Author: Chief Editor

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel has identified culture of integrity, discipline and high professional standard as among the qualities that have placed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) ahead of other accounting bodies that have been established in Africa.Emmanuel, made this assertion in Lagos, at the weekend, during the ICAN’s 2023 Annual Dinner and Award where he, along with seven other persons and corporate organisations, emerged the recipients of the 2023 award. The other awardees were the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami; Speaker of the Ekiti State House…

• Convertible, inter-company loans on increase• Six firms raise N364b from capital market in five years• High cost of borrowing weighing on real sector, operators warn• Stockbrokers task incoming administration on cost of borrowing, inflation• SMEs in limbo, pay as much as 32% on commercial loans  Rising interest rates, devaluation, and inflation have continued to push businesses away from conventional loans, with six firms raising N364.1 billion from the debt capital market in the last five years. This comes as blue chips explore alternative funding to survive unaffordable borrowing cost, which has risen to the region of 30 per cent.Whereas…

The trial former Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti before a Federal High Court Lagos, was stalled on Monday, following the absence of the 12th prosecution witness, Mr Musiliu Obanikoro. Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defence, who began his evidence on Jan. 31, is still undergoing cross examination by the defence. Fayose is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over alleged fraud and money laundering charges. The former governor was first arraigned on Oct. 22, 2018, before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun alongside his company, Spotless Investment Ltd, on 11 counts bordering on fraud and money laundering…

The Action Alliance (AA) has withdrawn its petition against the President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The party announced its withdrawal during the presidential election tribunal’s pre-hearing session on Monday. The main ground of AA’s petition was the claim of wrongful exclusion of David Okanigbuan, the party’s candidate, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The party’s legal team is led by Oba Maduabuchi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Following the announcement of the Action Alliance’s intentions, none of the other parties’ representatives expressed opposition to the move. The panel consequently ruled that “in…

The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate during the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi has disclosed his reason for paying a visit to Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka. “Today, I visited one of Nigeria’s most revered figures and an international literary icon, Prof Wole Soyinka,” Obi tweeted. The former Anambra State governor described Soyinka as a fighter who always stands for “justice and equity” in society. Soyinka had in an interview accused supporters of Obi known as Obidients of fascism over their alleged attitude of seeing attacks on individuals on social media as their “badge of honour”. The Nobel Laureate had…

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has approached the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) seeking an order to allow live broadcast of proceedings of his petition. Atiku and the PDP in an application dated May 5, is specifically praying the court for an order directing the court’s registry and the parties on modalities for admission of media practitioners and their equipment into the courtroom. The application filed by their team of lawyers led by Mr Chris Uche, SAN, is premised on the grounds that the matter before the court is a dispute over the…

The Supreme Court has scheduled Tuesday, May 9, 2023, for judgment in the appeal filed by former Osun Governor, Gboyega Oyetola against the election of Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). A five-member panel of the highest court in Nigeria announced the date and time which is fixed at 2:00 pm for judgment after taking arguments from lawyers to parties on Monday. In his appeal, Oyetola of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is seeking the reversal of the March 25 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed Adeleke’s victory in the July 2022 governorship election.…

Nigeria’s agric export is still facing high level of rejection despite efforts of various regulatory agencies to stem the tide, writes Gilbert Ekugbe It is disheartening that in a world where technology is exposing new methods of preserving, planting, harvesting and processing agricultural commodities, Nigeria is still lagging behind for not doing things the right way despite having the competitive and comparative edge to thrive in the global agro export space. According to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Professor Benedict Oramah, Nigeria has suffered over $700 million loss of agricultural produce to Europe alone, not to…

•Anti-graft agencies, others probing alleged breach of IPPIS’ payment protocol, says OAGF •Suspends staff The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday disclosed that currency-in-circulation in the country stood at N2.34 trillion as of April 18, 2023, from N3.23 trillion in October last year. Speaking on Arise Television, a sister broadcast arm of THISDAY, CBN Director, Currency Operations Department, Mr. Ahmed Umar, explained that currency in circulation comprises both the new and old banknotes. This was just as the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) yesterday said it was aware of reported breach of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll…

Oil giant, ExxonMobil’s profits more than doubled in the first three months of this year, helped by the increased demand for oil and gas, a Reuters report has said. The US energy firm said cost-cutting measures also contributed to its record $11.4 billion (£9.1 billion) first-quarter profits, up from $5.5 billion a year earlier. The jump came despite falling oil prices and a $200 million hit from windfall taxes the company paid in Europe. Rival US oil firm Chevron also reported an increase in its profits. It made nearly $6.6 billion between January and March, up 5 per cent from…