The President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, saw his total networth drop by Nine Hundred Million Dollars on Friday as his flagship company emerged the biggest loser at the end of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that his wealth fell from Eighteen point Four Billion Dollar on Thursday to Seventeen point Five Billion on Friday, making him the 114th wealthiest man in the world, down from 106th the previous day.
The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, Nigeria’s biggest listed company and Africa’s largest cement producer, tumbled by 8.13 per cent to close at N225 on Friday from N244.90 on Thursday.
Dangote was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position as Africa’s richest person as of Friday.
His most valuable closely held asset is a fertilizer plant with capacity to produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of urea annually, according to the international news agency. #
Currency in circulation rose by Two Hundred and Forty-nine Billion Naira from Two point Six-Six Trillion Naira as of the end of November to Two point Nine-One Trillion Naira in December 2020.
The data was obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Sunday.
The Currency in circulation rose from a figure of Two point Four-Nine Trillion Naira as of the end of October.
The CBN said as a result of its monetary policy actions, the reserve money grew moderately as of end-September 2020. In its third-quarter economic report, the Apex bank stated that on a quarterly basis, reserve money grew by 2.5 percent to N13.57tn at end of September 2020, compared with a growth of 30.4 per cent at end-June 2020.
Liquidity in the system was moderated by provisioning and settlement of foreign exchange purchases, auctions of CBN bills, FGN bonds and Nigerian Treasury Bills, as well as Cash Reserve Ratio obligations.
The industry liquidity position was positively impacted by repayments of matured CBN bills, and Nigerian Treasury Bills, as well as fiscal disbursements to the three tiers of Government.
According to the CBN, currency in circulation is defined as a currency outside the vaults of the central bank; that is, all legal tender currency in the hands of the general public and in the vaults of the Deposit Money Banks. #
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has called on all agencies of the Federal Government and all stakeholders to join its debt recovery drive as the company hopes to secure an outstanding Four point Four Trillion Naira.
AMCON in a statement issued on Sunday noted that a failure to recover the debt would further worsen the nation’s economy.
According to the agency, the Four-point Four Trillion Naira is bigger than the entire 2021 capital expenditure budget of the Federal Government, which stands at Three point Eight-Five Trillion Naira.
The agency in a statement said if such amount is recovered, the agency believes that the money can go a long way to revive the iron and steel sectors, as well as improve electricity in the country.
It also believes that the recovery would involve the employment of more manpower which in turn would reduce the crime rate in the country. #
As the Second Week of the year, 2021 begins, Investors on Monday gained ₦15.979 billion Naira at the close of business on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
The equity capitalization rose from ₦20. 978 Trillion Naira traded on Friday to ₦20. 994 Trillion Naira on Monday, a N15.979 Billion Naira or 0.07 percent gain.
The gain was driven by the high volume of transactions made by the Financial sector. ZENITH BANK equity was the most traded stock, trading 13.360 million shares valued at 344.698 Million naira.
Other most traded stocks include GUARANTY TRUST BANK, ACCESS BANK and UBA.
The All Share Index also closed blue, rising to 40, 150.78 points from 40, 120.22 points at the close of trading on Friday. This was a 0.08 percent rise.
The number of shares traded was 335.699 million valued at 2.489 Billion naira in 5,338 deals.
There were 36 gainers and 24 losers on the activity chart.
ARDOVA PLC was the top gainer while CUTIX PLC was on the top among other losers. #
The National Identity Management Commission NIMC has warned the public to beware of a fake app that claims to help link the National Identity Number to SIM cards.
In a post on its Twitter handle, NIMC dissociated itself from the app saying it is run by fraudsters who use it to harvest people’s NIN and Bank Verification Number.
The Commission advised people to protect their data and stop disclosing personal information to unauthorized persons or platforms. #
Residents of Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State on Monday protested on the Island, lamenting the prolonged incessant attacks and killings by pirates on their waterway.
The protesters who are mostly residents of Bonny Island told newsmen that the most recent of the attacks was on January 5th, 2021, when two indigenes drowned in the river after pirates attacked their boat.
They added that the pirates after the attack made away with valuables from the passengers, and asked them to jump into the high sea.
Meanwhile, due to the high rate of attacks by pirates on the Island, the Rivers State Government in July 2019 launched a special security initiative, code-named “Operation Sting” in which patrol vehicles and gunboats were donated to security agencies to tackle violent crimes on roads and waterways in the state.
The Bonny protesters, however, insist that there has been no improvement in the security situation in Bonny. #
The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Internal Security, Stanley Okoroemegha, has given security agencies 48 hours to brief the state government on how the security breach that led to the shooting to death of three policemen occurred without any intelligence to forestall it.
The commissioner said the government was saddened by the incident.
Three police officers were shot dead, while two others sustained bullet wounds at the Onueke Police Station in the Ezza South Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered that the policemen were attacked by gunmen, who stormed the police station on Saturday.
The slain officers were two male inspectors and one policewoman, who was relaxing in her room when the gunmen struck.
It was gathered that the attackers took away two AK-47 rifles kept at the station.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Loveth Oda, who confirmed the incident, explained that the corpses of the slain officers had been deposited in a mortuary, while the two, who sustained bullet wounds, were receiving treatment. #
At least Twenty people were burnt to death in a ghastly motor accident that occurred along the Bauchi-Maiduguri expressway on Sunday.
The tragedy which occurred around 3.00 pm involved a Borno Express Mass Transit and a Golf car. However, two female passengers were said to have survived the accident.
Ahmed Wakil, spokesperson, for the Bauchi State Police Command said that the accident occurred at Tirwun area of the state.
According to him, the Borno Express bus was heading to Maiduguri from Jos while the golf car was coming from Misau and was heading to Bauchi.
He said the police conveyed all the victims to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, while corpses of the victims were deposited at the mortuary. #
The Benue State Government is mourning the death of the former military administrator, Colonel Aminu Isa Kontagora retired, who passed away on Sunday, 10th January 2021 at the age of 65.
Following his demise, Governor Samuel Ortom has declared Tuesday, 12th January 2021 as a work-free day and urged that flags be flown at half-staff in honour of the deceased.
Governor Ortom in his tribute on Monday morning, described the death of Colonel Kontagora as a great loss to Nigeria and Benue State, in particular, stressing that his footprints in the state have remained indelible.
The Governor described Benue as the second home of the deceased, having remained in touch with the state during happy and trying moments.
He sympathized with the government and people of Niger State over the death of their illustrious son and prayed to God to grant his soul eternal rest.
Colonel Aminu Isa Kontagora, born in 1956, was a Military Administrator of Benue State, from August 1996 to August 1998 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha. #
A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse, Abuja has granted bail to the Convener of #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore in the sum of Twenty million Naira.
The second to fifth defendants were also admitted to bail in the sum of One million Naira and one surety in like sum.
Chief Magistrate Mabel Segun-Bello while ruling on the bail application on Monday, admitted Sowore to bail in the sum of Twenty million Naira and two sureties in like sum.
The court also ordered Sowore to remain in Abuja and must physically report to the court registrar every Monday and Friday pending the hearing and determination of the case against him.
The court further ordered that one of his sureties must be a civil servant not below grade level 12.
Sowore and four others are standing trial for alleged unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy, and inciting public disturbance.
The trial has been fixed for February 5th, 2021. #
AND ON THE FOREIGN SCENE
Facebook on Monday has shut a number of accounts belonging to Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections on Thursday.
The East African nation is holding presidential and parliamentary elections after a tense and bloody campaign, with President Yoweri Museveni, 76, facing a stiff challenge from pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 38.
In an email, the Facebook’s head of communication for sub-Saharan Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said a network of accounts and pages in Uganda that engaged in Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour, to target public debate ahead of the election was removed.
Anim-Addo said the network was linked to the ministry of information and communications technology.
Social media giants have come under increasing scrutiny over the content they allow to spread on their networks.
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook blocked US President Donald Trump over incitement to violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last Wednesday, a move his backers see as an assault on free speech. #
In sports
Tottenham Hotspur’s match against coronavirus-ravaged Aston Villa has been postponed with Jose Mourinho’s men instead set to face Fulham in a rearranged fixture on Wednesday.
The Premier League said in a statement on Monday that Fulham’s match against Spurs on December 30th was itself postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak among Scott Parker’s squad.
Mourinho had said it was “completely impossible” for any more of his side’s matches to be postponed amid a fixture pile-up with Spurs still involved in four competitions.
However, the solution at least eases Tottenham’s backlog with another clash with Fulham also needing to be rescheduled from the weekend
They face Manchester City in the League Cup final on April 25th.
Fulham’s west London derby with Chelsea has been put back from Friday to Saturday, while Villa’s next match at home to Everton has also been delayed from Saturday to Sunday, by which point some of their affected players will have fulfilled a 10-day isolation period.
Villa fielded a youth team without any first-team players or coaches for Friday’s 4-1 FA Cup third-round defeat to Liverpool. #
The second wave of COVID 19 is projected to go up at this time of the year, please do well to stay safe, maintain physical and social distance and wear your face masks whilst going about your daily activities.
