Economy

The number of United Kingdom (UK) billionaires has fallen while King Charles' personal wealth has jumped to equal former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List. The annual list of the UK's 350 richest people revealed the biggest decline in billionaires in the paper's history. Meanwhile in the past year, the King's wealth has grown by £30million to £640million, increasing his rank 20 places to 258 with Sunak and Murty. Topping the list for the fourth consecutive year is the Hinduja family behind the Indian corporation Hinduja Group, which, despite…

Sun King, the world’s largest off-grid solar company, secured financing from a World Bank-backed program to boost electrification in Nigeria, which has the largest number of people without power. The company secured a naira-denominated loan of $80 million from the International Finance Corp. and Stanbic IBTC Bank Ltd., it said in a statement on Thursday, May 15, according to a report in Bloomberg earlier today. It’s the largest local-currency facility for energy access in West Africa to date.

Nigeria's pension fund regulator, National Pension Commission (PenCom), wants to diversify investments with more focus on infrastructure and private equity, a spokesperson said on Friday, April 11, a move that could unlock a major new source of capital in Africa's most populous nation. The voluntary and privately managed Retirement Savings Account (RSA) held assets of N23.26 trillion ($14.58 billion) as of February this year, with 60% of that invested in government debt and less than 10% in corporate securities. Diversification would allow the fund to seek out higher-yield investments, PenCom spokesperson Ibrahim Buwai told Reuters . "The current investment strategy…

Pressure from United States (U.S.) aid freezes and global trade tension is unlikely to result in widescale credit downgrades in Africa, Fitch Ratings said today, April 10. Nigeria was identified as among African nations that retain a positive credit outlook,which could even be increased, irrespective of ongoing American trade tensions and aid slashes. Fitch is a credit rating agency and one of the Big Three, alongside Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Fitch Ratings provides credit ratings for various entities including governments and corporations, to assess their creditworthiness. It weighs their creditworthiness to provide investors with insights into their ability to…

The Nigerian and Ghanaian currencies are expected to be broadly stable in the next week to Thursday, thanks to Central Bank support, traders said. The naira is seen holding steady as Central Bank dollar sales counteract pressure from foreign investors trying to pull their money to safe havens because of United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump's changing tariff policies, according to a report in Reuters today. The report said the naira was quoted around N1,620 to the dollar in intraday trading on Thursday, April 10, compared with a closing quote of N1,530 a week earlier. The unit was sold at…

By Shafa'atu Suleiman, Sokoto In a world where adolescent girls face numerous challenges, including poverty, inequality, menstrual scarcity, mental health issues and violence, creating safe spaces for them is crucial for their well-being. Save the Child Initiative (STCI) in collaboration with the Adolescent Girls' Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project in Sokoto, North-West Nigeria, is doing just that – providing a haven for adolescent girls to thrive. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), one in five girls worldwide experiences sexual violence before the age of 18. In Nigeria, the statistics are equally alarming, with 30% of girls…

By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna As hardship orchestrated by the President Bola Tinubu administration's removal of fuel subsidy takes a toll on ordinary Nigerians, the situation has forced all sorts of painful socio-economic adjustments by the masses. Findings showed that,on a personal level, the objective for many ordinary Nigerians is to stay alive by any means possible, given that most families are not feeding as well as in past decades. It was also discovered that many petty traders, including food items producers, have devised strategies to manage to stay in business, rather than go under and await the inevitable. The case…

By John Bassey, Birnin Kebbi The massive economic potentials of Kebbi State took centre stage when top officials of Nigerian Shippers' Council came calling to the North-West Nigerian State. Aspects of the potentials, particularly the vast water body located in Dolekaina, Dandi Local Government Area (LGA), suitable for shipping and fishing activities, were highlighted. Nigerian Shippers’ Council was established under military rule in 1978 but the decrees governing its existence later became Act Cap. N133, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004,under civilian democratic rule. The Council is Nigeria's port economic regulator. A delegation from the Council held a town…