Nigerians switch diet over rising food cost
Choosing to maintain a healthy diet plan has increasingly become a tough task in Nigeria’s battle with rising food prices.
Some key diets are being knocked out of people’s list of preference, which is now more adapted to suit needs than wants. The trend, which tends to widen chances of stunting, underweight and deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, leaves children the most vulnerable to malnutrition.
Since the price of eggs moved above N50 each, for instance, Rolayo Luwoye, a single mother of three, stopped pairing the protein giver with yam in meals. Palm oil replaced eggs while rice and noodles went without company.
For her, managing to pay for yam is a separate miracle, without help from anywhere except her soft drink business run from the comfort of her room.
Uncertainty as deadline for marginal field signature payment passes
There is uncertainty around the fate of marginal fields that investors bid for but have been unable to pay the required signature bonus as the April 21 deadline passes.
Nigeria’s oil and gas regulatory agency, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has yet to confirm if it would extend the deadline for payment of signature bonus for the assets awarded in the ongoing bid round for marginal fields.
Read Also: Okra secures $3.5m Seed Round to expand data infrastructure
One of the investors told BusinessDay that operators are not certain of the next step as the DPR is yet to state its position. However, some say that over half of the bidders may have paid.
There were 161 companies that were pre-awarded stakes in 57 fields with signature bonuses tied to the percentage allocated to each company.
Nigerians three times more miserable than five years ago
What many Nigerians can buy today is three times less of the usual consumption basket they could afford five years ago, thanks to the country’s high cost of living and its record high unemployment rate.
Nigeria’s misery index, an indicator used in determining how economically well off the citizens of a country are, has jumped to 50.48 percent in March 2021 from 14.75 percent in 2015. It is calculated by adding the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to the annual inflation rate.
“Climbing misery index implies declining economic activity and reduced consumption,” Charles Akinbobola, an analyst at Sofidam Capital, said
Inside Nigeria’s plan to attract oil investment
Nigeria is improving its commitment to repaying its cash call arrears and in reforming the fiscal terms in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), moves that signal the country is opening up to attract new investment.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has so far paid about 66 percent worth about $3.1 billion of its cash-call debts to five major international oil companies (IOCs), leaving an outstanding debt of $1.570 billion, according to the latest statistics released by the corporation.
To forestall a future relapse, the NNPC has secured several alternative funding mechanisms and financing deals for the state-owned oil corporation and its partners, to save the government the headache of cash calls for oil and gas industry projects.
Okra secures $3.5m Seed Round to expand data infrastructure
Fintech infrastructure company, Okra has secured a $3.5 million seed round to expand its services across Nigeria.
The fresh capital comes barely a year the startup received $1 million in a pre-seed round. Okra now has $4.5 million from investors to expand its capacity around the country.
US-based venture capital firm Susa Ventures led the $3.5 million funding in Okra. The San Francisco-based Susa Ventures is known as one of the premium seed-stage funds in Silicon Valley with notable early investments including Robinhood, Flexport, Andela and Fast.
