Nigerian naira shed 1.64 percent to close at 189.10 against the greenback on Thursday, despite dollar sales by the central bank and oil companies, dealers said.

The naira traded at around 191 on Thursday, prompting the central bank to intervene, which helped lift it to 185.20. But it then finished weaker compared with its close of 186 on Wednesday after demand surged.… Continue Reading

Godwin Emefiele has been under the spotlight for weeks now as Nigeria deals with a major depreciation of the naira with him as the chief trouble-shooter. After a spate of circulars and pronouncements that have jolted the markets, he decided to meet with the business community to allay their fears. Here is an official statement from the CBN summarizing what he told the business community when he met with them Tuesday morning at the Intercontinental Hotel.… Continue Reading

The Nigerian naira firmed sharply on Wednesday after state-oil company NNPC sold around $350 million to lenders, helping the currency recover from a record low against the dollar.

The unit closed at 186 naira to the dollar, gaining 3.55 percent in volatile trade from Tuesday’s record low close of 192.10.

The NNPC, which accounts for the bulk of hard currency traded on the interbank market, sells dollars every month to buy naira for its local operations.… Continue Reading

Apple Tuesday announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $2.07 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.9 percent compared to 37.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.… Continue Reading

• Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel located on Victoria Island, Lagos has shut down operations to conduct extensive renovation of its facilities, as part of its management’s commitment to retain standards and remain the hospitality of first choice for guests visiting Lagos for business or pleasure.
• According to a statement by Anchorage Leisures Limited, owners of the facility, the renovation exercise will “cover areas such as power generation, cooling system as well as other critical equipment.”
•  “The magnitude of the renovation work has however necessitated shutting down of business operations for the duration of the renovation”, the statement further indicated.

• The country is currently losing 2,042.2 megawatts of electricity due to gas supply shortage and poor water management.
• The 411 G2 and G4 units of the Shiroro hydro power plant are currently losing 300MW, while the loss of 1,742.2MW is attributed to gas supply shortage at various legacy gas-fired power plants, including the National Integrated Power Project plants.
• The information on the loss was contained in the daily broadcast of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.