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Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 31.70 per cent in February from 29.90 per cent in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday. The statistics office said the February 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.80 per cent compared to the January 2024 headline inflation rate. The NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 9.79 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2023, which was 21.91 per cent. “This shows that the headline…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has provided clarifications regarding its recent donation of 2.15 million bags of fertilisers to farmers across the country through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. The CBN had on Wednesday donated fertilisers valued at over N100 billion at current market prices, aiming to support domestic agricultural production and address rising food inflation. Inflation in Nigeria has continued to rise largely because of the high cost of food items. As of February, the…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reaffirmed its directive to banks regarding the utilisation of foreign currency (FCY) revaluation gains. In a circular released by the bank on Thursday and signed by the Acting Director of the Banking Supervision Department, Adetona Adedeji, the CBN advised banks against undertaking such actions. In the circular, referencing a letter dated 11 September 2023, the CBN emphasised the need for banks to exercise utmost prudence in handling these gains. According to the directive,…

MainOne, a Digital Infrastructure Service Provider, on Saturday, said that it had restored service to some customers and was actively working on restoring all services through capacity acquired on available cable systems. The organisation made this known via a statement on its website after it earlier said it would take two weeks to five weeks for it to fully restore internet services. The statement said that the estimated repair time that it had earlier declared was for its submarine cable fault to be fixed.…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to help tackle the menace of crude oil theft in the country. Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC Ltd, disclosed this in a statement on Monday. Mr Soneye said the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mele Kyari, made the appeal at an interactive session with the Executive Chairman of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, held at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Monday.…

Aisha Dahir-Umar, the Director General of National Pension Commission (PenCom), has described as “totally misleading” widespread reports that the Commission gave a N10 trillion loan to the Federal Government. She also responded to claims that PenCom was owing the Federal Government retirees arrears of pensions as well as insinuations that Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are not fulfilling their obligations to retirees with regards to access to their retirement savings. Mrs. Dahir-Umar, in a media interview at…

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has urged mineral-rich African countries to use the proven mineral reserves of their countries as equity in joint ventures, instead of taking loans that worsen the plight of their people. Speaking at a Ministerial Roundtable on Powering Africa in Washington DC recently, Mr Alake deplored unwholesome pressure on African governments by loan marketers despite global concerns over the declining capacity of many countries to settle their debts. The minister said,…

President Bola Tinubu has directed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to return food items that were confiscated at border communities to owners on the condition that they would be sold in the Nigerian markets to boost food sufficiency. This was disclosed Saturday by the Comptroller General of the NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, during an interface with residents of border communities in Kongolam and Mai’Adua border stations. Mr Adeniyi hinted that the president has decided to exercise his power “according to the feelings…

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs said it sees the Nigerian naira gain more ground against the US dollar in the next twelve months. The bank projected the exchange rate of the local currency to the greenback at 1200 in the short term on the back of policy reforms that could support the currency’s recovery. In a research note issued late Thursday, the New York-based financial institution highlighted the recent upward interest rate adjustment by monetary authorities in Nigeria and a recent N1.6 trillion bill…

Nigeria’s crude oil daily output has increased by 200,000 barrels over the last six months due to security measures introduced in the Niger Delta, a presidential aide has said. Stability in the oil producing areas has also increased the availability of NLNG Trains 1-6 from 57 per cent in 2023 to 70 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said. She stated this on Friday in Abuja at a media briefing on policy directives of the President Bola Tinubu…