Author: Julius Alagbe

UK Commits $7.5 million to Boost Food Security, Climate Resilience The British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, has committed $7.5 million to Nigerian agri-tech platform, Babban Gona. The British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Jonny Baxter, disclosed this during a news conference on Tuesday in Lagos. He said this was to strengthen food security and climate resilience for smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria Baxter said the investment would address key challenges facing smallholder farmers, including poor access to finance, quality inputs, agronomic training, and reliable markets. He said although northern Nigeria produced up to 60 per…

Shea Export Ban to Boost Local Supply The Managing Director of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Abba Bello, has commended the Federal Government’s recent six-month ban on shea nut exports. He described the move as a strategic step to support local processors and reduce production costs. Speaking at an interactive session with All progressives Congress (APC) youth members in Abuja on Tuesday, Bello noted that although Nigeria supplied 40–60 per cent of global shea, it had no industrial processing plants until 2018. “When we came on board in 2018, not one industrial plant was processing shea in Nigeria. “Since then,…

NPA Announces Plans to Revitalize Delta Ports, Boost Economy The Nigerian Ports Authority has announced plans to revive Delta Ports as part of a broader strategy to boost Nigeria’s economy and decongest Lagos ports. This move aims to generate employment and support economic growth in the region. According to Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, Chairman of the NPA Board, President Bola Tinubu is committed to revitalizing Nigeria’s port infrastructure. During a four-day working tour of the Delta Ports, Adeyeye and his delegation met with traditional rulers, port stakeholders, and community leaders, including Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, the Orodje of Okpe, and…

Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe Fired Over Romantic Relationship with Subordinate Nestlé’s CEO, Laurent Freixe, has been dismissed from his position due to an undisclosed romantic relationship with a direct subordinate, which breached the company’s code of business conduct. The decision was made after an investigation overseen by Chairman Paul Bulcke and Lead Independent Director Pablo Isla, with the support of external counsel. Freixe, who joined Nestlé in 1986 and took over as CEO in September 2024, will not receive an exit package. The investigation was triggered by a whistleblower report via Nestlé’s compliance channel, and external counsel confirmed a conflict…

Top 10 Stock to Buy in September – CSL Stockbrokers Picks Spotting value in stocks isn’t an easy task, and going to the stock market blindly is even more dangerous unless you have the expertise. Investors without such expertise rely on stockbrokers, and this reduces the risk of losing the investment significantly. In August, the Nigerian Exchange experienced significant fluctuation as bargain hunting faded versus previous trend in the local bourse. This suggests price corrections have made stock companies cheaper, and then resulting in an increase in upside potentials. For September, equity investors at CSL Stockbrokers Limited have selectively picked…

TotalEnergies Awarded 2 Offshore Exploration Permits in Nigeria TotalEnergies (80%, operator), together with its partner South Atlantic Petroleum (20%), have signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the PPL 2000 and PPL 2001 exploration licenses offshore Nigeria, which were awarded following the 2024 Exploration Round organized by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. PPL 2000 & 2001, covering an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometers, are located in the prolific West Delta basin. The work program includes drilling one firm exploration well. “TotalEnergies is honored to be the first international company to be awarded exploration licenses in a bid round…

Debt Office Calls for Prudent Utilisation of Borrowed Funds The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Tuesday urged sub-national entities in Nigeria to ensure effective debt management practices to ensure sustainable economic development. The Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, gave the advice at a World Bank assisted workshop on “Borrowing Guidelines for Top Policy Makers ” in Lagos. Oniha said the workshop was informed by the need for sub-national governments to understand that the country operated one economy, with actions of one level of government affecting the other. She called for prudent utilisation of borrowed funds “The other part of…

PZ Cussons, Cadbury Drive Nigerian Stock Market Intraday Loss PZ Cussons, Cadbury Nigeria Plc among other early decliners are driving the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) all share index downward during early trading hours on Tuesday. Bargain hunting is fading as market anticipates the release of Tier-1 banks earnings scorecard for first half of 2025 to be released. Zenith Bank, GTCO, Access Holdings and UBA have sought regulatory extension for their respective audited results to be published. For three weeks, investors have been selling down their interest, and financial stocks – banks and insurance and other non-banks listed stocks have suffered pullback.…

Brent Climbs to $68 over Supply Concerns Ahead of OPEC+ In the global commodity market on Tuesday, prices of crude oil climbed over escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine renewed supply concerns and markets await signals from the upcoming OPEC+ meeting. Brent crude was trading at $68.35 per barrel, up 0.5% from the previous close of $68.04. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 0.5% to $64.73 from $64.41 in the prior session. Moscow and Kyiv have intensified aerial attacks in recent weeks, with strikes increasingly targeting energy and transport systems. Ukraine said early Sunday that an overnight Russian drone…

Naira Debit Card FX Rate for Online Payments Improved Daily exchange rate for foreign payments conducted by banks customers improved to N1542 per dollar on Monday, from N1545 reported last week. According to GTBank, international payment on its naira debit card was consummated at N1542 for international payment settled via Naira Mastercard on Monday. The naira debit card quoted for FX payment suggested that exchange rate improved versus last week. In the parallel market, the local currency traded at N1540 per dollar, gained N5 from last week spot rate. At the official window on Monday, the naira was quoted at…