The Central Bank of Nigeria in its Purchase Managers Index (PMI) report released on Thursday stated that the expansion of economic activities was sustained in January for the ninth consecutive month. The apex bank hinted that 29 out of the 30 sectors surveyed and captured in the report recorded significant expansion in January.

Photo: Guardian Nigeria

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday summoned the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefieli, Managing Directors of Banks and Bankers Committee among others over increasing cases of illegal deductions by Deposit Money Banks. The issue was brought to the floor of the senate by Senator Magnus Abe in a motion titled “Urgent need to investigate, regularise and amend conflicting, vague and unjust remedies which the Central Bank of Nigeria offers to victims of excess and arbitrary bank charges and illegal deductions by commercial banks.”

No fewer than 5, 000 youths have been listed to benefit from a World Bank assisted programme, Public Work Fare (PWF), a component of the Youth Employment and Social Support Operations (YESSO) in Kwara state.

Head of the State Public Workfare Unit, Mr. S.O. Aregbe disclosed this in a statement in Ilorin.

Aregbe, in a statement signed by Dr Muyideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to Gov. AbdulFatah Ahmed, said that the governor had approved the engagement of the youth.

A State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has convicted and sentenced two oil marketers - George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah, owners of Rocky Energy Limited to eight years imprisonment on a 26-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and forgery to the tune of N789.6million.

The convicts were prosecuted alongside one Adamu Maula, owner of Downstream Energy Sources Limited, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

They were said to have imported 10, 862 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, for which they were paid the sum of money by the Petroleum Support Fund, PSF.

Nigeria and neighbour Niger Republic plan to build an oil refinery as part of efforts to tackle smuggling of petrol across their shared borders.

Nigeria’s Minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, led a Nigerian government delegation to Niamey, the Nigerien capital, on Wednesday to discuss a firm agreement for the design and construction of the refinery to be strategically located at a border town between the two countries.

According to a statement by his ministry, Kachikwu said the move would be “in line with the commitment to collaboratively work across the region to ensure definitive solutions to [oil] sector challenges”.

Nigeria plans to start building a $5.8 billion hydro-power plant in the eastern Mambila region this year, after it agrees on loan terms with China’s Export-Import Bank. “We hope to break ground this year if we can conclude the financing. Contracts are in place. We are good to go,” Power, Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola said in a Jan. 23 interview in the capital, Abuja.

Indian government has vowed to stamp out use of cryptocurrencies, which it considers illegal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, launching a no-holds-barred attack on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Governments around the world are grappling with how to regulate cryptocurrency trading, and policymakers are expected to discuss the matter at a G20 summit in Argentina in March.

Kano State Government in Nigeria has handed over 150 hectares of land to Dangote Group for the development of a US $150m Dangote/Black Rhino solar power plant in Zakirai, Gabasawa local government area. Managing Director, Stakeholder Management Dangote Group, Alhaji Bello Danmusa received the land on behalf of Aliko Dangote.

Global oil companies, Shell Integrated Gas Thailand Pte Ltd and Thai Energy Company Ltd, affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, have agreed to an asset sale of their 22.2222% interest in the Bongkot field and adjoining acreage offshore Thailand to PTT Exploration & Production Public

Company Limited (PTTEP) and PTTEP International Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PTTEP, for a transaction value of $750 million. The transaction is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2018, subject to completion conditions as prescribed in the agreement.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday injected the sum of $55m into the economy for Nigerians requiring foreign exchange (Forex) for Business/Personal Travel Allowances, tuition, and medical fees. The amount is part of $210m pumped into various segments of the foreign exchange market by the apex bank.