Business

Buhari Directs CBN To Blacklist Firms Importing Palm Oil, 42 Other Items

Published

5 years ago

June 15, 2019

Eric

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria to blacklist any firm, its owner and top management caught smuggling or dumping any of the restricted 43 items into Nigeria.

The Presidential directive was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele on Friday in Abuja during a meeting with oil palm producers.

Emefiele also said the presidential directive mandated the apex bank to expand and provide support to firms and individuals that want to expand the production of ten different commodities in Nigeria.

The ten different products are rice, maize, cassava, tomatoes, cotton, oil palm, poultry, fish, livestock dairy and cocoa.

He disclosed that close to about N30 billion had already been disbursed to those currently involved in oil palm farming.

The apex bank governor said that for those coming newly into the oil business, credit facilities would be extended to them through their banks and that Out-Grower schemes would also be organised.

“We want to make everybody understand how serious we are and also to emphasise that what we are doing to stop the importation of oil palm into Nigeria is a presidential directive that must be adhered to.

“Doing this also means that while we are stopping the importation of palm oil, we must do all possible to ensure that palm oil production is aggressively increased in Nigeria.

“Like you all know, and I never cease talking about it that Nigeria in the 50’s and 60’s used to be the largest producer of oil palm in the world with a market share of 40 per cent.

“For one reason or the other, particularly because we found crude oil that even today by any analysis is cheaper than palm oil, we decided to abandon our God-given gift – palm oil.

“By doing that we lost jobs, our farmers lost jobs because we began to import palm oil from different parts of the world,” he said.

Emefiele said that the presidential directive also mandated CBN to expand and provide support to firms and individuals that wanted to expand the production of 10 different commodities in Nigeria.

The 10 products are rice, maize, cassava, tomatoes, cotton, oil palm, poultry, fish, livestock and cocoa.

Edo Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, who was at the meeting, said that 118,000 hectares of land had been identified for the oil palm programme in the state.

He said that 115,000 hectares would be used for the actual cultivation while three hectares would be used for infrastructure, including roads.

“Oil palm and other value crops like rubber, cocoa were the base on which the economy of this country was built at independence.

“If we are going to see real growth, we need to go back to those products where we have relatively competitive and comparative advantages.

“In the case of Edo, like I will say in the state, we have the advantage of being the home of oil palm in the country,” he said.

Business

Glo Launches New Internet Solution Products for Homes, Businesses

Published

2 weeks ago

April 8, 2024

Eric

Two new products, which provide internet connectivity solutions specially designed for Residential and SME commercial customers, have been unveiled by digital solutions company, Globacom.

The products, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Business (FTTB) were packaged for Glo customers to enjoy reliable and high speed internet through linked fibre services.

Globacom said in a statement in Lagos “With these services, businesses and homes can access dedicated internet speeds of up to 1GBps, allowing unlimited internet usages for seamless video calls, video and music streaming and a whole lot of other dedicated usages to promote business success and equally provide endless entertainment for homes”.

It explained that the new product comes with a unique opportunity for “Residential Estates, High Rise Apartments, Commercial SME Estates to enjoy dedicated high speed internet in their cluster”.

These services, according to Globacom, give exceptional experience and unmatched speed for users at home or in offices and are provided through hi-speed fibre – unlike copper which was being used in the past.

Positioning itself as the premier provider of innovative solutions for businesses of all sizes, Globacom assured customers of the best value for money with the new offerings, adding that users who sign on for these services will also enjoy fully dedicated bandwidth.

“We are committed to delivering the most cost-effective data connectivity experience for homes and businesses in addition to providing dedicated and reliable services.” Globacom concluded.

Business

Naira Appreciates Further, Sells at N1,280/$ at Parallel Market

Published

3 weeks ago

March 30, 2024

Eric

The naira, on Friday, appreciated to N1,280 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

The current FX rate signifies a 5.19 percent appreciation from the N1,350/$ reported on March 27.

Currency traders in Lagos, also known as bureau de change (BDCs) operators, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N1,260 and the selling price at N1,280 — leaving a profit margin of N20.

“The price of the dollar as well as other major currencies have been falling. It is affecting our business as some customers prefer to keep their currencies than change it with us,” a currency trader identified as Aliyu told TheCable.

At the official section of the FX market, the local currency depreciated by 0.69 percent to N1,309.39/$ on March 28 — from N1,300.43/$ on March 27.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on March 29, said the economy recorded over $1.5 billion in foreign exchange (FX) inflow this month, indicating its monetary policy initiatives are effective.

The apex bank said the naira is headed in the right direction, and the administration of Yemi Cardoso, CBN governor, remains committed to ensuring the stability of the market and the appropriate pricing of the naira against other major currencies worldwide.

TheCable

Business

NNPC Denies Reducing Petrol Pump Price

Published

3 weeks ago

March 28, 2024

Eric

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has declared that there is no plan to reduce the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) aka petrol and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) aka diesel.

The national oil company disclosed this through a statement on Wednesday by its Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Mr. Olufemi Soneye.

He said: “The NNPC Limited wishes to clarify rumours suggesting a price adjustment for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) at its retail stations nationwide.

“The company asserts that these reports are false and urges Nigerians to disregard them entirely.

“NNPC Ltd. reaffirms its commitment to sustaining the current sufficiency in petroleum products supply across all its retail stations in the country,” the statement added.