Military Coup: AU Suspends Mali, Threatens Sanctions

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has departed Abuja for Johannesburg, South Africa, to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 15th BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government. BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of five major emerging and developing economies. In a statement released on Monday by Mr Olusola Abiola, the Director of Information in the Office of the Vice President, it was stated that the VP would be joining other business and political leaders across the world at the summit scheduled for the Sandton Convention Centre,

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), a group of emerging market powers and one of the most popular organizations, seeks to approve African States into its fold and build on its existing economic and trade with other invited African leaders during the 15th summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The BRICS members are meeting to deliberate on a broad range of important multiple issues, including new membership, common currency, various parameters of development and security and institutional architecture. More than 70 states are participating, including African leaders, while 23 States have submitted formal applications to

By Adedapo Adesanya Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, told the BRICS summit participants in South Africa on Thursday that Moscow intends to deepen ties with African countries for food and fuel supply. Speaking in a video link address, Mr Putin said Russia was interested in developing “multi-faceted ties” with Africa, which has been roiled by fuel and food price rises resulting from the conflict in Ukraine. This is coming after the country exited the Black Sea grain deal in July. This move has seen grain prices soar, hitting many African countries very hard. Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s

By Dipo Olowookere Shareholders of Geregu Power Plc will get a final dividend of N8 per share from the company for the fiscal year, which ended on December 31, 2022. A statement from the power-generating firm disclosed that the dividend is for “shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as of the close of business on February 27, 2023.” However, the cash reward is subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval of investors at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be announced later. The payment date, according to the disclosure, would be made known to shareholders later.

By Dipo Olowookere Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained bearish on Thursday following persisted selling pressure. Also, the level of activities remain weak yesterday as some investors remain on the sidelines, waiting to get things running fully from next week. At the close of the trading session, the stock market was down by 0.96 percent with a year-to-date loss of 2.10 percent. In addition, the volume of trades went down by 21.09 percent, while the value of transactions reduced by 27.79 percent. Business Post reports that a total of 169.2 million shares worth N1.1 billion

By Adedapo Adesanya The House of Representatives has moved to investigate allegations that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) is riddled with fraud and some irregularities. It was reported that these have led to the non-payment of salaries and allowances of federal civil servants. The Public Accounts Committee of the House said the move was necessary to sanitise the system. The committee, while engaging tertiary institutions and other agencies on their financial audit reports for 2018-2019 on Tuesday, December 1, said it was alarmed by the leakages and sharp practices observed in its earlier engagement with other agencies,

By Dipo Olowookere The Department of State Security (DSS) has released the Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida, taken into custody on Monday, weeks after being declared wanted by the Nigerian Army. Mr Salkida was apprehended just as he touched down Nigeria via the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday. He was taken into custody by the DSS afterwards. But reports say Mr Salkida has been released by the secret police. It was also learnt that he has been told not to leave the country yet. It would be recalled that the journalist was declared wanted on August 14 alongside

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Pension Commission (PenCom) disclosed that Pension Fund Managers (PFAs) invested N55.3 billion under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in infrastructure in the first five months of the year. The commission, in its latest statistics published under the report titled Summary of Pension fund assets as at May 31, 2020, also revealed that the total assets under management by the operators stood at N10.79 trillion in the period under review. The commission had stated in its last amended investment regulation the requirements to invest the funds in line with the provisions of Pension Reform Act, 2014.

By Tenebe Anthonia The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has remained attractive in terms of dividend yield and market valuation ratios, with the All Share Index (ASI) outperforming peer exchanges in Africa. This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, during the Stakeholder Engagement Series which held on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Highlighting NSE’s performance so far in 2020, Mr Onyema said, “Supported by recovering oil prices, resumption of economic activities and attractive valuations, we have seen the NSE ASI rally from -20.6 percent in March to -6.1 percent return Year-to-Date. This is particularly noteworthy when compared

By Adedapo Adesanya Schmidt Futures, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, has announced that young Nigerians aged 15 to 17 (as of July 1, 2023) can apply for the 2023 Rise Challenge. The flagship programme of Schmidt Futures and the anchor of a broader $1 billion philanthropic commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt, find brilliant people who need opportunity and support them for life as they work to serve others. Rise will build a lifelong community of students, teachers, and institutions across sectors that aim to serve others. The programme, which identifies young people between the ages of 15 and

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated against the Dollar at the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, February 22. The Nigerian Naira came under pressure as customers continued to battle with the shortage of cash in the financial system following a policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to control the currency in circulation. On Wednesday, a decision of the Supreme Court to adjourn judgement for the suit challenging the policy provided no leeway ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, which observers have called the most keenly contested since the return to democracy in 1999. In