The African Development Bank said on Monday it is returning to the Australian capital market with the launch of a 5.5-year $464 million Kangaroo social bond. The development bank said the deal was led by Nomura and RBC Capital Markets. It added that the second social bond, following a $3.1 billion 3-year issue launched last year to fight the coronavirus pandemic, will be used to improve access to electricity, water and sanitation, and other social programmes in the continent.
Author: Temitope N.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has ruled that Investors in Nospetco Oil & Gas Ltd (Wonder Bank) whose N22.45 billion funds are being trapped in the Central Bank of Nigeria, for over 14 years, can go to the appropriate court for recovery of their money. With the ruling, the apex court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal, which held that the money actually belonged to the investors. The court also dismissed Nospetco Oil and Gas claims that the money should be paid into its coffers. Delivering the judgement through zoom, Justice Amina Augie leading Justice Osegi, said the…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has agreed in principle to mint The Gambian Dalasi. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, agreed to the currency minting proposal from the Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Buah Saidy, who led a delegation to visit him on Tuesday. Emefiele said Nigeria had a lot of capacity in currency printing as she has been minting since the 1960s and “we are willing to assist in printing your currency. We can be extremely competitive in terms of cost.” The Gambian Central Bank Governor said his country was running very low on currency and…
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its subsidiary Duke Oil has sealed a pact to supply 30,000 barrels per day crude oil supply to Indonesia’s state oil corp, Pertamina, and Indian Oil Corporation. The development, which will strengthen the nation’s revenue outlook is coming in the face of the volatility and uncertainty in the oil industry. The move, which also signals the nation’s attempt to capture market share in Asia countries may push the profit of the entity to about $70 million in the 2021 trading year. Managing Director of NNPC Trading Company Limited, Lawal Sade, who disclosed this in…
Branch International has restated its commitment to promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria. During a virtual event in Lagos, the company said it was achieving this by leveraging technology to offer a range of unique financial services to customers. According to Branch, the quest to make formal financial services accessible at an affordable rate to individuals and businesses was critical in systematically driving economic development. It said its offerings were designed to offer value to customers, while enabling them make payments and granting access to loans and investment opportunities. It said the product features included free and unlimited money transfers; free…
“Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other. Neither will be successfully resolved unless both are tackled together,” the researchers said. The drive by corporate organisations and governments on planting trees to help absorb carbon is not a magic cure, the scientists warned. The report disclosed that the right trees must be planted in the right places in order not to destroy local ecosystems. It noted that climate change could ‘drastically reduce the mitigation potential of forests due to an increase in extreme events like fires, insects and pathogens’ Hans-Otto Pörtner,…
Leadway Health, in partnership with the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service and REPPLAW Blood Donors Club, has said it is set to launch its blood donation drive initiative to commemorate this year’s World Blood Donor Day. It said in a statement on Sunday that the two-day blood donation exercise was scheduled to take place in June at the Leadway Corporate Office in Lagos. Leadway said the initiative was in alignmkent with the 2021 theme of the World Blood Donor Day, ‘Give blood and keep the world beating’, to raise awareness of the critical need to provide safe blood through unpaid…
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the parent company of the Ecobank Group, says it has successfully raised $350m Tier 2 Sustainability Notes. ETI said in a statement on Friday that the bond was more than three times oversubscribed by investors. “This represents the first-ever Tier 2 Sustainability Notes by a financial institution in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it said. According to the statement, the Tier 2 issuance is the first to have a Basel III-compliant 10NC5 structure outside of South Africa in 144A/RegS format and will be listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It said, “The bond, which matures in…
The Federal Government has taken over the construction of the completion of Farin-Ruwa Hydropower Multipurpose Dam in Nasarawa State. Speaking during the inauguration ceremony on Friday in the Wamba Local Government Area of the state, Minister of Water Resources, Malam Suleiman Adamu, said the project had a completion period of 24 months. He explained that the project was initiated in 2003 and started by Nasarawa State Government in 2004 to generate 20 megawatts of electricity to boost socioeconomic development of the state. He said, “The implementation of the project suffered setback due to paucity of fund but the state government…
FBNInsurance Limited said it rewarded its outstanding financial advisors, sales managers, senior sales manager and area sales managers to motivate its retail sales force and in line with its corporate strategy. It said in a statement titled ‘FBNInsurance rewards retail agents’ that they were recognised during its 2020 MD/CEO Ember Award and The Retail Annual Competition Award in Lagos. Speaking on the awards at the ceremony, the Executive Director, Retail Business Distribution, FBNInsurance Limited, Mr Odinakachi Umekwe, commended the efforts of the retail team for the outstanding performances they put forward despite the pandemic. He stated, “The retail team…
After the international crude oil benchmark, Brent advanced above $70 as the PUNCH reported earlier in the month, industry experts see meagre benefits as subsidy payments gulp revenues. The Federal Account Allocation Committee report for May, value shortfall, representing the amount the NNPC paid for subsidy, showed that the March receipts amounted to N111.97bn, while February’s totalled N60.40bn. According to the FAAC reports for January, February and March, the total amount spent on subsidy for the first three months of 2021 stands at N197.74bn. The Nigerian Governors Forum during its May 19 meeting suggested that the Federal Government end…
The African Centre for Justice and Human Rights, has commended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over the plan by the apex financial institution to float a digital currency. The ACJHR Deputy Head of communication, Lady Jasmine Akpeh, gave the commendation in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday. She said that ACJHR viewed the innovation as another major move by the apex bank to further improve the nation’s economy for the benefit of all. The Central Bank Digital Currencies are electronic versions of fiat money issued by central banks and backed by the reserves of…
A life coach and entrepreneur, Mr Abiola Salami, has stated that many people suffering from depression are unaware of the symptoms, encouraging such people that they can overcome the disease. Salami said this in his book, ‘The Magic of Emotional Intelligence: How Champions Apply Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Peak Performance and Advancement in Life.’ The book’s foreword was written by Prof Dana Born of Harvard University, the United States. Salami said in the book, “Depression is like sadness and grief on steroids. In times past, many developing countries downplayed depression, but in recent times, especially since the advent of…
Nigerian airlines have confirmed that passenger traffic has reduced in the last four weeks. This, they attributed to the growing insecurity in different parts of the country. Those who spoke to newsmen insisted that high airfares could be a factor, but insecurity was also identified as major reason. They noted that even at the peak of high cost of tickets in May and April, passenger traffic was still high. Newsmen learnt that some airlines that resumed flights to some destinations in the north had to withdraw, while the south-east airports, which used to be lucrative routes after Lagos and…
Congestion at container shipping ports in southern China is worsening as authorities step up disinfection measures amid a flare-up in COVID-19 cases, causing the biggest backlog since at least 2019. More than 150 coronavirus cases have been reported in Guangdong province, a key manufacturing and exporting hub in southern China, since the latest wave of cases struck in late May, triggering local governments to step up prevention and control efforts that have curbed port processing capacity. Ports in Guangdong, including Yantian, Shekou, Chiwan and Nansha, have issued notices this week suspending vessels from entering ports without advance reservations and will…
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it is planning to launch liquified natural gas (LNG) micro-distribution centres across the 774 local government areas (LGAs). Sarki Auwalu, director of DPR, disclosed this on Thursday during the 2021 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja. In April 2021, Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said the federal government was working towards opening liquified petroleum gas (LPG) micro-distribution channels across all LGAs in the country. The project targets 99 million women and households within three years, cutting across the 120,000 polling units and all wards 774 LGAs, Mary Ekpere-Eta, director-general of…
The stock market gained N150.8 billion yesterday as the bulls consolidated their hold on the market. The bulls had regained control of the market on Tuesday after a negative trading on the first day of the week. The positive trend continued yesterday as 25 stocks appreciated in prices compared with six that depreciated. As a result, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.7 per cent to close at 39,170.95, just as market capitalisation rose N150.8 billion to close higher at N20.4 trillion. Traders said investors engaging on bargain hunting after prices dropped significantly in the month of…
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Cross River has sealed a retail outlet, Chizioba Ventures, for allegedly selling adulterated kerosene. The outlet, which was shut down by the DPR, is located at number 65, Edgerdley Road in Calabar South. A statement on Friday in Calabar signed by the Operations Controller of DPR in the state, Mr George Ene-Ita, warned customers who bought kerosene from the outlet against using it. The release stated that a case of fire explosion was traced to the use of adulterated kerosene which occurred in Calabar South recently. “The public should take note that the…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied planning to nationalise Unity Bank Plc as alleged by an online news medium. The report had claimed that the apex bank’s target examination of Unity Bank showed that the tier 2 lender is in ”grave financial condition”, with a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and non-performing loans (NPL) ratio that breached prudential standards. Reacting to the report, Osita Nwanisobi, CBN’s acting director of corporate communications, described it as, “fake news”. “The report is fake news. There is no iota of truth in it,” Nwanisobi said. He added that the public should disregard such…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday in Lagos said that its digital currency might be launched by the end of 2021. Mrs Rakiya Mohammed, an Information Technology Specialist with CBN, made the disclosure at an online news briefing at the end of Bankers Committee meeting. According to her, the apex bank has for over two years been exploring the technology and has made tremendous progress. “Before the end of the year, the Central Bank will be making special announcement and possibly launching a pilot scheme in order to be able to provide this kind of currency to the…