Electron Native

Nigeria’s gas reserves have increased by 7.3 per cent from 187 trillion cubic feet (tcf) to 200.79 tcf, according the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mordecai Ladan. He stated this at a technical workshop with the theme: “Gas Utilisation in Nigeria: Challenges, Opportunity and Outlook,” organised by Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Lagos branch, in Lagos on Wednesday. Ladan, represented by Deputy Manager, Gas Division of DPR, Mr Olawale Ogunsola, said, “national gas reserves have risen to 200.79 trillion cubic feet as at 1st January, 2019 and that is what should be quoted going forward.” He said Nigeria was considered as a gas producing nation because of its potential unproven gas reserves which were more than her crude oil reserves. The director said Nigeria’s daily gas production stood at 1.2 billion standard cubic feet (scuf). He said that 41 per cent of the daily production was exported and 48 per cent went to domestic market while 11 per ce...

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it recently reviewed the computation of the country’s teledensity with the latest population figure of 190 million, as stipulated by the National Population Commission (NPoC). The current figure was given by the NPoC marking an increase from the 140 million populations of 2006. Telephone density or teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals living within an area. Prof Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja. Danbatta said that following the re-alignment, also in line with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s calculation of teledensity, the commission arrived at a teledensity of 91 per cent by the end of March. He said “This is just as active subscriber base for the month of March increased to 173.7 million from 173.6 million in February, 2019. “Hitherto, teledensity in Nigeria was calculated using the 140 million p...

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation increased by 11.37 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2019. The NBS said this in its “CPI and Inflation Report for April’’ released on Wednesday in Abuja. According to the bureau, this is 0.12 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in March, 2019 (11.25) per cent. The bureau, however, said the high inflation was caused by increase in prices of some foodstuff. Source: NAN The report said the composite food index rose by 13.70 per cent in April compared to 13.45 per cent in March, 2019. It said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of meat, fish, oils and fats, bread and cereals, milk, cheese and egg, yam and other tubers, fruits and vegetables. On month-on-month basis, the report said the food sub-index increased by 1.14 per cent in April, up by 0.26 per cent points from 0.88 per cent recorded in March. The average annual rate of change...

Nigerian bond yields fell slightly on Wednesday, a day after the central bank unexpectedly announced an interest rate cut aimed at stimulating growth in Africa’s biggest economy, traders said. Central Bank of Nigeria According to Reuters, Nigeria’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent on Tuesday, its first reduction in four years. The rate has been held at 14 percent since July 2016 to support the naira and curb inflation. Bond yields dropped to around 13 percent across maturities on Wednesday on minor buying interest, traders said. They later recovered to 14.15 percent. The most liquid one-year treasury yield fell 15 basis points to 12.75 percent. “The markets opened lower but no one is buying as investors adjust their bids,” one trader said. ADVERTISEMENT Traders said low liquidity on the interbank market hampered deals, adding yields have already fallen from as high as 15 percent last month after the central bank l...

Trading in the shares of Diamond Bank Plc has been placed on full suspension following the court sanction of the Scheme of Merger with Access Bank Plc. The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) in a notification to its dealing members posted on its website on Wednesday said that the full suspension takes effect from March 20. “Dealing members are hereby notified that following the court sanction of the Scheme of Merger (Scheme) between Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc, trading in the shares of Diamond Bank has been placed on full suspension,” it stated. The exchange said that the suspension was required to prevent trading in the shares of the bank in order to determine shareholders who would qualify to receive the scheme consideration. It noted that Diamond Bank obtained the court sanction of the scheme on March 19, being the effective date of the scheme. The NSE stated that the bank’s shareholders passed a resolution approving the merger between Diamond Bank and Access Bank Plc at th...

T he Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Niyi Ajao says that the company has upgraded its systems to accommodate an increase in the volume of Point-of-Sale (PoS) transactions. Ajao said told newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos that the company anticipated a rise in the volume of PoS transactions following the 285 million recorded in 2018. Point-of-Sale (PoS) Mobile Machine He said that the company’s plan was to double the growth recorded in 2018 with a projected 600 million PoS transaction volume in 2019. Ajao said: “In 2018, we had 285 million PoS transactions volume and that was the highest ever recorded in the country. “We are expecting that the figure will double in 2019 because we had half of 2018’s figure in 2017 and that was why we embarked on an upgrade of our systems.” On a system glitch that occurred between December to March while there was a system, Ajao noted that efforts were taken to ensure the issues were resolved ...

The issue of 5G licences marks a major step in the expansion of internet access in Germany, Jochen Homann, head of the Federal Network Agency, said in the western city of Mainz. Source: Dailymail.co.uk “The auction of the licences, which kicks off on Tuesday, will contribute to the gigabit society,’’ Hoffman said at a news conference in the city. Homann, when aAddressing concerns at the lack of mobile coverage in rural areas, said he was confident that mobile services would improve. He noted that conditions had been attached to the auction stipulating that all motorways had to have fast internet coverage. The auction is expected to last no less than three weeks and to result in revenues between 3 and 5 billion Euros (3.4 to 5.7 billion Dollars) for the state. Three established network operators and one newcomer have indicated an interest, including Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica, who already operate networks, and 1&1-Drillisch. Germany is looking to 5...