Nigeria's modular refinery promoter seeks government financial support

The promoter of Lagos 20,000 barrel daily modular refinery has challenged Nigeria government to provide the enabling environment for financial support to boost the West African country's quest to increase capacity for refined petroleum products. Emmanuel Iheanacho, Chairman, Integrated Oil, and Gas, said the government support is required to make the dream of creating modular refineries in the country a reality. Iheanacho said the federal government...

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Nigeria's Cbank says manufacturing PMI at 56.3 points in Feb vs 57.3 points in Jan

The Manufacturing PMI in the month of February stood at 56.3 index points, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the eleventh consecutive month, the latest report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown. The regulatory bank said the index grew at a slower rate when compared to that in the previous month. According to the report, from the 15 subsectors surveyed, 10 reported growth in the review month in the following order: Plastics...

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Nigeria ruling party finally endorses Buhari's 2019 reelection bid

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of Nigeria’s ruling party APC has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari to seek a second term in the forthcoming general election next year, Reuters report on Wednesday, quoting two senior party sources. Buhari, who took office in May 2015, has not yet said whether he intends to seek re-election. The 75-year-old leader spent five months on medical leave in Britain last year for an unspecified ailment, raising...

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Ivory Coast Lost 125,000 Tons of Cocoa to Smuggling

Ivory Coast lost an estimated 125,000 metric tons of cocoa this season through the smuggling of beans to neighboring countries where farmers and traders are paid better prices, according to two people familiar with the matter.The industry regulator of the world’s biggest cocoa producer estimates that the country lost as much as 100,000 tons through its eastern border with Ghana and another 25,000 tons through the western boundary with Liberia and...

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African Eximbank to raise $200 mln in Nigeria on expansion drive

African Export-Import Bank plans to sell shares in Nigeria and two other African countries to support lending and broaden its ownership base. The Cairo-based lender is in talks with Nigerian regulators to issue depositary receipts and raise equity worth $200 million by the third quarter, Afreximbank said in an emailed response to questions. It is still considering the other markets and will release details once discussions have been finalised, the...

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Shoprite makes bold entry into Kenya as it ramps up Africa expansion

South African Shoprite Holdings will move into Kenya, where weakened competitor positions have opened an opportunity for Africa’s biggest grocer to expand its presence in East Africa, its chief executive Pieter Engelbrecht said on Tuesday.South African retailers have struggled to lift earnings at home as high household debts squeeze consumer income, although Shoprite has fared better than others with its focus on budget-conscious consumers, including...

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U.S. to overtake Russia as top oil producer by 2019 at latest

The United States will overtake Russia as the world’s biggest oil producer by 2019 at the latest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, as the country’s shale oil boom continues to upend global markets.IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at an event in Tokyo the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest crude oil producer “definitely next year”, if not this year.“U.S. shale growth is very strong, the pace is very strong...

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Nigeria's GDP up 1.9 pct in Q4 '17

Nigeria’s economy rose 1.92 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, better than -1.7 percent contraction recorded in the same period of the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. The West African country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.83 percent in 2017 as a whole after shrinking by 1.58 percent in 2016, its first annual contraction in 25 years.The NBS report said GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 was...

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Nigeria Takes Steps to Avoid Repeat of Etisalat Collapse

Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator said tougher financial-health checks on the country’s biggest mobile-phone companies could prevent a repeat of last year’s collapse of debt-laden Etisalat and help stabilize the industry.The Nigerian Communications Commission has compiled reports on the financial well-being of the local units of Johannesburg-based MTN Group Ltd., the market leader with 52.3 million customers, Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Lagos-based...

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Nigeria raises 79.6 bln naira in bond short of amount on offer

Nigeria sold 79.62 billion naira in sovereign bonds at an auction on Wednesday, fell short of the initial amount proposed as investors stayed on the sideline due to low interest offered on the debt paper. The Debt Management Office (DMO) had planned to raise 100 billion naira worth in 5-year and 10-year paper at the auction but ended up with less amount. Data released by the debt office on Thursday showed that a total of 27.18 billion naira of...

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Heaps of refuse all over Lagos as Visionscape falters

In the last couple of months, Lagos, Nigeria’s economic nerve centre, has been overtaken by refuse, no thanks to the Lagos State Government’s attempt at transiting from the Public-Private Partnership mechanism to a new initiative of waste management to be driven solely by a consortium under its Clean Lagos Initiative programme.The state had last year embarked on the review of its waste management scheme under its new scheme and commissioned a consortium...

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NNPC says spent $5.8 bln on fuel imports since late 2017

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Tuesday it had spent $5.8 billion on fuel imports since late 2017, in its bid to combat scarcity of gasoline that has left people queuing for hours at filling stations.  “The corporation’s intervention became necessary following the inability of the major and independent marketers to import the product because of the high landing cost which made cost recovery and profitability difficult,”...

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African governments hurry to beat higher borrowing costs

Governments across sub-Saharan Africa are hitting international debt markets hard and fast to try to beat rising borrowing costs, pushing the region’s debt levels to new highs.Nigeria has raised $5.5 billion over the past three months, Kenya wants to borrow at least $1.5 billion, and Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Senegal are all queuing up.The flurry of issuance adds to an already-record debt tally for sub-Saharan Africa, which has ballooned to...

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Yields on Nigeria treasury drop after Eurobond sale

Yields on Nigerian short-dated debt decline by around 50 percent on Tuesday after the government announced pricing for $2.5 billion Eurobond meant to repay maturing treasury bills. Investors are expected repayment of around 198 billion naira in maturing treasury bills as soon as the government is through with the Eurobond issuance process. Once the government refinances its maturing debt with the proceeds of the Eurobond, the volume of treasury...

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Maersk says to compete with UPS, Fedex after breaks up

A.P. Moller-Maersk plans to expand its transport and logistics business to compete directly with package delivery companies UPS and Fedex as part of a major restructuring, its chief executive said Tuesday. Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, has sold off the majority of its energy assets to focus entirely on transport and logistics. “We’re building this company that is a global integrated container business, a company very similar...

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Nigeria plans to sell assets recovered from looters to boost economy

President Mohammadu Buhari has said that all assets seized by the government in course of its anti-graft probes would to sell and proceeds to fund the budget and bolster the economy. Many past government officials have been accused of looting the country's economy while in the office with billions of naira lost in the process.  President Buhari was elected in 2015 in part on a promise to rid the country of graft. In recent time, his government...

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Nigeria seeks sanction against foreign firms engaging in tax malpractice

Multinational companies operating in Nigeria and engaged in tax malpractices should be designated and treated as ‘foreign corrupt practices,’ Nigeria's minister of finance has said. Kemi Adeosun told a conference on in New York tagged the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) that Nigeria was doubly affected by illicit financial flows as a result of corruption and tax evasion. She requested global organisations such as the OECD, World...

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Nigeria's banking regulator bars banks with huge NPLs from dividends payment

Nigeria's central bank has barred commercial lenders with large no-performing loans (NPL) and weak capital from paying dividends to shareholders as more listed companies released their year-end financials. Sources said the central bank took the step to stem the rising incident of NPL and further erosion of capital base by such financial institutions. Analysts said the regulatory bank directive could impact negatively on the performance of the...

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Nigeria's school enrollment, school feeding and corruption

Out of school enrollment drop in Nigeria primary school level from 10.5 million to 8.6 million across the country last year, according to statistics released by sources in the education ministry.  This was a significant improvement considering growing poverty in the country and resistance to education in some part of the North.  The increased in school enrollment at primary level coincides with the introduction of...

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Obasanjo, Jonathan team up against President Buhari ahead of 2019

As the campaign for the 2019 general election gradually and subtly gathers momentum across the country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has linked up with his repentant protege ex-president Goodluck Jonathan in what policial observers said was a grand coalition against the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Obasanjo was at the home of Jonathan in Bayelsa State over the weekend in a fresh rapprochement ahead of the general...

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Nigeria collaborates with W/bank, others to halt illicit financial outflow

Nigeria is collaborating with global organisations to curtail financial flows through the continent as Africa economy bleeds with an average loss of about $80 billion through the illicit cash flight. A high-level collaboration between Nigeria on one hand and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank Group and other African countries is being worked out. This was a major resolution reached at the ongoing...

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World Bank supports Nigeria's power sector with $486 mln credit

The World Bank has approved a $486 million credit facility to Nigeria for electricity grid improvements, the lender said on Friday.“The investments under the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project will increase the power transfer capacity of the transmission network and enable distribution companies to supply consumers with additional power,” the World Bank said.Nigeria’s dilapidated power sector is often criticised by economists for holding back...

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Nigeria's Dangote Cement moves to raise $1 bln via London IPO

Nigeria's Dangote Cement, owned by Africa’s richest man, may have revived its plans to raise $1 billion through a share sale in London that, Bloomberg report has indicated, quoting people familiar with the matter. The cement firm, majority owned by Aliko Dangote, is said to have approached investment bankers to discuss a potential United Kingdom listing. Once banks have been appointed, it will probably take at least five months to complete the process,...

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