Demand for local bond rise, boost naira value

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) piled up demand on Nigeria's most liquid fixed income assets on Thursday, pushing down yield by 40 basis points on the country's 10-year bond, traders said.Yield on the 10-year bond fell to 13.90 percent on the secondary market as foreign investors locked up yield at an attractive level.Analysts said the rise in demand for fixed income in Africa's largest economy is an indication that uncertainty that characterised the general election has eased following the conclusion of the presidential election and the announcement...

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Positive Outlook For economy As Buhari’s Starts 2nd Term

With the INEC’s declaration of President Mohammadu Buhari as the winner of the 2019 Presidential election, uncertainties around the outcome polls are expected to clear off in a matter of days.  This will be more apparent once the major opposition candidate comes to terms with the reality of the outcome of the polls.  Accordingly, we expect the administration to build on its economic recovery and growth plan. Over the next four years, our outlook for the Nigerian economy is positive but modest.We expect the administration to continue...

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Aliko Dangote Now World 64th Richest Man With $16.6 Bln

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote moved up the billionaire's ladder this week, climbing to become the 64th richest person in the world. Dangote is now worth $16.6 billion, according to the latest data released by Bloomberg in its yearly billionaire's list. Dangote is the President of Dangote Group with interest in oil and gas, cement, commodities, foods and agro-allied businesses. In the latest list, Dangote climbed to the 64th position...

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Dangote Cement Seeks Additional Two Years Tax Holiday From Govt

Dangote Cement, majorly owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote said on Wednesday it has applied to Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) for extension of its pioneer tax holiday status by additional two years.In its financial report for the year ended 2018, the cement firm which operates in many African countries, including Nepal is seeking an exemption from paying an additional tax of about 43 billion naira in the course of the...

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How Congestion Slows 4G Telecoms Performance in Nigeria

Many telecoms subscribers are getting dissatisfied with the performance of the Fourth Generation (4G) services offered by operators because of the increasing slow speed performance at crucial times, a report has shown. A report conducted on 4G services in 77 countries including Nigeria, Network monitoring outfit, Opensignal concluded that congestion is messing with the 4G user experience. The 4G is the fourth generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology, succeeding 3G. Potential and current applications include amended mobile...

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PDP May Challenge Buhari Over Presidential Election, Rejects Poll Result

Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded presidential election has rejected the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday morning. President Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner having scored 15,191,847 votes as against its candidate, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who scored 11,262,978.Osita Chidoka, a spokesman for the Atiku campaign organisation and PDP...

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INEC Declares President Buhari Winner Of Presidential Election, Defeats Atiku By 3.9 Mln Votes

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally declared President Mohammadu Buhari as the winner of the presidential election conducted last Saturday, defeating his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition party. The president will commence his second term in office on May 29, 2019, having scored the highest votes cast at the last election. Head of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu at 4.37am on Wednesday declared President Buhari...

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Nigeria Main Opposition Rejects Poll Results As President Buhari Coasting To Victory

Results so far posted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from last Saturday's presidential election has put President Mohammadu Buhari on the lead, but the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP thinks otherwise and called for the cancellation of the election. According to the Results announced in Abuja by the electoral body, Nigeria's ruling All Progressive Party (APC) candidate and current president, Buhari is leading his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. According to data announced by INEC on Monday night,...

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Ethiopian airlines plans all female flight to Oslo

Ethiopian Airlines has finalised preparations to operate an all-women functioned flight to Oslo, Norway, in celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, according to a statement by the airline. The airline said the flight would take Addis Ababa – Stockholm – Oslo route on March 8, and would have as a theme, “All women functioned flight to operate from the continent of Africa to meet with their counterparts in Europe to show the power of women to the world.” Ethiopian Airlines had operated four flights to Bankok, Kigali, Lagos, and Buenos...

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Nigerian tourists to dubai in 2018 increase by 36 percent

More Nigerians visited the United Arab Emirate (UAE) on tourism in 2018, with the figure jumped by 36 percent compared with 2017 figure, the latest data from Dubai showed on Sunday. The figure showed that 185,000 visitors from Nigeria visited Dubai last year. The Gulf tourism hub Dubai recorded 15.92 million overnight tourist visitors in 2018, up 0.8 percent from 2017. The data showed that tourists from China rose 12 percent, but tourists from the Asain country represents the fourth higest last year. Dubai, one of seven emirates which...

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Observers say several killed in Nigeria poll violence

Nigeria Civil Society groups monitoring the general election have disclosed that about 35 people were killed during Saturday's election across the country.  The groups said the death toll during election was higher than that of the 2015 poll which was widely considered to have been orderly, aside from a Boko Haram attack that killed more than a dozen people.Clement Nwankwo, convener of the Situation Room, which represents...

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11Mln Nigerians Will Not Vote On Saturday For failure To Pick Up Their PVC

About 11.23 out of the 84 million registered voters nationwide will not be able to vote at the general election commencing from Saturday due to their failure to collect Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC).The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said only 72.77 million Nigerians out of the 84 million that registered to vote have so far collected the smart card that will enable them to vote at the election. Mahmood Yakubu, head of INEC gave these figures at a media briefing in Abuja ahead of the polls to elect a new president and members of...

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UK's Serious Fraud Office drops probes at Rolls Royce, GSK

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped long-running investigations into individuals at aero engine maker Rolls-Royce and drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, adding to a growing list of cases where the agency has failed to land convictions."After an extensive and careful examination I have concluded that there is either insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction or it is not in the public interest to bring a prosecution...

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INEC Says Zamfara APC Will Now Participate In 2019 Election After Court Ruling

Nigeria electoral body Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) said the candidates of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Zamfara State are to be allowed to participate in the 2019 general election.INEC said this was made possible by the ruling of a Court of Appeal on Thursday that the electoral commission should accept candidates of the party.The state APC was barred from presenting candidates owing to an internal crisis, which did not allow the party to conduct its primaries within the time frame set by IN...

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Ghana Plans To Raise $217.8 Mln Bonds

Ghana plans to issue $217.8 million bonds to help boost the country’s lender, National Investment Bank (NIB) liquidity and enhance its operations.The government would provide a 100 per cent guarantee for the bond that would be issued under the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT).The bond, which would be issued before the end of February would be the second tranche after an initial one for four other banks under the GAT.Chief Executive Officer of the...

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Anti-Graft Agency EFCC Warns of Fake dollars in circulation,

Nigeria anti-graft agency Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  on Thursday has warned the general public that there are fake dollars were in circulation ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday. In a statement issued by the agency, EFCC stated that the warning followed intelligence gathered in the build-up to the elections. “The intelligence indicates that the Dollar notes have features...

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VicePresident Osinbajo Says Committed to Nigerian People,Won't resign

Nigeria Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said he is committed to the service of the country and her people under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Vice President, who debunked rumour of his resignation from the current administration for being allegedly sidelined in the scheme of things, described is as a figment of the imagination of the main opposition party and its supporters. “I have not resigned! “I...

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How Samsung’s New Galaxy S10 Compares To The IPhone XS Max

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is actually four separate phones: the S10e (the “e” stands for “essential,”) the S10, the S10+, and the S10 5G. The first three go on sale in March, and the S10+ is the flagship of the trio. Having a family of three devices has become a trend, and in many ways the S10e, S10, and S10+ are Samsung’s answers to Apple’s iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max respectively. Despite the similar naming convention (Galaxy “S ten” versus iPhone...

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Nigeria Delay Election Cost Economy $1.5 Bln, Hope For A Better A Second Chance

Nigeria lost more than $1.5 billion to the decision to delay the general election by one week, the country's foremost chamber of commerce has said. The calculation was based on the economic loss to both individuals, corporate and government institutions whose activities have been altered by the shift in the day of the election from last Saturday to February 23. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said it estimated that the cost...

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$4m puts Atiku’s man in trouble

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has arrested an associate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over alleged laundering of $4 million. The money is termed “suspicious election cash”, the Nation said. The arrest followed an intelligence report on a suspicious transaction by a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator. The Nation had exclusively reported how the PDP reportedly allocated $3 million each for “logistics” to its 36 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Most Bureau De...

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Nigeria’s Population Growing Faster Than Economy – Report

The Nigerian population is growing at a faster rate than the growth in the economy, Analysts at the FSDH research have revealed.In its latest report,  the FSDH Merchant Bank said the consequence of population growth outpacing economic growth can be seen in the fast spread of poverty in the country.“This means that the economy is not expanding in such a way that can create enough job opportunities for the unemployed population, which the National Bureau of Statistics put at 21million as at Q3 2018,” it stated.The research note by the firm...

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President Buhari In Crucial Meeting With Service Chiefs, Others

Nigeria leader, President Muhammadu Buhari met with the Service Chiefs including the National Security Adviser, NSA, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu at the State House, Abuja.The meeting also has the Minister of Defence, Dan Mansur-Ali, Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, the Director General of Department of State Service (DSS) Yusuf Bichi and some other security heads in attendance.The State Governors at the...

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President Buhari Asks Military, Police To Shoot Ballot Box Snatchers

Nigeria leader President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that anybody who attempts to snatch ballot boxes in disrupt elections will be doing so at the expense of his own life. “I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system, he would do it at the expense of his own life,” the President said this at the opening of the meeting of the Caucus of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abuja on Monday to deliberate on the postponement of the...

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Investors Dumps Shares, Pressure On Naira As Market Reacts To Election Shift

Nigeria's financial markets responded to the news of election postponement on Monday with the local currency taking a hit on the forward market while investors dumping their shares on the local bourse as uncertainty over the general election deepen. The equity market declined to a week low at early trade while naira weakened on the forward market by one percent. Nigeria’s Eurobond yields also rose on Monday. The rise in government bond yields — yields move inverse to a bond’s price — was more pronounced in longer-dated, dollar-denominated bonds...

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Nigeria's External Reserves Decline To $42.86 Bln by Feb 14

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves dipped 0.55 percent to $42.86 billion by February 14, down to thier lowest level since November last year, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown. The external forex reserves of the West African country stood at $43.10 billion naira a month earlier, came down $242 million month-on-month.  However, the forex buffer was better than they were a year ago when they stood at $41.53 billion...

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Busted: How Gov El-rufai Lied About Killings In Kaduna State

The Zonal Coordinator, North-West office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ishaya Chonoko has debunked claims of fresh killing in a community in Kaduna state, saying the report was the handiwork of some 'unpatriotic Nigerians." He told a national daily that there were no fresh killings in Kajuru LGA on Friday as claimed by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-rufai.“It is not true that 66 people were killed in Kaduna State. I am in Kaduna now and I can confirm to you that I am not aware of any 66 people that were killed in Kajuru...

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Nigeria Election Postponement: History Repeating Itself

By Oludare MayowaNigeria chequered history in democratic experiment has been marred by attempts by politicians to manipulate the electoral process to favour their interest. The struggle for power among the political elites has resulted in many manoeuvring against the wishes of the masses in one way or the other in recent time.The early morning announcement of a shift in the dates of elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)...

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Why Nigeria INEC Postpones General Elections

Nigeria's electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled for Saturday.Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman announced this at a press briefing on Saturday morning held at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.“Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan, and the determination to conduct free, fair, and credible elections, the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled...

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Nigerian Stock Exchange Index up 3.76 Pct W/W, Lifted by Dangote, FBNH

Nigeria's equity market gained 3.76 percent week-on-week with the main index closing the week at 32,717 points, lifted by gains in cement, banking and hospitality sector. The market gained 0.81 percent on Friday compared with 0.12 percent gain recorded the previous day. Dangote Cement, which accounts for the third of the market capitalisation gained 8.5  percent to close at 194 naira per share, while First Bank holdings (FBNH) climbed by 0.45 percent to close at 8.45 naira , United Bank for Africa (UBA) rose...

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Nigerian Breweries records 37 pct Declines In Profit Before Tax in 2018

Nigerian Breweries, a local unit of Heineken has posted 29.42 billion naira Profit Before Tax (PBT) for its 2018 financial year, representing 37 percent decline compared to 46.63 billion PBT in the previous year, a report published by the company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has shown. The brewer of Gulder and Star producer also posted a decline in its revenue for the year, recording 350.22 billion in the period. According to the report, the company income dropped by 4.25 percent from 365.79 billion naira posted in 2017. However,...

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Nigeria Inflation Declines To 11.37 Pct In Jan ~ NBS

Nigeria's annual inflation rate fell to 11.37 percent in January, down from the seven-month high it reached in December, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown. The data from NBS released on Friday, a day before a presidential election showed an improvement from the 11.44 percent in the previous month. The price index peaked at 18.7 percent in January last year and has been in double digits for three years.  The...

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Flight ticket purchase by politicians, expatriates rises as election nears

Many Nigerians politicans and experts living in the country are putting the Airlines and travel agencies under pressure as demands for tickets hit the roof, a report has shown. A report by a Nigeria Newspaper, the Punch showed that demand for international flight bookings by families of prominent politicians and some expatriates has risen in the last couples of weeks due to the uncertainty in the political horizon. Airline officials confirmed...

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Nigeria's Central Bank Sells, Dollar, Yuan At Forex Auction On Friday

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday announced plans to intervene in the foreign exchange market with the sales of an unspecified amount of dollars and Chinese currency, the Yuan.In a notice to forex dealers, the regulatory bank said the sales will be through a combination of spot and short tenored forwards.It noted that Authorised Dealers are to debit customers’ accounts for the Naira equivalent of their bids.Nigeria's central bank intervenes...

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Nigeria 'Delta Avengers' militants vow to cripple economy if Buhari re-elected

A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta threatened on Thursday to cripple Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy if President Muhammadu Buhari is re-elected in a vote due to hold on Saturday.The Niger Delta Avengers - who have been demanding a greater share of the oil revenue produced in the impoverished southern region - said in a statement they hoped to end Buhari’s rule through elections and that opposition candidate Atiku...

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