BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Obasanjo Unveils Garment Factory In Abeokuta, Harps On Entrepreneurial Skills

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The former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has unveiled a garment factory, in partnership with a UK – based Nigerian, Abisade Adenubi. The factory, located inside the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta, Ogun State, would focus on production of a local fabric known as Adire, common among Egba people.   While unveiling the factory christened “Heritage Apparels”, Obasanjo said Adenubi had taken his initiative which he started to a greater heights and urged other entrepreneurs to emulate her.   “Wherever I am working, I cannot say it is not good. After the initiative from me, the one who has taken it to greatest height is this young woman, Abisade, and [Read]

VAT will increase from 5 to 7.5% Will Take effect On February 1 2020

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The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed on Thursday January 16 announced that the increased Value Added Tax (VAT) from 5 to 7.5 percent will take effect from February 1, 2020.       Zainab who disclosed this at the inauguration of the Chairman and Board members of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja, said the Finance Act which President Buhari signed into law made provisions to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and soften the effect of the VAT rate increase on companies in a bid to increase employment and boost the economy.       She said;   “I want to [Read]

Bio Of Kingsley I. Obiora (New CBN Deputy Governor)

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The President has sent the name of a young and consummate Nigerian, Dr Kingsley I Obiora to the Nigerian Senate for approval to replace Dr Nnana as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria       Here is a Brief Biography of the New CBN Deputy Governor       OVERVIEW       Dr. Kingsley Obiora is an Alternate Executive Director in the International Monetary   Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, USA. In this capacity, he is a member of the 24-Seat   Executive Board, collectively responsible for conducting the daily operations of the   IMF. He also assists to represent the interests of 23 African Countries, [Read]

Nigeria To Borrow N510 Billion Via Bond Sale In Q1 2020

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Debt Management Office (DMO) has said it would approach the local debt market to auction bonds belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria worth between N420 billion and N510 billion in the first quarter of 2020. The debt office, in a circular issued on Monday showing the bond sale programme for Q1 2020, said the instruments would be offered in three different maturities; 5-year, 10-year and 30-year. In the calendar sighted by Business Post on Wednesday, the DMO said the FGN bond auctions will hold on January 22, February 19 and March 25, 2020. ALSO READ NSE Suspends Trading in Shares of 17 Firms In the first exercise scheduled for [Read]

Crude oil price falls as tension between US and Iran doused

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As the tension in the middle east goes down, the price of crude oil at the international market has begun to reduce from the spike it gained last week. As the week ended yesterday, the price of the oil closed at $59 dropping from $65 that it was on Tuesday when the tension between the United States of America and Iran was high. However, it’s still some $2 above the 2020 budget benchmark, which was pegged at $57. See graphic images below as obtained by NEWS FLAKES NG; [Read]

“Buhari Has Directed Us To Lift 100million Nigerians Out Of Poverty” – Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed Says

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The Federal Government has promised to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by providing enabling environment for small businesses. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed on Monday restated Federal Government’s plan to pull 100 million Nigerians out of poverty this year. Recall in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari had pledge that he will lift 100m Nigerians out of extreme poverty in the next 10 years. Ahmed made this known when she appeared on a programme on NTA. Speaking during the interview, the Minister said; “PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI HAS DIRECTED THAT WE MUST PULL 100 MILLION NIGERIANS OUT OF POVERTY AND THAT IS OUR MAJOR FOCUS. BASED [Read]

Nigerians to pay higher as FG orders immediate increase in electricity tariffs [SEE THE NEW TARIFFS]

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The Federal Government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has on Saturday, January 4 ordered an immediate increase of electricity tariffs in the country. In a statement signed jointly by the Chairman of the Commission, Joseph Momoh, and the Commissioner for Legal, License & Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, and posted on its website, the Commission said the order was issued to the 11 electricity distribution companies (DISCos) on December 31, 2019. The order was issued to; Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Jos Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Kano Electricity Distribution [Read]

Gov Abiodun Hosts AfDB President, Vows to Lift Ogun People Out of Poverty

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  ABEOKUTA – The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun MFR has said his administration is committed to lifting its people out of poverty, adding that he would continue to look at ways to ensure that the state enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).   Governor Abiodun made this known when he received the President of the AfDB, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina in his Office, expressed his appreciation to the Bank for choosing the State as one of the special agroprocessing zones in terms of agriculture.   He noted that there was no reason for the State not to be the food basket of the country, [Read]

FG puts debt profile at $84bn, says servicing too high, No cause for alarm

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The Federal Government says Nigeria’s debt servicing to revenue ratio has been higher than desirable. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this while addressing journalists in Lagos yesterday on the progress made by the present administration in the outgoing year 2019. He, however, said the government was aggressively diversifying the economy and increasing oil and non-oil revenues significantly in addition to widening the tax base to capture more tax-paying citizens. The minister put the country’s current debt profile at $83.8 billion and dismissed reports that the country’s external debt was $81bn. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had weekend cautioned against plunging the nation into bankruptcy amidst the rising [Read]

Israeli Students Create Drone Technology To Detect Crop Disease

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The Jerusalem College of Technology held its fourth annual “Great Minds Hackathon” this year, during which time a panel of six judges from Israeli tech companies choose a winner from a number of innovative ideas presented by students from Israel and around the world. During the competition, tech conglomerates such as Amazon Web Services, OrCam, Elbit Systems, Via, Intel and others present real-world “challenges” for students to find technological solutions. These companies will then pick their favorites from the list of new innovations, to eventually turn these students’ ideas into tangible products – devising a preaccelerator method to turn these products into startup companies, according to JNS. However, there is [Read]

Nigeria risks impending bankruptcy over rising debt profile, Obasanjo cries out

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigeria risks impending bankruptcy over the continuous accumulation of debt by the government. Obasanjo said things might get worse economically as Nigeria, as well as other African countries, kept piling up debts, saying he was worried for the future generations who would have to pay such loans. The ex-President said this on Friday in Lagos as a keynote speaker at the “Why I am Alive” campaign. The initiative, tagged ‘The Nigerian Story,’ had the founder of Trinity House, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, as chairman of the Board of Advisors. Presenting his speech, titled ‘Nigeria: The challenges of debt and sustenance of democracy,’ a copy of [Read]

Ogun Assembly Approves 2020 Budget, Increases Capital Vote By N2.1bn

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ABEOKUTA – The Ogun State House of Assembly on Friday passed the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law, retaining the budget size of N449.97 billion. Governor Dapo Abiodun had on Tuesday, December 3, presented N449.974 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year before the members of the State House of Assembly. The budget was christened “Budget to Build Our Future Together”. The lawmakers adjusted the capital expenditure, leading to an increment of N2.1billion for capital projects. The realignment moved the capital estimate from N269,132,349,884.46 to N271,232,349,884.46. The passage of the bill titled: HB. No. 032/OG/2019- Year 2020 Appropriation Law, at the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Olakunle [Read]

FG directs CBN to stop N50 Stamp duty charge on POS

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The Federal Government through Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to immediately suspend the N50 Stamp duty charge on Point of Sales machine. The statement signed by Mr Babatunde Irukera reads; “The FCCPC’s strongly held position was that an assessment imposed on merchants necessarily is a component of their cost of doing business, and may only be directly passed on to consumers in limited circumstances. “For many reasons, including and particularly the CBN’s effort to promote a cashless economy, the merchants’ response of imposing this assessment on consumers was not only inconsistent with the underlying policy but also counterproductive and burdensome on consumers”. SEE [Read]

Eco: ECOWAS new currency symbol, bank name revealed

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  ECOWAS Heads of States and Government have adopted “EC” as symbol for the single currency, Eco, to be used in Nigerian and 14 other countries. They also adopted “Central Bank of West Africa (CBWA)” as the name of the ECOWAS Central Bank. These were contained in the final communiqué released by Mr Jean-Claude Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission on Monday in Abuja. The Authority commended the Ministerial Committee for the progress made with the implementation of the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme. The Authority also adopted the 2020 to 2024 Action Plan to eradicate terrorism in the sub-region with a budget of 2.3 billion dollars. The leaders expressed grave [Read]

BREAKING: CBN slashes electronic transfer, ATM withdrawal charges

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  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed downward electronic transfer and ATM fees as well as card maintenance fees. The new charges were contained in the latest Guide to Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions just released by the CBN According to the CBN, bank customers will now pay N10 for electronic transfers below N5,000, and N25 for electronic transfer between N5,000 and N50,000. Only electronic transfer above N50,000 will attract N50 charge. Previously, bank customers pay N50 charge for electronic transfers below N500,000. Further, the CBN in the new Guide to Bank Charges slashed charges for cash withdrawal via Other bank’s ATM to “maximum of N35 [Read]