Demand for local bond rise, boost naira value

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) piled up demand on Nigeria's most liquid fixed income assets on Thursday, pushing down yield by 40 basis points on the country's 10-year bond, traders said.
Yield on the 10-year bond fell to 13.90 percent on the secondary market as foreign investors locked up yield at an attractive level.
Analysts said the rise in demand for fixed income in Africa's largest economy is an indication that uncertainty that characterised the general election has eased following the conclusion of the presidential election and the announcement of the winner.
President Mohammadu Buhari was declared the winner of last Saturday's presidential election, defeating his closest rival Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition party.
The bond dropped to 14.3 percent in the previous day’s trade, its lowest in six months, from 14.5 percent the day before and 14.75 percent the day before Saturday’s election.
Bond yield usually drops when there is an increase in demand while returns of the fixed income rise when investors sell down on their position.
The local currency also benefited from the increased demand for bond as the naira firmed against the dollar on the investors' forex window.
The naira firmed to 360.99 to the dollar on the market compared with 361.50 the currency opened earlier in the day.
It closed flat on the parallel market at 360 to the dollar, while the naira was quoted at 306.80 on the official window, supported by the central bank.
Traders said the naira is seeing strengthening in the coming week as the dust generated by the battle for the nation's highest position settles.
They also expect more inflows into the bond market especially after a debt auction this week attracted more than 10 times the amount the government had offered to sell.
“There’s a lot of foreign interest in bonds and that’s helping the naira strengthen. I expect more flows next week as yields remain attractive at current levels,” one trader said.

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Positive Outlook For economy As Buhari’s Starts 2nd Term

With the INEC’s declaration of President Mohammadu Buhari as the winner of the 2019 Presidential election, uncertainties around the outcome polls are expected to clear off in a matter of days. 

This will be more apparent once the major opposition candidate comes to terms with the reality of the outcome of the polls. 

Accordingly, we expect the administration to build on its economic recovery and growth plan. Over the next four years, our outlook for the Nigerian economy is positive but modest.
We expect the administration to continue to invest in infrastructure, sustain its welfare scheme, retain the structure of the oil & gas sector and retain its intervention programs across the Agric, Power, and SME space. 

As such, we expect the budget to remain large but broadly financed by borrowings. Also, the private sector’s ability to drive the economy may remain curtailed in the absence of far-reaching and liberal policies. This may keep domestic/foreign investment low and output growth soft.
Furthermore, we imagine the possible sustenance of the current fixed/multiple FX regime by the CBN, considering the President’s stance on a strong currency. Finally, the tenor of the current CBN governor, who has maintained a tight monetary stance since 2016, may or may not be renewed.

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Aliko Dangote Now World 64th Richest Man With $16.6 Bln

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote moved up the billionaire's ladder this week, climbing to become the 64th richest person in the world.

Dangote is now worth $16.6 billion, according to the latest data released by Bloomberg in its yearly billionaire's list.

Dangote is the President of Dangote Group with interest in oil and gas, cement, commodities, foods and agro-allied businesses.

In the latest list, Dangote climbed to the 64th position from it initial 103 in the world, a significant move boosted by his recent investment in the world single largest petroleum refinery.

Dangote who has been named the richest man in Africa for the 8th year running was the only Nigerian on the list of the top 500 billionaires, as released by Bloomberg in its yearly billionaire's list.
Jeff Bezos retained the number one position with an estimated net worth of $136 billion, while Bill Gates and Warren Buffett ranked second and third respectively with $98.4 billion and $83 billion on the list that is dominated by North Americans.
It would be recalled that Dangote, was also recently named as the sixth most charitable man in the world by Richtopia, a digital periodical that covers business, economics, and financial news, based in the United Kingdom.

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Dangote Cement Seeks Additional Two Years Tax Holiday From Govt

Dangote Cement, majorly owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote said on Wednesday it has applied to Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) for extension of its pioneer tax holiday status by additional two years.
In its financial report for the year ended 2018, the cement firm which operates in many African countries, including Nepal is seeking an exemption from paying an additional tax of about 43 billion naira in the course of the financial year.
According to a note by the company’s auditor, Deloitte, Dangote Cement is seeking an extension of its pioneer tax holiday status by two years to enable it enjoy more tax exemption.
Dangote Cement's three production lines in Ibeshe and Obajana have enjoyed three years tax holiday, which expired in February 2018.
However, the company is seeking extension of the pioneer tax holiday for the production lines to enable it pocket about 43 billion naira in tax money.
The commission is yet to grant the company’s request for additional years of tax exemption.
Meanwhile, the company posted 7.2 percent increase in its profit before tax to 300.81 billion naira at the end of 2018 financial year.
The cement firm, which accounts for a third of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) capitalization posted profit before tax of 280.59 billion naira in the previous financial year.
Latest data posted on the NSE webpage showed that the company earned 901.21 billion naira in revenue from cement and other product sales last financial year, representing 11.87 percent increase over the same period of 2017.
In 2017, the company total income from cement sales and other products stood at 805.58 billion naira.


It would be recalled that the Dangote Group Limited has been granted tax waiver by the government for a period of time in lieu of its reconstruction of roads leading to the nation’s port complex in Lagos.

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How Congestion Slows 4G Telecoms Performance in Nigeria

Many telecoms subscribers are getting dissatisfied with the performance of the Fourth Generation (4G) services offered by operators because of the increasing slow speed performance at crucial times, a report has shown.

A report conducted on 4G services in 77 countries including Nigeria, Network monitoring outfit, Opensignal concluded that congestion is messing with the 4G user experience.

The 4G is the fourth generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology, succeeding 3G. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and 3D television.
According to Opensignal, the 4G networks enjoyed today are light years from the 3G that kicked off the mobile data revolution at the turn of the millennium, but the networks have their faults. The biggest among them are inconsistency and congestion.
Though the report was a bit silent on Nigeria, it, however, ranked it 75 out of 77 of the countries surveyed in terms of its 4G speed. 

Recall that in 2016, some major operators including MTN, Glo and Etisalat, now 9Mobile and later in 2017, Airtel had rolled out 4G services in Nigeria in quick succession with the hope to give subscribers a new experience entirely. But the services brought frustrations on the people, owing to slow connections and increased drop calls.
But lately, and arguably, after many complaints, 4G services appeared to be picking up gradually in Nigeria. 

The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, two years ago, told The Guardian in an interview that the service may not get perfected in the country until 2020.
The reasons, he adduced for this are that the 4G/LTE is still evolutionary, and that the infrastructure to run it is still very much inadequate in the country. But Opensignal have called for investments in 5G services. It noted that 5G is best suited to cities because of the shorter range of the higher frequencies, which is handy because that’s where the worst of the congestion is.
Across the hours of the day, Opensignal said its analysis showed the enormous extent to which 4G speed drop when most people are awake, using their smartphones and wanting a great mobile data experience. This fall in speeds indicate the pressure from millions of simultaneous users with which operators must cope.
Opensignal, a UK based researched outfit, noted that in some countries, the user experience can vary between the download speed of 31.2 Mbps and 5.8 Mbps faster at the best hour of day compared with the slowest hour of the day.It noted that congestion on current 4G networks is holding back speeds, highlighting the need for new 5G capacity to relieve pressure.
Accordingly, during the optimal time of day, usually when most users are asleep, networks are capable of enabling a significantly faster download experience than during awake hours. Opensignal noted that across the day, 42 per cent of countries experienced speed variation of two times or more. For instance, it observed that in the U.S., the best 4G download speed was 1.9 times faster in the late hours of the night, when networks are quieter and most users are offline, than during the day and evening leisure hours, when networks most need to offer a great experience for their users.
It stated that India’s best 4G download speed was 3.9 times faster than the speed experienced at the slowest time of day.
Analysing the difference between the time when smartphone users experience the fastest download speed and the time when speed are slowest, Opensignal noted that the difference between the best and worst speed indicate the speed a country’s networks are able to deliver under both the most optimal and least optimal conditions depending on time of day.

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PDP May Challenge Buhari Over Presidential Election, Rejects Poll Result

Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded presidential election has rejected the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday morning.

President Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner having scored 15,191,847 votes as against its candidate, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who scored 11,262,978.
Osita Chidoka, a spokesman for the Atiku campaign organisation and PDP presidential collation agent, said the PDP does not accept the result as representing the valid votes.
PDP, he said will be will explore all options, including legal process in seeking redress.
So, in our view this election required to be looked at again and possibly we would have had rerun, more importantly, we think that INEC should have looked consciously to the use of the card reader, the absence of card reader is a major violation in the elections, it renders that election null and void, that’s what the chairman promised us.
“So, for us in the PDP, we believe that this is a new low in Nigeria’s electoral history. Since 2015 we believe that Nigeria would have been making progress in the election, but violence in this election, the issues that have arisen in this election, lack of transparency that we saw in this election did not increase, neither did it improve the believe of Nigerians in the electoral process.
“However, the PDP remains a very lawful party, we believe in the law, we believe in the constitution of Nigeria, we are committed democrat, PDP is a party that entrenched democracy in Nigeria, the PDP is the party that made it possible for Nigeria to enjoy the fruit and dividend of democracy.
“We will continue to support democracy in Nigeria, we will continue to promote democracy in Nigeria but we have a good message for Nigerians, we want them to remnants peaceful, we will explore all our options, including the believe (sic) that the legal process in Nigeria is one of the ways to resolve issues,” he said.
He further argued that “the PDP does not accept this result as representing the valid votes of Nigerians, we have made three issues; first after all the investment in technology, we required INEC, after spending 27 billion naira in this year’s budget alone for technology, we had expected that today, INEC would have for the purpose of transparency not just for law would have projected to us the result of what the card reader that they used displayed about the people that went through the card reader verification, that singular at put a dent in the image of the election.
“The second one is the issues we raised about the number of registered vis-à-vis if what the chairman now calls collated voters means that 1.6 million people are missing in the voter register. We think that issue is substantial enough to require a resolution.
We also believed that difference between the accredited voters and the voter votes cast which came to about 750,000 votes requires an issue to be looked at.
“Finally, we believed that the cancellations that took place in the election impacting 2.7 million voters required be looked into seriously.”
INEC chairman on his response noted that the difference in the valid votes and cancellation were insignificant to impact on the general outcome of the election.

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INEC Declares President Buhari Winner Of Presidential Election, Defeats Atiku By 3.9 Mln Votes

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally declared President Mohammadu Buhari as the winner of the presidential election conducted last Saturday, defeating his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition party.

The president will commence his second term in office on May 29, 2019, having scored the highest votes cast at the last election.

Head of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu at 4.37am on Wednesday declared President Buhari winner of the election.

Incumbent President Buhari of the All Progressives Party (APC) polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had 11,262,978 votes.
“That Muhammadu Buhari, having scored the highest number of votes and satisfied the provision of the electoral act is hereby declared the winner of the presidential election,’’ Yakubu declared.
He announced that certificate of return will be issued to the President-elect and Vice President-elect by 2 pm on Wednesday.

Buhari faces a daunting to-do list, including reviving an economy still struggling to recover from a 2016 recession and quelling a decade-old Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people in the northeast, many of them civilians.
The President has proved wrong those who doubted he could survive the blows of recession, militant attacks on oilfields, and Islamist insurgency that blighted his first term.
He won by 56 percent compared with 41 percent for the other candidate, businessman and former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party.
The president won by 3.9 million votes, having garnered 15.2 million to Atiku’s 11.3 million.
The turnout, based on valid votes, was 33.2 percent. In the 2015 presidential election, turnout was 44 percent.
A message posted on Buhari’s Twitter feed late on Tuesday showed him smiling and surrounded by applauding staff at his campaign office.
“I met the very hardworking members of our team, many of them young people, and was briefed on the performance of our party so far in the Presidential Elections. I am very proud of what has been accomplished,” he said on Twitter.
Earlier, Atiku’s party demanded an immediate halt to the release of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission until turnout figures are provided to the competing parties.
Atiku’s party has rejected the tallies announced so far as “incorrect and unacceptable”. Buhari’s party has said the opposition was trying to discredit the returns from Saturday’s election.
The accusations have ratcheted up tensions in a vote marred by delays, logistical glitches and outbreaks of violence.

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Nigeria Main Opposition Rejects Poll Results As President Buhari Coasting To Victory

Results so far posted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from last Saturday's presidential election has put President Mohammadu Buhari on the lead, but the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP thinks otherwise and called for the cancellation of the election.

According to the Results announced in Abuja by the electoral body, Nigeria's ruling All Progressive Party (APC) candidate and current president, Buhari is leading his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.

According to data announced by INEC on Monday night, from 11 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Buhari led his main challenger, Abubakar, by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin.

The final vote tally is expected Tuesday or Wednesday.
But the main opposition at a briefing late Monday claimed the election results were being manipulated following a vote marred by delays and at least 39 deaths.
With his strong support in the northwest, the region with the greatest number of registered voters, Buhari’s prospects of winning re-election are bright, said Max Siollun, a Nigerian historian based in New York.
“The results so far will give Buhari and his supporters great confidence -- it will take a tectonic shift in result patterns for Atiku to win,” he said in an emailed response to Bloomberg questions. 

“If the north-western results as expected show heavy voting there for Buhari, then a Buhari victory will be a near certainty.”
The presidential and parliamentary election in Africa’s top oil producer was the continent’s biggest-ever democratic exercise. 

Almost 73 million people were eligible to vote Saturday in what analysts thought would be a tight race mainly between Buhari, an ex-general who campaigned on an anti-graft platform, and Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman and former vice president.
The chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, accused the government of using “inducements, manipulation and incarcerations” and enlisting the police and national army “to silence the voices of our long-suffering people.” In a statement, he threatened to challenge some results.
Buhari’s All Progressives Congress rejected the claims in a statement, accusing the PDP of trying to “discredit and destabilize” the electoral process.
The election pitted two men of contrasting economic views, with Buhari, who favors a strong government role, against Abubakar, a pro-market multimillionaire who has said he would float the national currency and sell stakes in the state oil company.
Wall Street banks such as Citigroup Inc. had said Nigerian equities and bonds will probably rally if Abubakar wins. The stock market closed up 0.6 percent in Lagos on Monday to extend its gains this year to 4 percent.
“Serious operational shortcomings placed undue burden on voters,” the European Union observer mission said, while the African Union called the vote “largely peaceful and orderly.”
To win, a candidate must get the majority of votes and at least 25 percent in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory. Otherwise, there’ll be a second round.
Abubakar’s PDP suffered an early blow when one of its highest-profile politicians, Senate President Bukola Saraki, lost his seat in Kwara State to the candidate from Buhari’s APC, according to INEC results.

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Ethiopian airlines plans all female flight to Oslo

Ethiopian Airlines has finalised preparations to operate an all-women functioned flight to Oslo, Norway, in celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, according to a statement by the airline.
The airline said the flight would take Addis Ababa – Stockholm – Oslo route on March 8, and would have as a theme, “All women functioned flight to operate from the continent of Africa to meet with their counterparts in Europe to show the power of women to the world.”
Ethiopian Airlines had operated four flights to Bankok, Kigali, Lagos, and Buenos Aires, which were operated by women aviation professionals.
In December 2017, Ethiopian Airlines had also operated an all-female crew flight to Lagos, using a Boeing 777 aircraft.
According to the airline, the Oslo flight, described as historical, will be operated by Ethiopian Airlines women professionals from flight deck to the ground, including airport operations, flight dispatch, load control, ramp operation, onboard logistics, safety and security, catering as well as air traffic control, which will be carried out entirely by women.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said, “We are immensely honoured that we have women trailblazers in every aspect of our aviation field. Women are an integral part of our success story from the start and with this dedicated flight, we honour and celebrate their indispensable contribution to our aviation group and the broader aviation industry, our country and the continent at large.
“Although, women are Africa’s greatest resource, gender inequality still persists in our continent. Therefore, we all need to ensure that women take their rightful position in all human endeavours by creating the right conditions and through all-inclusive engagement models.”

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Nigerian tourists to dubai in 2018 increase by 36 percent

More Nigerians visited the United Arab Emirate (UAE) on tourism in 2018, with the figure jumped by 36 percent compared with 2017 figure, the latest data from Dubai showed on Sunday.

The figure showed that 185,000 visitors from Nigeria visited Dubai last year.

The Gulf tourism hub Dubai recorded 15.92 million overnight tourist visitors in 2018, up 0.8 percent from 2017.

The data showed that tourists from China rose 12 percent, but tourists from the Asain country represents the fourth higest last year.

Dubai, one of seven emirates which make up the UAE, has spent billions of dollars trying to attract foreign tourists. It is home of the world’s tallest skyscraper the Burj Khalifa.
India remained Dubai’s top overseas market in 2018, with more than 2 million visitors - similar to 2017. In second place were Saudi visitors 1.6 million visitors largely helped by specialised city-wide campaigns for the kingdom’s national day.
Britain came in third, while China ranked fourth, but recorded a 12 percent year on year growth to 875,000 visitors.
China overtook Oman, which along with Pakistan posted a decline in the number of tourists visiting Dubai last year, the statement said.
The UAE relaxed visa rules for Chinese in recent years in a bid to boost tourism.

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Observers say several killed in Nigeria poll violence

Nigeria Civil Society groups monitoring the general election have disclosed that about 35 people were killed during Saturday's election across the country. 

The groups said the death toll during election was higher than that of the 2015 poll which was widely considered to have been orderly, aside from a Boko Haram attack that killed more than a dozen people.
Clement Nwankwo, convener of the Situation Room, which represents more than 70 civil society groups, said 16 people were killed in election violence across eight states, while Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence cited 35 deaths.
Police did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment.
Buhari, 76, a former military ruler who is seeking a second elected term at the helm of Africa’s top oil producer on an anti-corruption platform, faces Atiku, 72, a former vice president who has promised to expand the role of the private sector.
Festus Okoye, an Independent National Electoral Commission official, said some people were killed in Rivers, Lagos and Oyo States, but he could not confirm any figures.
A handful of polling stations remained open on Sunday to allow more Nigerians to vote, after the violence, delays in opening poll centres and malfunctioning systems in various states interrupted voting the previous day.
Voters had queued late into the night on Saturday in a few areas of Africa’s most populous nation where polling stations had opened late or ballot machines malfunctioned. A handful of these opened again on Sunday to make up for the delays.
Nearly 73 million eligible voters cast their ballots from a pool of more than 70 presidential candidates in an election which was postponed the previous Saturday, just hours before it was due to begin, due to logistics.
It was not clear when the outcome of the results would be announced.
“Everything is going on well with the count,” said Okoye. “From Tuesday onwards we should have a substantial number of results.”
FLAGBEARERS
Both Buhari, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku, who represents the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), expressed confidence that they would win the election to lead Africa’s largest economy.
The rest of the presidential candidates lack access to funds available to Buhari and Atiku through their parties, which have governed Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999, and are unlikely to make an impact at the polls.
“The best candidate must emerge and people’s opinion must count,” said Asiwaju Ola, a businessman in the capital Abuja.
Buhari’s northern Kano state stronghold was one of the key battlegrounds in the closely-fought election.
“It will be bitter if Atiku wins but we will have to accept it,” Ali Adamu, 50, a driver in Kano said.
Henry Okalome, 55, a trader in Kano who voted for Atiku said: “we didn’t expect that the election would be so smooth ... we thought people might be dying.”
The contest between Buhari and Atiku hinges on revamping an economy struggling to recover from its first recession in 25 years, which it slipped into in 2016 and emerged from in 2017.
Nearly a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, while the cost of living has also risen rapidly, with inflation of 11.37 percent in January - just short of a seven-month high reached the previous month.
Buhari has focused his campaign on rooting out corruption, but critics say there have not been any significant convictions in his first term.
Atiku has said he would aim to double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025, if elected, but has for years been dogged by corruption accusations, which he denies.
To be declared winner, the candidate with the most votes must have at least one-quarter of the vote in two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital. Otherwise there is a runoff.

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11Mln Nigerians Will Not Vote On Saturday For failure To Pick Up Their PVC

About 11.23 out of the 84 million registered voters nationwide will not be able to vote at the general election commencing from Saturday due to their failure to collect Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC).
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said only 72.77 million Nigerians out of the 84 million that registered to vote have so far collected the smart card that will enable them to vote at the election.

Mahmood Yakubu, head of INEC gave these figures at a media briefing in Abuja ahead of the polls to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly.
He said a total of 11,228,582 PVCs representing 13.37 percent were uncollected. Out of this figure, 7,817,905 PVCs were carried over from the 2014-2016 registration exercises while 3,410,677are from the last Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise held between April 2017 and August 2018.
Additional statistics released by INEC on its website yesterday show Lagos State with a total of 6,570,291 registered voters and the highest number of uncollected PVCs (1,038,902), while Kano and Ogun states closely followed with 761,000 and 680,136 uncollected cards.
Katsina State with a figure of 42,242 has the lowest number of uncollected PVCs, while Taraba and Gombe have 48, 011 and 59,170.
INEC also disclosed that a total of 72,775,502 million registered voters collected their PVCs. The data revealed Lagos as recording the highest number of collected PVCs (5,531,389 million) followed by Kano and Kaduna with 4,696,747 and 3,648,988.
It was also revealed that Ekiti, Bayelsa and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have the least registered voters with a total of 909,967, 923,182 and 1,344856.
Yakubu assured Nigerians that both the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold tomorrow as rescheduled, saying the commission had tackled all issues concerning logistics.
He disclosed that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) would wave visa fee and as well grant extension of visas of all foreign observers to enable them to remain in the country to cover the elections within the specified period.
“We once again profoundly appreciate the continuous understanding and words of encouragement from all stakeholders. In particular, some of our international observers are on short-term single entry visa. Some may also wish to leave the country after the elections this Saturday and return to observe the governorship, state assembly and FCT area council elections now rescheduled for Saturday 9th March 2019.

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UK's Serious Fraud Office drops probes at Rolls Royce, GSK

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped long-running investigations into individuals at aero engine maker Rolls-Royce and drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, adding to a growing list of cases where the agency has failed to land convictions.
"After an extensive and careful examination I have concluded that there is either insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction or it is not in the public interest to bring a prosecution in these cases," the SFO's new director Lisa Osofsky said.
Osofsky took up her position last August, and according to the agency has since closed a number of other investigations that were not made public. The SFO has been facing political scrutiny over the collapse of a number of long-running cases.
In December a trial of executives at supermarket Tesco collapsed, while the agency failed in October to win an appeal against a court ruling that threw out criminal charges against Barclays Plc over alleged wrongdoing in 2008.
The investigation into Rolls-Royce began in December 2013 and did result in a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)in early 2017 with the company and one of its units in respect of bribery to win business in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia.
Rolls-Royce agreed to pay 497 million pounds ($646.65 million) as part of the DPA, clearing the company but allowing for continued investigation and potential prosecution of individuals.
“It is extraordinary the SFO are unable to charge any individual suspects in relation to Rolls Royce given the scale of the allegations in the DPA,” said Sarah Wallace, a partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell
“It looks like Osofsky is drawing a line under historical cases and wants to stamp her own mark on new cases going forward”.
Rolls-Royce said it noted the investigation but would not comment further.
GSK said in a statement it was “pleased” the SFO has closed it investigation and concluded that no further action was required.
The SFO launched an investigation into GSK and its subsidiaries in 2014. Britain’s biggest drugmaker was earlier fined 3 billion yuan ($446.86 million) by Chinese authorities for paying bribes to doctors to use its drugs.

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INEC Says Zamfara APC Will Now Participate In 2019 Election After Court Ruling

Nigeria electoral body Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) said the candidates of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Zamfara State are to be allowed to participate in the 2019 general election.
INEC said this was made possible by the ruling of a Court of Appeal on Thursday that the electoral commission should accept candidates of the party.
The state APC was barred from presenting candidates owing to an internal crisis, which did not allow the party to conduct its primaries within the time frame set by INEC.

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Ghana Plans To Raise $217.8 Mln Bonds

Ghana plans to issue $217.8 million bonds to help boost the country’s lender, National Investment Bank (NIB) liquidity and enhance its operations.
The government would provide a 100 per cent guarantee for the bond that would be issued under the Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT).
The bond, which would be issued before the end of February would be the second tranche after an initial one for four other banks under the GAT.
Chief Executive Officer of the GAT, Eric Otoo, explained in Accra that the money will be injected into the NIB as equity, giving the board and management of GAT an opportunity to have some control in the bank’s affairs.
“We have designed the legal and operational system to make NIB profitable in five years before we exit,” he stressed.
Otoo also stated that the bond has a five-year term maturity with a 21 percent interest rate guarantee.
He added that investors are demanding 100 percent government guarantee to give them comfort and assurance in case the bank is unable to pay back.
‘But I can tell you we won’t get there, the system we are going to use will rather make NIB financially strong and it will be in a position to pay back the bond’, he added
He pointed out that another tranche of bond will be issued prior to or within the same period to raise about 780 million cedis for the other remaining four banks receiving capital support under the GAT.
The banks are adb, which is expected to receive 127 million cedis, Omni Bank and Sahel Sahara Bank which will both get 130 million cedi, Prudential bank which will get 251 million cedis and UMB which will get 247 million cedis.
The management and board of GAT are optimistic the move will yield a good result since it has been used and tested in some developing countries. Mr. Oto explains.
The GAT is a special purpose vehicle created by government through the Ministry of Finance to support some banks that were said to be doing well but could not meet the 400 million cedis capital requirement announced by the Bank of Ghana.

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Anti-Graft Agency EFCC Warns of Fake dollars in circulation,

Nigeria anti-graft agency Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  on Thursday has warned the general public that there are fake dollars were in circulation ahead of the

presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.
In a statement issued by the agency, EFCC stated that the warning followed intelligence gathered in the build-up to the elections.
“The intelligence indicates that the Dollar notes have features of genuineness, but forensic analysis by the Commission reveals otherwise.
“We, therefore, warn the BDC operators to be cautious in their transactions from now till the end of the elections,” said the statement signed by the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu.

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VicePresident Osinbajo Says Committed to Nigerian People,Won't resign

Nigeria Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said he is committed to the service of the country and her people under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Vice President, who debunked rumour of his resignation from the current administration for being allegedly sidelined in the scheme of things, described is as a figment of the imagination of the main opposition party and its supporters.

“I have not resigned!
“I remain committed to the service of the Nigerian people under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The social media became awash hours ago with reports of the Vice President’s resignation over alleged bashing by a cabal in the Presidency.
His absence at a meeting with security chiefs by top presidency officials further fuelled the speculation.
But Osinbajo attributed the report to mischief makers, who he said are bent on creating rifts and tension within top officials of the current administration.
On his official twitter handle, the Vice President debunked the claim, dismissing it as fake news.
He wrote: “Misleading/FAKE news is on the rise especially in this season when Nigerians will make a choice about who will govern them for the next four years.
He added a video explaining why he was not at the meeting between security chiefs and presidential officials.
Addressing the rumour at a forum meeting on Thursday morning, Osinbajo said: “There is deliberate propaganda. Today, they’ve been spreading some information around that I’ve resigned. They said I’ve resigned; they said I didn’t attend the security meeting yesterday.
“I was in my office… What time do I have? Must I attend every meeting? Can’t the President hold a meeting with security chiefs without me?
“They said I was so angry that they didn’t bring me to that security meeting — I was excluded — so I resigned.”
He went on to explain he aware of the security meeting but couldn’t attend because of official engagements, assuring he remains committed to working with Buhari to move the nation forward.

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How Samsung’s New Galaxy S10 Compares To The IPhone XS Max

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is actually four separate phones: the S10e (the “e” stands for “essential,”) the S10, the S10+, and the S10 5G. The first three go on sale in March, and the S10+ is the flagship of the trio.
Having a family of three devices has become a trend, and in many ways the S10e, S10, and S10+ are Samsung’s answers to Apple’s iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max respectively. Despite the similar naming convention (Galaxy “S ten” versus iPhone “ten S” ), there are some significant differences between how the two flagships compete for consumers’ wallets.
We’ll break down some of the most significant ways Samsung and Apple are differentiating their competing phones.
Design and Photography
Great pictures are essential for any top-end phone. Samsung has equipped the S10+ with three rear-facing cameras—one for close-ups, one for standard shots, and an ultra-wide one for expansive scenes. The iPhone has two lenses, however, which on paper seems to put it at a disadvantage. The truth is that lenses alone don’t determine the quality of the picture, and Apple has always preferred a “quality before quantity” approach to features, but having three lenses to play with instead of two should win over creatives for the sheer versatility.
The S10+ has a massive 6.4-inch screen, but the iPhone XS Max’s is slightly bigger at 6.5 inches. However, the industry standard “notch” atop the iPhone’s display is not something Samsung adopted. Instead, the S10+ has an unusual “hole punch” design for its front-facing cameras. This gives the display an asymmetrical profile, but it also increases the usable space.
One of the reasons Apple includes a larger notch in its design is because it houses advanced facial-recognition features for keeping its devices secure; the FaceID technology requires multiple sensors to function, and currently that means it needs to eat into more of the display.
Samsung hasn’t ignored security, though—it’s baked a fingerprint reader underneath the screen itself. It uses ultrasound to detect the gaps between the ridges on a user’s finger, which Samsung said makes it more secure than a traditional sensor.
The trade-off is clear: you’re happy using fingerprints if it means you get more screen real estate, or you’re content to forgo a few extra pixels in order to make your face your sole method of authentication.
The iPhone XS Max and Galaxy S10+ can both be charged wirelessly, but Samsung gave its phone a bonus perk: it can charge other products wirelessly, too. Theoretically, you could charge your colleague’s iPhone by placing it on top of your S10+, but Samsung said it sees the feature mostly being used to charge accessories like headphones and smartwatches.
Samsung also takes the crown for offering the most storage for digital media. The S10+ comes with up to a terabyte of internal capacity, which is double the 512GB maximum offered by the iPhone XS Max. But the S10+ also supports microSD cards up to 512GB in capacity as well, meaning it’s possible to have triple the space compared to Apple’s flagship. (In fact, that 1.5TB total is higher than all but the most expensive of Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops.)
Until the phone gets released for review it’s impossible to say how well the S10+ will perform compared to the iPhone. Apple’s device uses its own A12 Bionic chip, which has six processing cores, while Samsung uses an eight-core processor. But historically Apple’s custom-designed silicon, its integration with the iOS software it powers, together with the rest of the hardware in the phone, has given it the edge over competitors whose numbers, on paper, appear greater. What’s safe to say is that both phones should handle anything realistically thrown at them.
Price and Verdict
These phones are among the most expensive flagships either has made within their categories, and on paper they’re undeniably the pinnacle of each company’s design prowess. Buying either is to buy one of the best phones on the planet.
As for the customer on the fence over whether to defect from one manufacturer to another, it’ll be a trade-off between display notch versus display hole punch, advanced facial recognition versus fingerprint reader, and tight hardware-software integration versus expandability. And iOS versus Android, of course—the ecosystem of apps and subscription services are playing an increasing part in keeping customers loyal.
Consumers looking to buy a significantly different type of phone could look to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, which can work as a 4.6-inch handset or, when unfolded, a 7.3-inch tablet.

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Nigeria Delay Election Cost Economy $1.5 Bln, Hope For A Better A Second Chance

Nigeria lost more than $1.5 billion to the decision to delay the general election by one week, the country's foremost chamber of commerce has said. The calculation was based on the economic loss to both individuals, corporate and government institutions whose activities have been altered by the shift in the day of the election from last Saturday to February 23.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said it estimated that the cost to the economy from disruption of business would be around $1.5 billion. 

The stock market lost over $600 million of value on Monday as investors fretted about the deferment, though it’s since recovered some of that.

However, Nigerian officials are scrambling to ensure delayed general elections go ahead on Saturday, with rival parties questioning the credibility of the vote and concerns rising about widespread disputes over the results.
The presidential and parliamentary election, postponed just hours before voting was meant to start on Feb. 16, poses a major test for Africa’s biggest democracy and largest oil producer after a bitter campaign between the front-runners, President Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar. Both condemned the delay and accused each other of trying to rig the vote.
“The rescheduling comes at great economic and psychological cost,” said Nnamdi Obasi, an analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. It’s “sown conspiracy theories around the country, increasing the likelihood of disputes and violent incidents, both during and after the polls.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed logistical problems, saying it hadn’t been able to distribute voting materials on time. The challenge of preparing Africa’s biggest-ever exercise in democracy -- involving 84 million registered voters and 23,300 candidates, including those in state elections -- is enormous, said Chairman Mahmood Yakubu.
The parties of former army general Buhari, 76, and Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman who served as vice president between 1999 and 2007, accused each other of being behind the postponement. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said its rival People’s Democratic Party (PDP) wanted more time to campaign in states where it’s lagging. The PDP said the government was bent on suppressing voting numbers in opposition areas.

Many Nigerians had travelled to their hometowns to vote and may not be able to afford trips for a second weekend running.
“A depressed turnout is perceived to favor the APC, and would seem to be more likely following the postponement,” London-based Fitch Solutions, which was predicting a win for Abubakar last week, said in a note Tuesday. “A narrow victory for Buhari, particularly on a low turnout, could exacerbate voter concerns over the fairness of the election and encourage unrest in PDP strongholds.”
Some events in the run-up to the election, such as Buhari’s suspension of Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, ostensibly on corruption charges, have brought increased scrutiny from the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union. The Supreme Court would likely have the final say if the results faced a legal challenge.
Buhari, who led a military government for a short period in the 1980s before coming back to power four years ago via an election, said he’d told security officials to be “ruthless” with anyone trying to rig the vote.
“Anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch ballot boxes or disturbs the voting system will do so at the expense of his own life,” Buhari told reporters on Monday.
House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, a PDP member, criticized the remarks, saying Nigeria risked becoming a “full-blown dictatorship.”
“In an atmosphere where you have a military that is often trigger happy, the president issuing orders of that nature is quite worrisome,” said Clement Nwankwo, executive director of the Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre. “The law is quite clear on the kind of punishment on conviction, and that punishment is not summary execution.”
Protecting the materials and delivering them to voting points takes a combination of agencies including the central bank, the military and the police. Air force planes usually fly the materials to different parts of the country, where they are kept in regional central bank vaults before being moved to localities under armed guard.
INEC said some of its eastern offices were burned in acts of sabotage, but it denied the vote was delayed for political or security reasons.
The election body still has plenty to do before voting starts, including finishing the deployment of ballot papers to the 120,000 polling units. It said it has finished re-configuring about 180,000 machines that read people’s voting cards, which were designed to work only on Feb. 16.
“The suddenness of the announcement last Saturday has itself created an atmosphere of uncertainty in Nigeria,” said Leena Hoffman, an associate fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House. “Democracy in Nigeria will suffer a profound setback if INEC does not quickly reverse growing perceptions that it lacks transparency and competence.”

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$4m puts Atiku’s man in trouble

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has arrested an associate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over alleged laundering of $4 million.
The money is termed “suspicious election cash”, the Nation said.
The arrest followed an intelligence report on a suspicious transaction by a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator.
The Nation had exclusively reported how the PDP reportedly allocated $3 million each for “logistics” to its 36 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Most Bureau De Change operators and banks have, however, refused the “pressure” to convert the hard currency to Naira.
“A BDC operator was intercepted for shipping $2 million from Abuja to Lagos for suspected money laundering,’’ Sources in EFCC is reported to have said.
The source said the BDC operator admitted that the suspect paid the Naira equivalent of $4 million into his account in exchange for hard currency.
“We invited the suspect for interrogation on Monday and Tuesday. Our detectives have also conducted a search of his home. Some useful documents were retrieved. An investigation is, however, still in progress.”
“Apart from documents relating to posh properties at home and abroad, a copy of the EFCC Investigation Report on Atiku’s relationship with a jailed U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson, was retrieved.’’

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Nigeria’s Population Growing Faster Than Economy – Report

The Nigerian population is growing at a faster rate than the growth in the economy, Analysts at the FSDH research have revealed.
In its latest report,  the FSDH Merchant Bank said the consequence of population growth outpacing economic growth can be seen in the fast spread of poverty in the country.
“This means that the economy is not expanding in such a way that can create enough job opportunities for the unemployed population, which the National Bureau of Statistics put at 21million as at Q3 2018,” it stated.
The research note by the firm stated that the fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS) ahead of the presidential election was its final judgment on the performance of the Nigerian economy in 2018.
The NBS report put the rate of economic growth at the end of last year at 1.93 percent compared with 0.82 percent in the previous year

“The Nigerian economy is growing slower than the growth rate in its population, an indication of growing poverty! This means that the economy is not expanding in such a way that can create enough job opportunities for the unemployed population, which the NBS put at 21million as at Q3 2018.”
Although that was the sad reality, it added that there was a way out.
Nigeria could grow at above six percent if appropriate policies and the will power to implement the policies were in place, it added.
“If you are searching sectors of the economy to start a business or to lend money to, you should be looking at the fastest growing or largest sectors of the economy,” the FSDH stated.
These were also the sectors where policymakers could easily achieve tangible results to show the impacts of their policies on the economy.
Such sectors usually commanded government’s attention and protection, it added.
According to the FSDH report, the most influential sectors that drove performance in 2018 are: Information and communication; agriculture; manufacturing, transportation and storage, and mining and quarrying sectors.
“The five fastest growing sectors on average between Q1 2017 – Q4 2018 are electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; transportation and storage; water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation; information and communication and mining and quarrying,”
The report noted that the fragile recovery in the economy meant that additional policies which would fast-track economic activities in the country were urgently required.
This meant it would be a hard sell for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase key interest rates in the country in the near term.
Increase in the key interest rates like Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), Cash Reserve Requirement and Liquidity Rate may not be in view in the short-term.
Usually, an increase in the MPR, CRR and LR may help to reduce a high inflation rate and keep the foreign exchange rate stable.
However, such actions have the tendency to reduce economic growth, effectively it added.
The growing recovery in the economy, if sustained, would reduce the business risks inherent in the country, which usually scared away investors.

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President Buhari In Crucial Meeting With Service Chiefs, Others

Nigeria leader, President Muhammadu Buhari met with the Service Chiefs including the National Security Adviser, NSA, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu at the State House, Abuja.
The meeting also has the Minister of Defence, Dan Mansur-Ali, Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, the Director General of Department of State Service (DSS) Yusuf Bichi and some other security heads in attendance.
The State Governors at the meeting who are mostly from the north include the Borno State, Kashim Shettina, Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and Adamawa State, Jubrila Bindow.
Also present is the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.
The agenda of the meeting was yet unknown but it may not be unconnected with the alleged killing in a Kaduna community at the eve of the botched Presidential and National Assembly elections and the perhaps the forthcoming elections.

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President Buhari Asks Military, Police To Shoot Ballot Box Snatchers

Nigeria leader President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that anybody who attempts to snatch ballot boxes in disrupt elections will be doing so at the expense of his own life.

“I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system, he would do it at the expense of his own life,” the President said this at the opening of the meeting of the Caucus of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abuja on Monday to deliberate on the postponement of the elections.

“I do not expect anybody to make any disturbance. I have briefed the law enforcement agencies and the military to identify hot spots, flashpoints and they should be prepared to move.
“They, too, would have made their own arrangement as much as possible and as resources provide as much as the country can afford it.
“And anybody who decides to snatch ballot boxes or lead thugs to disturb it (election), maybe that would be the last unlawful action he would take.
“I have directed the Police and the military to be ruthless.

He warned that security forces, including soldiers, have been put on the alert to carry out the task of securing free and fair elections.
“I want Nigeria to be respected. I am not afraid of the elections because I went round all the states.’’
Buhari said he would not encourage rigging because he campaigned vigorously, visiting all the states and has the assurances that he had done well in his campaign.
He also said that security forces and the army have been directed to man all soft targets.
He also directed governors in states controlled by APC ‘s governments to deploy committed APC members to man all the polling units and chairmen and governorship candidates in other states should ensure same.
President Buhari said that the elections should be conducted peacefully in all the 176,000 polling stations.
After the elections, he said, the government would want to know what happened that caused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone elections.
“What is the need accepting incompetence? The Constitutions and law protect INEC but they should not take us for granted.
The National Assembly and the government did all they could to provide for INEC, therefore “we do not understand what has happened’’.
“We will need to go into details of what caused the postponement of the elections,’’ he warned.

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Investors Dumps Shares, Pressure On Naira As Market Reacts To Election Shift

Nigeria's financial markets responded to the news of election postponement on Monday with the local currency taking a hit on the forward market while investors dumping their shares on the local bourse as uncertainty over the general election deepen.

The equity market declined to a week low at early trade while naira weakened on the forward market by one percent.

Nigeria’s Eurobond yields also rose on Monday.

The rise in government bond yields — yields move inverse to a bond’s price — was more pronounced in longer-dated, dollar-denominated bonds such the 2027 and 2032 issues.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) early on Saturday morning short before poll expected to open said the elections were postponed for one week solely for logistical reasons and denied political pressure had played any part. 

The one-year non-deliverable naira forward opened at a quote of 401 per dollar, compared with 397 in the previous session.

“There is some frustration on behalf of investors who have had concerns about this election for the better part of the past year and are ultimately hoping to simply put it behind them,” said Christopher Dielmann, senior economist at Exotix Capital
Investors had started to pick up shares to position for a post-election rally, assuming that the election would pass without violence or other problems. That boosted dollar liquidity on the currency market.

Stocks, which had climbed past a three-month high on Friday, shed 1.8 percent to 32,126 points on Monday.
Analysts say the delay could lead to a contested result, creating uncertainty,
“Some investors might still want to wait for the results of the election to gauge risks, such as a possible contestation of the result, which the postponing arguably now has given more grounds for,” said Cobus de Hart, senior economist at South Africa’s NKC African Economics.

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Nigeria's External Reserves Decline To $42.86 Bln by Feb 14

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves dipped 0.55 percent to $42.86 billion by February 14, down to thier lowest level since November last year, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown.

The external forex reserves of the West African country stood at $43.10 billion naira a month earlier, came down $242 million month-on-month. 

However, the forex buffer was better than they were a year ago when they stood at $41.53 billion by February 14, 2018. 

The reserves have grown 3.2 percent in the last one year, even though between then the forex buffer has peaked at $47.86 billion by May 10, last year before declining gradually due to the central bank funding of the domestic forex market.
PwC Nigeria said in a new report that the CBN increased dollar injections into the forex market by 87 per cent to $40 billion in 2018 in a bid to sustain its policy of exchange rate stability amid sustained demand pressures.
The local currency opened at the parallel market at 363 to the dollar on Monday, at 361.75 a dollar on the Investor's window while it closed at 306.75 per dollar on the central bank window.

Analysts said the local currency has remained stable on all segments of the foreign exchange market in spite of the tension ahead of the country's general election as a result increase dollar supply by the regulatory bank into the forex market.

Nigeria postponed the critical presidential election from February 16 to 23 early on Saturday morning blaming logistic and sabotage by unnamed elements.

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Busted: How Gov El-rufai Lied About Killings In Kaduna State

The Zonal Coordinator, North-West office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ishaya Chonoko has debunked claims of fresh killing in a community in Kaduna state, saying the report was the handiwork of some 'unpatriotic Nigerians."

He told a national daily that there were no fresh killings in Kajuru LGA on Friday as claimed by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-rufai.
“It is not true that 66 people were killed in Kaduna State. I am in Kaduna now and I can confirm to you that I am not aware of any 66 people that were killed in Kajuru Local Government Area by any unknown gunmen.
“There was an attack last week (Sunday) where 11 people were said to have been killed. It was the usual tribal clash between the Fulani and the indigenes. Anytime there is a clash between two tribes in Kaduna, there is usually reprisal.
“We made necessary contacts only to discover that it was merely a rumour to instigate violence. Please disregard it. It is not true at all.”

His claim was corroborated by Senator Sheuh Sani, who is representing the area in the National Assembly and the chairman of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State Chapter and some other community leaders in the area.

The CAN Chairman in the state, Rev. Joseph Hayab, who stated this in a statement, insisted that the governor deliberately gave out the wrong information to deceive Nigerians and the international community.

“The press statement by the spokesman for Kaduna State Governor, Samuel Aruwan, suggests that “the killings in Kajuru Local Government were carried yesterday (Friday) 15/2/2019. This is false in its entirety.
“We are aware that the incident happened in the late hours of Sunday 10 February to February 12, 2019, at about 1am at Gindin Gada in the Maro Ward of Kajuru Local Government, Kaduna State where unidentified hoodlums went into the village and killed about 11 people in their sleep.
“The incident led to reprisals. Two of the suspects were said to have been apprehended and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer in the area. It was in the afternoon of the said date of the attack (as contained in the press statement) that the District Head of Kufana, Titus Dauda, and four of his local chiefs were released after their invitation by the Department of State Services.
“We see this as an illogical intentional, premeditated attempt at stirring violence in the state for whatever expected gains. The incidence of raising false alarm by the Kaduna State Government should make Nigerians realise that some of our leaders are also guilty of hate speech and that makes them major actors in the game that has denied us peace and has claimed the lives of our love ones,’’ the statement from CAN noted.
The senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district whose constituency covered the affected local government, Shehu Sani, also wondered why the incident that happened on Sunday would be made an issue on the eve of the general elections.
“He said, “What the people of the area told me was that the issue happened since Sunday and the security agencies waded in and resolved it immediately. There was no tension that can threaten peace in the area.
Sani added that the people were ready to vote and refused to be provoked despite desperate attempts by some people to instigate them.

A resident of the area, Josiah Joshua, also told one of our correspondents that the governor was economical with the truth by claiming that only the Fulani were killed in the attacks.

He said, “The incident happened in the Kajuru LGA and 90 per cent of the residents are Adara tribe and not Fulani. The governor’s claims that Fulanis were killed were not true.”
It would be recalled that El-rufai recently claimed that the people of the Southern Kaduna would not vote for him and attributed that to why he decided to choose a Muslim as his running mate in the forthcoming election.

The governor said even if he had chosen the Pope as his deputy the people of the area, who are mainly consists of Christians would not vote for him. Also, the governor has been fingered as the brain behind some of the crisis within the area in recent time in his quest to divide the people and cause confusion in the area.

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Nigeria Election Postponement: History Repeating Itself

By Oludare Mayowa

Nigeria chequered history in democratic experiment has been marred by attempts by politicians to manipulate the electoral process to favour their interest. The struggle for power among the political elites has resulted in many manoeuvring against the wishes of the masses in one way or the other in recent time.
The early morning announcement of a shift in the dates of elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) few hours before the commencement of the presidential and senatorial election on Saturday morning came as a rude shock to many Nigerians.
Although, there have been rumours and counterclaims on move to shift the election date by the electoral body in the last few days. The main opposition had flagged the move in many of its campaign rallies and warned the ruling party and the electoral body not to dare the move.
However, the electoral body has assured the nation and the international community of its readiness to go ahead with the election.
Men and materials have been deployed to various polling units across the country by the electoral body, why election monitoring and observer groups both local and foreign have moved to locations in readiness for action.
Many Schools have been closed down as a result of the conduct of the election while many people have also travelled to their villages to enable them to carry out their civic duties.
Also not left out are those who have postponed their functions earlier scheduled for the election day and business that have to close down for the purpose of the election.
Alas, the shift in the election date has now put in jeopardy many activities that have been shifted to the new date of the election. People who have shifted their weddings, travel arrangements and other major functions to the new date of February 23 and March 9, will have to again reschedule their programme for another date.
However, looking into history in the last eight years, the electoral body has shifted election at the last minutes for one reason or the other.
In 2011, voting had actually started in some parts of the country when INEC suddenly announced that the election had been shifted by two days!
The national assembly elections were scheduled for April 2, 2011, and had commenced smoothly in some states, especially in Lagos, Kaduna, Kebbi, Delta, Zamfara and Enugu when Professor Attahiru Jega, the then chairman of INEC, announced the postponement. His reason for the shift was as a result of the late deployment of electoral materials in some states.
Also, four years after, the same Jega shifted the elections date again, this time by six weeks following pressure from the security chiefs who claimed they needed more time to “diminish Boko Haram."
The past postponements of elections in Africa's biggest economy have met with outrage from the public who suspected the unseen hands of the government in power as the real reason for the shift.
In 2015, the government of President Goodluck Jonathan has become unpopular and there was a massive campaign by many Nigerians to chase him out of power through the ballot.
Smelling defeat, the government had deployed all measures and machination to influence a shift in the election date to enable it to make some strategic move to appease the populace and reverse the ugly trend.
In spite of the shift in date of the election, the government of President Jonathan still suffered ignoble defeat at the election, paving way for President Mohammadu Buhari, who is now asking for a second term from the electorate.
The February 16 postponement would be the third of such in the recent history of the country electoral experience and based on almost same logistic reason or need to carry out certain adjustment to enable a credible election.
The question being asked by the people is that was INEC not aware of the need to conduct elections every four years and why is the shoddy preparation for the election?
From all indication, one will not rule out behind the scene involvement of politicians in the latest shift in the election date.
Poll and analysts have predicted a tight race between the incumbent, President Buhari and the main challenger, Atiku Abubakar and it is possible that both would have been making move to outdo each other through whatever means.
The ruling APC is said to be jittery of losing the election and was using all the power at its disposal to ensure victory by all means at the election. The shift in election date could be one of the plans by the government to destabilise the plans of the opposition in whatever means and gain some advantage over them.
Most political parties must have deployed logistic to locations and mobilized its members across the country in readiness for the election, the shift would definitely upset whatever plans they have put in place to support their position.
The postponement could be a strategic move by the ruling party to put the opposition under financial pressure to undermine its capacity and put it at a disadvantage in the long run. The government has more access to finance and could have had prior knowledge of the plan to shift the election, this could have ensured that it would have taken measures to conserve its own resources for the new date
However, there are other suggestions that the shift in the election could have been instigated by the opposition which have been flying the kits for many days before the election date. This could be one of its strategies to discredit the result of the election in case it did not favour its position.
The ruling party presidential campaign spokesman, Festus Keyamu in a swift reaction to the shift in election date has pointed accusing fingers to the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as being behind the INEC action.
Both sides have been pointing accusing fingers to one another and this is not unexpected considering the tense situation in the country and struggle to outdo one another by the political parties.
While the people are also angry at the last minutes shift in the election date because of its implications on their economies and personal well being, it is obvious that the INEC reason for the postponement remains suspect in the eyes of many Nigerians and foreign observers.
In the coming days, it will become clearer the real reason behind the shift in the election date beyond the earlier reasons adduced by the INEC.
But one thing is clear, the two main political groups will in the days to ahead continue to trade blames on the shift and would have to dip into their bag of propaganda to convince or confuse their supporters that they are not truly behind the election postponement.
Would the shift in the election date materially affect the outcome of the election? Probably, to a large extent, the shift will either discourage some people from voting at the end of the day while those who are behind the shift could have sufficient time to perfect their rigging plan in aid of their success at the election.
However, based on history the postponement in the election of 2015 did not help the ruling party to win the election. Reason for this is that many people have made up their minds who to vote for irrespective of the manoeuvring by the political gladiators. What happened in the 2015 election is that probably the shift helped to reduce the margin of votes cast against the then ruling party.
If anything, the shift this time around, which is shorter than the previous one in 2015 may help swing the pendulum in the direction of the ruling party because many of those who have determined to vote against it might have been discouraged and could stay away in anger at the new date. The shift could also help the politicians to perfect their rigging plans and ensure that the election favours them one way or the other.
Another suggestion is that the shift could actually help the main opposition to gain more sympathy among the populace who would have seen the postponement as a gimmick by the ruling party to deprive the opposition of victory in the election.
Whichever way the pendulum swing in the coming days, the electoral body will have to do more to convince the people of its good intention and put in place plans to forestall manipulation by politicians.
How safe are the election materials already deployed to locations across the country and what move has been made by the INEC to secure those sensitive materials from falling into wrong hands would be the next area of concern to many keen observers of the process.
If at the end of the day, the election process is seen to be free, fair and credible, the outcome will be received and accepted by the people as representing the wish of the people, otherwise, the result will be a subject of dispute and that could cause a major crisis across the country.
Nigerians and all lover of democracy should, therefore, be on the lookout for possible attempt to manipulate the system in favour of any political party and ensure that the nation's democratic future is protected against those who are desperate for power.
All hands must be on deck to compel the electoral body to remain independent and neutral in the conduct of the election so as to allow the will of the people to come to pass.

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Why Nigeria INEC Postpones General Elections

Nigeria's electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled for Saturday.
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman announced this at a press briefing on Saturday morning held at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
“Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan, and the determination to conduct free, fair, and credible elections, the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible,” Yakubu said.
The press briefing followed a crucial meeting of the INEC boss with top officials of the commission which started late on Friday night.
“This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy,” Yakubu said.
Yakubu said the Presidential and National Assembly elections, initially scheduled for Saturday, February 16, will now hold on February 23, while the governorship and state houses of assembly elections will take place on March 9.
“The Commission will meet key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 16th February 2019 at the Abuja International Conference Centre,” he added.
Polling centres were initially meant to open Saturday at 8 a.m., with more than 84 million registered voters across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The postponement may heighten tensions in what has been a tight race between incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, and his main challenger from the People’s Democratic Party Atiku Abubakar. The political parties of both candidates have accused each other of trying to rig the vote.
Buhari arrived his home town of Daura, in Katsina State on Thursday, where he was planning to vote. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had also travelled to Lagos to vote.
In reaction to the postponement, Osinbajo’s spokesman Laolu Akande said: “This is truly disappointing, but the march to the next level continues.”
It will not be the first time that the Commission would postpone a scheduled general election.
In 2015, the presidential election was shifted from February 14 to March 28th, 2015; while the governorship and assembly elections scheduled for 28 February were shifted to 11 April. The elections were postponed because of security issues.
In the previous election cycle in 2011, the National Assembly elections were postponed on the day the election was to be held due to logistics failure.

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Nigerian Stock Exchange Index up 3.76 Pct W/W, Lifted by Dangote, FBNH

Nigeria's equity market gained 3.76 percent week-on-week with the main index closing the week at 32,717 points, lifted by gains in cement, banking and hospitality sector.

The market gained 0.81 percent on Friday compared with 0.12 percent gain recorded the previous day.

Dangote Cement, which accounts for the third of the market capitalisation gained 8.5  percent to close at 194 naira per share, while First Bank holdings (FBNH) climbed by 0.45 percent to close at 8.45 naira , United Bank for Africa (UBA) rose by 0.35 percent to close at 8 naira, Nigerian Breweries which posted a 37 percent drop in its profit before tax for 2018 financial year also gained 5 percent to closed at 83 naira at the day's trading.
A total tansaction of 808.64 million shares were traded in 6,177 deals at the cost of 6.48 billion naira on Friday

The three most actively traded stocks were Diamond Bank (141.62 million), Transcorp (117.65 million) and AXA Mansard Insurance (94.59 million)

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Nigerian Breweries records 37 pct Declines In Profit Before Tax in 2018

Nigerian Breweries, a local unit of Heineken has posted 29.42 billion naira Profit Before Tax (PBT) for its 2018 financial year, representing 37 percent decline compared to 46.63 billion PBT in the previous year, a report published by the company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has shown.

The brewer of Gulder and Star producer also posted a decline in its revenue for the year, recording 350.22 billion in the period.

According to the report, the company income dropped by 4.25 percent from 365.79 billion naira posted in 2017.

However, the company has declared a total of 19.40 billion naira dividends for the period, translating to 2.43 naira per share.

Last financial year, NB declared a dividend of 4.13 naira per share to shareholders of the company.

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Nigeria Inflation Declines To 11.37 Pct In Jan ~ NBS

Nigeria's annual inflation rate fell to 11.37 percent in January, down from the seven-month high it reached in December, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.

The data from NBS released on Friday, a day before a presidential election showed an improvement from the 11.44 percent in the previous month.

The price index peaked at 18.7 percent in January last year and has been in double digits for three years. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has kept interest rates at 14 percent to curb inflation, which has been rising after the country’s worst recession in a quarter of a century in 2016.
Rejuvenating the economy is a key campaign issue for President Muhammadu Buhari, who hopes his record can secure him a second four-year term in office. His main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, has touted pro-business policies, including floating Nigeria’s currency, the naira .
In November, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said he expected the regulatory bank would keep monetary policy tight in 2019. He said the short-term outlook for the economy was good and that the country was open for foreign investors.
Nigeria’s economy grew by 1.95 percent in 2018 at its fastest pace since the recession.
A separate food price index showed inflation at 13.51 percent in January, compared with 13.56 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

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Flight ticket purchase by politicians, expatriates rises as election nears

Many Nigerians politicans and experts living in the country are putting the Airlines and travel agencies under pressure as demands for tickets hit the roof, a report has shown.

A report by a Nigeria Newspaper, the Punch showed that demand for international flight bookings by families of prominent politicians and some expatriates has risen in the last couples of weeks due to the uncertainty in the political horizon.

Airline officials confirmed that the increase might not be unconnected with the forthcoming elections.
It was gathered that between January and the first week in February, many prominent families had bought tickets to travel out of the country.
A source said top destinations included Dubai ( United Arab Emirates), Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
“Many prominent families have been buying tickets to travel out since the beginning of the year,” one of the sources said.
A travel agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was normal for politicians to move their families out of the country during elections.
“Once it is election time, most politicians send their families out of the country or they just move to places where they cannot be reached easily,” the source stated.
He, however, added that the fact that they (politicians) were buying international flight tickets did not mean they would eventually travel out of the country.
According to him, such families sometimes buy the tickets but stay in secluded places within the country until elections are over.
“They can afford to buy tickets and not use them, which happens often,” the source added.
According to the Director of Research, Zenith Travels, Olumide Ohunayo, “There is a huge divide between the supporters of the two major presidential candidates, making it look more like a war situation. So, it is not surprising that some people are leaving the country.”
Ohunayo said that apart from some politicians and elite, expatriates and companies that had technical partners had also seen many of their staff members going on vacation abroad, pending the outcome of the elections.
He said, “Even some indigenous firms are waiting for the outcome of the elections. I think supporters and team members of the major political parties are the major problems.
“This has affected travel. We just hope the elections come and go so we can live normal lives and everyone can move on with their lives.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Aglow Limited, an aviation support services company, Mr Tayo Ojuri, said it had been a trend.
He said some of the movements were based on security reports from embassies and companies that evaluated and controlled risks.
He said, “So, there has been an increase in the movement of Nigerians but mostly expatriates. Many people are travelling, some expatriates’ insurance terms do not allow them to stay in a country during elections, they move and return afterwards.
“Within the aviation industry, what that does for us is it increases outbound flights and after the elections, there will be an increase in inbound flights. So, there is an increase in traffic right now because February is normally quiet in aviation but not this time.”
The President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents, Mr Bankole Bernard, also confirmed that there had been an increase in international travels but was cautious in linking the development to the elections.
He said, “Yes, there has been an increase but we must be careful not to tie it to the elections. Although it is expected because once it is an election, people want to play safe by travelling out. Expatriates especially don’t want to be trapped because it will cost more to evacuate them when they could fly out and return when elections are over.”
Bernard, however, stated that the percentage increase in the number of travellers was still within reasonable limits.
“It has not become worrisome because it is not a huge surge, if there is a two to five per cent increase, it is not so much. It becomes worrisome if it rises to about 30 per cent increase,” he added.
Aviation analyst and Chief Executive Officer, Belujane Konsult, Mr Chris Aligbe, said, “There is always something like that during elections, many people are doing it but I don’t think it is necessary.”

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Nigeria's Central Bank Sells, Dollar, Yuan At Forex Auction On Friday

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday announced plans to intervene in the foreign exchange market with the sales of an unspecified amount of dollars and Chinese currency, the Yuan.
In a notice to forex dealers, the regulatory bank said the sales will be through a combination of spot and short tenored forwards.
It noted that Authorised Dealers are to debit customers’ accounts for the Naira equivalent of their bids.
Nigeria's central bank intervenes in the foreign exchange market regularly to inject liquidity and support the local currency.
The Friday sales before Saturday's election may be part of measures to reassure the market and ensure the local currency is not put under undue pressure, traders said.

The foreign exchange intervention could lead to a drop in the level of liquidity in the money market and push up the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders and they scramble to make provision of their forex purchases.

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Nigeria 'Delta Avengers' militants vow to cripple economy if Buhari re-elected

A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta threatened on Thursday to cripple Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy if President Muhammadu Buhari is re-elected in a vote due to hold on Saturday.
The Niger Delta Avengers - who have been demanding a greater share of the oil revenue produced in the impoverished southern region - said in a statement they hoped to end Buhari’s rule through elections and that opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar was their preferred choice for president.
Buhari faces a tight contest against Atiku, a business and ex-vice president, in Saturday’s election in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest democracy.
The Niger Delta Avengers were behind a 2016 wave of violence that helped push Nigeria into recession. However, no substantial attacks have been carried out by any groups in the Delta region since January 2017.
The group, in a statement posted on its website, warned that if Buhari is re-elected there would be “a perpetual recession for Nigeria”.
The president’s spokesmen did not immediately respond to phone calls, emails and text messages seeking comment.
Attacks on pipelines and other facilities in the Niger Delta in 2016 cut Nigeria’s crude output from a peak of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to near 1 mbpd - the lowest level seen in Africa’s biggest economy in at least 30 years.
That, combined with low oil prices, pushed the OPEC member state into its first recession in a quarter of a century - crude sales make up two-thirds of government revenue and 90 percent of its foreign exchange.
Atiku, the candidate representing the main opposition People’s Democratic Party, has proposed to devolve more power to regions in a policy dubbed “restructuring” that would give states greater control over their finances.
It would enable oil-rich states in the south to retain a greater share of the revenues generated for crude production.
“We are adopting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the sole candidate to be voted for by all the people of the Niger Delta as a result of his political ideology which is in tandem with our agitation for equitable and fair principles of federalism,” the group said.
The Avengers said that, if elected, Atiku should start a “restructuring of Nigeria” within six months to forestall further attacks in the Niger Delta.
“Atiku has said that restructuring will begin on the day he takes office, so he will keep his word,” Paul Ibe, a spokesman for the main opposition candidate, said in a telephone interview.
He said Atiku repeated his commitment to the policy in the last few days at a rally in the oil hub city of Port Harcourt.
Buhari’s government held talks with the militants to address their grievances over poverty and oil pollution in the Delta for more than a year and this led the group to halt attacks.
Any resumption of attacks would renew pressure on Nigeria as it recovers from its worst recession in a generation. The country is also facing separatist movements in the southeast and Islamist militants in the northeast.

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