All the major economic news from Nigeria in 5 minutes-26/7/2017

Summary of the top business, economic and political news in Nigeria today.

1. Top cocoa producers in West Africa may not be able to realise their projected $6.81 billion earnings from cocoa in 2017 due to glut in the global markets.Link
2. Crude oil price rose by around three per cent Tuesday, a day after United States oil producer Anadarko said it would cut capital spending plans and Saudi Arabia vowed to reduce crude oil exports to help curb global oversupply.Link
3. Federal lawmakers came under fire yesterday for delaying the $1.5billion Chinese loan for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan standard rail gauge.Link
4. The Senate yesterday passed the second reading of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency Bill.Link
5. Special Adviser on Niger Delta to the President and Co-ordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh yesterday said about N34 billion was spent in the last three years on overseas training for Niger Delta youths.Link
6. The Nigerian equities gained N810 billion in capitalisation following a bull run for 13 trading days. The renewed demand for equities on the Nigerian bourse lifted the market capitalisation from N11.133trillion on July 5, to N11.945 trillion on Monday, July 24, 2017.Link
7. The total number of persons with Retirement Savings Account (RSA) in Nigeria increased by 96,346 to 7,589,936 workers under the contributory pension scheme as at the second quarter of 2017, compared with 7,493,590 registered in the first quarter of the year.Link
8. The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee on Tuesday shared the sum of N652.2bn as statutory allocations to the three tiers of government for the month of June.Link
9. Foreign investors from Serbia have expressed interest in the development of Nigeria’s inland waterways, which is said to hold so much promise as alternative means of transportation in Nigeria.Link
10. The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned all capital market operators and public liability companies to comply with the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (latest March 31, 2018) or get sanctioned.Link
11. The Central Bank Governor on Tuesday, explained for the first time why they (in conjunction with NCC) intervened in Etisalat Nigeria, now 9Mobile.Link
12. As the tough times in the banking industry continue to take a toll on profits, some lenders in Nigeria have introduced ingenious ways of ripping off their customers through the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s policy on the N65 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charge.Link
13. The compliance level on NSE’s Minimum Operating Standards (MOS) by dealing member firms is said to be about 95 per cent.Link
14. The Federal Government on Tuesday said that it had resolved to reduce taxes payable by telecommunications operators in order to enable them to expand their services to the hinterland.Link
15. Acting chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, Shettima Umar Abba-Gana has said it is estimated that Nigeria is losing about N8trillion annually from gold alone.Link
16. The industrial action by the Corporate Affairs Commission’s (CAC) workers is on the part of being settled. It followed the intervention of Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige.Link
17. 9mobile, the mobile operator formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria, has appointed Citigroup and Standard Bank to find an investor to buy into the firm, with three companies already showing interest, a banking source close to the deal said on Tuesday.Link
18. With Lafarge Africa reporting a profit of N20 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2017, up from a loss of N30 billion in the corresponding period of 2016, its turn around has raised shareholders’ hopes for improved returns.Link
19. Fidson Healthcare Plc says its N6bn capital raising recently approved by shareholders will aid the expansion of its production capacity.Link
20. Leading pension fund administrator (PFA), Trustfund Pensions Limited has adopted a cost reduction strategy designed to boost revenue to consolidate on the company’s corporate governance goal.Link
21. Following the inability of the Benue State Government to meet its financial obligations to workers in the state, it has announced its intention to obtain loans from an undisclosed financial institution to pay salaries of workers.Link
22. Member of the House of Representatives, James Faleke has accused Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello of plunging the state into debt.Link
23. The Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) has urged the Ondo State Government to create industrial layout for energy concentration to enable it boost economic activities , even as it promised to restore power supply to six Akoko communities, under Owo Business Unit of the state.Link