|Economy|
VAT fetches treasury N803bn in 2014: As falling oil prices force government into policy redirection towards tax revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT) yielded approximately N802.95bn into Nigeria’s treasury in 2014. In 2013, actual VAT revenue was N802.67bn against government’s VAT revenue target of N945.28bn. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) surpassed the preceding year VAT revenue by N28million; while it came short of the 2014 government target of N849.33billion by N46.38bn or 5.46%. Source: Businessday

Rice: FG targets extra 2.9 million metric tonnes: The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said about 2.9 million metric tonnes of high quality milled rice will be added to the existing stock in the country. Adesina noted that the addition would bring Nigeria closer to being self-sufficient in rice production and a potential exporter of milled rice. According to him, 1.9 million metric tonnes of rice were produced in the country in the 2013 dry and wet seasons, contributing N320bn to the Gross Domestic Product and creating 670,000 jobs in the process. Source: Punch

|Banking|
Central Bank of Nigeria sets guidelines for Islamic finance advisory body: Nigeria's central bank has issued guidelines for an advisory body that will oversee Islamic banking in the country, becoming the latest regulator to opt for a centralised approach to the industry. Nigeria's advisory body, known as the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts, will be tasked with ensuring all banking products that are designated as Islamic conform to sharia principles. Source: Reuters

|Oil & Gas|
Petrolog acquires oceandiving support vessel: Petrolog, an indigenous oil servicing company, has acquired an ocean diving support vessel to boost its operations and advance the local content policy of the federal government. The brand new 100 per cent Nigerian flagged, ABS classed Dynamic Positioning (DP2) dive support system vessel is currently in Nigerian waters. It is the largest indigenous owned vessel in its class and is capable of providing diving, offshore construction and field support. Source: Thisday

|Power|
Firm to build 500MW coal power plant in Enugu: One Nation Energy Platform, has disclosed its plan to build a 500 megawatts (MW) coal-fired power plant in Enugu, bringing an upswing in the number of private firms that have firmed up plans to exploit coal to power generation in Nigeria. Partnering with Stefanutti of South Africa, One Nation Energy Platform plans to set up the coal power plant and get coal feedstock from one of the coal mines in Enugu, the Onyema coal mine. The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government to amongst other things, fast-track the construction of the plant with minimal bureaucratic bottlenecks. Source: Thisday