Development Impact

NNPC, NIPCO, Lekki Free Zone sign gas agreement: The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd and NIPCO Gas Limited have signed a gas infrastructure agreement with the Lekki Free Trade Zone Development Company. The agreement is expected to attract more industries to the zone, which would boost exponential development

Rural Electrification Agency achieves 1 million solar home systems connections: The Rural Electrification Agency announced that it has achieved 1 million solar home systems connections between 2019 to 2022. The agency has been able to employ the Standalone Solar Home Systems (SHS) technology to provide 5 million people access to clean, safe, reliable & affordable electricity across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria

FCT minister reduces telcos RoW charges by 90%: The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, announced the reduction of Right of Way charges to N14.50 for telecommunications operators who want to deploy broadband infrastructure in green areas. This is part of contribution to boosting broadband communication

FG commits $457m to off-grid electrification projects: The Federal Government has disbursed a total of $64.8m and committed $392m for the development of off-grid electrification projects across the federation under the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP). It is to also to provide electricity to 90,000 micro, small and medium enterprises, 100 isolation and treatment centres and 400 primary healthcare centres in unserved and under-served areas of Nigeria

GCR assigns TrustBanc Holdings Limited national scale long and short-term issuer ratings: GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has assigned TrustBanc Holdings Limited’s national scale long and short-term Issuer ratings of BBB-(NG) and A3(NG) respectively with the outlook accorded as Stable

GCR affirms Fidelity Bank Plc’s national scale long and short-term ratings: GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has affirmed Fidelity Bank Plc’s national scale long and short-term issuer ratings of A(NG) and A1(NG) respectively with the outlook revised to Positive

GCR places Enugu State Government’s National Scale Issuer Ratings on “Review Extension”: GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has placed Enugu State Government’s national scale long and short-term Issuer ratings of BBB(NG) and A3(NG) on Review Extension

GCR downgrades FSDH Merchant Bank Limited’s national scale issuer ratings: GCR Ratings (“GCR”) has downgraded FSDH Merchant Bank Limited’s national scale long-term issuer rating to BBB+(NG) and affirms the short-term issuer rating of A2(NG)

Nigeria’s third-quarter economic growth slows to 2.25%: According to the National Bureau of Statistics Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.25 per cent in real terms in the third quarter of 2022. The reduction in growth is attributable to the effects of the 2020 recession and the challenging economic conditions that have impeded productive activities

CBN raises interest rate to 16.5%: The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee to increase the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 16.5 per cent, the highest since 2001. The MPC expects that the tightening would curb a higher rate of inflation and restore investors’ confidence in the economy

Excess Crude Account falls by 89%: According to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Nigeria’s excess crude account has declined by 89 per cent in the last eight years, moving from $4.1bn in November 2014 to $472,513 in the same period of 2022.The depletion in the last eight years is owing to lack of inflows, oil market vagaries and the country’s revenue crunch

Insurance sector records 28% Q3 growth — NBS: The Insurance sector recorded 28.26 per cent growth in the third quarter of 2022, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The insurance sub-sector accounted for 10.01 per cent of the finance and insurance sector in Q3, 2022