Business

Monetary Policy: Group Calls For Emefiele’s Sack

Published

3 years ago

January 28, 2023

A group, Arewa Youth For Development and National Unity, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, for the untold hardship of what it described as “the insensitive monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN under the watch of the deeply partisan Governor, Godwin Emefiele has caused”.

Briefing newsmen on Saturday in Kaduna, the National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Hamza Muhammed Haruna, he said that they are not against the changing of the currencies, “but against the insane haste and intransigence of Emefiele to stick to the unrealistic deadline of January 31st, 2023, just three days away.”

He added, “We were worried at the beginning that the three months window given for the currency swap was insufficient even if all the variables necessary for a smooth currency change remain constant.”

The National Coordinator noted that through the changing of the currency, the nation, suffers considerable deficit in banking infrastructure, saying that as a result, there is a large population of fellow compatriots in the north and especially in rural areas operating outside the banking system, who are likely to be broken by this harsh unrealistic and unworkable policy.

As we speak, he said that there is a particular class of citizens who daily conduct their businesses in cash in countrysides and rural markets and are going through a grueling experience, waiting hours unend to bank their cash, adding that in the rare chance they bank their cash, their nightmare begins all over again, for, accessing the new notes is another uphill task, exacting the same degree of difficulty as in saving their money.

According to him, “The currency swap regime started in October 2022, with a window of six months. This period is inadequate from the word go. In developed countries like the UK, this process takes a minimum of three years with the old currency existing side by side with the old one. Presently, UK is undergoing a new currency change with the demise of the longest monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

“In keeping with tradition, the new currency bears the image of the new King Charles III. This is the UK with over three hundred and fifty banks in all the nook and crannies of Britain. Here with all our obvious deficits, Emefiele is determined to bury the nation by insisting that the deadline is sacrosanct. The signs of a failing policy is all too apparent as up till this weekend, most commercial banks were still dispensing the old notes, confirming our apprehension that the deadline is not feasible.”

He observed that Emefiele’s total disregard for calls, including from the National Assembly, to relax the January 31st deadline, portrays him as an enemy of the state and a saboteur of Buhari’s government.

Business

French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

Published

12 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

AFP

Business

BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

Published

17 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…

Business

Why Nigeria’s Crude Oil Production Dropped To 1.63mbpd In August – NUPRC

Published

2 days ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has explained that unscheduled maintenance at a refinery facility made Nigeria’s crude oil production drop on a month-on-month basis in August.

This comes as Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.63 million barrels per day month-on-month in August, down from 1.71 million bopd in July.

NUPRC disclosed this in its Crude Oil and Condensate Production for August 2025, released on Saturday.

This means a 4.7 per cent drop in combined crude oil and condensate production from 1.71 million bopd in July.

In the same vein, crude oil production itself declined by 4.8 per cent, down from 1.5 million bopd in July 2025.

“The month-on-month drop was driven by a single-day unscheduled maintenance at an oil facility.

“In the month of August, the lowest and peak combined crude and condensate production were 1.59 million bopd and 1.85 million bopd, respectively,” NUPRC said.

The data showed that while there was a decline month-on-month, the country’s crude oil production rose on a year-on-year basis by 5.5 per cent to 1.63 mbpd in August this year from 1.58 million bopd in the same period last year.

Further analysis indicates that daily condensate production in August stood at 197,229 bpd, reflecting a decline.

Also, Nigeria’s crude oil output in August achieved 96 per cent of its OPEC quota, which is set at 1.5 million bopd.

Accordingly, in the period under review, Forcados Terminal topped the production charts, delivering a total of 8.99 million barrels, including 8.08 million barrels of crude oil and 915.2k barrels of condensates.