Nigeria Economy news

By Adaeze OkechukwuThe naira Tuesday depreciated for the first time this week to N360.22 per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market.Data from the Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window rose to N360.22 per dollar, yesterday, from N360.03 per dollar on Monday.This 19 kobo depreciation of the naira was in spite of the 36 percent increase in the volume of dollars traded in the I&E window. The wi

Gov. Abiola Ajimobi has assured members of the All Progressive Congress ( APC ) in the state that the party leadership would not impose candidates in the May 12 local government election.The governor made the disclosure on Tuesday in Iseyin at an empowerment programme organised by Sen. Abdulfatai Buhari (APC-Oyo North).
He said that the party leadership in state would abide by the decision of the majority on the process to select party’s candidates.
Some members of the party in the state h

Abuja – The World Bank Group on Tuesday in Abuja has said there is a need forgovernments to strengthenlaws that govern the agricultural sector in the country.Mr Farbod Youssefi, the Programme Manager at the World Bank made the appeal at a workshop organised by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), in partnership with the World Bank Group.
The workshop was on the Enabling Business of Agriculture (EBA, 2017) report for Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria has weak laws and regu

The Federal Government has offered for subscription by auction N100 billion worth of bonds in its Feb. 21 auction, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said.
The offer circular obtained from the DMO website on Tuesday in Abuja, stated that it would sell N50 billion of a bond maturing in July 2021 at 14.50 per cent.
It would also sell N50 billion to mature in February 2028. It, however, did not state the interest rate for the February 2028 issue.
The July 2021 bond is a re-opening of previous issues,

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA—–The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court,on Tuesday,fixed March 28 to begin hearing on a suit accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of approving illegal appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.Kachikwu, Buhari andBaruThe suit which was lodged before the court by a constitutional lawyer, Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, has been assigned to Justice Ahmed Mohammed, for hearing.
Aside President Buhari, other defendants in the suit marked FHC

By Sebastine Obasi
THE oil market has rebalanced as Brent will reach $82.50 a barrel within six months, Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services said.
Oil
Goldman Sachs has held one of the most optimistic views on the re-balancing of the oil market and oil prices in the near term. It sees the price of brent reaching $75 per barrel within three months, lifting its short-term oil price projection

By Sebastine Obasi
The local content policy of the Federal Government appears to be on course as 150 indigenous engineers have undergone training in refinery operations preparatory to take-off of Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant.
Dangote
Speaking on the training in a media chat, Mr. Mohan Kumar, the company’s Director of Human Capital Management and Project Support, stated that 22 of such engineers had just returned from Mumbai, India. Kumar said the young engineers were trained at

…oil export dips by 2.4% in fourth quarter
By Michael Eboh
Nigeria crude and oil gas sales rose sharply to N1.22 trillion in 2017, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The CBN, in its Economic Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2017, disclosed that the amount earned by the Federation from crude oil and gas sales in 2017, appreciated by 213.6 per cent or N831 billion as against N389.55 billion recorded in 2016.
Giving a breakdown of the country’s oil and ga

By Peter Egwuatu
The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, has approved the voluntary delisting of Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc (7-Up) after it received a takeover bid from its majority shareholder, Affelka, aimed at restructuring the soft drinks bottler. The Exchange’s approval which came into force last week, followed suspension of trading in the company’s shares last month following the planned delisting.
The floor of Stock exchange
In January, 7-Up’s minority shareholders backed a

By Daud Olatunji
OGUN State Governor, Senator  Ibikunle Amosun has called for the  legislation that will unbundle the energy sector, currently in the exclusive list of the Federal Government.
Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun
The governor said this over the weekend during the inauguration of 85KWP Solar Hybrid Mini-Grid Project in Gbamu-Gbamu village in Ijebu East Local Government Area of the state.
According to Amosun, the legislation would provide a clear framework and

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, operator of the NNPC/SEPLAT Joint Venture launched the inaugural edition of its Eye Can See and Safe Motherhood signature Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes for communities situated in the operational area of its Eastern Assets at Izombe, Imo State, on Friday, February 9, 2018. The programme was initiated six years ago in Sapele, Delta State, the operational base of SEPLAT’s Western Assets.
NNPC
The CSR Programmes’ launch witnes

By Naomi Uzor
The Consul General, United States of America, USA, embassy in Nigeria, Mr John F. Bray, has identified security challenge as one of the foremost issues that dissuade the influx of American investments to Nigeria.
John Bray
He said headline making insurgencies such as the herdsmen-farmers clashes, Boko Haram menace, infrastructure vandalism, kidnapping and hostage-keeping, among other security threats impact negatively on the choice of Nigeria for business destinations.
Bray disclos

By Babajide Komolafe
First Bank of Nigeria Limited said that over N1 trillion transactions have been processed on its 894 quick banking, USSD based channel.
The bank disclosed this in statement yesterday adding that over N3 trillion worth of transactions is projected to be processed this year alone.
According to the bank its USSD grew by about 250 percent in 2017 to now over 4.5 million customers with a target base of over 6.5million before the end of this year.
It stated: “Over 60 percent

Omodele Adigun
In line with its resolve to inspire confidence and promote a financially secure future among Nigerians, PAL Pensions has unveiled a new campaign tagged ‘Retire with a Smile’ to encourage more individuals to save towards retirement.Addressing the media during the unveiling recently in Lagos, its Head, Brand Management and Corporate Communications, Mrs. Sunmisola Mark-Okoma, stated that at the core of the “campaign is the need to encourage the younger demography to

Steve Agbota
As part of its commitment to the economy, Nestle Nigeria  Plc has invested N74.1 billion on its operations in the last five years.
Its Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Mauricio Alarcon, disclosed this Thursday when the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commissioned the N4.1 billion Milo Ready-To-Drink (RTD) plant in Agbara, Ogun State.
According to him, Nestle will continue to invest in the development of Nigeria’s people, in the innovation of new products to meet

Adewale Sanyaolu; Ekeogu Justice
The Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN), a Sub-Sectoral Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has raised the alarm over the threat to its N420 billion investment due to the recent proposal to increase excise duties.
The group, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, said the proposal by the Federal Government for an upward review of excise duties, levies/tax on locally produced wines and spirits will equally threate

Omodele Adigun
“The mandate of the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, as an agency of the Federal Government, is to grow the non-oil export by participating in its financing.”This mandate, as stated above by its Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Abba Bello, received a fillip when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), last December, reinstated the N500 billion Export Stimulation Facility (ESF) as well as NEXIM’s N50 billion Direct Intervention Fund (DIF) to boost the&nbs

Chinenye Anuforo
Current statistics from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has shown that Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs) last year hit N1.208 trillion, accounting for about 48 per cent of total transactions.
The data also showed that FPI, which was N1.539 trillion in 2014, however, shrank to N518 billion in 2016, but increased significantly by 133 per cent in 2017.
Further analysis of the data also showed that over an 11-year period, domestic transactions have decreased by 62.46 per cent f

Uche Usim, Abuja
The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with German-based Riela Projects GNA Limited to boost commercial agriculture with advanced agricultural technologies that will reduce the N2.7 trillion annual post-harvest losses.
This move, according to NIRSAL, is also in line with its focus on sustainable value chain-driven solutions for agriculture.
Speaking in Abuja at the MoU signing ceremony, the

By Destiny Eseaga
The volume of leasing business in Nigeria crossed a trillion Naira mark.
Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria, ELAN disclosed this in a report, which showed that the ‘outstanding lease volume’    increased from N189.9 billion in 2006 to N1.26 trillion in 2016. It also showed that finance lease remained the predominant type of leases, accounting for 70 percent of the transactions while operating lease accounted for 30 percent.
The ELAN report further re

Chinenye Anuforo; Chinwendu Obienyi
Equities trading on the Lagos floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last month closed on a positive note with investors’ net worth bsoaring by 15.95 per cent due to increased activities ahead of 2018 earnings season.
The All-Share Index (ASI), which opened for the year at 38,243.19 increased by 6100.46 points to close at 44,343.65 on January 31, 2018.
Sustaining the momentum, the NSE Banking Index, Pension Index, Industrial Index and Premium In

THE management of the Benin Electricity Distribution PLC
(BEDC) has promised improved service delivery to its customers in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states.
electricity
BEDC made this pledge at the graduation ceremony of the third set of BEDC graduate trainees and second set of technician trainees, held in Benin City last weekend.
In her opening remarks, Managing Director/CEO of the company, Funke Osibodu, said the company was committed to rendering better service to its customers.
She said the

…DISCOs’ remittances to NBET still below 30%…Nigeria’s hydropower plants comatose despite FG intervention
By Prince Okafor
DESPITE over 192 trillion standard cubic feet of gas reserves yet to be tapped, power plants in the country still lack adequate gas to run turbines, giving rise to N40.548 billion revenue losses by the sector in one month.
electricity
This loss was due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure, transmission infrastructure and water res

The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, TCN Branch, has commended the efforts of the TCN on attaining new national peak load for the country.
In a statement signed by the association’s branch Secretary, Mr. Yerima Hassan, the association stated: “ We attained two new national peak loads of 5,155mw and 5,222.4mw  on December  8th and 18th, 2017 respectively. The previous national peak load was recorded on February 2, 2016 and it was 5,074mw.
“

By Dennis Udoma
PLANS are underway for the establishment of Qua Iboe Power Plant, a new electricity company by Akwa Ibom State Government. The Qua Iboe Power Plant project, which is to be cited at Qua Iboe On-shore Terminal in Ibeno Local Government Area of the state would be operated under Public Private Partnership Agreement (PPA), with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Joint Venture, Dangote Group, Black-Rhino, African Development Bank, International Finance Consortium (I FC)

THE Management of NIPCO Plc has explained why the workforce of the downstream giant has remained the major asset of the company since its inception in 2004.
Managing Director of the company, Mr. Sanjay Teotia who was reflecting on the performance of the integrated downstream operator at the company’s long service awards in Lagos said: “Your efforts over the years have made the organisation remain a benchmark for operators in the downstream sector of the nation’s oil and gas ind

Capital flight plaguing the country must be curtailed if the oil industry domesticates training of oil and gas workers, Dr. Afe Mayowa, President of Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), has said.
Ikoyi cash seized by EFCC
Speaking ahead of the forthcoming maiden edition of the Nigeria Education Summit of the association billed for April 16, Mayowa emphasised the need to deepen the domestication of training as well as promotion of research and development in the oil sector. Accord

Gbenga Odogun, Lokoja
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said the National Assembly will resist any move for the concession of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, saying doing so will amount to mortgaging Nigeria’s future.
The Speaker, who said it was a collective shame to all leaders that the project had yet to be completed after so many years, made these statements when he led members of the House Committee on Steel to Ajaokuta Steel in Kogi State on Monday.
Dogara als

Okechukwu Nnodim, AbujaThe Nigerian electricity supply industry is losing an estimated N24bn monthly as a result of the importation of fuel such as diesel for alternative sources of energy, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.
According to Fashola, Nigerians consume about 300 million litres of diesel every month and 75 per cent of this volume is imported, while about 40 per cent is used in generators to produce electricity.
The minister stated these at the 24th

Rasheed Bisiriyu
At least 1,400 buildings marked for demolition in Abeokua, Ogun State, to pave the way for the construction of the $1.5bn standard gauge Lagos-Ibadan rail line may no longer be pulled down, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said.
The minister, who spoke to journalists on Monday in Ibadan, Oyo State, after a meeting with officials of the contractor handling the project, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, said the Federal Government would thus be s

Okechukwu Nnodim, AbujaMany states in the North are still suffering untold hardship caused by the severe scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.
Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger states as well as the Federal Capital Territory have been experiencing persistent petrol scarcity since last year, while it was gathered on Monday that the queues for PMS had started spreading to other states in the North.
Some consumers of the commodity told our correspondent that queues were seen in fron

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Riela Projects GNA Limited to boost commercial agriculture in the country.
NIRSAL was incorporated in 2013 by the Central Bank of Nigeria to improve lending to agriculture by addressing the underlying reasons why banks do not lend to the sector.
The partnership, which was sealed in Abuja, is designed to leverage advanced agricultural technologies from Europe

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, will on Thursday speak on the issue of taxation and revenue leakages at a tax conference organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development at the United Nations in New York, United States.
The Platform for Collaboration on Tax Conference, which will hold between Wednesday and Friday, is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations, OECD, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
The Director of

Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
The structure of the country’s budgeting system whereby huge amount of money is allocated to recurrent spending and debt servicing has been identified as a major reason why Nigerians are not feeling the impact of budgetary spending.
The Chief Executive Officer, RTC Advisory Services Limited, Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje, said this during a presentation in Abuja at a media parley organised by First City Monument Bank Plc.
Agbaje in his paper titled, ‘The Nigerian Economy an

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has advised wealthy Nigerians to take advantage of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme to regularise their tax status and escape unsavoury consequences.
The minister said this in Enugu State when the state government hosted officials of VAIDS.
She said the Federal Government had compiled data on property, bank accounts, shareholdings and other income sources of individuals and corporate entities.
According to her, VAIDS was conceived to

Oyetunji Abioye
The naira closed at 363 per United States dollar at the parallel market on Monday despite the sale of the sum of $536m on Friday and Monday by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The naira closed at 363/dollar on Friday.
Specifically, the central bank intervened in the inter-bank foreign exchange market with the sum of $210m to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the market on Monday.
This was in addition to the $325.64m retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales made

A governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Hon. Bamidele Faparusi, has promised to turn around the state’s economy and empower its people, if voted into office.
Faparusi, a former House of Representatives member, said the major policy thrust of his administration will be commercial agriculture, technological innovation and tourism.
He maintained that it is the turn of Ekiti South Senatorial District to produce the next governor in the election scheduled

Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has anointed his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as his successor. But, some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have objected to it. They believe that former Minister of State for Works Prince Dayo Adeyeye will be a more better candidate. Assistant Editor GBADE OGUNWALE examines the struggle for succession in the opposition party.It was Wednesday, January 24. A mammoth crowd roared in ecstatic frenzy, defying the sting of the scorching afternoon sun. M

All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Ekiti State Dr. Adebayo Orire has said that money will not influence the choice of the party’s flag bearer.
Orire said APC delegates are men and women of integrity who cannot be purchased by moneybags to sway votes in favour of any contender.
According to him what Ekiti people are craving for is a “home grown politician, who can fraternise freely with the people in the grassroots and not those who have not contributed to the so

Credit and debit cards are handy tools for payment. They can be used online or in person, and it’s easy to use somebody else’s card. In fact, cards often get passed around, stolen, or otherwise used in ways that weren’t intended, according to www.thebalance.com.
But credit cards are printed with an authorised cardholder’s name. If anybody else uses the card, the card user or cardholder faces serious problems.
 Unauthorised use
Fraudulent or unauthorised use is obviou

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, spoke with reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, during his 67th birthday on partisan issues. ADEKUNLE JIMOH was there.
How do you feel at 67?
By the grace of God, I feel very strong, much younger than the figures of my age. Everything, I regard as the blessings of God. So, I feel very much more closer to God more than before because I feel strong, I feel healthy and I think I’m even sharper m

Author of Practical Steps to Financial Independence and business and finance coach, Mr. Usiere Uko, writes about how to change your financial position
We all maintain a default financial position, a set point which we gravitate towards, subconsciously, anytime we are dealing with money. A week or two after you receive money; you are back to that place. It is your financial home, more or less.
The moment money gets into our hands, our money reflex kicks in. We do what we normally do. For most of

Stanley Opara
Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange extended losses into the sixth consecutive session as sustained profit taking by investors dragged the market further to a one-month low stance.
 The NSE All-Share Index sank 0.9 per cent lower to close at 42,737.89 from 43,127.92 basis points while the year-to-date return shrank to 11.8 per cent.
Investors worth, thus, slumped by N139.6bn as the NSE market capitalisation settled at N15.337tn from N15.476tn.
Market performanc

Ozioma Ubabukoh
Research and planning are vital when thinking about starting up your own Public Relations company. Putting in some solid groundwork will establish your target market, what key services you will need to provide and what sets you apart in the industry. There are also several practical matters to bear in mind; the most important is your company structure and keeping track of your work.
Specialise
What will your focus be? This will depend on your experience and interests. Will you sp