Summary of the top business, economic and political news in Nigeria today.
- Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), in Abuja on Tuesday shut down business activities at the commission’s headquarters as the members began warning strike over alleged non-payment of salary arrears. Link
- The Federal Inland Revenue Service,(FIRS), said on Tuesday that it had collected N1.782 trillion as tax between January and July 2017. Link
- In a renewed effort to raise the country’s oil reserves and production, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has entered into partnership with Halliburton , a global service providing company in the oil and gas sector, to realise its search for oil in the Chad Basin.Link
- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hinted yesterday that it has disbursed more than N473 billion under its commercial agricultural credit scheme.Link
- Apparently desired to improve ease of doing business in Nigeria the acting President had signed Executive Order compelling a 24-hours port operations in the nation’s seaports. The Executive order was also to enhance ease of doing business in land borders and also to facilitate trade. But, the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman has been at the forefront front of implementation may hit as the rock over absence of some infrastructure at the seaport.Link
- In order to increase tax collection and reduce over-dependency on oil revenue, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has disclosed that it was targetting a N1.8 trillion Value Added Tax (VAT) collection for the 2017 fiscal year.Link
- The Federal Government has released a state-by-state breakdown of another tranche of refund amounting to N243.8 billion being over-deductions on Paris Club, London Club Loans.Link
- The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee has set up a six man panel to further investigate an alleged disbursement of N1.47 billion loan to unspecified beneficiaries by the Nigeria Directorate of Employment (NDE).Link
- Nigeria’s Federal Government on Tuesday announced the award of a licence to Ondo State Government to mine its rich deposit of bitumen, said to be one of the largest in the world.Link
- The Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, said it was unacceptable that Nigerians spent five billion dollars on generators annually. He said the house would support the Executive to find a permanent solution to the power problem in the country. Link
- The Central Bank of Nigeria has extended guarantees to Skye Bank Plc for another year, while it considers the bank’s recapitalisation proposal, the mid-tier lender has said.The CBN had last year shored up Skye Bank with N100 billion capital injection, after sacking its top management for failing to meet minimum capital requirements.Link
- The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), on Tuesday, warned that Nigeria might continue to experience deep economic challenges unless urgent steps are taken to halt her propensity to generate and spend almost all her revenue from oil and gas with very little left for savings.Link
- The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied the claims by the Nigerian exploration and production (E & P) operators that the federal government lost an estimated $6 billion as a result of its poor administration of the licenses of the oil blocks sold by the international oil companies (IOCs) between 2010 and 2015.Link
- In a bid to fast-track jobs and wealth creation through entrepreneurship, the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Ebonyi State Government have signed a N4billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote agriculture and the setting up of industries in the state.Link
- The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), yesterday gave regualory approval to to Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), to officially rebrand from Etislat Nigeria to 9mobile.Link
- The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has sealed Samsung Lagos office for non-compliance with regulatory and standard procedures in product quality and standardisation.Link
- An international organisation, German International Cooperation (GIZ), is giving agro entrepreneurs the tools they need to turn cocoa production into a viable business.Link
- The Bank of Industry (BoI) has empowered the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) Abuja chapter with N1 billion as a starter pack for different types of business under the watch of the Presidency.Link
- Four of Nigeria’s five largest banks have indicated they might pay interim cash dividends to shareholders as investors await the half-year corporate earnings of major quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).Link
- The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched a new market surveillance platform being operated by SMARTS, Nasdaq’s flagship surveillance solution.Link
- The future seems uncertain for two insurers– Guinea Insurance Plc and African Alliance Insurance–who are operating below the minimum regulatory capital requirements.Link
