Dangote Cement has tendered a takeover bid for the largest South African cement company, (PPC).

Stakeholders in the Agriculture sector have called on the Federal Government to ban importation of maize into the country to protect local farmers and encourage investment in that area. The National Coordinator of Nigerian Farmers Group and Cooperative Society, Redson Tedheke who made the call in a chat with Punch argued that unchecked importation of maize remained a major threat to local production and President Muhammadu Buhari’s agricultural revolution drive.

The Nigerian government has ordered a probe of past heads of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMSA) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculating Board (JAMB), over suspicion of massive fraud.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a regulatory framework for the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). With most banks in the country now using USSD codes for banking transactions, the regulatory framework is to ensure that the vulnerabilities in the technology world does out customers fund at risk.

Output from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell in August for the first time since March.

Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Rises To $2bn

The Sovereign Wealth Fund currently stands at $2bn, with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority seeking further growth through agriculture and the addition of asset management. In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, Chief Executive Officer, NSIA, Uche Orji, said government’s contribution stands at $1.5bn, with the rest, including funds owned by the institution and those managed for several government agencies.

The Federal Government said plans were ongoing to increase the crude lifting allocation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its trading partners from 40% to 80%. The Managing Director of NNPC Trading Limited, Ibrahim Waya made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Monday.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its upstream, ExxonMobil are seeking new measures to expand existing operational portfolio. The move is to increase crude oil production and availability of gas for power generation in Nigeria. Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru said the joint venture with ExxonMobil, which until recently was the highest producer of crude oil in Nigeria, was primed to make a rebound.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has continued its relentless effort to sustain the liquidity in the inter-bank foreign exchange market liquid, on Monday, September 11, intervened with another sum of $250 million. A breakdown of Monday’s intervention indicates that the wholesale sector was offered the sum of $100 million, just as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received a boost of $80 million.

The recovery of the Nigerian economy from recession is an indication that the various policies of government towards reflating the economy, as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), are yielding fruits, and confidence is returning to the Nigerian economy, the Federal Government said.