By: Tunji Okunlola Nigeria’s merchandise trade surplus surged to N12.59 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, according to new figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as export earnings continued to outpace the country’s import bill by a wide margin. Key FiguresIn its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report released on Monday, the…
By: Ganiyu Olayinka The Federal Government has taken concrete steps to release the long-delayed Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to Nigerian shipowners, more than 20 years after the scheme was established. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has instructed lenders to speed up the processing of pending applications. Oyetola directed the Nigerian…
By: Tunji Okunlola The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has officially opened what is being billed as the largest initial public offering (IPO) in African history, with the company targeting just over ₦2 trillion in proceeds at ₦525 per share. The announcement came via a 10-part thread posted Sunday on X by Dangote Group’s official account, outlining…
By: Tunji Okunlola Nigeria’s outstanding syndicated loans climbed by $2.73bn over a single year, an increase of more than 21 times, as the Federal Government leaned more heavily on commercial financing to fund infrastructure projects, according to an analysis of Debt Management Office figures by ClarityNewsNg. The loan stock grew from $133.66m in March 2025…
By: Ganiyu Olayinka Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said the appeal by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) for federal intervention to curb fuel price increases exposes the weakness of the Tinubu administration’s position on petrol subsidy removal. However, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu pushed back against…
By: Tunji Okunlola APC National Chairman, Dr Ajibola Yilwatda, has described President Bola Tinubu’s ambition to grow Nigeria’s economy to $1 trillion as more than a statistical goalframing it instead as a broader national mission to boost local production and exports, draw in investment, generate employment, and give young Nigerians a stronger foothold in the…
By: Ganiyu Olayinka Nigeria’s economy expanded by 4.43 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance, marking an acceleration from 4.23 per cent in the same period last year and from 3.89 per cent recorded in the first quarter of this year.The ministry said the strong second-quarter…
Nigeria’s capital market has been reclassified as a “Frontier Market” by global index provider FTSE Russell, marking the country’s return to the frontier market universe after nearly three years on the sidelines, the Federal Ministry of Finance announced. The upgrade takes effect from the start of trading on Monday, 21 September 2026, moving Nigeria out…
By: Ganiyu Olayinka Sterling Bank has kept its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio broadly stable over the past ten years, edging up only slightly from 4.80 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 to 4.93 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 thereby staying consistently under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) five per…
By: Tunji Okunlola The Federal Government has dismissed claims that it spent more than ₦8 trillion outside the approved national budget, describing the allegation as a misrepresentation of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2026 Article IV Consultation Report. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the Federal Government does…
