United States Donates More COVID-19 Vaccines to Mozambique

By Precious Olisa The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have expressed their disappointment over the increasing exit of multinationals from the Nigerian market. The two organisations reacted to the planned exit of Procter & Gamble (P&G) from the country over economic headwinds. P&G announced its intention to close down its manufacturing operations in Nigeria and adopt an import-only business model due to the foreign exchange (FX) crisis in the country. This is coming some weeks after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Unilever Nigeria, Equinor and others have also indicated their interest in quitting

By Aduragbemi Omiyale One of the players in the personal healthcare and consumer goods sectors, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, has published a list of its shareholders with unclaimed dividends. Unclaimed dividends are cash rewards given to investors, mainly from the profits from the company’s operations, but are yet to be collected by the beneficiaries. This has been a major source of sleepless nights for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is working to bring down the number of unclaimed dividends. It has been reported that the value of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s stock market is over N185 billion.

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a further rise of 0.55 per cent, extending its stay in the green territory to a fourth straight session on Thursday, November 7. This increased the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 4.81 points to wrap the session at 872.54 points compared with 867.73 points in the previous session, as the market capitalisation of the OTC exchange jumped by N6.52 billion to settle at N1.182 trillion, in contrast to the preceding trading day’s N1.176 trillion. The unlisted securities market ended the trading session with two price gainers, 11 Plc and

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Dipo Olowookere A report for the insurance industry for 2017 has been released by Agusto & Co, a rating firm based in Nigeria. In the report, Agusto & Co noted that the role of insurance in the Nigerian economy cannot be overstated and that its strategic importance in underwriting business and individual risks is evident in an estimated gross premium income (GPI) of S58;356 billion generated by the insurance industry in 2016, reflecting a 10 percent growth over FY2015. The agency said it projects a moderated growth rate of 8 percent on account of the recession which is expected

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A young tech enthusiast, Mr Daniel Oseni, has invented a cooling system called PeriPES, designed to preserve and store tomatoes for up to 3 to 4 months without getting spoilt. The device is made of clay bricks, sand, water, and air. It works by reducing the room temperature of the tomatoes to less than 15°C at 90 per cent humidity to stop the production of ethylene, the major chemical component that causes ripening and spoilage in all agricultural products. “Our technological input is harnessing the power of nature to preserve. This science is known as evaporative cooling.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Banker Magazine has ranked Zenith Bank Plc as the number one tier-1 bank in Nigeria, maintaining the position for the 13th straight year. In its 2022 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking, the journal said Zenith Bank boasts a Tier-1 capital of $2.75 billion, emerging as the 460th bank globally. The ranking, which was published in the July 2022 edition of The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group, United Kingdom, was based on the 2021 year-end Tier-1 capital of banks globally. Tier-1 Capital describes capital adequacy, which is the core measure of a bank’s financial strength

By Dipo Olowookere Last week, the stock market closed bearish after declining by 2.64 percent. Though the market closed bullish yesterday, analysts are of the view that sentiment will remain weak this week as investors take advantage of some the price gains last week to book profit or reduce their exposure to stocks. according to those at Meristem, bargain hunting on some of the heavily weighted stocks strong fundamentals cannot be ruled out as a result of their currently cheap market valuations. However, “We expect the market to close lower for the third week, in line with the overall bearish

By Dipo Olowookere The management of BOC Gases Nigeria Plc has announced the increase of the stake of TY Holdings Limited in the company to 72 per cent. Business Post reports that TY Holdings, owned by a retired army general, Mr Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, recently acquired 60 per cent of the organisation’s stocks amounting to 249,746,823 units from BOC Holdings UK. Before the purchase, he had only 12 per cent shareholding of the firm but the latest acquisition increased his stake to 72 per cent, making him the largest shareholder. A statement signed by the company secretary, Mrs Ronke Segun-Alabi,

By Dipo Olowookere A new Value Added Tax (VAT) of 7.2 percent has been approved for Nigeria by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has announced. This announcement comes after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal upheld the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 2019 poll, dismissing the petition of the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its candidate, Mr Atiku Abubakar. Addressing newsmen after the weekly FEC meeting on Wednesday, the Minister said this increment was subject to an amendment of the VAT act of 1994 by the National

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The Southern African Development Community (SADC), during its 42nd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government, held on August 17 and 18, 2022, at Palais du Peuple (Parliament Building), vehemently, expressed collective opposition to a proposed United States law on countering Russian activities in Africa. The Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act adopted by the US House of Representatives directs the US Secretary of State to submit a strategy on Russia. According to the statement posted to its website, the 16-member regional bloc complained that the United States has made the African continent “the