Switching over to EU trade standards and nixing duty-free trade with Russia will cost Ukraine €165 billion over the next 10 years, President Putin warned at a meeting with President Petro Poroshenko in Minsk on Tuesday. Russia will be forced to cancel all preferential trade agreements for Ukraine’s imports and switch to a standard regime when it ratifies its EU trade association agreement in September, the President said.
Updated 5 Years ago

The Federal Government of Nigeria is making frantic efforts to secure support from all stakeholders in the housing delivery process with the aim of reducing cost of building and ultimately making housing affordable to medium and low income earners in the country. The Nigerian housing market is one of the most expensive globally such that over 80 percent of the country’s 160 million people cannot afford to build or buy their own homes, leaving the country with a staggering housing deficit burden estimated by the United Nations to be about 17 million units.
Updated 5 Years ago

Trading resumed this week at the Nigerian stock market on a negative note evidenced in the 0.54 percent decline recorded by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI). The recorded decline yesterday was largely driven by share price losses of largely capitalised stocks led by Nigerian Breweries plc, Dangote Cement plc, Ashaka Cement plc, Oando plc, among other equities.
Updated 5 Years ago

The Nigerian mutual fund industry has expanded 23.6 percent to N186.5bn, going by the latest official asset size values released by the SEC for August 2014. The expansion has come on the back of some good performances by specific funds, as well as by new entrants into the Nigerian mutual fund scene.
Updated 5 Years ago

The S & P 500 tripled between 1994 and 1999 as productivity gains exploded with the internet or dot-com age. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), on the other hand hopes to grow tenfold to $1 trillion by 2016 from today’s levels of about $85 billion. While it an ambitious dream (announced as the NSE’s new CEO Oscar Onyema took office some three years ago), observers of the market would tend to agree that is not feasible. It may be time for the NSE and other regulators such as the SEC and CBN to review the nation’s stock market with a view of repositioning it as the major gateway to the future Africa of growth and innovation.
Updated 5 Years ago

Palm oil tumbled below 2,000 ringgit ($633) a metric ton for the first time in more than five years as forecasts for a record U.S. harvest of soybeans used to produce alternative oil threaten to curb demand. Futures dropped as much as 2.5 percent to 1,989 ringgit on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, the lowest level since March 2009, and closed at 2,000 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur. Prices are down 25 percent this year, heading for the third annual decline in four years.
Updated 5 Years ago

Globacom, Nigeria’s national telecommunications carrier is boosting cashless policy and financial inclusion with the launch of Glo Xchange, a Mobile Money Agent Network that is aimed at accelerating the uptake of mobile money services in the country. Glo Xchange was launched by Globacom in partnership with three licensed mobile money operators, FirstMonie, Ecobank and Stanbic IBTC in Lagos, weekend. Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a statement, said he personally signed on the launch of the platform, said the initiative marks the beginning of the deeper collaboration between the financial industry and the telecommunications sector. He congratulated Globacom for launching the first mobile money Super Agent Network in Nigeria, saying it is a win-win situation for all stakeholders. Kamal Shonibare, Globacom’s head of corporate sales, said Glo Xchange will avail the mobile money sector of the much needed agent network across the entire country, as well as the technology platform required for seamless mobile money transactions.
Updated 5 Years ago

If the new electricity sector operators invest the estimated $40 billion within the next ten years, they can inevitably create a minimum of 582,000 jobs within the period, experts have said. “For the generation segment, the construction phase can create 82,000 jobs while the operation phase can ensure 33,000 jobs,’’ said Ranesh Narayanan, who represented Oladele Amoda, MD, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, during the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Apapa
Updated 5 Years ago

The mechanism of focused strategy, market penetration and organic growth is one of the key drivers that catapult a company to the trajectory of growth. It also enables a firm increase its share of the market while maximizing owner’s value. Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc, Nigeria second cement maker, has used the combinations of these aforementioned strategies to spur growth as the company recorded a stellar performance at both the top and bottom line level despite environmental challenges.
Updated 5 Years ago

As you bow out as President of the Nigerian Bar Association what achievements would wish your administration to be remembered for? I am particularly delighted with what we were able to achieve in the field of discipline at the Bar. Every lawyer today knows that there must be consequences for misconduct at the Bar. Within the two year life span of this administration, twelve members of the NBA were disbarred and five suspended for varying number of years for various acts of professional misconduct. This is more than the number of members of the Bar disciplined for professional misconduct in the last thirty years. We do not celebrate this but we believe that a very strong message has been sent to our colleagues that it cannot be business as usual. To my mind this is a key accomplishment of this administration. We have implemented the Stamp and Seal policy of the NBA, from 1st of April 2015, you can only practice law in Nigeria if you have your seal and stamps issued by the Nigerian Bar Association so the issue of fake lawyers becomes a thing of the past. On the 12th of August 2014 we commissioned the second building of the Nigerian Bar Association in Lagos built by Stabilini Nigeria Limited, under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) arrangement between the company and Nigerian Bar Association. The NBA will be entitled to the rent one floor of the building during the operation of the BOT agreement. We also commenced the construction of a ten floor National Secretariat at the Central Business District in Abuja. One of our areas of focus during our administration was human capacity building. We did not only achieve this at the secretariat level, but we used the platform of the Institute of Continuous Legal Education (ICLE) to promote the knowledge and skills of lawyers. Our administration has been able to digitalise the CLE credit hours of all lawyers, from the inception of the program in 2008 till date; this we believe will encourage lawyers to acquire more knowledge and keep abreast of the current developments in law both locally and internationally. These are some of our key areas of focus.
Updated 5 Years ago