Weekly Transactions on Local Stock Exchange Grow 30.41%

By Dipo Olowookere The domestic currency had a breather in the peer-to-peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, with its value strengthening against the Dollar at the two windows. This was supported by the ease in the forex demand pressure during the trading session, which had the official market, the Investors and Exporters (I&E) arm of the market, non-operational yesterday due to the public holiday observed in the country for Eid el Maulud. Many customers who may have needed FX for their transactions stayed back to enjoy the work-free day, easing off

By Dipo Olowookere No fewer than 15 Nigerian Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) will share the N75 million set aside by a tech giant, Google, in the 2023 edition of Hustle Academy Fund. The initiative was introduced in 2022 to provide equity-free funds to small business owners to scale up their operations and support entrepreneurial growth in Nigeria. Entries for the exercise opened on Thursday, September 28 and will close on Thursday, October 12, 2023, and to be eligible, businesses must be Nigerian-founded, operating within Nigeria for 1-5 years, and have a clear and scalable business plan. They should have

By Adedapo Adesanya The oil market retreated on Thursday, as traders took profits after prices soared recently while the space worried that high interest rates may weigh on demand. During the trading session, Brent futures fell by $1.17 or 1.2 per cent to settle at $95.38 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) declined by $1.97 or 2.1 per cent to close at $91.71 per barrel. The market had reached a 10-month high as some traders worried high oil prices would stoke inflation, encouraging the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to persist with rate hikes.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The management of BUA Cement Plc has announced a reduction in the prices of its cement from its factory without the transportation costs to N3,500 per bag (50kg). The cement maker confirmed this development in a statement issued on Sunday, noting that it was part of efforts to make sure customers get the products at cheaper prices. In the statement, BUA Cement disclosed that the slash in cement prices is from Monday, October 2, 2023, urging its distributors not to fleet the end users. The firm said, “All pending, undelivered orders which had been paid for at

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Efforts are already being made to curb road crashes in Oyo State with the installation of traffic signs, the Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA) has said. The road signs would be installed in collaboration with some non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Executive Chairman of OYRTMA, Mr Akin Fagbemi, stated. Speaking when he hosted the leadership of Oyo Global Forum (OGF), an NGO leading the charge of combating road accidents through effective road signs and signals, Mr Fagbemi said the road traffic signs and signals would be put at strategic points across the state. According to him,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, have been asked to resign from their positions due to the present state of the Nigerian economy. This call was made on Thursday by the House of Representatives panel set up to investigate the N700 billion bail-out funds given to some state governments by the Federal Government last year when they could not pay their workers’ salaries. The duo of Mrs Adeosun and Mr Emefiele did not appear before panel yesterday, which angered its Chairman, Mr Sadiq Ibrahim. While Mr

By Adedapo Adesanya The number of companies providing internet services in Nigeria has increased to 225 as of September 2022 from 187 recorded in December 2021. This is according to the updated list of licensees just published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). It was revealed that 38 more companies have been licensed since the beginning to bridge the internet access gaps in the country. This represents a 20.3 per cent increase in the last nine months. The newly licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) include Elon Musk’s company, Starlink, whose license was approved by the telecom regulator in May this

By Adedapo Adesanya The European Union (EU) reached an agreement late Monday to ban 90 per cent of Russian oil by the end of the year. The agreement also resolves a deadlock after Hungary initially held up talks about the proposed ban which is the sixth of its kind since Russia invaded its neighbour, Ukraine, on February 24. Hungary is a major user of Russian oil and its leader, Mr Viktor Orban, has been on friendly terms with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Mr Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said the move would immediately hit 75 per cent of Russian

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has announced the postponement of the implementation of the new electricity tariff by the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos). The increase in the amount paid for energy consumption in the country was initially scheduled to commence from Wednesday, April 1, but the regulator has now shifted its implementation by three months. In a directive in line with Order /198/2020, the electricity regulatory agency noted that it took the decision to halt the commencement of the new tariff plan due to some reasons, chief among is the effect of the coronavirus on its

By Dipo Olowookere The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further depreciated by 33.37 basis points on Wednesday to close at 31,145.34 basis points. This was as the market closed 0.11 percent lower amid profit taking by investors, sinking the year-to-date loss deeper to 0.91 percent. At the close of transactions, the total value of shares on the local bourse, which is measured by market capitalisation, reduced by N13 billion to settle at N11.614 trillion. Business Post reports that a stock in the consumer goods space, Nestle Nigeria, was mainly responsible for the loss recorded during the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed the contract for the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refinery in Alesa-Eleme, Rivers State awarded to Milan based Tecnimont SpA worth $1.5 billion, inclusive of VAT and other statutory payments. This followed the signing of the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation and Commissioning (EPCIC) contract between both parties on Tuesday. The rehabilitation project has a completion timeline of between 18 and 44 months under a three-phase arrangement. Speaking on the signing, an elated Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, described the Port

By Modupe Gbadeyanka No fewer than 30 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have received the N10 million business grant provided by Unity Bank Plc through its flagship entrepreneurship development initiative, Corpreneurship Challenge. The 30 corps members were chosen after a successful business pitch across 10 states of the federation in the eighth edition of the programme. The participating states were Abuja, Rivers, Delta, Sokoto, Edo, Akwa-Ibom, Osun, Kano, Bayelsa and Enugu. To emerge as the winners, their business plans were assessed on originality, marketability, future employability potential of the product and knowledge of the business. At the