Business News

Sunday, 06 September 2020 05:41

Rice to get more expensive as 25 percent of Nigeria’s harvest washed away by floods

Floods washed away at least two million tons of rice in Nigeria, the second-largest importer of the grain. That is more than 25% of the previously projected national output of 8 million tons, according to estimates by a farmers’ organization. At least 450,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) were destroyed in Kebbi, the country’s main rice-growing state, according to Mr Mohammed Sahabi, state chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria. Planters had targeted a 2.5 million ton contribution to the national basket, but will now meet less than 20% of the target. Farmers in five other states -- Kano, Nigeria, Enugu,…

Saturday, 05 September 2020 04:47

Ghana to review $1m levy on Nigerian traders, others

Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the country will revisit the $1 million mandatory business capital for Nigerians and other nationals as a requirement for doing business. “The review that you are asking for, why not? if it works in our mutual perspectives, we can take it for granted that your request will be taken seriously. We will have a look at it,” Addo said during a meeting with Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila. Amongst other demands, Gbajabiamila who is on a visit to Ghana over the continued hostilities towards Nigerian residents and entrepreneurs in Ghana,…

Saturday, 05 September 2020 04:46

NNPC obtains $1bn to fund upstream operations

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Thursday night announced that it had obtained a prepayment funding of about $1bn to support upstream operations of its subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company. It said crude oil prepayment had enabled NNPC to pay NPDC’s tax obligations to Federal Government of about $700m with the balance utilised to fund NPDC’s capital and operating expenditures. NNPC said in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mr Kennie Obateru, that the prepayment financing was backed by future oil production of NPDC. The corporation said the financing utilises a well-established structure to enable the purchaser of the crude, Eagle…

Saturday, 05 September 2020 04:44

CBN sets N10bn maximum loan per applicant from the gas intervention fund

Central Bank of Nigeria has set N10bn as the maximum loan an obligor can access under its N250bn intervention fund for the gas sector. It disclosed this in a guideline titled ‘Framework for the implementation of intervention facility for national gas expansion programme’, released on Friday. Part of the term loan conditions for manufacturers, processors, wholesale distributors, was that the term loan, “Shall be determined based on the activity and shall not exceed N10bn per obligor; “Working capital is maximum of N500m per obligor.” CBN said it introduced the N250bn intervention facility to help stimulate investment in the gas value…

Friday, 04 September 2020 03:57

Power companies declare force majeure over CBN policy on revenue collection

Six electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have filed for force majeure over a decision by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all revenues should be ring-fenced by the banks. The firms are Benin DisCo, Port Harcourt DisCo, Kaduna DisCo, Kano DisCo, Abuja and Ibadan DisCos. The DisCos were said to be unhappy with the decision and have written to Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) that the agreements under which they bought majority stakes in the entities have been broken. By declaring a dispute, DisCos may return their stakes to the government and demand a refund of their payments when they took…

Friday, 04 September 2020 03:51

Naira strengthens further against dollar

The Naira on Thursday gained one point to appreciate against the dollar at the parallel market in Lagos. Naira exchanged at N439 to a dollar at the parallel market in Lagos, while Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N580 and N495 respectively. Investors at the investor’s window traded the naira at N386.25 to a dollar as market turnover stood at 92.18 million dollars. However, the naira was sold at 379 to a dollar at the official Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) window. The planned sale of foreign exchange to Bureau De Change Operators nationwide has sent panic to the…

Friday, 04 September 2020 03:49

FG 'no longer in the business of fixing' fuel prices - Minister

Federal government is “no longer in the business of fixing” fuel prices, minister of state for oil, Mr Timipre Sylva, said on Thursday. Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer had been spending 1 trillion naira ($2.63 billion) a year subsidising petrol prices but the global oil price crash had made removing the subsidies “inevitable”, Sylva told an online briefing. “It is about the survival of our country, the economic survival,” he said. “There are certain things that the country can ill-afford at this time.” In March, the government announced a new pricing mechanism that it said would maintain its control, but…

Friday, 04 September 2020 03:48

CBN approves forex for emergency maize importation to stem food shortage

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted approval to four agro-processing companies to import 262,000 tons of maize and corn in the bid to complement an anticipated shortfall of the commodity in the country. This was disclosed in an internal memo of Nigeria Customs Service. The memo was endorsed by deputy comptroller–general, Mr T.M Isa (Tariff and Trade), which also was confirmed to the media by the service’s public relations officer, Mr Joseph Attah. “In line with government policy on food security, sufficiency and striking a balance between food imports and local production capacities to meet anticipated shortfall, Central Bank…

Friday, 04 September 2020 03:40

Pivot. Delegate. ‘Be an adult for goodness’ sake.’ Leadership lessons from the world’s top CEOs

Eben Shapiro “I like to sleep late and then take a short nap during the day to recharge,” said no CEO, ever. Whether it’s the demands of the job or self-selection, the typical rising time of chief executives appears to be 5 a.m. And they’re not waking up early to finish binge-watching Season 6 of Alone. They’re hitting the gym for some sort of intense cardio workout. One fiscal quarter into TIME’s weekly Leadership Brief series, we are hitting pause to offer some lessons learned from our first 13 installments. Even though our sample size is relatively small, our interview…

Thursday, 03 September 2020 04:52

What’s the new pump price of petrol: N151.56 or N162?

Barely two days after electricity tariff was increased by about 300 per cent, oil marketers yesterday fixed pump price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, at N162 per litre. The marketers fixed the new price following Federal government’s announcement that the product would now be sold to marketers at the depot price of N151.56. Marketers’ new price announcement came as Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency - the agency expected to modulate the price monthly, failed to announce the new retail price. They claimed the absence of PPPRA’s template created confusion coupled with the issuance of two conflicting statements…

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Thursday, 03 September 2020 04:47

Nigeria incurred N1.8trn trade deficit in Q2, 2020 – NBS

Nigeria recorded a trade balance deficit of N1.8 trillion at the end of second quarter, making the third consecutive quarter of negative trade balance. National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its ‘Foreign trade in goods statistics’ report for second quarter, released on Wednesday. It also revealed that the value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade stood at N6.24 trillion in second quarter of 2020. Part of the report read, “This indicated a sharp fall of 27.30 per cent in Q2, 2020 compared to Q1, 2020 and 27.46 per cent compared to Q2, 2019. “Value of total trade year to date amounted…

Thursday, 03 September 2020 04:37

Tesla introduced a business model the world hasn’t seen before

Alex Voigt You can save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars with continuous improvements to a Tesla, which is a stark contrast to other automaker that do something else continuously: ask you to pay again! One of the major reasons why Tesla is winning against its competition hands down is completely overlooked, underrated, and rarely mentioned. It is the value creation for customers. Other manufacturers have no answer for. Tesla adds value for its customers like no other company in the world. I am not talking about safety features, being fun to drive, or sustainable transportation soft values, but…

Wednesday, 02 September 2020 05:25

Electricity companies increased tariffs yesterday. But not all consumers will pay the new rates. Here’s how it’ll work

Electricity distribution companies (DisCos) across the country on Tuesday began the implementation of a new electricity tariff regime. In press statements issued on Monday, the distribution companies notified their customers of the commencement of the new charges. Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said the electricity tariff reviews will only follow service-based principles and prior consultation with customers. According to a statement issued on Wednesday by Mr James Momoh, Chairman of NERC, under these service-based principles, DISCOs will only be able to increase tariff rates for customers when they consult with customers, commit to increasing the number of hours of supply…

Wednesday, 02 September 2020 05:24

Naira gains strength at parallel market

Naira strengthened to its strongest level in street trading since at least April as supplies of U.S. currency surged ahead of an auction set for next week by central bank. The local unit traded 440 naira per dollar on Tuesday from a peak of 477 naira last week, according to abokifx.com, which collates rates from street traders in Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub. In the official spot market, the unit weakened 0.1% to 385.78 naira per dollar as of 4.30pm on Tuesday. The parallel rates drifted 5% weaker than the official rate of 380 naira from March after the central…

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