The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed it will launch the pilot scheme of its digital currency on October 1st, 2021. The resolution was made during a private webinar on Thursday in which CBN and its stakeholders outlined a digital currency initiative. Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele had earlier announced that the bank will be working on a central digital currency during the 306th Banker’s Committee meeting. At the end of the meeting CBN Director, IT Department, Mrs. Rakiya Mohammed, revealed that the bank had been conducting research in regards to central bank digital currencies since 2017 and may conduct a proof of concept before the end of this year. According to Mrs. Mohammed the project is named ‘GIANT’ and will use the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. The Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source project that acts as a foundation for developing blockchain-based products, solutions, and applications using plug-and-play components that are aimed for use within private enterprises.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during the formal launch and sensitisation workshop on the National Leather and Leather Products Policy Implementation Plan in Abuja noted that Nigeria, being one of the highest producers of leather and finished leather products in Africa can achieve a projected revenue of $1 billion by 2025, which could help further develop the nation's economy by providing employment and improving FOREX earnings.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from spectrum license fees for 2021. This was disclosed on Sunday by the commission’s Executive Vice Chairman Prof Umar Garba Danbatta who said that it has recorded over N150 billion from this revenue source within the five months of the year. The figure represents over 400 percent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees generated by the Commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021, and the money made from spectrum sales reflects a significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government, Danbatta said in a statement.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, says Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd. will function to capacity before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. He further stated that the federal government had made effort to ensure that the Russian company that built the steel industry would come to Nigeria to conduct a technical audit of the company. 

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said the vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of the poverty cycle within 10 years is achievable. President Buhari stated the above after commissioning the first National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) Integrated Farm Estate in Suduje-Daura, Katsina State. The president, in a statement yesterday by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said that Nigeria was blessed with both human and natural resources it could deploy to achieve the target. He also solicited more synergy between government and the people, and diligence in diversifying the economy, with agriculture as the backbone to realise the goal. He said: “The country is robustly blessed with good weather conditions, good soil, human and material capacity, and resilience to make a difference by all the hardworking youths. “We can do it, and we will do it. No excuse will be good enough to remain a mono-economy with all the challenges in oil production and fluctuating global prices when we have vast opportunities in crop and livestock production.” Mr. President also noted that over-dependence on oil has become a drawback on the economy over the years, with unpredictable and fluctuating global prices that made it more difficult to effectively plan budgets, implement, and measure outcomes. According to him, the mainstay of the nation’s economy remains agriculture, where the country already commands a competitive advantage, with effective weather conditions for crop and livestock farming, available manpower, and willingness to learn new skills and good soil types for all-season farming.

The ‘Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report for June’ released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday indicates that Nigeria’s inflation rate has dropped by 0.81%, moving from 17.93% recorded in May 2021 to 17.75% in June 2021 which represents the third consecutive decline in Headline Index. According to the NBS “The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living. The construction of the CPI combines economic theory, sampling and other statistical techniques using data from other surveys to produce a weighted measure of average price changes in the Nigerian economy.”

President Muhammadu Buhari performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kaduna-Kano standard gauge rail line in Zawacikin town of Kano State. Buhari arrived in Kano via Nigerian Air Force helicopter NAF 540 and was received by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State. During the ceremony, President Buhari said, “The takeoff of construction activities on this segment of the Lagos – Kano vividly represents the commitment of this administration in the revival of Nigerian railway system, to reduce the deficiency in our transportation infrastructure and drive effective and more efficient transportation of passengers and freight within the country.

Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) have called off the supposed shutdown of filling stations as disclosed by the National Secretary, Alhaji Garba Pasali.

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has disclosed plans to commence payments of liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors, creditors, and shareholders of the 14 failed banks whose licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).