Proposed Amazon Headquarters in South Africa Under Threat

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Iranian activist, Ms Narges Mohammadi, for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. In a statement announced on Friday, Ms Mohammadi was recognised for her brave struggle which has seen her arrested 13 times, convicted five times, and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. As of the moment of her recognition for the prize, Ms Mohammadi is still in prison after her role in the largest

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh The 17th Toronto Global Forum was held under the theme Fostering Economic Resilience from October 11-13, 2023, in Toronto Canada. According to reports, the forum gathered over 170 speakers and more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The central themes at the Toronto Global Forum revolved around the global economy, infrastructure, finance, innovation, energy and sustainable development. Through its ability to foster connections and collaboration, the Toronto Global Forum stands as an exceptional and distinctive platform bringing together decision-makers from all spheres of society to tackle the most pressing issues of the changing times.

By Adedapo Adesanya The global prices of food remained flat, unchanged from its revised October level, as increases in the price indices for vegetable oils, dairy products, and sugar counterbalanced decreases in those of cereals and meat. This is according to the latest Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index (FFPI) released on Friday. The index showed that food prices averaged 120.4 points in November 2023 and stood 14.4 points (10.7 per cent) below the corresponding level one year ago. The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 121.0 points in November, down 3.7 points (3.0 per cent) from October and

By Adedapo Adesanya The SBM Intelligence African Country Instability Risk Report Index (ACIRI) has ranked Nigeria as a stable African country based on select macro indicators benchmarks. The report which was published on Monday assesses the political, economic and social factors contributing to Sub-Saharan Africa’s political instability. It provides a framework for assessing the risk of coups d’état using factors such as ethnic tension, the country’s history of coups, dominant ethnic groups, economic concentration, ageing leaders and monoproduct, bi-product or multi-product economies. The 47 Sub-Saharan sub-region of Africa’s 55 countries were ranked on four benchmarks – leadership and governance, geopolitics,

By Dipo Olowookere The management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has suspended trading in the shares of six companies listed on its trading platform. As a result of this action, shareholders of the affected firms will not be able to trade the stocks of the companies at the exchange until the embargo is lifted by the NSE. A notice to stockbrokers on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, explained that the organisations were suspended from trading their equities on the exchange because they failed to adhere to the listing rules. Business Post gathered that the affected companies are FTN Cocoa Processors,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Brent crude went bearish on Friday as the market overlooked strong economic recovery data to point southwards with the coronavirus gripping major economies. The value of the international crude benchmark reduced by 17 cents or 0.25 per cent yesterday to trade at $66.77 per barrel, while the US crude benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), decreased by 33 cents or 0.52 per cent to sell at $63.13 per barrel. On Friday, China’s first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 18.3 per cent year-on-year, according to official data. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics said that the surge

By Adedapo Adesanya The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has signed an agreement with Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) for the supply of 300 megawatts to Ibeju-Lekki. This was disclosed by Mrs Olufunke Nwankwo, the Head of Communication and Public Relations at NDPHC in a statement in Abuja on Friday. Mrs Nwankwo said that the project would also supply power to other franchise areas in Lagos State. She said that the agreement, which was sealed in the presence of Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would see NDPHC supply electricity directly to Eko Distribution Company. Speaking at the event,

By Dipo Olowookere It was a woeful year for the independent manufacturer and distributor of the well-known and widely consumed brands of soft drinks, 7up Bottling Company Plc, as the economic situation took its toll on the firm. In its financial year ended March 31, 2017, the company suffered a loss of N10.7 billion, making the firm not to pay dividend to its shareholders this year against N1.60 per share paid to them last year. This is the first time in five years the firm was not paying dividend to its shareholders. Business Post observed that 7up Bottling Company Plc

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter of 2022, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. The NBS said between July and September 2022, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country grew by 2.25 per cent year-on-year, the slowest growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the NBS, the slow growth is attributable to the base effects of the recession and the challenging economic conditions that have impeded productive activities. The Q3 2022 growth rate decreased by 1.78 per cent points from the 4.03 per cent growth rate recorded

By Dipo Olowookere One of the leading brewery companies in the country, Guinness Nigeria Plc, has been tipped to maintain its strong market position despite the various challenges it is facing at the moment. Share price of the company at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has plummeted lately and at the close of market on Monday, it was down by 30 kobo to sell at N18 per share. Last week, a local rating agency, Global Credit Ratings (GCR), assigned national scale issuer ratings of A+(NG) and A1(NG) in the long term and short term respectively to Guinness Nigeria Plc, with

By Adedapo Adesanya After 10 consecutive sessions without any movement in the key market indicators, the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed in the red territory on Wednesday, March 4. One of the main drivers for this was the poor performance put up by the stock of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, which was the lone decliner at the midweek session. At the close of trading, the oil and gas investment company had its share price going down by N30.11 or 10.3 percent to N293.00 per share from N323.11 per share it previously traded. This led the NASD

By Ebitonye Akpodigha The Senate on Wednesday deliberated on the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and it eventually scaled through the second reading. The bill aims to be the master reference law that governs the Nigerian petroleum industry, from the upstream division (exploratory, development and production activities) through the midstream (gas processing) to downstream (servicing, refining, distribution, transportation and marketing/retailing). It is a bill that has lingered on since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999. At the plenary today, members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly looked into the bill and argued over it. It eventually