Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi The First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) has assured its customers that the decline in crude oil price will not lead to an increase in the non-performing loans of the bank eventhough it is expected that financial institutions that are highly exposed to the oil and gas sector might be affected by the falling crude oil prices. Giving this assurance, the Head of Finance, FBN Holdings Plc, Mr.OyewaleAriyibi said the bank’s loans portfolio was well structured to mitigate against non-performance in any sector of the economy. He added that FBN Holdings has been able to moderate the adverse…
Author: orientalnewsng
Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Fitch Ratings, a global rating agency has revised downwards Nigeria’s 2015 growth projections to 5.2 per cent from 6.4 per cent as a result of the dwindling price of crude oil in the international market. The rating agency pointed out that Nigeria and some other oil producing countries in the region would face worsening current account and fiscal balances next year. London-based Sovereign Analysts at Fitch, Carmen Altenkirch and Richard Fox disclosed this in a statement Tuesday saying“Nigeria, along with Angola and Gabon, will also suffer from worsening current account and fiscal balances,”. The dwindling oil prices and…
By Gerard Izuora-Lagos The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, said it is now more determined to purge the nation’s maritime space of pirates and kidnappers. The Director General of the agency, Mr Ziakede Akpobolokemi who stated this during his end-of-the-year news conference in Lagos said the agency has taken pro-active steps ahead of pirates within the areas and with a promise to continue to frustrate kidnappers in their evil acts. He said: “If I tell you in the last one month plus, the number of attacks we have foiled in Lagos area and the number of pirates in…
By Gerard Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, has threatened to shut port operations nationwide in an indefinite strike from today (Wednesday) over lingering disputes with government. Ahead of the commencement of the strike, the union had, weekend, notified Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and private terminal operators of the looming shut-down of all ports’ formations nationwide. The strike is aimed at forcing government, through the NPA, to address the lingering issue of tally clerks/on-board security, minimum standard for dockworkers and NPA staff welfare matters, among others. It was gathered…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos The Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) has notified its teeming customers of its plan to shut operations in preparation for the new year. The management while wishing customers Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year thanked them for their patronage and support in 2014. But For ease in reconciling its book balances for the 2014 financial year, ‘we will close our branches nationwide to all our esteemed customers at 2 p.m on Wednesday, December 31st, 2014’ it said ‘Our ATMs, e-branches and other alternative channels will however be available for you to perform skeletal banking operations. In the light…
By Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi Mutual Benefits today commissioned the ‘Muatual Alpha Courts’ an impressive residential estate located in Lagos. The project which commenced three years ago is made up of four bedroom apartments on two floors with additional two bedroom apartment on the ground floor as service quarters or an income generator if leased to a tenant. Overall, the estate has 18 blocks of 54 units and two blocks of 2 units with easy access to main arterial axis roads to the Island and Ikeja via the Funsho Willaims Avenue/Eko bridge and the Third Mainland bridge. …
Source-Business Day Insurance firms in Nigeria are fast taking to mergers & acquisitions to bolter capacity, as competition from local rivals hots up and foreign players begin to join the fray. Already sizeable operators are merging & acquiring to get even bigger, while the smaller players are getting jittery about their prospects in the midst of rivals who are growing increasingly muscular. Within the last two years, a number of successful mergers and acquisitions have taken place. The latest are the AXA, believed to be the world’s biggest insurance company, taking over majority stake in Mansard Insurance; Greenoaks Global Holdings taking…
By Yemisi Izuora-Lagos With few days to the Christmas, Forty-seven ships containing petroleum products and other consumable products and other commodities are expected to berth in Lagos. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) which revealed this in its daily publication, the “Shipping Position” noted that 21 of the expected ships are to bring in containers, 11 to sail in with food items such as rice, buckwheat, frozen fish and bulk sugar. It indicated that 10 ships would sail in with general cargo, four, petroleum products and a ship, vehicles. The document added that 17 ships had already arrived at the ports,…
By Yemisi Izuora/ Ijeoma Agudosi-Lagos Total Exploration and Production (E&P) Nigeria Limited (Total E&P) whose action on termination of appointment of one of its workers was a major factor to the oil workers strike has called for understanding with the unions. Total said in a statement obtained by Oriental News Nigeria that its attention was drawn to statements on December 14, 2014 by the National leadership of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) that the three day warning strike is in part designed to press “for the reinstatement of the National Zonal Secretary of the Petroleum…
By Ijeoma Agudosi-Lagos Crude oil jumped the most in two weeks on signs that output may contract from two nations accounting for about 9 percent of OPEC production. Prices remain near a five-year low, and the United Arab Emirates said the 12-nation group won’t rein in production in response to the slump. But that are fears that workers at Nigerian oil platforms and shipping terminals which began an indefinite strike (monday) would soon affect production. But OPEC won’t cut output even if prices fall as low as $40 a barrel, U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Oil fell into a…