We Plan to Improve Capital Market’s Contribution to Economic Growth—SEC DG

By Adedapo Adesanya A milk-producing company, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria, helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange return to the green territory by 0.54 per cent on Wednesday, November 29. The firm improved its value by N3.50 in the midweek session to settle at N73.50 per share compared with the previous day’s closing price of N70.00 per share. It suppressed the 10 Kobo decline posted by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which ended lower at N17.00 per unit versus Tuesday’s value of N17.10 per unit. Consequently, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange went up by N6.28 billion to

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu is targeting to grow Nigeria’s economy by 3.76 per cent next year and moderate the country’s inflation to 21.4 per cent. Speaking at his first budget speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, President Tinubu also projected higher oil production and tax collection, noting that this will boost government revenues and cut down on reliance on borrowing to finance budget deficits. Nigeria plans on spending N27.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, with priorities on security, infrastructure and easing the high cost-of-living crisis. The country will borrow around N9 trillion and N18.5 billion generated from internally

By Aduragbemi Omiyale A workshop designed to educate investors, especially those in the retail end of the curve, on how they can improve corporate governance has been organised by the Nigerian Exchange Regulation (NGX RegCo) Limited. The two-day event, which took place on Thursday, November 23, and Friday, November 24, 2023, was themed Rights and Responsibilities of Shareholders in Driving Corporate Governance. According to the NGX RegCo, the seminar was designed to promote a transparent and fair market, with participants agreeing that all hands must be on deck to sanitize the market and bring the boards and management of listed

By Adedapo Adesanya The Supreme Court has ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes should continue to co-exist with the new banknotes beyond the earlier December 31, 2023, deadline. The apex court ruled on Wednesday that both old and new notes should continue to remain legal tender until the federal government puts a process in place for its replacement or redesign after due consultation with relevant stakeholders. The seven-man panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro gave the ruling following an application by the central government asking the court to grant an extension of time for old naira notes

By Modupe Gbadeyanka One of the products from Nestle, Milo, has been announced as Product of the Year at the 2017 edition of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) awards held in Accra last month. Milo, nicknamed the energy food drink for future champions, has been in Ghana for about 60 years. In fact, the award came at a time when Nestlé Ghana was commemorating 60 years of providing quality and nutritious food to families in Ghana. A citation signed by the National President of the CIMG, Mr Kojo Mattah, stated that, “Nestlé Milo has truly built nations of

By Dipo Olowookere The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has hinted that companies listed on the Nigerian Stocks Exchange (NSE) may raise up to N200 billion from the debt market this year through the issuance of bonds. If this is done, it would be an all-time high in the country. In 2016, a total of N103 billion was raised from the debt market, which remains Nigeria’s all-time high. The Nigerian economy fell into recession in the second quarter of 2016 due to drop in oil price in the global market and decline in output of crude oil in the country

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A Nigerian teacher, Mr Akeem Badru, has made history after emerging as the overall winner of the 2023 Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards, becoming the first African to do so since the competition’s inception five years ago. He was among the over 11,000 nominations received by the organisers from 99 countries. He was also one of the 1,282 nominations from Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Badru teaches at St Michael RCM Primary School, a one-room school without electricity in Ogunpa Lunloye, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He earned the global vote of confidence for his achievement in First Step Initiatives, a STEM

By Adedapo Adesanya The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its eight-month-old industrial action conditionally. ASUU commenced the strike on February 14 this year after its dialogue with the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration yielded no immediate solution. The union decided to suspend the strike during a meeting of its leadership that started on Thursday night and lasted into the early hours of Friday. The meeting was called by the union to determine its next line of action after its state branches met over the Court of Appeal ruling last week. The Court of Appeal had ordered ASUU to suspend

By Dipo Olowookere On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Sterling Bank released its financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2019. In the results briefly analysed by Business Post, the lender declared a 8.23 percent decline in the gross earnings, which dropped to N36.5 billion from N39.8 billion, while the interest income depreciated by 3.19 percent to N30.8 billion from N31.8 billion. However, the bank reduced its interest expense to N15.9 billion from N19.4 billion, with the operating income growing to N20.6 billion from N20.5 billion. Also, the fees and commission income improved to N4.7 billion from N3.6 billion, while

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, has called for more innovative financial products to meet the needs of the pension industry in Nigeria so as to deepen the capital market and sustain the growth in the sector, especially in the non-interest segment. Mr Yuguda made this call at a one-day seminar organised by the agency themed The Imperative of Non-Interest Capital Market for Pension Industry. According to him, the non-interest finance segment holds great potentials in furthering the development of the capital market and the growth of the nation’s economy as

By Adedapo Adesanya Global food commodity prices fell in July for the second consecutive month led by cereals, vegetable oil and dairy, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has disclosed in its latest Food Price Index report released on Thursday. The index tracks the international prices of the most commonly traded food commodities. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 123.0 points in July 2021, down 1.2 per cent from June but still 31.0 per cent higher than its level in the same period last year. Business Post had reported that in June, the global price of

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Investment and Securities Bill 2022 before the National Assembly, when passed and signed into law, would enhance the economic diversification plan of Nigeria, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, has submitted. At a public hearing on the ISB 2022 and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers Bill 2022 in Abuja, he said this would be achieved through a robust capital market, which the law intends to make possible. According to him, the passage and enactment of the bill will be a pivotal step in revamping the economy and, therefore, urged key