in connection to the consignment last December. They had confessed that the concrete mixer truck with Lagos registration number SMK 890 XB was loaded with the illicit drug in Ogbese, Ondo state while