Author: Julius Alagbe

NVIDIA Posts $44bn Revenue for Q1, Announces Cash Dividend NVIDIA posted $44.1 billion revenue for the first quarter ended April 27, 2025, up 12% from the previous quarter and up 69% from a year ago, the company said in an official statement released. The company announced plan to pay cash dividend to shareholders in July following its earnings beat. Wall Street was looking for an adjusted earnings per share of $0.93 on sales of $43.25 billion, while Nvidia printed $0.96 on sales of $44.06 billion for the quarter. NVIDIA said on April 9, 2025, NVIDIA was informed by the U.S.…

Nigeria’s Bold Tax Reforms Already Yielding Results – Tinubu President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said one of his administration’s most impactful achievements was its bold tax reform agenda, which had started yielding results. The President said this in a statement to mark the second anniversary of his administration. He said by the end of 2024, the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio rose from 10 per cent to over 13.5 per cent, a remarkable leap in just one year. He said this was a result of deliberate improvement in tax administration and policies designed to make the tax system fairer, more efficient, and…

Market Rates Diverge as Financial System Liquidity Fluctuates In the money market, the short-term interest rates benchmark diverged as the liquidity level in the financial system fluctuated rapidly amidst the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) market actions. Inflows from OMO bills totaling N984.22 billion had lifted the funding profile and caused money market rates to trend below 27%. The market also recorded inflows from 13% derivation funds and state disbursements. Hence, the CBN moved to absorb excess liquidity via a ₦600 billion OMO auction across mid-tenor, which saw ₦687.13 billion in bids and ₦482.33 billion allotted. On Tuesday, the CBN…

AfDB Cuts Nigeria’s GDP Growth, Cites Reduced US, China Demand Nigeria’s economy is projected to grow at a slower pace, with its real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 3.2 percent in 2025 and 3.1 percent in 2026. The African Development Bank (AfDB) made these projections in its 2025 African Economic Outlook released on Tuesday at its ongoing 2025 Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. According to the report, the projections mark a downward revision from earlier projections by the bank. The AfDB said that the slowdown was mainly due to reduced demand from key trading partners like the United…

BVN Database Dispute: Court Delivers Judgment in NIBSS vs CBN Suit The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed July 4 for judgment in the suit filed by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and others. NIBSS, in the suit, is seeking an order to prevent any institution from challenging its statutory authority to maintain and manage the Bank Verification Number (BVN) database in Nigeria. Justice James Omotosho fixed the date after lawyer to NIBSS, Babatunde Ige, and CBN’s counsel, Kofo Abdulsalam-Alada, adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against…

Nigerian Treasury, OMO Bills Rally, Yields Shrink The Nigerian Treasury and OMO bills rallied in the secondary market, causing a shift in the yield curve amidst fresh open market operations (OMO) auction offers by the Central Bank. The CBN was in the market to mop up N600 billion across two mid-tenor offers. Subscription was heavy as banks and foreign portfolio investors parked huge amounts into the open market operation instrument. The Debt Management Office was also in the market to raise N300 billion from two reopening bonds maturing in 2029 and 2033. Amidst tepid subscription levels, the authority cut rates…

CBN Allots Fresh OMO Bills to Banks, Foreign Investors Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN) issued a huge amount of an open market operations (OMO) bills to local and foreign portfolio investors at the primary market auction conducted on Monday. The auction was announced to redirect rates and liquidity movement in the money market on fear that N984.22 billion in inflows from maturing OMO bills on Tuesday would trigger excess cash in the banking system. The Apex Bank opened ₦600 billion worth of OMO bills to eligible market participants—banks and foreign portfolio investors. The auction was well received ahead of fresh maturities…

Naira Rallies as Exporters Flood Forex Market with Dollars The naira rallied against the US dollar in the official forex market as data revealed that exporters’ inflows drove liquidity. FX spot data from the Central Bank showed the exchange rate closed at N1579.40 at the Nigerian foreign exchange market, from N1580.44. The local currency experienced an all week rally against the greenback last week, supported by $190 million in FX intervention sales. Hence, the naira appreciated for the second consecutive week in a row, gaining 1.14% against the US dollar in the official spot market, closing at N1,580.44. Foreign investors’…

Airtel Flags 9.6m Potential Spam Messages in Two Months Airtel Nigeria, a telecommunications service provider, says that its AI-powered Spam Alert Service has issued over 9.6 million spam alerts between March 13 and May 20, 2025. Airtel Nigeria said this in a statement on Monday in Lagos. It said that as part of its ongoing commitment to protecting customers from unwanted and potentially fraudulent communications, Airtel designed the AI Spam Alert service to analyse traffic patterns and detect anomalies. It noted that the AI had identified 9,667,008 SMS as potential spam messages in the two months of its launch. According…

Excess Banking System Liquidity Lower Funding Rates Funding rates eased in the absence of pressures in the money market due to sufficient liquidity levels in the financial system. Banks with liquidity deficiency were able to access funding from the Apex Bank borrowing window, while cash-rich local lenders sterilised funds at the deposit facility. In spite of the mixed activities, the interbank liquidity remained ample and largely stable, and the market anticipates rates will ease in the new week, barring the Central Bank’s liquidity mop-up actions. Briefly, the banking system’s liquidity tightened as there was a substantial outflow of ₦2.5 trillion…