Business Tips

The Nigeria Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has pledged the commitment of the Federal Government to ease process of doing business in Nigeria.

Fashola said this on Saturday in Kano during tour of electrification project in Sabo Gari Market being executed by a private firm, Sabo Gari Energy.

He said that the commitment to promote ease of doing businesses was because small and medium scale businesses were the major drivers of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Voice of Nigeria reports.

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that Nigeria was slowly exiting recession but remains vulnerable because its growth is tied to oil prices and improved revenues are restricted to the energy and agriculture sectors.

The assessment, published in a report on Wednesday, came in the IMF’s Article IV consultation, an annual appraisal of a country’s economy.

Reuters reported on the lender’s findings last week after seeing a copy of the document, which states that the fund expects Nigeria’s government to “muddle through” in the medium term.

Nigeria will benefit from about 533 million dollars to be released by the United States (U.S.) to some African countries humanitarian assistance.

The benefactors are Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan, as well as countries in the Lake Chad region.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said millions of people were facing life-threatening food insecurity and malnutrition as a result of ongoing conflict or prolonged drought in the countries.

Nigeria has paid off about 130 billion naira ($413 million) worth of treasury bills maturing this week instead of rolling over the debt as it has done in the past, traders told Reuters.

Patience Oniha, director general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), confirmed the payment on Friday and said a treasury auction calendar for March would be released next week.

Nigeria issued a $2.5 billion Eurobond last month to help redeem portions of its treasury bill portfolio to lower costs.