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…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
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…
The programme will support the fast-tracking of the implementation of key policy and institutional reforms and boost private sector participation in agriculture. On Friday, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved a $134 million loan for the National Agriculture Growth Scheme – Agro Pocket program in Nigeria to scale up food production and boost livelihood resilience. The programme will support the fast-tracking of the implementation of key policy and institutional reforms and encourage private sector participation in agriculture. This will help increase cereals and oil grains production by 7 million tonnes to 35 million tonnes. It…
The Pan African Digital Initiative Summit & Expo (P.A.D.I.S.E) 2022 which held in Lagos Nigeria last week with attendance from the biggest names in Nigeria’s technology and security space has identified collaboration as the major way forward in the quest to curb the rising threats of insecurity, whether cyber or physical. The seminal conference had the theme: Leveraging the Right Policies and Technologies in Taming Insecurity and Cyber Threats. Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Nigeria who delivered the lead paper noted that combating cybersecurity is a collective effort that demands a multi-sector approach. He…
Leading digital technology solutions providers, innovative users and digital savvy states have been honoured at the 18th Annual Titans of Tech Awards which held in Lagos weekend. Zoho Technologies emerged as the Most Innovative Business Productivity Solutions Provider Of The Year, African Data Centre was crowned as the Most Innovative Data Centre Service Provider Of The Year and Itel was voted Most Innovative Tech Brand Of The Year. Declaring the award ceremony open, Eng Ernest Ndukwe, OFR, Chairman, MTN Nigeria and former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), praised the organiser of the Titans of Tech Award for its…