Hello everyone. Welcome back to Nairametrics’ Corporate News Roundup, brought to you by Quidax.
The Nigerian business landscape in 2023 is already heating up. Here’s the latest major development from the first week of the year.
Air Peace drags NAHCO over jet damage
Last week, Air Peace alleged that its operations were being sabotaged. This came after one of its jets was damaged by a stair truck operated by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO).
Nairametrics reported that the damage occurred on Wednesday morning, leaving the aircraft’s fuselage and elevator severely damaged. The incident also inevitably disrupted scheduled flights.
While this incident might as well have been an accident, it is easy to see why Air Peace believes it was sabotage. For one, Nairametrics gathered that this was not an isolated incident. Air Peace’s spokesperson, Stanley Olisa, said in a statement that this was the third time such damage was happening in one month.
He further alleged that the NAHCO staff who caused the accident wasn’t supposed to be near the damaged aircraft at the time the damage occurred. This, therefore, raised concerns as to what his motive was.
Still on this story, NAHCO said it has taken actions to unravel what caused the accident on Wednesday. Some of the actions it was taken include an investigation into the incident.
And to ensure transparency in the investigation, the company said it suspended some executives. Some regulatory bodies were also brought on board to facilitate the investigation.
Zenith Bank discontinues foreign transactions on naira Mastercards
Another big story from last week involved Zenith Bank and its decision to suspend foreign transactions for its customers on their naira Mastercards. This announcement is coming barely a week after another major Nigerian bank, GTCO, adopted a similar strategy.
A statement seen by Nairametrics said the policy would take effect on January 9, 2023. Unfortunately, the development makes it more complicated for Nigerians to carry out international transactions.
NSPM assuages worries regarding new naira features
Speaking of money, the company that prints the naira, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, has responded to one of the many concerns Nigerians have about the newly printed naira notes. The concern is about why the notes leave stains when rubbed against white surfaces.
The company said the new naira notes passed through the same printing process as the old notes. It also assured Nigerians that there is no cause for alarm.
Nigerian banks and BVN
Nairametrics reported that Nigerian banks reported 4.8 million new Bank Verification Number (BVN) registrations last year, bringing the total registrations on the BVN database to 56.5 million.
However, registrations were slower in 2022 compared to 2021 when the database increased by 6 million to 51.7 million.
Nigeria’s most valuable companies in 2022
A special report by Nairametrics compiled the most valuable Nigerian companies as of 2022 to include the following: Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria, BUA Cement, BUA Foods, Nestle Nigeria, Zenith Bank, Seplat Energy, GTCO and FBN Holdings.
Note that these are all companies quoted on the Nigerian Exchange and Nairametrics determined their valuations using their market capitalisations which are publicly available.
Airtel Africa’s loss
Airtel investors lost N507 billion on Thursday after the company’s stock price became the first on the NGX to drop in 2023.
Checks by Nairametrics showed that the telecom stock dropped by 8.26% to close at N1,500 per share from N1,635 which was the opening figure at the beginning of day trading.
Are you paying for Elon Musk’s expensive internet service?
Starlink, Elon Musk’s internet service company, announced that it would cost Nigerians $600 (about N438,000) to buy the hardware and another $43 (N31, 000) per month to subscribe to the service.
Given the economic realities in the country, we wonder how many people will be able to afford this.
Resignations in Corporate Nigeria
Berger Paints announced the resignation of its Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Ayokunle Ayoko. No reason was given for the resignation. But the company’s Board appreciated Ayoko for his services during the time of his employment.
Ayoko joined the paint manufacturing company in 2018. Before that, he previously worked with FBN Insurance Limited (now Sanlam Life Insurance Limited), FBN General Insurance Limited and FBN Insurance Brokers Limited.
Mojisola Adeola also resigned as the Company Secretary and Head of Compliance of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc. Nairametrics reported that her resignation took effect on December 31st, 2022.
Adeola is an experienced Company Secretary and Legal Adviser with a proven track record of working in Capital Markets, a public company in the Oil & Gas (downstream) industry and several other sectors.