Oil Minister Urges NCDMB, PTDF to Complete Abandoned Projects

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 Modupe Gbadeyanka On October 1, 2023, food enthusiasts and stakeholders will gather at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos to have a taste of Nigerian cuisine at an event organised by 3X4 Foods, a subsidiary of 3 BY 4 Gourmet. The founder of 3X4 Foods, Ms Banke Makinde, said the programme, Street Food Celebration, would be used to showcase the Nigerian culture, through food, to the world. She said the event would provide an opportunity to celebrate Nigeria’s culture, history, and people through street food, and promote cultural entertainment, and delicious gourmet street food. According to her, Street Food Celebration

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The 12-year-old boy with missing intestines, Adebola Akin-Bright, who has been receiving treatment at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, has died. Adebola died on Tuesday evening, according to reports. He was to be flown abroad for an intestine transplant to get him back to normal before he breathed his last today. Adebola had surgery at a private hospital in the Alimosho area of the state known as Obitoks Medical Centre, but it was later discovered that his intestines were missing. The Lagos State House of Assembly had on Tuesday asked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Senate and the House of Representatives will on Tuesday resume plenary after weeks of vacation with expectations that they will attend to correspondences from President Bola Tinubu. The upper chamber adjourned for a six-week annual recess on August 17 after confirmating 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Tinubu. The Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio, also announced the composition of 74 standing committees on that day. Upon resumption, the Senate will commence its legislative duties by attending to correspondences from the President requesting the confirmation of some appointments he made. The appointments include those

By Dipo Olowookere Chairman of Dangote Cement, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said he hopes the company operates in at least 18 African countries in the shortest time. The Africa’s richest man made this known at the 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company held in Lagos this week. Addressing shareholders of the cement manufacturing firm, the business mogul said the expansion will bring about more money to the company and its shareholders. He said to achieve this goal, efforts would be made to increase the capacity of the company’s Obajana Plant to 16 million metric tons, making it one

By Adedapo Adesanya The Brent crude jumped to $67 per barrel on Wednesday despite a surprising report that showed a build in crude inventories in the United States, the largest oil-producing country in the world. During the trading session, the global benchmark, which many country use to price their crude, appreciated by 2.8 per cent or $1.85 to trade at $67.22 per barrel, while the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, gained $1.78 or 2.9 per cent to sell at $63.45 per barrel. Crude oil prices went on steroids after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a crude oil

By Dipo Olowookere The hunger for treasury bills in Nigeria seems to be waning as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is offering the investment tool at an unattractive rate of 4.90 per cent, significantly below the country’s inflation rate of 15.40 per cent. It is common knowledge that investing in any financial asset not yielding a return on investment of more than the inflation rate is a bad investment. While some investment tools in the fixed income market like bonds and commercial papers are witnessing a rise in yields lately, the T-bills space is expressing the opposite and this

By NASD A year ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria needed a plan. The price of the product that generated the bulk of the country’s foreign exchange earnings had hit a 13 year low – there was even a threatened glut in the product itself. Alternative industry that would have provided a buffer was closer to extinction after 20 odd years of neglect during the good (?) oil boom times. Limited infrastructure and bureaucratic duplications also came into stark relief as major blocks to economic progress. For the first time in 25 years, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product contracted by 1.5

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Not less than 28 companies trading their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) risk being sanctioned by the regulator for failing to meet post-listing requirements, timely release of operational reports and financial statements. According to The Nation, the firms include three commercial banks, a microfinance bank, three mortgage bankers, five insurance companies, one investment management firm and 15 other firms in various non-financial sectors. The defaulting firms include Unity Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc, Staco Insurance Plc, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Goldlink Insurance Plc, UNIC Insurance Plc, International Energy

By Dipo Olowookere Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has restated her resolve to contribute to the reduction of the level of poverty in the country and ensuring self-reliance among Nigerian women. She was flagging-off a Women Empowerment Programme of Future Assured Programme, organized in partnership with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mrs Buhari, while addressing a massive crowd said 11,600 women and youth would benefit from the programme and 1,500 women and youths would be trained on vocational skills, while 1,000 others undergoing training would be given starter packs and a sum

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Navy, Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom has impounded 251 bags of rice smuggled through the waterways. The Commanding Officer of FOB, Navy Captain Suleiman Abdullahi, disclosed this in Ibaka on Thursday when he handed over the bags of contrabands to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). He said that the 251 bags of rice were seized from smugglers on June 15 during routine patrol operations by the unit, explaining that the suspects abandoned the rice and the boat and fled on sighting the naval patrol team, emphasising that the

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Naira remained stable against the US Dollar at both the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and Interbank segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market on Tuesday, February 18, 2020. After depreciating to N364.95/$1 at the I&E segment on Monday, the value of the local currency against the American currency remained at that level at the close of transactions yesterday. However, the value of transactions at the forex market segment increased by 709 percent rise or $360.56 million to $411.40 million from the previous session’s $50.84 million. At the official Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) currency exchange window