Independence: FG Declares Monday October 2 Public Holiday

By Adedapo Adesanya The management of Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) has cautioned customers not to load the energy tokens purchased during a recent upgrade glitch which left customers unable to buy and load much-needed electricity tokens on their prepaid meters. In a statement on Friday, the distribution company said, “We apologise for the inconvenience experienced when loading your energy token during the TID rollover upgrade. The issue has been resolved and we thank you for your patience and understanding.” The issue commenced when the company instructed customers to link their respective prepaid meters to the National Identification Number (NIN)

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Some public servants in Nigeria have been charged to make use of what they learned from a seven-week AIG Public Leaders Programme (PLP) to drive transformative change from within. This appeal was made by the executive vice chairman of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Mrs Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, at the conclusion of the programme, offered by the Foundation in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. It is an executive education scheme that provides high-potential African public servants with the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to create cultures of excellence, effectiveness, and integrity in their organisations.

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian government has outlined its priorities for the upcoming 28th Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Speaking to journalists at a pre-COP workshop organised by the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), the Director General of the council, Mr Salisu Dahiru, said the country has a number of issues dear to its economy and journey towards climate resilience that it hopes to achieve at COP28. COP 28 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place from November 30 to December 12. COP takes place every year and is the world’s

By Adedapo Adesanya  Nigeria has commenced moves to refloat the moribund national shipping line with a view to targeting a $10 billion value from the global shipping market. This is the current interest of the newly created Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy headed by the Minister, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, as he met with various maritime stakeholders with a view to charting a new course for the sustainable development of the nation’s marine sector in Lagos on Tuesday. He said that Nigeria must be ready for global competitiveness as it hopes to target the $10 billion ship charter market. According

By Bliss Okperan A Professor of Financial Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis and Research of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Mr Ndubisi Nwokoma, has urged the newly nominated Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Michael Cardoso, to work toward price stability and tame the wild inflation. In an interview on Arise TV’s breakfast programme, The Morning Show, on September 18, 2023, Mr Nwokoma highlighted some issues the incoming apex bank chief must address to be successful. The professor charged Mr Cardoso to painstakingly tackle inflation, manage the level of money supply,

By Adedapo Adesanya Trading closed in the negative territory on Wednesday at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange as the market, which had no price gainer, fell by 0.48 per cent. This was spurred by negative movement in the price of securities belonging to Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc. As the day’s single loser, CSCS Plc saw a price loss of 50 kobo or 3.57 per cent to close at N14 per share in contrast to N14.50 per share it closed at the previous session. At the end of the day’s trading, the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI) moved

By Ahmed Rahma Amid frustration over delays in the delivery of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot and other supply problems, the European Union (EU) has proposed the setting up of a register of vaccine exports. On Tuesday, the Health Minister of Germany, Mr Jens Spahn, said he supports the proposal to introduce restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines. This comes as tensions grew with AstraZeneca and Pfizer over sudden supply cuts just a month after the bloc started vaccinating citizens. Speaking, the minister said, “I can understand that there are production problems but then it must affect everyone in the same way. “This is

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the United States currency on the first trading session of the week in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment of the currency market by 5.3 per cent or N41.61 to settle at N750.14/$1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N791.75/$1. The improvement in the value of the local currency happened after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) again postponed a crucial meeting to decide interest rates. The CBN postponed the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yet again after the same was done in September, indicating that the new Governor of the

By Modupe Gbadeyanka As Muslims across the globe and Nigeria prepare for the annual one-month Ramadan, a period for fasting and getting closer to Allah, Nigeria’s market leader in the food and beverage industry, Rite Foods, has called on all to adhere to the doctrines of Islam, which preach peaceful coexistence. The annual Islamic ritual, which is in fulfilment of the fourth pillar of Islam, is expected to commence this week. In a statement, the world-class and proudly-Nigerian company said it has made available its unrivalled brands for consumption and refreshing moments during the fasting period for Islamic believers and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A leading oilfield equipment, structural steel, marine structures engineering, and fabrication company in West Africa, Dorman Long Engineering, has appointed Mr Chris Ijeli as its new Managing Director. The engineer by profession is expected to lead the organisation to its next frontier in the steel engineering and fabrication industry. With over 38 years of experience in project management and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) for oil and gas, manufacturing and heavy industry, he will undertake full responsibility for the leadership and development of Dorman Long’s operations across the continent. In his previous roles, Mr Ijeli successfully envisioned

By Adedapo Adesanya X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, has announced moves to strip headlines from articles shared on the site. This is the latest move by the founder of the app, Mr Elon Musk, who has made a series of changes to the app he acquired for $44 billion in October last year. According to Fortune, X will strip headlines from articles shared on the site. Posts would only include the lead image and the URL unless the person or publisher posting the link adds their text, per materials the outlet viewed. After the publication of

By Dipo Olowookere Last week, trading in Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank and Meyer accounted for 752.4 million shares worth N3.3 billion in 4,039 deals, contributing 49.03 percent and 28.82 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. During the week, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded a total turnover of 1.5 billion shares worth N11.3 billion in 18,928 deals compared with 1.5 billion shares valued at N14.9 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 21,828 deals. It was observed that financial stocks led the activity chart with 1.1 billion units valued at N7.1 billion traded in 12,225