Business
2024 The Year of Tensed Business Environment
Foreign Direct Investment, the most critical investment that shows long-term investor confidence dropped to $103.82 million in Q3 2024, or 8.29 per cent.”
That’s how Chinyere Almona, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), summed up the outgoing 2024 and urged Nigerian companies to prepare for “more stress in 2025.”
Almona said: ” It was a year of higher inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates, making the country less attractive to investors.
“The persistent rise in the inflation rate, reaching a 28-year record high of 34.60 in November, continues to fuel a tense business environment as elevated prices constrain various business operations,” Almona said.
The LCCI is particularly concerned because, with the persistent and unabated rise in inflation, businesses should prepare for more stress from the burden of higher interest rates as we enter the new year.
“A disappointing negative record of our capital importation at $1.25 billion during the third quarter of 2024 compared with $2.60 billion recorded in the preceding second quarter of the year points to an unattractive environment for investors.
“Foreign Direct Investment, the most critical investment that shows long-term investor confidence dropped to $103.82 million in Q3 2024, or 8.29 per cent.”
The LCCI boss said the rising costs of food, energy, housing, transportation, and services are driving inflation, worsening economic conditions, and reducing both purchasing power and business profitability.
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), noted that the government must take decisive action to reverse the trends in 2025.
Ajayi-Kadir said that the harsh himfect of hostile economic policies has largely constrained the country’s goal of rapid industrialisation and has left the economy struggling for survival.
He said that for a positive outlook in the coming year, especially for the manufacturing sector, MAN recommends the following:
1. Create special windows for providing single-digit interest rates to productive sectors and relax stringent conditions for SMEs to access funding
.2. Retain the current excise duty of N10 per litre on non-alcoholic beverages to avoid shutting down the industry.
3. Recapitalize the Bank of Industry (BOI) to meet the growing credit demand of industries.
4. Implement the recommendations of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee.
5. Review import duty rates for production inputs, particularly those not locally available, and consider pegging the rate at N800.
6. Direct the Central Bank of Nigeria to clear $2.4 billion outstanding dollar obligations on FX forward contracts to support manufacturers.
Business
Dangote Refinery Signs IPO Document Today
The proposed offering comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 per share, with the potential to raise approximately N2.15 trillion if fully subscribed.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to sign its Initial Public Offer (IPO) Monday 7th September.
Ohibaba.com learned that the signing ceremony will take place at 11am, at Eko Hotels, Lagos.
The founder and Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, is targeting a $50 billion valuation for the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery.
The company plans to sell up to a 10 per cent stake, potentially raising around $5 billion in one of Nigeria’s biggest capital market deals.
It was further learned that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) weekend, approved the IPO of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE, with the company offering 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 each.
The offer could raise approximately N2.15 trillion if fully subscribed, according to a statement issued by the Dangote Group on Sunday.
The SEC’s approval cleared the way for the next stages of the offering.
According to the Commission, the proposed offering comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 per share, with the potential to raise approximately N2.15 trillion if fully subscribed.
Business
Dangote Foundation Takes Over Aliko Dangote Skills Acquisition Centre Kano
Under the agreement, the Foundation will manage the multi-million naira facility for a number of years and operate programmes aimed at equipping young people with technical, digital and industrial skills.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation has taken over the management of the Aliko Dangote Skills Acquisition Centre in Kano state.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Foundation and the Kano State Government, on Friday.
Under the agreement, the Foundation will manage the multi-million naira facility for a number of years and operate programmes aimed at equipping young people with technical, digital and industrial skills.
Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Kano-Jigawa Branch, Muhammad Bello Isyaku Umar, described the intervention as “far-reaching and impactful,” saying skills acquisition remained one of the most effective ways of addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria..
“Programmes such as the Aliko Dangote Skill Acquisition Centre can equip young people with practical skills that enable them to become entrepreneurs, artisans or employees. The emphasis should increasingly be on modern technical, digital and industrial skills,” Umar said.
He described Kano as the economic and commercial hub of northern Nigeria and said the Foundation’s interventions across the region had extended to several sectors.
Business
Okin Biscuits Set For Comeback After 17 Years, Targets Revival Of Jobs, Local Manufacturing
Founded in the 1980s by the late Chief Emmanuel Olatunji Adesoye, an illustrious son of Offa, Okin Biscuits grew into a household name with products including Okin Coasters, Shortcake and Okin Cabin Biscuits.
By Ochefa
After 17 years off the shelves, Okin Biscuits, one of Nigeria’s once-popular indigenous biscuit brands, is set to return to production as efforts intensify to revive the Ijagbo, Kwara State-based factory.
The planned comeback marks a significant attempt to restore one of the country’s old manufacturing brands while potentially reopening a major source of employment and economic activity in the community.
Founded in the 1980s by the late Chief Emmanuel Olatunji Adesoye, an illustrious son of Offa, Okin Biscuits grew into a household name with products including Okin Coasters, Shortcake and Okin Cabin Biscuits.
At its peak, the company provided direct and indirect employment to more than 2,000 people before production was eventually halted in 2009.
The shutdown reflected some of the structural problems that have continued to undermine Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, including harsh operating conditions, intense competition, inadequate infrastructure, vandalism and the theft of critical production equipment.
With the factory no longer producing, its products gradually disappeared from retail outlets and homes in Kwara, Lagos and other parts of the country.
Factory Undergoing Major Rehabilitation
However, the industrial facility is now showing signs of renewed activity.
A visit to the factory in Ijagbo showed that extensive rehabilitation work is underway across the complex.
The main factory building, which houses the production machinery, as well as the administrative block and other facilities, are undergoing comprehensive renovation.
The premises have already assumed a significantly different appearance, suggesting that the revival project has moved beyond plans and into physical reconstruction.
The management recently announced through its official Facebook page that production machinery was being test-run.
It said biscuits rolled off one of the rehabilitated production lines on August 25, 2026, marking the first production from the factory in 17 years.
The development is significant not merely as the return of a nostalgic consumer brand, but as an example of how the rehabilitation of abandoned industrial assets could contribute to renewed domestic production and employment.
For Nigeria, where manufacturers continue to contend with high energy and logistics costs, infrastructure constraints, foreign exchange pressures and strong competition from imported products, the reopening of an existing manufacturing facility could offer a potentially faster route to industrial capacity expansion than building an entirely new factory.
Community Backs Revival
…biscuits rolled off one of the rehabilitated production lines on August 25, 2026, marking the first production from the factory in 17 years.
The planned resuscitation has also attracted strong support from the Offa community.
The Aare Bobaselu of Offa, Chief Abdulatif Adekunle Ajeigbe, described the development as “heartwarming,” linking it to the broader Offa Mega City project championed by the Olora of Offa, Oba Muftau Mohammed Gbadamisi, Esuwoye II.
According to him, members of the community had made several efforts to revive the moribund factory, including exploring the possibility of group financing.
“We did our best to see that the factory came back to life, but it was the children of the late Asiwaju of Offa and the founder of the factory, Chief Emmanuel Olatunji Adesoye, who insisted on carrying on their father’s legacy through the factory,” he said.
Ajeigbe commended the founder’s children for their determination to preserve the family’s industrial legacy and bring the factory back into operation.
More Than A Brand Revival
The return of Okin Biscuits also highlights the wider economic value embedded in Nigeria’s abandoned industrial assets.
The company’s earlier success created employment not only within the factory but across its supply and distribution networks, including raw-material suppliers, transporters, distributors, retailers and other service providers.
A successful reopening could therefore have an economic impact extending beyond the factory gates, particularly if production eventually returns to significant capacity.
The bigger test, however, will be whether the revived company can operate sustainably in an increasingly competitive Nigerian consumer market.
The new investors will have to contend with production costs, energy supply, distribution challenges, consumer purchasing power and competition from both established domestic manufacturers and imported brands.
For Okin, the challenge is therefore not simply to restart the machines, but to build a commercially viable manufacturing operation capable of sustaining production, protecting jobs and reclaiming market share.
If successful, the return of Okin Biscuits could become more than a nostalgic homecoming for Nigerian consumers.
It could provide a practical demonstration that some of the country’s dormant industrial assets can be rehabilitated, modernised and returned to productive use.
After 17 years of silence, the sound of Okin’s production lines running again may therefore signal the beginning of a new chapter for one of Nigeria’s forgotten manufacturing brands.
-
News2 days agoArise TV Deputy Head of News Ohi Odiai and Wife Celebrate 17th Wedding Anniversary
-
News3 days agoBBC Appoints Kakangi Editor Hausa Service
-
Business3 days agoDangote Foundation Takes Over Aliko Dangote Skills Acquisition Centre Kano
-
News3 days agoUN approves new world map replacing 16th century Mercator map
-
International2 days agoTrump sends envoys to Russia, Ukraine with new peace plan
-
Politics10 hours agoObidient Connect Texas Plans Grand Rally for Obi-kwakwanso October 10
-
News2 days agoMKO Abiola’s Documentary to hit Cinemas in October
-
News10 hours agoFG announces two-week traffic delays on Kara–Berger Bridge for repairs
