Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria (Discos) have attributed the current liquidity situation in the power sector to poor payments made by consumers for electricity distributed. The Discos claim they purchase electricity from generation companies at an exchange rate of N305 per dollar and sell at an exchange rate of N198.98 per dollar. Speaking at an energy management forum organized by...

No less than 14 commercial banks including First Bank and the United Bank for Africa (UBA), have been barred from dealing in the Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs) wholesale forex window. Other banks include FCMB, Keystone Bank, Main Street Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Citi Bank, Enterprise Bank, Ecobank, WEMA Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Union Bank, SunTrust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. In a...

Nigeria is likely to lift the ban that prevents some importers from accessing foreign currency on the interbank market, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo (photo) declared on Tuesday. He said the Federal Government is considering putting in place policy-driven restrictions to encourage the manufacturing of 41 items like rice and toothpicks, locally. The lifting of the ban could ease foreign-currency...

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu (photo), on Tuesday, disclosed that the Federal Government has released $400 million to pay Joint Venture (JV) cash call debts of $1.2 billion owed to International Oil Companies, last year. Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing 2017 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, U.S, he explained that the payment was the...

Nigeria spends over $100 million on the importation of sugar which can be locally grown, Godwin Emefiele (photo), the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed on Sunday. According to Emefiele, sugar production is part of the bank’s core aspect of the anchor-borrower programme. He said in order to achieve the goal of diversifying the economy from oil to agriculture, the apex...

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote (photo), has revealed plans to invest N106 billion ($338 million) in the Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR) to boost the Dangote Group's profitability and enhance the payment of dividends. The investment will be made over the next four to six years. Speaking to shareholders at its 11th Annual General Meeting for the 2016 financial year in Lagos, Dangote said part...

South African Telecommunication firm, MTN, has dismissed 280 workers, about 15% of its workforce from its Nigerian unit. This is in line with plans to shift its focus towards Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and digital operations. According to sources who asked not to be named, the layoffs were necessary given the recent changes in the telecoms industry. The sources stated that...

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private arm of Islamic Development Bank Group (IDBG), and Suntrust Bank Nigeria Limited (SBN), signed an agreement to establish a new Non-interest banking window in SBN in Nigeria. The two institutions are determined to collaborate and facilitate information and expertise exchange in order to develop effective...

Leveraging on digital banking, Nigeria’s First Bank revealed plans to boost its customer base by 17 million to 30 million customers, by 2020. This was disclosed on Friday by the lender’s chief executive, Adesola Adeduntan. “We have enough brick and mortar (branches) and need to push digital,” Adeduntan told Reuters by phone. “We have set ourselves an ambitious three-year...

UOP LLC, division of Honeywell International Inc, announced it has secured from Dangote Oil Refinery Company a contract for the provision of equipment and technology for its upcoming Lekki integrated refinery and petrochemical plant. Under the agreement, UOP LLC is to provide Dangote Oil Refinery Company proprietary specialist equipment and high-quality packaged equipment. According to Mike...