Economy

*ECCIMA Tasks Govt To Empower MSMEs By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has issued Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certificates to 24 firms operating within Enugu State. The certificates covered the companies' 41 products with one of the firms receiving Product Identification Certificate for its unique product. Issuing the certificates yesterday in Enugu, Director-General (DG) of SON, Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, said that SON's MANCAP certificate remained a seal of quality and international standards for made-in-Nigeria products globally. Okeke said that MANCAP is a mandatory product certification scheme which ensures all locally manufactured products conform with Nigeria Industrial…

*Prices In Nigeria Stable From Last Hike *Iranian Leaders Pledge Loyalty To New Supreme Leader Oil prices have tumbled back from the four-year highs they hit yesterday after US President Donald Trump suggested the US-Israel war on Iran could end “very soon." It has been an extraordinary 24 hours in global markets. This time yesterday, Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged beyond $100 per barrel for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – triggering stark sell-offs across leading Asian and European stock indices. Wall Street also started the day under pressure in New York. Then Trump,…

Africa’s largest mobile network operator, MTN Group Limited, has projected that its full-year earnings will more than quadruple, driven by a sharp recovery in the conglomerate's Ghanaian and Nigerian operations. In a trading statement released today, the Johannesburg-headquartered telecommunications giant said it is finalising its results for the year ended 31 December 2025 and anticipates reporting a markedly stronger performance compared with the previous year. The group expects earnings per share to swing dramatically from a loss of 531 cents in 2024 to a range of 1,062 to 1,168 cents in 2025, representing an increase of more than 300 per…

*People&Politics' Report Comes True Oil prices rose and stock markets have come under pressure today after intense US-Israeli strikes on Iran prompted fears of significant global economic disruption. Brent crude jumped by as much as 13% during early trading – to hit $82 per barrel, a 14-month high – as the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, one of the most important arteries for global trade, intensified concerns over oil supplies. Ahead of this development, People&Politics on 20 February this year ran a report headlined 'Potential US-Iran Conflict: Nigeria The Winner, Rubs Hands As Unexpected Windfall Beckons' in which…

*Oil Prices Tipped To Hit $120bp, Almost Twice Current Rate Should President Donald Trump order the much-expected military strikes on Iran soon, Nigeria's vaults may bulge with petro-dollars thereafter. US and Iranian negotiators are presently locked in talks over the global superpower's insistence that Iran cannot own a nuclear weapon, saying the Middle East nation would deploy such weapon of mass destruction to terrorize other nations in the region, given her antecedents -a charge the Islamic Republic flatly denies, contending its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes. However, Trump seems dissatisfied with Iran's stance at the talks and yesterday…

*Still, Central Banks Around The World Buy Despite Exorbitant Prices Global financial services firm, JPMorgan, expects gold prices to hit $6,300 (about N8.7m) per ounce by the end of 2026 – despite bullion suffering its sharpest one-day drop since 1983 last Friday. Gold futures fell 0.9% Monday, 2 February, continuing its descent following news that President Donald Trump plans to nominate former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to lead the US Federal Reserve – an expected pick that calmed investor nerves. But JPMorgan expects gold prices to hit $6,300 per ounce by the end of 2026 as investors and central banks…

By CHUKWUDI ACHIFE He arrives promptly and firmly when beckoned -not with sirens and guns blazing but with a scale and a bagful of powers to ensure justice, equity and fairness in tax administration. He is the Tax Ombudsman of Nigeria. A new office created to strengthen President Ahmed Tinubu' s sweeping tax reforms. Heading this all -important office, is Dr. John Nwabueze who became the pioneer occupant of the office following his appointment by President Ahmed Tinubu GCFR in November 2035. His appointment has been widely and enthusiastically received within the nation's business community as he comes with a…

Oil markets have recorded their steepest annual fall since the Covid pandemic and could be on track to plummet further as oil producers continue to pump more crude than needed by the global economy. Oil prices slumped by almost 20% in 2025, marking the biggest annual loss since 2020 and the first time that the oil market has recorded three consecutive years of annual losses. On the last day of 2025, the price of Brent crude settled at $60.85 a barrel, down sharply from almost $74 a barrel at the end of 2024. The US oil price also fell 20%…

The richest 500 individuals in the world added a record $2.2trillion to their wealth in 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with just eight billionaires accounting for a quarter of the gains. The gains increased their collective net worth to $11.9tn, bolstered by billionaire Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory and booming markets in cryptocurrencies, equities and metals. Around a quarter of the gains were attributed to eight billionaires, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Oracle chair Larry Ellison and Alphabet Inc co-founder Larry Page, though 2024 saw more concentrated net worth gains with the same eight billionaires making up 43%…

*Adds Over Half Trillion $ By Anna Isaac A stock market boom in artificial intelligence (AI) companies has added more than half a trillion dollars to the wealth of America’s tech barons in the past year, (2025), data shows. The top 10 US founders and bosses of some of the world’s largest technology companies saw their finances swell to nearly $2.5tn, up from $1.9tn, in the year to Christmas Eve, according to figures from Bloomberg. Elon Musk, already the world’s richest man, has again proved to be one of biggest winners as the AI gold-rush has pushed US stock markets…