Assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have hit N14.27tn as of the end of June, following an N842.73 billion rise in the first half of 2022. Figures obtained from the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) on its Unaudited report on pension funds industry portfolio for the period ended 30 June 2022; Approved Existing Schemes, Closed Pension Fund Administrators and RSA funds (Including unremitted contributions @CBN & legacy funds) have shown. The data showed that N9tn of the total funds was invested in Federal Government securities, comprising bonds and treasury bills. Other investment portfolios where the funds were invested include domestic…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
First Bank of Nigeria Limited has revealed that its agency banking network, Firstmonie Agents, has processed transactions valued at over N22 trillion, with transaction volume in excess of one billion. The bank currently has over 180,000 Firstmonie agents, spread across the country’s 772 local government areas of the country, the firm said in a statement in Lagos. “Firstmonie agents have been integral to bringing financial services closer to the underbanked and unbanked segment of the society, providing convenient banking services that are easily accessible, thereby saving time and travel costs for individuals in the suburbs and remote environments with no…
Transportation, the movement of people and goods from one place to another, is a significant driver of human progress. In Nigeria, the three key means of transportation are road, air, and water. Road transport however dominates the means of transportation, especially in urban and suburban areas. Reports indicate that road transport makes up about 90 per cent of the movement of goods and passengers in the country. In recent years the use of three and two-wheelers for transportation has risen dramatically, both for private and commercial purposes. Experts are quick to point out that the rising prevalence is directly connected…
The Ecobank Group, to which Ecobank Nigeria belongs, has released its unaudited financial results for 1H’22 ended June 30, posting an increase of 24 per cent in profit before tax to $261.302 million, from $210.073 million in the corresponding period of 2021. According to the result, submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, profit for the period stood at $185.419 million, an increase of 20 per cent from $154.010 million in the same period of last year. Net revenues grew by 10 per cent to $910 million as against $825 million in 2021. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by…
The Nigerian naira fell at the parallel market to N658 per dollar amid higher dollar demand. The figure represents a depreciation of N38 or 6.13 per cent from the N620 it traded last week. Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs) who spoke to news sources blamed the depreciation on ongoing foreign exchange (FX) supply constraints. Traders put the buying price of the dollar at N640 and the selling price at N658, leaving a profit margin of N18. A street trader explained that the unpredictability of the market is the reason for the depreciation. “The thing is this; they don’t give it…
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decried the number of out-of-school girls in the country, saying that over 60 per cent of 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are girls. The UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Dr. Tushar Rane, said this at a media dialogue on girls’ education, under the ‘Girls’ Education Project 3 (GEP 3) funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK recently. He said that the education of the girl child is critical to transforming communities, reducing inequalities, and strengthening economies, while also noting that when the girl child is educated, child…
The World Bank announced recently that it will support a program by Africa’s main public health body, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The CDC will receive $100 million from the international body in its mission to help and accompany nations on the continent in their fights to provide better health services. The World Bank has approved the support program vowing to help enhance the CDC’s “technical capacity and strengthen its institutional framework to intensify support to African countries, including Nigeria in preparing for, detecting, and responding to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.” “Recent assessments…
With uncertainty surrounding the unexpected increase in baking materials, especially flour, over the war between Russia and Ukraine, a former United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Representative in Nigeria on Agric Exports and Trade, Dr. John Isemede, has disclosed it was time to scale up the inclusion of between 20 and 50 per cent cassava starch in bread production in Nigeria. Isemede, who is also a former Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), stated that Nigeria needed to revisit the abandoned 20 per cent cassava inclusion in wheat bread and all other…
Saro Group of Companies has invested N24bn in an integrated farm in Edo State, in a concerted effort to boost local production of raw materials for use in the manufacturing sector, especially the food and beverages sub-sector. The Chief Executive Officer of Saro Group of Companies, Rasheed Sarumi, who disclosed this during an inspection of the farm site, said the integrated agricultural project is a joint venture between Saro Africa and Mohinani Group under the Green Hills Agric Projects. He hailed Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government for creating a business-friendly environment, noting that the factory will be commissioned in quarter one,…
The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the College of Ilorin, has inaugurated Unilorin GGMAX built-in business poultry farm funded beneath the CBN Tertiary Establishment’s Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPRCS). Talking on the official commissioning of the ultra-modern poultry farm situated at Amoyo group, Ifelodun native authorities’ space of Kwara State, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele mentioned the Nigerian poultry sub-sector was a trillion-naira business with an enormous potential for people and nationwide socio-economic improvement. In line with him, with over 180 million birds beneath intensive, semi-intensive and in-depth manufacturing programs, the poultry would offer reasonably priced and…