Author: Aishat Olalere

On Wednesday February 28, at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, the chairman of the house committee on Public Petition dismissed the allegation of Nigeria Port Authority, Mohammed Belo- Koko of N178 billion bad debt as it is contained in the 2019 audited financial statement of the authority. NPA and Bello- Koko were accused of complicity in the mismanagement of N178bn for bad debt in the agency’s audited Financial Statement. The accusation was made by the Forum of Non- governmental organization in Nigeria. On Wednesday after the public hearing , the forum failed to appear before the committee to defend its…

The Equity Market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) lost N720 billion as a result of sustained selloffs in the shares of Tier-1 banks. NGX declined further midweek as a result of rapid selloffs on financial services stocks. Investors lost 1.31 percent as the market opened at N55.037 trillion and closed at N54.317 trillion. The all share index also shed 1,317 points to close at 99,266.02 as against 100,582.89 recorded in the previous session. There is a selloffs in the equities of FBN Holdings (FBNH), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), and Zenith Bank dragged the market down. Investors traded a…

On Wednesday, February 28, ODM leader Raila Odinga held a meeting with Faith Odhiambo, who is currently the vice president of LSK. Raila lauded faith saying she was committed to upholding the rule of law and calling for good governance. He said Faith has his full support in her quest to replace Eric Theuri as the LSK president in the upcoming polls A statement, the ODM leader showered Odhiambo with praise, saying her commitment to upholding the rule of law and calling for good governance was inspiring. The former prime minister said the current LSK vice president has his full…

The situation in the forex market remains unimpressive despite multiple effort of the monetary authority to stabilize the local currency. The Naira experienced a major decline in purchasing power at the official market as US dollar supply tracked below FX demand by eligible users in the autonomous market. According to FMDQ platform which provides daily spot rates on currency traded at official window suggested that the naira was in a weaker position in the market as the exchange rate depreciated by 2.08% to N1,615.94 per US dollar. Conversely, the gap between the official and parallel market rates is now at…

On Tuesday, at the opening ceremony of the seventh edition of the Nigerian International Energy Summit held in Abuja,the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, disclosed that it has assured Nigerians that the country energy scarcity will be over in the next 10 years. The NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye said in a statement that he assured stakeholders of the company’s commitment to work with them to close the energy deficit gap and create prosperity for Nigerians. He said “From all indications, all issues of energy scarcity in the country would be over…

Heineken Lokpobiri, The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), said without deliberate efforts made to increase investments and crude production in the sector, the newly inaugurated Dangote Petrochemical Refinery, Port Harcourt Refinery, Warri Refinery and modular refineries in the country may not get enough crude oil locally for the production of petroleum products. Lokpobiri said unless the country ramped up production by handing over its oil wells to capable investors, the refineries would not get enough feedstock to produce enough oil, even for local consumption. On January 12, the Dangote refinery announced that it had begun the production of both…

On Tuesday, The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardo ,at thethe Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the apex bank, the first since he assumed office in September 2023, vowed to pursue an aggressive regulatory environment to reduce infractions in the country’s banking system. He also stated that an in-depth investigation was underway to determine the necessary actions against banks involved in infractions, stressing that the bank was in the process of formulating “stringent regulations” to cleanse and purify the country’s foreign exchange market. In responding to questions on steps taken to promote trading on the foreign exchange…

On Tuesday, Sen. Ali Ndume, the Senate Chief Whip at plenary adopted a motion on “The Introduction of Food Stamps in Nigeria as an Interim Measure to Address Imminent Food Insecurity in the country. Presenting the motion, Ndume said that in other countries, like U. S, food stamps was government-issued coupons that had been in use since 1939. As an interim intervention to cushion the effect of food shortage in the country, the senate advocate to the Federal Government to introduce the Nigerian version of the “food stamps programme”. Ndume said, “This is as a measure to cushion the resultant…

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso said at the 293rd meeting of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) while presenting a communique in Abuja that the CBN has cleared another $400 million in foreign exchange claims as part of effort to clear the remaining FX backlog to banks. Cardoso said the foreign exchange markets in Nigeria had not been functioning effectively and had been distortionary in outcome, thereby creating a serious challenge for the Naira. He revealed that the country has received inflows of $2 billion following the apex bank’s implementation of some…

A bill for an act to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007 has been passed. The bill was sponsored by 41 members of the committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institution. Leading debate on general principles of the bill, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru said the bill was read the first time on January 30th. The second reading was passed on Tuesday February 27. The mandate of CBN was derived from the 1958 Act of Parliament as amended in 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2007. The proposed amendments were therefore aimed at strengthening…