First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has announced the appointment of Oladipupo Jadesimi as its new chairman.

In a statement released on Tuesday by Olufunmilayo Adedibu, the company’s secretary, FCMB said Jadesimi’s appointment followed the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Jadesimi was first appointed a non-executive director of the bank before being nominated as chairman of the board of directors at its meeting which held on March 8.

The Chinese Deputy Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Lin Jing has said the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in September this year will strengthen Nigeria-China bilateral relations Mr. Jing who stated this during a round table dialogue on “China Initiated Belt and Roads” FOCAC process and the prospects of deepening China-Africa and China-Nigeria Cooperation, organized by the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, Nigeria.

Dangote Cement Plc said it got approval from Nigerian regulators to issue 300 billion Naira ($833 million) in local-currency bonds as it seeks to fund expansion and refinance debt.

Bloomberg news reports that Africa’s largest producer of the building material plans to issue the debt over three years, Chief Financial Officer Brian Egan said during an investor conference call on Tuesday. The bond will be issued in tranches of 50 billion naira at a time whenever interest rates are favorable, said Egan.

Former Executive Director of Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri, Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji has said Nigeria spends over $4.2 billion on importation of wheat from the United States. Dr. Olabanji stated this on Monday during a farm work on 30,000 hectares wheat and Barley cultivation field situated at Taloka village in Goronyo Local government area of Sokoto State. He noted that Nigeria produces 625, 000 metric tons of wheat as against its annual requirement of 4.7 million metric tons.

Agrofood and Plastprintpack Nigeria has said it would continue its success story as it begins its fourth international trade show scheduled for March 27 to 29 March 2018 at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

No fewer than 140 exhibitors from 21 countries representing more than 30 per cent rise over the previous year’s exhibition will present more innovations than ever before.

Fairtrade, the German organisers, are expecting over 2,000 professionals to benefit from the event and discuss their businesses with world leading suppliers from around the globe.For the first time, Agrofood and Plastprintpack Nigeria will see 10 national pavilions presenting latest technologies from Austria, China, Flanders/Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey.

Nigeria’s Chief Trade Negotiator, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe says the country’s decision to back down from this week’s signing of the new pan-African continental free trade area in Rwanda, was “in the national interest of a great and diverse country”.

According to Channels Television, in an email sent in response to its enquiry on Monday, Osakwe said the government wants to “deepen, intensify and extend the scope of consultations on a number of areas.”

The areas listed include sectoral and systemic issues, as well as the ”aggregated and granular effects” of the new free trade deal for Nigeria’s “fiscal, structural and monetary policies”.

Dangote Group, Samsung, Crown Nature Plc and other organisations has offered automatic employment to no fewer than 150 graduate trainees of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) skills acquisition scheme.

The scheme, under the Lagos State Employability Support Project (LSESP), is organised in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and managed by Arc Skills Nigeria, a capacity building and training outfit.

A total of 540 students who participated in the first batch of the programme were awarded certificates by the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) and the Australian Vocational Training and Employment Group (AVTEG).

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says prepaid meters will soon flood the market with the licensing of 87 meter asset providers (MAPs).

What the power sector regulator downplayed, however, is there is also going to be an increase in the bills to be paid by electricity consumers in the country who get new meters under the latest regulation.

On March 12, 2018, Dafe Akpeneye, NERC’s commissioner, legal, licensing and compliance, unveiled the new regulation in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened for the week on Monday on a downward trend with investors’ net worth dropping by 0.21 per cent due to unstable economic environment. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the All-Share Index lost 90 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 41,845.90 compared with 41,935.90 achieved on Friday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled regulations for the payment of bills in the country, explaining that the move was to document the minimum standards that must be complied with for the processing of bill payment transactions.

In a circular released on its website at the weekend, the apex also stressed that the regulation is also to identify stakeholders in bill payment system space, ensure achievement of the vision of a ‘nationally utilized and international recognized’ payments system in Nigeria as well as to ensure adequate protection for the stakeholders in the bill payment system space.

According to the central bank, “Any person or entity desirous of operating a bill payment platform shall apply to the CBN for a license or be integrated to a duly licensed PSP.”

In addition, “All Inter-Bank transactions initiated and authorized on the bill payment platform shall be cleared via the Nigeria Clearing System and settled via Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS).”