Author: Julius Alagbe

This week, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is anticipated to raise the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 27.75%,

NDIC Reassures Heritage Bank Depositors of Prompt Payment The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured depositors of the defunct Heritage Bank that challenges delaying access to guaranteed sums above N5 million are being resolved. Mr Bello Hassan, Managing Director, NDIC, gave the reassurance on Saturday during the 2024 edition of the NDIC Editors Forum in Lagos. The theme of the conference is: “Strengthening Nigeria’s Financial Safety-Net: The Role of Deposit Insurance”. Hassan, represented by NDIC’s Executive Director, Operations, Mr Mustapha Ibrahim, said the corporation was working diligently to facilitate payments. Hassan explained that depositors with amounts above the maximum…

Atletico Leave it Late to Beat Alaves in Simeone’s 700th Game Diego Simeone’s 700th game in charge of Atletico Madrid ended in a late 2-1 win over Deportivo Alaves in LaLiga on Saturday. This was after Alexander Sorloth rescued the home side with an 86th-minute winner at the Metropolitano Stadium. Alaves took an early lead from the penalty spot but Antoine Griezmann equalised in the 76th minute with a spot kick of their own. This was before second-half substitute Sorloth bagged his fifth goal of the season to seal all three points. Atletico provisionally moved up to second in LaLiga,…

Manchester City’s Unbeaten Home Run Ends with Shock 4-0 loss to Spurs Manchester City’s misery continued with a shock 4-0 Premier League rout by Tottenham Hotspur at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. This marks the first time in Pep Guardiola’s dazzling managerial career that he has lost five games in a row across all competitions. James Maddison scored twice in the span of seven first-half minutes, while Pedro Porro netted shortly after the break and Brennan Johnson added a fourth goal deep in added time. The loss ended City’s club record run of 52 consecutive home matches unbeaten in all competitions.…

Hardship: Muslim Group Sets up Market of Convenience in Lagos Some Muslim scholars, under the umbrella of the League of Islamic Leaders in Mushin, Lagos, have established a market called Market of Convenience (MFC) where foodstuffs, in particular, would be sold at reduced prices. The scholars held a one-day sensitisation program on Sunday in Lagos on the need for Muslims to embrace MFC. The convener of the program and chairman of MFC, Alhaji Musoddiq Sanni, urged religious leaders to embrace the market. Sanni said that the Muslim community established the market as a strategy to contribute its quota to tackling…

FG, Brazilian Company Sign MoU to Boost Agribusiness The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) of Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost fertiliser production, hybrid seed technology and agricultural finance. The MoU was signed on behalf of the Federal Government by Mr Temitope Fashedemi, Permanent Secretary at the ministry, and Prof. Carlos Leal, the President of FGV, on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil. Fashedemi explained that with the MOU, private-sector projects on fertiliser production, hybrid seed technology and agricultural financing were projected to attract 4.3 billion dollars…

Dangote Refinery Reduces Petrol Price to N970 Per Litre The Dangote Petroleum Refinery says it has reduced the price of its Premium Motor Spirit from N990 per litre to N970/litr3 for marketers. In a statement released on Sunday, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said the reduction was to appreciate Nigerians as the year ends. “As the year comes to an end, this is our way of appreciating the good people of Nigeria for their unwavering support in making the refinery a dream come true. In addition, this is to thank the government…

NCC, CBN to Resolve Banks, Telcos USSD Debt Dispute The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to resolve the ongoing dispute between telecommunications operators and commercial banks over unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) fees. USSD, also known as quick or feature codes, enables users to send text messages and perform financial transactions, such as cash transfers and balance inquiries. The debt, which has risen to N250 billion, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has been a point of contention between telcos and banks. In 2019, telcos proposed…

Prices of crude oil rose successively in the last two days due to rising uncertainties in the global commodities market with the U.S sanctions on Russia’s Gazprombank.

Naira Plunges on Suboptimal FX Intervention The naira exchange rate suffered from a lack of FX liquidity at the Nigerian autonomous foreign exchange market this week.  The exchange rate closed negative over subpar FX intervention in the official window despite weak US dollar volume to meet growing demand. According to spot data tracked on the FMDQ platform, the naira depreciated to N1,652.62 per US dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market. The decline in the value of the local currency at the forex markets happened despite FX sales to banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), suggesting an…