Nigeria's Lagos state sells 47 bln naira of bonds - governor

Nigeria's Lagos state has sold 47 billion naira ($154.50 million) of bonds maturing in 2023 to help finance its efforts to improve basic infrastructure in the country's commercial hub, its governor said on Saturday. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said in an emailed statement that the debt issue, with a 16.5 percent coupon, was the first tranche of a 500 billion naira debt issuance programme approved by the state's parliament in September. The state had...

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Nigeria's Buhari says will pursue peace in restive Niger Delta in 2017

Nigeria's government will seek a lasting peace settlement with militants in the oil-producing southern Niger Delta region in 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a New Year's message on Saturday. Attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria's energy hub, coupled with low oil prices, helped push Africa's biggest economy into recession - the first in 25 years - in the second quarter. Crude oil sales account for two-thirds of government revenue in the OPEC...

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Secret of staying fit and well into old age

By DR MUIR GRAYWhen I was just 28, part of my work as a doctor was organising care for the elderly. And that’s when I first noticed something rather strange.Some people in their 80s were very disabled and dependent on others, while others were lively characters who still worked, made love, drove cars and cared for others.‘What made the difference?’ I asked myself. Was it just luck — or did it have anything to do with the choices each person had made? When...

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The questions everyone needs to ask themselves each week to ensure they're saving enough money

There are simple ways in which you can save money all year round if you put a little extra thought into your budgeting. From asking yourself whether you can buy something second-hand to checking to if you went to the gym that week, there are lots of different ways that you can keep on top of your money.Founder of budgeting tool Squirrel, Mutaz Qubbaj, and founder of Credit-Improver.co.uk, Tom Eyre, came up with eight questions every person should...

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Nigerian naira loses a third in value in 2016, stocks down 6 pct

Nigeria's naira currency lost around a third of its official value against the dollar in 2016 while the stock market declined 6.17 percent over the same period, reflecting the economic crisis in Africa's biggest economy. The currency closed at 305 to the dollar on the official interbank market on Friday - the last day of trading in 2016 - compared with 199.50 a dollar a year ago, a 34.6 percent depreciation. It fell to a low of 490 a dollar on...

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Nigeria sells $1 bln to help clear backlog in biggest dollar sale since June

Nigeria's central bank sold about $1 billion on the forward market last week to clear a backlog of dollar obligations in selected sectors, traders said on Thursday, its largest special auction since a currency peg was removed in June. Outstanding dollar demand was about $4 billion before June when the 16-month-old peg was removed. Efforts to cut dollar demand have been largely unsuccessful due to low oil prices. Crude sales account for about 90...

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How sex can be so much better for the over-50s

There aren’t many twentysomethings who would envy the sex lives of those over 50.But maybe they should.For like fine wines and whisky, sex only gets better with time, according to a study.Scientists found that sex improves as we get older because we develop more ‘sexual wisdom’ in our later years.More mature lovers tend to focus on quality over quantity in the bedroom, with the extra ‘thought and effort’ they put into sex countering the possible...

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Nigerian interbank rate jumps to 50 pct on cenbank forex sales -traders

Nigeria's overnight lending rate rose sharply to around 50 percent on Friday, from an average of 4.5 percent the previous day, after the central bank debited commercial lenders' accounts for special forex sales, traders said.Nigeria's central bank on Monday asked banks to submit bids for a "special currency auction" to clear the backlog of matured outstanding dollar obligations for selected sectors of the economy, which include airlines, fuel importers...

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ECOMOG troop may force Gambia's Jammeh down if...ECOWAS

West Africa's regional bloc has put standby forces on alert in case Gambian president Yahya Jammeh does not step down when his mandate ends on Jan. 19, ECOWAS commission president Marcel de Souza said. Jammeh has vowed to stay in power despite losing a Dec. 1 election to rival Adama Barrow, raising the possibility that regional powers may intervene to oust him if diplomacy does not succeed in persuading him to leave."We have put standby forces on...

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Nigerian naira may hits 500/$ next week-traders

Nigeria's naira is seen depreciating further and could hit the 500 mark to the dollar on the black market by next week as greenback scarcity persists and the central bank cuts supply to forex operators. The local currency was trading around 495 to the dollar on the black market on Thursday, compared to 485 per dollar last week due to dollar shortages, traders said.The naira was quoted at 310.5 to the dollar on the official interbank window on Thursday...

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Nigeria asks air passengers for patience as no quick fix for jet fuel shortages

Nigeria is trying to import more jet fuel but air travelers tired of delays must be patient as a shortage of foreign currency will continue to hurt the airline industry, the minister of aviation said. "The flight has been delayed due to a scarcity of aviation fuel," has become a standard announcement at Nigerian airports, where passengers spend much of the day waiting as the recession-hit West African nation struggles to buy jet fuel in from abroad.Most...

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Nigeria to close capital's airport for 6 weeks to fix runway

Nigeria will close the airport in the capital Abuja for six weeks from February to repair its badly damaged runway, the government said on Tuesday, after airlines threatened to stop flying there. Flights to Abuja will be diverted to Kaduna, an airport used primarily for domestic flights and where airlines give out handwritten boarding passes. Kaduna lies about 160 km (100 miles) to the north of the capital and is linked by a pot-holed road where...

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Gambian President Jammeh says he will not step down

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said he would not step down and condemned mediation by West African regional bloc ECOWAS that aims to get him to leave power after he lost a Dec. 1 election to challenger Adama Barrow.The comments on state television late on Tuesday were a hardening of the veteran president's position after days in which hopes mounted he could be persuaded to hand over power at the end of his mandate on Jan. 18, when Barrow is due...

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I.M.F. Stands by Christine Lagarde, Convicted of Negligence

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) threw its support behind its leader, Christine Lagarde, on Monday despite her conviction in a French court on charges of misusing public funds. With international elites and their institutions facing populist criticism amid political and social change in the United States and Europe, the 24 directors of the fund decided that this was not the time to leave the I.M.F. rudderless.Earlier on Monday, the Cour de...

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Nigerian central bank seeking end to spread between naira rate and black market -governor

Nigeria's central bank will try to eliminate the spread between the official and black market exchange rate against the dollar, the finance minister said on Tuesday. The naira is trading on the parallel market some 40 percent lower than the official rate as low global crude prices have dried up vital oil revenues and pushed Africa's largest economy into recession. The central bank (CBN) scrapped a 16-month-old peg of 197 naira to the dollar in June,...

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Nigeria's biggest carrier Arik workers on strike over unpaid salary

Nigeria's biggest carrier, Arik Air workers have embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the non-payment of outstanding salary of over seven months. In a statement by the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, National Union of Air Transport Employees and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and jointly signed by Abba Ocheme, Olayinka Abioye and Francis Akinjole, on behalf of the three unions, the...

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IMF chief Christine Lagarde's career faces ruin after she is found GUILTY of criminal negligence

Paris judges on Monday found IMF chief Christine Lagarde guilty of financial negligence leaving her tenure at the organisation dangling by a thread. The 60-year-old was not in the specially convened Court of Justice of the Republic to hear the 'symbolic verdict' and reports suggest she has returned to the US where she lives and works. Instead it was left to her defence barrister Patrick Maisonneuve to say: 'We would have preferred an acquittal pure...

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Nigeria seeks advisers for debut Islamic bond

Nigeria is looking for financial and legal advisers and trustee firms to organise its first Islamic bond in the domestic market, the country's Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Monday.The OPEC member, which is Africa's largest economy, is working on a debut sovereign sukuk but has yet to determine the size of a potential deal. Nigeria, which is in a recession and needs to raise funds to plug a budget deficit, has set up a government committee...

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UK seeks transitional EU trade deal to avoid Brexit 'cliff edge'

The United Kingdom may need a transitional agreement to smooth its exit from the European Union but it should not "buy back" into too many of the bloc's regulations, British trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday.  Fox, who campaigned for a Brexit vote in June's referendum, also indicated he was seeking a flexible approach on trade to try to ensure the best deals for the British economy.Businesses and investors have raised concerns that the...

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Nigeria to provide dollars to airlines, fuel marketers in special fx auction -traders

Nigeria's central bank on Monday asked banks to submit bids for a "special currency auction" to clear the backlog of matured outstanding dollar obligations for selected sectors of the economy, traders said on Monday. The central bank instructed commercial lenders to submit backlog dollar demand from fuel importers, airlines, raw materials and machinery for manufacturing firms and agricultural chemicals by 1500 GMT for a special forex intervention.Nigeria...

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Nigeria interbank lending rate eases on budget cash injections

Nigeria's overnight lending rate fell this week to around 3 percent on Friday from an average of 3.9 percent a week ago on expectations that budget cash will be injected into the banking system on Friday or Monday, traders said. Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's biggest economy, relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of national income. All government revenue is shared among the country's federal, state and local governments each month.On Thursday...

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World Bank units add $517 mln to Ghana oil, gas project financing

The World Bank Group said on Thursday it two of its units would provide another $517 million to Ghana in debt and guarantees to support the $7.7 billion Sankofa oil and gas project developed by Italy's ENI SpA and upstream trader Vitol Ghana. The financing adds to a $700 million World Bank guarantee package announced in July and brings the institution's total financing to around $1.217 billion for the offshore project, whose gas component is set...

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Nigeria, set to benefit most from OPEC cut, struggles to cash in

Nigeria, one of two OPEC countries completely shielded from any cuts to its oil production, was in line for a windfall from the group's agreement late last month to shore up the price of crude. Instead, the beleaguered West African nation is struggling to sell its rising oil production as higher benchmark prices slammed shut trade routes and did little to stem an excess of light, sweet oil, leaving millions of unsold barrels. The decision in November...

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Nigeria sells more treasury bills after bond auction disappoints

Nigeria's central bank sold more treasury bills than it offered at an auction this week, it said on Friday, to mop up liquidity after the debt office cut the size of a domestic bond sale in view of its high borrowing costs. The central bank raised 147.48 billion naira ($484 mln) at a treasury bill sale on Wednesday, higher than the 83.24 billion naira it originally advertised, and yields remained unchanged at the auction. It sold three-month paper...

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The VERY simple secrets behind billionaires' supreme wealth, success and happiness

Billionaires may be a rare and elusive breed but their secrets to success are a lot more straightforward than you think.Indeed, one expert - who has interviewed and worked with some of the richest people in the world - has shared their ten secrets to supreme wealth, success and happiness - and anyone can follow them.Vikas Shah, a Professor of Entrepreneurship, who has interviewed the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Sir James Dyson, and Steve Ballmer...

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Incoming U.N. chief appoints Nigeria's Amina Mohammed as deputy

Incoming United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday appointed Nigeria's Environment Minister Amina Mohammed as his deputy secretary-general amid a push by more than a third of the 193 U.N. member states for gender parity at the world body. Guterres, who will take over from current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, was sworn in on Monday as the ninth male U.N. chief and pledged to reach gender parity among senior leadership within his...

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Mozambique bails out major bank to save banking system

Mozambique's central bank has bailed out the country's fourth largest commercial lender in a move it said was needed to prevent the failure of its banking system. The African country has been grappling with a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the International Monetary Fund and foreign donors cutting off support over loans that were not approved by parliament or disclosed publicly.Banco de Mozambique governor Rogério Lucas Zandamela said the central...

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EU offers more funds to Africa curb migration

The European Union offered Niger 610 million euros ($635 million) on Thursday to curtail migration from Africa through the Mediterranean to Europe and said it was seeking more such money-for-migration deals ahead. Some 1.4 million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe this year and last, and the EU wants to cut back on the uncontrolled influx of people.Niger's desert city of Agadez is a popular waystation for people trying to cross the Sahara...

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Nigeria's distributable revenue fell by 7.8 percent in November

Nigeria's distributable revenues to the government fell in November by 7.8 percent to 387 billion naira ($1.27 billion) as militant attacks shut down Niger Delta oil pipelines and cut earnings, the accountant general has said. Nigeria, which has Africa's biggest economy, is an OPEC member that relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of government revenue. As a result, it has been hit hard by the fall in global crude prices since mid-2014.Militants...

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NNPC Exit of Cash Calls Agreement to Usher in Investment in Oil Sector

By Ndu UghamaduThe Upstream petroleum sector in Nigeria which has recorded low investment in recent years would soon be upbeat in a flurry of activities.This is the prevalent views of captains of the Oil and Gas Industry led by the Hon. Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti   Baru and chief executives of International Oil Companies (IOCs) at a signing ceremony of cash-call exit agreement between...

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