Business News

Friday, 31 July 2020 06:08

Oil starts another downward slide, falls 4 percent as virus surge weighs on demand outlook

Oil prices fell by around 4% on Thursday, as surging coronavirus infections around the world threatened to jeopardise a recovery in fuel demand just as major oil producers are set to raise output. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $1.52, or 3.7%, at $39.75 a barrel at 1401 GMT. The most-active Brent crude contract for October fell $1.35, or 3.1%, to $42.74 a barrel, while September Brent, which expires on Friday, fell $1.34 to $42.41 a barrel. Both benchmark contracts had risen on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported the largest one-week fall in…

Friday, 31 July 2020 06:06

‘Some businesses will die,’ manufacturers lament as dollar shortage bites harder

As women in hairnets and anti-coronavirus masks sort through folded nappies coming off a conveyor belt, head of the Nigerian firm they work for wonders how much longer he can afford to keep them in employment. Around 80% of the materials that go into Lagos-based diaper and sanitary towel manufacturer Wemy’s products are imported. To buy them, Paul Odunaiya needs dollars, which he can no longer find. “We’re pleading with our suppliers to wait a bit longer so that we can source dollars and pay them,” Odunaiya told Reuters. With the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, depressed and foreign…

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 05:32

NNPC in $1.5bn oil-for-loan deal with traders

NNPC has signed a $1.5 billion prepayment deal led by Standard Chartered and backed by oil traders Vitol Group and Matrix Energy, two sources close to the matter said, the first such agreement since coronavirus pandemic. The deal provides Nigeria with much-needed cash after its finances were hit by the oil price crash in April as Covid-19 lockdowns erased nearly one third of global oil demand. The financing package called Project Eagle was also backed by African Export Import Bank (Afrexim) and United Bank for Africa. Vitol and Matrix will each get 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude as…

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 05:31

End game for oil? OPEC prepares for an age of dwindling demand

The coronavirus crisis may have triggered the long-anticipated tipping point in oil demand and it is focusing minds in OPEC. The pandemic drove down daily crude consumption by as much as a third earlier this year, at a time when the rise of electric vehicles and a shift to renewable energy sources were already prompting downward revisions in forecasts for long-term oil demand. It has prompted some officials in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, oil’s most powerful proponent since it was founded 60 years ago, to ask whether this year’s dramatic demand destruction heralds a permanent shift and…

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 05:30

Nigeria sees surge in job seekers amid pandemic turmoil

Unemployment is expected to rise to 33.6% by end of the year Information technology and telecoms among top hiring sectors The number of people looking for employment through Nigeria’s biggest recruiting website has jumped five-fold since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the struggle faced by many in Africa’s largest economy. “Typically we have about 10,000 active job-seekers a week,” Hilda Kragha, Jobberman’s chief executive officer, said in interview in Lagos, the country’s financial capital. “During this pandemic, we have been having over 55,000, which means more people are looking for jobs.” Like many countries Nigeria has been hit…

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 05:27

CBN holds N900bn customers’ deposits with banks

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been holding on to N900 billion of lenders’ deposits as Cash Reserve Ration (CRR) since January. By CRR policy, banks have a mandate to keep 27.5 per cent of all deposits with CBN. CRR is a portion of bank’s deposit kept with CBN for liquidity control. Fitch Ratings has predicted a 20 per cent hit in Nigerian banks’ revenue this year due to CRR policy and foreign exchange shortage. It said Nigeria’s banks would face rising borrowing costs as CBN’s measures to support naira squeeze lenders, who already hit by Covid-19 pandemic and oil…

Wednesday, 29 July 2020 05:14

CEOs need to learn Tim Cook's 'empathy' rule of management

Apple's leader shows how a little care can go a long way. Earlier this week, I wrote about a new study from anonymous corporate social network service Blind that found two-thirds of employees believe work from home orders and the broader pandemic were having a negative impact on their mental health. In the study, which included responses from 10,000 office workers around the U.S., Blind found that employees feel alone and it's impacting their professional and personal lives. One Microsoft employee cited in the interview offered a chilling illustration of the pandemic's impact: "the extended working hours and no line…

Tuesday, 28 July 2020 05:59

Banks’ non-performing loans reduce to N1.2tn – CBN

Banks’ non-performing loans stood at N1.2tn as of the end of June according to figures obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday. This amounted to about 6.4 per cent of the gross credit of the banks to the economy which stood at N18.9tn during the period under review. The latest statistics show that the banks have gradually reduced the bad debts in their books in recent years. This was linked to increased recoveries, write-offs and disposals by the lending institutions. According to figures from National Bureau of Statistics on selected banking data, the lending institutions’ non-performing loans stood at…

Tuesday, 28 July 2020 05:55

E-bills payment rises 86%, reaches N444.16bn - Report

Payment of bills electronically almost doubled from January to May this year, compared with the same period in 2019. Analyses of the latest data from Nigerian Interbank Settlement Scheme indicated that the use of digital financial transaction platforms for payment of utility bills and other subscriptions in the first five months of the year hit N444.16bn. This is 86 per cent increase from N238.81bn recorded from January to May 2019. However, further analyses of the data indicated that the volume of electronic payment of bills such as electricity bills, tax payments, toll payments, cable TV subscriptions, hotel bookings, school fees…

Monday, 27 July 2020 05:15

Steve Jobs and Elon Musk: Brilliant or brutal? Management lessons from two CEOs bent on changing the world

Why do genius CEOs like Jobs and Musk treat their people so harshly? The answer yields valuable lessons for anyone leading a team. Few entrepreneurs have impacted the world as much as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. At Apple, Jobs influenced how the world would communicate, work, and entertain themselves for years to come. Musk has led Tesla to the forefront of the electric automobile industry, shooting up the company's share price and adding pressure on legacy automakers to keep up--all while running a separate company that's literally reaching for the stars. But leading this type of innovation doesn't come…

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Saturday, 25 July 2020 05:32

How do you know if you work for a toxic boss? They may be doing any of these 6 things

Some of them are just unable to accept that they're wrong. Study upon study over the course of several decades keep telling us the same story: People leave managers, not jobs. Many toxic management behaviors that crush the souls of people will send them packing for the competition. Here are six that really stand out. 1. They're unable to accept responsibility. Ever work with a manager who's always right and you're always wrong? This boss has a hard time taking blame or ownership for things and will never admit to having made a mistake. Managers like this are more concerned…

Friday, 24 July 2020 04:54

3 simple habits that separate successful leaders from everyone else

Habits that may keep your people from jumping ship. Bosses come and go like the seasons. Unfortunately, so do many employees as overwhelming data shows that people don't leave jobs; they leave their bosses. Truly good leaders, however, will master the essential skills required to inspire, motivate, and engage human beings -- at the core of their design -- through close relationships that lead to results. Sound too good to be true? According to countless leaders I've spoken with and interviewed, strong bonds with employees give you a competitive advantage. But it takes some key skills to connect to them.…

Thursday, 23 July 2020 05:54

FG’s July bonds of N130bn oversubscribed by 261.5 percent

Federal Government Bonds for July worth N130bn auctioned on Wednesday were oversubscribed by N340.13bn, Debt Management Office has said. The total subscription received for the bonds was N470.13bn, comprising of N71.97bn for 12.5 percent FGN January 2026 bonds; N60.32bn for 12.5 per cent FGN March 2035 bonds; N130.27bn for 9.8 per cent FGN July 2045 bonds; and N207.57bn for 12.98 per cent FGN March 2050 bonds. The 12.5 per cent FGN January bond was offered for N25bn, while the other three bonds were offered for N35bn each. The auction results published on DMO site on Wednesday said that 36, 58,…

Thursday, 23 July 2020 05:53

Youths to access business funds as FG approves N75bn Youth Bank

Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved establishment of Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to the tune of N75 billion. NYIF, also tagged ‘the Youth Bank’, would create a finance support base for creativity and innovation of Nigerian youths within the age range of 18 and 35 years. Disclosing this to State House Correspondents after a lengthy FEC meeting on Wednesday night, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, said Nigerian youths with ideas and innovation would be able to apply for funding from the Youth Bank. He said the modality would entail those between the ages of 18…

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