Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company plans to set up a $1 billion fund to invest in health care and wellness across Africa.
 
“We are raising in three tranches within four years,” Ola Brown, the company’s managing partner and co-founder, said in an interview. “The first $200 million by the end of first quarter next year, and then $300 million and $500 million.”
 
Based in Nigeria, Flying Doctors Healthcare Investment Company already has a number of health care technology companies in its portfolio that are worth an estimated $200 million. The companies include MDaas Global, LifeStore Pharmacy and Helium Health and operate in diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and telemedicine…
 
More details through:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-01/nigeria-doctor-eyes-1-billion-health-fund-after-tackling-virus
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Nigeria spends about $3.3bn every year on the importation of metals, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, stated on Monday.
 
He stated this in his remark at the takeover ceremony of assets of steel plants of Standard Metallurgical Company Limited in Ogun State by KAM Steel Integrated Company Limited. KAM Steel, a subsidiary of KAM Holding, acquired SMC at N60bn.
 
Adegbite, who was represented at the ceremony by his Senior Special Assistant, Technical, Olu Adedayo, said despite the fast growth of Nigeria’s economy, the country was not producing liquid steel…
 
More details through:
https://punchng.com/metals-import-gulps-3-3bn-annually-says-minister/

KAM Steel Integrated Company Limited on Monday acquired $158 million (N60billion) steel plants and other assets in Sagamu, Ogun State, pledging to create 10,000 directs jobs in the coming months.
 
The steel plants and assets located at Igbafa village in Sagamu, Sagamu Local Government, until the acquisition, belonged to the Standard Metallurgical Company Limited (SMC).
 
The transfer of ownership to KAM Steel, an integrated company under the KAM Holding, an indigenous iron and steel products manufacturing company, was witnessed by major stakeholders in the industry.
 
The Chairperson of KAM Holding, Alhaja Bolanle Yusuf, said the acquisition was part of the firm plan to increase its capacities and reposition the country as a self-sufficient nation in steel and allied products…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/kam-acquires-n60b-steel-plant-in-ogun/

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The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has said that in the last 11 months since he assumed the position, broadband penetration in the country has grown by 10 percent, from an average growth of two percent annually since year 2000. 
 
According to the minister, the federal government remains committed to digitalising the Nigerian economy, saying the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the need for the government to aggressively achieve a digital economy.
 
Pantami, made this remark at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s (CIBN), 2020 Graduates’ Induction/Prize Awards day, which held virtually over the weekend. The CIBN inducted 1,311 new members and awarded the best performing students in its different professional certification categories…
 
More details through:
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/08/31/nigerias-broadband-penetration-grows-10-in-one-year-says-fg/

Some 2.68million tonnes of sugar valued at N407.4billion ($905.3million) have been exported by Brazil to Nigeria within the last two years. The commodity is 84.58 percent of the total $1.07billion foreign sugar shipped to Nigeria between 2018 and 2019.
 
Brazil, which is the top supplier, exported $446,4million and $458.91million, while the total sugar exported in 2018 was $520.18 and $545.75million in 2019 as demand reached 1.7 million metric tonnes in 2020.
 
Last week, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)’s shipping position revealed that a total of 194, 050 tonnes was ferried to Lagos port by four vessels to Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL) and Greenview Nigeria Development Limited (GNDL). Desert Hope with 52, 350tonnes offloaded its cargo at ABTL of the port, while SBI Bravo with 49,000tonnes, Almasi, 46,400tonnes and Genco Provence, 46300tonnes have been moored at GDNL…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/brazil-earns-n407bn-from-sugar-export-to-nigeria/
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The Federal Government has resolved to inject over $1.58bn (N600bn) as stimulus response into Nigeria’s agricultural sector, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, has said. Nanono said the fund would target small scale farmers to ensure food security and sustainability. He disclosed this while on a tour of Dangote Fertiliser Plant and during a crucial meeting with other fertiliser companies in Lagos to galvanise their cooperation for the production of inputs.
 
The minister’s comments were contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Director, Information, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Theodore Ogaziechi. Nanono explained that the N600bn stimulus response which targets farmers nationwide would take off with an initial 2.4 million farmers in the first instance…
 
More details through:
https://punchng.com/were-injecting-n600bn-into-agriculture-fg/

The Edo Modular Refinery being developed by Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited (ERPC) with support from the Edo State Government is set to earn about $125m foreign exchange from the exportation of naptha, which is one of the major products from the facility. 
 
Chairman of ERPC, Michael Osime, who disclosed this in a statement, said the refinery benefits from the federal government’s ease of doing business programme through which it granted fiscal incentives such as duty waiver on importation of equipment. 
 
The refinery has reached 90 percent mechanical completion and efforts are in top gear to beat a September 2020 commissioning deadline, with a team of over 250 locally-recruited engineers, fabricators and other workers engaged on the project…
 
More details through: 
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/08/edo-modular-refinery-to-earn-125m-per-annum-from-naptha-export-reset-states-economy/
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The United Nations (UN) has challenged Nigeria and other developing countries to boost digital payments with the right policies, saying it could earn them $220 billion to $320 billion annually. According to a report by the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Finance, governments must seize the opportunity created by the coronavirus pandemic to develop digital payments
 
The report titled: “People’s Money: Harnessing Digitalisation to Finance a Sustainable Future,” set out an ambitious, practical action agenda for governments. Centrally, it spells out how digital finance can be harnessed in ways that empower citizens as tax-payers and investors in envisaging a digital transformation at a scale that better aligns people’s money with their needs, collectively expressed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
 
In the report, the task force noted that while the pandemic demonstrates the immediate benefits of digital finance, the disruptive potential of digitalisation in transforming finance was immense…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/un-nigeria-others-could-earn-320bn-from-digital-payment/
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The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) plans to deploy equipment worth over $30 million to Onne port, Rivers State, it was gathered at the weekend. The step, it was gathered, is being taken by the NPA to boost efficiency, security and make the Eastern ports attractive for business.
 
Onne Port Complex is one of the key ports under the NPA; it is situated on the Bonny River Estuary along Ogu creek. Speaking with The Nation, its General Manager Corporate and Strategy, Mr Adams Jatto said pilot cutters, tug boats and more offshore patrol boats, would be deployed to make it attractive and stem the cycle of criminalities within and around the port…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/npa-deploys-30m-equipment-in-onne-port/

Sesame seeds has been ranked as the most traded agricultural products in Nigeria during the first quarter of 2020. This is according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics under the foreign trade statistics section.
 The produce contributed $129.2m (N49.1bn) to Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.
 
Good fermented cocoa beans contributed N35.2bn and superior quality cocoa beans contributed N16.8bn to Nigeria’s exports. Sesame seeds worth N9.8bn, N9.5 bn and N9.3bn were exported to Japan, Turkey and China respectively. Good fermented cocoa beans were exported mainly to the Netherlands (valued at N16.5bn) and Germany (valued at N6.6bn), the report said…
 
More details through:
https://punchng.com/sesame-seeds-contributes-n49-1bn-to-nigerias-exports/