The Nigerian Railway Corporation has hereby suspended service on the Abuja-Kaduna route following gunmen detonated explosives on a rail line. The NRC in a statement on its website on Thursday disclosed that the services were suspended for the safety of passengers and crew members. According to the corporation, efforts were being put in place to ensure absolute safety along the route. The Managing Director of the corporation, Fidet Okhiria, earlier confirmed the detonation of an explosive device on the rail line on the Abuja-Kaduna route. A viral video circulating online shows how a section of the tracks was severely damaged…
Author: Temitope N.
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says the agency is fully on course for the recertification of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu. The agency also said that it is fully prepared to ensure improved security and safety at the nation’s airports, saying that it would use the next week’s Safety Week, promoted by the Airports Council International (ACI) to further stimulate security at the nation’s airports. Speaking on Friday at the agency’s operational headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Yadudu said…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that it will support Nigeria’s healthcare industry with N200 billion in a bid to boost Nigeria’s economic recovery and generate jobs in the sector. This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Friday, at the inauguration of Duchess International Hospital, a newly built 100-suites health facility in Ikeja, Lagos. The CBN chief also revealed that due to the pandemic, the apex bank had disbursed N107.7 billion, supporting 114 healthcare projects, noting that the bank is committed to the growth of the industry.
The Central Bank of Nigeria says the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) established that it has plans in motion to expand to corporate accounts and microfinance banks in the country. The Director, Banking Supervision of the CBN, Mr Haruna Mustafa, said this at the 2021 Financial Correspondents Association of Nigeria workshop in Ibadan, Oyo State on Friday. Global Standing Instruction (GSI) policy is meant to facilitate improved credit repayment culture in the country; reduce non-performing loans (NPLs), and promote watch-listing of chronic loan defaulters in the Nigerian Banking System.
Even if Elon Musk may seem impossible to separate from Tesla,the company offered the first real taste of what it might look like without its billionaire CEO. Tesla held a regularly scheduled conference call to discuss its quarterly financial results, but — as he’d previously teased — Musk did not attend. His absence took what’s normally a venue for his rants and ramblings, dismissals of Wall Street, and attacks on the press and turned it into a coherent (if scripted) presentation of the company’s recent progress. There were fewer sideshows and a more measured tone, though the executives who…
The latest South African stock exchange pledging to lure firms from across the continent with listing costs that are a third of that charged by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as it opens on Thursday. TWK Agri Pty. will be the first company to trade on the Cape Town Stock Exchange, which was previously called 4 Africa Exchange Pty. before an overhaul that resulted in the bourse becoming a full-fledged stock exchange, according to Chief Executive Officer Eugene Booysen. BKV Holdings will list a few weeks later. While a wave of initial public offerings has swept across the world, firms…
FBN Holdings (FBNH) Plc has publicly denied the acquisition of a majority stake in the company by Mr Femi Otedola. It was reported that the company in a statement pasted on the website of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd. said it hasn’t received any notification of the purported acquisition. The statement signed by the FBNH Company Secretary, Mr Seyi Kosoko, said the company it would notify the appropriate agencies and authorities whenever it received any notice of significant shareholding by the shareholders and its registrars. “The attention of FBNH has been drawn to media reports of today, Oct. 22,…
The International Monetary Fund established that it has seen that Africa’s economic rebound from pandemic-induced shrinkage would be weaker than in the rest of the world in 2021 and 2022. Low rates of vaccination against Covid-19 across the continent top the list of reasons for the slower recovery, the Washington-based institution said in a biannual report on the region. Growth for sub-Saharan Africa should reach 3.7 per cent in 2021 and 3.8 per cent in 2022, “a welcome but relatively modest recovery,” the IMF said in its forecasts. Those figures would nevertheless be “the slowest in the world given that…
The Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Olusegun Awolowo, was at the opening ceremony showing the efforts of the NEPC under the Institutional Strengthening Workstream of the Export Expansion Facility Program to set up an international language learning programme for the staff of the NEPC. The Executive Director/CEO NEPC stated that “as the apex government agency mandated to promote and diversify the non-oil exports sector of the Nigerian economy, one of the challenges that impede the achievement of this mandate is the language barrier. “The organisational mandate of the council warrants high-level interactions between the…
The Central Bank of Nigeria has established it support youths in tertiary institutions with grants to promote entrepreneurship and reduce unemployment. The CBN made this known on Wednesday in a report, titled ‘Guidelines for the implementation of tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme’. “Five top Nigerian polytechnics and universities with the best entrepreneurial pitches/ideas shall be awarded as follows: first place – N150m; second place – N120m; third place – N100m; fourth place – N80m; and fifth place – N50m,” it said. It added that activities to be covered under the scheme would include innovative start-ups and existing businesses owned by…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dished out a series of information-gathering orders on the business practices of major digital payments systems. Orders were issued to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Square, the bureau said in an announcement on Thursday morning. Chinese pay systems operated by WeChat and AliPay will also be studied but are not subject to any CFBP orders. Issued as part of the CFPB’s investigative authority, the orders are not an indication of specific wrongdoing, but they suggest the CFBP will be taking a more active role in regulating tech companies’ consumer products in the…
The senate committee on aviation established that it will not interfere in the statutory responsibilities of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The committee had, in a letter signed by Smart Adeyemi, its chairman, ordered the NCAA to suspend the process of awarding air operator’s certificate (AOC) to NG Eagle. NG Eagle is an airline being birthed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), using some of the assets of Arik Air. According to the letter, the directive was necessary following the huge debts of Arik Air to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other…
The Nigerian Railway Corporation has continued the movement of cargoes in containers to Kano and Kaduna Inland Dry Port. Managing Director of Inland Containers Nigeria Limited (ICNL), Ismail Yusuf, who affirmed the resumption to journalists in Lagos said about forty containers have been moved in the first instance. He also said an additional forty empty containers have been returned through the same mode to Lagos from the Kano and Kaduna Dry Port, which is a subsidiary company of ICNL. Yusuf added that the movement by rail will contribute to cost reduction, time-saving and further ensure the safety…
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) met with critical stakeholders in a bid to find lasting solutions to the road network challenges and other lingering issues. Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari while engaging the stakeholders said the move was a follow-up to the corporation’s efforts in sustaining the current smooth supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide, especially during the festive period and beyond. It would be recalled that following NNPC’s intervention last weekend, the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) called off a planned…
The federal government says it has removed three oil sector agencies as required under the new petroleum law. Under the Petroleum Industry Act, enacted in August, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) no longer exist. They are actively replaced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NPRA, and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NURC. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, confirmed the new departments have taken off on Monday, as he inaugurated their boards in Abuja. He said the staff…
The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr Sanusi Barkindo, has suggested the implementation and use of modern technologies such as the Carbon Capture Utilisation Storage (CCUS) rather than pushing for a wholesale abandonment of fossil fuels. The OPEC chief stated that current conversations surrounding the transition from hydrocarbons were being driven by emotions rather than science. Barkindo who spoke on the theme: “Update on National Climate Laws and Jurisprudence Evolution-Emissions Reduction, Energy Access and Energy Security,” said although there was clear science-based evidence, the entire climate change discussion had been reduced to who is for or…
Inflation exceeded the Bank of Canada’s control range for a sixth straight month, deeply worsened by supply chain bottlenecks that are proving stubbornly persistent. The consumer price index rose 4.4% in September from a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa. That’s the highest reading since February 2003, exceeding consensus expectations of 4.3% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.2% in September. Higher food, shelter and transport prices were the main contributors. The average of the central bank’s core measures — often seen as a better gauge of underlying price…
40 companies listed on the floor of the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) have been fined a cumulative N1 billion due to different market infractions since 2020 to date. Details of the fines were obtained from the X-Compliance report published by the Nigeria Exchange. The X-Compliance Report is a transparency initiative of NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo), which is designed to maintain market integrity and protect investors by providing compliance-related information on all listed companies. Companies that are listed on the NGX are required to adhere to high disclosure standards which are prescribed in the Rulebook of the Exchange, 2015…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says Nigerians will still make transactions on the eNaira platform even without internet enabled mobile devices. The apex bank made this known in a document title ‘Design paper for the eNaira’. According to the apex bank, eNaira was developed based on simplicity and ease of use to ensure that Nigerians without internet-enabled phones can access the service. It explained that the approach would not further alienate sections of the population who are uneducated, lack exposure and access to internet services or digital devices. “According to the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal…
The Elevation Church (TEC), a non-denominational Christian ministry, debunks rumor saying it Invested in Imagine Global Solutions Limited, a lending company. Reports had alleged that one Bamise Ajetumobi and Elizabeth Ajetunmobi, his wife, founders of Imagine Global, fled with billions of naira belonging to their investors. The company claimed to be among microfinance institutions licenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Similarly, PiggyVest, which is online savings platform, was linked to Imagine Global — but the company swiftly denied the reports. In a statement, the trustees of The Elevation Church urged the public to disregard the report. They…