The Edo State Traffic Control and Management Agency (EDSTMA) has concluded plans to ensure strict enforcement of colour codes for commercial taxi operators in the state. In a statement, Managing Director, EDSTMA, Dennis Oloriegbe, said the agency is undertaking the exercise in compliance with the law and order guiding the operation of commercial vehicles in the state. Oloriegbe said: “EDSTMA hereby reiterates Edo State Government’s existing directives on the use of unauthorized color code of all intra-state commercial vehicles within Benin metropolis except for vehicles painted with authorized color code, ‘Yellow and Red.’ “Consequently, any intra-state commercial vehicle found in…
Author: Temitope N.
The Board of Directors of First City Monument Bank Limited (the Bank) have announced the appointment of Mrs. Oluwatoyin Olaiya as Executive Director, Risk & Compliance. This follows the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Mrs. Olaiya is a finance and risk management professional with over 30 years of experience. Prior to her appointment, she was the Chief Risk Officer / Divisional Head Risk Management at FCMB, overseeing Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Policy, Credit Administration, Credit Underwriting and Monitoring. She has been responsible for redefining the Bank’s risk policies, improving risk management culture across the institution, and proactively…
FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited has continued to avail its credible and efficient platform, as well as tailor its Listing and Quotation services to suit the needs of issuers and its registration members (sponsors of issuances on FMDQ Exchange). Following its due diligence process, the Exchange, through its Board Listings and Markets Committee, has approved the quotation of the FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited ₦7.34 billion Series 19 Commercial Paper (CP) under its ₦100.00 billion CP Programme, on its platform. The net proceeds from this CP will support the issuer’s short-term funding requirements. FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited is a merchant banking firm…
The UN warned Thursday that a “perfect storm” was brewing, with a raging pandemic disrupting access to routine vaccinations, leaving millions of children at risk from measles and other deadly diseases. A full 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines last year, as routine health services were hit worldwide by restrictions aimed at controlling Covid-19 and many parents shunned the clinics that were open for fear of exposure to the virus. It marks the highest number in over a decade and 3.7 million more than in 2019, according to data published Thursday by the World Health…
The Senate resolves that all students should vacate the halls of residence immediately. The Senate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has mandated the institution’s management to ask all students to vacate hostels “with immediate effect.” A member of the Senate, who was part of the meeting but does not want to be quoted, claiming not to be authorised to do so, he added that the decision was unavoidable following the rising cases of coronavirus infection on the campus. “The Senate at its meeting held today considered the situation of third wave of COVID-19 in Lagos State and its…
The Chinese government has partnered with the GAC Motors in developing the automobile industry. The partnership yielded fruits recently when the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria and GAC Motor Nigeria recently held a diplomatic fleet delivery ceremony in Abuja. The colourful handover ceremony had in attendance Mr. Cui Jianchun, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria; Mr. Guo Zhiqiang, Counselor of the Chinese Embassy, Mr. Jubril Arogundade, General Manager, Commercial and Head of Communication of GAC Motor Nigeria, as well as Mr. Qian Jin, Business Director of GAC Motor Nigeria . The delivery is the result of a long lasting relationship between GAC Motors…
Elon Musk insisted in court on Monday he does not control Tesla Inc and said he did not enjoy being the electric vehicle company’s chief executive as he took the stand to defend the company’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity. The lawsuit by union pension funds and asset managers alleges the celebrity CEO strong-armed Tesla’s board into wasting the company’s assets to buy SolarCity, which was running out of cash. Musk at the time owned a 22% stake in both Tesla and SolarCity, which was founded by his cousins. Musk said in his testimony Monday that he’s tried “very hard not…
In a bid to link the country through rail, President Muhammadu Buhari will do the groundbreaking of the Kaduna-Kano standard gauge on Thursday. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Magdalene Ajani, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. The statement by Eric Orjiekwe, Director, Press and Public Relations, said the event would be at Zawacki, Dawaki Local Government Areas, Kano at 10.a.m. According to her, the project will further boost the president’s programme of linking the country through rail in order to enhance the economic growth of the nation. She added that major players in the transport sector…
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday said that Nigeria loses $26.3 billion annually to maritime crimes annually. He spoke at the commissioning ceremony of a maritime surveillance project, Falcon Eye Alignment, at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja. The president’s disclosure came as the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, said the surveillance project had aided the navy in the recovery of 300,000 bags of foreign rice valued at N9billion and the arrest of 500 suspects in addition to the arrest of 30 vessels and 50 pirates since 2016. This comes as the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Monguno (rtd),…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed N10 million registration fee for issuing houses, underwriters and fund managers from the current fee of N500,000. SEC disclosed this in a document titled, “Exposure of Proposed New Rule and Sundry Amendments to the Rules and Regulations of the Commission”, released on Monday. The new amendment showed that a broker would be required to pay N3 million as registration fee against N300,000 currently applicable. Also brokers/dealers would pay N5 five million, from N500,000 as registration fee. A broker/dealer is expected to pay N100,000 each as processing fees and registration of sponsored individuals…
Lagos-headquartered FCMB Group Plc says Adam Nuru, the immediate past managing director of the bank who became enmeshed in an alleged paternity scandal month ago, did not breach its policies. “The board had earlier reviewed media allegations made in late 2020 against the former MD and did not establish any contravention of its policies,” the financial services group said in a statement Tuesday. Mr Nuru exited the bank this week four years into a term that ordinarily should last five. The board says Mr Nuru left at the “end of service”, but did not give details of its findings or…
The Senate has faulted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for under-remitting the sum of N3,878,955,039,855.73 trillion revenue from domestic crude oil sales to the Federation Account for the period of January to December, 2015. Accordingly, the upper chamber called on the Corporation to desist from further deduction at source as this contravenes Section 162(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). It also mandated the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) or any other approving authority to, as a matter of urgency, approve agreed percentage which should be allocated to NNPC monthly as operational cost to ensure that their operations…
The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has charged the Federal Government to domesticate the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so as to enable the country to benefit from the full implementation of the agreement Domestication of AfCFTA implies that the National Assembly must pass a law to make the operation of the treaty legal in the country, as any treaty (including AfCFTA) is not legally enforceable until an Act of the Assembly. The National President of NACCIMA, Ide Udeaghala, who disclosed this at a Press Conference in Lagos, noted that the law from…
In 2020, import bill ballooned to N12.71tn while export bill dropped below N1tn to N960.7bn. Manufactured trade deficit was highest in 2020 with a deficit in excess of N11tn. Nigeria exported N700.48bn worth of manufactured goods to other African countries; N185bn to European countries; and N42.2bn to Asian countries. In the third quarter of the year, Nigeria spent N5.54tn importing manufactured goods from Asia. In the last quarter of 2020, Nigeria spent N539.4bn importing vaccines and antibiotics from Denmark, Singapore, India, Belgium, the Netherlands, and India. In Q1, 2021, import bill for manufactured goods was N4.53tn, which dwarfed any quarter…
The price of automotive gas oil, better known as diesel, spiked to N290 per litre this week. The surge is on the back of rise in the price of crude oil which sold at $75.55 per barrel at the international market at 11:11 PM (GMT) on Friday. There has been a rally in the price of crude oil as major economies reopen economic activities. However, the prolonged high crude prices will ultimately feed into a climb in fuel landing cost for users in Nigeria — meaning an increase in price of diesel which is not subsided like petrol. The…
The senate has recommended that the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, be limited to holders of local refining licence. This is according to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) passed by the senate. Holders of crude oil refining licences in Nigeria include Dangote Oil Refinery Company, Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company Limited, OPAC Refineries, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources, BUA Refinery & Petrochemicals and Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited. At the moment, companies registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as providers of goods and services in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas…
Royal Dutch Shell has abandoned its argument that the oil pollution lawsuit filed against it by the Ogale and Bille communities in Rivers state, be heard in Nigeria rather than the UK. Bloomberg reports that Shell’s legal team refused to return to the High Court of England with the argument that the five-year-old case would be better heard in Nigeria, according to the parties in the case, conceding that the Nigerian subsidiary will now be joined to claims made in England against the parent company. In a landmark ruling on February 12, the UK Supreme Court allowed the communities to…
The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has raised alarm over increasing theft of transformer oil and cables in its franchise. A statement signed by KEDCO Head of Communications, Mr Ibrahim Shawai, on Monday in Kano, urged communities and individuals to assist in tracking the criminals. “The problem has almost become a yearly event when hoodlums take advantage of rainy season to steal the company’s equipment and installation. This needs to be stopped. “Economic sabotage of this act has always affected electricity supply. “Whenever transformer oil and cables are stolen from any transformer, the act will deny customers of their comfort…
Elon Musk took the stand on Monday to defend Tesla Inc’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity against a lawsuit by shareholders seeking to recoup the $2.6 billion the company paid for the ailing solar panel maker. Soon after taking the stand, Musk denied the deal was a bailout of SolarCity as Tesla shareholders have alleged. “Since it was a stock-for-stock transaction and I owned almost exactly the same percentage of both there was no financial gain,” he said, responding to questions from his attorney. Musk’s testimony kicks off a two-week trial in Wilmington, Delaware, before Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights, who will…
Royal Dutch Shell has given up its struggle to move a Niger Delta oil spill case, involving thousands of the region’s residents, from the UK to Nigeria, Bloomberg said Monday. The decision comes on the heels of two recently lost suits for Shell. In January a Dutch court directed the supermajor to pay compensation to residents of its operational base in the country’s far south for an oil spill action, a couple of decades ago. Members of Nigeria’s Ogle and Bile communities numbering around 40,000 said the energy giant and its local unit, SPDC, are both accountable for oil contamination…