The Kogi State government has beckoned on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to apologize to the state over an alleged N20 billion bailout fund it sought a court order to freeze. The Lagos division of the Federal High Court on Friday granted EFCC’s application to discontinue the case against the Kogi State government. In the report, the anti-graft commission withdrew the suit that sought the state government to forfeit the N20 billion bailout fund meant for payment of salaries in the state. A Lagos High Court on August 31, 2021 froze Kogi State government’s account domiciled in Sterling…
Author: Temitope N.
The Lagos State Government has finalized plans to enrol at least 3 million residents into the state’s health insurance scheme within the next one year. This is part of the state government’s effort aimed at providing access to health to the over 24 million people living in the state in terms of improved financing and delivering of quality healthcare especially in the face of the recent Covid-19 pandemic which exposed the poor state of the health sector across the country. This was established by the General Manager of the Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), Dr Emmanualla Zamba, on…
The new administration the united States of America led by Joe Biden, has announced that the United States will be donating 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union, thus bringing the total vaccine donation by America to the African continent to 67 million doses. Recall that prior to this, the United States had donated 50 million doses to the African Union to be distributed amongst the 55 countries under to the AU, including some of the world’s poorest countries, according to Reuters. The 17 million Johnson & Johnson doses are expected to be…
In line with the WHO epidemiological report, Covid-19 deaths, last week, fell to their lowest level in almost a year at almost 50,000 fatalities. Despite the weekly consecutive reduction in Covid-19 deaths reported across the world except in Europe, vaccine inequities in developing countries is still a matter of great concern to the health organization. The WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus disclosed recently that 56 countries, most of which belong in the African region, did not reach the 10% population vaccination benchmark required by the WHO by September ending. Reported deaths have been highest in countries with the least access…
The Delta State Government, through the State Executive Council (EXCO), has proposed the sum of N469.4 billion for the 2022 fiscal year, while Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the projected budget is expected to be N75 billion to N80 billion. This was established by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, and Economic Planning State Executive, Dr Barry Pere-Gbe, on Thursday, in Asaba after the EXCO meeting, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. The State Government revealed that it had arrived at the N469.4 billion mark after a thorough review of the initial N425 billion indicative budget size earlier…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that it will continue to fund railway developments in Lagos State, despite the fact that N45 billion has already been disbursed for the state’s Blue Line project. Yusuf Philip Yila, Director, CBN Development Finance, announced this in Lagos yesterday during an inspection of the Blue Line project operated by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). CBN conducted the inspection to monitor and evaluate the project’s progress, according to Yila, who was given a tour of the Marina. The Blue Line is a 27-kilometre stretch from Okokomaiko to Marina being constructed in…
Muhammad Nami, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, has actively criticized the current stamp duty and capital gain tax collection system for its inefficiency. Nami disclosed this at the 2021 tax week opening event of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, in Abuja on Thursday. Insecurity, a high currency rate, and the impact of COVID-19 have all hampered the government’s efforts to increase revenue, according to the FIRS boss. On his part, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, who was represented by Salawu Zubair, stated that there was a need for the country to…
Nigeria’s headline inflation in the month of September 2021, slides down further to 16.63% compared to 17.01% recorded in the previous month. This is in line with the recently released CPI report for the month of September, by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) In this report, the consumer price index, which measures the rate of inflation rose by 16.63% year-on-year in the review month. This represents 0.38% point decrease compared to 17.01% recorded in August 2021. Food inflation, which is a closely watched index also dropped to 19.57% in September from 20.3% recorded in the prior month while…
Apple is expected to cut its anticipated iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by up to 10 million units due to ongoing chip shortages, according to Bloomberg. The company was Initially expected to produce 90 million units of the new iPhone models by the end of this year. Because chip suppliers like Broadcom Inc and Texas Instruments are having trouble delivering components, Apple informed its manufacturers that the number of units will be reduced. Apple’s capacity to supply new models to consumers has already been hampered by the shortages. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max were released…
Nigerian property technology startup, Rent Small Small has been chosen to join the prestigious Techstars Toronto accelerator, beginning in October making it the first African property technology platform selected to join the program. The 13-week accelerator program, which will select early-stage startups from around the world, will begin on October 18, 2021, and will conclude with a demo day pitch to Techstars investors. It gives businesses access to a vast pool of global talent and investors, as well as essential skills, resources, and connections. Meanwhile, the Techstars Toronto Accelerator Program provides early-stage startups from across the world with mentorship and…
Sparkle, a Nigerian digital bank has raised $3.1 million in a seed funding round to scale operations. The round was led by Leadway Assurance with participation from Trium Network and a few unnamed high-net-worth individuals. The investment comes after Sparkle closed a friends and family pre-seed round of $2 million within the past year. Since its inception last year, the neobank has amassed over 40,000 personal banking users and 2,000 businesses. The company began collecting small fees to individual users to keep their accounts operating and aims to charge companies for most functions except taxation services. In April, the company…
The Federal Government has disclosed that December 1, 2021, is the deadline for civil servants to take their Covid-19 vaccine. This is as the Nigerian government has also revealed that it has cancelled South Africa, Brazil and Turkey from the list of countries where travellers have been restricted from coming into the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This announcement was made by the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on Covid-19, Boss Mustapha, who disclosed this during a press briefing about the activities of the committee on Wednesday in Abuja. Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the…
Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX or The Exchange) has disclosed the resignation of Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, as Non-Executive Director, effective immediately. Consequent upon this resignation by Mr. Onyema, NGX will uphold Rule 184(2)(a) of the Securities and Exchange Commission Consolidated Rules 2013 which states that “A securities exchange shall have a code of conduct for its council members or board which shall be approved by the Commission, and shall contain amongst others the following provisions, to wit, that the council members or board shall: (a) not be a staff of a quoted company and its subsidiaries.”
.This was made known by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Ekiti State Fountain Summit, in the state’s capital, Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday. Osinbajo stated that the government of the state under Governor Kayode Fayemi should see itself as a nation, as that would expedite the growth of its economy. Speaking at the summit, Osinbajo said, “Ekiti State has a friendly business environment that is helping and promoting the operations of SMEs in the state. The state within the nation is not a necessarilly a nation but must think and act like a nation. It derives some resources from the federal…
Currency traders under the guide of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) have contributed some measures aimed at curbing the continued depreciation of the naira. This is in line with the current crisis in the foreign exchange market which is characterised by dollar shortages, speculative trading, hoarding and other illegal activities by currency traders. These measures were contained in the ABCON Quarterly Economic Review for the 3rd quarter of the year (Q3’21), and seen by Nairametrics. ABCON noted that recent developments in the foreign exchange market have proved that the suspension of dollar sales to…
The government of Ekiti State plans to hold its maiden economic development and investment summit, hosting major dignitaries from different areas of the Nigerian economy. Ekiti State is setting itself as an attractive destination for investors. According to the governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, the state is gearing for recovery from the economic downturn and is assured of a positive outlook for its econom “We are on a mission of recovery and economic restoration together, and I assure you of our firm commitment to the ideals of a safe, secure, and prosperous Ekiti State. The resources may be limited,…
Access Bank Plc has finalized the acquisition of a majority stake of about 78.15% in African Banking Corporation of Botswana Limited (‘BancABC Botswana’). The was made in line with the Bank’s commitment to expanding its presence in the African continent was announced through a notice signed by its Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi, and filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). Remember that Access Bank had reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in BancABC earlier in April this year. According to the reports, the deal would see Access Bank acquire the latter for an undisclosed cash amount of about…
Eden Life, the go-to platform for home service needs, has Finalized a $1.4 million Seed round. This brings Eden Life’s total investment to date to $2 million following pre-seed backing from all of Andela’s original co-founders, and additional accelerator support over the last 18 months. The new capital raised will be deployed to build Eden Life’s in-house technology and develop its own world-class kitchens and operations hubs, as it builds a new tech-based platform to improve and grow Africa’s service industry.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has Instructed banks to apply exchange rates in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window for outbound payments through the Pan African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS). The CBN made this known in a circular introducing the Guidelines on Operations of PAPSS in Nigeria, signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, CBN, Dr Ozoemena Nnnaji. The CBN circular read: “All authorised dealers are required to ensure that prevailing exchange rate at Investors and Exporters Forex Window as advised by Financial Markets Department, FMD, should be used in cross-rates conversion between Naira, United States Dollars…
First Bank Plc traded over 148 million units of its shares after today’s trading session valued at N1.67 billion making the Tier-1 bank the highest traded shares, in volume and value, on the exchange today. The buy-interests in the shares of the bank drove the price higher by 2.82% from the previous day’s closing price of N10.65, to close the day at N10.95, although the shares traded at N11.70 during the trading session. The Nigerian Exchange market closed on a positive note amidst sell-offs and buy-interests as the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 38 basis points. We saw…