Category: BUSINESS

Players in the telecommunications industry have blamed the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, for the current debt logjam between telecom operators and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria.  The Minister’s interference in a regulatory solution introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC0 is said to have pushed the debt to N120 billion as of this month. According to them, as of 2019, when the debt was still around N17 billion, the NCC had come up with end-user billing, which would have ensured that the bank customer…

Access Bank Plc. has announced its partnership with Konga, Nigeria’s composite e-commerce platform to offer instalment payments to customers through Pay with QuickBucks. The good thing about this innovation is that Access Bank’s customers would be enabled to purchase products on Konga and make payments in flexible instalments. The partnership will reinforce Access Bank’s commitment to providing its customers with convenient and affordable financing solutions. Through the collaboration with Konga, Access Bank is now able to extend its credit facilities to a wider audience. However, speaking on the partnership, Senior…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the interest rate from 18 percent to 18.5 percent. The apex bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the decision on Wednesday after the policy-setting committee meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja. The development is the third consecutive time the apex bank will be raising the monetary policy rate (MPR) which measures the interest rate. This is coming a week after the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the country’s inflation rate for the month of April hit 22.22% surpassing last month’s rate…

The House of Representatives is calling for a forensic audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) aimed at unravelling the discrepancies in the importation and supply of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) commencing from 2015 to date. The House reached the resolution after considering the report of its Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Consumption. Meanwhile, the committee observed that there was no record indicating that a certain volume of PMS was discharged to a particular retail outlet/fueling station or dispensed, hence the difficulty in ascertaining the actual daily consumption…

By NewsBits The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally revoked the licences of 179 microfinance banks in the country, as well as four primary mortgage banks and three finance companies. This development was disclosed in the official gazette of the Federal Government, which was published on the website of the CBN on Tuesday. The gazette said that the licences of the financial institutions were revoked because they “ceased to carry on, in Nigeria, the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of six…

Nigeria’s leading carrier, Arik Air has been bestowed with the honour of Africa’s Most Outstanding Airline of the Year 2023 by the Awards General Committee of the African Quality Achievement Awards. The awards ceremony was held on Friday, May 19, 2023, at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island, Lagos. This was contained in a release by Adebanji Ola, the PR & Communications Manager. The African Quality Achievement Awards is an annual event initiated at celebrating leadership innovation and creativity in quality and management in Africa. The award is…

Nigeria’s inflation rate reached a new high of 22.22% in April 2023, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This is the highest level since September 2005, when inflation peaked at 23.8%. The main drivers of this persistent rise in prices are food, transportation, housing and utilities, which account for more than 80% of the consumer price index (CPI). The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been struggling to contain inflationary pressures amid a weak naira, low foreign exchange reserves, high fiscal deficits and security…

By NewsBits The Bank of Industry (BoI) recorded N2.3 trillion profit before tax under President Muhammadu Buhari, Chairman Board of Directors of the bank, Alhaji Aliyu Dikko has said. Dikko, made this known on the sidelines of the 63rd Annual General Meeting of the bank in Abuja. “It has been excellent.  If you look at those eight years when we came on board the total assets of the bank was about N630 billion. Right now, it has grown to about 2. 3 trillion. So, you can see that it has…

By Magnus Aluma, Abakaliki The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has condemned the incessant intimidation and beating of it’s field workers by customers. EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Emeka Eze, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Enugu. Mr Eze also condemned the poor attitude of electricity consumers towards payments of their bills, saying it was an act of sabotage on the efforts of office to meet the energy needs of the people. He said: “I look at this attitude as outright sabotage as it pulls back…