Flour Mills Contributes N2bn to Fight COVID-19

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a suspect wanted for attempts to ship illicit drug consignments to the United Kingdom. This was made known in a statement signed by the NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday. He further disclosed arrests made by NDLEA operatives through interdiction operations that led to the seizure of four tons of illicit substances in the past week. According to the agency, the suspect, Mr Obiorah Chigozie, had been on its wanted list since September 15. This, he said, was when a consignment of 1.500kg skunk concealed in flour

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has promised fresh growth and job reforms in the coming months after he removed fuel subsidies and directed the float of the Naira to unify the exchange rate. The Nigerian president made this known during his first address at the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, the US, after he took over the helm of office from Mr Muhammadu Buhari in May. He said, “To foster economic growth and investor confidence in Nigeria, I removed the costly and corrupt fuel subsidy while also discarding a noxious exchange rate system in my first

By Adedapo Adesanya An initiative to boost youth employment and shore up Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) earnings has been introduced by the Nigerian government. The scheme, the National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), was unveiled over the weekend at the Microsoft Office in New York, United States of America by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Doris Uzoka-Anite. She said the programme would position Nigeria as an export hub for talent outsourcing in Africa following the example of India, Bangladesh, Mexico and The Philippines. Mrs Uzoka-Anite noted that NATEP is a key national initiative that will serve as a

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday offered N100 billion worth of OMO bills to investors and the exercise recorded 105 percent oversubscription. Two maturities were auctioned to market players by the apex bank yesterday; the 93-day bill and the 205-day paper. Of the N100 billion worth of the debt instrument offered for sale, the central bank received subscriptions worth N205.30 billion. The 205-day note attracted investors with subscriptions valued at N179.26 billion were got from the N70.00 billion auctioned, while the 93-day bill received N26.04 billion offers from the N30.00 billion auctioned. At the close

By Adedapo Adesanya Lagosians can expect some form of ease as the federal government, in collaboration with Lagos State Government on Saturday, reopened the Eko Bridge, as promised, after 15 months of closure due to rehabilitation work. The bridge, which is one of the three bridges linking the mainland to the Island of Lagos, had been severely damaged at the Apogbon section during a fire caused by illegal traders under it, and this prompted the closure for repair. However, the closure created headaches for commuters in the commercial capital. Now, the bridge’s reopening will bring huge relief for motorists and

By Adedapo Adesanya  Prices of crude oil went down by more than 4 percent at the international market on Friday as a result of reports which fuelled doubt that the extension on production cut that is expected to be made at next week’s meeting of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) may not follow through. As a result of this, major futures depreciated from gains gathered during the month of November. By implication, Brent crude, the international benchmark which traded up to $64 during the week, fell by 4.39 percent as it shed $2.78 to trade at $60.49 per

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigerian education tech startup, Edves, has raised $575,000 to improve products and bring more schools online by digitizing learning and administration to ensure multi-curricular lesson delivery online and offline. The funding round, which was oversubscribed, was led by Beta Ventures along with Launch Africa, Chinook Capital (follow on) and Future Africa. According to Semrush, SimilarWeb and Google Analytics, Edves was the most used indigenous Edtech platform for K-12 schools learning continuity and end-of-term examination in Nigeria between March and September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and school lockdown. As a digital infrastructure, the startup enables collaboration between

By Dipo Olowookere The board of LASACO Assurance Plc has announced the financial status of the company for the year ended December 31, 2018. During the year, the insurer recorded an improvement from what was achieved in the previous year. For instance, the profit before tax grew by 12 percent to N958.2 million from N854.3 million, while the profit after tax appreciated by 11 percent to N736.3 million from N661.9 million. In the results released by the company, the gross premium written rose by 35 percent to N9 billion from N6.7 billion, while the net underwriting income jumped by 31

By Dipo Olowookere Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has reacted to comments made by the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation, Mr Danjuma Goje, on the floor of the Senate this week, accusing the Minister of ‘insulting’ the National Assembly concerning allegations that the legislators imported some projects into the 2017 budget. Mr Fashola, in a statement personally signed by him and sent from Zimbabwe where he is currently attending the 35th Annual General Meeting of the Shelter Afrique, described the Senator’s language as unparliamentary, therefore not deserving of a reply She further described as regrettable that

By Dipo Olowookere African member governments and other shareholders of African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) will earn their first dividend this year after the agency declared a profit of $9.9 million in the 2017 financial year. The dividend payment came after the General Assembly of ATI approved it at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Abidjan, where the company also announced its record-breaking 2017 financial results for the sixth consecutive year. ATI has earmarked an initial $2.5 million in payments to its shareholders which include 14 African member governments. The company’s CEO, Mr George Otieno, noted that, “We have

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has increased the daily supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, across the country by 202 per cent from 550 trucks to 1,661 trucks to combat the build-up of fuel queues in some parts of the country. This was made known in a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Kennie Obateru, quoting the Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr Musa Lawan. It was revealed that there have been the delivery of about two billion litres of PMS in strategic