President Muhammadu Buhari has reversed his authorisation of Seplat Energy’s takeover of ExxonMobil’s shallow water business in Nigeria, throwing his weight instead behind the regulator’s decline of the $1.3 billion transaction. A spokesperson said the president decided the position of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is to be supported, and the earlier confusion was because “various agencies involved in (the) decision had not coordinated well among themselves.” “It has become clear that the various agencies involved in decision had not coordinated well among themselves and having looked at all of the facts with all of the ramifications, the…

Africa’s most-populous nation showed more interest in cryptocurrencies than any other country since the digital assets began to decline in April, according to a study by price tracker CoinGecko. Nigeria scored 371 in the study that looked at Google Trends data for six searches such as “buy crypto” or “invest in crypto” that were then combined to give each English-speaking nation a total search ranking. The West African country was followed by the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. Crypto Obsession “This study provides interesting insight into which countries remain most interested in cryptocurrency in spite of market pullbacks,” CoinGecko’s co-founder…

The naira, on Wednesday, weakened against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market. Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), popularly known as ‘abokis’, who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, said the local currency depreciated by N15 or 2.3 percent to trade at N680 per dollar at the street market. Last week, the naira closed at N665 to a dollar at the street market. The street traders put the buying price of the dollar at N665 and the selling price at N680, leaving a profit margin of N15. They said scarcity has returned to the FX market. “Demand…

African e-commerce firm Jumia Technologies said on Wednesday it was past peak losses and would focus on promotions, marketing and cost cutting in its quest towards profitability, driving its shares up 16% despite a wider quarterly loss. Jumia is an online marketplace for vendors and food sellers, with associated services including logistics and payments. It was the first Africa-focused tech startup to list on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019. It reported an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $57.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30 from $41.6 million in the same period last…