The government’s lack of capacity to reduce tariffs and foreign exchange (FX) crisis will continue to give other West and Central African countries a comparative advantage ahead of Nigeria in the maritime business. Already, Togo has overtaken Nigeria to become the leading port in West Africa. The latest United Nations (UN) report said Togo recorded 1, 725, 520 twenty-foot equivalent (TUEs) cargo throughput in 2020 while Nigeria recorded 1, 528, 520 TUEs in the same year, thereby losing over 196, 750 TUEs or 30 per cent of container traffic to Lome port. There are also reports of diversion of Nigerian-bound…
Author: Temitope Nlewemchi
Central Bank of Nigeria and others particularly the financial services regulators, would invest N1.54 trillion over five years to increase liquidity in the financial services sector. The government intends to boost the liquidity thresholds in each segment of the financial system to levels that will sustain the country’s growth and development, according to the Federal Government’s National Development Plan 2021-2025. The investment is also expected to optimize all aspects of the country’s balance sheet to free up the liquidity needed to support the economy’s stability, growth, and transformation. According to the document, the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning,…
The year 2021 was a recovery year for many, as businesses, especially those in the agricultural space, started to get back on, and some even waxed stronger than they had before the pandemic. While agriculture continues to play a crucial role in economic growth across many nations around the globe, the continuously growing population and rising demand for agricultural output indicate the need for investments in agricultural technology (agritech) solutions. Agritech, the application of technology to enhance agricultural production as well as bring about production efficiency, has been growing at an impressive pace worldwide and Nigeria is not left out of the list of countries exploring the space. To further traverse the ecosystem, agritech entrepreneurs are securing funds to advance areas like the software…
The Director of Corporate Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nwanisobi Osita, has established that the five-year development plan embarked upon by the governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emiefele, will revive and stimulate the Nigerian economy, which will, in turn, stimulate sustainability and reduce inflation. He further said the CBN was promoting the e-naira, which is the equivalent of the physical naira to drive the digital economy, saying, “We are already seeing inflation trending downward from about 16.63 per cent to about 15.4 per cent.” Speaking at a one-day interactive session with members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)…
Going by the renewed bargain hunting in the shares of some blue-chip companies, the Nigerian equities’ market reversed losses to close in an upbeat yesterday, causing market capitalisation to appreciate by N3 billion. In summary, the all-share index (ASI) grew by 6.17 absolute points, representing an increase of 0.01 per cent to close at 41,813.27 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N3 billion to close at N21.825 trillion. The market gain was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust, Zenith Bank, NEM Insurance…
Disturbed by the marginal 5.7% per cent growth witnessed in the nation’s stock market in 2021, compared to 50.3% rise achieved in 2020, investors have called for the implementation of appropriate legislation that will help tackle insecurity and other macroeconomic challenges challenging the capital market. To stimulate investment and propel a boom in the market in the new year include downward review of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), policy stability, stable foreign exchange policy and implementation of appropriate legislation that would compel major enterprises to be listed to deepen the market. At the close of trading last year, the all-share…
President Muhammadu Buhari has established that his administration is ready to leverage Information Communication Technology (ICT) platforms to create jobs, while making sure that economic diversification creates more support to other emerging sectors this year. He made this commitment in a New Year address to Nigerians, urging them to have hope and envision a year of continued progress against the challenges arising from security and socio-economic issues. He, however, disclosed that several foreign investors are taking advantage of the nation’s ranking as one of the leading start-up ecosystems in Africa to invest in its digital economy. He said: “The major…
Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), Leadway Pensure, has selected a new managing director, Lanre Idris. The new development, according to the PFA, follows the recent retirement of Ronke Adedeji, its former managing director, who steered the ship of the organisation for over a decade. Idris has managerial experience spanning many positions across organisations and industries. His expertise covers leadership, information systems, governance, risk and business process management. Before becoming the new managing director of Leadway Pensure, Idris served as the executive director/COO of the organisation during which he was instrumental to the transformation and remarkable growth of the organisation. He has…
There was so much uncertainty about the unending pandemic and whether the fragile global recovery would be sustained. On the domestic scene, Nigeria was neck-deep in one of its worst recessions in decades. The economy in 2020 had contracted by -6.1 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) and -3.62 the following third (Q3). With dipping revenues, the government could not do much to inspire confidence in an economy that was losing more jobs than it was creating. Indeed, there was a consensus that the recession would be short-lived but sharp disagreement on the speed of recovery – a convoluted…
This came amid uncertainty about the market outlook as the economy wobbles into a new year. With the closure rate, naira had sold at a discount of over 15 per cent to a dollar at the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) window last year. Trading opened last year at N410/$ but the exchange rate fell to about N415/$ as the year rolled by, though it also traded at N415/$ after the Christmas holidays, with extremely wide swings, indicating high volatility of the market. Last Friday, the Naira started trading on an upswing at N420.67/$ but slid to as low…
Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has generated $337.4 million in equity financing, the rocket company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc and Fidelity Investments among its investors, hit $100 billion in valuation following a secondary share sale in October, according to CNBC. It had raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing in April. SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters request for more details on the latest funding round. The company competes with former Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s space venture Blue Origin and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic in the burgeoning constellation of commercial…
Tesla is recalling almost 200,000 vehicles in China over problems with the trunk and front hood that raise the risk of collisions, a state regulator said Friday, hours after a similar recall was disclosed in the United States. The order is the latest blow to the American self-driving car pioneer, which is hugely popular in China although the firm’s reputation has taken a hit this year following a spate of crashes, scandals and data security concerns. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said the defects could affect the vehicles’ backup cameras or cause the hoods to open suddenly while driving.…
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has expressed reservations about government’s political will to remove fuel subsidies. Although the CPPE stated that the outlook for the Nigerian economy in 2022 is largely positive, it noted that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would remain fragile and projected at three per cent threshold. The centre warned that the seemingly intractable problem of insecurity remains a significant risk to the economy and the impact on some sectors, especially agriculture would be profound. The CPPE added that there are also concerns about the effect on the perception of Nigeria as an…
The price of bitcoin hit record highs in 2021 thanks to support from traditional finance, but cryptocurrency analyst are struggling to predict next year’s outcome for the volatile sector. Having more than trebled in value to $60,000 between December 2020 and April, bitcoin has lost some shine to trade at under $50,000 heading into the new year. “The current choppy and directionless price action with a possibility of further pressure to the downside has introduced a lot of uncertainty to the digital asset market,” noted Loukas Lagoudis, executive director at cryptocurrency investment fund ARK36. He added, however, that “sustained adoption…
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed how Nigeria can reduce the importation of drugs from its current 70% to 30% by 2025. The food and drug regulator who is pushing towards making it possible said that this could be achieved through increased local manufacturing of drugs. According to NAN, this was disclosed by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, on Wednesday in Lagos, as she also read the riot to drug manufacturers in the country. Adeyeye said that increasing local drug manufacturing would help curb the prevalence of substandard drugs and ensure…
Agropartnerships Investors which is an investment platform powered by Farmforte, have threatened to involve lawyers and security personnel in the course of following up on matured investments unpaid by the platform. These investors appear to have run out of patience upon the lapse of the 3-7 days ultimatum which Agropartnerships said would be used to pay investors with one to five units of the cashew 04 cycle which matured on the 15th of December as those with over five units have refused to wait until April next year to access their funds Nairametrics had earlier reported how investors of the…
The Lagos State Government has finalized its plans to include and drive optimal population management initiatives as part of its programmes and projects aimed at ensuring human capital growth and development in line with international best practices. This was disclosed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Sam Egube, during a stakeholders’ forum on Demographic Dividend Roadmap, organised by the Ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Lagos Liaison Office. The event was organized to sensitise Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries on the Demographic Dividend Policy of the State and its implementation. Egube explained…
The Board of Transcorp Hotels Plc. has officially established the appointment of Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa to its Board of Directors as an Independent Non-Executive Director, effective Monday, December 20, 2021. Ms. Onagoruwa brings to the Transcorp Hotels Plc board, a wealth of experience spanning more than three decades across both the private and public sectors in different aspects of law, as well as public sector reform. Her commercial legal practice experience includes roles at Bentley Edu and Co, Nigerian Industrial Development Bank, Midas Merchant Bank, and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE). Following her retirement from public service, Ms. Onagoruwa…
The Federal Government, yesterday, showed great prowess to end the ongoing marginal bid round, which already had already seen the award of 57 licenses. The Federal Government had in June last year, commenced a bid round for the fields, which are mainly in the Niger Delta. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which replaced the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources said in a release that the 2020 marginal field bid round programme would be closed with machinery to progress the bid round exercise in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA). About $7 billion (N3 trillion) revenue will…
World stock markets swerved on Wednesday before a US Federal Reserve interest rate decision, with London dipping on data showing that UK inflation spiked to its highest level for more than a decade. The British capital’s benchmark FTSE 100 slid 0.3 per cent in afternoon trading after news that UK inflation hit 5.1 per cent in November, sending the pound climbing in anticipation of a possible interest rate rise. The Paris CAC 40 index added 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.3 per cent on the eve of rate calls from both the European Central Bank and the Bank…