Unlike the great French philosopher, I strongly believe that truth must be shown with equal candour to all generations. There should be no dichotomy in placing facts before the public – especially for those privileged to be in the media. It has always been our sacred duty to inform, educate and entertain (also sometimes infuriate) the public on every matter of great importance. In about thirty years on these pages, that has been the principle. It will never change.  Right now there is an issue which has suddenly crept on all of us while the election campaigns were going on. None of the two major candidates mentioned it; and it is doubtful if any of the fringe political parties candidates alluded to it. That is strange.

Mallam Garba Kurfi is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of APT Securities. In this interview, he said that foreign investors who were selling off their stake from the equities market prior to the presidential election on February 23, due to election jitters have started coming back to the market. He also called for reconstitution of the Board of the   Securities and Exchange Commission. Excerpts:

Shareholders of Flour Mills, FMN Plc have endorsed proposal of the Board of Directors to restructuring programme which involves the merging of the company’s five subsidiaries with its holding company under a Scheme of External Restructuring.

The desire by Nigerians to get better returns on their savings received a boost with the promotion by Stanbic IBTC Bank of its Max Yield Savings Account (MYSA).

The federal government has declared its commitment to work with the capital market community to stem the volatility in the stock market.

Dollar inflow from foreign investors through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) foreign exchange window rose by 94 percent in the first two months of the year.

Operators in the nation’s nascent merchant banking subsector are under pressure to reverse the declining trend in deposit growth which deteriorated in the last quarter of last year as rising yields on fixed income reduced the attractiveness of deposit placement in the subsector.

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has lauded the contributions of women at the bank, saying closing gender gap is part of the CBN’s corporate strategy.

Operators in the capital market have said that the equities market will maintain the positive sentiment witnessed last week as more companies make the result of their 2018 financial year available to the investing public.

FSDH Merchant Bank has called on the federal government to focus on addressing pressure points in the nation’s economy as a priority after the conclusion of the presidential election.

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has commenced the fourth 60-day National Action Plan (NAP 4.0) on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), in furtherance of the federal government’s reforms plan aimed at improving the enabling environment for doing business in Nigeria through systemic interventions.

We are in the third edition of the discussions in this series on financial management for small businesses. Last week we focused on the issue of setting up a business bank account. Today we advance to creating and maintaining a business budget.

Promasidor Nigeria Limited has provided succour to more than 60 parents of children living with disabilities through its low-interest microcredit scheme christened, We Too Can Grow, in advancement of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy.

The GDP of Lagos State estimated at N91bn places Lagos as Africa’s 5th largest economy and the seventh fastest growing city in the world. Lagos plays host to 65 percent of Nigeria’s businesses having over 2,000 manufacturing companies, 200 financial institutions and the largest collection of SMEs in Africa. This places Lagos at a prime position in the Nigerian and indeed the African economy.

Some insurance firms have been flouting the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database, NIID, data upload requirement thereby exposing   vehicle owners to harassment from officials of Vehicle Inspection Service, VIS, in Lagos.