• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Five things to know to start your Friday

Cart23MAY19

Federation account’s monthly allocation drops by N58.6bn

Monthly allocation to the federal, state and local governments dropped by N58.6 billion in April as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), shared a total sum of N655.932 billion to the three tiers of government for the month of April, 2023.

This is an 8 percent decrease from the N714.62 billion shared in March.

According to a communiqué issued at the end of the Committee’s meeting for May 2023, the N655.932 billion total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N364.654 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N202.762 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) of N14.516 billion, N50.000 billion augmentation from Forex Equalization revenue and N24.000 billion augmentation from the Non-mineral revenue.

Read more: Federation account;s monthly allocation drops by N58.6bn

Presidential inauguration: NSA assures of adequate security

Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (Rtd.), the National Security Adviser(NSA), has assured Nigerians of adequate security during the presidential inauguration ceremony.

Monguno gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja at a World Press Conference, organised to mark commencement of activities for the May 29 presidential inauguration.

The NSA, who heads the Security, Facilities and Intelligence Committee of the Presidential Transition Council(PTC), said necessary measures had been put in place to provide all-round security.

He said security would be beefed up at the Eagle Square, venue of the May 29 presidential inauguration and its environs.

Monguno also said there would be tight security in and around hotels to ensure safety of guests coming into the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) from within and outside Nigeria.

FG lauds Soludo on commitment to nat’l food system implementation plan

The Federal Government has commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra for his administration’s commitment towards the implementation of national food system transformation pathways in Nigeria.

Sanjo Faniran, Director of Social Development in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, made the commendation at the Southern Nigeria workshop on food security held in Awka on Thursday.

The Convener who declared Anambra as co-converner of the programme in Southeast, said Soludo’s acceptance to host the workshop was an indication of his desire to key into the Federal Government’s effort to ensure food security.

SEC takes firms to court over illegal N3bn investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that the Federal Government has taken Elixir Asset Management Limited and Elixir Investment Partners Limited, along with two of their directors to the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos over allegations of fraud worth over N3 billion.

In a statement issued on Thursday, SEC said that a four counts charge of fraud were levelled against the accused firms by the Federal Government.

They were accused of offering for subscription an unregistered product ‘Elixir Treasury Product’ valued at over N3billion to the suspecting investing public including Kaduna Industrial and Finance Company, Toyota Nigeria Limited, and many others.

Oil prices fall on strong dollar, sticky inflation

Oil prices fell slightly in early Asian trade on Friday as optimism that a U.S. debt default will be avoided weighed against sticky inflation data that could portend more interest rate hikes from global central banks.

Brent futures were down 2 cents at $75.84 a barrel as at 0015 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 10 cents, or 0.043 percent, to settle at $71.76.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy reiterated their aim to strike a deal soon to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling, and agreed to talk as soon as Sunday.

Optimism over a deal plus data showing lower-than-expected initial jobless claims spurred the U.S. dollar on Wednesday to its highest since March 17 against a basket of currencies.

A stronger dollar can weigh on oil demand by making the fuel more expensive for holders of other currencies. (Reuters)