Economy

FG Lists ‘Resetting the Economy’ as Achievement of Buhari

Published

8 years ago

29/05/2018

By Dipo Olowookere

As President Muhammadu Buhari marks his third year in office on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, the Nigerian government has listed ‘resetting the economy’ as one of his achievements in three years.

In a post on its Twitter handle on Monday, the Nigerian government (@Aso Rock), it was said that since Mr Buhari took over from the past administration, he has also grown what people eat, made business work, plugged leakages, invested in people, secured the country, brought about reforms in the judiciary and come up with new vision for the Niger Delta.

According to the Federal Government, President Buhari reset the nation’s economy by coming up with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which was launched in April 2017.

The economic plan charts a course for the Nigerian economy over the next four years (2017–2020) with the vision to restore economic growth, invest in Nigerians, and to build a globally competitive economy.

Government aims to achieve these by focusing on five execution priorities: stabilizing the macroeconomic environment; achieving agriculture and food security; ensuring energy efficiency (especially in power and petroleum products); improving transportation infrastructure; and driving industrialization, primarily through SMEs.

To fast-track the implementation of the ERGP, the Federal Government launched the ERGP Focus Labs, as a targeted 6-week intervention (March to April 2018) bringing together all stakeholders to identify bureaucratic bottlenecks impacting medium-scale and large-scale investment projects in Nigeria, and then generate ideas and resources to resolve them.

Government said the just-concluded Phase 1 of the ERGP Focus Labs identified private-sector projects worth about $22.5billion and with a potential for 500,000 jobs (in Agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and processing, power and gas) for unlocking by 2020.

According to the Nigerian authorities, Mr Buhari returned the economy to the path of growth, after the recession of 2016-17 with the GDP recording 1.95 percent growth in the first quarter of 2018.

It was stated that the Buhari administration’s priority sectors of Agriculture and Solid Minerals maintained consistent growth throughout the recession.

“Inflation has fallen for the fifteenth (15th) consecutive month, from 18.7 percent in January 2017 to 12.5 percent as of April 2018.

“External Reserves of $47.5 billion are the highest in 5 years, and double the size as of October 2016.

“Total exports in 2017 were 59.47% higher than for 2016. In 2017, agriculture exports grew 180.7% above the value in 2016.

“In 2017, raw material exports grew 154.2% above the value in 2016. In 2017, solid minerals exports grew 565% above the value in 2016. In 2017, exports of manufactured goods grew 26.8% above the value in 2016. The first quarter of 2018 saw the fourth consecutive quarterly increase in capital importation since Q2 2017.

“The total value of capital imported in the quarter stood at $6.32 billion, which is a year-on-year increase of 594.03%, and a 17.11% growth over the figure reported in the previous quarter. The new FX Window introduced by the CBN in April 2017 now sees an average of $1 billion in weekly turnover, and has attracted about $25 billion in inflows in its first year (and a total turnover of $47.14 billion), signalling rising investor confidence in Nigeria.

“Nigeria’s stock market ended 2017 as one of the best-performing in the world, with returns in excess of 40 percent. Five (5) million new taxpayers added to the Tax Base since 2016, as part of efforts to diversify government revenues. Tax Revenue increased to N1.17 trillion in Q1 2018, a 51% increase on the Q1 2017 figure.

“N2.7 trillion spent on infrastructure in 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, an unprecedented allocation in Nigeria’s recent history. Fourteen (14) moribund Blending Plants revitalized so far under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI); with a total capacity of 2.3 million MT of NPK fertilizer.

“The contribution of Solid Minerals’ to the Federation Account rose five-fold from N700 million in 2015 to N3.5 billion in 2017,” the Nigerian authorities said.

Economy

Unlisted Stock Investors’ Wealth Shrinks N30bn

Published

8 hours ago

05/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.

Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.

The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.

For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.

There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.

GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Crash Stock Market by 0.37%

Published

8 hours ago

05/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The domestic stock market crashed by 0.37 per cent on Thursday as a result of the decline in the price of shares of McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Holdings, and others.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak after the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended the session with 25 price gainers and 31 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.

McNichols lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.74, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N6.20, Eterna shrank by 9.85 per cent to N29.75, Aradel Holdings depreciated by 9.51 per cent to N1,749.90, and NPF Microfinance Bank contracted by 8.45 per cent to N5.20.

On the flip side, International Energy Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to close at N6.60, Omatek improved by 9.73 per cent to N2.03, Abbey Mortgage Bank surged by 9.68 per cent to N8.50, Cutix expanded by 9.66 per cent to N3.18, and John Holt grew by 7.79 per cent to N14.90.

As for the sectorial performance, the industrial goods and banking indices chalked up 0.54 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. But the energy sector depleted by 4.90 per cent, the insurance counter tumbled by 0.58 per cent, and the consumer goods index slumped by 0.03 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 905.30 points to 242,227.31 points from 243,132.61 points, and the market capitalisation stumbled by N581 billion to N155.359 trillion from N155.940 trillion.

During the session, investors traded 588.5 million equities valued at N27.9 billion in 57,352 deals compared with the 923.0 million equities worth N42.3 billion transacted in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, showing a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 36.24 per cent, 34.04 per cent, and 17.28 per cent, respectively.

The most active equity yesterday was Access Holdings with 109.7 million units sold for N2.6 billion, FCMB traded 35.6 million units valued at N384.2 million, NGX Group transacted 28.1 million units worth N3.9 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 26.9 million units for N3.3 billion, and Sterling Holdings recorded a turnover of 22.5 million units worth N176.1 million.

Economy

Naira Slips 0.1% to N1,358/$1 at Official FX Market

Published

9 hours ago

05/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

A 0.1 per cent or N1,49 loss was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, June 4, closing at N1,358.75/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,347.26/$1.

In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market during the session by N5.39 to trade at N1,828.06/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,822.67/£1, but gained N6.75 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.83/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,584.39/€1.

At the black market and GTBank FX desk, the local currency traded flat against the Dollar during the session at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that NFEM interbank FX turnover contracted to $128.117 million in 121 deals on Thursday from $133.731 million the previous day.

On the positive side, Nigeria’s external reserves moved closer to a 2009 high of $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about the local currency outlook in the second half of 2026.

This improvement has been helped by heightened global uncertainty, which has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.

As for the cryptocurrency market, prices extended steep weekly losses as the broader artificial-intelligence trade that has driven global risk assets since 2026 faltered.

The sell-off was led by equity and currency markets, with semiconductor stocks, Asian indexes and several regional currencies sliding in a broad risk-off shift.

Persistent outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and a rare BTC sale by Strategy have removed a key source of support, leaving markets focused on Friday’s US jobs report for clues on Federal Reserve policy and the fate of the AI trade. The most valued coin slipped 3.6 per cent to $61,914.58.

Cardano (ADA) plunged by 17.6 per cent to $0.1630, Solana (SOL) declined by 7.0 per cent to $65.69, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 6.9 per cent to $1,666.13, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 6.5 per cent to $0.8445, and Ripple (XRP) crashed by 6.5 per cent to $1.11.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $581.45, and TRON (TRX) dropped 1.9 per cent to sell at $0.3261, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 per cent each to sell at $0.9990 and $0.9998, respectively.