Economy

TraderMoni, MarketMoni Beneficiaries Repaying Loans–Osinbajo

Published

5 years ago

28/08/2019

By Adedapo Adesanya

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes are getting positive feedback and that beneficiaries are doing very well and are paying back their loans.

This was disclosed by Mr Laolu Akande, the VP’s spokesman, in a statement released recently in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

He said that the vice president had an interaction with newsmen after his assessment visit to markets in Keffi and Masaka towns of Nasarawa State where the TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes are being disbursed to traders.

The vice president urged beneficiaries of the loan schemes to continue to repay their loans so they could get more money and become very successful in businesses.

“It is going very well; and I am excited to hear the testimonies of the traders who have done so well after getting their first loan.

“It is also exciting to see that they have repaid their loans very quickly, because as you pay back, you are able to get more; when you get N10, 000, and you pay back, you get N15, 000 and it gets to N20, 000, when you repay, all the way to N100, 000, and it is so exciting to see that these traders are doing so well.

“Everybody is keying in already, what we want to do is to expand it so that more traders can get this facility, so we need to do more because at the moment, we have done close to two million but we need to increase the number,” he stated.

Mr Osinbajo said the target of the Federal Government in the Next Level was to expand the scheme to cover more traders and also increase the amount received to enable beneficiaries expand their businesses.

According to him, the TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes will be expanded to include more people in every state and added that more of the traders would get the TraderMoni and the MarketMoni loans.

“So long as you continue to pay back you will continue to get more money.

“We want to make sure that every petty trader in the market have enough so that they themselves can even employ more people and pay their children’s school fees and also build their own houses.

“As I told you, we are going to expand the scheme so that more people can benefit,” he added.

During his complementary visit to the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Yamusa, Vice President Osinbajo said his visit to the State was to assess the disbursement of the TraderMoni and MarketMoni loans to traders in markets across the States.

He said that TraderMoni was the President Muhammadu Buhari’s own way of empowering women and men who were traders.

The Vice President then added the inventories of many of the traders were very small as they could be people hawking groundnuts, selling bread and other basic things.

“Most of them don’t have enough capital to improve their businesses. So, what we do is to empower them through the Bank of Industry.

“So, we want to ensure that people who are trading have an opportunity and that opportunity is provided when we are able to give them capital as part of this TraderMoni scheme. So, that is why we are here.”

On the Emir’s appeal about improving educational standards, the vice president said President Buhari was determined to improve both access and quality of education to all Nigerians regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds.

He noted that one of the other things that would the traditional might be happy to hear was the President’s determination to the question of education.

“On June 20, while speaking to governors when he inaugurated the National Economic Council, he made the point that the Federal Government will enforce, along with the State governments, the law on free and compulsory education of the first nine years of the child’s school life.

“It is a very important thing because we all know that education is the key to the economic success, the key to self-realisation and the key that enables any person live a dignified life.

“So, we are extremely concerned on how to improve education; Technical education in particular, I think that it is very important.

“As a matter of fact, under our N-Power scheme we already have a number of technical education schemes going on. We have what we call N-Build which is technical education for persons involved in the building industry (tillers, brick layers etc). We also have training for extension workers, persons who will provide extension service.

“There is the one for persons involved in technical training like carpenter, electricians and many others,” he said.

He added that the Federal and state governments were committed to doing more in terms of technical education.

Mr Osinbajo said there was also collaboration in supporting the states especially in making primary education and first three years of secondary education free and compulsory as well as in the education of young women.

Economy

NASD Bourse Closes Mixed at Midweek as Paintcom Joins

Published

9 hours ago

16/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a mixed outcome on Wednesday, January 15 after it welcome a new entrant.

Paintcom Investment Nigeria Plc joined the OTC securities exchange yesterday with shares admitted at a unit price of N10.72 and a market capitalisation of N8.5 billion.

However, when trading activities closed for the session, the alternative stock exchange went down by 0.10 per cent, with the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) depreciating by 3.03 points to 3,093.16 points from the 3,096.19 points recorded in the previous session.

But the value of the trading platform increased by 0.7 per cent or N7.54 billion to settle at N1.068 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.061 trillion.

The volume of securities traded in the session went down by 83.2 per cent to 666,494 units from the 3.97 million units recorded in the preceding session, while the value of shares traded during the session jumped by 98.2 per cent to N16.5 million from N8.3 million, with the number of deals going down by 20 per cent to 20 deals from 25 deals.

Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc gained 3 Kobo to close at 30 Kobo per share versus 27 Kobo per share, Mixta Real Estate Plc increased by 23 Kobo to N2.58 per unit from N2.35 per unit, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N1.15 to settle at N23.20 per share, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N22.15 per share.

Further, Afriland Properties Plc grew by 75 Kobo to N16.25 per unit from N15.50 per unit and Geo-Fluids Plc expanded by 13 Kobo to N4.79 per share from N4.66 per share.

On the flip side, 11 Plc fell by N27.74 to close at N253.10 per unit compared with the previous session’s N280.84 per unit and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost 55 Kobo to finish at N38.95 per share versus N39.50 per share.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.

IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 23.5 million units sold for N5.3 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,551/$1 at Official Market Amid Inflationary Pressures

Published

11 hours ago

16/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated on the American currency in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, January 15 by 0.09 per cent or N1.45 to close at N1,551.10/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,549.65/$1.

It was the fourth straight session the local currency was losing value on the greenback in the official forex market as the deadline to end the access of Bureaux De Change (BDCs) to the official trading platform nears.

Also, Nigeria’s inflation neared a 29-year high as it rose for the fourth straight month to 34.80 per cent in December 2024 spurred by high festive activities.

On the British currency, which is the Pound Sterling, the domestic currency depreciated by N24.79 to wrap the session at N1,904.43/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,879.64/£1 and against the Euro, it weakened by N14.74 to sell for N1,600.79 per Euro versus N1,586.05/€1.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the US Dollar yesterday at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

In the cryptocurrency market, most of the tokens gained as the anticipation of Mr Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president is building bullish sentiment for the market, which was also encouraged by a highly anticipated CPI inflation data report in the US.

Litecoin (LTC) grew by 17.7 per cent to quote at $119.82, Ripple (XRP) expanded by 9.0 per cent to a six-year high of $3.10, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 7.2 per cent to trade at $202.81, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 5.3 per cent to finish at $0.3789, Ethereum (ETH) increased its value by 4.7 per cent to end at $3,376.28, and Cardano jumped by 3.3 per cent to settle at $1.06, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 2.8 per cent to close at $99,707.22, and Binance Coin (BNB) improved by 1.6 per cent to trade at $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Market Rallies on US Crude Drop, Russian Sanctions

Published

12 hours ago

16/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market rose more than 2 per cent on Wednesday, supported by a large draw in US crude stockpiles and potential supply disruptions caused by new US sanctions on Russia.

Brent crude futures appreciated by $2.11 or 2.64 per cent to $82.03 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude grew by $2.54 or 3.28 per cent to close at $80.04 a barrel.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an inventory dip of 2 million barrels for the second week of the year.

The change estimated by the EIA compared with a modest draw of around 1 million barrels for the previous week, which also saw sizable fuel inventories build that dragged oil prices lower.

For the week to January 10, the EIA estimated an inventory build of 5.9 million in gasoline, with production averaging 9.3 million barrels daily. This compared with a build of as much as 6.3 million barrels for the previous week when production averaged 8.9 million barrels daily. That build was the second sizable weekly one after 2024 ended with a build of 7.7 million barrels in gasoline inventories.

The latest round of US sanctions on Russian oil could disrupt Russian oil supply and distribution significantly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly oil market report.

The Paris-based agency said that the sanctions on Iran and Russia cover entities that handled more than a third of Russian and Iranian crude exports in 2024, adding that the market will be in surplus this year as supply growth led by countries outside the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ exceeds subdued expansion in world demand.

This aligns with an earlier projection by the EIA which assumes that OPEC+ would roll back its production cuts and that non-OPEC production would continue leaping forward.

Limiting the gains was fresh developments in the Middle East as Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

OPEC in its monthly oil report on Wednesday forecast stronger demand growth than the IEA of 1.45 million barrels per day this year and, in its first look at 2026, predicted a similar expansion of 1.43 million barrels per day next year.

OPEC expects global oil demand to rise by 1.43 million barrels per day in 2026, maintaining a similar growth rate to 2025.