Author: Ifetayo Adeniyi

File: CBN The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled a sweeping revision of its foreign exchange regulatory framework, introducing a N100 million penalty for banks that process foreign exchange (FX) transactions without adequate documentation and tightening compliance requirements across the market. Contained in the Fourth Edition of the Foreign Exchange Manual recently released, the new framework marked the first major review of the guide in nearly a decade and is aimed at strengthening transparency, improving market discipline and boosting confidence in Nigeria’s FX market. Under the revised rules, authorised dealer banks found to have consummated foreign exchange transactions without…

Nkem Owoh  Veteran comic actor Nkem Owoh popularly known as Osuofia, gave insight into how his acting career started. While he spoke on the Selah Meditate podcast, Owoh explained that he initially worked only as a scriptwriter. He said colleagues who noticed his comedic talent behind the scenes pressured him to perform on camera. “My coming in front of the camera was an accident. I was a scriptwriter behind the scenes and people started telling me to start performing in front of the camera”, he said. He recalled that a TV station once gave him a seven-minute stand-up comedy slot…

President Bola Tinubu & President of Madagascar, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina. President Bola Tinubu is in closed-door discussion with the President of Madagascar, Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. The visiting Malagasy leader, who arrived at the State House at exactly 02:57 p.m. local time, was led to the forecourt by an array of bagpipers from the Presidential Brigade of Guards. He was received by a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, before being ushered into the President’s office complex for a closed-door session. The high-level engagement marks Randrianirina’s first official visit to…

…designed to reinforce strategic guardrails for data subjects. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has unveiled a two-year data protection initiative in partnership with Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, aimed at strengthening privacy safeguards, capacity building and regulatory compliance. The programme, known as the Meta-Supported Initiatives for Data Protection, follows a regulatory engagement between the NDPC and Meta after an investigation into the company’s data processing practices in Nigeria. The matter was concluded in 2025 through a court-approved settlement under which Meta agreed to support public-facing data protection initiatives aligned with Nigeria’s privacy framework. In a statement on Monday signed by…

FCMB Group Plc has reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N202.1 billion for the financial year ended December 31, 2025, representing an 80.6 per cent rise from the N111.9 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2024. The financial conglomerate’s profit was driven largely by growth in interest income, which crossed the N1 trillion mark for the first time in the group’s history, according to its audited financial statements released yesterday. It also posted a profit after tax of N177.3 billion, up from N73.3 billion in 2024, while gross earnings rose by 42.5 per cent to N1.13 trillion. Consequently,…

NBS Logo Telecommunications operators have faulted the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report indicating that the sector attracted only $7.24 million in foreign capital in the first quarter of 2026, arguing that the figure does not reflect the actual level of investment flowing into Nigeria’s telecom industry. The NBS revealed in its Capital Importation Report that the telecom sector posted one of the weakest foreign investment performances in the country for the period, drawing just $7.24 million or 0.07 per cent of the $10.37 billion total capital imported into Nigeria that quarter. Hence, that amount marked a 91% drop from…

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele Ministers will be entitled to a maximum reimbursable imprest of N700,000, while permanent secretaries and directors-general will be limited to N500,000. The Federal Government has cut the maximum reimbursable imprest available to ministers to N700,000 and introduced stricter spending and accountability measures for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as part of efforts to strengthen financial discipline and curb misuse of public funds. The new measures were contained in the 2026 Annual General Imprest Warrant signed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, and…

File: House of Representatives Reps Recover N521m Unremitted VAT From CBN. The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has recovered N521.77m in unremitted Value Added Tax from the Central Bank of Nigeria, marking a significant breakthrough in an ongoing investigation into revenue leakages linked to government collections processed through the Remita platform. The recovered sum represents VAT deductions on fees earned from Remita transactions that were not remitted to the Federal Government over a period spanning November 2018 to April 2024. The recovery emerged from a far-reaching investigation launched by the House of Representatives following concerns over alleged revenue leakages,…

NANS, Over Delivery Concerns, Commences Nationwide TETFund Projects Audit. The National Association of Nigerian Students has launched a 90-day nationwide review of Tertiary Education Trust Fund projects following growing concerns over alleged project abandonment, poor execution and delayed delivery of interventions in tertiary institutions across the country. The student body announced the constitution of an independent TETFund intervention project assessment, verification and monitoring committee to investigate the implementation and impact of projects funded by the intervention agency. In a statement issued on Sunday, NANS President, Akinteye Babatunde, said the decision was informed by persistent complaints about the quality and completion…

Nigeria’s Trade Sector Attracts $65.79m Foreign Investment in Q1. Nigeria’s trade sector attracted $65.79m in foreign capital in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 91.31 per cent increase from the $34.39m recorded in the corresponding period of 2025, despite a slowdown from the strong inflows recorded in the second half of last year. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ capital importation report showed that foreign investment into the trade sector rose 91.31 per cent year-on-year, underscoring renewed investor confidence in commercial activities and cross-border trade. The latest inflow, however, fell below the $80.94m recorded in the third quarter…