Value of Naira to Dollar Worsens to N476.60/$1 at Lagos BDC Market

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Business owners in Lagos have been assured of more incentives by the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who added that this is part of his administration’s commitment to reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business and enhancing investment opportunities. Speaking at the commissioning of the newly-built wet hair production factory of Godrej Nigeria Limited, the Governor said his government would continue to pursue actions that would eliminate red tapes and regulatory impediments hindering the growth of businesses in the state, thereby demonstrating his willingness for continued collaboration with the private sector to improve the livelihood

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

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 The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Bliss Okperan The air travel fares increased by 7.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis to N78,778 in October 2023 from N73.198 in October 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. In its Transport Fare Watch for October 2023 released on Tuesday, the agency also said, “In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes for a single journey was N78,778.38 in October 2023, showing a decrease of 0.30 per cent compared to the previous month (September 2023),” adding that, “On a year-on-year (YoY); basis, the fare rose by 7.62 per cent

By Dipo Olowookere Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr Ade Bajomo; as well as his counterpart in charge of Capital Markets at the NSE, Mr Haruna Jalo-Waziri, have resigned from the stock market regulator. Mr Jalo-Waziri resigned from the NSE effective October 31, 2017 to assume his new role as the Chief Executive Officer of CSCS Plc. On the part of Mr Bajomo, he is leaving the NSE from December 31, 2017 to pursue other challenges. During his time at the NSE, Mr Jalo-Waziri made significant contributions to NSE’s revenue growth and had

By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel The Obotim Nsit community in Nsit Ibom Local government area of Akwa Ibom state has expressed sorrow over the death and economical damages caused by the gas pipeline explosion that occurred in 2016. The explosion, which happen about five years ago in Asang Community High School in the area, was attributed to a technical fault from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) gas pipeline which took the lives of over 28 people. Speaking at a media briefing, the community head, Mr Eteidung Iniobong Akpan, lamented that since the gas pipeline explosion, the people have been having damage

By Aduragbemi Omiyale Nigerians living abroad who invested in the $300 million diaspora bond issued by the federal government in 2017 have received the value of their initial investment. The debt instrument matured on June 27, 2022, and according to a statement issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO), the bond has been redeemed. Nigeria approached the international capital market to source $300 million to finance part of the deficits in the 2017 budget as the nation was just recovering from a recession it slipped into a year earlier. The exercise afforded citizens of the country living abroad to support

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has denied reports that he misused the N8.6 billion bailout fund given to the state by the Federal Government. Speaking with State House Correspondents after he met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, the Governor said the fund was utilised for the purpose for which it was given. He said the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) both at the national level and the Bauchi State branch had commended him for utilising the fund to take care of workers’ salaries. He said when he was away abroad a

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Department of State Services (DSS) has been directed to release or charge the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to court within one week. This directive was given on Thursday by a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja. Mr Emefiele was first appointed as the CBN chief in 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan and was reappointed for another term of five years by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari. Before the 2023 general elections in February, the apex bank came up with a Naira redesign policy, which the

By Adedapo Adesanya Allocations to the federal, states and local government from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) dropped 43 percent in the month of May to N547.3 billion from the N780.9 billion disbursed in the month of April. This was deduced from figures released by the Ministry of Finance, Budget And National Planning in the latest FAAC committee meeting. The ministry said the meeting was chaired by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse. It further said that the allocation for last month included value added tax (VAT), exchange gain and excess bank charges recovered. Giving the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A literacy book, Iwe-Kika, has been adopted by the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board for implementation of Better Education Service Delivery for All in Oyo State. Iwe-Kika is a fun and interactive teaching tool that uses phonics literacy teaching methodology in Yoruba language. The book is recommended by the Universal Basic Education Commission for BESDA States. Speaking at the end of a 3-day meeting on content development and adoption of iwe kika in Ibadan, the Executive Chairman of Oyo SUBEB, Mr Nureni Adeniran, said the literary book was recommended to teach out of school children because