Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has come out to say that the local production of vehicles in Nigeria will further make cars affordable to many Nigerians. Osinbajo on a tour of the stand of Kia Nigeria at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) 14th yearly banking and finance conference, highlighted the significant role the company is playing in the drive towards economic diversification and Nigeria’s industrialisation through the made-in-Nigeria Kia cars. Also, chairman, consultative committee of the conference and Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, said the localisation of car production among other manufacturing plants in…
Author: Temitope N.
This has been revealed that through a platform invented by Nigeria Communication Satellite (NigComSat) Limited, the country saved over N8 billion in capital flights. Though, still silent about cost and modalities the new satellite acquisitions will take, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NigComSat, Dr. Abimbola Alale, who disclosed this, stressed that Nigeria will acquire more satellites between now and 2025, “with the NigComSat-2 (High Throughput Satellite) due for launch in 2023, while NigComSat-3 will be launched in 2025.” Alale revealed this in Lagos, yesterday at the Stakeholders’ Forum 2021 with the theme: “NigComSat: The Present and the Future,” organized by…
The World Bank Group on Thursday have stated that it has stopped the publishing of its Doing Business report after 18 years – the first edition was published in 2003. The doing business index measured regulations directly affecting the ease of doing businesses in 190 countries. World Bank said it reached the decision to discontinue the report after “internal reports raised ethical matters, including the conduct of former Board officials as well as current and/or former Bank staff.” Devex reported on Thursday that an independent investigation document found that Kristalina Georgieva, who served as the bank’s chief executive officer from…
Specifically, at the close of trading yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 57.03 absolute points, representing a decrease of 0.15 per cent to 38,911.31 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N30 billion to close at N20.273 trillion. The market’s negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks especially Eterna, Lafarge Africa, International Breweries, Honeywell Flour Mills and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO). Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “In the final trading session, we expect profit-taking sentiments to be extended in the absence of any positive catalyst.” Market breadth closed negative, recording 17 losers and…
Oil tycoon, Prince Arthur Eze has advised the Federal government to give more opportunities to local outfits like the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation (NSPMC) to print election ballot papers. Eze further urged the government to allow NSPMC to also print sensitive security documents, certificates, local, state, and Federal Government revenue and treasury receipts, passports, and others, since it has the capacity to do so. He spoke during a private visit to President Mohammadu Buhari on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Continuing, Eze lauded the Federal Government for facilitating infrastructural development in the South-East, particularly the second…
Food index, a closely watched index, which measures the rate of change in the prices of food items in the country, dropped to 20.3 per cent in August 2021, compared to 21.03 per cent recorded in the previous month. According to the report, the rise in the food index was caused by increases recorded in the price of bread cereals, milk, cheese and egg, oil and fats as well as tea and cocoa. However, the reality in the markets is different. For instance as at July 2021, 50 kg of beans worth N40, 000 while as at August 2021, it…
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, explained that the meeting will begin from 2:00 p.m. at the minister’s conference room, federal secretariat in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, his Health counterpart, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, are leading the negotiations. JOHESU has given the Federal Government a 15-day ultimatum to implement the terms of agreement it had with the unions or face a massive industrial action. This came after the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and its affiliates issued a 21-day deadline to the government…
Bill and Melinda Gates who are the co-chairs of the Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates have said that long-term investments in health and economies must be made by various governments to propel recovery efforts and get the world back on track to meet the development goals. They noted that while 90 per cent of advanced economies will regain pre-pandemic per capita income levels by next year, only a third of low and middle-income economies are expected to do so. According to them, an additional 31 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 compared…
The committee, according to the President, is charged with the responsibility of developing and implementing a Health Sector Reform programme for Nigeria in collaboration with state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration in the next six months. To make sure that the committee meets its mandate, stakeholders are setting agenda for the project aimed at throwing up the various anomalies bedeviling the country’s health sector and drawing a roadmap for the sector. A consultant obstetrician and gynecologist and medical director, Optimal Specialist Hospital, Surulere Lagos, Dr. Ugochukwu Chukwunenye, told The Guardian: “The problems of the health sector cannot…
The Federal Government has encouraged insurance companies in Nigeria to surf the huge opportunities in African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for market enlargement and improvement and economic stability. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who addressed the insurance industry leaders at the just-concluded investiture of Tope Smart as the 47th African Insurance Organisation (AIO), stated that more trade in goods would translate to more underwriting businesses. Osinbajo stressed that brokers, in particular, should expect a boom as trade facilitation services rise, but that companies that already have market presence in other African countries, even if by collaboration, would benefit more. “The…
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has emphasized the need for regulatory restructuring to address the issues in African insurance markets. The Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas, declared at the 47th African Insurance Organisation (AIO) in Lagos last week that “the time for change has come in the regulatory challenges in the African insurance markets. “The regulators do not make laws; they are given laws to implement. So, they have limitations in that area. Of course, largely there has to be a lot of collaboration between the regulator and the regulated entities to foster the transformation that we all desire. “l…
According to the latest data from the exchange, four firms emerged from healthcare and services sectors each, while three firms from the ICT made up the 58 companies. Also, two firms each, under the natural resources, construction/real estate, agriculture and conglomerates sectors were among the 58 companies. The financial sector constituted the highest number of companies paying dividends as GTCO led with a payout valued at N79.46 billion, while Nestle led the seven companies in the consumer goods sector with N28.12 billion. Fidson led the healthcare sector with N521.59 million. Total Nigeria took the lead in oil & gas sector…
OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), published yesterday, showed that Nigeria pumped 1.27 million barrels per day (mbpd) last month, lower than 1.38mbpd in July. Oil has continued to trade above $70 a barrel, with Nigeria unable to take advantage of the rally due to fuel subsidy and poor production capacity. According to the 2021 crude oil and condensate production report released by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria’s crude fell from an average 1.36 million barrels per day in January to 1.23 million b/d in August, representing a nine percent decline. The DPR report revealed that difficulties…
The body made the call during its 40th National Scientific Conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State. As part of the association’s (ACPN) scientific conference, the company offered certificate vaccination training to pharmacists in Nigeria via its seven modules CPR/BLS training programme to enhance pharmacy-based vaccination delivery. Speaking on the initiative, Dr. Adekola, said the aim of the training was to increase manpower in health delivery in Nigeria. According to him, “the training is essential to increase the manpower in health delivery in Nigeria. The training would go a long way to help the country to achieve the goals of universal health…
The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, which disclosed this noted that the fund, an N701.9 billion Payment Assurance Facility (PAF) and another N600 billion was implemented from 2017 to 2020. NBET disclosed in Abuja, that the development leapfrogged electricity generation capacity by 6500MW, pushing capacity to 7659MW. While the company named EKO Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) as the highest remitter in the June 2021 Electricity Market Payment received for grid distributed electricity in the Nigerian Power Sector, the agency’s Head of Corporate Communications Henrietta Ighomrore said ensuring efficient transactions in the sector remained sacrosanct. While the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission…
The mistrust that clouded the courageous roll-out as well as the widespread dip of the cryptocurrency market points to the increasing role of external variables in determining the value of money. The $30-in-bitcoin ‘bribe’ extended to every Salvadorian is also metaphoric of the emerging concept of money as a store of value, not only for the South American country but for other future adopters of the digital currency and businesses that are already accepting cryptocurrency payment. Few hours into the roll-out, the $30-incentives had shrunk to $25 as the coin dived from $52, 000 to $43, 000 in an hour…
Equities traded mixed as investors weighed hopes for better US-China trade relations against further regulatory clampdown from Beijing on the Chinese tech sector. Sentiment has been lifted by news that US President Joe Biden held talks on Friday with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to smooth relations between the superpowers. At the same time, market caution persisted after data showed inflation of goods leaving US factories had soared in August to an all-time high of 8.3 percent. The reading was fuelled partly by a sharp rise in commodity prices, a concern highlighted by news that aluminium has hit…
At the close of trading yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI), dipped by 46.77 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.12 per cent to close at 39,204.52 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation value lost N25 billion to close at N20.426 trillion. Analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “Despite market activity being lifted by some Tier-1 banking and small-cap names, we continue to see stronger sell-side pressure, hence the negative close. “We expect the market to trade in a similar pattern tomorrow barring any significant gain in any of the large cap names.” The market negative performance was driven by price…
The bears strengthened their hold on the equities sector of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), as more blue-chip stocks depreciated in price, causing investors’ fortune to dip further by N27 billion in four trading days. Specifically, the market capitalisation of listed equities declined by N27 billion to N20.424 trillion from N20.451 trillion at which it opened for transactions on Monday. Also, the All Share Index, which measures the performance of, quoted companies depreciated by 51.66 points or 0.13 per cent to 39,201.33 points from 39,252.89 points. Yesterday, investors traded 350.528 million shares valued at N3.347 billion in 3523 deals…
The Founder of Blockchain Nigeria User Group (BNUG), Mr. Chimezie Chuta has come out to say the state of crypto is still uncertain as the industry is currently under no regulatory purview of any government agency. He stated that Nigeria’s premium hybrid blockchain and crypto assets conference was birthed to explore the technology, value and innovation trends to shape the future of money across the world. He noted that the activities of blockchain have enhanced the growth and development of the ecosystem in the last four years in Nigeria and across Africa. “Now Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rolled…