In last week’s article, “Dollar Reserves: Who Owns What?” we endeavoured to lift the shroud over the amorphous concept of Nigeria’s foreign reserves. Incidentally, the Senate has lately in consonance with our position, also frowned at the illegality of the component of the reserves defined as excess crude account! (See Daily Independent headline of 23/10/2009, “Sharing of $2bn Excess Crude Fund Illegal – Senate”).

Insurers across the African Continent are bracing up to venture into the the delicate and risky business of political insurance as a means of curbing the huge loses associated with political violence, terrorism acts and internal war.

Shareholders have seen the current price of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc shares as a very good buy opportunity given the growth potential in the financial conglomerate.

Driven by substantial improvement on the share prices of majority of the listed equities, the value of listed equities on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), last week, rose by N152.80 billion.

Investors, market regulators, and market participants have learnt many lessons since 2007 about the relationships and interconnected nature of financial markets across the world. The near collapse of the global financial markets and the ripple effects that are still reverberating across our markets is one of the burdens that investors are still attempting to come to grips with.

Skye Bank Plc has tasked government at all levels on the need to put in place the necessary machineries that will ensure the success of the much touted Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.

At the peak of the crude oil price boom in 2007, this commodity sold for as high as $150/barrel on the international market and Nigeria fortuitously garnered her highest ever external reserves of over $60bn. This figure would have exceeded $72bn, but for the ‘illegal’ withdrawal of about $13bn to exit the controversial Paris and London Club debts just over three years ago!

Despite the challenges confronting it, especially unfavourable operating environment brought about by the global economic crunch, Nigerian Bags Manufacturing Company Plc (BAGCO) has announced a significant improvement in its turnover for the 2009 financial year.

Expert in the Nigerian capital market has attributed the bearish run recorded in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), last week, to uncertainty trailing the conclusion of the audit of banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), especially the recent publication of the names of debtors to the five troubled banks.

Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is set to inject $1.5 billion (about N225 billion) loan facility into the mortgage sector that will enable Nigerians have easier accessibility to housing loans.

A recent report by the World Bank classified Nigeria as the most difficult place to register a property in Africa, in a further reflection of the sorry state of housing development in the country.

Bank customers have protested against the various types of charges deducted by banks from their accounts saying the charges are outrageous. The customers appeal to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intervene by regulating the bank charges.

The five troubled banks have faulted the list of debtors published by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week. The banks said that the debtors list was compiled by the CBN and they did not see the final copy before it was published. Officials of the banks who spoke to Vanguard under condition of anonymity said that the debtors’ list was full of errors and most of the accounts not non-performing contrary to what was published by the apex bank.

By Babajide Komolafe, Peter Egwuatu and Micheal Eboh The five troubled banks whose chief executives were sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the first phase of banks’ audit have regained the confidence of investors in the capital market. Analysis of transactions of on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) indicate […]

By Les Leba The question on the lips of all concerned Nigerians lately is whether or not the abysmal decline in our economy can be arrested by the measures currently adopted by our Central Bank. My usual response to this question is that you cannot sow rice and hope to reap cassava (a la Majek […]