Iran said on Monday it is ready to ship more fuel to Lebanon if needed, a day after the leader of Lebanon’s Iran-aligned Hezbollah group said more vessels carrying Iranian fuel would sail soon to help ease the country’s fuel shortage.

“We sell our oil and its products based on our own decisions and the needs of our friend. Iran is ready to send fuel again to Lebanon if needed,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said in an online weekly news conference.

On Sunday Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah said the first vessel shipping Iranian fuel to Lebanon, which last Thursday the group announced was about to leave Iran, had already sailed.

Last week Iran’s semi-official Nournews news website reported that the fuel shipments to Lebanon were all purchased by a group of Lebanese Shi’ite businessmen.

Power cuts lasting more than 22 hours a day have become the new norm in a bankrupt country running out of literally everything,

The United States is weighing new sanctions on Iran’s oil sales to China as a way to pressure Tehran to commit to a nuclear deal.

Sanctions have had a devastating impact on Iran’s oil production and exports, preventing much-needed investment in the country’s ageing fields and barring it from legally exporting crude oil to global customers. Using a range of evasion tactics, however, Iran has succeeded in circumventing sanctions and maintaining a steady — albeit much lower — level of crude exports.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and FrieslandCampina WAMCO have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), aimed at strengthening the nation’s dairy value chain.
The MoU is focused on developing Nigeria’s dairy smallholder farmers across the country towards improving the quality of locally produced milk, boost production and increase the network of milk suppliers in the country.

Disclosing this through a statement signed by Information Officer 11, Mohammed Abdullahi Gana, for the Director of Information, FMARD, Nanono said that the significance of the Dairy Value Chain MoU was to strengthen the smallholder dairy farming business.

Nanono noted that it would help transform the largely nomadic cattle herders to sedentary dairy farmers and also provide the required infrastructure and training in the Dairy Value Chain.

He pointed out that as part of the agreement, ‘’the Ministry will set up crossbreeding centers to produce quality heifers and strengthen the capacity of pastoralists and smallholder dairy farmers to produce and supply raw milk to increase the market share of locally produced milk as well as create employable labour and expansion of investment opportunities for farmers’ prosperity.”

According to him, previous collaboration with the firm on key programmes such as the Center for Nigerian Dutch Dairy Development (CNDDD) and the Value for Dairy Consortium has been pulling together value chain actors with the right support from expert partners.

He lauded the FrieslandCampina WAMCO for its commitment towards carrying out programs and projects aimed at accelerating the pace of development in the Dairy Value Chain in Nigeria.

Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Ben Langat, stated that, “the initial MoU established a structure and model for dairy development in Nigeria. It brought to focus the urgent need to put in place the right infrastructure and expertise that will support local milk sourcing in Nigeria’.

“Building on the progress made, the renewal of the MoU will enable both parties to replicate the successes achieved in the past 10 years in Oyo, Ogun, Niger, Osun and Kwara states, in other parts of Nigeria whilst supporting various dairy co-operatives in the country.

“Under the MoU, both parties will provide a networking environment for 30,000 cattle herders and transform dairy farming practices by introducing improved techniques and also providing farmers with extension services to enhance raw milk quality and farm productivity. We will introduce commercial credit to farmers and build confidence between benefiting farmers and financial institutions for viable agri-business.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised microfinance institutions against engaging in certain prohibited activities, including wholesale banking and foreign exchange transactions.

This was disclosed in a circular titled “Cessation of non-permissible activities by microfinance banks,” signed by Ibrahim Tukur on behalf of CBN’s Financial Policy and Regulation Department.

CBN said, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has observed the activities of some microfinance banks that have gone beyond the remit of their operating licence by engaging in non-permissible activities, especially wholesale backing, foreign exchange transactions and others.

“Given the comparatively low capitalisation of MfBs, dealing in wholesale and/or foreign exchange transactions are a significant risk with dire consequences for financial system stability. Therefore,  it has become imperative to remind all MfBs to strictly comply with the extant Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks in Nigeria 2012.

According to provisional data from the CBN, MFBs collectively recorded a total loan to the private sector of N761.4 trillion as of June 2021. This follows a similar contraction in February and the second in about 10 months.

Bitcoin broke back above $50,000 on Monday for the first time in three months as investors piled back into the cryptocurrency on bargain-buying.

The unit climbed around two percent to $50,249.15, its highest since mid-May when it began tumbling on a range of issues including China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies and Tesla boss Elon Musk’s decision to stop accepting it on concerns about the environmental impact of mining.

The electric car giant has since indicated its support for bitcoin, while several other high-profile investors including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey have also flagged their interest.

It has now risen more than 70 percent from the six-month lows below $29,000 touched in June, and speculation is swirling that it could begin its push towards $100,000.

Rick Bensignor, at Bensignor Investment Strategies, said Monday that it was “getting nearer the higher end of what I expect as a new trading range in the low-$40,000s to low-$50,000s”.

Bitcoin is still for now a long way off its record just below $65,000 that it achieved in April.

The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) which provides legal, governance, regulatory and fiscal framework for the Nigerian petroleum industry, the development of host communities and related matters, marks the beginning of a new era in the growth and development of the entire oil and gas industry.

Deregulation is one of the main highlights of the PIA…deregulation of the downstream sector is the opening of the downstream sector in the oil and gas industry to competition where players are to participate at every segment of the value chain and the removal of entry barriers in the supply and distribution of petroleum products.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva says the deregulation of the downstream oil sector was to ensure economic growth and development of the country.

He said it was unrealistic to continue to subsidise the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol as it had no economic value. However it will not happen too soon.

The Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Garba Abubakar, has disclosed that two new forms of business registrations which were provided for by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 will be available to Nigerians by the end of August.

Abubakar said the Limited Partnership (LP) and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) were becoming increasingly desirable across various jurisdictions around the world.

The CAC boss also doused customers’ concerns over the commission’s denial of certain names for registration, adding that such rejected names had security implications while others were deceptive or abstract.

He therefore advised customers to always approach the commission with fully qualified names that equally agree with objects of the association or organisation applying for registration.

The registrar general who also used the forum to highlight the commission’s ongoing reforms stated that filing of statement of affairs and biannual statements were now conducted seamlessly on the companies registration portal.

He added that all but two forms of post incorporation filings were now available online 24 hours a day on the company registration portal.

Abubakar stressed that the CAC no longer entertain filing of share transfer as it was alien to the law, pointing out that information on Person with Significant Control (PSC) was available free of charge on the CAC website inline with global anti-money laundering requirement.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) says the implementation of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) does not mean automatic increase in the pump price of petrol in the country.

The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Abdulkadir Saidu, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

“There is no gainsaying that the PIA signals the implementation of full deregulation of the downstream sector.

“However, it remains worthy of note that the PIA does not automatically translate to any immediate increase in the price of PMS.

“The current price will remain until a negotiation with organised labour, which will develop a feasible framework that minimises the impact of a Market-Based pricing policy on the masses, is concluded,’’ he said.

Meanwhile In A Press Briefing Minister of State For Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva Reiterated The Same.