Business

Business Growth: CAPDAN Tasks Members On Technological Solutions

Published

8 years ago

March 23, 2018

The Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) last Wednesday urged its members to adopt technological solutions that would push their businesses forward.
The President of CAPDAN, Mr Ahmed Ojikutu, made the appeal in Lagos at a one-day business workshop organised by Olivet Cloud Solutions Ltd.
The workshop has the theme: “Business Insights on Accountability and Visibility: The Sage Solutions”.
It featured the launch of Sage Software by Sage West Africa, a technology company.
“We are in a new world, and if business people do not drive their businesses with technology, it means that they are not doing well.
“This is why members of CAPDAN are here to understudy Sage as a solution that will give us the best accountability and visibility to develop our businesses.
“The study will also make us to have better businesses compared with our competitors,” he said.
According to Ojikutu, a brick and metal shop attracts less customers compared with having an online shop.
He said that, with the advent of technology and use of social media by more people, it was advisable for CAPDAN members to push their products online to get more visibility.
“The market is huge, and we should be ready as market people to take things to the next level, and that will be through technology.
“Technology is the driving force in the 21st century, and we need to tap into the solutions it provides to make our millions of naira.
“The knowledge got from the workshop will enable us to talk authoritatively and be able to convert things for better productivity,” he said.
The Regional Director, Sage West Africa, Mr Magnus Nmonwu, urged members of CAPDAN to take control of their businesses.
Nmonwu said that CAPDAN members would need to tap into Sage solutions that could help them to be accountable and visible to all.

Business

President Tinubu Extends Raw Shea Nuts Export Ban To 2027

Published

13 seconds ago

February 27, 2026

The Tide

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a fresh one-year extension of the ban on the export of raw shea nuts to the year 2027.

Spokesman to the president, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in an official statement, Wednesday.

The renewed directive, which takes effect from February 26, 2026, to February 25, 2027, is a testament the Federal Government’s determination to strengthen domestic value addition and reposition Nigeria’s shea industry for higher export earnings through processed products.

The decision is also aimed at stimulating local manufacturing, creating jobs, and improving incomes across shea-producing communities.

The President said the extension reflects its commitment to transforming Nigeria’s agricultural commodities into higher-value export products. It noted that the policy is designed to promote inclusive economic growth and strengthen local manufacturing capacity.

“The decision underscores the administration’s commitment to advancing industrial development, strengthening domestic value addition, and supporting the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda”.

The statement said “The ban aims to deepen processing capacity within Nigeria, enhance livelihoods in shea-producing communities, and promote the growth of Nigerian exports anchored on value-added products.”

The statement added that the directive forms part of broader efforts to shift Nigeria away from the export of raw commodities toward a more industrial and export-driven economy.

To ensure effective implementation of the extended ban, President Tinubu has authorised the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in collaboration with the Presidential Food Security Coordination Unit, to coordinate a unified national framework for the development of the shea value chain.

According to the statement, the President approved the adoption of an export regulatory framework developed by the Nigerian Commodity Exchange to standardise and streamline shea exports.

All existing waivers that previously allowed the direct export of raw shea nuts have been withdrawn with immediate effect.

Any surplus production must be channelled strictly through the approved exchange framework to ensure transparency, traceability, and fair market pricing.

Lady Godknows Ogbulu

Business

Gas Master Plan: NNPC To Boost Supply by 1.8bcf/d in 2026

Published

8 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

The Tide

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has disclosed plans to supply an additional 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcf/d) in 2026 to meet rising demand in the domestic market.

The company, which made this known at a media briefing with the Nigeria Guild of Editors in Abuja, stated that its subsidiaries, NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS) and Nigerian Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL), are expected to produce additional volumes of 1.496bcf/d and 223.6 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) respectively this year.

According to the company’s Gas Master Plan 2026 document made available at the event by the NNPC Corporate Communication Team Lead, Andy Odeh , the initiative would serve as a major contributor to Nigeria’s target of supplying 10bcf/d by 2027 and 12bcf/d by 2030.

NNPC noted that with rising demand across key sectors such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), power generation, industrial parks and compressed natural gas (CNG), the master plan serves as a blueprint for achieving the Federal Government’s gas development objectives.

In his presentation, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Engr. Bayo Ojulari, said that the gas plan sets out a commercially driven, execution-focused roadmap to transform Nigeria into a globally competitive gas hub.

“The plan is built to deliver the presidential mandate of increasing national production to 20bcf/d by 2027 and 12bcf/d by 2030, while catalysing over $60 billion in new investments across the oil and gas value chain by 2030,” he said.

To achieve the GMP’s goals, NNPC identified key success factors and enablers that must be in place.

These include: sustained global and domestic gas demand; a strong implementation governance structure to ensure consistent delivery; partner alignment to secure adequate buy-in; funding supported by the bankability of gas projects; competitive fiscal and commercial incentives to attract investments, particularly in deepwater gas development; and the resolution of power sector challenges to improve the attractiveness of the gas-to-power value chain.

The company added, “To ensure robust and transparent execution, a dedicated governance framework has been proposed for the NNPC Corporate Master Plan (CMP). Leadership will rest with the Head of the GMP Implementation Assurance Team (IAT), supported by managers responsible for cluster oversight across gas assets. This structure will ensure direct engagement with operators, centralised tracking of project progress, and streamlined coordination with Executive Vice Presidents and sponsor groups.

“The governance model incorporates specialist teams covering subsurface, facilities, planning, commercial strategy, legal, and communications, ensuring a multidisciplinary approach to implementation. This framework is essential for driving cross-functional alignment, accelerating decision-making, and maintaining the momentum required to deliver the CMP’s outcomes.”

Business

Super Tanker Rates Soar Amid Sanctions, Supply Shifts, and Strategic Hoarding

Published

22 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

The Tide

Geopolitics, growing oil supply, longer voyages, and disruptions due to sanctions and altered shipping lanes pushed crude oil tanker rates to multi-year highs at the end of 2025.

After a dip in January, rates started climbing again this month in what shipping executives described as a fundamental shift in the market for very large crude carriers (VLCC) capable of carrying around 1.9 million barrels to 2.2 million barrels of crude.

This shift is a major buying spree from South Korea’s Sinokor shipping group and Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte, founder of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, according to Bloomberg interviews with shipping brokers, vessel owners, and executives.

Shipbroker reports and shipping executives noted in recent reports and earnings call that Sinokor’s move to control more than a hundred VLCCs of the available non-sanctioned fleet is changing the way other owners act and is pushing freight rates higher.

Rates were soaring at the end of last year, even before the market became aware of an unprecedented consolidation shift.

Growing demand for crude oil shipments, particularly from buyers in East Asia, boosted crude tanker rates to multi-year highs at the end of last year, as the number of vessels available for bookings began to shrink due to higher oil shipments demand, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in an analysis in January.

As higher oil production and lower oil prices created additional demand for crude, VLCC rates spiked by 118% year on year in November from the Persian Gulf to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Rates from the Persian Gulf to Asia jumped by 139%, according to Argus data cited by the EIA.

Moreover, supertanker rates on the route between the Middle East and China hit their highest in five years as traders sought alternatives to Russian crude after the U.S. sanctioned Russia’s biggest oil producers and exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil.

Seasonal factors pushed tanker rates lower in January, before the next leg higher, driven by geopolitical concerns over U.S.-Iran tensions.

In addition, the new oil order in Venezuela imposed by the Trump Administration prompted the world’s top traders to charter more legitimate vessels to ship and sell Venezuela’s crude to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast or in Europe and Asia.

Adding to all these factors is Sinokor’s massive bet to control an estimated number of 120 VLCCs.

Because of the Sinokor deals to buy and charter vessels, the supertanker rates have now jumped fourfold over the past month, market sources told Bloomberg.

This fleet consolidation was confirmed in the latest weekly report by shipbroker Fearnleys, which said that the week to February 11 saw “healthy daily earnings upwards of USD 120k/day and above.”

Geopolitical tension was one reason for the high rates. The other was “Sinokor’s continued appetite for tonnage, and by and large, pricing the spot market higher than the prevailing rate level has underpinned the strong sentiment and left charterers with slim pickings for alternatives.”

Kpler, for its part, noted earlier this month that the VLCC market has seen increased volatility in rates.

“The combination of vessels migrating into the shadow fleet last year, more vessels fixed on time charters and a smaller group of owners acquiring larger fleets is creating greater rate volatility,” Kpler’s Matt Wright said in a Q1 2026 tanker market outlook.

One-year charters have jumped by 20% over two months, Ole Hjertaker, chief executive officer of SFL Corporation, said on the shipping company’s earnings call last week.

“I think one very important underlying factor here on the tanker side, which I would call almost unprecedented in the market, at least in the history I have seen, is that you have one party or group of people who are working together who effectively control around a third of the available or traded tanker VLCC fleet out there,” Hjertaker said, without mentioning names.

“We believe they are willing to hold back ships if they do not get the charter rate where they want it to be, which implicitly would give also the other owners out there confidence to hold back and not just drop their rates,” the executive added.

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld, CEO of another crude tanker firm, DHT, said the company believes the supply squeeze in the supertanker is real, also because of the major fleet consolidation.

“As you may have read in the news, a fundamental shift in the fleet ownership is taking place, with fleet consolidation by private actors gaining meaningful traction,” Harfjeld said on DHT’s earnings call in early February, without naming any names.

“We estimate that the aggregators to have gained control of some 120 ships, and we expect their efforts to continue, and in not too long, to control at least 25% of the compliant tramping VLCC fleet, a critical market share,” the executive added.

“This consolidation is shifting the pricing dynamics and is putting pressure on timely availability of ships,” Harfjeld noted.

Looking forward, the tanker market now accounts for another major development on top of the various geopolitical and fundamental factors at play.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com