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The 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that the people in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) ‘do not want to end their lucrative subsidy sc@m.’

The Emir said this while commenting on the ongoing issue surrounding the Dangote refinery.

Speaking on the argument by NNPC that relying on one refinery is bad for our energy security, Muhammadu Sanusi II said: “This is most laughable. On the contrary, relying on a local refinery is far more secure than these imports.

It is a very rich argument from an entity that had taken billions of dollars in the name of turnaround maintenance and not produced a drop of product from four refineries because it is more profitable to continue extracting rent in the name of subsidy. If NNPC activated its refineries, there would be no monopoly. Then, we can see the sulphur content of its products and compare them to Dangote’s.”

Until then, keeping quiet is the honourable option for it, NNPC and its spinoffs have lost any right to talk until they fix the m£ss they have thrown us into.

In any case, if the Dangote refinery is unable to meet local demand, the gap can be filled by imports, these people in NNPC do not want to end their lucrative subsidy scam, and I don’t think they will end it.

But as a nation, if we do not thank Dangote for what he has done as an African to deal a hammer blow to multinationals and the rentier system and for structural change in this economy through value added in various sectors, we should not condemn him.

Also, we tend to repeat stories without evidence. We hear about Dangote getting favourable taxation but no one has said what this tax is, if he got it alone or if it was offered to a sector or to pioneers, and if such a practice is in fact normal to encourage investment.”

Instead of k+lling Dangote, we should try and make more like him. Nigeria always k+lls its heroes and its best because of envy and pettiness.”

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Investors still love Nvidia (NVDA) — but Broadcom (AVGO) is catching up in terms of bullish sentiment, according to Citi analysts who recently met with investors to gauge their views on chipmaker stocks.

Citi's analysts cited new customer growth and the effects of the VMWare acquisition, completed last year, as reasons investors were enthusiastic about Broadcom's shares. Big tech companies are increasing spending to invest in AI, which could grow Broadcom's custom AI chip customer list.

The analysts also said they believe there is some "investor fatigue" with Nvidia, shares of which have lately been subject to volatility amid concerns around trade restrictions and geopolitical tension.

Broadcom shares were recently up about 2%, while Nvidia's added more than 4%. The chipmakers' gains on Monday helped make up for losses last week when worries about tightening trade restrictions and geopolitical tensions fueled a sell-off in chip stocks. The prospect of lower interest rates also drew some investors away from big tech shares and toward smaller companies.

Overall, both Broadcom and Nvidia have been big winners this year. The former company is up more than 40%, while the latter has risen about 150%; both companies have split their shares 10-for-1 in 2024.

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Layla Ali Othman, the wife of Plateau State House of Representatives member, Yusuf Gagdi, has blasted Nigerians for criticising her husband for buying a new Sport Utility Vehicle, SUV, for their daughter, Aisha, as a secondary school graduation’s gift.

The lawmaker gifted his daughter the luxurious car, to celebrate her secondary school graduation from the Lead British International School Abuja.

The lawmaker faced backlash for gifting the teenager such an expensive car amid Nigeria’s current economic challenges. However, reacting to the criticism in a trending Facebook post on Sunday, Layla stated that they bought the car because they could afford it.

“If you want to give information, you should get your facts right. It is a 2021 model. And yes, it is equally expensive, we are proud of our child, as she did very well in school.

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The decision by President Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris added a new, if not completely unexpected, wrinkle to the outlook for financial markets.

Most of the Democratic party quickly rallied around Harris, although her nomination is by no means guaranteed. Polls show Harris slightly outperforming Biden in a head-to-head with Trump, though the reliability of these polls is highly uncertain given how quickly the landscape has changed in recent days.

Analysts were mixed about the impact Biden’s decision would have on both the election and the market. 

“The prediction market-implied odds of Democrats winning the White House rose a few points but remains slightly less than 40%,” wrote Goldman Sachs analysts in a note Monday. The odds of a “Republican sweep” decreased slightly on Sunday’s news, they noted, “but this remains the most likely outcome by a significant margin.”

Some analysts saw the potential for a breakdown of the “Trump Trade,” which refers to bets on stocks that would benefit from the former President prevailing in November and following through on his promises to curtail government regulation and extend his 2017 tax cuts, some of which are set to expire in 2025. 

“The tightening of the race should see some unwind of the recent ‘Republican sweep’ enthusiasm that helped stocks rally in early/mid July,” wrote analysts at Kinsale Trading.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, argue the market is more candidate-agnostic than many believe. A tighter race, they argue, raises uncertainty, creating headwinds for equities. Signs that one party is running away with the election, on the other hand, reduce risk.

“In our reading,” they wrote in a note on Friday as implied odds of a Trump victory slipped amid speculation Biden would withdraw from the race, “the market selloff over the last 2 days partly reflects the modest re-tightening in the Presidential race.”

Major stock indexes fell sharply on Thursday and Friday, led by a selloff in technology stocks. A recovery in tech stocks led the broader market higher on Monday.

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IQVIA Holdings (IQV) beat second-quarter earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook on Monday, sending shares higher.

The life sciences clinical research and analytics organization posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.64, topping analysts’ expectations of $2.57, per Visible Alpha. Revenue was $3.81 billion, above projections of $3.79 billion. 

The results were driven by IQVIA’s Technology & Analytics Solutions (TAS) segment, which posted year-over-year sales growth of 2.7% to $1.5 billion. 

“IQVIA delivered second-quarter results at the high end of our guidance, driven mainly by better-than-expected TAS performance," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ari Bousbib said.

Looking ahead, IQVIA narrowed its full-year revenue guidanceto a range of $15.43 billion to $15.53 billion from its prior forecast of $15.33 billion to $15.58 billion. It also raised its adjusted EPS outlook to between $11.10 and $11.30 from $10.95 to $11.25.

Shares of IQVIA jumped 6.6% to $239.45 as of 1:41 p.m. ET Monday to move into positive territory year-to-date.

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