The naira declined to N1,370 against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday.

This represents a 1.48 percent depreciation from N1,350 traded on April 29.

Currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, put the buying rate of the greenback at N1,330 and the selling price at N1,370 — leaving a profit margin of N40.

At the official window, the local currency appreciated by 1.98 percent to N1,390 on April 30 — from N1,419.11 on April 29.

During trading, the exchange rate rose as high as N1,450 and as low as N1,200 according to data from FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees FX trading in Nigeria.

The naira devaluation has continued to pose significant challenges to firms, cutting deep into profit margins and eroding shareholders’ dividends.

On April 30, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, said the devaluation of naira created the “biggest mess” for the company in 2023.

“We are doing whatever it takes to make sure that at the end of the day, we will be paying dividends because if you look at our dividends last year, it was almost 50 percent more so we will try and get out of the mess,” Dangote said.

“The biggest mess created was actually the devaluation of the naira from N460 to N1,400.”

He said almost 97 percent of the companies, especially in food and beverages businesses, will not pay dividends this year due to the FX constraints.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has informed the public that the current fuel shortages and the accompanying queues will be resolved by Wednesday.

Olufemi Soneye, Chief Communications Officer at NNPCL, shared this information with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

He stated that the company has more than 1.5 billion litres of fuel in stock, sufficient to last for at least 30 days.

“Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations.

“Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximize profits.

“Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain.

“The lines will be cleared out between today and tomorrow,” Soneye assured.

The federal government has approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent salary increase for civil servants on the six consolidated salary structures.

NAN reports that the salary increase, announced on the eve of the Workers’ Day celebration, is contained in a statement issued by Emmanuel Njoku, head of press, at the national salaries, incomes and wages commission (NSIWC).

The statement said the increase takes effect from January 1, 2024.

The six consolidated salary structures are consolidated public service salary structure (CONPSS); consolidated research and allied institutions salary structure (CONRAISS); consolidated police salary structure (CONPOSS); consolidated para-military salary structure (CONPASS); consolidated intelligence community salary structure (CONICCS); and consolidated armed forces salary structure (CONAFSS).

The federal government also approved an increase in pension of between 20 percent and 28 percent for pensioners on the defined benefits scheme with respect to the six consolidated salary structures.

Health workers, academic and non-academic staff working in federal tertiary institutions are not included in this latest salary increase.

In July 2023, the federal government approved a 25 percent salary increase for health workers under the consolidated health salary structure (CONHESS) and consolidated medical salary structure (CONMESS).

In September 2023, the federal government also announced a percentage increase in salaries for academic and non-academic staff of all tertiary institutions across the country.