US will Benefit from Helping Nigeria Develop Natural Gas

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 started the first trading session in the last month of 2023 on a negative note after it depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official FX window, by 11.4 per cent or N94.87 on Friday, December 1, closing at N927.19/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N832.32/$1. The December rush for forex contributed to the weakening of the domestic currency in the spot market yesterday, as the supply of foreign currency could not meet what customers needed. Data showed that the value of FX transactions recorded

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Dipo Olowookere During this past week, Federal Government bonds traded at the OTC segment appreciated across most of the maturities, Cowry Asset reports. The 10-year 16.39 percent FGN JAN 2022 debt and the 7-year 16.00 16.39 percent FGN JUN 2019 debt appreciated by N0.61 and N0.17 respectively; their corresponding yields fell to 16.09 16.39 percent (from 16.28 16.39 percent) and 16.33 16.39 percent (from 16.42 16.39 percent) respectively. However, the 20-year, 10.00 16.39 percent FGN JULY 2030 debt depreciated by N0.12 (its yield rose to 16.04 16.39 percent from 16.00 16.39 percent). Elsewhere, FGN Eurobonds traded on the London

By Olukayode Kolawole I was privileged to attend the 12th edition of the African Travel & Tourism Conference (Akwaaba): a gathering of travel and tourism experts in Africa – both from private establishments and various government parastatals. The event held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos on Sunday October 31 through Tuesday November 1 2016. My attendance was indeed a worthwhile investment as it exposed me to a cocktail of different issues stalling the growth of the industry as well as practical recommendations that are believed to be the fertilizer African tourism needs to germinate. For me, the icing

By Dipo Olowookere Nine persons have been arrested for alleged vandalism of power supply infrastructure in Saminaka Local Government of Kaduna State. The Head, Corporate Communications of Kaduna Electric, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi stated this in a statement issued in Kaduna at the weekend. He disclosed that “the nine suspected vandals and their four motor vehicles were recently apprehended by the police in Saminaka while perpetrating their nefarious activities and have since been transferred to Kaduna”. According to him, three of the suspects have been arraigned before the Magistrate Court 1, Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kaduna for vandalizing power supply equipment worth

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Yesterday, Access Bank held its H1 2017 Conference Call & Earnings Presentation and Business Post brings to its readers some key highlights from the call. The lender, which boats of 4.6 million cards, 1734 ATMs, 385 branches and 9628 POS terminals, said in the presentation that its strong earnings for the period, N246 billion against N174 billion last year, was on the back of interest and non-interest income growth during the period reflecting improved returns. Access Bank said it hopes to conclude the development of and commence implementation of its new 5 year (2018-2022) Rolling Plan It

By Adedapo Adesanya The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Thursday that world oil demand might rise even more steeply this year. But despite this positive forecast, the price of oil depreciated yesterday, with the Brent crude losing 14 cents or 0.2 per cent to trade at $91.41 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude depreciating by 22 cents or 0.2 per cent to sell for $89.88 per barrel. In its monthly report, OPEC noted that the global economy will post a strong recovery from the pandemic, a development that would underpin prices already at a

By Dipo Olowookere Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms Mary Uduk, at the weekend in Lagos said the Nigerian economy can become very viable by making financial services more accessible to citizens. Speaking at the 2018 PEARL Awards Night, Ms Uduk assured that her agency will continue to pursue initiatives that would aid financial inclusion of Nigerians. According to her, “Innovations in financial technology, has made possible the potential of using digital tools to make financial services available to a wider range of consumers and enterprises, promoting financial inclusion and the affordability of financial services.”

Since the inception of asset management in Nigeria in 1991, its relevance to the economy, contribution to society and how it has enhanced the performance of Nigerian banks have been critically questioned. With regards to its track record and its input to the development of the financial market, asset management, which can be described as a securitisation vehicle, has not done badly. The present value of Nigeria’s assets under management (AUM) is estimated at N1.2 trillion. The fastest-growing fund in the industry is the money market fund, which is currently valued at over N800 billion. This fund has immensely contributed

By Nneka Okumazie Can most young, healthy and tall people around the world be trained to play basketball? Well, maybe. Though many may play, a few of very few would become really extraordinarily excellent. There are often debates on nature, nurture, ideas, execution, talent, diligence, raw material and refinery, etc. but most of these debates are skewed by conversation or situational objectives. Some often argue against refining if they want to defend the necessity of potential. Some argue against ideas if they want to make the case for execution. Depending on the situation, one supersedes the other, but both directions