Lagos, GE pledge to boost economy through SMEs

Lagos State Government and General Electric (GE) on Tuesday, pledged to boost Nigeria’s economy through the development of necessary skills that will empower Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to drive growth in the country.
The SME sector is seen as the country’s engine of growth, in terms of development and industrialisation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment creation. Majority of Nigerian entrepreneurs are SME players, who employ at least 10 people and above.
Speaking at the launch of a hub, ‘Lagos Garage’ built by GE for advanced manufacturing-based innovation, strategy development, idea generation and collaboration, experts said desired growth in Africa, particularly Nigeria is only feasible through sustained effort towards empowering SMEs
The United States multinational conglomerate, GE operations span appliances, aviation, finance, energy, healthcare, ideas, intelligent platforms, lighting, oil and gas, power.
In Nigeria, GE’s interests are mostly in power and oil and gas, in which it has entered into many contractual agreements with the Federal and some state governments. However, the company is very secretive about its

USAID, Chi Farms partner to raise 4,000 tonnes of fish

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Chi Farms Limited have entered into a partnership to enhance capacity of small-scale farmers in the country and to add about 4,000 tonnes of catfish into the nation’s food basket yearly.
The partnership, which is part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative, aims to assist entrepreneurs to become successful catfish farmers.
Chi Farms, according to the project layout, will ensure supply of quality feed and catfish juveniles to the farmers by enhancing its feed milling and hatching capacities.
Executive Director, Chi Farms Ltd, Martin Middernacht, said that the partnership would add positively to the overall food security in Nigeria.

NNPC bid: We’ll ensure accountability – Baru

Dr Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said the bid for the sales and purchase of Nigerian crude oil grades will be transparent.
Baru said this in Abuja on Thursday when he declared the process open. ‎
According to him, the crude oil contract tenders‎ are to ensure transparency, enshrine accountability and conduct business in line with best global practices.
Baru said: “Today’s event marks yet another turning point in our quest to further enshrine transparency and accountability, two critical core values of our Corporation.
“Our focus as a national oil company is to enhance our production volumes, ensure the best value is realised through competitive marketing of our crude grades to international refineries and traders.
“In line with this aspiration, NNPC is collaborating with key stakeholders to improve on the overall security of our production sites and to ensure the safety of our environment.

Naira weakens to 470 on fresh dollar scarcity

The naira weakened to 470 on Thursday, from 465 on Wednesday, as fresh dollar scarcity hit the official and parallel foreign exchange markets.
The local currency had appreciated to around 450 after security agents carried out series of raids on Bureau De Change operators, who sold the greenback above the N400 stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Security agents have been raiding the offices of the BDC operators, ordering them to sell dollar at a lower rate in a bid to break the fall of the local currency.
However, the naira started recording losses gradually again as scarcity of the greenback weighed on the forex markets.
“The clampdown on the black market operators by security agents has negatively impacted dollar supply to the market,” one Bureau de changer operator told Reuters.
Economic and currency experts have said getting security agents after the BDC operators cannot get the