BUSINESS

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, on Tuesday, reiterated the need to deregulate the downstream petroleum through the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit. According to him, only the wealthy were currently benefiting from the subsidy. The minister spoke during the leadership and governors’ discourse on open government partnership held in Abuja on Tuesday. He stressed the importance of Open Government Partnership which he […]

Holders of refining licences in the country can pay for domestic crude oil supply in naira, according to the Petroleum Industry Bill passed by the National Assembly on Thursday. Companies holding refining licences include Dangote Oil Refinery Company, Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company Limited, OPAC Refineries, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources, BUA Refinery & Petrochemicals and Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited. The Senate and House of Representatives, according to copies […]

The Senate has summoned former managing directors of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund over alleged missing financial documents in the agency. The former NSITF bosses are expected to appear before the Senate Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday. The Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, at the last meeting of his panel on Thursday, said 50 queries were issued against the NSITF officials by the office of the Auditor General […]

Indications emerged on Thursday that the planned July 1, 2021 review of the various electricity tariffs in Nigeria had been stalled following concerns around low power generation by the sector. It was gathered that gas constraints to gas-fired power generation plants and the reduced water level needed by hydropower stations had impacted negatively on electricity generation in the past three months. Industry officials from the Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian […]

The country’s external reserves maintained a downward trend as it lost $905.5m in June, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Thursday. According to the CBN’s data on the movement of reserves, the reserves fell to $33.32bn as of the end of June 30 from $34.23bn on May 31. The reserves stood at $34.88bn at the end of April 30. Financial experts have expressed the need for […]

The Senate on Thursday passed the Petroleum Industry Bill and approved that three per cent of profit made by oil firms should be shared to host communities. The upper chamber passed the PIB, 2021 after the clause by clause consideration of the report of its joint committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas on PIB. Lawmakers from the South-South geopolitical zone however protested against the three per cent approved for […]

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies appear set to increase their combined oil production by about two million barrels per day from August to December to meet recovering global oil demand. Ministers from OPEC and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, began online meetings on Thursday. The alliance’s joint committee, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, recommended the group should add 400,000 bpd each month […]

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that Nigeria will play a critical role with other gas exporting countries to stop the defunding of gas and fossil fuel projects in developing countries. This was the highlight of a virtual meeting on the subject presided over by the Vice President, with other top Federal Government officials in attendance. Osinbajo’s Spokesman, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Friday. Recall that President […]

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Wednesday, differed on the nation’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio. While Ahmed put the debt-to-GDP ratio at 29 per cent, Okojo-Iweala said it had risen to 35 percent. Both the minister and the WTO boss spoke at the African Development Bank High Level Knowledge Event with the theme: […]