HEADLINE NEWS

Naira gains first day in four on dollar sales bets: The naira gained 0.3% to N162.2 per dollar as of 4.05pm on the interbank market yesterday, its first appreciation in four days, on bets that the central bank and some oil companies sold dollars to the market. Although the central bank’s sale of US$250m at a rate of N156.7 at its bi-weekly auction on Wednesday was less than the US$256.7m demanded, dollar sales by some oil companies and sale of an unspecified amount by the central bank to some banks late on Wednesday helped ease the shortfall at the official auction and lifted the naira in yesterday’s trading session. (Source: Bloomberg)

FG aims to renew oil licences within six weeks: The minister of petroleum resources, Diezanni Alison-Madueke, has disclosed that the federal government (FG) aims to complete the renewal of shallow water oil licenses for operators including Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corporation within six weeks. The minister also said that she hoped that the national assembly would have moved forward with the passage of the petroleum industry bill by end of Q1 2012. (Source: Bloomberg) 

Nigeria grants 5-yr tax holiday to India's Spanco BPO arm: Indian telecom and IT services firm Spanco said on Thursday its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm has been granted a 5-year tax holiday by the Nigerian government for outsourcing activities. Spanco said it plans to invest US$27m in phases towards capacity build-up and infrastructure.  (Source: Reuters)

Jonathan defends move to remove petrol subsidies: President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday subtly defended his decision to leave out fuel subsidy from the 2012 budget, stating that the country has been borrowing to fund capital projects when the money spent on subsidy alone would have sufficed instead. 2011 subsidies payment is estimated at N1.3trn (US$8.5bn). (Source: ThisDay)