Category: Business

NCC: 78.9m Nigerians now connected to broadband

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Penetration hits 41.3% The number of Nigerians connected to high-speed internet rose to 78.9 million in June, statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed.   The data showed that telecommunications operators in the country added 2.2 million customers to their broadband database in the month to raise the figure from 76.6 million recorded in May.   This raised the country’s broadband penetration from 40.14 per cent in May to 41.27 per cent at the end of June. The steady growth in penetration has been attributed to the telecoms…

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Ecobank Nigeria unveils package for female entrepreneurs

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  Ecobank Nigeria has unveiled a special loan package for female entrepreneurs in the country, the lender announced in a statement at the weekend. The loan package, “The Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs’ Initiative (EFEI),”  is specially designed by the bank to financially empower female business owners and entrepreneurs in the country. Head, Consumer Asset Product, Ecobank Group, Daberechi Effiong, said the EFEI loan was targeted at boosting small scale businesses owned by women, adding that it was a further demonstration of the importance the bank attaches to the role of women in…

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Stanbic IBTC partners institute on technology start-ups

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  Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Standard Bank Group, has continued with its partnership with the Founder Institute Lagos to support entrepreneurs using technology to solve some of the continent’s most pressing challenges. Founder Institute recently held the first online graduation ceremony, tagged, “Velocity Mini” to celebrate the Cohort II graduates who have passed through a 14-week hard core, Navy-seal type curriculum programme. According to the statement, the Velocity Mini is the digital version of the Velocity Conference held at the end of every Cohort, to honour founders that…

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Coronavirus, oil threatens debt sustainability, says FBNQuest

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  The crisis occasioned by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, as well as the slump in oil prices, does not augur well for  the chances of Nigeria’s external debt  becoming sustainable,  FBNQuest Capital Research has said. The firm stated this in a note obtained by Newsfieldglobal yesterday. According to latest data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO),   Nigeria’s total public debt rose to $79.5 billion (N28.63 trillion) as of the first quarter of 2020. 34.89 per cent-$27.66 billion (N9.9 trillion)- of this amount is the total external debt,  while $51.64 billion (N18.64 trillion) is the…

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Analyst sees lower equity prices from weak quarterly results

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  Financial market analyst and Managing Director/CEO,  Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu,  has said that he expects weak Q2 and Q3 results will drive equity prices lower. In his presentation at an event on “H1’20 Review; Expectations and Investment Strategies in H2’20,” Chukwu noted that investors with long term horizon may be facing the best time to take position. The virtual event had in attendance government officials, apex and self-regulatory organisations, capital market operators, investment bankers, policymakers, chief executive officers (CEOs), economists, researchers, analysts, academics, and private equity firms. According…

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Awareness: Insurance brokers to visit Presidency

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  The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) said plans were in top gear for its President, Dr. (Mrs) Bola Onigbogi, to visit President Muhammadu Buhari as part of sensitization programme to deepen insurance in the country. The Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr. Fatai Adegbenro, made the disclosure while speaking to members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) shortly after their 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday in Lagos. He said the planned visit to the Presidency was aimed at sensitizing the government on…

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NSE extends weekly gains by 1.09%

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Transaction activities last week closed positive, extending weekly gains as the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalisation both appreciated by 1.09 per cent to close the week at 24,693.73 and N12.882 trillion respectively. All other indices finished higher with the exception of NSE ASeM, NSE Consumer Goods and NSE Oil/Gas indices, which depreciated by 0.06 per cent, 0.44 per cent and 6.51 per cent respectively It was a brief trading week as the market opened for three days in observance of the public holidays declared by the Federal Government of…

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FBNQuest unveils new internet banking platform

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  FBNQuest Merchant Bank, the investment banking and asset management business of FBN Holdings Plc, has announced the launch of a new corporate internet banking platform, which offers an upgraded user interface with enhanced convenience for transactions. According to a statement from the company, the platform is a payment processing solution for corporate banking clients that provide online real-time account access for balance and transaction monitoring, investing, fund transfers, bulk payments such as salaries or payments to third parties, and other self-service requests, conveniently and securely. An innovative internet banking…

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NIOB:  Engage professionals in building process 

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  Nigerian Institute of Building, through its President, Mr Kunle Awobodu, has called on developers to engage professional builders to manage building processes.   He  is also seeking  prosecution of those found culpable in a recent collapse of a seven- storey building in Owerri, Imo State, to serve as a deterrent to others.   The collapse of the high-rise building under construction, Awobodu said, again brought to the front burner the problem of building management in Nigeria.   According to him,  investigation and prosecution of those culpable should not be…

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Subsidy: CSOs seek targeted projects for N15.4bn

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  Following revelation by the Federal Government that fuel subsidy removal had taken a burden of N15.4 billion of its shoulders monthly, a group of civil society organisations has advised that the money be deployed in targeted projects rather than keeping it in the federation account.   The advice was given during a virtual workshop in Abuja that was hosted by Media Initiative on Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI), a non-profit group of media practitioners committed to the promotion of transparency in the extractive industries and facilitated by Facility for…

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