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The National Insurance Commission has barred all underwriting companies from selling their products through the banks and other financial institutions. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Mohammed Kari, said this during the investiture ceremony of the Managing Director, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, as the 22nd chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association in Lagos on Tuesday. Kari said that the commission had been in discussion with the apex bank on the bancassurance (selling insurance products through bank networks) distribution channel for some time now. “However, in a letter received last week, the CBN asserted that NAICOM was not in a position to license banks and thus we could not go ahead with the arrangement for now,” he said. The commissioner said that NAICOM would continue to engage the CBN until all the grey areas were resolved. Kari added , “The second, however, is that from today, all relationships the commission had hitherto accomm...

India and the United States have slashed their imports of Nigerian crude oil by 43 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively, translating to a loss of at least N88bn in earnings, the latest report from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has shown. India, which became the single largest buyer of Nigerian crude in 2013 after the US, reduced its imports from Nigeria in May this year as it bought 7.74 million barrels, down from 13.51 million barrels in April; 12.51 million barrels in March and 12.70 million barrels in February. The Asian country had in January imported 16.29 million barrels of Nigerian crude, its highest monthly level this year, the NNPC data showed. The US, whose imports of Nigerian crude rose by 577.8 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2015, reduced its import by 5.77 million barrels in May from 10.13 million barrels in the previous month. In February, the US bought as much as 12.12 million barrels from Nigeria, m...

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), manager of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed a $700 million (about N224.17 billion) real estate and agriculture deal with South Africa’s Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG). Under the deal, signed in Abuja at the weekend, NSIA will partner with South Africa’s OMIG UFF Agri-Fund to establish a $500 million real estate co-investment vehicle and a $200 million agriculture co-investment vehicle. NSIA’s Managing Director, Uche Orji said the deal would cover retail assets, especially office buildings. He said: “The objective is to invest $500 million in commercial and retail assets, especially office buildings and hospitality facilities. The vehicle is expected to have initial commitments of up to $100 million each from NSIA and Old Mutual and is targeting a total commitment size of $500 million with deal origination and execution to be undertaken jointly by both parties. “(For that of agricult...

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on Saturday said the apex bank took the best monetary policy option in addressing the current economic challenges facing the country. He also said that except Nigerians embrace fully the concept of diversification, the country would not be able to generate enough foreign exchange to cushion the effect of the drop in the value of the naira. He further said the inability of the country to increase its stock of foreign exchange, owing to the drop in global oil prices, was the major reason for the persistent decline in the value of the naira against the dollar. Emefiele, while speaking during an interview on the sidelines of a career conference in Abuja, said the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN could not have taken a better decision in view of the current challenges facing the country. The event, put together by The Everlasting Arms Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, had as its theme,” Your life, y...

Textile manufacturers in the country have appealed to the Federal Government to stop selling gas to local industries in dollars. According to them, the payment of the gas tariff in the United States dollar is counter-productive to local manufacturers, a development that has made the commodity unaffordable to many businesses. Speaking under the aegis of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, operators in the sector stressed that the gas being supplied to the local industries was costlier than what the commodity was selling for in the international market. The Director-General, NTMA, Mr. Hamma Kwajaffa, who made the group’s position known in a presentation that was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, said, “The price of gas supplied to the local industry is pegged to the American dollar and was not reviewed after the drop in global oil and gas prices. “The current domestic tariff at $7.38/mmscf is three times the price of gas in the internatio...

Ghana’s annual consumer price inflation dropped to 16.7 percent in July from 18.4 percent in June as the cedi currency stabilised and food prices fell at the start of the harvest season, the statistics office said on Wednesday. The West African country has enjoyed general price stability this year compared to last, when water tariffs increased 15 percent and petroleum prices also increased significantly. “The main reason why we are seeing a drop in July is as a result of base drift and seasonality effects, influenced by stability of the cedi and the beginning of good harvest,” Reuters quoted government statistician Philomena Nyarko to have told a news conference in Accra. Nyarko said the inflation rate in transport also fell last month compared with last year because fuel prices were stable. Year-on-year non-food inflation for July was 21.2 percent, down from 24.1 percent in June, while food inflation was unchanged at 8.6 percent, Nyarko said. Ghana, which exports coco...

The Guardian has again been commended for moving in line with the new thinking in the dissemination of information as a media platform.It has done this effectively especially with the setting up of The Guardian TV as well as its high presence on the internet and social media, according to the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Steve Ayorinde. He noted that it takes courage and deep thinking for today’s media managers to make decisions to keep being relevant as print platforms, revealing that he reads and follows The Guardian tweets. Ayorinde was not surprised that The Guardian has taken solid steps to make its social media platforms and online presence more active because looking at the sector’s landscape, any newspaper that wants to remain relevant must go that way. According to him, this is also because any media house that misses it now, will likely miss it forever, as the future being talked about belongs to digital age that is here now. Ayorinde, w...

Though attempts have been made to assure Nigerians that there are no plans to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly referred to as petrol, The PUNCH has gathered that the actual price at which the product should sell at filling stations is N151.87 per litre. This “realistic” price is more than the maximum N145 per litre fixed by the Federal Government on May 11, 2016 when it liberalised the downstream oil sector, marketers with knowledge of the market and the pricing mechanism told one of our correspondents on Tuesday. This, they said, was basically due to the continued scarcity of the United States dollar, adding that the true price of petrol was N151.87 litre, judging by the current ex-depot price of the commodity. In Tuesday’s exclusive report by The PUNCH on a looming hike in petrol price, dealers explained that the ex-depot price of the product was N133.28 per litre and that the marketers were doing their best to manage the situation. They stresse...

As Nigeria continues to dither over the Petroleum Industry Bill, which has suffered setbacks in two consecutive legislative tenures, Ghana has passed its own petroleum bill into law in a bid to lure investments. Ghana’s legislature passed the Petroleum Production and Exploration Bill into law on Thursday to replace the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984, our correspondent gathered on Monday. The country’s Energy Minister, Emmanuel Buah, said the new law would create an attractive environment for potential investors to participate in the sector by providing certainty and transparency in the ground rules for operations. Hope that the PIB would be given quick attention by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was rife last year when the new government came on stream. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, recently said that the nation was losing over $15bn annually to the non-passage of the PIB. In April, the Senate started the...

Marketers of petroleum products who paid the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for supply of kerosene but could not get the product may seek for the refund of the payments, THISDAY has gathered. THISDAY’s investigation revealed that about 78 marketers and depot owners paid the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC for supply of kerosene and petrol from imported vessels. Apart from the marketers and depot owners who paid for direct supply from the PPMC vessels, it was also gathered that over 2,000 bulk buyers of the product have also paid for supply from the depots that have throughput arrangement with the PPMC. According to some of the marketers who spoke to THISDAY at the weekend, some of these payments were made since 2015 but the marketers are yet to receive supply. “We have two categories of people whose money has been trapped since last year. One group is the depot owners and other marketers who paid to load direct from t...

President Muhammadu Buhari has called for more intensive trade and economic engagement between Nigeria and Italy. Speaking recently during a courtesy call by Mr. Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation at the State House, Abuja, Buhari described the connection between Nigeria and Italy as very strong. He urged that efforts should be made to make it stronger and more secure. A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu said Buhari commended the resilience of Italian businesses in Nigeria and expressed happiness that new businesses were in line to be set up in the country. He also commended Italian support for his government in tackling the humanitarian situation in the Northeast and the training they are giving to Nigerian policemen. Mr. Gentiloni, who was accompanied by the Italian Minister of State for Interior, Mr. Domenico Manzione, announced his government’s $10 Milli...

Dangote Industries Limited has announced the commencement of the construction of concrete roads in various states across the country, particularly in Lagos, Bauchi, Kogi, Kaduna and Ogun states. “We are very happy at the moment. We can categorically state that we are in more than five states across the country already constructing roads. The reception has been wonderful. State governments are beginning to see the need to embrace concrete roads and we are very happy at the way things are currently going,” the company said. The Chairman, Dangote Cement Plc, Aliko Dangote, recently reiterated his plea to the Federal Government to consider the use of concrete in road construction in the country. The African richest man said it would be to the benefit of Nigerians if the Federal Government embraced the option of using concrete for roads in the country, adding that aside from being cheap, concrete roads were more durable, with near zero maintenance cost. “We are pushing for Niger...

Fourteen (14) airlines have withdrawn their services from Nigeria due to low patronage and the bad economy being experienced in the country. According to The Guardian, the airlines are among the 50 that operated the Nigerian routes some months ago. Some of those listed are Spanish-owned Iberia airlines, United Airlines and Air Gambia among others. The airlines were also said to lost about N64 billion in the wake of the new foreign exchange (forex) policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Speaking on the issue, president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Bankole Bernard, said the new forex policy and economic recession came with enormous negative effect on travel agencies and airlines. Bernard, who spoke at the Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast meeting held in Lagos recently, said there was fear that more airlines might quit flying the Nigerian routes. He also revealed that some travel agencies are already considering relocating to Ghana, w...

Amidst efforts by the Federal Government to diversify the economy from oil, the prospects of earning revenue from the non-oil sector are fast fading, owing to the dismal performance of the sector. Data from Bloomberg showed that all activities in the non-oil sector recorded varying degrees of declining growth relative to real Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2016. Specifically, the data indicated that the sector dropped from 2.11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 to -0.36 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. A further breakdown of the figure showed that in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sub sector, crop production dropped from 3.3 per cent in the Q4, 2015 to three per cent in the Q1 2016; livestock was 5.6 per cent in the Q4 2015, it dropped to 3.9 per cent in the Q1 2016. Forestry fell from four per cent in the Q4 2015 to 2.3 per cent in the Q1 2016. Fishing was 5.4 per cent in the Q4 2015, it dropped to 3.3 per cent in the Q1 2016. The mining...

What is Bitcoin? The first question which comes to the mind of most but once answered can lead to you deciding whether the digital currency will be able to meet your needs be they for consuming or investing. Bitcoin can be likened to the Naira on many levels. Having a wallet which is similar to the bank account you may have for your Naira, allows for easy but secure access to your money on demand. The Bitcoin is a currency in its own right and you can buy from a local exchange such as NairaEx and use it identically as you would the Naira sending and receiving. It also has incorporated the Blockchain which is a framework allowing you to keep track of transactions and increasing the overall transparency as you know exactly where your money went and how much. The Bitcoin Price? Bitcoin price is fairly stable and reliable for consumers. Holding value is a key factor when choosing whether to invest or hold Bitcoin as when you compare it to the Naira, Bitcoin is much more stable ...

The naira tumbled from 382 to 390 against the dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday as the scarcity of foreign exchange worsened. The local currency has been under persistent pressure against the greenback owing to dollar scarcity at both the interbank foreign exchange market and the black market. The shortage of forex at the interbank market, owing largely to scanty intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria after the total floating of the naira, has led to gradual and continued depreciation of the currency at both markets. After closing around 378 against the dollar for most part of last week, the naira dropped to 380 on Friday before falling to 382 on Monday. The naira closed at 311.06 against the dollar at the interbank market on Wednesday. After hitting an all-time low of 334 last Wednesday, the currency has been hovering around 310 and 330 at the interbank market. The local currency had depreciated from 280 to over 300 per dollar after the CBN floated the curr...

This is today's (3/8/2016) exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira against the Dollar, Pound and Euros