The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Sen. Danjuma Goje, has said that no provision was made in the 2018 Budget for any increase in minimum wage during the year.

Goje made this known while briefing newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja shortly after the passage of the 2018 Appropriation Bill.

He said the failure to capture the wage in the budget may have been because deliberation on the issue had not been concluded by the Executive.

The Lagos State Government Southwest Nigeria says it has exported finished goods worth about N264Bn (735.8 Million Dollars) in the last three years through the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ). The State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye gave the figure at a Press briefing in Alausa, Ikeja at an event organised to mark the 3rd year in office of the state Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.

Fifty indigenous and foreign companies have been awarded contracts to lift Nigeria’s crude for the 2018/2019 crude oil term.

The 50 companies were among a total of 254 that participated in the bids held last January for the sale and purchase of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) equity crude under the 2018/2019 crude oil term contracts.

Although the firms have not been officially announced by the NNPC, insiders at the state-oil firm confirmed the 50 selected firms. The formal announcement is expected anytime soon.

The World Bank Group has expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Nigerian economy as it continues on the path to growth. The commendation was contained in a statement by the bank on Monday, after the conclusion of a visit to Nigeria by 10 Executive Directors of the bank from May 9 to 12.

The Federal Government has offered for
 subscription by auction N70 billion worth of bonds in its May 23 auction, the Debt Management Office said. The offer circular obtained from its website on Tuesday in Abuja, stated that it would sell N20 billion of a five-year re-opening issue maturing in April 2023 at 12.75 per cent.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of First Nation Airways indefinitely.

The suspension according to a statement signed by NCAA General Manager, Public Relations, Sam Adurogboye, is sequel to the flagrant and continuous violation of the terms and conditions of issuance of it AOC by the Airline thereby carrying out unauthorised and illegal operations.

Adurogboye in the statement added that the suspension was conveyed to the Airline via a letter on Friday, May 11, 2018 and First Nation Airways acknowledged receipt.

Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index which measures inflation dropped from 13.34 per cent in March to 12.48 per cent in April, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.

According to the NBS in its CPI report, this is the 15th consecutive months that the inflation rate would be experiencing continuous decline.

The Federal Government on Sunday said its capital expenditure for 2017 budget was in excess of N1.5 trillion.

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this on her official Twitter handle, @HMKemiAdeosun, noted that the figure “is higher than what we achieved in the 2016 budget.”

The 2016 capital spending was in excess of N1 trillion.

FSDH Merchant Bank has estimated that Nigeria’s economy, measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), grew by 3.55 percent in the first quarter of 2018 (Q1’18) from 1.92 percent in Q4’17.

Speaking at a media briefing on the May 2018 edition of its monthly economic and financial market outlook, the Head of FSDH Research, Mr. Ayo Akinwunmi, said the projection is based on the persistent economic expansion recorded in most subsectors of the economy as reflected in the monthly Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) report.

He stated: “The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published for the month of April 2018 shows an expansion. The Manufacturing PMI in the month of April stood at 56.9 percent from 56.7 percent recorded in March. Similarly, the Non-Manufacturing PMI improved to 57.5 points from 57.2 points in March.

OPEC's Output Deal Will Not Be Affected By Iran Sanctions

The decision of President Donald Trump to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and re-impose sanctions on buyers of its oil will have a big impact on Iran's crude exports.

However, this is not expected to endanger the output deal among OPEC and its friends.

Reuter’s news agency reports that there is no pressure from within the group to bring their cooperation to an end. Far from it. The deal will run until the end of 2018 and could be extended again if participants don’t believe that the market has been rebalanced.