Business

Naira Redesign: CBN Policy Disastrous, Catholic Bishops Tell Buhari Govt

Published

3 years ago

February 13, 2023

Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, President Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), on Sunday, urged the Federal Government to review the new cash policy to ease the hardships it has caused Nigerians.

Ugorji made the appeal at the opening of the 2023 First Plenary of CBCN held at the Catholic Secretariat in Abuja.

The meeting has the theme: ‘Citizens’ participation in good governance in Nigeria’.

While expressing sadness over the situation, Ugorji said that the policy had resulted in a serious cash crunch, anger and frustration among Nigerians.

“Our collapsing national economy worsens the ugly situation. While the value of the Naira continues to decline, the cost of basic commodities, including food items, continues to soar, with serious effects on the lives and livelihoods of our people. The disastrous implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cash swap policy, which resulted in a cash crunch, has added to the ordeal, anger, and frustration of the masses,” he said.

The CBCN president advised politicians to stop engaging in mudslinging, acrimony, arson, buying and selling of votes, threats, intimidation and violence ahead of the general elections.

Ugorji said instead of dissipating energy on negativity, those aspiring for political offices should concentrate on marketing their manifestoes.

He also advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to live above board and ensure that the election process is beyond reproach.

“The elections, if well conducted, can be a turning point in our political and economic history.

”We, therefore, urge all to play their roles maturely and creditably during the period of the general elections,” he added.

He said that political contests should never be perceived as a “do or die” affair.

“Any candidate who is prepared to shed blood or to spend huge sums of money to buy votes or to compromise INEC shows that he or she is seeking political office for pure self-aggrandizement,” he warned.

He reminded the faithful of their civic and moral responsibility of voting during elections.

Business

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

Published

8 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

12 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

1 day 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.