Nigeria’s coronavirus outbreak may push 5 million people into poverty as it triggers the worst recession in the African powerhouse since the 1980s, the World Bank said on Thursday. The twin shock of the pandemic and a global oil price crash has pummelled Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest economy mainly because it is the continent’s top crude producer. But Nigeria also has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world, and has not recovered from another …

The Federal Capital Territory Administration is at  loggerheads with the automobile dealers at the popular Apo mechanic village in Abuja over the plan to demolish illegal structures in the village. The FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, had given traders and shop owners seven-day notice to remove their shops and abandoned vehicles in the affected area. Bello said he was not comfortable with the illegal occupation of the area by the traders because it violates the Abuja master plan. The …

Nigeria’s gross domestic product has experienced its second highest quarterly growth in four years after growing by 2.28 per cent in the third quarter of 2019, data by Nigeria Bureau of Statistics reveals. According to the NBS, the growth rate in Q3 of 2019 represents the second-highest quarterly rate recorded since 2016. The data released shows that the 2.28 per cent gross domestic product growth is 0.17 percentage points higher than the 2.12 per cent revised GDP growth recorded in …

An association of fish and coconut farmers has said that 900 of their trucks have been grounded at the Seme Border after paying excise duties of N4m each – N3.6bn in total.  Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents and Coconut/Fish Farmers Union, Samuel Igbowu, said the goods had been secured before the partial border closure was enforced, according to a report by PUNCH.  Igbowu said the group of traders had lost over N5bn due to the government’s …

The Nigerian Senate has dropped its interest in breaking up the monopoly of System Specs, the firm which handles the Remita platform responsible for processing payments into the Treasury Single Account.  A member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, anonymously informed PUNCH that its investigations did not show any serious reason for concern. He said, “We are already in touch with the Federal Ministry of Finance and management of System Specs and from all indications, …

The Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry expects the Nigerian economy to have a suppressed economic performance the coming year.  Director-General of the industry trade group, Muda Yusuf, said the country’s economy will grow by two per cent in 2020. News Agency of Nigeria reports that the LCCI give this verdict in its 2019 Economic Review and Outlook for 2020. “We expect economic growth to remain subdued at around two per cent by 2020 as consumer demand, as well as …