Business
FG inaugurate collaborative task team on overtime cargoes at ports
The Federal Government has inaugurated a collaborative task team of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Ministry of Transportation, saddled with responsibility of addressing lingering issues of overtime cargoes at the national seaports and terminals while also proffering best-case situations on how the cargoes can be cleared.
While inaugurating members of the task team in Abuja, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation and Chairperson of the Committee, Dr Magdalene Ajani, said the inability to clear overtime cargoes at the ports and terminals had affected the number of cargoes that can be handled due to limitation of space.
Also, Ajani observed that this has resulted in a drastic drop in the volume of cargo coming into the country, adding that the reduction in cargoes has ultimately affected Internally Generated Revenue which is now lost to the neighbouring countries, while explaining that the clearing of overtime cargoes should not be confined to the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal, Lagos Port Complex, and TinCan Island Port Complex but all other ports and terminals within the country.
On the composition of the task team, Ajani said, ”It was a result of a series of meetings between the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo and the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, and the Permanent Secretary, FMT, Dr Magdalene Ajani.”
Ajani, in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Henshaw Ogubike, called on the task team to bring their professionalism to bear in the discharge of the onerous task.
Ajani, while reading the “Terms of Reference” said the team work includes but not limited to confirming the inventory of submission by the NPA on the actual number of overtime cargo in the ports and other locations; conducting a joint examination of all such cargo to determine contents suitable for use or consumption; providing a list separating goods for disposal by public auction and those to be deposed by condemnation/destruction.
“Others include gazetting all cargoes identified as overtime for disposal; determining the methodology for public auctioning at various ports/locations; determining the recoverability of part of the Terminal Operator’s revenue arising from long occupation of economic spaces and transfer charges; ensuring that the process is in conformity with applicable customs practices and any other task that may arise in the cause of the assignment.”
Responding on behalf of the team, Comptroller Adekunle Oloyede of the NCS, assured that the task team is a one-stop shop that will certainly unravel the overtime cargo challenge.
The task team is expected to submit its report within eight weeks.
Business
Investors Rush For Airtel Money IPO on LSE
Airtel Money is proving popular among retail investors ahead of full admission next week.
Airtel Money began conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange this morning in a £5.3 billion market debut, dubbed Africa’s Revolut.
Shares, which were open only to investors allocated stock in the offer, were trading flat at around 194p.
But armchair investors are rushing to sign up to the City’s largest IPO in five years ahead of full admission on October 14.
It is the ninth most popular initial public offering on AJ Bell’s investment platform based on the number of customers applying to take part in the offer, it said.
Airtel Money is proving popular among retail investors ahead of full admission next week
Airtel Money, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, which offers mobile payment services in 13 countries across Africa, is a subsidiary of FTSE 100 telecoms group Airtel Africa, whose shares have trebled in less than two years.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has clarified that its ongoing petrol discount is a temporary customer relief measure and does not amount to a restoration of the petroleum subsidy abolished in 2023.
In a statement issued on Friday by Chief Corporate Communications Officer Andy Odeh, the company said the N66-per-litre sales discount, first introduced on 1 October 2026 to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary, will continue until 31 October 2026 at NNPC Retail stations nationwide.
NNPC stressed that the initiative is designed to ease the burden of rising fuel prices linked to elevated global crude oil costs and the Middle East conflict. It applies only to NNPC Retail outlets and does not set a uniform national pump price or change the market-based pricing framework for petroleum products.
“This discount is a customer relief initiative and does not represent the reintroduction of petroleum subsidy,” the statement said. The company urged the public to disregard any interpretation of the measure as a return to the subsidy regime.
The clarification followed comments by Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele, who explained that the discount is funded solely from NNPC Retail’s own profit margin and involves no public funds from the federal budget or Federation Account.
Business
Manufacturers sitting on N40trn untapped opportunities, says report
The Nigerian Manufacturing Opportunity Report 2026 provides decision-makers with the insights on opportunities that are most immediate, where Nigeria is already making progress and what needs to be done better to unlock greater value.
SEID, a marketing communications and market intelligence firm in Lagos, has estimated that the Manufacturing industries in Nigeria is sitting on more than N40 trillion in untapped manufacturing opportunities.
The Managing Partner at SEID, Tubosun Akeju, disclosed this in a report -The Nigerian Manufacturing Opportunity Report 2026 launched by the during the 54th Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, held at the Oriental Hotel.
Akeju emphasised that the report provides decision-makers with the insights on opportunities that are most immediate, where Nigeria is already making progress and what needs to be done better to unlock greater value.
“The opportunity is to understand where those strengths exist, deepen them, and build the competitiveness required to capture more value locally and compete beyond our borders,” he said .
The report examines manufacturing opportunities across Nigeria’s subsectors, states, value chains and industrial clusters, while identifying areas where existing strengths can be deepened and competitiveness improved.
It said that Nigeria’s manufacturing landscape was shaped by distinct areas of industrial strength, with different states, regions and value chains demonstrating varying levels of scale, specialisation and competitiveness.
The report noted that this created an opportunity to build on existing capabilities rather than adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to industrial development.
Manufacturing activity is spread across states with different levels of scale, specialisation and growth.
The South-West remains the country’s largest manufacturing zone, while other regions are developing strengths in areas ranging from food and agro-processing to textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cement, steel and light manufacturing.
The report maps these differences to show where investment and industrial development can build on existing capabilities.
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