The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned microfinance banks against performing certain non-permissible activities, including wholesale backing and foreign exchange transactions. This was contained in a circular titled ‘Cessation of non-permissible activities by microfinance banks’ released on Friday by Ibrahim Tukur on behalf of CBN’s Financial Policy and Regulation Department. The circular read, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has observed the activities of some microfinance banks that have gone beyond the remit of their operating licence by engaging in non-permissible activities, especially wholesale backing, foreign exchange transactions and others. “Given the comparatively low capitalisation of MfBs, dealing in wholesale and/or…
Author: Temitope N.
Aviation unions have said the Federal Government would not succeed in its plan to concession Nigeria’s four major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. However, it was also learnt that the move to concession the facilities had created a division among airport workers, as those in private aviation companies were in support of concession, while their counterparts in the public service opposed the plan. On Tuesday, it was reported that the Federal Government had officially commenced the search for concessionaires to manage Nigeria’s four major airports. It made this public through the Federal Ministry of Aviation in its…
Equity investors in the Nigerian Exchange Limited gained N64.93bn on Thursday as the NGX All-Share Index rose by 0.32 per cent to 39,670.29 basis points, its highest since April 26, 2021. The market capitalisation of equities increased to N20.67tn on Thursday from N20.60tn the previous day. Trading volume jumped by 52.90 per cent from 132.01 million shares worth N2.67bn traded in 3,307 deals on Wednesday to 201.84 million shares valued at N1.68bn in 3,274 deals. By sector, the NGX Insurance and NGX Industrial indices increased by 0.77 per cent and 0.22 per cent respectively, while the Banking, Consumer Goods and…
President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that Nigeria lost an estimated $50 billion worth of investments in 10 years, due to the uncertainty of non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), lack of progress and stagnation in the petroleum industry. He said this in his remarks at a ceremony on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which preceded the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. According to the president, the stagnation affected the growth of the economy and the lack of political will on the part of past administrations to actualise the needed transformation, also contributed to the loss of…
•Groups partner to bring regulators, operators together To create harmonious relationships in the financial technology space, there is a need for clarity of regulations from the regulators to the players in the sector, especially Fintechs. Clarity of regulations, according to experts in the space, would not only ensure stability, bridge knowledge gaps, but also help avoid unnecessary frictions among stakeholders. These were the views of experts, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, ahead of their planned efforts to bring financial regulators closer to operators in the Fintech space in Nigeria. Besides, these experts also highlighted the importance of financial and…
Without an active conversion industry for vehicles and other machinery, the core mandate of the Nigerian Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) might be frustrated, operators have warned. One of the downstream operators, Quest Oil & Engineering Services Limited, stated that many private sector investment seeking interest in the conversion of vehicles and other machinery would remain idle due to lack of vehicles that would utilise gas for the programme to succeed. The Group Chief Executive Officer, Quest Oil & Engineering Limited, Goke Dele, at a press briefing, said it was as a result of this that the company is keying into…
Foreign airlines operating in and out of Nigeria have complained over difficulties in repatriating accumulated funds, now in excess of $143.8 million. The airlines, under the aegis of International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the stuck funds have further made recovery difficult for struggling carriers. Though not peculiar to Nigeria, the funds were from tickets sold locally but could not be repatriated due to forex liquidity crisis IATA noted that approximately $963 million in airline funds were being blocked from repatriation in nearly 20 countries. Four countries: Bangladesh ($146.1 million), Lebanon ($175.5 million), Nigeria ($143.8 million), and Zimbabwe ($142.7 million),…
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and FrieslandCampina WAMCO, have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on dairy value chain development. Under the new pact, both parties will provide a networking environment for 30,000 cattle herders and transform dairy farming practices by introducing improved techniques and also providing farmers with extension services to enhance raw milk quality and farm productivity. “We will introduce commercial credit to farmers and build confidence between benefiting farmers and financial institutions for viable agri-business”, says the Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Ben Langat. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono…
A step towards redeeming the pledge by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to intervene in the perennial electric power supply challenge in Maiduguri, Borno State, was taken on Tuesday with the execution of the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) and Equipment Procurement contracts for a 50Megawatts (MW) Emergency Power Project in Maiduguri. The project, which is an integral part of ongoing efforts to deepen the Corporation’s domestic gas utilisation plan for the nation’s socio-economic growth has China Machinery Engineering Company (CMEC) as the EPC contractor while General Electric (GE), is the equipment manufacturer. Speaking at the contract signing event…
Two firms, Quest Oil and Engineering Services Limited, owners of Ascon Oil Company Limited and Rainoil Ltd are currently having a running battle over the ownership of a petrol filling station on Admiralty Way, in Lagos. While Quest Oil announced that it has reclaimed its petrol filling station located at Block 36 Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, the management of Rainoil Ltd has decried the action as an invasion. Quest Oil in a statement, said the action is in line with the earlier Order of Justice Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos, setting aside his previous Order restraining…