A total of 12 ships laden with various products, including petrol, are at the Lagos ports waiting to berth, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said on Friday, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. The NPA disclosed in its daily “Shipping Position”, made available to newsmen in Lagos, which eight of the vessels were waiting to berth with petrol.

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday declared that the country generated N254.10 billion as Value Added Tax in the fourth quarter of 2017. VAT is a type of general consumption tax that is collected incrementally, based on the increase in the value of a product or service at each stage of production or distribution. The NBS stated this in its “Sectoral Distribution of VAT Data for the fourth quarter, 2017’’ posted on its website.

Barclays Africa, the financial adviser handling the sale of 9mobile, Wednesday finally put to rest several media speculations about the actual sale of 9mobile. The financial adviser transmitted an official letter to Teleology Holdings Limited, confirming it as the preferred bidder in the sale of 9mobile.

Kenya shook off a downgrade and the loss of access to an IMF standby credit facility to raise a $2 billion dollar bond at competitive yields, but market participants said on Thursday it still needs a credible plan to tackle its fiscal deficit.

Kenya received $14 billion worth of bids. It took just $1 billion in a 10-year note with a yield of 7.25 percent, and another $1 billion in a 30-year tranche with a yield of 8.25 percent, Thomson Reuters news and market analysis service IFR reported.

“They were in line with the yield curve,” said a fixed income trader in Nairobi.

In a bid to ensure that bank customers enjoy quality services in line with international standard, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked banks and other financial institutions to settle customers’ complaints on issues of overcharge, unauthorised deductions and other matters within two weeks.

CBN Head of Complaints Management Division, Mr Tajudeen Ahmed who stated this in Abuja, said the CBN would ensure that bank customers received redress on issues of excess charges or unauthorised withdrawal.

Ahmed reiterated the apex bank’s commitment to eradicating the culture of excess and arbitrary charges.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) expressed dissatisfaction with the plan to create a new agency to manage assets seized from corruption and other criminal cases.

The agencies made their stance known in Abuja at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Banking and Currency on a bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Assets Management Agency (NAMA) to manage government assets, including those seized, forfeited or taken over by anti-graft and other federal security agencies.

Mr Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, advised the House to rather consolidate the bill with the Senate’s Proceeds of Crimes Recovery and Management Agency Bill or drop it.

In a bid to ensure safety on the nation’s airways, the House of Representatives on Thursday ordered its Committees on Aviation and Commerce to investigate and carry out critical audit of all registered aircrafts in the country to ascertain their airworthiness, compliance with applicable operational methods, set safety standards and procedures.

The resolution followed a motion on “Need to Establish the Technical and Operational Status of Nigerian Registered Commercial/Private Aircrafts to Boost the Safety, Protection and Confidence of Passengers Flying the Nigerian Airspace”, moved by Rep. Abubakar Amuda-Kannike (Kwara-APC).

Moving the motion, Amuda-Kannike said that compliance with safety standards in the aviation subsector was sacrosanct, given its sensitivity as well as extremely low tolerance for margins of error.

Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday, their recent recovery stalling after European equities broke a winning streak, while the dollar edged further away from three-year lows.

Spreadbetters expected a mixed start for European stocks, with Britain’s FTSE seen rising 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX dropping 0.1 percent and France’s CAC dipping 0.07 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.25 percent. Australian stocks were little changed, South Korea’s KOSPI lost 1.2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.4 percent.

Dangote Group says it has signed a deal to commence the building of integrated sugar plants in six states in Nigeria. According to News Agency of Nigeria, the Chairman of the group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made the announcement at a forum in Lagos to honour major distributors of Dangote Foods in Lagos on Thursday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected $210million into the various foreign exchange market to meet customers’ requests.

The CBN offered $100million to authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment got the sum of $55 million.